id
stringlengths 3
8
| url
stringlengths 32
207
| title
stringlengths 1
114
| text
stringlengths 93
492k
|
|---|---|---|---|
44525056 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job%20control | Job control | Job control may refer to:
Occupational science
Job control (workplace), the ability of a person to influence what happens in their work environment
Computing
Job control (computing), the control of multiple tasks or jobs on a computer system
Job control (Unix), control of jobs by a shell in Unix and Unix-like operating systems
Job Control Language, scripting languages used on IBM mainframe operating systems |
172428 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20tracker | Music tracker | A music tracker (sometimes referred to as just tracker for short) is a type of music sequencer software for creating music. The music is represented as discrete musical notes positioned in several channels at discrete chronological positions on a vertical timeline.
A music tracker's user interface is usually number based. Notes, parameter changes, effects and other commands are entered with the keyboard into a grid of fixed time slots as codes consisting of letters, numbers and hexadecimal digits.
Separate patterns have independent timelines; a complete song consists of a master list of repeated patterns.
Later trackers departed from solely using module files, adding other options both to the sound synthesis (hosting generic synthesizers and effects or MIDI output) and to the sequencing (MIDI input and recording), effectively becoming general purpose sequencers with a different user interface.
In the 2010s, tracker music is still featured in demoscene products for old hardware platforms and demoparties have often separate tracker music competitions. Tracker music may also be used in non-commercial games which borrow aesthetics from past decades.
History
1987: origins on the Amiga
The term tracker derives from Ultimate Soundtracker (the first tracker software) written by Karsten Obarski and released in 1987 by EAS Computer Technik for the Commodore Amiga. Ultimate Soundtracker was a commercial product, but soon shareware clones such as NoiseTracker (1989) appeared as well. The general concept of step-sequencing samples numerically, as used in trackers, is also found in the Fairlight CMI sampling workstation of the early 1980s. Some early tracker-like programs appeared for the MSX (Yamaha CX5M) and Commodore 64, before 1987, such as Sound Monitor, but these did not feature sample playback, instead playing notes on the computer's internal synthesizer. Later, programs like Rock Monitor also supported additional sample playback, usually with short drum samples loaded in RAM memory.
The first trackers supported four pitch and volume modulated channels of 8-bit PCM samples, a limitation derived from the Amiga's Paula audio chipset and the commonplace 8SVX format used to store sampled sound. However, since the notes were samples, the limitation was less important than those of synthesizing music chips.
1990s: MS-DOS PC versions
During the 1990s, tracker musicians gravitated to the PC as software production in general switched from the Amiga platform to the PC. Although the IBM and compatibles initially lacked the hardware sound processing capabilities of the Amiga, with the advent of the Sound Blaster line from Creative, PC audio slowly began to approach CD Quality (44.1 kHz/16 bit/Stereo) with the release of the SoundBlaster 16.
Another sound card popular on the PC tracker scene was the Gravis Ultrasound, which continued the hardware mixing tradition, with 32 internal channels and onboard memory for sample storage. For a time, it offered unparalleled sound quality and became the choice of discerning tracker musicians. Understanding that the support of tracker music would benefit sales, Gravis gave away some 6000 GUS cards to participants. Coupled with excellent developer documentation, this gesture quickly prompted the GUS to become an integral component of many tracking programs and software. Inevitably, the balance was largely redressed with the introduction of the Sound Blaster AWE32 and its successors, which also featured on-board RAM and wavetable (or sample table) mixing.
The responsibility for audio mixing passed from hardware to software (the main CPU) which gradually enabled the use of more channels. From the typical 4 MOD channels of the Amiga, the limit had moved to 7 with TFMX players and 8, first with Oktalyzer and later with the vastly more popular OctaMED (Amiga, 1989), then 16 with ScreamTracker 3 (PC, 1994) and 32 with FastTracker 2 (PC, 1994) and on to 64 with Impulse Tracker (PC, 1995) and MED SoundStudio (updated version of OctaMED). An Amiga tracker called Symphonie Pro even supported 256 channels.
As such, hardware mixing did not last. As processors got faster and acquired special multimedia processing abilities (e.g. MMX) and companies began to push Hardware Abstraction Layers, like DirectX, the AWE and GUS range became obsolete. DirectX, WDM and, now more commonly, ASIO, deliver high-quality sampled audio irrespective of hardware brand.
There was also a split off from the sample based trackers taking advantage of the OPL2 and OPL3 chips of the Sound Blaster series. All Sound Tracker was able to combine both the FM synthesis of the OPL chips and the sample based synthesis of the EMU-8000 chips in the Sound Blaster AWE series of cards as well as MIDI output to any additional hardware of choice.
Jeskola Buzz is a modular music studio developed from 1997-2000 for Microsoft Windows using a tracker as its sequencer where the sounds where produced by virtual machines (Buzzmachines) such as signal generators, synthesizer emulators, drum computers, samplers, effects and control machines, that where connected in a modular setup. Each machine would have its own tracker, drum machines would use a tracker-like drum pattern editor and effect and control machines could be automated tracker-like via tables of parameters.
2000s: Multiple platforms
Tracker music could be found in computer games of the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as the Unreal series, Deus Ex, Crusader: No Remorse, Jazz Jackrabbit and Uplink. Some of the early Amiga trackers such as ProTracker (1990) and OctaMED have received various updates, mostly for porting to other platforms. ProTracker having resumed development in 2004, with plans for releasing version 5 to Windows and AmigaOS, but only version 4.0 beta 2 for AmigaOS has been released.
During 2007, Renoise (PC, 2002) and OpenMPT (PC, 1997) were presented in Computer Music Magazine as professional and inexpensive alternative to other music production software.
Terminology
There are several elements common to any tracker program: samples, notes, effects, tracks (or channels), patterns, and orders.
A sample is a small digital sound file of an instrument, voice, or other sound effect. Most trackers allow a part of the sample to be looped, simulating a sustain of a note.
A note designates the frequency at which the sample is played back. By increasing or decreasing the playback speed of a digital sample, the pitch is raised or lowered, simulating instrumental notes (e.g. C, C#, D, etc.).
An effect is a special function applied to a particular note. These effects are then applied during playback through either hardware or software. Common tracker effects include volume, portamento, vibrato, retrigger, and arpeggio.
A track (or channel) is a space where one sample is played back at a time. Whereas the original Amiga trackers only provided four tracks, the hardware limit, modern trackers can mix a virtually unlimited number of channels into one sound stream through software mixing. Tracks have a fixed number of "rows" on which notes and effects can be placed (most trackers lay out tracks in a vertical fashion). Tracks typically contain 64 rows and 16 beats, although the beats and tempo can be increased or decreased to the composer's taste.
A basic drum set could thus be arranged by putting a bass drum at rows 0, 4, 8, 12 etc. of one track and putting some hihat at rows 2, 6, 10, 14 etc. of a second track. Of course, bass and hats could be interleaved on the same track, if the samples are short enough. If not, the previous sample is usually stopped when the next one begins. Some modern trackers simulate polyphony in a single track by setting the "new note action" of each instrument to cut, continue, fade out, or release, opening new mixing channels as necessary.
A pattern is a group of simultaneously played tracks that represents a full section of the song. A pattern usually represents an even number of measures of music composition.
An order is part of a sequence of patterns that defines the layout of a song. Patterns can be repeated across multiple orders to save tracking time and file space.
There are also some tracker-like programs that utilize tracker-style sequencing schemes, while using real-time sound synthesis instead of samples. Many of these programs are designed for creating music for a particular synthesizer chip such as the OPL chips of the Adlib and SoundBlaster sound cards, or the sound chips of classic home computers.
Tracker music is typically stored in module files where the song data and samples are encapsulated in a single file. Several module file formats are supported by popular audio players. Well-known formats include MOD, MED, S3M, XM and IT. Many of these formats can also be imported into existing trackers, allowing to view arrangement, instrumentation and the use of effect commands. This also makes the self-teaching of music composition using trackers easier and allows to extract instruments for later use in own songs, which was very common.
See also
Overdubbing
:Category:Tracker musicians
Computer game music
Modular software music studio
List of music software
Digital audio workstation
Further reading
External links
Andrew 'Necros' Sega: Taking Tracking Mainstream is a tracker history presentation on the 2007 Notacon
Tracker History Graphing Project lineage of music trackers by Claudio Matsuoka
The Tracker's Handbook, an introduction to tracking
References
Amiga software
Demoscene
Music software
Video game music technology |
43194937 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan%20H.%20Borning | Alan H. Borning | Alan H. Borning is an American Computer Scientist noted for his research on human computer interaction and object-oriented programming. In particular his research in human-computer interaction is on designing for human values. He works on systems to support civic engagement and deliberation, and works on tools to make public transportation easier to use. He has also worked on constraint-based languages and systems, and cooperating constraint languages and solvers.
Biography
Borning received a B.A. in Mathematics from Reed College in 1971. He received a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1974 and a Ph.D in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1979.
He then joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Washington in 1980, where in 2016 he is still a professor there. He is also an adjunct professor in the Information School, and a member of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Urban Design and Planning.
Awards
In the year 2001, he became an ACM Fellow for contributions to constraint-based languages, systems, and applications, to object-oriented programming; and to understanding issues of computers and society.
References
External links
University of Washington: Alan H. Borning, Department of Computer Science
American computer scientists
University of Washington faculty
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Living people
1950 births
Reed College alumni
Stanford University alumni
Place of birth missing (living people) |
5996931 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline%20of%20Internet%20conflicts | Timeline of Internet conflicts | The Internet has a long history of turbulent relations, major maliciously designed disruptions (such as wide scale computer virus incidents, DOS and DDOS attacks that cripple services, and organized attacks that cripple major online communities), and other conflicts. This is a list of known and documented Internet, Usenet, virtual community and World Wide Web related conflicts, and of conflicts that touch on both offline and online worlds with possibly wider reaching implications.
Spawned from the original ARPANET, the modern Internet, World Wide Web and other services on it, such as virtual communities (bulletin boards, forums, and Massively multiplayer online games) have grown exponentially. Such prolific growth of population, mirroring "offline" society, contributes to the number of conflicts and problems online growing each year. Today, billions of people in nearly all countries use various parts of the Internet. Inevitably, as in "brick and mortar" or offline society, the virtual equivalent of major turning points, conflicts, and disruptions—the online equivalents of the falling of the Berlin Wall, the creation of the United Nations, spread of disease, and events like the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait will occur.
Pre World Wide Web era
1970s
1980s
1980
ARPANET grinds to a complete halt on October 27 because of an accidentally-propagated status-message virus.
1985
Kevin Mitnick was arrested by the FBI on February 15. Mitnick was convicted of wire fraud and of breaking into the computer systems of Fujitsu, Motorola, Nokia, and Sun Microsystems. He served five years in prison. His pursuit and subsequent arrest made him one of the most famous hackers up to that time.
1988
A 23-year-old graduate student at Cornell University, Robert Tappan Morris, released the Internet's first worm, the Morris worm. Morris, the son of a National Security Agency (NSA) computer security expert, wrote 99 lines of code and released them as an experiment. The program began replicating and infecting machines at a much faster rate than he had anticipated, causing machines all over the world to crash.
1990
In response to the US Secret Service's Operation Sundevil, Mitch Kapor establishes the Electronic Frontier Foundation to provide legal representation in cases involving the civil rights of computer users.
World Wide Web era
1990s
1991
Phil Zimmermann creates and releases Pretty Good Privacy, an encryption tool still in use. By 1993 he is the target of US government investigations charged with "munitions export without a license". The investigation ended in 1996 with no charges filed; this is the first known case of a government trying to stop the spread of encryption technology.
1994
An international group, dubbed the "Phonemasters" by the FBI, hacked into the networks of a number of companies including MCI WorldCom, Sprint, AT&T, and Equifax credit reporters. The gang accounted for approximately $1.85 million in business losses.
In late 1995, Vladimir Levin persuaded Citibank's computers to transfer $10 million from its customers' accounts to his. Interpol arrested him at Heathrow Airport and Citibank got most of the money back. He pleaded guilty in 1995, but the method he used wasn't uncovered for another ten years and at that time was one of the largest computer crimes by dollar value.
Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel post the first large commercial newsgroup spam, setting off an arms race between spammers and network operators.
1995
Scientology and the Internet: After documents copyrighted by the Church of Scientology are posted to Usenet group alt.religion.scientology, church lawyers send threats of legal action to several users and attempt to shut down the group. Lawsuits are brought against users Dennis Erlich, Grady Ward, Arnaldo Lerma and Karin Spaink, but these fail to stem distribution of the documents.
1996
Tim Lloyd plants a software time bomb at Omega Engineering, a company in New Jersey. The results of the attack are devastating: losses of US$12 million and more than 80 employees lose their jobs. Lloyd is sentenced to 41 months in jail.
US President Bill Clinton signs the Communications Decency Act into US federal law as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Web site operators turn their pages black in protest. The decency provisions are overturned the following year in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union.
1998
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) becomes law in the United States.
The CIH computer virus is released, written by Chen Ing Hau of Taiwan. It is considered to be one of the most harmful widely circulated viruses, overwriting critical information on infected system drives, and more importantly, in some cases corrupting the system BIOS, rendering computer systems unbootable. It was found in the wild in September.
Two Chinese hackers, Hao Jinglong and Hao Jingwen (twin brothers), are sentenced to death by a court in China for breaking into a bank's computer network and stealing 720,000 yuan ($87,000).
The US government allows the export of 56-bit encryption software, and stronger encryption software for highly sensitive data.
The Electronic Disturbance Theater launches the Floodnet tool for civil disobedience, a tool to create a denial-of-service attack (DOS). The first DoS attacks were launched against the Pentagon, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Mexican government.
1999
From the time the Morris worm struck the Internet until the onset of the Melissa virus, the Internet was relatively free from swift-moving, highly destructive "malware". The Melissa virus, however, was rapacious; damages have been estimated at nearly $400 million. It marked a turning point, being the first incident of its kind to affect the newly commercial Internet.
2000s
2000
The US government establishes a technical review process to allow the export of encryption software regardless of key length.
Discovering a demo of their song "I Disappear" on the Napster P2P file-sharing network, heavy metal band Metallica filed legal action against Napster over it (Metallica v. Napster, Inc.). This was the first time a major musical act publicly went against allegedly illegal file sharing.
In February 2000, some of the Internet's most reliable sites were rendered nearly unreachable by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Yahoo! took the first hit on February 7, 2000. In the next few days, Buy.com, eBay, CNN, Amazon.com, ZDNet.com, E-Trade, and Excite were taken down by DDoS attacks. Though damage estimates vary widely, the FBI estimates that the companies suffered $1.7 billion USD in lost business and other damages.
On May 5, 2000, the ILOVEYOU computer worm attacked tens of millions of Windows-based PCs. It started spreading as an email message with the subject line "ILOVEYOU" and the attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs". The outbreak was estimated to have caused US$5.5–8.7 billion in damages worldwide, and estimated to cost the US$15 billion to remove the worm. The worm originated from the Philippines.
2001
Dmitry Sklyarov is arrested by FBI agents while visiting the United States for having cracked encryption on Adobe Acrobat e-book software, in violation of the United States' DMCA. This occurred despite the fact that Russia, of which he is a citizen, does not honor this law as of 2001.
2002
Google receives legal notices from the Church of Scientology and removes links to Operation Clambake from its search results.
In October, a massive attack against the 13 root domain servers of the Internet is launched by unidentified hackers. The aim: to stop the domain name resolution service around the net.
2003
Site Finder, the attempt by VeriSign in 2003 to take control of all unregistered .com and .net domain names for their own purposes, is launched, and just as quickly scuttled after massive public outcry and official protest from groups such as ARIN and IANA.
2004
In November, Marvel Comics filed a lawsuit against the developers of the City of Heroes MMO, Cryptic Studios and their publisher NCsoft alleging that the game not only allows, but actively promotes, the creation of characters whose copyrights and trademarks are owned by Marvel, and that Cryptic has intentionally failed to police these infringing characters. The suit sought unspecified damages and an injunction to force the companies to stop making use of its characters. The case is settled and rejected by United States courts in December 2005 with no changes made to the game.
2005
In May, the Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident began.
In October, the Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal began, where it was discovered that Sony BMG surreptitiously and possibly illegally distributed copy protection software that forced itself to install on computers playing their audio CDs. As a result, many Windows based computers belonging to consumers were left vulnerable to exploit and hacking.
In November, it was revealed that the online video game World of Warcraft, with millions of subscribers, would be hackable due to the far-reaching corruption and invasiveness of Sony's copy protection scheme.
On December 20, the City of Heroes game servers were nearly all hacked by an undisclosed method. According to NCsoft representative CuppaJo, "Customer data and its security was not compromised in any way during the incident that occurred," and no additional information beyond this was publicly disclosed. As of July 2006, this is the first known hack of any MMO, of which there are millions of subscribers across numerous games.
2006
In January 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged a class action lawsuit (Hepting v. AT&T) which alleged that AT&T had allowed agents of the National Security Agency to monitor phone and Internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants. In April 2006 a retired former AT&T technician, Mark Klein, lodged an affidavit supporting this allegation. The Department of Justice has stated they will intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege. The existence of this database and the NSA program that compiled it was mostly unknown to the general public until USA Today broke the story on May 10, 2006. It is estimated that the database contains over 1.9 trillion call-detail records of phone calls made after September 11 attacks.
On May 3, a massive DDOS assault on Blue Security, an anti-spam company, is redirected by Blue Security staff to their Movable Type-hosted blog. The result is that the DDOS instead knocks out all access to over 1.8 million active blogs, including all ten million plus registered LiveJournal accounts (which is owned by Movable Type's parent company).
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in May was accused of hiring illegal hackers to fight BitTorrent technology.
In June, The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent tracker website based in and operating from Sweden, is raided by Swedish police for allegedly violating United States, Swedish, and European Union copyright law. As of November 2006, the site remains online, operating from Denmark and no legal action has been filed against it or its owners. (The site is online now at thepiratebay.org)
2007
May 17: Estonia recovers from massive denial-of-service attack
June 13: FBI Operation Bot Roast finds over 1 million botnet victims
June 21: A spear phishing incident at the Office of the Secretary of Defense steals sensitive U.S. defense information, leading to significant changes in identity and message-source verification at OSD.
August 11: United Nations website hacked by Indian Hacker Pankaj Kumar Singh.
November 14: Panda Burning Incense which is known by several other names, including Fujacks and Radoppan.T lead to the arrest of eight people in China. Panda Burning Incense was a parasitic virus that infected executable files on a PC. When infected, the icon of the executable file changes to an image of a panda holding three sticks of incense. The arrests were the first for virus writing in China.
2008
January 17: Project Chanology; Anonymous attacks Scientology website servers around the world. Private documents are stolen from Scientology computers and distributed over the Internet.
March 7: Around 20 Chinese hackers claim to have gained access to the world's most sensitive sites, including the Pentagon. They operated from an apartment on a Chinese Island.
March 14: Trend Micro website successfully hacked by Turkish hacker Janizary (aka Utku).
2009
April 4: Conficker worm infiltrated millions of PCs worldwide including many government-level top-security computer networks.
2010s
2010
June: Stuxnet The Stuxnet worm is found by VirusBlokAda. Stuxnet was unusual in that while it spread via Windows computers, its payload targeted just one specific model and type of SCADA systems. It slowly became clear that it was a cyber attack on Iran's nuclear facilities—with most experts believing that Israel was behind it—perhaps with US help.
2011
The hacker group Lulz Security is formed.
April 9: Bank of America website got hacked by a Turkish hacker named JeOPaRDY. An estimated 85,000 credit card numbers and accounts were reported to have been stolen due to the hack. Bank officials say no personal customer bank information is available on that web-page. Investigations are being conducted by the FBI to trace down the incriminated hacker.
April 17: An "external intrusion" sends the PlayStation Network offline, and compromises personally identifying information (possibly including credit card details) of its 77 million accounts, in what is claimed to be one of the five largest data breaches ever.
Computer hacker sl1nk releases information of his penetration in the servers of the Department of Defense (DoD), Pentagon, NASA, NSA, US Military, Department of the Navy, Space and Naval Warfare System Command and other UK/US government websites.
September: Bangladeshi hacker TiGER-M@TE made a world record in defacement history by hacking 700,000 websites in a single shot.
October 16: The YouTube channel of Sesame Street was hacked, streaming pornographic content for about 22 minutes.
November 1: The main phone and Internet networks of the Palestinian territories sustained a hacker attack from multiple locations worldwide.
November 7: The forums for Valve's Steam service were hacked. Redirects for a hacking website, Fkn0wned, appeared on the Steam users' forums, offering "hacking tutorials and tools, porn, free giveaways and much more."
December 14: Five members of the Norwegian hacker group, Noria, were arrested, allegedly suspected for hacking into the email account of the militant extremist Anders Behring Breivik (who perpetrated the 2011 attacks in the country).
2012
A hacker, Big-Smoke, published over 400,000 credit cards online, and threatened Israel to release 1 million credit cards in the future. In response to that incident, an Israeli hacker published over 200 Albanian' credit cards online.
Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, the co-founder of Pirate Bay, was convicted in Denmark of hacking a mainframe computer, what was then Denmark's biggest hacking case.
January 7: "Team Appunity", a group of Norwegian hackers, were arrested for breaking into Norway's largest prostitution website then publishing the user database online.
February 3: Marriott was hacked by a New Age ideologist, Attila Nemeth who was resisting against the New World Order where he said that corporations are allegedly controlling the world. As a response Marriott reported him to the United States Secret Service.
February 8: Foxconn is hacked by a hacker group, "Swagg Security", releasing a massive amount of data including email and server logins, and even more alarming—bank account credentials of large companies like Apple and Microsoft. Swagg Security stages the attack just as a Foxconn protest ignites against terrible working conditions in southern China.
May 4: The websites of several Turkish representative offices of international IT-companies are defaced within the same day by F0RTYS3V3N (Turkish Hacker), including the websites of Google, Yandex, Microsoft, Gmail, MSN, Hotmail, PayPal.
May 24: WHMCS is hacked by UGNazi, they claim that the reason for this is because of the illegal sites that are using their software.
May 31: MyBB is hacked by newly founded hacker group, UGNazi, the website was defaced for about a day, they claim their reasoning for this was because they were upset that the forum board Hackforums.net uses their software.
June 5: The social networking website LinkedIn has been hacked and the passwords for nearly 6.5 million user accounts are stolen by cybercriminals. As a result, a United States grand jury indicted Nikulin and three unnamed co-conspirators on charges of aggravated identity theft and computer intrusion.
August 15: The most valuable company in the world Saudi Aramco is crippled by a cyber warfare attack for months by malware called Shamoon. Considered the biggest hack in history in terms of cost and destructiveness . Carried out by an Iranian attacker group called Cutting Sword of Justice. Iranian hackers retaliated against Stuxnet by releasing Shamoon. The malware destroyed over 35,000 Saudi Aramco computers, affecting business operations for months.
December 17: Computer hacker sl1nk announced that he has hacked a total of 9 countries' SCADA systems. The proof includes 6 countries: France, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
2013
The social networking website Tumblr is attacked by hackers. Consequently, 65,469,298 unique emails and passwords were leaked from Tumblr. The data breach's legitimacy is confirmed by computer security researcher Troy Hunt.
August: Yahoo! data breaches occurred. More than 1 billion users data are being leaked.
2014
February 7: The bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy after $460million was apparently stolen by hackers due to "weaknesses in [their] system" and another $27.4million went missing from its bank accounts.
October: The White House computer system was hacked. It was said that the FBI, the Secret Service, and other U.S. intelligence agencies categorized the attacks "among the most sophisticated attacks ever launched against U.S. government systems."
November 24: In response to the release of the film The Interview, the servers of Sony Pictures are hacked by a hacker group calling itself "Guardian of Peace".
November 28: The website of the Philippine telecommunications company Globe Telecom was hacked in response to the poor internet service they are distributing.
2015
June: the records of 21.5 million people, including social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, fingerprints, and security clearance-related information, are stolen from the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Most of the victims are employees of the United States government and unsuccessful applicants to it. The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post report that government sources believe the hacker is the government of China.
July: The servers of extramarital affairs website Ashley Madison were breached.
2016
February: The 2016 Bangladesh Bank heist attempted to steal US$951 million from a Bangladesh Bank, and succeeded in getting $101 million—although some of this was later recovered.
July 22: WikiLeaks published the documents from the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak.
July 29: a group suspected coming from China launched hacker attacks on the website of Vietnam Airlines.
August 13: The Shadow Brokers (TSB) started publishing several leaks containing hacking tools from the National Security Agency (NSA), including several zero-day exploits. Ongoing leaks until April 2017 (The Shadow Brokers)
September: Hacker Ardit Ferizi is sentenced to 20 years in prison after being arrested for hacking U.S. servers and passing the leaked information to members of ISIL terrorist group back in 2015.
October: The 2016 Dyn cyberattack is being conducted with a botnet consisting of IOTs infected with Mirai by the hacktivist groups SpainSquad, Anonymous, and New World Hackers, reportedly in retaliation for Ecuador's rescinding Internet access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at their embassy in London, where he has been granted asylum.
Late 2016: Hackers steal international personal user data from the company Uber, including phone numbers, email addresses, and names, of 57 million people and 600,000 driver's license numbers of drivers for the company. Uber's GitHub account was accessed through Amazon's cloud-based service. Uber paid the hackers $100,000 for assurances the data was destroyed.
December 2016: Yahoo! data breaches reported and affected more than 1 billion users. The data leakage includes user names, email addresses, telephone numbers, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, dates of birth, and hashed passwords
2017
April: A hacker group calling itself "The Dark Overlord" posted unreleased episodes of Orange Is the New Black TV series online after failing to extort the online entertainment company Netflix.
May: WannaCry ransomware attack started on Friday, May 12, 2017, and has been described as unprecedented in scale, infecting more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries. A hacked unreleased Disney film is held for ransom, to be paid in Bitcoin.
May: 25,000 digital photos and ID scans relating to patients of the Grozio Chirurgija cosmetic surgery clinic in Lithuania were obtained and published without consent by an unknown group demanding ransoms. Thousands of clients from more than 60 countries were affected. The breach brought attention to weaknesses in Lithuania's information security.
June: 2017 Petya cyberattack.
June: TRITON (TRISIS), a malware framework designed to reprogram Triconex safety instrumented systems (SIS) of industrial control systems (ICS), discovered in Saudi Arabian Petrochemical plant.
August: Hackers demand $7.5 million in Bitcoin to stop pre-releasing HBO shows and scripts, including Ballers, Room 104 and Game of Thrones.
May–July 2017: The Equifax breach.
September 2017: Deloitte breach.
December: Mecklenburg County, North Carolina computer systems were hacked. They did not pay the ransom.
2018
March: Computer systems in the city of Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, are seized by hackers with ransomware. They did not pay the ransom, and two Iranians were indicted by the FBI on cyber crime charges for the breach.
The town of Wasaga Beach in Ontario, Canada computer systems are seized by hackers with ransomware.
September: Facebook was hacked, exposing to hackers the personal information of an estimated 30 million Facebook users (initially estimated at 50 million) when the hackers "stole" the "access tokens" of 400,000 Facebook users. The information accessible to the hackers included users' email addresses, phone numbers, their lists of friends, Groups they are members of, users' search information, posts on their timelines, and names of recent Messenger conversations.
October: West Haven, Connecticut USA computer systems are seized by hackers with ransomware, they paid $2,000 in ransom.
November:
The first U.S. indictment of individual people for ransomware attacks occurs. The U.S. Justice Department indicted two men Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri who allegedly used the SamSam ransomware for extortion, netting them more than $6 million in ransom payments. The companies infected with the ransomware included Allscripts, Medstar Health, and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Altogether, the attacks caused victims to lose more than $30 million, in addition to the ransom payments.
Marriott disclosed that its Starwood Hotel brand had been subject to a security breach.
2019
March: Jackson County computer systems in the U.S. state of Georgia are seized by hackers with ransomware, they paid $400,000 in ransom. The city of Albany in the U.S. state of New York experiences a ransomware cyber attack.
April: Computer systems in the city of Augusta, in the U.S. state of Maine, are seized by hackers using ransomware. The City of Greenville (North Carolina)'s computer systems are seized by hackers using ransomware known as RobbinHood. Imperial County, in the U.S. state of California, computer systems are seized by hackers using Ryuk ransomware.
May: computer systems belonging to the City of Baltimore are seized by hackers using ransomware known as RobbinHood that encrypts files with a "file-locking" virus, as well as the tool EternalBlue.
June: The city of Riviera Beach, Florida paid roughly $600,000 ransom in Bitcoin to hackers who seized their computers using ransomware. Hackers stole 18 hours of unreleased music from the band Radiohead demanding $150,000 ransom. Radiohead released the music to the public anyway and did not pay the ransom.
November: The Anonymous hacktivist collective announced that they have hacked into four Chinese computer databases and donated those to data breach indexing/notification service vigilante.pw. The hack was conducted in order to support the 2019 Hong Kong protests, amidst the Hong Kong police's siege of the city's Polytechnic University. They also brought up a possible peace plan first proposed by a professor at Inha University in hopes of having the Korean reunification and the five key demands of the Hong Kong protest being fulfilled at once.
2020s
2020
February: Anonymous hacked the United Nations website and created a page for Taiwan, a country which had not had a seat at the UN since 1971. The hacked page featured the Flag of Taiwan, the KMT emblem, a Taiwan Independence flag, the Anonymous logo, embedded YouTube videos such as the Taiwanese national anthem and the closing score for the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame titled "It's Been a Long, Long Time", and a caption. The hacked server belonged to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
May: Anonymous declared a large hack on May 28, three days after the murder of George Floyd. An individual claiming to represent Anonymous stated that "We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." in a now-deleted video. Anonymous addressed police brutality and said they "will be exposing [their] many crimes to the world". It was suspected that Anonymous were the cause for the downtime and public suspension of the Minneapolis Police Department website and its parent site, the website of the City of Minneapolis.
May: Indian national Shubham Upadhyay posed as Superintendent of Police and, using social engineering, used a free caller identification app to call up the in-charge of the Kotwali police station, K. K. Gupta, in order to threaten him to get his phone repaired amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. The attempt was foiled.
June: Anonymous claimed responsibility for stealing and leaking a trove of documents collectively nicknamed 'BlueLeaks'. The 269-gigabytes collection was published by a leak-focused activist group known as Distributed Denial of Secrets. Furthermore, the collective took down Atlanta Police Department's website via DDoS, and defaced websites such as a Filipino governmental webpage and that of Brookhaven National Labs. They expressed support for Julian Assange and press freedom, while briefly "taking a swing" against Facebook, Reddit and Wikipedia for having 'engaged in shady practices behind our prying eyes'. In the case of Reddit, they posted a link to a court document describing the possible involvement of a moderator of a large traffic subreddit (/r/news) in an online harassment-related case.
June: The Buffalo, NY police department's website was supposedly hacked by Anonymous. While the website was up and running after a few minutes, Anonymous tweeted again on Twitter urging that it be taken down. A few minutes later, the Buffalo NY website was brought down again. They also hacked Chicago police radios to play N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police".
June: Over 1,000 accounts on multiplayer online game Roblox were hacked to display that they supported U.S. President Donald Trump.
July: The 2020 Twitter bitcoin scam occurred.
July: User credentials of writing website Wattpad were stolen and leaked on a hacker forum. The database contained over 200 million records.
August: A large number of subreddits were hacked to post materials endorsing Donald Trump. The affected subreddits included r/BlackPeopleTwitter, r/3amJokes, r/NFL, r/PhotoshopBattles. An entity with the name of "calvin goh and Melvern" had purportedly claimed responsibility for the massive defacement, and also made violent threats against a Chinese embassy.
August: The US Air Force's Hack-A-Sat event was hosted at DEF CON's virtual conference where groups such as Poland Can Into Space, FluxRepeatRocket, AddVulcan, Samurai, Solar Wine, PFS, 15 Fitty Tree, and 1064CBread competed in order to control a satellite in space. The Poland Can Into Space team stood out for having successfully manipulated a satellite to take a picture of the Moon.
August: The website of Belarusian company "BrestTorgTeknika" was defaced by a hacker nicknaming herself "Queen Elsa", in order to support the 2020–21 Belarusian protests. In it, the page hacker exclaimed "Get Iced Iced already" and "Free Belarus, revolution of our times" with the latter alluding to the famous slogan used by 2019 Hong Kong protests. The results of the hack were then announced on Reddit's /r/Belarus subreddit by a poster under the username "Socookre".
August: Multiple DDoS attacks forced New Zealand's stock market to temporarily shut down.
September: The first suspected death from a cyberattack was reported after cybercriminals hit a hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany with ransomware.
October: A wave of botnet-coordinated ransomware attacks against hospital infrastructure occurred in the United States, identified as . State security officials and American corporate security officers were concerned that these attacks might be a prelude to hacking of election infrastructure during the elections of the subsequent month, like similar incidents during the 2016 United States elections and other attacks; there was, however, no evidence that they performed attacks on election infrastructure in 2020.
December: A supply chain attack targeting upstream dependencies from Texas IT service provider "SolarWinds" results in serious, wide-ranging security breaches at the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments. White House officials did not immediately publicly identify a culprit; Reuters, citing sources "familiar with the investigation", pointed toward the Russian government. An official statement shared by Senate Finance Committee ranking member, Ron Wyden said: "Hackers broke into systems in the Departmental Offices division of Treasury, home to the department’s highest-ranking officials."
December: A bomb threat posted from a Twitter account that was seemingly hacked by persons with the aliases of "Omnipotent" and "choonkeat", against the Aeroflot Flight 102, a passenger flight with the plane tail number of VQ-BIL coming from Moscow to New York City. Due to that, a runway of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was temporarily closed and resulted in the delay of Aeroflot Flight 103, a return flight back to Moscow.
December: The Anonymous group initiated 'Christmas gift' defacements against multiple Russian portals including a municipal website in Tomsk and that of a regional football club. Inside the defacements, they made multiple references such as Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, freedom protests in Thailand and Belarus, and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party. They also held a mock award based on an event on the game platform Roblox that was called "RB Battles" where YouTubers Tanqr and KreekCraft, the winner and the runner up of the actual game event, were compared to both Taiwan and New Zealand respectively due to the latter's reportedly stellar performance in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
January: Microsoft Exchange Server data breach
February: Anonymous announced cyber-attacks of at least five Malaysian websites. As a result, eleven individuals were nabbed as suspects.
February: Hackers including those with names of "张卫能 utoyo" and "full_discl0sure" hijacked an events website Aucklife in order to craft a phony bomb threat against the Chinese consulate in Auckland, New Zealand, and also a similar facility in Sydney, Australia. Their motive was a punitive response against China due to COVID-19. As a result, a physical search was conducted at the consulate by New Zealand's Police Specialist Search Group while Aucklife owner Hailey Newton had since regained her access to the website. Wellington-based cybersecurity consultant Adam Boileau remarked that the hack isn't 'highly technical'.
February: The group "Myanmar Hackers" attacked several websites belonging to Myanmar government agencies such as the Central Bank of Myanmar and the military-run Tatmadaw True News Information Team. The group also targeted the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, Trade Department, Customs Department, Ministry of Commerce, Myawady TV and state-owned broadcaster Myanmar Radio and Television and some private media outlets. A computer technician in Yangon found that the hacks were denial-of-service attacks, while the group's motive is to protest the 2021 Myanmar coup.
April: Over 500 million Facebook users' personal info—including info on 32 million in the United States—was discovered posted on a hackers' website, though Facebook claimed that the information was from a 2019 hack, and that the company had already taken mitigation measures; however, the company declined to say whether it had notified the affected users of the breach.
April: The Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure data breach of unauthorized access to the networks of high-value targets since at least June 2020 via across the U.S. and some E.U. nations due to their use of vulnerable, proprietary software was reported.
May: Operation of the U.S. Colonial Pipeline is interrupted by a ransomware cyber operation.
May: On 21 May 2021 Air India was subjected to a cyberattack wherein the personal details of about 4.5 million customers around the world were compromised including passport, credit card details, birth dates, name and ticket information.
July: On 22 July 2021 Saudi Aramco data were leaked by a third-party contractor and demanded $50 million ransom from Saudi Aramco. Saudi Aramco confirmed the incident after a hacker claimed on dark web that he had stolen 1 terabyte of data about location of oil refineries and employees data in a post that was posted on June 23.
August: T-Mobile reported that data files with information from about 40 million former or prospective T-Mobile customers, including first and last names, date of birth, SSN, and driver's license/ID information, were compromised.
September and October: 2021 Epik data breach. Anonymous obtained and released over 400gigabytes of data from the domain registrar and web hosting company Epik. The data was shared in three releases between September 13 and October 4. The first release included domain purchase and transfer details, account credentials and logins, payment history, employee emails, and unidentified private keys. The hackers claimed they had obtained "a decade's worth of data", including all customer data and records for all domains ever hosted or registered through the company, and which included poorly encrypted passwords and other sensitive data stored in plaintext. The second release consisted of bootable disk images and API keys for third-party services used by Epik; the third contained additional disk images and an archive of data belonging to the Republican Party of Texas, who are an Epik customer.
October: On October 6, 2021, an anonymous 4chan user reportedly hacked and leaked the source code of Twitch, as well as information on how much the streaming service paid almost 2.4 million streamers since August 2019. Source code from almost 6,000 GitHub repositories was leaked, and the 4chan user said it was "part one" of a much larger release.
2022
February: The German Chaos Computer Club has reported more than fifty data leaks. Government institutions and companies from various business sectors were affected. In total, the researchers had access to over 6.4 million personal data records as well as terabytes of log data and source code.
See also
Computer and network surveillance
Email fraud
History of the Internet
Identity theft
Internet censorship
Internet privacy
List of security hacking incidents
Net neutrality
Spamming
Timeline of computer viruses and worms
References
Internet conflicts
Internet conflicts
Internet Relay Chat
Usenet
World Wide Web |
51277005 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free%20Software%20Users%20Group%2C%20Thiruvananthapuram | Free Software Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram | The origins of the Free software community in Thiruvananthapuram can be traced back to the group of TeX users around the University of Kerala in early 1980s. The community then later named themselves Thiruvananthapuram LUG (Indian Linux Users Group), GNU/Linux Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram and then ultimately Free Software Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram. The community has worked with the government in helping with key Free software initiatives in the government and also in promoting and supporting Free software among the general public. The community has also been instrumental in creating an IT policy favorable to Free software in the state of Kerala.
Main Activities
Free software install fests
One of the organized activities of the community was to organize GNU/Linux install fests in and around the city. These were usually organized in educational institutions or public places where the general public could bring their computers to get a GNU/Linux distribution installed on them. As GNU/Linux distributions became more and more easy to be installed and configured the community has stopped organizing these.
Developer camps
The group has also worked with SMC in organizing developer camps in Thiruvananthapuram and outside. During developer camps developers are given hands-on experience in working with Free software tools and primarily around localization initiatives which SMC is involved with.
Software / Hardware Freedom Day
The Free software community in Thiruvananthapuram has also been involved in organizing Software Freedom Day celebrations and Hardware Freedom Day celebrations in the city.
Free software release parties
The community has also organized release parties to celebrate the release of the different Free software like Ubuntu, Firefox etc.
Key Initiatives
Free software install fest at Technopark
One of the first large-scale events organized by the community was a week long Free Software Install Fest at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram organized in 2008. The event was co-organized by SPACE, Zyxware Technologies and Kerala State IT Mission
Creating India's first Freedom Toaster
The community worked together with Zyxware Technologies to create India's first Freedom Toaster which is a kiosk which can vend Free software CDs and DVDs. The Freedom toaster was made available at Technopark and at different engineering colleges to make available its services to the public.
Organizing Freedom Walk
The Free Software Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram along with Free software communities across Kerala and Zyxware Technologies organized a 44-day peace walk called Freedom Walk in 2008. Three volunteers from the community walked from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram covering all 14 districts in the state on foot and conducted Free software events in schools and colleges to promote the message and philosophy of Free software.
Organizing Free Software Free Society conferences
The community has been jointly involved with organizing of the Free Software Free Society conferences conducted by the government of Kerala through ICFOSS and SPACE.
See also
Free software in Kerala
Free software in India
ICFOSS
SMC
SPACE
Free software movement
References
Free Software Foundation
Software industry in India
Science and technology in Thiruvananthapuram
Information technology organisations based in India |
18036697 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TechnologyOne | TechnologyOne | TechnologyOne Limited is an Australian enterprise software company founded in 1987. The company is headquartered in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Australia, with other offices in United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand, South Pacific and Asia. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the symbol TNE and is a constituent of the ASX 200 index.
History
TechnologyOne was founded by Adrian Di Marco in 1987, when he saw an opportunity to build a new generation of accounting software for businesses and government departments, using relational database technology. DiMarco approached investors John and Dugald Mactaggart of J.L. Mactaggart Industries, a former customer, for financial backing.
TechnologyOne set up its first R&D centre in a demountable office in the car park at Mactaggart’s hide processing plant in Hemmant, Brisbane, in 1987. In the early 1990s, TechnologyOne built the Automated Titling System (ATS) for the Queensland Department of Natural Resource and Mines.
In 1992, TechnologyOne developed a student administration system called College Administration System (CAP) for TAFE Queensland, which led to the development of StudentOne (now TechnologyOne Student Management), used by Australian universities. The company also expanded in New Zealand.
TechnologyOne was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1999. In October 2000, the company raised $18 million from investors including Hyperion Asset Management, Selector Funds Management, Pendal Group, Spheria Asset Management, Colonial First State, River Capital and Pengana.
In 2005, TechnologyOne shifted focus from functionality-centric software to people-centric software. In 2006, it expanded in UK with its first office in Maidenhead.
In 2014, TechnologyOne entered the S&P/ASX 200 Index and recorded $1 billion market capitalization.
In May 2017 Di Marco stepped down as CEO and COO, Edward Chung, took over as CEO. At the company’s full year results on 21 November 2017, the company’s cloud business turned a profit for the first time, posting a $2.5 million profit for the year to September, and signing 112 new cloud customers.
In 2019, the company announced that it had reached $300 million of annual revenues. In 2020, the company announced that half of its customers had transitioned from on-premise to SaaS and that 86% of its revenue is now subscription revenue.
In 2021, TechnologyOne CEO Edward Chung announced the companies first patron saint - St Peter.
Software as a service
Since 2012, the company has transitioned the business from being an on-premises software provider to a software as a service business. This has enabled clients to integrate with third party providers such as MuleSoft and Salesforce.
The first iteration of TechnologyOne’s cloud software was launched in 2014, which enabled users to access the platform via the cloud. This allows the company to offer a fully configurable service from its own servers.
TechnologyOne products are used by more than 1,200 organisations in Australia and New Zealand. The company also has customers in the United Kingdom. By 2018, more than 30 per cent of TechnologyOne customers had transitioned to the company’s SaaS platform.
Acquisitions
References
External links
Companies based in Brisbane
Software companies of Australia
Australian companies established in 1987
Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange
Australian brands |
42925 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine%20%28email%20client%29 | Pine (email client) | Pine is a freeware, text-based email client which was developed at the University of Washington. The first version was written in 1989, and announced to the public in March 1992. Source code was available for only the Unix version under a license written by the University of Washington. Pine is no longer under development, and has been replaced by the Alpine client, which is available under the Apache License.
Supported platforms
There are Unix, Windows, and Linux versions of Pine. The Unix/Linux version is text user interface based—its message editor inspired the text editor Pico. The Windows (and formerly DOS) version is called PC-Pine. WebPine was available to individuals associated with the University of Washington (students, faculty, etc.)—a version of Pine implemented as a web application.
Most moved over to Alpine, however there are still many users of this software.
Etymology
Many people believe that Pine stands for "Pine Is Not Elm". One of its original authors, Laurence Lundblade, insists this was never the case and that it started off simply as a word and not an acronym, and that his first choice of a backronym for pine would be "Pine Is Nearly Elm". Over time, it was changed by the university to mean Program for Internet News and E-mail. The original announcement said: "Pine was originally based on Elm, but it has evolved much since, ('Pine Is No-longer Elm')."
Licensing and clones
Up to version 3.91, the Pine license was similar to BSD, and it stated that
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee to the University of Washington is hereby granted …
The University registered a trademark for the Pine name with respect to "computer programs used in communication and electronic mail applications" in March 1995.
From version 3.92, the holder of the copyright, the University of Washington, changed the license so that even if the source code was still available, they did not allow modifications and changes to Pine to be distributed by anyone other than themselves. They also claimed that even the old license never allowed distribution of modified versions.
The trademark for the Pine name was part of their position in this matter.
In reaction, some developers forked version 3.91 under the name MANA (for Mail And News Agent) to avoid the trademark issue and the GNU Project adopted it as GNU Mana. Richard Stallman claims that the University of Washington threatened to sue the Free Software Foundation for distributing the modified Pine program, resulting in the development of MANA ceasing and no versions being released.
The Pico clone GNU nano was also written due to the change in licensing terms of Pine and Pico, as explained by nano's author in a blog post criticizing the license in 2001.
The University of Washington later modified their license somewhat to allow unmodified distribution of Pine alongside collections of free software, but the license still does not conform to the Open Source and the Free Software Guidelines so it is semi-free software, effectively proprietary software.
Alpine
In 2006, the University of Washington announced that it stopped development of Pine with Pine 4.64, although Pine continues to be supported.
In its place is a new family of email tools based upon Pine, called Alpine and licensed under the Apache License, version 2. November 29, 2006 saw the first public alpha release, which forms a new approach, since the alpha test of Pine was always non-public.
Alpine 1.0 was publicly released on December 20, 2007. The most recent version 2.25 was released on September 18, 2021.
See also
Alpine (email client)
Comparison of email clients
Text-based email client
UW IMAP
References
External links
Patches for Pine
Curses (programming library)
Freeware
Email client software for Linux
MacOS email clients
Windows email clients
Unix Internet software
Portable software |
4887847 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20Campbell%20School%20of%20Technology | George Campbell School of Technology | George Campbell School of Technology is a public high school specialising in technical education, located in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The school was founded as George Campbell Technical High School in 1963 and today has a co-educational student body of over 1100 pupils. The curriculum includes the compulsory subjects of Mathematics, Science, Technical drawing, English and Afrikaans.
Electives offered are:
Motor mechanics
Electrician work
Fitting and turning
Technika electronic
Technika mechanical
Technika electrical
Facilities
The Media Centre is available to all students to use during breaks and after school. Besides books, there are computers connected to the Internet, printers and photocopy facilities. The school employs a full-time librarian.
The swimming pool is 25m long and is used extensively by the school swimming and water polo teams.
The Information Technology Centre is divided into two sections so that two classes can be accommodated at the same time. One section has 32 computers and the other 34. In 2006 a third computer room was added with 34 computers. The computers in the centre are networked, linked to high speed printers and the Internet. All students do ICDL or Computer Literacy classes in grades 8 and 9 where they learn about the parts, construction and development of the computer, the Internet, and programs.
In Grade 10 learners have the choice of doing either IT, where they learn programming, such as Java, or CAT (Computer Applications Technology) where they learn computer applications such as databases, word processors and webpage design. These subjects are done through to grade 12.
The school is a registered ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence) centre where learners and staff can be trained and tested to obtain an ICDL, an internationally recognised computer qualification.
Electrical Technology Centre
The Electrical Technology Centre is a very well-equipped centre which can accommodate the following disciplines covered in the curriculum: Electrical (Heavy current), Electronics (Light current), Digital systems and Communication Systems. In the Electrical Department we place high importance on the practical component. This component is vital to back up the theory.
Civil Technology Centre
Group 5 is building an outside facility on the school premises where students will be able to do practicals pertinent to civil technology, i.e. concrete slump tests, concrete beam testing, etc.
The FET curriculum expose the students to the field of architecture i.e. house design, bridge design, materials, tools, etc. Students discover how buildings are designed and built and explore the materials used to build these structures.
Mechanical Technology Centre
The NCS document has introduced a new subject into the syllabus called Mechanical Technology. The subject focuses on technology processes including design, problem solving, and the application of scientific principles. The subject includes all the previous subjects (Motor Mechanics, Fitting and Turning, Technica Mechanica) and combines them into one subject - Mechanical Technology.
AutoCAD Centre
The CAD centre runs 35 computers with AutoCAD. There are four teachers qualified to teach AutoCAD to the Grade 10 to Grade 12 learners. The Grade 12 learners are also taught 3D-modelling.
Sport
There are 14 teams who take the field on Saturdays with the Under 14 and 15s beating some of the schools in the top 3 in KZN. In 2007 the school became a force again in rugby as the first team played 15 games and won 11. The school hosted the annual FNB KZN-GAUTENG Tournament, the Springboks also trained at the school's rugby fields before heading to France.
The school also offers:
Swimming
Rugby Sevens
Soccer
Water polo
Hockey
Cricket
Surfing & Body boarding
Netball
Chess
The school also offers extra-mural activities such as
Poetry
Drama
Art
Choir
Revolution's Club
Interact Club
Durban Youth Council
External links
Education in Durban
Schools of technology in KwaZulu-Natal
Educational institutions established in 1963
1963 establishments in South Africa |
773853 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video%20game%20programming | Video game programming | Game programming, a subset of game development, is the software development of video games. Game programming requires substantial skill in software engineering and computer programming in a given language, as well as specialization in one or more of the following areas: simulation, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, physics, audio programming, and input. For massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), knowledge of additional areas such as network programming and database programming are required. Though often engaged in by professional game programmers, some may program games as a hobby.
Development process
Professional game development usually begins with a game design, which itself has several possible origins. Occasionally the game development process starts with no clear design in mind, but as a series of experiments. For example, game designer Will Wright began development of The Sims by getting programmers to experiment with several ideas.
Prototyping
Programmers are often required to produce prototypes of gameplay ideas and features. A great deal of prototyping may take place during pre-production, before the design document is complete, and may help determine what features the design specifies.
Prototypes are developed quickly with very little time for up-front design and mostly act as a proof of concept or to test ideas. They are not expected to work flawlessly, but are developed to try out new, sometimes exotic, ideas.
Game design
Though the programmer's main job is not to develop the game design, the programmers often contribute to the design, as do game artists. The game designer will solicit input from both the producer and the art and programming lead for ideas and strategies for the game design. Often individuals in non-lead positions also contribute, such as copywriters and other programmers and artists.
Programmers often closely follow the game design document. As the game development progresses, the design document changes as programming limitations and new capabilities are discovered and exploited.
Production
During production, programmers may create a great deal of source code to create the game described in the game's design document. Along the way, the design document is modified to meet limitations or expanded to exploit new features. The design document is very much a "living document", much of whose life is dictated by programmer's schedules, talent and resourcefulness.
While many programmers have some say in a game's content, most game producers solicit input from the lead programmer as to the status of a game programming development. The lead is responsible for knowing the status of all facets of the game's programming and for pointing out limitations. The lead programmer may also pass on suggestions from the programmers as to possible features they'd like to implement.
With today's visually rich content, the programmer must often interact with the art staff. This very much depends on the programmer's role, of course. For example, a 3D graphics programmer may need to work side by side with the game's 3D modelers discussing strategies and design considerations, while an AI programmer may need to interact very little, if at all, with the art staff. To help artists and level designers with their tasks, programmers may volunteer or be called upon to develop tools and utilities. Many of these may be for a specific purpose and can be buggy due to time constraints (time for development of such tools is often not included in a game's schedule) as well as because they are only for in-house use anyway. Many game tools are developed in RAD languages for quicker development and may be discarded after the completion of the game.
Testing
The formal quality assurance testing process, performed by professional game testers, begins well into game development. High-budget titles may begin testing with the first playable alpha, while low-budget and casual games might not enter testing until a release candidate is ready. The programmers' task is to fix errors and bugs as such are discovered by the QA teams.
Nearing completion
Final tasks include "polishing" the game, such as programmers fixing occasional bugs—from minor to catastrophic—that may arise during the last phases of testing.
Game developers may have a beta testing period, but the definition of such varies from developer to developer. Often a beta contains all of the game's features, but may have a few bugs or incomplete content. Few games are given a public beta period, for example, to measure stress tolerance for game servers.
When the game is deemed complete, it is said to have "gone gold" and is shipped off to the publisher. Depending on circumstances, the publisher may then subject it to its own quality assurance or may begin pressing the game from the gold master.
Maintenance
Once a game ships, the maintenance phase for the video game begins. Programmers wait for a period to get as many bug reports as possible. Once the developer thinks they've obtained enough feedback, the programmers start working on a patch. The patch may take weeks or months to develop, but it's intended to fix most bugs and problems with the game. Occasionally a patch may include extra features or content or may even alter gameplay.
Duration
Most modern games take from one to three years to complete. The length of development depends on a number of factors, tools, and hardware but programming is required throughout all phases of development except the very early stages of game design.
Tools
Like other software, game development programs are generated from source code to the actual program (called the executable) by a compiler. Source code can be developed with almost any text editor, but many professional game programmers use a full integrated development environment. Once again, which IDE one uses depends on the target platform.
In addition to IDEs, many game development companies create custom tools developed to be used in-house. Some of these include prototypes and asset conversion tools (programs that change artwork, for example, into the game's custom format). Some custom tools may even be delivered with the game, such as a level editor.
Game development companies are often very willing to spend thousands of dollars to make sure their programmers are well equipped with the best tools. A well outfitted programmer may have two to three development systems and multiple monitors dominating their office or cubicle.
Programming languages
Once the game's initial design has been agreed upon, the development language must be decided upon. The choice depends upon many factors, such as language familiarity of the programming staff, target platforms, the execution speed requirements and the language of any game engines, APIs or libraries being used.
For personal computers, the language selected may be little more than a matter of preference. Language bindings for popular libraries such as SDL and Allegro are widespread, and the performance gap between idiomatic code written in modern compiled languages is negligible. The most popular languages are usually procedural or object-oriented and implemented via compilers; for example, C, C++, and Java. However, developers may take into account domain-specific features, such as interfacing with the operating system, and resilience to reverse engineering for online video games. Many games are not written in one language exclusively, and may combine two or more languages; For example, Unity, a popular game engine, has different pieces written in C, C++, and C#.
For consoles, the support of the target platform is usually the most considered factor. In the past, video games for consoles were written almost exclusively in assembly due to limited resources in terms of both storage and processing speed. However, as technology has advanced, so have the options for game development on consoles. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony all have differing SDKs for their Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 consoles, respectively.
High-level scripting languages are increasingly being used as embedded extensions to the underlying game written in a compiled programming language, for the convenience of both the original developer and anyone who would wish to mod the game. Lua is a very popular choice, as its API is written in ANSI C and the language is designed to be embedded into other applications. Many developers have created custom languages altogether for their games, such as id Software's QuakeC and Epic Games' UnrealScript.
APIs and libraries
A key decision in game programming is which, if any, APIs and libraries to use. Today, there are numerous libraries available which take care of key tasks of game programming. Some libraries can handle sound processing, input, and graphics rendering. Some can even handle some AI tasks such as pathfinding. There are even entire game engines that handle most of the tasks of game programming and only require coding game logic.
Which APIs and libraries one chooses depends largely on the target platform. For example, libraries for PlayStation 2 development may not be available for Microsoft Windows and vice versa. However, there are game frameworks available that allow or ease cross-platform development, so programmers can program a game in a single language and have the game run on several platforms, such as the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP and Microsoft Windows.
Graphic APIs
Today, graphics are a key defining feature of most games. While 2D graphics used to be the norm for games released through the mid-1990s, most AAA games now boast full 3D graphics, even for games which are largely 2D in nature, such as Civilization III. However, purely 2D graphics have experienced a Renaissance with indie games.
A well established personal computer platform is Microsoft Windows. Since it came pre-installed on almost ninety percent of PCs sold, it now has the largest user base. The two most popular 3D graphics APIs for Microsoft Windows are Direct3D and OpenGL. The benefits and weaknesses of each API are hotly debated among Windows game programmers.
Currently, the most popular Computing platform is Google Android. Since it comes pre-installed on almost eighty percent of Smartphones sold, Android has the second largest user base, and increasing. Android uses OpenGL ES & Vulkan (API).
DirectX is a collection of game APIs. Direct3D is DirectX's 3D API. Direct3D is freely available from Microsoft, as are the rest of the DirectX APIs. Microsoft developed DirectX for game programmers and continues to add features to the API. The DirectX specification is not controlled by an open arbitration committee and Microsoft is free to add, remove or change features. Direct3D is not portable; it is designed specifically for Microsoft Windows and no other platform (though a form of Direct3D is used on Microsoft's Xbox, Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones and mobile devices which run the Pocket PC operating system).
OpenGL is a portable API specification. Code written with OpenGL is easily ported between platforms with a compatible implementation. For example, Quake II, which uses OpenGL, was ported from Windows to Linux by a fan of the game. OpenGL is a standard maintained by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB). The ARB meets periodically to update the standard by adding emerging support for features of the latest 3D hardware. Since it is standards based and has been around the longest, OpenGL is used by and taught in colleges and universities around the world. In addition, the development tools provided by the manufacturers of some video game consoles (such as the Nintendo GameCube, the Nintendo DS, and the PSP) use graphic APIs that resemble OpenGL. OpenGL often lags behind on feature updates due to the lack of a permanent development team and the requirement that implementations begin development after the standard has been published. Programmers who choose to use it can access some hardware's latest 3D features, but only through non-standardized extensions. The situation may change in the future as the OpenGL architecture review board (ARB) has passed control of the specification to the Khronos Group in an attempt to counter the problem.
Other APIs
For development on Microsoft Windows, the various APIs of DirectX may be used for input, sound effects, music, networking and the playback of videos. Many commercial libraries are available to accomplish these tasks, but since DirectX is available for free, it is the most widely used.
For console programming, the console manufacturers provide facilities for rendering graphics and the other tasks of game development. The console manufacturers also provide complete development systems, without which one cannot legally market nor develop games for their system. Third-party developers also sell toolkits or libraries that ease the development on one or more of these tasks or provide special benefits, such as cross-platform development capabilities.
Game structure
The central component of any game, from a programming standpoint, is the game loop. The game loop allows the game to run smoothly regardless of a user's input or lack thereof.
Most traditional software programs respond to user input and do nothing without it. For example, a word processor formats words and text as a user types. If the user doesn't type anything, the word processor does nothing. Some functions may take a long time to complete, but all are initiated by a user telling the program to do something.
Games, on the other hand, must continue to operate regardless of a user's input. The game loop allows this. A highly simplified game loop, in pseudocode, might look something like this :
while (user does not exit)
check for user input
run AI
move enemies
resolve collisions
draw graphics
play sounds
end while
The loop may be refined and modified as game development progresses, but most games are based on this basic idea.
Game loops differ depending on the platform they are developed for. For example, games written for DOS and many consoles can dominate and exploit available processing resources without restraint. However, games for a modern PC operating system such as Microsoft Windows must operate within the constraints of the process scheduler. Some modern games run multiple threads so that, for example, the computation of character AI can be decoupled from the generation of smooth motion within the game. This has the disadvantage of (slightly) increased overhead, but the game may run more smoothly and efficiently on hyper-threading or multicore processors and on multiprocessor platforms. With the computer industry's focus on CPUs with more cores that can execute more threads, this is becoming increasingly important. Consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 already have more than one core per processor, and execute more than one thread per core.
Hobbyists
The only platforms widely available for hobbyists to program are consumer operating systems, such as Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. This is because development on game consoles requires special development systems that cost thousands of dollars. Often these must be obtained from the console manufacturer and are only sold or leased to professional game development studios. However, Microsoft used to distribute a game development framework, XNA, which runs on both Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. XNA was discontinued, but other projects like MonoGame and SharpDX are trying to allow the same access for game coding. Lately, Android is the most popular hobbyist platform of choice for mobile developers. Some hobbyists also develop homebrew games, especially for handheld systems or modded consoles.
Some software engineering students program games as exercises for learning a programming language or operating system.
Some hobbyists may use software packages that help with game development, such as Adobe Animate, Unity, Android Studio, pygame, Adventure Game Studio, GameMaker Studio, Godot, Unreal Engine, Pixel Game Maker MV, or Construct.
See also
List of gaming topics
References
External links
GameDev.net, a leading resource for game development
International Game Developers Association (IGDA)
Game Development for Software Engineers, a short 5 day short course offered by MIT with guidance from the mentors of the award-winning MIT Game Lab.
One ex-game programmer's experience in the game development industry
Game industry veteran Tom Sloper's advice on game programming
Wikis
2D Game Development wiki
Game Development Wiki -GDwiki
Video game development |
3193193 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold%20Miner | Harold Miner | Harold David Miner (born May 5, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player and two-time champion of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Slam Dunk Contest. He attended college at the University of Southern California (USC) and was a star player on that school's men's basketball team. He left school in 1992 to pursue his professional career, and played in the NBA for the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite comparisons to Michael Jordan, Miner's NBA career lasted only four years.
High school and college
A native of Inglewood, California, Miner first came to prominence as a high school player. A stand-out on his team at Inglewood High School, Miner's spectacular dunking ability resulted in his being given the nickname "Baby Jordan," in reference to fellow NBA high flyer Michael Jordan. In his junior year of high school he averaged 27 points per game, and in his senior year he averaged 28. He also recorded 48 points and 17 rebounds in one game when playing at Inglewood.
Miner attended USC from 1989 until 1992. As a junior in what would be his final season with the team, Miner's play earned him Sports Illustrated magazine's selection as the college basketball player of the year over such notable candidates as Christian Laettner, Shaquille O'Neal, and Alonzo Mourning. Miner led the USC Trojans men's basketball team to the second seed of the Midwest region in the 1992 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Trojans were upset in the second round, however, falling on one of the most famous baskets in the tournament's history — a three-pointer at the buzzer by James Forrest of Georgia Tech, known as the "Miracle in Milwaukee."
Professional career
Miner left college after the 1991–92 season and declared himself eligible for the 1992 NBA draft. He was selected by the Miami Heat with the 12th overall pick.
Miner won the NBA's Slam Dunk Contest twice, in 1993 and 1995. In the 1995 contest, Miner defeated Isaiah Rider, who had won the previous year, solidifying Miner as one of the game's best dunkers. However, his playing career proved unremarkable and failed to live up to the high expectations with which it began. Despite his dunking prowess, Miner did not get much playing time from Heat coaches, Kevin Loughery and Alvin Gentry.
I always felt the worst thing to happen to Harold was the "Baby Jordan" tag. – George Raveling, Miner's head coach at USC
After the 1994–95 season, Miner was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He averaged only 3.2 points and 7.2 minutes per game for the Cavaliers. On October 18, 1995, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors for Victor Alexander, but that trade was rescinded four days later when Alexander failed his physical. Miner played five scoreless minutes in his last NBA game, a 26-point loss to the Chicago Bulls on February 20, 1996.
Cleveland waived Miner, having played him in only 19 games that season. He tried out for the Toronto Raptors the following year but was cut during the preseason. Rather than continue to pursue a career in professional basketball, either in the NBA or overseas, Miner retired from the sport. He later said that his decision was prompted by the many knee injuries he suffered during his career.
Personal life
As of 2011, Miner had settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was married with two children. He said that he had wisely invested the money he had earned in salary and endorsements during his playing career, allowing him to remain a stay-at-home father, rather than needing to seek employment. Over most of the time since his retirement from basketball, he had been disinclined to give interviews or make public appearances, instead remaining private and largely inaccessible. In 2010, however, he agreed to an interview in which he indicated a desire to begin reconnecting with the University of Southern California and with some of his acquaintances from his playing days.
In 2011, Miner appeared at the Pacific-10 Men's Basketball Tournament, to be inducted into that conference's basketball Hall of Honor, and indicated he planned to attend the retirement of his jersey by USC later that year. He would later attend the retirement of his jersey by USC during half time of the game against UCLA on January 15, 2012.
References
External links
1971 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Inglewood, California
Cleveland Cavaliers players
Miami Heat draft picks
Miami Heat players
Shooting guards
USC Trojans men's basketball players
Inglewood High School (California) alumni
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople |
48971295 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry%20Druffel | Larry Druffel | Larry E. Druffel (born May 11, 1940) is an American engineer, Director Emeritus and Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. He has published over 40 professional papers/reports and authored a textbook. He is best
known for leadership in: (1) bringing engineering discipline and supporting technology to software design and development, and (2) addressing network and software security risks.
Early life and education
Druffel was born in Quincy, Illinois. He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in January 1963. While an undergraduate, his paper "Machine Recognition of Speech" was selected by AIEE (now IEEE) as the best student paper for 1962. While stationed in England with the Air Force, he earned an M.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of London in 1967 and later earned a Ph.D. in Systems and Information Science from Vanderbilt University in 1975.
Military career
After graduating from the University of Illinois, he spent nine months on an HF communications design team at Collins Radio. He was accepted for USAF Officer Training and was commissioned in the USAF as a Distinguished Graduate from OTS. He served as a communications/electronics officer in Chicksands England, and at Hq. Communications Service at Scott AFB, where he led a team introducing computers to replace hardware switching for local digital military exchange systems.
In 1969, he joined the faculty at the Air Force Academy where he taught computer science and electrical engineering. He volunteered for Vietnam in 1971, where he was Chief of the Intelligence Data Handling System Center. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1972, he attended Vanderbilt University, earning a Ph.D. in Systems and Information Science. His research involved algorithms for small-scale integrated circuit CAD systems. In 1975, he returned to the faculty at the Air Force Academy as Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Computer Science.
In 1978, he joined DARPA where he worked for Bob Kahn. There he managed the Artificial Intelligence Image Understanding Program and two testbeds to demonstrate packet radio technology in operational environments. He also managed a new program in software. His research experience developing CAD systems demonstrated that such systems could support and enforce engineering discipline for hardware design. Convinced that the same could be done for software design, he focused the software research on developing tools and technology that would lead to Integrated Software Development Environments.
With the DoD managed Ada program coming to fruition, he initiated an effort to apply early results of the software research program to define the requirements for an Ada Programming Support Environment.
In 1981, he became Director of Computer Systems and Software in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Advanced Technology, with responsibility to coordinate the relevant research programs of the military departments. This position included responsibility for the Ada Program where he was able to influence the use of Ada as a mechanism to introduce engineering discipline to software and manage development of the supporting technology.
Software Research Initiative
Recognizing that although software was becoming the enabler of systems flexibility it was also a source of potential risk, he led a joint service team to define a major software initiative (STARS) that included research in a variety of supporting technologies. The proposed initiative also included the creation of a Software Engineering Institute to evaluate and mature emerging technology for transition to defense systems. The STARS proposal was broadly supported in the technical community, embraced by the DoD, and funding approved by Congress.
Later career
Leadership in technology innovation
Upon retiring from the USAF in August 1983, Druffel became a Vice President at Rational, a corporation developing an innovative approach to integrated software development support environments. Rational introduced dedicated hardware support for seamless integration of supporting tools. He helped refine the strategy and successfully introduce the product to the software engineering community, including international customers.
The Software Engineering Institute contract was awarded to Carnegie Mellon University in 1984, while Druffel was at Rational. In 1986, Angel G. Jordan, the provost at CMU, asked Druffel to take over as Director. He spent the next ten years recruiting leaders in the field, and focusing the effort on bringing an engineering discipline to software development. Under his leadership, the SEI engaged the software engineering community to mature the practice.
Among the steps to aggressively influence systems security, Druffel worked with DARPA to create the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) at the SEI. The CERT has been a major contributor to computer security both in the US and abroad. Based on increasing malware activity, he began advocating the development of a Defensive Information Warfare Strategy.
Druffel left the SEI in 1996 to become President and CEO of SCRA, a non-profit R&D Corporation providing technology solutions to the DoD. In 2006, he retired from SCRA and in 2007, returned to the SEI as a visiting scientist, working with the President and CEO Paul Nielsen on strategic issues. While serving in that capacity he has compiled and edited the Technical History of the SEI that chronicles the evolution of software engineering over thirty years.
Over the last 30 years, the SEI has influenced defense and commercial software developers in a broad range of software engineering areas initiated under his direction (real-time and cyber physical systems, software architecture, software process management embodied in the software capability maturity model (CMM), software measurement, software product lines, software methods and tools, software education, network and software security, and computer forensics).
Service to Profession and Society
Member, IEEE Simon Ramo Medal Committee (Chair 2013-14)
Chair, ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award Committee (Chair 1984–85)
Member of US Air Force Science Advisory Board (AFSAB) (1991–95)
Member of the Defense Intelligence Agency Science Advisory Board (1993–96)
Member of NASA Johnson Space Flight Center Software Advisory Board
Member of National Research Council Study "Engineering Challenges to the Long Term Operation of the Space Station" (1998)
Member of National Research Council Naval Studies Board Study "Naval Forces’ Capability for Theater Missile Defense" (2000)
Member of National Research Council on study of Critical Code-Software Producibility for Defense (2010).
Chair of AFSAB study on "Information Architectures that enhance Operation Capabilities in Peacetime and Wartime" (1994)
Led the "Defensive Information Warfare in the 21st Century" panel for the AFSAB 50th Anniversary "New World Vistas" (1995)
Co-chair (with George Heilmeier) of Defense Science Board Study on "Acquiring Defense Software Commercially" (1994)
Member of the National Security Agency Science Advisory Board Study on Cryptanalysis (1997)
Director of Rational (1986-1992)
Member of IEEE Technical Committee on Software Engineering (1982-1985)
Board Member of the Oak Ridge Association of Universities (ORAU) (1998-2000)
Honors and awards
Fellow of the IEEE: Citation "for leadership in defining and managing national software technology programs"(1991)
Fellow of the ACM: Citation "For leadership in advancing the state of software engineering practice and technical contributions to design automation and software development environments" (1995).
DoD Superior Service Medal: Citation "Lt. Col. Druffel helped define the future technology strategy, not only for the Department of Defense, but for a major portion of the Defense Industry" (1983).
DoD Exceptional Civilian Service Medal: Citation: "In recognition of his Distinguished performance on the Air Force Science Advisory board" (1995).
Tau Beta Pi
References
External links
Personal web page at Software Engineering Institute
Personal web page at Carnegie Mellon University
1940 births
21st-century American engineers
Living people
Grainger College of Engineering alumni
Alumni of the University of London
Vanderbilt University alumni
American expatriates in the United Kingdom |
36338752 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S%20Advance | Samsung Galaxy S Advance | The Samsung GT-I9070 Galaxy S Advance (also known as the Galaxy S II Lite) is an Android smartphone manufactured by Samsung Electronics. It was announced on 30 January 2012 and released in April 2012 as an "advanced" variant to the original Galaxy S.
Specifications
Design
The design of the Galaxy S Advanced is an evolution of the design of the Galaxy S. The device has a plastic build. It has a 4 inch display at the front; the display has a curvature from bottom to top. There is a Home button and two capacitive buttons (menu and back buttons) on the lower bezel of the display while there is a "Samsung" logo, a front facing camera, an earpiece and sensors on the upper bezel of the display. On the side frame; there is a volume rocker at the left side, there is a power button at the right side and there is a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack at the bottom; the top part of the side frame is unoccupied. It measures 123.2 x 63 x 9.69 mm and weighs 120 grams.
Hardware
Galaxy S Advance has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels resolution and -233 ppi pixel density. It is powered by ST-Ericsson Nova Thor U8500 SoC with dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU running at 1 GHz and ARM Mali-400 MP GPU along with the 768 MB RAM. It has 8 or 16 GB internal storage expandable by using a microSD card, a 5 MP rear camera with autofocus and 720p video recording and a 1.3 MP fixed focus front-facing camera for video calls or self-portrait photography. It doesn't have 4G connectivity.
Software
Galaxy S Advance is running Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) with Samsung's TouchWiz user interface out of the box. The device comes with ChatON, Find My Mobile and Samsung Hub preinstalled.
Galaxy S Advance can be officially updated to Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean). The Jellybean 4.1.2 update for the Samsung Galaxy S Advance was released beginning with the Russian firmware on 7 January 2013 and was then released in other markets. This new firmware update now includes Samsung's TouchWiz Nature UX and almost all of Jellybean's rich features. Users can update their existing Gingerbread firmware via KIES or over-the-air updates once the update is made available to their country or region.
Aftermarket firmware support
Official Samsung OTA update for Samsung Galaxy S Advance stopped at the last update of Android 4.1.2. Development of Galaxy S Advance was active for the past few years, with a moderate development going on at the moment, as of August 2018.
Currently, the newest available unofficial aftermarket firmware for Galaxy S Advance is based on Android 8.1.0. It is still under active development as of August 18, 2018.
Reception
Natasha Lomas from CNET reviewed the Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance and she gave it 8.3 points out of 10. She praised the design but criticized the plastic rear cover and the outdated Android operating system version. She considered the phone as "a solid addition to the Galaxy line-up".
Luke Johnson from TechRadar reviewed the Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance and he gave it 3.5 stars out of 5. He praised the design and the dual core CPU, and considered the device as a very balanced phone as a whole. However, he criticized the web browser. He concluced that the device "sets itself apart on a hardware front more than on the software side of things".
GSMArena reviewed the Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance. Although they were mostly positive about the device, they considered the lack of 1080p video recording, the PenTile matrix of the AMOLED display, the lack of camera shutter key and the outdated Android operating system version as the main disadvantages of the device.
Niall Magennis from Trusted Reviews reviewed the Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance, giving it 3.5 stars out of 5. The device was considered as "a good, all round package" but was criticized for its price. The AMOLED display, the dual-core processor and good camera performance was considered as the pros while the outdated Android operating system version was considered as the cons of the device.
See also
Comparison of Samsung Galaxy S smartphones
Samsung Galaxy S series
References
External links
Maclaw Studio downloads for Galaxy S Advance at Maclaw.pl
Samsung to update 11 phones and 4 tablets to android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean at SamMobile.com
Samsung start Jelly Bean updates Galaxy S Advance at SamMobile.com
Android (operating system) devices
Smartphones
Galaxy S
Galaxy S
Mobile phones introduced in 2012
Discontinued smartphones |
18933111 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD%20licenses | BSD licenses | BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software. This is in contrast to copyleft licenses, which have share-alike requirements. The original BSD license was used for its namesake, the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix-like operating system. The original version has since been revised, and its descendants are referred to as modified BSD licenses.
BSD is both a license and a class of license (generally referred to as BSD-like). The modified BSD license (in wide use today) is very similar to the license originally used for the BSD version of Unix. The BSD license is a simple license that merely requires that all code retain the BSD license notice if redistributed in source code format, or reproduce the notice if redistributed in binary format. The BSD license (unlike some other licenses e.g. GPL) does not require that source code be distributed at all.
Terms
In addition to the original (4-clause) license used for BSD, several derivative licenses have emerged that are also commonly referred to as a "BSD license". Today, the typical BSD license is the 3-clause version, which is revised from the original 4-clause version.
In all BSD licenses as following, <year> is the year of the copyright. As published in BSD, <copyright holder> is "Regents of the University of California".
Previous license
Some releases of BSD prior to the adoption of the 4-clause BSD license used a license that is clearly ancestral to the 4-clause BSD license. These releases include some parts of 4.3BSD-Tahoe (1988), about 1000 files, and Net/1 (1989). Although largely replaced by the 4-clause license, this license can be found in 4.3BSD-Reno, Net/2, and 4.4BSD-Alpha.
<blockquote>
Copyright (c) <year> <copyright holder>.
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, advertising materials, and other materials related to such distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed by the <copyright holder>. The name of the <copyright holder> may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS{{}} AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
</blockquote>
4-clause license (original "BSD License")
The original BSD license contained a clause not found in later licenses, known as the "advertising clause". This clause eventually became controversial, as it required authors of all works deriving from a BSD-licensed work to include an acknowledgment of the original source in all advertising material. This was clause number 3 in the original license text:Copyright (c) <year>, <copyright holder>
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the <copyright holder>.
Neither the name of the <copyright holder> nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> AS IS AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
This clause was objected to on the grounds that as people changed the license to reflect their name or organization it led to escalating advertising requirements when programs were combined in a software distribution: every occurrence of the license with a different name required a separate acknowledgment. In arguing against it, Richard Stallman has stated that he counted 75 such acknowledgments in a 1997 version of NetBSD. In addition, the clause presented a legal problem for those wishing to publish BSD-licensed software which relies upon separate programs using the GNU GPL: the advertising clause is incompatible with the GPL, which does not allow the addition of restrictions beyond those it already imposes; because of this, the GPL's publisher, the Free Software Foundation, recommends developers not use the license, though it states there is no reason not to use software already using it.
Today, this original license is now sometimes called "BSD-old" or "4-clause BSD".
3-clause license ("BSD License 2.0", "Revised BSD License", "New BSD License", or "Modified BSD License")
The advertising clause was removed from the license text in the official BSD on by William Hoskins, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing for UC Berkeley. Other BSD distributions removed the clause, but many similar clauses remain in BSD-derived code from other sources, and unrelated code using a derived license.
While the original license is sometimes referred to as the "BSD-old", the resulting 3-clause version is sometimes referred to by "BSD-new." Other names include "New BSD", "revised BSD", "BSD-3", or "3-clause BSD". This version has been vetted as an Open source license by the OSI as "The BSD License". The Free Software Foundation, which refers to the license as the "Modified BSD License", states that it is compatible with the GNU GPL. The FSF encourages users to be specific when referring to the license by name (i.e. not simply referring to it as "a BSD license" or "BSD-style") to avoid confusion with the original BSD license.
This version allows unlimited redistribution for any purpose as long as its copyright notices and the license's disclaimers of warranty are maintained. The license also contains a clause restricting use of the names of contributors for endorsement of a derived work without specific permission.
Copyright <year> <copyright holder>
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
2-clause license ("Simplified BSD License" or "FreeBSD License")
An even more simplified version has come into use, primarily known for its usage in FreeBSD. It was in use there as early as April 29, 1999 and likely well before. The primary difference between it and the New BSD (3-clause) License is that it omits the non-endorsement clause. The FreeBSD version of the license also adds a further disclaimer about views and opinions expressed in the software, though this is not commonly included by other projects.
The Free Software Foundation, which refers to the license as the FreeBSD License, states that it is compatible with the GNU GPL. In addition, the FSF encourages users to be specific when referring to the license by name (i.e. not simply referring to it as "a BSD license" or "BSD-style"), as it does with the modified/new BSD license, to avoid confusion with the original BSD license.
Copyright (c) <year>, <copyright holder>
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Other projects, such as NetBSD, use a similar 2-clause license. This version has been vetted as an Open source license by the OSI as the "Simplified BSD License."
The ISC license is functionally equivalent, and endorsed by the OpenBSD project as a license template for new contributions.
0-clause license ("BSD Zero Clause License")
The BSD 0-clause license goes further than the 2-clause license by dropping the requirements to include the copyright notice, license text, or disclaimer in either source or binary forms. Doing so forms a public-domain-equivalent license, the same way as MIT No Attribution License. It is known as "0BSD", "Zero-Clause BSD", or "Free Public License 1.0.0". It was first used by Rob Landley in Toybox.
Copyright (C) [year] by [copyright holder] <[email]>
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
Other variations
The SPDX License List contains extra BSD license variations. Examples include:
, a license with only the source code retaining clause.
, a variation of BSD-2-Clause with a patent grant.
, a variation of BSD-3-Clause that adds a disclaimer that a piece of software is not designed for use in a nuclear facility.
License compatibility
Commercial license compatibility
The FreeBSD project argues on the advantages of BSD-style licenses for companies and commercial use-cases due to their license compatibility with proprietary licenses and general flexibility, stating that the BSD-style licenses place only "minimal restrictions on future behavior" and are not "legal time-bombs"'', unlike copyleft licenses. The BSD License allows proprietary use and allows the software released under the license to be incorporated into proprietary products. Works based on the material may be released under a proprietary license as closed source software, allowing usual commercial usages under them.
FOSS compatibility
The 3-clause BSD license, like most permissive licenses, is compatible with almost all FOSS licenses (and as well proprietary licenses).
Two variants of the license, the New BSD License/Modified BSD License (3-clause), and the Simplified BSD License/FreeBSD License (2-clause) have been verified as GPL-compatible free software licenses by the Free Software Foundation, and have been vetted as open source licenses by the Open Source Initiative. The original, 4-clause BSD license has not been accepted as an open source license and, although the original is considered to be a free software license by the FSF, the FSF does not consider it to be compatible with the GPL due to the advertising clause.
Reception and usage
The BSD license family is one of the oldest and most broadly used license families in the Free and open-source software ecosystem. Also, many new licenses were derived or inspired by the BSD licenses. Many FOSS software projects use a BSD license, for instance the BSD OS family (FreeBSD etc.), Google's Bionic or Toybox. the BSD 3-clause license ranked in popularity number five according to Black Duck Software and sixth according to GitHub data.
See also
Comparison of free and open-source software licenses
Software using the BSD license (category)
References
External links
Twenty Years of Berkeley Unix: From AT&T-Owned to Freely Redistributable, Marshall Kirk McKusick, in: Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, O'Reilly 1999
The Amazing Disappearing BSD License
BSD License Definition – by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)
Free and open-source software licenses
Berkeley Software Distribution
Permissive software licenses |
40748127 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond%20hardening | Bond hardening | Bond hardening is a process of creating a new chemical bond by strong laser fields—an effect opposite to bond softening. However, it is not opposite in the sense that the bond becomes stronger, but in the sense that the molecule enters a state that is diametrically opposite to the bond-softened state. Such states require laser pulses of high intensity, in the range of 1013–1015 W/cm2, and they disappear once the pulse is gone.
Theory
Bond hardening and bond softening share the same theoretical basis, which is described under the latter entry. Briefly, the ground and the first excited energy curves of the H2+ ion are dressed in photons. The laser field perturbs the curves and turns their crossings into anticrossings. Bond softening occurs on the lower branches of the anticrossings and bond hardening happens if the molecule is excited to the upper branches – see Fig. 1.
To trap the molecule in the bond-hardened state, the anticrossing gap cannot be too small or too large. If it is too small, the system can undergo a diabatic transition to the lower branch of the anticrossing and dissociate via bond softening. If the gap is too large, the upper branch becomes shallow or even repulsive, and the system can also dissociate. This means that bound bond-hardened states can exist only in relatively narrow range of laser intensities, which makes them difficult to observe.
Experimental search for bond hardening
When the existence of bond softening was experimentally verified in 1990, the attention turned to bond hardening. Rather noisy photoelectron spectra reported in the early 1990s implied bond hardening occurring at the 1-photon and 3-photon anticrossings. These reports were received with great interest because bond hardening could explain apparent stabilization of the molecular bond in strong laser fields accompanied by a collective ejection of several electrons. However, instead of more convincing evidence, new negative results relegated bond hardening to a remote theoretical possibility. Only at the end of the decade, the reality of bond hardening was established in an experiment where the laser pulse duration was varied by chirping.
Conclusive evidence
The results of the chirp experiment are shown in Fig. 2 in the form of a map. The central "crater" of the map is a signature of bond hardening. To appreciate the uniqueness of this signature requires explaining other features on the map.
The horizontal axis of the map gives the time-of-flight (TOF) of ions produced in ionization and fragmentation of molecular hydrogen exposed to intense laser pulses. The left panel reveals several proton peaks; the right panel shows relatively uninteresting, single peak of molecular hydrogen ion.
The vertical axis gives grating position of the compressor in a chirped pulse amplifier of the Ti:Sapphire laser used in the experiment. The grating position controls the pulse duration, which is shortest (42 fs) for the zero position and increases in both directions. While the stretched pulses are also chirped, it is not the chirp but the pulse duration that matters in this experiment, as corroborated by the symmetry of the map in respect to the zero position line. The pulse energy is kept constant, therefore the shortest pulses are also most intense producing most ions at the zero position.
Kinetic energy variation
The proton TOF spectra allow one to measure the kinetic energy release (KER) in the dissociation process. Protons ejected towards the detector have shorter TOFs than protons ejected away from the detector because the latter have to be turned back by an external electric field applied to the interaction region. This forward-backward symmetry is reflected in the symmetry of the proton map in respect to zero KER (1.27 µs TOF).
The most energetic protons come from the Coulomb explosion of the molecule, where laser field completely strips H2 from electrons and the two bare protons repel each other with strong Coulombic force, unimpeded by any chemical bond. The stripping process it not instantaneous but occurs in a stepwise fashion, on the rising edge of the laser pulse. The shorter the laser pulse, the quicker the stripping process and there is less time for the molecule to dissociate before the Coulomb force attains its full strength. Therefore, the KER is highest for the shortest pulses, as demonstrated by the outer curving "lobes" in Fig. 2.
The second pair of proton peaks (1 eV KER) comes from bond softening of the H2+ ion, which dissociates into a proton and a neutral hydrogen atom (undetected). The dissociation starts at the 3-photon gap and proceeds to the 2ω limit (the lower blue arrow in Fig. 1). Since both the initial and the final energies of this process are fixed by the 1.55 eV photon energy, the KER is also constant producing the two vertical lines in Fig. 2.
The lowest energy protons are produced by the bond hardening process, which also starts at the 3-photon gap but proceeds to the 1ω limit (the lower red trough in Fig. 1). Since the initial and the final energies are also fixed here, the KER should also be constant but clearly it is not, as the round shape of the central "crater" demonstrates it in Fig. 2. To explain this variation, the dynamics of the H2+ states needs to be considered.
Dynamics of bond hardening
The H2+ ion is created on the leading edge of the laser pulse in the multiphoton ionization process. Since the equilibrium internuclear separation for the neutral molecule is smaller than for the ionized one, the ionic nuclear wave packet finds itself on the repulsive side of the ground state potential well and starts to cross it (see Fig. 3a).
In a few femtoseconds it takes the wave packet to cross the potential well, the laser intensity is still modest and the 3-photon gap is small allowing the wave packet to cross it diabatically. At large internuclear separations, the gentle slope of the potential well slowly turns the wave packet back, so when the packet returns to the 3-photon gap, the laser intensity is significantly higher and the gap is wide open trapping the wave packet in a bond-hardened state, which lasts throughout the highest intensities (Fig. 3b).
When the laser intensity falls, the bond-hardened energy curve returns to the original shape, flexing up, lifting the wave packet and releasing about a half of it to the 1ω limit (Fig. 3c). The faster intensity falls, the higher the wave packet is lifted and more energy it gains, which explains why the KER of the "crater" in Fig. 1 is highest at the shortest laser pulse. This energy gain, however, is not induced by the rising edge of the laser pulse as one would naively expect, but by the falling edge.
A fraction of a photon?
Note that the maximum energy gain of the nuclear wave packet is about ħω and continuously decreases with the pulse duration. Does it mean we can have a fraction of a photon? There are two valid answers to this puzzling proposition.
Breakdown of the photon model
One can say that the photon is not a particle but as a mere quantum of energy that is usually exchanged in integer multiples of ħω, but not always, as it is the case in the above experiment. From this point of view, photons are quasiparticles, akin to phonons and plasmons, in a sense less "real" than electrons and protons. Before dismissing this view as unscientific, its worth recalling the words of Willis Lamb, who won a Nobel prize in the area of quantum electrodynamics:
There is no such thing as a photon. Only a comedy of errors and historical accidents led to its popularity among physicists and optical scientists.
Dynamic Raman effect
Alternatively, one can save the photon concept by recalling that the laser field is very strong and the pulse is very short. Indeed, the electric field in the laser pulse is so strong that during the process depicted in Fig. 3 about a hundred of photon absorptions and stimulated emissions can take place. And since the pulse is short, it has sufficiently wide bandwidth to accommodate absorption of photons that are more energetic than the re-emitted ones, giving the net result of a fraction of ħω. Effectively, we have a kind of dynamic Raman effect.
Zero-photon dissociation
Even more striking challenge to the photon concept comes from the zero-photon dissociation process (ZPD), where nominally no photons are absorbed but some energy is still extracted from the laser field. To demonstrate this process, molecular hydrogen was exposed to 250 fs pulses of the 3rd harmonic of a Ti:Sapphire laser. Since the photon energy was 3 times higher, the spacing of the energy curves shown in Fig. 1 was 3 times larger, replacing the 3-photon crossing with a 1-photon one, as shown in Fig. 4. As before, the laser field changed the crossing to anticrossing, bond softening was induced on its lower branch and bond hardening trapped a part of the vibrational wave packet on the upper branch. In increasing laser intensity the anticrossing gap was getting wider, lifting the wave packet to the 0ω limit and dissociating the molecule with very small KER.
The experimental signature of the ZPD was a proton peak at zero KER. Moreover, the probability of a proton being promoted to this peak was found to be independent of the laser intensity, which confirms that it is induced by a zero-photon process because the probability of multiphoton processes is proportional to the intensity, I, raised to the number of photons absorbed, giving I0 = const.
See also
Conical intersections of energy surfaces in polyatomic molecules share many similarities with the simpler mechanism of bond hardening and bond softening in diatomic molecules.
References
Molecular physics
Quantum chemistry
Photochemistry |
14901360 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1647%20Menelaus | 1647 Menelaus | 1647 Menelaus is a mid-sized Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 23 June 1957 by American astronomer Seth Nicholson at the Palomar Observatory in California, and later named after the Spartan King Menelaus from Greek mythology. The dark asteroid has a rotation period of 17.7 hours. It is the principal body of the proposed Menelaus cluster, which encompasses several, mostly tentative Jovian asteroid families.
Orbit and classification
Menelaus is a dark Jovian asteroid in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the leading Greek camp at the Gas Giant's Lagrangian point, 60° ahead on its orbit . Since the discovery of the first Jupiter trojan, 588 Achilles, by astronomer Max Wolf in 1906, more than 7000 Jovian asteroids have already been discovered.
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.1–5.3 AU once every 11 years and 11 months (4,347 days; semi-major axis of 5.21 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. Menelaus was first imaged at Palomar in November 1951. This precovery extends the body's observation arc by more than 5 years prior to its official discovery observation.
Menelaus cluster
In 1993, Andrea Milani suggested that Menelaus might be the parent body of an asteroid family based on a modified HCM-analysis. The finding was also mentioned by David Jewitt in 2004, who noted that the Menelaus family is the largest proposed dynamical family to exist among the Jupiter trojans, despite having only 8 members.
In 2008, Fernando Roig and Ricardo Gil-Hutton described this particular aggregation of Jupiter trojans as the "Menelaus clan", which, similar to the Flora family in the inner asteroid belt, is composed of several families (or subfamilies). In this publication, the Menelaus clan encompasses a dozen clusters, if the separation criteria used in the HCM analysis are sufficiently relaxed. The principal bodies of these proposed family-like clusters include: 1647 Menelaus, 3548 Eurybates, 1749 Telamon, 12973 Melanthios, 13062 Podarkes, 5436 Eumelos, 2148 Epeios, 4007 Euryalos, 4138 Kalchas, 3063 Makhaon and others.
With the exception of the Eurybates family, which was studies in more detail by Jakub Rozehnal and Miroslav Brož in 2011 (also see ), all other proposed families with their principal bodies in the Menelaus clan, including Menelaus itself, are tentative and not listed neither on the Asteroids—Dynamic Site (Milani and Knežević), nor included in the robust HCM-analysis by Nesvorný (also see ). Instead, these bodies are considered non-family asteroids of the Jovian background population.
Naming
This minor planet was named after the Greek mythological figure, Menelaus, husband of Helen of Troy, brother of Agamemnon, and king and leader of the Spartan contingent of the Greek army during the Trojan War. The discoverer followed the convention to name bodies located in the camp to the east of Jupiter after famous Greek heroes.
The Dictionary of Minor Planet Names also mentions that the lunar crater Menelaus was named after the Greek hero. However, based on the official International Astronomical Union–WGPSN nomenclature, it is named after Greek geometer and astronomer Menelaus of Alexandria (70–140). The official was published by the Minor Planet Center in June 1960 ().
Physical characteristics
Menelaus is an assumed C-type, while most larger Jupiter trojans are D-type asteroids. It has a V–I color index of 0.866.
Rotation period
The Palomar Transient Factory in California obtained a rotational lightcurve of Menelaus from photometric observation in the R-band in October 2010. It gave a rotation period of 17.7390 hours with a brightness variation of 0.32 magnitude in the R-band (). In February 2014, a refined period of hours with an amplitude of 0.15 magnitude was determined by American astronomer Robert D. Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies ().
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Menelaus measures 42.72 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.056. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 44.22 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 10.5.
Notes
References
External links
Center for Solar System Studies, homepage
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info )
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
Asteroid 1647 Menelaus at the Small Bodies Data Ferret
001647
Discoveries by Seth Nicholson
Minor planets named from Greek mythology
Named minor planets
19570623 |
48997402 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiocubes | Audiocubes | The AudioCubes are a collection of wireless intelligent light emitting objects, capable of detecting each other's location and orientation, and user gestures, and were created by Bert Schiettecatte. They are an electronic musical instrument used by electronic musicians for live performance, sound design, music composition, and creating interactive applications in max/msp, pd and C++.
The concept of the AudioCubes was first presented by Bert Schiettecatte in April 2004 at the CHI2004 conference in Vienna. A first prototype of the AudioCubes was shown at the Museum for Contemporary Art, MUHKA in Antwerp in December 2004. They were used in an art installation created in collaboration with Peter Swinnen during the Champ D’Action Time Canvas festival.
In January 2007, the AudioCubes were launched on the market and offered online on the Percussa website, the company which Bert Schiettecatte founded in October 2004 to further develop and commercialize the AudioCubes.
Hardware architecture
Each AudioCube is identical, and has a small built-in computer which is able to measure distances as well as detect the position and location of the other cubes in a network. The AudioCubes also work without drivers and communicate using high speed HID.
An AudioCube has four onboard infrared sensors (one on each face) to communicate and measure distances to objects nearby, digital signal processors (DSP), a USB-rechargeable battery, and a translucent housing.
MIDI and OSC Compatible
The AudioCubes work with any software and hardware which is MIDI compatible (such as FL Studio, Logic Pro, Reason, drum machine, monome, etc.). To hook up the AudioCubes to MIDI compatible software/hardware a middleware application, called MIDIBridge, has to be used.
The AudioCubes also come with an OSC server to send and receive OSC data.
Software Applications
Several applications have been created for the AudioCubes, each focusing on a different use: sound design, music composition, live performance, as well as creating applications in max/msp, pd and C++.
MIDIBridge: sends/receives MIDI from/to other MIDI compatible software/hardware
DeckaBridge: specifically created to let AudioCubes work with the DJ software Deckadance
PluginWrapper: application to use VST-plugins together with the AudioCubes.
Loopshaper: to make sounds and loops with one AudioCube
Modulor: detects and communicates to a network of AudioCubes wirelessly, and reassembles data from a MIDI device
Improvisor: a generative MIDI step sequencer to create generative music using AudioCubes
Evolvor: generate complex LFO waveforms using AudioCubes (sound design)
Flext external for Max/Msp: to create your own max patches for the AudioCubes
OSC server: sends information about the location, orientation, and sensor data of the AudioCubes to other OSC applications
SDK C++ library: to create your own applications for the AudioCubes
FM synthesizer for AudioCubes: creating sounds with AudioCubes without needing any additional hardware/software
In addition, a number of Max/MSP patches were created to work with AudioCubes
Software Uses
An overview of how AudioCubes can be used for different uses
AudioCubes for Live Performance
The AudioCubes can be used to send MIDI notes to MIDI compatible software/hardware using MIDIBridge. When two AudioCubes are put next to each other, they detect each other, and triggers are sent as MIDI notes. These triggers can then be used to control on/off type of signals, such as start and stop audio clips in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), such as Ableton Live. At each face of the cube, a different audio clip can be assigned in a DAW.
The AudioCubes can also measure distances to nearby objects or your hands when configured as a sensor cube in MIDIBridge. In the same way, this sensor data is sent to the computer as a continuous controller (CC) which can be used to control parameters in the DAW. Since each cube has 4 sensors, up to 4 parameters can be controlled per AudioCube.
In addition, you can also control the RGB colors of the AudioCubes and use this information as feedback during a live performance.
AudioCubes for Sound Design
The sensors of the AudioCubes can also be used to shape sounds. By moving hands and fingers closer or further away from the 4 sensors, it generates 4 different MIDI CCs which can be sent to MIDI compatible instruments. When using an AudioCube in this way, it can be compared to a 4D optical theremin.
The AudioCubes can also be linked to LFOs by using the software application Evolvor. The LFO waveforms are designed in the graphical editors of evolvor. Each AudioCube is then automatically linked to an LFO, because of the topology detection. LFO signals can be added and removed, by adding and removing AudioCubes. The signals can also be mixed and matched, by mixing and matching AudioCubes.
AudioCubes for Music Composition
When using the Improvisor application, velocity as well as semitone patterns are automatically linked to every AudioCube. Every AudioCube plays the melody created by both patterns. When cubes are placed next to each other they can follow the melody of each other. In this way, you can easily compose music by mixing and rearranging AudioCubes.
AudioCubes for Creating Interactive applications
Several tools have been created to make your own applications for the AudioCubes in max/msp, pure data, C++
Artists
The AudioCubes have been used by some performers such as Mark Mosher, Pearls for Swines, Richard Devine, Steve Baltes, Bostich from Nortec, Ilan Kriger, Arecio Smith, Julien Pauty, the European Bridges Ensemble
Example of Tangible User Interface
The AudioCubes are an example of a Tangible User Interface. The past few years a lot of research has been done in the field of Tangible User Interface. The Reactable is another example of such an interface. It is an installation on which people can move around objects which are followed by a camera and projector on a surface.
Awards
For the creation of the AudioCubes, Bert Schiettecatte received in 2009 the prestigious Qwartz Electronic Music Awards in Paris. He was also invited to give a talk at TEDx Mediterranean in Cannes, September 2010.
References
External links
http://www.percussa.com/
Electronic musical instruments
Gesture recognition |
53039 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key%20%28cryptography%29 | Key (cryptography) | A key in cryptography is a piece of information, usually a string of numbers or letters that are stored in a file, which, when processed through a cryptographic algorithm, can encode or decode cryptographic data. Based on the used method, the key can be different sizes and varieties, but in all cases, the strength of the encryption relies on the security of the key being maintained. A key’s security strength is dependent on its algorithm, the size of the key, the generation of the key, and the process of key exchange.
Scope
The key is what is used to encrypt data from plaintext to ciphertext. There are different methods for utilizing keys and encryption.
Symmetric cryptography
Symmetric cryptography refers to the practice of the same key being used for both encryption and decryption.
Asymmetric cryptography
Asymmetric cryptography has separate keys for encrypting and decrypting. These keys are known as the public and private keys, respectively.
Purpose
Since the key protects the confidentiality and integrity of the system, it is important to be kept secret from unauthorized parties. With public key cryptography, only the private key must be kept secret , but with symmetric cryptography, it is important to maintain the confidentiality of the key. Kerckhoff's principle states that the entire security of the cryptographic system relies on the secrecy of the key.
Key sizes
Key size is the number of bits in the key defined by the algorithm. This size defines the upper bound of the cryptographic algorithm’s security. The larger the key size, the longer it will take before the key is compromised by a brute force attack. Since perfect secrecy is not feasible for key algorithms, researches are now more focused on computational security.
In the past, keys were required to be a minimum of 40 bits in length, however, as technology advanced, these keys were being broken quicker and quicker. As a response, restrictions on symmetric keys were enhanced to be greater in size.
Currently, 2048 bit RSA is commonly used, which is sufficient for current systems. However, current key sizes would all be cracked quickly with a powerful quantum computer.
“The keys used in public key cryptography have some mathematical structure. For example, public keys used in the RSA system are the product of two prime numbers. Thus public key systems require longer key lengths than symmetric systems for an equivalent level of security. 3072 bits is the suggested key length for systems based on factoring and integer discrete logarithms which aim to have security equivalent to a 128 bit symmetric cipher.”
Key generation
To prevent a key from being guessed, keys need to be generated randomly and contain sufficient entropy. The problem of how to safely generate random keys is difficult and has been addressed in many ways by various cryptographic systems. A key can directly be generated by using the output of a Random Bit Generator (RBG), a system that generates a sequence of unpredictable and unbiased bits. A RBG can be used to directly produce either a symmetric key or the random output for an asymmetric key pair generation. Alternatively, a key can also be indirectly created during a key-agreement transaction, from another key or from a password.
Some operating systems include tools for "collecting" entropy from the timing of unpredictable operations such as disk drive head movements. For the production of small amounts of keying material, ordinary dice provide a good source of high-quality randomness.
Establishment scheme
The security of a key is dependent on how a key is exchanged between parties. Establishing a secured communication channel is necessary so that outsiders cannot obtain the key. A key establishment scheme (or key exchange) is used to transfer an encryption key among entities. Key agreement and key transport are the two types of a key exchange scheme that are used to be remotely exchanged between entities . In a key agreement scheme, a secret key, which is used between the sender and the receiver to encrypt and decrypt information, is set up to be sent indirectly. All parties exchange information (the shared secret) that permits each party to derive the secret key material. In a key transport scheme, encrypted keying material that is chosen by the sender is transported to the receiver. Either symmetric key or asymmetric key techniques can be used in both schemes.
The Diffie–Hellman key exchange and Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) are the most two widely used key exchange algorithms. In 1976, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman constructed the Diffie–Hellman algorithm, which was the first public key algorithm. The Diffie–Hellman key exchange protocol allows key exchange over an insecure channel by electronically generating a shared key between two parties. On the other hand, RSA is a form of the asymmetric key system which consists of three steps: key generation, encryption, and decryption.
Key confirmation delivers an assurance between the key confirmation recipient and provider that the shared keying materials are correct and established. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends key confirmation to be integrated into a key establishment scheme to validate its implementations.
Management
Key management concerns the generation, establishment, storage, usage and replacement of cryptographic keys. A key management system (KMS) typically includes three steps of establishing, storing and using keys. The base of security for the generation, storage, distribution, use and destruction of keys depends on successful key management protocols.
Key vs password
A password is a memorized series of characters including letters, digits, and other special symbols that are used to verify identity. It is often produced by a human user or a password management software to protect personal and sensitive information or generate cryptographic keys. Passwords are often created to be memorized by users and may contain non-random information such as dictionary words. On the other hand, a key can help strengthen password protection by implementing a cryptographic algorithm which is difficult to guess or replace the password altogether. A key is generated based on random or pseudo-random data and can often be unreadable to humans.
A password is less safe than a cryptographic key due to its low entropy, randomness, and human-readable properties. However, the password may be the only secret data that is accessible to the cryptographic algorithm for information security in some applications such as securing information in storage devices. Thus, a deterministic algorithm called a key derivation function (KDF) uses a password to generate the secure cryptographic keying material to compensate for the password’s weakness. Various methods such as adding a salt or key stretching may be used in the generation.
See also
Cryptographic key types
Diceware
EKMS
Group key
Keyed hash algorithm
Key authentication
Key derivation function
Key distribution center
Key escrow
Key exchange
Key generation
Key management
Key schedule
Key server
Key signature (cryptography)
Key signing party
Key stretching
Key-agreement protocol
glossary
Password psychology
Public key fingerprint
Random number generator
Session key
Tripcode
Machine-readable paper key
Weak key
References
Cryptography
Key management |
60660999 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z80-RIO | Z80-RIO | The Z80 Operating System with Relocatable Modules and I/O Management (Z80-RIO) is a general-purpose operating system developed by Zilog in the late 1970s for various computer systems including the Z80 Micro Computer System (MCZ-1) series and the Z80 Development System (ZDS). The MCZ systems were primarily used for software development and automation solutions. RIO was designed to facilitate the development and integration of user's programs into a production environment.
Features
The system provides a modest environment with a minimum of system support and an enhanced environment.
The modest environment provides a program debugger with file manipulation capability, a floppy disk driver (supporting up to eight disk drives), and a basic console driver with provision for paper tape operation.
The enhanced environment provides access to the RIO Executive and to system support utilities such as the Zilog Floppy Disk File System (ZDOS), and the Zilog Hard Disk File System (DFS). It also provides access to a number of disk-resident software such a text editor, macro assembler, and linker.
Commands
The following list of commands are supported by Z80-RIO.
ACTIVATE
ALLOCATE
ASM
BRIEF
CAT
CLOSE
COMPARE
COPY
COPY.DISK
COPYSD
DATE
DEACTIVATE
DEALLOCATE
DEBUG
DEFINE
DELETE
DISK.FORMAT
DISK.REPAIR
DISK.STATUS
DISPLAY
DO
DUMP
ECHO
EDIT
ERROR
ERRORS
EXTRACT
FORCE
FORMAT
HELP
IMAGE
INITIALIZE
LADT
LINK
MASTER
MEMORY
MOVE
PAUSE
RELEASE
RENAME
RESTORE_TABS
SAVE_TABS
SET
STATUS
VERBOSE
XEQ
Clones
UDOS, a Z80-RIO compatible clone by VEB Robotron, was available for a number of computers by the same company, such as the A 5120 or the PC 1715, which were based on the U880 processor (the latter being a clone of Zilog's Z80). UDOS was also one of the operating systems available for the P8000, a microcomputer system developed in 1987 by the VEB Elektro-Apparate-Werke Berlin-Treptow „Friedrich Ebert“ (EAW) in the German Democratic Republic (DDR, East Germany).
See also
Federico Faggin
References
External links
Zilog website
RIO & PLZ reloaded
Les Bird's MCZ utilities and RIO OS disk images
Discontinued operating systems
Disk operating systems
Microcomputer software
Proprietary operating systems
Z80 |
15255696 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macossa%20District | Macossa District | Macossa District is a district of Manica Province in western Mozambique. The principal town is Macossa. The district is located in the east of the province, and borders with Tambara District in the north, Maringué District of Sofala Province in the northeast, Gorongosa District of Sofala Province in the east, Gondola District in the south, Báruè District in the west, and with Guro District in the northwest. The area of the district is . It has a population of 27,245 as of 2007.
Geography
The main rivers crossing the district is the Phandira River; a number of rivers are seasonal and only flow during the rainy season. The Pungwe River makes the border with Gondola District.
The climate in the west of the district is tropical wet and dry, with the annual rainfall varying between and .
Demographics
As of 2005, 50% of the population of the district was younger than 15 years. 14% did speak Portuguese. The most common mothertongue is Chitwe language. 88% were analphabetic, mostly women.
Administrative divisions
The district is divided into three postos, Macossa (one locality), Nguawala (one locality), and Nhamangua (two localities).
Economy
Less than 1% of the households in the district have access to electricity.
Agriculture
In the district, there are 2,000 farms which have on average of land. The main agricultural products are corn, cassava, cowpea, peanut, sorghum, pearl millet, sweet potato, and rice.
Transportation
There is a road network in the district which contains of secondary roads and of local roads.
References
Districts in Manica Province |
6075463 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard%20H.%20Jackson%20High%20School | Maynard H. Jackson High School | Maynard H. Jackson High School (MJHS, or Jackson High) is a high school of approximately 1,000 students, with the capacity for 1,500. Jackson High is located in southeast Atlanta, Georgia, United States along the BeltLine in Grant Park, just south of I-20. The school is a part of Atlanta Public Schools. In July 2017, Dr. Adam Danser was appointed as principal.
Faculty and students at Jackson High operate in three Small Learning Communities, also known as SLCs: Engineering and Early College, Information Technology, and Fine Arts. Jackson High offers the International Baccalaureate diploma programme to students in all three SLCs.
The school was designated a GE Foundation "College Bound" school in 2002 and received a five-year, $1 million grant to help increase student readiness for college courses.
History
In 1872, the Atlanta Public Schools commenced operations with seven schools, including Girls High. In 1924, the city opened a new Girls High facility in Grant Park. In 1947, the Atlanta Board of Education moved to community high schools, and transitioned the Girls High building into Roosevelt High. Roosevelt High served as a community high school to Grant Park and surrounding neighborhoods from 1947 until 1985.
The school's current campus opened as Southside High School in the second semester of 1986 on the site overlooked by the former Girls High / Roosevelt High. Southside consolidated the former Roosevelt High and the former Hoke Smith High. In 1988, nearby East Atlanta High closed, with East Atlanta students rezoned to Southside. In 2005, Southside's boundary expanded further on the transition of Kirkwood's of Alonzo A Crim from a comprehensive high to an open campus.
In the summer of 2008, the school was renamed Maynard H. Jackson High School to commemorate the city’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson. In early 2012, Jackson High hosted a tribute to Maynard Jackson, including a special archive sponsored by the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation.
In the summer of 2012, the school relocated temporarily to the campus of Coan Middle School for a 13-month renovation.
Students returned to the original Grant Park location on January 8, 2014, for the spring semester. The $48.3 million renovation included a roof top community farm and garden, renovated auditorium, new softball field, and new classroom corridors.
Small Learning Communities
Jackson's Information Technology SLC was created out of the Information Technology magnet program that predated the SLC approach. Students in the IT SLC follow two Pathways. Pathway I, Computing, focuses on software development and includes a dual enrollment option. Pathway II, Interactive Media, focuses on web design.
Jackson's Engineering and Early College (E2C) SLC was formed as part of the University System of Georgia's Early College initiative. E2C partners with Atlanta Metropolitan College, with faculty from Atlanta Metro teaching courses offered by Atlanta Metro at the Jackson campus. Classes offered by E2C include circuitry, electronics, foundations of electronics, and early college courses in math, English and social studies.
Jackson's Fine Arts and Media Communications SLC (FAMC) features a dance program partnered with the Atlanta Ballet. FAMC students can also study video broadcasting production and studio art.
International Baccalaureate
Students from all three of Jackson's SLCs may enroll in the pre-IB programme in 9th and 10th grades. Commencing in August 2013, 11th grade students may begin the IB diploma programme.
Extracurricular activities
Maynard H. Jackson High School has many athletic and academic organizations. The school has a large Army JROTC program. The school fields teams in cross country, basketball, soccer, football, track, lacrosse, tennis, softball, and baseball, as well as other athletic organizations including a golf club. Other extracurriculars include marching band, drill team, orchestra, chorus, drama, and various academic clubs. The baseball team went to the 5A state playoffs in both 2018 and 2019, with 2018 being the first time in school history. The girls track and field team won the GHSA state championship in 2015 and 2016.
Dress code
Jackson High has prescribed uniforms and students are required to follow a dress code.
Feeder patterns
As of 2013-14, Jackson High's feeder pattern includes seven traditional zoned elementary schools and one traditional zoned middle school. The traditional elementary schools feeding into King Middle School and then Jackson High are Benteen. Burgess-Peterson Academy, Dunbar, Parkside, Barack and Michelle Obama Academy, and Toomer. In addition, many students from nearby charter schools Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School and Wesley International Academy enroll in the school.
Notable alumni
Greg Favors - football player, Kansas City Chiefs, 1998; Tennessee Titans, 1999-2001; Indianapolis Colts, 2002; Buffalo Bills, 2002; Louisville Cardinals, 2003; Jacksonville Jaguars, 2004-2005
Lorenzo Mauldin - football player, Louisville Cardinals, New York Jets
Richard Raglin - football player, Louisville Cardinals, Cincinnati Bengals
References
External links
Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School
Atlanta Public Schools high schools
Educational institutions established in 1994
Magnet schools in Georgia (U.S. state)
1994 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) |
301155 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20fictional%20scientists%20and%20engineers | List of fictional scientists and engineers | In addition to the archetypical mad scientist, there are fictional characters of scientists and engineers who go above and beyond the regular demands of their professions to use their skills and knowledge for the betterment of others, often at great personal risk. In this list of fictional scientists and engineers, an annotated alphabetical overview is given of notable characters in this category.
In literature
Bertrand Zobrist
Professor Shonku (Byomjatrir Diary, Professor Shonku o Robu, Professor Shonku o Khoka, Professor Shonku o Corvus, Ek Sringo Obhijaan, Swarnaparni and many more by the legendary Satyajit Ray) – world's most respected scientist, inventor and Physics professor in Scottish Church College. He had a bunch of incredible inventions and a series of adventures which he had written in his diary.
Martin Arrowsmith (Arrowsmith)
Dr. Claire Deller (I, Robot and other stories by Isaac Asimov) – chief robot genius of San Diego Robots and Mechanical Men
Joseph Cavor (The First Men in the Moon) – inventor of the "Cavorite" anti-gravity material
Captain Hagbard Celine (Illuminatus trilogy) – fights the Illuminati from his submarine and with his computer, both designed by himself
Norma Cenva (Legends of Dune) – inventor of the space folding engine
Captain Jaylen Cresida (The Lost Fleet) – captain in the Alliance Navy under the command of Captain John "Black Jack" Geary, and an expert on hypernet gates.
Leonid Gorbovsky (Noon Universe) – genius scientist, progressor and spaceship captain who is known for his ability to land on even the most dangerous planets, to survive planet-wide catastrophes and easily making contact with any non-human civilization
Leo Graf (Falling Free) – space engineer who leads a group of genetically engineered four-armed humans known as "quaddies" to freedom
Otto Hantzen (Les Mystères de Demain from Paul Féval, fils and H. J. Magog) – German mad scientist, with female accomplice Hindu mystic Yogha, battles his former colleague Oronius from Mount Everest to Atlantis
William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn (Doc Savage) – archaeologist, associate of Doc Savage
Gennady Komov (Noon Universe) – xenopsychologist whose main occupation is engaging contact with and studying alien (especially, non-human) civilizations
Pardot Kynes (Prelude to Dune) – planetologist
Liet-Kynes (Prelude to Dune and Dune) – planetologist
Lt. Col Andrew Blodgett "Monk" Mayfair (Doc Savage) – chemist, associate of Doc Savage
Dr. Morel (The Invention of Morel) – invented a machine that records and reproduces reality
Captain Nemo (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island) – ambiguous-to-villainous figure, who later took on a heroic role
Leonard of Quirm (Discworld) – super-intelligent clockpunk engineer
Col John "Renny" Renwick (Doc Savage) – civil engineer, associate of Doc Savage
Maj Thomas J. "Long Tom" Roberts (Doc Savage) – electrical engineer, associate of Doc Savage
Dr. Clark Savage, Jr., a.k.a. Doc Savage (Doc Savage) – surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer and musician
Arne Saknussemm (Journey to the Center of the Earth) – 16th-century Icelandic naturalist, alchemist, and traveler whose messages guide a group of 19th-century adventurers
Hari Seldon (Foundation Series) – mathematician who invents psychohistory
Cyrus Smith (The Mysterious Island) – great literary example of a 19th-century engineer
Dr. Phineas Waldolf Steel – roboticist, transhumanist and industrial/steampunk musician
Franny K. Stein – child scientist who frequently invents monsters to combat various danger
Tom Swift and Tom Swift, Jr. (children's stories) – father-and-son team of inventors
Crawford Tillinghast (short story "From Beyond") – inventor of a machine which allows perception of normally imperceptible things
Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Dracula) – nemesis of Bram Stoker's Dracula; in later incarnations, the professor has not fared so well, and, in some adaptations, is himself a villain
Other Mother (Coraline)
Mark Watney (The Martian (Weir novel)) – botanist, mechanical engineer, astronaut
Mad scientists and evil geniuses
Victor Frankenstein (novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Frankenstein film as "Heinrich Von Frankenstein") – scientist who stole body parts from graves and used them to create an undead monster
Dr. Henry Jekyll (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) – scientist who searches for alteration of the human body and to separate the evil from the good
Mad scientists of Stanisław Lem, quite a few mad geniuses, many of whom strove to "inflict social panacea on entire populations", a part of Lem's philosophical analysis of social engineering.
Dr. Moreau (The Island of Doctor Moreau) – vivisectionist who has fled scandal to live on a remote island in the Pacific to pursue his research of perfecting his Beast Folk
Professor Moriarty – evil genius antagonist of Sherlock Holmes
Dr. Julius No (Dr. No)
In live-action films
Individual scientist/engineers
Eleanor Arroway (Contact) – scientist who searches for extraterrestrial intelligence
Buckaroo Banzai (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) – particle physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, martial artist and rock star
Professor Barnhardt (The Day the Earth Stood Still) – American scientist who organizes a scientific reception for Klaatu's message of peace
Dr. Glenn Barton (The Man and the Challenge) – human-factors scientist
Professor Gerard Beckert (Frostbite) – geneticist and Nazi World War II veteran creating genetically enhanced vampires out of the unsuspecting youth of a Norrland-town located above the Arctic Circle
Blankman (Blankman) – science whiz-nerd who believes he is a superhero, and becomes one
Dr. Emmett Brown, aka Doc Brown (Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part II, and Back to the Future Part III) – inventor of the Flux Capacitor which makes time travel possible
Seth Brundle (The Fly) – eccentric but brilliant physicist who invented the telepods, machines capable of teleportation
Sebastian Caine
Conal Cochran (Halloween III: Season of the Witch) – plans to resurrect macabre aspects of the Gaelic festival Samhain, which he connects to witchcraft
Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) – when he learns of the destructive destiny of his future creation, Dyson destroys his research
Dr. Stephen Falken (WarGames) – creator of the "Joshua" computer program
Dr. Charles Forbin (Colossus: The Forbin Project) – designer of Colossus
Dr. Clayton Forrester (The War of the Worlds)
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein) – the descendant of Dr. Victor Frankenstein
Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, and films based on the novel) – creates a creature and gives it life
Kaywinnet Lee Frye (Serenity) – mechanical engineer
John Kramer (Saw franchise) – a former civil engineer who spends the last months of his life testing people's will to live by kidnapping and placing them in potentially deadly traps
Dr. Leslie Gaskell (Kronos) – came up with a way to destroy the giant machine
Richard Hannay (The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle) – British mining engineer who is the hero in John Buchan's World War I-era adventure novels; The Thirty-Nine Steps has been adapted for film three times
Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (The Rock) – FBI chemical weapons specialist
Corporal Hardin (Southern Comfort (1981 film)) – chemical engineer in regular life on weekend maneuvers with Louisiana Army National Guard squad in rural bayou country as they antagonize some local Cajun people and become hunted. His day job is only relevant to explain his rational sensible approach.
Professor Eddie Jessup (Altered States) – heroic at the end
Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones movies and TV shows) – adventurous archaeologist
David Levinson (Independence Day) – cable-TV engineer who devises the trick that blocks the alien invasion
Dr. Emilio Lizardo (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) – physicist whose mind is under control of the Black Lectroid, Lord John Whorfin
Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park) – mathematician and chaotician surviving numerous encounters with dinosaurs and other hazards; his mathematical prowess does not help so much as allow him to predict his own fate, and that of the park's inhabitants
Dr. Russell A. Marvin (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) – invented the weapon that brought down the saucers
Leonora Orantes (Contagion) – World Health Organization epidemiologist
Q (James Bond) – makes all the gadgets 007 uses; Q is most often portrayed using the conventional literary trappings of a scientist (such as a white lab coat), even though his activities are closer to engineering
Hank Rearden (Atlas Shrugged) – metallurgist and railroad magnate, inventor of "Rearden metal"
David Reed (Creature from the Black Lagoon) – contrasted to Mark Williams, a hypermasculine and ultimately destructive scientist
Ellen Ripley (Alien/Aliens) – engineer aboard the star ship Nostromo
Menlo Schwartzer (Surf II: The End of the Trilogy) – reputedly brilliant chemist
Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Gojira/Godzilla) – scientist who invents the Oxygen Destroyer, uses it to destroy Godzilla, then destroys his notes and sacrifices his own life so his creation can never be misused
Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (The Magnetic Monster) – personally destroyed the dangerous substance
Dr. Thomas Stockmann (An Enemy of the People)
Dr. Ryan Stone (Gravity) – biomedical engineer at a hospital in Lake Zurich; later becomes a mission specialist at NASA
Dr. Jane Tiptree (Carnosaur) – plans to recreate dinosaurs and destroy humanity
Professor Wayne Szalinski (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Dr. William Weir (Event Horizon) – designer of the titular spacecraft and its FTL propulsion system, the "gravity drive"
Steve Zissou (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004 film)) – eccentric oceanographer who sets out to exact revenge on the "jaguar shark"
John Koestler (Knowing) – astrophysicist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Killed at the end of the movie when the massive solar flare destroys and ignites Earth.
Adrian Helmsley (2012) – geologist, chief science advisor to U.S. President Thomas Wilson
Charlie Frost, (2012) – fringe science conspiracy theorist and radio talk-show host. Killed in the scene where Yellowstone Caldera erupted
Jackson Curtis, (2012) – struggling science-fiction writer
Satnam Surtani, (2012) – astrophysicist
Dr Newton Geiszler, (Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim Uprising) – K-Science Officer (biologist/research team)
Dr Hermann Gottlieb (Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim Uprising) – K-Science Officer (mathematician/research team)
Dr Robert Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame) – renowned scientist with 7 PhDs (focus in gamma radiation)
Eric Selvig (Thor, The Avengers, Thor:The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron)- Astrophysics, worked with Jane Foster on her Wormhole research, associate of Thor and former partner of Bruce Banner. Latter worked for SHIELD to study Tessaract.
Mark Watney (The Martian (film)) – botanist, mechanical engineer, astronaut
Mad scientists
Nathan Bateman
Dr. Simon Barnister (Underdog)
Dr. Ralph Benson (The Mad Doctor of Market Street)
Mr. Barron
Dr. Theodore Bohmer (The Ghost of Frankenstein)
Dr. Paul Carruthers (The Devil Bat)
Dr. Phillip Channard
Dr. Franz Edelmann (House of Dracula) – honourable doctor, until he was transfused with the blood of Count Dracula; he then went insane and became a murderer
Dr. Evil (Austin Powers)
Dr. Finkelstein (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Casanova Frankenstein (Mystery Men)
Frederick Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein) – grandson of Victor Frankenstein, who at first is so embarrassed by his grandfather's deeds that he insists his name is pronounced "Fronkensteen," but eventually creates his own monster, equipped with an "enormous" Schwanzstücker.
Dr. Frank N. Furter (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Dr. Gogol (Mad Love)
Doctor Gordon (Saw and Saw 3D: The Final Chapter) – uncaring surgeon until he survived a "test" orchestrated by the Jigsaw Killer. After the experience changed his viewpoint on life, Gordon became Jigsaw's apprentice and began applying his medical skills to Jigsaw's traps which kidnapped victims were forced to endure. Following Jigsaw's death, Gordon became his successor.
Dr. Josef Heiter (The Human Centipede (First Sequence)) – Josef Mengele-esque surgeon known for his surgical atrocity he calls the "Human Centipede"
Dr. Hoenneger (The Wolfman) – German doctor who worked at an insane asylum and used medical torture to "treat" Lawrence Talbot's belief that he transformed into a werewolf every full moon
Dr. Horrible (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog)
Dr. Ashley Kafka (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) – German doctor who experimented on the patients of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane
Dr. Mannering (Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man)
Dr. Wolfe MacFarlane (The Body Snatcher)
Dr. Cal Meacham (This Island Earth) – earth scientist (a radio engineer in the novel) kidnapped to solve the problem of defending the planet Metaluna
Dr. Harold Medford (Them!) – led the team that wiped out the giant ants
Dr. Gustav Niemann (House of Frankenstein) – mad doctor who escaped prison for revenge, took over a horror carnival exhibit that included Count Dracula and later encountered Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man
Philo (UHF)
Dr. Septimus Pretorius (Bride of Frankenstein) – mad doctor who followed in Henry Frankenstein's footsteps in creating living beings; blackmailed Frankenstein into helping him to create a female companion for Frankenstein's monster
Rotwang (Metropolis)
Dr. Shinzo Mafune (Terror of Mechagodzilla) – bitter oceanographer who had previously been ridiculed for his obsessive research into the brain patterns of sea creatures, he allies with the invading Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens, unleashing the mind-controlled kaiju Titanosaurus – whom he had personally discovered – to assist their newly rebuilt Mechagodzilla.
Dr. Carl Stoner (Sssssss) - delusional scientist attempting to create a method of transforming humans into reptiles
Dr. Strangelove (film of the same name) – former Nazi scientist who was the scientific advisor to the President of the United States during the brink of apocalypse
Dr. Alexander Thorkel (Dr. Cyclops)
Dr. Richard Vollin (The Raven)
Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bride of the Monster)
Dr. Herbert West (Herbert West–Reanimator and Re-Animator)
Dr. Henry Wu (Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)
Peter Weyland
Dr. XXX (The Mad Doctor animated film)
In live-action television
Individual scientist/engineers
Reginald Barclay (Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager) – diagnostic technician transferred to the USS Enterprise-D who later played a key role in a later project which enabled regular contact with the missing Starfleet ship, USS Voyager
Janos Bartok (Legend) – Hungarian scientist and inventor
Chuck Bartowski (Chuck) – nerd who uses his skills to save the day many times
Julian Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) – chief medical officer on Deep Space Nine
Beaker (The Muppet Show) – assistant scientist at Muppet Labs.
Beakman (Beakman's World) – a general scientist who, in a funny and entertaining manner, teaches that science is a fact of life
Walter White (Breaking Bad) – a former chemist who, after getting diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, starts manufacturing meth to provide for his family
Carson Beckett (Stargate Atlantis) – medical doctor and geneticist who discovers the ATA gene and serves as the chief medical officer for the Atlantis expedition
Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap) – Nobel-prize winning quantum physicist (with multiple doctorates) caught in his own time-travel experiment; "leaping" into many lives along the span of his own lifetime, he must change the histories of those around him for the better before he can return home
Dr. Walter Bishop (Fringe) – genius and literally mad scientist; responsible for opening a doorway into another universe in order to save an alternate version of his son Peter from dying; his actions resulted in the gradual breakdown of both universes and inadvertently started a war between them
Brains (Thunderbirds) – engineer
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, Ph.D. (Stargate SG-1) – United States Air Force officer and astrophysicist whose scientific knowledge and engineering skills are used to resolve various threats to her team and to Earth
Ravi Chakrabarti (iZombie) – medical examiner for the Seattle PD. He has studied the unique biology of zombies and has made several attempts to develop a cure for the condition.
Dr. Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) – theoretical physicist at Caltech
Professor Monty Corndog (The Aquabats / The Aquabats! Super Show!) – eccentric scientist and inventor whose chemical creations turned a group of ordinary men into superhero rock musicians who fight crime with the aide of The Professor's gadgets and contraptions
Zefram Cochrane (Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: First Contact) – inventor of the warp drive
Beverly Crusher (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D
Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – second officer and chief operations officer of the Enterprise-D, but his duties covered that of a science officer
Bill Davis (Family Affair) – civil engineer
Davros (Doctor Who) – Universal Genius from the planet Skaro and nemesis from the Doctor, he invented the Reality Bomb – a moon sized machine which creates a wavelength with the ability to cancel the electrical field that holds atoms together, he intended to use it to destroy all life in his own, and all other Universes in existence
Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) – science officer on Deep Space Nine
Ezri Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) – counselor on Deep Space Nine
Dr. Richard Daystrom ("The Ultimate Computer") (Star Trek: The Original Series) – inventor of the duotronic computer systems, the basic principles behind the computers on all Starfleet vessels
Dr. Linda Denman (H2O: Just Add Water)
The Doctor (Doctor Who) – super-intelligent alien who was educated as a scientist and uses his skills extensively in his adventures
The Doctor (Star Trek: Voyager) – Voyagers Emergency Medical Hologram
Stephen "Steve" Douglas (My Three Sons) – aeronautical engineer
Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler (The Big Bang Theory) – neurobiologist; played by real-life neuroscientist Mayim Bialik
Professor Sydney Fox (Relic Hunter) – archaeologist
Stephen Franklin (Babylon 5 and Crusade)
Kaywinnet Lee Frye (Firefly) – mechanical engineer
Dr. Goodfellow (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Dr. Ross Geller (Friends) – Paleontologist working at a museum in research and administration. Lecturer/Professor at NYU
Artemus Gordon (The Wild Wild West) – brainy complement to James West's brawn
Max Hamilton (H2O: Just Add Water)
Professor Roy Hinkley, a.k.a. The Professor (Gilligan's Island) – respected de facto leader of the castaways and usually represents the only real continual hope of rescue
Dr. Leonard Hofstadter (The Big Bang Theory) – experimental physicist at Caltech
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (The Muppet Show) – scientist and founder of Muppet Labs.
Paige Howard (Zoey 101)
Dr. Elias Huer (Buck Rogers) – chief scientist and inventor in the comic strip, movie serial and television series
Dr. Daniel Jackson (Stargate and Stargate SG-1) – archaeologist and linguist who figures out how to open the Stargate; his understanding of cultures and languages typically comes in handy when dealing with the bewildering array of cultures in the Stargate universe
Jimmy the Robot (The Aquabats / The Aquabats! Super Show!) – android with advanced skills and knowledge in numerous areas of science and technology
Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali (The Big Bang Theory) – astrophysicist at Caltech
Geordi La Forge (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – chief engineering officer of the Enterprise-D
Angus "Mac" MacGyver (MacGyver) – secret agent who fights the forces of evil using his scientific and engineering knowledge to his advantage
Quinn Mallory (Sliders) – graduate student who invents the transdimensional gateway
Lewis McCartney (H2O: Just Add Water)
Leonard McCoy (Star Trek: The Original Series) – chief medical officer of the Enterprise
Dr. Rodney McKay (Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis) – brilliant but whiny astrophysicist who manages to save the lost city of Atlantis on a regular basis (and never lets anyone forget it)
Miles O'Brien (Star Trek: Deep Space 9) – chief operations officer on Deep Space Nine, which doubles as a chief engineer
Walter O'Brien – 197 IQ genius, hacker, and leader of team Scorpion
Dr. Juliet Parrish (V) – scientist who becomes the principal leader of the resistance against the genocidal alien Visitors
Quinn Pensky (Zoey 101) – 13-year-old mad scientist, best known for her "Quinventions"
Phlox (Star Trek: Enterprise) – chief medical officer on the Enterprise-NX01
Professor Bernard Quatermass (various TV series and movies)
Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (The Big Bang Theory) – microbiologist for a pharmaceutical company
Hoshi Sato (Star Trek: Enterprise) – communication officer of the Enterprise-NX01 and inventor of the universal translator
Abby Sciuto (NCIS) – forensic scientist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Montgomery Scott, a.k.a. Scotty (Star Trek: The Original Series) – chief engineer of the Enterprise, often described as a miracle worker
Dr. Richard Seaton (Skylark) – super-scientist
Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Voyager) – Borg drone with no official rank or post, but due to her access to advanced Borg knowledge, she was used as an acting science officer on Voyager
Dr. River Song (Doctor Who) – archeologist, adventurer, and companion of the Doctor
Noonien Soong (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – inventor of the positronic brain, which makes intelligent androids possible
Dr. Tolian Soran (Star Trek Generations) – El-Aurian scientist desperate to return to the Nexus
Mr. Spock (Star Trek: The Original Series) – science officer and second-in-command of the Enterprise
Dr. Mohinder Suresh (Heroes) – professor of genetics and parapsychology from India
B'Elanna Torres (Star Trek: Voyager) – chief engineer of Voyager
T'Pol (Star Trek: Enterprise) – second-in-command of the Enterprise-NX01, though the crew relied on her as an acting science officer as well
Charles Tucker III, a.k.a. "Trip" (Star Trek: Enterprise) – chief engineer of the Enterprise-NX01
Mrs. Wakeman (My Life as a Teenage Robot) – XJ-9's creator
Dr. Rudy Wells (novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin; The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman) – cyberneticist
Howard Wolowitz (The Big Bang Theory) – aerospace engineer at Caltech
Dr. Horace Goodspeed, (Lost) – mathematician
Dr. Pierre Chang, (Lost) – astrophysicist
Mad scientists
Davros (Doctor Who) - the creator of the Daleks.
Dr. Arthur Arden, a.k.a. Hans Grüper (American Horror Story: Asylum)
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Martin Brenner
The Dollmaker (Arrow, Gotham, Batman vs. Robin, and DC Comics) – serial killer and insane surgeon who makes dolls out of human flesh
Dr. Laurence Erhardt (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Dr. Clayton Forrester (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Kinga Forrester (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Pearl Forrester (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoat (My Secret Identity)
Masahiko Minami
Dr. Loveless (The Wild Wild West)
TV's Frank (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
The Master (Doctor Who) - a renegade alien who seeks universal conquest.
Dr. Jonathan Reiss (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life)
Professor Roy Curien (House of the Dead 2)
In television animation
Dr. Namba (Pokémon) – evil scientist who works for Team Rocket.
Vlad Plasmius (Danny Phantom) – half-ghost evil inventor
Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes) – would-be planet conqueror
Miles Dredd (Max Steel) – main antagonist
Megatron (Transformers) – leader of the Decepticons nemesis of Optimus Prime and the Autobots.
Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
Mametchi - (Tamagotchi)
Princess Bubblegum (Adventure Time) – beautiful princess who invents and creates the citizens of Candy Kingdom in the land of Ooo
Princess Entrapta (She-Ra: Princess of Power and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) robotics engineer and inventor
Professor Bug (The Backyardigans) – pseudo-steampunk mad scientist portrayed by Pablo who bugs all the robots in Mega City
Professor Frink (The Simpsons) – Springfield's greatest scientific and engineering mind
Newton Gimmick (The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin) – absent-minded inventor whose inventions do not always work, but who always comes through in the end
Gadget Hackwrench (Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers) – mouse tinkerer/scientist
Franz Hopper (Code Lyoko) – genius in quantum physics and computer programming responsible for the creation of the virtual reality Lyoko, malevolent AI XANA and the advanced hardware that support both
Van Kleiss (Generator Rex) – main antagonist
Kowalski (Penguins of Madagascar) – team's scientist and inventor
Doctor Krieger (Archer TV series) – head of the ISIS applied research department
Professor Membrane (Invader Zim) – super-scientist; "the man without whom this world falls into chaos, and the inventor of Super Toast"
Doctor Mindbender (G.I. Joe: Renegades) – mad young genius in charge of Cobra's secret Bio-Viper project
Sandy Cheeks (SpongeBob SquarePants) - major character, one of Spongebob's best friends.
Jimmy Neutron (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius) – boy genius
Perceptor (Transformers) – Autobot scientist
Peridot (Steven Universe) – gem scientist and guardian of the crystal gems
Stanford "Ford" Pines (Gravity Falls) – author of the three journals and earned his Ph.D. in Backupsmore University
Dr. Benton Quest (Jonny Quest)
Sokka (Avatar: The Last Airbender) – self-taught engineer, inventor, and military strategist
Asami Sato (The Legend of Korra) – trained engineer, skilled pilot and driver, and competent unarmed combatant; partner of Avatar Korra and CEO of Future Industries
Ratchet (Transformers series) – skilled Autobot medic; in the G1 Comics, he sacrifices himself to kill Megatron
Professor Utonium (Powerpuff Girls) – father/scientist who created the Powerpuff Girls, among several other wacky things
Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture (The Venture Bros.) – self proclaimed super-scientist who primarily re-purposes his father Jonas Venture's old inventions. Parody of Dr. Benton Quest
Wheeljack (Transformers) – Autobot engineer and inventor
Doctor Zoidberg (Futurama) – lobster-like creature working as the company doctor for Planet Express
Aviva Corcovado (Wild Kratts) – engineer and inventor
Dr. Claw (Inspector Gadget series)
Dr. Arkeville (The Transformers TV series) – self-proclaimed evil genius who allies himself with the Decepticons
Professor Bug (The Backyardigans) – pseudo-steampunk mad scientist portrayed by Pablo who bugs all the robots in Mega City
Professor Finbarr Calamitous (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)
Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory) – child genius who whips up dazzling, world-saving inventions in his secret laboratory
Mandark (Dexter's Laboratory) – Dexter's rival, an evil genius who wants to destroy Dexter's laboratory and take over the world
Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas & Ferb) – mad scientist whose goal is to take over the tri-state area
Dr. Drakken (Kim Possible) – blue-skinned mad scientist determined to take over the world in order to prove his genius
Professor Hubert Farnsworth (Futurama) – creator of an atomic monster, various inventions, and the engines that allow space travel
Dr. Fritz Huhnmorder (Robot Chicken) – scientist who revives a road-killed chicken with cybernetic technology and forces the chicken to watch various stop motion comedy sketches
Hange Zoe (Attack on Titan) – quirky scientist in charge of studying titans and inventing new weapons for the Survey Corps.
Mane-iac (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic) – mad scientist in chemical engineering, specializing in the production of detergents
Dr. Alphonse Mephesto (South Park) – mad scientist who specializes in genetic engineering; creates strange creatures with his talents; also performs experiments ranging from simple DNA tests to creating a genetic clone of Stan Marsh for his son's science project
Lisa Loud (The Loud House)
Mojo Jojo (Powerpuff Girls) – mad scientist's chimpanzee that plots to take over the world and destroy the Powerpuff Girls; he was also Professor Utonium's former pet and partially responsible for the creation of the Powerpuff Girls
Plankton (SpongeBob SquarePants) – evil genius who specializes in building robotic inventions, including his sidekick Karen
Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty) – sociopathic, alcoholic but the smartest man of the universe who travels various dimensions with his grandson Morty.
Dr. Weird (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) – smartest, madest, and scientistest scientist in the universe whose experiments often cause problems for the Aqua Teens.
Jack Spicer (Xiaolin Showdown) – evil boy genius
Dr. Cinnamon J Scudworth (Clone High) - A mad scientist who created all the clones of historic figures, employed by The Secret Board of Shadowy Figures
Professor Venomous (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) – international terrorist and evil inventor
Lord Boxman (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) – evil robotics engineer and CEO of Boxmore.
Dr. Flug (Villainous) - An intelligent and inventive mad scientist who creates all the gadgets and machines that Black Hat attempts to sell.
Dr. Anton Sevarius (Gargoyles) - mad scientist, geneticist involved in several projects in the Gargoyles storyline. His most notable act is the creation of Talon and the Mutates.
Dr. Cerebral (Atomic Betty) - a mad alien scientist, consisting of a brain with a face floating within a glass tank upon a mechanical body who seeks to control the universe and wipe out all organics due to a belief mechanical beings be more efficient.
Hugo A-Go-Go (Batfink) - Batfink's most reccurring enemy.
Professor Porter (The Legend of Tarzan)
In animated films
Megamind (Megamind)
* Professor Porter (Tarzan (1999 film)]])
Mametchi - (Tamagotchi: The Movie)
Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony: The Movie, 2017)
Dr. Cockroach (Monsters vs. Aliens) – brilliant professor and a mad scientist with the head, body and abilities of a cockroach
Gru (Despicable Me)
Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Lilo & Stitch, 2002)
Buddy Pine a. k. a. Syndrome (The Incredibles, 2004) - Mr. Incredible's fan-turned-supervillain, who uses his scientific prowess to give himself enhanced abilities.
Dr. Nefario (Despicable Me)
Victor "Vector" Perkins (Despicable Me)
Dr. Albert W. Wily (Mega Man)
Mac (Chicken Run)- Scottish Chicken Scientist, helps other chickens escape the farm using aerodynamics, anatomy, mechanics.
In comics and graphic novels
DC Comics
Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash (The Flash) – police scientist and superhero
Querl Dox, a.k.a. Brainiac 5 (Legion of Super-Heroes) – reputed to have a brain exponentially more powerful than a normal human
Jay Garrick, a.k.a. The Flash (The Flash) – research scientist, superhero and founding member of the Justice Society of America
Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, a.k.a. Poison Ivy (Batman) – supervillain scientist with an affinity towards poisonous plant.
Ted Knight, a.k.a. Starman (Starman) – astronomer, expert scientist and superhero
Dr. Jon Osterman, a.k.a. Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen) – nuclear physicist transformed by accident into a godlike super-being; while publicized as a superhero, he functions as the ultimate weapon for the United States military
Ray Palmer, a.k.a. Atom (The Atom) – professor of physics at Ivy University; able to shrink his body to varying degrees, even to sub-atomic level, and able to alter his mass to near infinite levels
Doctor Poison (Wonder Woman) – DC Comics supervillain, a mad scientist who specializes in chemistry and poisons
Alan Scott (Green Lantern) – engineer and the first Green Lantern
Doctor Sivana, full name Thaddeus Bodog Sivana – world's wickedest scientist; arch-enemy of Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
Angela Spica, a.k.a. Engineer II (The Authority)
Tom Strong (Tom Strong) – science hero
Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman (Detective Comics, Batman) – world's greatest detective (reputedly), with incredible scientific knowledge and forensic and memory skills that are second to none
Carter Hall, a.k.a. Hawkman (Hawkman) – archaeologist who has been reborn many times, using his knowledge acquired through centuries to aid him on his anthropological studies
Mad scientists
Carter/The Wizard (Batman and Robin)
Anti-Monitor
Mr. Freeze
Man-Bat
Orca
Ultra-Humanite
Gorilla Grodd
T. O. Morrow
Professor Ivo – DC Comics supervillain, creator of Amazo and obsessed with immortality
Dr. Tito Daka (Batman)
Doctor Death (DC Comics) – first super-villain Batman ever faces, Doctor Death is a chemist and producer of biological weapons
Lex Luthor (Superman films and DC Comics) – scientific genius and corrupt businessman who is the nemesis of Superman
Professor Hugo Strange (DC Comics)
Marvel Comics
Dr. Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Incredible Hulk (Hulk) – scientist who developed the "Gamma Bomb" for the US government; an accident at the site of a test led to his becoming the Hulk; for a long period after, while in the form of Bruce Banner, he looked for scientific ways to rid himself of the transformation
Forge (X-Men) – mutant engineering genius
Dr. Henry (Hank) Philip McCoy, a.k.a. Beast (X-Men) – world-renowned biochemist and mutant superhero
Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man (Spider-Man) – superhero with great knowledge of advanced sciences; now teaches at the high school he formerly attended. His father Richard has also been portrayed as a scientist and geneticist in the Ultimate Marvel comics as well as the films The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel.
Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic (Fantastic Four) – scientist and inventor, regarded as one of the most intelligent people on Earth, leader of the Fantastic Four
Ted Sallis – duplicator of the serum that created Captain America; transformed into The Man-Thing;although he had serious problems with his personal ethics when it came to women and girls, he abandoned Operation Sulfer on moral grounds, and elected to remain as Man-Thing rather than allow innocents to be killed by the demon Thog
Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man (Iron Man) – industrialist and mechanical engineer of incredible ingenuity and inventive genius, whose technology to fight crime keeps him alive as well; he suffers from alcoholism
Victor and Janet Stein (Runaways) – founding members of the Pride; parents of Chase Stein
Victor Von Doom, a.k.a. Doctor Doom (Doctor Doom) – evil scientist, engineer, genius, conqueror; like Mister Fantastic, he is regarded as one of the most intelligent people on Earth, even though he is a villain
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X (X-Men) – founder, mentor, and sometime leader of the X-Men
Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym biochemist, discovers an unusual set of subatomic particles he labels "Pym particles". Entrapping these within two separate serums, he creates a size-altering formula and a reversal formula, testing them on himself. Becomes original Ant-Man.
Mad scientists
Curt Connors – college professor who created a formula to regrow his missing arm; turning himself into "The Lizard"
Dr. Cyrus Maldor/The Scarab (Captain America)
Otto Gunther Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2 and Marvel Comics) – narcissistic roboticist and nuclear physicist who was fused to his four mechanical tentacles; has a vendetta against Spider-Man
Miles Warren a.k.a Jackal - a college professor who has a vendetta against Spider-Man due to the death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy, whom he secretly loved, created multiple clones of the hero as well as a clone of Gwen herself to attack and torment him and eventually turning himself into a beast.
Norman Osborn a.k.a Green Goblin (Spider-Man and Marvel Comics) - billionaire CEO of Oscorp who is at times portrayed as a scientist with brilliant intellect and who crafts a halloween themed costume. Spider-Man's nemesis.
Dr. Arnim Zola (Captain America films and Marvel Comics) – former Nazi scientist who escaped death by transferring his consciousness into a mechanical body; in the present day, he is a member of the HYDRA terrorist organization
Morbius
Heinrich Zemo, also known as Baron Zemo
Mandarin
Kang the Conqueror
Leader
MODOK
Bolivar Trask
Vulture
Mister Sinister
Apocalypse
Other
Adhemar (The Adventures of Nero) – child prodigy; professor in many different disciplines; Nobel Prize laureate; teaches at the university of Oxford and Cambridge
Professor Barabas (Suske en Wiske) – expert in many inventions, including time travel
Professor Cuthbert Calculus (The Adventures of Tintin) – brilliant, if distracted, scientist; responsible for developing the first one-person submarine, the first ultrasonic destruction device, and the first white rose; leader of the first crewed lunar mission. Also very hard of hearing.
Dilbert – star engineer of the comic strip series Dilbert
Dilton Doiley (Archie Comics) – teenage inventor and scientific genius
Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) – most intelligent of the four Turtles, he builds a lot of advanced devices, often in the heat of battle
Gyro Gearloose (Donald Duck universe)
Jeremias Gobelijn (Jommeke) – self-declared "professor in everything"
Agatha Heterodyne (Airship Entertainment, Girl Genius) – heiress to the political background and scientific understanding of the Heterodyne family
Professor Kumulus (Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber)
Fran Madaraki (Franken Fran) – artificial human created by a biologist; like her creator, she possesses immense medical skills
Will Magnus (Metal Men) – creator of a team of advanced artificially intelligent robots
Professor Philip Mortimer (Blake and Mortimer) – main character, physicist and gentleman scholar
Helen B. Narbon (Narbonic) – mad geneticist with an odd fascination with gerbils.
Norman Osborn
Dr. Jonathan Septimus (Blake and Mortimer) – mad scientist vengeful due to perceived slights by his colleagues, appears in The Yellow "M" and The Septimus Wave
Joachim Sickbock (Tom Poes) – mad scientist who often proves to be a threat to the protagonists
Professor Snuffel (Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber)
Baxter Stockman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Othar Tryggvassen (Girl Genius) – powerful "spark", or mad scientist, bent on destroying all sparks, including himself
Ludwig Von Drake (Duck universe) – professor of science and psychology
Wally – lazy and disillusioned engineer of the comic strip series in the Dilbert universe
Dr. Hans Zarkov (Flash Gordon)
Dr. Frankenollie (Mickey Mouse)
Brainstorm (The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye) – scientific genius who invented time travel in order to save his best friend's husband, the consequences of which technically began the Autobot-Decepticon civil war.
In anime and manga
Individual scientist/engineers
Jotaro Kujo (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) – marine biologist, while unrelated to his role in the various plot arcs he appears in, Jotaro earns a doctorate in marine biology sometime before 1999 in the series' original timeline; dolphin and anchor motifs were added to his clothing designs to reflect his new occupation
Lloyd Asplund (Code Geass) – Britannian scientist who designed the Lancelot Knightmare Frame, a bipedal, humanoid superweapon entrusted to Japanese pilot Suzaku Kururugi
Professor Brown
Bulma (Dragon Ball) – creator of the Dragon Radar and a time machine allowing Trunks to avert the conquest of the world by evil androids
Kiranin Colbock (Space Runaway Ideon) – member of a science academy
Caesar Clown (One Piece) – former marine scientist and former partner of Doctor Vegapunk; he created mass destruction weapons and human experimentation but was fired and arrested due to his unethical research methods
The Doctor (Hellsing) – lead scientist of Millennium who created the Nazi vampires and the catboy Schrödinger
Professor Kouzou Fuyutsuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion) – right-hand man to Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari and second in command of Nerv
Szayelaporro Grantz (Bleach)
Heaven Canceller (A Certain Magical Index) – doctor and medical scientist
Doctor Hogback (One Piece) – doctor of Gecko Moria's crew who modified dead bodies to create a zombie army with the help of his captain
Ri Kohran (Sakura Wars)
Jonathan Joestar (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) – archaeologist
Harumi Kiyama (A Certain Scientific Railgun) – creator of the Level Upper
Dr. Cinnamon (TwinBee) – A genius scientist who is the creator of TwinBee and WinBee.
Son Gohan (Dragon Ball), not properly a scientist, but an estimated university professor
Dr. Emil Lang (Robotech) – responsible for much of the Earth-based Robotechnology; briefly seen in the original series, he played a much larger role in the aborted series Robotech II: The Sentinels, which was adapted as a comic book series
Professor Ochanomizu – surrogate father of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy
Tochiro Oyama (Captain Harlock) – designer and some say the soul of Harlock's spaceship Arcadia
Dr. Tem Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam) – father of Amuro Ray; led the design team that created the RX-78 Gundam
Dr. Aki Ross (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) – biologist vowing to stop the aliens that plague the Earth
Shiro Sanada (Star Blazers) – chief technician or chief mechanic of the Space Battleship Yamato, called Sandor in Star Blazers
Hanji Zoe (Attack on Titan) – head scientist in the survey corps, performs experiments on captured titans hoping to find a new way to save humanity
Professor Noriyasu Seta (Love Hina)
Skuld (Oh My Goddess!) – goddess who has the ability to build robots and machines from scrap material
James Ray Steam (Steamboy) – boy genius who helps his father and grandfather save Victorian London from a greedy corporation's superweapons
Franken Stein (Soul Eater)
Precia Testarossa
Doctor Vegapunk (One Piece) – leading scientist in the employment of the Marines; his work includes discovering the secrets and uses of Seastone as well as the secrets of how Devil Fruit powers work
Wu Tomoki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) – orthopedic surgeon and cosmetic dermatologist employed at the T.G. University Hospital, notable for his research of the Rokakaka fruit
Mad scientists
Kaolla Su (Love Hina) – exchange student who is the princess of the island of Molmol. She frequently invents dangerous devices and wants to turn her kingdom into a technological powerhouse that will conquer Japan.
Bondrewd The Novel (Made in Abyss) – White Whistle of ill repute, "Bondrewd the Novel" is in charge of Idofront, the Cave Riders' forward Operating Base in the fifth layer. He was the one responsible for several unethical experiments on children, including the one which transformed Nanachi and Mitty into Hollows.
Dr. Hiroshi Agasa (Case Closed) – an absent-minded professor who invents several devices to help out Jimmy Kudo
Naoko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Ritsuko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) – daughter of the above
Mayuri Kurotsuchi (Bleach) – a sadistic and cruel shinigami who uses his position as the leader of the Soul Society's Shinigami Research and Development Institute to conduct his experiments.
Desty Nova (Battle Angel Alita) – wicked genius whose work is fueled by philosophy; highly skilled at nanotechnology
Ujiko Daruma (My Hero Academia) – mad scientist associated with the series' main antagonists, League of Villains.
Orochimaru (Naruto) – a shinobi obsessed with immortality and obtaining knowledge of all jutsu. He conducted many illegal and unethical experiments that resulted in him becoming a wanted criminal.
Kabuto Yakushi (Naruto) – Orochimaru's assistant who takes part in many of his master's illegal experiments in addition to conducting his own, which include raising the dead.
Dr. Hell (Mazinger Z) - a mad scientist that is obsessed with taking over the world with his army of robotic monsters known as Mechanical Beast or Kikaiju.
Rintaro Okabe (Steins;Gate) - an eccentric yet kind-hearted inventor who embraces the typical image of a mad scientist. His experiments lead to the invention of time travel.
In video games
Scientists
Albert Wesker (Resident Evil) – microbiologist working for the pharmaceutical enterprise Umbrella and co-creator of the T-virus; he was killed in the first Resident Evil game by Tyrant T-002, a powerful biological weapon, and was resurrected with super-human powers after self-injecting the T-virus
Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, MD, PhD (Halo series) – scientist of the Office of Naval Intelligence, best known as the creator of the SPARTAN-II Program and Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor
Dr. Alphys (Undertale) – stout Lizard monster, and Asgore's royal scientist; extremely timid; the creator of the robot Mettaton and the Amalgamates; has a crush on Undyne, captain of the Royal Guard
Dr. Andonuts (EarthBound) – father of Jeff, one of the Chosen Four
Dr. Bosconovitch (Tekken series)
Cave Johnson (Portal 2) – eccentric former owner of Aperture Science, and creator of the portal gun
Ciel (Mega Man Zero) – young human scientist who awakens Zero in order to save the world
Daro'Xen vas Moreh (first appeared in Mass Effect 2) – quarian admiral and scientist who believes that the geth, a synthetic race created by the quarians, who subsequently rebelled and drove their masters from their homeworld, should be controlled by the quarians once again; Admiral Xen also performed surgery on her childhood toys, much to the quarian squadmate Tali'Zorah's disgust
Egon Stetmann (StarCraft II) – creator of the Mecha Swarm, paranoid, and prone to terrazine-induced hallucinations, he was once chief science adviser aboard the Hyperion.
Professor E. Gadd (Nintendo games)
Coco Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot) - she is Crash Bandicoot's younger sister. She has a deep intelligence and a love of science, which makes her the opposite of her brother. He is an electronics engineer specializing in hacking, computer programming and machine building
Dr. Gast (Final Fantasy VII) – former head of the Shinra Company's science department; has a much stronger moral compass than his successor
Dr. Gordon Freeman, Ph.D. (Half-Life) – theoretical physicist who fights a one-man battle against invading aliens, US Marines and Combine forces with a crowbar and other weapons; his associates are Drs. Isaac Kleiner, Eli Vance, Judith Mossman and Arne Magnusson
Dr. Krieger (Far Cry) – renowned scientist and creator/controller of the Trigens in the first Far Cry game
Kurisu Makise (Steins;Gate) – famous Japanese neuroscientist who lives in the United States, builds a machine that allows the user's memories to be converted into data.
Dr. Light (Mega Man) – creator of the revolutionary robot Mega Man
Love Lab scientists (Rhythm Heaven) – male and female scientist pass ingredients to each other to make love potions to the rhythm of the music
Lucrecia Crescent (Final Fantasy VII) – Shinra scientist and lover of Vincent Valentine
Grimoire Valentine (Final Fantasy VII) – Shinra scientist and father of Vincent Valentine
Hojo (Final Fantasy VII) – Head of the Shinra Company's science department; a sociopathic, amoral bioengineer whose experiments drive the game's plot forward
Mei (Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm) – climatologist, and one of the heroes in both games and comic series
Moira (Overwatch) – geneticist, and one of the playable heroes in the game
Mordin Solus (first appeared in Mass Effect 2) – member of fictional alien species known as salarians (who have fast metabolisms, talk fast, walk fast and think fast); a brilliant biologist and a tech specialist
Neuron (City of Heroes)
Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer (Hitman) – creator of Agent 47 and other clone assassins
Pieter Van Eckhardt (Tomb Rider: The Angel of Darkness)
Plague Knight (Shovel Knight), rouge member of the Order of No Quarter, tries to harvest their Essence for the Ultimate Potion to win over someone's heart.
Reed Wahl (BioShock 2)
Rikako Asakura (Touhou Project) – titled "Scientist Searching for Dreams", she is one of the few people in Gensokyo to value using science over magic. While she still uses magic in order to enhance her science at times, she tries to refrain from using magic due to a natural distaste of it.
Dr. Samuel Hayden (Doom (franchise)) – Head of the UAC, physicist.
Tobias Planck (Pirate Galaxy) – named after Max Planck, he is a theoretical physicist and field scientist with a parietal lobe 15% larger than average
Dr. W.D. Gaster (Undertale) – former royal scientist; only appears a few times while the player visits the CORE; speaks in the Wingdings font
William Birkin (Resident Evil 2) – microbiologist working for the pharmaceutical enterprise Umbrella Corporation; creator of the G-virus; he was wounded and injected himself with his G-virus, mutating him into a monster
Dr. Zed (Borderlands) – "Doctor" from the –Borderlands– series
Miles “Tails” Prower (Sonic The Hedgehog)
Mad scientists
Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog) – mad scientist who is the archenemy series' titular hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, specializes in robotics and other fields of engineering, who invents various kinds of aircraft, robots and vehicles in various sizes; he imprisoned animals in the inside of working robotic shells, and experimented with kinds of mutations. He aims to capture the Chaos Emeralds.
Dr. "Mundo" Edmundo (League of Legends) – sociopath medical doctor who only specializes in one field: the study of the pain response and how to inflict pain;his experiments have caused him to take on a monstrous form reminiscent of Frankenstein's Monster and a deceptively dimwitted speech pattern; out of all the scientists in the game, Dr. Mundo stands out as the only one who is a danger to both himself and others, evident in his self experiments.
Dr. Muto (video game of the same name).
Doctor Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot) – evil doctor who is the creator and arch-enemy of franchise's titular hero Crash Bandicoot with an oversized head, who has plans to conquer the world, using Power Crystals.
Doctor Nitrus Brio (Crash Bandicoot) – timid and meek scientist who assisted Doctor Neo Cortex in the first game, often using beakers of chemicals.
Doctor N. Gin (Crash Bandicoot) – masochistic scientist who assists Neo Cortex in the second game onward.
Dr. Wily (Mega Man) – primary antagonist of the original Mega Man series.
Dr. Nefarious (‘’Ratchet and Clank’’) – A recurring adversary to Ratchet, Clank and Captain Qwark.
GLaDOS/Caroline (Portal) - the main antagonist of the Portal franchise. She was Cave Johnson's assistant, before taking over the facility.
The Medic (Team Fortress 2) – one of nine playable classes who rejects the Hippocratic Oath. He is able to heal other characters and make them invincible (by using Übercharge) for a limited time with his Medigun. He previously had a medical licence, but lost it due to misplacing a patient's skeleton.
Vexen/Even (Kingdom Hearts) – A founding member of Organization XIII. A brilliant scientist who carries out research on various Organization projects. He was in charge of the Replica Program at Castle Oblivion, but someone disposed of him.
Dr. M (Sly Cooper) – He is a mandrill and was the brains of Sly's father's gang he felt he was being held back, so he set up a fortress on Kaine Island to break into the Cooper Vault and claim the wealth.
Professor Monkey-For-A-Head (Earthworm Jim)
Professor Von Kriplespac (Conker's Bad Fur Day)
Rintarō Okabe, a.k.a. Kyōma Hōōin (Steins;Gate) – self proclaimed mad scientist in his Kyōma Hōōin persona (which in reality is taken from a television show he watched as a child).
Yuri (Red Alert 2, and expansion pack) – Soviet psychic and founder of the Psychic Corps. During the Second World War, he took part in Stalin's secret project, whose aim was to create a mind control technology, and army which specialized in psychic warfare.
Victor Donovan (Dead or Alive) – main antagonist of Dead or Alive series.
Professor Hojo (Final Fantasy VII) – head of the Shinra Science Research Division. He infused his unborn child Sephiroth with Jenova cells to turn him into a super soldier, and in the present aids Jenova/Sephiroth's plans in the name of scientific research.
Engineers
Cid (Final Fantasy) – although there are many different individuals with the name of Cid in many different Final Fantasy games, most of them are some sort of engineer. His existence is a tradition on par with the Chocobo in the series.
The Engineer (Team Fortress 2) – one of nine playable classes who is capable of building sentry guns for area denial and other constructions which may support other characters
Isaac Clarke (Dead Space) – space engineer tasked with investigating the U.S.G. Ishimura, and later fighting the Necromorphs
Otacon (Metal Gear) – designer of Metal Gear REX and ally of Solid Snake
Rory Swann (StarCraft II) – New Yorker and engineer who runs the mothership of Jim Raynor
Shion Uzuki (Xenosaga) – "geeky engineer" and "unlikely heroine" who creates KOS-MOS, an "armored gynoid"
Torbjörn (Overwatch) – Swedish engineer and weapons designer, and a founding member of Overwatch.
Other
Dr. Baron von Kluckinstein (The Radioactive Chicken Heads)
Henry Emily (Five Nights at Freddy's) Henry was the creator of the springlock animatronics, and possibly the original four animatronics. He is business partners with William Afton and is the father of Charlie Emily and Sammy Emily.
Morgus the Magnificent was a horror host of late-night science fiction and horror movies and television shows that originated in the New Orleans, Louisiana market.
Professor Nebulous (Nebulous) – leader of an eco-troubleshooting team
Prof. Jocelyn Peabody (Dan Dare) – scientific brains behind many of the team's most inventive ideas
Teams of scientists/engineers
A team of scientists who investigate a deadly disease in The Andromeda Strain
Arcot, Wade and Morey – scientist-inventors in science fiction stories by John W. Campbell
The Baltimore Gun Club in From the Earth to the Moon – three of its wealthy members (Victor Barbicane, Stuyvesant Nicholl, Ben Sharpe) build a giant gun which launches an occupied capsule to the Moon
Bunsen and Beaker in The Muppets
Challengers of the Unknown – four scientific explorers
Eureka (Eureka) - a hidden-away town in Oregon where everyone, even the young children, are scientific geniuses.
Forensic scientists who use their skills to solve crimes in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: NY and CSI: Miami
Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric – alchemist brothers who seek the legendary Philosopher's stone, and end up saving their country with their alchemical skills
Ghostbusters – most of the central characters (Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore) are parapsychologists who battle ghosts and other supernatural menaces with equipment of their own design
Global Dynamics (Eureka) - a major research facility in the town of Eureka, where most of America's top-secret government experiments are conducted.
The Kihara family of mad scientists are dedicated to the pursuit of science whatever the cost, in A Certain Magical Index; individual members are often antagonists
The Last Three of Venus – Venusian scientists, adversaries of Dan Dare
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Lone Gunmen – ardent conspiracy theorists and computer hackers who frequently assist central X-Files characters Mulder and Scully, though they sometimes have their own adventures
LOVEMUFFIN (League of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments in Naughtiness) – group of evil mad scientists in Phineas and Ferb, including Dr Heinz Doofenshmirtz
STUDY – group of frustrated young adult scientists acting as antagonists in A Certain Scientific Railgun S
The Speedwagon Foundation – group consisting of doctors and archaeologists founded by Robert E. O. Speedwagon somewhere between the story arcs of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure; extremely knowledgeable on Stands, Pillar Men and DIO
Unorthodox Engineers – misfit bunch of engineers who solve problems of alien technology/weird planets in the future
The K-science team: Hong Kong Shatterdome (Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb) – heads of the kaiju science research team (Pacific Rim)
References
External links
Engineers in books and films
Scientists
Lists of science fiction characters |
51424588 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus%20%28spyware%29 | Pegasus (spyware) | Pegasus is spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that can be covertly installed on mobile phones (and other devices) running most versions of iOS and Android. Pegasus is able to exploit iOS versions up to 14.6, through a zero-click exploit. As of 2022, Pegasus was capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, location tracking, accessing the target device's microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps. The spyware is named after Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology. It is a Trojan horse computer virus that can be sent "flying through the air" to infect cell phones.
Pegasus was discovered in August 2016 after a failed installation attempt on the iPhone of a human rights activist led to an investigation revealing details about the spyware, its abilities, and the security vulnerabilities it exploited. News of the spyware caused significant media coverage. It was called the "most sophisticated" smartphone attack ever, and was the first time that a malicious remote exploit used jailbreaking to gain unrestricted access to an iPhone.
The spyware has been used for surveillance of anti-regime activists, journalists, and political leaders from several nations around the world. In July 2021, the investigation initiative Pegasus Project, along with an in-depth analysis by human rights group Amnesty International, reported that Pegasus was still being widely used against high-profile targets.
Background
NSO Group developed its first iteration of Pegasus spyware in 2011. The company states that it provides "authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime." NSO Group has published sections of contracts which require customers to use its products only for criminal and national security investigations and has stated that it has an industry-leading approach to human rights.
Discovery
Pegasus' iOS exploitation was identified in August 2016. Arab human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor received a text message promising "secrets" about torture happening in prisons in the United Arab Emirates by following a link. Mansoor sent the link to Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, which investigated, with the collaboration of Lookout, finding that if Mansoor had followed the link it would have jailbroken his phone and implanted the spyware into it, in a form of social engineering.
Citizen Lab and Lookout discovered that the link downloaded software to exploit three previously unknown and unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS. According to their analysis, the software can jailbreak an iPhone when a malicious URL is opened, a form of attack known as spear phishing. The software installs itself and collects all communications and locations of targeted iPhones. The software can also collect Wi-Fi passwords. The researchers noticed that the software's code referenced an NSO Group product called "Pegasus" in leaked marketing materials. Pegasus had previously come to light in a leak of records from Hacking Team, which indicated the software had been supplied to the government of Panama in 2015. Citizen Lab and Lookout notified Apple's security team, which patched the flaws within ten days and released an update for iOS. A patch for macOS was released six days later.
Regarding how widespread the issue was, Lookout explained in a blog post: "We believe that this spyware has been in the wild for a significant amount of time based on some of the indicators within the code" and pointed out that the code shows signs of a "kernel mapping table that has values all the way back to iOS 7" (released 2013). The New York Times and The Times of Israel both reported that it appeared that the United Arab Emirates was using this spyware as early as 2013. It was used in Panama by former president Ricardo Martinelli from 2012 to 2014, who established the Consejo Nacional de Seguridad (National Security Council) for its use.
Chronology
Several lawsuits outstanding in 2018 claimed that NSO Group helped clients operate the software and therefore participated in numerous violations of human rights initiated by its clients. Two months after the murder and dismemberment of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi human rights activist, in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, a Canadian resident, filed suit in Israel against NSO Group, accusing the firm of providing the Saudi government with the surveillance software to spy on him and his friends, including Khashoggi.
In December 2020, an Al Jazeera investigative show The Hidden is More Immense covered Pegasus and its penetration into the phones of media professionals and activists; and its use by Israel to eavesdrop on both opponents and allies.
Technical details
The spyware can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, as well as some Android devices. Rather than being a specific exploit, Pegasus is a suite of exploits that uses many vulnerabilities in the system. Infection vectors include clicking links, the Photos app, the Apple Music app, and iMessage. Some of the exploits Pegasus uses are zero-click—that is, they can run without any interaction from the victim. Once installed, Pegasus has been reported to be able to run arbitrary code, extract contacts, call logs, messages, photos, web browsing history, settings, as well as gather information from apps including but not limited to communications apps iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype.
In April 2017, after a Lookout report, Google researchers discovered Android malware "believed to be created by NSO Group Technologies" and named it Chrysaor (Pegasus' brother in Greek mythology). According to Google, "Chrysaor is believed to be related to the Pegasus spyware". At the 2017 Security Analyst Summit held by Kaspersky Lab, researchers revealed that Pegasus was available for Android in addition to iOS. Its functionality is similar to the iOS version, but the mode of attack is different. The Android version tries to gain root access (similar to jailbreaking in iOS); if it fails, it asks the user for permissions that enable it to harvest at least some data. At the time Google said that only a few Android devices had been infected.
Pegasus hides itself as far as is possible and self-destructs in an attempt to eliminate evidence if unable to communicate with its command-and-control server for more than 60 days, or if on the wrong device. Pegasus also can self-destruct on command. If it is not possible to compromise a target device by simpler means, Pegasus can be installed by setting up a wireless transceiver near a target device, or by gaining physical access to the device.
Development of capabilities
The earliest version of Pegasus - which was identified in 2016 - relied on a spear-phishing attack which required the target to click a malicious link in a text message or email.
As of August 2016 - according to a former NSO Employee - the U.S. version of Pegasus had 1-click capabilities for all phones except old Blackberry models which could be infiltrated with a 0-click attack.
In 2019, WhatsApp revealed Pegasus had employed a vulnerability in its app to launch zero-click attacks (the spyware would be installed onto a target's phone by calling the target phone; the spyware would be installed even if the call was not answered).
Since 2019, Pegasus has come to rely on iPhone iMessage vulnerabilities to deploy spyware.
By 2020, Pegasus shifted towards zero-click exploits and network-based attacks. These methods allowed clients to break into target phones without requiring user interaction and without leaving any detectable traces.
Vulnerabilities
Lookout provided details of the three iOS vulnerabilities:
CVE-2016-4655: Information leak in kernel – A kernel base mapping vulnerability that leaks information to the attacker allowing them to calculate the kernel's location in memory.
CVE-2016-4656: Kernel memory corruption leads to jailbreak – 32 and 64 bit iOS kernel-level vulnerabilities that allow the attacker to secretly jailbreak the device and install surveillance software – details in reference.
CVE-2016-4657: Memory corruption in the webkit – A vulnerability in the Safari WebKit that allows the attacker to compromise the device when the user clicks on a link.
Google's Project Zero documented another exploit, dubbed FORCEDENTRY, in December 2021. According to Google's researchers, Pegasus sent an iMessage to its targets that contained what appeared to be GIF images, but which in fact contained a JBIG2 image. A vulnerability in the Xpdf implementation of JBIG2, re-used in Apple's iOS phone operating software, allowed Pegasus to construct an emulated computer architecture inside the JBIG2 stream which was then used to implement the zero-click attack. Apple fixed the vulnerability in iOS 14.8 in September 2021 as CVE-2021-30860.
As of July 2021, Pegasus likely uses many exploits, some not listed in the above CVEs.
Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network
Human rights group Amnesty International reported in the 2021 investigation that Pegasus employs a sophisticated command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure to deliver exploit payloads and send commands to Pegasus targets. There are at least four known iterations of the C&C infrastructure, dubbed the Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network (PATN) by NSO group, each encompassing up to 500 domain names, DNS servers, and other network infrastructure. The PATN reportedly utilizes techniques such as registering high port numbers for their online infrastructure as to avoid conventional internet scanning. PATN also uses up to three randomised subdomains unique per exploit attempt as well as randomised URL paths.
Use by country
Although Pegasus is stated as intended to be used against criminals and terrorists, it has also been used by both authoritarian and democratic governments to spy on critics and opponents. A UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion found that the use of the spyware by abusive governments could "facilitate extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, or enforced disappearance of persons."
Armenia
About twenty Armenian citizens were spied on via Pegasus spyware. Media expert Arthur Papyan said it targeted the key figures of the opposition and the government - current and past government employees who knew valuable state secrets and have political influence, including the ex director of the National Security Service and current chairman of the center-right Homeland Party. The local experts suspected that they were targeted either by the government of Armenia or Azerbaijan, or perhaps both. Papyan said that NSO group appears to be jailbreaking a phone and provides interface for viewing the obtained data. Minister of high-tech industry Vahagn Khachaturyan also received a warning letter from Apple, he rejected the theory that the spying party could be the current Armenian government.
Azerbaijan
The list of spied-upon citizens included dozens of journalists and activists from Azerbaijan. It was alleged that their mobile phones were tapped. The head of Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe (Azadliq) Jamie Fly expressed his anger when it was revealed that the phones of his five current and former employees were tapped with Pegasus.
Bahrain
Citizen Lab revealed the government of Bahrain used the NSO Group's Pegasus to hack activists, bloggers, members of Waad (a secular Bahraini political society), a member of Al Wefaq (a Shiite Bahraini political society), and members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Bahrain reportedly acquired access to spyware in 2017. As per the report, the mobile phones of a total of nine rights activists were “successfully hacked” between June 2020 and February 2021. Those hacked included three members of Waad, three of the BCHR, one of Al Wefaq, and two of the exiled dissidents who reside in London. The Citizen Lab attributed “with high confidence” that a Pegasus operator, LULU, was used by the Bahraini government to breach the phones of at least four of the nine activists.
In January 2022, Bahrain was accused of using the Pegasus spyware to hack a human rights defender, Ebtisam al-Saegh. The prominent activist’s phone was hacked at least eight times between August and November 2019. As per the Citizen Lab, following the hacking attempt, al-Saegh faced incidents where she was harassed by the Bahrain authorities. It included being summoned to a police station, interrogation, rape threats, and physical and sexual assault. The attack left the rights defender in a state of “daily fear and terror”.
In February 2022, an investigation by Citizen Lab and Amnesty International revealed that the Pegasus spyware was used to infect the devices of a lawyer, an online journalist, and a mental health counsellor in Bahrain. All of the three activists were critical of the Bahraini authorities and were targeted with Pegasus between June and September 2021. One of the three activists remained anonymous, while the other two were Mohammed al-Tajer and Sharifa Swar (mental health counsellor).
Finland
In January 2022 Finnish foreign ministry reported that several phones of Finnish diplomats have been infected with the Pegasus spyware.
Germany
Pegasus is in use by German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). BKA acquired Pegasus in 2019 with "utmost secrecy", and despite hesitations from its legal council. The use of Pegasus by BKA was later revealed by German media.
Hungary
Government of Viktor Orbán has been accused of using it to spy on members of media as well as on Hungarian opposition. According to the findings released in July 2021, journalists and managers of media holdings appear to have been spied on by the Hungarian government with Pegasus. Phone numbers of at least 10 lawyers, at least 5 journalists, and an opposition politician were included on a leaked list of potential Pegasus surveillance targets.
In November 2021, Lajos Kósa, head of a parliamentary defense and law enforcement committee, was the first Hungarian senior official who acknowledged that the country's Interior Ministry purchased and used Pegasus. Kósa admited that Hungary had indeed purchased and used Pegasus, stating "I don't see anything objectionable in it [...] large tech companies carry out much broader monitoring of citizens than the Hungarian state does."
India
In late 2019, Facebook initiated a suit against NSO, claiming that Pegasus had been used to intercept the WhatsApp communications of a number of activists, journalists, and bureaucrats in India, leading to accusations that the Indian government was involved. 17 individuals including human rights activists, scholars, and journalists confirmed to an Indian publication they had been targeted.
Phone numbers of Indian ministers, opposition leaders, ex-election commissioners and journalists were allegedly found on a database of NSO hacking targets by Pegasus Project in 2021. Phone numbers of Koregaon Bhima activists who had compromising data implanted on their computers through a hack found on a Pegasus surveillance phone number list.
Independent digital forensic analysis conducted on 10 Indian phones whose numbers were present in the data showed signs of either an attempted or successful Pegasus hack. The results of the forensic analysis threw up shows sequential correlations between the time and date a phone number is entered in the list and the beginning of surveillance. The gap usually ranges between a few minutes and a couple of hours.
11 phone numbers associated with a female employee of the Supreme Court of India and her immediate family, who accused the former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, of sexual harassment, are also allegedly found on a database indicating possibility of their phones being snooped.
Records also indicate that phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time when an intense power struggle was taking place between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress-led state government in 2019.
It has been claimed that the Indian government used Pegasus to spy on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Israel
Israeli police use
In January 2022, it was reported that Pegasus was unlawfully used by the Israeli Police to monitor citizens as well as foreign nationals who were accidentally or intentionally infected by the software. The surveillance was ordered by high-ranking police officers, and was carried out without warrants or judicial supervision. The legal basis for use of spyware against citizens is disputed. The police had allegedly targeted civilians not suspected of any crime, including organisers of antigovernmental protesters, mayors, anti-LBGT parade activists, employees of government-owned companies, an associated of a senior politician, and former government employees. In one case, it was alleged that police targeted an activist who was not suspected of a crime, allegedly to gather information about the activist's extra-marital affairs and use it as leverage.
In some cases, Pegasus was used to obtain information unrelated to an ongoing investigation to be used later to pressure the subject of an investigation. In some cases, police used Pegasus to obtain incriminating information from suspects' devices, and then concealed the source of the incriminating information claiming it would expose intelligence assets. While the Israeli Police formally denied the allegations in the report, some senior police officials have hinted that the claims were true. The report led to the announcement of a number of parallel investigations into the police's conduct, with some officials demanding a Commission of inquiry. Although the Attorney General launched an internal probe into the allegations, the Privacy Protection Council (which advises the Minister of Justice), demanded that a state commission of inquiry be created.
On February 1, the police admitted that there was, in fact, misuse of the software. On February 7, the widespread extent of the warrantless surveillance was further revealed to have included politicians and government officials, heads of corporations, journalists, activists, and even , the son of then-Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. This has led to renewed calls for a public inquiry, including from the current police commissioner Kobi Shabtai himself (appointed January 2021), as well as from the Minister of the Interior, Ayelet Shaked and others.
Later in the day, the Minister of Public Security (the minister responsible for the police), Omer Bar-Lev, announced that he will be forming a commission of inquiry, to be chaired by a retired judge. Bar-Lev stressed that this commission will essentially be granted all the powers of a state commission (whose formation requires full cabinet support), including having the authority to subpoena witnesses, "regardless of seniority," whose testimony may be used in future prosecutions. Despite this, calls for a state commission persisted from several ex-ministry heads who were targeted. The next day, the State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, calling the crisis a "trampling on the values of democracy and privacy," said that the investigation launched by his office will also be extensive, adding that it will not only include the police, but also the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney's Office.
Jordan
In January 2022, lawyer and activist Hala Ahed Deeb's phone was targeted.
Kazakhstan
Activists in Kazakhstan were targeted, in addition to top-level officials, like Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Askar Mamin and Bakytzhan Sagintayev. Among the 2000 targeted Kazak numbers were government critic Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, as well as journalists Serikzhan Mauletbay and Bigeldy Gabdullin. Most of these victims were involved in a civic youth movement Oyan, Qazaqstan.
Mexico
Mexico was the first country to purchase Pegasus. Early versions of Pegasus were used to surveil the phone of Joaquín Guzmán, known as El Chapo. In 2011, Mexican President Felipe Calderón reportedly called NSO to thank the company for its role in Guzmán's capture. When a list of 50,000 phone numbers of potential Pegasus surveillance targets (selected by individual client governments) was leaked in 2021, a third of them were Mexican.
Targeting of scientists and health campaigners
In 2017, Citizen Lab researchers revealed that NSO exploit links may have been sent to Mexican scientists and public health campaigners. The targets supported measures to reduce childhood obesity, including Mexico's "Soda Tax."
2014 Iguala mass kidnapping
In July 2017, the international team assembled to investigate the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping publicly complained they thought they were being surveilled by the Mexican government. They stated that the Mexican government used Pegasus to send them messages about funeral homes containing links which, when clicked, allowed the government to surreptitiously listen to the investigators. The Mexican government has repeatedly denied any unauthorized hacking.
Assassination of journalist Cecilio Pineda Birto
Cecilio Pineda Birto, a Mexican freelance journalist was assassinated by hitmen while resting in a hammock by a carwash. Brito had been reporting on the ties between local politicians and criminal organizations, and had received anonymous death threats during the weeks preceding the assassination; at about the same time, his phone number was selected as a possible target for Pegasus surveillance by a Mexican Pegasus client. Pegasus spyware may have been used to ascertain Brito's location to carry out the hit by geolocating his phone; the deployment of Pegasus on his phone could however not be confirmed as his phone disappeared from the scene of the murder.
Use by Mexican drug cartels
Pegasus has been used by drug cartels and cartel-entwined government actors to target and intimidate Mexican journalists.
Other
A widow of slain renowned Mexican journalist was a target of an attempted Pegasus attempt 10 days after her husband was assassinated.
Morocco
In 2019, two Moroccan pro-democracy campaigners were notified by WhatsApp that their phones had been compromised with Pegasus.
In June 2020, an investigation by Amnesty International alleged that Moroccan journalist Omar Radi was targeted by the Moroccan government using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. The rights group claimed that the journalist was targeted three times and spied on after his device was infected with an NSO tool. Meanwhile, Amnesty also claimed that the attack came after the NSO group updated their policy in September 2019.
In July 2021, Morocco had targeted more than 6,000 Algerian phones, including those of politicians and high-ranking military officials, with the spyware.
Panama
President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli personally sought to obtain cyberespionage tools after his election in 2009. After a rebuff by the U.S. in 2009, Martinelli successfully sought such tools from Israeli vendors, expressing an interest in acquiring a tool capable of hacking into mobile phones in a 2010 private meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu. In 2012, NSO systems were installed in Panama City. The equipment was subsequently widely used for illicti domestic and foreign spying, including for spying on political opponents, magistrates, union leaders, and business competitors, with Martinelli allegedly going so far as to order the surveillance of his mistress using Pegasus.
Palestinian Territories
The mobile phones of six Palestinian activists were hacked using Pegasus with some of the attacks reportedly occurring as far back as July 2020, according to a report from Front Line Defenders.
Poland
Pegasus licenses were agreed on between Benjamin Netanyahu and Beata Szydło in July 2017. Citizen Lab revealed that several members of political opposition groups in Poland were hacked by Pegasus spyware, raising alarming questions about the Polish government's use of the software. A lawyer representing Polish opposition groups and a prosecutor involved in a case against the ruling Law and Justice party were also compromised.
In December 2021, Citizen Lab announced that Pegasus was used against lawyer Roman Giertych and prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, both critical of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) government, with Giertych's phone suffering 18 intrusions. 33 hacks to the phone of Krzysztof Brejza, a senator from the opposition Civic Platform (PO) were uncovered, and confirmed by Amnesty International. Leading to the 2019 European and Polish parliamentary elections, Brejza's text messages were stolen as he was leading the opposition parties' campaign. The texts were doctored by state-run media, notably TVP, and used in a smear campaign against the opposition. This prompted the Polish Senate to begin an inquiry into the deployment of the spyware.
On January 25, 2022, more victims were confirmed by Citizen Lab, including Michał Kołodziejczak of the agrarian movement Agrounia, and Tomasz Szwejgiert, a journalist and alleged former associate of the CBA.
According to the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), 544 of its employees' devices were under surveillance over 7,300 times, some could be infected with Pegasus.
Rwanda
A joint investigation by The Guardian and Le Monde alleged political activists in Rwanda were targeted with Pegasus.
Saudi Arabia
In December 2020, it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed a zero-click iMessage Pegasus exploit against two London-based reporters and 36 journalists at the Al Jazeera television network in Qatar.
Jamal Khashoggi
Pegasus was used by Saudi Arabia to spy on Jamal Kashoggi, who was later killed in Turkey. In October 2018, Citizen Lab reported on the use of NSO software to spy on the inner circle of Jamal Khashoggi just before his murder. Citizen Lab's October report stated with high confidence that NSO's Pegasus had been placed on the iPhone of Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, one of Khashoggi's confidantes, months before. Abdulaziz stated that the software revealed Khashoggi's "private criticisms of the Saudi royal family," which according to Abdulaziz "played a major role" in Khashoggi's death.
In December 2018, a New York Times investigation concluded that Pegasus software played a role in the Khashoggi's murder, with a friend of Khashoggi stating in a filing that Saudi authorities had used the Israeli-made software to spy on the dissident. NSO CEO Shalev Hulio stated that the company had not been involved in the "terrible murder", but declined to comment on reports that he had personally traveled to the Saudi capital Riyadh for a $55 million Pegasus sale.
Targeting of Jeff Bezos
Pegasus was also used to spy on Jeff Bezos after Mohammed bin Salman, the crown-prince of Saudi Arabia, exchanged messages with him that exploited then-unknown vulnerabilities in WhatsApp.
Targeting of journalist Ben Hubbard
A New York Times correspondent covering the Middle East, Ben Hubbard revealed in October 2021 that Saudi Arabia used the NSO Group’s Pegasus software to hack into his phone. Hubbard was targeted repeatedly over a three-year period between June 2018 to June 2021 while he was reporting on Saudi Arabia, and writing a book about the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Hubbard was possibly targeted for writing the book about the Crown Prince, and for his involvement in revealing the UAE’s hacking and surveillance attempt of Project Raven. Saudis attempted to peek into Hubbard’s personal information twice in 2018, one through a suspicious text message and the other through an Arabic WhatsApp message inviting him to a protest at a Saudi embassy in Washington.
Two other attacks were launched against him in 2020 and 2021 using the zero-click hacking capabilities. Lastly, on June 13, 2021, an iPhone belonging to Hubbard was successfully hacked using the FORCEDENTRY exploit. Citizen Lab said in “high confidence” that the four attacks were attempted using Pegasus.
Other targets
Another Saudi exile Omar Abdulaziz in Canada was identified by McKinsey & Company as being an influential dissident, and hence had two brothers imprisoned by the Saudi authorities, and his cell phone hacked by Pegasus.
Spain
According to an investigation by The Guardian and El País, Pegasus software was used by the government of Spain to compromise the phones of several politicians active in the Catalan independence movement, including President of the Parliament of Catalonia Roger Torrent, and former member of the Parliament of Catalonia Anna Gabriel i Sabaté.
Togo
A joint investigation by The Guardian and Le Monde alleged that Pegasus software was used to spy on six critics of the government in Togo.
Uganda
It has been reported that Muhoozi Kainerugaba brokered a deal to use Pegasus in Uganda, paying between $10 and $20 million in 2019. The software was later used to hack the phones of 11 US diplomats and employees of the US embassy in Uganda some time during 2021.
United Arab Emirates
In December 2020, it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed a zero-click iMessage Pegasus exploit against two London-based reporters and 36 journalists at the Al Jazeera television network in Qatar.
The United Arab Emirates used Pegasus to spy on the members of Saudi-backed Yemeni government according to an investigation published in July 2021. The UAE used the spyware to monitor and spy on the ministers of the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, including Yemeni president and his family members, former Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Dagher, former Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi, and current Minister of Youth and Sports, Nayef al-Bakri.
On 24 September 2021, The Guardian reported that the telephone of Alaa al-Siddiq, executive director of ALQST, who died in a car accident in London on 20 June 2021, was infected with the Pegasus spyware for 5 years until 2020. Citizen Lab confirmed that the Emirati activist was hacked by a government client of Israel's NSO Group. The case represented a worrying trend for activists and dissidents, who escaped the UAE to live in the relative safety, but were never out of the reach of Pegasus.
On October 2021, the British High Court ruled that agents of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum used Pegasus to hack the phones of his (ex)-wife, Princess Haya bint Hussein, her solicitors (including baroness Fiona Shackleton), a personal assistant and two members of her security team in the summer of 2020. The court ruled that the agents acted "with the express or implied authority" of the sheikh; he denied knowledge of the hacking. The judgment referred to the hacking as "serial breaches of (UK) domestic criminal law", "in violation of fundamental common law and ECHR rights", "interference with the process of this court and the mother's access to justice" and "abuse of power" by a head of state. NSO had contacted an intermediary in August 2020 to inform Princess Haya of the hack and is believed to have terminated its contract with the UAE.
On 7 October 2021, the NSO Group stated that it had terminated its contract with the UAE to use its Pegasus spyware tool after the ruling by UK’s High Court that Dubai’s ruler misused the firm’s Pegasus software to spy on his ex-wife and her legal advisers.
United States
NSO Group pitched its spyware to the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.), which declined to purchase it due to its high cost.
In August 2016, NSO Group (through its U.S. subsidiary Westbridge) pitched its U.S. version of Pegasus to the San Diego Police Department. In the marketing material, Westbridge emphasized that the company is U.S. based and majority owned by a U.S. parent company. An SDPD Sergeant responded to the sales pitch with "sounds awesome". The SDPD declined to purchase the spyware as it was too expensive.
Pegasus spyware was found in 2021 on the iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees. The US government blacklisted the NSO Group to stop what it called "transnational repression".
In December 2021, AP reported that 11 U.S. State Department employees stationed in Uganda had their iPhones hacked with Pegasus.
In January 2022 it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had secretly bought the Pegasus spyware in 2019 and was also given a demonstration of Phantom, a newer tool that could hack American phone numbers. They considered using both tools for domestic surveillance in the U.S. Which reportedly led to discussions between the FBI and United States Department of Justice which ultimately lead to the FBI deciding against using it and all NSO spyware in 2021. However, despite ruling against using it, Pegasus equipment is still in the FBI's possession at a New Jersey facility.
Yemen
The forensic analysis of UN independent investigator Kamel Jendoubi’s mobile phone revealed on 20 December 2021 that he was targeted using spyware while probing war crimes of Yemen. Jendoubi was targeted while he was examining possible war crimes in Yemen. Jendoubi's mobile number was also found in the leaked database of the Pegasus Project. According to the data, Jendoubi was one of the potential targets of one of NSO Group's long-time clients, Saudi Arabia. However, NSO spokesperson denied Kamel Jendoubi as any of its client's targets.
Pegasus Project
A leak of a list of more than 50,000 telephone numbers believed to have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016 became available to Paris-based media nonprofit organisation Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. They shared the information with seventeen news media organisations in what has been called Pegasus Project, and a months-long investigation was carried out, which reported from mid-July 2021. The Pegasus Project involved 80 journalists from the media partners including The Guardian (UK), Radio France and Le Monde (France), Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), The Washington Post (United States), Haaretz (Israel), Aristegui Noticias, Proceso (Mexico), the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Knack, Le Soir, The Wire, Daraj, Direkt36 (Hungary), and PBS Frontline. Evidence was found that many phones with numbers in the list had been targets of Pegasus spyware. However, The CEO of NSO Group categorically claimed that the list in question is unrelated to them, the source of the allegations can't be verified as reliable one. "This is an attempt to build something on a crazy lack of information... There is something fundamentally wrong with this investigation".
French intelligence (ANSSI) confirmed that Pegasus spyware had been found on the phones of three journalists, including a journalist of France 24, in what was the first time an independent and official authority corroborated the findings of the investigation.
On 26 January 2022, the reports revealed that mobile phones of Lama Fakih, a US-Lebanese citizen and director of crisis and conflict at Human Rights Watch, were repeatedly hacked by a client of NSO Group at a time when she was investigating the catastrophic August 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 people in Beirut.
In July 2021, a joint investigation conducted by seventeen media organisations, revealed that Pegasus spyware was used to target and spy on heads of state, activists, journalists, and dissidents, enabling "human rights violations around the world on a massive scale". The investigation was launched after a leak of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets. Amnesty International carried out forensic analysis of mobile phones of potential targets. The investigation identified 11 countries as NSO clients: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo, and the United Arab Emirates. The investigation also revealed that journalists from multiple media organizations including Al Jazeera, CNN, the Financial Times, the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and Le Monde were targeted, and identified at least 180 journalists from 20 countries who were selected for targeting with NSO spyware between 2016 and June 2021.
Reactions
Media
News of the spyware received significant media attention, particularly for being called the "most sophisticated" smartphone attack ever, and, for being the first detection of a remote Apple jailbreak exploit.
NSO Group comment
Dan Tynant of The Guardian wrote an August 2016 article that featured comments from NSO Group, where they stated that they provide "authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime", although the Group told him that they had no knowledge of any incidents.
Bug-bounty program skepticism
In the aftermath of the news, critics asserted that Apple's bug-bounty program, which rewards people for finding flaws in its software, might not have offered sufficient rewards to prevent exploits being sold on the black market, rather than being reported back to Apple. Russell Brandom of The Verge commented that the reward offered in Apple's bug-bounty program maxes out at $200,000, "just a fraction of the millions that are regularly spent for iOS exploits on the black market". He goes on to ask why Apple doesn't "spend its way out of security vulnerabilities?", but also writes that "as soon as [the Pegasus] vulnerabilities were reported, Apple patched them—but there are plenty of other bugs left. While spyware companies see an exploit purchase as a one-time payout for years of access, Apple's bounty has to be paid out every time a new vulnerability pops up."
Brandom also wrote; "The same researchers participating in Apple's bug bounty could make more money selling the same finds to an exploit broker." He concluded the article by writing; "It's hard to say how much damage might have been caused if Mansoor had clicked on the spyware link... The hope is that, when the next researcher finds the next bug, that thought matters more than the money."
See also
DROPOUTJEEP
RCSAndroid from Hacking Team
List of spyware programs
References
Hacking in the 2010s
Malware toolkits
IOS malware
Espionage scandals and incidents
Spyware
Spyware used by governments |
25778048 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSCAD | OpenSCAD | OpenSCAD is a free software application for creating solid 3D computer-aided design (CAD) objects. It is a script-only based modeller that uses its own description language; parts can be previewed, but cannot be interactively selected or modified by mouse in the 3D view. An OpenSCAD script specifies geometric primitives (such as spheres, boxes, cylinders, etc.) and defines how they are modified and combined (for instance by intersection, difference, envelope combination and Minkowski sums) to render a 3D model. As such, the program does constructive solid geometry (CSG). OpenSCAD is available for Windows, Linux and macOS.
Previewing
For fast previewing of models using z-buffering, OpenSCAD employs OpenCSG and OpenGL.
The 3D model position can be interactively manipulated in the view with a mouse similarly to other 3D modellers. It is also possible to define a default "camera" position in the script.
Part colors can be defined in the 3D view (including transparency).
Preview is relatively fast and allows interactive modifications while modifying the script.
The model renderer takes into account lighting, but the lighting source is not modifiable.
Use
OpenSCAD allows a designer to create accurate 3D models and parametric designs that can be easily adjusted by changing the parameters.
OpenSCAD documents are human-readable scripts in plain ASCII text.
As such, OpenSCAD is a programmer-oriented solid-modeling tool and has been recommended as an entry-level CAD tool for designing open-source hardware such as scientific tools for research and education.
It is mostly used to design 3D printed parts, which are exported in STL format.
Animation is possible with a speed of a few images per seconds for simple models. The animation can have effect on any parameter, being it the camera position or the parts dimensions, position, shape or existence.
It can be recorded as a set of images usable to build films.
An experimental coupling with Calculix for FEM (Finite Element Method) is available last updated 2019.
Freecad can import openscad files also for FEM with Calculix or other supported FEM solvers.
Exportation
Views can be exported in PNG format.
2D models can be exported in SVG, AutoCAD DXF and PDF.
3D parts can be exported in 3MF, AMF, OFF, STL, as simple volumes. There is no color, material nor parts definition in the exported model (July 2016).
Importation
2D drawings in DXF, SVG and PNG can be imported, then extruded as monolithic parts.
3D parts can be imported in STL and can be scaled and submitted to subtractive or additive operations.
Design
OpenSCAD is a wrapper to a CSG engine with a graphical user interface and integrated editor, developed in C++. As of 2016, it uses the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library (CGAL) as its basic CSG engine.
Its script syntax reflects a functional programming philosophy. Much as in Haskell, within a scope each "variable" is treated as a constant, immutable with at most one value.
See also
Comparison of computer-aided design software
PLaSM is another open source scripting language for creating 3D objects
References
External links
OpenSCAD page on Shapeoko wiki — includes links to supporting utilities, special purpose tools (such as a screw generator) and includes an example of creating a Machinist's diamond, circle, square milling test as a parameterized file suitable for re-creating at any desired size.
Videos on the basics of modeling with OpenSCAD
Related software
OpenJscad Web interface for a programmatic modeller with partial compatibility with OpenScad scripts. Developed in JavaScript.
ImplicitCAD Script-based modeller with an custom graphic engine. It does have an internal object model. Syntax similar but different from OpenScad. No GUI.
Rapcad Programmatic modeller
Blockscad3D Blockly implementation of OpenSCAD
Engineering software that uses Qt
3D graphics software
Free computer-aided design software
Free software programmed in C++
Free 3D graphics software
3D computer graphics software for Linux
Computer-aided design software for Linux |
5749 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key%20size | Key size | In cryptography, key size, key length, or key space refer to the number of bits in a key used by a cryptographic algorithm (such as a cipher).
Key length defines the upper-bound on an algorithm's security (i.e. a logarithmic measure of the fastest known attack against an algorithm), since the security of all algorithms can be violated by brute-force attacks. Ideally, the lower-bound on an algorithm's security is by design equal to the key length (that is, the security is determined entirely by the keylength, or in other words, the algorithm's design does not detract from the degree of security inherent in the key length). Indeed, most symmetric-key algorithms are designed to have security equal to their key length. However, after design, a new attack might be discovered. For instance, Triple DES was designed to have a 168-bit key, but an attack of complexity 2112 is now known (i.e. Triple DES now only has 112 bits of security, and of the 168 bits in the key the attack has rendered 56 'ineffective' towards security). Nevertheless, as long as the security (understood as "the amount of effort it would take to gain access") is sufficient for a particular application, then it does not matter if key length and security coincide. This is important for asymmetric-key algorithms, because no such algorithm is known to satisfy this property; elliptic curve cryptography comes the closest with an effective security of roughly half its key length.
Significance
Keys are used to control the operation of a cipher so that only the correct key can convert encrypted text (ciphertext) to plaintext. Many ciphers are actually based on publicly known algorithms or are open source and so it is only the difficulty of obtaining the key that determines security of the system, provided that there is no analytic attack (i.e. a "structural weakness" in the algorithms or protocols used), and assuming that the key is not otherwise available (such as via theft, extortion, or compromise of computer systems). The widely accepted notion that the security of the system should depend on the key alone has been explicitly formulated by Auguste Kerckhoffs (in the 1880s) and Claude Shannon (in the 1940s); the statements are known as Kerckhoffs' principle and Shannon's Maxim respectively.
A key should, therefore, be large enough that a brute-force attack (possible against any encryption algorithm) is infeasible – i.e. would take too long to execute. Shannon's work on information theory showed that to achieve so-called 'perfect secrecy', the key length must be at least as large as the message and only used once (this algorithm is called the one-time pad). In light of this, and the practical difficulty of managing such long keys, modern cryptographic practice has discarded the notion of perfect secrecy as a requirement for encryption, and instead focuses on computational security, under which the computational requirements of breaking an encrypted text must be infeasible for an attacker.
Key size and encryption system
Encryption systems are often grouped into families. Common families include symmetric systems (e.g. AES) and asymmetric systems (e.g. RSA); they may alternatively be grouped according to the central algorithm used (e.g. elliptic curve cryptography). As each of these is of a different level of cryptographic complexity, it is usual to have different key sizes for the same level of security, depending upon the algorithm used. For example, the security available with a 1024-bit key using asymmetric RSA is considered approximately equal in security to an 80-bit key in a symmetric algorithm.
The actual degree of security achieved over time varies, as more computational power and more powerful mathematical analytic methods become available. For this reason, cryptologists tend to look at indicators that an algorithm or key length shows signs of potential vulnerability, to move to longer key sizes or more difficult algorithms. For example, , a 1039-bit integer was factored with the special number field sieve using 400 computers over 11 months. The factored number was of a special form; the special number field sieve cannot be used on RSA keys. The computation is roughly equivalent to breaking a 700 bit RSA key. However, this might be an advance warning that 1024 bit RSA used in secure online commerce should be deprecated, since they may become breakable in the near future. Cryptography professor Arjen Lenstra observed that "Last time, it took nine years for us to generalize from a special to a nonspecial, hard-to-factor number" and when asked whether 1024-bit RSA keys are dead, said: "The answer to that question is an unqualified yes."
The 2015 Logjam attack revealed additional dangers in using Diffie-Hellman key exchange when only one or a few common 1024-bit or smaller prime moduli are in use. This common practice allows large amounts of communications to be compromised at the expense of attacking a small number of primes.
Brute-force attack
Even if a symmetric cipher is currently unbreakable by exploiting structural weaknesses in its algorithm, it is possible to run through the entire space of keys in what is known as a brute-force attack. Since longer symmetric keys require exponentially more work to brute force search, a sufficiently long symmetric key makes this line of attack impractical.
With a key of length n bits, there are 2n possible keys. This number grows very rapidly as n increases. The large number of operations (2128) required to try all possible 128-bit keys is widely considered out of reach for conventional digital computing techniques for the foreseeable future. However, experts anticipate alternative computing technologies that may have processing power superior to current computer technology. If a suitably sized quantum computer capable of running Grover's algorithm reliably becomes available, it would reduce a 128-bit key down to 64-bit security, roughly a DES equivalent. This is one of the reasons why AES supports a 256-bit key length.
Symmetric algorithm key lengths
US Government export policy has long restricted the "strength" of cryptography that can be sent out of the country. For many years the limit was 40 bits. Today, a key length of 40 bits offers little protection against even a casual attacker with a single PC. In response, by the year 2000, most of the major US restrictions on the use of strong encryption were relaxed. However, not all regulations have been removed, and encryption registration with the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security is still required to export "mass market encryption commodities, software and components with encryption exceeding 64 bits" ().
IBM's Lucifer cipher was selected in 1974 as the base for what would become the Data Encryption Standard. Lucifer's key length was reduced from 128 bits to 56 bits, which the NSA and NIST argued was sufficient. The NSA has major computing resources and a large budget; some cryptographers including Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman complained that this made the cipher so weak that NSA computers would be able to break a DES key in a day through brute force parallel computing. The NSA disputed this, claiming that brute-forcing DES would take them "something like 91 years". However, by the late 90s, it became clear that DES could be cracked in a few days' time-frame with custom-built hardware such as could be purchased by a large corporation or government. The book Cracking DES (O'Reilly and Associates) tells of the successful attempt in 1998 to break 56-bit DES by a brute-force attack mounted by a cyber civil rights group with limited resources; see EFF DES cracker. Even before that demonstration, 56 bits was considered insufficient length for symmetric algorithm keys; DES has been replaced in many applications by Triple DES, which has 112 bits of security when used 168-bit keys (triple key). In 2002, Distributed.net and its volunteers broke a 64-bit RC5 key after several years effort, using about seventy thousand (mostly home) computers.
The Advanced Encryption Standard published in 2001 uses key sizes of 128, 192 or 256 bits. Many observers consider 128 bits sufficient for the foreseeable future for symmetric algorithms of AES's quality until quantum computers become available. However, as of 2015, the U.S. National Security Agency has issued guidance that it plans to switch to quantum computing resistant algorithms and now requires 256-bit AES keys for data classified up to Top Secret.
In 2003, the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology, NIST proposed phasing out 80-bit keys by 2015. At 2005, 80-bit keys were allowed only until 2010.
Since 2015, NIST guidance says that "the use of keys that provide less than 112 bits of security strength for key agreement is now disallowed." NIST approved symmetric encryption algorithms include three-key Triple DES, and AES. Approvals for two-key Triple DES and Skipjack were withdrawn in 2015; the NSA's Skipjack algorithm used in its Fortezza program employs 80-bit keys.
Asymmetric algorithm key lengths
The effectiveness of public key cryptosystems depends on the intractability (computational and theoretical) of certain mathematical problems such as integer factorization. These problems are time-consuming to solve, but usually faster than trying all possible keys by brute force. Thus, asymmetric keys must be longer for equivalent resistance to attack than symmetric algorithm keys. The most common methods are assumed to be weak against sufficiently powerful quantum computers in the future.
Since 2015, NIST recommends a minimum of 2048-bit keys for RSA, an update to the widely-accepted recommendation of a 1024-bit minimum since at least 2002.
1024-bit RSA keys are equivalent in strength to 80-bit symmetric keys, 2048-bit RSA keys to 112-bit symmetric keys, 3072-bit RSA keys to 128-bit symmetric keys, and 15360-bit RSA keys to 256-bit symmetric keys. In 2003, RSA Security claimed that 1024-bit keys were likely to become crackable some time between 2006 and 2010, while 2048-bit keys are sufficient until 2030. the largest RSA key publicly known to be cracked is RSA-250 with 829 bits.
The Finite Field Diffie-Hellman algorithm has roughly the same key strength as RSA for the same key sizes. The work factor for breaking Diffie-Hellman is based on the discrete logarithm problem, which is related to the integer factorization problem on which RSA's strength is based. Thus, a 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman key has about the same strength as a 2048-bit RSA key.
Elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) is an alternative set of asymmetric algorithms that is equivalently secure with shorter keys, requiring only approximately twice the bits as the equivalent symmetric algorithm. A 256-bit ECDH key has approximately the same safety factor as a 128-bit AES key. A message encrypted with an elliptic key algorithm using a 109-bit long key was broken in 2004.
The NSA previously recommended 256-bit ECC for protecting classified information up to the SECRET level, and 384-bit for TOP SECRET; In 2015 it announced plans to transition to quantum-resistant algorithms by 2024, and until then recommends 384-bit for all classified information.
Effect of quantum computing attacks on key strength
The two best known quantum computing attacks are based on Shor's algorithm and Grover's algorithm. Of the two, Shor's offers the greater risk to current security systems.
Derivatives of Shor's algorithm are widely conjectured to be effective against all mainstream public-key algorithms including RSA, Diffie-Hellman and elliptic curve cryptography. According to Professor Gilles Brassard, an expert in quantum computing: "The time needed to factor an RSA integer is the same order as the time needed to use that same integer as modulus for a single RSA encryption. In other words, it takes no more time to break RSA on a quantum computer (up to a multiplicative constant) than to use it legitimately on a classical computer." The general consensus is that these public key algorithms are insecure at any key size if sufficiently large quantum computers capable of running Shor's algorithm become available. The implication of this attack is that all data encrypted using current standards based security systems such as the ubiquitous SSL used to protect e-commerce and Internet banking and SSH used to protect access to sensitive computing systems is at risk. Encrypted data protected using public-key algorithms can be archived and may be broken at a later time.
Mainstream symmetric ciphers (such as AES or Twofish) and collision resistant hash functions (such as SHA) are widely conjectured to offer greater security against known quantum computing attacks. They are widely thought most vulnerable to Grover's algorithm. Bennett, Bernstein, Brassard, and Vazirani proved in 1996 that a brute-force key search on a quantum computer cannot be faster than roughly 2n/2 invocations of the underlying cryptographic algorithm, compared with roughly 2n in the classical case. Thus in the presence of large quantum computers an n-bit key can provide at least n/2 bits of security. Quantum brute force is easily defeated by doubling the key length, which has little extra computational cost in ordinary use. This implies that at least a 256-bit symmetric key is required to achieve 128-bit security rating against a quantum computer. As mentioned above, the NSA announced in 2015 that it plans to transition to quantum-resistant algorithms.
According to the NSA:
, the NSA's Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite includes:
See also
Key stretching
Notes
References
General
Recommendation for Key Management — Part 1: general, NIST Special Publication 800-57. March, 2007
Blaze, Matt; Diffie, Whitfield; Rivest, Ronald L.; et al. "Minimal Key Lengths for Symmetric Ciphers to Provide Adequate Commercial Security". January, 1996
Arjen K. Lenstra, Eric R. Verheul: Selecting Cryptographic Key Sizes. J. Cryptology 14(4): 255-293 (2001) — Citeseer link
External links
www.keylength.com: An online keylength calculator
Articles discussing the implications of quantum computing
NIST cryptographic toolkit
Burt Kaliski: TWIRL and RSA key sizes (May 2003)
Key management |
62421374 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%20Piloty | Robert Piloty | Robert Piloty (6 June 1924, in Munich – 21 January 2013) was a German computer scientist and former Professor of Communications Processing at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. He was one of the pioneers in the construction of program-controlled computer systems and the founding father of computer science courses in Germany. As a member of the advisory board and chairman of the commission for the introduction of computer science studies in Germany, he was significantly involved in the introduction and design of computer science studies throughout Germany. His efforts also led to the establishment of the first computer science course in Germany at TU Darmstadt.
Piloty was a founding member of the Gesellschaft für Informatik. As a member of the general assembly and vice president of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), Piloty had represented German computer science internationally for many years.
His research has covered a wide range of areas, from microwave technology, computer-aided circuit design and hardware description languages (HDLs) to design databases.
Life
Piloty was born on 6 June 1924 as the son of Hans Piloty. After studying electrical engineering, he received his doctorate in microwave technology from the Technical University of Munich (TU Munich). Inspired by a study visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he visited the Whirlwind I, the Program-Controlled Electronic Calculator Munich (PERM) was created by his initiative and under his technical direction from 1949 at the TU Munich. The PERM project under the overall direction of his father Hans Piloty and his mathematician colleague Robert Sauer established the necessary hardware and software basis for many further research projects in the then emerging field of computer science. The PERM was used for many years in the computer center of the TU Munich and in the training of development engineers for the German computer industry. Today it can be seen in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
After the end of the PERM activities, Robert Piloty went to Zurich in 1955 as deputy head of the IBM research laboratory and in 1957 took over the management of system planning at the German company Standard Elektrik Lorenz in Stuttgart. In 1961, he became an associate professor at TU Munich and in 1964 was appointed Professor of Communications Processing at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt). There he founded the Institute of Information Processing, which later became the Institute for Computer Engineering. There he developed a hardware description language (HWBS) for the training of engineers, with which computer designs could be simulated. The idea spread quickly and a large number of languages were developed, so that an exchange was very difficult in the end. That is why Piloty founded the international Consensus Language (CONLAN) Working Group in 1975 as part of the IFIP with the aim of creating a basis for standardization.
At TU Darmstadt Piloty worked with Winfried Oppelt on a study plan "Computer Science", which was characterized by engineering science. There was already another curriculum, which came from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and provided for a stronger emphasis on software engineering. However, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering was the driving force, which is why in the same year the first computer science course of study in Germany was established at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering on the basis of Pilotys and Oppelts study regulations.
In the spring of 1969, Hartmut Wedekind and Robert Piloty had travelled through the USA together for several weeks to study the faculties of computer science there. On July 7, 1969, the Founding Committee for Computer Science (GAI) was established to constitute the Department of Computer Science. Later, the committee was replaced by a provisional department conference. This conference met for the first time on 15 May 1972, so that on that day the Department of Computer Science was officially established. Wedekind became its first dean and Piloty also became a member of the department.
Piloty retired in 1990.
Awards
1980 IFIP Silver Core
1985 Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class
1989 Konrad-Zuse-Medal for Services to Computer Science of the Gesellschaft für Informatik
1993 Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
1997 IEEE Fellow
2004 Inauguration of the new computer science building of TU Darmstadt under the name of Robert Piloty
References
2013 deaths
1924 births
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Fellow Members of the IEEE
Technische Universität Darmstadt faculty
Technical University of Munich faculty
German computer scientists |
35110707 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nawaat | Nawaat | Nawaat (Arabic: نواة) is an independent collective blog co-founded by Tunisians Sami Ben Gharbia, Sufian Guerfali and Riadh Guerfali in 2004, with Malek Khadraoui joining the organization in 2006. The goal of Nawaat's founders was to provide a public platform for Tunisian dissident voices and debates. Nawaat aggregates articles, visual media, and other data from a variety of sources to provide a forum for citizen journalists to express their opinions on current events. The site does not receive any donations from political parties. During the events leading to the Tunisian Revolution of 2011, Nawaat advised Internet users in Tunisia and other Arab nations about the dangers of being identified online and offered advice about circumventing censorship. Nawaat is an Arabic word meaning core. Nawaat has received numerous awards from international media organizations in the wake of the Arab Spring wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
History
Early Years
Nawaat was co-founded by Sami Ben Gharbia, Sufian Guerfali and Riadh Guerfali. The site went online on April 5, 2004 as a forum for Tunisian citizens and diaspora to be able to express themselves free of censorship from the government of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Since its launch, the site has posted thousands of print and visual media items focused on human rights, freedom of the press, politics, and culture in Tunisia, primarily through the French and Arabic languages but also frequently with English language contributions. The Ben Ali government established the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) in 1996 to monitor all Internet communications within the borders of Tunisia. Because of Nawaat's frequent challenges to the Tunisian government's restrictions on Internet communications, it became the target of ATI censors shortly after its inception. The OpenNet Initiative survey of 2006-2007 indicated that the Tunisian government was blocking Nawaat and several other dissident sites. ATI would block users' attempts to access Nawaat with Smartfilter software manufactured by the United States company Secure Computing, displaying a standard 404 "File Not Found" error message on their web browsers. Some of Nawaat's earliest contributions focused on election fraud and other forms of disenfranchisement during the re-election of Ben Ali in 2004, which the incumbent won with 94.49% of the popular vote. In addition, Nawaat aggregated a variety of commentaries exploring the role of Islam in government and contemporary relations between Arab nations and the Western world. Nawaat also featured contributions from human rights advocates from the Arab world as well as Iran and other nations with large Muslim populations. The site's staff often wrote opinion pieces castigating Arab governments with harsh censorship laws or promoting anti-censorship initiatives. The editors also called regularly for the release of imprisoned free-speech advocates including Alaa Abd El-Fattah and Abdel Monem Mahmoud.
Coverage of Self-Immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi and Sidi Bouzid Riots
Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire on December 17, 2010, resulting in his eventual death on January 4, 2011. This event catalyzed a series of street protests starting in the town of Sidi Bouzid that became the Tunisian Revolution. Nawaat provided commentary which contextualized the unfolding events and posted numerous articles about the unfolding events, which many Tunisians were able to access via mirror sites and other conduits. Nawaat covered the spread of protests until Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country with his family, posting news stories from international news sources, Arab journalists, and Tunisians inside the country and abroad. The site kept the focus on the underlying causes of the revolution as well, including restrictions on personal freedoms, imprisonment of opposition members, and economic stagnation.
TuniLeaks
Tunileaks was launched on November 28 on Nawaat.org, one hour after the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks unleashed cables on Tunisia. The first release contained 17 cables issued from the US Embassy in Tunisia, and the majority of them revealed exchanges between the embassy and the US State Department. Those revelations mainly dealt with the neglect of human rights in Tunisia and the restrictions on freedom of expression.
The Tunisian government rapidly blocked access to TuniLeaks, first blocking https://web.archive.org/web/20150221084506/https://tunileaks.appspot.com/ (without the https), then on the next day blocked Google App Engine's IP Address (209.85.229.141) in order to block Tunileaks under https as well. Additionally, the electronic version of Al Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, was also censored in Tunisia for containing some cables released by Tunileaks.
Other Support to Revolution
One of Nawaat's innovative contributions during the revolution was identifying and translating videos and personal accounts of potential media interest that were distributed on Facebook and other social networking sites. By the time of Ben Ali's ouster, Facebook was one of the few sites not blocked by the government where protesters could post the accounts of the revolution. The Tunisian dialect in the sites' videos made them unintelligible to many native speakers of Arabic, and the Nawaat staff's translation efforts resulted in many videos of protests and Tunisian security service crackdowns being broadcast on Al-Jazeera and other international news outlets. Nawaat and its affiliates made utilized the Posterous blogging platform to distribute material to the international press. Al-Jazeera had been banned from the country by the Ben Ali government and the videos provided by Nawaat were one of the most reliable sources of valuable video footage during the revolution. Nawaat also utilized its extensive network of internet activists to assist with mobilization of protesters through social media. Sami Ben Gharbia noted that one of the goals of Nawaat was to bridge the gap between collective action through social media and more traditional protest movement tactics.
Post-Revolution Activities
On the day of Ben Ali's flight from Tunisia, most sites previously blocked by ATI were available to Tunisian Internet users. ATI, still a functioning agency after the revolution, ceased censorship of opposition sites but in the following months began blocking sites deemed to be pornographic or inciting violence. At the direction of the military tribunal, five Facebook sites criticizing the army were blocked by ATI in May 2011. Nawaat has continued to monitor the activities of ATI, which is still staffed by most of the same employees from the Ben Ali era. In addition, Nawaat has focused efforts on training activists in Internet technology, assisting NGOs with similar missions, monitoring elections, and continuing to publish content on human rights and social issues. The Nawaat staff created the first Tunisian Hackerspace, a space where collaborative Internet technology projects can be discussed among members of the Arab Internet activist community along with worldwide partners. Hackerspace initiatives have included promotion of Arabic language Wikimedia proliferation.
Nawaatleaks
On March 27, 2014, Nawaat.org launched an anonymous whistleblowing initiative in order to support transparency and spot corruption. The initiative is based on the GlobaLeaks platform and the Tor technology and accessible in Arabic and French. In collaboration with GlobaLeaks, the Nawaat team created a special page that deploys a number of open source applications and techniques which protect those leaking confidential documents and files. This software even protects whistleblowers from the Nawaat team itself, which thanks to these techniques will not be able to identify the identity of those who leak information through their address emails, IP addresses, names or their geographic locations. To provide them with further protection, the Nawaat team will as usual and before the publication of any leaked confidential document, delete all meta data which increases the possibility of identifying the electronic source of documents in its different formats: audio, video clips, photos or texts.
Facts and Figures
Nawaat.org ranks 54916 in internet traffic by Alexa.
The site receives an average of 87,244 page views per day.
The estimated worth of Nawaat.org is USD $15,479 according to ValueIs.
Notable Founders
Sami Ben Gharbia, one of the co-founders of Nawaat.org. is a blogger and civil society advocate. He is listed on Foreign Policy magazine's 100 Most Influential Global Thinkers for 2011, and shares the 24th rank with Daniel Domscheit-Berg (a former deputy of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange) and Russian lawyer Alexey Navalny. Ben Gharbia is known for connecting with Ethan Zuckerman's Global Voices project, and founding TuniLeaks, exclusive WikiLeaks on Tunisia, by bringing WikiLeaks into the closed society of pre-revolutionary Tunisia, and pumping it through Nawaat Group Blog.
Riadh Guerfali is a prizewinning Tunisian blogger, also known online by his pen name "Astrubal". He received the NetCitizen prize which is awarded by French press freedom campaigners Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Internet giant Google, for his work to promote freedom of expression on the Internet.
Awards
Nawaat has won many major awards starting from 2011 for the role it played prior to, during the Tunisian Revolution and after.
The Reporters Without Borders Netizen Prize
Nawaat was awarded the Reporters Without Borders Netizen Prize, on the eve of the World Day Against Cyber-Censorship. It is an award that goes to a Netizen, a blogger, online journalist, or cyber-dissident who has helped promote freedom of expression on the Internet. The winner receives a 2,500 euros prize. Nawaat won against finalists from Bahrain, Belarus, Thailand, China, and Vietnam. This annual award is sponsored by Google.
The Index on Censorship Award
Nawaat won "the Index on Censorship Media Award" due to its project Tunileaks, a joint project with Wikileaks that dealt with Tunisian affairs and that confirmed, with cold documents, the widely criticised corruption of President Ben Ali’s regime, and helped focus public discontent.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation 2011 Pioneer Award
The Digital Power Index 2012
Nawaat was awarded by the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) with the best interactive website prize for 2015.
Arab eContent Award - Declined by Nawaat
Nawaat won the Arab eContent Award in the e-Inclusion & Participation category, an initiative of The World Summit Award (WSA). Nawaat declined the award, however, and refused to attend the Bahrain IT Expo 2011 Opening Ceremony to receive it from the Deputy Prime Minister of Bahrain and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information Technology and Communications, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. This was in protest against Bahrain’s Internet filtering practices, arrest of bloggers and human rights activists, and blocking of websites and blogs that criticize the Bahraini government and ruling family.
References and Links
References
External links
Nawaat
Nawaatleaks
OpenNet Initiative
Hackerspace
Human rights organisations based in Tunisia
Freedom of expression organizations
Organizations established in 2004
International rankings
Internet-based activism
2004 establishments in France
Tunisian political websites |
4244428 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind%20uploading%20in%20fiction | Mind uploading in fiction | Mind uploading, whole brain emulation, or substrate-independent minds, is a use of a computer or another substrate as an emulated human brain. The term "mind transfer" also refers to a hypothetical transfer of a mind from one biological brain to another. Uploaded minds and societies of minds, often in simulated realities, are recurring themes in science-fiction novels and films since the 1950s.
Early and particularly important examples
A story featuring an artificial brain that replicates the personality of a specific person is "The Infinite Brain" by John Scott Campbell, written under the name John C. Campbell, and published in the May 1930 issue of Science Wonder Stories. The artificial brain is created by an inventor named Anton Des Roubles, who tells the narrator that "I am attempting to construct a mechanism exactly duplicating the mechanical and electrical processes occurring in the human brain and constituting the phenomena known as thought." The narrator later learns that Des Roubles has died, and on visiting his laboratory, finds a machine that can communicate with him via typed messages, and which tells him "I, Anton Des Roubles, am dead—my body is dead—but I still live. I am this machine. These racks of apparatus are my brains, which is thinking even as yours is. Anton Des Roubles is dead but he has built me, his exact mental duplicate, to carry on his life and work." The machine also tells him "He made my brain precisely like his, built three hundred thousand cells for my memory, and filled two hundred thousand of them with his own knowledge. I have his personality; it is my own through a process I will tell you of later. ... I think just as you do. I have a consciousness as have other men." He then explains his discovery that the electrical impulses in the brain create magnetic fields that can be detected by a device he built called a "Telepather", and that "[t]hrough this instrument any one's mental condition can be exactly duplicated." Later, he enlists the narrator's help in constructing a new type of artificial brain that will retain his memories but possess an expanded intellect, though the experiment does not go as planned, as the new intelligence has a radically different personality and soon sets out to conquer the world.
An early story featuring technological transfer of memories and personality from one brain to another is "Intelligence Undying" by Edmond Hamilton, first published in the April 1936 issue of Amazing Stories. In this story, an elderly scientist named John Hanley explains that when humans are first born, "our minds are a blank sheet except for certain reflexes which we all inherit. But from our birth onward, our minds are affected by all about us, our reflexes are conditioned, as the behaviorists say. All we experience is printed on the sheet of our minds. ... Everything a human being learns, therefore, simply establishes new connections between the nerve cells of the brain. ... As I said, a newborn child has no such knowledge connections in his cortex at all—he has not yet formed any. Now if I take that child immediately after birth and establish in his brain exactly the same web of intricate neurone connections I have built up in my own brain, he will have exactly the same mind, memories, knowledge, as I have ... his mind will be exactly identical with my mind!" He then explains he has developed a technique to do just this, saying "I've devised a way to scan my brain's intricate web of neurone connections by electrical impulses, and by means of those impulses to build up an exactly identical web of neurone connections in the infant's brain. Just as a television scanning-disk can break down a complicated picture into impulses that reproduce the picture elsewhere." He adds that the impulses scanning his brain will kill him, but the "counter-impulses" imprinting the same pattern on the baby's brain will not harm him. The story shows the successful transfer of John Hanley's mind to the baby, whom he describes as "John Hanley 2nd", and then skips forward to the year 3144 to depict "John Hanley, 21st" using his advanced technology to become the ruler of the Earth in order to end a war between the two great political powers of the time, and then further ahead to "John Hanley, 416th" helping to evacuate humanity to the planet Mercury in response to the Sun shrinking into a white dwarf. He chooses to remain on Earth awaiting death, so that people would "learn once more to do for themselves, would become again a strong a self-reliant race", with Hanley concluding that he "had been wrong in living as a single super-mind down through the ages. He saw that now, and now he was undoing that wrong."
A story featuring human minds replicated in a computer is the novella Izzard and the Membrane by Walter M. Miller, Jr., first published in May 1951. In this story, an American cyberneticist named Scott MacDonney is captured by Russians and made to work on an advanced computer, Izzard, which they plan to use to coordinate an attack on the United States. He has conversations with Izzard as he works on it, and when he asks it if it is self-aware, it says "answer indeterminate" and then asks "can human individual's self-awareness transor be mechanically duplicated?" MacDonney is unfamiliar with the concept of a self-awareness transor (it is later revealed that this information was loaded into Izzard by a mysterious entity who may nor may not be God), and Izzard defines it by saying "A self-awareness transor is the mathematical function which describes the specific consciousness pattern of one human individual." It is later found that this mathematical function can indeed be duplicated, although not by a detailed scan of the individual's brain as in later notions of mind uploading; instead, Donney just has to describe the individual verbally in sufficient detail, and Izzard uses this information to locate the transor in the appropriate "mathematical region". In Izzard's words, "to duplicate consciousness of deceased, it will be necessary for you to furnish anthropometric and psychic characteristics of the individual. These characteristics will not determine transor, but will only give its general form. Knowing its form, will enable me to sweep my circuit pattern through its mathematical region until the proper transor is reached. At that point, the consciousness will appear among the circuits." Using this method, MacDonney is able to recreate the mind of his dead wife in Izzard's memory, as well as create a virtual duplicate of himself, which seems to have a shared awareness with the biological MacDonney.
In The Altered Ego by Jerry Sohl (1954), a person's mind can be "recorded" and used to create a "restoration" in the event of their death. In a restoration, the person's biological body is repaired and brought back to life, and their memories are restored to the last time that they had their minds recorded (what the story calls a 'brain record'), an early example of a story in which a person can create periodic backups of their own mind which are stored in an artificial medium. The recording process is not described in great detail, but it is mentioned that the recording is used to create a duplicate or "dupe" which is stored in the "restoration bank", and at one point a lecturer says that "The experience of the years, the neurograms, simple memory circuits—neurons, if you wish—stored among these nerve cells, are transferred to the dupe, a group of more than ten billion molecules in colloidal suspension. They are charged much as you would charge the plates of a battery, the small neuroelectrical impulses emanating from your brain during the recording session being duplicated on the molecular structure in the solution." During restoration, they take the dupe and "infuse it into an empty brain", and the plot turns on the fact that it is possible to install one person's dupe in the body of a completely different person.
An early example featuring uploaded minds in robotic bodies can be found in Frederik Pohl's story "The Tunnel Under the World" from 1955. In this story, the protagonist Guy Burckhardt continually wakes up on the same date from a dream of dying in an explosion. Burckhardt is already familiar with the idea of putting human minds in robotic bodies, since this is what is done with the robot workers at the nearby Contro Chemical factory. As someone has once explained it to him, "each machine was controlled by a sort of computer which reproduced, in its electronic snarl, the actual memory and mind of a human being ... It was only a matter, he said, of transferring a man's habit patterns from brain cells to vacuum-tube cells." Later in the story, Pohl gives some additional description of the procedure: "Take a master petroleum chemist, infinitely skilled in the separation of crude oil into its fractions. Strap him down, probe into his brain with searching electronic needles. The machine scans the patterns of the mind, translates what it sees into charts and sine waves. Impress these same waves on a robot computer and you have your chemist. Or a thousand copies of your chemist, if you wish, with all of his knowledge and skill, and no human limitations at all." After some investigation, Burckhardt learns that his entire town had been killed in a chemical explosion, and the brains of the dead townspeople had been scanned and placed into miniature robotic bodies in a miniature replica of the town (as a character explains to him, 'It's as easy to transfer a pattern from a dead brain as a living one'), so that a businessman named Mr. Dorchin could charge companies to use the townspeople as test subjects for new products and advertisements.
Something close to the notion of mind uploading is very briefly mentioned in Isaac Asimov's 1956 short story The Last Question: "One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain." A more detailed exploration of the idea (and one in which individual identity is preserved, unlike in Asimov's story) can be found in Arthur C. Clarke's novel The City and the Stars, also from 1956 (this novel was a revised and expanded version of Clarke's earlier story Against the Fall of Night, but the earlier version did not contain the elements relating to mind uploading). The story is set in a city named Diaspar one billion years in the future, where the minds of inhabitants are stored as patterns of information in the city's Central Computer in between a series of 1000-year lives in cloned bodies. Various commentators identify this story as one of the first (if not the first) to deal with mind uploading, human-machine synthesis, and computerized immortality.
Another of the "firsts" is the novel Detta är verkligheten (This is reality), 1968, by the renowned philosopher and logician Bertil Mårtensson, a novel in which he describes people living in an uploaded state as a means to control overpopulation. The uploaded people believe that they are "alive", but in reality they are playing elaborate and advanced fantasy games. In a twist at the end, the author changes everything into one of the best "multiverse" ideas of science fiction.
In Robert Silverberg's To Live Again (1969), an entire worldwide economy is built up around the buying and selling of "souls" (personas that have been tape-recorded at six-month intervals), allowing well-heeled consumers the opportunity to spend tens of millions of dollars on a medical treatment that uploads the most recent recordings of archived personalities into the minds of the buyers. Federal law prevents people from buying a "personality recording" unless the possessor first had died; similarly, two or more buyers were not allowed to own a "share" of the persona. In this novel, the personality recording always went to the highest bidder. However, when one attempted to buy (and therefore possess) too many personalities, there was the risk that one of the personas would wrest control of the body from the possessor.
In the 1982 novel Software, part of the Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker, one of the main characters, Cobb Anderson, has his mind downloaded and his body replaced with an extremely human-like android body. The robots who persuade Anderson into doing this sell the process to him as a way to become immortal.
In William Gibson's award-winning Neuromancer (1984), which popularized the concept of "cyberspace", a hacking tool used by the main character is an artificial infomorph of a notorious cyber-criminal, Dixie Flatline. The infomorph only assists in exchange for the promise that he be deleted after the mission is complete.
The fiction of Greg Egan has explored many of the philosophical, ethical, legal, and identity aspects of mind transfer, as well as the financial and computing aspects (i.e. hardware, software, processing power) of maintaining "copies." In Egan's Permutation City (1994), Diaspora (1997) and Zendegi (2010), "copies" are made by computer simulation of scanned brain physiology. See also Egan's "jewelhead" stories, where the mind is transferred from the organic brain to a small, immortal backup computer at the base of the skull, the organic brain then being surgically removed.
The movie The Matrix is commonly mistaken for a mind uploading movie, but with exception to suggestions in later movies, it is only about virtual reality and simulated reality, since the main character Neo's physical brain still is required for his mind to reside in. The mind (the information content of the brain) is not copied into an emulated brain in a computer. Neo's physical brain is connected into the Matrix via a brain-machine interface. Only the rest of the physical body is simulated. Neo is disconnected from and reconnected to this dreamworld.
James Cameron's 2009 movie Avatar has so far been the commercially most successful example of a work of fiction that features a form of mind uploading. Throughout most of the movie, the hero's mind has not actually been uploaded and transferred to another body, but is simply controlling the body from a distance, a form of telepresence. However, at the end of the movie the hero's mind is uploaded into Eywa, the mind of the planet, and then back into his Avatar body.
Further examples
Mind transfer is a theme in many other works of science fiction in a wide range of media. Specific examples include the following:
Literature
Frederik Pohl's story The Tunnel under the World (1955). See above article.
Isaac Asimov's short story The Last Question (1956). See above article.
Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars (1956). See above article.
In the Noon Universe created by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, the Great Encoding of 2121 was the first known attempt to completely store an individual's personality on an artificial medium. The final stages of the Encoding are described in the chapter 14 of Noon: 22nd Century (Candles Before the Control Board), first published in 1961.
Clifford D. Simak's Hugo-shortlisted novel Time is the Simplest Thing (1961) is based around mind copying and uploading. The initial swap involves 'the Pinkness' giving 'Shep Blaine' a very large number of minds that it has collected over the aeons in exchange for a copy of his mind.
Philip José Farmer's World of Tiers series (1965–1993) introduces the villainous Bellers, who were laboratory machines designed to temporarily hold Lord's consciousness between clone bodies, which became sentient and self replicating.onto a Holopox unit shortly before being nuked by the KGB.
In Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light (1967), the characters can technologically "transmigrate" their minds into new bodies.
In Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the beings controlling the monoliths were once alien lifeforms that had uploaded their minds into robotic bodies and finally into the fabric of space and time itself. The character Dave Bowman undergoes an uploading from the body of a human into a "ghost", as he is described in later books.
Bertil Mårtensson's novel Detta är verkligheten (This is reality), 1968. See above article for details.
Robert Silverberg's novel To Live Again (1969). See opening section for details.
Gene Wolfe's novella The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1972) features a robot named "Mr. Million" whose mind is an uploaded version of the original man who the narrator ('Number Five') was cloned from, and who acts as the narrator's tutor.
John Sladek's satirical The Muller-Fokker Effect (1973), in which a human mind could be recorded on cassette tapes and then imprinted on a human body using tailored viruses.
In an interesting reversal of the typical mind-transfer story, in Robert A Heinlein's Time Enough for Love (1973) a sentient computer transfers "her" mind into a genetically engineered human body.
In James P. Hogan's The Giants novels (1977–2005), stable FTL travel takes weeks if not months, so people upload their minds into an intergalactic network controlled by the AI known as VISAR. The network also supports a large series of virtual worlds for people to interact.
Michael Berlyn's The Integrated Man (1980), where a human mind, or part of it (or even just a set of skills) can be encoded on a chip and inserted into a special socket at the base of the brain.
Rudy Rucker's novel Software (1982). See opening section for details.
C. J. Cherryh's novel Voyager in Night (1984). An ancient alien vessel uploads various beings that it meets.
In Heroes Unlimited (1984) under the Robot category, a human pilot has a transferred intelligence category that transfers a human intelligence over a distance into the body of a robot. This option is also available in Rifts Sourcebook 1. In either case it can be permanent.
William Gibson's novel Neuromancer (1984). See opening section for details.
Frederik Pohl's novel Heechee Rendezvous (1984) was the first in his Heechee Saga series in which the protagonist Robinette Broadhead had been uploaded into a computer after his death. The technology was first introduced in Pohl's previous novel in the Gateway tetralogy, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1982)
Larry Niven deals with mind-transfer in his short stories: memories from 'corpsicles' (cryogenically frozen bodies) are transferred to mindwiped criminals. In the novels The Smoke Ring (1987) and The Integral Trees (1984), a human is voluntarily 'translated' into a computer program to operate as a starship's guiding intelligence.
Iain M. Banks's Culture series (1987–) make extensive reference to the transfer of mind-states.
Greg Bear's novel Eternity (1988) features a main character discovering a captured uploaded mind of a type of alien called a "Jart", whose civilization is later discovered to have the goal of uploading and digitizing as many minds and life-forms as possible with the hope of preserving them in a future "Final Mind" similar to Teilhard or Tipler's conception of the Omega Point. The story also features Bear's notion of the Taylor algorithms which allow a mentality to discover what type of system it is running on (for example, Bear writes on p. 109 that with these algorithms, "a downloaded mentality could tell whether or not it had been downloaded").
Janet Asimov's Mind Transfer (1988) journeys through the birth, life, death, and second life of a man whose family pioneers human-to-android mind transfer. It also explores the ethical and moral issues of transferring consciousness into an android at the moment of death, and examines the idea of prematurely activating an android which has not yet accepted a human brain scan.
Several characters in Kyle Allen's The Archon Conspiracy (1989) are repeatedly killed and resurrected in prosthetic bodies, once a "pattern map" of their brains is recovered and hard-wired into an artificial neural net. The main antagonist uses a similar process to construct a memetic computer virus, in the process uploading the personality of a notorious serial killer into several thousand people.
Roger MacBride Allen's The Modular Man (1992) portrays the interior experience of a personality copied into a vacuum cleaner and his legal battle for recognition as a legal personality. See also Political ideas in science fiction.
Peter James' Host (1993). A group of scientists is researching the feasibility of the upload to achieve immortality. Unfortunately it turns out that there are some unforeseen problems with the combination of human emotions and the power to use computers and the internet to manipulate the real world.
In the novel Feersum Endjinn (1994) by Iain M. Banks, the minds of the dead are uploaded into a computer network known as "the data corpus", "cryptosphere" or simply "crypt", allowing them to be routinely reincarnated. The story revolves around two characters who are trying to reactivate a piece of ancient technology, the "Fearsome Engine", which can prevent the Sun from dimming to the point where life on Earth becomes extinct.
Greg Egan's novels Permutation City (1994), Diaspora (1997) and Zendegi (2010). See opening section for details.
In Endgame (1996), the last novel of the Doom series by Dafydd Ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver, the alien race known as Newbies attempts to transfer Fly Taggart's and Arlene Sanders's souls to a computer simulation based on their memories. However, due to difference between "formats" of human soul and soul of any other being in the galaxy, they accidentally copied their soul, with one copy trapped in the simulation and the other left in their bodies.
In Garth Nix's Shade's Children (1997), Shade is an uploaded consciousness acting in loco parentis to teenagers to help save them from evil Overlords. Shade contemplates at times how human he is, especially as his personality degenerates during the story; and whether or not he should have a new human body.
In Charles Platt's novel The Silicon Man (1997), an FBI agent who has stumbled on a top-secret project called LifeScan is destructively uploaded against his will. Realistically describes the constraints of the process and machinery.
Tad Williams's Otherland series (1998–2002) concerns the activities of a secret society whose goals include creating a virtual reality network where they will be uploaded and in which they will live as gods. Otherland contains a very hard SF approach to the topic, but balances the hard approach with fantastical adventures of the protagonists within the virtual reality network.
Gene Wolfe's trilogy The Book of the Short Sun (1999–2001) features an old generation starship called the Whorl which is run by a group of uploaded rulers who have set themselves up as gods. Once the Whorl arrives at a star system with habitable planets, they send giant "godlings" to the humans on board to encourage them to depart the ship.
In Abduction (2000) by Robin Cook, a group of researchers discover an underwater civilization which achieved immortality by transferring their minds into cloned bodies.
In Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe (2000–), a complete and functioning copy of the mind is described as an alpha-level simulation while a non-sentient copy of the mind based on predictive behavioural pattern of a person's mind is described as a beta-level simulation.
In Eater (2000) by Gregory Benford, mind-uploading (or consciousness-uploading) is a "demand" of the major antagonist, which is a "magnetic intelligence" (composed of similarly encoded minds) anchored on the event horizon of a black hole. The major character's wife, who is dying of cancer, has her consciousness uploaded into a computer and mounts an attack on the entity, achieving a type of immortality in the process.
Kiln People (2002) by David Brin postulates a future where people can create clay duplicates of themselves with all their memories up to that time. The duplicates only last 24 hours, and the original can then choose whether or not to upload the ditto's memories back into himself afterward. Most people use dittos to do their work.
Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon (2002) and other Takeshi Kovacs books, where everyone has a "cortical stack" implanted at the base of their skull, soon after being born. The device then records all your memories and experiences in real-time. The stack can be "resleeved" in another body, be it a clone or otherwise, and/or backed up digitally at a remote location.
Jim Munroe's novel Everyone in Silico (2002) is set in Vancouver in 2036; people can upload to a virtual world called Frisco which is loosely based on the now submerged city of San Francisco.
Vernor Vinge's novella The Cookie Monster (2003) explores the possibility of mind uploads who are not aware they have been uploaded, and who are kept as unknowing slaves doing technical research in a simulation running at high speed relative to the outside world.
In Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003), the plot is set in motion when the main character is killed and "restored from backup", a process which entails the creation of a clone and flashing the clone's brain with an image stored on a computer.
In Carlos Atanes' FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004) the Sisterhood of Metacontrol transfer Angeline's consciousness into the virtual world of the Réseau Céleste.
Robert J. Sawyer's novel Mindscan (2005) deals with the issue of uploaded consciousness from the perspective of Jake Sullivan: both of them. The human Jake has a rare, life-threatening disease and to extend his life he decides to upload his consciousness into a robotic body; but things don't go quite as planned.
In the Old Man's War series (2005–) by John Scalzi, the minds of volunteer retirees are transferred to younger, genetically enhanced versions of themselves in order to enable them to fight for the Colonial Defence Forces (CDF). In The Android's Dream, two characters' minds are uploaded onto computers.
In The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008) by Rick Riordan, Daedalus/Quintus transfers his mind to an automaton by means of a combination of mechanics and magic.
The book and podcast novel series 7th Son (2009) from JC Hutchins focuses purely on mind uploading and cloning. Combining two ethically situational sciences and turning it into a thriller series when a terrorist clone can copy his consciousness to other people's minds.
In Peter F. Hamilton's Void Trilogy (2007–2010) humans are able to upload into the machine intelligence known as ANA. The same theme is found in P F Hamilton's Mindstar Rising (1993) in which an industrialist's mind is also uploaded to a storage device.
Similar themes are also found in Broken Angels and Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan.
Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief series (2010–2014), which includes the novels The Quantum Thief, The Fractal Prince and The Causal Angel, describes a posthuman world where uploaded minds (named gogols) are widely used as intellectual software utilized for various purposes including data analysis, planning and control of embedded systems.
Clyde Dsouza's Memories with Maya (2013) looks at how deep learning processes, and 'Digital Breadcrumbs' left behind by people (tweets, Facebook updates, blogs) combined with memories of living relatives can be used to re-construct a mind and augment it with narrow AI libraries. The resulting 'Dirrogate' or Digital Surrogate can be thought of as a posthumous mind upload.
David T. Wolf's novel, "Mindclone," describes the first successful brain scan and upload, creating a digital twin of Marc Gregorio, a science writer. Alternating between the points of view of the human and his digital twin, the novel explores the technology and its consequences as the pair establishes a friendly rivalry, and cooperates to fend off an avaricious government contractor. (2013)
Damien Boyes's series Lost Time (2015-), features characters whose minds are uploaded and digitally restored into artificial bodies. The series explores the emotional, legal, philosophical, and societal ramifications of mind uploading technology.
In the novel So Far Out to Sea by Dane St. John (2016), the visionary Abraham Trevis must locate a habitable exoplanet and plot out a journey to get there, in which he plans to use an experimental process called "relocation" to allow humans to survive the inhospitable forces of space and time – it consists of specialized nanotechnology called "architects", engineered for the purpose of replicating neurons and all individual experiences, learnings, and emotional traits.
In Steve Toutonghi's 2016 novel, Join, people are able to fuse their individual psyches into shared collective consciousnesses—a shared identity known as a join—in order to live multiple lives simultaneously, enjoy perfect companionship, and never die.
In Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel Children of Time (2016) both Dr. Avrana Kern and Gilgamesh Captain Vrie Guyen experiment with whole brain emulation with varied degrees of success.
Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse series (2016–Present) follows a 21st-century man named Bob whose consciousness has been uploaded and copied into many "replicants". These computerized clones then explore the galaxy while struggling with whether they are still human, or simply machines.
In Neal Stephenson's Fall; or, Dodge in Hell a software billionaire's brain is destructively scanned and then emulated in a massive cloud computing simulation. The story is told partially in contemporary real space and also in the simulation space which may exhibit different perceived timescales for the simulated consciousnesses.
Film
In the film The Creation of the Humanoids (1962), set in the future after a nuclear war, the blue-skinned androids known as "humanoids" are trying to infiltrate human society by creating android replicas of humans that have recently died, using a procedure called a "thalamic transplant" to take the memories and personality of the recently deceased human and place them in the replicas.
In the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the entity that calls itself V'Ger is a heavily modified Earth space probe that is capable of converting lifeforms and objects such as spacecraft into digitized "data patterns", which can then be represented in holographic or even physical form. The best example of this is when a probe from V'Ger kills the Starship Enterprise's navigator, Lieutenant Ilia, and then generates a mechanized duplicate of her to act as its representative to the Enterprise crew. In the film, it is stated that the duplicate is so detailed as to simulate humanoid biological functions, as well as contain the original Ilia's memory patterns, which the crew attempts to uncover in order to better understand V'Ger's motives.
In the film Tron (1982), human programmer Flynn is digitized by an artificial intelligence called the "Master Control Program", bringing him inside the virtual world of the computer.
Mamoru Oshii/Masamune Shirow's anime/manga Ghost in the Shell (1989–) portrays a future world in which human beings aggressively mechanize, replacing body and mind with interfacing mechanical/computer/electrical parts, often to the point of complete mechanization/replacement of all original material. Its sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence deals heavily with the philosophical ramifications of this problem.
In the film Robotrix (1991), a criminally insane scientist, Ryuichi Sakamoto, transfers his mind into a cyborg and immediately commits a series of rapes and murders. Among his victims is female police officer Selena Lam. The scientist Dr. Sara transfers Selena's mind into a cyborg named Eve-27, then copies her own persona into a robotic assistant named Ann. The cyborg-robot team pursue the criminal Sakamoto by investigating a series of murdered prostitutes.
The film The Lawnmower Man (1992) deals with attempts by scientists to boost the intelligence of a man named Jobe using a program of accelerated learning, using nootropic drugs, virtual reality input, and cortex stimulation. After becoming superintelligent, Jobe finds a way to transfer his mind completely into virtual reality, leaving his physical body as a wizened husk.
The film Freejack (1992) describes a future where the wealthy can seize people out of the past, moments before their death, and transfer their own mind & consciousness to the newly captured body, at the expense of that person's mind. A "freejack" is what an escapee of this process is called. The computer equipment which stores a mind temporarily while it awaits transplant is referred to as "the spiritual switchboard".
The Thirteenth Floor (1999) is set in late 1990s Los Angeles, where Hannon owns a multibillion-dollar computer enterprise, and is the inventor of a newly completed virtual reality (VR) simulation of 1937 Los Angeles. But Hannon dies and his protégé eventually discovers that the 1990s Los Angeles itself is a simulation.
In the film The 6th Day (2000), the contents of a brain can be downloaded via the optic nerves, and copied to clones.
Chrysalis, a 2007 French movie about an experimental machine capable of partially uploading minds. Minds cannot function in purely digital form, they must be placed back into a human container.
The central conceit of the 2009 science fiction film Avatar is that human consciousness can be used to control genetically grown bodies (Avatars) based on the native inhabitants of an alien world, in order to integrate into their society. This is not true mind uploading, as the humans only control the Avatars remotely (a form of telepresence), but later in the film Grace connects with Eywa (the collective consciousness of the planet) so her mind can be permanently transferred to her Avatar body. Her mind is uploaded to Eywa, but she does not return to her Avatar body and stays within the Tree of Souls. At the end of the film, Jake's mind is uploaded to Eywa and successfully returns to his Avatar body leaving his human body lifeless. The basis for this type of transfer is not explained in detail, but it seems to have a physical basis rather than being something more mystical, given that Grace had earlier described Eywa as a "global network" (like a neural network) made up of electrochemical "connections" (which she said were "like the synapses between neurons") between the roots of trees, and also said that "the Na'vi can access it—they can upload and download data—memories".
In the 2014 movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Arnim Zola, a biochemist for HYDRA developed a terminal disease and he transferred his consciousness to a giant computer that took up the entire area of an old, abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in New Jersey.
In the 2014 movie Transcendence, Dr. Will Caster, an artificial intelligence researcher, is assassinated with a bullet laced with radioactive material and has his consciousness uploaded to several quantum processors (and eventually the internet) in order for him to survive in a digital form.
In the 2015 movie CHAPPiE the title character Chappie transfers the dying Deon's consciousness into a spare robot through a modified neural helmet.
In the 2015 film Advantageous, Gwen Koh is made to choose between having her consciousness transferred to a different body in order to keep her job as the face of a technology company or not having the resources to give her daughter the education that will maintain her position in a socially and economically stratified society.
In the 2015 film Self/less the super wealthy are offered the extension of their lives through the transfer of their minds into what are presented as cloned bodies, but are actually humans whose memories are overwritten and suppressed.
In the 2018 film Replicas a researcher working on creating synthetic robot brains copies his family's minds into cloned human bodies after they are killed in a car accident, in-order to bring them back to life. However, although their minds are copied into cloned bodies, their minds are first uploaded into storage devices called Mem-Drives capable of storing the entire contents of a human brain, until their minds can then later (only after the cloned bodies that first have to be grown are finished maturing) be transferred subsequently into the cloned human bodies. This film also deals with the concept of Mind uploading (into fully artificial robot bodies) as that is exactly what the primary character in the film is trying to accomplish, from nearly the very beginning of the film.
Television
In Galaxy Express 999 (1978), people can achieve effective immortality by transferring their minds into android bodies, if they are wealthy enough to afford them. The main character is set on this as his supreme aspiration in life, but slowly comes to appreciate that it is not quite the panacea he had been led to believe it was.
In the 1985 TV movie Max Headroom and ABC Television series, TV reporter Edison Carter is copied into Network 23's computers creating the TV personality Max Headroom.
Red Dwarf (1988–1999), where a person's memories and personality can be recorded in just a few seconds and, upon their death, they can be recreated as a holographic simulation. Arnold Rimmer is an example of such a person.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2 episode 6 "The Schizoid Man" (1989), Dr Ira Graves uploads his mind into Data's positronic brain. He later downloads his memories into the Enterprise's computer, although his personality has been lost. His memories reduced to raw data of events.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7 episode 10 "Inheritance" (1994), Data encounters his "mother" who unknown to her, had her mind scanned by synaptic scanner by her husband (and Datas "father") Dr Noonien Soong. This was done while she was unconscious, and days before her death an exact copy of her brain was transferred to a positronic matrix, inside a gynoid body (but labeled android body on the show).
In Battle Angel Alita (1990–, also known as Gunnm), a closely guarded secret of the elite city of Tiphares/Zalem is that its citizens, after being eugenically screened and rigorously tested in a maturity ritual, have their brains scanned, removed and replaced with chips. When this is revealed to a Tipharean/Zalem citizen, the internalized philosophical debate causes most citizens to go insane.
In the Phantom 2040 TV series (1994–) and videogame (1995), Maxwell Madison Sr., the husband of one of the series' main antagonists Rebecca Madison, is killed during a train wreck with the 23rd Phantom and his brainwaves are uploaded onto a computer mainframe. Rebecca plans to download his brainwaves into a living or artificial body to bring him back to life.
The second of the four TekWar TV movies, titled "TekLords" (1994), featured the uploaded intelligence of a drug lord's sister, who had been killed in an attempt on his life.
The antagonist of the M.A.N.T.I.S. episode "Switches" (1995) is a mad scientist on death row, who has designed a device which will upload his mind into the power grid. The device is activated when the scientist is executed in an electric chair. He is thwarted in his attempt to subject his ex-girlfriend to the same process.
In Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001) season 7 episode 7 "Body and Soul" The Doctor had to upload himself into Seven of Nine due to a race who hated photonic life forms.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! (1996–), Noah Kaiba died in a car accident and his mind was uploaded to a supercomputer.
In the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997–2007), the Asgard cheat death by transferring their minds into new clone bodies. The mind of Thor, the high commander of the Asgard fleet, was for a time transferred into the computer of a Goa'uld spaceship. In the episode "Tin Man" (1998), the SG-1 team visit a warehouse of an extinct alien civilization, where the android caretaker scans their minds and builds android duplicates of the team, who are unaware that they aren't the originals until they find their original bodies in suspended animation. In "Holiday" (1999) Dr. Daniel Jackson's mind is transferred into Machello's body and vice versa. In "Entity" (2001) Samantha Carter's mind is transferred into a computer. In "Lifeboat" (2003) around 12 minds are transferred into and then out of Daniel Jackson's body. In the two-part opening of season 8, "New Order" (2004), Jack O'Neill's mind is fully interfaced with the main computer of Thor's ship.
In the TV series Stargate Atlantis, after being infected with Asuran (Replicator) Nanites, Dr. Weir is capable of accessing and uploading herself in the Asuran collective network.
In the TV series Stargate Universe, the consciousnesses of a number of deceased characters are uploaded to the Destiny's main computer, where they exist as live computer programs which can interact with the crew via induced audiovisual hallucinations.
Cowboy Bebop episode 23 "Brain Scratch" (1999) is about a cult dedicated towards electronic transference of the mind into a computer network.
In the French animated series Code Lyoko (2003–), the primary characters use devices called Scanners that read the entire physical makeup of the user, digitize their atoms and then teleport the user onto the virtual world of Lyoko.
In the Japanese animated television series Kaiba (2008), memories can be stored as information via a memory chip; when individuals die, their minds live on. This digitization of mental information allows for the transfer of one's mind to someone else's body, and the theft and manipulation of other people's memories has become the norm. Society is largely divided into two classes. In the skies are electrical storms, which cannot be passed through without losing one's memories. Above them lies the realm of the wealthy and powerful, who barter others' bodies and memories for their own enjoyment and longevity. Below the clouds is a troubled and dangerous world where good bodies are hard to come by and real money is scarce.
In the television series Caprica (2009–2010), a prequel to Battlestar Galactica, the ability to upload human consciousnesses into a virtual reality world is featured prominently. (Battlestar Galactica did not itself feature true mind uploading, since the cylons were artificial intelligences that were not based on ordinary human brains, though their minds could be transferred from one body to another in the same manner as is often envisioned for uploads.) While some characters believe that the process only creates an imperfect copy of the original person, as the death of the original consciousness is unnecessary for the creation of the virtual copy, other characters believe that it can be viewed as a form of religious rebirth analogous to the afterlife.
Mind transfer is a central theme in the television series Dollhouse (2009–2010).
In the anime series Serial Experiments Lain, the antagonist Masami Eiri embeds his memories and consciousness into the "Wired", the internet of the story universe. He believed that humanity should evolve by ridding themselves of their physical limitations and live as digital entities only.
In the second installment of the story The Trial of a Time Lord in the original Doctor Who series, the Doctor's assistant Perpugilliam Brown has her mind erased, and replaced with the mind of the dying Lord Kiv of the Mentors. The storyline mentions that this is the first time the entire mind of an individual can be transplanted from one body to another. It is a pivotal moment in the history of the series as it is the purported reason that the Time Lords took the Doctor out of time and placed him on trial. It was later shown to be false evidence in the Doctor's trial.
In the episode Silence in the Library of the 2005 revival of the British television show Doctor Who Donna Noble is "saved" by the computer Cal where she joins several others inside the computer that had been saved previously. Arguably the process of saving the individuals is more involved then simple mind uploading as the teleportation patterns of the individuals are also stored and the Doctor is able in the next episode Forest of the Dead to get Cal to return them to the physical world. However, also in Forest of the Dead, the character of River Song, is killed but the doctor is able, using a future Doctor's sonic screwdriver to upload River's consciousness into Cal thus extending her life indefinitely.
In the episode "13.1" of the show Warehouse 13, former Warehouse Agent Hugo Miller's hologram appears when an attempt is made to upgrade the computer systems inside the Warehouse. In fear of being deleted during the upgrade, Hugo locks down the entire Warehouse and attempts to kill everyone inside. Hugo's hologram is later identified as a portion of the agent's mind in which he uploaded onto the Warehouse computers using an artifact, but something went wrong during the transfer and only certain parts of his mind went into the computer, leaving the other parts in Hugo's biological mind. Having only half of an actual brain renders him insane and he is put into an asylum until he is later retrieved by Pete and Myka to reverse what the artifact has done, thus making him a whole person again and deleting the holographic and homicidal half version of Hugo in the Warehouse 13 computer systems.
The 2014 episode "White Christmas" of the British TV show Black Mirror features a procedure where copies of living subjects' minds are uploaded to "cookies", devices capable of running full brain emulation, and then used for household control jobs, judicial investigation, and criminal sentencing. An operator can also adjust the cookie speed to make the emulated mind experiment a different time scale, a feature used to apply a thousand-year long sentence to an individual's mind, which is served in a few hours of real-world time.
In the 2014 episode "Days of Future Future" of the Simpsons, Professor Frink loads Homer's brain onto a USB-Stick and then brings him to life in a digital environment with his head being shown on (the future equivalents of) "TV"-screens, digital photo frames and computer screens between which Homer can move freely and engage in screensavers and video games. Later Bart buys him a "robot body" (similar to the Surrogates in the movie Surrogates) which he plugs into the "TV" upon which it conflates and Homer's head moves from the screen over to the physical robot.
The 2016 episode San Junipero of the British TV show Black Mirror.
In Westworld (2016), the eponymous theme park is run with the purpose of digitalizing consciousness in order to achieve immortality. This is done by analyzing the human guests' behaviors and adjusting their digital representation until it reacts in the same way as the guest to any given stimulus.
In season 3 of The 100 (2014-2020), which aired in 2016, an AI device known as The Flame is introduced. This device requires merging with a human brain, and is passed down (over many years) to each new Commander of the Grounders, aka Heda. Each new Commander has access to (the ability to see and speak to) all of the prior Commanders, as their minds live on after their deaths, due to being uploaded and saved within The Flame.
Altered Carbon (2018) is based on the premise that "More than 300 years in the future, society has been transformed by new technology, leading to human bodies being interchangeable and death no longer being permanent."
In season 6 of The 100 (2014-2020), which aired in 2019, a group of colonists from Earth inhabited an Earthlike planet called Sanctum. They developed the technology to download the human mind to a drive and upload it to another human being. In order to achieve this, they also developed the technology to wipe the mind of a human being while keeping the brain intact. After wiping the mind of the victim, they could then insert the mind drive into the body and upload the consciousness of the downloaded mind, effectively allowing human consciousness to live forever in different bodies.
In Star Trek: Picard (2020), protagonist Jean-Luc Picard's consciousness is transferred to an android body upon his human body's death. Knowing that Picard would not want to be immortal, creator Altan Intigo Soong and La Sirena crew members Soji Asha and Agnes Jurati deliberately limit his new lifespan to what it would have been without the brain defect that killed him.
Super Sentai
The 2010 instalment Tensou Sentai Goseiger featured the Matrintis leader Robogorg of the 10-sai, who was once a human scientist that transferred his brain into a Matroid body after he was ostracized by his people, ironically saving himself when his civilization perished.
The 2017 instalment Uchu Sentai Kyuranger featured the mad scientist Dr. Anton, who had a dissociative identity disorder, forcing him to transfer his evil self into a receptacle while his good half remains in his human body to defect from the Jark Matter.
The ultimate main antagonist of Amphibia (2019) is the Core, the product of a group of immortality-seeking Amphibian scientists transferring their minds to a shared consciousness. However, the resulting entity was left inhabiting a large, cumbersome robotic body, resulting in it seeking a far more mobile host, eventually choosing supporting character Marcy Wu due to her genius-level intellect after she won a game of Flipwart against King Andrias Leviathan. After the events of "True Colors", Marcy is held captive in a healing tank until the events of "Olivia & Yunan", at which point the title characters attempt to rescue her but are foiled and ultimately forced to watch as she is taken over by the Core.
Comics
In the Marvel Comics universe, Adolf Hitler's mind was transferred into a cloned body upon his death; this clone became the supervillain called the Hate-Monger, first introduced in 1963.
The 1966 comic book superhero NoMan "was a human mind housed in a robotic body. The mind, that of Anthony Dunn, had been transferred into the robotic form as his human body passed away."
In the 1990 Japanese manga series Battle Angel Alita, one of the main plot points orbits around the "secret of Tiphares". In the aerial city of Tiphares everyone who turns 19 undergoes an "initiation" to obtain Tipharean citizenship: officially this implies just gaining a small tattoo on the forehead but secretly the Medical Investigation Bureau, which controls the city, has the brain of every initiated person to be mechanically surgically removed and, while their body remained in a temporary suspended animation until the end of the process, transfers the individual's mind along with all his memories and informations in a so-called "brain bio-chip", which mimics every aspect of a human brain, which is then implanted where the brain was.
In Frank Miller's comic RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1992), the human brain of RoboCop is uploaded into Skynet, the malevolent artificial intelligence from the Terminator series. RoboCop's mind waits hidden inside Skynet for many years until he finally gets an opportunity to strike against it.
In Journey Into Mystery (2013) The aliens Beta Ray Bill and Ti Asha Ra as well as his ship Skuttlebutt are all representative uploaded entities. Bill is a cyborg and Ti Asha Ra is created from within the Celestial Galactus himself. In issues #652-55, Skuttlebutt is destroyed, and Ti Asha Ra is killed; however, the ship entity Bill had been chasing is a form of cosmic life collector and partitions Ti Asha Ra's mind to upload Skuttlebutt's consciousness into her physical body, apparently resurrecting her from the dead. It also uploads the life goddess Gaea and Ti Asha Ra into itself, which allows the Asgardian warrior maiden Sif and Bill to rescue them later as all is returned to normal.
In Amazing Spider-Man, Otto Octavius was able to house copy of his mind in a robotic body of the Living Brain. After its destruction, Octavius transferred his mind into a clone body and then, into a new clone body of Spider-Man.
In DC comics the hero "NoMan" was a 76-year-old man before having his consciousness uploaded.
Video games
In the computer game Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers (1991) from Sierra Entertainment, the hero Roger Wilco is chased through time by an uploaded version of his old enemy Sludge Vohaul, whose consciousness has been stored on the missing floppies from a never-produced fourth installment of the Leisure Suit Larry series (also made by Sierra).
In Delphine Software's game Flashback (1992), the protagonist Conrad Hart discovers that the Morph alien race is plotting to invade Earth. Knowing that the Morphs will erase his memory if they discover that he knows about them, he copies his memory and records a message of himself in his holocube in case if his memory is erased.
In Cyborg Justice (1993), a game for the Sega Genesis, the player is uploaded into a robotic body.
In the Mega Man X video games (1993–), X's creator Doctor Light had uploaded his brainwaves into a computer before he died, and effectively "lives beyond the grave" as a sentient hologram that can communicate with X and Zero. Additionally, one stage (Cyber Peacock) and the game Mega Man Xtreme involved the protagonists (artificial humans) being uploaded into "cyberspace".
The computer game Independence War (1997), in which the player is assisted by a recreation of CNV-301 Dreadnoughts former captain, who is bitter about having been recreated without his consent.
In the computer game Total Annihilation (1997), a multi-millennia galactic war rages between a society demanding mandatory destructive uploading and a rebellion against it.
In the Japanese release of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (1999), the main antagonist is the result of a mind uploading experiment, which is referred to in the game as "sublimation" after the phase transition.
In the Mega Man Battle Network series (2001–), Hub Hikari, twin brother of protagonist Lan Hikari, was uploaded and configured into the Navi (artificial intelligence) Megaman.EXE to escape a lethal birth defect.
In Metroid Fusion (2002), Samus Aran's commander and friend Adam had his brain uploaded to the Federation's network, a process that is apparently common for scientists and leaders.
In the video game Doom Eternal, the Seraphim, Samur Maykr, uploaded his consciousness into a cloned body in order to move among the humans more easily as Dr. Samuel Hayden. Samur transferred his consciousness once again, this time into a technological shell of UAC design, enabling him to sidestep ancient laws and enter Hell during the earliest human expeditions. He located and took possession of the Slayer's sarcophagus, knowing he would be key to stopping the coming conflict. After aiding the Slayer in the war against Hell the Seraphim's original body was reclaimed.
In the MMO Eve Online (2003), players take the role of pilots for hire known as "capsuleers" or "Empyreans". Through usage of capsule technology, they have their minds downloaded and transferred to a new clone through the galactic network at the moment before death.
In the RPG game Harbinger (2003) one of the playable characters is uploaded being in a gladiator robotic body, on a generational starship.
In the computer game City of Heroes (2004–), the arch-villain known as Nemesis was born in Prussia during the 18th century, but has since then put his mind into a complex, steam-powered robotic body.
In the video game Jak 3 (2004), the character Vin uploads his mind into a computer before he is killed.
In the Destroy All Humans! series (2005–), Orthopox 13 uploads a "copy of my [his] exquisite mind" onto a Holopox unit just before his ship is nuked by the KGB.
In the games Portal and Portal 2, the character GLaDOS is actually Aperture Science's CEO Cave Johnson's assistant Caroline, transferred into a computer. Cave originally opted for himself to be transferred into a computer, but died before it could happen, and hence Caroline was transferred instead. At the end of Portal, GLaDOS also claims to have Chell's brain "scanned and permanently backed up in case something terrible happens".
In the game Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006), the character Professor Hojo is revealed to have uploaded his consciousness into the worldwide network moments before his death in the original Final Fantasy VII (1997) as a means to survive the encounter with the protagonists and ultimately download himself into a new, stronger body 3 years later.
In the iPhone RPG Chaos Rings (2010), a human named Theia transferred her consciousness and memories into the mainframe of the Ark Arena, a highly advanced spaceship and time travel machine, in order to oversee its activities.
In Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) it turns out that Subject 16 uploaded his mind into the Animus virtual machine shortly before committing suicide in the first game.
In Watch Dogs: Legion several people had their mind uploaded by one of the antagonists "Skye Larsen", eventually having had part of their consciousness deleted to turn them into AI programmes, such as driving a taxi or managing a house.
In the game Deponia (2012) the character "Goal" has her personality backed up onto a disc, inserted inside her head.
Cortana from Halo series is based on a cloned brain.
In Halo 4 (2012), this is the main purpose of the Forerunner device known as the Composer. It digitizes organic intelligences, allowing them to live as AIs. However, the process corrupts the minds that are converted and is irreversible.
In Mass Effect 3 (2012), Legion (member of a race of Synthetic Intelligences known as the Geth) temporarily uploads Commander Shepard's consciousness into the Geth Consensus, the network that houses all Geth programs.
In Crysis 3 (2013) it was revealed that in the time since Crysis 2, the personality of "Alcatraz"—the protagonist of Crysis 2—was effectively supplanted by "Prophets" whose memories and consciousness were embedded in the "nanosuit" that Alcatraz was wearing.
In the MMO first-person shooter Dust 514 (2013), mercenary foot soldiers use a device called a Neural Interface System (NIS) implant to transfer conscientiousness to a clone body at the moment of death.
In the thriller game Master Reboot (2013) the players' character is uploaded into the "Soul Cloud" upon biological death, where all the data that makes up a persons soul in stored in vast data banks.
In Warframe (2013), the titular Warframe suits are actually biomechanical shells which are connected the conscience of the actual Tenno, human children who were given unpredictable powers by the Void.
In the video game Elite: Dangerous (2014) from Frontier Developments, Utopia, one of possible Powerplay factions to be joined by players, was created over idea of preservation of human mind through mind uploading.
In the thriller game SOMA (2015).
In the JRPG "Xenoblade Chronicles X" (2015), where humans who escaped the Earth's destruction had their consciousnesses recorded and stored inside a database where they can control artificial bodies known as Mimeosomes.
In the Visual Novel Steins;Gate 0 (2015), a main character Makise Kurisu, persists in the form of a digital copy of her brain powered by the experimental program "Amadeus".
Other media
In the tabletop game Car Wars (1980) characters' bodies are routinely cloned and their stored memories uploaded into the new bodies, which are activated upon the death of the old versions.
In the Rifts role-playing game Dimension Book 2: Phase World (1994), a member of an artificial race called the Machine People named Annie integrates her consciousness permanently with a spacecraft.
In the online collaborative world-building project "Orion's Arm" (2000–) the concepts of mind copying and uploading are used extensively, particularly in the e-novel Betrayals.
The award-winning RPG Transhuman Space (2002) tackles the mind-uploading issue with the concept of xoxing, which is the illegal perfect copy of a mind. Mind emulation (called ghosts) is always destructive, so a living person cannot co-exist with their digital copy. Nevertheless, this doesn't prevent multiple digital versions from being simultaneously active. Law prohibits more than one active copy of a brain emulation or a strong artificial intelligence at a time (security backups being considered inactive), and the RPG delves into the possible abuses of this (like cult leaders implanting a copies of their own minds in every cult followers' neural interfaces).
The RPG Eclipse Phase takes place in a frightening future after a technological singularity in which a group of superintelligent Seed AIs known as TITANs that were infected by an alien nano-virus forcibly destructively uploaded most humans and transhumans alive at the time and kidnapped their egos (term used for brain emulations in the setting), while destroying the surface in an event called "The Fall". Most of the survivors live in space, and have uploaded their personalities (or "egos") and can regularly switch between physical bodies ("morphs"), or inhabit simulated bodies ("infomorphs") in virtual environments. Duplication of uploaded personalities is also possible ("forking").
See also
Body swap appearances in media
Cyborgs in fiction (includes examples of the related notion of placing a biological brain in an artificial body)
Technologically enabled telepathy
Whole-body transplants in popular culture
References
External links
Machine Intelligence List – list of stories with machine intelligences, those marked with "H" include "humans in computerized/program/digitized form"
Science fiction themes |
32520414 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9312%20USC%20Trojans%20men%27s%20basketball%20team | 2011–12 USC Trojans men's basketball team | The 2011–12 USC Trojans men's basketball team represented the University of Southern California during the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Trojans, led by third year head coach Kevin O'Neill, played their home games at the Galen Center and were members of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished with a record of 6-26 overall, 1-17 in Pac-12 play and lost in the first round of the 2012 Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament by UCLA.
Roster
2011–12 Schedule and results
|-
!colspan=9| Regular Season
|-
!colspan=9| Pac-12 Tournament
References
Usc
USC Trojans men's basketball seasons
USC Trojans
USC Trojans |
8239601 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial%20market%20segmentation | Industrial market segmentation | Industrial market segmentation is a scheme for categorizing industrial and business customers to guide strategic and tactical decision-making. Government agencies and industry associations use standardized segmentation schemes for statistical surveys. Most businesses create their own segmentation scheme to meet their particular needs. Industrial market segmentation is important in sales and marketing.
Webster describes segmentation variables as “customer characteristics that relate to some important difference in customer response to marketing effort”. (Webster, 2003) He recommends the following three criteria:
Measurability, “otherwise the scheme will not be operational” according to Webster. While this would be an absolute ideal, its implementation can be next to impossible in some markets. The first barrier is, it often necessitates field research, which is expensive and time-consuming. Second, it is impossible to get accurate strategic data on a large number of customers. Third, if gathered, the analysis of the data can be a daunting task. These barriers lead most companies to use more qualitative and intuitive methods in measuring customer data, and more persuasive methods while selling, hoping to compensate for the gap of accurate data measurement.
Substantiality, i.e. “the variable should be relevant to a substantial group of customers”. The challenge here is finding the right size or balance. If the group gets too large, there is a risk of diluting effectiveness; and if the group becomes too small, the company will lose the benefits of economies of scale. Also, as Webster rightly states, there are often very large customers that provide a large portion of a suppliers business. These single customers are sometimes distinctive enough to justify constituting a segment on their own. This scenario is often observed in industries which are dominated by a small number of large companies, e.g. aircraft manufacturing, automotive, turbines, printing machines and paper machines.
Operational relevance to marketing strategy. Segmentation should enable a company to offer the suitable operational offering to the chosen segment, e.g. faster delivery service, credit-card payment facility, 24-hour technical service, etc. This can only be applied by companies with sufficient operational resources. For example, just-in-time delivery requires highly efficient and sizeable logistics operations, whereas supply-on-demand would need large inventories, tying down the supplier's capital. Combining the two within the same company - e.g. for two different segments - would stretch the company's resources.
Nevertheless, academics as well as practitioners use various segmentation principles and models in their attempt to bring some sort of structure.
The goal for every industrial market segmentation scheme is to identify the most importantly significant differences among current and potential customers that will influence their purchase decisions or buying behavior, while keeping the scheme as simple as possible (Occam's Razor). This will allow the industrial marketer to differentiate their prices, programs, or solutions for maximum competitive advantage.
While similar to consumer market segmentation, segmenting industrial markets is different and more challenging because of greater complexity in buying processes, buying criteria, and the complexity of industrial products and services themselves. Further additional complications include role of financing, contracting, and complementary products/services.
Approaches
A generic principle
One of the recommended approaches in segmentation is for a company to decide whether it wants to have a limited number of products offered to many segments or many products offered to a limited number of segments. Some people recommend against businesses offering many product lines to many segments, as this can sometimes soften their focus and stretch their resources too thinly. See figure 1.
The advantage in attempting the above approach is that although it may not work at all times, it is a force for as much focus as practicable. The one-to-many model ensures – in theory – that a business keeps its focus sharp and makes use of economies of scale at the supply end of the chain. It “kills many birds with one stone”.
Examples are Coca-Cola and some of the General Electric businesses. The drawback is that the business would risk losing business as soon as a weakness in its supply chain or in its marketing forces it to withdraw from the market. Coca-Cola's attempt to sell its Dasani bottled water in the UK turned out to be a flop mainly because it tries to position this “purified tap water” alongside mineral water of other brands. The trigger was a contamination scandal reported in the media.
The many-to-one model also has its benefits and drawbacks. The problem is that a business would stretch its resources too thinly in order to serve just one or a few markets. It can be fatal if the company's image is ruined in its chosen segment. However, there are many companies that have dedicated themselves to only one market segment, e.g. Flowserve is a US-based supplier of many different types of pumps, valves, seals and other components – all dedicated to fluid motion and control.
Among the above models, the most popular is the many-to-many version. As companies constantly try to balance their risk in different technologies and markets, they are left with no choice but to enter into new markets with existing products or introduce new products into existing markets or even develop new products and launch them into new markets (see figure 2).
The problem with the many-to-many model is that it can stretch a company's resources too thinly and soften its focus. One reason for the current financial problems of the world's largest car maker, General Motors, is that it has tried to be everything to everybody, launching model after model with no clear segmenting, targeting or branding strategy.
Two-stage market segmentation (Wind & Cardozo model)
Yoram Wind and Richard Cardozo (1974) suggested industrial market segmentation based on broad two-step classifications of macro-segmentation and micro-segmentation. This model is one of the most common methods applied in industrial markets today. It is sometimes extended into more complex models to include multi-step and three- and four-dimensional models.
Macro-segmentation centres on the characteristics of the buying organisation [as whole companies or institutions], thus dividing the market by:
Company / organization size: one of the most practical and easily identifiable criteria, it can also be good rough indicator of the potential business for a company. However, it needs to be combined with other factors to draw a realistic picture.
Geographic location is equally as feasible as company size. It tells a company a lot about culture and communication requirements. For example, a company would adopt a different bidding strategy with an Asian customer than with an American customer. Geographic location also relates to culture, language and business attitudes. For example, Middle Eastern, European, North American, South American and Asian companies will all have different sets of business standards and communication requirements.
SIC code (standard industry classification), which originated in the US, can be a good indicator for application-based segmentation. However it is based only on relatively standard and basic industries, and product or service classifications such as sheet metal production, springs manufacturing, construction machinery, legal services, cinema's etc. Many industries that use a number of different technologies or have innovative products are classified under the ‘other’ category, which does not bring much benefit if these form the customer base. Examples are access control equipment, thermal spray coatings and uninterruptible power supply systems, non of which have been classified under the SIC.
Purchasing situation, i.e. new task, modified re-buy or straight re-buy. This is another relatively theoretical and unused criteria in real life. As a result of increased competition and globalisation in most established industries, companies tend to find focus in a small number of markets, get to know the market well and establish long-term relationship with customers. The general belief is, it is cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. When this happens, the purchase criteria are more based on relationship, trust, technology and overall cost of purchase, which dilutes the importance of this criteria.
Decision-making stage. This criterion can only apply to newcomers. In cases of long-term relationship, which is usually the objective of most industrial businesses, the qualified supplier is normally aware of the purchase requirement, i.e. they always get into the bidding process right at the beginning. Sheth and Sharma are quoted to have suggested “with increasing turbulence in the marketplace, it is clear that firms have to move away from transaction-oriented marketing strategies and move towards relationship-oriented marketing for enhanced performance”. (Freytag & Clarke, 2001)
Benefit segmentation: The product's economic value to the customer (Hutt & Speh, 2001), which is one of the more helpful criteria in some industries. It “recognises that customers buy the same products for different reasons, and place different values on particular product features. (Webster, 1991) For example, the access control industry markets the same products for two different value sets: Banks, factories and airports install them for security reasons, i.e. to protect their assets against. However, sports stadiums, concert arenas and the London Underground installs similar equipment in order to generate revenue and/or cut costs by eliminating manual ticket-handling.
Type of institution, (Webster, 2003) e.g. banks would require designer furniture for their customers while government departments would suffice with functional and durable sets. Hospitals would require higher hygiene criteria while buying office equipment than utilities. And airport terminals would need different degrees of access control and security monitoring than shopping centres.
However, type of buying institution and the decision-making stage can only work on paper. As institutional buyers cut procurement costs, they are forced to reduce the number of suppliers, with whom they develop long-term relationships. This makes the buying institution already a highly experienced one and the suppliers are normally involved at the beginning of the decision-making process. This eliminates the need to apply these two items as segmentation criteria.
Customers’ business potential assuming supply can be guaranteed and prices are acceptable by a particular segment. For example, ‘global accounts’ would buy high quantities and are prepared to sign long-term agreements; ‘key accounts’ medium-sized regional customers that can be the source of 30% of a company's revenue as long as competitive offering is in place for them; ‘direct accounts’ form many thousands of small companies that buy mainly on price but in return are willing to forego service.
Purchasing strategies, e.g. global vs. local decision-making structure, decision-making power of purchasing officers vs. engineers or technical specifiers.
Supply Chain Position: A customer’ business model affects where and how they buy. If he pursues a cost leadership strategy, then the company is more likely to be committed to high-volume manufacturing, thus requiring high-volume purchasing. To the supplier, this means constant price pressure and precise delivery but relatively long-term business security, e.g. in the commodities markets. But if the company follows a differentiation strategy, then it is bound to offer customised products and services to its customers. This would necessitate specialised high-quality products from the supplier, which are often purchased in low volumes, which mostly eliminates stark price competition, emphasises on functionality and requires relationship-based marketing mix. (Sudharshan, 1998)
Micro-segmentation on the other hand requires a higher degree of knowledge. While macro-segmentation put the business into broad categories, helping a general product strategy, micro-segmentation is essential for the implementation of the concept. “Micro-segments are homogeneous groups of buyers within the macro-segments” (Webster, 2003). Macro-segmentation without micro-segmentation cannot provide the expected benefits to the organisation. Micro-segmentation focuses on factors that matter in the daily business; this is where “the rubber hits the road”. The most common criteria include the characteristics of the decision-making units within each macro-segment, (Hutt & Speh, 2001) e.g.:
Buying decision criteria (product quality, delivery, technical support, price, supply continuity). “The marketer might divide the market based on supplier profiles that appear to be preferred by decision-makers, e.g. high quality – prompt delivery – premium price vs. standard quality – less-prompt delivery – low price”. (Hutt & Speh, 2001)
Purchasing strategy, which falls into two categories, according to Hutt and Speh: First, there are companies who contact familiar suppliers (some have vendor lists) and place the order with the first supplier that fulfils the buying criteria. These tend to include more OEM's than public sector buyers. Second, organisations that consider a larger number of familiar and unfamiliar suppliers, solicit bids, examine all proposals and place the order with the best offer. Experience has shown that considering this criterion as part of the segmentation principles can be highly beneficial, as the supplier can avoid unnecessary costs by, for example not spending time and resources unless officially approved in the buyer's vendor list.
Structure of the decision-making unit can be one of the most effective criteria. Knowing the decision-making process has been shown to make the difference between winning and losing a contract. If this is the case, the supplier can develop a suitable relationship with the person / people that has / have real decision-making power. For example, the medical equipment market can be segmented on the basis of the type of institution and the responsibilities of the decision makers, according to Hutt and Speh. A company that sells protective coatings for human implants would adapt a totally different communication strategy for doctors than hip-joint manufacturers.
Perceived importance of the product to the customer's business (e.g. automotive transmission, or peripheral equipment, e.g. manufacturing tool)
Attitudes towards the supplier: Personal characteristics of buyers (age, education, job title and decision style) play a major role in forming the customers purchasing attitude as whole. Is the decision-maker a partner, supporter, neutral, adversarial or an opponent? Industrial power systems are best “sold” to engineering executive than purchasing managers; industrial coatings are sold almost exclusively to engineers; matrix and raw materials are sold normally to purchasing managers or even via web auctions.
The above criteria can be highly beneficial depending on the type of business. However, they may be feasible to measure only in high-capital, high-expense businesses such as corporate banking or aircraft business due to high cost associated with compiling the desired data. “There are serious concerns in practice regarding the cost and difficulty of collecting measurements of these micro-segmentation characteristics and using them”. (Sudharshan, 1998)
The prerequisite to implementing a full-scale macro- and micro-segmentation concept is the company's size and the organisational set-up. A company needs to have beyond the certain number of customers for a segmentation model to work. Smaller companies would not need a formal segmentation model as they know their customers in person, so they can apply Hunter's n=1 model.
Ironically, Webster states that “the strategic implications of micro-segmentation lie primarily in promotional strategy. ….. Decisions influenced by micro-segments include selecting individuals for the sales call, design of sales presentations and selecting the advertising media” (Webster, 2003). However, promotion should not be seen in isolation, as it cannot facilitate log-lasting success, unless supported on all the relevant functions such as product, price and place. One only needs to consider that purchasing criteria (part of micro-segmentation) includes factors such as product quality, price and delivery, which are directly relevant to product, price and place.
Nested approach to segmentation (Bonoma & Shapiro model)
Taking the Wind & Cardozo model, Bonoma & Shapiro extended this into a multi-step approach in 1984. As the application of all the criteria recommended by Wind and Cardozo and subsequent scholars who expanded upon their two-stage theory became increasingly difficult due to the complexity of modern businesses, Bonoma and Shapiro suggest that the same / similar criteria be applied in multi-process manner to allow flexibility to marketers in selecting or avoiding the criteria as suited to their businesses. “They proposed the use of the following five general segmentation criteria which they arranged in a nested hierarchy:
1. On a macro segmentation level:
Demographics: industry, company size, customer location
Operating variables: company technology, product/brand use status, customer capabilities
Purchasing approaches: purchasing function, power structure, buyer-seller relationships, purchasing policies, purchasing criteria
2. On a micro segmentation level:
Situational factors: urgency of order, product application, size of order
Buyers’ personal characteristics: character, approach
The idea was that the marketers would move from the outer nest toward the inner, using as many nests as necessary”. (Kalafatis & Cheston, 1997). As a result, this model has become one of the most adapted in the market, rivalling the Wind & Cardozo model head-on. One of the problems with the nested approach “is that there is no clear-cut distinction between purchasing approaches, situational factors and demographics". Bonoma and Shapiro are aware of these overlaps and argue that the nested approach is intended to be used flexibly with a good deal of managerial judgment” (Webster, 2003).
Bottom-up approach (Kotler model)
Kotler suggests a “build-up” approach, where masses of customer data are studied and similarities searched to make up segments that have similar needs, i.e. "assessing the customer base quantitatively and grouping them – i.e. building up – the segments based on similarities in purchasing attitude" (Kotler, 2001).
When starting the segmentation process, instead of seeing customers as identical, the build-up approach begins by viewing customer as different and then proceed to identify possible similarities between them. "In a turbulence market (pretty much all markets today), using a build-up approach is more suitable than a breakdown approach” (Freytag & Clarke, 2001).
Targeting and positioning
One of the most significant uses of industrial market segmentation schemes is to make targeting and product positioning decisions. Companies chose to target some segments and downplay or avoid other segments in order to maximize their competitive advantage and the likelihood of success.
“There is a critical difference in emphasis between target market and [target] audience. The term audience is probably most useful in marketing communication”. (Croft, 1999) Target markets can include end user companies, procurement managers, company bosses, contracting companies and external sales agents. Audiences, however, can include individuals that have influence over purchasing decision, but may not necessarily buy a product themselves, e.g. design engineers, architects, project managers and operations managers, plus those in target markets.
Croft quotes Friestad, Write, Boush and Rose (1994) as stating that because the purpose of advertising is to persuade, consumers become sceptical of its methods and approaches [and indeed intentions]. However, while this may be entirely true in consumer marketing, the level of trust and reliance on marketing communication by industrial customers is fairly high due to the professional experience and knowledge of the industrial buyer. Some even appreciate advertising because it keeps them informed of the products and services available in the market.
Supplier Segmentation
In the area of marketing, industrial market segmentation usually refers to the demand side of the market, the goal being for companies to segment groups of potential customers with similar wants and demands that may respond to a particular marketing mix. When companies also work with potentially different suppliers, segmenting the supply side of the market can be very valuable as well. There are many supplier segmentation approaches in the literature: Parasuraman (1980), Kraljic (1983), Dyer et al. (1998), Olsen and Ellram (1997), Bensaou (1999), Kaufman et al. (2000), van Weele (2000), Hallikas et al. (2005), Rezaei and Ortt (2012).
Parasuraman (1980) proposed a stepwise procedure to implement this approach: Step 1: Identify the key features of customer segments Step 2: Identify the critical supplier characteristics Step 3: Select the relevant variables for supplier segmentation, and Step 4: Identify the supplier segments.
Kraljic (1983) considered two variables: profit impact and supply risk. The profit impact of a given supply item can be defined in terms of the volume purchased, the percentage of total purchase cost or the impact on product quality or business growth. Supply risk is assessed in terms of the availability and number of suppliers, competitive demand, make-or-buy opportunities, storage risks and substitution possibilities. Based on these two variables, materials or components can be divided into four supply categories: (1) non-critical items (supply risk: low; profit impact: low), (2) leverage items, (supply risk: low; profit impact: high), (3) bottleneck items (supply risk: high; profit impact: low), and (4) strategic items (supply risk: high; profit impact: high). Each category requires a specific supplier strategy.
To see the theoretical bases of, and to review, different supplier segmentation approaches see Day et al. (2010), and Rezaei and Ortt (2012).
Rezaei and Ortt (2012) considering two dimensions "supplier willingness" and "supplier capabilities" defined supplier segmentation as follows.
"Supplier segmentation is the identification of the capabilities and willingness of suppliers by a particular buyer in order for the buyer to engage in a strategic and effective partnership with the suppliers with regard to a set of evolving business functions and activities in the supply chain management".
Considering two levels low and high for the two dimensions, suppliers are segmented to four segments.
See also
Industry classification
References
Business terms
Market segmentation
Statistical classification |
41431183 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gem%20Accounts | Gem Accounts | Gem Accounts is a range of cloud based business and accounting software, first released in May 2013 by Gem Software Solutions Pty Ltd from Brisbane, Australia. The software is available in a free version and is also sold on a SaaS model which includes a try-before-you-buy period.
Gem Accounts claims its software offers a number of first in its space. Gems data export and backup facilities are one of the first in cloud based products - allowing the user to do a full export of their data set in a number of open formats. Gem's multi-language configuration options is also seen as a first in this sort of software. Gem Accounts is also the first cloud accounting company to join the "Free Our Data" initiative.
History
December 2013 - document storage included in all plans
December 2013 - free version launched
November 2013 - smb version launched
November 2013 - major upgrade to version 2 released
October 2013 - major share of company acquired by simPRO Software
May 2013 - full release
January 2013 - beta release
Program versions
Gem Accounts is available in three different versions. All versions contain the full feature set however are limited by transaction volume. Key Features include: General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Double-entry System, Multi-user, Multi-currency, Multi-language, Inventory Control, Service and Project Tracking & Billing, Payroll, Data and Backup Exports.
Free version - released in December 2013 - is designed for the micro and small business market. All the features of the main product but with a limit of 150 transactions and does not include access to the API, multi-company and consolidated reporting.
SME version - released in November 2013 - is designed for the SME market and contains all the MME features but has a 1500 transaction limit.
MME version - released in May 2013 is the full featured product with no transaction or other limitations.
See also
Comparison of accounting software
References
External links
Company website
Accounting software |
26428038 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%20Media%20Foundation | Open Media Foundation | The Open Media Foundation (OMF) is an American, non-profit, charitable, multimedia organization that provides the means necessary for people to create, edit, and share their visions across various media platforms. OMF's main goal is to put the power of media into the hands of community members who otherwise would not have the fiscal means of doing so. They provide communications services to nonprofit and public sector organizations (primarily web and video production), training in media and technology, and access to media tools and resources, primarily through Denver Open Media.
In December, 2018, the city of Denver revoked the public access contract from OMF, despite significant and months long public outcry from community members to keep the contract with OMF. As of 2019, OMF's community media arm, Denver Open Media, operates an FM Radio station on 92.9FM and 89.3HD3 and on-line video outlet/stream at denveropenmedia.org.
About The Open Media Foundation
OMF's mission statement:
to put the power of media and technology into the hands of the people in order to enable every person to actively engage their community and bring about the change they wish to see in the world.
Open Media Foundation attempts to divert some of the power away from larger media conglomerates into the hands of the people. Many people do not have access or the necessary funding to get their voices heard by the masses; OMF wants to change this by providing equipment, space, and the knowledge necessary to create whatever the producers desire.
OMF is based in Denver, Colorado's "Santa Fe Arts District" where they manage a 20,000SqFt building that houses their 2 Radio studios, classrooms, and Audio/Video production facilities. The Open Media Foundation building is also home to a number of smaller, independent nonprofit media entities, including The Colorado Independent online news agency, KGNU AM & FM community radio, Just Media (academy-award-nominated nonprofit film production company), The Denver Voice newspaper distributed by the homeless, and DenHac, a hackers collective which launched Denver Open Media's FM Radio station together with OMF in 2016. The radio station, which launched as part of Denver Open Media plays local content exclusively, primarily focused on music from the larger Denver-Metro Region scene. Programming for the radio station is automated based on community through votes on the DOM website.
History of Open Media Foundation
In 2001, Tony Shawcross, Executive Director of the Open Media Foundation, co-founded a non-commercial website called [denverevolution] in order to promote independent arts and non-commercial community events overlooked by the local media.
In 2003, members of the denverevolution collective began producing video as the [denverevolution] production group, borrowing gear from friends at KBDI (PBS 12), Free Speech TV, and Denver Community Television. FSTV provided them with their first editing station in an office donated by Little Voice Productions'.
In 2004 OMF expanded their media and technology training services with a new office connected to Denver's PS1 Charter School, formed a board, and was granted 501(C)(3) tax-exempt status, incorporating as "the [denverevolution] production group."
In 2005 OMF changed their name to Deproduction and with the closure of Denver Community Television, submitted a proposal to re-launch Public-access television in Denver under an entirely new model, leveraging emerging web 2.0 technologies and business models into community media.
In 2006 OMF launched Denver Open Media (DOM), with an independent brand and name that could be owned by the community.
In 2007, OMF (then Deproduction) was selected to manage production and launch the State-Wide Colorado Channel, which launched in January, 2008.
In 2008, after winning a Knight News Challenge award, OMF (then Deproduction) merged with Civic Pixel, a Denver-based web development firm who had built the DOM website.
In 2009, the parent organization changed its name to the Open Media Foundation, dropping the Deproduction and Civic Pixel names. Denver Open Media remained an independent, community-run project of the parent company, Open Media Foundation.
In 2010, OMF launched the Open Media Project, the result of their two-year Knight News Challenge Grant. The Open Source Software was beta-tested in 6 other cities, in an effort to build a nationwide network of Public Access TV stations collaborating on web-based community media tools and sharing content.
In 2012, OMF launched an open-source software-as-a-service for The Colorado State House of Representatives and Colorado State Senate at (http://coloradochannel.net).
In 2016, OMF launched Denver Open Media Radio, Denver's first radio station devoted entirely to local content.
In 2017, OMF launched Open.Media, a national software service for streaming and archiving videos of state and local governments based on the software originally built for the Colorado State House of Representatives. The software is provided free of charge to small, rural governments, with dozens of medium and large government bodies paying for the service.
In December, 2018, the city of Denver revoked the public access contract from OMF, despite significant and months long public outcry from community members to keep the contract with OMF, the City of Denver began running Public Access TV internally with City Staff & contractors.
In June, 2019, Denver Open Media changed from their original 104.7 Low-Power FM station to 92.9FM and 89.3HD3, significantly expanding the reach of their FM broadcast.
In Dec 2020, Open Media moved from 700 Kalamath to 2101 Arapahoe St. together with KGNU, KUVO, and over a dozen other community media organizations
References
External links
Denver Open Media
Non-profit technology
Free software project foundations in the United States |
2839423 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JT%20%28visualization%20format%29 | JT (visualization format) | JT (Jupiter Tessellation) is an ISO-standardized 3D data format and is in industry used for product visualization, collaboration, and CAD data exchange. It can contain any combination of approximate (faceted) data, boundary representation surfaces (NURBS), Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI), and Metadata (textual attributes) either exported from the native CAD system or inserted by a product data management (PDM) system.
Overview
JT files are used in product lifecycle management (PLM) software programs and their respective CAD systems, by engineers and other professionals that need to analyze the geometry of complex products. The format and associated software is structured so that extremely large numbers of components can be quickly loaded, shaded and manipulated in real-time. Because all major 3D CAD formats are supported, a JT assembly can contain a mixture of any combination which has led to the term "multi-CAD". As JT is typically implemented as an integral part of a PLM solution, the resulting multi-CAD assembly is managed such that changes to the original CAD product definition files can be automatically synchronized with their associated JT files resulting in a multi-CAD assembly that is always up-to-date.
Because JT files are inherently "lightweight" (~1-10% of the size of a CAD file) they are ideal for internet collaboration. With the growing trend toward globalization, more companies are leveraging resources wherever they are available in the world. Collaboration using JT allows companies to send 3D visualization data to suppliers and partners much more easily than sending the associated "heavy" CAD files. In addition, real-time, on-line collaboration is easier because the amount of information sent back-and-forth across the internet is reduced. Finally, JT provides an inherent security feature such that intellectual property does not have to be shared with inappropriate parties. As indicated above, JT can contain any combination of data such that the right amount of information can be shared without exposing the underlying proprietary design definition information.
JT is often used for Digital mock-up (DMU) work, which allows engineers to validate that a product can be assembled without interferences long before a physical prototype could be produced. This "spatial validation" is enabled by precise measurements and cross-sectioning as well as sophisticated clearance/interference detection. Leveraging JT for digital mock-up allows users to reduce or eliminate costly physical prototypes and enables decision-making to occur much earlier in the development process.
Finally, JT is used as a CAD interoperability format for exchanging design data for Collaborative Product Development, where JT files are created by translating data from CAD systems such as NX (Unigraphics), Creo Elements/Pro, FORAN, I-DEAS, Solid Edge, Catia, Microstation or Autodesk Inventor.
History and status in standardization
JT was originally developed by Engineering Animation, Inc. and Hewlett Packard as the DirectModel toolkit (initially Jupiter). JT is the abbreviation for Jupiter Tesselation. When EAI was purchased by UGS Corp., JT became a part of UGS’s suite of products. Early in 2007 UGS announced the publication of the JT data format easing the adoption of JT as a master 3D format. Also in 2007, UGS was acquired by Siemens AG and became Siemens PLM Software. JT is the common interoperability format in use across all of Siemens PLM Software and has been adopted as the long term data archival format across all of Siemens.
On September 18, 2009, the ISO stated officially that the JT specification has been accepted for publication as an ISO Publicly Available Specification (PAS). End of August 2010 the Ballot for the New Work Item (NWI) proposal for JT as ISO International Standard was started by ProSTEP iViP. ProSTEP iViP thereby aimed on the one hand to publish the JT file format specification as ISO Standard and, on the other hand, to harmonize this undertaking with the new STEP AP 242 development, so that JT and STEP (especially STEP AP 242 XML) can be used together to assure major benefits within industrial data exchange scenarios.
On 2012 December, JT has been officially published as ISO 14306:2012 (ISO JT V1) as a 3D visualization format, based on version 9.5 of JT specifications released by Siemens PLM Software. Through this publication via ISO, for the first time a completely neutral and royalty-free specification of JT was available.
Beginning of 2013, in ISO the specification of ISO JT V2 was started. The ISO/DIS 14306 V2 was accepted by ISO in November 2016. The final International Standard was published in November 2017. Main difference between V1 and V2 is the incorporation of a STEP B-rep as an additional B-rep segment.
For providing additional functionalities and innovations required by industry, ProSTEP iViP and VDA decided mid of 2015 to specify a so-called JT Industrial Application Package (JTIAP), which is a JT file format specification completely compatible to ISO 14306 (V1 as well as the future V2) and currently existing JT-Open-based implementations. Thereby, JTIAP provide a more comprehensive compression algorithm (LZMA), specifies XT B-rep as recommended representation of exact geometry and allows the neutral and royalty-free implementation of JT.
Large model rendering
JT was created to support the interactive display of very large assemblies (i.e. those containing tens of thousands of components). The JT file format is capable of storing an arbitrary number of faceted representations with varying levels of detail (LODs). When the whole product is displayed on the computer screen the hosting application displays only a simple, coarse, model. However, as the user zooms into a particular area, progressively finer representations are loaded and displayed. Over time, unused representations are unloaded to save memory.
Data model
The JT data model is capable of representing a wide range of engineering data. This data can be very lightweight, holding little more than facet data or it can be quite rich, containing complete NURBS geometry representations along with product structure, attributes, meta data and PMI. It also supports multiple tessellations and level-of-detail (LOD) generation.
Product Structure - assembly, part, instance
Facet - polygon, polygon set
Lighting - light set, point light, infinite light
Textures
Precise Geometry and Topology - point, curve, surface, face, loop, edge, vertex
Boundary representation (B-rep) could used either JT B-rep and XT B-rep (Parasolid) format, STEP B-rep will be supported by ISO JT V2
Geometry Primitives - box, cylinder, pyramid, sphere
Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI) - GD&T, 3D annotations
Attributes / Properties - text, integer, float, date, layers
File structure
The relationship of product structure hierarchy to exported JT file structure is arbitrary. Any node in the hierarchy may be specified as the start of a new JT file. Thus, product structure may be represented in a variety of JT file configurations.
JT supports common product structure-to-file structure mappings. These include:
Per part - All assembly nodes in a product structure hierarchy are stored in a single JT file, and each part node in the hierarchy is stored in an individual JT file in a sub-directory that is of the same name as the assembly JT file.
Fully shattered - Each product structure node in the hierarchy is stored in an individual JT file.
Monolithic - All product structure is stored in a single JT file.
PLMXML - An open XML-based file format, specified by Siemens PLM Software. A PLMXML-structure could link to the model data in another file (an External Representation), or the data can be embedded within the Representation element in the XML file (an InternalRepresentation).
STEP AP 242 XML - An ISO Standard, with allows to represent assembly, meta, kinematic data etc. and to link to the model data as external references (leaves on a STEP-tree). In global automotive industry, for realizing cross-company data exchange scenarios the application of STEP AP 242 XML and JT is recommended.
Client applications may use these mappings, or choose to define their own custom mapping.
Compression
To help shrink the storage and transmission bandwidth requirements of 3D models, JT files may take advantage of compression. Use of compression is transparent to the user of the JT data, and a given model may be composed of JT files using different compression settings (including none).
To date, the JT file format has evolved through two forms of compression, exposed in JT Open Toolkit as standard and advanced compression. These differ in that the former employs a simple, lossless compression algorithm, while the latter employs a more sophisticated, domain-specific compression scheme supporting lossy geometry compression. Client applications are encouraged to take advantage of advanced compression over standard compression, as attainable compression ratios are much greater. Support for standard compression is maintained only in the interest of backward compatibility with legacy JT file viewing applications.
The compression form used by a JT file is related to the JT file format version in which it was written. This version is readily viewable by opening a JT file in a text editor and looking at its ASCII header information.
See also
Open Packaging Conventions
References
External links
LiteBox3D-Viewer, free Download
JT2Go-Viewer, free Download
Opensource Fab4 Document Browser, as of 11 July 2011
JT Open Program of Siemens PLM Software
Product lifecycle management
Computer-aided design software
Graphics file formats
CAD file formats
Computer standards |
559858 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioJava | BioJava | BioJava is an open-source software project dedicated to provide Java tools to process biological data. BioJava is a set of library functions written in the programming language Java for manipulating sequences, protein structures, file parsers, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) interoperability, Distributed Annotation System (DAS), access to AceDB, dynamic programming, and simple statistical routines. BioJava supports a huge range of data, starting from DNA and protein sequences to the level of 3D protein structures. The BioJava libraries are useful for automating many daily and mundane bioinformatics tasks such as to parsing a Protein Data Bank (PDB) file, interacting with Jmol and many more. This application programming interface (API) provides various file parsers, data models and algorithms to facilitate working with the standard data formats and enables rapid application development and analysis.
Additional projects from BioJava include rcsb-sequenceviewer, biojava-http, biojava-spark, and rcsb-viewers.
Features
BioJava provides software modules for many of the typical tasks of bioinformatics programming. These include:
Accessing nucleotide and peptide sequence data from local and remote databases
Transforming formats of database/ file records
Protein structure parsing and manipulation
Manipulating individual sequences
Searching for similar sequences
Creating and manipulating sequence alignments
History and publications
The BioJava project grew out of work by Thomas Down and Matthew Pocock to create an API to simplify development of Java-based Bioinformatics tools. BioJava is an active open source project that has been developed over more than 12 years and by more than 60 developers. BioJava is one of a number of Bio* projects designed to reduce code duplication. Examples of such projects that fall under Bio* apart from BioJava are BioPython, BioPerl, BioRuby, EMBOSS etc.
In October 2012, the first paper on BioJava was published. This paper detailed BioJava's modules, functionalities, and purpose.
As of November 2018 Google Scholar counts more than 130 citations.
The most recent paper on BioJava was written in February 2017. This paper detailed a new tool named BioJava-ModFinder. This tool can be used for identification and subsequent mapping of protein modifications to 3D in the Protein Data Bank (PBD). The package was also integrated with the RCSB PDB web application and added protein modification annotations to the sequence diagram and structure display. More than 30,000 structures with protein modifications were identified by using BioJava-ModFinder and can be found on the RCSB PDB website.
In the year 2008, BioJava's first Application note was published. It was migrated from its original CVS repository to GitHub in April 2013. The project has been moved to a separate repository, BioJava-legacy, and is still maintained for minor changes and bug fixes.
Version 3 was released in December 2010. It was a major update to the prior versions. The aim of this release was to rewrite BioJava so that it could be modularized into small, reusable components. This allowed developers to contribute more easily and reduced dependencies. The new approach seen in BioJava 3 was modeled after the Apache Commons.
Version 4 was released in January 2015. This version brought many new features and improvements to the packages biojava-core, biojava-structure, biojava-structure-gui, biojava-phylo, as well as others. BioJava 4.2.0 was the first release to be available using Maven from the Maven Central.
Version 5 was released in March 2018. This represents a major milestone for the project. BioJava 5.0.0 is the first released based on Java 8 which introduces the use of lambda functions and streaming API calls. There were also major changes to biojava-structure module. Also, the previous data models for macro-molecular structures have been adapted to more closely represent the mmCIF data model. This was the first release in over two years. Some of the other improvements include optimizations in the biojava-structure module to improve symmetry detection and added support for MMTF formats. Other general improvements include Javadoc updates, dependency versions, and all tests are now Junit4. The release contains 1,170 commits from 19 contributors.
Modules
During 2014-2015, large parts of the original code base were rewritten. BioJava 3 is a clear departure from the version 1 series. It now consists of several independent modules built using an automation tool called Apache Maven. These modules provide state-of-the-art tools for protein structure comparison, pairwise and multiple sequence alignments, working with DNA and protein sequences, analysis of amino acid properties, detecting protein modifications, predicting disordered regions in proteins, and parsers for common file formats using a biologically meaningful data model. The original code has been moved into a separate BioJava legacy project, which is still available for backward compatibility.
BioJava 5 introduced new features to two modules, biojava-alignment and biojava-structure.
The following sections will describe several of the new modules and highlight
some of the new features that are included in the latest version of BioJava.
Core Module
This module provides Java classes to model amino acid or nucleotide sequences. The classes were designed so that the names are familiar and make sense to biologists and also provide a concrete representation of the steps in going from a gene sequence to a protein sequence for computer scientists and programmers.
A major change between the legacy BioJava project and BioJava3 lies in the way framework has been designed to exploit then-new innovations in Java. A sequence is defined as a generic interface allowing the rest of the modules to create any utility that operates on all sequences. Specific classes for common sequences such as DNA and proteins have been defined in order to improve usability for biologists. The translation engine really leverages this work by allowing conversions between DNA, RNA and amino acid sequences. This engine can handle details such as choosing the codon table, converting start codons to methionine, trimming stop codons, specifying the reading frame and handing ambiguous sequences.
Special attention has been paid to designing the storage of sequences to minimize space needs. Special design patterns such as the Proxy pattern allowed the developers to create the framework such that sequences can be stored in memory, fetched on demand from a web service such as UniProt, or read from a FASTA file as needed. The latter two approaches save memory by not loading sequence data until it is referenced in the application. This concept can be extended to handle very large genomic datasets, such as NCBI GenBank or a proprietary database.
Protein structure modules
The protein structure modules provide tools to represent and manipulate 3D biomolecular structures. They focus on protein structure comparison.
The following algorithms have been implemented and included in BioJava.
FATCAT algorithm for flexible and rigid body alignment.
The standard Combinatorial Extension (CE) algorithm.
A new version of CE that can detect circular permutations in proteins.
These algorithms are used to provide the RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB) Protein Comparison Tool as well as systematic comparisons of all proteins in the PDB on a weekly basis.
Parsers for PDB and mmCIF file formats allow the loading of structure data into a reusable data model. This feature is used by the SIFTS project to map between UniProt sequences and PDB structures. Information from the RCSB PDB can be dynamically fetched without the need to manually download data. For visualization, an interface to the 3D viewer Jmol is provided.
Genome and Sequencing modules
This module is focused on the creation of gene sequence objects from the core module. This is realized by supporting the parsing of the following popular standard file formats generated by open source gene prediction applications:
GTF files generated by GeneMark
GFF2 files generated by GeneID
GFF3 files generated by Glimmer
Then the gene sequence objects are written out as a GFF3 format and is imported into GMOD.
These file formats are well defined but what gets written in the file is very flexible.
For providing input-output support for several common variants of the FASTQ file format from the next generation sequencers, a separate sequencing module is provided. For samples on how to use this module please go to this link.
Alignment module
This module contains several classes and methods that allow users to perform pairwise and multiple sequence alignment. Sequences can be aligned in both a single and multi-threaded fashion. BioJava implements the Needleman-Wunsch algorithm for optimal global alignments and the Smith and Waterman's algorithm for local alignments.
The outputs of both local and global alignments are available in standard formats. In addition to these two algorithms, there is an implementation of Guan–Uberbacher algorithm which performs global sequence alignment very efficiently since it only uses linear memory.
For Multiple Sequence Alignment, any of the methods discussed above can be used to progressively perform a multiple sequence alignment.
ModFinder module
The ModFinder module provides new methods to identify and classify protein modifications in protein 3D structures. Over 400 different types of protein modifications such as phosphorylation, glycosylation, disulfide bonds metal chelation etc. were collected and curated based on annotations in PSI-MOD, RESID and RCSB PDB. The module also provides an API for detecting pre-, co-, and post-translational protein modifications within protein structures. This module can also identify phosphorylation and print all pre-loaded modifications from a structure.
Amino acid properties module
This module attempts to provide accurate physio-chemical properties of proteins.
The properties that can calculated using this module are as follows:
Molecular mass
Extinction coefficient
Instability index
Aliphatic index
Grand average of hydropathy
Isoelectric point
Amino acid composition
The precise molecular weights for common isotopically labelled amino acids are included in this module. There also exists flexibility to define new amino acid molecules with their molecular weights using simple XML configuration files. This can be useful where the precise mass is of high importance such as mass spectrometry experiments.
Protein disorder module
The goal of this module is to provide users ways to find disorders in protein molecules. BioJava includes a Java implementation of the RONN predictor. The BioJava 3.0.5 makes use of Java's support for multithreading to improve performance by up to 3.2 times, on a modern quad-core machine, as compared to the legacy C implementation.
There are two ways to use this module:
Using library function calls
Using command line
Some features of this module include:
Calculating the probability of disorder for every residue in a sequence
Calculating the probability of disorder for every residue in the sequence for all proteins from a FASTA input file
Get the disordered regions of the protein for a single protein sequence or for all the proteins from a FASTA input file
Web service access module
As per the current trends in bioinformatics, web based tools are gaining popularity. The web service module allows bioinformatics services to be accessed using REST protocols. Currently, two services are implemented: NCBI Blast through the Blast URLAPI (previously known as QBlast) and the HMMER web service.
Comparisons with other alternatives
The need for customized software in the field of bioinformatics has been addressed by several groups and individuals. Similar to BioJava, open-source software projects such as BioPerl, BioPython, and BioRuby all provide tool-kits with multiple functionality that make it easier to create customized pipelines or analysis.
As the names suggest, the projects mentioned above use different programming languages. All of these APIs offer similar tools so on what criteria should one base their choice? For programmers who are experienced in only one of these languages, the choice is straightforward. However, for a well-rounded bioinformaticist who knows all of these languages and wants to choose the best language for a job, the choice can be made based on the following guidelines given by a software review done on the Bio* tool-kits.
In general, for small programs (<500 lines) that will be used by only an individual or small group, it is hard to beat Perl and BioPerl. These constraints probably cover the needs of 90 per cent of personal bioinformatics programming.
For beginners, and for writing larger programs in the Bio domain, especially those to be shared and supported by others, Python’s clarity and brevity make it very attractive.
For those who might be leaning towards a career in bioinformatics and who want to learn only one language, Java has the widest general programming support, very good support in the Bio domain with BioJava, and is now the de facto language of business (the new COBOL, for better or worse).
Apart from these Bio* projects there is another project called STRAP which uses Java and aims for similar goals. The STRAP-toolbox, similar to BioJava is also a Java-toolkit for the design of Bioinformatics programs and scripts. The similarities and differences between BioJava and STRAP are as follows:
Similarities
Both provide comprehensive collections of methods for protein sequences.
Both are used by Java programmers to code bioinformatics algorithms.
Both separate implementations and definitions by using java interfaces.
Both are open source projects.
Both can read and write many sequence file formats.
Differences
BioJava is applicable to nucleotide and peptide sequences and can be applied for entire genomes. STRAP cannot cope with single sequences as long as an entire chromosome. Instead STRAP manipulates peptide sequences and 3D- structures of the size of single proteins. Nevertheless, it can hold a high number of sequences and structures in memory. STRAP is designed for protein sequences but can read coding nucleotide files, which are then translated to peptide sequences.
STRAP is very fast since the graphical user interface must be highly responsive. BioJava is used where speed is less critical.
BioJava is well designed in terms of type safety, ontology and object design. BioJava uses objects for sequences, annotations and sequence positions. Even single amino acids or nucleotides are object references. To enhance speed, STRAP avoids frequent object instantiations and invocation of non-final object-methods.
In BioJava peptide sequences and nucleotide sequences are lists of symbols. The symbols can be retrieved one after the other with an iterator or sub-sequences can be obtained. The advantages are that the entire sequence does not necessarily reside in memory and that programs are less susceptible to programming errors. Symbol objects are immutable elements of an alphabet. In STRAP however simple byte arrays are used for sequences and float arrays for coordinates. Besides speed the low memory consumption is an important advantage of basic data types. Classes in Strap expose internal data. Therefore, programmers might commit programming errors like manipulating byte arrays directly instead of using the setter methods. Another disadvantage is that no checks are performed in STRAP whether the characters in sequences are valid with respect to an underlying alphabet.
In BioJava sequence positions are realized by the class Location. Discontiguous Location objects are composed of several contiguous RangeLocation objects or PointLocation objects. For the class StrapProtein however, single residue positions are indicated by integer numbers between 0 and countResidues()-1. Multiple positions are given by boolean arrays. True at a given index means selected whereas false means not selected.
BioJava throws exceptions when methods are invoked with invalid parameters. STRAP avoids the time-consuming creation of Throwable objects. Instead, errors in methods are indicated by the return values NaN, -1 or null. From the point of program design however Throwable objects are nicer.
In BioJava a Sequence object is either a peptide sequence or a nucleotide sequence. A StrapProtein can hold both at the same time if a coding nucleotide sequence was read and translated into protein. Both, the nucleotide sequence and the peptide sequence are contained in the same StrapProtein object. The coding or non-coding regions can be changed and the peptide sequence alters accordingly.
Projects using BioJava
The following projects make use of BioJava.
Metabolic Pathway Builder: Software suite dedicated to the exploration of connections among genes, proteins, reactions and metabolic pathways
DengueInfo: a Dengue genome information portal that uses BioJava in the middleware and talks to a biosql database.
Dazzle: A BioJava based DAS server.
BioSense: A plug-in for the InforSense Suite, an analytics software platform by IDBS that unitizes BioJava.
Bioclipse: A free, open source, workbench for chemo- and bioinformatics with powerful editing and visualizing abilities for molecules, sequences, proteins, spectra, etc.
PROMPT: A free, open source framework and application for the comparison and mapping of protein sets. Uses BioJava for handling most input data formats.
Cytoscape: An open source bioinformatics software platform to visualize molecular interaction networks.
BioWeka: An open source biological data mining application.
Geneious: A molecular biology toolkit.
MassSieve: An open source application to analyze mass spec proteomics data.
STRAP: A tool for multiple sequence alignment and sequence-based structure alignment.
Jstacs: A Java framework for statistical analysis and classification of biological sequences
jLSTM: "Long Short-Term Memory" for protein classification
LaJolla: An open source structural alignment tool for RNA and proteins using an index structure for fast alignment of thousands of structures; includes an easy-to-use command line interface.
GenBeans: A rich client platform for bioinformatics primarily focused on molecular biology and sequence analysis.
JEnsembl: A version-aware Java API to Ensembl data systems.
MUSI: An integrated system to identify multiple specificity from very large peptide or nucleic acid data sets.
Bioshell: A utility library for structural bioinformatics
See also
Open Bioinformatics Foundation
BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby
Bioclipse
Comparison of software for molecular mechanics modeling
References
External links
Bioinformatics software
Java platform software |
37836030 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleophthalmology | Teleophthalmology | Teleophthalmology is a branch of telemedicine that delivers eye care through digital medical equipment and telecommunications technology. Today, applications of teleophthalmology encompass access to eye specialists for patients in remote areas, ophthalmic disease screening, diagnosis and monitoring; as well as distant learning.
Teleophthalmology enables health professionals to take ocular images and attend to patients who have limited access to ocular health care. These images allow the ophthalmologist or optometrist, health care professionals and researchers to carry out the aforementioned applications. The required equipment includes a camera that can take ocular images and a computer terminal with network capabilities, which can transfer the images. There has been a significant increase in teleophthalmology research over the past decade. However, differences in health information exchange standards, data security, liability issues, and cost of equipment are other major challenges in teleophthalmology.
Implementation
Although ocular photography has been present since the early 1980s, the transfer of digital images from one location to another for assessment is a relatively recent phenomenon. The rise of digital imaging in the early 1990s allowed ophthalmologists and optometrists to capture images and store them on computers for future assessment. The advent of the Internet allowed for the digital transfer of these ocular images from one location to another.
Current teleophthalmological solutions are generally focused on a particular eye problem, such as diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, macular degeneration, strabismus and adnexal eye diseases. Less common conditions that can be revealed using retinal images are arterial and vein occlusions, chorioretinitis, congenital anomalies, and tapetoretinal abitrophy. Several population-based studies have used retinal imaging to relate ophthalmic abnormalities to general conditions, including hypertension, renal dysfunction, cardiovascular mortality, subclinical and clinical stroke, and cognitive impairment.
Mobile applications are widely available in ophthalmology and optometry as tools for eye tests (visual acuity, colour test, and viewing eye images) and for educational purposes. Technological advancements in digital ocular imaging devices are perceived by many as key drivers for teleophthalmology. Recently, emerging retinal imaging modalities such as optical coherence tomography are capable of producing digital images of the retina with a micrometer resolution, which can be transmitted for research or diagnostic purposes. Along with systems designed for health care professionals, patient-centred systems such as Eye-File for use by the general public are emerging.
Process
Fundus photography is performed by a fundus camera, which basically consists of a specialized low power microscope with an attached camera.
Teleophthalmology services can be provided primarily in two ways synchronously or asynchronously:
Synchronous teleophthalmology enables real-time interaction between participants (using standard telemedicine technologies e.g. video-conferencing), synchronous to supervise the removal of corneal foreign bodies and for consultations.
Asynchronous teleophthalmology in a "store-and-forward" method, where data is captured and transmitted for review at a later time.
Images of the eye can be captured non-invasively through various methods, generally by a technician or non-physician health care professional.
External eye: standard digital stills or video camera
Anterior segment: slit lamp connected to a camera
Posterior segment or retina: fundus camera
Mydriasis (pupil dilation, e.g. using tropicamide) may be required to obtain an image of sufficient quality. Stereoscopy may be used to detect retinal thickening.
The image can then be transferred, over the Internet or dedicated network to a physician for immediate examination, or for storage and later review. Ideally, the image is encrypted or anonymized for transmission, to protect patient confidentiality. Between image capture and viewing, image processing may be done, including compression, enhancement and edge-detection.
Image evaluation, to detect various pathologies in the case of asynchronous evaluation, is often done by an ophthamologist, optometrist or primary care physician, though it is also performed by specially trained staff. Image evaluation may also be automated to provide pathology detection or grading.
Automated image recognition
Computer software applications have been tasked with the automated assessment of retinal images to recognize lesions associated with an ocular disease of interest. The clinical process entails initially discriminating retinal lesions from non-factor artifacts, subsequently distinguishing lesions associated with the disease in question from other types of lesions, and finally grading the disease according to guideline-endorsed severity scales set by medical authorities.
Dedicated research in artificial intelligence drives the underlying technology in automated image recognition. Specific approaches involve pattern recognition using trained artificial neural networks; feature extraction using edge-detection and region-growing techniques; and content-based comparison with previously adjudicated samples.
Advantages
Improved patient care
Strengthened referral patterns
Extended patient care and expertise to remote areas
Education of hospital staff, clinicians and the community
Cost-effectiveness
More effective planning and administrative meetings with point-and-click sharing of content
Use of videoconferencing to members of the human resources department has helped to resolve emergency staffing issues
Community nurses, ophthalmologists or optometrists in training can attend teaching sessions at the main hospital via a live video teleopthamological feed, thereby enhancing their knowledge and skills.
Implemented projects by country
Australia
A 100-case audit of retinal screening by optometrists was performed in the remote areas of Western Australia. Projects are now being started base on this pilot experience.
Canada
A number of teleophthalmology programs exist in Canada, including those in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Ontario, and Quebec.
The cost of taking the images and of the ophthalmologist to interpret the images is covered by public-funded health care insurance. Typically a registered nurse or registered practical nurse is trained to dilate the patient's pupils and take the images.
Key challenges to providing teleophthalmology services in Canada are likely: 1) the high staff turnover in remote areas; 2) the lack of an inexpensive mobile imaging device that takes diagnostic quality images; and 3) the difficulty securing public funds where the costs are incurred and savings are realized from separate funding envelopes.
Alberta
Teleophthalmology has been provided in Alberta since 2003, and is supported by Alberta Health Services, using their proprietary teleophthalmology software Secure Diagnostic Imaging. Approximately six ophthalmologists from the University of Alberta review the images. As of January 2014, approximately 15,000 patients had been screened for diabetic retinopathy, across 15 community-hospital-based stationary locations, 44 First Nations communities and five primary care practices. Approximately 130 patients are screened per month across these locations. The teleophthalmology program also facilitates approximately 55 optometrist-to-ophthalmologist referrals per month.
British Columbia
Teleophthalmology is provided by ophthalmologists from the University of British Columbia, and is supported by Alberta Health Service's proprietary Secure Diagnostic Imaging software.
Manitoba
In Manitoba, teleophthalmology is provided by ophthalmologists at the University of Manitoba, and is supported using Alberta Health Service's proprietary Secure Diagnostic Imaging software.
Newfoundland
A teleophthalmology program was started in the Eastern Health Region of Newfoundland, under one of four regional health authorities. This program was started in May 2012 and is supported by an ophthalmologist in St. John's. The program uses Synergy software by TopCon Canada Inc.
Ontario
Thirteen teleophthalmology programs currently exist in Ontario. Two of the programs facilitate ophthalmology support for premature infants, screening for retinopathy of prematurity (RoP), using ophthalmologists at Sick Kids and McMaster University Medical Centre.
The other eleven of these teleophthalmology programs primarily screen for diabetic retinopathy in diabetic patients who have limited access to eye care professionals, or who for various reasons do not seek regular eye care. Ten of these eleven programs use the Ontario Telemedicine Network teleophthalmology (TOP) service to transmit images to an ophthalmologist for evaluation. OTN uses Merge Healthcare teleophthalmology software to provide this service. Some of these locations use a fundus camera, others use both fundus and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging devices, and all programs dilate their patients' eyes before screening. Since 2009, and as of January 2014, more than 4600 diabetic patients have been screened, finding pathology in approximately 25-35% of screens. Approximately 120 patients are screened per month, by five reading ophthalmologists.
In Ontario, the implementation of teleophthalmology has reduced the average wait time from six months to four weeks, for some diabetic patients to obtain retinal screening from a specialist.
Quebec
There are a number of teleophthalmology programs in Quebec, following on a feasibility study completed by the institut national d'excellence en santé et en service sociaux, entitled Dépistage de la rétinopathie diabétique au Québec.
China
Between 2006 and 2008, a large scale teleretinal screening project using mobile units was implemented in China.
France
The OPHDIAT Network supports diabetic retinal screening across 34 sites and has screened over 13,000 patients since 2004.
India
The teleophthalmology program provided in Chennai, India by Sankara Nethralaya has reached more than 450,000 patients since its inception in October, 2003.
The Karnataka Internet Assisted Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (KIDROP) program, started in 2008, uses teleophthalmology to screen for retinopathy of prematurity. They are India's first, and the world's largest, program of this kind. They have performed more than 6339 imaging sessions of 1601 infants in rural and remote areas, preventing blindness and finding that non-physician experts can be trained to accurately grade the images.
Ireland
In 2011, the Health Service Executive announced the development of a diabetic retinopathy screening programme. The Diabetic RetinaScreen programme was rolled out in 2013.
Kenya
The PEEK (Portable Eye Examination Kit) program has screened 2500 people in Kenya, and incorporates geo-tagging to facilitate follow-up treatment and demographic research.
Netherlands
Since 2001, more than 30,000 people with diabetes have been screened since 2001 as part of a project called EyeCheck in the Netherlands.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, more than 1.7 million people with diabetes were screened using digital fundus photography in 2010 and 2011.
A pilot project with telemedicine transmission of retinal OCT images from community optometry care to hospital eye services improved the triage of macular patients and swifter care of urgent cases. The project was led by Consultant Ophthalmologist Simon P Kelly, Royal Bolton Hospital and Ian Wallwork, Optometrist, and undertaken in Salford. The project was recognized in an award from the Clinical Leaders Network.
In Scotland, NHS Forth Valley has introduced teleophthalmology in standard practice, to link ophthalmologists and emergency services. The technology has been developed in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde, and is currently being piloted in other Scottish health boards.
United States
The United States Department of Veterans Health Affairs was one of the first organizations to deploy a large-scale teleretinal imaging program starting in 1999. In 2006, this program was expanded and received further funding for a nationwide program. As of 2010, more than 120,000 patients have been screened through the program.
Standards and regulations
Teleophthalmology relies on a standard for the representation, storage, and transmission of medical images known as Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). The medical imaging standard is managed by the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), which is a division of the Virginia-based National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
Various regulations exist on national levels that govern the use of teleophthamological solutions. Some of them are listed below:
USA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - licensure laws in the U.S. require a practitioner to obtain a full license to deliver telemedicine care across state lines where regulations vary.
Europe - Data Protection Directive
Japan - HPB 517
Future direction and considerations
Emerging techniques for eye image capture include ophthalmoscopes that can be combined with mobile devices, increasing portability and accessibility to the general public. The introduction of full auto focusing retinal cameras has the potential to reduce the need for operators.
Telehealth networks are growing in number, and advancements are being made in automated detection methods for diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. Teleophthalmology has the potential to improve access to screening and early treatment for a number of ocular conditions. It serves to identify patients who are at risk of various types of retinopathy and allows further evaluation and early management resulting in considerable economic benefit.
A recent Cochrane review notes that no randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials have been published evaluating whether there are any benefits or harms to telerehabilitation, over inpatient care for improving vision outcomes. The authors note that the lack of published research in teleopthalmology may compromise possible funding or support for these services.
Current technological limitations
Despite ongoing research and advancement in digital photography, digital imaging techniques still face certain barriers, including low sensitivity and specificity, as well as lack of stereopsis (impression of depth). As such, teleophthalmology cannot be a true substitute for comprehensive eye examinations using traditional binocular observation with standard 7-field stereoscopic fundus photography.
Automated image recognition algorithms are gaining in clinical adoption. While they perform at a level nearly equivalent to humans in ascertaining low and high risk states, diagnosis and grading performance is still insufficient for clinical acceptance.
References
Ophthalmology
Telemedicine |
12794931 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixelmator | Pixelmator | Pixelmator is a graphic editor developed for macOS by Lithuanian brothers Saulius and Aidas Dailide, and built upon a combination of open-source and macOS technologies. Pixelmator features selection, painting, retouching, navigation, and color correction tools; as well as layers-based image editing, GPU-powered image processing, color management, automation, and a transparent head-up display user interface for work with images. Pixelmator uses Core Image and OpenGL technologies that use the Mac's video card for image processing.
Pixelmator was the first commercial image editor to fully support the WebP image format on Mac.
Features
Uses technologies like Core Image and Automator.
Photoshop images with layers are supported as well as other popular still image file formats.
Uses layers-based editing.
Over 40 tools for selecting, cropping, painting, retouching, typing, measuring and navigation.
Shape tools.
16 color correction tools and over 50 filters.
Integrates with macOS and applications such as Photos and Aperture.
Pictures can be taken with a FaceTime camera from within the app.
Quick file conversion can be done with the help of Automator actions.
macOS ColorSync and ColorSync profiles are supported.
Support for Mac OS X Lion features such as versions, auto save, and full screen mode.
Compatibility with MacOS Catalina, including support for Sidecar (a dual-screen tool for iPad users) and Apple Pencil as of version 1.5 (released October 10, 2019).
Version history
Pixelmator for Mac
See also
Comparison of raster graphics editors
References
External links
Raster graphics editors
MacOS graphics software
MacOS-only software |
1345219 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TK%20Solver | TK Solver | TK Solver (originally TK!Solver) is a mathematical modeling and problem solving software system based on a declarative, rule-based language, commercialized by Universal Technical Systems, Inc.
History
Invented by Milos Konopasek in the late 1970s and initially developed in 1982 by Software Arts, the company behind VisiCalc, TK Solver was acquired by Universal Technical Systems in 1984 after Software Arts fell into financial difficulty and was sold to Lotus Software. Konopasek's goal in inventing the TK Solver concept was to create a problem solving environment in which a given mathematical model built to solve a specific problem could be used to solve related problems (with a redistribution of input and output variables) with minimal or no additional programming required: once a user enters an equation, TK Solver can evaluate that equation as is—without isolating unknown variables on one side of the equals sign.
Software Arts also released a series of "Solverpacks" - "ready-made versions of some of the formulas most commonly used in specific areas of application."
The New York Times described TK Solver as doing "for science and engineering what word processing did for corporate communictions [sic] and calc packages did for finance."
Universal Technical Systems
Lotus, which had acquired Software Gardens, including TK Solver, in 1984 sold its ownership of the software to Universal Technical Systems less than two years later. Release 5 was still considered "one of the longest–standing mathematical equation solvers on the market today" in 2012.
Core technology
TK Solver's core technologies are a declarative programming language, algebraic equation solver, an iterative equation solver, and a structured, object-based interface, using a command structure. The interface comprises nine classes of objects that can be shared between and merged into other TK files:
Rules: equations, formulas, function calls which may include logical conditions
Variables: a listing of the variables that are used in the rules, along with values (numeric or non-numeric) that have been entered by the user or calculated by the software
Units: all units conversion factors, in a single location, to allow automatic update of values when units are changed
Lists: ranges of numeric and non-numeric values which can be associated with a variable or processed directly by procedure functions
Tables: collections of lists displayed together
Plots: line charts, scatterplots, bar charts, and pie charts
Functions: rule-based, table look-up, and procedural programming components
Formats: settings for displaying numeric and string values
Comments: for explanation and documentation
Each class of object is listed and stored on its own worksheet—the Rule Sheet, Variable Sheet, Unit Sheet, etc. Within each worksheet, each object has properties summarized on subsheets or viewed in a property window. The interface uses toolbars and a hierarchal navigation bar that resembles the directory tree seen on the left side of the Windows Explorer.
The declarative programming structure is embodied in the rules, functions and variables that form the core of a mathematical model.
Rules, variables and units
All rules are entered in the Rule Sheet or in user-defined functions. Unlike a spreadsheet or imperative programming environment, the rules can be in any order or sequence and are not expressed as assignment statements. "A + B = C / D" is a valid rule in TK Solver and can be solved for any of its four variables. Rules can be added and removed as needed in the Rule Sheet without regard for their order and incorporated into other models. A TK Solver model can include up to 32,000 rules, and the library that ships with the current version includes utilities for higher mathematics, statistics, engineering and science, finances, and programming.
Variables in a rule are automatically posted to the Variable Sheet when the rule is entered and the rule is displayed in mathematical format in the MathLook View window at the bottom of the screen. Any variable can operate as an input or an output, and the model will be solved for the output variables depending on the choice of inputs.
A database of unit conversion factors also ships with TK Solver, and users can add, delete, or import unit conversions in a way similar to that for rules. Each variable is associated with a "calculation" unit, but variables can also be assigned "display" units and TK automatically converts the values. For example, rules may be based upon meters and kilograms, but units of inches and pounds can be used for input and output.
Problem-solving
TK Solver has three ways of solving systems of equations. The "direct solver" solves a system algebraically by the principle of consecutive substitution. When multiple rules contain multiple unknowns, the program can trigger an iterative solver which uses the Newton–Raphson algorithm to successively approximate based on initial guesses for one or more of the output variables. Procedure functions can also be used to solve systems of equations. Libraries of such procedures are included with the program and can be merged into files as needed. A list solver feature allows variables to be associated with ranges of data or probability distributions, solving for multiple values, which is useful for generating tables and plots and for running Monte Carlo simulations. The premium version now also includes a "Solution Optimizer" for direct setting of bounds and constraints in solving models for minimum, maximum, or specific conditions.
TK Solver includes roughly 150 built-in functions: mathematical, trigonometric, Boolean, numerical calculus, matrix operations, database access, and programming functions, including string handling and calls to externally compiled routines. Users may also define three types of functions: declarative rule functions; list functions, for table lookups and other operations involving pairs of lists; and procedure functions, for loops and other procedural operations which may also process or result in arrays (lists of lists). The complete NIST database of thermodynamic and transport properties is included, with built-in functions for accessing it. TK Solver is also the platform for engineering applications marketed by UTS, including Advanced Spring Design, Integrated Gear Software, Interactive Roark’s Formulas, Heat Transfer on TK, and Dynamics and Vibration Analysis.
Data display and sharing
Tables, plots, comments, and the MathLook notation display tool can be used to enrich TK Solver models. Models can be linked to other components with Microsoft Visual Basic and .NET tools, or they can be web-enabled using the RuleMaster product or linked with Excel spreadsheets using the Excel Toolkit product. There is also a DesignLink option linking TK Solver models with CAD drawings and solid models. In the premium version, standalone models can be shared with others who do not have a TK license, opening them in Excel or the free TK Player.
Reception
BYTE in 1984 stated that "TK!Solver is superb for solving almost any kind of equation", but that it did not handle matrices, and that a programming language like Fortran or APL was superior for simultaneous solution of linear equations. The magazine concluded that despite limitations, it was a "powerful tool, useful for scientists and engineers. No similar product exists". By version 5.0, TK Solver added Matrix handling functionality.
Competitive products appeared by mid-1988: Mathsoft's Mathcad and Borland's Eureka: The Solver.
Dan Bricklin, known for VisiCalc and his Software Arts's initial development of TK Solver, was quoted as saying that the market "wasn't as big as we thought it would be because not that many people think in equations."
See also
Optimization (mathematics)
Multidisciplinary design optimization
References
1982 software
Numerical software |
5781957 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20bomb%20%28software%29 | Time bomb (software) | In computer software, a time bomb is part of a computer program that has been written so that it will start or stop functioning after a predetermined date or time is reached. The term "time bomb" does not refer to a program that stops functioning a specific number of days after it is installed; instead, the term "trialware" applies. Time bombs are commonly used in beta (pre-release) software when the manufacturer of the software does not want the beta version being used after the final release date. One example of time bomb software would be Microsoft's Windows Vista Beta 2, which was programmed to expire on May 31, 2007. The time limits on time bomb software are not usually as heavily enforced as they are on trial software, since time bomb software does not usually implement secure clock functions.
Comparison of logic bombs and time bombs
The main differences between logic bombs and time bombs is that a logic bomb may have a timing function implemented into it as a failsafe if the conditions are not met in a certain time period (it may delete itself or activate its payload using the timing system), while time bombs only use timing functions to (de)activate themselves.
Time bombs, once activated, will unload their payload (which may be malicious) in a similar way logic bombs deliver their payloads to the target. The main difference between both time and logic bombs and fork bombs, is that a fork bomb has no payload per se, and instead does its damage by continually replicating itself to deplete available system resources.
History
The first use of a time bomb in software may have been with the Scribe markup language and word processing system, developed by Brian Reid. Reid sold Scribe to a software company called Unilogic (later renamed Scribe Systems), and agreed to insert a set of time-dependent functions (called "time bombs") that would deactivate freely copied versions of the program after a 90-day expiration date. To avoid deactivation, users paid the software company, which then issued a code that defused the internal time bomb feature.
Richard Stallman saw this as a betrayal of the programmer ethos. Instead of honoring the notion of share-and-share alike, Reid had inserted a way for companies to compel programmers to pay for information access (see Events leading to GNU).
See also
Logic Bomb
Planned obsolescence
Scribe Time-bomb
Time bomb
References
Software licenses |
30206866 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altos%20586 | Altos 586 | The Altos 586 was a multi-user microcomputer intended for the business market. It was introduced by Altos Computer Systems in 1983. A configuration with 512 kB of RAM, an Intel 8086 processor, Microsoft Xenix, and 10 MB hard drive cost about US$8,000. 3Com offered this Altos 586 product as a file server for their IBM PC networking solution in spring 1983. The network was 10Base-2 (thin-net) based, with an Ethernet AUI port on the Altos 586.
Reception
BYTE in August 1984 called the Altos 586 "an excellent multiuser UNIX system", with "the best performance" for the price among small Unix systems. The magazine reported that a Altos with 512 kB RAM and 40 MB hard drive "under moderate load approaches DEC VAX performance for most tasks that a user would normally invoke". A longer review in March 1985 stated that "despite some bugs, it's a good product". It criticized the documentation and lack of customer service for developers, but praised the multiuser performance. The author reported that his 586 had run a multiuser bulletin board system 24 hours a day for more than two years with no hardware failures. He concluded that "Very few UNIX or XENIX computers can provide all of the features of the 586 for $8990", especially for multiuser turnkey business users.
See also
Fortune XP 20
References
Microcomputers
Computer-related introductions in 1983
16-bit computers |
40384270 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S5 | Samsung Galaxy S5 | The Samsung Galaxy S5 is an Android-based smartphone unveiled, produced, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. Unveiled on 24 February 2014 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, it was released on 11 April 2014 in 150 countries as the immediate successor to the Galaxy S4. As with the S4, the S5 is an evolution of the prior year's model, placing a particular emphasis on an improved build with a textured rear cover and IP67 certification for dust and water resistance, a more refined user experience, new security features such as a fingerprint reader and private mode, expanded health-related features including a built-in heart rate monitor, a USB 3.0 port, and an updated camera featuring speedy auto-focus through phase-detection as well as video resolution upgraded to 2160p (4K) and framerate at 1080p doubled.
The Galaxy S5 received mostly positive reviews; the phone was praised for its display, hardware, camera, long battery life, and incorporating water resistance while retaining a removable battery and MicroSD card slot, making it the final in its series with the former. However, the S5 was criticized for bloated software, its unresponsive fingerprint scanner, and its ostensibly non-"premium" polycarbonate in light of rival smartphones' metal or glass bodies.
In August 2015, following the release of its then-latest flagship, the Galaxy S6, Samsung released an updated version called the "Galaxy S5 Neo" which has an Exynos 7 Octa (7580) processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. It has 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, USB 2.0 port, comes with Android 5.0.2 "Lollipop", and lacks fingerprint unlocking and 4K (2160p) video recording.
Release date
The Galaxy S5 was unveiled on 24 February 2014 as part of the company's presentation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung Electronics president JK Shin explained that consumers did not want a phone dependent on "eye-popping" or "complex" technology, but one with "beautiful design and performance", a "simple, yet powerful camera", "faster and seamless connectivity", and fitness-oriented features.
Samsung announced that it would release the S5 on 11 April 2014 in 150 countries—including the United Kingdom and United States. On 18 June 2014, Samsung unveiled an LTE-Advanced version of the S5, exclusively released in South Korea. Unlike other models, the LTE-A version also upgrades the display to a quad HD, 1440p panel.
Shortly after the release of the S5, it was discovered that some Samsung Galaxy S5 devices—particularly those on Verizon Wireless—were suffering from a major bug that caused the device's camera hardware to permanently cease functioning, and display a "Camera failed" error on-screen whenever users attempt to use the camera. Both Samsung and Verizon confirmed the issue, which affected a limited number of Galaxy S5 devices; Samsung instructed users affected by the bug to contact the company or their carrier to have their phone replaced under warranty.
Specifications
Hardware and design
Changes
The design of the S5 evolves upon the design of the S4. It features a rounded, polycarbonate chassis carrying a "modern glam" look with a dot pattern similarly to that on the 2012 Google Nexus 7 tablet computer, faux metal trim and a removable rear cover. Unlike past models, the S5's rear cover uses a higher quality soft plastic and is dimpled to improve grip.
The S5 is IP67 certified for dust and water resistance. As such, the phone is able to be submerged in water up to for up to 30 minutes. The S5's Micro-USB 3.0 port uses a removable cover. The S5 is available in Charcoal Black, Electric Blue, Copper Gold, and Shimmery White color finishes. The S5's screen is a 1080p Super AMOLED panel, which is slightly larger than that of the S4, and allows for automatic brightness and gamut adjustments. Its minimum dimmable brightness level has been lowered to facilitate vision in dark environments without the need for third-party screen filter overlay apps which would interfere with screen captures.
Front panel
Below the screen are three buttons. The physical "Home" button in the centre contains a swipe-based fingerprint scanner. There is a "Recent apps" key (also known as "task key") on the left side and a "Back" key on the right side of the home button. As with all main models from the Galaxy S series, the navigation buttons left and right to the home buttons are capacitive. However, in accordance with Android 4.0 human interface guidelines, the S5 no longer uses a "Menu" key like its predecessors (left side of home button), although its button layout is still reversed in comparison to other Android devices with the S5's button layout (such as the HTC One X and Galaxy Nexus, whose "Back" buttons are to the left of "Home"). However, holding the new task key for one second simulates pressing the menu key.
Camera
The S5 includes a 16 megapixel (5312×2988) rear-facing camera, which offers 4K (2160p) video recording at 30fps, phase detection autofocus (which Samsung claims to be able to focus in around 0.3 seconds), real-time HDR photos and video (of which the latter is available for the first time in a Samsung flagship mobile device), and an image sensor with Samsung's "Isocell" technology, which isolates the individual pixels inside the sensor to improve its ability to capture light and reduce crosstalk. The model number of the image sensor is S5K2P2XX. Compared to conventional BSI sensors, this reduces electrical crosstalk by about 30 percent.
The camera is also able to record 1080p@60fps for smoother real-time playback. It can also record slow-motion videos with 720p at 120fps, but only encoded using [[slow motion#Menial method|the menial method]].
The front camera uses a Samsung CMOS S5K8B1YX03 image sensor, an aperture of 2.4 and captures both photos and videos at 1080p; the latter at 30 frames per second.
Related section: Camera and gallery software.
Miscellaneous
Next to the camera's flash on the rear of the device is a new heart rate sensor, which can be used as part of the S Health software.
The top of the device has an IR blaster and headphone jack. The IR blaster is a transmitter only and it has a built-in database of devices that can be controlled by Samsung's Smart Remote application.
The Galaxy S5 lacks the thermometer (temperature) and hygrometer (humidity) sensors that both 2013's flagships, the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 were equipped with.
Internal specifications
The S5 is powered by a 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 system-on-chip with 2 GB of RAM. Although not mentioned during the keynote presentation, a variant (SM-G900H) with an octa-core Exynos 5422 system-on-chip was also released in multiple markets. Like the previous model, it uses two clusters of four cores; four Cortex-A15 cores at 2.1 GHz, and four Cortex-A7 cores at 1.5 GHz. Depending on resource usage, the SoC can use the power-efficient A7 cores for lighter processing loads, and switch to the A15 cores for more demanding loads. Unlike previous iterations, however, the Exynos 5422 can run both sets of cores at the same time instead of only one at a time.
Battery
The S5 contains a 2800 mAh lithium ion battery, which is user-replaceable despite IP67 water resistance. It is Qi compatible (requires an optional Wireless Charging Cover) and also contains an "Ultra Power Saving" mode to extend further battery life; when enabled, all non-essential processes are disabled, and the screen switches to grey scale rendering. Samsung claims that with Ultra Power Saving on, an S5 with 10% charge remaining can last for an additional 24 hours in standby mode. Another improvement in power efficiency comes from the use of Qualcomm's envelope tracker, which reduces the power used in connectivity.
Software
The S5 shipped with Android 4.4.2 KitKat but has received updates, the most recent being 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It has Samsung's TouchWiz software, which for the S5 has a flatter, more geometric look than that found on the S4. Certain aspects of the changes were influenced by a recent patent licensing deal with Google, which requires that Samsung's TouchWiz interface follow the design of "stock" Android more closely. The S5 adds the Galaxy Note 3's "My Magazine" feature to the leftmost page on the home screen, the Settings menu was updated with a new grid-based layout, a Kids' Mode was added, while the S Health app was given expanded functionality, integrating with the new heart rate sensor on the device, along with the new Gear 2 smartwatch and Gear Fit activity tracker. The "Download Booster" tool allows internet usage to be split across LTE and Wi-Fi to improve download speed. Due to carrier policies, Download Booster was not available on Galaxy S5 models released in the United States running KitKat 4.4.2, excluding T-Mobile US and U.S. Cellular. The precluded telephone application is equipped with additional options for noise cancellation, call holding, volume boosting and the ability to personalize the call sound. A disk space analyzer tool is included.
The Galaxy S5 inherits the interaction functionality of the Galaxy S4, such as finger Air View, air gesture and motion gesture controls, and Samsung SmartScreen.
For Air View, a self-capacitive touch screen layer is used to detect the floating finger. The "Quick Glance" feature from the Galaxy S4 was succeeded by "Air wake-up", where hovering above the front proximity sensor next to the "Samsung" wordmark wakes the phone up from stand-by mode rather than just showing the clock and status.
Security
The S5 contains a number of new security features. The fingerprint reader can be used to unlock the phone, while an SDK is available so third-party developers may offer fingerprint-oriented functionality in their apps; for example, PayPal integrated support for the fingerprint sensor to authenticate online purchases. The S5 also adds "Private Mode", which allows users to maintain hidden apps and file folders that cannot be accessed without additional authentication.
Camera and gallery software
The camera app was updated with a new "Shot & More" menu that captures eight still photos in quick succession stored into a single JPG file, allowing users to make edits to photos after they are taken using Samsung's gallery software. It incorporates camera features from earlier Samsung phones (Best Photo, Best Face, Drama Shot, Eraser and Action panorama) into a single camera mode. The camera software is also equipped with a new selective focus mode that captures multiple photos at different focus settings (also known as focus bracketing, albeit being stored in a single file), allowing the user to choose the desired focus setting (near focus, far focus, pan focus) any time after capture, and allows users to export the photo at the desired focus settings into a separate file.
Additional camera modes are downloadable from a store provided by Samsung.
The camera software is equipped with a remote viewfinder feature, which allows using the display of one unit as the viewfinder of a second phone paired through Wi-Fi Direct. Next to the S5, only the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Zoom, Galaxy K Zoom, Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Alpha are equipped with this functionality.<ref name=RemoteVF> Video: Demonstration of the Remote Viewfinder feature on a Galaxy S5 paired with a Galaxy Note 3 - by GottaBeMobile]</ref>
Two new features, Virtual Tour and Spherical (360°) Panorama have been added, respectively allowing to capture photos stitched together to a navigable 3D environment and to a spherical view of the surroundings, both inside the precluded gallery software. 360-degree panoramas are navigable with both touch and gyroscope sensor (device movement).
The camera setting shortcuts on the left (horizontal) side of the screen are customizable, allowing the user to select four shortcuts to more frequently accessed camera settings.
The camera software has been criticized for over-sharpening photos in post processing.
The gallery software is able to show Exif meta data of pictures such as exposure time, exposure value, light sensitivity (ISO), aperture, focal length, flash status and a histogram.
Updates
An update to Android 5.0 "Lollipop" was first released for S5 models in Poland in December 2014. The update incorporates performance improvements, an updated "Recent apps" view that utilizes a card-based layout, access to notifications on the lock screen, and modifications to the TouchWiz interface to adhere to Material design language. In April 2016, Samsung released an update to Android 6.0.1 "Marshmallow" for international S5 models. It enables new features such as "Google Now on Tap", which allows users to perform searches within the context of information currently being displayed on-screen, and "Doze", which optimizes battery usage when the device is not being physically handled.
Using a custom ROM such as LineageOS, Android 10 can be installed on Samsung Galaxy S5 devices.
Variants
Rugged variants
Samsung released two rugged versions of the S5, the S5 Active and S5 Sport. Both models feature a version of the S5's design with a full set of physical navigation buttons and do not include the fingerprint scanner, but are otherwise identical to standard models of the S5. Both devices also include an exclusive "Activity Zone" app, which contains a barometer, compass, and stopwatch. The S5 Active adds an "Active Key" to the side of the device, which can be configured to launch certain apps on short and long presses; by default, the button launches Activity Zone. The Sprint S5 Sport has additional Sprint Fit Live software, which acts as a hub for health-oriented content and S Health, along with the Under Armour-owned MapMyFitness MVP service and the music streaming service Spotify—the device comes with complimentary subscriptions to both services. Both models come in different color schemes (grey, camouflage green, and red for the S5 Active, and blue and red for the S5 Sport), and the S5 Sport is slightly lighter in weight than the S5 Active, at instead of . The S5 Active and S5 Sport were released in the United States in June 2014, and are exclusive to AT&T and Sprint respectively. The S5 Active was released in Canada in October 2014.
In June 2014, Samsung also released a dual SIM version of the Galaxy S5, called Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos, model SM-G900FD. The Duos has the LTE specification of the Galaxy S5.
Neo variant
A hardware revision called the Galaxy S5 Neo was quietly released in August 2015.
The S5 Neo is a lower cost variant of the original Galaxy S5 that downgrades the SoC to an Exynos 7580 Octa system-on-chip, while improving the front camera to a 5-megapixel unit. Other changes include the removal of a fingerprint sensor and a conventional USB 2.0 port in lieu of a USB 3.0 port with a water-resistant cover, the latter of which had been a source of complaints from users who found the cover was easily broken from regular use, compared to the previous year's model. A noticeable design distinction is the finer dot pattern on the removable rear cover. Samsung also released Android 7.0 Nougat with Samsung Experience which the original S5 did not have. The S5 Neo was initially made available in Europe (SM-G903F) and Canada (SM-G903W).
While the original Galaxy S5 is able to record videos at 2160p at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps and 720p at 120fps, the camera of the Galaxy S5 Neo can only record videos at 1080p at up to 30fps and lacks slow motion video recording entirely.
The Galaxy S5 Neo lacks wireless charging support entirely and can not be retrofitted with a wireless charging back cover.
Comparison table
Reception
Critical reception
The S5 received mostly positive reviews; critics acknowledged that the S5 was primarily a technological evolution of its predecessor with few changes of significance. Although praised for an improved appearance and build quality, the design of the S5 was panned for retaining a nearly identical appearance and construction to the S4, and for not using higher quality materials such as metal or a higher-quality plastic. The display of the S5 was praised for having a high quality, not being as oversaturated as previous models, and having a wide range of viewing angles, brightness states, and gamut settings to fine tune its appearance. TechRadar also noticed that, despite the high power of its processor, some apps and interface functions suffered from performance issues, indicating that the S5's operating system may not have been completely optimized for its system-on-chip. The S5's interface was praised for having a cleaner appearance than previous iterations—however, it was still criticized for containing too many unnecessary features and settings.
The S5's camera received mostly positive reviews for the improvements to image quality provided by its Isocell image sensor, but was deemed to still be not as good as its competitors, particularly in the case of low-light images. While the S5's camera interface was praised for having a streamlined design, it was criticized for taking too long to load, and the Selective Focus features were panned for being inconsistent in quality. While praised for providing more uses than the Touch ID function on the iPhone 5s, the fingerprint sensor was panned for requiring an unnatural vertical swiping gesture, having inconsistent and unforgiving results, and for being inconvenient in comparison to a password or PIN in most use cases due to these shortcomings. The Berlin-based Security Research Labs found that because the S5's fingerprint sensor could easily be spoofed, allows unlimited chances and does not require a PIN after 48 hours of inactivity or on startup like Touch ID, and can be used for more than just unlocking the phone, it "gives a would-be attacked an even greater incentive to learn the simple skill of spoofing fingerprints." Engadget considered the heart rate sensor to be similarly unforgiving and sometimes being inaccurate in comparison to other heart rate trackers, while The Verge'' felt that it was a redundant addition due to the concurrent introduction of the Samsung Gear Fit, which includes a heart rate tracker of its own, and is likely to also be purchased by those wanting to take full advantage of the S Health software on their S5.
Sales
The S5 shipped to retailers 10 million units in 25 days, making it the fastest shipping smartphone in Samsung's history. Samsung shipped 11 million units of the S5 during its first month of availability, exceeding shipped units of the S4 in the same period by 1 million units. However, 12 million units of the S5 were shipped in its first three months of availability, which is lower than the S4's sales.
Due to the lower sales of the S5, in July 2014, Samsung reported its lowest profits in over two years, and a drop in market share from 32.3% to 25.2% over the past year. The loss in market share was attributed primarily to growing pressure from competitors – especially in the growing low-end smartphone market, and an already saturated market for high-end smartphones. By the end of 2014, it was reported that sales of the S5 were 40% down on the previous S4 model, prompting management changes at Samsung.
See also
Comparison of Samsung Galaxy S smartphones
Comparison of smartphones
Samsung Galaxy S series
Samsung Rugby Smart
Samsung Galaxy 5, a similarly-named smartphone from 2010
Notes
References
External links
Android (operating system) devices
Smartphones
Samsung mobile phones
Samsung Galaxy
Mobile phones introduced in 2014
Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery
Mobile phones with infrared transmitter
Mobile phones with self-capacitive touch screen layer
Mobile phones with 4K video recording
Discontinued smartphones |
30523158 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939%20USC%20Trojans%20football%20team | 1939 USC Trojans football team | The 1939 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1939 college football season. The Trojans defeated the Tennessee Volunteers in the 1940 Rose Bowl, scoring the only points achieved on the Volunteers all season, ending their 23-game win streak. USC finished third in the final AP Poll, which was conducted before bowl season. They were crowned as national champions by the Dickinson System, which is designated as an NCAA "major selector" of national champions.
Schedule
1940 NFL Draft
The following players were drafted into professional football following last season.
References
USC
USC Trojans football seasons
Pac-12 Conference football champion seasons
Rose Bowl champion seasons
College football undefeated seasons
USC Trojans football |
23188443 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay%20Solutions | Replay Solutions | Replay Solutions is a private, venture-backed independent software vendor founded in 2004 and based in Redwood City, California, United States.
The company's main product, ReplayDIRECTOR, has been described by the New York Times as a “TiVo for Software”. It records application execution, and replays code execution without requiring the original environment and stimuli present during recording. Software problems such as crashes or security issues can be reproduced during replay. It is based on the concept of recording any input coming into an application, and then feeding the same inputs back to the application during replay.
Technology created by Replay Solutions has been the subject of multiple patents issued by the USPTO.
The product supports multiple platforms including iOS, Android, Xbox gaming platform and several versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as applications written in Java and JavaScript.
Replay Solutions was acquired by CA Technologies in June 2012.
Investors
The company's investors are UV Partners, Sigma Partners, Hummer Winblad and Partech International. It has raised $17 million in two rounds of funding from these venture investors.
Awards
In 2009, the company was one of six singled out by the audience as "most likely to succeed" at Launch:Silicon Valley.
References
External links
Replay Solutions Home Page
2012 mergers and acquisitions
Defunct software companies of the United States
Development software companies
Software companies based in California
Software testing tools
Software companies established in 2004
Software companies disestablished in 2012 |
11753024 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University%20of%20Pittsburgh%20School%20of%20Computing%20and%20Information | University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information | The University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information is one of the 17 schools and colleges of University of Pittsburgh located on the university's main campus in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The school was formed in 2017 with a focus on academic programs that teach contextually situated computing in an interdisciplinary manner. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees as well as certificate programs and houses three departments: Computer Science, Informatics and Networked Systems, and Information Culture and Data Stewardship.
The school was created by combining the university's School of Information Sciences, which was also known as the "iSchool" and was founded in 1901, with the Department of Computer Science, which was founded in 1966 and previously housed the university's Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Located on the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, the school was led by its founding Dean Paul Cohen until he stepped down in July of 2020 to be temporarily replaced by Interim Dean Bruce Childers.
Founded in 1901, the former School of Information Sciences was one of the nation's pioneering schools in the education of information professionals. Originating as the Training School for Children's Librarians at the Carnegie Library, the school moved to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1930, and eventually to the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. In its last year as a separate school, it is ranked 10th in the list of Best Library and Information Studies Programs by US News & World Report and is one of the original members in the list of I-Schools. The Department of Computer Science was founded in 1966 making it one of the oldest such departments in the country.
Academic programs
The School of Computing and Information offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs that are provided by three departments: Computer Science, Informatics and Networked Systems, and Information Culture and Data Stewardship. Various certificate of advanced study programs are also offered.
Undergraduate programs
The Bachelor of Science programs are offered for:
Computer Science
Information Science
Computational Biology
Digital Narrative and Interactive Design
A combined bachelor and master of science program is also offered for students to complete both degrees in five years.
Master's degree programs
The Master of Science programs are offered in the following:
Computer Science (MS)
Information Science (MSIS)
Intelligent Systems (MS)
Library and Information Science (MLIS)
Telecommunications (MST)
The overall library and information studies program of the school is ranked 10th overall by U.S. News & World Report in the magazine's 2017t edition of "America’s Best Graduate Schools."
In addition, the masters programs were ranked among the best in the nation according to the 2017 edition of US News America's Best Graduate Schools:
#1 Health Librarianship
#6 Archives and Preservation
#9 Information Systems
#11 Digital Librarianship
PhD programs
The Doctor of Philosophy degree provides research-oriented graduate study and professional specialization in the computing and information sciences. The program prepares students for advanced work in teaching and in conducting significant research.
PhD programs are offered in the following fields:
Computer Science
Computational Modeling and Simulation
Information Science
Information Science with a concentration in Telecommunications
Intelligent Systems
Library and Information Science
Certificate programs
Several Certificates of Advanced Study are provided for study beyond bachelor's and master's degrees in the following fields:
Big Data Analytics
Information Science and Technology
Security Assured Information Systems (SAIS)
Telecommunications
Faculty
The School of Computing and Information is home to over 100 faculty members whose expertise ranges from wireless security and Web semantics to cyber-scholarship and record-keeping systems. The school also had 26 adjunct faculty with joint appointments from fields as diverse as pathology, medicine and business.
Research
The school is recognized for its research. Located in its building are labs for Geoinformatics, Telecommunications, ULab and Personalized Adaptive Web Systems, along with LERSAIS—the Laboratory of Education and Research on Security Assured Information Systems. There are also several active research groups working on various projects such as IR@Pitt, Spatial Information Research Group, and Group for Research on Idealized Neural Systems.
In 2010, the former School of Information Sciences faculty had its work featured in nearly 120 publications.
iSchool caucus
The school is a member of the iSchools organization. This organization was founded in 2005 by a collective of Information Schools dedicated to advancing the information field in the 21st century. The iSchool consortium is closely governed by . The iSchool at Pitt has not yet hosted an iConference.
Information Sciences Building
Components of the new School of Computing and Information are housed on the university's main campus in the Information Sciences Building, previously the primary home of the former School of Information Science. Originally the American Institutes for Research Building, the University purchased the 1965 Tasso Katselas designed Brutalist style structure in 1968 and it has since then served as the primary facility housing the School of Information Sciences. In 1975, a renovation was completed that enclosed the building's lower levels to create additional classrooms and offices. An additional renovation to the building was completed in 2013, adding various upgrades including a computer lab, teleconference room, and a third floor Student Collaboration Center for study and work space. Components of the school's Department of Computer Science are housed in Sennott Square. The building is home to the Nesbitt Room which houses several special collections on the history of children and children's books and media, rare editions of children's books, and some unique furnishings and artifacts.
See also
University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives Service Center
List of American Library Association accredited library schools
List of information schools
References
Further reading
External links
School of Computing and Information
Information Sciences Building on Pitt's virtual campus tour
University of Pittsburgh
Telecommunications organizations
Information schools
Information Sciences Building
Universities and colleges in Pittsburgh
American Library Association accredited library schools
2017 establishments in Pennsylvania |
67606365 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim%20Baggili | Ibrahim Baggili | Ibrahim "Abe" Moussa Baggili is a cybersecurity and digital forensics expert and founder and director of the Connecticut Institute of Technology (CIT) at the University of New Haven. Baggili is also a full professor and Elder Family Endowed Chair at UNewHaven. He has a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Computer and Information Technology from Purdue University's Purdue Polytechnic Institute. Baggili is a Jordanian/Arab American first generation college graduate and a well-known scientist in the domain of Cyber Forensics and Cybersecurity with seminal peer-reviewed work in the areas of Virtual Reality Forensics (VR) and security, mobile device forensics and security, application forensics, drone forensics and memory forensics.
Awards & Notable Grants
Baggili has won several awards.
Notable Awards
2022: Baggili was inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE)
2021: Baggili received the Connecticut Civilian Medal of Merit for training the Connecticut National Guard in Cybersecurity was only awarded to five people at the time.
2021: Best Paper Award, ARES, WSDF.
2020: Baggili has also been named a European Alliance for Innovation Fellow comprising 0.1% of the members.
2019: Baggili was named the last lecturer at the University of New Haven by University President Steven Kaplan - a video of the lecture is available on Youtube.
2018: Best Paper Award, ICDF2C.
2015: Baggili was named the Elder Family Chair of Computer Science and Cybersecurity at the University of New Haven.
2014: Best Paper Award, ICDF2C.
2008: Baggili was awarded the prestigious Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship at Purdue University in 2008.
2005: Nominated for 'The Chancellor's List' 'The highest academic honor to which students can aspire.
2002: Bachelor of Science with distinction, Purdue University, Dec 14, 2002.
2002: Recognized by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
2002: United States Achievement Academy, Computer Science Awards Winner, Spring 2002.
2001: Associate of Science with distinction, Purdue University, Dec 15 2001.
Notable Grants
National Science Foundation Award # 1921813 - University of New Haven CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS): Super Cyber Operatives (SCOs).
National Science Foundation Award # 1900210 - SaTC: EDU: Expanding Digital Forensics Education with Artifact Curation and Scalable, Accessible Artifact Exercises.
National Science Foundation Award # 1649101- National Workshop on Redefining Cyber Forensics.
National Science Foundation Award # 1748950 - Exploring cybersecurity and forensics of Virtual Reality systems and their impact on cybersecurity education.
Known For
Baggili, along with his students, are known for their contributions to the digital forensics and cybersecurity.
His research with his students have uncovered vulnerabilities that affect over 1.5 billion people worldwide.
His team was the first to explore memory forensics, and disk and network forensics of consumer Virtual Reality (VR) systems.
His team was the first to show proof of concept attacks in consumer Virtual Reality (VR) systems, which inspired the creation of X-Reality Safety Initiative (XRSI).
The freely available NSF funded Artifact Genome Project which curates digital forensic artifacts and digital forensic academic exercises.
First Jordanian and Arab to pursue a PhD focus in Cyber Forensics.
Career
Baggili served as editor-in-chief for the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security, and Law. He has worked as a Digital Forensics Consultant for Cryptic Software Ltd. in the UK and as a Security Policies, Procedures and Standards Consultant for BISYS Education Services. In 2005, he founded Security Triangle in Amman Governorate, Jordan, and in 2010, he co-founded Viral Labs/Technologies, a start-up in the United Arab Emirates.
From 2009 to 2013 Baggili was an assistant professor at Zayed University, working on digital forensic research projects, where he chaired the second annual ICDF2C Conference. He also founded and directed the Advanced Cyber Forensics Research Laboratory, which helped train individuals in the public and private sector in several areas of cyber forensics, including network and small-scale device forensics.
In 2013, Baggili joined the University of New Haven as an associate professor and assistant dean. In 2021, he was made full professor elect. At the university, he has founded the Cyber Forensics Research and Education Group (UNHcFREG) and created the Artifact Genome Project (AGP). With mostly student researchers, the group has published dozens of papers on various cyber security and forensics topics, many of which have been presented at conferences such as the Digital Forensics Research Workshop and ICDF2C, and published in journals such as Digital Investigation. AGP was created with the help of Purdue University's VACCINE to address the need for a centralized location to share digital forensic artifacts. Since its inception, participants, ranging from federal agencies to universities to private companies, have uploaded over 1,200 artifacts. As a database, AGP has been utilized by investigators, and forteaching digital forensics.
At UNewHaven, Baggili also hosted GenCyber, a National Science Foundation and National Security Agency funded program, for several summers. The program aims to introduce a diverse student population to cybersecurity concepts by engaging them in hands-on activities and experiences.
Most-cited peer reviewed publications
Al Mutawa N, Baggili I, Marrington A. Forensic analysis of social networking applications on mobile devices. Digital investigation. 2012 Aug 1;9:S24-33. (Cited 223 times, according to Google Scholar )
Ruan K, Carthy J, Kechadi T, Baggili I. Cloud forensics definitions and critical criteria for cloud forensic capability: An overview of survey results. Digital Investigation. 2013 Jun 1;10(1):34-43.
Walnycky D, Baggili I, Marrington A, Moore J, Breitinger F. Network and device forensic analysis of android social-messaging applications. Digital Investigation. 2015 Aug 1;14:S77-84. (Cited 191 times, according to Google Scholar.)
Karpisek F, Baggili I, Breitinger F. WhatsApp network forensics: Decrypting and understanding the WhatsApp call signaling messages. Digital Investigation. 2015 Dec 1;15:110-8. (Cited 93 times, according to Google Scholar.)
Al Mutawa N, Al Awadhi I, Baggili I, Marrington A. Forensic artifacts of Facebook's instant messaging service. In2011 International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured Transactions 2011 Dec 11 (pp. 771–776). IEEE. (Cited 65 times, according to Google Scholar.)
References
External links
UNH Faculty Profile
Living people
Computer security specialists
University of New Haven faculty
Purdue University alumni
Zayed University faculty
Jordan
Jordanian American
Arab American
1981 births |
4726017 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronization%20%28computer%20science%29 | Synchronization (computer science) | In computer science, synchronization refers to one of two distinct but related concepts: synchronization of processes, and synchronization of data. Process synchronization refers to the idea that multiple processes are to join up or handshake at a certain point, in order to reach an agreement or commit to a certain sequence of action. Data synchronization refers to the idea of keeping multiple copies of a dataset in coherence with one another, or to maintain data integrity. Process synchronization primitives are commonly used to implement data synchronization.
The need for synchronization
The need for synchronization does not arise merely in multi-processor systems but for any kind of concurrent processes; even in single processor systems. Mentioned below are some of the main needs for synchronization:
two or more works at a same time
Forks and Joins: When a job arrives at a fork point, it is split into N sub-jobs which are then serviced by n tasks. After being serviced, each sub-job waits until all other sub-jobs are done processing. Then, they are joined again and leave the system. Thus, parallel programming requires synchronization as all the parallel processes wait for several other processes to occur.
Producer-Consumer: In a producer-consumer relationship, the consumer process is dependent on the producer process till the necessary data has been produced.
Exclusive use resources: When multiple processes are dependent on a resource and they need to access it at the same time, the operating system needs to ensure that only one processor accesses it at a given point in time. This reduces concurrency.
Thread or process synchronization
Thread synchronization is defined as a mechanism which ensures that two or more concurrent processes or threads do not simultaneously execute some particular program segment known as critical section. Processes' access to critical section is controlled by using synchronization techniques. When one thread starts executing the critical section (serialized segment of the program) the other thread should wait until the first thread finishes. If proper synchronization techniques are not applied, it may cause a race condition where the values of variables may be unpredictable and vary depending on the timings of context switches of the processes or threads.
For example, suppose that there are three processes, namely 1, 2, and 3. All three of them are concurrently executing, and they need to share a common resource (critical section) as shown in Figure 1. Synchronization should be used here to avoid any conflicts for accessing this shared resource. Hence, when Process 1 and 2 both try to access that resource, it should be assigned to only one process at a time. If it is assigned to Process 1, the other process (Process 2) needs to wait until Process 1 frees that resource (as shown in Figure 2).
Another synchronization requirement which needs to be considered is the order in which particular processes or threads should be executed. For example, one cannot board a plane before buying a ticket. Similarly, one cannot check e-mails before validating the appropriate credentials (for example, user name and password). In the same way, an ATM will not provide any service until it receives a correct PIN.
Other than mutual exclusion, synchronization also deals with the following:
deadlock, which occurs when many processes are waiting for a shared resource (critical section) which is being held by some other process. In this case, the processes just keep waiting and execute no further;
starvation, which occurs when a process is waiting to enter the critical section, but other processes monopolize the critical section, and the first process is forced to wait indefinitely;
priority inversion, which occurs when a high-priority process is in the critical section, and it is interrupted by a medium-priority process. This violation of priority rules can happen under certain circumstances and may lead to serious consequences in real-time systems;
busy waiting, which occurs when a process frequently polls to determine if it has access to a critical section. This frequent polling robs processing time from other processes.
Minimizing synchronization
One of the challenges for exascale algorithm design is to minimize or reduce synchronization.
Synchronization takes more time than computation, especially in distributed computing. Reducing synchronization drew attention from computer scientists for decades. Whereas it becomes an increasingly significant problem recently as the gap between the improvement of computing and latency increases. Experiments have shown that (global) communications due to synchronization on distributed computers takes a dominated share in a sparse iterative solver. This problem is receiving increasing attention after the emergence of a new benchmark metric, the High Performance Conjugate Gradient(HPCG), for ranking the top 500 supercomputers.
Classic problems of synchronization
The following are some classic problems of synchronization:
The Producer–Consumer Problem (also called The Bounded Buffer Problem);
The Readers–Writers Problem;
The Dining Philosophers Problem.
These problems are used to test nearly every newly proposed synchronization scheme or primitive.
Hardware synchronization
Many systems provide hardware support for critical section code.
A single processor or uniprocessor system could disable interrupts by executing currently running code without preemption, which is very inefficient on multiprocessor systems.
"The key ability we require to implement synchronization in a multiprocessor is a set of hardware primitives with the ability to atomically read and modify a memory location. Without such a capability, the cost of building basic synchronization primitives will be too high and will increase as the processor count increases. There are a number of alternative formulations of the basic hardware primitives, all of which provide the ability to atomically read and modify a location, together with some way to tell if the read and write were performed atomically. These hardware primitives are the basic building blocks that are used to build a wide variety of user-level synchronization operations, including things such as locks and barriers. In general, architects do not expect users to employ the basic hardware primitives, but instead expect that the primitives will be used by system programmers to build a synchronization library, a process that is often complex and tricky." Many modern hardware provides special atomic hardware instructions by either test-and-set the memory word or compare-and-swap contents of two memory words.
Synchronization strategies in programming languages
In Java, to prevent thread interference and memory consistency errors, blocks of code are wrapped into synchronized (lock_object) sections. This forces any thread to acquire the said lock object before it can execute the block. The lock is automatically released when the thread which acquired the lock, and is then executing the block, leaves the block or enters the waiting state within the block. Any variable updates, made by a thread in a synchronized block, become visible to other threads when they similarly acquire the lock and execute the block.
Java synchronized blocks, in addition to enabling mutual exclusion and memory consistency, enable signaling—i.e., sending events from threads which have acquired the lock and are executing the code block to those which are waiting for the lock within the block. This means that Java synchronized sections combine functionality of mutexes and events. Such primitive is known as synchronization monitor.
Any object may be used as a lock/monitor in Java. The declaring object is a lock object when the whole method is marked with synchronized.
The .NET Framework has synchronization primitives. "Synchronization is designed to be cooperative, demanding that every thread or process follow the synchronization mechanism before accessing protected resources (critical section) for consistent results." In .NET, locking, signaling, lightweight synchronization types, spinwait and interlocked operations are some of mechanisms related to synchronization.
Implementation of Synchronization
Spinlock
Another effective way of implementing synchronization is by using spinlocks. Before accessing any shared resource or piece of code, every processor checks a flag. If the flag is reset, then the processor sets the flag and continues executing the thread. But, if the flag is set (locked), the threads would keep spinning in a loop and keep checking if the flag is set or not. But, spinlocks are effective only if the flag is reset for lower cycles otherwise it can lead to performance issues as it wastes many processor cycles waiting.
Barriers
Barriers are simple to implement and provide good responsiveness. They are based on the concept of implementing wait cycles to provide synchronization. Consider three threads running simultaneously, starting from barrier 1. After time t, thread1 reaches barrier 2 but it still has to wait for thread 2 and 3 to reach barrier2 as it does not have the correct data. Once all the threads reach barrier 2 they all start again. After time t, thread 1 reaches barrier3 but it will have to wait for threads 2 and 3 and the correct data again.
Thus, in barrier synchronization of multiple threads there will always be a few threads that will end up waiting for other threads as in the above example thread 1 keeps waiting for thread 2 and 3. This results in severe degradation of the process performance.
The barrier synchronization wait function for ith thread can be represented as:
(Wbarrier)i = f ((Tbarrier)i, (Rthread)i)
Where Wbarrier is the wait time for a thread, Tbarrier is the number of threads has arrived, and Rthread is the arrival rate of threads.
Experiments show that 34% of the total execution time is spent in waiting for other slower threads.
Semaphores
Semaphores are signalling mechanisms which can allow one or more threads/processors to access a section. A Semaphore has a flag which has a certain fixed value associated with it and each time a thread wishes to access the section, it decrements the flag. Similarly, when the thread leaves the section, the flag is incremented. If the flag is zero, the thread cannot access the section and gets blocked if it chooses to wait.
Some semaphores would allow only one thread or process in the code section. Such Semaphores are called binary semaphore and are very similar to Mutex. Here, if the value of semaphore is 1, the thread is allowed to access and if the value is 0, the access is denied.
Mathematical foundations
Synchronization was originally a process-based concept whereby a lock could be obtained on an object. Its primary usage was in databases. There are two types of (file) lock; read-only and read–write. Read-only locks may be obtained by many processes or threads. Readers–writer locks are exclusive, as they may only be used by a single process/thread at a time.
Although locks were derived for file databases, data is also shared in memory between processes and threads. Sometimes more than one object (or file) is locked at a time. If they are not locked simultaneously they can overlap, causing a deadlock exception.
Java and Ada only have exclusive locks because they are thread based and rely on the compare-and-swap processor instruction.
An abstract mathematical foundation for synchronization primitives is given by the history monoid. There are also many higher-level theoretical devices, such as process calculi and Petri nets, which can be built on top of the history monoid.
Synchronization examples
Following are some synchronization examples with respect to different platforms.
Synchronization in Windows
Windows provides:
interrupt masks, which protect access to global resources (critical section) on uniprocessor systems;
spinlocks, which prevent, in multiprocessor systems, spinlocking-thread from being preempted;
dispatchers, which act like mutexes, semaphores, events, and timers.
Synchronization in Linux
Linux provides:
semaphores;
spinlock;
barriers
mutex
readers–writer locks, for the longer section of codes which are accessed very frequently but don't change very often.
Read-copy-update (RCU)
Enabling and disabling of kernel preemption replaced spinlocks on uniprocessor systems. Prior to kernel version 2.6, Linux disabled interrupt to implement short critical sections. Since version 2.6 and later, Linux is fully preemptive.
Synchronization in Solaris
Solaris provides:
semaphores;
condition variables;
adaptive mutexes, binary semaphores that are implemented differently depending upon the conditions;
readers–writer locks:
turnstiles, queue of threads which are waiting on acquired lock.
Pthreads synchronization
Pthreads is a platform-independent API that provides:
mutexes;
condition variables;
readers–writer locks;
spinlocks;
barriers.
Data synchronization
A distinctly different (but related) concept is that of data synchronization. This refers to the need to keep multiple copies of a set of data coherent with one another or to maintain data integrity, Figure 3. For example, database replication is used to keep multiple copies of data synchronized with database servers that store data in different locations.
Examples include:
File synchronization, such as syncing a hand-held MP3 player to a desktop computer;
Cluster file systems, which are file systems that maintain data or indexes in a coherent fashion across a whole computing cluster;
Cache coherency, maintaining multiple copies of data in sync across multiple caches;
RAID, where data is written in a redundant fashion across multiple disks, so that the loss of any one disk does not lead to a loss of data;
Database replication, where copies of data on a database are kept in sync, despite possible large geographical separation;
Journaling, a technique used by many modern file systems to make sure that file metadata are updated on a disk in a coherent, consistent manner.
Challenges in data synchronization
Some of the challenges which user may face in data synchronization:
data formats complexity;
real-timeliness;
data security;
data quality;
performance.
Data formats complexity
Data formats tend to grow more complex with time as the organization grows and evolves. This results not only in building simple interfaces between the two applications (source and target), but also in a need to transform the data while passing them to the target application. ETL (extraction transformation loading) tools can be helpful at this stage for managing data format complexities.
Real-timeliness
In real-time systems, customers want to see the current status of their order in e-shop, the current status of a parcel delivery—a real time parcel tracking—, the current balance on their account, etc. This shows the need of a real-time system, which is being updated as well to enable smooth manufacturing process in real-time, e.g., ordering material when enterprise is running out stock, synchronizing customer orders with manufacturing process, etc. From real life, there exist so many examples where real-time processing gives successful and competitive advantage.
Data security
There are no fixed rules and policies to enforce data security. It may vary depending on the system which you are using. Even though the security is maintained correctly in the source system which captures the data, the security and information access privileges must be enforced on the target systems as well to prevent any potential misuse of the information. This is a serious issue and particularly when it comes for handling secret, confidential and personal information. So because of the sensitivity and confidentiality, data transfer and all in-between information must be encrypted.
Data quality
Data quality is another serious constraint. For better management and to maintain good quality of data, the common practice is to store the data at one location and share with different people and different systems and/or applications from different locations. It helps in preventing inconsistencies in the data.
Performance
There are five different phases involved in the data synchronization process:
data extraction from the source (or master, or main) system;
data transfer;
data transformation;
data load to the target system.
data updation
Each of these steps is critical. In case of large amounts of data, the synchronization process needs to be carefully planned and executed to avoid any negative impact on performance.
See also
Futures and promises, synchronization mechanisms in pure functional paradigms
References
External links
Anatomy of Linux synchronization methods at IBM developerWorks
The Little Book of Semaphores, by Allen B. Downey
Need of Process Synchronization
Concurrency (computer science)
Computer-mediated communication
Computer science
Edsger W. Dijkstra |
47820265 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elements%20CRM%20iOS | Elements CRM iOS | Elements CRM iOS is a Mac Customer Relationship Management (Mac CRM) solution built by Ntractive for Apple business using Apple devices. Offered as a Cloud computing subscription-based service, Elements CRM iOS is a universal mobile app for the iPhone and iPad. Elements CRM iOS is an add-on to the Elements CRM desktop app. The iPad CRM version of Elements CRM iOS looks, works and feels like the desktop app. The iPhone CRM app is a limited version of the most important functions of the desktop app.
History
Ntractive
Ntractive is a privately held software development company based in Grand Forks, North Dakota that markets business software to small to medium-sized companies. Established in 2006, the company's sole product is Elements CRM, a customer relationship management application aimed at small businesses that use Mac OS X computers, iPads and iPhones. Elements CRM is a cloud based app that employs a unique site-specific browser to merge OS X desktop and web application functionality. The product was first introduced to the public at a keynote address during Apple's 2007 World Wide Developer's Conference. The official launch of Elements SBM (the product's original name) 1.0 took place at Macworld/iWorld 2009. The product was then renamed Elements CRM and with its 2.0 release was awarded the honor of Apple "Staff Pick" in July, 2009.
Methodology
Mac CRM
Mac Customer Relationship Management (Mac CRM) is an approach to managing a company's interaction with current and future customers on Apple Inc Desktop computers and iOS devices only. Mac CRM solutions are not web-based only applications that use a web browser for interaction. Instead, a Mac CRM is a combination of a cloud based app built with Apple's programming language Objective-C or Swift (programming language). Mac CRMs involve using Apple only devices and technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.
References
Cloud computing
Cloud infrastructure
Business software for MacOS
IOS software
Macintosh software companies
Customer relationship management software
Cloud applications
ERP software companies
ERP software |
39158984 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMCO%20MSI%20Package%20Builder | EMCO MSI Package Builder | EMCO MSI Package Builder is a software tool that creates Windows Installer (MSI) packages. The tool allows creating new MSI packages and converting non-silent EXE setups to silent MSI packages for unattended remote installation.
Functionality
EMCO MSI Package Builder generates silent MSI packages that have a single installation workflow and preconfigured installation options. The generated MSI packages can be installed to Windows PCs over a network in an unattended mode using software distribution tools that support MSI deployment. The main feature of the application is converting non-silent EXE setups to silent MSI packages, which can be used by network administrators to prepare software installation packages for unattended deployment.
Key features and functions
Creating x86 and x64 silent MSI packages
Converting non-silent EXE setups to silent MSI packages
Wrapping silent installations into MSI packages
Capturing changes in the file system, registry, Windows services and environment variables to create installation projects
Managing installation resources through GUI
Compatibility with Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8
Converting non-silent EXE setups to silent MSI packages
With EMCO MSI Package Builder, the EXE to MSI conversion process is based on capturing changes performed by an EXE installation. EMCO MSI Package Builder captures file system and registry changes to create an installation project and generate an MSI package that would apply those changes. Changes capturing is performed in runtime by a kernel-mode driver that can associate changes with the system processes that initiated them, so the created installation projects include the captured changes grouped by processes, which simplifies filtering-out of unwanted changes initiated by background system processes.
Functionality limitations
EMCO MSI Package Builder is primarily used by network administrators who need to create preconfigured silent installations ready for automatic remote deployment. Hence, it has a limited set of features for creating fully functional MSI packages designed for interactive installation. The limitations include the following:
Only silent MSI packages can be created. There is no option to add an installation GUI wizard.
The created MSI packages can include file system and registry changes, manage Windows shortcuts, services and environment variables, and execute custom actions before and/or after installations. There is no access to editing low-level MSI tables.
Non-silent Windows system software installations, including driver installations, OS patches and Windows system tools, cannot be converted into MSI packages. This technological limitation is common for all types of installation repackaging solutions.
See also
Windows Installer
List of installation software
WiX
References
External links
Installation software
Utilities for Windows |
43684215 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radare2 | Radare2 | Radare2 (also known as r2) is a complete framework for reverse-engineering and analyzing binaries; composed of a set of small utilities that can be used together or independently from the command line. Built around a disassembler for computer software which generates assembly language source code from machine-executable code, it supports a variety of executable formats for different processor architectures and operating systems.
History
Radare2 was created in February 2006, aiming to provide a free and simple command-line interface for a hexadecimal editor supporting 64 bit offsets to make searches and recovering data from hard-disks, for forensic purposes. Since then, the project has grown with the aim changed to provide a complete framework for analyzing binaries while adhering to several principles of the Unix philosophy.
In 2009, the decision was made to completely rewrite it, to get around limitations in the initial design. Since then, the project continued to grow, and attracted several resident developers.
In 2016, the first r2con took place in Barcelona, gathering more than 100 participants, featuring various talks about various features and improvements of the framework.
Radare2 has been the focus of multiple presentations at several high-profile security conferences, like the recon, hack.lu, 33c3.
Features and usage
Radare2 has a steep learning curve since its main executable binaries are operated by command line and does not have a GUI by itself. Originally built around a hexadecimal editor, it has now a multitude of tools and features, and also bindings for several languages. Meanwhile it has a WebUI and the official graphical user interface project for Radare2 is called Iaito.
Static analysis
Radare2 is able to assemble and disassemble a lot of software programs, mainly executables, but it can also perform binary diffing with graphs, extract information like relocations symbols, and various other types of data. Internally, it uses a NoSQL database named sdb to keep track of analysis information that can be inferred by radare2 or manually added by the user. Since it is able to deal with malformed binaries, it has also been used by software security researchers for analysis purposes.
Dynamic analysis
Radare2 has a built-in debugger that is lower-level than GDB. It can also interface with GDB and WineDBG to debug Windows binaries on other systems. In addition, it can also be used as a kernel debugger with VMWare.
Software exploitation
Since it features a disassembler and a low-level debugger, radare2 can be useful to developers of exploits. The software has features which assist in exploit development, such as a ROP gadget search engine and mitigation detection. Because of the software's flexibility and support for many file formats, it is often used by capture the flag teams and other security-oriented personnel.
Radare2 can also assist in creating shellcodes with its 'ragg2' tool, similar to metasploit.
Graphical user interface (GUI)
Project Iaito has been developed as the first dedicated graphical user interface (GUI) for radare2; it's been forked by Cutter as secondly developed graphical user interface (GUI) for radare2. When the Cutter project was separated from radare2 project in 2020, Iaito was re-developed to be the current official radare2 graphical user interface (GUI) maintained by radare2 project members.
Supported architectures/formats
Recognized file formats
COFF and derivatives, including Win32/64/generic PE
ELF and derivatives
Mach-O (Mach) and derivatives
Game Boy and Game Boy Advance cartridges
MZ (MS-DOS)
Java class
Lua 5.1 and Python bytecode
dyld cache dump
Dex (Dalvik EXecutable)
Xbox xbe format
Plan9 binaries
WinRAR virtual machine
File system like the ext family, ReiserFS, HFS+, NTFS, FAT, ...
DWARF and PDB file formats for storing additional debug information
Raw binary
Instruction sets
Intel x86 family
ARM architecture
Atmel AVR series
Brainfuck
Motorola 68k and H8
Ricoh 5A22
MOS 6502
Smartcard PSOS Virtual Machine
Java virtual machine
MIPS: mipsb/mipsl/mipsr/mipsrl/r5900b/r5900l
PowerPC
SPARC Family
TMS320Cxxx series
Argonaut RISC Core
Intel 51 series: 8051/80251b/80251s/80930b/80930s
Zilog Z80
CR16
Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR)
AndroidVM Dalvik
DCPU-16
EFI bytecode
Game Boy (z80-like)
Java Bytecode
Malbolge
MSIL/CIL
Nios II
SuperH
Spc700
Systemz
TMS320
V850
Whitespace
XCore
References
Further reading
External links
Radare2's blog
radare2 Git repository
Iaito Git repository
Disassemblers
Cross-platform free software
Debuggers
Free software programmed in C
Software using the LGPL license |
50169875 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kounta%20%28software%20company%29 | Kounta (software company) | Kounta is an Australian software company founded in 2012.The company's flagship product, Kounta, comprises a cloud based point of sale mobile app.
History
Kounta was founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Nick Cloete. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. In 2012, the company launched its flagship product, Kounta, a hospitality-focused point of sale (POS) mobile app for iPad, Android, Mac, and Windows. The app was initially a web-based application, and later developed into an online cash register and inventory management system that allows businesses to take payments from customers via mobile devices. The app has been made available for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices; as well as iOS, Windows, and other peripherals.
In 2012, Kounta partnered with Epson, providing a cloud-based POS platform for Epson printers. In 2013, the company formed a partnership with PayPal, integrating cashless and cardless transaction options via PayPal's mobile app. In 2014, MYOB (company) made an undisclosed investment towards Kounta. This partnership led to the development of MYOB Kounta, a co-branded application merging Kounta's POS with MYOB's application software. MYOB Kounta launched in October of the same year.
In 2016, Kounta announced a partnership with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to include the Kounta app onto "Albert", the bank's EFTPOS tablet. This allowed the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to become the first bank to manage all customers operations from a single device and mobile application.
Technology
The Kounta POS is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) that runs as an application in web browsers as well as natively on iOS and Android operating systems. It can also run in a wide variety of peripherals including receipt printers, remote displays, and cash drawers. Through Web Cache and IndexedDB, Kounta can be used in both on and offline modes. The application allows automated inventory management, purchase ordering, customer relationship management (CRM), multiple location support, employee monitoring, recipe creation for ingredient tracking, table layouts, reporting, and analytics; as well as managing customer orders, split bills, accounting, and rostering payroll applications.
Kounta also incorporates an Open API, making it possible for other software providers to integrate complementary apps, further extending the software's use. The company operates and maintains an online community with knowledge base articles, forums, and feature request submissions. Traditional IT tasks, such as data backup and encryption, hardware maintenance, and server upgrades are handled by Kounta's data center. Kounta is made accessible via paid monthly subscription licenses.
Acquisition by Lightspeed
In October 2019, Kounta was acquired by Lightspeed – a leading omnichannel point of sale platform based in Montreal, Canada. Kounta was Lightspeed’s third acquisition in 2019, and was acquired for $35.3 million USD.
Lightspeed is an advanced commerce platform for retail, hospitality, and golf businesses across the world. With their headquarters in Montreal, Canada – they also have offices across North America, EMEA, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region.
The company was listed in the New York Stock Exchange in September 2020 under the same symbol, (), which was used for their initial listing in the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Lightspeed announced that their intention for their net proceeds is to ‘pursue...growth strategies.'
The company continues to grow and expand in APAC with the acquisition of Vend – a cloud-based retail management software company based in Auckland, New Zealand.
See also
Software companies
References
External links
Reviews on Kounta
Reviews on Kounta from Capterra
Kounta on the App Store
Kounta on Google Play
Software companies of Australia
Point of sale companies
Web applications
Business software companies
Business software for Windows
Business software for MacOS
CRM software companies
Customer relationship management software
Workflow applications
Australian companies established in 2012
Software companies established in 2012
Companies based in Sydney |
543849 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxthon | Maxthon | Maxthon (, formerly named MyIE2) is a freeware web browser developed by the company Maxthon Ltd., based in Beijing, China. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and as Maxthon Mobile for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. Since version 6 Maxthon is based on Chromium.
Maxthon won CNET WebWare 100 Awards in 2008 and 2009, and was #97 in PC Worlds list of the 100 Best Products of 2011.
Overview
Maxthon is a Chinese company known mainly for producing web browsers for Windows. It is headquartered in Beijing, with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and San Francisco, US. Most of Maxthon's engineers are based in the corporate headquarters in Beijing, which develops and maintains versions of the Maxthon browser for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.
Maxthon has also created other products including a Chinese language news and information portal i.maxthon.cn, a Chinese language casual gaming portal and humor website, a ‘Kid Safe’ web browser for Android and iOS, a free online account system named Maxthon Passport, and an English language news and information web portal i.maxthon.com.
Corporate history
In 1999, current CEO Ming Jie "Jeff" Chen () founded Hong Kong-based Mysoft International Limited to distribute the MyIE browser. In 2005, the firm received seed funding from venture capital firm WI Harper Group and Morten Lund, the first Skype investor, and Chen moved the company to Beijing. In 2006, Maxthon received further investment from the US-based venture capital firm Charles River Ventures.
On April 10, 2007, TechCrunch reported that Google had invested at least US$1 million in Maxthon; this was denied the following day by Chen. However, in an interview with the Chinese web portal Sina.com, Chen did not rule out future "cooperation" between the two businesses.
Maxthon won CNET WebWare 100 Awards in 2008 and 2009, and was #97 in PCWorlds list of the 100 Best Products of 2011.
Maxthon was one of the twelve browsers Microsoft presented in 2010 at BrowserChoice.eu, a website allowing users of Windows residing in the European Economic Area to choose which default web browser to use on their computer. In late 2010, Maxthon began releasing new compatibilities, including browsers for Android Mac, iPhone and iPad. As of August 2012, Maxthon is still in the first tier of browsers in BrowserChoice.eu after the removal of Apple Safari. The Maxthon Cloud Browser was released on December 10, 2012.
Data privacy issues
In 2016, computer security researchers from Fidelis Cybersecurity and Exatel discovered the browser surreptitiously sending sensitive browsing and system data, such as ad blocker status, websites visited, searches conducted, and applications installed with their version numbers, to remote servers located in Beijing, China. According to Maxthon, the data is sent as part of the firm's 'User Experience Improvement Program' and it is "voluntary and totally anonymous." However, researchers found the data still being collected and sent to remote servers even after users explicitly opt out of the program. The researchers further found the data being sent over an unencrypted connection (HTTP), leaving users vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. Fidelis' Chief Security Officer, Justin Harvey, noted the data "contains almost everything you would want in conducting a reconnaissance operation to know exactly where to attack. Knowing the exact operating system and installed applications, and browsing habits it would be trivial to send a perfectly crafted spear phish to the victim or perhaps set up a watering hole attack on one of their most frequented websites." Maxthon CEO Jeff Chen claimed that this was due to a bug that was fixed as soon as Maxthon was made aware of the issue; however, Exatel had notified Maxthon of the issue without getting any response.
Software
Development history
According to Maxthon International CEO Ming Jie "Jeff" Chen, Maxthon was based on MyIE, a popular modification created by Chinese programmer Changyou to customize Internet Explorer web browser. Changyou posted most of the source code for MyIE on his Bulletin board system before leaving the project in 2000. Chen then continued independently developing MyIE and in 2002 released a new version, MyIE2. Users around the world were quite active in contributing to MyIE2's development, adding many plug-ins, skins and assisting with debugging. MyIE2 was renamed Maxthon in 2003.
Maxthon 2 was introduced in July 2007, and Maxthon 3 was released in September 2010. Later that year, Maxthon began introducing browsers for portable devices. In December, Maxthon for Android was released. On July 7, 2012, Maxthon for Mac was released, with Maxthon for iPhone and iPad released in August 2012. On December 10, 2012, Maxthon Cloud Browser, also named Maxthon 4, was released.
Features
Maxthon 5 introduced these features:
UUMail: enhances the email experience by creating unlimited virtual email IDs to keep the real email address safe and filtering out spams to make sure the inbox stays clean and organized.
Maxnote: the original 'Favorites' feature upgraded to 'Maxnote'. Users can collect everything, read anywhere, and record anytime.
Passkeeper: help users remember all passwords securely and smartly. Synced users passwords to the Cloud and then accessed on all different platforms & allows people to add and edit “Accounts” and “Private Notes”. It also helps users to auto-generate random complicated passwords when registering on a website so there's no need to worry about passwords being cracked anymore.
Browser versions
Version 1.x
Maxthon version 1, which continued version 0 of MyIE2, was an Internet Explorer shell that implemented a tabbed browser using the Trident web browser engine which Microsoft introduced with Internet Explorer 4. As such, version 1 was compatible with every version of Windows from Windows 95 to Windows 7. Development of version 1 stopped in 2010 with the so-called Maxthon (Classic), version 1.6.7.35; earlier releases are available from Maxthon, and version 1.6.7.35, which fixed a bug in selecting the default search engine, is still available at other download sites.
There are many add-ons available for Maxthon Classic, and more are available through discussion forums. Specific threads may provide direct download links also. Some add-ons are build-specific, but in that case, a clear indication of compatibility can often be found.
Maxthon 1.3.1 brought cloud-based service for online syncing bookmarks (favorites) in 2005.
Version 2.x
Maxthon Browser 2 is a multi-tab browser released in July 2007. A later modification in 2008 was the first browser on the market to offer cloud-based services for syncing bookmarks and history. Version 2.x also blocks malicious plug-ins to prevent pop-ups and floating ads, and supports a variety of plug-in tools and IE extensions. It also supports a wide variety of skins and is customizable. New features included:
Maxthon Passport: once the user signs in and registers for free membership, avatar remains in that space for future visits
Multi Tab Manager: right-clicking on the 'Tab menu' brings up a function intended to make browsing and other operations more efficient.
Mouse Gestures: right clicking and performing gestures with the mouse allows users to trigger customizable actions.
Maxthon Smart Accelerator: the built-in is intended to increase browsing speed; see icon at Maxthon status bar.
Autofill: automatically saves content entered into web forms and fills them automatically in the future.
Undo list: after closing a webpage accidentally, the Undo button and Undo can restore it. All closed pages and browsing history are recorded in Undo list.
Online Favorites: registering as a Maxthon Passport member allows instant access to cloud syncing services like online favorites.
Feed reader: native Web syndication client.
Super Drag and Drop: users can drag and drop selected text for a web search in their default search engine, or a selected link or image to open in a new tab.
URL alias: through 'tab right click menu,' users can assign a 'special-sticky name' to a webpage, which can be entered in the address bar to open the corresponding webpage. Naming is possible through the right click tab menu.
Super agent: supports adoption of HTTP, HTTPS, Socks4, Socks4a, Socks5, and other internet connection proxies, and also supports proxy that require authentication. By setting the Advanced Proxy Rule, the browser can automatically switch to different proxy servers.
External Tools: users can add commonly used (i.e., possibly IE compatible only) tools and software shortcuts to their browser. The software can be set to start up and shut down with the browser.
Web Toolbar: provides users with a set of commonly used small features. Among them, The Maxthon website aggregates many entertainment and social networking sites.
AD blocking: through the menu "Webpage Content Block," Ad Hunter can block pop-ups, ads and malicious web harassment. Supports customizable filters.
URL Key: through settings center, set an URL Key and press a function key to open one or more URLs.
Web Sniffer: Web sniffer can capture FLV media files from video sites, allowing for download and saving. Users can also customize the type of files to sniff for.
Screen Capture: users can arbitrarily snap a whole page, a region, a specified window and page content to the clipboard. Users can also configure the saving path and file format of the screenshot through setting options.
Maxthon Download: without having to call other download programs, using the browser's built-in download can complete numbers of small download tasks. The download manager has several features.
Plug-ins (Extensions): plug-ins can be used or programmed and shared with other users
Skins: different skins available.
Version 3.x
Maxthon 3 was released in the fall of 2010, after a beta period of 8 months. It has two layout engines: WebKit and Trident. New features included:
Dual Display Engines: Maxthon uses the Ultra Mode, powered by the WebKit web browser engine, by default. It will switch automatically to Retro Mode, powered by the Trident engine, as needed to display older-style Web pages.
Mouse Gesture: allows navigating through the web by moving a mouse in patterns that tell the browser to go back, forward, refresh, or hide.
Super Drag & Drop: allows drag and drop to open new pages and images or perform a web search.
Smart Address Bar: allows searching by typing keywords directly into address bar
Magic Fill: Maxthon securely saves names and passwords of visited websites, then fills in that information on return.
AD Hunter: removes advertisements with one click and automatically blocks pop-up windows.
Maxthon Passport: once a user signs in and registers for free membership, avatar remains in that space for future visits.
Online Favorites: registering as a Maxthon Passport member allows instant access to cloud syncing services like online favorites.
Multi Search: after selecting this, a user can input keywords in the address or search bar, and it shows what multiple search engines return for the query.
Maxthon Cloud Browser
Also named Maxthon Cloud, Maxthon 4 was released on December 10, 2012. At the same time it released Passport and its cloud features. Maxthon Passport allowed users to sign-in and register for free membership, and their avatar remains in that space for future visits. Registering also gives users access to cloud syncing services like online favorites. New features include:
Cloud Push: supports sending text, images, websites/links and tabs to Mac, Android and Windows operating systems.
Cloud Share: supports sharing text, images, websites/links and files online.
Cloud Download: supports downloading files in various formats and uploading them to My Cloud for backup on any device.
My Cloud Tabs: lets users remember previous sessions, by automatically syncing tabs to Android, iOS, or Windows devices.
Cloud Sync: Syncs account data (Favorites, Settings and Magic Fill data) to other devices.
Reader Mode: adjusts font sizes and removes ads on articles for visibility, with a "night mode" option for low light.
Magic Fill: Maxthon securely saves names and passwords of visited websites, then fills in that information upon return.
Ad Hunter: removes advertisements with one click, and automatically blocks pop-up windows.
New Session: users and gamers can simultaneously log into the same website with different accounts.
Source Sniffer: extract all photos, embedded videos and audio files from a web page and download them.
SkyNote: save and access text notes anywhere, and sync them across Windows and Android.
Do Not Track: privacy from ad networks and beacons.
Google Safe Browsing: identifies websites and warns if they are not safe and not secure before visiting.
Privacy mode: disables browsing history.
MXNitro
On September 15, 2014, Maxthon released a beta version for a Windows web browser made for those with slow computers or internet connections. The browser fetched pages 3 times faster than other browsers. The browser had a clutter-free, intuitive look and feel designed expressly to make new users feel comfortable on first use. The browser never came out of beta.
Version 5.x
Maxthon 5 (also known as MX5) was released on October, 2016. In the 5.2.x versions, the core of the browser is updated to the Chromium 61 branch point which suggests that the core is using Blink, a fork of WebKit. Aside from a series of new added and improved features, Maxthon 5 also introduces a few major built in functions, such as Maxnote as "your collecting button for the web", Passkeeper as "your smart password manager", and UUMail as "the guardian of your inbox". Through this new version, Maxthon 5 is aiming to become an information assistant for users. New features included:
UUMail: enhances the email experience by creating unlimited virtual email IDs to keep the real email address safe and filtering out spams to make sure the inbox stays clean and organized.
Maxnote: the original 'Favorites' feature upgraded to 'Maxnote'. Users can collect everything, read anywhere, and record anytime.
Passkeeper: help users remember all passwords securely and smartly. Synced users passwords to the Cloud and then accessed on all different platforms & allows people to add and edit “Accounts” and “Private Notes”. It also helps users to auto-generate random complicated passwords when registering on a website so there's no need to worry about passwords being cracked anymore.
Customization: support customization for proxy and core switch button, UEIP data feedback in setting-Privacy & Content, and auto-sync setting
External Tool: support external tool
Guest Mode: add guest mode
Interception: add popup window interception prompt
New Favorite Method: support dragging URL in a webpage to shortcut bar and make it favorite
Shortcut bar: add “add to this folder” for a folder in shortcut bar, support dragging to manage and organize entries, and support “delete” to recycle bin
Traffic Calculation: add upload traffic calculation in Infobox-menu
Version 6.x
Maxthon 6 (MX6) was released on 30 November 2020, with regular beta updates since. It claims to be the default browser for 670 million users. Some Maxthon 5 features are not (yet) supported. The browser has an emphasis on blockchain technologies, and offers 64-bit and 32-bit versions on Windows, as well as iOS, Android and portable versions.
For Mac
In July 2012, Maxthon Cloud Browser for macOS was released. It allows Mac users with a Maxthon Passport account to keep all user data in sync across different devices and operating systems. New features include:
Cloud Push: supports sending text, images, websites/links and tabs to Mac, Android and Windows operating systems.
Cloud Share: supports sharing text, images, websites/links and files with other people.
Cloud Download: supports downloading files in various formats and uploading them to 'My Cloud' for backup on any device.
My Cloud Tabs: lets users remember previous sessions, by automatically syncing tabs to Android, iOS, or Windows devices.
Cloud Sync: allows syncing of bookmarks, favorites, and other content across Windows, Mac and Android devices.
Super Drag and Drop: allows user to highlight a URL or webpage text, then drag and drop into the address bar to open a new page or execute a web search.
Mouse Gesture: allows simple shape creation with the mouse, and trigger commands like Refresh, Close Tab, Page Top/Down and Previous/Next Tab.
Extension Center: company supported feature for finding browser extensions, compatible with Google Chrome extensions.
Do Not Track: privacy from ad networks and beacons.
Adobe Flash support pre-installed in software.
Full user data encryption for security.
It is downloadable free of charge from the Mac App Store.
Maxthon Mobile
For Android
Maxthon Mobile for Android, a version for Android phones, was first released in 2010, followed in 2011 by a version optimized for 10 inch tablets. New features in 2012 included:
Cloud Push: supports sending text, images, websites/links and tabs to Mac, Android and Windows operating systems.
Cloud Share: supports sharing text, images, websites/links and files online
Cloud Download: supports downloading files in various formats and uploading them to 'My Cloud' for backup on any device.
Cloud Tabs: lets users remember previous sessions, by automatically syncing tabs to Android, iOS, or Windows devices.
Sync Bookmarks/Favorites: sync bookmarks across Windows, iOS, and Mac devices.
Full screen browsing
App Center: function to find and group web apps and content.
Super Gesture:: allows the use of gestures to create, close, switch, and restore tabs.
Read-Ahead: preloads pages automatically.
Reader Mode: adjusts font sizes and removes ads on articles for visibility, with a "night mode" option for low light
Version 6.x (2020) is also available for Android - see above.
For iOS
Maxthon Mobile for iOS was launched in July 2012, for iPhone, iPad, and iOS universal. Maxthon Cloud Browser for iOS saves and syncs key settings, content and features for users across multiple platforms and other devices. Mouse gestures can control the opening and switching between tabs.
New features include:
Cloud Push: supports sending text, images, websites/links and tabs to Mac, Android and Windows operating systems.
Cloud Share: supports sharing text, images, websites/links and files online
Cloud Download: supports downloading files in various formats and uploading them to 'My Cloud' for backup on any device.
Cloud Tabs: lets users remember previous sessions, by automatically syncing tabs to Android, iOS, or Windows devices.
Sync Bookmarks/Favorites: works across Windows, Mac and iOS devices.
Reader Mode: adjusts font sizes and removes ads on articles for visibility, with a "night mode" option for low light
Brightness Control: adjust screen brightness within the browser.
Portrait Orientation Lock: supports switching the screen orientation in Maxthon Browser.
Privacy Protection: allows browsing without tracking
New User Interface: full-screen browsing mode.
Version 6.x (2020) is also available for iOS - see above.
For Windows Phone
Maxthon Mobile for Windows Phone was launched in October 2013. The features that were included in this version were:
Cloud services with multi-device support
Ease of use with (patent-pending) implementation of tabs
Favorites optimized for mobile touch screens
Live tiles in Quick Access
Pop-up address bar
See also
List of web browsers
Comparison of web browsers
References
2005 software
Android (operating system) software
Chinese brands
Cross-platform web browsers
Freeware
Internet Explorer shells
Linux web browsers
News aggregator software
MacOS web browsers
Software companies of China
Windows web browsers |
45092390 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil%20Agcaoili | Phil Agcaoili | Phil Agcaoili (also known as philA) is an accomplished leader, technologist, entrepreneur, and a cyber security, information security, and privacy expert. He was named as one of the 100 Top Security Influencers To Follow in 2019 (Top Influencers 01–20) by CISO Platform. He authored a chapter in the book CISO COMPASS: Navigating Cybersecurity Leadership Challenges with Insights from Pioneers.
Phil was the Senior Vice President of Product & Security Innovation at Elavon, a Senior Vice President at U.S. Bancorp, chairman of the Ponemon Institute Fellows, a Distinguished Fellow of the Ponemon Institute, a Founding Member of the Cloud Security Alliance, co-inventor and co-author of the Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), a standards developer for the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), and a contributor to the NIST Cyber Security Framework.
He is a 4-time Chief Information Security Officer at Elavon, Cox Communications, VeriSign, and SecureIT. Phil was a committee co-chair for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) II and CSRIC III, served as a committee co-chair for cyber security on the Communications Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC), and was a member of the Communications Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Communications ISAC). He was on the Board of Advisors of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council (SSC) and on the steering committee of the FS-ISAC Payments Processing Information Sharing Council (PPISC).
Phil co-founded SecureIT and sold it to VeriSign at the height of the Dot.com era. He was on the board of directors for Mobile Active Defense, and was on the Advisory Boards of Cybersecurity Ventures, Qualys and Rapid7.
Education
Phil Agcaoili graduated from Columbia High School in East Greenbush, New York in 1989, studied aerospace engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 1993, and attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia for an MBA in computer information systems. He was inducted into the Mechanical Engineering Honor Society Pi Tau Sigma in 1991 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was inducted into the East Greenbush Education Foundation Hall of Fame in 2011.
Career
Agcaoili started his career at General Electric.
He co-founded and was the Chief Information Security Officer of SecureIT in 1996, which was one of the first pure-play Internet security services providers that was acquired by Verisign in 1998 for $70M. After the acquisition, he became VeriSign's first CISO. He was an early foundation member at Internet Devices, which was acquired by Alcatel in 1999 for $180M. He was the Chief Security Architect at Scientific-Atlanta, which was acquired by Cisco in 2005 for $6.9B.
He co-founded the Southern CISO Security Council in 2006.
While at Dell in 2008, he set security standards for Cloud computing as a Founding Member and Steering Committee member of the Cloud Security Alliance. He co-invented and co-authored the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) in 2009 (versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2), co-founded the GRC Stack in 2010, and co-founded the Security, Trust & Assurance Registry (STAR) in 2011.
Agcaoili was named the Chief Information Security Officer at Cox Communications in 2009.
He has helped shape cyber security best practices for U.S. Telecoms as a committee co-chair for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) II Work Group 2A (Cyber Security Best Practices) in 2010, served on the NCTA Cyber Security Work Group as an inaugural member, played an instrumental role in 2012 in the FCC CSRIC III Work Group 11 (Consensus Cyber Security Controls), served as a committee co-chair for cyber security on the Communications Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC), was a member of the Communications Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Communications ISAC), and was an industry representative on the National Coordinating Center for Communications (NCCC).
He was inducted into the Ponemon Institute as a Distinguished Fellow in 2011 and then appointed the Chairman of the Ponemon Institute Distinguished Fellows in 2012.
He has been instrumental in shaping United States cyber security efforts. Throughout 2013 he helped the National Institute of Standards and Technology develop the first version of the U.S. Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) released as the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (FICIC) on February 12, 2014. In 2013, Agcaoili was appointed as a co-chair for the FCC CSRIC
IV Working Group 4 – Cybersecurity Best Practices in order to help operationalize the Framework into practice within the Communications sector by updating and aligning his previous effort co-chairing the FCC CSRIC II Work Group 2A (Cyber Security Best Practices) with the NIST CSF.
In 2013, through a partnership with the Cloud Security Alliance and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), a team of industry experts and the founder of the Service Organization Control (SOC) released seminal guidance that reshaped how companies demonstrate and attest for their security and privacy practices by incorporating additional subject matter such as the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix in the type 2 SOC2 attestation standard and assessed using the AT 101 proven auditing principles. This replaced the SAS 70 auditing standard and augmented the successor, SSAE 16 SOC 1, to attest for internal controls over financial reporting.
.
Agcaoili was appointed the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer of Elavon in 2014. He serves on the FS-ISAC and on the Payments Processing Information Sharing Council (PPISC). steering committee. He was promoted to Senior Vice President at US Bank in 2015.
He was nominated to serve a two-year term on the Board of Advisors of the PCI Security Standards Council in 2015.
He has served on the Editorial Advisory Board for TechTarget Security Media Group Information Security Magazine, Advisory Board for CSO Magazine, Advisory Board for CIO Magazine, Editorial Advisory Board for CSO MAG, Governing Body Co-chair for Evanta CISO Leadership Network, Founding Advisory Council for CISO Executive Network in Atlanta, Founding Member and CISO Advisory Council for Wisegate, Advisory Board for the RSA Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF), and advisory board for SecureWorld Expo in Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas. He has served 10 times as a judge for the Information Security Executive (ISE®) Awards and was on the advisory board for the Worldwide Executive Council Goldman Sachs CISO Council and the Citibank CISO Council.
Information Security and Cyber Security Industry Contributions
[American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) endorsed Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Position Paper on SOC Reports (SAS 70 and SSAE 16 replacement) https://web.archive.org/web/20131020224528/http://www.aicpa.org/interestareas/frc/assuranceadvisoryservices/downloadabledocuments/csa-position-paper-on-aicpa-service-organization-control-reports.pdf]
[Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), founding member https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/about]
[CSA Steering Committee, co-founder http://www.csoonline.com/article/2138561/data-protection/cloud-security-alliance-updates-controls-matrix.html]
[CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), co-inventor and co-author https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/cm]
[CSA GRC Stack, co-founder https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/grc-stack/]
[CSA Security, Trust & Assurance Registry (STAR), co-founder https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/star]
[CSA Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), founding member https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/cloudsirt/]
[Hogan Lovells US LLP & Cyber Privacy Working Group - Preliminary Cybersecurity Framework – Privacy Methodology http://csrc.nist.gov/cyberframework/framework_comments/20131205_harriet_pearson_hoganlovells.pdf]
[NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) aka Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (FICIC) - Suggested Updates https://app.box.com/s/2qd8fs7d9xxdgmg7euhc]
[FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) II Work Group 2A (Cyber Security Best Practices), Committee co-chair http://transition.fcc.gov/pshs/docs/csric/WG2A-Cyber-Security-Best-Practices-Final-Report.pdf]
[National Cable Television Association (NCTA) Cyber Security Working Group, inaugural member https://web.archive.org/web/20120104150859/http://www.ncta.com/DocumentBinary.aspx?id=968]
[FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) III Work Group 11 (Consensus Cyber Security Controls), CSCC cyber security sub-committee co-chair http://transition.fcc.gov/bureaus/pshs/advisory/csric3/CSRIC_III_WG11_Report_March_%202013.pdf]
MSO (cable) Security Council, founding member
MSO Acceptable Use Policy Management (AUPM) Roundtable, founding member
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions Network Reliability Steering Committee (ATIS NRSC)
[Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) Cloud Computing: Business Benefits With Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives http://www.isaca.org/Knowledge-Center/Research/ResearchDeliverables/Pages/Cloud-Computing-Business-Benefits-With-Security-Governance-and-Assurance-Perspective.aspx]
[Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Data Set Project https://web.archive.org/web/20141219104146/http://www.edrm.net/members/2011-2012/individuals]
[IETF Capwap, Contributing Member ]
[Risk-based vulnerability scanning ]
Recognition
[1991 Inducted into the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Phi chapter of the Pi Tau Sigma https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085230/http://www.pitausigma.net/Chapters/upload/6-Rensselaer-Phi-1990-1999.pdf]
[1998 InfoWorld - Network Hardware: Product of the Year Award (IDI Fort Knox) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Feb_15/ai_53875599/]
[2005-2007 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Security https://web.archive.org/web/20070303203154/http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/]
[2007-2008 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Enterprise Security http://mvp.support.microsoft.com]
[2008 Microsoft CSO Summit Excellence in Data Protection Award (Dell) http://mvp.support.microsoft.com ]
[2008 Information Security Project of the Year North American Award Nominee (Dell) http://www.ten-inc.com/press/2008/press_2008.11.18.asp]
[2009 Information Security Executive (ISE®) of the Year Central Executive Award Winner (Dell) http://www.ten-inc.com/press/2009/press_2009.04.07.asp]
[2010 Information Security Magazine Security 7 Award in Telecommunications] (Cox Communications) http://viewer.media.bitpipe.com/1152629439_931/1286461369_610/1010_ISM_eMag.pdf]
[2011 Inducted into the East Greenbush Education Foundation Hall of Fame http://www.egedfoundation.org/hall%20of%20fame%20bios/Phil%20Agcaoili%20Bio.pdf]
[2011 Named Ponemon Institute Distinguished Fellow http://www.ponemon.org/ponemon-institute-fellows]
[2012 Veracode Bridge Builder Award (Cox Communications) http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120314006268/en/Veracode-Honors-Blue-Shield-California-Cox-Communications]
[2012 RSA Conference Award for Excellence in the Field of Security Practices ]
[2012 Named Chairman of the Ponemon Institute Fellows http://www.ponemon.org/ponemon-institute-fellows#agcaoili]
[2012 Information Security Executive (ISE®) of the Decade Southeast Award Winner] (Cox Communications) http://www.ten-inc.com/press/2012/press_2012.03.14.asp]
[2013 Evanta Top 25 Breakaway Leader Award http://www.evanta.com/ciso/summits/global/481/page/3549]
[2014 CEOWorld Magazine Top Chief Security Officers (CSOs) to Follow on Twitter http://ceoworld.biz/2014/04/04/top-chief-security-officers-csos-to-follow-on-twitter-198120]
[2014 Evanta Top 25 Breakaway Leader Award http://www.evanta.com/ciso/summits/global/page/4108 ]
[2017 Corporate Executive Board (CEB) Top 10 Breakaway Leadership Award https://www.epicos.com/article/311202/evanta-announces-winners-global-ciso-executive-summit-breakaway-leadership-awards]
[14 Social Media-Savvy CISOs to Follow on Twitter https://www.darkreading.com/careers-and-people/14-social-media-savvy-cisos-to-follow-on-twitter/d/d-id/1329663?image_number=13]
[Top 100 Security Influencers To Follow in 2019 (listed in 01–20) - CISO Platform http://top100.cisoplatform.com/top-100-influencers/]
References
Chief security officers
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
Virginia Tech alumni#Business.2C government.2C and academia
Georgia State University alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) |
4927505 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular%20graphics | Molecular graphics | Molecular graphics (MG) is the discipline and philosophy of studying molecules and their properties through graphical representation. IUPAC limits the definition to representations on a "graphical display device". Ever since Dalton's atoms and Kekulé's benzene, there has been a rich history of hand-drawn atoms and molecules, and these representations have had an important influence on modern molecular graphics. This article concentrates on the use of computers to create molecular graphics. Note, however, that many molecular graphics programs and systems have close coupling between the graphics and editing commands or calculations such as in molecular modelling.
Relation to molecular models
There has been a long tradition of creating molecular models from physical materials. Perhaps the best known is Crick and Watson's model of DNA built from rods and planar sheets, but the most widely used approach is to represent all atoms and bonds explicitly using the "ball and stick" approach. This can demonstrate a wide range of properties, such as shape, relative size, and flexibility. Many chemistry courses expect that students will have access to ball and stick models. One goal of mainstream molecular graphics has been to represent the "ball and stick" model as realistically as possible and to couple this with calculations of molecular properties.
Figure 1 shows a small molecule (), as drawn by the Jmol program. It is important to realize that the colors and shapes are purely a convention, as individual atoms are not colored, nor do they have hard surfaces. Bonds between atoms are also not rod-shaped.
Comparison of physical models with molecular graphics
Physical models and computer models have partially complementary strengths and weaknesses. Physical models can be used by those without access to a computer and now can be made cheaply out of plastic materials. Their tactile and visual aspects cannot be easily reproduced by computers (although haptic devices have occasionally been built). On a computer screen, the flexibility of molecules is also difficult to appreciate; illustrating the pseudorotation of cyclohexane is a good example of the value of mechanical models.
However, it is difficult to build large physical molecules, and all-atom physical models of even simple proteins could take weeks or months to build. Moreover, physical models are not robust and they decay over time. Molecular graphics is particularly valuable for representing global and local properties of molecules, such as electrostatic potential. Graphics can also be animated to represent molecular processes and chemical reactions, a feat that is not easy to reproduce physically.
History
Initially the rendering was on early Cathode ray tube screens or through plotters drawing on paper. Molecular structures have always been an attractive choice for developing new computer graphics tools, since the input data are easy to create and the results are usually highly appealing. The first example of MG was a display of a protein molecule (Project MAC, 1966) by Cyrus Levinthal and Robert Langridge. Among the milestones in high-performance MG was the work of Nelson Max in "realistic" rendering of macromolecules using reflecting spheres.
By about 1980 many laboratories both in academia and industry had recognized the power of the computer to analyse and predict the properties of molecules, especially in materials science and the pharmaceutical industry. The discipline was often called "molecular graphics" and in 1982 a group of academics and industrialists in the UK set up the Molecular Graphics Society (MGS). Initially much of the technology concentrated either on high-performance 3D graphics, including interactive rotation or 3D rendering of atoms as spheres (sometimes with radiosity). During the 1980s a number of programs for calculating molecular properties (such as molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics) became available and the term "molecular graphics" often included these. As a result, the MGS has now changed its name to the Molecular Graphics and Modelling Society (MGMS).
The requirements of macromolecular crystallography also drove MG because the traditional techniques of physical model-building could not scale. The first two protein structures solved by molecular graphics without the aid of the Richards' Box were built with Stan Swanson's program FIT on the Vector General graphics display in the laboratory of Edgar Meyer at Texas A&M University: First Marge Legg in Al Cotton's lab at A&M solved a second, higher-resolution structure of staph. nuclease (1975) and then Jim Hogle solved the structure of monoclinic lysozyme in 1976. A full year passed before other graphics systems were used to replace the Richards' Box for modelling into density in 3-D. Alwyn Jones' FRODO program (and later "O") were developed to overlay the molecular electron density determined from X-ray crystallography and the hypothetical molecular structure.
In 2009 BALLView became the first software to use realtime Raytracing for molecular graphics.
Art, science and technology in molecular graphics
Both computer technology and graphic arts have contributed to molecular graphics. The development of structural biology in the 1950s led to a requirement to display molecules with thousands of atoms. The existing computer technology was limited in power, and in any case a naive depiction of all atoms left viewers overwhelmed. Most systems therefore used conventions where information was implicit or stylistic. Two vectors meeting at a point implied an atom or (in macromolecules) a complete residue (10-20 atoms).
The macromolecular approach was popularized by Dickerson and Geis' presentation of proteins and the graphic work of Jane Richardson through high-quality hand-drawn diagrams such as the "ribbon" representation. In this they strove to capture the intrinsic 'meaning' of the molecule. This search for the "messages in the molecule" has always accompanied the increasing power of computer graphics processing. Typically the depiction would concentrate on specific areas of the molecule (such as the active site) and this might have different colors or more detail in the number of explicit atoms or the type of depiction (e.g., spheres for atoms).
In some cases the limitations of technology have led to serendipitous methods for rendering. Most early graphics devices used vector graphics, which meant that rendering spheres and surfaces was impossible. Michael Connolly's program "MS" calculated points on the surface-accessible surface of a molecule, and the points were rendered as dots with good visibility using the new vector graphics technology, such as the Evans and Sutherland PS300 series. Thin sections ("slabs") through the structural display showed very clearly the complementarity of the surfaces for molecules binding to active sites, and the "Connolly surface" became a universal metaphor.
The relationship between the art and science of molecular graphics is shown in the exhibitions sponsored by the Molecular Graphics Society. Some exhibits are created with molecular graphics programs alone, while others are collages, or involve physical materials. An example from Mike Hann (1994), inspired by Magritte's painting Ceci n'est pas une pipe, uses an image of a salmeterol molecule. "Ceci n'est pas une molecule," writes Mike Hann, "serves to remind us that all of the graphics images presented here are not molecules, not even pictures of molecules, but pictures of icons which we believe represent some aspects of the molecule's properties."
Colour molecular graphics is often use on chemistry journal covers in an artistic manner.
Space-filling models
Fig. 4 is a "space-filling" representation of formic acid, where atoms are drawn as solid spheres to suggest the space they occupy. This and all space-filling models are necessarily icons or abstractions: atoms are nuclei with electron "clouds" of varying density surrounding them, and as such have no actual surfaces. For many years the size of atoms has been approximated by physical models (CPK) in which the volumes of plastic balls describe where much of the electron density is to be found (often sized to van der Waals radii). That is, the surface of these models is meant to represent a specific level of density of the electron cloud, not any putative physical surface of the atom.
Since the atomic radii (e.g. in Fig. 4) are only slightly less than the distance between bonded atoms, the iconic spheres intersect, and in the CPK models, this was achieved by planar truncations along the bonding directions, the section being circular. When raster graphics became affordable, one of the common approaches was to replicate CPK models in silico. It is relatively straightforward to calculate the circles of intersection, but more complex to represent a model with hidden surface removal. A useful side product is that a conventional value for the molecular volume can be calculated.
The use of spheres is often for convenience, being limited both by graphics libraries and the additional effort required to compute complete electronic density or other space-filling quantities. It is now relatively common to see images of surfaces that have been colored to show quantities such as electrostatic potential. Common surfaces in molecular visualization include solvent-accessible ("Lee-Richards") surfaces, solvent-excluded ("Connolly") surfaces, and isosurfaces. The isosurface in Fig. 5 appears to show the electrostatic potential, with blue colors being negative and red/yellow (near the metal) positive (there is no absolute convention of coloring, and red/positive, blue/negative are often reversed). Opaque isosurfaces do not allow the atoms to be seen and identified and it is not easy to deduce them. Because of this, isosurfaces are often drawn with a degree of transparency.
Technology
Early interactive molecular computer graphics systems were vector graphics machines, which used stroke-writing vector monitors, sometimes even oscilloscopes. The electron beam does not sweep left-and-right as in a raster display. The display hardware followed a sequential list of digital drawing instructions (the display list), directly drawing at an angle one stroke for each molecular bond. When the list was complete, drawing would begin again from the top of the list, so if the list was long (a large number of molecular bonds), the display would flicker heavily. Later vector displays could rotate complex structures with smooth motion, since the orientation of all of the coordinates in the display list could be changed by loading just a few numbers into rotation registers in the display unit, and the display unit would multiply all coordinates in the display list by the contents of these registers as the picture was drawn.
The early black-and white vector displays could somewhat distinguish for example a molecular structure from its surrounding electron density map for crystallographic structure solution work by drawing the molecule brighter than the map. Color display makes them easier to tell apart. During the 1970s two-color stroke-writing Penetron tubes were available, but not used in molecular computer graphics systems. In about 1980 Evans & Sutherland made the first practical full-color vector displays for molecular graphics, typically attached to an E&S PS-2 or MPS (MPS or Multi-Picture-System refers to several displays using a common graphics processor rack) graphics processor. This early color display (the CSM or Color-Shadow-Mask) was expensive (around $50,000), because it was originally engineered to withstand the shaking of a flight-simulator motion base and because the vector scan was driven by a pair (X,Y) of 1Kw amplifiers. These systems required frequent maintenance and the wise user signed a flat rate Service Contract with E&S. The newer E&S PS-300 series graphics processors used less expensive color displays with raster scan technology and the entire system could be purchased for less than the older CSM display alone.
Color raster graphics display of molecular models began around 1978 as seen in this paper by Porter on spherical shading of atomic models. Early raster molecular graphics systems displayed static images that could take around a minute to generate. Dynamically rotating color raster molecular display phased in during 1982–1985 with the introduction of the Ikonas programmable raster display.
Molecular graphics has always pushed the limits of display technology, and has seen a number of cycles of integration and separation of compute-host and display. Early systems like Project MAC were bespoke and unique, but in the 1970s the MMS-X and similar systems used (relatively) low-cost terminals, such as the Tektronix 4014 series, often over dial-up lines to multi-user hosts. The devices could only display static pictures but were able to evangelize MG. In the late 1970s, it was possible for departments (such as crystallography) to afford their own hosts (e.g., PDP-11) and to attach a display (such as Evans & Sutherland's PS-1) directly to the bus. The display list was kept on the host, and interactivity was good since updates were rapidly reflected in the display—at the cost of reducing most machines to a single-user system.
In the early 1980s, Evans & Sutherland (E&S) decoupled their PS300 graphics processor/display, which contained its own display information transformable through a dataflow architecture. Complex graphical objects could be downloaded over a serial line (e.g. 9600, 56K baud) or Ethernet interface and then manipulated without impact on the host. The architecture was excellent for high performance display but very inconvenient for domain-specific calculations, such as electron-density fitting and energy calculations. Many crystallographers and modellers spent arduous months trying to fit such activities into this architecture. E&S designed a card for the PS-300 which had several calculation algorithms using a 100 bit wide finite state machine in an attempt to simplify this process but it was so difficult to program that it quickly became obsolete.
The benefits for MG were considerable, but by the later 1980s, UNIX workstations such as Sun-3 with raster graphics (initially at a resolution of 256 by 256) had started to appear. Computer-assisted drug design in particular required raster graphics for the display of computed properties such as atomic charge and electrostatic potential. Although E&S had a high-end range of raster graphics (primarily aimed at the aerospace industry) they failed to respond to the low-end market challenge where single users, rather than engineering departments, bought workstations. As a result, the market for MG displays passed to Silicon Graphics, coupled with the development of minisupercomputers (e.g., CONVEX and Alliant) which were affordable for well-supported MG laboratories. Silicon Graphics provided a graphics language, IrisGL, which was easier to use and more productive than the PS300 architecture. Commercial companies (e.g., Biosym, Polygen/MSI) ported their code to Silicon Graphics, and by the early 1990s, this was the "industry standard". Dial boxes were often used as control devices.
Stereoscopic displays were developed based on liquid crystal polarized spectacles, and while this had been very expensive on the PS2, it now became a commodity item. A common alternative was to add a polarizable screen to the front of the display and to provide viewers with extremely cheap spectacles with orthogonal polarization for separate eyes. With projectors such as Barco, it was possible to project stereoscopic display onto special silvered screens and supply an audience of hundreds with spectacles. In this way molecular graphics became universally known within large sectors of chemical and biochemical science, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Because the backgrounds of many displays were black by default, it was common for modelling sessions and lectures to be held with almost all lighting turned off.
In the last decade almost all of this technology has become commoditized. IrisGL evolved to OpenGL so that molecular graphics can be run on any machine. In 1992, Roger Sayle released his RasMol program into the public domain. RasMol contained a very high-performance molecular renderer that ran on Unix/X Window, and Sayle later ported this to the Windows and Macintosh platforms. The Richardsons developed kinemages and the Mage software, which was also multi-platform. By specifying the chemical MIME type, molecular models could be served over the Internet, so that for the first time MG could be distributed at zero cost regardless of platform. In 1995, Birkbeck College's crystallography department used this to run "Principles of Protein Structure", the first multimedia course on the Internet, which reached 100 to 200 scientists.
MG continues to see innovation that balances technology and art, and currently zero-cost or open source programs such as PyMOL and Jmol have very wide use and acceptance.
Recently the widespread diffusion of advanced graphics hardware has improved the rendering capabilities of the visualization tools. The capabilities of current shading languages allow the inclusion of advanced graphic effects (like ambient occlusion, cast shadows and non-photorealistic rendering techniques) in the interactive visualization of molecules. These graphic effects, beside being eye candy, can improve the comprehension of the three-dimensional shapes of the molecules. An example of the effects that can be achieved exploiting recent graphics hardware can be seen in the simple open source visualization system QuteMol.
Algorithms
Reference frames
Drawing molecules requires a transformation between molecular coordinates (usually, but not always, in Angstrom units) and the screen. Because many molecules are chiral it is essential that the handedness of the system (almost always right-handed) is preserved. In molecular graphics the origin (0, 0) is usually at the lower left, while in many computer systems the origin is at top left. If the z-coordinate is out of the screen (towards the viewer) the molecule will be referred to right-handed axes, while the screen display will be left-handed.
Molecular transformations normally require:
scaling of the display (but not the molecule).
translations of the molecule and objects on the screen.
rotations about points and lines.
Conformational changes (e.g. rotations about bonds) require rotation of one part of the molecule relative to another. The programmer must decide whether a transformation on the screen reflects a change of view or a change in the molecule or its reference frame.
Simple
In early displays only vectors could be drawn e.g. (Fig. 7) which are easy to draw because no rendering or hidden surface removal is required.
On vector machines the lines would be smooth but on raster devices Bresenham's algorithm is used (note the "jaggies" on some of the bonds, which can be largely removed with antialiasing software.)
Atoms can be drawn as circles, but these should be sorted so that those with the largest z-coordinates (nearest the screen) are drawn last. Although imperfect, this often gives a reasonably attractive display. Other simple tricks which do not include hidden surface algorithms are:
coloring each end of a bond with the same color as the atom to which it is attached (Fig. 7).
drawing less than the whole length of the bond (e.g. 10–90%) to simulate the bond sticking out of a circle.
adding a small offset white circle within the circle for an atom to simulate reflection.
Typical pseudocode for creating Fig. 7 (to fit the molecule exactly to the screen):
// Assume:
// Atoms with x, y, z coordinates (Angstrom) and elementSymbol
// bonds with pointers/references to atoms at ends
// table of colors for elementTypes
// find limits of molecule in molecule coordinates as xMin, yMin, xMax, yMax
scale = min(xScreenMax / (xMax − xMin), yScreenMax / (yMax − yMin))
xOffset = −xMin × scale
yOffset = −yMin × scale
for each bond in bonds do
atom0 = bond.getAtom(0)
atom1 = bond.getAtom(1)
x0 = xOffset + atom0.getX() × scale
y0 = yOffset + atom0.getY() × scale // (1)
x1 = xOffset + atom1.getX() × scale
y1 = yOffset + atom1.getY() × scale // (2)
x1 = atom1.getX()
y1 = atom1.getY()
xMid = (x0 + x1) / 2
yMid = (y0 + y1) / 2
color0 = ColorTable.getColor(atom0.getSymbol())
drawLine(color0, x0, y0, xMid, yMid)
color1 = ColorTable.getColor(atom1.getSymbol())
drawLine(color1, x1, y1, xMid, yMid)
Note that this assumes the origin is in the bottom left corner of the screen, with up the screen. Many graphics systems have the origin at the top left, with down the screen. In this case the lines (1) and (2) should have the y coordinate generation as:
y0 = yScreenMax -(yOffset + atom0.getY() * scale) // (1)
y1 = yScreenMax -(yOffset + atom1.getY() * scale) // (2)
Changes of this sort change the handedness of the axes so it is easy to reverse the chirality of the displayed molecule unless care is taken.
Advanced
For greater realism and better comprehension of the 3D structure of a molecule many computer graphics algorithms can be used. For many years molecular graphics has stressed the capabilities of graphics hardware and has required hardware-specific approaches. With the increasing power of machines on the desktop, portability is more important and programs such as Jmol have advanced algorithms that do not rely on hardware. On the other hand, recent graphics hardware is able to interactively render very complex molecule shapes with a quality that would not be possible with standard software techniques.
Chronology
Electronic Richards Box Systems
Before computer graphics could be employed, around 1976-1977 (references and explanation a few paragraphs below), mechanical methods were used to fit large molecules to their electron density maps. Using techniques of X-ray crystallography crystal of a substance were bombarded with X-rays, and the diffracted beams that came off were assembled by computer using a Fourier transform into a usually blurry 3-D image of the molecule, made visible by drawing contour circles around high electron density to produce a contoured electron density map.
In the earliest days, contoured electron density maps were hand drawn on large plastic sheets. Sometimes, bingo chips were placed on the plastic sheets where atoms were interpreted to be.
This was superseded by the Richards Box in which an adjustable brass Kendrew molecular model was placed front of a 2-way mirror, behind which were plastic sheets of the electron density map. This optically superimposed the molecular model and the electron density map. The model was moved to within the contour lines of the superimposed map. Then, atomic coordinates were recorded using a plumb bob and a meter stick.
Computer graphics held out the hope of vastly speeding up this process, as well as giving a clearer view, because the small region of interest could be viewed without obscuring clutter from the rest of the contoured molecule, could be contoured by orthogonal rings of electron density instead of rings in just one plane giving more of a uniform cloud view, and the region of interest could under joystick control be inspected from any direction, not just the viewing direction through the glass pane of the Richard's Box.
A noteworthy attempt to overcome the low speed of graphics displays of the early 1970s took place at Washington University in St. Louis, USA. Dave Barry's group attempted to leapfrog the state of the art in graphics displays by making custom display hardware to display images complex enough for large-molecule crystallographic structure solution, fitting molecules to their electron-density maps. The MMS-4 (table above) display modules were slow and expensive, so a second generation of modules was produced for the MMS-X (table above) system.
The first large molecule whose atomic structure was partly determined on a molecular computer graphics system was Transfer RNA by Sung-Hou Kim's team in 1976. after initial fitting on a mechanical Richards Box. The first large molecule whose atomic structure was entirely determined on a molecular computer graphics system is said to be neurotoxin A from venom of the Philippines sea snake, by Tsernoglou, Petsko, and Tu, with a statement of being first in 1977. The Richardson group published partial atomic structure results of the protein superoxide dismutase the same year, in 1977. All of these were done using the GRIP-75 system (table above).
Other structure fitting systems, FRODO, RING, Builder, MMS-X, etc. (table above) succeeded in solving large protein structres too in the years 1977-1980.
The reason that most of these systems succeeded in just those years, 1976-1980 not earlier or later, and within a short timespan had to do with the arrival of commercial hardware that was powerful enough. Two things were needed and arrived at about the same time. First, electron density maps are large and require either a computer with at least a 24-bit address space or a combination of a computer with a lesser 16-bit address space plus several years to overcome the difficulties of an address space that is smaller than the data. The second arrival was that of interactive computer graphics displays that were fast enough to display electron-density maps, whose contour circles require the display of numerous short vectors. The first such displays were the Vector General Series 3 and the Evans and Sutherland Picture System 2, MultiPicture System, and PS-300.
Later, fitting of the molecular structure to the electron density map was largely automated by algorithms with computer graphics a guide to the process. Examples are the XtalView and XFit programs.
See also
List of molecular graphics systems
Molecular design software
Molecular model
Molecular modelling
Molecular geometry
Molecule editor
Software for molecular mechanics modeling
References
External links
Luminary Series Interview with Robert Langridge Interview by Russ Altman and historical slides.
History of Visualization of Biological Macromolecules by Eric Martz and Eric Francoeur.
Graphics
Visualization (graphic)
Computer graphics |
6317096 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20Machine%20%28macOS%29 | Time Machine (macOS) | Time Machine is the backup mechanism of macOS, the desktop operating system developed by Apple. The software is designed to work with both local storage devices and network-attached disks, and is most commonly used with external disk drives connected using either USB or Thunderbolt. It was first introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, which appeared in October 2007 and incrementally refined in subsequent releases of macOS. Time Machine was revamped in macOS 11 Big Sur to support APFS, thereby enabling "faster, more compact, and more reliable backups" than were possible previously.
Overview
Time Machine creates incremental backups of files that can be restored at a later date. It allows the user to restore the whole system or specific files. It also works within a number of applications such as Mail and iWork, making it possible to restore individual objects (e.g. emails, contacts, text documents, presentations) without leaving the application. According to an Apple support statement:
“Time Machine is a backup utility, not an archival utility, it is not intended as offline storage. Time Machine captures the most recent state of your data on your disk. As snapshots age, they are prioritized progressively lower compared to your more recent ones.”
For backups to a network drive, Time Machine allows the user to back up Mac computers over the network, and supports backing up to certain network attached storage devices or servers, depending on the version of Time Machine. Earlier versions worked with a wide variety of NAS servers, but later versions require the server to support a recent version of Apple's Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) or a recent version of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, and Time Machine no longer works with servers using earlier versions of SMB. Some of the legacy support can be re-enabled by using hand-tuned configuration options, accessed through the Terminal. Apple's Time Capsule, which was introduced in 2008 and discontinued in 2018, acted as a network storage device specifically for Time Machine backups, allowing both wired and wireless backups to the Time Capsule's internal hard drive. Time Machine may also be used with other external or internal volumes.
Time Machine saves hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month until the volume runs out of space. At that point, Time Machine deletes the oldest weekly backup.
Revamp in macOS Big Sur
Time Machine was overhauled in macOS 11 Big Sur to utilize APFS, Apple's modern file system first introduced in 2016. Specifically, the new version of Time Machine makes use of APFS's snapshot technology. According to Apple, this enables "faster, more compact, and more reliable backups" than were possible previously with HFS+-formatted drives. An independent evaluation of this claim found that macOS 11's Time Machine implementation in conjunction with APFS was 2.75-fold faster upon initial local backup and 4-fold faster upon subsequent backups relative to macOS 10.15's Time Machine implementation using HFS+. A more modest yet nevertheless significant advantage was noted as well for backups to network-attached disks.
New local (i.e. USB- or Thunderbolt-connected) and network-connected Time Machine backup destinations are formatted as APFS by default, though Time Machine can continue backing up to existing HFS+ backup volumes." There is no option to convert existing, HFS+-based backups to APFS; instead, users who want to benefit from the advantages of the new, APFS-based implementation of Time Machine need to start with a fresh volume.
At least in some circumstances, encryption appears to be required (instead of merely optional) in the new version of Time Machine.
User interface
Time Machine's user interface when retrieving a file uses Apple's Core Animation API. Upon its launch, Time Machine "floats" the active Finder or application window from the user's desktop to a backdrop depicting the user's blurred desktop wallpaper. Behind the current active window are stacked windows, with each window representing a snapshot of how that folder or application looked on the given date and time in the past. When toggling through the previous snapshots, the stacked windows extend backwards, giving the impression of flying through a "time tunnel." While paging through these "windows from the past", a previous version of the data (or currently deleted data) may be retrieved.
Storage
Time Machine works with locally connected storage disks, which must be formatted in the APFS or HFS+ volume formats. Support for backing up to APFS volumes was added with macOS 11 Big Sur and since then APFS is the default volume format.
Time Machine also works with remote storage media shared from other systems, including Time Capsule, via the network. When using remote storage, Time Machine uses sparse bundles. This acts as an isolation layer, which makes the storage neutral to the actual file system used by the network server, and also permits the replication of the backup from one storage medium to another. Sparse bundles are mounted by macOS like any other device, presenting their content as a HFS+ formatted volume, functionally similar to a local storage.
Requirements
Time Machine places strict requirements on the backup storage medium. The only officially supported configurations are:
A storage drive or partition connected directly to the computer, either internally or by a bus like USB or Thunderbolt and formatted as APFS or journaled HFS+. If the volume format is not correct, Time Machine will prompt the user to reformat it.
A folder on another Mac on the same network.
A drive shared by an Apple Time Capsule on the same network.
A drive connected to an Apple AirPort Extreme 802.11ac model on the same network. (Earlier generations of the AirPort Extreme are not supported.)
Local network volumes connected using the Apple Filing Protocol or via an SMB3 share that advertises a number of capabilities.
On a Time Capsule, the backup data is stored in an HFS+ disk image and accessed via Apple Filing Protocol. Although it is not officially supported, users and manufacturers have also configured FreeBSD and Linux servers and network-attached storage systems to serve Time Machine-enabled Macs. There are also a few software tools available on the market that can copy files inside Time Machine backups in Windows machines.
Operation
Time Machine creates a folder on the designated Time Machine volume (local or inside a remote sparse image) into which it copies the directory tree of all locally attached storage drives, except for files and directories that the user has specified to omit, including the Time Machine volume itself. Every hour thereafter, it creates a new subordinate folder and copies only files that have changed since the last backup and creates (in the case of HFS+ volumes) hard links to files that already exist on the backup drive. A user can browse the directory hierarchy of these copies as if browsing the primary disk.
Some other backup utilities save deltas for file changes, much like version control systems. Such an approach permits more frequent backups of minor changes, but can often complicate the interaction with the backup volume. By contrast, it is possible to manually browse a Time Machine backup volume without using the Time Machine interface; Time Machine presents each backup to the user as a complete disk copy.
Time Machine on HFS+ volumes creates multiple hard links to unmodified directories. Multiple linking of directories is a peculiar feature for HFS+, and is not supported on modern Unix file systems including Apple's own APFS. As a result, tools like rsync cannot be used to replicate a Time Machine volume; replication can only reliably be done by imaging the entire filesystem.
Apple system events record when each directory is modified on the hard drive. This means that instead of examining every file's modification date when it is activated, Time Machine only needs to scan the directories that changed for files to copy. This differs from the approach taken by similar backup utilities rsync and FlyBack, which examine modification dates of all files during backup.
Time Machine is also available in the macOS installation process. One of the features in the Migration Assistant interface is to restore the contents of a Time Machine backup. In other words, a hard drive can be restored from a Time Machine backup in the event of a catastrophic crash.
OS X Mountain Lion introduced the ability to use multiple volumes simultaneously for Time Machine operations. When the user specifies more than one volume to use, macOS rotates among the desired volumes each time it does a backup.
Exclusion
Time Machine supports two forms of exclusion: one based on a user-configured list of paths (plus a set of system defaults), the other based on the extended file attribute . Since the attribute is applied to the file or directory directly, moving or copying will not affect the exclusion. The attribute should contain the string in any property list format. Writing instead sets the exclusion for iOS backups.
Google Chrome is known to use the attribute to exclude its histories. Third-party backup applications that respect this setting include CrashPlan and Arq. Apple wraps the attribute into the command-line utility as well as a CoreServices API.
See also
MobileMe Backup
List of backup software
Version control
AirPort Time Capsule
Backup options built into Microsoft Windows: System Restore, File History
References
External links
Apple Support: Back up your Mac with Time Machine
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard review on Ars Technica
brief history of Time Machine and its evolution to using APFS, by Howard Oakley
2007 software
MacOS-only software made by Apple Inc.
Time Machine
Backup software for macOS |
31341035 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNMsoft | PNMsoft | PNMsoft is a global software company which provides BPM (Business Process Management) software. Its product, Sequence, is a BPM software suite which enables building workflow applications with the purpose of improving business operations.
History
PNMsoft was founded in 1996 by CEO Gal Horvitz, an Israeli entrepreneur and Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) graduate. Soon after two more Technion graduates, Adi Hofstein and Sagiv Ben Shaul, joined as co-founders. In 2007, after a US$3.3 million investment from Goldrock Capital, the company opened headquarters in London UK, and expanded its global operations. As of 2016, the company has offices in the US, UK, Israel and Portugal. In August 2016, PNMsoft was acquired by Genpact, and continues to focus on BPM.
Product
PNMsoft focuses on BPM software, primarily targeting midsize to large organizations and Microsoft customers.
Sequence is PNMsoft's BPMS (Business Process Management Software). Its development environment provides an environment for designing forms, tasks, messages, system integration, and flow connections. Sequence processes are, by default, operated from within a Microsoft SharePoint site. Sequence supports integration with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to enable managers to analyse performance and determine trends relating to KPIs and SLAs. In addition to integrating with Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and Dynamics products, it can be integrated with external systems through protocols such as web services, WCF. It also enables connection to enterprise applications such as SAP and Oracle. The product's architecture enables IT personnel to make changes to processes without taking them offline.
The end-user facing product is named Flowtime and runs on most modern JavaScript-enabled web browsers. The Administration client, also web-based, is named Sequence.
Recognition
Gartner 2015 iBPMS Magic Quadrant
References
Workflow applications
Information technology management
Software companies established in 1996
Software companies of Israel
af:Besigheidsprosesbestuur
cs:Procesní řízení
el:Διοίκηση επιχειρησιακών διεργασιών
es:Gestión de procesos de negocio
hi:व्यवसाय प्रक्रिया प्रबंधन
id:Business process management
it:Business Process Management
he:Business Process Management
kn:ವ್ಯವಹಾರ ಪ್ರಕ್ರಿಯೆ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ
nl:Procesmanagement
ja:ビジネスプロセス管理
pl:Business Process Management
pt:Gerenciamento de processos de negócio
ta:பணிச் செயலாக்க மேலாண்மை
zh:业务流程管理 |
37081864 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan%20%28Red%20Dwarf%29 | Trojan (Red Dwarf) | "Trojan" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf series X. Originally broadcast on the British television channel Dave on 4 October 2012, it marked the return of Red Dwarf to a regular series run, 13 years after the conclusion of series 8. The episode touches upon Rimmer's relationship with his brothers and his urge to become an officer, following the discovery of a hologram of his brother Howard.
Plot
Lister (Craig Charles) and the Cat (Danny John-Jules) are tricked into attempting to buy a useless drinks stirring device from an automated telemarketing system, "All-Droid". Meanwhile, Rimmer (Chris Barrie) has once again failed to pass his astro-navigation test, and has not become an officer like his three brothers. At that moment, the crew discover a derelict "Quantum Twister" ship, SS Trojan, which is driven by a "quantum rod". While messing with the rod, Rimmer inadvertently summons a ship which carries a hologram of his brother Howard (Mark Dexter). Despite Howard's ship being in dire trouble, Rimmer opts to try to pass another exam to become an officer, and match his brother, before rescuing him.
Rimmer's attempts to revise for a further exam go badly, and after the other three crew members best him in a question about moose-related car accidents in the 1970s Sweden, Rimmer's light bee crashes due to a buildup of "resentment". Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) manages to restart it by "purging" his resentment, but since he is out of time to sit an exam, he decides to lie to his brother instead.
Rimmer and the other members of the crew dress up in Space Corps uniforms and welcome Howard aboard Trojan, with Rimmer posing as the ship's captain. Howard is accompanied by a simulant, Crawford (Susan Earl), and is dumbfounded that his brother appears to be a successful officer. After a tour of the ship, Howard becomes increasingly jealous of Rimmer and crashes due to a buildup of resentment, as Rimmer had earlier. After Howard's resentment is purged, Crawford reveals herself to be a simulant rebel, and intends to shoot everyone on board to free herself from human servitude. At this moment Lister finally manages to get through to a sales representative for All-Droid after days of being put on hold. Frustrated, Lister reaches for the phone, prompting Crawford to shoot; the shot misses Lister and instead heads for Rimmer. Howard places himself between Rimmer and Crawford, mortally wounding himself. Crawford is defeated by Kryten and the Cat, who upload Howard's resentment into her, causing her to crash. Howard, dying of his injuries, reconciles with Rimmer and admits that he wasn't an officer as was thought; like Rimmer, he was merely a vending machine repairman. Rimmer does not reciprocate the gesture, and merely reduces the size of his lie slightly (claiming that he had one fewer car than he had bragged, but was still wildly successful).
Later on, on board Red Dwarf, Lister has re-purposed Crawford's body as a drink stirring machine, and Rimmer is smugly satisfied that his brother died a low-ranking repairman after years of picking on his younger brother. But the computer system is updated with news of Howard's death, and due to his bravery, Howard is posthumously awarded the Platinum Star of Fortitude, with the recommendation that Red Dwarf be renamed S.S. Howard Rimmer. Rimmer suffers another resentment-fueled crash.
Production
This original title for this episode was "Slow Rescue" but it was changed when it was realised that it was not a dynamic title for a new series.
The episode was dedicated to the memory of Jo Howard (Production Manager for Series VII; Line Producer for Series VIII; and Producer for Back to Earth).
Cultural references
The high level of moose collisions in Sweden is well-documented. An increase in both moose and car numbers in the 1970s brought a substantial increase in moose-related accidents, peaking in 1980 when about 6000 moose vehicle collisions occurred.
Howard's claim that Rimmer's brain is "smaller than the salad section in a Scottish supermarket" refers to the notorious Scottish diet which is widely seen as one of the worst in the world.
In the final moments of the episode, after reading that Red Dwarf is to be renamed, Lister says he'll 'go and get me paintbrush'. This is a reference to the opening credits of Series 1 and 2, where Lister is seen using a paintbrush to paint the 'Red Dwarf' name on the side of the ship.
Ratings
The episode was watched by 1.976 million viewers. When added to the repeat airings over the following two days, then the number of viewers rose to nearly 3.3 million people.
Critical reception
The episode received generally positive reviews, Michael Hogan writing for The Telegraph said it was "no classic but largely a return to form", giving the episode 3.5 stars out of 5. SFX magazine gave it 4 stars out of 5 saying "Trojan was clever enough to be bloody good, but with room for improvement. And you know what? There’s every reason to believe that this series can get better." "What Culture" gave it 5 stars out of 5 saying "If this episode is any indication of what we can look forward to for the rest of the series, I am a very happy person indeed. Red Dwarf is back, and I couldn’t be happier!" Starburst magazine gave it 8 stars out of 10, and said that "writer/director Doug Naylor has rekindled the winning formula and produced an extremely promising opening episode." Radio Times called it "a lively re-creation of the show as we most fondly remember it," whilst the Shropshire Star said "it is indeed good to see the boys back in town, occupying a galaxy with infinite possibilities and spreading joy on whichever planet they land."
References
External links
Red Dwarf Series X episode guide at Dave
Red Dwarf Series X episode guide at www.reddwarf.co.uk
Red Dwarf X episodes
2012 British television episodes |
10087 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European%20Currency%20Unit | European Currency Unit | The European Currency Unit (, ; , ECU, or XEU) was a unit of account used by the European Economic Community and composed of a basket of member country currencies. The ECU came in to operation on 13 March 1979, and was assigned the ISO 4217 code. The ECU replaced the European Unit of Account (EUA) at parity in 1979, and it was later replaced by the euro (EUR) at parity on 1 January 1999.
As a unit of account, the ECU was not a circulating currency, and did not replace or override the value of the currency of EEC member countries. However, it was used to price some international financial transactions and capital transfers.
Exchange rate
Using a mechanism known as the "snake in the tunnel", the European Exchange Rate Mechanism was an attempt to minimize fluctuations between member state currencies—initially by managing the variance of each against its respective ECU reference rate—with the aim to achieve fixed ratios over time, and so enable the European Single Currency (which became known as the euro) to replace national currencies.
Hard ECU proposal
In 1990 the British Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed the creation of a 'hard' ECU, which different national currencies could compete against and, if the ECU was successful, could lead to a single currency. The move was seen by France and Germany as a wrecking tactic, especially when the increasingly Euro-sceptic Thatcher announced her outright opposition to European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and the idea was abandoned.
Euro replaces the ECU
On 1 January 1999, the euro (with the code EUR and symbol €) replaced the ECU, at the value €1 = 1 ECU. Unlike the ECU, the euro is a real currency, although not all member states participate (for details on euro membership see Eurozone). Two of the countries in the ECU basket of currencies, UK and Denmark, did not join the eurozone, and a third, Greece, joined late. On the other hand, Finland and Austria joined the eurozone from the beginning although their currencies were not part of the ECU basket (since they had joined the EU in 1995, two years after the ECU composition was "frozen")
Legal implications
Due to the ECU being used in some international financial transactions, there was a concern that foreign courts might not recognize the euro as the legal successor to the ECU. This was unlikely to be a problem, since it is a generally accepted principle of private international law that states determine their currencies, and that therefore states would accept the European Union legislation to that effect. However, for abundant caution, several foreign jurisdictions adopted legislation to ensure a smooth transition. Of particular importance, the U.S. states of Illinois and New York adopted legislation to ensure a large proportion of international financial contracts recognized the euro as the successor of the ECU.
Symbol and name
The ECU's symbol, ₠, consists of an interlaced C and E—the initials of "European Community" in many languages of Europe. However, the symbol was not widely adopted. Few computer systems utilized by financial institutions and governments could render it, and commercial payment systems were obliged to use the ISO code, XEU, as with other currencies. The Unicode designation for the symbol () was not implemented on many personal computer operating systems until the release of Unicode v1.1 in May 1998, which also introduced the euro sign (). Microsoft did include the ECU symbol in many of its European versions of Windows beginning in the early-90s, however, accessing it required the use of an Alt code, and not all typefaces provided a glyph. By 2009, Microsoft referred to the ECU symbol as "historical". Support among other operating systems, including Macintosh operating systems, was inconsistent.
Although the acronym for ECU is formed from the English name of the unit, écu was a family of gold coins minted during the reign Louis IX of France. The name of ECU's successor, the euro, was chosen because the name did not favor any single language, nation, or historical period.
Coins and notes
As the ECU was only an electronic unit of account and not a full currency, it did not have any official coins or notes that could be used for everyday transactions. However, various European countries and organizations like the European Parliament made commemorative and mock-up coins and notes. A common theme on the coins was usually celebrating European unity, such as celebrating membership of the European Union.
Gibraltar issued commemorative coins from 1993 through 1996, though these were (nominally) legal tender only in Gibraltar, which uses the pound sterling.
Currency basket
See also
Asian Monetary Unit
Eco (currency)
Green pound
World currency unit
References
External links
Economic and Monetary Union at the European Central Bank
Currencies of Europe
Eurozone
Currency symbols |
47934870 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransley%20Thacker | Ransley Thacker | Ransley Samuel Thacker (1891 – 3 January 1966) was a British lawyer and judge. Employed in the colonial service, he served as Chief Justice of St Vincent (1931–1933), Attorney General of Fiji (1933-1938), and as a judge in British Kenya. He is best known for the jailing of Jomo Kenyatta.
Legal and political career
In the early 1930s, Thacker served as Chief Justice of St Vincent, and was serving in that role as of 7 July 1933.
Thacker took up the post of Attorney General of Fiji at the end of 1933, passing through Sydney en route to Suva on 21 December.
Thacker served as judge on the Supreme Court of British Kenya from 1938 to 1950. He retired to Nairobi on a £474 pension, which he supplemented by practicing law. He was called out of retirement on 17 November 1952, however, as a First Class Magistrate to preside over the trial of the Kapenguria Six — Jomo Kenyatta and five others accused of organizing the Mau Mau movement. On 8 April 1953, Thacker sentenced them to seven years' hard labour. In his summing up, Thacker declared:
He added:
Kenyatta remained imprisoned until 14 April 1959, and his civil rights were not fully restored until August 1961.
Personal life
Thacker was the son of Henry Thacker and Eliza Jackson.
In 1915, Thacker married Olive Frances Braithwaite in London. They had three children, Daphne Elinor (born 1917), Derek (born c.1919) and Derwent Allan (born 1921).
References
1891 births
1966 deaths
Attorneys General of the Colony of Fiji
Attorneys General of Fiji
Members of the Legislative Council of Fiji
Chief Justices of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
British Kenya judges
British Windward Islands judges
People from Nottingham
British expatriates in Fiji
English Queen's Counsel
20th-century English lawyers |
53076 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%20%28operating%20system%29 | Darwin (operating system) | Darwin is an open-source Unix-like operating system first released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, Mach, and other free software projects' code, as well as code developed by Apple.
Darwin forms the Unix-based core set of components upon which macOS (previously OS X and Mac OS X), iOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS and bridgeOS are based. It is mostly POSIX-compatible, but has never, by itself, been certified as compatible with any version of POSIX. Starting with Leopard, macOS has been certified as compatible with the Single UNIX Specification version 3 (SUSv3).
History
The heritage of Darwin began with Unix derivatives supplemented by aspects of NeXT's NeXTSTEP operating system (later, since version 4.0, known as OPENSTEP), first released in 1989. After Apple bought NeXT in 1997, it announced it would base its next operating system on OPENSTEP. This was developed into Rhapsody in 1997, Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999, Mac OS X Public Beta in 2000, and Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001.
In 1999, Apple announced it would release the Mach 2.5 microkernel, BSD Unix 4.4 OS, and the Apache Web server components of Mac OS X Server. At the time, interim CEO Steve Jobs alluded to British naturalist Charles Darwin by announcing "because it's about evolution". In 2000, the core operating system components of Mac OS X were released as open-source software under the Apple Public Source License (APSL) as Darwin; the higher-level components, such as the Cocoa and Carbon frameworks, remained closed-source.
Up to Darwin 8.0.1, Apple released a binary installer (as an ISO image) after each major Mac OS X release that allowed one to install Darwin on PowerPC and Intel x86 systems as a standalone operating system. Minor updates were released as packages that were installed separately. Darwin is now only available as source code.
Design
Kernel
The kernel of Darwin is XNU, a hybrid kernel which uses OSFMK 7.3 (Open Software Foundation Mach Kernel) from the OSF, various elements of FreeBSD (including the process model, network stack, and virtual file system), and an object-oriented device driver API called I/O Kit. The hybrid kernel design provides the flexibility of a microkernel and the performance of a monolithic kernel.
Hardware and software support
Darwin currently includes support for the 64-bit x86-64 variant of the Intel x86 processors used in Intel-based Macs and the 64-bit ARM processors used in the iPhone 5S and later, the 6th generation iPod Touch, the 7th generation iPad and later, the iPad Air family, the iPad Mini 2 and later, the iPad Pro family, the fourth generation and later Apple TVs, the HomePod family, and Macs with Apple silicon such as the 2020 Apple M1 Macs, as well as the Raspberry Pi 3B. An open-source port of the XNU kernel exists that supports Darwin on Intel and AMD x86 platforms not officially supported by Apple, though it does not appear to have been updated since 2009. An open-source port of the XNU kernel also exists for ARM platforms. Older versions supported some or all of 32-bit PowerPC, 64-bit PowerPC, 32-bit x86, and 32-bit ARM.
It supports the POSIX API by way of its BSD lineage (largely FreeBSD userland) and a large number of programs written for various other UNIX-like systems can be compiled on Darwin with no changes to the source code.
Darwin does not include many of the defining elements of macOS, such as the Carbon and Cocoa APIs or the Quartz Compositor and Aqua user interface, and thus cannot run Mac applications. It does, however, support a number of lesser-known features of macOS, such as mDNSResponder, which is the multicast DNS responder and a core component of the Bonjour networking technology, and launchd, an advanced service management framework.
License
In July 2003, Apple released Darwin under version 2.0 of the Apple Public Source License (APSL), which the Free Software Foundation (FSF) classifies as a free software license incompatible with the GNU General Public License. Previous versions were released under an earlier version of the APSL license, which did not meet the FSF definition of free software, although it did meet the requirements of the Open Source Definition.
Release history
The following is a table of major Darwin releases with their dates of release and their corresponding macOS releases. Note that the corresponding macOS release may have been released on a different date; refer to the macOS pages for those dates.
The jump in version numbers from Darwin 1.4.1 to 5.1 with the release of Mac OS X v10.1.1 was designed to tie Darwin to the Mac OS X version and build numbering system, which in turn is inherited from NeXTSTEP. In the build numbering system of macOS, every version has a unique beginning build number, which identifies what whole version of macOS it is part of. Mac OS X v10.0 had build numbers starting with 4, 10.1 had build numbers starting with 5, and so forth (earlier build numbers represented developer releases).
The command in Terminal will show the Darwin version number ("20.3.0"), and the command will show the XNU build version string, which includes the Darwin version number.
The command will show the corresponding ProductName ("macOS"), the ProductVersion number ("11.2.3") and the BuildVersion string ("20D91").
Derived projects
Due to the free software nature of Darwin, there have been projects that aim to modify or enhance the operating system.
OpenDarwin
OpenDarwin was a community-led operating system based on the Darwin system. It was founded in April 2002 by Apple Inc. and Internet Systems Consortium. Its goal was to increase collaboration between Apple developers and the free software community. Apple benefited from the project because improvements to OpenDarwin would be incorporated into Darwin releases; and the free/open source community benefited from being given complete control over its own operating system, which could then be used in free software distributions such as GNU-Darwin.
On July 25, 2006, the OpenDarwin team announced that the project was shutting down, as they felt OpenDarwin had "become a mere hosting facility for Mac OS X related projects", and that the efforts to create a standalone Darwin operating system had failed. They also state: "Availability of sources, interaction with Apple representatives, difficulty building and tracking sources, and a lack of interest from the community have all contributed to this." The last stable release was version 7.2.1, released on July 16, 2004.
PureDarwin
PureDarwin is a project to create a bootable operating system image from Apple's released source code for Darwin. Since the cessation of OpenDarwin and the release of bootable images since Darwin 8.x, it has been increasingly difficult to create a full operating system as many components become closed source. In 2015 the project created a preview release based on Darwin 9 with an X11 GUI, followed by a command-line only 17.4 Beta based on Darwin 17.
Other derived projects
MacPorts (formerly DarwinPorts), Fink, and Homebrew are projects to port UNIX programs to the Darwin operating system and provide package management. In addition, several standard UNIX package managers—such as RPM, pkgsrc, and Portage—have Darwin ports. Some of these operate in their own namespace so as not to interfere with the base system.
GNU-Darwin is a project that ports packages of free software to Darwin. They package OS images in a way similar to a Linux distribution.
The Darwine project was a port of Wine that allows one to run Microsoft Windows software on Darwin.
SEDarwin is a port of TrustedBSD mandatory access control framework and portions of the SELinux framework to Darwin. It was incorporated into Mac OS X 10.5.
The Darbat project is an experimental port of Darwin to the L4 microkernel family. It aims to be binary compatible with existing Darwin binaries.
The Darling project is a compatibility layer for running macOS binaries on Linux systems. It uses some Darwin source code.
There are various projects that focus on driver support: e.g., wireless drivers, wired NIC drivers modem drivers, card readers, and the ext2 and ext3 file systems.
See also
A/UX
mkLinux
OSF/1
References
External links
Darwin Releases at Apple Developer Connection
source code of individual packages
Hexley, the Darwin mascot
PureDarwin.org
2000 software
Mascots introduced in 2000
Animal mascots
Apple Inc. operating systems
Berkeley Software Distribution
Fictional monotremes
Free software operating systems
Mach (kernel)
MacOS
Software version histories |
16259026 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleware | Acceleware | Acceleware Ltd. (abbreviated AXE) is a Canadian innovator of clean-tech oil and gas technologies comprising two business units: Radio Frequency (RF) Enhanced Oil Recovery and Seismic Imaging Software. The company is currently developing RF XL, its patented and patent-pending low-cost, low-carbon production technology for heavy oil and oil sands; while their state-of-the-art seismic imaging software solutions provide the most accurate and advanced imaging available for oil exploration in complex geologies.
Acceleware is part of a larger computing industry trend towards parallel processing via multi-core and massively-parallel GPU hardware and software architectures.
Acceleware solutions can be found in software servicing the following industries: electromagnetics, oil and gas, medical imaging, security imaging, industrial product design, consumer product design, financial research, and academic research.
History
Acceleware was founded in 2004, in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Extensive research on special-purpose hardware was conducted, and Acceleware developed competence-accelerating scientific computing software applications. Graphics processing units (GPUs) became the main hardware focus, as their parallel processing capabilities and extremely high memory bandwidth made them superior for accelerating scientific applications.
GPU Computing (using a graphics processing unit to compute mathematical algorithms), parallelizes complex tasks so that many equations may be calculated at one time, as opposed to CPU computing which requires that these tasks be done in sequence. This parallelization results in a reduction of the time and costs required for highly complex and intensive simulations.
In January 2008, Acceleware entered into the seismic market, providing hardware acceleration for seismic migrations, a logical progression as they are based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada one of the world's hubs for oil and gas activity.
In July 2008, market conditions and lack of available venture capital forced Acceleware to scale back its growth plans and reduce staff. Today, the company remains focused on the electromagnetics, seismic, and engineering simulation markets. It has also adopted a more software-oriented process now that GPU computing technology has become more accepted and generally available.
In October 2018, Acceleware entered into an agreement with AMD to provide them with Software Engineering Expertise and Consulting Services.
In November 2019, Accelerate secured an investment from a Calgary-based oil sands producer for the RF XL pilot test of its radio frequency heating system.
Milestones
2013
Acceleware Reaches Milestone with 100th HPC Programming Course
2012
Acceleware releases high-performance TTI AxRTM. A 2.5x improvement in speed over previous TTI AxRTM
Acceleware introduces C++ AMP training courses in partnership with Microsoft
Acceleware surpasses 90 training classes held, to over 1000 students
2010
Appointment of Geoff Clark as CEO
Acceleware partners with Crosslight
Acceleware partners with Paradigm
2009
Acceleware offers professional code-porting and training services.
2008
July–Acceleware undergoes a management restructuring and a major downsizing due to poor market conditions
March–Acceleware enters the image reconstruction market.
January–Acceleware enters the seismic migration market.
2007
January–Nvidia invests $3 million in Accelware.
2006
January–Acceleware goes public on the TSX Venture Exchange (Symbol: AXE)
2005
Accelerator V1.0 is launched at IEEE MTT-S IMS for the electromagnetic simulation market
Acceleware Products
Acceleware products are software libraries created to utilize the parallel processing capabilities of Nvidia GPUs to allow consumers to process difficult simulations, migrations, and other engineering tasks. They are offered as an SDK/API to software integrators or as a plug-in option to end users.
References
Companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange
Companies based in Calgary
GPGPU |
5529573 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo%20DS%20%26%20DSi%20Browser | Nintendo DS & DSi Browser | The Nintendo DS Browser is a port of the Opera 8.5 web browser for use on the Nintendo DS, developed by Opera Software and Nintendo. Two versions were sold, one for the original Nintendo DS and one for the Nintendo DS Lite, each with a different Slot-2 memory expansion pack to fit the respective system.
The Nintendo DSi Browser was a port of the Opera 9.5 web browser released as a day one update for the Nintendo DSi, and preinstalled on the Nintendo DSi XL. It offers better performance than the previous browser, which is incompatible with the DSi family. As of March 31, 2017, the browser remains available for download on all Nintendo DSi XL systems, and on any Nintendo DSi system that had the browser preinstalled or downloaded prior to that date.
Launch
On February 15, 2006, the Opera Software company announced plans to develop a web browser for the Nintendo DS.
In Australia and the United States, only the DS Lite version was released in stores; the DS Original version was only available as an online order from Nintendo.
Features
Nintendo DS Browser makes use of the Nintendo DS's touchscreen for input, with an on-screen keyboard as well as handwriting recognition and a stock of pre-set text (for example, the .com and .org top-level domains).
The browser can render pages in two modes, Small Screen Rendering (SSR) or Overview. In Small Screen Rendering mode, the contents of the page are displayed in a single column fitting the width of the screen - for example, a page featuring two columns of text side-by-side would be displayed as a single column, one after the other. In Overview mode, a scaled-down version of the page is displayed on the touchscreen with a small selection box which can be moved around using the stylus. The contents of the selection box are displayed on the top screen at their full size. This selection can be brought into the touchscreen to perform such actions as click on links or entering text in boxes.
The browser connects to the network through IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access points or hotspots using the built-in wireless capability of the Nintendo DS. While WEP encryption is supported, WPA encryption is not.
Nintendo has partnered with Internet security company Astaro to integrate web filtering technology into the Nintendo DS Browser. Called Astaro Parental Control, the technology acts as a proxy filter, providing the option of blocking inappropriate content. This is provided free of charge and can be activated through a simple menu option.
The Nintendo DS browser supports JavaScript and SSL in web pages, but does not support plugins like Adobe Flash, or bold text. Due to limited system resources, most other dynamic media, such as videos or sound, will not work in the browser.
Search
Both browsers include a web search feature. The Nintendo DS Browser defaults to Yahoo! (currently powered by Bing) outside of Japan, or Yahoo! Japan (currently powered by Google) in Japan, but can be configured to any supported search engine by editing the URL in the browser settings. The Nintendo DSi Browser limits search engine options to Google or Yahoo! Yahoo! Japan is no longer supported, as the browsers' security certificates have expired.
Standards compliance
The Nintendo DSi Browser passes the Acid1 test. It nearly passes the Acid2 test, except for fixed element positioning, resulting in two stray squares. It receives a 59% on the Acid3 test in Overview Mode and a 53% in Column Mode, although the page does not display properly in the latter. The Acid3 score was updated to 61% in April 2014. In comparison, the Internet Browser used by newer Nintendo systems is powered by NetFront NX and uses the WebKit browser engine. The newer browser also passes the Acid1 test, and while it fails Acid2, it scores better on Acid3: 92% on the original Nintendo 3DS, and 100% on the Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS.
The browser has partial Unicode support, including nearly complete support of Western and CKJ sets, and several universal symbols. The browser font is used for all text and supports the text shadow style, but not bold or italic. Emoji is not natively supported, but can be displayed by using an emoji library, such as Twemoji.
Memory Expansion Pak
The Memory Expansion Pak, much like the Rumble Pak, is a DS Option Pak accessory for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite. It is inserted into Slot-2, and it adds 8 MB of RAM to the system, as well as a memory management unit, for a total of 12 MB. The accessory is available in two versions: one for the original Nintendo DS, and one that exclusively works with the DS Lite. (The original version is also compatible with the DS Lite, although the cartridge protrudes from the console.) Retailers carried both versions in Japan and Europe, but other regions only sold the DS Lite version at retail, while Nintendo made the original version available by mail order.
The Nintendo DS Browser is the only licensed software for the console that used this accessory, although the browser's instruction manual suggested that other games and software could use the memory, whether mandatory or optional. Thus, the accessory behaves similarly to the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak. Unofficial homebrew software, such as DSLinux and Moonshell, can utilize the accessory.
Third-party versions of the Memory Expansion Pak also exist: the EZ-V 3-in-1 offers 16 MB of RAM, while other manufacturers (Supercard, M3 and G6) offer 32 MB of RAM. The Nintendo DS Browser refuses to boot with these devices. On November 16, 2006, the ROM hacking community released a patch to enable third-party memory accessories with the browser, which must be installed as a ROM image on a homebrew device. It is unclear if the browser uses all of the additional RAM, or if it is limited to just 8 MB.
The Nintendo DSi is incompatible with the browser and any Memory Expansion Pak, but it is a more powerful system, with faster processors and 16 MB of RAM. It offered a free web browser, which outperformed the Nintendo DS Browser.
Nintendo DSi Browser
An Opera browser was released as a free downloadable application for the Nintendo DSi. It was available since the DSi launched and is preloaded on newer Nintendo DSis and all Nintendo DSi XLs. This version uses the Opera Presto 2.1 engine, which is more advanced and standards-compliant.
The Web browser had support for the HTML5 canvas object. To display images in a canvas, they must be cached in memory. Additionally, only the portion of the image in cartesian sector 2 may display at times, leading to unpredictable results. Although the Web browser supported CSS opacity, its usage considerably slows the browser, especially when used with event-driven functionality like mouseOver and mouseMove.
Critical reception
Reviews for the Nintendo DS Browser were generally mixed. Many reviewers noted shortcomings such as extended loading times and lack of Flash support for audio and videos.
Despite criticism to the web browser itself, the reason of the slowness and the lack of features is the Nintendo system's limited hardware as the IGN review suggests.
In August 2007, the Nintendo DS Browser was discontinued in North America.
See also
Nintendo 3DS Internet Browser
Wii U Internet Browser
Wii Internet Channel
Notes
References
External links
ニンテンドーＤＳブラウザー DS Browser Japanese page
DS Browser support American page
DSi Browser American page
DSi Browser support American page
DS Browser European page
DSi Browser European page
DSi Browser support European page
Mobile web browsers
Browser
Browser
Opera Software |
54534178 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LM-X%20License%20Manager | LM-X License Manager | The LM-X License Manager is a license management tool that protects software products against piracy. It is used by Independent Software Vendors (ISV) to implement some of the Software Asset Management practices. related to monitoring of the usage of existing applications and adding new licenses wherever requested by end-. ISV can control their license policies externally from applications, and enforce various levels of security.
LM-X software license manager can be run on a number of platforms including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
Features
System Clock Check
Automatic Server Discovery
Manual and automatic heartbeats
License Borrowing and Grace Licensing
Pay Per Use
License Replacement
Web-based License Management
See also
Copy protection
Digital rights management
Floating licensing
License borrowing
List of license managers
Product activation
References
[1] https://www.itassetmanagement.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ITAM_A4WHITEPAPER_SOFTWAREASSETMANAGEMENT_UNLOCKED.pdf
External links
Official web page
Security software |
2935786 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openwave | Openwave | Openwave (formerly software.com, phone.com, and Libris, Inc) is a division of Enea. It provides video traffic management and 5G mobile products.
Two of Openwave's former products launched as private companies; Openwave Mobility and Openwave Messaging. Openwave introduced the Mobile Internet.
Openwave pioneered HDML, a precursor to WML. Openwave was a founding member of the WAP Forum.
History
The company started in 1996 as Libris, Inc. and focused on developing mobile client software for "pull" services while the general mobile market was rapidly growing "push" services based on SMS. In 1996, it changed its name to Unwired Planet, Inc. and launched its proprietary end-to-end mobile network solution for Internet access and web browsing, known as up.link (browser and network server/gateway).
In 1999, with the introduction of WAP standards, it acquired Apiion, Ltd. of Belfast (formerly Aldiscon Northern Ireland, Ltd.), changed its name to Phone.com and went public on the NASDAQ. In 2000, amidst huge growth in revenue and stock price, Phone.com acquired several high tech startup companies with niche products to integrate across its end-to-end solution. In 2001, it merged with Software.com and changed the company name again to Openwave Systems, Inc. With Software.com's large installed base of email servers at ISPs, Openwave expanded by providing its mobile operator customers with software infrastructure for mobile email applications and other multimedia messaging (MMS) applications.
The company's mobile browser (written by Bruce Schwartz) software shipped on over one billion handsets, at one point approx 49% of the global browser-capable device shipments, over 70 mobile operators.
In 2002 it acquired SignalSoft Corp., a developer of location-based services, who developed the first platforms to provide E911 services as per the first FCC (Federal Communications Commission) requirements.
In 2004 Openwave acquired Nombas Inc., the developer of Cmm (a scripting language with C-like syntax) which was later enhanced to support ECMAScript and renamed ScriptEase.
In January 2006, Openwave closed the $120 million acquisition of Musiwave, a French music application services provider for mobile phones founded by Gilles Babinet. In November 2007, the company sold Musiwave to Microsoft for $46 million. In the same year, Openwave was alleged of violating securities laws by issuing misleading financial statements.
In February 2008, Openwave launched a contextual advertising system for mobile phones.
In May 2008, the San Francisco Business Journal reported that NASDAQ had given Openwave a delisting warning for failing to properly report some financial results.
On June 30, 2008, Openwave issued a press release stating: "that Purple Labs has acquired the Openwave mobile phone software business, which develops and markets its browser and messaging client technologies.".
On October 18, 2010, Openwave announced: "that it licensed certain patents to Mobixell/724 Solutions Inc" as part of an intellectual property protection arrangement.
On May 1, 2012, Openwave announced: "the completion of the sale of its Mediation and Messaging product businesses to Marlin Equity Partners." Openwave changed its name back to Unwired Planet. They are now exclusively focused on licensing and enforcement of IP that they claim is “foundational to mobile communications.” In response to claims that the company has become a patent troll, Unwired Planet's general counsel Noah Mesel states: "We happen to be at the point in our business cycle where what’s left is a patent portfolio."
The former product businesses have also re-launched as two privately held companies, Openwave Mobility Inc. and Openwave Messaging Inc.
In 2013 Openwave Messaging acquired Critical Path.
On 2 March 2016, Openwave Messaging was acquired by Synchronoss Technologies and the company started trading under Synchronoss Messaging. As of April 2016, Openwave Mobility continued to operate as a Marlin Equity Company.
In February 2018, Enea purchased Openwave Mobility for $90 million.
Products
Major current products include:
Openwave Mobility
Integra (platform)
Media Optimizer
Mobile Analytics
Promotion Pricing & Innovation
Smart User Repository
Earlier products included:
Openwave: Email Kx, Mobile Access Gateway (MAG), Mobile Browser, Mobile Messaging client
Openwave Messaging:Email Mx, Network Message Store, Voice and Video Messaging, App Suite, Rich Mail, Edge GX
Unwired Planet: UP.Link Browser, UP.Link Server
See also
Internet messaging platform
References
Mobile web browsers
Companies based in Redwood City, California |
47827936 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console%20Inc. | Console Inc. | Console Enterprises (commonly known as Console) is an American technology company headquartered in Chico, California, that focuses on high-performance Android platform design. It is best known for its Console OS Kickstarter campaign, a project intended on developing a native Android distribution for the PC.
Console was originally titled Mobile Media Ventures, Inc. In mid-2015 the company announced its intention to do business as Console, Inc. going forward.
In January 2017, the company rebranded to Console Enterprises, resolving a branding dispute with another company also calling itself Console Inc. That other company renamed itself to Console Connect Inc., and Console Enterprises claims to continue to use Console Inc. as a brand for B2B consulting services.
The company was founded by Christopher Price. It is a privately held startup. The current number of employees in the company is unknown.
Products
Console OS
Console OS is the first commercial distribution of the Android operating system, designed for traditional PC hardware. It debuted on Kickstarter in June, 2014. The funding campaign was successful, raising $78,497 from 5,695 backers.
The distribution differs from open-source options such as Android-x86 by including commercial, closed-source drivers, codecs, and players. The Console OS platform, effectively, is the Intel Architecture equivalent to CyanogenMod.
Console OS runs as a native operating system. Unlike alternative solutions for the PC, such as BlueStacks, it does not run Android in an emulator. This provides superior performance, particularly on lower-end systems - but with the disadvantage that the end-user must install the operating system, and cannot easily uninstall the software from inside the original operating system.
According to an update on Console OS's Kickstarter page, Console OS is temporarily offline. Console cited the uncertain future regarding Intel support of Android source code in the open source community until Intel resumes phone development in a couple years. Console says they still plan to ship Marshmallow later this summer, and is focusing on hardware development to adjust to Intel's reduced processor support for Android.
While Intel has discontinued formal support for Android on PC hardware - which Console has repeatedly noted/claimed upstream support a "stated risk" in its risk disclosure section of the Kickstarter - the company has committed to offering backers a courtesy refund as part of their pivot to hardware, once their new products reach general availability.
Controversy, Fork from Android-x86.org
The initial 2014 releases of Console OS KitKat supported most target Kickstarter devices - but not key/major tablets such as the Dell Venue 8 Pro or ASUS's Transformer Book T100, as it committed to. Releases became stalled. In 2015, the company released a Lollipop preview release, but took it offline citing major issues.
Releases then stalled for most of a year. Later Console announced that Intel had discontinued Android-IA for PC hardware. Console claims this decision was made in January 2015. Console claims at this point it was unable to refund Kickstarter backers, citing that Kickstarter will not reverse payment transactions after 90 days.
Despite this, Console said it had a plan to continue development. Later, Console announced that it new releases would fork the Android-x86.org kernel, to continue development.
In December 2015, the creator/administrator of Android-x86.org, Chih-Wei Huang, published an article claiming Console OS "stole" Android-x86.org, and called founder Christopher Price a "cancer" on Android-x86, arguing that a fork could deprive Android.x86.org of community attention.
Console, Inc. responded with evidence claiming that Chih-Wei Huang demanded a payment of $50,000 to collaborate on changes and contributions. Additionally, Console called Chih-Wei Huang's effort a "shakedown" - and responded that his letter was "... unfortunate and it’s a disgrace to open-source."
Chih-Wei Huang later confirmed and admitted that he explicitly demanded the money. Later he claimed that the refusal to donate, and his criticism of Console OS shortly thereafter, were not directly linked.
A technical analysis by the site XDA-Developers's own staff reporters showed that Console was under no obligation to pay funds sought or demanded by Chih-Wei Huang. Its analysis further affirmed that Console OS did not steal Android-x86 and forked it properly, with attribution on its GitHub site.
However, the same analysis by XDA was critical of Console for delayed development, missing certain features, and past failures. It also was critical of Intel for a lack of any public explanation for why Android-IA for PC hardware was discontinued, shortly after Console OS began releasing code based on it.
The controversy received considerable attention on several Android news and open-source community web sites.
Other Products
Console's first product was the iConsole Developer Kit (code-named "Unit 00"). The developer kit was sold from 2013 to 2014. Positioned to be a future-generation Android development system, it was built using PC hardware - but ran Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It was the first Android device to formally ship with an Intel Core processor, the most powerful Android device sold at its time.
Console announced iConsole micro at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. It was shown under glass at Intel's booth. The company stated they hope to ship it by the end of 2015, and that it intends to be the most powerful Android TV stick on the market.
In August 2016, Console announced that iConsole micro was not going to be launched. No orders or pre-orders were taken for the product. The company has cited Intel's pullbacks/downsizing in Android development as a reason for its discontinuation.
The company announced at the fall 2017 Intel Developer Forum their new product, ConsoleTab, which is based on Intel technology. ConsoleTab's auxiliary battery (a planned feature) was soon removed due to hardware problems in the manufacturing process. As of June 2017, the tablet has not been launched, as Console has cited Intel possibly withdrawing from Android on the processor ConsoleTab depends on.
References
External links
Console Enterprises homepage
Console OS Wiki
Console OS Kickstarter Campaign
Computer companies of the United States
Computer hardware companies
Electronics companies of the United States |
567527 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional%20designation%20in%20astronomy | Provisional designation in astronomy | Provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calculated. Approximately 47 % of the more than 1,100,000 known minor planets remain provisionally designated, as hundreds of thousands have been discovered in the last two decades.
Minor planets
The current system of provisional designation of minor planets (asteroids, centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects) has been in place since 1925. It superseded several previous conventions, each of which was in turn rendered obsolete by the increasing numbers of minor planet discoveries. A modern or new-style provisional designation consists of the year of discovery, followed by two letters and, possibly, a suffixed number.
New-style provisional designation
For example, the provisional designation stands for the 3910th body identified during 1–15 March 2016:
2016 – the first element indicates the year of discovery.
E – the first letter indicates the half-month of the object's discovery within that year and ranges from A (first half of January) to Y (second half of December), while the letters I and Z are not used (see table below). The first half is always the 1st through to the 15th of the month, regardless of the numbers of days in the second "half". Thus, E indicates the period from March 1 to 15.
K156 – the second letter and a numerical suffix indicate the order of discovery within that half-month. The first 25 discoveries of the half-month only receive a letter (A to Z) without a suffix, while the letter I is not used (to avoid potential confusions with the digit 1). Because modern techniques typically yield hundreds if not thousands of discoveries per half-month, the subscript number is appended to indicate the number of times that the letters from A to Z have cycled through. The suffix 156 indicates 156 completed cycles (156 cycles × 25 letters = 3900), while K is the 10th position in the current cycle. Thus, K156 stands for the 3910th minor planet discovered in a half-month.
The packed form of is written as .
This scheme is now also used retrospectively for pre-1925 discoveries. For these, the first digit of the year is replaced by an A. For example, A801 AA indicates the first object discovered in the first half of January 1801 (1 Ceres).
Further explanations
During the first half-month of January 2014, the first minor planet identification was assigned the provisional designation . Then the assignment continued to the end of the cycle at , which was in turn followed by the first identification of the second cycle, . The assignment in this second cycle continued with , , ... until , and then was continued with the first item in the third cycle. With the beginning of a new half-month on 16 January 2014, the first letter changed to "B", and the series started with .
An idiosyncrasy of this system is that the second letter is listed before the number, even though the second letter is considered "least-significant". This is in contrast to most of the world's numbering systems. This idiosyncrasy is not seen, however, in the so-called packed form (packed designation).
A packed designation has no spaces. It may also use letters to codify for the designation's year and subscript number. It is frequently used in online and electronic documents. For example, the provisional designation is written as K07Tf8A in the packed form, where "K07" stands for the year 2007, and "f8" for the subscript number 418.
90377 Sedna, a large trans-Neptunian object, had the provisional designation , meaning it was identified in the first half of November 2003 (as indicated by the letter "V"), and that it was the 302nd object identified during that time, as 12 cycles of 25 letters give 300, and the letter "B" is the second position in the current cycle.
Survey designations do not follow the rules for new-style provisional designations.
For technical reasons, such as ASCII limitations, the numerical suffix is not always subscripted, but sometimes "flattened out", so that can also be written as .
A very busy half month was the second half of January 2015 (letter "B"), which saw a total of 14,208 new minor planet identifications . One of the last assignments in this period was and corresponds to the 14,208th position in the sequence.
Survey designations
Minor planets discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey including three subsequent Trojan-campaigns, which altogether discovered more than 4,000 asteroids and Jupiter trojans between 1960 and 1977, have custom designations that consist of a number (order in the survey) followed by a space and one of the following identifiers:
P-L Palomar–Leiden survey (1960–1970)
T-1 Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey (1971)
T-2 Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey (1973)
T-3 Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey (1977)
For example, the asteroid 6344 P-L is the 6344th minor planet in the original Palomar–Leiden survey, while the asteroid 4835 T-1 was discovered during the first Trojan-campaign. The majority of these bodies have since been assigned a number and many are already named.
Historical designations
The first four minor planets were discovered in the early 19th century, after which there was a lengthy gap before the discovery of the fifth. Astronomers initially had no reason to believe that there would be countless thousands of minor planets, and strove to assign a symbol to each new discovery, in the tradition of the symbols used for the major planets. For example, 1 Ceres was assigned a stylized sickle (⚳), 2 Pallas a stylized lance or spear (⚴), 3 Juno a scepter (⚵), and 4 Vesta an altar with a sacred fire (). All had various graphic forms, some of considerable complexity.
It soon became apparent, though, that continuing to assign symbols was impractical and provided no assistance when the number of known minor planets was in the dozens. Johann Franz Encke introduced a new system in the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch (BAJ) for 1854, published in 1851, in which he used encircled numbers instead of symbols. Encke's system began the numbering with Astrea which was given the number (1) and went through (11) Eunomia, while Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta continued to be denoted by symbols, but in the following year's BAJ, the numbering was changed so that Astraea was number (5).
The new system found popularity among astronomers, and since then, the final designation of a minor planet is a number indicating its order of discovery followed by a name. Even after the adoption of this system, though, several more minor planets received symbols, including 28 Bellona the morning star and lance of Mars' martial sister, 35 Leukothea an ancient lighthouse and 37 Fides a Latin cross (). According to Webster's A Dictionary of the English Language, four more minor planets were also given symbols: 16 Psyche, 17 Thetis, 26 Proserpina, and 29 Amphitrite. However, there is no evidence that these symbols were ever used outside of their initial publication in the Astronomische Nachrichten.
134340 Pluto is an exception: it is a high-numbered minor planet that received a graphical symbol with significant astronomical use (♇), because it was considered a major planet on its discovery, and did not receive a minor planet number until 2006.
Graphical symbols continue to be used for some minor planets, and assigned for some recently discovered larger ones, mostly by astrologers (see astronomical symbol and astrological symbol). Three centaurs – 2060 Chiron, 5145 Pholus, and 7066 Nessus – and the other seven large trans-Neptunian dwarf planets – 50000 Quaoar, 90377 Sedna, 90482 Orcus, 136108 Haumea, 136199 Eris, 136472 Makemake, and 225088 Gonggong – have relatively standard symbols among astrologers: the symbols for Haumea, Makemake, and Eris have even been occasionally used in astronomy. However, such symbols are generally not in use among astronomers.
Genesis of the current system
Several different notation and symbolic schemes were used during the latter half of the nineteenth century, but the present form first appeared in the journal Astronomische Nachrichten (AN) in 1892. New numbers were assigned by the AN on receipt of a discovery announcement, and a permanent designation was then assigned once an orbit had been calculated for the new object.
At first, the provisional designation consisted of the year of discovery followed by a letter indicating the sequence of the discovery, but omitting the letter I (historically, sometimes J was omitted instead). Under this scheme, 333 Badenia was initially designated , 163 Erigone was , etc. In 1893, though, increasing numbers of discoveries forced the revision of the system to use double letters instead, in the sequence AA, AB... AZ, BA and so on. The sequence of double letters was not restarted each year, so that followed and so on. In 1916, the letters reached ZZ and, rather than starting a series of triple-letter designations, the double-letter series was restarted with .
Because a considerable amount of time could sometimes elapse between exposing the photographic plates of an astronomical survey and actually spotting a small Solar System object on them (witness the story of Phoebe's discovery), or even between the actual discovery and the delivery of the message (from some far-flung observatory) to the central authority, it became necessary to retrofit discoveries into the sequence — to this day, discoveries are still dated based on when the images were taken, and not on when a human realised they were looking at something new. In the double-letter scheme, this was not generally possible once designations had been assigned in a subsequent year. The scheme used to get round this problem was rather clumsy and used a designation consisting of the year and a lower-case letter in a manner similar to the old provisional-designation scheme for comets. For example, (note that there is a space between the year and the letter to distinguish this designation from the old-style comet designation 1915a, Mellish's first comet of 1915), 1917 b. In 1914 designations of the form year plus Greek letter were used in addition.
Temporary minor planet designations
Temporary designations are custom designation given by an observer or discovering observatory prior to the assignment of a provisional designation by the MPC. These intricate designations were used prior to the Digital Age, when communication was slow or even impossible (e.g. during WWI). The listed temporary designations by observatory/observer use uppercase and lowercase letters (LETTER, letter), digits, numbers and years, as well Roman numerals (ROM) and Greek letters (greek).
Comets
The system used for comets was complex previous to 1995. Originally, the year was followed by a space and then a Roman numeral (indicating the sequence of discovery) in most cases, but difficulties always arose when an object needed to be placed between previous discoveries. For example, after Comet 1881 III and Comet 1881 IV might be reported, an object discovered in between the discovery dates but reported much later couldn't be designated "Comet 1881 III½". More commonly comets were known by the discoverer's name and the year. An alternate scheme also listed comets in order of time of perihelion passage, using lower-case letters; thus "Comet Faye" (modern designation 4P/Faye) was both Comet 1881 I (first comet to pass perihelion in 1881) and Comet 1880c (third comet to be discovered in 1880).
The system since 1995 is similar to the provisional designation of minor planets. For comets, the provisional designation consists of the year of discovery, a space, one letter (unlike the minor planets with two) indicating the half-month of discovery within that year (A=first half of January, B=second half of January, etc. skipping I (to avoid confusion with the number 1 or the numeral I) and not reaching Z), and finally a number (not subscripted as with minor planets), indicating the sequence of discovery within the half-month. Thus, the eighth comet discovered in the second half of March 2006 would be given the provisional designation 2006 F8, whilst the tenth comet of late March would be 2006 F10.
If a comet splits, its segments are given the same provisional designation with a suffixed letter A, B, C, ..., Z, a, b, c..., z. One presumes that tracking beyond 52 fragments is unlikely.
If an object is originally found asteroidal, and later develops a cometary tail, it retains its asteroidal designation. For example, minor planet 1954 PC turned out to be Comet Faye, and we thus have "4P/1954 PC" as one of the designations of said comet. Similarly, minor planet was reclassified as a comet, and because it was discovered by LINEAR, it is now known as 176P/LINEAR (LINEAR 52) and (118401) LINEAR.
Provisional designations for comets are given condensed or "packed form" in the same manner as minor planets. 2006 F8, if a periodic comet, would be listed in the IAU Minor Planet Database as PK06F080. The last character is purposely a zero, as that allows comet and minor planet designations not to overlap.
Periodic comets
Comets are assigned one of four possible prefixes as a rough classification. The prefix "P" (as in, for example, P/1997 C1, a.k.a. Comet Gehrels 4) designates a "periodic comet", one which has an orbital period of less than 200 years or which has been observed during more than a single perihelion passage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya-Zhang, whose period is 367 years). They receive a permanent number prefix after their second observed perihelion passage (see List of periodic comets).
Non-periodic comets
Comets which do not fulfill the "periodic" requirements receive the "C" prefix (e.g. C/2006 P1, the Great Comet of 2007). Comets initially labeled as "non-periodic" may, however, switch to "P" if they later fulfill the requirements.
Comets which have been lost or have disintegrated are prefixed "D" (e.g. D/1993 F2, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9).
Finally, comets for which no reliable orbit could be calculated, but are known from historical records, are prefixed "X" as in, for example, X/1106 C1. (Also see List of non-periodic comets and List of hyperbolic comets.)
Satellites and rings of planets
When satellites or rings are first discovered, they are given provisional designations such as "" (the 11th new satellite of Jupiter discovered in 2000), "" (the first new satellite of Pluto discovered in 2005), or "" (the second new ring of Saturn discovered in 2004). The initial "S/" or "R/" stands for "satellite" or "ring", respectively, distinguishing the designation from the prefixes "C/", "D/", "P/", and "X/" used for comets. These designations are sometimes written as "", dropping the second space.
The prefix "S/" indicates a natural satellite, and is followed by a year (using the year when the discovery image was acquired, not necessarily the date of discovery). A one-letter code written in upper case identifies the planet such as J and S for Jupiter and Saturn, respectively (see list of one-letter abbreviations), and then a number identifies sequentially the observation. For example, Naiad, the innermost moon of Neptune, was at first designated "". Later, once its existence and orbit were confirmed, it received its full designation, "".
The Roman numbering system arose with the very first discovery of natural satellites other than Earth's Moon: Galileo referred to the Galilean moons as I through IV (counting from Jupiter outward), in part to spite his rival Simon Marius, who had proposed the names now adopted. Similar numbering schemes naturally arose with the discovery of moons around Saturn and Uranus. Although the numbers initially designated the moons in orbital sequence, new discoveries soon failed to conform with this scheme (e.g. "" is Amalthea, which orbits closer to Jupiter than does Io). The unstated convention then became, at the close of the 19th century, that the numbers more or less reflected the order of discovery, except for prior historical exceptions (see the Timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites). The convention has been extended to natural satellites of minor planets, such as "".
Moons of minor planets
The provisional designation system for minor planet satellites, such as asteroid moons, follows that established for the satellites of the major planets. With minor planets, the planet letter code is replaced by the minor planet number in parentheses. Thus, the first observed moon of 87 Sylvia, discovered in 2001, was at first designated S/2001 (87) 1, later receiving its permanent designation of (87) Sylvia I Romulus. Where more than one moon has been discovered, Roman numerals specify the discovery sequence, so that Sylvia's second moon is designated (87) Sylvia II Remus.
Since Pluto was reclassified in 2006, discoveries of Plutonian moons since then follow the minor-planet system: thus Nix and Hydra, discovered in 2005, were S/2005 P 2 and S/2005 P 1, but Kerberos and Styx, discovered in 2011 and 2012 respectively, were S/2011 (134340) 1 and S/2012 (134340) 1. That said, there has been some unofficial use of the formats "S/2011 P 1" and "S/2012 P 1".
Packed designation
Packed designations are used in online and electronic documents as well as databases.
Packed minor planet designation
The Orbit Database (MPCORB) of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) uses the "packed form" to refer to all provisionally designated minor planets. The idiosyncrasy found in the new-style provisional designations, no longer exists in this packed-notation system, as the second letter is now listed after the subscript number, or its equivalent 2-digit code. For an introduction on provisional minor planet designations in the "un-packed" form, see .
Provisional packed designations
The system of packed provisional minor planet designations:
uses exactly 7 characters with no spaces for all designations
compacts 4 digit years to a 3-character code, e.g. 2014 is written as K14 (see tables below)
converts all subscript numbers to a 2-character code (00 is used when there is no following subscript, 99 is used for subscript 99, A0 is used for subscript 100, and A1 is used for 101)
the packed 2 character subscript code is placed between the half-month letter and the second (discovery order) letter (e.g. has discovery order K so the last three characters for its packed form are A2K)
Contrary to the new-style system, the letter "i" is used in the packed form both for the year and the numeric suffix. The compacting system provides upper and lowercase letters to encode up to 619 "cycles". This means that 15,500 designations () within a half-month can be packed, which is a few times more than the designations assigned monthly in recent years.
Examples
is written as J95X00A
is written as J95X01L
is written as K16EF6K
is written as K07Tf8A
Description
The year 1995 is compacted to J95. As it has no subscript number, 00 is used as placeholder instead, and directly placed after the half-month letter "X".
The year 1995 is compacted to J95. Subscript number "1" is padded to 01 to maintain the length of 7 characters, and placed after the first letter.
The year 2016 is compacted to K16. The subscript number "156" exceeds 2 digits and is converted to F6, (see table below)
The year 2007 is compacted to K07. The subscript number "418" exceeds 2 digits and is converted to f8, (see table below)
Conversion tables
Comets follow the minor-planet scheme for their first four characters. The fifth and sixth characters encode the subscript number. The seventh character is usually 0, unless it is a component of a split comet, in which case it encodes in lowercase the letter of the fragment.
Examples
is written as J95A010
-B is written as J95P01b (i.e. fragment B of comet )
is written as K88AA30 (as the subscript number exceeds two digits and is converted according to the above table).
There is also an extended form that adds five characters to the front. The fifth character is one of "C", "D", "P", or "X", according to the status of the comet. If the comet is periodic, then the first four characters are the periodic-comet number (padded to the left with zeroes); otherwise, they are blank.
Natural satellites use the format for comets, except that the last column is always 0.
Packed survey designations
Survey designations used during the Palomar–Leiden Survey (PLS) have a simpler packed form, as for example:
is written as PLS6344
is written as T1S4835
is written as T2S1010
is written as T3S4101
Note that the survey designations are distinguished from provisional designations by having the letter S in the third character, which contains a decimal digit in provisional designations and permanent numbers.
Permanent packed designations
A packed form for permanent designations also exists (these are numbered minor planets, with or without a name). In this case, only the designation's number is used and converted to a 5-character string. The rest of the permanent designation is ignored. Minor planet numbers below 100,000 are simply zero-padded to 5 digits from the left side. For minor planet above 100,000, a single letter (A–Z and a–z) is used, similar as for the provisional subscript number (also see table above):
A covers the number range 100,000–109,999
B covers the number range 110,000–119,999
a covers the number range 360,000–369,999
z covers the number range 610,000–619,999
Examples
00001 encodes 1 Ceres
99999 encodes
A0000 encodes 100000 Astronautica, ()
A9999 encodes ()
B0000 encodes ()
G3693 encodes 163693 Atira ()
Y2843 encodes 342843 Davidbowie ()
g0356 encodes 420356 Praamzius ()
This system permits compression of numbers up to 619,999 (z9999). the list of minor planets already contains 607,011 objects. For minor planets numbered 620,000 or higher, a tilde "~" will be used as the first character. The subsequent 4 characters encoded in Base62 (using 0–9, then A–Z, and a–z, in this specific order) are used to store the difference of the object's number minus 620,000. This extended system will allow for the encoding of more than 15 million minor planet numbers. For example:
(620000) will be represented as ~0000 (
(620061) will be represented as ~000z (
(3140113) will be represented as ~AZaz (
(15396335) will be represented as ~zzzz (
For comets, permanent designations only apply to periodic comets that are seen to return. The first four characters are the number of the comet (left-padded with zeroes). The fifth character is "P", unless the periodic comet is lost or defunct, in which case it is "D".
For natural satellites, permanent packed designations take the form of the planet letter, then three digits containing the converted Roman numeral (left-padded with zeroes), and finally an "S". For example, Jupiter XIII Leda is J013S, and Neptune II Nereid is N002S.
See also
Minor planet designation
Naming of moons
References
External links
New- And Old-Style Minor Planet Designations (Minor Planet Center)
Astronomical nomenclature
Comets
Minor planets
Moons |
23474910 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GO-Global | GO-Global | GraphOn GO-Global is a multi-user remote access application publishing solution for Microsoft Windows.
Overview
GO-Global allows multiple users to concurrently run Microsoft Windows applications installed on a Windows server or server farm from network-connected locations and devices. GO-Global redirects the user interface of Windows applications running on the Windows server to the display or browser on the user's device. Applications look and feel like they are running on the user's device. Supported end-user devices include Windows, Mac and Linux personal computers, iOS and Android mobile devices, and Chromebooks.
GO-Global is used by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Hosted Service Providers (HSPs), and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to publish Windows applications without modification of existing code for the use of local and remote users.
Architecture
GO-Global enables multi-user remote access to Windows applications without the use of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) or the multi-session kernel functionality built into Windows. GO-Global provides full replacements for Microsoft's multi-session functionality and its Remote Desktop clients, display driver, protocol, internet gateway, and management tools. GO-Global's architecture eliminates the need for RDS components to be installed on Windows desktops or servers.
How GO-Global Works
To access applications via GO-Global, users either start a locally installed GO-Global client or click on an administrator-supplied web link that downloads and runs the GO-Global HTML5 client in the user's browser. After starting up, the GO-Global client opens a connection to the Application Publishing Service (APS) on the host. The APS then creates the user session by calling the GO-Global System Extensions Driver (GGSE), which loads the Win32 subsystem, the GO-Global Virtual Display Driver, and the session-specific drivers. The APS then starts the session's logon.exe process, which prompts the user to sign in. After the user signs in, the logon process starts the requested application.
As the end user works in the published application, the application calls Windows OS modules (e.g., GDI32, User32, etc.) to perform various functions. GO-Global directs those calls to that session's instance of the Win32 subsystem. For graphics-related functions, for example, the Win32 subsystem will send graphics commands to the GO-Global Virtual Display Driver, which runs in the session's logon.exe process. The GO-Global Virtual Display Driver encodes the graphics commands in GraphOn's proprietary RapidX Protocol (RXP), queues the requests, and sends them via the APS to the GO-Global Web App, which executes the RXP commands and displays the session's applications in the browser.
Security
By default, GO-Global encrypts sessions using DES (Data Encryption Standard) with 56-bit key strength for all client session connections to protect against basic packet sniffers and clients intercepting raw data communications. For internet communications and security-conscious environments, GO-Global offers SSL-based transport with the following encryption algorithms: 128-bit RC4, 168-bit 3DES and 256-bit AES.
Administrators using GO-Global can employ Third-Party Virtual Private Networking (VPN) software to create a secure, encrypted tunnel from the client device to GO-Global Hosts. The remote end user can launch GO-Global sessions through the VPN tunnel. When using a VPN, GO-Global's proprietary RXP does not need to be encrypted directly, although it can be for an extra level of security. When travelling through a VPN, it is encrypted by the VPN software.
GO-Global supports Proxy Server Tunneling, also known as HTTP Connect. This allows a user who accesses the internet via a web proxy server to connect to GO-Global Hosts on the internet.
GO-Global's Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) (also known as “2-step verification”) provides an extra layer of security by optionally requiring users to enter a 6-digit code from an authenticator app on a smart phone, in addition to their user name and password.
Licensing
GO-Global licensing is based on concurrent users, and can be delivered via an on-premises license file or using the GraphOn cloud license service.
History
GO-Global is a product of GraphOn Corporation. GraphOn was founded in 1982 as a graphics hardware manufacturer. GraphOn changed its business focus to application publishing in 1999 and launched GO-Global in 1999. The company is headquartered in Concord, New Hampshire, USA.
See also
Fat client
NX technology
Thin client
Comparison of remote desktop software
Remote desktop
Computer companies of the United States
Software companies of the United States
Software companies established in 1982 |
12444749 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maturity%20model | Maturity model | Maturity is a measurement of the ability of an organization for continuous improvement in a particular discipline (as defined in O-ISM3 ). The higher the maturity, the higher will be the chances that incidents or errors will lead to improvements either in the quality or in the use of the resources of the discipline as implemented by the organization.
Most maturity models assess qualitatively people/culture, processes/structures, and objects/technology.
Two approaches for implementing maturity models exist. With a top-down approach, such as proposed by Becker et al., a fixed number of maturity stages or levels is specified first and further corroborated with characteristics (typically in form of specific assessment items) that support the initial assumptions about how maturity evolves. When using a bottom-up approach, such as suggested by Lahrmann et al., distinct characteristics or assessment items are determined first and clustered in a second step into maturity levels to induce a more general view of the different steps of maturity evolution. Topics that are covered in maturity models include:
Analytics
Big data maturity model
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification – CMMC
Enterprise architecture
Enterprise Architecture Capability Maturity Model (ACMM)
Dynamic Architecture Maturity Matrix (DyAMM)
Human resources
People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) (for the management of human assets)
Information security management
O-ISM3
Information technology
CERT Resilience Management Model (capability model focused on operational resilience, i.e., cybersecurity, service continuity, IT operations)
Capability Maturity Model (CMM, focusing on software development)
Open Source Maturity Model (for open-source software development)
Service Integration Maturity Model (for SOA)
Modeling Maturity Levels (for software specification)
Enterprise IT Performance Maturity Model
Software Product Management Maturity Model
The SharePoint Maturity Model
Application Performance Management Maturity Model
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Maturity Model
DevOps maturity model
ITIL Maturity Model
Richardson Maturity Model (for HTTP-based web services)
ISO/IEC 15504 (for Process Maturity)
MD3M (for Master Data Management)
Knowledge management
The Knowledge Navigator Model
Learning
E-learning Maturity Model (EMM)
Mobile Learning Maturity Model
Learning & Performance Maturity Model
Marketing
Organic Search Marketing Maturity Model
PLM
PLM Maturity Model
Project management
OPM3 (Organisational Project Management Maturity Model)
P3M3 (Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model)
Quality management
Quality Management Maturity Grid (QMMG)
Quality Maturity Model
4.0 Quality Maturity Assessment Model
Security assurance
Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM)
CYBERSECURITY CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL (C2M2)
Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model (SSE-CMM)
Software Assurance Maturity Model (openSAMM)
Sustainability
Sustainability maturity models
The maturity model concept has been applied to city planning practices, such as planning to encourage participation in cycling.
Testing
Testing Maturity Model (TMM) (assessing test processes in an organization)
Test Maturity Model integration (TMMi)
Universal
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
Performance Management Maturity Model
Virtual Team Maturity Model (VTMM)
References
de:Reifegradmodell
eo:EMM
it:EMM |
15419123 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals%20of%20Rome | Annals of Rome | Annals of Rome is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Level 9 Computing and published by Personal Software Services. It was first released in the United Kingdom for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari ST in 1986. It was then released in Germany for the Commodore 64 and Amiga in 1987 and 1988, respectively. The game is set in the late Roman Empire, with the objective being to survive for as long as possible against rebelling European states.
Gameplay
The game is played in two windows. The first is the troops movement window, which allows the player to control the placement of troops in the Roman state or to attack computer players. This window shows the number of forces for all players, inflation, popularity and national score of the Roman state, and human player score. The last step for the player in this window is to set the tax rate, between 1.0–2.0% (higher taxes cause higher inflation). In the next window, the player decides which of the 21 Senate members will receive command of the various Roman armies. To help the player in making this decision, all Senate members are listed with numbers, the first two indicating their military ability and loyalty, respectively. The last number indicates their age. If the government's popularity falls below 2 (popularity is measured within a range between -5 and +5), armies with disloyal commanders can revolt and try to take Rome. If this happens before 50 BC, the successful rebel will be declared dictator, and if this happens after, he will become emperor, which will lead to a dynasty.
Background
Personal Software Services was founded in Coventry, England, by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in November 1981. The company was known for creating games that revolved around historic battles and conflicts, such as Theatre Europe, Bismarck and Falklands '82. The company had a partnership with French video game developer ERE Informatique, and published localised versions of their products in the United Kingdom. The Strategic Wargames series was conceptualised by software designer Alan Steel in 1984. During development of these titles, Steel would often research the topic of the upcoming game and pass on the findings to other associates in Coventry and London. Some games of the series were met with controversy upon release, such as Theatre Europe. In 1983, the company received recognition for being "one of the top software houses" in the United Kingdom, and was a finalist for BBC Radio 4's New Business Enterprise Award for that year.
In 1986, Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16-bit consoles, as he found that smaller 8-bit consoles, such as the ZX Spectrum, lacked the processing power for larger strategy games. The decision was falsely interpreted as "pulling out" from the Spectrum market by video game journalist Phillipa Irving. Following years of successful sales throughout the mid-1980s, Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties, with Cockayne admitting in a retrospective interview that "he took his eye off the ball". The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in February 1987, and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt.
Reception
Despite poor graphics and interface even for 1986, Annals of Rome received an 85% rating from Crash magazine in 1987. In November 1986, Popular Computing Weekly called the game a "perfect choice if you take your strategy games seriously". Because of such popularity, the game received conversion to all computer platforms in its day. Originally, Personal Software Services released the game for C-64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari ST (platforms until September 1987) followed by versions for PC and Amiga. Today, the game has been considered a forgotten classic.
Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review, noting innovative mechanics such as the variable turn length. The review noted that the game felt unfinished and unpolished, citing the lack of victory conditions and poor save mechanism. In 1990 the magazine gave the game three-plus out of five stars, stating that despite the poor graphics and seemingly incomplete nature, "it succeeds on many levels", especially the superior 16-bit versions. In 1993 the magazine gave the game two-plus stars. Orson Scott Card wrote in Compute! that Annals of Romes programmers did an excellent job of recreating Roman history, but that sales would suffer because it "looks like it was programmed in the Bronze Age".
References
1986 video games
Amiga games
Amstrad CPC games
Atari ST games
Commodore 64 games
DOS games
Turn-based strategy video games
War video games set in Europe
ZX Spectrum games
Video games set in the Roman Empire
Video games set in antiquity
Personal Software Services games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom |
54108248 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotet | Emotet | Emotet is a malware strain and a cybercrime operation believed to be based in Ukraine. The malware, also known as Heodo, was first detected in 2014 and deemed one of the most prevalent threats of the decade. In 2021 the servers used for Emotet were disrupted through global police action in Germany and Ukraine and brought under the control of law enforcement.
First versions of the Emotet malware functioned as a banking trojan aimed at stealing banking credentials from infected hosts. Throughout 2016 and 2017, Emotet operators, sometimes known as Mealybug, updated the trojan and reconfigured it to work primarily as a "loader," a type of malware that gains access to a system, and then allows its operators to download additional payloads. Second-stage payloads can be any type of executable code, from Emotet's own modules to malware developed by other cybercrime gangs.
Initial infection of target systems often proceeds through a macro virus in an email attachment. The infected email is a legitimate-appearing reply to an earlier message that was sent by the victim.
It has been widely documented that the Emotet authors have used the malware to create a botnet of infected computers to which they sell access in an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model, referred in the cybersecurity community as MaaS (Malware-as-a-Service), Cybercrime-as-a-Service (CaaS), or Crimeware. Emotet is known for renting access to infected computers to ransomware operations, such as the Ryuk gang.
As of September 2019, the Emotet operation ran on top of three separate botnets called Epoch 1, Epoch 2, and Epoch 3.
In July 2020, Emotet campaigns were detected globally, infecting its victims with TrickBot and Qbot, which are used to steal banking credentials and spread inside networks. Some of the malspam campaigns contained malicious documents with names such as "form.doc" or "invoice.doc". According to security researchers, the malicious document launches a PowerShell script to pull the Emotet payload from malicious websites and infected machines.
In November 2020, Emotet used parked domains to distribute payloads.
In January 2021, international action coordinated by Europol and Eurojust allowed investigators to take control of and disrupt the Emotet infrastructure. The reported action was accompanied with arrests made in Ukraine.
On 14 November 2021, new Emotet samples emerged that were very similar to the previous bot code, but with a different encryption scheme that used elliptic curve cryptography for command and control communications. The new Emotet infections were delivered via TrickBot, to computers that were previously infected with TrickBot, and soon began sending malicious spam email messages with macro-laden Microsoft Word and Excel files as payloads.
Noteworthy infections
Allentown, Pennsylvania, city located in Pennsylvania, United States (2018)
Heise Online, publishing house based in Hanover, Germany (2019)
Kammergericht Berlin, the highest court of the state of Berlin, Germany (2019)
Humboldt University of Berlin, university in Berlin, Germany (2019)
Universität Gießen, university in Germany (2019)
Department of Justice of the province of Quebec (2020)
Lithuanian government (2020)
References
Windows trojans
Botnets
Hacking in the 2010s
Hacking in the 2020s |
27976360 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activant | Activant | Activant Solutions Inc. was a privately held American technology company specializing in business management software serving retail and wholesale distribution businesses headquartered in Livermore, California.
Activant provided tailored proprietary software, professional services, content, supply chain connectivity, and analytics to the automotive, hardlines and lumber, and wholesale distribution industries.
The company employed more than 1,700 people in California, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Activant Solutions was acquired by Apax Partners and merged with Epicor in May 2011. The combined entity is continuing as Epicor.
History
Activant was incorporated in 1971 as Triad Systems by Henry M. Gay, William W. Stevens and Donald J. Ruder. It was incorporated in 1972. The company installed its first system at Northgate Auto Parts in Mill Valley, California on July 7, 1973. It retained the Triad name until 2003.
Automotive aftermarket
Prior to automation, the automotive aftermarket — involving the distribution of automotive replacement parts — used 3x5 index cards for inventory control. The founders of Activant created a computer, the Series 10, that used new, cost-effective disk drives to store the inventory information for the automotive parts distributors. The Series 10 gave the automotive parts distributors, also known as jobbers, inventory control. It was offered at $50,000–$100,000 per unit.
In the 1980s, the Series 10 was followed by the faster Series 12. The increased storage capacity of the Series 12 enabled Triad to offer customers the first computer based parts catalog, eliminating the racks of parts catalogs used in auto parts retailers. The company also created a system for larger warehouse distributors, the Triad 80. These systems helped enable communication capabilities between jobbers and warehouse distributors and suppliers.
Expansion to new markets
In 1980, Francisco Ramiro Diaz, Activant's founder, observed that the hardlines market had similar inventory management and accounts receivable requirements as jobbers and warehouse distributors. To cater to the hardware retailers, the company created a point-of-sale (POS) cash terminal system. In 1984, the company modified the POS system to serve lumberyards.
By 1984, Activant (then Triad) launched the first electronic parts catalog (simply called Electronic Catalog) paper catalogs, and by 1990, provided customers with more than 8.8 million automobile parts available electronically. In 1987, the company began selling a stand-alone Electronic Catalog on CD-Rom (renamed as Triad LaserCat) to smaller automotive jobbers who did not have an Triad system. In 1989, the company began to develop the Triad Prism system as a future replacement for the Series 12 for the automotive aftermarket. The system for the hardlines and lumber industry was upgraded, including a new UNIX operating system, and became Triad Eagle by 1992.
Activant Vista
In 1993, Triad released Triad Vista, a product movement service which compiled monthly point-of-sale movement reports and showed how products performed against their competition and in the market in general. Vista brought in over $12 million annually.
In the mid-1990s, Triad acquired assets from the companies of Gemini, CSD, Eclipse, and Ultimate to aid the company in the lumber and automotive industries. The Radio Frequency (RF) Suite was also launched during the mid-1990s. RF enabled bar code scanning.
The company launched Triad Eagle for Windows in 1997.
By 1997, CCI purchased Triad. Glen Staats became CEO of CCITRIAD. One year later, the owners of the company, Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst brought in a new CEO, Mike Aviles, to replace Staats. Aviles was CEO from late 1999–2004. Over the next five years, the company's customer base continued to expand and entered into partnerships with TrueValue, ACE, and Do It Best hardware stores.
21st century
Under Mike Aviles, Activant’s revenue grew to over $225m.
In 2003, the company changed its name from CCITRIAD to Activant Solutions Inc. In 2004, the board of directors brought in Larry Jones as CEO to drive an aggressive growth strategy. Pervez Qureshi, current president and CEO, took over in May 2006.
Activant purchased Speedware Corporation Inc., including its operating divisions, Enterprise Computer Systems (ECS) Inc., Prelude Systems Inc., OpenERP Solutions and Speedware Ltd., in 2005. That same year Activant acquired The Systems House Inc., a technology company for distributors primarily in the automotive aftermarket and office products industries, and Prophet 21, which aided Activant in the wholesale distribution market.
In May 2006, Activant was purchased by the private equity firms Hellman & Friedman, Thoma Cressey, and JMI Equity.
In 2007, Activant acquired Silk Systems Inc., including its wholly owned subsidiary Silk Dimensions Systems Inc., a software company for the Canadian home improvement, wholesale distribution and building materials markets. This was followed by the acquisition of Intuit Eclipse Distribution Management Solutions Business, an enterprise software provider in wholesale distribution.
References
External links
Activant's Official Web Site
Activant's Wholesale Distribution Web Site
Activant's UK Web Site
Activant's UK Supplier/Services portal
Defunct technology companies of the United States
Privately held companies based in California
Software companies established in 1971
Companies based in Livermore, California
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
1971 establishments in California
2011 disestablishments in California
Software companies disestablished in 2011
Defunct software companies of the United States
2011 mergers and acquisitions |
47190329 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton%20%28software%29 | Norton (software) | Norton, formerly known as Norton by Symantec, is a division of NortonLifeLock, and is based out of Mountain View, California. Since being acquired by the Symantec Corporation in 1990, Norton offered a variety of products and services related to digital security. In 2014, it was announced that Norton's parent company Symantec would split its business into two units - one focused on security, and one focused on information management, with Norton being placed in the unit focused on security.
History
Peter Norton Computing, Inc., was a software company founded by Peter Norton. Norton and his company developed various DOS utilities including the Norton Utilities, which did not include antivirus features. In 1990, the company was acquired by Symantec and renamed Peter Norton Consulting Group. Symantec's consumer antivirus and data management utilities are still marketed under the Norton name.
By early 1991, Symantec's Norton Group launched Norton AntiVirus 1.0 for PC and compatible computers. Since then, the company has updated and diversified its product line until combining its offerings into one seamless product, Norton Security.
Products and Services
Norton’s products are primarily digital security tools for personal computers and server devices, and more recently, mobile devices.
Consumer products
Norton Security (2014)
Norton Security is a multi-device program that provides malware prevention and removal during subscription period for up to five devices. Other features included in the product are a personal firewall, email spam filtering, and phishing protection. The program was released in September 2014, replacing Norton 360, Norton Internet Security, and Norton AntiVirus. When compared to Norton legacy products, Norton Security came with improved scalability and protection and a money-back guarantee.
Norton Security with Backup (2014)
Norton Security with Backup is Norton’s premium protection for up to 10 devices. It protects PC, Mac, Android and iOS devices with a single protection plan, and includes Norton Family Premier. This product safeguards against viruses, spyware, malware, and other online attacks. It also includes up to 25GB of online storage for backing up important photos and documents from a user's devices.
Norton Family Premier
Norton Family Premier is a cloud-based parental control service, previously known as Norton Online Family. Norton Family Premier is aimed at "fostering communication" involving parents and their children's online activities.
Norton Mobile Security
Norton Mobile Security is a single-subscription, proactive protection program for smartphones and tablets. Operating across all devices, Norton Mobile Security protects the user from risky apps, safeguards online privacy, restores lost contact information, and helps recover lost or stolen devices.
Business products
Norton Small Business
Norton Small Business is a multi-device, single solution program specifically designed to secure businesses from malware, viruses, and other threats. The program manages protection for companies from one convenient web portal, covering all devices with one subscription, which can easily be expanded as the business grows.
Other products and services
Norton Online Backup
Norton Online Backup is a program that automatically backs up users’ digital photos, videos, music, and documents. The program lets users quickly restore their files in case of hard drive crashes, accidental deletion, computer theft, natural disasters, and other mishaps. It backs up files from up to five computers in a single subscription and lets users easily add additional secure storage space if needed.
Norton Computer Tune Up
Norton Computer Tune Up is a program that lets users restore their old computer systems, giving them like-new performance. The program uses multi-point inspection and repair service designed to restore speed and performance in place of a new computer or repair-shop work. Through Norton Computer Tune Up, Norton-certified technicians are available at all times to offer repair assistance.
Services
NortonLive Services
Ultimate Helpdesk
Computer Tune Up
Free Virus Scan
Norton Safe Web
Parental Control Software
Password Generator
Password Manager
Support and downloads
Norton Support
Norton Update Center
Spyware
Virus Definitions & Security Updates
Virus Removal
Free Antivirus
Malware Removal
Norton Cybercrime Report
Past products and services
Norton Utilities (1982)
Norton Utilities is a utility software suite designed to help analyze, configure, optimize, and maintain a computer. The last version of Norton Utilities, Norton Utilities 16 for Windows XP/Vista/7/8, was released October 26, 2012.
Norton Guides (1985)
Developed and distributed by Peter Norton Computing. The guides were written by Warren Woodford for the x86 Assembly Language, C, BASIC, and Forth languages and made available to users via a TSR program that integrated with programming language editors on IBM PC-type computers. This appears to be the first example of a commercial product where programming reference information was integrated into the software development environment.
Norton AntiVirus (1991)
Norton AntiVirus was developed and distributed by Symantec, providing malware prevention and removal during a subscription period. It used signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features included were email spam filtering and phishing protection.
Norton 2000 (1998)
Norton 2000 was a program that analyzed both hardware and software aspects of a computer system to check for Y2K compliance.
Norton SystemWorks (1998)
SystemWorks expanded the tools found in Norton Utilities and added other Symantec software titles, primarily antivirus, and later backup software for the high-end versions.
Norton Internet Security (2007)
Norton Internet Security was a computer program that provided malware prevention and removal during a subscription period and used signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features included were a personal firewall, email spam filtering, and phishing protection.
Norton 360 (2007)
Norton 360 was developed and marketed as an "all-in-one" computer security suite. The package included an antivirus program, a personal firewall, a phishing protection program, and a backup program. What distinguished this suite from Norton Internet Security was the inclusion of file backup and PC maintenance capabilities.
Norton Clean Sweep (2009)
Norton Clean Sweep was designed by Quarterdeck and designed to aid in the removal of installed programs on Microsoft Windows. CleanSweep was acquired by Symantec and sold as a standalone product for a period of time. It is currently unavailable from Symantec standalone and is incorporated in Norton SystemWorks.
Norton Core (2017)
Norton Core is a mesh WiFi network that was made to protect computers inside of the network from unsafe websites.
Product reviews
TechAdvisor gave Norton Security with Backup a rating of 4.5 stars of 5. Their verdict reads: “Offering excellent value with 10 licenses to cover all your devices, Norton Security with Backup also offers a strong feature set and very good protection from viruses and other malware. Recommended.”
ExpertReviews gave Norton Security 2015 a rating of 5 of 5 stars. They concluded, “Norton Internet Security 2015 is a terrific security suite with a wide range of features. With great malware protection and equally good legitimate software recognition, it's our Best Buy for 2015.”
NextAdvisor gave Norton Security 2015 a review of 5 stars of 5. They concluded “Norton offers PC users top-notch protection with plenty of features that will help keep your computer safe while you use the Internet, as well as a simplified interface design that is easy to navigate.”
PCMagazine gave Norton Security a 4.5 of 5 star review and an editors’ rating of “Excellent.” They concluded that “In the modern world, centrally managed security for all of your devices is extremely valuable. Norton Security joins McAfee LiveSafe as our Editors' Choice for cross-platform multi-device security.”
PC Antivirus Reviews gave Norton Security 2015 an overall score of 81%. They concluded, “Norton Security makes a strong comeback this year with a much better interface, good virus protection, and low resource usage.”
Awards
In 2012, Norton by Symantec won PC Advisor’s Best Security Software award, stating that “Norton is probably the best known of all internet security products, and Symantec has stood the test of time by constantly improving its product with useful extras, both in its core engine and in the way it reports what it’s been up to.”
In 2015, Norton by Symantec won AV-TEST’s Innovation Award for Mobile Security, stating, “Prior to the download of an app, Norton Mobile Security for Android already knows all its potential risks. It is backed by a unique system consisting of the App Advisor for Google Play and Norton Mobile Insight.”
In 2015, Norton Mobile Security and Norton Family Premier both received PC Magazine's Editors' Choice Awards
See also
Comparison of antivirus software
Comparison of firewalls
Symantec
References
External links
NortonLifeLock software |
3691549 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin%20Computing | Penguin Computing | Penguin Computing is an American private supplier of enterprise, artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), software-defined storage, and cloud computing solutions in North America and is based in Fremont, California.
The company's products include servers, computer clusters, networking components, digital storage, software solutions and a HPC cloud. Penguin Computing started as a Linux server company and now works on the design, engineering, integration, and delivery of solutions that are based on open architectures and non-proprietary components from a variety of Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) providers. Penguin Computing was an early contributor to the Open Compute Project (OCP).
High performance clusters
Penguin Computing operated as a Linux server company until it acquired in 2003 Scyld Software, a leader in Beowulf cluster management software. Penguin Computing is based in Fremont, California. The company's early software solutions were offered under its Scyld brand and included Scyld ClusterWare for cluster provisioning and management, as well as the Scyld Cloud Manager for cloud-enabled HPC environments.
In 2015, Penguin Computing was awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) tri-laboratory Commodity Technology Systems program, or CTS-1. Under the $39 million contract, Penguin Computing provided over 7 petaFLOPS of computing power at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Coincident with this contract win, Penguin Computing built up a division to focus specifically on the federal HPC market.
The CTS-1 contract was one of the first and largest deployments of Intel's Omni-Path high-performance communications architecture. This resulted in Penguin Computing being awarded with Intel's "Partner of the Year - HPC Technical Computing" award.
Open Compute Project (OCP)
Penguin Computing was an early contributor to the Open Compute Project (OCP), is a member of the project foundation, and one of a limited number of authorized OCP providers. In November 2015 Penguin Computing announced the developed of its Tundra Extreme Scale (Tundra ES) product line with the intention of applying the findings of the OCP to high performance computing. In 2020, Penguin Computing announced the new Tundra AP line of servers, which support Intel Server System compute modules in an OCP form factor.
HPC cloud computing
In 2009 Penguin Computing launched Penguin Computing On-Demand (POD) which offers high performance computing (HPC) cloud computing. The POD cloud was one of the first remote HPC services offered on a pay-as-you-go monthly basis. Like its high performance clusters, the POD cloud is a bare-metal compute model to execute code, but each user is given virtualized login node. Penguin Computing offers users more than 150 pre-installed commercial and open source applications. POD computing nodes are connected via nonvirtualized 10 Gbit/s Ethernet or QDR InfiniBand networks. The POD Cloud data center has redundant Internet links and user connectivity ranging from 50 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s.
At POD's launch Penguin Computing's CEO Charles Wuischpard contended that because of the performance overhead from virtualization, other clouds were not suited to HPC and that the computing nodes allocated to customers may be far apart, causing latency that impairs performance for some HPC programs.
SMART division
In 2018 Penguin Computing was bought by the publicly traded SMART Global Holdings for a $60 million purchase price, with a further $25 million due if Penguin Computing hits certain profit milestones. The $60 million included the assumption of Penguin Computing’s debts, the company has borrowed $33 million from Wells Fargo to fund a new manufacturing facility. In the first quarter of financial year 2018 Penguin Computing had a gross profits of $10.3 million on sales of $48.5 million. HPC computer clusters were the main source of revenue. Penguin owned 1.2 percent of the HPC server market and when the company was bought by SMART it had ten supercomputers in the TOP500.
See also
Donald Becker
References
Linux
Ultra-dense servers
Cluster computing
Distributed computing architecture
Parallel computing
Cloud computing
Supercomputers |
43726455 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netng | Netng | Netng (Nigerian Entertainment Today) also known as NET or TheNETng is an online entertainment news organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a leading source of African entertainment, fashion and lifestyle news. Netng formed part of NET Newspaper Limited (NNL) until 2019 when it was acquired by ID Africa. Netgn is the organiser of NECLive (Nigerian Entertainment Conference) and the NET Honours.
History
Nigerian Entertainment Today (NET) was established on November 23, 2009 by Ayeni Adekunle. NET also ran as a print media and its printed copies circulated in about 37 major Nigerian cities and sold 10,000 copies weekly. In 2016, NET gradually phased out its print version as many of its readers moved online in search of entertainment news. In April 2013, a website ranking organisation, Alexa ranked Netng 33rd most visited website in Nigeria. Days after the ranking was announced, NET website (www.thenetng.com) came under a sustained hackers attack believed to be from certain Rocco Mancini who took total control of the site and made it inaccessible to visitors. The hackers initially demanded a ransom of $1,200. Later this amount was reduced but the publisher refused to pay any ransom to the hackers preferring to launch a new domain (www.thenet.ng). By 2014, the new website was ranked among 100 top websites in Nigeria by Alexa. The NET Newspaper Limited (NNL) and all its subsidiaries including Netng was acquired in 2019 by ID Africa. The acquisition ceded total ownership rights to ID Africa.
Reportage
Netng is known for breaking and reporting exclusive entertainment news. For instance, Netng was first to break the news of the birth of Wizkid and Ice Prince's kids. In 2012, Netng reported an exclusive interview granted it by D'Banj in London providing a comprehensive insight into what led to the break up of Don Jazzy and D'banj (co-founders of Mo' Hits Records). This exclusive report laid to rest speculations about the cause of their breakup.
The maiden print edition of the Netng broke the news of the death of a Nigerian rapper, Da Grin with a special tribute. Printed copies of the paper sold out within weeks of its first emergence in news stands across 37 major cities in Nigeria.
References
Newspapers published in Lagos
Publications established in 2010
Mass media companies of Nigeria
2009 establishments in Nigeria
Companies based in Lagos
Weekly newspapers published in Nigeria |
1907652 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike%20Patterson%20%28American%20football%29 | Mike Patterson (American football) | Michael Antonio Patterson (born September 1, 1983) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football for the USC Trojans.
Early years
Patterson is originally from Sacramento, California, but while visiting some family in Los Alamitos, California in between 8th and 9th grades, he decided to stay down there so that he could play football at Los Alamitos High School. He had decided this only after attending a summer football camp with his cousin Jorrel and enjoying the game very much.
Patterson became a very good player even though he had never played at all prior to the summer camp. As a junior in high school, Patterson was named to the Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team second-team and All-Sunset League first-team honors. In his senior year, he earned Prep Star All-American, SuperPrep All-Far West, Prep Star All-Western Region, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best of the West second team, Los Angeles Times All-Orange County, Orange County Register All-Orange County first-team, Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team first-team and All-Sunset League honors.
College career
USC defensive line coach Ed Orgeron recruited Patterson based on raw talent, and fought to sell the recruit on first-year head coach Pete Carroll, who eventually relented.
For the USC Trojans, Patterson was a first team All-American. Patterson played four years and helped win two National Championships with USC. He started for three years and played mainly as a nose tackle, but also a defensive tackle. During his senior year, Patterson was the subject of double coverage by many other teams.
He was nicknamed "Baby Sapp" because of the similar playing style to that of former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp; however, Patterson has since developed and is unique with his style of play now.
Patterson was a sociology major at USC.
Professional career
Philadelphia Eagles
Patterson was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 31st overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft out of the University of Southern California.
He started the 2005 season as second string, but started his first ever NFL game on September 25, 2005 when starter Darwin Walker was injured. When Walker returned to the lineup four games later, Patterson went back to second string. On December 11, 2005, Patterson was moved permanently to the starting left defensive tackle position and remains there. In 2005, Patterson was regarded as one of the best rookie defensive linemen in the NFL. He recorded the most tackles (38) in the season out of all the Eagles' defensive line and he had more sacks (3.5) than any other Eagles' defensive tackle or rookie defensive tackle in the NFL.
Patterson will go down in Eagles lore for having the longest fumble recovery in team history. On the afternoon of September 24, 2006, Patterson picked up a fumble on the Eagles' own 2-yard line and ran 98 yards for a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers.
On November 2, 2006, Patterson signed a 7-year contract extension through the 2016 season.
During training camp before the 2011 season he collapsed and suffered a seizure. Patterson was diagnosed with cerebral arteriovenous malformation. He still started in the first 15 games of the season, missing the final game due to influenza. He underwent brain surgery on January 26, 2012, but he was not medically cleared to participate in training camp in 2012. He was placed on the active/non-football illness list on July 22, 2012. Patterson was released on February 25, 2013.
New York Giants
Patterson signed with the New York Giants on April 3, 2013. On Monday, March 31, 2014, the New York Giants re-signed Patterson.
NFL statistics
Key
GP: games played
COMB: combined tackles
TOTAL: total tackles
AST: assisted tackles
SACK: sacks
FF: forced fumbles
FR: fumble recoveries
FR YDS: fumble return yards
INT: interceptions
IR YDS: interception return yards
AVG IR: average interception return
LNG: longest interception return
TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
PD: passes defensed
Personal life
At USC, Patterson met his eventual fiancee, Bianca, who was a resident adviser for his student housing. One of his college roommates, Jonathan Abrams, is now a journalist for The New York Times.
References
External links
Official website
Philadelphia Eagles bio
USC Trojans bio
1983 births
Living people
American football defensive tackles
New York Giants players
Players of American football from Sacramento, California
Philadelphia Eagles players
USC Trojans football players |
75290 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow%20Crash | Snow Crash | Snow Crash is a science fiction novel by the American writer Neal Stephenson, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics, and philosophy.
In his 1999 essay "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line", Stephenson explained the title of the novel as his term for a particular software failure mode on the early Macintosh computer. Stephenson wrote about the Macintosh that "When the computer crashed and wrote gibberish into the bitmap, the result was something that looked vaguely like static on a broken television set—a 'snow crash. Stephenson has also mentioned that Julian Jaynes' book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind was one of the main influences on Snow Crash.
The book presents the Sumerian language as the firmware programming language for the brainstem, which is supposedly functioning as the BIOS for the human brain. According to characters in the book, the goddess Asherah is the personification of a linguistic virus, similar to a computer virus. The god Enki created a counter-program, which he called a nam-shub, that caused all of humanity to speak different languages as a protection against Asherah (a re-interpretation of the ancient Near Eastern story of the Tower of Babel).
Stephenson originally planned Snow Crash as a computer-generated graphic novel in collaboration with artist Tony Sheeder. In the author's acknowledgments (in some editions), Stephenson recalls:
Snow Crash was nominated for both the British Science Fiction Award in 1993 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1994.
Plot summary
Plot background
The story opens in Los Angeles in the 21st century, an unspecified number of years after a worldwide economic collapse. Los Angeles is no longer part of the United States since the federal government has ceded most of its power and territory to private organizations and entrepreneurs. Franchising, individual sovereignty, and private vehicles reign supreme. Mercenary armies compete for national defense contracts, while private security guards preserve the peace in sovereign, gated housing developments. Highway companies compete to attract drivers to their roads, and all mail delivery is by hired courier. The remnants of government maintain authority only in isolated compounds, where they do tedious make-work that is, by and large, irrelevant to the society around them. Much of the world's territory has been carved up into sovereign enclaves known as Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities (FOQNEs), each run by its own big business franchise (such as "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong", or the corporatized American Mafia), or various residential burbclaves (quasi-sovereign gated communities). In this future, American institutions are far different from those in the actual United States at the time the book was published; for example, a for-profit organization, the CIC, has evolved from the CIA's merger with the Library of Congress.
Summary
Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier (courier), who refers to herself in the third person, during a failed attempt to make a delivery on time. Y.T. completes the delivery on his behalf, and they strike up a partnership, gathering intel and selling it to the CIC.
Within the Metaverse, Hiro is offered a datafile named Snow Crash by a man named Raven, who hints that it is a form of narcotic. Hiro's friend and fellow hacker Da5id views a bitmap image contained in the file, which causes his computer to crash and Da5id to suffer brain damage in the real world. Hiro meets his ex-girlfriend Juanita Marquez, who gives him a database containing a large amount of research compiled by her associate, Lagos. This research posits connections between the virus, ancient Sumerian culture, and the legend of the Tower of Babel. Juanita advises him to be careful and disappears.
The Mafia boss Uncle Enzo begins to take a paternal interest in Y.T. Impressed by her attitude and initiative, he arranges to meet her and offers her freelance jobs. Hiro's investigations and Y.T.'s intelligence gathering begin to coincide, with links between the neuro-linguistic viruses, a religious organization known as Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates and a media magnate named L. Bob Rife beginning to emerge. Lagos's research showed that the ancient Sumerian ur-language allowed brain function to be "programmed" using audio stimuli in conjunction with a DNA-altering virus. Sumerian culture was organized around these programs (known as me), which were administered by priests to the populace. Enki, a figure of legend, developed a counter-virus (known as the nam-shub of Enki), which when delivered stopped the Sumerian language from being processed by the brain and led to the development of other, less literal languages, giving birth to the Babel myth. L. Bob Rife had been collecting Sumerian artifacts and developed the drug Snow Crash in order to make the public vulnerable to new forms of me, which he would control. The physical form of the virus is distributed in the form of an addictive drug and within Reverend Wayne's church via infected blood. There is also a digital version, to which hackers are especially vulnerable, as they are accustomed to processing information in binary form.
Hiro heads north to the Oregon Coast, where the Raft, a huge collection of boats containing Eurasian refugees, is approaching the West Coast of the United States. The center of the Raft is L. Bob Rife's yacht, formerly the USS Enterprise nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Rife has been using the Raft as a mechanism to indoctrinate and infect thousands with the virus and to import it to America. Y.T. is captured and brought to Rife on the Raft, who intends to use her as a hostage, knowing her connection to Uncle Enzo. With help from the Mafia, Hiro fights his way onto the Raft and recovers the nam-shub of Enki, which Rife had been concealing. With help from Juanita, who had previously infiltrated the Raft, the nam-shub is read out and Rife's control over the Raft is broken. Rife flees the Raft, taking Y.T., and his mercenary, Raven, attempts to activate the digital form of Snow Crash at a virtual concert within the Metaverse. Hiro is able to neutralize the virus, and Y.T. escapes. At Los Angeles International Airport, Raven ambushes the Mafia and fights Uncle Enzo to a stalemate (though both men are severely injured in the process), while Rife is killed as he attempts to flee the airport on his private jet. Y.T. is reunited with her mother, and Hiro and Juanita reconcile and agree to rekindle their relationship.
Ideas and ideologies
The arrangements in Snow Crash resemble anarcho-capitalism, a theme Stephenson carries over to his next novel The Diamond Age. As described in both novels and the short story "The Great Simoleon Caper" (1995), hyperinflation has sapped the value of the US dollar to the extent that trillion-dollar bills—Ed Meeses—are nearly disregarded, and the quadrillion-dollar note—the Gipper—is the standard "small" bill. This hyperinflation was created by the government overprinting money, due to loss of tax revenue, as people increasingly began to use electronic currency, which they exchanged in untaxable encrypted online transactions. For physical transactions, most people resort to alternative currencies such as yen or "Kongbucks" (the official currency of Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong). Hyperinflation has also negatively affected much of the rest of the world (with some exceptions like Japan), resulting in waves of desperate refugees from Asia, who cross the Pacific in rickety ships hoping to arrive in North America.
The Metaverse, a phrase coined by Stephenson as a successor to the Internet, constitutes Stephenson's early 1990s vision of how a virtual reality–based Internet might evolve in the near future. Resembling a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), the Metaverse is populated by user-controlled avatars, as well as system daemons. Although there are public-access Metaverse terminals in Reality, using them carries a social stigma among Metaverse denizens, in part because of the poor visual representations of themselves as low-quality avatars. Status in the Metaverse is a function of two things: access to restricted environments such as the Black Sun, an exclusive Metaverse club, and technical acumen, which is often demonstrated by the sophistication of one's avatar.
Characteristic technologies
Various technologies are employed in this fictional world and help define it. Among these are:
Rat Things
Rat Things, also known as semi-autonomous guard units, are cybernetic personal defensive guards found in and around Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong. Engineered from pit bull terriers surgically augmented with cybernetic components, Rat Things are named for their long, flexible tails. Rat Things were invented by Mr. Ng, of Ng Security Industries, a former South Vietnamese helicopter pilot who was left with severe physical disabilities when his aircraft was accidentally hit by friendly fire during the Fall of Saigon. Like the Rat Things, Mr. Ng is also a cyborg. Rat Things remember their previous lives as dogs. They can also communicate with other Rat Things by "barking" in the Metaverse. Although their minds are largely controlled by their cybernetic implants, they can sometimes act independently of their programming. When in the Metaverse and not performing guard duties, Rat Things experience running on endless beaches, playing in the surf, eating steaks that grow on trees, and chasing blood-drenched Frisbees that just float around, waiting to be caught.
Like other technology in Snow Crash, Rat Things are powered by a nuclear isotope battery, which requires extensive cooling due to the massive amount of waste heat generated. The Rat Things are passively cooled by a system of heat sinks that are only effective when the Rat Thing runs fast enough to move ambient air across the fins. To prevent rapid overheating when stationary, they must remain in their hutches (effectively dog houses), where they are continuously sprayed by jets of refrigerant. Through running, Rat Things are capable of breaking the sound barrier (about 768 mph at sea level), although this is not typically permitted by Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong's "good neighbor" policy because of the severe damage caused by sonic booms. Because they must be either moving at high velocities or actively cooling in their hutches, Rat Things are rarely seen by human eyes, and few people know what they look like.
Smartwheels
A fictional type of wheel used on skateboards and advanced motorcycles that consists of small segments of contact surface mounted on telescoping spokes, allowing the wheel to take the shape of cracks, curbs, and bumps. They also have a passing mention in The Diamond Age as being used on a wheelchair belonging to a minor character.
Reason
Reason is a railgun in a rotary cannon configuration, which fires depleted uranium flechettes. It is mounted to a large, wheeled ammunition box and is equipped with a harness for user comfort, a nuclear battery pack, and a water-cooled heat exchanger. It bears, in an inscription on its nameplate, the Latin phrase , "the last argument of kings". The weapon, created by Ng, was still in beta testing and suffers a software crash during a battle, resulting in the death of its user. Hiro is later able to apply a firmware update and uses it until its ammunition supply is depleted.
Metaverse
Stephenson's "Metaverse" appears to its users as an urban environment, developed along a single hundred-meter-wide road, the Street, that runs around the entire 65,536 km (216 km) circumference of a featureless, black, perfectly spherical planet. The virtual real estate is owned by the Global Multimedia Protocol Group, a fictional part of the real Association for Computing Machinery, and is available to be bought and buildings developed thereupon. Access to the metaverse is through L. Bob Rife's global fiber-optic network, which grew from a collection of small cable television franchises into a global telecommunications monopoly and superseded the traditional telephone system.
Users of the Metaverse gain access to it through personal terminals that project a high-quality virtual reality display onto goggles worn by the user, or from low-quality public terminals in booths (with the penalty of presenting a grainy black-and-white appearance). Stephenson also describes a subculture of people choosing to remain continuously connected to the Metaverse by wearing portable terminals, goggles and other equipment; they are nicknamed "gargoyles" due to their grotesque appearance. The users of the Metaverse experience it from a first-person perspective.
Within the Metaverse, individual users appear as avatars of any form, with the sole restriction of height, "to prevent people from walking around a mile high". Transport within the Metaverse is limited to analogs of reality by foot or vehicle, such as the monorail that runs the entire length of the Street, stopping at 256 Express Ports, located evenly at 256 km intervals, and Local Ports, one kilometer apart.
Distributed republics
Distributed republics are loosely connected state-like entities dispersed across the world. The concept was reused by Stephenson in The Diamond Age.
Literary significance and criticism
Snow Crash established Stephenson as a major science fiction writer of the 1990s. The book appeared on Time magazine's list of 100 all-time best English-language novels written since 1923. Some critics have considered it a parody of cyberpunk and mentioned its satiric or absurdist humor.
In his book The Shape of the Signifier: 1967 to the End of History, Walter Benn Michaels targets Stephenson's view that "languages are codes" rather than a grouping of letters and sounds to be interpreted. Michaels contends that this basic idea of language as code is central to the construct of Snow Crash ("... a good deal of Snow Crash's plot depends upon eliding the distinction between hackers and their computers, as if—indeed, in the novel, just because—looking at code will do to the hacker what receiving it will do to the computer"), but at the same time, trivializes the role of meaning in linguistic works.The body that is infected by a virus does not become infected because it understands the virus any more than the body that does not become infected misunderstands the virus. So a world in which everything—from bitmaps to blood—can be understood as a "form of speech" is also a world in which nothing actually is understood, a world in which what a speech act does is disconnected from what it means.
In this respect, Stephenson's views are not shared with other contemporary writers such as Bret Easton Ellis, Kathy Acker, Octavia Butler, Paul de Man and Richard Rorty (with respect to the latter's literary criticism). In contrast, it uniquely risks developing a racialized view of culture. Because, Walter Benn Michaels states, "in Snow Crash, the bodies of humans are affected by 'information' they can't read... the virus, like the icepick [in American Psycho], gets the words inside you even if you haven't read them", culture is not transmitted by beliefs and practices, but rather by physical characteristics, such as blood (or genetic codes).
Rorty's Achieving Our Country uses Snow Crash as an example of modern culture that "express the loss of what he [Rorty] calls 'national hope'... the problem with Snow Crash is not that it isn't true—after all, it's a story—but that it isn't inspirational". This lack of inspiration is offset by something else Snow Crash and other works like it offer:These books produce in their readers the 'state of soul' that Rorty calls 'knowingness', which he glosses as a 'preference for knowledge over hope' (37)"; this preference for knowledge "contribute[s] to a more fundamental failure to appreciate the value of inspiration—and hence of literature—itself".
Influence on the World Wide Web and computing
While the 1986 virtual environment Habitat applied the Sanskrit term avatar to online virtual bodies before Stephenson, the success of Snow Crash popularized the term to the extent that avatar is now the accepted term for this concept in computer games and on the World Wide Web.
The novel's Central Intelligence Corporation—the result of a merger between the Library of Congress and Central Intelligence Agency—operates a wiki-like private knowledge base known as the Library. Although unlike Wikimedia, contributors to the Library (stringers) are paid if their contributions are used, making the Library more of an information marketplace than a public knowledge repository.
Many virtual globe programs, including NASA World Wind and Google Earth, bear a resemblance to the "Earth" software developed by the CIC in Snow Crash. One Google Earth co-founder claimed that Google Earth was modeled after Snow Crash, while another co-founder said that it was inspired by Powers of Ten. Stephenson himself has commented on the legacy of his "Earth" program's god's-eye aesthetic in his novel Reamde, in which his protagonist, a game designer, steals the technique from Google Earth.The opening screen of T'Rain was a frank rip-off of what you saw when you booted up Google Earth. Richard felt no guilt about this, since he had heard that Google Earth, in turn, was based on an idea from some old science-fiction novel.
Stephenson's concept of the Metaverse has enjoyed continued popularity and strong influence in high-tech circles (especially Silicon Valley) ever since the publication of Snow Crash. As a result, Stephenson has become "a sought-after futurist" and has worked as a futurist for Blue Origin and, more recently, Magic Leap.
Software developer Michael Abrash was inspired by Snow Crashs Metaverse and its networked 3D world. He left Microsoft for Id Software to write something in that direction, the result being Quake. The story for the 3DO game Immercenary was also heavily influenced by Snow Crash. A direct video-game adaptation of Snow Crash was in development in 1996, but it was never released.
The online virtual worlds Active Worlds and Second Life were both directly inspired by the Metaverse in Snow Crash.
Former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer J Allard and former Xbox Live Development Manager Boyd Multerer claimed to have been heavily inspired by Snow Crash in the development of Xbox Live, and that it was a mandatory read for the Xbox development team.
Possible film or television adaptation
The novel was optioned shortly after its publication and subsequent success, although to date it has never progressed past pre-production. American-Canadian science fiction director Vincenzo Natali in particular has argued against a two-hour feature film adaptation because of a perceived lack of fit with the form; inasmuch as the novel is "tonally all over the place", he feels that a mini-series would be a more suitable format for the material.
In late 1996, it was announced that writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff would adapt the novel for The Kennedy/Marshall Company and Touchstone Pictures. Marco Brambilla was attached to direct the film. In June 2012, it was announced that English director Joe Cornish, following his 2011 debut film Attack the Block, had been signed as director of a future film adaptation for Paramount Pictures. In 2013, Stephenson described Cornish's script as "amazing", but also warned that there was no guarantee that a film would be made. In July 2016, producer Frank Marshall said that filming could start in 2017.
In August 2017, Amazon Studios announced that it was co-producing an hour-long science fiction drama television show based on Snow Crash with Paramount. The television show will be executive produced by Cornish and the Kennedy/Marshall Company's Frank Marshall.
In December 2019, it was announced that HBO Max had acquired the series with Paramount continuing to produce and Cornish remaining executive producer. However, HBO Max passed on the project in June 2021 and it reverted to Paramount and Kennedy/Marshall.
Publication history
First hardback addition.
See also
Neurotheology
Videodrome
Neuromancer
References
Further reading
External links
1992 American novels
1992 science fiction novels
Novels by Neal Stephenson
Fictional cyborgs
Fictional medicines and drugs
Fictional diseases and disorders
Fictional illeists
Postcyberpunk novels
Cyberpunk novels
American science fiction novels
Anarchist fiction
Texts related to the history of the Internet
Novels about computing
Novels about virtual reality
Fictional cults
Novels set in Los Angeles
Religion in science fiction
Novels about the Internet
Malware in fiction
Works about computer hacking |
55202544 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Metronomicon%3A%20Slay%20the%20Dance%20Floor | The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor | {{Infobox video game
| title = The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor
| image =
| director =
| producer =
| designer =
| programmer =
| artist =
| writer =
| composer =
| developer = Puuba
| publisher = Akupara Games
| platforms = Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
| released = Microsoft Windows, macOS September 29, 2016PlayStation 4 August 29, 2017Xbox One August 30, 2017| genre = Rhythm game
}}The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor is a rhythm game developed by American indie studio Puuba. The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor was originally released on September 29, 2016, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, under the name "The Metronomicon". On August 29, 2017, Puuba added new content and released the game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 30, 2017 under the expanded name "The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor".
GameplayThe Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor'' combines elements from rhythm and role-playing genres. During battles, the player hit notes to the beat of the soundtrack while switching between their team of four heroes. Heroes cast spells and activate abilities by completing rhythm sequences in lanes that scroll over their heads while electronic and indie rock tracks play. Monsters appear on the right side of the screen while the music plays, new ones swapping in as others are knocked. Players must swap between tracks on-the-fly in order to heal, cast elemental damage spells and cast buffs and debuffs. Successfully hitting notes allows the player to launch attacks or defenses against different enemies throughout the songs and levels. The re-release (entitled "Slay the Dance Floor") added new playable characters, passive abilities, Endless Mode, and a cooperative option for all modes of the game.
Plot
Treacherous dance parties are appearing all over the planet. Wherever they arrive, dangerous monster congregate to dance, knocking down all in their path. A band of heroes from a specialized Dance Academy must travel around to investigate these parties, defeat the monsters, and discover the source of these musical invasions.
Reception
According to review aggregator website Metacritic, the game scores has 7.9/10, while on Gamerankings it received a total of 81.50%.
References
External links
2016 video games
Multiplayer video games
PlayStation 4 games
Action role-playing video games
Music video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games scored by Grant Henry
Windows games
Xbox One games |
20096416 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate%20Parker | Nate Parker | Nate Parker (born November 18, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in Beyond the Lights, Red Tails, The Secret Life of Bees, The Great Debaters, Arbitrage, Non-Stop, Felon, and Pride. Parker's directorial debut feature film, The Birth of a Nation, in which he also starred, made history at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival when Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the distribution rights for $17.5 million, breaking the record for the most paid for a Sundance Film Festival production, surpassing Little Miss Sunshine, which had been acquired by Searchlight for $10 million ten years earlier. The film was ultimately unsuccessful in wide release and acclaim, after rape allegations against Parker surfaced.
Early life
Parker was born in Norfolk, Virginia, to Carolyn Whitfield, a 17-year-old single mother. Although Parker's mother did not marry his biological father, Parker had a relationship with his father until his father died from cancer when Parker was 11. Parker's mother's first husband gave Parker his surname. After a divorce, Parker's mother then married her second husband, Walter Whitford, who was in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Bath, Maine. Parker has four younger sisters.
At the age of 14, after problems at home with his stepfather, Parker moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia to live with his maternal uncle, Jay Combs. Combs, a former wrestler, encouraged Parker to join the wrestling team at Princess Anne High School. He then attended Churchland High School and continued on their wrestling team, before moving to Great Bridge High School before attending Penn State University on a wrestling scholarship in 1999.
Wrestling
Parker placed third in the Virginia High School League state wrestling championships as a junior while attending Churchland High School. Parker's mother moved to the Great Bridge High School district so Parker could participate in its powerhouse wrestling program. He was a member of the 1997–98 state champion Great Bridge wrestling team and was a state champion wrestler who placed third in the High School National Wrestling Championships, while becoming a high school All-American.
Parker earned a full scholarship to wrestle at Penn State University. At Penn State, Parker was nationally ranked as a freshman.
After transferring to the University of Oklahoma, Parker continued to be ranked as a redshirt junior wrestler. In 2002, Parker placed fifth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association wrestling championships and became an All-American at Oklahoma. Following his fifth-place finish, he was ranked second nationally as a redshirt senior.
Career
Acting
Parker, who was working as a computer programmer, was discovered while attending an event in Dallas with a model friend. Los Angeles talent manager Jon Simmons noticed Parker, had him audition, put himself on tape, and then encouraged Parker to move to Los Angeles where he gradually found work as an actor.
In 2006, Parker played the male lead in Rome & Jewel, a hip-hop take on Romeo and Juliet that got mothballed and re-released in 2008. Parker's title character, who is supposed to be the modern day Romeo, was a Compton youth with both tenderness and toughness. Despite a troubled script, Parker's rap performance earned comparisons to Will Smith from Nathan Lee of The New York Times. In 2007, he had a small role in Pride, about an African American swim team.
In 2007, Parker played the role of Henry Lowe in the Denzel Washington-directed film The Great Debaters. The character was based on the real-life debater Henry Heights, from Wiley College. Parker attended a debate boot camp to make his performance more authentic. He portrayed a multifaceted character. Stephen Holden of The New York Times described Parker's portrayal as having depicted a "handsome, clean-cut youth with a lurking bad-boy streak", while John Clark of the New York Daily News described the role as that of a "silver-tongued orator and ladies' man". Other reviewers also noted the nuances of the character. Parker also performed on the soundtrack. Parker and co-stars Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington were all nominated for the 2008 NAACP Image Awards in the best supporting actor category, which Denzel Washington won. Parker would develop a continuing relationship with Wiley College.
in 2008, Parker performed in a pair of low-budget movies: Felon and Tunnel Rats. Despite these early light roles, Parker's onscreen charisma and general je ne sais quoi showed, earning Parker comparisons to Paul Newman. In Felon, Parker played a rookie guard dealing with inner turmoil. Parker appeared in Tunnel Rats as Private Jim Lidford, a 2008 German-Canadian war suspense film which was based on the factual duties of tunnel rat soldiers during the Vietnam War. The film stars Michael Paré, Brandon Fobbs and Wilson Bethel, and was written and directed by Uwe Boll.
In 2008's The Secret Life of Bees, Parker played the good-hearted love interest of Alicia Keys' character. Parker's character has to deal with the challenges of spurned love. The movie was written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and based on the book of the same name by Sue Monk Kidd.
In the 2010 film Blood Done Sign My Name, which was based on a true story of small-town racial turmoil set against a backdrop of belated segregation in 1970, Parker plays a 22-year-old Benjamin Chavis. Parker's Chavis was a teacher who had been born into an affluent African-American family and would later become the Executive Director of the N.A.A.C.P. A. O. Scott of The New York Times described Parker as "diffident" and his portrayal as "thoughtful, morally serious". Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that events in the film move Parker with both "resolve and rage": Roger Ebert described Parker's Chavis as "energized and angered" in one of the two main storylines of the film that started with Chavis leading an economic boycott after an adverse court verdict. Parker's character was "peripheral" according to The New York Post Kyle Smith and upstaged according to Scott and Ebert. However, Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune noted that Parker's portrayal infused dimension into Chavis, whose cousin's death was the subject of the film. Phillips noted that the role showed that with the right choices Parker had the potential to be a big star in the future.
In 2012, Parker appeared as a World War II squadron commander in Red Tails, a film portraying Tuskegee Airmen. Parker's character drinks to cope with the stress of the fighter pilot lifestyle. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post praised then-unknown actors Parker and David Oyelowo. In the movie, Parker plays Marty "Easy" Julian who commanded the escorts for the World War II bombers in the face of Nazi fighter planes. While Peter Travers of Rolling Stone noted that Parker shined in his role, Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe felt Oyelowo stood out. Although the story is a fictionalization, Bilge Ebiri of New York and Holden note that the relationship between the two is the story's central one. Holden compared Parker's presence to that of Denzel Washington's. In Arbitrage, Parker's talents were underutilized as the son of a chauffeur who gets caught in a murder coverup, according to David Denby of The New Yorker. Nonetheless, Ty Burr of The Boston Globe notes that Parker's portrayal of the Harlem native is the only sympathetic character of the film. Travers notes the role provides Richard Gere's elitist character with his only interactions with a diverse character in the film. Parker's third and final film of 2012 was Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer. Parker played a gang member named Box, whose role was not central to the film progression according to Phillips, although convincingly menacing according to Smith.
In 2013, he had a supporting role in Ain't Them Bodies Saints that Richard Brody of The New Yorker described as being a bar owner who is among an "enticing array of characters". The role was minor according to Scott.
In a 2014 interview with BET during publicity for the film Beyond the Lights that included Parker and director Gina Prince-Bythewood, Parker stated that in order to "preserve the black man" he would not be willing to act in certain character roles. The video was later taken down and is no longer available. In 2014, Parker also stated he would not take roles, such as gay characters, that he considered to be "emasculating".
Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail described Parker's performance as a novelist with writer's block in the 2014 film About Alex as one of the more real performances in the film despite the "wrote" feel to the emotional developments. Mike D'Angelo of The A.V. Club also found the crises and conflicts that Parker's character was involved in to be petty. Parker's independent short film #AmeriCan was nominated in the Outstanding Independent Short category at the Black Reel Awards of 2015 and won.
That same year, Parker reunited with Prince-Blythewood, playing the male lead in her film Beyond the Lights. He was nominated for a 2015 Black Reel Award for Best Actor and an Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. In Parker's role as a police officer moonlighting as a bodyguard, his onscreen chemistry with co-star Gugu Mbatha-Raw was praised by Dana Stevens of Slate. Stevens noted Parker was destined for more substantive performances. The story was hailed as a well-written believable romance with depth by many critics such as Travers and Ebiri, earning an 82% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
In the airplane terrorism mystery film Non-Stop, Parker plays a computer programmer. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times notes that Parker's talents are well-employed in his supporting role. In Every Secret Thing, Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times found Parker and his detective partner Elizabeth Banks to have been overwhelmed in their roles. Travers also found the detectivework to be uncompelling. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter found Parker's performance to have had its moments.
Parker played the role of Slim in the 2015 survival film, Eden. The film was directed by Shyam Madiraju, co-produced by Parker, Jaume Collet-Serra and Shyam Madiraju, and stars Ethan Peck, Jessica Lowndes, Diego Boneta, James Remar and Sung Kang.
Directing
In 2012, Parker directed a short film called #AmeriCAN, which featured La La Anthony and is a thought piece about growing up as a young black person in a racially divided America.
For over seven years, Parker worked on making a film based on the life of Nat Turner. In 2014, he announced that he had funding and was working on assembling his team, and that the film would be called The Birth of a Nation, in an ironic reappropriation of the infamously racist 1915 film of the same name. In addition to writing and directing, Parker cast himself as Turner. Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer and Gabrielle Union were also cast in key roles.
"Birth of a Nation" attracted increased scrutiny due to rumored Oscar nominations, and because the film itself depicts a brutal rape, the 1999 rape allegations against Parker received significant press coverage. Fox Searchlight Pictures, the studio releasing the film, went into damage control mode. Gabrielle Union, a rape victim and one of the main stars of The Birth of a Nation, wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "As important and ground-breaking as this film is, I cannot take these allegations lightly." Parker chose to deflect questions about his past legal problems while doing press for The Birth of a Nation at the Toronto Film Festival. Shortly thereafter, Parker and his handlers chose to cut press interviews short when questions came up about his involvement with the alleged rape and its impact on the marketing of the film.
Parker curated and produced The Birth of a Nation: The Inspired By Album along with Atlantic Records Film & Television President and CEO, Craig Kallman which is the companion album for the movie “Birth of a Nation” released in 2016. The album was inspired by the protagonist of the film as a platform for lyrical content and featured prominent music artists, including Lecrae, Meek Mill, The Game, Ne-Yo, Nas, Gucci Mane, Wale, Pusha T, and Vic mensa.
The sister of Parker's alleged victim said the invention of a rape scene and Parker playing the avenging hero caused her and her family immense pain. To try to defuse the public backlash, Bron Studios hired The Glover Park Group and Don McPherson to give Parker media training and public relations advice. In an October 2016 60 Minutes interview, Parker maintained that he was innocent of the crime and that he did not feel guilty about it, but conceded that, from the perspective of a 36-year-old man, he had done something morally wrong.
In August 2016, Parker was honored with the Sundance Institute's Vanguard Award.
In evaluating the impact of the public's reaction to Parker's alleged 1999 rape of a fellow Penn State student, a film producer told The Hollywood Reporter, about Parker's directing career, "His inability to act like he cared that people invested a whole lot of money in him — sorry. You go into the 'life is too short' category." Noting that the first half of the New York Times review of The Birth of a Nation is taken up with the controversy, this person adds, "No matter what Nate Parker makes, ... this will always be the first paragraph." Other industry insiders note that, "unlike [Mel] Gibson — or Roman Polanski or Woody Allen, both accused of sexual assault (Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse) — Parker is just beginning his directing career and has not built up an acclaimed body of work that might encourage some to say they are willing to separate the artist from the art."
In 2019, Parker wrote, directed, and starred in the film American Skin, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August 2019. Following its release, American Skin has received $4 million over a fortnight and finished in the top 10 on FandangoNow, Google Play, and Spectrum's PVOD rental charts. Becoming one of the highest grossing titles for its distributor, Vertical Entertainment on PVOD. The Venice Film Festival’s Sconfini Section awarded the prize of "Best Film" to American Skin on September 7, 2019, the first film addressing the racial injustice theme to have won in the category.
Parker's next film is Solitary, an American drama film written, directed, and produced by Nate Parker and stars David Oyelowo, Barry Pepper and Jimmie Fails.
Parker directed 10 episodes of Baselines a web series about a family based in Los Angeles intent on protecting their son, Jamiel Chambers, and his basketball dreams from the dangers of inner-city American life.
Public charity
Parker sponsors scholarships for youth between the ages of 17 and 25 at East Texas Wiley College through the 100 Men of Excellence Initiative. Wiley has announced it will host a new film school named The Nate Parker School of Film and Drama.
Parker has been a supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of America as well as a program called Peace4Kids, which is a program for foster youths and underprivileged youth in South Los Angeles, California where kids are involved in daily activities that stimulate and nurture creativity and intellect. Parker has coached a wrestling team of 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds at Rosemead High School and has assisted in coaching wrestling at Rio Hondo College. Inspired by his experience with The Great Debaters, Parker began working with a Brooklyn initiative called Leadership and Literacy through Debate.
Nate Parker Foundation
The Nate Parker Foundation was founded in 2015 and is based in Brooklyn, New York. In 2016, the foundation established the Nate Parker Summer Film Institute at Wiley College which was held yearly to use film as a medium of social transformation with 31 students who are either from Africa or of African descent. The foundation received the first grant to make the HBCU Storytellers Project by the Kellogg Foundation’s Racial Healing and Reconciliation Fund in 2017. The grant covered four short documentaries which address racial issues and stereotypes. The first film series funded by the grant, Just Mercy, has received four NAACP Image awards, Outstanding Ensemble Cast, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and Outstanding Motion Picture. In 2018, the foundation has received funding from the Ford Foundation and private stakeholders.
Controversies
Allegation of rape
In 1999, while a sophomore at Penn State University, Parker and his roommate and wrestling teammate, Jean McGianni Celestin, were accused of raping a female fellow student. The accuser stated that Parker and Celestin raped her while she was intoxicated and unconscious, and that she was unsure of how many people had been involved. She also stated that the two harassed her after she pressed charges, and that they hired a private investigator who showed her picture around campus, revealing her identity, which Parker and Celestin denied. Parker and Celestin were charged with rape soon after the incident. Celestin was found to be guilty while Parker was acquitted. Celestin, who shares a story credit on The Birth of a Nation, was convicted of sexual assault and received a six-month to one-year prison sentence in 2001, later raised to two to four years per state sentencing guidelines. His conviction would be later overturned on appeal by a high court.
Parker's accuser later filed a complaint against the university for failing to protect her from harassment, which was settled with Penn State for $17,500. In 2012, the accuser died from suicide.
Parker was initially suspended from Penn State's wrestling team, before being reinstated in 2000 while facing trial. Within weeks a female student worker accused him of exposing himself to her. The student did not go to the police and Penn State dropped the matter. After the trial, Parker transferred to and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2002, where he was on the wrestling team and received a degree in management science and information systems.
Personal life
In August 2007, Parker married Sarah DiSanto, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, whom he met while they were attending Penn State. They were married in Erie's Frontier Park. The couple have three daughters in addition to two more daughters Parker had from previous relationships.
Parker has said that he considers himself a Christian, and that he grew up in the church. According to a DNA analysis, some of Parker's ancestry is from the Tikar people of modern-day Cameroon.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
Published works
Nate Parker is the author of the book Birth of a Nation: Nat Turner and the Making of a Movement in which he writes about the resistance against oppression. The first half of his book is about Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in the 19th century, and the other half explores the historical context of his rebellion and how it is relevant to modern events and discourse. The book was later adapted into a motion picture, The Birth of a Nation, which was also the directorial debut of Nate Parker.
References
External links
Nate Parker Foundation
1979 births
21st-century American male actors
African-American Christians
African-American male actors
American computer programmers
American film producers
American male film actors
Screenwriters from Virginia
American male sport wrestlers
American people of Cameroonian descent
Film directors from Virginia
Living people
Male actors from Virginia
Pennsylvania State University alumni
People acquitted of rape
Actors from Norfolk, Virginia
University of Oklahoma alumni
Writers from Norfolk, Virginia
21st-century African-American male singers |
81730 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoptolemus | Neoptolemus | Neoptolemus (; ), also called Pyrrhus (; , for his red hair), was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia, and brother of Oneiros in Greek mythology, and also the mythical progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Epirus.
In Cypria, Achilles sails to Scyros after a failed expedition to Troy, marries princess Deidamia and has Neoptolemus, until Achilles is called to arms again. In a non-Homeric version of the story, Achilles' mother Thetis foretold many years before Achilles' birth that there would be a great war. She saw that her only son was to die if he fought in the war. She sought a place for him to avoid fighting in the Trojan War, disguising him as a woman in the court of Lycomedes, the king of Scyros. During that time, he had an affair with the princess, Deidamea, who then gave birth to Neoptolemos. Neoptolemos was originally called Pyrrhos, because his father had taken Pyrrha, the female version of that name, while disguised as a woman.
The Greeks captured the Trojan seer, Helenus, and forced him to tell them under what conditions they could take Troy. Helenos revealed to them that they could defeat Troy if they could acquire the poisonous arrows of Heracles (then in Philoctetes' possession); steal the Palladium (which led to the building of the famous wooden horse of Troy); and put Achilles' son in the war.
In response to the prophecy, the Greeks took steps to retrieve the arrows of Heracles and bring Neoptolemos to Troy. Odysseus was sent to retrieve Neoptolemos, then a mere teenager, from Scyros. The two then went to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes. Years earlier, on the way to Troy, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake on Chryse Island. Agamemnon had advised that he be left behind because the wound was festering and smelled bad. This retrieval is the plot of Philoctetes, a play by Sophocles. Euripides, in his play Hekabe (also known as Hecuba), has a moving scene (ll 566–575) which shows Neoptolemos as a compassionate young man who kills Polyxena, Hekabe's daughter with ambivalent feelings and in the least painful way.
Neoptolemos was held by some to be brutal. He killed six men on the field of battle. During and after the war, he killed Priam, Eurypylus, Polyxena, Polites and Astyanax (Hector and Andromache's infant son) among others, captured Helenos, and made Andromache, then a widow, his concubine. The ghost of Achilles appeared to the survivors of the war, demanding Polyxena, the Trojan princess, be sacrificed before anybody could leave. Neoptolemos did so. With Andromache, Helenos and Phoenix, Neoptolemos sailed to the Epirot Islands and then became the King of Epirus. With the enslaved Andromache, Neoptolemos was the father of Molossos and through him, according to the myth, an ancestor of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. According to Hyginus, his son with Andromache was Amphialos:
[123] CXXIII. NEOPTOLEMUS
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, begat Amphialus by captive Andromache, daughter of Ēëtion. But after he heard that Hermione his betrothed had been given to Orestes in marriage, he went to Lacedaemon and demanded her from Menelaus. Menelaus did not wish to go back on his word, and took Hermione from Orestes and gave her to Neoptolemus. Orestes, thus insulted, slew Neoptolemus as he was sacrificing to Delphi, and recovered Hermione. The bones of Neoptolemus were scattered through the land of Ambracia, which is in the district of Epirus.
Although Neoptolemus is often depicted thus, the play Philoctetes by Sophocles shows him being a much kinder man, who honours his promises and shows remorse when he is made to trick Philoctetes.
Two accounts deal with Neoptolemos' death. He was either killed after he attempted to take Hermione from Orestes as her father Menelaus promised, or after he denounced Apollo, the murderer of his father. In the first case, he was killed by Orestes. In the second, revenge was taken by the Delphic priests of Apollo.
After his death his kingdom was portioned out and Helenos (who later married Andromache) took part of it. "Helenus, a son of Priam, was king over these Greek cities of Epirus, having succeeded to the throne and bed of Pyrrhus..."
Neoptolemus or Pyrrhus in art and literature
Neoptolemus is one of the main characters in Philoctetes, a tragedy by Sophocles.
Andromache, a tragedy by Euripides. Neoptolemus does not appear on stage but his death at Delphi is described
Apollodorus' Library, in Book 3 and in the Epitome 5.10-12, 5.21, 5.24
The Aeneid by Virgil
Trojan Women by Seneca
The Posthomerica, an epic poem by Quintus of Smyrna
In Confessio Amantis Book 4 line 2161ff he is the slayer of the Amazon Penthesilea
The Tragedy of Dido by Christopher Marlowe
Pyrrhus features in the player's speech in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) where his killing of Priam is described
The Second Part of the Iron Age, the final play in the Ages series by Thomas Heywood
Pyrrhus is a leading character in Andromaque (1667), a play by Jean Racine
Andromaque (1780), an opera by Grétry based on Racine's play
Ermione (1819), an opera by Gioachino Rossini based on Racine's play
An Arrow's Flight, a novel by Mark Merlis (1998)
The Song of Achilles, a novel by Madeline Miller (2011)
The Song of Troy, a novel written by Colleen McCullough (1998)
The Silence of the Girls, a novel written by Pat Barker (2018)
The Golden Prince, a novel written by Ken Catran (1999)
Mentioned briefly in Euripides' plays Trojan Women and Hecuba, simply stating that Andromache, wife of Hector, was his promised spear bride.
References
External links
Achaean Leaders
Characters in the Aeneid
Ancient Epirotes
Skyros
Greek regicides |
32323621 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government%20Polytechnic%2C%20Nagpur | Government Polytechnic, Nagpur | The Government Polytechnic, Nagpur is an autonomous educational institution of the government of Maharashtra, a state in Western India.
History
It was founded on 14 July 1914 as the Government Engineering School. At its commencement the school had 16 students on roll and was located in the Victoria Science College (now the Institute of Science) in Nagpur. During its first year the school provided courses in Civil Engineering & Mechanical Engineering up to diploma standard. Later in 1915 Automobile Engineering Course was also established which vias subsequently converted into Post Diploma in Automobile Engineering. The institution has given birth to Engineering College presently known as Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur(VNIT). The school was expanding rapidly & from 16 students enrolled in 1914 increased to nearly 2000 in current year and Govt. Engineering School converted to Government Polytechnic, Nagpur.
Campus
The total intake capacity of all these programmes is 890 students. The premises of this institute is spread over 22 acres of land. Accommodation for 180 boys, 54 girls & 20 trainees is also available in the campus.
Academics
Government Polytechnic Nagpur has various academic departments, with specialized laboratories and research centers.
Departments
Applied Chemistry
Applied Mathematics
Applied Physics
Applied Mechanics
Humanities & Social Science
Civil Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Mechatronics Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
Computer Technology
Information Technology
Packaging Technology
Metallurgical Engineering
Textile Manufacturer
Mine & Mine Surveying
Automobile Engineering
Travel & Tourism
Courses
The institute is selected by Govt. of Maharashtra as a training provider in Information Technology to various institutions. Presently the institute is providing training to staff & students of Institute of Science, Nagpur & I.T.I in the region, Govt. Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Nagpur in addition to the institute.
Government of Maharashtra awarded academic autonomy to this institute in the year 1995.
The institute is conducting certificate courses of 3 months, 6 months, one-year duration in Information Technology & other advanced technology areas for 10th, 12th, graduate students.
The World Bank Assisted Project was implemented at this institute from 1992 to 1995 for improvement of quality of technician education. Canada-India Institute Industry Linkage Project was implemented in the institute from 2000-2004.
Awards
The institute was awarded World Bank assisted Technical Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP) through competitive bidding and received ₨2.55 crores. This fund was utilised for academic excellence, Networking of institutes and services to community and economic development.
This institute received ISTE Narsee Monjee award for overall Best Performance in the year 1996 and Best Polytechnic award of Government of Maharashtra in the year 1997.
Courses Offered
All the above courses are of 3 years duration.
References
External links
Official Website
Engineering colleges in Nagpur
Educational institutions established in 1914
1914 establishments in India |
41982580 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant%20Marsh | Grant Marsh | Grant Prince Marsh (May 11, 1834 – January 1916) was a riverboat pilot and captain who was noted for his many piloting exploits on the upper Missouri River and the Yellowstone River in Montana from 1862 until 1882. He served on more than 22 vessels in his long career. He started his career in 1856 as a cabin boy and continued his career for over 60 years becoming a captain, riverboat pilot and riverboat owner. During his career he amassed an outstanding record and reputation as a river steamboat pilot and captain. His piloting exploits became legendary and modern historians refer to him as "Possibly the greatest steamboat man ever", "possibly the greatest [steamboat pilot] ever", "possibly the finest riverboat pilot who ever lived", "the greatest steamboat master and pilot on both the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers"
After the discovery of gold in Montana Territory in the early 1860s, the Missouri River was the major artery for freight and passengers to go from "the states" to Fort Benton, the head of navigation in the territory. The last 300 miles ran through the unsettled prairie and the remote Missouri breaks. As a riverboat pilot on the upper Missouri River Marsh contended with migrating buffalo herds, hostile Indians, and violent windstorms, along with underwater hazards from rapids, snags and sandbars.
In the 1860s and 1870s The Yellowstone River, a tributary of the Missouri in the Montana Territory, penetrated deeply into an area dominated by the Sioux, Cheyenne and Crow tribes. From 1873 to 1879 Marsh piloted shallow draft paddle wheel riverboats making pioneer voyages up the Yellowstone River in Montana, in support of several military expeditions into Indian country. In 1875, he made the highest upriver ascent of the Yellowstone River in the Josephine arriving at a point just above present day Billings Montana.
Grant Marsh is most often referenced by historians for his exploit in 1876 as the pilot of the Far West, a shallow draft steamboat operating on the Yellowstone River and its tributaries, which was accompanying a U.S. Army column that included Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry. The army column was part of the Great Sioux War of 1876, and its most noted battle was the Battle of the Little Bighorn, often known as "Custer's Last Stand" on June 25–26, 1876. After the battle, from June 30 to July 3, 1876 Grant Marsh piloted the Far West down the Yellowstone and the Missouri Rivers to Bismarck, carrying fifty-one wounded cavalry troopers from the site of the defeat of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He brought the first news of the "Custer Massacre" which was disseminated to the nation via telegraph from Bismarck. Most noteworthy in riverboat lore, Grant Marsh set a downriver steamboat record, traversing some 710 river miles in 54 hours.
After railroads brought about the decline of riverboats on Montana rivers in the 1880s, Marsh continued to work as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi and the lower Missouri working on ferries, snag boats, and hauling bulk loads. He remained a steamboatman until his death in 1916 at the age of 82.
Early years
Grant Marsh began work on the Allegheny River as a cabin boy at the age of 12. He became a first mate and student pilot under Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) on the Mississippi in 1858. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he worked on riverboats hauling troops and supplies for the Union during the Fort Donalson and Shiloh campaigns on the Tennessee River. In 1862, he worked on the Mississippi in the Vicksburg campaign. After Vicksburg, in 1862 he began to work on boats traveling up the Missouri River, hauling army supplies and troops in campaigns against hostile Indians in the Dakota Territory.
Upper Missouri and Yellowstone years
After the gold discoveries in western Montana in 1862, steamboats began to carry passengers and freight to the "upper Missouri" River terminus at Fort Benton, Montana. The trip from St. Louis to Fort Benton took 60 days or longer. Freight and passenger rates were high, and steamboat traffic was very lucrative—a single successful trip could pay the entire cost of a shallow draft stern wheeler riverboat.
There were rapids located in the last 300 river miles which traversed the remote "Missouri breaks" area. Steamboats would leave St. Louis early in the spring and try to get above the rapids on the spring rise in mid to late June. They would then try to get back downstream over the rapids before failing water levels made them more dangerous. A boat that stayed too late risked the rapids in low water, and also becoming ice bound.
Grant Marsh was a major figure in upper Missouri River steamboat navigation from the days of the early Montana gold discoveries in 1862 until 1888. Grant Marsh was so confident in his piloting skills that he would operate on the upper Missouri late in the season, running the rapids in low water. In 1866 he became Captain of the Louella at the age of 34. He brought the Louella to Fort Benton, but then stayed until September, embarking with a load of miners who were catching the last boat of the summer and who had $1,250,000 in gold, the most valuable shipment ever carried on the Missouri.
In 1868, Grant Marsh took the Nile up river during the fall and wintered the boat and successfully returned downriver in the spring, undamaged. In late 1869 he took the North Alabama upstream loaded with vegetables, despite the risk of being ice bound, going all the way to the mouth of the Yellowstone River to deliver the fresh provisions to Fort Buford.
Grant Marsh met the special challenges that faced a pilot/captain of riverboat on the upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Grant Marsh encountered Indians that shot at his boat. He was delayed while buffalo herds crossed the river. He winched his way up rapids with a current so strong that he had to attach a rope to an upstream tree or a "deadman" planted in the bank. He learned to "grasshopper" his way over sandbars in low water. In this process, the boat sank spars down to the river bottom from the prow of the boat. A steam driven winch and a rope harness over the top of the spar was used to hitch the front of the boat up on the spars and then to slide the boat forward for a few feet of progress. The process was repeated until the sand bar was crossed.
Coulson Packet Company
In 1871, Captain Marsh went into business with Commodore Sanford B. Coulson, his two brothers, and other noteworthy businessmen, and formed the Coulson Packet Company, which soon became famous in the Missouri River's history. Their objective was to establish a company that would have complete domain over the steamboat business on the upper Missouri River. The boats originally owned by this powerful syndicate were the Far West, Nellie Peck, Western, Key West, E. H. Durfee, Sioux City and Mary McDonald.
The upstarting company soon established a reputation for reliability, in moving freight and in commanding men. During the 1870s they did military contract work, hauling supplies to posts along the Missouri River and ferrying army explorers and survey parties up the Yellowstone River. Assisting in military expeditions, Grant Marsh made pioneer voyages on the Yellowstone such as the highest ascent of the Yellowstone (to just above present day Billings, Montana) in the shallow draft stern wheel boat Josephine in 1875.
Piloting the Far West
Grant Marsh is most commonly remembered in history as the steamboat pilot/captain of the Far West, who on July 3, 1876, brought the first news to Bismarck of the "Custer Massacre" that had occurred on the Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory on June 25, 1876. On the Far West were fifty wounded troopers from the battle. In an epic feat of riverboat piloting Marsh brought the Far West from the mouth of the Little Bighorn River down the Bighorn to the Yellowstone River, then to the Missouri, and then down to Bismarck. He made the run from the mouth of the Bighorn to Bismarck over a period of 4 days, from June 30 to July 3, 1876. Rarely leaving the wheel, he traversed some 710 river miles in 54 hours setting a record for steamboat travel that still stands.
Far West & Nellie Peck 2800 mile race
Similar in design to the steamboat Far West, the Nellie Peck was also a sternwheel packet, built in 1871 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and whose construction was supervised by Captain Marsh. That year Nellie Peck made her first journey up the Missouri River to Fort Benton, Montana. She made 13 more trips there during her career.
Later career
After 1876, Marsh continued to work on the Missouri River. Late in 1877, he left the Coulson Packet Co., and in the spring of 1878, signed on with Joseph Leighton and Walter B. Jordan, who were Indian traders at Fort Buford, North Dakota Territory. The traders wanted to get into the transport business, and they had purchased a steamboat that was being constructed in the Pittsburgh boat yards, the F.Y. Batchelor. Grant traveled to Pittsburgh and brought the boat to the Dakota Territory. In 1878, 1879, 1880 and 1881 Grant piloted the F.Y. Batchelor up the Missouri and then up the Yellowstone bringing supplies to Fort Keogh (near present-day Miles City, Montana) and Fort. Custer (near present-day Hardin, Montana).
In August 1878 Grant set another steamboat speed record, when he piloted the Batchelor from Bismarck to Fort Buford, a distance of 307 miles in 55 hours and 25 minutes. This established a new speed record for upstream steamboat travel on the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.
In 1879, Marsh purchased a ferry boat, the Andrew S. Bennett, which was in service between Bismarck and Mandan on the Missouri River. Marsh hired a pilot to operate the ferry, while he continued to pilot the F.Y. Batchelor on the Missouri and Yellowstone River.
In 1881 and 1882, the Northern Pacific Railroad built west from Bismarck, Dakota Territory, to the Yellowstone River valley, and then up the valley and over the continental divide. This ended riverboat traffic on the Yellowstone River.
In 1882 Marsh purchased his own riverboat, the W.J. Behan and continued to haul freight and passengers on the Missouri River out of Bismarck. In 1882 the Sioux Chief Sitting Bull returned from Canada where he had sought refuge in 1877 following the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He surrendered to the Army at Fort Randal with his remaining followers. In late April 1883, Marsh accepted an assignment to take the W.J. Behan up the Missouri to Fort Randal and transport Sitting Bull downstream to the Standing Rock Reservation.
In 1883 as Missouri steamboat traffic declined with the expansion of railroad lines through the Dakota Territory and into the Montana Territory, Marsh sold the W.J. Behan and moved from Bismarck to Memphis, Tennessee and then to St. Louis. There were still opportunities for a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, and Marsh continued to work. For the next dozen years, he operated ferry boats and tug boats on the Mississippi, and following this he did a variety of jobs.
In 1901, William D. Washburn, a business man had built a railroad to the Missouri River above Bismarck, and bought a large tract of land in the area, which was rapidly being settled. Washburn also bought several small light-draft steamboats and barges to haul lumber and merchandise upriver from Bismarck to the settlers, and to bring down grain and other produce. Washburn sought out Marsh in St. Louis and importuned him to return to Bismarck enter his employ as a riverboat captain, and In 1902 Marsh returned to Bismarck and to his career on the upper Missouri River in command of the River snag-boat Choctaw.
In 1904 Washburn sold out his interests in Dakota to the Minneapolis and St. Paul Railroad, who immediately sold all the steamboats and barges to Isaac P. Baker who reorganized as the Benton Packet Company. The Missouri River valley was filling with Homesteaders who were taking up land on both the east and west banks of the river. These new communities were not served by any railroad and Baker saw an opportunity to provide passenger and freight transport to this growing population extending along both banks of the Missouri River. Baker enlarged the company to include five steamboats, six barges and two ferryboats.
Marsh continued with the Benton Packet Company, serving at one time or another as captain/pilot of each of the five steamboats. He also operated a "snag" boat which traveled up and down the river, removing sunken "snag" trees and other underwater obstacles.
In 1907 Mash resigned his position with Benton Co. On August 23, he went aboard his former boat, the Expansion, and confronted the pilot, William R. Massie, who he felt was being abusive. Massie subsequently charged Marsh with assault, and at a hearing before the Department of Commerce and Labor on December 6, 1907, Marsh's license was revoked.
Death and burial
On January 6, 1916 Grant Marsh died in Bismarck, North Dakota. He was reported to have "died in near poverty", as Issac P. Baker, his manager at the Benton Packet Co. laid claim to much of his estate because of unpaid bills. Marsh asked to be buried on Wagon Wheel Bluff overlooking the Missouri, but he was buried in a simple grave in Bismarck's St. Mary's Cemetery. It is one of the higher spots in Bismarck and view of the Missouri is not bad at all. A large rock serves as his tombstone. The rock is engraved with an image of a riverboat.
Memorials
Grant Marsh is remembered by statues and place names.
The I-94 Grant Marsh Bridge over the Missouri River at Bismarck, North Dakota was constructed in 1965 as part of the I-94 highway project, and it was rebuilt in 2001.
There is a life size statue of Capt. Grant Pierce Marsh, overlooking the Missouri River at Riverside Park in Yankton, S.D. The inscription reads, "Captain Grant Prince Marsh, 1834-1916, Steamboat captain, Pilot and Riverman. 'He never flinched at the call of duty'. Sculpted by Frank Yaggie 1989."
The Grant Marsh fishing access and wild life management area is on the Bighorn River, 7 miles north of Hardin, Montana.
The (now abandoned) railroad station and (ghost) town of Marsh in Dawson County, Montana was on the Northern Pacific Railroad, midway between Terry, Montana and Glendive, Montana
A Liberty Ship, built in 1943 during World War II, was initially named for Grant P. Marsh at the start of ship construction, but the ship was completed as the Valery Chkalov and given as part of a loan to the USSR.
See also
Paddle steamer
Great Sioux War of 1876
Battle of the Little Bighorn
Joseph LaBarge — Famous riverboat captain on the Missouri River, whose brother, John, once partnered with Captain Marsh
References
Sources
External links
Riverboat Dave's web site, listing all riverboat captains by alphabetical order, including Grant P. Marsh, listing each boat by year that each captain commanded, and adding comments on highlights of their various careers.
Wyoming Trails and Tails, Little Big Horn Page, comment on Grant P. Marsh’s role, as captain/pilot of the Far West in supporting column of soldiers on the Yellowstone in 1876, during the Great Sioux War of 1876, and in bringing wounded from the Little Bighorn Battlefield downriver to Bismarck, North Dakota.
Montana Fish Game and Wildlife Department page describing the Grant P. Marsh Fishing Access on the Bighorn River, and Montana Fish and Wildlife Department page describing the Grant P. Marsh Wildlife management site on the Bighorn River.
A Mark Twain web site, this page contains quotes from Marsh and Twain about each other.
Yellowstone Genealogy Forum, this site has a letter from Marsh dated 1907 to President Theodore Roosevelt, opposing the building of an irrigation diversion dam because it would prevent future steamboat traffic on the Yellowstone River.
Missouri National Recreational River site, a division of the National Park Service, this page has a biography of Grant Marsh.
Historical Fort Benton, this page has biographical facts about Grant Marsh, listing the riverboats he commanded, year by year, with a commentary.
Reprint of a August 16, 1943 TIME magazine critique of "The Conquest of the Missouri" by Joseph Mills Hanson, on the occasion of its reissuance.
Missouri River
Steamboats of the Missouri River
Paddle steamers of the United States
History of North Dakota
History of Montana |
31933239 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batteries%20Included%20%28company%29 | Batteries Included (company) | Batteries Included was a computer software and hardware company based in the Toronto area. It developed products for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. The company was best known in the 1980s for its popular PaperClip word processor, which was available for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64. Batteries Included was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1987.
History
Batteries Included was founded by siblings Alan Krofchick, Robbie Krofchick and Marcie Swartz in 1978 as a calculator and personal computer retail store. The hand-held electronic devices they sold were always advertised as "batteries not included," so they included the batteries for free and named themselves Batteries Included. The company began to develop its own computer software and hardware and became a multimillion-dollar multi-faceted company, charging its way into the international computer software and accessory market. Michael Reichmann joined the company in its early years and eventually became its president in the mid-1980s.
The company's first retail location was established at Village by the Grange, (109 McCaul St, Toronto, ON). Head offices were later re-located to 30 Mural Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The company also had a satellite office in California. At its peak, BI employed over 60 people.
Batteries Included was purchased by Electronic Arts in 1987, which cancelled most of its upcoming projects but continued to market products under the Batteries Included name.
Products
PaperClip
PaperClip, the company's flagship product, was first released for the Commodore PET in 1982, and later for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family systems. The word processor was developed by Steve Douglas who formed a relationship with Batteries Included owners Robbie and Alan Krofchick through the retail store. PaperClip became one of the highest selling home management programs, reaching No. 1 on "Billboard's Top Computer Software" chart and spending over 70 weeks on the charts.
In 1986, Batteries Included released PaperClip II for the Commodore 128.
PaperClip III was released by Electronic Arts in 1987, following its acquisition of Batteries Included. Later Gold Disk released desktop publishing application PaperClip Publisher.
HomePak
In 1984, Batteries Included released the integrated software suite HomePak, combining word-processor, database and communications modules into one application.
Product listing
PaperClip – word processor
PaperClip II – word processor
Delphi's Oracle (later The Consultant) – database
Bus Card – IEEE interface card
Bus Card II – IEEE interface card
HomePak – office suite
B.I.-80 80-column display card (for C64 only)
I*S Talk - a full-featured GEM-based telecommunications program
Isgur Portfolio System - an investment management program
BTS The Spreadsheet - spreadsheet program
TimeLink - an electronic diary program for planning and record-keeping
I*S Time and Billing - a professional office administration program
B/GRAPH Elite - a graphics/charting and statistical analysis package
For the Atari ST:
DEGAS – bitmap painting application
DEGAS Elite
Thunder! The writer's Assistant - spellchecker
References
Companies based in Richmond Hill, Ontario
Defunct software companies of Canada
Electronic Arts |
2443907 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department%20of%20Computer%20Science%2C%20University%20of%20Oxford | Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford | The Department of Computer Science is the computer science department of the University of Oxford, England, which is part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. It was founded in 1957 as the Computing Laboratory. By 2014 the staff count was 52 members of academic staff and over 80 research staff. The 2019, 2020 and 2021 Times World University Subject Rankings places Oxford University 1st in the world for Computer Science. Oxford University is also the top university for computer science in the UK and Europe according to Business Insider. The 2020 QS University Subject Rankings places The University of Oxford 5th in the world (with the University of Cambridge placing 6th) for Computer Science.
Teaching
From its foundation the department taught undergraduates reading for mathematics and engineering degrees, but in 1985 the department's first undergraduate course was established, in 'Mathematics and Computation', followed in 1994 by the 'Computation' course. Initially these two courses had a common first year. 'Computer Science' replaced 'Computation' in the title of both courses for students starting their studies in 2000. Between 1987 and 2006 students started studies on a four-year (undergraduate) MEng in Engineering and Computing Science (now discontinued). In October 2012 the first students of the 'Computer Science and Philosophy' started. Today students on all three undergraduate courses - 'Computer Science', 'Maths & Computer Science' and 'Computer Science & Philosophy' - have the choice between a 3-year BA or a 4-year 'undergraduate masters'. Sixty students began one of the three undergraduate courses in October 2013.
There are two full-time taught postgraduate courses: the MSc in Computer Science (approx 50 students total) and the MSc in Mathematics and the Foundations of Computer Science (MFoCS) (approx 15 students total).
The department also offers the part-time Software Engineering Programme, a modular course for industry professionals, leading to either the MSc in Software Engineering (approx 240 students at present) or the M.Sc. in Software and Systems Security (approx 45 students at present).
Research
The department is home to around 145 academic and research staff. The department's doctoral programme has over 140 research students (studying for a D.Phil. – the Oxford term for a PhD) working across a wide range of subjects in computer science and software engineering.
After fifty years within the department, the Numerical Analysis group moved in 2009 to be part of the university's Mathematical Institute. Today the department's research is classified into ten broad themes:
Algorithms and Complexity Theory
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Automated Verification
Computational Biology and Health Informatics
Cyber Physical Systems
Foundations, Structures, and Quantum
Human-Centred Computing
Information Systems
Programming Languages
Security
Notable faculty
the department employs 36 Professors.
Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Computing
Samson Abramsky, Christopher Strachey Professor of Computing
Tim Berners-Lee, Professor of Computer Science
Richard Bird, Emeritus Professor
Luca Cardelli, Royal Society Research Professor
Bob Coecke, Professor of Quantum Foundations, Logics and Structures
Nando de Freitas, Professor of Computer Science
David Gavaghan, Professor of Computational Biology
Jeremy Gibbons, Professor of Computing
Leslie Ann Goldberg, Professor of Computer Science
Georg Gottlob, Professor of Informatics
Tony Hoare, Emeritus Professor
Ian Horrocks, Professor of Computer Science
Daniel Kroening, Professor of Computer Science
Marta Kwiatkowska, Professor of Computing Systems
Gavin Lowe, Professor of Computer Science
Bill Roscoe, Professor of Computing Science
Michael Wooldridge (computer scientist), Professor of Computer Science
Marina Jirotka, Professor of Human Centred Computing
History
Starting in 1952, mathematician Charles Coulson sought funding for Oxford to own its own computer. At this time university members had to hire computer time from elsewhere. In 1956 the University Grants Committee decided to fund the purchase of a Ferranti Mercury and the Oxford University Computing Laboratory was born (shortened OUCL or Comlab). As well as facilitating research elsewhere in the university, the new department had its own academic function, performing research in numerical analysis, and lecturing for mathematics and engineering students. The first director, Leslie Fox, was appointed in 1957 and the following year the department moved into its first home, 9 South Parks Road. In 1963 the department moved to 19 Parks Road. The Computing Services (From 2012 part of IT Services) was administratively split from the academic department in 1969, although complete independence was only gained in 1978.
Complementing the Numerical Analysis Group, the Programming Research Group was set up in 1966 at 45 Banbury Road under the leadership of Christopher Strachey with the aim "to bring some coherence into the present ad hoc nature of programming and software". These two groups operated mostly separately until 1984 when both of the laboratory's research groups moved into 8–11 Keble Road, opposite Keble College. However the laboratory soon outgrew this space, and occupied space in 2 South Parks Road, until in 1993 the Wolfson Building opened behind the Victorian 8–11 Keble Road houses. The neighbouring houses at 5–7 Keble Road and a new "e-Science building" behind these provided additional space upon opening in 2007. However this space is not sufficient, and the department has additional space within the Thom Building and the Robert Hooke building. As of 2014, the department is hoping to obtain funding for a new building large enough to bring together all its activities.
From 2003 to 2014, the department was led by Bill Roscoe, who oversaw the 2011 renaming from the Oxford University Computing Laboratory to the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford. The current head is Michael Wooldridge.
See also
Past and present members of the Department
Oxford University Computing Services
Programming Research Group
References
External links
1957 establishments in England
Educational institutions established in 1957
Computer Science
Oxford University, Department of Computer Science
Oxford University |
5337318 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IT%20portfolio%20management | IT portfolio management | IT portfolio management is the application of systematic management to the investments, projects and activities of enterprise Information Technology (IT) departments. Examples of IT portfolios would be planned initiatives, projects, and ongoing IT services (such as application support). The promise of IT portfolio management is the quantification of previously informal IT efforts, enabling measurement and objective evaluation of investment scenarios.
Overview
Debates exist on the best way to measure value of IT investment. As pointed out by Jeffery and Leliveld, companies have spent billions of dollars on IT investments and yet the headlines of mis-spent money are not uncommon. Nicholas Carr (2003) has caused significant controversy in IT industry and academia by positioning IT as an expense similar to utilities such as electricity.
IT portfolio management started with a project-centric bias, but is evolving to include steady-state portfolio entries such as infrastructure and application maintenance. IT budgets tend not to track these efforts at a sufficient level of granularity for effective financial tracking.
The concept is analogous to financial portfolio management, but there are significant differences. Financial portfolio assets typically have consistent measurement information (enabling accurate and objective comparisons), and this is at the base of the concept’s usefulness in application to IT. However, achieving such universality of measurement is going to take considerable effort in the IT industry (see, for example, Val IT). IT investments are not liquid, like stocks and bonds (although investment portfolios may also include illiquid assets), and are measured using both financial and non-financial yardsticks (for example, a balanced scorecard approach); a purely financial view is not sufficient. Finally, assets in an IT portfolio have a functional relationship to the organization, such as an inventory management system for logistics or a human resources system for tracking employees' time. This is analogous to a vertically integrated company which may own an oil field, a refinery, and retail gas stations.
IT portfolio management is distinct from IT financial management in that it has an explicitly directive, strategic goal in determining what to continue investing in versus what to divest from.
At its most mature, IT portfolio management is accomplished through the creation of three portfolios:
Application Portfolio - Management of this portfolio focuses on comparing spending on established systems based upon their relative value to the organization. The comparison can be based upon the level of contribution in terms of IT investment’s profitability. Additionally, this comparison can also be based upon the non-tangible factors such as organizations’ level of experience with a certain technology, users’ familiarity with the applications and infrastructure, and external forces such as emergence of new technologies and obsolescence of old ones.
Infrastructure Portfolio - For an organization's information technology, infrastructure management (IM) is the management of essential operation components, such as policies, processes, equipment, data, human resources, and external contacts, for overall effectiveness. Infrastructure management is sometimes divided into categories of systems management, network management, and storage management. The ability of organizations to exploit IT infrastructure, operations and management sourcing/service solutions not only depends on the availability, cost and effectiveness of applications and services, but also with coming to terms with solution providers, and managing the entire sourcing process. In the rush to reduce costs, increase IT quality and increase competitiveness by way of selective IT sourcing and services, many organizations do not consider the management side of the equation. The predictable result of this neglect is overpayment, cost overruns, unmet expectations and outright failure.
Project Portfolio - This type of portfolio management specially addresses the issues with spending on the development of innovative capabilities in terms of potential ROI, reducing investment overlaps in situations where reorganization or acquisition occurs, or complying with legal or regulatory mandates. The management issues with project-oriented portfolio management can be judged by criteria such as ROI, strategic alignment, data cleanliness, maintenance savings, suitability of resulting solution and the relative value of new investments to replace these projects.
Information Technology portfolio management as a systematic discipline is more applicable to larger IT organizations; in smaller organizations its concerns might be generalized into IT planning and governance as a whole.
Benefits of using IT portfolio management
Jeffery and Leliveld (2004) have listed several benefits of applying IT portfolio management approach for IT investments. They argue that agility of portfolio management is its biggest advantage over investment approaches and methods. Other benefits include central oversight of budget, risk management, strategic alignment of IT investments, demand and investment management along with standardization of investment procedure, rules and plans.
Implementing IT portfolio management
Jeffery and Leliveld (2004) have pointed out a number of hurdles and success factors that CIOs might face while attempting to implement IT portfolio management approach. To overcome these hurdles, simple methods such as proposed by Pisello (2001) can be used.
-Plan-
- -
- -
build retire
- -
- -
Maintain
Other implementation methods include (1) risk profile analysis (figure out what needs to be measured and what risks are associated with it), (2) Decide on the Diversification of projects, infrastructure and technologies (it is an important tool that IT portfolio management provides to judge the level of investments on the basis of how investments should be made in various elements of the portfolio), (3) Continuous Alignment with business goals (highest levels of organizations should have a buy-in in the portfolio) and (4) Continuous Improvement (lessons learned and investment adjustments).
Developing and evolving IT portfolio governance and organization
Assessing IT portfolio management process execution
There is no single best way to implement IT portfolio approach and therefore variety of approaches can applied. Obviously the methods are not set in stone and will need altering depending upon the individual circumstances of different organizations.
IT portfolio management vs. balanced scorecard
The biggest advantage of IT portfolio management is the agility of the investment adjustments. While balanced scorecards also emphasize the use of vision and strategy in any investment decision, oversight and control of operation budgets is not the goal. IT portfolio management allows organizations to adjust the investments based upon the feedback mechanism built into the IT portfolio management.
History
The first mention of the portfolio concept as related to IT was from Richard Nolan in 1973: "investments in developing computer applications can be thought of as a portfolio of computer applications."
Further mention is found in Gibson and Nolan's Managing the Four Stages of EDP Growth in 1973. Gibson and Nolan proposed that IT advances in observable stages driven by four "growth processes" of which the Applications Portfolio was key. Their concepts were operationalized at Nolan, Norton & Co. with measures of application coverage of business functions, applications functional and technical qualities, applications age and spending.
McFarlan proposed a different portfolio management approach to IT assets and investments. Further contributions have been made by Weill and Broadbent, Aitken, Kaplan, and Benson, Bugnitz, and Walton. The ITIL version 2 Business Perspective and Application Management volumes and the ITIL v3 Service Strategy volume also cover it in depth.
Various vendors have offerings explicitly branded as "IT Portfolio Management" solutions.
ISACA's Val IT framework is perhaps the first attempt at standardization of IT portfolio management principles.
In peer-reviewed research, Christopher Verhoef has found that IT portfolios statistically behave more akin to biological populations than financial portfolios.
Verhoef was general chair of the first convening of the new IEEE conference, "IEEE Equity," March 2007, which focuses on "quantitative methods for measuring, predicting, and understanding the relationship between IT and value."
McFarlan's IT portfolio matrix
High
^
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|Strategic | Turnaround |
Impact |---------------------------------------------------------------|
of IS/IT |Critical to achieving |May be critical to |
applications |future business strategy. |achieving future |
on future | (Developer) |business success |
industry | | (Entrepreneur) |
competitiveness |Central Planning | |
| |Leading Edge/Free Market |
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|Critical to existing business |Valuable but not critical |
|operations |to success |
| (Controller) | (Caretaker) |
| | |
|Monopoly | Scarce Resource |
|___| __|
|Factory | Support |
|<---------------------------------------------------------------Low
High
Value to the business of existing applications.
Freeware and open source tools
MappIT is a free tool used to map and analyze IT SEC Portfolio assets (systems, business processes, infrastructure, people, skills, roles, organization, spending...) and their lifecycle. It was launched in its first version in February 2012.
Relationship to other IT disciplines
IT portfolio management is an enabling technique for the objectives of IT Governance. It is related to both IT Service Management and Enterprise Architecture, and is seen as a bridge between the two. ITIL v3 calls for Service Portfolio Management which appears to be functionally equivalent.
Difference between projects, programs and portfolios
A project is managed with a clear end date in mind, and according to a set scope and budget. It has a single easily definable tangible output. E.g. a list of deliverables, a new system or an improved process. The Management of Portfolios (MoP) standard of AXELOS defines a project as "... a temporary organization, usually existing for a much shorter time than a programme, which will deliver one or more outputs in accordance with a specific business case. A particular project may or may not be part of a programme."
A program is a collection of two or more projects sharing a common goal. Program managers control dependencies and allocate resources across projects. The MoP and Management of Successful Programmes (MSP) standards define a programme as "... a temporary, flexible organization created to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organizations's strategic objectives. A programme is likely to have a life that spans several years."
A portfolio is a group of related initiatives, projects and/or programs that attain wide reaching benefits and impact. MoP definition: "An organization's portfolio is the totality of its investment (or segment therof) in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives. ...focus is on the change initiatives that are delivered via formalized project and programme management methodologies."
See also
Application Portfolio Management
Enterprise Architecture
Integrated Business Planning
IT Governance
Project Portfolio Management
Val IT
References
Further reading
Information technology management
IT service management |
2024570 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Mozilla%20Application%20Suite | History of Mozilla Application Suite | The history of the Mozilla Application Suite began with the release of the source code of the Netscape suite as an open source project. Going through years of hard work (with the help of the community contributors), Mozilla 1.0 was eventually released on June 5, 2002. Its backend code base, most notably the Gecko layout engine, has become the foundation of a number of applications based on Mozilla, including the Mozilla Foundation's flagship product Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird. While the suite is no longer a formal Mozilla product, its development and maintenance is continued as the SeaMonkey community project.
Open sourcing of Communicator
In March 1998, Netscape Communications Corporation released most of the code base for its popular Netscape Communicator suite under an open source license. The name of the application developed from this would be Mozilla, coordinated by the newly created Mozilla Organization, at the mozilla.org website.
The open source release, which came at the height of the United States's late-1990s economic boom, was greeted by the Internet community with a mixture of acclaim and skepticism. In some circles, Netscape's source release was seen as both a victory for the free software movement and an opportunity for Netscape to tap the power of open source development. This view was particularly popular among users of Linux and other free software. Other observers, including many outside of the free software business community, interpreted the move as Netscape's surrender in the face of the ascendancy of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.
Regardless of the public's opinion, development with the Communicator code base proved harder than initially hoped:
The Communicator code base was huge and complex.
It had to be developed simultaneously on many operating systems, and therefore to cope with their differing APIs, GUIs, libraries and idiosyncrasies.
It bore the scars of many rapid cycles of closed-source development on "Internet time". The short development cycles had led programmers to sacrifice modularity and elegance in the scramble to implement more features.
Several parts of Communicator's code were never released as open source, due to licensing arrangements with third parties.
Rewriting from scratch
Ultimately, the Mozilla core developers concluded that the old code could not be salvaged. As stated on the October 26, 1998 development roadmap, it was decided to scrap the whole code base and rewrite it from the ground up. The resulting plan included, among other things, the creation of a whole new cross-platform user interface library and a new layout engine.
Few observers foresaw the result. On December 7, 1998, Netscape released a special "preview" based on the Gecko layout engine. Gecko had already been in development for some time at Netscape under the internal name NGLayout (short for "Next Generation Layout"). It was noticeably faster and smaller than its predecessor (known as Mariner). One widely publicized feature of the first Gecko preview release was that it fit on a single 1.44 MB floppy disk, making it about one tenth the size of most contemporary browsers.
The prompt release of Gecko led many to believe that a complete browser could not be far behind. However, the first release of the layout engine was far from bug- and crash-free, and even farther from being ready for the prime-time. Producing a fully functional web browser required much more than the nascent rendering engine: the Mozilla developers soon envisioned a project more ambitious than a simple web browser. The new Mozilla (internally codenamed "Seamonkey") would be a platform for Internet applications, with a fully programmable user interface and a modular architecture. This Mozilla would function equally well as a host for email client, instant messaging client, news client, or any number of other applications.
Due to the effort required for this massive rewrite, the project fell far behind its original projected deadlines. In the years that followed, skepticism about Mozilla grew widespread, and some doubted that a finished Mozilla browser would ever see the light of day. However, the project persisted, continuing uninterrupted through both the purchase of Netscape by AOL and the end of the dot-com boom.
By June 5, 2002, the Mozilla project had produced version 1.0 of the browser that worked on multiple operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, and Solaris. The browser was praised for introducing new features that Internet Explorer lacked, including better support for user privacy preferences and some interface improvements. Additionally, the Mozilla browser became a de facto reference implementation for various World Wide Web Consortium standards, due to its strong support for those standards.
Independence from AOL
On July 15, 2003, AOL announced that it would close down its browser division, which was in essence Netscape's Mozilla. AOL laid off most of Netscape's employees and hackers, except for some who were transferred to other divisions. Netscape signs were seen being pulled off its building, confirming what many took as the end of Netscape. AOL kept the Netscape brand for its portal, but the company no longer paid anyone to develop the Mozilla codebase.
On the same day, the Mozilla Foundation was created. The Foundation is a non-profit organization composed primarily of developers and staff from Mozilla Organization and owns the Mozilla trademark (but not the copyright to the source code, which is retained by the individual and corporate contributors, but licensed under the GPL, MPL and LGPL). It received initial $2 million donations from AOL, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Red Hat, and $300,000 from Mitch Kapor.
Many people had been expecting this after AOL reached a settlement with competitor, Microsoft, with a deal for the AOL software to use Internet Explorer for the next 7 years. Netscape had always been seen as a bargaining chip for AOL against Microsoft.
The end of the Suite
According to the Mozilla development roadmap published on April 2, 2003, the Mozilla Organization planned to focus development efforts on the new standalone applications: Phoenix (now known as Mozilla Firefox) and Minotaur (now known as Mozilla Thunderbird). Since then, many new features and enhancements have been added to the standalone applications only.
On March 10, 2005, the Mozilla Foundation announced that they would not release any further official versions of the suite beyond 1.7.x. However, the foundation emphasized that they would still provide infrastructure for community members who wished to continue development. In effect, this means that the suite will still continue to be developed, but not by the Mozilla Foundation itself. To avoid confusing organizations that still want to use the original Mozilla Suite, the new product needed a new name. On July 2, 2005, it was announced that the suite is going to be named SeaMonkey, which was originally the code name of the Mozilla Application Suite. The new project-leading group is known as the "SeaMonkey Council".
Branding and visual identity
Initially, the term "Mozilla" was loosely used to refer to a number of subjects, including the Mozilla project, the Mozilla Suite, the codebase of the Suite and its related technologies. Since the shifting of development focus, to distinguish the suite from the standalone products, the suite was marketed as "Mozilla Suite", or the more lengthy "Mozilla Application Suite".
It is often argued that since free software is typically only designed by programmers rather than graphic designers or usability gurus, it frequently suffers from poor icon and GUI design, and a lack of a strong visual identity.
During development of Mozilla, a number of logos were used in various areas of the application. The logos are inconsistent with each other; for example, the logo used as the program's icon is different from the one used as the throbber, which is again different from the one used in the "About" window.
Release history
Parts of this table are based on the release notes of Mozilla.
Note (1): 1.2.1 was the last official Mozilla.org public release to support Mac OS 9 "Classic". Technically though, 1.3a was the last version to support OS 9 but only via the use of the CarbonLib extension as explained in the 1.3a release notes. An unofficial port of 1.3a was later created in the form of WaMCom in an attempt to provide a stable build of 1.3 for OS 9 users.
Note (2): There was no Mozilla 1.7.4. The 1.7.5 version number was selected to match the internal Gecko version number of Mozilla Firefox 1.0.
Note (3): Mozilla 1.7.9 was cancelled. It was intended that Mozilla 1.7.9 would be released shortly after Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 and Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.5. However, regressions were found in the 1.0.5 versions of Firefox and Thunderbird after they were released, so Mozilla 1.7.9 was cancelled. Mozilla 1.7.10 was released shortly after Firefox 1.0.6 and Thunderbird 1.0.6.
Screenshot gallery
The following screenshots show the evolution of user interface in Mozilla from M3 to 1.0. The interface of Mozilla was almost unchanged since version 1.0. Mozilla M11 is not available because of program crash.
See also
History of Firefox
History of free and open-source software
History of Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Application Suite
SeaMonkey
References
External links
Netscape Communications Corporation (April 1, 1999). Netscape celebrates first anniversary of open source software release to mozilla.org. Retrieved June 12, 2005.
Mozilla 1.x Releases
Branding Mozilla: Towards Mozilla 2.0
A Visual Browser History
Mozilla Application Suite
History of the Internet
Mozilla Application Suite
Mozilla Application Suite |
69418449 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoto%20Soejima | Makoto Soejima | is a Japanese former competitive programmer. He is one of three people to have won both the Google Code Jam and the Facebook Hacker Cup and the only one to have also won a gold medal with a perfect score at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). In International Science Olympiads, he has won three gold medals and one bronze in the International Mathematical Olympiad as well as two silver medals in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).
Biography
Soejima was born in 1992. He began competitive programming in 1999. He attended Junior and Senior High School at Komaba, University of Tsukuba. During his time at high school, he participated in the IMO multiple times (2005, 2007–2009) where he obtained three gold medals and one bronze. On his final attempt in 2009, he achieved a perfect score. At the same time, Soejima also participated in the 2008 and 2009 IOI where he obtained a silver medal both times.
Soejima then attended The University of Tokyo where he studied mathematics. He was part of the university team in the 2013 and 2015 International Collegiate Programming Contest which won third place both times. Soejima also attended the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at The University of Tokyo.
Soejima's other significant achievements in competitive programming include winning the 2011 Google Code Jam, winning the 2016 Facebook Hacker Cup, and being Topcoder Open Algorithm champion in 2010, 2011 and 2016.
In December 2020, Soejima retired from competitive programming. Soejima worked at AtCoder, a company that organizes programming competitions.
Achievements
International Mathematical Olympiad: 3 Gold (2007, 2008, 2009 (Perfect Score)) and 1 Bronze (2005)
International Olympiad in Informatics: 2 Silver (2008, 2009)
International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals: 2 Gold medals (third place in 2013 and 2015)
Google Code Jam: Champion (2011), Second place (2019 and 2015), Third place (2018)
Facebook Hacker Cup: Champion (2016 ), Second place( 2018), Third place (2014)
TopCoder Open: Algorithm champion (2016, 2011 and 2010)
Codeforces: Legendary Grandmaster (peak rating 3115)
Publications
See also
International Mathematical Olympiad
List of International Mathematical Olympiad participants
International Olympiad in Informatics
Gennady Korotkevich
Petr Mitrichev
References
External links
Online coding profiles
Topcoder: rng_58
Codeforces: rng_58
CodeChef: Makoto Soejima
Living people
1992 births
International Mathematical Olympiad participants
University of Tokyo alumni
20th-century Japanese people
Competitive programmers
Japanese computer programmers
21st-century Japanese mathematicians |
232576 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darl%20McBride | Darl McBride | Darl Charles McBride (born 1959) is an entrepreneur and CEO of Shout TV Inc. McBride is known as the former CEO of The SCO Group. On March 7, 2003, during McBride's tenure as CEO of the company, The SCO Group initiated litigation (SCO v. IBM) against IBM, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement claims connected to Unix. The case is considered one of the top 10 technology battles of all time. SCO Group lost in a series of court battles, and was eventually forced into bankruptcy.
Education and personal life
McBride graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in sociology and then earned a master's degree in industrial relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. While at the University of Illinois McBride was awarded a fellowship from IBM.
McBride is fluent in Japanese and spent two years in Japan as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Career
From 1988 to 1996, McBride was a manager at Novell, where he managed the business relationship with Novell KK (Japan) and later was promoted to vice president and general manager of the Novell Extended Networks Division for Novell Embedded Systems Technology (NEST). He later left Novell to become senior vice president of IKON Office Solutions.
IKON fired him in 1998 after his involvement in the execution of 33 business acquisitions. McBride then sued IKON for $10 million, claiming breach of contract, nonpayment of wages, and fraud. IKON counter-sued, and the case was eventually settled.
McBride was subsequently involved in two startups: SBI and Company, a professional services company, which he founded and served as CEO, and later PointServe, a software company of which he was also CEO. He raised venture capital for both of these companies. McBride was the president of Franklin Covey's online planning business from August 2, 2000 until a few months prior to joining the SCO Group as CEO.
On April 9, 2010 McBride purchased the SCO Mobility intellectual property from The SCO Group for $100,000.
The company is now known as Me Inc. and , McBride is president and CEO.
McBride is currently developing mobile app SHOUT, a free trivia game that integrates with live sporting events and awards winners with cash and other prizes. The app has a deal with Deron Williams as its first celebrity endorser.
On December 15, 2020, McBride filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in the state of Nevada.
Linux controversy
McBride has been controversial in the information technology industry for his role as the CEO of SCO in asserting broad claims of intellectual property ownership of the various UNIX operating systems derivatives developed by IBM under a license originally granted by AT&T Corporation. Open source, free software and Linux developers and supporters, and the computer industry at large have been outspoken and highly critical and skeptical of McBride and SCO's claims in these areas.
Ty Mattingly, a former Novell Executive Vice President and co-worker of McBride was quoted as saying, "Congratulations. In a few short months you've dethroned Bill Gates as the most hated man in the industry." McBride claimed he received death threats as a result of the SCO-IBM lawsuits, and had a package of worms mailed to his home, prompting him to carry a firearm and to employ multiple bodyguards. During an interview, when asked about the popularity of the lawsuit against IBM, McBride answered: "We're either right or we're not. If we're wrong, we deserve people throwing rocks at us."
Leadership of Caldera International/The SCO Group
Under McBride's leadership, SCO saw a surge in stock price from under $2 in March 2003 to over $20 just 6 months later. Following several adverse rulings issued by the United States District Court in Utah, SCO's stock value dropped to under $1. On April 27, 2007, NASDAQ served notice that the company would be delisted if SCO's stock price did not increase above $1 for a minimum of 10 consecutive days over the course of 180 business days, ending October 22, 2007.
On August 10, 2007, the United States District Court in Utah issued a ruling that Novell had retained copyright ownership of the System V UNIX copyrights and that SCO was in breach of its covenants to provide Novell with the previously agreed royalties to the Unix technology Novell had originally sold to SCO. Following this ruling, the value of SCO stock fell to just $0.44 per share, a one-day drop of more than 70%. On September 14, 2007, SCO filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and by September 18 its share price had reached $0.18 per share.
On December 21, 2007, SCO received NASDAQ delisting notice and trading was suspended on December 27, 2007. The stock price was $0.12 per share.
Termination as SCO CEO position
One of the reorganization plans put forward by SCO as part of its bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware required McBride to resign from SCO. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SCO and SNCP (Stephen Norris & Co. Capital Partners) included the note that "upon the effective date of the Proposed Plan of Reorganization, the existing CEO of the Company, Darl McBride, will resign immediately." The plan called for "a favorable resolution of the Novell/IBM Litigation". The plan was withdrawn by SCO following objections which highlighted the lack of detail given to the court and other interested parties about the plan.
On October 14, 2009, McBride was terminated as Chief Executive Officer and President of The SCO Group.
References
External links
Groklaw's complete list of all major legal filings in SCO v. IBM, both PDFs and text
An Open Letter from Darl McBride
1959 births
Living people
American computer businesspeople
People from Salt Lake City
SCO–Linux disputes
Businesspeople in software
American Mormon missionaries in Japan
American Latter Day Saints
Brigham Young University alumni
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni
American technology chief executives
People from Mesa, Arizona |
62828382 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlatan%20%282020%20film%29 | Charlatan (2020 film) | Charlatan () is a 2020 Czech-Polish-Irish-Slovak drama directed by Agnieszka Holland based loosely on the healer Jan Mikolášek (1889–1973), who cured hundreds of people using plant-based remedies. It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards making the February shortlist. It won five awards including Best Film at the 2021 Czech Lion Awards.
Plot
The life of , a well-known and successful Czech healer, who diagnosed and healed people using his intuition and his familiarity with plants. His remedies and prescriptions, although mostly plant-based, included lifestyle and dietary changes. He healed not only poor people from the villages but also many well-known people, including the Czechoslovak President, Antonín Zápotocký. Mikolášek's diagnostic methods and notorious healing got the attention of Czechoslovakia's government. He was finally arrested after strychnine was found in the bodies of two men he had treated.
In real life, Jan Mikolášek was tried and convicted in 1959 of tax and other offenses, but not for murder by strychnine poisoning, was released in 1963, and died in 1973.
Cast
Ivan Trojan as Jan Mikolášek
as Young Mikolášek
as František
as Johanka
Jaroslava Pokorná as Mülbacherová
as Investigator
as Member of Secret Service
Martin Myšička as Father
as the Judge
Jan Budař as Bureaucrat
as Fritz Kiesewetter
Production
The film was a Czech-Irish-Polish-Slovak co-production. The venture included Marlene Film Production (Czech Republic), Kevan Van Thompson, Mike Downey (Chairman of European Film Academy) and Sam Taylor - both from Film & Music Entertainment Ltd (Ireland), Madants (Poland) and Furia Film (Slovakia) Others involved were Ceska televize, Barrandov Studio, Studio Metrage, Moderator Inwestycje, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska, CertiCon, Vladimír a Taťána Maříkovi and Magic Lab.
Shooting started on 1 April 2019 at Mladá Boleslav Prison. Principal photography took 36 Days. Shooting concluded in July 2019. The film entered postproduction on 4 July 2019.
Release
The film premiered at Berlin International Film Festival on 27 February 2020. It was set to enter distribution for Czech cinemas on 26 March 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, distribution was delayed to 20 August 2020. The film was attended by 59,073 people during its first weekend in Czech Theatres. Despite strong Competition the film had strong attendance during its second weekend with 37 000 People while being narrowly beaten only by Tenet. It was chosen to be part of 26th Kolkata International Film Festival January 2021 lineup and shown on 11 January 2021 at Cinema Centenary Building of West Bengal government.
Reception
The film has received generally positive reviews from Czech critics holding 74% at Kinobox.cz based on 12 reviews. The film was also positively received by foreign reviews holding at Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews. The critics consensus says: "Charlatan's slightly dry approach is offset by unique filmmaking flourishes and a fascinating story that make this an engaging, albeit unusual, biopic."
"Charlatan is a film that does not quite satisfy the curiosity it arouses", states Peter Bradshaw in his review for The Guardian from the Berlinale. "Was Mikolášek a 'charlatan'? Rightly or wrongly, the movie is vehement that he was not. The drama in no way resides in any lingering ambiguity. This Mikolášek is a man of principle and intuitive genius who presides over a flourishing practice. (...) He is played with fiercely controlled stoicism by the veteran Czech actor Ivan Trojan, whose son Josef plays the young Mikolášek. (...) This is a forceful, capable movie with an interesting story to tell but its potency consists in a handful of gripping episodes, the most startling being when the young Mikolášek has developed a love of herbs and a vocation for healing."
Accolades
On 3 August 2020 Charlatan was chosen to be part of Telluride Film Festival 2020 lineup. It was also recommended for a nomination for the 33rd European Film Awards by European Film Academy.
It was nominated for 14 Czech Lion Awards, including the Best film. Ivan Trojan won Czech Film Critics' Award for Best Actor and Agnieszka Holland for Best Director.
On 6 March 2021, Charlatan won five Czech Lion Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Agnieszka Holland), and Best Lead Actor (Ivan Trojan).
See also
List of submissions to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
List of Czech submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
References
External links
Charlatan at CSFD.cz
2020 films
Czech films
Czech historical drama films
2020s Czech-language films
2020 biographical drama films
Films directed by Agnieszka Holland
Czech LGBT-related films
2020 LGBT-related films
LGBT-related drama films
2020s historical drama films
Czech biographical drama films
Czech Lion Awards winners (films) |
218708 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary%20translation | Binary translation | In computing, binary translation is a form of binary recompilation where sequences of instructions are translated from a source instruction set to the target instruction set. In some cases such as instruction set simulation, the target instruction set may be the same as the source instruction set, providing testing and debugging features such as instruction trace, conditional breakpoints and hot spot detection.
The two main types are static and dynamic binary translation. Translation can be done in hardware (for example, by circuits in a CPU) or in software (e.g. run-time engines, static recompiler, emulators).
Motivation
Binary translation is motivated by a lack of a binary for a target platform, the lack of source code to compile for the target platform, or otherwise difficulty in compiling the source for the target platform.
Statically-recompiled binaries run potentially faster than their respective emulated binaries, as the emulation overhead is removed. This is similar to the difference in performance between interpreted and compiled programs in general.
Static binary translation
A translator using static binary translation aims to convert all of the code of an executable file into code that runs on the target architecture without having to run the code first, as is done in dynamic binary translation. This is very difficult to do correctly, since not all the code can be discovered by the translator. For example, some parts of the executable may be reachable only through indirect branches, whose value is known only at run-time.
One such static binary translator uses universal superoptimizer peephole technology (developed by Sorav Bansal, and Alex Aiken from Stanford University) to perform efficient translation between possibly many source and target pairs, with considerably low development costs and high performance of the target binary. In experiments of PowerPC-to-x86 translations, some binaries even outperformed native versions, but on average they ran at two-thirds of native speed.
Examples for static binary translations
Honeywell provided a program called the Liberator for their Honeywell 200 series of computers; it could translate programs for the IBM 1400 series of computers into programs for the Honeywell 200 series.
In 2014, an ARM architecture version of the 1998 video game StarCraft was generated by static recompilation and additional reverse engineering of the original x86 version.
The Pandora handheld community was capable of developing the required tools on their own and achieving such translations successfully several times.
For instance, a successful x86-to-x64 static recompilation was generated for the procedural terrain generator of the video game Cube World in 2014.
Another example is the NES-to-x86 statically recompiled version of the videogame Super Mario Bros. which was generated under usage of LLVM in 2013.
In 2004 Scott Elliott and Phillip R. Hutchinson at Nintendo developed a tool to generate "C" code from Game Boy binary that could then be compiled for a new platform and linked against a hardware library for use in airline entertainment systems.
In 1995 Norman Ramsey at Bell Communications Research and Mary F. Fernandez at Department of Computer Science, Princeton University developed The New Jersey Machine-Code Toolkit that had the basic tools for static assembly translation.
Dynamic binary translation
Dynamic binary translation (DBT) looks at a short sequence of code—typically on the order of a single basic block—then translates it and caches the resulting sequence. Code is only translated as it is discovered and when possible, and branch instructions are made to point to already translated and saved code (memoization).
Dynamic binary translation differs from simple emulation (eliminating the emulator's main read-decode-execute loop—a major performance bottleneck), paying for this by large overhead during translation time. This overhead is hopefully amortized as translated code sequences are executed multiple times.
More advanced dynamic translators employ dynamic recompilation where the translated code is instrumented to find out what portions are executed a large number of times, and these portions are optimized aggressively. This technique is reminiscent of a JIT compiler, and in fact such compilers (e.g. Sun's HotSpot technology) can be viewed as dynamic translators from a virtual instruction set (the bytecode) to a real one.
Examples for dynamic binary translations in software
Apple Computer implemented a dynamic translating emulator for M68K code in their PowerPC line of Macintoshes, which achieved a very high level of reliability, performance and compatibility (see Mac 68K emulator). This allowed Apple to bring the machines to market with only a partially native operating system, and end users could adopt the new, faster architecture without risking their investment in software. Partly because the emulator was so successful, many parts of the operating system remained emulated. A full transition to a PowerPC native operating system (OS) was not made until the release of Mac OS X (10.0) in 2001. (The Mac OS X "Classic" runtime environment continued to offer this emulation capability on PowerPC Macs until Mac OS X 10.5.)
Mac OS X 10.4.4 for Intel-based Macs introduced the Rosetta dynamic translation layer to ease Apple's transition from PPC-based hardware to x86. Developed for Apple by Transitive Corporation, the Rosetta software is an implementation of Transitive's QuickTransit solution.
QuickTransit during its product lifespan also provided SPARC→x86, x86→PowerPC and MIPS→Itanium 2 translation support.
DEC achieved similar success with its translation tools to help users migrate from the CISC VAX architecture to the Alpha RISC architecture.
HP ARIES (Automatic Re-translation and Integrated Environment Simulation) is a software dynamic binary translation system that combines fast code interpretation with two phase dynamic translation to transparently and accurately execute HP 9000 HP-UX applications on HP-UX 11i for HPE Integrity Servers. The ARIES fast interpreter emulates a complete set of non-privileged PA-RISC instructions with no user intervention. During interpretation, it monitors the application's execution pattern and translates only the frequently executed code into native Itanium code at runtime. ARIES implements two phase dynamic translation, a technique in which translated code in first phase collects runtime profile information which is used during second phase translation to further optimize the translated code. ARIES stores the dynamically translated code in memory buffer called code cache. Further references to translated basic blocks execute directly in the code cache and do not require additional interpretation or translation. The targets of translated code blocks are back-patched to ensure execution takes place in code cache most of the time. At the end of the emulation, ARIES discards all the translated code without modifying the original application. The ARIES emulation engine also implements Environment Emulation which emulates an HP 9000 HP-UX application's system calls, signal delivery, exception management, threads management, emulation of HP GDB for debugging, and core file creation for the application.
DEC created the FX!32 binary translator for converting x86 applications to Alpha applications.
Sun Microsystems' Wabi software included dynamic translation from x86 to SPARC instructions.
In January 2000, Transmeta Corporation announced a novel processor design named Crusoe. From the FAQ on their web site,
Intel Corporation developed and implemented an IA-32 Execution Layer - a dynamic binary translator designed to support IA-32 applications on Itanium-based systems, which was included in Microsoft Windows Server for Itanium architecture, as well as in several flavors of Linux, including Red Hat and Suse. It allowed IA-32 applications to run faster than they would using the native IA-32 mode on Itanium processors.
Dolphin (an emulator for the GameCube/Wii) performs JIT recompilation of PowerPC code to x86 and AArch64.
Examples for dynamic binary translations in hardware
x86 Intel CPUs since the Pentium Pro translate complex CISC x86 instructions to more RISC-like internal micro-operations.
Nvidia Tegra K1 Denver translates ARM instructions over a slow hardware decoder to its native microcode instructions and uses a software binary translator for hot code.
See also
Binary optimization
Binary recompilation
Dynamic recompilation
Just-in-time compilation
Instruction set simulator
Emulator
Virtual machine
Comparison of platform virtualization software
Shadow memory
References
Further reading
Emulation software
Interpreters (computing)
Virtualization software |
46185063 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun | Shadowrun | Shadowrun is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy, horror and detective fiction. From its inception in 1989, Shadowrun has remained among the most popular role-playing games. It has spawned a vast franchise that includes a series of novels, a collectible card game, two miniature-based tabletop wargames, and multiple video games.
The title is taken from the game's main premise – a near-future world damaged by a massive magical event, where industrial espionage and corporate warfare runs rampant. A shadowrun – a successful data theft or physical break-in at a rival corporation or organization – is one of the main tools employed by both corporate rivals and underworld figures. Deckers (futuristic hackers) who can tap into an immersive, three-dimensional cyberspace are opposed by rival deckers and lethal, potentially brain-destroying artificial intelligences called "Intrusion Countermeasures" – "IC" for short – who are protected by street fighters and/or mercenaries, often with cyborg implants (called cyberware), magicians, and other exotic figures, on such missions as they seek access, physical or remote, to the power structures of rival groups. Magic has also returned to the world after a series of plagues; dragons who can take human form have returned as well, and are commonly found in high positions of corporate power.
Setting
Shadowrun takes place several decades in the future (2050 in the first edition, currently ). The end of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar ushered in the "Sixth World", with once-mythological beings (e.g. dragons) appearing and forms of magic suddenly emerging. Large numbers of humans have "Goblinized" into orks and trolls, while many human children are born as elves, dwarves, and even more exotic creatures. In North America, indigenous peoples discovered that their traditional ceremonies allow them to command powerful spirits, and rituals associated with a new Ghost Dance movement let them take control of much of the western U.S. and Canada, where they formed a federation of Native American Nations. Seattle remains under U.S. control by treaty as a city-state enclave, and most game materials are set there and assume campaigns will use it as their setting.
In parallel with these magical developments, the setting's 21st century features technological and social developments associated with cyberpunk science fiction.
Megacorporations control the lives of their employees and command their own armies; the ten largest have extraterritoriality, such as currently enjoyed by foreign heads of state. Technological advances make cyberware (mechanical replacement body parts) and bioware (augmented vat-grown body parts implanted in place of natural organs) common. The Computer Crash of 2029 led to the creation of the Matrix, a worldwide computer network that users interact with via direct neural interface. When conflicts arise, corporations, governments, organized crime syndicates, and even wealthy individuals subcontract their dirty work to specialists, who then perform "shadowruns" or missions undertaken by deniable assets without identities or those that wish to remain unknown. The most skilled of these specialists, called shadowrunners, have earned a reputation for getting the job done. They have developed a knack for staying alive, and prospering, in the world of Shadowrun.
Publication history
Shadowrun was developed and published by FASA from 1989 until early 2001, when FASA closed its doors and the property was transferred to WizKids (a company founded by former FASA employees). Two years before its closure, FASA sold its videogame branch, FASA Interactive to Microsoft corporation, keeping rights to publishing novels and pen and paper RPGs. Since then, digital rights to Shadowrun IP belong to Microsoft since 1999. WizKids licensed the RPG rights to Fantasy Productions (who were already publishing for the German version) until they were acquired by Topps in 2003. Catalyst Game Labs (a publishing imprint of InMediaRes Productions) licensed the rights from Topps to publish new products. WizKids itself produced an unsuccessful collectible action figure game based on the property, called Shadowrun Duels.
Shadowrun Fifth Edition was announced in December 2012. It was released as a PDF in July 2013, with a limited-edition softcover version of the Fifth Edition core rulebook sold at the Origins Game Fair in June 2013. The hardcover version was released in August 2013. It was generally similar to the system that was unveiled in Fourth Edition and modified in the Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
A Sixth Edition, titled as Shadowrun, Sixth World, was announced on 1 May 2019 to coincide with the game's 30th anniversary, along with a new website at shadowrunsixthworld.com. The game was released to the public on 26 August 2019. The mechanics for this new version are generally similar to those of Fifth Edition, with some systems reworked for what Line Developer Jason Hardy describes as streamlining the system. This new version also progresses the in-game year to 2080.
Since 2004, Shadowrun Missions (SRM) has offered fans "living campaigns" that allow for persistent character advancement. SRM is broken down into "seasons" which are made up of up to 24 individual missions that can be played at home, with special missions available to play exclusively at conventions. Each SRM season develops an overarching plot focused on a specific city from the Shadowrun setting. Missions settings have included the divided city of Denver, the corporate city-state of Manhattan, and the Seattle Metroplex city-state, and the formerly walled-off wastelands of Chicago.
The Shadowrun role-playing game has spawned several properties, including Shadowrun: The Trading Card Game, eight video games, an action figure game (Shadowrun Duels), two magazines, an art book and more than 50 novels, starting with the Secrets of Power series which introduces some of the original characters of Shadowrun and provides an introduction to this fictional universe. In addition to the main rule book (now in its sixth edition) there have been over 100 supplemental books published with adventures and expansions to both the rules and the game settings. Catalyst Game Labs announced that 2013 would be "The Year of Shadowrun," and in addition to the release of Shadowrun Fifth Edition that it has collaborated with publishers on the following properties: Shadowrun: Crossfire, The Adventure Deck-building Game; Shadowrun: Sprawl Gangers, a tactical miniatures wargame; and Shadowrun: Hostile Takeover, a board game designed by Bryan C.P. Steele is planned for release in late 2014/early 2015. Catalyst had been in collaboration with Nordic Games and Cliffhanger Studios to create Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown online RPG, however it was shuttered 30 November 2018 with the producers citing lack of funding and the end of the license terms for use of the IP.
Fictional universe
The Shadowrun world is cross-genre, incorporating elements of both cyberpunk and urban fantasy. Unlike in a purely cyberpunk game, in the Shadowrun world, magic exists and has "worked" since 2011. Among other things, this split humankind into subtypes, also known as metatypes/metahumans. Some of these metatypes take the form of common fantasy races. Likewise, some animals have turned into familiar monsters of past fantasy and lore and both monsters and human magicians have regained magical powers. By the second half of the 21st century, in the time the game is set, these events are accepted as commonplace. Man, machine, and magic exist in a world where the amazing is among the most common and technology has entered into every facet of human (and metahuman) life.
Races
Characters in Shadowrun can be humans, orks, trolls, elves, dwarves, as well as certain diverging subspecies (known as metavariants) such as gnomes, giants, dryads, etc. In the early days, when magic returned to the world, humans began to either change into, or give birth to elf and dwarf infants, a phenomenon called Unexplained Genetic Expression (UGE). Later, some juvenile and adult humans "goblinized" into other races (mostly orks, but also some trolls). The term "metahuman" is used either to refer to humanity as a whole, including all races, or to refer specifically to non-human races, depending on context. With the return of Halley's Comet even further variation in the form of changelings, who have variation atypical to their metatype or even species, such as electroreception. Two of the metahuman races, elves and orks, have fictional languages.
Additionally, a virus known as the Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus (HMHVV), with many variant strains, has been known to cause further change, far beyond that of traditional vampirism, frequently resulting in fierce abominations that are no longer human and sometimes no longer even sentient: bandersnatches, banshees, dzoo-noo-quas, goblins, ghouls, nosferatus, vampires, wendigos, wild fomorians, and others. Most of these species do not consider human/metahuman types as more than victims, and are generally treated as dangerous subjects by society. Such characters are only playable in certain editions.
Branching out from metahumanity, the game also presents shapeshifters, sapient animals that can change shape into a metahuman form such as werewolves and selkies, characterized by intelligence and thought processes more in line of animals and drakes, metahumans with a second form like that of a metahuman-sized dragon. Metasapient is used to refer to non-metahuman intelligent creatures. While many are discussed in various books, only naga, intelligent, thirty-foot long snakes; sasquatches; centaurs; pixies, artificial intelligences and free spirits are ever playable.
Dragons are also present in the awakened world, though not as player characters. Dragons are very powerful physically, magically, and in some situations, financially; some dragons found the riches they hoarded and hid during the last Awakening. Their great intelligence allowed them to gain a great deal of influence and power quickly and a few have risen to high political and economic posts, running entire corporations or even as heads of state.
Game background
The game is set 62 years in the future, following a great change that has returned magic to the world. The emergence of magic, the outbreak of the VITAS plagues, the Computer Crash of 2029, the Euro-Wars, and the fevers for independence of Amerindian tribes, Chinese provinces, and everything else that came with the many struggles that ravaged Europe and Asia left the world's governments tumbling and falling. The United States was broken into substates. Monetary value was lost. The world had to rebuild, and rebuild they did, this time in the image of the megacorporations that seized power. Taking advantage of the laws that had been passed years ago, and using their newfound freedom, the megacorps began impressing their power on the failing governments. Before long the world was transformed. Boundaries were redrawn, and the political landscape was changed forever.
A basic premise of the setting is that as the world endured the string of state-changing events and conflicts, the political landscape fragmented and reformed. In North America, for example, some nations broke apart and reformed, as was the case with the Confederation of American States and the United Canadian and American States, while others became havens for specific racial or ethnic groups, like Native American Nations (the Native Americans having used their newfound magical abilities to regain massive tracts of land) or the Elvish principality of Tír Tairngire, which encompasses all of the state of Oregon. Some, like the California Free State, simply declared independence, while yet others became de facto corporate subsidiaries like Aztlan (the former Mexico), the headquarters of the Aztechnology megacorp. Despite the new role of megacorporations, many nations still hold considerable sway through economic, social and military means. For most people, "getting by" means taking advantage of whatever the corps or the government might bring their way.
The corporations
The monolithic "enemies" of the Shadowrun world (borrowing heavily from cyberpunk mythos) are the corporations, dubbed "megacorporations", "megacorps", or simply "megas" or "corps" for short. Megacorporations in the 21st-century are global, with all but the smallest corps owning multiple subsidiaries and divisions around the world. They are the superpowers of the Shadowrun universe, with the largest corporations having far more political, economic, and military power than even the most powerful nation-states.
In Shadowrun, corporations are effectively "ranked" by the amount of assets under their control, including material, personnel, and property, as well as profit. These ranks are A, AA, and AAA; AAA corporations are top tier. Most corporations in the AA and AAA level are immune to domestic law, responsible only to themselves, and regulated only by the Corporate Court, an assembly of the ten AAA-rated corporations. All AAA-rated and most AA-rated corporations exhibit a privilege known as "extraterritoriality", meaning that any land owned by the corp is sovereign territory only to the corp and immune to any laws of the country it is located in. Corporate territory is not foreign soil but corporate soil, just like its employees are corporate citizens, though dual citizenship in a corporation and a nation is common. The AAA corps, as well as numerous minor corporations, fight each other not only in the boardroom or during high-level business negotiations but also with physical destruction, clandestine operations, hostile extraction or elimination of vital personnel, and other means of sabotage. Because no corporation wants to be held liable for damages, it has to be done by hired deniable assets, or "shadowrunners", invisible to the system where every citizen is tagged with a System Identification Number (SIN).
Technology and the Matrix
Despite the Crash which caused much data corruption, technology in the game is advanced. Ability-enhancing Cyberware (artificial cybernetic implants) and Bioware (genetically engineered biological implants) emerged and has become commonplace. Characters can also augment their bodies with nanotechnology implants.
In earlier editions of the background fiction, direct neural interface technology enabled humans and metahumans to directly access computers and the Matrix, the global computer network restructured after the 2029 Crash. Access to the Matrix was accomplished by "deckers": individuals that have "cyberdecks", portable or worn computing devices that are interface with the user's brain through a brain–computer interface implant called a "datajack", that is typically located at the temple or behind the ear.
In Shadowrun, Fourth Edition, the Matrix rules have changed, thanks to the setting's constant evolution and a drive to match real world technological developments. After the second Matrix crash in 2064, Matrix technology was moved away from the wired network and led into a wireless technology. The most noticeable difference between the Matrix in the 2070s and the earlier editions is that wireless technology has become completely ubiquitous. Communications and Matrix access is provided through Wi-Fi nodes placed throughout the infrastructure of just about every city on Earth, fulfilling a service similar to contemporary cell sites—but as these nodes are as numerous as telephone poles, only a tiny percentage of their range is necessary. The nodes of all electronic devices a person carries are connected in a similar manner, creating a Personal Area Network (PAN). People access their PAN with their Commlink, a combination personal computer/cell phone/PDA/wireless device available either as a brain implant or a head-mounted display. This access can be the total sensory immersion common to cyberpunk fiction, or a sensory enhancement by which the virtual features of one's physical surroundings can be perceived and manipulated. Other worn or carried personal devices are linked to the PAN, and this includes smart firearms. The Matrix of the 2070s is thus not only a virtual reality, but an augmented or mixed reality. Cyberdecks are obsolete, so "deckers" have once again become "hackers". In turn, the otaku of previous versions (deckers who did not need decks to access the Matrix) have been reworked into technomancers, who possess an innate connection to the Matrix that permits them to access the wireless network without hardware, though the phenomenon is not fully understood even within the setting, and may be partly magical in nature.
In Shadowrun Fifth Edition, corporations have cracked down on hacking, reforming the matrix into Grids for better control and creating the Grid Overwatch Division (GOD). Hackers were thus forced to acquire specialized, larger variants of commlinks with better processing power, which were swiftly colloquially named "cyberdecks" after the devices of old. This has resulted in the return of the term "decker" of earlier editions.
Meanwhile, "riggers" are people who use datajacks and in most cases a special type of cyberware - called the "control rig" - to interface with vehicles and drones. Often they also use a remote control deck called the "rigger command console". The term "rigger" may also be applied to others using these machines.
Riggers jump in to machines to control them with their mind. While jumped in they feel like they are the machine, using the vehicle or drone's sensors to replace their own. This allows the rigger to control their machines at Matrix speeds and with greater precision. The downside is if the machine takes damage the rigger will have to deal with dangerous levels of biofeedback. Likewise, the rigger may have to engage in cybercombat with hostile parties that may attempt to hijack control of their devices.
Magic
Those able to actively interact with the magical energies of the Sixth World are known as "awakened". An awakened character's power in magic is linked to their Magic attribute. A magic user's approach to working with mystic energy is called their Path. The Awakened fall into three general Paths: magicians, adepts and mystic adepts. Broadly speaking, magicians focus their magic outward, actively affecting the world around them, while adepts focus their magic inward, passively enhancing their bodies and minds.
Magicians are able to cast spells, summon spirits, and create magical artifacts called "foci". All magicians follow traditions that determine their understanding of magic, including hermetic mages (whose control of magic comes through study and manipulation of magical energy or mana, and who summon and bind elementals in lengthy and expensive rituals to be called on later) and shamans (whose magic derives from a connection to nature via a totem spirit, and who can summon the nature spirits associated with a particular place). Adepts use magic internally in order to accentuate their natural physical abilities. Adepts can run on walls, use mundane objects as deadly thrown projectiles, shatter hard objects with a single unarmed blow, and perform similar feats of incredible ability. All adepts follow a very personal path (Path of the Warrior, Path of the Artist, etc.) that normally determines their abilities which might be very different for any two adepts (while one might demonstrate increased reflexes and facility with firearms, a second might possess unparalleled mastery of the katana, and a third might be able to pull off incredible vehicular stunts). Mystic adepts, also known as physical mages, are part magician and part adept who distribute their magic power between the abilities of both aspects.
System
Mechanics
The Shadowrun game mechanics are based entirely on a 6-sided dice system. The game is skill-based rather than class-based, but archetypes are presented in the main book to give players and gamemasters an idea of what is possible with the system.
Before the fourth edition, skill and ability checks worked as follows: all actions in the game, from the use of skills to making attacks in combat, are first given a target number that reflects the difficulty of the action which is then raised or lowered by various modifying factors, such as environmental conditions, the condition of the character, the use of mechanical aids, and so forth. The player then rolls a number of dice equal to their level in the relevant skill, and the number of dice rolled that meet or exceed the target number determines if the character is successful performing the action and the degree of success the character has. As an example, a character with a high firearms skill not only has a better chance at hitting a target than someone with a lower ranked skill, but also is more likely to cause more damage to the target. Target numbers may exceed 6, in which case any dice that show a 6 have to be re-rolled (a target number of, e.g., 9 is reached by rolling a 6 followed by at least a 3; thus, a target number of 6 and one of 7 are identical, except extra dice rolls are not allowed for target number 7 or greater). For even higher target numbers, this procedure has to be repeated; thus, an action with a target number of 20 (like attempting to procure military-grade weaponry) will only succeed if three successive dice rolls result in sixes, and the fourth gives at least a 2. For any dice-roll a roll of 1 always counts as a failure. This system allows great flexibility in setting the difficulty of an action.
In addition to this basic mechanic, players can use several task-specific dice pools to add bonus dice to certain tests, though dice that are used do not refresh until the end of a turn. This adds an extra tactical element, as the player must decide where best to spend these bonus dice. For example, combat pool dice could be spent to improve attacks or to improve defense, or some of each. Players also have Karma Pool that can be used to reroll any dice that failed to reach the target number. Karma Pool refreshes rarely, typically once per scene or less, at the GM's discretion. The combination of Karma Pool and dice pools gives players a considerable amount of freedom to decide how important a task is to their character. Two characters with identical statistics could perform very differently on the same tasks depending on their priorities (and thus, allocation of dice pools and Karma Pool).
In the fourth edition, things have changed substantially. The game still runs on six-sided dice, but now each task is given a threshold. The player then rolls dice equal to their skill plus the relevant attribute modified by applicable modifiers. The number of fives and sixes is equal to the number of hits. Hits above the threshold indicate extraordinary performance. Furthermore, if more than half the dice rolled are ones, then the player has made a glitch. Glitches cause bad things to happen to the player and game masters are encouraged to be inventive and funny.
Archetypes
Although the skill system is freeform, certain combinations of skills and equipment work well together. This combination of specialization in skill and equipment is known as an archetype. The most notable archetypes are street samurai, characters who have heavily augmented their bodies with cyberware and bioware and focus on physical combat; adepts, characters who have magical abilities that increase their physical (and sometimes mental) combat abilities; faces, highly charismatic characters who specialize in negotiations and social manipulation; hackers (deckers), experts in electronic surveillance, security, and augmented/virtual reality monitoring, combat and response; riggers, who augment their brains to achieve fine control over vehicles and drones; and magicians, who cast spells and can view emotions and call spirits from astral space. In Fourth Edition, with the setting change, deckers are replaced by hackers, who manipulate computer networks with augmented reality via ubiquitous commlinks; they also tend to take over the rigger's role.
However, the archetypes are not character classes: the player is allowed to cross boundaries. Restrictions are not imposed by the system itself, but by the player's specializations. Because character-building resources are limited, the player has to weigh which game resource he wants to specialize in and which he has to neglect. This allows high character customization while still ensuring that characters are viable in the setting.
Character creation
The fourth edition of Shadowrun uses a point-based character creation system. Earlier editions and later in the fifth edition, used a priority-based system with point-based character creation as an advanced option. Priorities are divided into race, magic, attributes, skills, and resources. All things that do not explicitly fall under the first four classifications, including contacts in third and earlier editions of Shadowrun, are given cash-equivalent values to be bought with resources.
Shadowrun characters are created with contacts, friends and acquaintances who serve as key nodes in the character's social network and who will often help the character out. Through the contacts system, players may uncover information that their characters cannot independently acquire. Additionally, players can often negotiate for the use of skills that their characters do not themselves have, a radical departure from most role-playing games.
Essence and Karma/Edge
Essence is a measure of a living being's lifeforce. All humans and metahumans start with a value of six (although critters may start with a higher or lower Essence). It powers magic, and as essence fades, so does magical aptitude. Cyberware, bioware, nanotech implants, extreme cases of substance addiction, and other major changes to a being's body can damage its essence as well. Generally, if a being's essence ever reaches zero, it dies. Cybermancy allows metahumans to survive with an essence rating of zero or less.
Players are awarded Karma points as a game progresses. In third edition and earlier, these points are usually added to a total called Good Karma, which can be used to boost attributes and skills. Skills that are already well-developed cost more Good Karma than skills which are undeveloped, which helps encourage specialized characters to become more flexible by spending Good Karma on weaker attributes. Karma also makes characters more powerful in general because every tenth (or twentieth for metahumans) point is added to the Karma Pool instead of Good Karma. The Karma Pool allows players to re-roll dice or "purchase" additional dice in certain situations. Karma can even be used to avoid certain death, at the cost of all Good Karma and Karma Pool points. In fourth edition, Karma Pool is replaced by a new attribute called Edge which can be used in most of the same ways as the third edition Karma Pool. Experience and character advancement is still tracked with Karma, although Good was dropped from the name as it no longer needs to be distinguished from the old Karma Pool.
Influences and links
Shadowrun is linked to Earthdawn, and is set in the "Sixth World", where Earthdawn is the "Fourth World" and modern-day Earth is at the tail end of the Fifth World. Such links are not necessary for play, but they allow crossover potential. The concept of the "Worlds" is linked to the ancient Aztec belief that the world is renewed every five thousand years—a period called a "Sun" (currently we live in the fifth Sun). The date of the beginning of the "Sixth World" is based on the ancient Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which when Shadowrun was developed was correlated as finishing a 5,200-year-long cycle on 24 December 2011. The understanding of the Maya that resulted in the use of the 2011 date and the use of the "worlds" concept is due to the influence of Frank Waters's 1975 book Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth World of Consciousness, whose elaborate cosmology is selectively utilized in the framework of the Shadowrun universe. Waters took his information about the date of the end of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar from the 1966 edition of Michael D. Coe's The Maya.
Shadowrun is also influenced by the writings of William Gibson (particularly Neuromancer). Gibson, who gave no permission and expressed strong aversion for mixing his ideas with "spare me, *elves*," reacted as follows to its release:
In 2007, Robert Boyd from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, robbed a Belfast lingerie shop at knifepoint while wearing a blonde lady's wig. During his trial, Boyd stated he was playing Shadowrun, specifically the role of criminal elf Buho, at the time and may have "blurred reality and fantasy". This claim convinced only two members of the jury and Boyd was jailed for two years.
Novels
FASA released 40 Shadowrun novels in collaboration with Roc publishing between 1991 and 2001. Shadowrun novels went out of production between 2001 and 2005, making the books produced towards the end of FASA's ownership of the license hard to find. Another (41st) novel was announced, but never released.
In 2005, WizKids began publishing new Shadowrun novels, again through the Roc imprint of the New American Library. Six novels were released in the new series. In 2008, Catalyst Game Labs announced the return of novels for Classic BattleTech, MechWarrior and Shadowrun. The announcement states that the first of the all-new Shadowrun novels would appear tentatively by early 2009, but the novels were not released due to unexplained delays in production of the novels for all three franchises. A collection of short stories titled Spells and Chrome was published in 2010. In 2012, Catalyst Game Labs published a standalone electronic novella, Neat, written by Russell Zimmerman. Catalyst later announced plans to release further fiction and eventually novels to be released in collaboration with Barnes & Noble in Winter 2013.
Several additional novels were published in other languages. More than 30 novels have been written in German, by German and Austrian authors published by Heyne (since 1991) and FanPro (since 1997).
Video games
Eight video games have been developed based on the Shadowrun franchise; the first in 1993 was an action role-playing game titled Shadowrun and developed by Beam Software for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second, also titled Shadowrun, was released for the Sega Genesis in 1994, developed by BlueSky Software. The third game was a visual novel adventure game developed by Japanese company Group SNE in 1995 for the Sega CD, again titled Shadowrun. A fourth game, titled Shadowrun: Assassin, was planned to be released in 1998 by FASA Interactive Technologies for the PC, but was cancelled. The next game released was a first-person shooter for the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista, entitled Shadowrun. It was developed by FASA Interactive, owned by Microsoft, which also produced the title. It was the very first game that allows cross-platform play on the Games for Windows – Live service. As the publishers of the Shadowrun role-playing game stated at the time of the video game's release: "Microsoft rewrote the timeline and setting for this game, so it is not in continuity with the tabletop RPG. It may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun."
In September 2007, Microsoft closed FASA Studios and licensed the Shadowrun electronic entertainment rights to Smith & Tinker, a company owned by Jordan Weisman, one of the original creators of Shadowrun. In 2012, Weisman's company Harebrained Schemes launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of Shadowrun Returns, a 3D turn-based single player role-playing video game. Approximately 1.8 million US dollars were pledged, four times more than the $400,000 goal. Shadowrun Returns was released on 25 July 2013. An expansion for Shadowrun Returns named Shadowrun: Dragonfall was created as a stretch goal, and then later re-released as a standalone game called Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut. In January 2015, Harebrained Schemes launched another Kickstarter to fund Shadowrun: Hong Kong, which was released August 2015. Jan Wagner's Cliffhanger Productions also ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for an online 3D turn-based strategy role-playing video game that can be played either alone or with other players. On 14 August 2012, the campaign was funded at $558,863. The game was due to be released at the end of 2013 as Shadowrun Online, but was actually released in April 2015 as Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown. In December 2017, Microsoft registered the Shadowrun's trademarks recovering the rights from the series.
Chronology of Shadowrun video games:
1993 – Shadowrun (Beam Software; SNES)
1994 – Shadowrun (BlueSky Software; Genesis/Mega Drive)
1996 – Shadowrun (Group SNE; Sega/Mega CD)
2007 – Shadowrun (FASA Interactive; Windows and Xbox 360)
2013 – Shadowrun Returns (Harebrained Schemes; Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS and Android tablets)
2014 – Shadowrun: Dragonfall (Harebrained Schemes; Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS and Android tablets)
2015 – Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown (Cliffhanger Productions; Windows, Linux, Mac, Ouya, iOS and Android tablets, all desktop browsers via the Unity Web Player)
2015 – Shadowrun: Hong Kong (Harebrained Schemes; Windows, Linux, Mac)
Reception
In the September–October 1989 edition of Games International (Issue #9), Lee Brimmicombe-Wood was impressed by the production values, calling it "beautifully laid out and with some of the best illustrations I've seen outside of French rolegames." He admired the skill resolution system, calling it "beautifully elegant," although he found the magic system "instantly forgettable." Despite all its good points, he found the game's reliance on standard Dungeons & Dragons tropes "does not sit all that comfortably in a cyberpunk universe. [...] The dumping of elves, dwarfs and orcs into this technopunk environment fails to work." He concluded by giving Shadowrun an average rating of 3 out of 5.
Lester W. Smith reviewed Shadowrun in Space Gamer Vol. II No. 2. Smith commented that "In Shadowrun is a very visual game system. That is, it encourages imagery and role-playing, without bogging down in overly dry rules."
In a 1996 reader poll by Arcane magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, Shadowrun was ranked 8th. Editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Shadowrun'''s strength lies in the cleverly designed background, which creates a unique setting that actually works and is continually evolving. It also ties in with FASA's other main system, Earthdawn - while Shadowrun is the future, Earthdawn is the past of the same world. Between the two a fascinating universe has been created, offering a great deal of potential for all styles of play."
In 2007, Shadowrun was chosen for inclusion in Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Steven S. Long commented: "Shadowrun second edition belongs on the list of best hobby games because it so superbly integrates the gaming-specific material with the setting information. In doing so it satisfies what many gamers see as their twin needs: hard-and-fast rules that make gameplay fun; and an immersive setting that enhances the gaming experience, rather than detracting from it."
AwardsShadowrun 2nd Edition won the 1992 Origins Award for "Best Roleplaying Rules" and for "Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement".
The Shadowrun role-playing game, various expansions, the short story anthology Spells & Chrome, and a Shadowrun collectible card game have won Origins Awards. The 4th edition also won the ENnie Awards for Best Rules as well as for Best Product in 2006. In 2010, Shadowrun – 20th Anniversary Edition won three silver ENnies: Best Interior Art, Best Production Values and Best Game.
ReviewsChallenge #41 (1989)White Wolf #17 (1989)White Wolf #33 (Sept./Oct., 1992)
Casus Belli #72 (Nov 1992)SF SiteDosdediez'' (Número 1 - Nov/Dic 1993)
Notes
References
External links
Official Shadowrun universe website
Official Shadowrun tabletop website
Campaign settings
Cyberpunk role-playing games
Biopunk
Dark fantasy role-playing games
Dystopian fiction
Fantasy worlds
Jordan Weisman games
Origins Award winners
Science fantasy role-playing games
Role-playing games introduced in 1989
Augmented reality in fiction
Virtual reality in fiction
Artificial intelligence in fiction
Fiction about consciousness transfer
Brain–computer interfacing in fiction
Cybernetted society in fiction
Fiction about magic
Cyborgs in fiction
Genetic engineering in fiction
Nanotechnology in fiction
Transhumanism in fiction
Video games about artificial intelligence
Alternate history role-playing games
Role-playing game systems
Corporate warfare in fiction
Urban fantasy
Gangs in fiction |
3183135 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic%20Communications%20Act%202000 | Electronic Communications Act 2000 | The Electronic Communications Act 2000 (c.7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that:
Had provisions to regulate the provision of cryptographic services in the UK (ss.1-6); and
Confirms the legal status of electronic signatures (ss.7-10).
The United Kingdom government had come to the conclusion that encryption, encryption services and electronic signatures would be important to e-commerce in the UK.
By 1999, however, only the security services still hankered after key escrow. So a "sunset clause" was put in the bill. The Electronic Communications Act 2000 gave the Home Office the power to create a registration regime for encryption services. This was given a five-year period before it would automatically lapse, which eventually happened in May 2006.
References
External links
An account from the Foundation For Information Policy Research
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2000
Cryptography law |
46879739 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio%20Northeast%20Region%20defunct%20athletic%20conferences | Ohio Northeast Region defunct athletic conferences | This is a list of former high school athletic conferences in the Northeast Region of Ohio, as designated by the OHSAA. If a conference had members that span multiple regions, the conference is placed in the article of the region most of its former members hail from. Because the names of localities and their corresponding high schools do not always match and because there is often a possibility of ambiguity with respect to either the name of a locality or the name of a high school, the following table gives both in every case, with the locality name first, in plain type, and the high school name second in boldface type. The school's team nickname is given last.
All-American Athletic Conference
This short-lived conference began when Hubbard left the Mahoning Valley Conference to join with four defectors from the Steel Valley Conference (leaving the SVC in a weakened state, with only four schools remaining). When Western Reserve closed in 1990, Hubbard and Warren Harding rejoined their former conferences, while Howland and Niles McKinley followed Hubbard into the MVC.
Warren Harding Panthers (1986–90, to Steel Valley)
Howland Tigers (1986–90, to Mahoning Valley)
Hubbard Eagles (1986–90, to Mahoning Valley)
Niles McKinley Dragons (1986–90, to Mahoning Valley)
Warren Western Reserve Raiders (1986–90, consolidated into Warren Harding)
All-American Conference (Football)
This football-only conference featured six schools in northeastern Ohio, with some of the strongest gridiron teams in the state. Some of the schools also competed in the Ohio Big 8 League for other sports. The league lasted 16 seasons, and broke up primarily because of the dominance of Massillon Washington.
Warren Harding Panthers (1963–79)
Canton McKinley Bulldogs (1963–79)
Niles McKinley Red Dragons (1963–79)
Massillon Washington Tigers (1963–79)
Steubenville Big Red (1966–79)
Alliance Aviators (1969–79)
All-Ohio Conference/League
The league began as the AOC in 1976, as the Chippewa Conference split into this league and the Pioneer League. After Coventry replaced Tuscarawas Valley in 1983, the name was changed to the AOL.
Navarre Fairless Falcons (1976–89, to PAC-7)
Canal Fulton Northwest Indians (1977–89, to Northeastern Buckeye)
Orrville Red Riders (1976–1989, to Ohio Heartland Conference 1999-2003)
Wooster Triway Titans (1976–1989, to Mohican Area)
Millersburg West Holmes Knights (1976–1989, to Mohican Area)
Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley Trojans (1977-1983)
Manchester Panthers (1976–89, to PAC-7)
Coventry Comets (1983–89, to PAC-7)
Ashland County League
see Ashland County HS Sports Teams, Ohio
Albion Britons (colors: Navy & wine) (1929–38, consolidated into Homerville)
Hayesville Panthers (colors: orange & black) (1929–63, consolidated into Hillsdale)
Jeromesville Blue Jays (colors: blue & white) (1929–63, consolidated into Hillsdale)
Loudonville Redbirds (colors: scarlet & gray) (1929–62, moved to Johnny Appleseed Conference)
Nankin Knights (1929–37, consolidated into Polk)
Nova Trojans (colors: orange) (1929–49, consolidated into Ruggles-Troy)
Perrysville Admirals (colors: red & white) (1929–61, consolidated into Loudonville)
Polk Presidents (colors: orange & black) (1929–63, consolidated into Mapleton)
Ruggles Redskins (colors: crimson & royal blue) (1929–49, consolidated into Ruggles-Troy)
Savannah Sailors (colors: green & white) (1929–62, consolidated into Crestview)
Sullivan Bobcats (colors: red & white) (1929–58, consolidated into Black River)
Ruggles-Troy Golden Flashes (colors: green & gold) (1949–63, consolidated into Mapleton)
Sullivan Black River Pirates (1958–63, moved to Firelands)
Chippewa Conference
Brunswick Blue Devils (1963–77, to Pioneer)
Lodi Cloverleaf Colts (1963–77, to Pioneer)
Orrville Red Riders (1963–1976, to All-Ohio)
Wadsworth Grizzlies (1963–77, to Pioneer)
Millersburg West Holmes Knights (1968-1976, to All-Ohio)
Wooster Triway Titans (1970–1976, to All-Ohio)
The larger schools with proximity to I-76, I-71 and I-271 (Brunswick, Cloverleaf and Wadsworth) merged with Brecksville, North Royalton and Strongsville as charter members of the Pioneer Conference. Those three Cuyahoga County Conference schools also experienced greater enrollment increases than the smaller schools in their conference. They also had proximity to I-71, as well as the newly constructed I-271. Although Highland is often mentioned in association with the league, it was never in the conference. They played in the Inland Conference (1958-1976) before joining the Suburban League in 1977. Many Chippewa Conference schools included Highland in their non-conference schedules among several sports.
Crown Conference
(1967-1980)
Bedford St. Peter Chanel Firebirds (Closed)
Cleveland Cathedral Latin Lions (Now Notre Dame - Cathedral Latin)
Cleveland St. Joseph Vikings (Now Villa Angela-St. Joseph)
Lakewood St. Edward Eagles
Mentor Lake Catholic Cougars
Parma Padua Franciscan Bruins
Parma Heights Holy Name Green Wave
Cuyahoga County Conference/League
The initial CCL split into the Eastern Cuyahoga County League and West Side Cuyahoga County League (later the East and West County Leagues) in 1929. Various defections from within the county led to a short reformation of the league in 1954. The East and West leagues were revived two years later. Further defections to other leagues led to neither league being stable, and they revived the county league (now under the CCC banner) in 1964.
First Version (192?-29)
"A" League
Berea Braves (192?-29)
Lyndhurst Brush Arcs (192?-29)
Cleveland Heights Tigers (192?-28)
Euclid Panthers (192?-29)
Garfield Heights Bulldogs (192?-29)
Independence Blue Devils (192?-29)
Maple Heights Mustangs (192?-29)
Rocky River Pirates (192?-27)
Parma Schaar Redmen (192?-29)
East Cleveland Shaw Cardinals (192?-28)
Mayfield Wildcats (1927–29)
"B" League
Bay Village Bay Rockets (192?-29)
Beachwood Bison (192?-29)
Broadview Heights Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees (192?-29)
Brooklyn Hurricanes (192?-29)
Chagrin Falls Tigers (192?-29)
Cuyahoga Heights Redskins (192?-29)
Fairview Park Fairview Warriors (192?-29)
Mayfield Wildcats (192?-27, to "A" League)
North Olmstead Eagles (192?-29)
North Royalton Bears (192?-29)
Olmsted Falls Bulldogs (192?-29)
Pepper Pike Orange Lions (192?-29)
Richmond Heights Spartans (192?-29)
Solon Comets (192?-29)
Strongsville Mustangs (192?-29)
Warrensville Heights Tigers (192?-29)
Westlake Demons (192?-29)
Second Version (1954–56)
Beachwood Bison (1954–56)
Broadview Heights Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees (1954-1956)
Brooklyn Hurricanes (1954-1956)
Lyndhurst Brush Arcs (1954–56)
Chagrin Falls Tigers (1954–56)
Cuyahoga Heights Redskins (1954-1956)
Independence Blue Devils (1954-1956)
Mayfield Wildcats (1954–56)
North Royalton Bears (1954-1956)
Pepper Pike Orange Lions (1954–56)
Richmond Heights Spartans (1954-1956)
Solon Comets (1954–56)
Strongsville Mustangs (1954-1956)
Warrensville Heights Tigers (1954-1956)
Third Version (1964–79)
Broadview Heights Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees (1964-1977)
Brooklyn Hurricanes (1964-1979)
Cuyahoga Heights Redskins (1964-1979)
Independence Blue Devils (1964-1979)
North Royalton Bears (1964-1977)
Richmond Heights Spartans (1964-1968)
Strongsville Mustangs (1964-1977)
Warrensville Heights Tigers (1964-1979)
Rocky River Lutheran West Longhorns (1968-1970)
The three larger schools in this conference (Brecksville, North Royalton and Strongsville) experienced greater enrollment increases, were closer to I-71 and I-271 and merged with Chippewa Conference schools sharing similar characteristics (Brunswick, Cloverleaf and Wadsworth) to comprise the charter members of the Pioneer Conference (launched in 1977). Warrensville Heights was also growing in enrollment and joined another Cleveland area league with schools closer in size. Smaller schools like Brooklyn, Cuyahoga Heights, Independence and Lutheran West later joined the Inland Conference. The three public schools were limited in potential enrollment increase because their city limits were no longer expandable. They were also near I-480, making travel among their new Inland Conference opponents easier, and their competition consisted of schools similar in enrollment. Richmond Heights had the same city limit growth issues and left for the East Suburban Conference early on.
East Suburban Conference
Beachwood Bison (1968–89, to MAC-8)
Burton Berkshire Badgers (1968–96, to Chagrin Valley Conference (CVC))
Middlefield Cardinal Huskies (1968–96, to CVC)
Kirtland Hornets (1968–96, to CVC)
Newbury Black Knights (1968–98, to CVC)
Richmond Heights Spartans (1968–89, to MAC-8)
Fairport Harbor Harding Skippers (1970–76 (to Grand River), 1989-2005 (to CVC))
Chardon Hilltoppers (1980–83, to CVC)
Aurora Greenmen (1983–89, to MAC-8)
Perry Pirates (1984–96, to CVC)
Thompson Ledgemont Redskins (1989-2009, to Northeastern Athletic (NAC))
Orwell Grand Valley Mustangs (1989–98, to CVC)
Vienna Mathews Mustangs (1989–91 (to Inter-County), football only 2004–09 (to NAC))
Andover Pymatuning Valley Lakers (1989–98 (to Northeastern), football only 2004-2009 (to NAC))
Bristolville Bristol Panthers (1992-2002 (No Football), to NAC)
North Bloomfield Bloomfield Cardinals (1996-2002 (No Football), to NAC)
Southington Chalker Wildcats (1996-2002 (Football 1996-2009), to NAC)
Lordstown Red Devils (1996-2002 (No Football), to NAC)
Cortland Maplewood Rockets (1996-2002 (No Football), to NAC)
Ashtabula Sts. John & Paul Fighting Heralds (1996-2009)
Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Royals (1998-2001, to Principals)
Cleveland Heights Lutheran East Falcons (1998-2009, to NAC (football-only))
Cleveland Central Catholic Ironmen (football only 2004-06, to North Coast)
Youngstown Christian Eagles (2005–09, to North Coast 2015)
Erie Coast Conference
(1977–1986)
Elyria Catholic Panthers (1977–1986)
Elyria West Wolverines (1977-1986)
Lorain Catholic Spartans (1977-1986)
Lorain Southview Saints (1977–1986)
Erie Shore Conference
(1987–1997)
Lorain Admiral King Admirals (1987–1997)
Elyria Pioneers (1987–1997)
Lorain Steelmen (1987–1995, closed 1995)
Grafton Midview Middies (1987–1996)
North Ridgeville Rangers (1987–1997)
Sandusky Blue Streaks (1987–1997)
Lorain Southview Saints (1987–1997)
Vermilion Sailors (1987–1997)
Freeway Conference
(1962-1968)
The Freeway Conference was formed in 1962 by six programs from the eastern suburbs of Cleveland: five from Lake County, all of which joined from the Northeastern Conference, and one from Cuyahoga County. The differing growth patterns of these suburbs caused the quick demise of the league, as the three growing programs all left to join the original Greater Cleveland Conference in 1968, replacing Garfield Heights.
Mayfield Wildcats (1962-1968, to Greater Cleveland)
Mentor Cardinals (1962-1968, to Greater Cleveland)
Painesville Harvey Red Raiders (1962-1968)
Painesville Riverside Beavers (1962-1968)
Wickliffe Blue Devils (1962-1968)
Willoughby South Rebels (1962-1968, to Greater Cleveland)
Grand River Conference
Orwell Grand Valley Mustangs (1972-89, to East Suburban)
Thompson Ledgemont Redskins (1972-89, to East Suburban)
Perry Pirates (1972-84, to East Suburban)
Andover Pymatuning Valley Lakers (1972-89, to East Suburban)
Jefferson Falcons (1974-87, to Northeastern)
Fairport Harbor Harding Skippers (1976-89, to East Suburban)
Southington Chalker Wildcats (1978-82, 1987-89 (football only))
Vienna Mathews Mustangs (1985-89 (football only, to East Suburban))
Hall of Fame Conference
(football only, 1972-1975)
Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas Knights
Canton Central Catholic Crusaders
Canton Lehman Polar Bears
Canton Lincoln Lions
Canton Timken Trojans
Inland Conference
The Inland Conference formed in 1957 with 8 members. Brookside left in 1970 and was replaced by Lutheran West. Highland left in 1976 and was eventually replaced by Independence. Brooklyn and Cuyahoga Heights joined in 1979/1980 and the league was divided into an East Division (Brooklyn, Buckeye, Cuyahoga Heights, Independence, Lutheran West) and a West Division (Avon, Columbia, Firelands, Keystone, South Amherst). Season ending conference championship games in most sports were played between the winners of each division, to crown the overall conference champion. Avon, Firelands and Keystone left at the end of the 1985-86 school year and began play in the newly formed Lorain County Conference in the Fall of 1986. The remaining Inland Conference schools returned to the one division format, until the league dissolved at the end of the 1988-89 school year, one year after South Amherst was absorbed by Firelands. All remaining members, except Buckeye, joined the newly formed Metropolitan Athletic Conference in the Fall of 1989.
Avon Eagles (1957–1986) -- Left after Spring 1986 to join the Lorain County Conference
Sheffield Brookside Cardinals (1957–1970) -- Left after Spring of 1970 to join the Lakeland Conference
Medina Buckeye Bucks (1957–1989) -- Became an independent when the Inland Conference dissolved
Columbia Station Columbia Raiders (1957–1989) -- Joined the Metropolitan Athletic Conference in Fall of 1989
Oberlin Firelands Falcons (1957–1986) -- Left after Spring 1986 to join the Lorain County Conference
Medina Highland Hornets (1957–1976) -- Left after Spring of 1976 to join the Suburban League
LaGrange Keystone Wildcats (1957–1986) -- Left after Spring 1986 to join the Lorain County Conference
South Amherst Cavaliers (1957–1988) -- Merged with Firelands in 1988
Rocky River Lutheran West Longhorns (1970–1989) -- Joined the Metropolitan Athletic Conference in Fall of 1989
Cuyahoga Heights Redskins (1979-1989) -- Joined the Metropolitan Athletic Conference in Fall of 1989
Brooklyn Hurricanes (1979–1989) -- Joined the Metropolitan Athletic Conference in Fall of 1989
Independence Blue Devils (1979–1989) -- Joined the Metropolitan Athletic Conference in Fall of 1989
Source:
Inter-County League
This is one of the far East Ohio leagues that merged to for the Inter-Tri-County League, along with the Tri-County League, in 2006. Both leagues had members move between the two leagues quite a bit, with Columbiana having spent multiple stints in both leagues.
Canfield Cardinals (1951–60, to Turnpike Conference)
Columbiana Clippers (1951–56, to Tri-County League, 1976–91, to Tri-County League)
Damascus Goshen Union Gophers (1951–59, consolidated into West Branch)
Lowellville Rockets (1951-2006, to ITCL)
McDonald Blue Devils (1951-2006, to ITCL)
North Lima Zippers (1951–69, consolidated into South Range)
New Middletown Springfield Tigers (1951–60, to Turnpike Conference, 1969-2006, to ITCL)
North Jackson Jackson-Milton Blue Jays (1954–60, to Turnpike Conference, 1967-2006, to ITCL)
Greenford Bobcats (1956–69, consolidated into South Range)
Columbiana Crestview Rebels (1957–74, to Tri-County League)
Berlin Center Western Reserve Blue Devils (1959-2006, to ITCL)
Mineral Ridge Rams (1961-2006, to ITCL)
North Lima South Range Raiders (1969-2006, to ITCL)
Vienna Mathews Mustangs (1991-2003, to Northeastern Athletic Conference; 2004 football only)
Sebring McKinley Trojans (2005–06, to ITCL)
Inter-Tri County League
The ITCL was formed as a merger of the Inter-County and Tri-County leagues in 2006. The two-tier system was realigned into a three-tier system in 2015 to reduce travel costs. In March 2016, it was announced that the league would disband into two leagues, the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference and the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference, effective for the 2017-18 year.
Blue Division
North Jackson Jackson-Milton Blue Jays (2006-2017, to MVAC)
Lowellville Rockets (2006-2017, to MVAC)
McDonald Blue Devils (2006-2017, to MVAC)
Sebring McKinley Trojans (2006-2017, to MVAC)
Mineral Ridge Rams (2006-2017, to MVAC)
Berlin Center Western Reserve Blue Devils (2006-2017, to MVAC)
Red Division
Columbiana Crestview Rebels (2006-2017, to Ohio Valley Athletic Conference)
East Palestine Bulldogs (2006-2017, to EOAC)
Canfield/North Lima South Range Raiders (2006-2017, to Independent, to Northeast-8 Conference 2019.)
New Middletown Springfield Tigers (2006-2017, to MVAC)
Hanoverton United Golden Eagles (2006-2017, to EOAC)
White Division
Lisbon David Anderson Blue Devils (2006-2017, to EOAC)
Columbiana Clippers (2006-2017, to EOAC)
Leetonia Bears (2006-2017, to EOAC)
Salineville Southern Local Indians (2006-2017, to EOAC)
Wellsville Tigers (2006-2017, to EOAC)
Divisions 2006-15
Note: Columbiana and Jackson-Milton were switched for the 2012 season.
Lakeland Conference
(1953–86)
Lorain Clearview Clippers (1953–1986)
Huron Tigers (1953–1968)
Castalia Margaretta Polar Bears (1953–1961)
New London Wildcats (1953–1970)
Vermilion Sailors (1953–1986)
Wellington Dukes (1953–1986)
Amherst Marion L. Steele Comets (Amherst until 1958, 1954–1986)
Avon Lake Shoremen (1961–1964)
Grafton Midview Middies (1961–1986)
North Ridgeville Rangers (1961–1986)
Oberlin Indians (1964–1986)
Sheffield Brookside Cardinals (1970–1986)
Lorain County League/Conference
Originally began in 1924 as one of the small-school county leagues, the league survived the consolidation wave until 1961, when the schools who weren't already aligned with the Inland Conference joined the Lakeland Conference. The conference revived itself in 1986, as the Lakeland collapsed, and the schools banded together for roughly two decades until the schools split, this time to help form the Patriot Athletic and West Shore conferences.
Third Version (Lorain County League, 2019-)
Sullivan Black River Pirates (2019-)
Sheffield Brookside Cardinals (2019-)
Lorain Clearview Clippers (2019-)
Columbia Station Columbia Raiders1 (2019-)
Oberlin Firelands Falcons (2019-)
LaGrange Keystone Wildcats (2019-)
Oberlin Phoenix (2019-)
Wellington Dukes (2019-)
Second Version (Lorain County Conference, 1986-2005)
Avon Eagles (1986–2005, to West Shore)
Sheffield Brookside Cardinals (1986–2005, to Patriot)
Lorain Clearview Clippers (1986–2005, to Patriot)
Oberlin Firelands Falcons (1986–2005, to West Shore)
LaGrange Keystone Wildcats (1986–2005, to Patriot)
Oberlin Phoenix (1986–2005, to Patriot)
Wellington Dukes (1986–2005, to Patriot)
Elyria West Wolverines (1986–1996, school closed, consolidated into Elyria)
Grafton Midview Middies (1996–2005, to West SHore)
First Version (Lorain County League, 1924–61)
Avon Eagles1 (1924–61, to Inland)
Avon Lake Shoremen (1924–1961, to Lakeland)
Belden Bees (1924–55, consolidated into Midview)
Brighton Bears (1924–52, consolidated into Wellington)
Sheffield Brookside Cardinals1 (1924–61, to Inland)
Brownhelm Bombers (1924–52, consolidated into Firelands)
Kipton Camden Knights (1924–52, consolidated into Firelands)
Columbia Station Columbia Raiders1 (1924–61, to Inland)
Grafton Eaton Eels (1924–55, consolidated into Midview)
Grafton Comets (1924–55, consolidated into Midview)
Henrietta Hawks (1924–52, consolidated into Firelands)
LaGrange Wildcats (1924–59, consolidated into Keystone)
North Ridgeville Rangers (1924–27, to NOAL, 1933–61, to Lakeland)
Penfield Bombers (1924–59, consolidated into Keystone)
South Amherst Cavaliers1 (1924–61, to Inland)
Wellington Dukes (1924–27, to NOAL)
Lorain Clearview Clippers (1928–38, to NOAL, 1947–53, to Lakeland)
Oberlin Firelands Falcons1 (1952–61, to Inland)
Grafton Midview Middies (1955–61, to Lakeland)
Lagrange Keystone Wildcats2 (1959–61)
Concurrent with Inland Conference 1957-61.
Concurrent with Inland Conference 1959-61.
Division Alignments
Mahoning Valley Conference/Metro Athletic Conference
The MVC began in 1972, and changed its name to the MAC in 1994. In 2008 the league (minus East Liverpool) merged with the Trumbull Athletic Conference to become the All-American Conference.
Canfield Cardinals (1972-2008)
Girard Indians (1972-2000)
Warren John F. Kennedy Eagles (1972–94)
Liberty Leopards (1972-1979)
Poland Poland Seminary Bulldogs (1972-2008)
Salem Quakers (1978-2008)
Struthers Wildcats (1979-2008)
Beloit West Branch Warriors (1972-1981)
Campbell Memorial Red Devils (1980–94, 2006–08)
Howland Tigers (1972-1975, 1994-2008 (Football 1995-2008))
Niles McKinley Dragons (1994-2008 (Football 1995-2008))
Alliance Aviators (2003–05)
East Liverpool Potters (2006–08)
Metro League
(1937-1996)
Coventry Comets (1937–69, to Suburban)
Akron Ellet Orangemen (1937–71, to Akron City)
Lakemore Springfield Spartans (1937–93, to Northeastern Buckeye)
Kent State Blue Devils (1937–45, 1950–53, to Portage County)
Stow-Munroe Falls Bulldogs (1937–96, merged into Western Reserve)
Norton Panthers (1940–72, to Suburban)
North Canton Vikings (1945–52, to Stark County A)
Tallmadge Blue Devils (1949–90, to Suburban)
Wadsworth Grizzlies (1954–63, to Chippewa)
Kent Roosevelt Rough Riders (1954–96, merged into Western Reserve)
Ravenna Ravens (1963–96, merged into Western Reserve)
Macedonia Nordonia Knights (1973–94, to Greater Cleveland)
Brimfield Field Falcons (1976-78, to Suburban)
Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers (1978–96, merged into Western Reserve)
Barberton Magics (1988–96, merged into Western Reserve)
Metropolitan Area Conference (MAC-8)
(1989-2005)
Aurora Greenmen (1989–96, to Chagrin Valley Conference)
Beachwood Bison (1989-2005, to Chagrin Valley Conference)
Brooklyn Hurricanes (1989-2005, to Patriot Athletic Conference)
Columbia Station Columbia Raiders (1989-2005, to Patriot Athletic Conference)
Cuyahoga Heights Redskins (1989-2005, to Chagrin Valley Conference)
Independence Blue Devils (1989-2005, to Chagrin Valley Conference)
Rocky River Lutheran West Longhorns (1989-2005, to Patriot Athletic Conference)
Richmond Heights Spartans (1989-2005, to Chagrin Valley Conference)
Gates Mills Gilmour Academy Lancers (1996-2005)
Mohican Area Conference
Bellville Clear Fork Colts (1989–2004, to Ohio Cardinal)
Loudonville Redbirds (1989–2004, to Mid-Buckeye)
Millersburg West Holmes Knights (1989–2003, to Ohio Cardinals)
Wooster Triway Titans (1989–2004, to Principals')
Medina Buckeye Bucks (1993–2004, to Patriot 2005)
Sullivan Black River Pirates (1993–2004, to Patriot 2005)
North Central Conference (Cleveland area)
Bedford St. Peter Chanel Firebirds (1974-1983)
Cleveland Central Catholic Ironmen (1968-1983)
Cleveland Our Lady of Lourdes Crusaders (?-1968, consolidated into Cleveland Central Catholic)*
Cleveland St. John Cantius Jayhawks (?-1968, consolidated into Cleveland Central Catholic)*
Cleveland St. Stanislaus Panthers (?-1968, consolidated into Cleveland Central Catholic)*
Elyria Catholic Panthers
Gates Mills Gilmour Academy Lancers
Garfield Heights Trinity Trojans (1977-1983)
Lorain St. Mary's Fighting Irish
Lorain Catholic Spartans
Mentor Lake Catholic Cougars (1972-1977)
Parma Byzantine Catholic Buccaneers (closed 1975)
Warrensville Heights Tigers (1979-1983)
Note: Our Lady of Lourdes, St. John Cantius and St. Stanislaus High Schools merged with Cleveland St. Michael in 1968 to form Cleveland Central Catholic.
North Coast League
Blue Division
Akron Archbishop Hoban Knights (2005-2020)
Cleveland Heights Beaumont Bluestreaks (girls' only, 2011-2020)
Cleveland Benedictine Bengals (boys' only, 2011-2020)
Mentor Lake Catholic Cougars (1984-2020)
Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions (1988-2020, [Football, 1991-2020])
Parma Padua Franciscan Bruins (1984-2020)
Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit Warriors (2011-2020)
Cleveland St. Joseph Academy Jaguars (girls' only, 2018-2020)
White Division
Cleveland Central Catholic Ironmen (1984-2004, 2006-2020)
Gates Mills Gilmour Academy Lancers (2018-2020)
Warren John F. Kennedy Eagles (2011-2020)
Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings (2004-2020)
Former members
Bedford St. Peter Chanel Firebirds (1984-2013, school closed)
Parma Heights Holy Name Green Wave (1984-2015)
Elyria Catholic Panthers (1985-2011, [Football 1995-2011])
Youngstown Valley Christian Eagles (2015-2017)
Garfield Heights Trinity Trojans (1984-2019)
Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas Knights (2013-2019)
Northeastern Conference
Ashtabula City Panthers (1951-2001, consolidated into Lakeside)
Fairport Harbor Fairport Harding Skippers (1951-1962)
Geneva Eagles (1951-2009, to Premier 2011)
Painesville Harvey Red Raiders (1951-1962, to Freeway; 1987-2009, to Chagrin Valley-Chagrin)
Mentor Cardinals (1951-1962, to Freeway)
Painesville Riverside Beavers (1951-1962, to Freeway; 1976-1998, to Premier)
Wickliffe Blue Devils (1957-1962, to Freeway)
Conneaut Spartans (1958-2009, to PIAA-District 10 2016)
Willoughby South Rebels (1960-1962, to Freeway)
Ashtabula St. John Heralds (1962-1996, to East Suburban 1998)
Ashtabula Edgewood Warriors (1965-2009, to All-American 2011)
Ashtabula Harbor Mariners (1965-2001, consolidated into Lakeside)
Jefferson Falcons (1968-1973, 1987-2009, to All-American 2014)
Andover Pymatuning Valley Lakers (1968-1973, to Grand River; 1998-2002, to Northeastern Athletic)
Madison Blue Streaks (1972-1998, to Premier)
Ashtabula Lakeside Dragons (2001-2007, to Premier)
Northeast Ohio Conference
The Northeast Ohio Conference name was used by two different conferences, one in the 1970s and the other from 2007 to 2015.
Second Version (2007-15)
The conference was formed in 2007 by the merger of the Pioneer Conference and a previous incarnation of the Western Reserve conference. There are three six-member divisions — Valley, River and Lake — that vary by sport.
Brunswick Blue Devils (2007–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
Lyndhurst Brush Arcs (2007–15, to Western Reserve Conference)
Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers (2007–15, to Suburban League)
Elyria Pioneers (2007–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
Garfield Heights Bulldogs (2007–15, to Independents)
Hudson Explorers (2007–15, to Suburban League)
Lakewood Rangers (2007–12, to West Shore Conference)
Mayfield Wildcats (2007–15, to Western Reserve Conference)
Medina Battling Bees (2007–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
Macedonia Nordonia Knights (2007–11, to Suburban League)
Parma Normandy Invaders (2007–15, to Great Lakes Conference)
North Royalton Bears (2007–15, to Suburban League)
Parma Redmen (2007–15, to Great Lakes Conference)
Solon Comets (2007–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
Stow-Munroe Falls Bulldogs (2007–15, to Suburban League)
Strongsville Mustangs (2007–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
Twinsburg Tigers (2007–15, to Suburban League)
Parma Heights Valley Forge Patriots (2007–15, to Great Lakes Conference)
Mentor Cardinals (2011–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
Shaker Heights Red Raiders (2012–15, to Greater Cleveland Conference)
2 teams from this conference (Brush and Mayfield) will join the Western Reserve Conference come the 2015-16 school year
Football divisions
First Version (1970-77)
Akron Archbishop Hoban Knights
Barberton Magics
Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers
Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (St. Vincent prior to 1972) Fighting Irish
Lorain Southview Saints
Warren Western Reserve Raiders
Northern Ohio Athletic League
Amherst Comets (1927–47, to Southwestern Conference)
Medina Bees (1927–47, to Southwestern Conference)
New London Wildcats (1927–47, to Firelands League)
North Ridgeville Rangers (1927-1933, to Lorain County League)
Vermilion Sailors (1927–47, to Firelands League)
Wadsworth Grizzlies (1927-1931, to Western Reserve League)
Wellington Dukes (1927–45, to Southwestern Conference)
Lorain Clearview Clippers (1938–47, to Southwestern Conference)
Ohio Scholastic League
(1948-1951)
Alliance Aviators (1948-51
Mansfield Tygers (1948-1951)
Massillon Washington Tigers (1948-1951)
Canton McKinley Bulldogs (1949-1951)
Toledo Waite Indians (1948-1951)
Warren Warren G. Harding Panthers (1948-1951)
The football-only league dissolved in May 1952, prior to the 1952 football season. Distance and low gate receipts were cited as reasons for folding the league. Toledo Waite representatives also mentioned that having to play conference newcomer Toledo Macomber in the Toledo City League would have made it impossible for them to continue playing in both leagues.
An interest in joining the league was expressed by Hamilton, Middletown, Springfield, and Toledo Libbey in 1949, but those schools ultimately decided the travel was too much for them to consider as well.
Pioneer Conference
(1977–2007)
Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees (1977-2005)
Brunswick Blue Devils (1977-2007)
Lodi Cloverleaf Colts (1977-1997)
North Royalton Bears (1977-2007)
Strongsville Mustangs (1977-2007)
Wadsworth Grizzlies (1977-1984)
Berea Braves (1979-2005)
Middleburg Heights Midpark Meteors (1979-2005)
Medina Battling Bees (1986-2007)
North Ridgeville Rangers (1997-2005)
Elyria Pioneers (2003-2007)
Parma Normandy Invaders (2003-2007)
Parma Redmen (2003-2007)
Parma Heights Valley Forge Patriots (2003-2007)
This conference's growth was the result of major changes due such as population growth/shift, proximity to interstate corridors and the potential for greater natural border rivalries . The first was the mid/late 1970s where schools located south of the first ring suburbs near or through the I-71 corridor were realizing unprecedented growth. The conference's six charter members had outgrown their respective leagues. Berea and Midpark, both in the heart of the I-71 corridor, followed suit in 1979. During the 1980s Wadsworth, a member with strong athletic programs despite smaller enrollment, left for the Suburban League where opponents along the US-224 and I-76/I-94 corridors made better natural border rivalries. Cloverleaf followed suit in the late 1990s due to stagnation in its enrollment and its inability to maintain its programs at competitive levels in the PC. Conversely, Medina, also along the corridor, joined the PC in 1986 because of its unprecedented growth and the greater natural border rivalries among the league's charter members. The final shift was the early 2000s where first-ring south/west Cleveland suburbs found the charter PC members were now larger, more suitable opponents and closer in proximity; saving some travel among Lake Erie League opponents of years past. Lorain County schools, Elyria and North Ridgeville, were looking for closer, competitive opponents as an alternative to the continued shrinking of Lorain City and Sandusky schools. Their proximity to I-80 and I-480 made the jump to the PC more viable. This conference was a powerhouse in all sports and it was also the foundation of the Cleveland area's first suburban mega-conference, the NEO Conference, whose format was patterned after similar mega-conferences formed in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati suburbs.
Portage County League
One of the longest-surviving county leagues, lasting from 1918 until merging into the Portage Trail Conference in 2005.
Atwater Spartans (192?-67, consolidated into Waterloo)
Aurora Greenmen (192?-64, joined Chagrin Valley Conference)
Brimfield Bears (1918–30, converted to junior high in 1930, consolidated into Field, 1960)
Charlestown Wildcats (192?-50, consolidated into Southeast)
Deerfield Bison (192?-50, consolidated into Southeast)
Edinburgh Scots (192?-50, consolidated into Southeast)
Freedom Yellowjackets (192?-48, consolidated into Garfield)
Garrettsville Garfield G-Men (Garrettsville before 1948) (192?-2005, merged into PTC)
Hiram Huskies (1918–64, consolidated into Crestwood)
Mantua Hilltoppers, Big Red, then Red Devils (1918–50, consolidated into Mantua-Shalersville)
Mantua Center Mantua Township Trojans (1918–48, consolidated into Mantua)
Mogadore Wildcats (192?-57, 1968-2005, merged into PTC)
Nelson Pirates (192?-48, consolidated into Garfield)
Palmyra Southeast Pirates (1950–58, 1961-2005, merged into PTC)
Palmyra (1918–50, consolidated into Southeast)
Wayland Paris Nightriders (192?-50, consolidated into Southeast)
Randolph Tigers (192?-67, consolidated into Waterloo)
Ravenna Township Bulldogs (1918–60, consolidated into Ravenna)
Rootstown Rovers (192?-2005, merged into PTC)
Shalersville Rams, also Owls (192?-50, consolidated into Mantua-Shalersville)
Streetsboro Rockets (192?-1950; 1963–2005, merged into PTC)
Suffield Big Red, also Red Devils or Red Riders (192?-61, consolidated into Field)
Windham Bombers (Yellow Jackets before 1939) (192?-53, 1961-2005, merged into PTC)
Mantua Crestwood Red Devils (Mantua-Shalersville until 1955) (1950–58, 1961-2005, merged into PTC)
Kent State Statesmen (1960–72, Blue Devils before 1956, school closed)
Brimfield Field Falcons (Big Red until 1980s) (1961–76, 1990-2005, merged into PTC)
Atwater Waterloo Vikings (1967-2005, merged into PTC)
Peninsula Woodridge Bulldogs (1978-2005, merged into PTC)
Premier Athletic Conference
Chardon Hilltoppers (1998-2015, to Western Reserve Conference)
Ashtabula Lakeside Dragons (2007–15, to All-American Conference)
Geneva Eagles (2009–15, to Chagrin Valley Conference)
Madison Blue Streaks (1998-2015, to Western Reserve Conference)
Eastlake North Rangers (1998-2015, to Western Reserve Conference)
Painesville Riverside Beavers (1998-2015, to Western Reserve Conference)
Willoughby South Rebels (1998-2015, to Western Reserve Conference)
Hunting Valley University Preppers (2009–15, to Independents)
Section One League
Originally the Stark County B League, this league ended in 1960, as its last remaining member moved to the Stark County AA League.
Beach City Pirates (1921–60, consolidated into Fairless)
Brewster Railroaders (1921–60, consolidated into Fairless)
Canal Fulton Indians (1921–52, consolidated into Northwest)
East Sparta Spartans (1921–53, consolidated into Sandy Valley)
Greentown Greyhounds (1921–53, consolidated into North Canton)
Hartville Blue Streaks (1921–58, consolidated into Lake)
Lexington Lions (1921–57, consolidated into Marlington)
Magnolia Panthers (1921–53, consolidated into Sandy Valley)
Marlboro Dukes (1921–57, consolidated into Marlington)
Navarre Rams (1921–60, consolidated into Fairless)
Uniontown Bobcats (1921–58, consolidated into Lake)
Washington Warriors (1921–57, consolidated into Marlington)
Waynesburg Mohawks (1921–53, consolidated into Sandy Valley)
Canton Oakwood Golden Raiders (1933–60, to Stark County AA League)
Senate League
Originally the Stark County A League when formed in 1921, the league adjusted its name when Ohio went from "A"/"B" classification to "AA"/"A" in 1957. When the Federal League split off in 1964, the remaining members renamed their league the SL in response. The League folded in 1989, as its remaining members split to help form two new leagues.
Alliance Aviators (1921–53, to Big 8 Conference)
Canton South Wildcats (1921–64, to Federal League)
East Canton Hornets (1921–79, to PAC-7 1989)
Canton Glenwood Eagles (Middlebranch until 1957, 1921–64, to Federal League)
North Canton Hoover Vikings (North Canton until 1957, 1921–68, to Federal League)
Canton Jackson Polar Bears (1921–64, to Federal League)
Louisville Leopards (1921–32, to Tri-County League)
Minerva Lions (1921–32, to Tri-County League; 1973–89, to Northeastern Buckeye Conference)
Canal Fulton Northwest Indians (1952–77, to All-Ohio League)
Magnolia Sandy Valley Cardinals (1953–64, to Federal League; 1968-89, to PAC-7)
Massilon Perry Panthers (1956–64, to Federal League)
Marlboro Marlington Dukes (1957–64, to Federal League)
Uniontown Lake Blue Streaks (1958–87, to Federal League)
Navarre Fairless Falcons (1960–64, to Federal League)
Canton Oakwood Golden Raiders (1960–68, to Federal League)
Tuscarawas Township Tuslaw Mustangs (1960–89, to PAC-7)
Starsburg-Franklin Tigers (1968–71, to Inter-Valley Conference)
Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley Trojans (1968–74, to Inter-Valley Conference 1974-1977, to All-Ohio Conference 1977-1983; 1983-89 to PAC-7)
Carrollton Warriors (1974-89, to Northeastern Buckeye Conference)
Uhrichsville Claymont Mustangs (1974-89, to East Central Ohio League)
Dover Tornadoes (1987-89, to Northeastern Buckeye Conference)
Tomahawk Conference (Northeast)
Formed in 1958 by teams in Portage County, some of which had either been excluded from the Portage County League or grown too large due to consolidation. In 1961, it merged with the Portage County League. It remains the smallest athletic conference in the history of Ohio sports.
Mantua Crestwood Red Devils (1958–1961)
Palmyra Southeast Pirates (1958–1961)
Ravenna Ravens (1958–1961, except football)
Windham Bombers (1958–1961)
Tri-County League (Northeast)
Formed in 1932, this league (along with the Inter-County League) merged to form the Inter-Tri County League in 2006.
Boardman Spartans (1932–51)
Columbiana Clippers (1932–51, 1956–76, 1991-2006)
Lisbon David Anderson Blue Devils (1932-, 2006)
East Palestine Bulldogs (1932–76, 1990-2006)
Leetonia Bears (1932–35, 1950-2006)
Louisville Leopards (1932–66)
Sebring McKinley Trojans (1932-2005)
Minerva Lions (1932–73)
Poland Poland Seminary Bulldogs (1951–72)
Bergholz Springfield Local Flying Tigers (1972–88, consolidated into Edison South)
Hanoverton United Golden Eagles (1972-2006)
Lisbon Beaver Local Beavers (1974–76)
Salineville Southern Local Indians (1974-2006)
Hammondsville Stanton Red Raiders (1974–88, re-branded as Edison North)
Toronto Red Knights (1974–76)
Wellsville Tigers (1974–76, 2005–06)
Columbiana Crestview Rebels (1975-2006)
Football Divisions 1974 & 1975 seasons:
Trolley League
Bedford Bearcats
Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers
Akron Kenmore Cardinals
Kent Roosevelt Rough Riders
Kent State University School Blue Devils
Ravenna Ravens
West Shore Conference
Avon Eagles (2005-2015, to Southwestern Conference)
Bay Village Bay Rockets (2005-2015, to Great Lakes Conference)
Fairview Park Fairview Warriors (2005-2011, to Patriot Athletic Conference)
Oberlin Firelands Falcons (2005-2011, to Patriot Athletic Conference)
Grafton Midview Middies (2005-2015, to Southwestern Conference)
North Ridgeville Rangers (2005-2015, to Southwestern Conference)
Rocky River Pirates (2005-2015, to Great Lakes Conference)
Vermilion Sailors (2005-2015, to Sandusky Bay 2016)
Elyria Catholic Panthers (2011-2015, to Great Lakes Conference)
Lakewood Rangers (2012-2015, to Southwestern Conference)
Youngstown City Series
Youngstown East Golden Bears (1925–98, school closed)
Youngstown North Bulldogs (1925–80, school closed)
Youngstown Rayen Tigers (1925-2003, to Steel Valley)
Youngstown South Warriors (1925–93, school closed)
Youngstown Wilson Presidents (until 1958)/Redmen (1936-2003, to Steel Valley)
Youngstown Cardinal Mooney Cardinals (1958–70, to Steel Valley)
Youngstown Ursuline Fighting Irish (1958–70, to Steel Valley)
Youngstown Chaney Cowboys (1960-2003, to Steel Valley)
Canton Timken Trojans (1999-2003, to PAC-8 2005)
See also
Ohio High School Athletic Association
Ohio High School Athletic Conferences
OHSAA Northeast Region athletic conferences
Notes and references |
27704736 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%20II%20sound%20cards | Apple II sound cards | Throughout its lengthy, multi-model lifespan, the Apple II series computers lacked any serious built-in sound capabilities. At the time of its release in 1977, this did not distinguish it from its contemporaries (ex. the TRS-80 and Commodore PET), but by 1982, it shared the market with several sound-equipped competitors such as the Commodore 64, whose SID chip could produce sophisticated multi-timbral music and sound effects.
All Apple II models (except the Apple IIGS, a significantly different, albeit backwards-compatible machine) possess a speaker, but it was limited to 1-bit output in the form of a simple voltage the user could switch on and off with software, creating clicks from the speaker each time the state was toggled. By turning the signal on and off rapidly, sounds with pitches could be produced.
This approach places extreme constraints on software design, since it requires the CPU to be available to toggle the output at specific frequencies, and all other code must be structured around that requirement. If sound generation code didn't execute at precisely the right intervals, generating specific output frequencies would be impossible.
Sound hardware in competing computers consisted of extra chips that generated sounds without continuous CPU involvement, freeing up the CPU for normal code execution. The various third-party add-on devices listed here provide this same capability to the Apple II.
Music
Music Cards
Music cards consist primarily of circuit boards plugged into the expansion slots of the Apple computer. There is generally no method to directly play the cards as a musical instrument. Instead, music is programmed into the computer, typically using the computer's keyboard and pointing devices (such as the Apple's game controls or using an add-on light pen). The computer then plays the music back using the music cards to produce the sound, generally through a standard audio system.
ALF Music Card MC16
The first hardware music accessory for the Apple II was ALF's "Apple Music Synthesizer", later renamed "Music Card MC16". It was demonstrated late in 1978 and began shipping in volume June 1979. It featured graphical music entry, a first for any personal computer. Each card produced three voices, and two or three cards could be used for six or nine voices.
ALF Music Card MC1
Using much the same software as the ALF Music Card MC16, ALF introduced a new hardware design as the "Apple Music II", later renamed "Music Card MC1". It had nine voices on a single card, although the range, tuning accuracy, and envelope/volume control was reduced compared to the Music Card MC16. The card used three TI SN76489N chips.
American Micro Products Juke Box Synthesizer
Advertised for sale in June 1980, this card featured three simultaneous voices with a 5 octave range and one white noise generator.
Applied Engineering Super Music Synthesizer
Super Music Synthesizer is a 16 voice music synthesizer created by Applied Engineering which can play songs written for the ALF Music Card.
Applied Engineering Phasor
Phasor is a stereo music, sound and speech synthesizer created by Applied Engineering that can play songs written for the ALF, Mockingboard and Super Music Synthesizer and the 1986 Applied Engineering Catalog claims that they actually sound better on Phasor.
Sweet Micro Systems Mockingboard
The Mockingboard provided multiple voices of sound output, and was the closest thing to a standard sound card available for the Apple series. It utilized the AY-3-8910 sound generator chip.
Mountain Computer Music System
The Mountain Computer Music System was a two-board set that provided audio output with 8-bit resolution. A light pen was also available with the system.
Music Systems
Music systems generally include all the features of music cards, but add a method of playing the instrument directly (usually a piano-style keyboard). This allows music to be played "live", and the notes can also be captured by the computer for subsequent playback or editing and playback.
Alpha Syntauri
The Alpha Syntauri was a music system designed around the expansion capabilities of the Apple ][. The hardware consisted of an external piano-style keyboard and cards that plugged into the Apple ][ (a keyboard interface card and music synthesizer cards). Originally the music synthesizer was ALF's Apple Music Synthesizer, and later the two-board Mountain Computer Music System was used. Software was designed to support music composition and performance. Herbie Hancock and Keith Emerson were notable early adopters of the Syntauri system.
Passport Designs Soundchaser
The Passport Designs Soundchaser Computer Music System provided similar capabilities, but the software emphasized composition over real-time performance.
The Soundchaser included a 49-key keyboard, keyboard interface card, and a choice of sound cards depending on whether the digital or analog option was chosen. The digital option included
the Mountain Computer Music System cards.
Speech cards
Echo
The Echo II card was a speech synthesis card utilizing linear predictive coding technology, as embodied by the TMS 5220 speech chip.
The Echo Plus card utilized the same speech chip as the Echo II, and also added a pair of AY-3-8910 sound generator chips, and stereo output.
The Echo Cricket is an externalized version of the Echo II card, which interfaces through the Apple IIc serial port.
Sampler cards
The Sonic Blaster by Applied Engineering were introduced at least by 1988 using an Apple IIGS bus slot. It's capable of 8-bit at a sample rate of 15 184 Hz in stereo and 30 368 Hz for mono.
References
External links
Mirrors.apple2.org.za - audio
Mirrors.apple2.org.za - speech
Alpha Syntauri system used in software demo
Sound cards
Apple II peripherals |
6201777 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wily%20Technology | Wily Technology | CA Wily Technology, formerly Wily Technology, Inc., is a software company based in California. Founded in 1998, it was purchased by CA, Inc. in March 2006, and CA Wily Technology is now a division of CA's Service Assurance business unit.
History
Wily was founded in 1998 by Lew Cirne. The Wily name comes from Cirne's previous experiences in the development and marketing of advanced technologies, where the most impressive and valuable were referred to affectionately as "wily technology." Cirne chose the Wily name to embody the creative and aggressive approach to the company's products and business culture. According to Cirne, "it was in the very early days of Web 1.0, and this technology called Java was used to build most of the Web sites in the world, and Web applications in the world. And Wily created a category called ‘application performance management’." It was founded in Brisbane, California.
In 2001, it had 50 employees. In 2003, it opened an office in Munich, Germany. That year, it received $15 million in funding, led by Focus Ventures. Between 2004 and 2005, revenue grew 48%, with $53 million in reported revenue in 2005. In January 2006, Wily reported it had between 450 and 500 customers up til that point. It had customers in the fields of healthcare, media, telecoms, retail, government, and finances.
After eight years of consistent growth, Wily was acquired by CA Technologies for $375 million in March 2006. CA made the purchase to add to its application management software portfolio. When it was acquired, it had offices in Japan, Singapore, the UK, Germany, and France, and was headquartered in San Francisco, California. When it was acquired, it had around 450 employees.
In 2013, CA Technologies sued AppDynamics for allegedly using Wily Technology patents.
Products
The company's software "monitors the performance of applications and lets IT managers diagnose bottlenecks and other problems."
In 2019, ca technologies released CA Application Performance Management (APM), a software suite. CA APM was the main product by the division. In November, 2018 CA became of subsidiary of Broadcom Inc., and product has since been renamed to DX APM.
There are former products as well:
CA Wily Introscope
CA Wily Introscope for SAP ABAP
CA Wily Customer Experience Manager
CA Wily Customer Experience Manager for Siebel
CA Wily Portal Manager for BEA WebLogic
CA Wily Portal Manager for IBM WebSphere
CA Wily SOA Manager
See also
Application Performance Management
References
External links
CA, Inc.
CA Wily Homepage
1998 establishments in California
Software companies based in California
Software companies established in 1998
CA Technologies
2006 mergers and acquisitions
Software companies of the United States
Companies established in 1998
1998 establishments in the United States |
7572332 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cawood%20Ledford | Cawood Ledford | Cawood Ledford (April 24, 1926 – September 5, 2001) was a radio play-by-play announcer for the University of Kentucky basketball and football teams. Ledford's style and professionalism endeared himself to many sports fans in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and he remains among the most popular sports figures in the state.
A native of Harlan, Kentucky, Ledford was educated at Hall High School and Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He began broadcasting high school basketball and football games for WHLN radio in Harlan in 1951 and began broadcasting Kentucky Wildcats games in 1953 after moving to Lexington. He remained in his position of play-by-play announcer for University of Kentucky basketball for 39 years. His last game as an announcer for a Kentucky basketball game was in 1992, when Kentucky fell to Duke 104–103 in overtime in the NCAA East Regional Final, a game widely considered to be the greatest college basketball game ever played. In a gesture of appreciation, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski walked to the broadcast area immediately after the game's conclusion and congratulated Ledford on his career.
He also worked as the play-by-play announcer for national radio broadcasts of the NCAA Men's Final Four on the CBS Radio Network, and called many runnings of the Kentucky Derby for CBS Radio. Ledford also announced broadcasts of basketball games of the Kentucky Colonels, a successful American Basketball Association franchise.
Style and sayings
Ledford's play-by-play style was known for its technical prowess, excellent command of the English language and colloquialisms, enunciative quality, gentility, timeliness, humor, and rapid but unhurried delivery. Listeners to his basketball radio broadcasts found that he was able to paint an extremely detailed visual picture of the game and call the action as it happened without sounding rushed. Fans observe that Ledford rarely let a call "lag" behind the action (e.g., when the sound of the crowd cheering is heard before the announcer comments on the game's action). Ledford's voice was generally higher pitched and mildly nasal, which allowed for clear enunciation. However, the tonal quality of his voice was smokey and resonant, which balanced a subtle twang and provided his listeners with a smooth and highly articulate delivery.
Among Ledford's memorable sayings are:
"Hello Everybody, this is Cawood Ledford" – His "sign-in" at the beginning of his radio broadcasts is probably his most memorable saying
"The Wildcats will be moving from left to right (or right to left) on your radio dial." – This now commonplace saying is thought to have originated with Ledford and was mentioned at the outset of basketball games
"Got it" – In reference to a made basket or free throw
"A beauty" – A beautifully made basket, especially in reference to an opponent's play
"Slam" – Exclaimed in a drawn-out style after a dunk shot
"Stuff shot" - A slam dunk
"On the dribble" – A very common saying of Ledford's, used when a player elected to dribble the ball rather than pass or shoot in an offensive attack
"He had a notion" – When a player momentarily deliberated about taking a shot, but thought better of it and passed the ball to a teammate.
"Bullseye" – A made basket, especially a long-range shot
"He went to war on that one." – Used to describe a player who demonstrated exceptional or extraordinary effort on a play while encountering significant physical opposition. Said especially of players who drove the lane and shot the ball while drawing a foul, fiercely contested for a rebound, or exerted sustained intense effort over the course of a key play.
"Puts it up and in" – Said of a close range shot made in heavy traffic
"Cats are Runnin'" – A beloved saying of Ledford's believed to have originated in the 1950s when the Wildcats played in an almost exclusively up-tempo style. This saying is so associated with Ledford, current play-by-play announcer Tom Leach inserts into his broadcasts on occasion as a tribute to Ledford.
"Shoot it, Sean" – When Ledford suspected that a player was being too hesitant, he occasionally inserted into his commentary an exhortation to shoot
"He shot that one from Paducah" – After an especially long shot, Ledford would insert the name of a town in the state of Kentucky at the end of this saying for effect. Variant: When Kentucky played a road game, this changed to a local landmark. For example, after a long 3-point shot made by Rex Chapman in 1986 at Louisville, he changed it to "the Watterson Expressway."
"It danced around a bit, but it finally fell"/"It had a lot of iron on it, but it finally fell" – Said of a made basket in which the ball bounced around the rim or backboard excessively before passing through the hoop.
"Any flags, Ralph?" – During Kentucky football games, if a Wildcat player scored a long touchdown, Ledford would ask long-time broadcast partner and color commentator Ralph Hacker if the referee had thrown a flag. This question was as much about genuine concern that the play would be called back as much as his remembering how many similar plays were negated due to Kentucky penalties in previous games. The humorous question caught on with fans, and is perhaps Ledford's most memorable football saying.
In a football-dominated league known for "homer" radio announcers, Ledford had a clearly established national reputation as a professional first and a fan second. His composure, even during heartbreaking losses, was perhaps his finest attribute. For example, immediately after Christian Laettner's game winning basket in the 1992 East Regional Final, Ledford said "Gooooooood! And Duke wins it 104 to 103! And that is why they're number one!" More than any sports broadcaster in SEC history, Ledford was asked to work play-by-play for Final Four and National Championship broadcasts, owing to his broadcasting excellence and professionalism.
His first obligation to the listeners was to build their trust and he achieved this by calling plays as they happened, praising hard effort, and meting out criticism when it was warranted. He was not afraid to criticize Kentucky when they played poorly, when they played tentatively, or when they were poorly coached. In turn he regularly held out high praise for game opponents, particularly individual players who turned in extraordinary performances.
Ledford was very fair toward officials, but, consistent with his straight-shooting approach, was not beyond calling out egregious calls. For example, in a hotly contested 1981 home tilt against SEC champion and #2 ranked LSU, Kentucky guard Dirk Minniefield was whistled for a bad charging call in the final moments and Ledford asked facetiously to long time color commentator Ralph Hacker "Did they ride here on the bus together?" Kentucky eventually prevailed 73-71 on a blocked shot by Sam Bowie in the game's final seconds.
Another example of calling out egregious behavior came at the conclusion of the 1975 Regional Final in Dayton, Ohio. Kentucky's core of four freshmen upset undefeated and #1 ranked Indiana 92-90, after Indiana had beaten Kentucky badly earlier in the season. After the game, Indiana coach Bob Knight, who was good friends with Ledford, walked off the floor, refusing to shake hands with Kentucky players and coaches. Ralph Hacker noticed it and Ledford replied "Well, I'm sure Coach Hall couldn't care less; or if you'll pardon the expression, give a damn."
Fan memories
Fans of Ledford frequently share stories about listening to his University of Kentucky broadcasts over the years. Many of these stories revolve around themes of fans going to great lengths to pick up Kentucky radio affiliates from faraway locales, tuning in to hear Ledford's voice over the radio even when the game was televised, and feeling as if Ledford's voice extended a feeling of warmth, familiarity, and comfort on sometimes dreary winter nights.
Legacy
Perhaps because of the success of the University of Kentucky's men's basketball program, Ledford is generally best remembered as a basketball announcer. In a 2001 dedication, the University of Kentucky named its basketball court at Rupp Arena in Ledford's honor. The words "Cawood's Court" and a radio microphone are painted on the floor in commemoration. The microphone is located at the sideline opposite the scorer's table close to where Ledford broadcast games.
Cawood Ledford was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. He won three Eclipse Awards for outstanding coverage of thoroughbred racing. He was also named Kentucky's Sportscaster of the Year a record 22 times.
Ledford is generally considered among the finest play-by-play commentators in the history of American sports broadcasting and is highly esteemed by his peers. He was and remains a much beloved and respected figure in Kentucky, in college basketball, in college football, and in horse racing.
Commenting on Ledford's legacy after his death, longtime friend and Lexington-based CEO of Host Communications, Jim Host, said "Cawood was the ultimate in genteel class. He exuded a quiet confidence, but always remembered who he was, where he came from and who he worked for." In 1992, Host Communications published Cawood Ledford's autobiography, Hello Everybody, This is Cawood Ledford, as told to sportswriter and author Billy Reed.
During the Summer of 2014, Kentucky announced that its multi-team event will be called the Cawood Ledford Classic. Previously, this event was known as the Keightly Classic. The Cawood Ledford Classic has 5 participants for 2014, including Kentucky, Grand Canyon, Texas-Arlington, Montana State and Buffalo.
References
External links
Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame induction
1926 births
2001 deaths
People from Harlan, Kentucky
American Basketball Association announcers
American horse racing announcers
Atlanta Falcons announcers
American radio sports announcers
Centre College alumni
College basketball announcers in the United States
Kentucky Colonels announcers
Kentucky Wildcats football announcers
Kentucky Wildcats basketball
Kentucky Derby
Radio personalities from Kentucky |
24956915 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redis | Redis | Redis (; Remote Dictionary Server) is an in-memory data structure store, used as a distributed, in-memory key–value database, cache and message broker, with optional durability. Redis supports different kinds of abstract data structures, such as strings, lists, maps, sets, sorted sets, HyperLogLogs, bitmaps, streams, and spatial indices. The project was developed and maintained by Salvatore Sanfilippo. From 2015 until 2020, he led a project core team sponsored by Redis Labs. Salvatore Sanfilippo left Redis as the maintainer in 2020. It is open-source software released under a BSD 3-clause license. In 2021, not long after the original author and main maintainer left, Redis Labs dropped the Labs from its name and now redis, the open source DB as well as Redis Labs, the commercial company, are referred to as "redis".
History
The name Redis means Remote Dictionary Server. The Redis project began when Salvatore Sanfilippo, nicknamed antirez, the original developer of Redis, was trying to improve the scalability of his Italian startup, developing a real-time web log analyzer. After encountering significant problems in scaling some types of workloads using traditional database systems, Sanfilippo began to prototype a first proof of concept version of Redis in Tcl. Later Sanfilippo translated that prototype to the C language and implemented the first data type, the list. After a few weeks of using the project internally with success, Sanfilippo decided to open source it, announcing the project on Hacker News. The project began to get traction, particularly among the Ruby community, with GitHub and Instagram being among the first companies adopting it.
Sanfilippo was hired by VMware in March, 2010.
In May, 2013, Redis was sponsored by Pivotal Software (a VMware spin-off).
In June 2015, development became sponsored by Redis Labs.
In October 2018, Redis 5.0 was released, introducing Redis Stream – a new data structure that allows storage of multiple fields and string values with an automatic, time-based sequence at a single key.
In June 2020, Salvatore Sanfilippo stepped down as Redis maintainer.
Differences from other database systems
Redis popularized the idea of a system that can be considered at the same time a store and a cache, using a design where data is always modified and read from the main computer memory, but also stored on disk in a format that is unsuitable for random access of data, but only to reconstruct the data back in memory once the system restarts. At the same time, Redis provides a data model that is very unusual compared to a relational database management system (RDBMS). User commands do not describe a query to be executed by the database engine but rather specific operations that are performed on given abstract data types. Hence, data must be stored in a way which is suitable later for fast retrieval, without help from the database system in form of secondary indexes, aggregations or other common features of traditional RDBMS. The Redis implementation makes heavy use of the fork system call, to duplicate the process holding the data, so that the parent process continues to serve clients, while the child process creates a copy of the data on disk.
Popularity
According to monthly DB-Engines rankings, Redis is often the most popular key–value database. Redis has also been ranked the #4 NoSQL database in user satisfaction and market presence based on user reviews, the most popular NoSQL database in containers, and the #4 Data store of 2019 by ranking website stackshare.io. It was voted most loved database in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Supported languages
Since version 2.6, Redis features server-side scripting in the language Lua.
Many programming languages have Redis language bindings on the client side, including: ActionScript, C, C++, C#, Chicken, Clojure, Common Lisp, Crystal, D, Dart, Elixir, Erlang, Go, Haskell, Haxe, Io, Java, Nim, JavaScript (Node.js), Julia, Lua, Objective-C, OCaml, Perl, PHP, Pure Data, Python, R, Racket, Ruby, Rust, Scala, Smalltalk, Swift, and Tcl. Several client software programs exist in these languages.
Data types
Redis maps keys to types of values. An important difference between Redis and other structured storage systems is that Redis supports not only strings, but also abstract data types:
Lists of strings
Sets of strings (collections of non-repeating unsorted elements)
Sorted sets of strings (collections of non-repeating elements ordered by a floating-point number called score)
Hash tables where keys and values are strings
HyperLogLogs used for approximated set cardinality size estimation, available since Redis 2.8.9 in April 2014.
Stream of entries with consumer groups, allows you to store multiple fields and string values with an automatic, time-based sequence at a single key, available since Redis 5.0 in October 2018
Geospatial data through the implementation of the geohash technique, available since Redis 3.2.
The type of a value determines what operations (called commands) are available for the value. Redis supports high-level, atomic, server-side operations like intersection, union, and difference between sets and sorting of lists, sets and sorted sets.
More data types are supported based on Redis Modules API:
JSON – RedisJSON implements ECMA-404 (the JavaScript Object Notation Data Interchange Standard) as a native data type.
Graph – RedisGraph implements a queryable property graph
Time series – RedisTimeSeries implements a time series data structure
Bloom filter, Cuckoo filter, Count–min sketch, and Top-K – RedisBloom implements a set of probabilistic data structures for Redis
Persistence
Redis typically holds the whole dataset in memory. Versions up to 2.4 could be configured to use what they refer to as virtual memory in which some of the dataset is stored on disk, but this feature is deprecated. Persistence in Redis can be achieved through two different methods. First by snapshotting, where the dataset is asynchronously transferred from memory to disk at regular intervals as a binary dump, using the Redis RDB Dump File Format. Alternatively by journaling, where a record of each operation that modifies the dataset is added to an append-only file (AOF) in a background process. Redis can rewrite the append-only file in the background to avoid an indefinite growth of the journal. Journaling was introduced in version 1.1 and is generally considered the safer approach.
By default, Redis writes data to a file system at least every 2 seconds, with more or less robust options available if needed. In the case of a complete system failure on default settings, only a few seconds of data would be lost.
Replication
Redis supports master–replica replication. Data from any Redis server can replicate to any number of replicas. A replica may be a master to another replica. This allows Redis to implement a single-rooted replication tree. Redis replicas can be configured to accept writes, permitting intentional and unintentional inconsistency between instances. The publish–subscribe feature is fully implemented, so a client of a replica may subscribe to a channel and receive a full feed of messages published to the master, anywhere up the replication tree. Replication is useful for read (but not write) scalability or data redundancy.
Performance
When the durability of data is not needed, the in-memory nature of Redis allows it to perform well compared to database systems that write every change to disk before considering a transaction committed. Redis operates as a single process and is single-threaded or double-threaded when it rewrites the AOF (append-only file). Thus, a single Redis instance cannot use parallel execution of tasks such as stored procedures.
Clustering
Redis introduced clustering in April 2015 with the release of version 3.0. The cluster specification implements a subset of Redis commands: all single-key commands are available, multi-key operations (commands related to unions and intersections) are restricted to keys belonging to the same node, and commands related to database selection operations are unavailable. A Redis cluster can scale up to 1,000 nodes, achieve "acceptable" write safety and to continue operations when some nodes fail.
Use cases
Due to the nature of the database design, typical use cases are session caching, full page cache, message queue applications, leaderboards and counting among others. The publish–subscribe messaging paradigm allows real-time communication between servers.
Large companies such as Twitter are using Redis, Amazon Web Services offers a managed Redis service called Elasticache for Redis, Microsoft offers Azure Cache for Redis in Azure, and Alibaba is offering ApsaraDB for Redis in Alibaba Cloud.
See also
Amazon ElastiCache
Conflict-free replicated data type
Memcached
References
Further reading
Jeremy Zawodny, Redis: Lightweight key/value Store That Goes the Extra Mile, Linux Magazine, August 31, 2009
Isabel Drost and Jan Lehnard (29 October 2009), Happenings: NoSQL Conference, Berlin, The H. Slides for the Redis presentation. Summary.
Billy Newport (IBM): "Evolving the Key/Value Programming Model to a Higher Level" Qcon Conference 2009 San Francisco.
A Mishra: "Install and configure Redis on Centos/ Fedora server".
E. Mouzakitis: "Monitoring Redis Performance"
External links
Distributed computing architecture
Free database management systems
Free software programmed in C
Key-value databases
Lua (programming language)-scriptable software
NoSQL
Software using the BSD license
Structured storage |
649298 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack%20Dongarra | Jack Dongarra | Jack J. Dongarra ForMemRS; (born July 18, 1950) is an American University Distinguished Professor of Computer Science in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Tennessee. He holds the position of a Distinguished Research Staff member in the Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Turing Fellowship in the School of Mathematics at the University of Manchester, and is an adjunct professor in the Computer Science Department at Rice University. He served as a faculty fellow at Texas A&M University's institute for advanced study (2014–2018). Dongarra is the founding director of Innovative Computing Laboratory.
Education
Dongarra received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Chicago State University in 1972 and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics from the University of New Mexico in 1980 under the supervision of Cleve Moler. He worked at the Argonne National Laboratory until 1989, becoming a senior scientist.
Research and career
He specializes in numerical algorithms in linear algebra, parallel computing, the use of advanced computer architectures, programming methodology, and tools for parallel computers. His research includes the development, testing and documentation of high-quality mathematical software. He has contributed to the design and implementation of the following open-source software packages and systems: EISPACK, LINPACK, the Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS), Linear Algebra Package (LAPACK), ScaLAPACK, Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM), Message Passing Interface (MPI), NetSolve, TOP500, Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software (ATLAS), High Performance Conjugate Gradient (HPCG) and Performance Application Programming Interface (PAPI). These libraries excel in the accuracy of the underlying numerical algorithms and the reliability and performance of the software. They benefit a very wide range of users through their incorporation into software including MATLAB, Maple, Wolfram Mathematica, GNU Octave, the R programming language, SciPy, and others.
With Eric Grosse, he pioneered the distribution via email and the web of numeric open-source code collected in Netlib. He has published approximately 300 articles, papers, reports and technical memorandum and he is coauthor of several books.
Awards and honors
Dongarra was awarded the IEEE Sid Fernbach Award in 2004 for his contributions in the application of high-performance computers using innovative approaches; in 2008 he was the recipient of the first IEEE Medal of Excellence in Scalable Computing; in 2010 he was the first recipient of the SIAM Special Interest Group on Supercomputing's award for Career Achievement; in 2011 he was the recipient of the IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award; in 2013 he was the recipient of the ACM/IEEE Ken Kennedy Award for his leadership in designing and promoting standards for mathematical software used to solve numerical problems common to high-performance computing; in 2019 he received the SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science; and in 2020 he received the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award for leadership in the area of high-performance mathematical software.
He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS), Dongarra was also elected a member of the US National Academy of Engineering (2001) for contributions to numerical software, parallel and distributed computation, and problem-solving environments.
References
External links
1950 births
Living people
American computer scientists
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Fellow Members of the IEEE
Illinois Institute of Technology alumni
Oak Ridge National Laboratory people
Academics of the University of Manchester
Rice University staff
Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
University of Tennessee faculty
Place of birth missing (living people)
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
People associated with the Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science |
528720 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny%20Encryption%20Algorithm | Tiny Encryption Algorithm | In cryptography, the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) is a block cipher notable for its simplicity of description and implementation, typically a few lines of code. It was designed by David Wheeler and Roger Needham of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory; it was first presented at the Fast Software Encryption workshop in Leuven in 1994, and first published in the proceedings of that workshop.
The cipher is not subject to any patents.
Properties
TEA operates on two 32-bit unsigned integers (could be derived from a 64-bit data block) and uses a 128-bit key. It has a Feistel structure with a suggested 64 rounds, typically implemented in pairs termed cycles. It has an extremely simple key schedule, mixing all of the key material in exactly the same way for each cycle. Different multiples of a magic constant are used to prevent simple attacks based on the symmetry of the rounds. The magic constant, 2654435769 or 0x9E3779B9 is chosen to be ⌊232/ϕ⌋, where ϕ is the golden ratio (as a Nothing-up-my-sleeve number).
TEA has a few weaknesses. Most notably, it suffers from equivalent keys—each key is equivalent to three others, which means that the effective key size is only 126 bits. As a result, TEA is especially bad as a cryptographic hash function. This weakness led to a method for hacking Microsoft's Xbox game console, where the cipher was used as a hash function. TEA is also susceptible to a related-key attack which requires 223 chosen plaintexts under a related-key pair, with 232 time complexity. Because of these weaknesses, the XTEA cipher was designed.
Versions
The first published version of TEA was supplemented by a second version that incorporated extensions to make it more secure. Block TEA (which was specified along with XTEA) operates on arbitrary-size blocks in place of the 64-bit blocks of the original.
A third version (XXTEA), published in 1998, described further improvements for enhancing the security of the Block TEA algorithm.
Reference code
Following is an adaptation of the reference encryption and decryption routines in C, released into the public domain by David Wheeler and Roger Needham:
#include <stdint.h>
void encrypt (uint32_t v[2], const uint32_t k[4]) {
uint32_t v0=v[0], v1=v[1], sum=0, i; /* set up */
uint32_t delta=0x9E3779B9; /* a key schedule constant */
uint32_t k0=k[0], k1=k[1], k2=k[2], k3=k[3]; /* cache key */
for (i=0; i<32; i++) { /* basic cycle start */
sum += delta;
v0 += ((v1<<4) + k0) ^ (v1 + sum) ^ ((v1>>5) + k1);
v1 += ((v0<<4) + k2) ^ (v0 + sum) ^ ((v0>>5) + k3);
} /* end cycle */
v[0]=v0; v[1]=v1;
}
void decrypt (uint32_t v[2], const uint32_t k[4]) {
uint32_t v0=v[0], v1=v[1], sum=0xC6EF3720, i; /* set up; sum is (delta << 5) & 0xFFFFFFFF */
uint32_t delta=0x9E3779B9; /* a key schedule constant */
uint32_t k0=k[0], k1=k[1], k2=k[2], k3=k[3]; /* cache key */
for (i=0; i<32; i++) { /* basic cycle start */
v1 -= ((v0<<4) + k2) ^ (v0 + sum) ^ ((v0>>5) + k3);
v0 -= ((v1<<4) + k0) ^ (v1 + sum) ^ ((v1>>5) + k1);
sum -= delta;
} /* end cycle */
v[0]=v0; v[1]=v1;
}
Note that the reference implementation acts on multi-byte numeric values. The original paper does not specify how to derive the numbers it acts on from binary or other content.
See also
RC4 – A stream cipher that, just like TEA, is designed to be very simple to implement.
XTEA – First version of Block TEA's successor.
XXTEA – Corrected Block TEA's successor.
Treyfer – A simple and compact encryption algorithm with 64-bit key size and block size.
Notes
References
External links
Test vectors for TEA
JavaScript implementation of XXTEA with Base64
PHP implementation of XTEA (German language)
JavaScript implementation of XXTEA
JavaScript and PHP implementations of XTEA (Dutch text)
AVR ASM implementation
SEA Scalable Encryption Algorithm for Small Embedded Applications (Standaert, Piret, Gershenfeld, Quisquater - July 2005 UCL Belgium & MIT USA)
Broken block ciphers
Feistel ciphers
Free ciphers
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory
Articles with example C code |
274869 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation%20Kit | Foundation Kit | The Foundation Kit, or just Foundation for short, is an Objective-C framework in the OpenStep specification. It provides basic classes such as wrapper classes and data structure classes. This framework uses the prefix NS (for NeXTSTEP). It is also part of Cocoa and of the Swift standard library.
Classes
NSObject
This class is the most common base class for Objective-C hierarchies and provides standard methods for working with objects by managing the memory associated with them and querying them.
NSString and NSMutableString
A class used for string manipulation, representing a Unicode string (most typically using UTF-16 as its internal format). NSString is immutable, and thus can only be initialized but not modified. NSMutableString is a modifiable version.
NSValue and NSNumber
NSValue is a wrapper class for C data types, and NSNumber is a wrapper class for C number data types such as int, double, and float. The data structures in Foundation Kit can only hold objects, not primitive types, so wrappers such as NSValue and NSNumber are used in those data structures.
NSArray and NSMutableArray
A dynamic array of objects, supporting constant-time indexing. NSArray is an immutable version that can only be initialized with objects but not modified. NSMutableArray may be modified by adding and removing objects.
NSDictionary and NSMutableDictionary
An associative data container of key-value pairs with unique keys. Searching and element addition and removal (in the case of NSMutableDictionary) is faster-than-linear. However, the order of the elements within the container is not guaranteed.
NSSet and NSMutableSet
An associative container of unique keys, similar to NSDictionary, with the difference that members do not contain a data object.
NSData and NSMutableData
A wrapper for raw byte data. An object of this type can dynamically allocate and manage its data, or it can refer to data owned by and managed by something else (such as a static numeric array).
NSDate, NSTimeZone and NSCalendar
Classes that store times and dates and represent calendrical information. They offer methods for calculating date and time differences. Together with NSLocale, they provide methods for displaying dates and times in many formats, and for adjusting times and dates based on location in the world.
Major implementations
macOS and iOS
The Foundation Kit is part of the macOS Cocoa API. Beginning as the successor to OPENSTEP/Mach, this framework has deviated from OpenStep compliance, and is in some places incompatible. The Foundation Kit is in the iOS Cocoa Touch API. This framework is based on the macOS Cocoa.
GNUstep
The Foundation Kit is implemented in GNUstep's Base Package (libs-base). This implementation is mostly comparable (4 classes are missing) and aims to be comparable with both the OpenStep API and later macOS additions. The missing classes have been dropped by Apple as well.
Cocotron
The Foundation Kit is implemented in Cocotron, an open-source implementation of Cocoa. It is also a part of Darling.
PureFoundation
PureFoundation is an open-source implementation of Foundation that implements Foundation by wrapping Core Foundation, just like in Cocoa, rather than create a separate Foundation from scratch like GNUstep and Cocotron.
SwiftFoundation
SwiftFoundation (swift-corelibs-foundation) is Apple's open-source Swift implementation of the Foundation API for platforms where there is no Objective-C runtime. It also includes an implementation of Core Foundation.
ApportableFoundation
ApportableFoundation is an implementation of Foundation Kit (Foundation, CoreFoundation, and CFNetwork) based on Apple's CFLite release. It works on Android and other Linux systems, and makes up part of the Darling macOS translation layer for Linux.
See also
OpenStep
Application Kit
GNUstep
Cocoa (API)
Cocoa Touch
References
External links
GNUstep Base
Apple Foundation Framework Reference
Foundation section in the Cocoa Fundamentals Guide
List of Classes in OpenStep specification
NeXT
macOS APIs
MacOS programming tools |
11271100 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson%20Reuters | Thomson Reuters | Thomson Reuters Corporation () is a Canadian-American multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre.
Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of the British company Reuters Group in April 2008 and is majority owned by The Woodbridge Company, a holding company for the Thomson family.
History
Thomson Corporation
The forerunner of the Thomson company was founded by Roy Thomson in 1934 in Ontario as the publisher of The Timmins Daily Press. In 1953, Thomson acquired the Scotsman newspaper and moved to Scotland the following year. He consolidated his media position in Scotland in 1957 when he won the franchise for Scottish Television. In 1959, he bought the Kemsley Group, a purchase that eventually gave him control of the Sunday Times. He separately acquired the Times in 1967. He moved into the airline business in 1965, when he acquired Britannia Airways and into oil and gas exploration in 1971 when he participated in a consortium to exploit reserves in the North Sea. In the 1970s, following the death of Thomson, the company withdrew from national newspapers and broadcast media, selling the Times, the Sunday Times and Scottish Television and instead moved into publishing, buying Sweet & Maxwell in 1988. The company at this time was known as the International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL).
In 1989, ITOL merged with Thomson Newspapers, forming The Thomson Corporation. In 1996, The Thomson Corporation acquired West Publishing, a purveyor of legal research and solutions including Westlaw.
Reuters Group
The company was founded by Paul Julius Reuter in 1851 in London as a business transmitting stock market quotations. Reuter set up his "Submarine Telegraph" office in October 1851 and negotiated a contract with the London Stock Exchange to provide stock prices from the continental exchanges in return for access to London prices, which he then supplied to stockbrokers in Paris, France. In 1865, Reuters in London was the first organization to report the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The company was involved in developing the use of radio in 1923. It was acquired by the British National & Provincial Press in 1941 and first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. Reuters began to grow rapidly in the 1980s, widening the range of its business products and expanding its global reporting network for media, financial and economic services: key product launches included Equities 2000 (1987), Dealing 2000-2 (1992), Business Briefing (1994), Reuters Television for the financial markets (1994), 3000 Series (1996) and the Reuters 3000 Xtra service (1999).
Thomson acquisition of Reuters
The Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters Group plc to form Thomson Reuters on April 17, 2008. Thomson Reuters operated under a dual-listed company (“DLC”) structure and had two parent companies, both of which were publicly listed — Thomson Reuters Corporation and Thomson Reuters plc. In 2009, it unified its dual listed company structure and stopped its listing on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. It is now listed only as Thomson Reuters Corporation on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: TRI).
Thomson Reuters was ranked first in Interbrand's 2010 ranking of Canadian corporate brands.
In February 2013, Thomson Reuters announced it would cut 2,500 jobs to cut costs in its legal, financial and risk divisions. In October 2013, Thomson Reuters announced it would cut another 3,000 jobs, mostly in those same three divisions.
Market position and Thomson Reuters merger antitrust review
The Thomson-Reuters merger transaction was reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and by the European Commission. On February 19, 2008, both the Department of Justice and the Commission cleared the transaction subject to minor divestments. The Department of Justice required the parties to sell copies of the data contained in the following products: Thomson's WorldScope, a global fundamentals product; Reuters Estimates, an earnings estimates product; and Reuters Aftermarket (Embargoed) Research Database, an analyst research distribution product. The proposed settlement further requires the licensing of related intellectual property, access to personnel, and transitional support to ensure that the buyer of each set of data can continue to update its database so as to continue to offer users a viable and competitive product. The European Commission imposed similar divestments: according to the commission's press release, "the parties committed to divest the databases containing the content sets of such financial information products, together with relevant assets, personnel and customer base as appropriate to allow purchasers of the databases and assets to quickly establish themselves as a credible competitive force in the marketplace in competition with the merged entity, re-establishing the pre-merger rivalry in the respective fields."
These remedies were viewed as very minor given the scope of the transaction. According to the Financial Times, "the remedy proposed by the competition authorities will affect no more than $25m of the new Thomson Reuters group’s $13bn-plus combined revenues."
The transaction was cleared by the Canadian Competition Bureau.
In November 2009, The European Commission opened formal antitrust proceedings against Thomson Reuters concerning a potential infringement of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission investigated Thomson Reuters' practices in the area of real-time market datafeeds, and in particular whether customers or competitors were prevented from translating Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers (so-called 'mapping') to the detriment of competition. In December 2012, the European Commission adopted a decision that renders legally binding the commitments offered by Thomson Reuters to create a new licence ("ERL") allowing customers, for a monthly fee, to use Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) in applications for data sourced from Thomson Reuters' real time consolidated datafeed competitors to which they have moved.
Reuters purchase process
Historically, no single individual has been permitted to own more than 15% of Reuters, under the first of the Reuters Principles, which states, "Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group or faction." However, that restriction was waived for the purchase by Thomson, whose family holding company, the Woodbridge Company currently owns 53% of the enlarged business. Robert Peston, business editor at BBC News, stated that this has worried Reuters journalists, both because they are concerned that Reuters' journalism business will be marginalized by the financial data provision business of the combined company, and because of the threat to Reuters's reputation for unbiased journalism by the appearance of one majority shareholder.
Pehr Gyllenhammar, chairman of the Reuters Founders Share Company, explained that the Reuters Trust's First Principle had been waived for the Thomson family because of the poor financial circumstances that Reuters had been in, stating, "The future of Reuters takes precedence over the principles. If Reuters were not strong enough to continue on its own, the principles would have no meaning." He stated, not having met David Thomson but having discussed the matter with Geoff Beattie, the president of Woodbridge, that the Thomson family had agreed to vote as directed by the Reuters Founders Share Company on any matter that the trustees might deem to threaten the five principles of the Reuters Trust. Woodbridge will be allowed an exemption from the First Principle as long as it remains controlled by the Thomson family.
Commercial products and activities
Operations
The chief executive of the combined company is James C. Smith, who was the chief executive for the professional division, and the chairman is David Thomson.
The company in 2018 was organized around four divisions: Legal, Reuters News Agency, Tax & Accounting, and Government.
Former divisions: Intellectual Property & Science, Financial & Risk, Thomson Healthcare, and Scholarly & Scientific Research.
As of 2018, the Financial & Risk division makes for over half of the company's revenue.
Thomson Reuters competes with Bloomberg L.P., in aggregating financial and legal news.
Thomson Reuters subscriptions compete with open access alternatives, accessible through open data and open source aggregators such as Unpaywall, which can help counter the increase in subscription costs (+779% in the 1995–2015 period vs. 58% for the consumer price index).
Acquisitions and divestitures
In 1998, Reuters Group plc acquired Lipper Analytical as a wholly owned subsidiary. Lipper became part of Thomson Reuters in April 2008, following the merger of Thomson Financial and Reuters. (The Lipper Fiduciary Services and Lipper FMI was purchased by Broadridge Financial Solutions in May 2015.)
Between 2008 and 2018, Thomson Reuters completed over 200 acquisitions. This includes, in July 2009, Thomson Reuters' acquisition of Streamlogics. Founded in 1999, Streamlogics is a provider of customizable, high volume, real time data mining solutions for hundreds of enterprises across several verticals including financial services, technology and health care/life sciences. Streamlogics' webcasting solutions are used for training and certification, marketing and lead generation, and corporate communications. In August of that year, it bought Vhayu Technologies. Vhayu is a provider of tick data services, and Thomson Reuters had been distributing its Velocity product under the Reuters Tick Capture Engine label for the four years prior to the acquisition.
Additionally, on September 21, 2009, Thomson Reuters bought Hugin Group, the European IR and PR distribution group, from NYSE Euronext. Terms have not been disclosed, but it has been reported in Danish newspapers that the price was between €40 million and €42m. It also bought the Abacus software business from Deloitte, a provider of corporate taxation software for the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, as well as Indirect Tax Reporting software for 20 E.U. countries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
In October, Thomson Reuters acquired Breaking Views.
In November, The Tax & Accounting business acquired Sabrix, Inc, a global provider of transaction tax management software applications and related services.
Also in 2009, Thomson Reuters sold the Physician's Desk Reference to Lee Equity Partners.
In January 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired Discovery Logic and subsequently, in February, Aegisoft LLC to improve their electronic trading capabilities by offering direct market access. Also in February, it acquired the legal ranking system Super Lawyers.
In May 2010, it acquired Point Carbon A/S, a Norwegian company that provides news and trading analytics for the energy and environmental markets. Also in May, it acquired the Brazilian legal publisher Revista dos Tribunais.
In June, it acquired Complinet, a compliance software company.
In October of that year, it acquired Serengeti Law, a matter management and ebilling system.
On November 22, 2010, it acquired the legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider Pangea3. Financial Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It also acquired the banking data and analytic provider Highline Financial, and GeneGo, a supplier of systems biology databases, software and services.
On June 20, 2011, Thomson Reuters acquired CorpSmart from Deloitte.
On July 18, it acquired Manatron from Thoma Bravo. In August, Thomson Reuters acquired GFMS.
On December 8, Thomson Reuters acquired Emochila, a website development firm founded by Chad Brubaker and Justin Curzi in the tax and accounting space, in order to further integrate its CS suite of products onto a cloud-based platform.
In January 2012, Thomson Reuters acquired Dr Tax, which, according to its press release, was "Canada's largest independently owned developer of income tax software for accounting firms and consumers." Dr Tax's product line includes DT MAX, a tax compliance software for accounting firms, and its consumer tax preparation software, UFile and ImpôtExpert.
In February, the company acquired RedEgg, a provider of media intelligence solutions for public relations and marketing professionals. On March 22, it acquired BizActions, a digital newsletter and Web marketing providers for accounting firms in North America
On June 8, 2012, Apsmart, a London-based company specializing in design and development of mobile solutions, became the next organization to be acquired.
On June 25, 2012, Reuters obtained Zawya Limited, a regional provider of business intelligence and unique tools for financial professionals in the Middle East and North Africa .
On July 10, 2012, Thomson Reuters acquired FX Alliance Inc, an independent provider of electronic foreign exchange trading services to corporations and asset managers.
In July, it also acquired Dofiscal
On July 26, 2012, Thomson Reuters announced acquisition of MarkMonitor, a San Francisco-based company specializing in internet brand protection software and services.
On January 3, 2013, Thomson announced that it was to acquire Practical Law Company, the London-based provider of practical legal know-how and workflow tools to law firms and corporate law departments. Practical Law Company has more than 750 employees, with principal operations in London and New York, and will be part of the Legal business of Thomson Reuters.
On April 16, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Select TaxWorks Assets of RedGear Technologies.
On June 6, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Pricing Partners, a provider of OTC Derivatives Pricing Analytics and independent valuation.
On July 2, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired the foreign exchange options business of Tradeweb.
On August 16, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired the foreign exchange options risk management technology provider SigmaGenix.
On August 18, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired a majority stake in Omnesys Technologies and acquired completely the company on September 16, 2013
In August, it also acquired WeComply.
On September 10, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired the CPE and CPA Division of Bisk Education Inc and Kortes.
On October 23, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Entagen, acquiring the Cortellis family of products for drug pipeline, deals, patents, and company content.
On December 10, 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Avedas and expands its scholarly-research analytics solution.
In February 2014, Thomson Reuters acquired Brazil's Domínio Sistemas, a company focused on developing accounting solutions.
On July 1, 2014, Thomson Reuters acquired UBS Convertible Indices.
In October 2014, Thomson Reuters sold its PE/VC media assets (including PEHub and Venture Capital Journal) to UCG.
In January 2015, Thomson Reuters acquired K'Origin.
In September 2015, Thomson Reuters acquired Business Integrity Ltd.
In April 2016, Thomson Reuters acquired Wm Reuters Foreign Exchange benchmarks from State Street Corporation.
In July 2016, Thomson Reuters announced it would be selling its Intellectual Property and Science business (including Web of Science, MarkMonitor and EndNote) to private equity funds; the newly independent business is Clarivate Analytics.
In January 2017, Thomson Reuters acquired REDI allowing Thomson Reuters to incorporate an advanced, cross-asset execution management system (EMS) into its buy-side trading capabilities and deliver integrated trading workflow solutions to the buy-side community.
In March 2017, Thomson Reuters acquired the Avox and Clarient businesses from DTCC.
In January 2018, Thomson Reuters announced it was divesting its financial and risk unit to U.S. private equity firm, the Blackstone Group. Thomson Reuters will retain 45% of the divested unit, keep the Reuters brand, and will continue to deliver Reuters news and editorial content to the new divested unit. The joint venture will be branded as Refinitiv. The deal will fund the Reuters business for the next 30 years. David Thomson is said to oppose the deal, and the transaction was approved by the EU commission on July 23, 2018. The Lipper Fund Awards, retained from the company's 1998 acquisition of Lipper Analytical, also transferred from Reuters to Refinitiv.
In October 2018, Thomson Reuters announced the future acquisition of Integration Point, an international leader in global trade management (GTM) operations.
In November 2019, the company acquired global legal market research analyst firm Acritas.
Sponsorships
Thomson Reuters has sponsored Canadian golf champion Mike Weir and the AT&T Williams Formula One team. It also sponsors Marketplace, a radio show from American Public Media.
Thomson Reuters, among other media corporations, also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.
Involvement with U.S. mass surveillance
In November 2019, two groups of legal scholars and human rights activists called on Thomson Reuters to cease providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Palantir Technologies access to information through Westlaw, which has enabled the deportation of illegal immigrants. A company representative replied that Thomson Reuters will help the American government and police in active criminal investigations and against threats to national security or public safety. In February, 2020, a group of Thomson Reuters shareholders criticized the company's involvement with ICE for immigrant tracking.
See also
List of news agencies
List of companies named after people
Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (T)
Dual-listed company
List of client portals
List of companies based in New York City
Software industry in Telangana
Related
Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates
Thomson Reuters Business Classification
Thomson Reuters Messenger
Thomson Reuters Indices
Thomson Reuters/CoreCommodity CRB Index
Thomson Reuters league tables
Thomson Reuters Realized Volatility Index
Thomson Reuters Foundation
References
Further reading
"CEO Glocer Is Under Pressure After Restructuring Backed by Controlling Family".
External links
Financial services companies established in 2008
Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Mass media companies of Canada
Financial data vendors
Bibliographic database providers
S&P/TSX 60
2008 establishments in Ontario
Canadian companies established in 2008
Mass media companies established in 2008
Multinational companies headquartered in Canada
Family-owned companies of Canada |
7826295 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisus%20and%20Euryalus | Nisus and Euryalus | In Greek and Roman mythology, Nisus (Ancient Greek: Νῖσος Nisos) and Euryalus (; Εὐρύαλος Eὐrúalos means "broad") are a pair of friends and lovers serving under Aeneas in the Aeneid, the Augustan epic by Virgil. Their foray among the enemy, narrated in Book nine, demonstrates their stealth and prowess as warriors, but ends as a tragedy: the loot Euryalus acquires (a glistening Rutulian helmet) attracts attention, and the two die together. Virgil presents their deaths as a loss of admirable loyalty and valor. They also appear in Book 5, during the funeral games of Anchises, where Virgil takes note of their amor pius, a love that exhibits the pietas that is Aeneas's own distinguishing virtue.
In describing the bonds of devotion between the two men, Virgil draws on conventions of erotic poetry that have suggested a romantic relationship to some, interpreted by scholars in light of the Greek custom of paiderastia.
Mythology
Background
Nisus and Euryalus are among the refugees who in the aftermath of the Trojan War flee under the leadership of Aeneas, the highest-ranking Trojan to survive. Nisus was the son of Hyrtacus, and was known for his hunting. The family cultivated the huntress-goddess who inhabited Mount Ida. Euryalus, who was younger, has spent his entire life in a state of war and displacement. He was trained as a fighter by his battle-hardened father, Opheltes, of whom he speaks with pride. Opheltes seems to have died at Troy.
After their wanderings around the Mediterranean, the Trojans are fated to land on the shores of Italy. Some members of their party, especially the matres ("mothers"), are settled at Sicily before the Italian war, but the mother of Euryalus refused to be parted from her son and continued on.
Characterization
Although Nisus and Euryalus are inseparable as a pair in the narrative, each is given a distinct characterization. Nisus is the elder, more experienced man. He is swift and accurate (acerrimus) in the use of projectile weapons, the javelin (iaculum) and arrows.
Euryalus is still young, with the face of a boy (puer) who hasn't started shaving, just old enough to bear arms. He was more beautiful (pulchrior) than any other of Aeneas's men at arms. Euryalus maintains a loving relationship with his mother. He refuses to see her before he leaves on his mission, because he cannot bear her inevitable tears, and yet his first concern amid promises of rich rewards is that she be cared for if he fails to return.
Plot and themes
The foray by Nisus and Euryalus is a well-developed, self-contained episode that occurs in the "Iliadic" half of the Aeneid, set during the war through which the displaced Trojans established themselves among the inhabitants of central Italy. Virgil introduces the characters anew, but they have already appeared in Book 5, at the funeral games held for Aeneas's father, Anchises, during the "Odyssean" first half of the epic. The games demonstrate behaviors that in the war to come will result in victory or defeat; in particular, the footrace in which Nisus and Euryalus compete prefigures their disastrous mission.
The five runners are, in the order in which they would have finished, Nisus, Salius, Euryalus, Elymus, and Diores. Nisus, however, slips in the blood from the cattle sacrificed during the religious rituals that preceded the race. Recognizing that he can't recover his lead, he trips Salius to hand the victory to Euryalus. Nisus shows himself willing to sacrifice his own honor in order to help Euryalus, but the gesture demonstrates not only his loyalty but a willingness to cheat. Salius objects to the foul, and is given a consolation prize. Nisus receives compensation for his bad luck, and Euryalus gets the winner's prize. The incident is treated as comic, but becomes ominous in light of what happens to the pair later.
Although the night raid of Nisus and Euryalus has a discrete narrative unity, it is closely related to major themes of the epic, such as the transition from boyhood to manhood, also present in the characters of Ascanius, Pallas, and Lausus, and the waste of young lives in war. Nisus and Euryalus's killing spree through the camp of the Rutuli is one of Virgil's most brutal descriptions of combat (especially when Nisus beheads the chief Remus with his warriors Lamyrus, Lamus and Serranus). The poetry of Euryalus's death—"as when a richly hued flower is cut down by the plough and withers as it dies, or when the rains beat down the poppy's head, weighed down on slack neck" — is a replay of the death of Gorgythion in the Iliad.
Notes
References
Dictionary of Classical Mythology. London: Penguin, 1990. .
Guy-Bray, Stephen. "Cowley's Latin Lovers: Nisus and Euryalus in the Davideis." Classical and Modern Literature: A Quarterly 21.1 (2001): 25–42.
MacMullen, Ramsay. "Roman Attitudes to Greek Love." Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 31.4 (1982): 484–502.
Makowski, John F. "Nisus and Euryalus: A Platonic Relationship." The Classical Journal 85.1 (1989): 1-15.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Virgil, Aeneid, V.294; IX.176-445.
Trojans
Characters in the Aeneid
Characters in Greek mythology
Roman mythology
LGBT themes in mythology
Fictional LGBT couples
Same-sex couples |
23714788 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing%20system | Writing system | A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form of information storage and transfer. Writing systems require shared understanding between writers and readers of the meaning behind the sets of characters that make up a script. Writing is usually recorded onto a durable medium, such as paper or electronic storage, although non-durable methods may also be used, such as writing on a computer display, on a blackboard, in sand, or by skywriting. Reading a text can be accomplished purely in the mind as an internal process, or expressed orally.
Writing systems can be placed into broad categories such as alphabets, syllabaries, or logographies, although any particular system may have attributes of more than one category. In the alphabetic category, a standard set of letters represent speech sounds. In a syllabary, each symbol correlates to a syllable or mora. In a logography, each character represents a semantic unit such as a word or morpheme. Abjads differ from alphabets in that vowels are not indicated, and in abugidas or alphasyllabaries each character represents a consonant–vowel pairing.
Alphabets typically use a set of less than 100 symbols to fully express a language, whereas syllabaries can have several hundred, and logographies can have thousands of symbols. Many writing systems also include a special set of symbols known as punctuation which is used to aid interpretation and help capture nuances and variations in the message's meaning that are communicated verbally by cues in timing, tone, accent, inflection or intonation.
Writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, which used pictograms, ideograms and other mnemonic symbols. Proto-writing lacked the ability to capture and express a full range of thoughts and ideas. The invention of writing systems, which dates back to the beginning of the Bronze Age in the late Neolithic Era of the late 4th millennium BC, enabled the accurate durable recording of human history in a manner that was not prone to the same types of error to which oral history is vulnerable. Soon after, writing provided a reliable form of long distance communication. With the advent of publishing, it provided the medium for an early form of mass communication.
General properties
Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that a writing system is always associated with at least one spoken language. In contrast, visual representations such as drawings, paintings, and non-verbal items on maps, such as contour lines, are not language-related. Some symbols on information signs, such as the symbols for male and female, are also not language related, but can grow to become part of language if they are often used in conjunction with other language elements. Some other symbols, such as numerals and the ampersand, are not directly linked to any specific language, but are often used in writing and thus must be considered part of writing systems.
Every human community possesses language, which many regard as an innate and defining condition of humanity. However, the development of writing systems, and the process by which they have supplanted traditional oral systems of communication, have been sporadic, uneven and slow. Once established, writing systems generally change more slowly than their spoken counterparts. Thus they often preserve features and expressions which are no longer current in the spoken language. One of the great benefits of writing systems is that they can preserve a permanent record of information expressed in a language.
All writing systems require:
at least one set of defined base elements or symbols, individually termed signs and collectively called a script;
at least one set of rules and conventions (orthography) understood and shared by a community, which assigns meaning to the base elements (graphemes), their ordering and relations to one another;
at least one language (generally spoken) whose constructions are represented and can be recalled by the interpretation of these elements and rules;
some physical means of distinctly representing the symbols by application to a permanent or semi-permanent medium, so they may be interpreted (usually visually, but tactile systems have also been devised).
Basic terminology
In the examination of individual scripts, the study of writing systems has developed along partially independent lines. Thus, the terminology employed differs somewhat from field to field.
Text, writing, reading and orthography
The generic term text refers to an instance of written or spoken material with the latter having been transcribed in some way. The act of composing and recording a text may be referred to as writing, and the act of viewing and interpreting the text as reading. Orthography refers to the method and rules of observed writing structure (literal meaning, "correct writing"), and particularly for alphabetic systems, includes the concept of spelling.
Grapheme and phoneme
A grapheme is a specific base unit of a writing system. They are the minimally significant elements which taken together comprise the set of "building blocks" out of which texts made up of one or more writing systems may be constructed, along with rules of correspondence and use. The concept is similar to that of the phoneme used in the study of spoken languages. For example, in the Latin-based writing system of standard contemporary English, examples of graphemes include the majuscule and minuscule forms of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet (corresponding to various phonemes), marks of punctuation (mostly non-phonemic), and a few other symbols such as those for numerals (logograms for numbers).
An individual grapheme may be represented in a wide variety of ways, where each variation is visually distinct in some regard, but all are interpreted as representing the "same" grapheme. These individual variations are known as allographs of a grapheme (compare with the term allophone used in linguistic study). For example, the minuscule letter a has different allographs when written as a cursive, block, or typed letter. The choice of a particular allograph may be influenced by the medium used, the writing instrument, the stylistic choice of the writer, the preceding and following graphemes in the text, the time available for writing, the intended audience, and the largely unconscious features of an individual's handwriting.
Glyph, sign and character
The terms glyph, sign and character are sometimes used to refer to a grapheme. Common usage varies from discipline to discipline; compare cuneiform sign, Maya glyph, Chinese character. The glyphs of most writing systems are made up of lines (or strokes) and are therefore called linear, but there are glyphs in non-linear writing systems made up of other types of marks, such as Cuneiform and Braille.
Complete and partial writing systems
Writing systems may be regarded as complete according to the extent to which they are able to represent all that may be expressed in the spoken language, while a partial writing system is limited in what it can convey.
Writing systems, languages and conceptual systems
Writing systems can be independent from languages, one can have multiple writing systems for a language, e.g., Hindustani; and one can also have one writing system for multiple languages, e.g., the Arabic script. Chinese characters were also borrowed by other countries as their early writing systems, e.g., the early writing systems of Vietnamese language until the beginning of the 20th century.
To represent a conceptual system, one uses one or more languages, e.g., mathematics is a conceptual system and one may use first-order logic and a natural language together in representation.
History
Writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of ideographic and/or early mnemonic symbols. The best-known examples are:
"Token system", a recording system used for accounting purposes in Mesopotamia c. 9000 BC
Jiahu symbols, carved on tortoise shells in Jiahu, c. 6600 BC
Vinča symbols (Tărtăria tablets), c. 5300 BC
Proto-cuneiform c. 3500 BC
Possibly the early Indus script, c. 3500 BC, as its nature is disputed
Nsibidi script, c. before 500 AD
The invention of the first writing systems is roughly contemporary with the beginning of the Bronze Age (following the late Neolithic) in the late 4th millennium BC. The Sumerian archaic cuneiform script closely followed by the Egyptian hieroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC. It is generally agreed that the historically earlier Sumerian writing was an independent invention; however, it is debated whether Egyptian writing was developed completely independently of Sumerian, or was a case of cultural diffusion.
A similar debate exists for the Chinese script, which developed around 1200 BC. The Chinese script is probably an independent invention, because there is no evidence of contact between China and the literate civilizations of the Near East, and because of the distinct differences between the Mesopotamian and Chinese approaches to logography and phonetic representation.
The pre-Columbian Mesoamerican writing systems (including among others Olmec and Maya scripts) are generally believed to have had independent origins.
A hieroglyphic writing system used by pre-colonial Mi'kmaq, which was observed by missionaries from the 17th to 19th centuries, is thought to have developed independently. There is some debate over whether or not this was a fully formed system or just a series of mnemonic pictographs.
It is thought that the first consonantal alphabetic writing appeared before 2000 BC, as a representation of language developed by Semitic tribes in the Sinai Peninsula (see History of the alphabet). Most other alphabets in the world today either descended from this one innovation, many via the Phoenician alphabet, or were directly inspired by its design.
The first true alphabet is the Greek script which consistently represents vowels since 800 BC. The Latin alphabet, a direct descendant, is by far the most common writing system in use.
Functional classification
Several approaches have been taken to classify writing systems, the most common and basic one is a broad division into three categories: logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic (or segmental); however, all three may be found in any given writing system in varying proportions, often making it difficult to categorise a system uniquely. The term complex system is sometimes used to describe those where the admixture makes classification problematic. Modern linguists regard such approaches, including Diringer's
pictographic script
ideographic script
analytic transitional script
phonetic script
alphabetic script
as too simplistic, often considering the categories to be incomparable.
Hill split writing into three major categories of linguistic analysis, one of which covers discourses and is not usually considered writing proper:
discourse system
iconic discourse system, e.g. Amerindian
conventional discourse system, e.g. Quipu
morphemic writing system, e.g. Egyptian, Sumerian, Maya, Chinese, Anatolian Hieroglyphs
phonemic writing system
partial phonemic writing system, e.g. Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic
poly-phonemic writing system, e.g. Linear B, Kana, Cherokee
mono-phonemic writing system
phonemic writing system, e.g. Ancient Greek, Old English
morpho-phonemic writing system, e.g. German, Modern English
Sampson draws a distinction between semasiography and glottography
semasiography, relating visible marks to meaning directly without reference to any specific spoken language
glottography, using visible marks to represent forms of a spoken language
logography, representing a spoken language by assigning distinctive visible marks to linguistic elements of André Martinet's "first articulation" (Martinet 1949), i.e. morphemes or words
phonography, achieving the same goal by assigning marks to elements of the "second articulation", e.g. phonemes, syllables
DeFrancis, criticizing Sampson's introduction of semasiographic writing and featural alphabets stresses the phonographic quality of writing proper
pictures
nonwriting
writing
rebus
syllabic systems
pure syllabic, e.g. Linear B, Yi, Kana, Cherokee
, e.g. Sumerian, Chinese, Mayan
consonantal
morpho-consonantal, e.g. Egyptian
pure consonantal, e.g. Phoenician
alphabetic
pure phonemic, e.g. Greek
morpho-phonemic, e.g. English
Faber categorizes phonographic writing by two levels, linearity and coding:
logographic, e.g. Chinese, Ancient Egyptian
phonographic
syllabically linear
syllabically coded, e.g. Kana, Akkadian
segmentally coded, e.g. Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopian, Amharic, Devanagari
segmentally linear
complete (alphabet), e.g. Greco-Latin, Cyrillic
defective, e.g. Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Old South Arabian, Paleo-Hebrew
Logographic systems
A logogram is a single written character which represents a complete grammatical word. Chinese characters are type examples of logograms.
As each character represents a single word (or, more precisely, a morpheme), many logograms are required to write all the words of language. The vast array of logograms and the memorization of what they mean are considered by some as major disadvantages of logographic systems over alphabetic systems. However, since the meaning is inherent to the symbol, the same logographic system can theoretically be used to represent different languages. In practice, the ability to communicate across languages works best for the closely related varieties of Chinese, and only to a lesser extent for other languages, as differences in syntax reduce the crosslinguistic portability of a given logographic system.
Japanese uses Chinese logograms extensively in its writing systems, with most of the symbols carrying the same or similar meanings. However, the grammatical differences between Japanese and Chinese are significant enough that a long Chinese text is not readily understandable to a Japanese reader without any knowledge of basic Chinese grammar, though short and concise phrases such as those on signs and newspaper headlines are much easier to comprehend. Similarly, a Chinese reader can get a general idea of what a long Japanese text means but usually cannot understand the text fully.
While most languages do not use wholly logographic writing systems, many languages use some logograms. A good example of modern western logograms are the Arabic numerals: everyone who uses those symbols understands what 1 means whether they call it one, eins, uno, yi, ichi, ehad, ena, or jedan. Other western logograms include the ampersand &, used for and, the at sign @, used in many contexts for at, the percent sign % and the many signs representing units of currency ($, ¢, €, £, ¥ and so on.)
Logograms are sometimes called ideograms, a word that refers to symbols which graphically represent abstract ideas, but linguists avoid this use, as Chinese characters are often semantic–phonetic compounds, symbols which include an element that represents the meaning and a phonetic complement element that represents the pronunciation. Some nonlinguists distinguish between lexigraphy and ideography, where symbols in lexigraphies represent words and symbols in ideographies represent words or morphemes.
The most important (and, to a degree, the only surviving) modern logographic writing system is the Chinese one, whose characters have been used with varying degrees of modification in varieties of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other east Asian languages. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Mayan writing system are also systems with certain logographic features, although they have marked phonetic features as well and are no longer in current use. Vietnamese switched to the Latin alphabet in the 20th century and the use of Chinese characters in Korean is increasingly rare. The Japanese writing system includes several distinct forms of writing including logography.
Syllabic systems: syllabary
Another type of writing system with systematic syllabic linear symbols, the abugidas, is discussed below as well.
As logographic writing systems use a single symbol for an entire word, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary typically represents a consonant sound followed by a vowel sound, or just a vowel alone.
In a "true syllabary", there is no systematic graphic similarity between phonetically related characters (though some do have graphic similarity for the vowels). That is, the characters for , and have no similarity to indicate their common "k" sound (voiceless velar plosive). More recent creations such as the Cree syllabary embody a system of varying signs, which can best be seen when arranging the syllabogram set in an onset–coda or onset–rime table.
Syllabaries are best suited to languages with relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. The English language, on the other hand, allows complex syllable structures, with a relatively large inventory of vowels and complex consonant clusters, making it cumbersome to write English words with a syllabary. To write English using a syllabary, every possible syllable in English would have to have a separate symbol, and whereas the number of possible syllables in Japanese is around 100, in English there are approximately 15,000 to 16,000.
However, syllabaries with much larger inventories do exist. The Yi script, for example, contains 756 different symbols (or 1,164, if symbols with a particular tone diacritic are counted as separate syllables, as in Unicode). The Chinese script, when used to write Middle Chinese and the modern varieties of Chinese, also represents syllables, and includes separate glyphs for nearly all of the many thousands of syllables in Middle Chinese; however, because it primarily represents morphemes and includes different characters to represent homophonous morphemes with different meanings, it is normally considered a logographic script rather than a syllabary.
Other languages that use true syllabaries include Mycenaean Greek (Linear B) and Indigenous languages of the Americas such as Cherokee. Several languages of the Ancient Near East used forms of cuneiform, which is a syllabary with some non-syllabic elements.
Segmental systems: alphabets
An alphabet is a small set of letters (basic written symbols), each of which roughly represents or represented historically a segmental phoneme of a spoken language. The word alphabet is derived from alpha and beta, the first two symbols of the Greek alphabet.
The first type of alphabet that was developed was the abjad. An abjad is an alphabetic writing system where there is one symbol per consonant. Abjads differ from other alphabets in that they have characters only for consonantal sounds. Vowels are not usually marked in abjads. All known abjads (except maybe Tifinagh) belong to the Semitic family of scripts, and derive from the original Northern Linear Abjad. The reason for this is that Semitic languages and the related Berber languages have a morphemic structure which makes the denotation of vowels redundant in most cases.
Some abjads, like Arabic and Hebrew, have markings for vowels as well. However, they use them only in special contexts, such as for teaching. Many scripts derived from abjads have been extended with vowel symbols to become full alphabets. Of these, the most famous example is the derivation of the Greek alphabet from the Phoenician abjad. This has mostly happened when the script was adapted to a non-Semitic language. The term abjad takes its name from the old order of the Arabic alphabet's consonants 'alif, bā', jīm, dāl, though the word may have earlier roots in Phoenician or Ugaritic. "Abjad" is still the word for alphabet in Arabic, Malay and Indonesian.
An abugida is an alphabetic writing system whose basic signs denote consonants with an inherent vowel and where consistent modifications of the basic sign indicate other following vowels than the inherent one. Thus, in an abugida there may or may not be a sign for "k" with no vowel, but also one for "ka" (if "a" is the inherent vowel), and "ke" is written by modifying the "ka" sign in a way that is consistent with how one would modify "la" to get "le". In many abugidas the modification is the addition of a vowel sign, but other possibilities are imaginable (and used), such as rotation of the basic sign, addition of diacritical marks and so on.
The contrast with "true syllabaries" is that the latter have one distinct symbol per possible syllable, and the signs for each syllable have no systematic graphic similarity. The graphic similarity of most abugidas comes from the fact that they are derived from abjads, and the consonants make up the symbols with the inherent vowel and the new vowel symbols are markings added on to the base symbol. In the Ge'ez script, for which the linguistic term abugida was named, the vowel modifications do not always appear systematic, although they originally were more so.
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics can be considered abugidas, although they are rarely thought of in those terms. The largest single group of abugidas is the Brahmic family of scripts, however, which includes nearly all the scripts used in India and Southeast Asia. The name abugida is derived from the first four characters of an order of the Ge'ez script used in some contexts. It was borrowed from Ethiopian languages as a linguistic term by Peter T. Daniels.
Featural systems
A featural script represents finer detail than an alphabet. Here symbols do not represent whole phonemes, but rather the elements (features) that make up the phonemes, such as voicing or its place of articulation. Theoretically, each feature could be written with a separate letter; and abjads or abugidas, or indeed syllabaries, could be featural, but the only prominent system of this sort is Korean hangul. In hangul, the featural symbols are combined into alphabetic letters, and these letters are in turn joined into syllabic blocks, so that the system combines three levels of phonological representation.
Many scholars, e.g. John DeFrancis, reject this class or at least labeling hangul as such. The Korean script is a conscious script creation by literate experts, which Daniels calls a "sophisticated grammatogeny". These include stenographies and constructed scripts of hobbyists and fiction writers (such as Tengwar), many of which feature advanced graphic designs corresponding to phonologic properties. The basic unit of writing in these systems can map to anything from phonemes to words. It has been shown that even the Latin script has sub-character "features".
Ambiguous systems
Most writing systems are not purely one type. The English writing system, for example, includes numerals and other logograms such as #, $, and &, and the written language often does not match well with the spoken one. As mentioned above, all logographic systems have phonetic components as well, whether along the lines of a syllabary, such as Chinese ("logo-syllabic"), or an abjad, as in Egyptian ("logo-consonantal").
Some scripts, however, are truly ambiguous. The semi-syllabaries of ancient Spain were syllabic for plosives such as p, t, k, but alphabetic for other consonants. In some versions, vowels were written redundantly after syllabic letters, conforming to an alphabetic orthography. Old Persian cuneiform was similar. Of 23 consonants (including null), seven were fully syllabic, thirteen were purely alphabetic, and for the other three, there was one letter for /Cu/ and another for both /Ca/ and /Ci/. However, all vowels were written overtly regardless; as in the Brahmic abugidas, the /Ca/ letter was used for a bare consonant.
The zhuyin phonetic glossing script for Chinese divides syllables in two or three, but into onset, medial, and rime rather than consonant and vowel. Pahawh Hmong is similar, but can be considered to divide syllables into either onset-rime or consonant-vowel (all consonant clusters and diphthongs are written with single letters); as the latter, it is equivalent to an abugida but with the roles of consonant and vowel reversed. Other scripts are intermediate between the categories of alphabet, abjad and abugida, so there may be disagreement on how they should be classified.
Graphic classification
Perhaps the primary graphic distinction made in classifications is that of linearity. Linear writing systems are those in which the characters are composed of lines, such as the Latin alphabet and Chinese characters. Chinese characters are considered linear whether they are written with a ball-point pen or a calligraphic brush, or cast in bronze. Similarly, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Maya glyphs were often painted in linear outline form, but in formal contexts they were carved in bas-relief. The earliest examples of writing are linear: the Sumerian script of c. 3300 BC was linear, though its cuneiform descendants were not. Non-linear systems, on the other hand, such as braille, are not composed of lines, no matter what instrument is used to write them.
Cuneiform was probably the earliest non-linear writing. Its glyphs were formed by pressing the end of a reed stylus into moist clay, not by tracing lines in the clay with the stylus as had been done previously. The result was a radical transformation of the appearance of the script.
Braille is a non-linear adaptation of the Latin alphabet that completely abandoned the Latin forms. The letters are composed of raised bumps on the writing substrate, which can be leather (Louis Braille's original material), stiff paper, plastic or metal.
There are also transient non-linear adaptations of the Latin alphabet, including Morse code, the manual alphabets of various sign languages, and semaphore, in which flags or bars are positioned at prescribed angles. However, if "writing" is defined as a potentially permanent means of recording information, then these systems do not qualify as writing at all, since the symbols disappear as soon as they are used. (Instead, these transient systems serve as signals.)
Directionality
Scripts are graphically characterized by the direction in which they are written. Egyptian hieroglyphs were written either left to right or right to left, with the animal and human glyphs turned to face the beginning of the line. The early alphabet could be written in multiple directions: horizontally (side to side), or vertically (up or down). Prior to standardization, alphabetical writing was done both left-to-right (LTR or sinistrodextrally) and right-to-left (RTL or dextrosinistrally). It was most commonly written boustrophedonically: starting in one (horizontal) direction, then turning at the end of the line and reversing direction.
The Greek alphabet and its successors settled on a left-to-right pattern, from the top to the bottom of the page. Other scripts, such as Arabic and Hebrew, came to be written right-to-left. Scripts that incorporate Chinese characters have traditionally been written vertically (top-to-bottom), from the right to the left of the page, but nowadays are frequently written left-to-right, top-to-bottom, due to Western influence, a growing need to accommodate terms in the Latin script, and technical limitations in popular electronic document formats.
Chinese characters sometimes, as in signage, especially when signifying something old or traditional, may also be written from right to left. The Old Uyghur alphabet and its descendants are unique in being written top-to-bottom, left-to-right; this direction originated from an ancestral Semitic direction by rotating the page 90° counter-clockwise to conform to the appearance of vertical Chinese writing.
Several scripts used in the Philippines and Indonesia, such as Hanunó'o, are traditionally written with lines moving away from the writer, from bottom to top, but are read horizontally left to right; however, Kulitan, another Philippine script, is written top to bottom and right to left. Ogham is written bottom to top and read vertically, commonly on the corner of a stone.
Left-to-right writing has the advantage that since most people are right-handed, the hand does not interfere with the just-written text, which might not yet have dried, since the hand is on the right side of the pen.
On computers
In computers and telecommunication systems, writing systems are generally not codified as such, but graphemes and other grapheme-like units that are required for text processing are represented by "characters" that typically manifest in encoded form. There are many character encoding standards and related technologies, such as ISO/IEC 8859-1 (a character repertoire and encoding scheme oriented toward the Latin script), CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and bi-directional text.
Today, many such standards are re-defined in a collective standard, the ISO/IEC 10646 "Universal Character Set", and a parallel, closely related expanded work, The Unicode Standard. Both are generally encompassed by the term Unicode. In Unicode, each character, in every language's writing system, is (simplifying slightly) given a unique identification number, known as its code point. Computer operating systems use code points to look up characters in the font file, so the characters can be displayed on the page or screen.
A keyboard is the device most commonly used for writing via computer. Each key is associated with a standard code which the keyboard sends to the computer when it is pressed. By using a combination of alphabetic keys with modifier keys such as Ctrl, Alt, Shift and AltGr, various character codes are generated and sent to the CPU. The operating system intercepts and converts those signals to the appropriate characters based on the keyboard layout and input method, and then delivers those converted codes and characters to the running application software, which in turn looks up the appropriate glyph in the currently used font file, and requests the operating system to draw these on the screen.
See also
Artificial script
Calligraphy
Defective script
Digraphia
Epigraphy
Formal language
Grammatology
International phonetic alphabet
ISO 15924
Orthography
Pasigraphy
Penmanship
Paleography
Phonemic orthography
Phonetic transcription
Numeral system
Transliteration
Transcription (linguistics)
Writing
Written language
X-SAMPA
References
Sources
Cisse, Mamadou. 2006. "Ecrits et écritures en Afrique de l'Ouest". Sudlangues n°6, https://web.archive.org/web/20110720093748/http://www.sudlangues.sn/spip.php?article101
Coulmas, Florian. 1996. The Blackwell encyclopedia of writing systems. Oxford: Blackwell.
Coulmas, Florian. 2003. Writing systems. An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Daniels, Peter T, and William Bright, eds. 1996. The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. .
DeFrancis, John. 1990. The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Hannas, William. C. 1997. Asia's Orthographic Dilemma. University of Hawaii Press. (paperback); (hardcover)
Nishiyama, Yutaka. 2010. The Mathematics of Direction in Writing. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, Vol.61, No.3, 347-356.
Rogers, Henry. 2005. Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach. Oxford: Blackwell. (hardcover); (paperback)
Sampson, Geoffrey. 1985. Writing Systems. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. (paper), (cloth).
Smalley, W. A. (ed.) 1964. Orthography studies: articles on new writing systems. London: United Bible Society.
External links
decodeunicode Unicode Wiki with all 98,884 Unicode 5.0 characters as gifs in three sizes
The World’s Writing Systems, All 294 known writing systems, each with a typographic reference glyph and Unicode status
African writing systems
Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Ancient Scripts Introduction to different writing systems
Alphabets of Europe
Elian script a writing system that combines the linearity of spelling with the free-form aspects of drawing.
Writing
Typography |
13553373 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workload%20Manager | Workload Manager | In IBM mainframes, Workload Manager (WLM) is a base component of MVS/ESA mainframe operating system, and its successors up to and including z/OS. It controls the access to system resources for the work executing on z/OS based on administrator-defined goals. Workload Manager components also exist for other operating systems. For example, an IBM Workload Manager is also a software product for AIX operating system.
Workload Manager
On a mainframe computer many different applications execute at the same time. The expectations for executing work are consistent execution times and predictable access to databases. On z/OS the Workload Manager (WLM) component fulfills these needs by controlling work's access to system resources based on external specifications by the system administrator.
The system administrator classifies work to service classes. The classification mechanism uses work attributes like transaction names, user identifications or program names which specific applications are known to use. In addition the system administrator defines goals and importance levels for the service classes representing the application work. The goals define performance expectations for the work. Goals can be expressed as response times, a relative speed (termed velocity) or as discretionary if no specific requirement exists. The response time describes the duration for the work requests after they entered the system and until the application signals to WLM that the execution is completed. WLM is now interested to assure that the average response time of a set of work requests ends in the expected time or that a percentage of work requests fulfill the expectations of the end user.
The definition of a response time also requires that the applications communicate with WLM. If this is not possible a relative speed measure – named execution velocity - is used to describe the end user expectation to the system.
This measurement is based on system states which are continuously collected. The system states describe when a work request uses a system resource and when it must wait for it because it is used by other work. The latter is named a delay state. The quotient of all using states to all productive states (using and delay states) multiplied by 100 is the execution velocity. This measurement does not require any communication of the application with the WLM component but it is also more abstract than a response time goal.
Finally the system administrator assigns an importance to each service class to tell WLM which service classes should get preferred access to system resources if the system load is too high to allow all work to execute. The service classes and goal definitions are organized in service policies together with other constructs for reporting and further controlling and saved as a service definition for access to WLM. The active service definition is saved on a couple data set which allows all z/OS systems of a Parallel Sysplex cluster to access and execute towards the same performance goals.
WLM is a closed control mechanism which continuously collects data about the work and system resources; compares the collected and aggregated measurements with the user definitions from the service definition and adjusts the access of the work to the system resources if the user expectations have not been achieved. This mechanism runs continuously in pre-defined time intervals. In order to compare the collected data with the goal definitions a performance index is calculated.
The performance index for a service class is a single number which tells whether the goal definition could be met, has been overachieved or was missed. WLM modifies the access of the service classes based on the achieved performance index and importance. For this it uses the collected data to project the possibility and result of a change. The change is executed if the forecast comes to the result that it is beneficial for the work based on the defined customer expectations. WLM uses a data base ranging from 20 seconds to 20 minutes to contain a statistically relevant basis of samples for its calculations. Also in one decision interval a change is performed for the benefit of one service class to maintain a controlled and predictable system.
WLM controls the access of the work to the system processors, the I/O units, the system storage and starts and stops processes for work execution. The access to the system processors for example is controlled by a dispatch priority which defines a relative ranking between the units of work which want to execute. The same dispatch priority is assigned to all units of work which were classified to the same service class. As already stated the dispatch priority is not fixed and not simply derived from the importance of the service class. It changes based on goal achievement, system utilization and demand of the work for the system processors. Similar mechanisms exist for controlling all other system resources. This way of z/OS Workload Manager controlling the access of work to system resources is named goal oriented workload management and is in contrast to resource entitlement based workload management which defines a much more static relationship how work can access the system resources. Resource entitlement based workload management is found on larger UNIX operating systems for example.
A major difference to workload management components on other operating systems is the close cooperation between z/OS Workload Manager and the major applications; middleware and subsystems executing on z/OS. WLM offers interfaces which allow the subsystems to tell WLM when a unit of work starts and ends in the system and to pass classification attributes which can be used by the system administrator to classify the work on the system. In addition WLM offers interfaces which allow load balancing components to place work requests on the best suited system in a parallel sysplex cluster. Additional instrumentation exists which helps database and resource managers to signal contention situations to WLM so that WLM can help the delayed work by promoting the holder of resource locks and latches.
Over time z/OS Workload Manager became the central control component for all performance related aspects in a z/OS operating system. In a Parallel Sysplex cluster the z/OS Workload Manager components work together to provide a single image view for the executing applications on the cluster. On a System z with multiple virtual partitions z/OS WLM allows to interoperate with the LPAR Hypervisor to influence the weighting of the z/OS partitions and to control the amount of CPU capacity which can be consumed by the logical partitions.
Literature
Paola Bari et al.: System Programmer's Guide to: Workload Management. IBM Redbook, SG24-6472
External links
Official z/OS WLM Homepage
See also
Unit Control Block, for a description how WLM controls dynamic Parallel Access Volumes (PAVs)
IBM mainframe operating systems |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.