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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick%20Jennings%20%28computer%20scientist%29
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Nick Jennings (computer scientist)
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Nicholas Robert Jennings is a British computer scientist and the current Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University. He was previously the Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London, the UK's first Regius Professor of Computer Science, and the inaugural Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government on National Security. His research covers the areas of AI, autonomous systems, agent-based computing and cybersecurity. He is involved in a number of startups including Aerogility, Contact Engine, Crossword Cyber Security, and Reliance Cyber Science. He is also an adviser to Darktrace, a member of the UK Government's AI Council, chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre and a council member for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Education and early life
Jennings was born in London. He grew up on the Isle of Portland in Dorset and attended Weymouth Grammar School. He studied for an undergraduate degree in computer science at the University of Exeter and his PhD was from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London.
Research and career
His research is on developing AI systems for large-scale, open and dynamic environments. In particular, he focuses on endowing individual autonomous agents with the ability to act and interact in flexible ways and with building systems that contain both humans and software agents. He has been involved with deployments of systems in domains such as business process management, smart energy systems, sensor networks, disaster response, telecommunications, citizen science and eDefence—and generally advocating the area of agent-oriented software engineering. His most recent project, ORCHID, developed the science of Human-Agent Collectives (HACs) in which humans and software agents collaborate in seamless partnerships.
In undertaking this research, he has attracted grant income of over £33M, published more than 650 articles (with over 400 co-authors) and graduated over 50 PhD students (including two winners and one runner-up of the British Computer Society (BCS)/CPHC Distinguished Dissertation Award.) He has over 85,000 citations in Google Scholar and an h-index of 130.
From 1988 he was at Queen Mary, University of London, where he was a PhD student, lecturer, reader and professor.
In 1999, he moved to the Department of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton where he was the Deputy Head of Department, the Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) for the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Maths, the Head of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity group and the Head of Department. He was appointed the UK's first Regius Professor of Computer Science in 2014.
From 2010 to 2015, he was the UK Government's first Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security.
In 2016, he moved to Imperial College to be the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), as well as a Professor of Artificial Intelligence.
In 2021, he was appointed as the 9th Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University.
Awards
Jennings was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to computer science and national security science.
2007: Int. Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Special Recognition Award for “Intelligent agents: theory and practice” in The Knowledge Engineering Review
2016: IJCAI-JAIR Best Paper Prize (Honourable Mention) for “Theoretical and practical foundations of large-scale agent-based micro-storage in the smart grid” in Journal of AI Research
2016: The Engineer’s “Collaborate to Innovate” Award for the ORCHID project
2018: Int. Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Influential Paper Award for “Developing multiagent systems: the Gaia methodology” in ACM Trans. on Software Engineering and Methodology
2020: BCS Lovelace Medal
Fellowships
2018: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
2019: Fellow City and Guilds of London Institute
2020: Honorary Fellow of the Cybernetics Society.
Personal life
Jennings is married to Jo and they have two children. He is a keen sportsman -- playing cricket for Bishops Waltham and managing a Waltham Wolves football team for 10 years
References
Living people
Scientists from London
Alumni of the University of Exeter
Alumni of Queen Mary University of London
Academics of the University of Southampton
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellows of the British Computer Society
Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Fellow_Members_of_the_IEEE
Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Fellows of the SSAISB
Members of Academia Europaea
Academics of the Department of Computing, Imperial College London
Artificial intelligence researchers
English computer scientists
British computer scientists
1966 births
Companions of the Order of the Bath
People from the Isle of Portland
Vice-Chancellors of Loughborough University
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline%20of%20human%E2%80%93computer%20interaction
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Outline of human–computer interaction
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to human–computer interaction:
Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) – the intersection of computer science and behavioral sciences — this field involves the study, planning, and design of the interaction between people (users) and computers. Attention to human-machine interaction is important, because poorly designed human-machine interfaces can lead to many unexpected problems. A classic example of this is the Three Mile Island accident where investigations concluded that the design of the human-machine interface was at least partially responsible for the disaster.
What type of thing is human–computer interaction?
Human–Computer Interaction can be described as all of the following:
A field of science – systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
An applied science – field that applies human knowledge to build or design useful things.
A field of computer science – scientific and practical approach to computation and its applications.
An application of engineering – science, skill, and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge, to design and also build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes.
An application of software engineering – application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the design, development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software.
A subfield of computer programming – process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages (such as Java, C++, C#, Python, PHP etc.). The purpose of programming is to create a set of instructions that computers use to perform specific operations or to exhibit desired behaviors.
A social science – academic discipline concerned with society and human behavior.
A behavioral science – discipline that explores the activities of and interactions among organisms. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through controlled and naturalistic observation, and disciplined scientific experimentation. Examples of behavioral sciences include psychology, psychobiology, and cognitive science.
A type of system – set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole or a set of elements (often called 'components' ) and relationships which are different from relationships of the set or its elements to other elements or sets.
A system that includes software – software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. Software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer. In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system.
A type of technology – making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, methods of organization, to solve a problem, improve a preexisting solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input/output relation or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments.
A form of computer technology – computers and their application.
Styles of human–computer interaction
Command line interface
Graphical user interface (GUI)
Copy and paste, Cut and paste
Single Document Interface, Multiple Document Interface, Tabbed Document Interface
Elements of graphical user interfaces
Pointer
Widget (computing)
icons
WIMP (computing)
Point and click
Drag and drop
Window managers
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)
Zooming user interface (ZUI)
Brushing and linking
Crossing-based interface
Conversational user interface
Voice computing
Related fields
Human–computer interaction draws from the following fields:
psychology
human memory
human perception
sensory system
sociology and social psychology
cognitive science
human factors / cognitive ergonomics / physical ergonomics
repetitive strain injury
computer science
computer graphics
artificial intelligence
computer vision
visualization
information visualization
scientific visualization
knowledge visualization
design
industrial design
graphic design and aesthetics
information design
interaction design
process-centered design
sonic interaction design
Interactive Art and HCI
library and information science, information science
information security
HCISec
speech-language pathology
personal information management
phenomenology
History of human–computer interaction
History of human–computer interaction
Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad
History of automated adaptive instruction in computer applications
History of the GUI
Interaction paradigms
Time-sharing (1959)
hypertext (Ted Nelson 1963), hypermedia and hyperlinks
Direct manipulation (ex. lightpen 1963, mice 1968)
Desktop metaphor (197x XEROX PARC)
Windows-Paradigm
Personal computer
CSCW: Computer Supported Collaborative (or Cooperative) Work, collaborative software
Ubiquitous computing ("ubicomp") coined 1988
World Wide Web (Tim Berners Lee 1989)
Mobile interaction
"sensor-based / context-aware interaction"-paradigm
Notable systems and prototypes
Office of the future (1940s)
Sketchpad (1963)
NLS and The Mother of All Demos (1968)
Dynabook (circa 1970)
Xerox Alto (1973)
Xerox Star (1981)
Apple Macintosh (1984)
Knowledge Navigator (1987)
Project Looking Glass (circa 2003 or 2004)
The Humane Environment (alpha release, 2004)
General human–computer interaction concepts
accessibility and computer accessibility
adaptive autonomy
affordance
banner blindness
computer user satisfaction
contextual design and contextual inquiry
Feminist HCI
gender HCI
gulf of evaluation
gulf of execution
habituation
human action cycle
human interface device
human–machine interface
interaction
interaction technique
look and feel
mode (user interface)
physiological interaction
principle of least astonishment
progressive disclosure
sonic interaction design
thanatosensitivity
transparency
usability and usability testing
user, luser
user experience and user experience design
user-friendliness
user interface and user interface design
user interface engineering and usability engineering
handheld devices
Human–computer information retrieval
Information retrieval
Internet and the World Wide Web
multimedia
Software agents
Universal usability
User experience design
Visual programming languages.
Knowbility
Hardware
Hardware input/output devices and peripherals:
List of input devices
unit record equipment
barcode scanner
keyboard
computer keyboard
keyboard shortcut
ways to make typing more efficient: command history, autocomplete, autoreplace and Intellisense
microphone
pointing device
computer mouse
mouse chording
List of output devices
visual devices
graphical output device
display device
computer display
video projector
computer printer
plotter
auditory devices
speakers
earphones
tactile devices
refreshable Braille display
braille embosser
Haptic devices
Interface design methods
activity-centered design
Affordance analysis
bodystorming
Contextual design
focus group
iterative design
participatory design
pictive user interface workshop method
rapid prototyping
Scenario-based design (SBD)
task analysis/task modeling
user-centered design
usage-centered design
User scenario
Value sensitive design
Wizard of Oz experiment
Usability
Usability testing
heuristic evaluation
cognitive walkthrough
usability lab
Models and laws
Hick's law
Fitts' law
Steering law
GOMS – goals, operators, methods, and selection rules
Keystroke-level model (KLM)
Cultural influences
Movies
Motion pictures featuring interesting user interfaces:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)
Tron (1982)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
Ghost in the Shell (1991/1995)
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
The Matrix (1999)
Serial Experiments Lain
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Minority Report (2002)
Simone (2002)
I, Robot (2004)
Iron Man (2008)
Avatar (2009)
Her (2013)
Human–computer interaction organizations
Industrial labs and companies
Industrial labs and companies known for innovation and research in HCI:
Alias Wavefront
Apple Computer
AT&T Labs
Bell Labs
HP Labs
Microsoft Research
SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute)
Xerox PARC
Persons influential in human–computer interaction
Tim Berners-Lee
Bill Buxton
John M. Carroll (information scientist)
Douglas Engelbart
Paul Fitts
Alan Kay
Steve Mann
Ted Nelson
Jakob Nielsen (usability consultant)
Donald Norman
Bernhard Preim
Jef Raskin
George G. Robertson
Ben Shneiderman
Herbert A. Simon
Ivan Sutherland
Terry Winograd
See also
References
External links
Bad Human Factors Designs
The HCI Wiki Bibliography with over 100,000 publications.
The HCI Bibliography Over 100,000 publications about HCI.
Human-Centered Computing Education Digital Library
HCI Webliography
Outlines of computing and engineering
Wikipedia outlines
Usability
Computing-related lists
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%20media%20in%20Mali
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Mass media in Mali
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The mass media in Mali includes print, radio, television, and the Internet.
Radio is the primary means of mass communication in Mali. In practice, widespread poverty, a low literacy rate, and poor distribution outside of Bamako, limit access to television and print media. Mali has more than 125 radio stations as well as one television station. The former government-controlled radio and television broadcasting company is officially autonomous, but it has been accused by the political opposition of having a progovernment bias. Foreign radio programs are widely available through local media, and foreign satellite and cable television programs also are accessible, especially in Bamako.
There has been an explosion of print media since 1992 in conjunction with the initiation of multiparty democracy. In 2003 print media included 42 private newspapers and journals (39 in Bamako and one each in Tombouctou, Mopti, and Sikasso) published in French, Arabic, and various national languages. The expression of a broad range of views, including those critical of the government, is permitted.
Media regulation and restrictions
In Mali, Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are guaranteed by the constitution and generally observed by the government. The Superior Council of Communication regulates the media. URTEL is the agency responsible for regulating television and radio transmission operations in Mali.
Newspapers must register with the Ministry of Communications, but registration is routine. During election campaigns, the constitutionally mandated Committee of Equal Access to State Media is charged with guaranteeing that all political parties have equal access to government-controlled media.
The government does not restrict access to or use of the Internet, but in practice Internet use is very limited because of the cost of computers and licenses to operate servers.
Publications
Mali has several daily and weekly newspapers. Their circulation is limited due to high illiteracy rates. Mali remains a country of oral tradition.
French language publications
L'Essor (national daily), created in 1961, this is also the government's daily news publisher on the Internet:
Les Échos (daily), created in 1989
Nouvel Horizon (daily), created in 1992
(daily), created in 1994
Soir de Bamako (daily), created in 1996
(daily), created in 1997. It publishes online (http://www.info-matin.com/)
(daily), created in 1992 and also publishes on the Internet ()
Aurore (biweekly), created in 1990
Le Scorpion (humour weekly), created in 1991
Le Courrier (weekly), created in 1996
Le Malien (biweekly), created in 1991
Liberté (weekly), created in 1999
Le Continent (Weekly), created in 2000
La Nouvelle Tribune (weekly), created in 2002
Le Patriote (weekly), created in 2000
Le Challenger (weekly), created in 2002
Grin-Grin (monthly youth magazine)
Le Ségovien first newspaper of Ségou, also publishes online :
Le Combat, daily
Indigenous languages
Kibaru (Monthly) general news coverage in Bambara), created in 1972
Kabaaru (Monthly) general news coverage in Fulfulde), created in 1983
Xibaare (Monthly) general news coverage in Soninké) created in 1993
Jèkabaara (Monthly) general news coverage in Bambara) created in 1986
Niche publications
Graine d’espoir, is a monthly review published by Mahamane Garba Touré, who is thé Director of Publication and Editor in Chief, supported by Ousmane Mamadou, an agricultural engainer and directoire of thé Centre de formation professionnelle pour la promotion de l’agriculture au Sahel (CFP-PAS) in Gao, an organisation for professional agricultural training. The publication's goal is to inform rural agricultural business owners and to "echo national initiatives for the development of the agricultural world in Mali ". The first issue was published in June 2007. The circulation is around 1000.
Radio
Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali (ORTM) is the national broadcasting entity. It offers two radio stations, a national format radio station and Station 2 created in 1993 and transmitting on FM.
Around 150 private radios stations exist, accessible on the FM band.
The rural radio network has grown rapidly. Access to information in local languages has a considerable impact for the people in terms of quality of life and the implications for the management of local affairs affecting their communities. More and more radio stations have begun broadcasting on the Internet. The challenge is the economic return needed to sustain these media centers and the costs of technical maintenance services for radio stations themselves. Through the network of the Union of Free Radio and Television of Mali (URTEL) radios can be connected together to cover major events such as football or track the 1997 legislative elections.
Radio stations include:
Office de Radiodiffusion Television du Mali (ORTM) (public network of national and regional stations)
Radio Bamakan (community station, Bamako)
Radio Benkan (Bamako)
Radio Canal 2000 (Bamako)
Radio Frequence 3 (FR3) (commercial, Bamako)
Radio Guintan (Bamako)
Radio Kaira (Bamako)
Radio Kledu (commercial, Bamako)
Radio Liberte (commercial, Bamako)
Radio Patriote (commercial, Bamako)
Radio Rurale (network of community stations)
Radio Tabale (Bamako)
Voix du Coran (Islamic station, Bamako)
The president of URTEL, Moussa Keïta, recalls that "We like to say that the 'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali (ORTM) is the Voice of Mali and the local radio stations are the Voice of Malians."
Radio France internationale (RFI) is especially popular with listeners. Its news programs are broadcast by many local radio stations. BBC and Voice of America are also available in French in partnership with local radio stations.
It is also possible to listen to French radio through a subscription with French-owned CanalSat Horizons.
Television
The Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali (ORTM) operates a national public television channel: ORTM Télévision nationale. Since being introduced in February 2007, this channel can also be received in Europe via satellite W3A of Eutelsat, positioned at 7 degrees east.
TV5MONDE, the French channel broadcasting to the countries of la francophonie (French-speaking countries worldwide) is transmitted to satellite and in hertz almost everywhere in Mali. It is relatively accessible with a simple antenna.
A new channel was recently introduced in Bamako: "Africable, la chaîne du continent".
Two Mali businesses are proposing a selection of channels through MMDS reception, with channel offerings specializing in formats such as sports, children's programming, news, movies, and so on, through monthly subscription.
It is also possible to subscribe to CanalSat Horizons through live satellite reception (RDS, different from MMDS). This way it is possible to watch a large number of channels from Africa as well as Europe, in English and in Arabic.
Television stations include:
Office de la Radiodiffusion Television du Mali (ORTM) - public, programmes in French and local vernacular languages
Multi Canal stations (multichannel operator)
Tele-Kledu stations (multichannel operator)
Internet
Internet services underwent much testing before being introduced to Mali in 1997. There are five Internet service providers, who operate through the intermediation of the SOTELMA (société des télécommunications du Mali). The Internet infrastructure remains costly and difficult to maintain. The dominant private telecommunications company is Ikatel (called Orange). Its services include Live Box and 3g plus.
Since the beginning of 2011, rival company Malitél was launched to be price competitive.
Bamako hosted an international conference "Bamako 2000 : les passerelles du développement" on information technology, during which the former president of the republic of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konaré, promoted Internet access to all communities in Mali. Mali also presided over preparations for the Sommet de la Société de l'Information.
A number of cybercafés, and telecommunications centres (public, community or privately owned) have emerged since 1997 in the capitol Bamako. Many have had to close their doors due to difficulties in management and high fixed costs for network connections. Today, those that are surviving are those that support or develop a certain critical mass (access to a large number of computers, a regular customer base) and that offer complementary activities like training or equipment sales.
Many students have at least an email address and can benefit from access to relatively accessible prices for Internet research. Many businesses have access to the Internet through telephone. The costs of permanent connections to the radio broadcasting network remain high, but have tended to progressively diminish (100,000 Fcfa per month for an organisation, 30,000 Fcfa per month for an individual).
Internet is reaching a progressively larger territory. Regional capitols all have Internet access, as well as a number of mid-sized towns along principal roads.
The skills needed to publish on the Web are increasingly available, but Internet hosting and support for Websites remains highly variable.
Togunet (national politics, training, workshops with agricultural themes, health): a network for the promotion of information technology in the development of Mali ()
Campus numérique francophone de Bamako de l'Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (offers information technology training, and bursaries for researchers and students): ()
Initiatives Mali Gateway: An organization for local development activities in Mali ()
Geekcorps au Mali: Radio and internet installation and other activities ()
Afribone ()
Malikounda ()
See also
Telecommunications in Mali
Human rights in Mali
References
Bibliography
External links
Mali
Mali
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AskoziaPBX
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AskoziaPBX
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AskoziaPBX is a closed source telephone system (or "PBX") firmware. It is a fork of the m0n0wall project and uses the Asterisk private branch exchange (PBX) software to realize all telephony functions.
Prior to version 2.1, AskoziaPBX was released under a restricted BSD license. It permitted all forms of open source modification and distribution but required licensing if AskoziaPBX is to be sold on commercial products.
Since version 2.1, it has been released under commercial license only. Askozia also provides a "diet" version for testing. It has the full feature set, but is limited to two simultaneous calls.
Originally based on FreeBSD, AskoziaPBX was modified to run on Linux creating a new Linux distribution for this purpose. Running on Linux it has also been expanded to run on Blackfin and PowerPC CPU architectures in addition to the original x86.
History
AskoziaPBX was started as a proof-of-concept project by Michael Iedema at the Ostfalia - School of Applied Sciences in Wolfenbüttel Germany in January 2007.
The project focus was to demonstrate the feasibility of building an embedded telephone system firmware upon Open Source software while providing a consumer usability experience.
After six months of private development, the firmware was released to the public on the 1 June 2007. During the next 14 months after the initial release, 24 public beta versions were released. At the end of this cycle, version 1.0 was published in September 2008. Minor fixes and language updates continued on the 1.0 branch until 1.0.3 was released in May 2009.
At this point, work had already begun on what was to become the 2.0 branch of the firmware, the current development series.
Since 2011, AskoziaPBX is developed by Benjamin-Nicola Lüken and Sebastian Kaiser.
In August 2017, Askozia was acquired by 3CX Germany.
Major Features
AskoziaPBX is configured via a web-based configuration interface. It allows the configuration and interconnection of Analog, ISDN and VoIP telephones and of provider lines. Telephone system features such as voicemail, conference rooms, call parking, call transfers, fax-to-e-mail and text-to-speech are supported. More functionality can be implemented with custom applications
or the Call Flow Editor. This is an additional software module for AskoziaPBX, which allows to create call queues, IVRs and other complex scenarios.
The firmware stores its entire configuration in a single XML file. This simplifies backing up and restoring installations. It takes care to only write to its internal storage when absolutely necessary. This is done to preserve write cycles on flash media, a typical installation media for embedded devices.
AskoziaPBX can run on systems with as little as 200 MHz and 64 MB of RAM. It runs on x86 and PowerPC architectures. Blackfin is only supported until software version 2.0.4.
Internationalization
Created in Germany and initially only available in the English language, the firmware and project have now been internationalized. The configuration interface, voice prompts and notification messages have all been translated into many languages. German, Italian, Spanish, French and Dutch are the most complete with less complete translations including Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Danish and Swedish.
AskoziaPBX is in use in over 175 countries.
Moving from FreeBSD to Linux
From late 2008 until mid 2009 the firmware was changed to use Linux as its operating system, replacing FreeBSD. This process was contracted by Auerswald, a German telecommunications hardware manufacturer and was done for several reasons: Asterisk was, at the time, only officially supported on Linux. Also, FreeBSD does not support the Blackfin CPU architecture, the architecture used in Auerswald's target platform.
Another Open Source project was forked and incorporated into the project to accomplish the difficult task of compiling, patching and assembling firmware images across multiple CPU architectures and target platforms. The T2 SDE project was stripped down to only include the software packages used in AskoziaPBX and then merged into the project as the new official build system.
In July 2009, an alpha level release running on Linux was published. This was further stabilized into a beta release on 13 February 2010. The final production ready firmware was released as version 2.0 on 4 May 2010.
See also
List of SIP software – other SIP related programs
References
Telephone exchange equipment
Enterprise Linux distributions
Asterisk (PBX)
Linux distributions
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software%20patents%20under%20TRIPs%20Agreement
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Software patents under TRIPs Agreement
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The WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), particularly Article 27, is occasionally referenced in the political debate on the international legal framework for the patentability of software, and on whether software and computer-implemented inventions should be considered as a field of technology.
Article 27 of TRIPS
Article 27 paragraph 1 of TRIPS provides for that:
The only allowable exceptions to this provision are laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the same Article 27, and neither software nor computer programs are mentioned therein. The following elements may be excluded from patentability by WTO members under TRIPs:
(...) inventions, the prevention within their territory of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect ordre public or morality, including to protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment, provided that such exclusion is not made merely because the exploitation is prohibited by their law.(paragraph 2)
diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals; (paragraph 3(a)) and
plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. (...) (paragraph 3(b)).
However, despite not being mentioned as an exception in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 27 TRIPs, 'pure software' is not considered an invention under European law. The decision of the contracting states of the TRIPS Agreement, i.e. the WTO member states, was that patents should be granted in all fields of technology, without discrimination (Art. 27(1) TRIPS). However, according to Paul Hartnack, former Comptroller-General of the UK Patent Office, it is arguable whether pure software is a technology, or is, in many cases, capable of industrial application. He argues that its acceptance as such under European jurisdiction would be a political matter based on economic interest.
Art. 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties requires "ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty". The same provision requires interpretation within the light of the object and purpose of the treaty.
There have been no dispute settlement procedures regarding software patents. Its relevance for patentability in the domains of, for example, computer-implemented business methods, computer science and software information technology remains uncertain, since the TRIPS agreement is subject to interpretation, like all legal texts.
Relationship with copyright protection
Article 10 paragraph 1 of TRIPS provides that a computer program is a type of work which is eligible for protection under copyright law:
This argument was used by some adversaries of software patents to contend that software patents would not be allowed by the TRIPS agreement.
TRIPS textbooks see no conflict, for instance Correa & Yusuf
notes that software patents complement copyright because copyright does not protect underlying ideas.
See also
Aerotel v Telco and Macrossan's Application
Proposed EU Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
Idea-expression divide
References
External links
WTO web site
Official text of the TRIPS Agreement
Disputes concerning the TRIPS Agreement
TRIPS Agreement
Intellectual property treaties
World Trade Organization
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16942788
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognos%20ReportNet
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Cognos ReportNet
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Cognos ReportNet (CRN) was a web-based software product for creating and managing ad hoc and custom-made reports. ReportNet was developed by the Ottawa-based company Cognos (formerly Cognos Incorporated), an IBM company. The web-based reporting tool was launched in September 2003. Since IBM's acquisition of Cognos, ReportNet has been renamed IBM Cognos ReportNet like all other Cognos products.
ReportNet uses web services standards such as XML and Simple Object Access Protocol and also supports dynamic HTML and Java. ReportNet is compatible with multiple databases including Oracle, SAP, Teradata, Microsoft SQL server, DB2 and Sybase. The product provides interface in over 10 languages, has Web Services architecture to meet the needs of multi-national, diversified enterprises and helps reduce total cost of ownership. Multiple versions of Cognos ReportNet have since been released by the company. Cognos ReportNet was awarded the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) 2005 Codie awards for the "Best Business Intelligence or Knowledge Management Solution" category. CRN's capabilities have been further used in IBM Cognos 8 BI (2005), the latest reporting tool. CRN comes with its own software development kit (SDK).
Launch
Early adopters of Cognos ReportNet for their corporate reporting needs included Bear Stearns, BMW and Alfred Publishing. Around this same time of launch, Cognos competitor Business Objects released version 6.1 of its enterprise reporting tool. Cognos ReportNet has been successful since its launch, raising revenues in 2004 from licensing fees. Subsequently, other major corporations like McDonald's adopted Cognos ReportNet.
Controversy
Cognos rival Business Objects announced in 2005 that BusinessObjects XI significantly outperformed Cognos ReportNet in benchmark tests conducted by VeriTest, an independent software testing firm. The tests performed showed Cognos ReportNet performed poorly when processing styled reports, complex business reports and combination of both. The tests reported a massive 21 times higher report throughput for BusinessObjects XI than Cognos ReportNet at capacity loads. Cognos soon dismissed the claims by stating Business Objects dictated the environment and testing criteria and Cognos did not provide the software to participate in benchmark test. Cognos later performed their own test to demonstrate Cognos ReportNet capabilities.
Components
Cognos Report Studio – A Web-based product for creating complex professional looking reports.
Cognos Query Studio - A Web-based product for creating ad-hoc reports.
Cognos Framework Manager – A metadata modeling tool to create BI metadata for reporting and dashboard applications.
Cognos Connection – Main portal used to access reports, schedule reports and perform administrator activities.
Versions
Cognos ReportNet 1.1 – Java EE-style professional web-based authoring tool. (base version)
Cognos ReportNet IBM Special Edition – comes with an embedded version of IBM WebSphere as its application server and IBM DB2 as its data store.
Cognos Linux – for Intel-based Linux platforms.
See also
IBM Cognos Analytics
References
Business intelligence
Data management
IBM software
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2197450
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CXFS
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CXFS
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The CXFS file system (Clustered XFS) is a proprietary shared disk file system designed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) specifically to be used in a storage area network (SAN) environment.
A significant difference between CXFS and other distributed file systems is that data and metadata are managed separately from each other. CXFS provides direct access to data via the SAN for all hosts which will act as clients. This means that a client is able to access file data via the fiber connection to the SAN, rather than over a local area network such as Ethernet (as is the case in most other distributed file systems, like NFS). File metadata however, is managed via a metadata broker. The metadata communication is performed via TCP/IP and Ethernet.
Another difference is that file locks are managed by the metadata broker, rather than the individual host clients. This results in the elimination of a number of problems which typically plague distributed file systems.
Though CXFS supports having a heterogeneous environment (including Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X, AIX and Windows), either SGI's IRIX Operating System or Linux is required to be installed on the host which acts as the metadata broker.
See also
List of file systems
Shared disk file system
External links
SGI info about CXFS
Distributed file systems supported by the Linux kernel
IRIX
Shared disk file systems
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64716008
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2O%20%28web%20server%29
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H2O (web server)
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H2O is a free and open-source web server software.
It is written in C, and is distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
Overview
It is designed on the presence of HTTP/2 and TLS, and maximizing the use of HTTP/2 technologies such as prioritization and server push, it achieves significantly better performance than conventional web server software such as nginx.
Features
H2O has the following key features:
HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1 support
HTTP/2 support
Full support for dependency and weight-based prioritization with server-side tweaks
Cache-aware server push
HTTP/3 support (experimental)
TCP Fast Open
TLS support
Session resumption (standalone and memcached)
Session tickets with automatic key rollover
Automatic OCSP stapling
Forward secrecy and fast AEAD cipher suite
Private key protection using privilege separation
Static file serving
FastCGI support
Reverse proxy
Scripting by mruby (Rack-based)
Graceful restart and self-upgrade
History
In , started the development H2O as a mobile game server inside DeNA. The initial version was released in , and the first stable version was released in when the HTTP/2 specification was finalized.
See also
Fastly - The largest user of H2O in the world. Oku joined Fastly in .
References
External links
Free web server software
DeNA
Free software programmed in C
Software using the MIT license
2015 software
Reverse proxy
Unix network-related software
Web server software for Linux
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50512186
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous%20configuration%20automation
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Continuous configuration automation
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Continuous configuration automation (CCA) is the methodology or process of automating the deployment and configuration of settings and software for both physical and virtual data center equipment.
Overview
Continuous configuration automation is marketed for data center and application configuration management. CCA tools use a programmable framework for configuration and orchestration through coding, planning, and incrementally adopting policies.
Relationship to DevOps
CCA tools are used for what is called DevOps, and are often included as part of a DevOps toolchain. CCA grew out of a push to develop more reliable software faster. Gartner describes CCA as “Embodying lean, agile and collaborative concepts core to DevOps initiatives, CCA tools bring a newly found level of precision, efficiency and flexibility to the challenges of infrastructure and application configuration management.”
Tools
CCA tools support administrators and developers to automate the configuration and Orchestration of physical and virtual infrastructure in a systematic way that give visibility to state of infrastructure within an enterprise. Generally thought of as an extension of infrastructure as code (IaC) frameworks. CCA tools include Ansible, Chef software, Otter, Puppet (software), Rudder (software) and SaltStack. Each tool has a different method of interacting with the system some are agent-based, push or pull, through an interactive UI. Similar to adopting any DevOps tools, there are barriers to bring on CCA tools and factors that hinder and accelerate adoption.
Notable CCA tools include:
Evaluation factors
Evaluations of CCA tools may consider the following:
Skills, training, and cost required to implement and maintain tool
Content and support of the Platform and Infrastructure – tool specified for Windows or Linux etc.
Delivery method and likening flexibility – important for scalability
Method of interacting with managing system
Support and training availability and cost
Incorporation of orchestration with configuration management
Security and compliance reporting
See also
Agile software development
Continuous delivery
Continuous Integration
DevOps toolchain
Infrastructure as Code
Software configuration management
WinOps
References
Agile software development
Software development process
Configuration management
Systems engineering
Orchestration software
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60717089
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FACOM
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FACOM
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FACOM is a trademark used for Fujitsu's computers. Named after "Fujitsu Automatic COMputer".
The first product is FACOM 100, built in 1954. In May 1990, the brand name of FACOM was abolished and changed to FUJITSU.
FACOM numbering roughly follows the following rules.
100s : relay computers
200/210 : parametron computers
220 and above : electronic computers (transistors, integrated circuits)
But the numbering of some early relay computers is irregular.
Products
relay computers
relay computer or electromechanical computer
FACOM 100, electromechanical computer built by Fujitsu in 1954
FACOM 128, relay-based electromechanical computer built by Fujitsu in the late 1950s
FACOM 138A
Irregularly numbered relay computers
FACOM 318A, FACOM 415A, FACOM 416A, FACOM 426A, FACOM 426B,FACOM 514A,FACOM 524A
parametron computers
FACOM 200
FACOM 201
FACOM 202
FACOM 212
transister computers
early transistor computers
FACOM 222
FACOM 231
FACOM 230 series
FACOM 230 / FACOM 230-30
FONTAC / FACOM 230-50
FACOM 230-10
FACOM 230-60 (1968)
FACOM 230-5 series
FACOM 230-25, FACOM 230-35, FACOM 230-45 (1968)
FACOM 230-45S, FACOM 230-55 (1974)
FACOM 230-75
FACOM 230-75 APU (1977) - A computer for scientific and technological calculations with enhanced computing power by adding a pipeline system "array processor" (vector processor) to FACOM 230-75. FACOM 230-75 APU achieved 22M FLOPS. It was delivered to the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (JAXA). It's only one year behind the Cray-1. This machine will lead to the later VP series.
FACOM 270 series
FACOM M series : IBM System/360, System/370 compatible
FACOM M-190 (1974) : This is a super-large machine that uses LSI, and has two to three times the performance of IBM System/370. The fastest computer in the world at this time.
FACOM M-200 (1978) : The fastest computer in the world at this time.
FACOM M-130F, M-140F, M-150F, M-160F, M-170F (1979) : Supports Japanese language. Includes software supporting Japanese, a device for inputting Japanese, and a Kanji dot impact printer.
FACOM M-380, M-382 (1981) : Supports 31-bit address space (2GB). A super-large machine that uses ECL / TTL LSI.
FACOM M-780 (1985) : A super-large machine that uses an ECL LSI with 10,000 gates / chip. Maximum physical memory 256 Mbytes, maximum 64 channels. Water cooling.
FACOM VP series (supercomputers)
supercomputers.
FACOM VP-100, VP-200 (1982) : VP-200 achieved up to 500 MFLOPS
FACOM VP-400 (1985) : Beyond 1 GFLOPS for the first time in the world
FACOM VP2000 family (1988) : The VP2600 measured processing performance exceeding 5GFLOPS and set a world record in 1990.
FACOM A series (superminicomputers)
superminicomputers.
A-30, A-50, A-70
A-300, A-400, A-500, A-600
FACOM V series
office computers.
FACOM K series
office computers.
FACOM G series
workstations.
FACOM G-140, G-150, G-150A (1987)
FACOM G-250, G-250C (1988)
personal computer
FACOM 9450 (1981) :Fujitsu's branding for the Panafacom C-180
See also
Facom, a French tool company
ja:FACOM
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27851054
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce%20Donald
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Bruce Donald
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Bruce Randall Donald (born 1958) is an American computer scientist and computational biologist. He is the James B. Duke Professor of Computer Science and Biochemistry at Duke University. He has made numerous contributions to several fields in Computer Science such as robotics, Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS), Geometric & physical algorithms and computational geometry; as well as in areas of Structural Molecular Biology & Biochemistry such as Protein design, Protein Structure Determination and Computational Chemistry.
Biography
Donald received a B.A. summa cum laude in Russian Language and Literature from Yale University in 1980. After working at the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, he then attended MIT EECS, where he received his S.M. in EECS (1984) and Ph.D. in Computer Science (1987) under the supervision of professor Tomás Lozano-Pérez in the MIT AI Lab (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory). He joined the Cornell University Department of Computer Science as an assistant professor in 1987.
At Cornell, Donald received tenure in 1993, and served as associate professor of computer science at Cornell University until 1998. While on sabbatical at Stanford University (1994-1996), he worked at Paul Allen's R&D and technology incubator Interval Research Corporation (1995-1997), where he and Tom Ngo co-invented Embedded Constraint Graphics. After moving to Dartmouth, Donald was the Joan P. and Edward J. Foley Jr 1933 Professor of Computer Science, Dartmouth College until 2006 when he moved to Duke University. Currently Donald is the James B. Duke Professor of Computer Science, Chemistry, and Biochemistry, in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University and in the School of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center. Donald was appointed William and Sue Gross Professor from 2006 to 2012, and was named James B. Duke Professor in 2012.
He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a fellow of the IEEE. Previously, he was a Guggenheim Fellow (2001–2002) and received a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (1989–1994). In 2015, Donald was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), for contributions to computational molecular biology.
Work
Donald’s early research was in the field of robotic motion planning and distributed manipulation. Later he has made numerous contributions to MEMS and Micro-robotics, and designed MEMS micro-robots with dimensions of 60 µm by 250 µm by 10 µm.
Recently, he has conducted research in the areas of Structural Molecular Biology; chiefly, Protein Design and Protein Structure Determination from NMR data. He has developed numerous algorithms for protein design which have been successfully tested experimentally in the wet lab. The protein design algorithms attempt to incorporate additional molecular flexibility into the design process by using ensembles and continuously flexible rotamers and backbones. Donald has also developed algorithms for determining the structures of biomedically significant proteins. For example, his subgroup algorithm CRANS (Acta Crystallogr. D 2004; J. Biol. Chem. 2003), which identifies cross-rotation peaks consistent with non-crystallographic symmetry, was used in the structure determination of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) from Cryptosporidium hominis, an important advancement in Cryptosporidium biology. He has designed many algorithms and computational protocols to extract structural information from NMR data, and used that information to compute structures of globular proteins and symmetric homo-oligomers. A distinct feature of his algorithms is that they use less data, and provide complexity-theoretic guarantees on time and space (See, e.g., B. R. Donald and J. Martin. "Automated NMR Assignment and Protein Structure Determination using Sparse Dipolar Coupling Constraints." Progress in NMR Spectroscopy 2009; 55(2):101-127). Donald is the author of Algorithms in Structural Molecular BiologyAlgorithms in Structural Molecular Biology, a textbook published by MIT Press (2011).
Students
Donald has supervised many students and postdocs, many of whom are now professors in reputed universities such as MIT, Carnegie-Mellon University, University of Washington, Seattle, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Middlebury College and University of Toronto; and some are researchers in prestigious research organizations viz. NIAID, NIST, IBM, Sandia National Laboratories.
See also
MEMS
Protein design
NMR
Protein Structure
Kinodynamic planning
Publications
Donald is the author of over 100 publications. A representative selection:
Kinodynamic Motion Planning. Bruce Randall Donald, Patrick G. Xavier, John F. Canny, John H. Reif. J. ACM 40(5): 1048-1066 (1993).
Phylogenetic classification of protozoa based on the structure of the linker domain in the bifunctional enzyme, dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase. Robert H. O’Neil, Ryan H. Lilien, Bruce R. Donald, Robert M. Stroud and Amy C. Anderson. J Biol Chem 2003. 278(52):52980-7.
References
External links
Bruce Donald's homepage
Bruce Donald's Research
ACM Fellows Award: Bruce Donald
DBLP: Bruce Randall Donald
MEDLINE: Bruce Donald
1958 births
Living people
American computer scientists
Duke University faculty
Yale University alumni
MIT School of Engineering alumni
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Cornell University faculty
Computational chemists
Place of birth missing (living people)
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853931
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan%20process
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Orphan process
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An orphan process is a computer process whose parent process has finished or terminated, though it remains running itself.
Unix-like
In a Unix-like operating system any orphaned process will be immediately adopted by the special init system process: the kernel sets the parent to init. This operation is called re-parenting and occurs automatically. Even though technically the process has the "init" process as its parent, it is still called an orphan process since the process that originally created it no longer exists. In other systems orphaned processes are immediately terminated by the kernel. In modern Linux systems, an orphan process may be reparented to a "subreaper" process instead of init.
A process can be orphaned unintentionally, such as when the parent process terminates or crashes. The process group mechanism in most Unix-like operating systems can be used to help protect against accidental orphaning, where in coordination with the user's shell will try to terminate all the child processes with the "hangup" signal (SIGHUP), rather than letting them continue to run as orphans. More precisely, as part of job control, when the shell exits, because it is the "session leader" (its session id equals its process id), the corresponding login session ends, and the shell sends SIGHUP to all its jobs (internal representation of process groups).
It is sometimes desirable to intentionally orphan a process, usually to allow a long-running job to complete without further user attention, or to start an indefinitely running service or agent; such processes (without an associated session) are known as daemons, particularly if they are indefinitely running. A low-level approach is to fork twice, running the desired process in the grandchild, and immediately terminating the child. The grandchild process is now orphaned, and is not adopted by its grandparent, but rather by init. Higher-level alternatives circumvent the shell's hangup handling, either telling the child process to ignore SIGHUP (by using nohup), or removing the job from the job table or telling the shell to not send SIGHUP on session end (by using disown in either case). In any event, the session id (process id of the session leader, the shell) does not change, and the process id of the session that has ended is still in use until all orphaned processes either terminate or change session id (by starting a new session via setsid(2)).
To simplify system administration, it is often desirable to use a service wrapper so that processes not designed to be used as services respond correctly to system signals. An alternative to keep processes running without orphaning them is to use a terminal multiplexer and run the processes in a detached session (or a session that becomes detached), so the session is not terminated and the process is not orphaned.
A server process is also said to be orphaned when the client that initiated the request unexpectedly crashes after making the request while leaving the server process running.
These orphaned processes waste server resources and can potentially leave a server starved for resources. However, there are several solutions to the orphan process problem:
Termination is the most commonly used technique; in this case the orphan is killed.
Reincarnation is a technique in which machines periodically try to locate the parents of any remote computations; at which point orphaned processes are killed.
Expiration is a technique where each process is allotted a certain amount of time to finish before being killed. If need be a process may "ask" for more time to finish before the allotted time expires.
See also
Zombie process
Daemon process
References
"10.6.4 Orphaned Process Groups", The Process Model of Linux Application Development, by Erik W. Troan and Michael K. Johnson, Jul 8, 2005
Definition : An orphan process is running process whose parent process is terminated or finished.
Process (computing)
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45710549
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo%20Switch
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Nintendo Switch
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The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a hybrid console. Its wireless Joy-Con controllers, with standard buttons and directional analog sticks for user input, motion sensing, and tactile feedback, can attach to both sides of the console to support handheld-style play. They can also connect to a grip accessory to provide a traditional home console gamepad form, or be used individually in the hand like the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, supporting local multiplayer modes. The Nintendo Switch's software supports online gaming through Internet connectivity, as well as local wireless ad hoc connectivity with other consoles. Nintendo Switch games and software are available on both physical flash-based ROM cartridges and digital distribution via Nintendo eShop; the system has no region lockout. A handheld-focused revision of the system, called the Nintendo Switch Lite, was released on September 20, 2019. A revised higher-end version of the original system, featuring an OLED screen, was released on October 8, 2021.
The Nintendo Switch was unveiled on October 20, 2016. Known in development by its codename NX, the concept of the Switch came about as Nintendo's reaction to several quarters of financial losses into 2014, attributed to poor sales of its previous console, the Wii U, and market competition from mobile games. Nintendo's then-president Satoru Iwata pushed the company towards mobile gaming and novel hardware. The Nintendo Switch's design is aimed at a wide demographic of video game players through multiple modes of use. Nintendo opted to use more standard electronic components, such as a chipset based on Nvidia's Tegra line, to make development for the console easier for programmers and more compatible with existing game engines. As the Wii U had struggled to gain external support, leaving it with a weak software library, Nintendo preemptively sought the support of many third-party developers and publishers to help build out the Switch's game library alongside Nintendo's first-party titles, including many independent video game studios. While Nintendo initially anticipated around 100 titles for its first year, over 320 titles from first-party, third-party, and independent developers were released by the end of 2017.
As an eighth-generation console, the Nintendo Switch competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Nearly three million console units were shipped in its first month, exceeding Nintendo's initial projection of two million and within a year of release achieved over 14 million units sold worldwide, outselling total lifetime sales of the Wii U. By the start of 2018, the Switch became the fastest-selling home or hybrid console in both Japan and the United States. , the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite have sold nearly 104 million units worldwide, making it Nintendo's best-selling home console and the fifth-bestselling game console of all time. Sales of the Switch have been strongly tied to sales of Nintendo's first-party titles, with six games—The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokémon Sword and Shield, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons—having sold over twenty million units each.
History
Background
Nintendo had seen record revenues, net sales, and profits in 2009 as a result of the release of the Nintendo DS and Wii in 2004 and 2006, respectively, but in Nintendo's subsequent years, its revenues had declined. The company had posted its first loss as a video game company in 2012 prior to the Wii U's introduction that year and would have similar losses in the following years due to the console's poor uptake. The New York Times attributed Nintendo lowering financial forecasts in 2014 to weak hardware sales against mobile gaming. Previously, the company had been hesitant about this market, with then-president Satoru Iwata considering that they would "cease to be Nintendo" and lose their identity if they attempted to enter it. About three years prior to the Switch's announcement, Iwata, Tatsumi Kimishima, Genyo Takeda, and Shigeru Miyamoto crafted a strategy for revitalizing Nintendo's business model, which included approaching the mobile market, creating new hardware, and "maximizing [their] intellectual property". Prior to his death, Iwata was able to secure a business alliance with Japanese mobile provider DeNA to develop mobile titles based on Nintendo's first-party franchises, believing this approach would not compromise their integrity. Following Iwata's death in July 2015, Kimishima was named as president of Nintendo, while Miyamoto was promoted to the title of "Creative Fellow".
Development
The initial conception for the Switch started shortly after the release of the Wii U in 2012. Kimishima stated that when Nintendo was evaluating what new hardware they wanted to produce, they "didn't just want a successor" to either the Nintendo 3DS or Wii U, but instead asked "what kind of new experience can we create?" In an interview with Asahi Shimbun, Kimishima stated that the Switch was designed to provide a "new way to play" that would "have a larger impact than the Wii U". Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé emphasized the console's appeal as a device that would provide gamers the option to play at home or on the go and noted that it would enable developers to create new types of games. This approach continued Nintendo's blue ocean strategy for the competitive console marketplace, as rather than compete feature for feature with the other consoles, they would establish unique and difficult-to-copy devices. Miyamoto said that some broad concepts of the Switch extend from the "lateral thinking with seasoned technology" design philosophy of Gunpei Yokoi that Nintendo has used over the last couple of decades.
The commercial failure of the Wii U also pressured Nintendo in the Switch's development. Early sales of the Wii U were weak compared to the Wii, and major third-party studios like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft announced they would not support the console near the end of the Wii U's first year, further hampering its sales. According to Fils-Aimé, when it became apparent that the Wii U's life cycle performance would underperform the company's expectations, the Switch became a "make or break product" for Nintendo.
The design of the Switch was aimed to bridge the polarization of the gaming market at the time, creating a device that could play "leisurely" video games along with games that are aimed to be played "deeply", according to Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi, general manager and deputy general manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development Division (EPD), respectively. This approach also would apply to the cultural lifestyle and gaming differences between Japanese and Western players; Japanese players tend to play on the go and with social groups, while Western players tend to play at home by themselves. The design of the Switch would meet both cultures, and certain games, like 1-2-Switch, could potentially make social gaming more acceptable in Western culture. Two key elements that were set to address this mixed market were the ability for the unit to play either on a television screen or as a portable and the use of detachable controllers. The "Switch" name was selected not only to refer to the console's ability to switch from handheld to home console modes, but to present "the idea of being a 'switch' that will flip and change the way people experience entertainment in their daily lives".
Part of the inspiration of the Switch's form and design was from feedback players had given Nintendo on the Wii Remote, according to Shinya Takahashi. With the release of games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, players had asked Nintendo if they could make the Wii Remote in a smaller form factor, potentially strapped to a part of their body. This led to Nintendo envisioning what a smaller form-factor controller could provide in both hardware and gameplay, and it led to the idea of a console that was small enough with these new controllers to also be portable. Other concepts came out of critical consumer feedback of the Wii U. Fils-Aimé said that one common criticism they had for the Wii U was that while players did enjoy using the Wii U GamePad and would want to play games on it anywhere, it became functionless if they moved a distance away from the main console. This served for Nintendo to design a home console that the player could take with them anywhere. Around five different prototypes were developed for the Switch before they finalized on the released design. This included developing different methods of how the Joy-Con controllers would physically connect to the console, including using magnets to hold them in place.
In addition to the form-factor design, Nintendo needed to balance the power and speed of the console's central processing unit with battery life and the unit's size, coupled with limited development resources and deadlines set by Nintendo's management. One choice made by the development team was to use an existing system on a chip (SOC) rather than creating their own as they had done on previous consoles. Koizumi said that this break from tradition was done to gain more third-party support for the console by using an SOC to which developers could easily port games. Nintendo was not focused on raw processing power but was instead looking to balance the overall features of the system, including battery life and size, as well as keeping in mind their limited development resources and timeline. Koizumi said, "The most difficult part was on how to take an overall balance while we were getting entangled with all of those in complexity." To achieve this balance, they did not opt to use the more powerful hardware they could have used, instead using a middle-ground approach to achieve their vision of the Switch.
Koizumi served as the general producer of the Switch during development. According to Miyamoto, the Switch's development within Nintendo was headed by younger employees, with him saying "it's really been them that have put this forward and designed this system". Miyamoto said of the younger employees: "I always look for designers who aren’t super-passionate game fans. I make it a point to ensure they're not just a gamer, but that they have a lot of different interests and skill sets." Junior developers were also used to help brainstorm ideas of how to make sure the Switch had a longer lifecycle beyond the typical five-to-six years as most other consoles had. Miyamoto, Takeda, and Iwata were less involved, but provided necessary oversight on the Switch's development principally around the cost of implementing new features that would make the Switch stand out. For Miyamoto, his limited involvement allowed him to spend more time on Nintendo's software titles being developed at the time, such as Super Mario Run.
Announcements
The first public news of about the Switch's hardware happened alongside the announcement of Nintendo and DeNA's partnership on March 17, 2015. At this stage, Nintendo referred to the console under the codename "NX" and described it as a "brand new concept". At an investor's meeting in April 2016, Nintendo announced that it planned to release the NX worldwide in March 2017. While Nintendo did not unveil the NX's hardware at E3 2016 in June, it did announce that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was originally announced as a Wii U-exclusive, would also be released for the NX. At a Nintendo shareholders' meeting following the conference, Miyamoto stated that the company had concerns that competitors could copy ideas from the NX if they revealed it too soon. The following month, rumors began to surface surrounding the nature of the console, including its use of Nvidia Tegra hardware, being a "hybrid" device intended for both home and mobile use, controllers that can detach from the main device and be played separately, and that Nintendo would distribute games on the console via cartridges and digital downloads.
On October 20, 2016, Nintendo officially announced the console under the name Nintendo Switch, alongside a trailer that demonstrated the hardware's nature as a hybrid device. At the time of the trailer's release, Nintendo did not provide many details on features of the platform, though they planned to have events in 2017 to provide more details about the console. The company did state that there are additional features that were not presented in the introductory trailer. Miyamoto and Fils-Aimé presented the Switch to host Jimmy Fallon on a broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in December 2016. In addition to showing more of the console's hardware and functionality, Fallon was given the opportunity to play part of Breath of the Wild live.
Nintendo revealed technical details of the Switch, including its worldwide launch date and price, at a press event in Tokyo on January 13, 2017. The event was livestreamed, with an English voiceover provided by Nintendo of America through their broadcast and regional Twitter accounts relaying details in other languages. A Nintendo Treehouse event occurred the following day to reveal the full launch lineup and upcoming games for the Switch.
Release
The Switch was officially released on March 3, 2017, worldwide in Japan and most English-speaking and Western markets. It was released with an MSRP of in Japan, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in Australia; with standardized pricing for the European market varying. The set includes a Switch console, a dock, left and right Joy-Con controllers and accompanying straps, a Joy-Con grip, an AC power adapter and an HDMI cable. There were two Switch bundles available at launch, one with grey Joy-Con and one with neon red and blue Joy-Con. Nintendo feared that a higher price would harm sales, which prompted them to not include any additional hardware or games. The global launch did not include parts of Asia, including India and Mainland China.
The Switch continued to be officially released in particular markets, such as Argentina on August 15, 2017, and in South Korea and Taiwan on December 1. In April 2018, CD Media, Nintendo's official distributor in Greece and the Balkans since 2016, announced after opening their new offices in Istanbul, that Nintendo's products will officially be distributed in Turkey later in the year. Nintendo abruptly withdrew from the Turkish market back in June 2012 when then-distributor Nortec Eurasia closed. CD Media released the Nintendo Switch in Turkey in July 2018. Nintendo's Singapore-based distributor, Maxsoft, officially launched the Nintendo Switch in the Philippines on November 30, 2018, and later in Thailand on March 29, 2019. In early-2019, Nintendo of Europe signed a partnership with Tel Aviv-based distributor TorGaming Ltd., making them Nintendo's official distributor in Israel, and launched their products in the market, including the Nintendo Switch, on March 1, 2019. Nintendo's Dubai-based distributor, Active Gulf, officially launched the Nintendo Switch in Oman on September 27, 2019.
Although the Nintendo Switch had not officially been released in China prior to December 2019, it is still widely available in the country due to grey market imports from Hong Kong and other regions, such as Japan. In January 2018, former Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said in an interview with Chinese news website QQ that Nintendo has tried to release the Switch in China, but has been unable to do so. Nintendo partnered with Tencent in April 2019 to gain the necessary approvals to release the Switch in China, along with a test version of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe; it was released on December 10, 2019, at a base price of or about . Tencent will continue to help Nintendo bring other Switch games through China's approval process via National Radio and Television Administration. In addition, Tencent will help localize various titles, and help implement the Nintendo Switch Online service within the country, integrating its offerings with the WeChat payment systems.
Nintendo had exited the Brazilian market in 2015 due to high tariffs, but independent resellers have been trading the console in Brazil since March 2017. Nintendo had since assigned NC Games as their local game distributor in May 2017, and the local company had committed to sell some officially imported Nintendo Switch units in small quantities. NC Games silently went defunct in c. 2019. In August 2020, Nintendo affirmed that it would restart imports directly into Brazil, for release on September 18, 2020.
By February 2021, about four years from the console's release, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that "The Switch is in the middle of its life cycle".
Hardware
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid video game console, consisting of a console unit, a dock, and two Joy-Con controllers. Although it is a hybrid console, Nintendo classifies it as "a home console that you can take with you on the go". Furthermore, the company has stated that the Switch and the Nintendo 3DS are meant to co-exist, considering the 3DS as an entry-level product for younger players.
Console
The main unit of the Switch is the console, a battery-powered tablet-like monitor that consists of an LCD screen measuring on its diagonal, the same as the Wii U GamePad. The unit itself measures and weighs . The screen supports ten-point multi-touch capacitive sensing and includes haptic technology from Immersion Corporation. The LCD screen supports resolutions up to 720p (1280×720 px). The console includes a 3.5 mm audio jack, stereo speakers on the bottom face of the unit below the screen, a USB-C port for charging, and a kickstand on the back side. The unit also includes slots for a game card (cartridge-based media) and a microSD card slot located under the kickstand. The Switch console itself includes three buttons, all on the top of the device, Volume +/- and Power. The console has rails on the side, into which the Joy-Con controllers can be slid to attach them to the Switch unit. An ambient light sensor on the front of the console adjusts the screen's brightness automatically. The model number of the original Switch model is "HAC-001".
There are three gameplay modes that can be used with the Switch; "TV Mode" with the console slid into the dock to support play on a television, "Tabletop Mode" with the console placed on a table or other flat surface using its kickstand for shared gaming away from a dedicated screen, or in "Handheld Mode" as a standard portable tablet device. Users can switch between these modes simply by placing the console in the dock or removing it, extending or retracting the kickstand, and detaching or connecting the Joy-Con. Games may be designed to play only in specific modes; for example, Voez initially could not be played in TV Mode and relied on touchscreen controls. Support for controllers and TV Mode was later added to Voez in January 2018 via an update for the game. Another example is Super Mario Party, which does not support Handheld Mode.
Nintendo stated that the Switch is a "single-screen experience", in that the player either sees the content on the console when it is out of the dock, or on the screen attached to the dock when the console is docked. The Switch cannot feature dual-screen functionality that was offered through the Wii U via its GamePad.
Nintendo patented a means of using multiple Switch consoles to create a multi-monitor configuration by arranging them on a flat surface and spanning a single gameplay environment across their screens. This technology was first seen in Super Mario Party.
Dock
The console, with or without Joy-Con attached, can be placed into the Switch dock, a docking station with electrical connectors to connect the console to a power supply to charge its battery, and to a television via an HDMI connection for video/audio output. The dock also includes two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. While docked, the unit can support resolutions up to 1080p and a maximum frame rate of 60 frames per second, though the maximum resolution varies depending on the game. As an example, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild runs at a maximum 900p and 30 frames per second while the Switch is docked. The dock measures and weighs .
Controllers
Joy-Con
The Nintendo Switch comes with two controllers, collectively called Joy-Con and individually called the "Joy-Con L" and "Joy-Con R". The controllers attach to the Switch console via side rails using a locking mechanism, with a small release button on their rear face to allow them to be detached. When detached, they can be used as a pair by a single player, attached to a grip that emulates a gamepad form factor, or used as separate controllers by two individual players. A single Switch console can support up to eight Joy-Con connections. Straps can be attached to the sides of Joy-Con when they are detached. A charging grip is available for the Joy-Con, which provides a means to attach a USB-C cable for power. Alongside that, Nintendo released a charging strap that allows players to charge an individual Joy-Con via embedded AA batteries on June 16, 2017.
Pro Controller
The Switch also supports a wireless controller, called Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, which has a more traditional design reminiscent of the Wii Classic Controller Pro and Wii U Pro Controller. The Pro Controller connects to the Switch via wireless Bluetooth communication, and is charged through a standard USB-C port on the controller.
Other
The Nintendo Switch supports a wide array of additional accessories, according to Kimishima. Kimishima suggested that the Switch is part of a large ecosystem of devices, though the Switch unit remains the core console element. Takahashi suggested the possibility of other units besides the Joy-Con that could attach and/or connect to the console to serve as alternate input devices and change how the Switch can be used.
Nintendo offers a Joy-Con Wheel, a small steering wheel-like unit that a Joy-Con can slot into, allowing it to be used for racing games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Standalone docks are available, which include a power adapter and HDMI cable. Third parties also support the Switch with additional accessories, such as carrying cases and screen protectors. The 4.0.0 system update enabled support for GameCube controllers connected via USB with the GameCube adapter that was available for the Wii U as well as a new adapter produced for the Switch; GameCube controllers can be used with most games compatible with the Switch's Pro controller, such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. USB computer keyboards are supported for certain tasks, such as text entry.
In January 2018, Nintendo announced Nintendo Labo, a child-oriented platform that combines games coupled with do-it-yourself cardboard projects that attach or wrap around the Switch Console and Joy-Con, effectively creating toys around the Switch hardware to interact with games. These cardboard units, which may also include string, rubber bands, and other pieces, are referred to as Toy-Con. The game software provides instructions for the Toy-Con construction and provides the interface to control the Toy-Con. Such examples given include a remote-controlled "car", where the two Joy-Con attach to the car and their vibration feedback provide the motion for the car, controlled from the Switch, a fishing rod where the Joy-Con are part of the reel and handle of the rod and their motion controls used to simulate the act of fishing in the mini-game, and a small toy piano.
In September 2018, with the release of Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo introduced NES Controller style Joy-Con controllers alongside its classic games service. In September 2019, when SNES games were added to the service, wireless SNES Controllers were released. In September 2021, when Nintendo 64 games and Sega Genesis titles were added to the service alongside the Expansion Pack, wireless Nintendo 64 Controllers and SEGA Genesis Control Pads were released for use with their respective services.
Nintendo released Ring Fit Adventure in October 2019, which includes a Leg Strap to mount a Joy-Con to a leg, and the Ring-Con, a flexible hard plastic ring with Joy-Con mounting. The player interacts with the game, fashioned after a console role-playing game, by doing various exercises, such as running in place, squatting, and squeezing the ring, to perform in-game actions of running, jumping, and attacking and defending, respectively. Such features are part of Nintendo's "quality of life" goals to incorporate physical activity alongside the Switch, similar to past titles like Wii Fit.
In February 2017, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima stated that it had been "studying" virtual reality solutions, but felt that comfort was a main concern. Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé also cited that existing VR solutions were not "fun" or "social". Nintendo ultimately unveiled a new Labo VR kit in March 2019, using a cardboard headset and viewer placed in front of the console's screen, in combination with attached accessories.
Stands and alternate docks have also been created for the Switch to overcome the limitations of the device's own kickstand for tabletop play, including an official "Adjustable Charging Stand" that can be connected to the device's AC adapter.
Technical specifications
Soc, CPU, GPU and RAM
Original Switch models were released with model number "HAC-001". The Switch uses a system-on-chip from the Tegra family of products, developed in partnership with Nvidia. No specific details were revealed beyond that it is a "custom" Tegra chip "based on the same architecture as the world's top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards" that are common in personal computers, and has a custom API known as "NVN", which is designed to "bring lightweight, fast gaming to the masses". Takeda described the Nvidia chipset as being critical for delivering gamers a level of performance similar to that which they experience on personal computers, helping to achieve "high performance but low power consumption" for the Switch. Pre-release reports, unconfirmed by either Nintendo or Nvidia, stated that the SoC would be a standard Nvidia Tegra X1 instead, composed of four ARM Cortex-A57 and four ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores along with 256 Maxwell-based CUDA GPU cores. This was later corroborated by an analysis on the console done by Tech Insights in March 2017. The CPU cores are clocked at 1.020 GHz. While the SoC features 8 CPU cores, the Switch only uses the 4 Cortex-A57 cores, of which 1 is reserved to the operating system. The GPU cores are clocked at when the device is docked, and in handheld mode, fluctuating between the following speeds: , , and . This gives the Switch's GPU a theoretical peak performance of GFLOPS in docked mode and GFLOPS in handheld mode. A later iFixit teardown of the final product confirmed 4GB of LPDDR4. It's clocked at in docked mode, while at a reduced in handheld mode.
Wireless compatibility
The Switch offers Wi-Fi 5 (dual-band 802.11ac wireless connectivity compliant with 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac modes). Up to eight Switch consoles can be connected in a wireless ad hoc network for local multiplayer games, and multiple players can play on each of the connected Switch consoles. In the case of at least one game, Splatoon 2, ten Switch consoles can connect in the ad hoc network, though only eight can play directly while the other two can watch as spectators. The Switch uses Bluetooth 4.1 for wireless communication between the console and its controllers. Users can purchase a third-party USB LAN adapter for wired connectivity when the console is docked for TV mode. Nintendo's Wii LAN adapter accessory is also compatible with the Switch via USB ports on the Switch dock.
Power/Battery
The Switch is primarily powered in portable mode by a non-removable 4310 mAh, 3.7 V Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The battery life is estimated to be between 2.5 and 6.5 hours, depending on the software being used. Nintendo gives the example of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild supporting approximately three hours of battery life. The battery can be charged either while in the dock, or through a standard USB-C connector on the console. The estimated recharge time while the unit is in sleep mode is about 3 hours. Nintendo offers the means for replacing batteries through its customer support. Each Joy-Con has its own non-removable 525 mAh, 3.7 V Lithium-ion battery separate from the console, with an estimated twenty-hour lifespan. These batteries are automatically charged if they are attached to the console while it is charging itself. Additional accessories have other means to charge the Joy-Con. While the basic Joy-Con grip that ships with the Switch does not offer charging capabilities, a separate premium Joy-Con grip includes a USB-C connector port that can be used to charge the Joy-Con batteries while they are connected to this grip.
Storage
The Switch includes 32 GB of internal storage, 25.9 GB of which is user-accessible. This can be expanded up to 2 TB using a microSD, a microSDHC or a microSDXC card. A microSD card slot is located under the Switch's kickstand, where a microSD card can be inserted. If the microSD card is used, the Switch will only store game save data on the internal memory, leaving data that can be re-acquired on the microSD card. Save data will always be stored on the console, regardless if the source is a physical game card or a digital download copy. At launch, there was no way to transfer save files to another Switch console. Save game and profile transfers between Switch consoles were added in the 4.0.0 system update in October 2017, while the 10.0.0 system update in April 2020 allowed most update data, saved games (i.e., downloaded from eShop), and other downloaded content to be swapped between the internal memory and a microSD card. MicroSD and microSDHC were supported initially, and microSDXC card support was later added to the Switch's software via a system update. SD cards and miniSD cards do not fit the Switch. The Switch did not support external storage units at launch, but Nintendo stated that they were looking into adding this feature in the future.
Connectivity
The Switch console has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. At launch, the Switch did not support Bluetooth wireless headphones, though they can also be connected if a Bluetooth adaptor is connected to the headphone jack. A system update in October 2017 partially resolved this issue by enabling support for wireless USB headphones when the receiver is connected to the USB port on the console when docked. This was later fully resolved in a system update in September 2021 when it enabled support for Bluetooth Wireless headphone devices without the need for a USB adapter.
Later revisions
An updated version of the Nintendo Switch under model number "HAC-001(-01)" was announced on July 17, 2019, and was released in Japan and North America in mid-August 2019, and in the United Kingdom in September 2019. This revision uses the Tegra X1+ SoC, a more efficient chipset compared to the Tegra X1 used in the original model. Thus, the time-on-battery was effectively extended to 4.5–9 hours, depending on the game played. No other system component was updated in this revision.
Production
The Nintendo Switch is produced between Taiwan-based Foxconn and Japan-based Hosiden, with Foxconn accounting for the largest volume. Nintendo did not plan to sell the Switch below manufacturing cost at launch, as they had done for both the 3DS and Wii U at their respective launches; Nintendo affirmed that the Switch would be profitable from launch during its 2016 fiscal year earnings report, as the company saw the console as a key earnings driver for 2017 and beyond. Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a Japanese product teardown firm, estimated that the Switch cost $257 to make compared to its $299 MSRP, with the console and dock at $167 while each Joy-Con costs $45. Kimishima said that they may be able to see further profitability on the Switch when they can achieve volume discounts on components once they reach a level of about 10 million Switch units.
Prior to launch, Nintendo anticipated shipping two million Nintendo Switch units by the end of the console's first month, and assured that its supply chain would be able to meet demand following the launch period to avoid the shortage situation with the NES Classic Edition in late 2016. Kimishima anticipated that the Switch will have lifetime sales numbers similar to the Wii, which sold 101 million units by 2016.
Following the initial sales report numbers in April 2017, the Financial Times reported that the company was seeking to produce 18 million Switch units in its 2017 financial year as to avoid "customer tantrums" with poor supply levels, particularly near the 2017 holiday season and the release of Super Mario Odyssey on October 27, 2017. Fils-Aimé said in September 2017 that their 2017 production target for the Switch could be hampered by bottlenecks in individual components. DigiTimes reported in October 2017 that Nintendo had further shifted the production rate for the Switch up to 2 million per month, with plans to ship 20 million units by the end of the year; the newspaper also stated that the production rate was limited by component availability, and not by other factors of Nintendo's production process.
On the presentation of the 2017 fiscal year results to investors, Nintendo's newly named president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that they anticipate producing 20 million Switch consoles over the 2018 fiscal year keeping the momentum of its sales in that year.
In June 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nintendo was starting to move some of its production of the Switch and two hardware revisions of the Switch outside of China and into Southeast Asia to limit the impact of new United States tariffs on electronics made in China.
In November 2020, Bloomberg reported that Nintendo asked its assembly partners to boost production of the Switch by 20% and raised its target goal of Switch sales for the 2020 fiscal year from 25 million units sold to 30 million units, having previously reportedly raised their target for the fiscal year from 22 million units sold to 25 million units in August 2020. These boosts in production have been attributed to more demand mainly due to the success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other models
Nintendo Switch Lite
On July 10, 2019, Nintendo announced a version of the Nintendo Switch dedicated to handheld play called the Nintendo Switch Lite. The Switch Lite is a single unit, integrating the Joy-Con as part of the main unit's hardware, and uses a smaller screen measuring diagonally. Additionally, a regular directional pad replaces the four directional buttons on the integrated left Joy-Con. While using a smaller battery than the original Switch, the Switch Lite uses a more power-efficient chipset, the 16-nanometer Tegra X1+, to extend the estimated use time from 2.5 to 6.5 hours to 3–7 hours on a single battery charge. Because of the integrated Joy-Con, the Switch Lite is primarily limited to those games that can be played in handheld mode, while some other games like 1-2-Switch require separate Joy-Con to be used.
The Switch Lite was released worldwide on September 20, 2019, with an MSRP of .
OLED model
On July 6, 2021, Nintendo officially announced a new model called the Nintendo Switch – OLED Model. The OLED model features a 720p OLED display, and when docked, output to 1080p resolution. Additionally, it features 64 GB of internal storage, enhanced audio functions, and a wider adjustable stand for use in tabletop mode. The unit ships with a new dock that includes a wired LAN port. It features similar technical specifications as the base Switch model, and is compatible with all Switch games and existing accessories. The unit ships in two bundles: one that includes a black dock and red and blue Joy-Con (similar to the base model's default color scheme), and a white dock with white Joy-Con. It was released on October 8, 2021, alongside the release of Metroid Dread, with a retail price of .
Ahead of the release of the OLED version on September 13, 2021, Nintendo reduced the base price of the original Switch model in Europe from to , and in the UK from to , which Nintendo said also reflected changes in currency exchange rates. All other regions – including North America and Australia – did not receive a price cut.
Rumored high-end model
In early 2019, industry reports revealed that Nintendo had plans for two new models. One new model was a light-weight revision of the Switch, which turned out to be the Nintendo Switch Lite. The other new model, as reported by The Wall Street Journal and Nikkei, was to be a more powerful unit set to arrive in 2020. Potential revisions to the Switch were also observed by a notification Nintendo had sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) alerting the FCC to changes in the Switch's system-on-a-chip and NAND memory from its original design in July 2019. DigiTimes corroborated reports of a new hardware version of the Switch, stating Nintendo planned to release a new version with an improved CPU and magnesium alloy body in the second half of 2020. In its financial statement for the quarter ending December 31, 2019, Nintendo stated there were no plans for new Switch consoles through 2020, and instead their priority was to help better communicate the advantages of the Switch Lite over the Switch to boost its sales.
During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a global chip shortage that persisted into 2021, which did impact the rate of Switch production. Both Bloomberg News and Economic Daily News from Taiwan continued to state that Nintendo was preparing to release a higher-end model, based on their discussions with Nintendo's manufacturing and supply chain partners. These reports indicated the new model would be based on newer OLED screen technology, support 4K resolution and faster processors, and would likely start production in mid-2021 as to ship near the end of 2021. With this timing, it had been expected for Nintendo to announce the model at E3 2021 in June that year, but Nintendo did not do so, instead revealing the OLED revision of the base Switch model in the months that followed. Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser said, in light of these rumors, they would announce new hardware when they felt the time was right, and that "We are always looking at technology and how technology can enhance gameplay experiences. It's not technology for technology's sake."
Bloomberg News continued to state that a higher-end revision of the Switch was in the works, reporting in September 2021 that development kits for this new model had been received by several developers they had spoken to. According to Bloomberg News and their sources, Nintendo had planned to release the high end model sometime in 2020 or 2021, and had secured the supply of OLED screens in anticipation of this, but with the global chip shortage, the supply of chips was not there. Bloomberg claimed that Nintendo pivoted on the high-end design and instead redesigned the base Switch model to use the OLED screens instead, holding off plans for the high-end Switch model release until at least 2022 after chip supplies had become more stable. Nintendo immediately denied these reports, stating that the report was "not true" and "falsely claims that Nintendo is supplying tools to drive game development for a Nintendo Switch with 4K support", and that the company has "no plans for launching any other model at this time". Zynga, one of the companies specifically named in Bloomberg report, also denied they had received such a kit.
Bundles and cross-promotional models
2017
A Splatoon 2–themed bundle was released in Europe on July 21, 2017, and in Japan; additionally, a separate bundle that included "neon" green and pink Joy-Con (matching the color schemes from Splatoon 2) was offered in Japan. The bundle was released in North America as a Walmart exclusive on September 8, 2017. A Monster Hunter XX pack-in bundle was released in August 2017 in Japan, with themed decals on the console and dock. A Super Mario Odyssey pack-in bundle was released alongside the game on October 27, 2017, which includes red Joy-Con and a themed carrying case.
2018
In May 2018, the "2nd Unit Set" was released in Japan, exclusively on the My Nintendo Store at a reduced price of . The bundle was positioned towards households which already owned a Switch and, as such, it did not include a dock, AC adapter, HDMI cable, and Joy-Con grip. A Mario Tennis Aces and 1-2-Switch pack-in bundle with neon red and blue Joy-Con was released in North America on September 5, exclusively at Walmart. A Fortnite bundle with red and blue Joy-Con which included Fortnite Battle Royale exclusive items and in-game currency was released in North America on October 5 and in Japan on November 22. A Minecraft pack-in bundle with gray Joy-Con and Minecraft stickers was released in Japan on November 30. A Diablo III: Eternal Collection pack-in bundle with themed decals on the dock, console and a carrying case was released on November 2 in Europe and in the United States exclusively at GameStop. A Super Smash Bros. Ultimate-themed bundle, including a branded Dock and Joy-Con, was released the same day, which includes a download code for the game. A Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and a Let's Go, Eevee!-themed bundles were released worldwide on their games' launch day on November 16. They included a console with Pikachu and Eevee decals on the back, a dock with a decal of both on the front, a right and left Joy-Con and their straps based on the color scheme of each Pokémon respectively, a preinstalled version of the game, and a Poké Ball Plus peripheral. A Mario Kart 8 Deluxe red and blue Joy-Con pack-in bundle was released in North America on November 23 Black Friday.
2019
A red and blue Joy-Con bundle with Nintendo eShop credit was released on February 15, 2019. A pink and purple Joy-Con Disney Tsum-Tsum Festival bundle was released in Japan on October 10. Both the Switch dock and Joy-Con are decorated with characters from Tsum-Tsum.
2020
An Animal Crossing: New Horizons-themed bundle was released on March 13, 2020. A Fortnite special edition was released in Europe on October 30, 2020, and in Australia and New Zealand on November 6.
2021
A Mario Red & Blue Edition-themed bundle was released on January 12, 2021. A special Monster Hunter Rise bundle was released alongside the game on March 26, 2021.
Software
The Nintendo Switch runs on a custom-made operating system named Horizon, built on a microkernel architecture. The Switch's user interface features tile-based access to games that are either present in the game card slot or stored within the unit's storage devices. It includes quick access buttons for a News feed from Nintendo, eShop access, and a photo album for screenshots captured during gameplay; the 4.0 update to the software in October 2017 also enabled capturing and sharing video from select games. A single Switch console supports up to eight user profiles, which each can be tied to a Nintendo Account user ID. Profiles can be represented by either a pre-made avatar from an internal gallery, or using a Mii. The Mii creator was upgraded with increased color options for aspects such as hair styles; however, it is integrated into the system settings, rather than being an independent application.
Prior to the 4.0 update, players discovered that the Switch's firmware included an Easter egg allowing players to play the NES Golf title via a built-in emulator. While Nintendo has not confirmed its presence, journalists and players believed this to be a tribute to Nintendo's former president Satoru Iwata; Golf was programmed by Iwata, and the game could only be accessed if the system clock was set to July 11 – the day when Iwata died in 2015 – and the Joy-Con are moved similarly to how Iwata would move his hands in his Nintendo Direct presentations. Some Japanese users referred to this as an omamori (charm) left by Iwata himself. With the 4.0 update, the executable code for this Easter egg appears to have been wiped by Nintendo.
In August 2018, a Twitter user found files on the Switch's firmware while reverse-engineering the console, which suggested that Nintendo was possibly testing VR functionality for the Switch. The Twitter user was able to activate the hidden "VR Mode", which split the screen into two displays. Hackers found that the code related to possible VR functionality had been hidden in the Switch firmware for over a year.
Security
Nintendo continued its white hat security program that it had with the Nintendo 3DS. With help of third-party website HackerOne, Nintendo will award up to $20,000 to the first user to identify any vulnerability that impacts piracy, cheating, or potential sending of inappropriate content to younger users, the amount based on the severity of the security flaw.
In April 2018, two separate groups discovered a method to use an exploit chain in the Tegra chip system that can be used to boot other software on the Switch. The exploit could not be patched through a software update, as the BootROM of the Tegra X1 can not be modified after the chip leaves the factory. Both groups had notified Nvidia and Nintendo of the exploit before publicly announcing their findings. Users studying the hardware determined that Nintendo has the capacity to permanently ban specific Switch consoles used to obtain software via this exploit from the Nintendo Network, as the Switch console includes a unique device identification code used as part of the validation to the Network. As games downloaded from the Nintendo Network include encrypted information that ties the Nintendo ID to the console, which is transmitted to Nintendo when users start playing games, Nintendo can track unapproved software downloads and take action. Nintendo has reportedly fixed the vulnerability in newer Switch units as of July 2018.
In June 2018, two hackers found a way to run the Switch system's developer software menu on non-developer Switch units, allowing users to directly load games onto SD cards or create custom avatars for their user profile, including pornographic and NSFW pictures, which violate Nintendo's terms of service. A Nintendo spokesperson responded to Kotakus article on the topic, saying that "Modified Nintendo Switch systems have been banned".
Shortly after the release of Nintendo Switch Online in September 2018, hackers and modders were able to figure out how to run unauthorized ROMs on the Nintendo Switch NES emulator. A Switch hacker who goes by the name DevRin, was the first to discover the hack and posted his findings on YouTube, which prompted a modder who goes by the name KapuccinoHeck to investigate the matter with two others and their findings were later posted on KapuccinoHeck's Twitter account.
Online services
Nintendo Switch user profiles can be linked to a Nintendo Account, which enables access to online features and the ability to download and purchase software from Nintendo eShop. A Nintendo Account can be created with an account from a third-party social networking service or an existing Nintendo Network ID from a 3DS or Wii U. Nintendo does not plan to offer first-party social networking services on Switch, such as Miiverse or StreetPass, the latter owing to Nintendo's promotion of Switch as primarily being a home console. Instead, profiles can be linked to existing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter for social and sharing features.
Players can register friends through Friend Codes as with previous Nintendo systems, searching for friends in the local network, through past multiplayer interactions, or through Nintendo Account profiles registered as friends on Nintendo mobile apps such as Miitomo and Super Mario Run. In March 2017, Nintendo said that they had plans to provide other methods for registering friends, including through third-party social media and via Nintendo Network IDs. Support for registering friends on the Switch via Facebook and Twitter was added on March 13, 2018, as part of the 5.0.0 system update. The Switch has no native support for Nintendo Network IDs, but users can link their Nintendo Network ID credentials to a Nintendo Account profile, which enables the ability to add friends that they had already registered on their 3DS or Wii U, and share an eShop balance between all three platforms.
In line with Microsoft and Sony consoles, a subscription is required to access online multiplayer in most games. The Nintendo Switch Online subscription includes access to online play, voice chat, access to an ongoing library of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) games, cloud storage for save data on most games, as well as other special offers and promotions. A paid expansion pack released in October 2021 added support for an expanding library of Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games. Free-to-play games such as Fortnite Battle Royale and Warframe are exempt from the subscription requirement for online play.
The Nintendo Switch Online mobile app allows access to voice chat for Switch Online subscribers, as well as access to game-specific microsites. Unlike its competitors, voice chat is not supported via the console itself, requiring use of the app on a smartphone instead. A separate app provides access to parental controls for the console.
Media support
The Switch did not launch with any multimedia-oriented features, such as a web browser, a messaging system or support for video streaming services. Fils-Aimé said that because the Switch is geared as a gaming console that is far different from what their competitors offer, they had focused on achieving that goal first and foremost, and did not see media support as a differentiator from their competitors.
Niconico, a popular Japanese video service, launched for the Switch in Japan on July 13, 2017, and was the Switch's first third-party media app in any market. Hulu was the first video streaming application released for the Switch in the United States on November 9, 2017. A YouTube application was released on November 8, 2018. Fils-Aimé said in June 2018 that conversations to bring Netflix to the Switch were "on-going". On November 4, 2020, a trial version app of the Tencent Video streaming service was launched exclusively for Nintendo Switch consoles officially distributed by Tencent in mainland China. An official version app will be launched at a later date. Funimation launched their own streaming app for the Nintendo Switch, featuring a reworked layout and new functions. The app became available via eShop in the United States and Canada on December 15, 2020, and will launch in various other countries at a later date, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 22, 2021. A version of the Twitch app launched for the Nintendo Switch on November 11, 2021 in most regions worldwide. The eShop version of the app allows users to watch or follow any live or recorded content on Twitch, but does not support any native ability for Switch players to contribute content.
Korg Gadget, a music production app, was released for the Nintendo Switch on April 26, 2018. InkyPen, a comics and manga subscription app, launched exclusively on the Switch worldwide on December 17, 2018. Izneo, another comics and manga subscription service, was released for the Switch on February 28, 2019. FUZE4, a text-based programming language app, was released in August 2019.
Games
Distribution
Games for the Nintendo Switch can be obtained through either retail channels or digitally through the Nintendo eShop. Games distributed at retail are stored on proprietary cartridges, similar in design to the game cards used for Nintendo 3DS games, albeit smaller and thinner. As the world's first major hybrid console, the console is the first major home-playable video game system to make use of cartridges since the Nintendo 64. Due to their small size at , Nintendo coats each cartridge with denatonium benzoate, a non-toxic bitterant used to discourage children from ingesting them. Nintendo offered a suggested retail price for Switch games at the console's launch of , equivalent to the price for new games on either the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Nintendo otherwise allows publishers to set the price for a game, only requiring the list price be the same for physical and digital releases, if a physical release is made. This has caused some games also available on other consoles to be priced higher on the Switch due to the costs of manufacturing the game card for the Switch version. Online media outlets have colloquially referred to this price hike as the "Switch tax". The "Switch tax" also applies to many games that had been previously released on other platforms ported later to the Switch, where the Switch game price reflects the original price of the game when it was first released rather than its current price. It is estimated that the cost of Switch games is an average of 10% over other formats.
Game cards at the time of the Switch's release had a 32GB capacity; Nintendo had planned to introduce 64GB game cards by the second half of 2018, but had to push this back. Some physical games may still require content to be installed to internal storage, with some games using a significant portion of the internal memory if a microSD card is not available. Other physical games which have a large amount of content may require a microSD card to be present in the Switch, such as NBA 2K18; such games are clearly marked on the cover to show these requirements.
The Switch supports the ability for cloud gaming to run games that require more hardware capabilities than the Switch allows, running these games over a network with the game computations performed on server hardware. These games may be tied to specific regions due to purchasing options. Early examples of such games on the Switch include Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Phantasy Star Online 2 and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey which were primarily limited to Japanese releases, while more recently Control and Hitman 3 will be offered through cloud gaming worldwide in 2020 and beyond.
Unlike previous Nintendo home consoles, the Switch is region-free. This allows players to use cartridges or downloaded content from any part of the world, with the exception of Chinese game content which can only be played on Switch units manufactured for that country. Nintendo recommends using the appropriate regional eShop for digital purposes for obtaining the best post-purchase support if needed. Nintendo opted to go region-free to reduce the amount of workload and cost to both themselves and developers in having to manage two or more regional certification processes and different ROM cartridge production pathways for those regions. Further, eShop purchases, while still tied to the Nintendo Account, are not tied to the specific Switch console, as was the case for previous Nintendo hardware. Once the user re-registers their account to a Switch, they have access to download all previous purchases; however, a user can only have their account registered on one console at a time, and downloaded software tied to an account cannot be used if that account is not registered to the device. With the console's 6.0.0 system update, alongside the launch of the Online service in September 2018, a user can play games that they have purchased from the eShop on a second Switch console, though requiring continuous online connection and other restrictions.
The Switch does not use optical discs, and does not have native backward compatibility with software from any previous Nintendo console. The Switch is also not backwards compatible with other digital titles from previous consoles.
Emulated versions of games from previous Nintendo systems are offered through eShop and the Nintendo Switch Online service, although the blanket Virtual Console brand used for these releases on Wii, Wii U, and 3DS has been dropped. In February 2017, Kimishima said that the Switch is powerful enough to emulate titles from previous Nintendo consoles.
Third-party support
One of the generally perceived failures of the Wii U was a lack of support from third-party developers, leading to a weak library of games. Nintendo was more aggressive in trying to bring on third-party developers, early in the Switch's development, to ensure a stronger lineup of games. Takahashi and Koizumi reached out to many of the third-parties directly to help gain their support early on. Electronic Arts' executive Patrick Söderlund said that Nintendo had taken a different track with attracting third-party developers to the Switch and have engaged Electronic Arts and other major developers throughout the development of the Switch, listening to their input, to help make the Switch more successful.
Nintendo also began gaining support of independent video game developers in the middle of 2016 to provide assistance to help them bring games to the Switch, led by Nintendo's head of partner management Damon Baker. They had tried to draw in indie developers near the end of the Wii U's lifetime, providing indie game demos that were highlighted during E3 2015, but by this point, the Wii U had already been considered a failure. Nintendo sees games such as Snipperclips as a model of their target for indie games, in which they worked to help provide Switch implementation support and software tools to these parties early in the console's lifecycle, according to Takahashi and Koizumi. Some, like Yacht Club Games, who have ported Shovel Knight to the Switch, noted that some of the major innovations in the Switch, such as the Joy-Con, were not revealed to them until just prior to the January 2017 announcement. Nintendo of America reached out to many independent developers and publishers, including Chucklefish, Team17, and Devolver Digital, to gain titles for the platform and make the process of publishing easier. Nintendo still curates which titles they allow on the system, using the company's past portfolio for evaluation, and still carefully time releases to keep a steady stream of new content. However, once a game is greenlit, pushing out patches and updates can be done rapidly and at no further cost to the developer. Nintendo also offers the Switch's dev kit at 50,000 yen, or about $450, far under the cost of a comparable dev kit for other consoles, making it more amenable for smaller developers to afford and build for the unit. Nintendo offers several of these indie games as "Nindies" through the eShop. Nintendo had anticipated that they would have at least sixty indie games released for the Switch through 2017, but ended up with over 320 titles by the end of 2017 as a result of the console's popularity. Indie developers have found that Nintendo has also had a significant role in the promotion and marketing of their games, including using the games to help promote the Switch itself, in contrast to Microsoft or Sony. These developers also found Nintendo tries to keep a better rapport with fans of Nintendo's products, and help these fans identify Switch indie games they feel they will like the most, including those games that build on Nintendo's classic games from the NES, SNES, and Game Boy eras that can draw in a more global audience. Baker says that while they do try to encourage indie developers to release their games as a Switch console exclusive, they do not force developers towards this, knowing that the developers must have a good business case for doing so.
While many independent developers have praised Nintendo for better support for the Switch, others, speaking anonymously through Nintendo Life, noted that Nintendo seemed to have a "walled garden" approach with independent developers, a remnant from the WiiWare program that allowed a great deal of shovelware to be pushed onto it. These anonymous developers found that Nintendo was either eschewing some developers completely, or requiring them to have a well-known publishing partner or an inside person within Nintendo to be able to gain the rights to publish for the Switch. Baker said that they encourage self-publishing, but do also place value on trust of established partners for their recommendations of what games would be best for the Switch. Another factor limiting Nintendo is the availability of dev kits and other hardware at the start of the console's life. However, Baker does anticipate that Nintendo will be much more open in the future, once they have addressed the necessary issues for curation and discovery of titles via the eShop.
During its official unveiling in October 2016, Nintendo deliberately opted not to provide a list of games for the system, as they "want people to touch the device in January [2017] and experience the software for themselves", according to Kimishima. Instead, Nintendo announced some of the partners that had committed to supporting the Switch; contrasting Nintendo's struggles to gain third-party support on-launch for previous platforms, the company initially listed 48 third-party publishers, studios, and middleware developers. Among these partners, Nintendo listed major publishers such as Activision, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Sega, Square Enix, Take-Two, and Ubisoft.
Nintendo had previously relied more on providing its own internally developed tools and libraries that third-party developers would use to develop games for earlier systems. With the Switch, the company went a different route. According to Takahashi, "we have been aiming to realize an environment in which a variety of different third-party developers are able to easily develop compatible software", taking advantage of the Nvidia chipset's support for many standard libraries that allows for ease of transition from other platforms to the Switch. Unity Technologies, Epic Games, and the Khronos Group pledged support to help developers bring games to the Switch using their game engines and middleware, Unity, Unreal Engine 4, and the Vulkan and OpenGL graphical APIs, respectively; for instance, the Unreal Engine toolkit was updated in February 2017 to provide beta testing for native support for Switch games, with full support added by May 2017. In March 2018, Nintendo announced it had also gained support of YoYo Games' GameMaker Studio 2 engine for the Switch. Miyamoto said that Nintendo's own developers have "mastered" engines like Unreal, so that while it would be unlikely that Nintendo would release a first-party title using such software, they can help support developers using these tools on the Switch. Several indie developers who have previously worked on Nintendo's consoles said that the Switch was "the least demanding Nintendo console" they have developed for.
In addition to these third-party middleware solutions, Nintendo developed its own NintendoWare Bezel Engine for first- and third-party developers, first announced in 2018, aimed "to provide an environment that can create interesting games in a short period of time while keeping development costs as low as possible". Games like Tetris 99 and Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics were developed in this engine.
Library
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, originally announced as a Wii U exclusive, was released for the Switch as a launch title. The console's reveal trailer showcased footage from new titles in Nintendo franchises, including Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Splatoon 2, as well as footage from NBA 2K18 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Although Nintendo and third-parties stated at that time that these were not necessarily representative of Switch titles, all five titles were confirmed as Switch releases during the January 2017 press events.
The Switch did not launch with any bundled games or have any pre-loaded games or game demos; Fils-Aimé stated that once they had decided on the price point and evaluated the forthcoming game lineup, they opted to allow consumers to choose which games to get rather than include one in the bundle and increase its price. At least ten games were shipped or digitally available alongside the Switch in time for its North American launch, including Nintendo's first-party titles The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch.
Fils-Aimé said that Nintendo planned a "steady cadence of content" for the Switch after launch, avoiding the perceived situation with gaps between major releases for Wii U software. Kimishima said that Nintendo scheduled its first-party releases "to continue to provide new titles regularly without long gaps", as this "encourages consumers to continue actively playing the system, maintains buzz, and spurs continued sales momentum for Nintendo Switch." Journalists noted that Nintendo appeared to be pledged to this approach following their schedule of planned releases of first-party games for the Switch as announced during E3 2017, with a new title roughly every month into early 2018.
Marketing
A key part of marketing the Switch was to be "crystal clear in our communication of what the product was and what the product could do", according to Fils-Aimé, so as to avoid similar issues with how they presented the Wii U. While the Wii U was designed as a home console unit, Nintendo's lack of clarity on this point led to a general assumption that the unit, principally the Wii U GamePad, was more like a tablet, overshadowing the Wii U's other features (such as dual-screen play modes). Nintendo also believed that some consumers had mistaken the Wii U GamePad as being an accessory for the existing Wii console, rather than being the flagship feature of an entirely new platform. Instead, for the Switch, Fils-Aimé said the company was "very aggressive and clearly communicating the proposition that it's a home console you can take on the go wherever and whenever you want".
For example, the October 2016 trailer (considered significantly unlike Nintendo's past marketing efforts, according to Bloomberg) was designed to show the various ways that the Switch can be used so that viewers would recognize that "each of its forms offer different play experiences for people to enjoy". Kimishima said that the intent of the trailer was to show that the device was aimed across all player demographics, showcasing features that core gamers would recognize and appreciate to carry this intent. A large amount of Nintendo's launch marketing for the console focused heavily on the launch title Breath of the Wild; Nintendo of America marketing executive, Nick Chavez, stated that the decision to showcase the new Zelda game was meant to promote it to both older viewers, who may have grown up with the franchise's earliest games and are accustomed to modern open world games, and to a new generation of players.
Nintendo aired its first-ever Super Bowl ad during the United States broadcast of Super Bowl LI. Set to the Imagine Dragons song "Believer", the ad showcased the various play modes with the Switch and its launch titles, particularly Breath of the Wild, and upcoming releases; while an ad to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pokémon was broadcast the previous year during Super Bowl 50, this ad was paid for by The Pokémon Company and not by Nintendo. Chavez said of the ad, "There's no bigger stage in the U.S. on which to showcase the platform. I think it speaks to our confidence in the system."
Additional television commercials followed the Super Bowl spot, which were to demonstrate Switch's use cases among different demographics, as well as "casual" and "core" gaming audiences. Such ad venues included the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards, and on programming blocks for Nickelodeon, Adult Swim, and Comedy Central. Chavez emphasized that Nintendo's overall marketing for Switch was not be "just a six to eight week launch campaign", but "really a 15 month campaign for us, to say nothing of our plans for 2018".
In addition to advertising, Nintendo had planned several ways for players to try the system before its release through various "sampling events". Kimishima felt that it was important, particularly for "career gamers", for Nintendo to get the Switch into players' hands, so that players could understand how the system differs from Nintendo's previous offerings. Kimishima also said that the company was "running a guerrilla marketing program where we're just dashing around and trying to have as many events as possible and get it in the hands of players so they can experience the difference."
The North American and European press had special events on January 13, 2017, following the Tokyo presentation. Various Switch demonstration events were run in North America, Europe, and Japan during January and February 2017. Nintendo offered demonstrations of the Switch at gaming conferences including PAX South, South by Southwest, and RTX. Nintendo also promoted the Switch through an "Unexpected Places" campaign in February 2017, temporarily setting up living-room-style spaces in three United States locations and inviting fans and players, including John Cena, to try out the unit.
In June 2018, Nintendo announced it was partnering with Disney Channel to help produce Nintendo Switch Family Showdown, a televised competition where families competed in challenges around various Switch games in August 2018.
Reception
Pre-release
Market analysts had a mixed response to the October 2016 announcement of the Nintendo Switch. Some expressed concern that the Switch failed to address the issues that led to poor Wii U sales, and was aimed at a small audience. Others were more upbeat, believing the Switch approach would fit in well in the Japanese market, where space for dedicated consoles and televisions are limited, and transition into Western ones. Taylor also approved of the company's decision to introduce the console prior to the holiday season, when Microsoft and Sony would attempt to attract casual gamers to their consoles.
Following the January 2017 press conference revealing the unit's pricing and release date, journalists expressed concern at the apparently high system price, comparable to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles but lacking some of their capabilities, the cost of the paid-for Nintendo Switch Online service, and the small number of games that were confirmed for launch. However, other analysts found that the pricing factors indicated the Switch was a more robust console, and would likely sell better than the Wii U, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild being a key sales driver. These analysts also figured the Switch fills an appropriate gap in hardware for those seeking more complex gameplay that is not offered in tablet and mobile gaming but who did not need to purchase a powerful "boxy" console. Most analysts agreed that the success of the Switch depends on Nintendo's support and avoiding mistakes the company had made in marketing and promoting the Wii U.
Nintendo investors showed wariness at the Switch, as its stock price dropped in the months from the system's announcement up until its release. Analysts believed investors felt the Switch was very risky and were unsure if the unit would draw new audiences to Nintendo. Analysis firms estimated the Switch would have a slow start due to the risk of the system and high price, but could still clear up to 40 million units by 2020.
Game and hardware developers were more positive towards the Switch, seeing the system as "a more unifying experience between their handheld and console divisions", but expressed concern on unanswered hardware specifications, and how Nintendo would market the unit to draw in developers. Developer Hideo Kojima compared the notion of the Switch to his idea of "transfarring" that he presented in 2011, allowing players to take a game from a home platform to a portable one, which became the basis of Sony's cross-buy program. He said that the Switch was "an extension of that idea. The fact you can play something at home and take it outside, this is the gamer's dream. The Switch is an evolution of that." Bethesda's Todd Howard stated, "I think Nintendo is the only company that could pull something like this off," commenting on the Nintendo Switch's design and functionality. Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's Xbox division, said he was impressed with Nintendo's ability to "state a bold vision and build a product that delivers on that vision".
Retailers were also generally positive with the Switch; GameStop CEO Paul Reines stated the unit was transformative in the market and would be a "game-changer" that could "expand the audience for gaming". Pre-orders were high, with Kimishima stating before launch that total pre-orders reached nearly the levels of units they had ready to ship for launch.
The October 2016 reveal trailer became Nintendo of America's most-viewed video on YouTube within 24 hours, and was the top trending video on YouTube for about a day.
Release
Upon release, the Switch was praised by reviewers for having a lot of potential, but they were underwhelmed by the limited number of titles available at launch that did not show the full extent of the console's abilities. Reviewers also noted that the initial operating software and features were limited and included software bugs that, while likely to be fixed in time, marred the experience of the system. Even with the day-one update, there were numerous reports of hardware problems, in particular the Bluetooth connectivity of the Switch console with the Joy-Con L controller, and ease with which the console screen could be scratched. About a week after release, Fils-Aimé said the company is in "fact-finding mode" to try to diagnose these issues. In late March, Nintendo reported that the Joy-Con L desync issue was a "manufacturing variation" on a small number of the units, which could be easily fixed; as noted by CNET's Sean Hollister, Nintendo repaired affected controllers by placing a bit of foam near the antenna within the unit to better shield it. Going forward, Nintendo said they do not anticipate any other problems with connectivity issues. Many users also reported issues with defective pixels on the LCD screen of the console, which Nintendo has stated "are normal and should not be considered a defect". Other companies in the video game industry such as Sony, Microsoft, Sega, Bethesda, Ubisoft and Unity Technologies congratulated Nintendo on the Switch, along with fast food companies such as Arby's* and Domino's Pizza, which made a practice of posting game-inspired artworks on social media.
About six months after release, Nintendo reported their usage statistics for the Switch. Using statistics collected by the system for the primary player on the console, they found that 30% of users operate the console in Handheld/Tabletop mode more than 80% of the time, slightly more than 50% of users operate the console in both TV mode and Handheld/Tabletop mode equally, with the remaining users preferring TV mode. Nintendo stated "We can clearly see that consumers are playing to suit their own play styles." Nintendo also found that the majority of people who purchased the Switch in the United States are male consumers in their 20s and early 30s.
Following the implementation of firmware version 5.0.0, several Switch users began reporting that their consoles became unusable after having been docked within a third-party "portable" dock manufactured by Nyko. Nyko commented on the issue, stating that they were aware of the issue and thought it to be caused by the Switch's handling of A/V output, while Nintendo advised users against docking their systems inside unlicensed docking peripherals. After purchasing the dock at a Walmart store in Jacksonville, Florida, and losing usability of his console upon using the dock, Switch owner Michael Skiathitis filed a class action lawsuit against Nyko, alleging the dock to be "prone to causing numerous problems to the devices they are intended to support" against the knowledge of purchasers, as well as noting that Nyko had not put much effort into warning consumers about the issue. Other Switch owners reported having their consoles bricked upon using various other third-party docks, including models made by FastSnail and Insignia.
Sales
Initial launch
Initial sales of the Switch were strong, with Nintendo reporting that based on its first week's numbers, it was the company's fastest-selling console. In Japan, first weekend sales exceeded 330,000 units, which was on par with the PlayStation 4 during its launch period. Sales during this initial period were strong in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Media Create estimated that more than 500,000 Switch units were sold in Japan within its first month, beating out the PlayStation 4 to this figure.
Nintendo issued the Switch's first month's performance in their 2016 fiscal year results (which ended March 31, 2017), reporting that more than 2.74 million units had been sold worldwide, exceeding their target of two million. Retailer GameStop reported that initial sales of the Switch were "phenomenal" and on track to surpass the Wii U based on their historical sales data, with merchandising director Eric Bright saying the Switch has had "one of the highest attach rates of software and accessories to a device that we've seen in a long time". Retailer GameStop reported significant growth in hardware sales in its first quarter of 2017 due primarily to the Switch, while Best Buy saw an unexpected increase in their hardware sales in its first quarter of 2017 buoyed by the popularity of the Switch. Console sales in Japan, which had been languishing due to the strength of the mobile game market, saw its first annual growth of 14.8% in 2017 due to the release of the Switch. Physical sales for Switch games were at 5.46 million worldwide in its first month, with 2.76 million copies of Breath of the Wild for the Switch making up nearly half of those sales. On Breath of the Wilds nearly 1-to-1 sales with the Switch console, Nintendo's Kimishima said, "This high of an attach rate is more or less unprecedented".
The large sales within the first month forced Nintendo to increase their production capacity, and to temporarily use air freight to ship Switch units instead of their usual overseas shipment, costing an estimated $45 per console, rather than the less-costly overseas shipment. With these changes, Nintendo projected that it would sell at least 10 million Switch consoles during the 2017 fiscal year, alongside 35 million games. Kimishima stated that having a Switch user base of 10 million "will give publishers and the rest of our business partners a sense that the future of Nintendo Switch is more promising" and spur further game development for the platform. Kimishima said that a key goal in their production ramp up would be to make sure they have enough Switch inventory near the end of 2017 for holiday sales, as to avoid the issue with Wii shortages that occurred during its first holiday-season period, while balancing the near-term high demand. According to Kimishima, Nintendo now believed that if they could reach 10 million in Switch sales in 2017, they expected the Switch would have lifetime sales comparable to the Wii, which had sold over 100 million units in its lifetime.
The Switch continued to show strong sales throughout its first year of release. In its financial report released in October 2017 for the quarter ending September 30, 2017, Nintendo reported worldwide sales of the Switch at 7.63 million, with the expectation to sell more than 14 million by the end of its current financial year, exceeding the Wii U's lifetime 13.56 million sales. Five software titles had achieved at least one million in sales by this point: Breath of the Wild (4.7M), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (4.42M), Splatoon 2 (3.61M), 1-2 Switch (1.37M), and Arms (1.35M). Shortly after this financial report, Nintendo reported that Super Mario Odyssey for the Switch sold more than two million copies within three days of its release on October 27, 2017. Following this financial report, the Wall Street Journal asserted that Nintendo anticipated to continue ramping production of the Switch in its 2018 fiscal year, with plans to produce between 25 and 30 million units that year or more depending on the 2017 holiday sales. During the November 2017 Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday sales that kicked off the holiday shopping season in North America, Adobe Digital Insights' analysis showed the Switch was one of the top-five selling items, outpacing the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. NPD Group adjusted their future performance of the Switch to follow more closely with the Wii's lifetime sales rather than the Wii U's.
On December 12, 2017, the company announced the system had sold over 10 million units worldwide, having reached its sales goal for the 2017 fiscal year within nine months. Nintendo raised its Switch sales expectation to 14 million units for the fiscal year. Shortly after this announcement, Kimishima said that Nintendo has a target of 20 million units sold within the console's second year, along with releasing new games that "enables new ways of playing" to continue the sales momentum.
Based on its first year sales, the Switch was considered to be the fastest-selling game console in history in many regions. With 2017 year end Japanese sales data from Media Create, the Switch became the fastest-selling home console in Japan in first year sales, with its total sales of 3.2 million units exceeding the 3.0 million units of the PlayStation 2 during its first year of release, while Famitsu reported that these sales had eclipsed the lifetime sales of the Wii U in the country, and helped to support the first growth in sales within Japan's console market in eleven years. Nintendo of America also reported that with 4.8 million units sold in the United States by the end of 2017, 1.5 million units in December 2017 alone, the Switch was the fastest-selling console in the United States in its first 10 months, outpacing the Wii's performance of 4 million units in the same time period. Similarly, the Switch was the fastest-selling console in France, having sold 911,000 units through the end of 2017, according to Nintendo France. The Switch was also the fastest-selling console in Canada, having shipped 400,000 units in its first 10 months, narrowly outpacing the Wii's performance of 392,000 units in the same time period, according to TechVibes. According to analysis firm GBH Insights, the Nintendo Switch was the fifth-best-selling technology product in 2017. As of January 2018, the Switch has sold more than 300,000 units in Spain, surpassing the total lifetime sales of one of its competitors, the Xbox One, in the region. The Switch sold 8.7 million units in the United States in its first 21 months of availability, surpassing the sales of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 during their first 21 months in the same region. By May 2019, the Switch had overtaken the PS4's lifetime sales in Japan.
Lifetime sales
, Nintendo has shipped 103.54 million Switch units, with over 81.68 million original Switch units, 17.87 million Switch Lite units, and 3.99 million Switch OLED units. With these numbers the Switch has surpassed lifetime sales of the Wii U (13.6 million units), GameCube (21.7 million units), Nintendo 64 (32.9 million units), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (49.1 million units), Nintendo Entertainment System (61.9 million units), Nintendo 3DS (75.92 million units), Game Boy Advance (81.51 million units), and Wii (101.63 million units). The rate of sales of the Switch, based on the number of months to reach 50 million units, had outpaced both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and was on par with the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS. the Switch had been the highest selling console in the United States for 22 consecutive months, starting from December 2018, taking the record from the Xbox 360 which stood for 21 months ( – ). In the United States, the Switch had remained the best-selling console on monthly sales based on NPD Group data for 33 months from November 2018 through August 2021, with the PlayStation 5 breaking its streak in September 2021.
Over 681 million software titles have been sold for the Switch . According to Nintendo of America's Doug Bowser, the Switch has had an attach rate (games purchased per unit) of over 8 over its first four years. Top sellers for the platform, exceeding 10 million units sold worldwide include:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 43.35 million
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 37.62 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 27.40 million
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 25.80 million
Pokémon Sword and Shield – 23.90 million
Super Mario Odyssey – 23.02 million
Super Mario Party – 17.39 million
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! – 14.33 million
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl – 13.97 million
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 12.72 million
Ring Fit Adventure – 13.53 million
Splatoon 2 – 12.68 million
Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 11.04 million
Financial impact
Nintendo's business performance, which had been struggling for several years, soared upon the release of the Switch. By May 23, 2017, the success of the Switch's launch raised Nintendo's stock price to its highest levels in seven years, and an increase in price of over 100% from the previous year. However, the price still trailed Nintendo's peak price by about half, back in 2007 when it had just released the Wii. Nintendo's stock was further boosted a few days later to meet its eight-year high following Capcom's announcement of plans to release the popular Monster Hunter XX for the Switch.
In September 2017, Nintendo announced a partnership with Tencent, the leading publisher for mobile games in China, to bring their title Arena of Valor, the international version of their mainland Chinese game Wangzhe Rongyao, to the Switch following its December 2017 release in Western markets on mobile platforms. At the time, the game had an estimated 200 million players, most in China, and analysts anticipated that Nintendo would be releasing the Switch in China by 2019 as part of this deal. As a result, Nintendo's stock price rose overnight on the news by 7%, reaching a nine-year high. Nintendo's stock reached its ten-year high shortly after the October 2017 expansion of Switch production to 2 million units per month and speculation that Nintendo would likely start selling the unit in China sooner than anticipated.
Nintendo's quarterly reports, for the period ending September 30, 2017, showed a profit of $209 million, the first profitable quarter in several years, due to both success of the Switch and its mobile gaming strategy. For similar reasons, its following quarter, ending December 31, 2017, was Nintendo's most profitable quarter since 2009, with year-to-year revenues increased by 177%.
Nintendo's quarterly profit jumped by 44% in the first fiscal quarter of 2018 and their net profit totalled $274.9 million during April–June 2018 due to new titles being released for the Switch such as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Sales of the Switch and its games helped increase Nintendo's operating profit by 30% during July–September 2018 and helped Nintendo reach its highest quarterly result in 8 years. Nintendo's quarterly profit jumped by 25% in the third fiscal quarter of 2018 due to the popularity of games on the Switch and their October–December profit totalled $956 million, while quarterly sales totalled $5.6 billion, which were up by 26%.
Nintendo's yearly profit jumped by 39% during the April 2018–March 2019 fiscal year, and annual sales rose 14% to $10.7 billion due to "healthy" software sales for the Switch.
Legal issues
In August 2017, Los Angeles-based tablet peripheral manufacturer Gamevice, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Nintendo in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that the design of the Switch conflicts with its patent on the design for the Wikipad, an Android-based gaming device that also features a tablet with a detachable controller. The lawsuit sought damages on existing Switch sales and banning further sales of the console. The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed by Gamevice in October 2017.
However, in March 2018, Gamevice initiated a second patent infringement lawsuit on Nintendo related to a different set of patents. Gamevice also sought action through the United States International Trade Commission related to patent infringement under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and was seeking to block imports of the Switch into the United States. The lawsuit would be terminated on October 10, 2019, with no such violations being found. By March 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office had reviewed Gamevice's patents and deemed all of its claims to be unpatentable, a ruling in favor of Nintendo. Gamevice stated they would be challenging the Office's decision.
While appealing the Patent Office's determination on its patents, Gamevice initiated a third infringement claim against Nintendo in March 2020 against a newly published patent it had obtained in August based on a game controller that would wrap around a smart phone. Gamevice sought to block imports of the Switch from Japan while the lawsuit was in progress. The lawsuit ended in favour of Nintendo.
A class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in July 2019 concerning a joystick defect in the console's Joy-Con controllers, commonly referred to as "drift". The suit alleges that Nintendo is aware of a defect that causes the controllers to register movements without the joysticks being touched, but does not "disclose the defect and routinely refuses to repair the joysticks without charge". Three days after the filing, an internal Nintendo company memo was leaked by Vice; the memo instructed Nintendo's customer service employees in North America to begin offering repairs for drifting Joy-Con controllers free of charge regardless of warranty status. The lawsuit, however, continued, and following the release of the Nintendo Switch Lite where some on social media reported the Joy-Con drift problem after 20 hours of play, additional complaints related to the Lite were added to the lawsuit. While the court refused to grant Nintendo a dismissal of the case, it did agree to send the case into arbitration as a first step as outlined in the EULA for the Switch in a ruling made in March 2020.
Nintendo successfully obtained an injunction in December 2019 against a distributor of a hack made by Team Xecuter that enabled Switch users to obtain and run copyright-violating copies of Switch games on the console. Subsequently, Nintendo filed lawsuits initially against several resellers of Team Xecuter products in 2020, and in one case, settled with the reseller for . After members of Team Xecuter were arrested and charged with eleven felony counts by the United States Department of Justice in October 2020, Nintendo filed another lawsuit against one of the arrested members, Gary Bowser, asserting two counts of trafficking and one count of copyright infringement.
See also
Yuzu (emulator), a Nintendo Switch emulator
Notes
References
External links
2017 in video gaming
2010s toys
2020s toys
ARM-based video game consoles
Computer-related introductions in 2017
Eighth-generation video game consoles
Handheld game consoles
Home video game consoles
Nintendo
Products introduced in 2017
Regionless game consoles
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1023033
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher%20Curry
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Christopher Curry
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Christopher Curry (born 28 January 1946 in Cambridge) is the co-founder of Acorn Computers, with Hermann Hauser and Andy Hopper. He became a millionaire as a result of Acorn's success.
In his early career days, he worked at Pye, Royal Radar Establishment and W.R. Grace Laboratories. Then, in April 1966 he joined Sinclair Radionics where he worked for 13 years. He was involved with their hifi products and their Sinclair C5 electric vehicle. In 1972, he helped Sinclair Radionics to launch its first electronic calculator, the Sinclair Executive. He set up Cambridge Processor Unit Ltd. (CPU) in December 1978. Their first product was the Acorn Microcomputer (later called the System 1).
In 1983, he co-founded Redwood Publishing with Michael Potter and Christopher Ward and they bought the Acorn User title. In 1985, he founded General Information Systems Ltd (GIS) and remains the director. In 2012, he announced his latest project for GIS, Care with Canary.
Early life
Curry went to school initially in St Neots in Cambridgeshire, then later went to the independent Kimbolton School, also in Cambridgeshire. He gained two A levels, in Maths and Physics. He thought about going to university at the University of Southampton, but was keener to be earning some money whilst learning.
Early career
He joined Pye in Cambridge in 1964. He stayed for a few months, then left for the Royal Radar Establishment in Worcestershire. He worked on the radar for the proposed BAC TSR-2. The RRE had been the site of many technological advances such as the integrated circuit in 1952. He stayed for nine months. He moved to the W.R. Grace Laboratories, run by ITT, and stayed for six months.
Sinclair Radionics
In April 1966, Curry joined Sinclair Radionics, a company founded by Clive Sinclair in 1961. Curry was to play an important role in getting Sinclair interested in both calculators and computers in his thirteen years with the company.
Curry was at first involved with Sinclair's hifi products, which included amplifiers and speakers, and he also worked on Sinclair's electric vehicle, a project that would turn into the C5 some years later.
In 1972, Sinclair Radionics launched its first electronic calculator, the Executive, which was considerably smaller than its competitors since it used hearing-aid-sized batteries. Curry and Jim Westwood had discovered that it was possible to exploit persistence in the diode displays and memory and introduced a timer that removed the power from these components for most of the time. This discovery dramatically improved the lasting-power of the batteries.
Until 1976 Sinclair Radionics had enjoyed 15 years of strong turnover and profit growth. However, the company sustained losses related to difficulties with chip supplies for the Black Watch. As a result, there were insufficient internal funds available for the final stages of the pocket TV project Sinclair had been working on for some 10 years. In August 1976 the National Enterprise Board (NEB) provided £650,000 in return for 43 per cent stake in Sinclair Radionics. Sinclair did not like sharing control of his company. Thus, he converted a company he had purchased in 1973, Ablesdeal Ltd, into Westminster Mail Order Ltd, which was itself renamed to Sinclair Instrument Ltd. In this way, he maintained control of his most important projects.
Science of Cambridge
Shortly after the NEB took control Sinclair encouraged Curry to leave Sinclair Radionics to get Sinclair Instruments off the ground. Curry borrowed some money and rented offices at 6 King's Parade, Cambridge. To raise cash, Sinclair Instruments released the Wrist Calculator, designed by John Pemberton, in February 1977. The product was successful, selling 15,000 units.
In July 1977, the company was renamed to Science of Cambridge Ltd. Around the same time Ian Williamson showed Curry a prototype computer based around a National Semiconductor SC/MP and some parts scavenged from a Sinclair Cambridge calculator. Curry was impressed and encouraged Sinclair to adopt this as a product; an agreement was reached with Williamson but no contract was ever signed: Nat Semi had offered to redesign the project so that it used only their components and they also offered to manufacture the boards.
Curry took Nat Semi up on its offer and in June 1978 Science of Cambridge launched a microcomputer kit (marketed as the MK14) based around the National SC/MP chip. Curry wanted to further develop the MK14 but Sinclair was working on the NewBrain. Sinclair's reluctance to develop the MK14 led Curry to consider his options. Throughout the MK14 project he had been discussing it with his friend, physics researcher Hermann Hauser, who had also helped by seeking out advice from the many computer experts on hand in Cambridge University.
Cambridge Processor Unit Ltd
Curry and Hauser had become increasingly interested in the idea of selling their own computers and so, on 5 December 1978, they set up Cambridge Processor Unit Ltd (CPU). Their first customer was Ace Coin Equipment Ltd, who needed controllers for their fruit machines.
Acorn Computer
The Acorn Microcomputer (later to be called the System 1) was launched as the first product of a new company, Acorn Computers Ltd, founded in March 1979. Curry said that they "chose the word Acorn because it was going to be an expanding and growth-oriented system".
After becoming a millionaire as a result of Acorn's success with the BBC Micro project, in 1983 Curry co-founded Redwood Publishing with Michael Potter (former publisher of advertising trade weekly Campaign) and Christopher Ward (former editor of Daily Express newspaper). The company bought the Acorn User title.
GIS
At the time of the Olivetti takeover of Acorn in 1985 Curry founded General Information Systems Ltd (GIS), based on Acorn's Communications Group, and he remains a director.
GIS specialises in Smart Card technologies for access control and electronic money. In 2012 he announced his latest project with GIS, Care with Canary, a wireless sensor system that allows family members to remotely monitor relatives living alone and triggers alerts.
See also
Micro Men
References
Bibliography
Lloyd, Tom (1984). Dinosaur & Co.: Studies in Corporate Evolution. London: Routledge and Keegan Paul.
Penny, R. K. (1986). Developing a Philosophy for Engineering. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.
Perry, James (1985). "Britain's Sir Clive Sinclair Keeps Bouncing Back With New Inventions." The Wall Street Journal. 6 June.
Pesola, Maija (2005). "The Fertile Soil of Silicon Fen." Financial Times. 9 February.
1946 births
Living people
Acorn Computers
English businesspeople
Businesspeople in computing
People from Cambridge
People educated at Kimbolton School
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2595431
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUTOSAR
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AUTOSAR
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AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture (AUTOSAR) is a development partnership of automotive interested parties founded in 2003. It pursues the objective to create and establish an open and standardized software architecture for automotive electronic control units (ECUs). Goals include the scalability to different vehicle and platform variants, transferability of software, the consideration of availability and safety requirements, a collaboration between various partners, sustainable use of natural resources, and maintainability during the product lifecycle.
History
AUTOSAR was formed in July 2003 by Bavarian Motor Works (BMW), Robert Bosch GmbH, Continental AG, Daimler AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, then DaimlerChrysler), Siemens VDO, and Volkswagen to promote an open industry standard for automotive electrical-electronic (E/E) architecture. In November 2003, Ford Motor Company joined as a core partner, and in December, Groupe PSA (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën) and Toyota Motor Corporation joined. The following November, General Motors also became a core partner. After Siemens VDO was acquired by Continental in February 2008, it ceased being an independent core partner.
Since 2003, AUTOSAR provided four major releases of the automotive software architecture for its classic platform and one release of acceptance tests. The work can be divided into three phases:
Phase I (2004–2006): Basic development of the standard (releases 1.0, 2.0, 2.1)
Phase II (2007–2009): Extension of the standard in architecture and methodology (releases 3.0, 3.1, 4.0)
Phase III (2010–2013): Maintenance and selected improvements (releases 3.2, 4.1, 4.2)
In 2013, AUTOSAR entered a continuous working mode for its classic Platform to maintain the standard and provide selected improvements, including releases R4.2, and 1.0 of acceptance tests.
In 2016, work on the Adaptive Platform began. A first release (17-03) was published in early 2017, followed by release 17-10 in October 2017 and release 18-03 in March 2018. With release 18-10 in October 2018, major development activities were published.
In December 2020, AUTOSAR R20-11 was virtually released.
Concept and goals
AUTOSAR provides specifications of basic software modules, defines application interfaces and builds a common development methodology based on standardized exchange format. Basic software modules made available by the AUTOSAR layered software architecture can be used in vehicles of different manufacturers and electronic components of different suppliers, thereby reducing expenditures for research and development.
Based on this principle, AUTOSAR aims to prepare for upcoming technologies.
Software architecture
AUTOSAR uses a three-layer architecture:
Basic Software: standardized software modules (mostly) with no explicit automotive job, but offers services needed to run the functional part of the upper software layer.
Runtime environment (RTE): middleware which abstracts from the network topology for the inter- and intra-ECU information exchange between the application software components and between the Basic Software and the applications.
Application Layer: application software components that interact with the runtime environment.
Methodology
System Configuration Description includes all system information and the information agreed between different ECUs (e.g. definition of bus signals).
ECU extract: contains the information from the System Configuration Description needed for a specific ECU (e.g. those signals where a specific ECU has access to).
ECU Configuration Description: contains all basic software configuration information that is local to a specific ECU. Use this information to build the executable software, the code of the basic software modules and the code of the software components out of it.
Classic Platform
The AUTOSAR classic platform is the standard for embedded real-time ECUs based on OSEK. Its main deliverable is specifications.
The architecture distinguishes between three software layers that run on a microcontroller: application, runtime environment (RTE) and basic software (BSW). The application software layer is mostly hardware independent. Communication between software components and access to BSW happens via RTE, which represents the full interface for applications.
The BSW is divided in three major layers and complex drivers:
Services
Electronic control unit (ECU) abstraction
Microcontroller abstraction
Services are divided further, into functional groups representing the infrastructure for system, memory and communication services.
One essential concept of the Classic Platform is the Virtual Functional Bus (VFB). This virtual bus is an abstract set of RTEs that are not yet deployed to specific ECUs and decouples the applications from the infrastructure. It communicates via dedicated ports, which means that the communication interfaces of the application software must be mapped to these ports. The VFB handles communication within the individual ECU and between ECUs. From an application point of view, no detailed knowledge of lower-level technologies or dependencies is required. This supports hardware-independent development and usage of application software.
The Classic Platform also enables the integration of non-AUTOSAR systems such as GENIVI by using the Franca Interface Definition Language (Franca IDL).
Adaptive platform
New use-cases required the development of the adaptive platform. One example is automated driving, in the context of which the driver temporarily and/or partially transfers responsibility for driving to the vehicle. This can require communication with traffic infrastructure (e.g. traffic signs and -lights), cloud servers (e.g. to access the latest traffic information or map data), or the use of microprocessors and high-performance computing hardware for parallel processing, e.g., graphics processing units (GPUs).
Further, Car-2-X applications require interaction to vehicles and off-board systems. That means that the system has to provide secure on-board communication, support of cross-domain computing platforms, smartphone integration, integration of non-AUTOSAR systems, and so on. Also, cloud-based services will require dedicated means for security, such as secure cloud interaction and emergency vehicle preemption. They will enable remote and distributed services, such as remote diagnostics, over the air (OTA) update, repair, and exchange handling.
To support dynamic deployment of customer applications and to provide an environment for applications that require high-end computing power AUTOSAR is currently standardizing the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform. Its core is an operating system based on the POSIX standard. The operating system can be used from the application via a subset of the POSIX according to IEEE1003.13 (namely PSE51). One of the key features of the Adaptive Platform is service-oriented communication since the Platform is based on the Service - Oriented Architecture.
Adaptive AUTOSAR is developed and written using C++ which is an object-oriented programming language. The communication protocol used for the in-vehicle networking is SOME/IP, based on Ethernet.
Two types of interfaces are available: services and application programming interfaces (APIs). The platform consists of functional clusters which are grouped in services and the AUTOSAR adaptive platform foundation.
Functional clusters:
Assemble functions of the adaptive platform
Define clustering of requirements specification
Describe behavior of software platform from application and network perspective
Do not constrain the final SW design of the architecture implementing the Adaptive Platform.
Functional clusters in AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform have to have at least one instance per (virtual) machine while services may be distributed in the in-car network.
Adaptive platform services include:
Update and Configuration management
State Management
Network Management
Diagnostics
The adaptive platform contains both specification and code. In comparison to the Classic Platform, AUTOSAR develops an implementation to shorten the validation cycle and illustrate the underlying concepts. This implementation is available to all AUTOSAR partners.
Foundation
The purpose of the foundation standard is to enforce interoperability between the AUTOSAR platforms. The foundation contains common requirements and technical specifications (for example protocols) shared between the AUTOSAR platforms, and the common methodology.
Acceptance tests
In 2014, acceptance tests were introduced to minimize test efforts and costs. Acceptance test Specifications are system test specifications using the specified interfaces of the respective Platform. Also, they are considering the specified behavior on the bus. They can be seen as a black box test case for a given platform function. The specification of standard acceptance tests contributes to these objectives.
Standardized application interfaces
Standardization of functional interfaces across manufacturers and suppliers and standardization of the interfaces between the different software layers is seen as a basis for achieving the technical goals of AUTOSAR. Only by standardizing concrete interface contents in their physical and temporal representation allows achieving the needed integration compatibility.
Organization
AUTOSAR defined six different levels of membership. The contribution of partners varies depending on the type of partnership:
Core Partner
Strategic Partner
Premium Partner
Associate Partner
Development Partner
Attendee
Core Partners include the founding partners BMW, Bosch, Continental, Daimler AG, Ford, General Motors, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Toyota, and Volkswagen. These companies are responsible for organization, administration and control of the AUTOSAR development partnership. Within this core, the Executive Board defines the overall strategy and roadmap. The Steering Committee manages day-to-day non-technical operations and admission of partners, public relations and contractual issues. The Chairman and Deputy of Chairman, appointed for one year, represent the Steering Committee for that purpose. The AUTOSAR Spokesperson takes over the communication with the outside world.
Strategic partners are appointed for a period of two years from the circle of Premium Partners and support the project leader team in the various technical, organizational and everyday processes. They also give new strategic inputs to the project leader round.
Premium and Development members contribute to work packages coordinated and monitored by the Project Leader Team established by the Core Partners. Associate partners are making use of the standard documents AUTOSAR has already released. Attendees are currently participating with Academic collaboration and non-commercial projects.
Vendors
Selection of vendors, including RTOS, BSW, design tools, compiler, etc.
Elektrobit (now part of Continental AG)
embitel
ETAS
KPIT Technologies
Mentor Graphics (now part of Siemens)
Vector Informatik
AUTOSAR-related software vendors and partners
Vendors which provide related tools and software, e.g. for testing, diagnostics, development, etc.''
dSPACE GmbH
MATLAB by MathWorks
Competitors or related consortia
Automotive Grade Linux
COMASSO Organization provides an open source AUTOSAR platform
GENIVI Alliance
See also
Automotive SPICE (A software process assessment framework required by or relating to some specifications of AUTOSAR)
Electronic control unit (ECU)
Embedded system
ISO 26262 (Functional safety norm, required by or relating to some specifications of AUTOSAR)
List of requirements engineering tools (Tools for ARXML/MBSE modelling, such as IBM's Rhapsody)
Modeling language
MISRA
OSEK
Software architecture
References
Further reading
Staron, Miroslaw (2021). Automotive Software Architectures - An Introduction. Springer. .
External links
AUTOSAR user groups (COMASSO, etc.)
Engine technology
Software architecture
Automotive software
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55813970
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20Cyber%20Investigative%20Joint%20Task%20Force
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National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force
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The National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) was officially established in 2008. The NCIJTF comprises over 20 partnering agencies from across law enforcement, the intelligence community, and the Department of Defense, with representatives who are co-located and work jointly to accomplish the organization's mission.
Since 2008, NCIJTF has been the primary American agency responsible for coordinating cyber threats investigations, and liaisons with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and National Security Agency (NSA).
As a multi-agency cyber center, the NCIJTF coordinates, integrates, and shares information to support cyber threat investigations, supply and support intelligence analysis for community decision-makers, and support other efforts in the fight against cyber threats. The task force uses the collective resources of its members and collaborates with international and private sector partners to bring all available resources to bear against domestic cyber threats and their perpetrators.
References
External links
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber/national-cyber-investigative-joint-task-force
Federal law enforcement agencies of the United States
2008 establishments in the United States
Computer security organizations
Federal Bureau of Investigation
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1189822
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean%20language%20and%20computers
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Korean language and computers
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The writing system of Korean, Hangul, is an alphabet organized into blocks of syllables; characters cannot be written from left to right. Because of this, every possible syllable in Korean must either be rendered as syllable blocks by a font, or be encoded separately. Unicode uses the latter option. As an example, the syllable 하 (ha) consists of the characters ㅎ (h) and ㅏ (a), but both of them are encoded separately.
Character encodings
In RFC 1557, a method known as ISO-2022-KR for a 7-bit encoding of Korean characters in email was described. Where 8 bits are allowed, the EUC-KR encoding is preferred. These two encodings combine US-ASCII (ISO 646) with the Korean standard KS X 1001:1992 (previously named KS C 5601:1987). In North Korea, a separate character set called KPS 9566 is in use, which is rather similar to KS X 1001.
The international Unicode standard contains special characters for representing the Korean language in the native hangul phonetic system. There are two ways supported by Unicode. The way used by Microsoft Windows is to have every one of the 11,172 syllable combinations as a code and a pre-formed font character. The other way is to encode letters (jamos), and to let the software combine them into correct combinations, which is not supported in Windows. Of course the former way needs more font memory, but gives the possibility of getting better shapes, since it is complicated to create fully stylistically correct combinations which may be preferred when creating documents.
There is also the possibility of simply stacking a (sequence of) medial(s) (jungseong) and then a (sequence of) final(s) (jongseong) and/or a Middle Korean pitch mark, if needed on top of the (sequence of) initial(s) (choseong), if the font has medial and final jamos with zero-width spacing that are inserted to the left of the cursor or caret, thus appearing in the right place below or to the right of the initial. If a syllable has a horizontal medial (, , , or ), the initial will probably appear further left in a complete syllable than is the case in pre-formed syllables due to the space that must be reserved for a vertical medial, giving an aesthetically poor appearance to what may be the only way to display Middle Korean hangul text without resorting to images, romanization, replacement of obsolete jamo or non-standard encodings. However, most current fonts do not support this.
The Unicode standard also has attempted to create a unified CJK character set that can represent Chinese (Hanzi) as well as the Japanese (Kanji) and Korean (Hanja) derivatives of this script through the Han unification process, which does not discriminate by language nor region for rendering Chinese characters, as long as the different typographic traditions have not resulted in major differences concerning what the character looks like see :Image:Xin-jiu-zixing.png for examples of characters whose appearance recently underwent only minor changes in Mainland China. Han unification has been met with some criticism.
Text input
On a Korean computer keyboard, the text is typically entered by simply pressing a key for the appropriate jamo; the operating system creates each composite character on the fly. Depending on the IME and keyboard layout, double consonants can be entered by holding the shift button. When all jamo making up a syllabic block have been entered, the user may initiate a conversion to hanja or other special characters using a keyboard shortcut or interface button; South Korean keyboards have a separate key for this. Subsequent semi-automated hanja conversion is supported to varying degrees in word processors.
When using a keyboard from another language, most operating systems require the user to type using an original Korean keyboard layout, the most common of which is 2(du)-beolsik. This is in contrast to some other languages, like Japanese, where text can be entered using a Romanization system on non-native keyboards.
Not so most operating systems, like Linux, are allowing engine/hangul/hangul-keyboard='ro', that results into a Romaja keyboard, where keying "seonggye" results into 성계. In this configuration, ㄲ is obtained by "gg", and not by shift-g. This allows keying "jasanGun" to obtain 자산군 instead of keying "jasangun" that would provide 자상운.
History of Korean typewriters
Pre-division of Korea
The history of Korean text input is related to the history of Korean typewriters (타자기) before computers. It is unclear what was the first Korean typewriter. According to Jang Bong Seon, Horace Grant Underwood made a Korean typewriter around the 1900s. In 1914, Lee Won Ik, who was living in America, made the "first" typewriter. In 1927, Song Ki Joo invented the first Dubeolsik typewriter while in Chicago, but it does not exist today. However, his 1934 typewriter is stored in the Hangul museum as the oldest existing Korean typewriter. The invention of the typewriter led to the development of other typewriters invented in 1945 by Kim Joon Sung and 1950 by Kong Byung Woo.
Division of Korea
South Korea originally had a Nebeolsik standard but later Dubeolsik became a standard in 1985.
Hanja
Apart from the conversion issues mentioned above, some Korean fonts do not include hanja to start with. At the same time, current word processors do not allow the user to specify which font to use as a fallback for any hanja that may occur in a text. In that case, each sequence of hanja must be manually formatted to appear in the desired font.
Special situations
Having text run in vertical lines is supported poorly or not at all by HTML and most word processors, although this is not an issue for modern Korean, as it is usually written horizontally. Until the second half of the 20th century, however, Korean was often written vertically. 15th century texts written in hangul had pitch marks to the left of syllables, which are included in Unicode, although most current fonts do not adequately support them, either.
See the section on character encodings above for obsolete jamo.
Programs
Notable programs specifically designed for Korean language-related use include:
Language recognition
A North Korean speech recognition program is said to recognise 100,000 words and to achieve a success rate of more than 90%.
Mongnan (; KCC, North Korea) Optical character recognition software with an alleged success rate of 99% for printed text and 95% for handwriting recognition.
Input method editors
Tan'gun (; Pyongyang Information Center, North Korea) Allows the use of hangul on English editions of Windows.
Nalgaeset Hangul Input Method Editor (날개셋 한글 입력기); Kim Yongmook, South Korea) A hangul input method which is especially made for the 3(se)-beolsik keyboard layout (only works on Microsoft Windows).
Nabi (), ami (; South Korea) Allows to type hangul on Linux.
m17n Allows to use revised romanization for hangul input on Unix.
SCIM and iBus Allows one to type hangul and hanja on POSIX-style operating systems including Linux and BSD.
Word processors All programs listed below include domestic hangul fonts, non-hangul fonts and a hangul-hanja conversion utility.
Hangul (Haansoft, South Korea)
Ch'angdŏk (; PIC, North Korea) This popular program exists in an MS-DOS version developed in April 1990 and a Windows version developed in 1996. It includes a peculiar personality cult feature by which pressing or produces titles exalting Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, respectively.
Hangul in Unicode
Hangul letters are detailed in several separate parts of the Unicode specification:
Hangul Syllables (AC00–D7A3)
Hangul Jamo (1100–11FF)
Hangul Compatibility Jamo (3130–318F)
Hangul Jamo Extended-A (A960–A97F)
Hangul Jamo Extended-B (D7B0–D7FF)
Hangul Syllables block
The precomposed hangul syllables in the Hangul Syllables block in Unicode are algorithmically defined, using the following formula:
[(initial) × 588 + (medial) × 28 + (final)] + 44032
Initial consonants
Medial vowels
Final consonants
For example, if one wants to find the code point of "한" in Unicode:
The value of initial consonant ㅎ is 18.
The value of medial vowel ㅏ is 0.
The value of final consonant ㄴ is 4.
Substituting these values to the formula above, one gets [(18 × 588) + (0 × 28) + 4] + 44032 = 54620. This means that the Unicode value of 한 is 54620 in decimal, 한 by the numeric character reference, and U+D55C in hexadecimal Unicode notation.
Hangul Compatibility Jamo block
Hangul Compatibility Jamo block is part of Unicode which has been allocated for compatibility with the KS X 1001 character set. It is usually used for representing some hangul jamo by itself, without distinguishing initial and final.
Hangul Jamo blocks
Hangul Jamo, Hangul Jamo Extended-A and Hangul Jamo Extended-B blocks contain initial jamo, medial jamo and final jamo, including obsolete jamo.
Hanyang Private Use Area code
Hangul (word processor) ships with fonts from Hanyang Information and Communication. Their fonts map obsolete hangul characters to the Private Use Area of Unicode. Despite the use of the Private Use Area instead of dedicated codepoints, Hanyang’s mapping was the most popular way to represent obsolete hangul in South Korea.
Starting from Hangul 2010, Hancom deprecated Hanyang PUA code and chose to represent obsolete hangul characters using hangul jamo in Unicode.
See also
Japanese language and computers
Vietnamese language and computers
List of CJK fonts
McCune–Reischauer
Yale Romanization of Korean
Revised Romanization
New Korean Orthography
References
External links
Online Korean Virtual Keyboard
InputKing Online Input System, an online tool for typing Korean
, an online tool for converting Korean text into various coding formats and vice versa
Character encoding
Han character input
Science and technology in Korea
Communications in Korea
computers
Natural language and computing
Korean-language computing
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4871916
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDE
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CANDE
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''This article refers the mainframe text editor. For the IEEE technical society, see Computer-Aided Design Technical Committee.
CANDE (Command AND Edit) is a command line shell and text editor on the MCP (Master Control Program) operating system which runs on the Unisys Clearpath series of mainframes. Originally implemented on Burroughs large systems, it has a range of features for interacting with the operating system execution environment, focused on executing, editing and compiling programs, and creating, copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files in general.
Its full name is CANDE MCS. MCS, or Message Control Subsystem is the general form of a systems program in the Burroughs architecture (other than MCP, the Master Control Program or core OS). As an MCS, CANDE is more than just an editor as it provides overall control for a network of users.
The editing capabilities of CANDE are anachronistic for casual (as opposed to scripted) editing as they predate full screen and graphical editors.
CANDE was also used on the Burroughs CMS (mini computer) range, with very similar syntax.
In contemporary MCP, CANDE is primarily used thru the ODT (Operator Display Terminal) and MARC (Menu Assisted Resource Control) on emulators of the original character oriented terminals as with other legacy mainframe interfaces such as ISPF.
Features
CANDE provides a command-line interpreter and line editor, although unlike the modern interpretation of an operating system command line interpreter, the CANDE commands are compiled into the CANDE MCS, as shell like capabilities are provided by WFL. Other notable features and functions include:
Create, edit, and maintain (copy, move, remove, print, rename) data and program files
Compile and execute programs
Access and display information about the data communication network including terminal communication lines and remote devices
Dynamically alter the communication network
Access and display job and task information
Utility functions (calculator, system utility test, etc.)
In addition to these features CANDE has an on-line help facility.
Implementation
For extra speed, CANDE implemented user context switching by swapping a block at the top of the stack. This novel method broke several assumptions built into the design of Burroughs large systems, in particular the handling of virtual memory descriptors, and meant that CANDE itself had to be written in DCALGOL with system-level privileges.
Architecturally, CANDE is split into two main sections: a primary, single-instanced main process originally supporting up to 255 simultaneous users, and one or more worker stacks. The main process is called BUMP. It receives all input messages, including input from users. Simple requests which can be executed without delay and do not involve any I/O such as disk access are handled immediately. Other requests are added to a work queue and handled by one of the worker processes. The worker process is called GRIND; there can be one or more instances at any time. Each GRIND process has by default five pseudo-threads which actually carry out the work.
The internal threading model for context switching selects one of the worker pseudo-threads per GRIND process and makes it the executing context. This is achieved by copying it to the top of the stack. When the worker process needs to execute I/O or other asynchronous activity, it initiates the action, marks what it is waiting for, and calls the context-switching function, which selects a different context for execution.
CANDE operates without internal locks, by careful separation of data. Each possible user connection (or station) is assigned an index into a main array called the station array, or STA ("stay"). The current station index is named STAX (pronounced "stay-x"). There are multiple words of state data per station, but they are stored with all of the first words together, followed by all of the second words, etc. This allows CANDE to index into the array using only addition, not multiplication (which made for faster operation on the hard-wired CPUs of the era).
CANDE was originally written in 1973 by Darrel F. High. It was taken over by Randall Gellens in 1984, at which point the library maintenance (file copying, moving, renaming, and deleting) routines were rewritten to allow for significantly expanded capabilities, a slew of utilities were added using the "?" syntax (allowing them to be used even while a program was running), and several architectural improvements were made. It was later transferred to the Santa Barbara plant, and eventually to India.
The "?" syntax, originally allowing for control during program execution (when input would normally be directed to the program), grew to include a number of utilities.
See also
Comparison of command shells
Work Flow Language
External links
Burroughs B5500 Quick CANDE Reference Card for B5500 TSS 1042710 circa 1970
B6700, B7700 CANDE Reference card 5001050 July 1975 at bitsavers.org
B7000, B6700 CANDE Reference card 5011349 October 1979 at bitsavers.org
Burroughs mainframe computers
Command shells
Text editors
Mainframe computer software
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294065
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block%20size%20%28cryptography%29
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Block size (cryptography)
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In modern cryptography, symmetric key ciphers are generally divided into stream ciphers and block ciphers. Block ciphers operate on a fixed length string of bits. The length of this bit string is the block size. Both the input (plaintext) and output (ciphertext) are the same length; the output cannot be shorter than the input this follows logically from the pigeonhole principle and the fact that the cipher must be reversibleand it is undesirable for the output to be longer than the input.
Until the announcement of NIST's AES contest, the majority of block ciphers followed the example of the DES in using a block size of 64 bits (8 bytes). However the birthday paradox tells us that after accumulating a number of blocks equal to the square root of the total number possible, there will be an approximately 50% chance of two or more being the same, which would start to leak information about the message contents. Thus even when used with a proper encryption mode (e.g. CBC or OFB), only 232 × 8 B = 32 GB of data can be safely sent under one key. In practice a greater margin of security is desired, restricting a single key to the encryption of much less data say a few hundred megabytes. Once that seemed like a fair amount of data, but today it is easily exceeded. If the cipher mode does not properly randomise the input, the limit is even lower.
Consequently, AES candidates were required to support a block length of 128 bits (16 bytes). This should be acceptable for up to 264 × 16 B = 256 exabytes of data, and should suffice for quite a few years to come. The winner of the AES contest, Rijndael, supports block and key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits, but in AES the block size is always 128 bits. The extra block sizes were not adopted by the AES standard.
Many block ciphers, such as RC5, support a variable block size. The Luby-Rackoff construction and the Outerbridge construction can both increase the effective block size of a cipher.
Joan Daemen's 3-Way and BaseKing have unusual block sizes of 96 and 192 bits, respectively.
See also
Ciphertext stealing
Format-preserving encryption
Symmetric-key cryptography
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20846081
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet%20Crime%20Complaint%20Center
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Internet Crime Complaint Center
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The mission of the Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as IC3, is to provide the public with a reliable and convenient reporting mechanism to submit information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning suspected Internet-facilitated criminal activity and to develop alliances with law enforcement and industry partners. Information is analyzed and disseminated for investigative and intelligence purposes to law enforcement and for public awareness.
Since 2000, the IC3 has received complaints crossing the spectrum of cyber crime matters, to include online fraud in its many forms including intellectual property rights (IPR) matters, computer intrusions (hacking), economic espionage (theft of trade secrets), online extortion, international money laundering, identity theft, and a growing list of Internet facilitated crimes. It has become increasingly evident that, regardless of the label placed on a cyber crime matter, the potential for it to overlap with another referred matter is substantial. Therefore, the IC3, formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC), was renamed in October 2003 to better reflect the broad character of such matters having an Internet, or cyber, nexus referred to the IC3, and to minimize the need for one to distinguish "Internet Fraud" from other potentially overlapping cyber crimes.
Purpose
IC3's purpose is to serve as a central hub to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding occurrences of Internet crime. The IC3 gives victims a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations on the Internet. IC3 develops leads and notifies law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, local and international level.
See also
List of convicted computer criminals
References
External links
2012 Press Releases by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
Intelligence Note Prepared by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), January 20, 2012
New Internet Crime Initiative combines Resources, Expertise FBI, September 24, 2013
2016 IC3 Annual Report
Computer security organizations
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Crime in the United States
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27755075
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian%20Knowledge%20Solutions
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Meridian Knowledge Solutions
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Meridian Knowledge Solutions is a software company founded in 1997 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. It provides a web-based learning management system (LMS) for delivering and tracking training. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visionary Integration Professionals (VIP), a technology and outsourcing firm.
See also
e-learning
Knowledge management
Knowledge management software
Learning Management System
List of learning management systems
References
External links
Meridian website
Software companies based in Virginia
Educational technology companies of the United States
Companies established in 1997
American educational websites
Enterprise software
Learning management systems
Software companies of the United States
1997 establishments in the United States
1997 establishments in Virginia
Software companies established in 1997
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937890
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-bot%20mobile%20robot
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S-bot mobile robot
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The s-bot is a small (15 cm) differential wheeled (with additional tracks) mobile robot developed at the LIS (Laboratory of Intelligent Systems) at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland between 2001 and 2004. Targeted to swarm robotics, a field of artificial intelligence, it was developed within the Swarm-bots project, a Future and Emerging Technologies project coordinated by Prof. Marco Dorigo. Built by a small team of engineers (Francesco Mondada, André Guignard, Michael Bonani and Stéphane Magnenat) of the group of Prof. Dario Floreano and with the help of student projects, it is considered at the time of completion as one of the most complex and featured robots ever for its size. The s-bot was ranked on position 39 in the list of “The 50 Best Robots Ever” (fiction or real) by the Wired magazine in 2006.
Purpose and use of the s-bot
This is a research robot, aimed at studying teamwork and inter-robot communication. To do this, the s-bots have several special abilities:
Using their gripper (red in the photos), they can connect. Then they can, for instance, pass over gap and steps where a single robot would have failed.
Using their integrated force sensor, they can coordinate to retrieve an object to a certain location without the use of explicit communication. This is the way ants bring preys to the nest.
Of course, all other sensors and actuators, also found on other robots, can be used to do teamwork such as food foraging.
Technical details
General
12 cm diameter
15 cm height
660 g
2 LiIon batteries
1 hour autonomy moving
Control
400 MHz custom XScale CPU board, 64 MB of RAM, 32 MB of flash memory
12 distributed PIC microcontroller for low-level handling
Custom Linux port running Familiar
Wi-Fi
Actuators
2 treels
turret rotation
rigid gripper elevation
rigid gripper
3 axis side arm
side arm gripper
Sensors
15 infrared sensors around the turret
4 infrared sensors below the robot
position sensors on all degrees of freedom except gripper
force and speed sensors on all major degrees of freedom
2 humiditiy sensors
2 temperature sensors
8 ambient light sensors around the turret
4 accelerometers, which allow three-dimensional orientation
1 640×480 camera sensor. Custom optic based on spherical mirror provides omnidirectional vision
4 microphones
2 axis structure deformation sensors
optical barrier in grippers
LEDS
8 × RGB Light-emitting diodes around the turret
red Light-emitting diodes in grippers
Special abilities
S-bots can connect to other s-bots to create a bigger structure known as the swarm-bot. To do so, they attach together using their rigid gripper and ring. An s-bot has sufficient force to lift another one.
Integrated software
The s-bot features a custom Linux port running the Familiar GNU/Linux distribution. All sensors and actuators are easily accessible through a simple C API.
References
Notes
Mondada, F., Guignard, A., Bonani, M., Bär, D., Lauria, M. and Floreano, D. (2003) SWARM-BOT: From Concept to Implementation. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2003, IEEE Press. pp. 1626–1631. PDF BibTeX
Mondada, F., Pettinaro, G. C., Guignard, A., Kwee, I., Floreano, D., Deneubourg, J.-L., Nolfi, S. and Gambardella, L.M., Dorigo, M. (2004) SWARM-BOT: a New Distributed Robotic Concept. Autonomous Robots, special Issue on Swarm Robotics, Volume 17, Issue 2-3, September - November 2004, Pages 193 - 221. PDF BibTeX
Marco Dorigo, V. Trianni, E. Sahin, T. H. Labella, R. Gross, G. Baldassarre, S. Nolfi, J.-L. Deneubourg, F. Mondada, D. Floreano & L. M. Gambardella (2004). Evolving Self-Organizing Behaviors for a Swarm-bot. Autonomous Robots, 17 (2–3): 223–245. PDF BibTex
Peer-reviewed scientific publication record
General public press coverage
External links
Swarm-bots project homepage - The project in which the s-bot was developed.
Future and Emerging Technologies - The IST program in which the swarm-bots project takes place.
Information Society Technologies - The European Union research activity in which the FET program takes place.
LIS - The lab where the s-bot was developed.
Swarmbots page at LIS - Pictures and video of the s-bot
Hobbyist robots
Differential wheeled robots
2004 robots
Robots of Switzerland
Multi-robot systems
Tracked robots
Micro robots
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2009636
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison%20of%20open-source%20and%20closed-source%20software
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Comparison of open-source and closed-source software
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Free/open-source software – the source availability model used by free and open-source software (FOSS) – and closed source are two approaches to the distribution of software.
Background
Under the closed-source model source code is not released to the public. Closed-source software is maintained by a team who produces their product in a compiled-executable state, which is what the market is allowed access to. Microsoft, the owner and developer of Windows and Microsoft Office, along with other major software companies, have long been proponents of this business model, although in August 2010, Microsoft interoperability general manager Jean Paoli said Microsoft "loves open source" and its anti-open-source position was a mistake.
The FOSS model allows for able users to view and modify a product's source code, but most of such code is not in the public domain. Common advantages cited by proponents for having such a structure are expressed in terms of trust, acceptance, teamwork and quality.
A non-free license is used to limit what free software movement advocates consider to be the essential freedoms. A license, whether providing open-source code or not, that does not stipulate the "four software freedoms", are not considered "free" by the free software movement. A closed source license is one that limits only the availability of the source code. By contrast a copyleft license claims to protect the "four software freedoms" by explicitly granting them and then explicitly prohibiting anyone to redistribute the package or reuse the code in it to make derivative works without including the same licensing clauses. Some licenses grant the four software freedoms but allow redistributors to remove them if they wish. Such licenses are sometimes called permissive software licenses. An example of such a license is the FreeBSD License which allows derivative software to be distributed as non-free or closed source, as long as they give credit to the original designers.
A misconception that is often made by both proponents and detractors of FOSS is that it cannot be capitalized. FOSS can and has been commercialized by companies such as Red Hat, Canonical, Mozilla, Google, IBM, Novell, Sun/Oracle, VMware and others.
Commercialization
Closed-source software
The primary business model for closed-source software involves the use of constraints on what can be done with the software and the restriction of access to the original source code. This can result in a form of imposed artificial scarcity on a product that is otherwise very easy to copy and redistribute. The end result is that an end-user is not actually purchasing software, but purchasing the right to use the software. To this end, the source code to closed-source software is considered a trade secret by its manufacturers.
FOSS
FOSS methods, on the other hand, typically do not limit the use of software in this fashion. Instead, the revenue model is based mainly on support services. Red Hat Inc. and Canonical Ltd. are such companies that give its software away freely, but charge for support services. The source code of the software is usually given away, and pre-compiled binary software frequently accompanies it for convenience. As a result, the source code can be freely modified. However, there can be some license-based restrictions on re-distributing the software. Generally, software can be modified and re-distributed for free, as long as credit is given to the original manufacturer of the software. In addition, FOSS can generally be sold commercially, as long as the source-code is provided. There are a wide variety of free software licenses that define how a program can be used, modified, and sold commercially (see GPL, LGPL, and BSD-type licenses). FOSS may also be funded through donations.
A software philosophy that combines aspects of FOSS and proprietary software is open core software, or commercial open source software. Despite having received criticism from some proponents of FOSS, it has exhibited marginal success. Examples of open core software include MySQL and VirtualBox. The MINIX operating system used to follow this business model, but came under the full terms of the BSD license after the year 2000.
Handling competition
This model has proved somewhat successful, as witnessed in the Linux community. There are numerous Linux distributions available, but a great many of them are simply modified versions of some previous version. For example, Fedora Linux, Mandriva Linux, and PCLinuxOS are all derivatives of an earlier product, Red Hat Linux. In fact, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is itself a derivative of Fedora Linux. This is an example of one vendor creating a product, allowing a third-party to modify the software, and then creating a tertiary product based on the modified version. All of the products listed above are currently produced by software service companies.
Operating systems built on the Linux kernel are available for a wider range of processor architectures than Microsoft Windows, including PowerPC and SPARC. None of these can match the sheer popularity of the x86 architecture, nevertheless they do have significant numbers of users; Windows remains unavailable for these alternative architectures, although there have been such ports of it in the past.
The most obvious complaint against FOSS revolves around the fact that making money through some traditional methods, such as the sale of the use of individual copies and patent royalty payments, is much more difficult and sometimes impractical with FOSS. Moreover, FOSS has been considered damaging to the commercial software market, evidenced in documents released as part of the Microsoft Halloween documents leak.
The cost of making a copy of a software program is essentially zero, so per-use fees are perhaps unreasonable for open-source software. At one time, open-source software development was almost entirely volunteer-driven, and although this is true for many small projects, many alternative funding streams have been identified and employed for FOSS:
Give away the program and charge for installation and support (used by many Linux distributions).
"Commoditize complements": make a product cheaper or free so that people are more likely to purchase a related product or service you do sell.
Cost avoidance / cost sharing: many developers need a product, so it makes sense to share development costs (this is the genesis of the X Window System and the Apache web server).
Donations
Crowd funding
Increasingly, FOSS is developed by commercial organizations. In 2004, Andrew Morton noted that 37,000 of the 38,000 recent patches in the Linux kernel were created by developers directly paid to develop the Linux kernel. Many projects, such as the X Window System and Apache, have had commercial development as a primary source of improvements since their inception. This trend has accelerated over time.
There are some who counter that the commercialization of FOSS is a poorly devised business model because commercial FOSS companies answer to parties with opposite agendas. On one hand commercial FOSS companies answer to volunteers developers, who are difficult to keep on a schedule, and on the other hand they answer to shareholders, who are expecting a return on their investment. Often FOSS development is not on a schedule and therefore it may have an adverse effect on a commercial FOSS company releasing software on time.
Innovation
Gary Hamel counters this claim by saying that quantifying who or what is innovative is impossible.
The implementation of compatible FOSS replacements for proprietary software is encouraged by the Free Software Foundation to make it possible for their users to use FOSS instead of proprietary software, for example they have listed GNU Octave, an API-compatible replacement for MATLAB, as one of their high priority projects. In the past this list contained free binary compatible Java and CLI implementations, like GNU Classpath and DotGNU. Thus even "derivative" developments are important in the opinion of many people from FOSS. However, there is no quantitative analysis, if FOSS is less innovative than proprietary software, since there are derivative/re-implementing proprietary developments, too.
Some of the largest well-known FOSS projects are either legacy code (e.g., FreeBSD or Apache) developed a long time ago independently of the free software movement, or by companies like Netscape (which open-sourced its code with the hope that they could compete better), or by companies like MySQL which use FOSS to lure customers for its more expensive licensed product. However, it is notable that most of these projects have seen major or even complete rewrites (in the case of the Mozilla and Apache 2 code, for example) and do not contain much of the original code.
Innovations have come, and continue to come, from the open-source world:
Perl, the pioneering open-source scripting language, made popular many features, like regular expressions and associative arrays, that were unusual at the time. The newer Python language continues this innovation, with features like functional constructs and class-dictionary unification.
dcraw is an open-source tool for decoding RAW-format images from a variety of digital cameras, which can produce better images than the closed-source tools provided by the camera vendors themselves.
A number of laptop models are available with a particular emphasis on multimedia capabilities. While these invariably come preinstalled with a copy of Microsoft Windows, some of them also offer an alternative "fast-boot" mode (such as Phoenix HyperSpace) based on Linux. This gets around the long time it can take to boot up Windows.
VLC media player, Songbird, and Amarok are FOSS music players that integrate internet-based data sources to an unprecedented degree, taking song information from MusicBrainz, related track information from last.fm, album cover art from amazon.com and displaying an artist's Wikipedia page within the player.
While admittedly inspired by Mac OS X's Quartz graphics layer, Compiz Fusion has pioneered the concept of "plug in" window decorators and animation effects. Users can develop their own creative and unique effects.
Open-source telecommunication products, such as the Asterisk PBX, have revolutionized the ICT industry.
There are substantial efforts towards the implementation of a semantic desktop in FOSS communities.
Today's desktop environments are innovating regarding their unique idea of a Social Desktop.
Many academic research projects release their results as FOSS.
Code quality
An analysis of the code of the FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, and Windows operating system kernels looked for differences between code developed using open-source properties (the first two kernels) and proprietary code (the other two kernels). The study collected metrics in the areas of file organization, code structure, code style, the use of the C preprocessor, and data organization. The aggregate results indicate that across various areas and many different metrics, four systems developed using open- and closed-source development processes score comparably.
The study mentioned above is refuted by a study conducted by Coverity, Inc finding open source code to be of better quality.
Security
A study done on seventeen open-source and closed-source software showed that the number of vulnerabilities existing in a piece of software is not affected by the source availability model that it uses. The study used a very simple metrics of comparing the number of vulnerabilities between the open-source and closed-source software. Another study was also done by a group of professors in Northern Kentucky University on fourteen open-source web applications written in PHP. The study measured the vulnerability density in the web applications and shown that some of them had increased vulnerability density, but some of them also had decreased vulnerability density.
Business models
In its 2008 Annual Report, Microsoft stated that FOSS business models challenge its license-based software model and that the firms who use these business models do not bear the cost for their software development. The company also stated in the report:
There are numerous business models for open source companies which can be found in the literature.
See also
Linux adoption
GNU Project
Open system
Vendor lock-in
Network effect
References
Closed source
Open source and closed source
Open source
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52909872
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NANO%20Antivirus
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NANO Antivirus
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NANO Antivirus is Russian antivirus software
developed by NANO Security Ltd. The software has free and paid (NANO Antivirus Pro) versions. NANO Security is a Russian company founded in 2009 by a team which has developed and implemented antivirus software since 2003.
NANO Security Ltd is integrated into Security and Maintenance of Microsoft. The company is included in Microsoft's list of reputable antimalware producers.
The software is intended for use in homes and small businesses.
In 2017, NANO Antivirus Pro was included in the Russian Software Registry of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.
Awards
NANO Antivirus failed to pass the VB100 certification on the first attempt, but has since earned five consecutive VB100 awards. The award streak was interrupted when they failed to the certification, but then NANO Antivirus earned two more VB100 including the last certification.
The VB100 team commended the product's quality.
Other products of the company based on the NANO Antivirus technologies
NANO Antivirus Pro – the paid version of NANO Antivirus with extended functionality, it uses the dynamic licensing model.
NANO Antivirus White Label - the platform for developing of co-branded versions of NANO Antivirus.
NANO Antivirus Engine (SDK) – the product for development of independent third-party antivirus solutions based on the NANO Antivirus technology. This product also allows to integrate the antivirus technology into existing third-party solutions.
NANO Antivirus Sky Scan – the Windows Store application for Windows 8/10 which provides easy-to-use access to NANO Antivirus cloud scan service. If the desktop version of NANO Antivirus is installed on the target device, NANO Antivirus Sky Scan can also be used as a native metro-style shell for the desktop solution.
NANO Antivirus Online Scanner – the web application which allows any user to scan suspicious file right in his web browser. The functional of Online Scanner is also available as a special web form for embedding to third-party sites.
Online scanners
NANO Antivirus is integrated into the following online scanners: VirusTotal, OPSWAT Metadefender, and VirScan.org as Engine Supplier and certified partner.
Patents
The technologies of NANO Security are patented in Europe, USA, Russia, China and other countries.
See also
Comparison of antivirus software
References
External links
Official website
Antivirus software
Freeware
Windows security software
Russian brands
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398480
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom%20engine
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Doom engine
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id Tech 1, also known as the Doom engine, is the game engine that powers the id Software games Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth. It is also used in Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Strife: Quest for the Sigil, Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill, Freedoom, and other games produced by licensees. It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero, Dave Taylor, and Paul Radek. Originally developed on NeXT computers, it was ported to DOS for Doom's initial release and was later ported to several game consoles and operating systems.
The source code to the Linux version of Doom was released to the public under a license that granted rights to non-commercial use on December 23, 1997, followed by the Linux version of Doom II about a week later on December 29, 1997. The source code was later re-released under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later on October 3, 1999.
The dozens of unofficial Doom source ports that have been created since then allow Doom to run on previously unsupported operating systems and sometimes radically expand the engine's functionality with new features.
Although the engine seemingly renders a 3D space, that space is projected from a two-dimensional floor plan. The line of sight is always parallel to the floor, walls must be perpendicular to the floors, and it is not possible to create multi-level structures or sloped areas (floors and ceilings with different angles). Despite these limitations, the engine represented a technological leap from id's previous Wolfenstein 3D engine. The Doom engine was later renamed to "id Tech 1" in order to categorize it in a list of id Software's long line of game engines.
Game world
The Doom engine separates rendering from the rest of the game. The graphics engine runs as fast as possible, but the game world runs at 35 frames per second regardless of the hardware, so multiple players can play against each other using computers of varying performance.
Level structure
A simple setup demonstrating how Doom represents levels internally
Viewed from the top down, all Doom levels are actually two-dimensional, demonstrating one of the key limitations of the Doom engine: room-over-room is not possible. This limitation, however, has a silver lining: a "map mode" can be easily displayed, which represents the walls and the player's position, much like the first image to the right.
Basic objects
The base unit is the vertex, which represents a single 2D point. Vertices (or "vertexes" as they are referred to internally) are then joined to form lines, known as "linedefs". Each linedef can have either one or two sides, which are known as "sidedefs". Sidedefs are then grouped together to form polygons; these are called "sectors". Sectors represent particular areas of the level.
Sectors
Each sector contains a number of properties: a floor height, ceiling height, light level, a floor texture and a ceiling texture. To have a different light level in a particular area, for example, a new sector must be created for that area with a different light level. One-sided linedefs therefore represent solid walls, while two-sided linedefs represent bridge lines between sectors.
Sidedefs
Sidedefs are used to store wall textures; these are completely separate from the floor and ceiling textures. Each sidedef can have three textures; these are called the middle, upper and lower textures. In one-sided linedefs, only the middle texture is used for the texture on the wall. In two-sided linedefs, the situation is more complex. The lower and upper textures are used to fill the gaps where adjacent sectors have different floor and ceiling heights: lower textures are used for steps, for example. The sidedefs can have a middle texture as well, although most do not; this is used to make textures hang in mid air. For example, when a transparent bar texture is seen forming a cage, this is an example of a middle texture on a two-sided linedef.
Binary space partitioning
Doom makes use of a system known as binary space partitioning (BSP). A tool is used to generate the BSP data for a level beforehand. This process can take quite some time for a large level. It is because of this that it is not possible to move the walls in Doom; while doors and lifts move up and down, none of them ever move sideways.
The level is divided up into a binary tree: each location in the tree is a "node" which represents a particular area of the level (with the root node representing the entire level). At each branch of the tree there is a dividing line which divides the area of the node into two subnodes. At the same time, the dividing line divides linedefs into line segments called "segs".
At the leaves of the tree are convex polygons, where further division of the level is not needed. These convex polygons are referred to as subsectors (or "SSECTORS"), and are bound to a particular sector. Each subsector has a list of segs associated with it.
The BSP system sorts the subsectors into the right order for rendering. The algorithm is fairly simple:
Start at the root node.
Draw the child nodes of this node recursively. The child node closest to the camera is drawn first using a Scanline algorithm. This can be found from looking at which side of the node's dividing line the camera is on.
When a subsector is reached, draw it.
The process is complete when the whole column of pixels is filled (i.e., there are no more gaps left). This ordering ensures that no time is used drawing objects that are not visible and as a result maps can become very large without any speed penalty.
Rendering
Drawing the walls
All of the walls in Doom are drawn vertically; it is because of this that it is not possible to properly look up and down. It is possible to perform a form of look up/down via "y-shearing", and many modern Doom source ports do this, as well as later games that use the engine, such as Heretic. Essentially this works by moving the horizon line up and down within the screen, in effect providing a "window" on a taller viewable area. By moving the window up and down, it is possible to give the illusion of looking up and down. However, this will distort the view the further up and down the player looks.
The Doom engine renders the walls as it traverses the BSP tree, drawing subsectors by order of distance from the camera so that the closest segs are drawn first. As the segs are drawn, they are stored in a linked list. This is used to clip other segs rendered later on, reducing overdraw. This is also used later to clip the edges of sprites.
Once the engine reaches a solid (1-sided) wall at a particular x coordinate, no more lines need to be drawn at that area. For clipping the engine stores a "map" of areas of the screen where solid walls have been reached. This allows far away parts of the level which are invisible to the player to be clipped completely.
The Doom graphic format stores the wall textures as sets of vertical columns; this is useful to the renderer, which essentially renders the walls by drawing many vertical columns of textures.
Floor and ceiling
The system for drawing floors and ceilings ("flats") is less elegant than that used for the walls. Flats are drawn with a flood fill-like algorithm. Because of this, it is sometimes possible if a bad BSP builder is used to get "holes" where the floor or ceiling bleeds down to the edges of the screen, a visual error commonly referred to as a "slime trail". This is also the reason why if the player travels outside of the level using the noclip cheat the floors and ceilings will appear to stretch out from the level over the empty space.
The floor and ceiling are drawn as "visplanes". These represent horizontal runs of texture, from a floor or ceiling at a particular height, light level and texture (if two adjacent sectors have exactly the same floor, these can get merged into one visplane). Each x position in the visplane has a particular vertical line of texture which is to be drawn.
Because of this limit of drawing one vertical line at each x position, it is sometimes necessary to split visplanes into multiple visplanes. For example, consider viewing a floor with two concentric squares. The inner square will vertically divide the surrounding floor. In that horizontal range where the inner square is drawn, two visplanes are needed for the surrounding floor.
This leads to one of Doom's classic limitations which frustrated many mappers for a long time. Doom contained a static limit on the number of visplanes; if exceeded, a "visplane overflow" would occur, causing the game to exit to DOS with one of two messages, "No more visplanes!" or "visplane overflow (128 or higher)". The easiest way to invoke the visplane limit is a large checkerboard floor pattern; this creates a large number of visplanes.
As the segs are rendered, visplanes are also added, extending from the edges of the segs towards the vertical edges of the screen. These extend until they reach existing visplanes. Because of the way this works, the system is dependent on the fact that segs are rendered in order by the overall engine; it is necessary to draw nearer visplanes first, so that they can "cut off" by others further away. If unstopped, the floor or ceiling will "bleed out" to the edges of the screen, as previously described. Eventually, the visplanes form a "map" of particular areas of the screen in which to draw particular textures.
While visplanes are constructed essentially from vertical "strips", the actual low level rendering is performed in the form of horizontal "spans" of texture. After all the visplanes have been constructed, they are converted into spans which are then rendered to the screen. This appears to be a trade off: it is easier to construct visplanes as vertical strips, but because of the nature of how the floor and ceiling textures appear it is easier to draw them as horizontal strips.
Things (sprites)
Each sector within the level has a linked list of things stored in that sector. As each sector is drawn the sprites are placed into a list of sprites to be drawn. If not within the field of view these are ignored.
The edges of sprites are clipped by checking the list of segs previously drawn. Sprites in Doom are stored in the same column based format as the walls are, which again is useful for the renderer. The same functions which are used to draw walls are used to draw sprites as well.
While subsectors are guaranteed to be in order, the sprites within them are not. Doom stores a list of sprites to be drawn ("vissprites") and sorts the list before rendering. Far away sprites are drawn before close ones. This causes some overdraw but usually this is negligible.
There is a final issue of middle textures on 2-sided lines, used in transparent bars for example. These are mixed in and drawn with the sprites at the end of the rendering process, rather than with the other walls.
Games using the Doom engine
The Doom engine achieved most of its fame as a result of powering the classic first person shooter Doom, and it was used in several other games. It is usually considered that the "Big Four" Doom engine games are Doom, Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, and Strife: Quest for the Sigil.
Games built directly on the Doom engine
Doom (1993)
The Ultimate Doom (1995)
Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994)
Master Levels for Doom II (1995)
Final Doom (1996)
Heretic (1994)
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders (1996)
Hexen: Beyond Heretic (1995)
Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel (1996)
Strife: Quest for the Sigil (1996)
Chex Quest (1996)
Chex Quest 2: Flemoids Take Chextropolis
Brutal Doom
Bloom
Grezzo 2
Marine Doom
Sigil
Thatcher's Techbase
Games based on the Doom or Doom II code
Doom 64 (1997)
Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill (1997)
See also
List of game engines
First-person shooter engine
id Tech
Build (game engine)
Quake engine
Quake (series)
List of first-person shooter engines
Notes
GL nodes specification
Utilities to edit Doom and Doom2
Doom engine code review by Fabien Sanglard
References
External links
Doom engine on Doom Wiki
Doom rendering engine on Doom Wiki
Doom engine full games list
Source code of the Doom engine
1993 software
Doom (franchise)
Formerly proprietary software
Free game engines
Game engines for Linux
Id Tech
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35106871
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Times%20of%20Israel
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The Times of Israel
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The Times of Israel is an Israel-based, primarily English-language online newspaper launched in 2012. It was co-founded by journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American hedge fund manager Seth Klarman. It covers "developments in Israel, the Middle East and around the Jewish world." Along with its original English-language site, The Times of Israel publishes in Arabic, French, and Persian editions. On 1 May 2019, it launched a Hebrew news site, Zman Yisrael.
In addition to publishing news reports and analysis, the website hosts a multi-author blog platform.
In February 2014, two years after its launch, The Times of Israel claimed a readership of 2 million. In 2017, readership increased to 3.5 million unique monthly users. By 2021, the paper had on average over 9 million unique users each month and over 35 million monthly page views. It also maintains a blog platform, on which some 9,000 bloggers post.
History
The Times of Israel was launched in February 2012. Its co-founders are journalist David Horovitz, and American billionaire Seth Klarman, founder of the Baupost Group and chairman of The David Project. Klarman is the chairman of the website.
Several Times of Israel editors had previously worked for the Haaretz English edition, including Joshua Davidovich and Raphael Ahren, and former Haaretz Arab affairs correspondent Avi Isaacharoff—co-creator of the popular Israeli television series, Fauda—joined as its Middle East analyst. Amanda Borschel-Dan, who was the Magazine Editor of The Jerusalem Post, is currently The Times of Israel's Deputy Editor, responsible for the Jewish world and archaeology. She also hosts the paper's weekly podcast.
The Times of Israel launched its Arabic edition, edited by Suha Halifa, on 4 February 2014; its French edition, edited by Stephanie Bitan, on 25 February 2014; and its Persian edition, edited by Avi Davidi, on 7 October 2015. It launched its Hebrew site, Zman Yisael, on 1 May 2019, edited by Biranit Goren.
Both the Arabic and French editions combine translations of English content with original material in their respective languages, and also host a blog platform. In announcing the Arabic edition, Horovitz suggested, The Times of Israel may have created the first Arabic blog platform that "draw[s] articles from across the spectrum of opinion. We're inviting those of our Arabic readers with something of value that they want to say to blog on our pages, respecting the parameters of legitimate debate, joining our marketplace of ideas." "[T]o avoid the kind of anonymous comments that can reduce discussion to toxic lows", comments on news articles and features in all of the site's editions can only be posted by readers identified through their Facebook profiles or equivalent.
In February 2014, two years after its launch, The Times of Israel claimed a readership of 2 million. In 2017, readership increased to 3.5 million. By 2021, the paper had on average over 9 million unique users each month and over 35 million monthly page views. It also maintains a blog platform, on which some 9,000 bloggers post.
Since 2016, The Times has hosted the websites of Jewish newspapers in several countries, known as "local partners". In March 2016, it began hosting New York's The Jewish Week. It also hosts Britain's Jewish News, the New Jersey Jewish Standard, The Atlanta Jewish Times, and Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. In October 2019, The Australian Jewish News became the seventh local partner.
On 2 November 2017, hackers in Turkey took down the web site of The Times of Israel for three hours, replacing the homepage with anti-Israel propaganda. Responding to the attack, David Horovitz said: "We constantly work to improve security on the site, which is subjected to relentless attacks by hackers. How unfortunate, and how badly it reflects on them that the hackers seek to prevent people from reading responsible, independent journalism on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world."
In 2020, Reuters reported that The Times of Israel, along with The Jerusalem Post, Algemeiner and Arutz Sheva, published op-eds sent to them by someone using a falsified identity. The op-eds were removed as soon as the problem was discovered. Opinion editor Miriam Herschlag said that she regretted the scam because it distorted the public discourse and might lead to "barriers that prevent new voices from being heard".
Editorial orientation
According to editor David Horovitz, The Times of Israel is intended to be independent, without any political leanings. The paper's editorial board is composed of former Jerusalem Report editor Sharon Ashley, Irwin Cotler, Efraim Halevy, Saul Singer, and Ehud Yaari. Yehuda Avner was a member of the editorial board until his death in March 2015. Horovitz said in 2012: "We are independent; we're not attached or affiliated with any political party."
Investigative journalism
A series of investigative articles, starting with a March 2016 piece by Simona Weinglass titled "The wolves of Tel Aviv: Israel’s vast, amoral binary options scam exposed," helped shed light on a multi-billion-dollar global scam in Israel. As a direct result of The Times of Israel’s investigative reporting on the fraud, on 23 October 2017 the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, unanimously passed a law banning Israel’s binary options industry. The law gave binary options firms in Israel three months since the law was passed to cease operations. After that, anyone involved in binary options is punishable by up to two years in jail.
In a Times of Israel blog, Knesset member Karine Elharrar of Yesh Atid credited the paper for bringing the issue to the attention of Israeli lawmakers: "Over the past year The Times of Israel shone a spotlight on Israel’s ugly binary options industry. It was a case of investigative journalism at its best and The Times of Israel should be proud of its journalists and editors."
Notable writers
Analysts and journalists
Haviv Rettig Gur
David Horovitz
Avi Issacharoff
Competition
The Times of Israel competes for readership with The Jerusalem Post, Arutz Shevas Israel National News, Haaretz, Israel Hayom, and The Forward.
See also
Media of Israel
References
External links
2012 establishments in Israel
Arabic-language mass media in Israel
English-language websites
French-language websites
Internet properties established in 2012
Israeli news websites
Mass media in Jerusalem
Multilingual news services
Multilingual websites
Newspapers established in 2012
Persian-language websites
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4286484
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline%20Tycoon
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Airline Tycoon
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Airline Tycoon is a business simulation game by Thomas Holz and Robert Kleinert, in which the player must successfully manage an airline. The original was developed by Spellbound, and published by Infogrames Deutschland, however, the succeeding versions were published by a variety of publishers. The original Airline Tycoon was created for Windows, however, the later Deluxe version was also ported to Linux, Mac OS X, MorphOS, ZETA, iOS and Android.
Like other "tycoon" computer games, the objective of the game is to become a tycoon, and in this case, an "Airline Tycoon." This is achieved through the balance of income and expenditures.
Gameplay
A simulation computer game where the player acts as manager of an airline, competing against three other tycoons. The names of the four tycoons are: Tina Cortez (Sunshine Airways), Siggi Sorglos (Falcon Lines), Igor Tuppolevsky (Phoenix Travel) and Mario Zucchero (Honey Airlines). The player must keep their aircraft in good shape and equip them at such a level as to keep the customers satisfied, buy new planes (from the expensive Airplane Agency or from Mr Schlauberger at the museum who sells old planes at a much lower cost) and take out bank loans if required.
The player must also manage their personnel, plan flights, buy fuel, attend meetings in the airport manager's office and, if there is the time, slip into Rick's café for a quick cup of coffee. The player can also perform sabotages on the other players. The graphics are bright and decidedly tongue in cheek: the tycoon Igor Tuppolevsky has a set of Russian dolls on his desk—and an open tin of caviar, while Tina Cortez has a picture of a matador and a bull's head.
With a network, up to four people can play at once and the game status can be saved (as it can in single-player mode) for longer games.
History
Releases
The original game was released in August 1998 in Germany by Infogrames Deutschland. It was not released in any English-speaking country; however, there was an official English demo.
The first Airline Tycoon title to be released in United States and the United Kingdom was Airline Tycoon First Class. It was published in 2001 by Monte Cristo; however, the publisher decided to remove First Class subtitle from the game box and manuals, though it remained in-game. Features added in First Class include ten brand new missions, multiplayer mode with up to 4 players, new MIDI music, cargo transportation and more.
In 2002, Airline Tycoon Evolution, second Airline Tycoon re-release was published by Monte Cristo. The game introduced ten new missions, possibility of buying self-designed aircraft (and possibility of sharing these planes via Internet), possibility of hiring aircraft security agents, five new sabotages and more.
In 2003, Spellbound released a third Airline Tycoon addition, named Airline Tycoon Deluxe. It included all of previous versions, the only new part of the game was twenty new airports and possibility of accepting cargo from remote estates. Originally it was released in limited edition of 5000 items. It was available only in Germany, though it was not translated into other languages. However, Linux, Mac OS X and ZETA versions released in Autumn 2005 and Winter 2006 by RuneSoft are available in English, German and French.
On 24 March 2015 Airline Tycoon Deluxe was re-released on the digital distribution platform GOG.com, including the source code.
Successor Airline Tycoon 2
On May 24, 2006 Spellbound announced it would be releasing a full sequel to Airline Tycoon, Airline Tycoon II due to be released in Germany sometime in the second half of 2007. The release date was, however, not met. Spellbound stated they could not find a publisher for the game and announced no new release date. On October 22, 2009 Airline Tycoon II was announced by Kalypso Media and scheduled to be released in late 2011. It was scheduled to be released in the United States On October 2, 2011 by Amazon.com, however, Kalypso Media scheduled their North American release for October 14, 2011. The Game as of date has been released and includes a demo version which the original lacked.
The first extra content or expansion for the game was announced on March 29, 2012. Honey Airlines DLC finally became available on April 19 of the same year. It would feature a new character, new airline company, two additional campaign missions and a Cargo area for the airport. The second one, announced on May 31, 2012 called Falcon Lines DLC was eventually released on June 14 of that year. This DLC would add another character and airline company, another two additional campaign missions, the Last-Minute Counter as a new airport area and the ability to open branch offices anywhere throughout the world.
Reception
Sales of Airline Tycoon surpassed 150,000 units worldwide by 2001.
In 2001 an IGN review gave Airline Tycoon a good rating with 7.9/10. Airline Tycoon 2 received on Metacritic a mediocre score of 57/100 from four reviews.
References
External links
Deluxe Version Homepage
Airline Tycoon 2 website
BeOS games
Business simulation games
Video games developed in Germany
Linux games
MacOS games
MorphOS games
RuneSoft games
Embracer Group franchises
Windows games
1998 video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Commercial video games with freely available source code
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4226807
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony%20Ericsson%20K800i
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Sony Ericsson K800i
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The Sony Ericsson K800i, and its variant, the Sony Ericsson K790, are mobile phone handsets manufactured by Sony Ericsson. Launched in July 2006 (for the K800i in the UK market; others may vary), the phones are the successor to the Sony Ericsson K750i. Both of the phones feature a 3.2-megapixel digital camera complete with a xenon flash, a protective lens cover, and a new "BestPic" bracketing feature, and are the first to be tagged with the Sony Cyber-shot branding. The new "BestPic" feature takes 9 full quality snapshots of a subject in quick succession, allowing the user to choose the best shots from them. On the entertainment front, the phones have a media player supporting MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and WMA music files and 3GP/MPEG-4 video files. The phones also feature a RDS FM radio, and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot for expandable solid state memory (up to 16 GB). The K790/K800 models are also the first Sony Ericsson mobile phones to use ATI's Imageon 2192 graphics engine, which delivers a full 3D gaming graphics for Java and full support for its 3.2-megapixel camera. It is the phone used by James Bond in the 2006 Casino Royale film and trailers.
The difference between the two phones is that the K790 supports GSM and EDGE, while the K800 supports UMTS and GSM. As a result, the K800i features a QCIF (176X144) resolution front-mounted camera for 3G video conferencing. According to the official Sony Ericsson specifications (to be found on their website), the K800's talk time drops steeply from around 7 hours when using GSM to about 2 hours 30 minutes whilst using UMTS. A modified version of the K800i, the Sony Ericsson K810i, was released. Its successor is the 5-megapixel Sony Ericsson K850i.
Design and features
The K800i/K790 is a "block" (or "candy bar") style phone that weighs 115 grams, with its buttons operated by the thumb. It has the "dual-front" design common to most Sony Ericsson mobile phones since the Sony Ericsson K700, with the back of the mobile phone designed like a digital camera and intended to be held sideways to take photographs. The central joystick button is used for selecting options and navigating menus, with the "C" button as an undo or delete key, and the arrow-labelled button as a "back button". The two buttons labelled by white horizontal lines, known as hotkeys or soft keys perform the function of making decisions with only two choices. Such decisions are labelled on the phone's display. The button in between the right soft key and the "C" button acts as a shortcut key, which brings up a user-customisable shortcut menu when pressed. The two "A/B" buttons on either side of the earpiece are used for horizontal games support, as in the Sony Ericsson W550/W600. The on/off button is located on the top of the phone. The Memory Stick Micro M2 slot is located on the left-hand side of the phone. On the right-hand side of the phone there are three keys: two for controlling volume, skipping through tracks in the Media Player, changing radio channel, and zooming in and out when in camera mode. The third button on the right is the camera shutter button which operates the phone's key feature, a 3.2-megapixel Cyber-shot digital camera. In amongst the speaker at the top of the phone is a small camera used for video calls. Located next to this is the IrDA port.
The phone has a standard minimum user-available internal memory capacity of 64 MB. The external memory capacity can be extended by using a Memory Stick Micro M2, intended to support both the camera and the media player function of the phone. The phone can be connected to a computer for data transfer and recharging. Communication is made using either the built-in Bluetooth wireless or the supplied USB data cable, which connects to the phone using Sony Ericsson's proprietary FastPort connector, which is located on the bottom of the phone. The phone can also be used as a Bluetooth or USB GPRS/3G modem.
K800i/K790 cellphones feature full support for USB mass storage recognition. This means that there will be no need for driver installation on modern operating systems such as Mac OS X, Windows XP and Linux, as the phone will be automatically recognized as an external storage device upon connection. Data retrieval also includes the ability to output files by infra-red and Bluetooth (as well as in network-transmitted messages) to other devices. Although typical of many recent Sony Ericsson devices, support for outputting files other than over the mobile network has been variable with other brands.
In the calendar, a new feature is supported for recurring event notifications on a yearly basis, which the predecessor K750 lacked. The calendar is closely compatible with Microsoft Outlook.
Mac OS X v10.4.9 added support for calendar and contact syncing under iSync 2.4.
Variants
K800i - International version: Dual-mode UMTS (2100 MHz) & GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), with W-CDMA and GPRS - for all regions except Mainland China
K800c - Mainland China version: Dual-mode UMTS (2100 MHz) & GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), with W-CDMA and GPRS
K790i - International version: Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), with EDGE - for all regions except Mainland China and North America
K790c - Mainland China version: Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), with EDGE
K790a - North American version: Tri-band GSM (850/1800/1900 MHz), with EDGE
Technical specifications
Platform technology
Built on the U250 from Ericsson Mobile Platform.
Imaging
3.2-megapixel CMOS digital camera with auto-focus and Macro mode
32x digital zoom
Xenon flash with mF illuminator assist
Shutter button with auto-focus (press half-way to auto-focus, fully to capture)
Red-eye reduction
PictBridge & DPOF
Image Stabilization
BestPic - takes 9 successive images of the same subject in full resolution to choose the best shot(s)
QCIF (176x144) resolution video recording at 15 frame/s in 3GP format
Network
K800i / K800c
Dual-mode: UMTS at 2100 MHz, and GSM at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz
K790i / K790c
Tri-band GSM at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz
K790a
Tri-band GSM at 850 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz
Price
Since the release of its successor the market price has dramatically fallen and, as of November 2008, it was available on a UK pre-pay network between £69.99 to £89.99.
Entertainment
Media Player with Equalizer and Stereo Widening
MP3, WMA, RealAudio 8 and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ audio (unlike the K750 and W800, the K800 implements the HE-AAC and HE-AAC 2 formats)
MP4, 3GP and RealVideo 8 video
RDS FM radio
MusicDJ, PhotoDJ and VideoDJ
Sound recorder (saves records in AMR format)
Streaming audio/video
3D Java games
A/B buttons for horizontal games support and full-screen image preview modes
FaceWarp (pre-installed Java Application, not in all models)
Remote Control application (confirmed on K790i), allows you to use your phone as a Human interface device (like mouse or keyboard) via Bluetooth. Three button presets available: Presenter, MediaPlayer, Desktop. Supported on host computer natively by Bluetooth stack (vendor-independent).
Internet
Access NetFront - Full HTML browser
Download Manager
Native RSS Reader
Email (POP3 and IMAP4). With Push e-mail available for IMAP4.
Connectivity
Infrared port (IrDA)
Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP
CSD
HSCSD
GPRS
EDGE (K790 versions only)
W-CDMA (K800 versions only)
USB 2.0 Synchronization or Mass Storage Device Transfer Mode via Fast Port connector
Storage
(M2) (Card not included as standard, up to 2 GB supported officially - unofficially up to 16 GB)
Minimum 64 MB Internal Flash memory (can be expanded to almost 75 MB through removal of preinstalled applications
Dimensions
106 mm x 47 mm x 20 mm (22 mm at the thickest part, which is the digital camera lens cover)
Operating system
Sony Ericsson Java Platform 7 (Java ME)
Display
ATI Imageon 2192 8 MB Graphics Engine (including support for its 3.2-megapixel camera for High Color)
2.0 inch QVGA (240x320) TFT LCD
262,144 (18-bit) colors
Colours
Velvet Black
Allure Brown
Royale Silver (James Bond Casino Royale Limited Edition)
Concrete Silver
Specific absorption rate (SAR)
0.59 W/kg (right)
Startup failures and data corruption
For some users, the K800i can suddenly and unexpectedly fail to startup, and instead just show a flashing white screen repeatedly. This problem happens due to internal data corruption (caused by the phone), and can only be fixed by restoring ("flashing") the phone to its original software/firmware — meaning that all personal data will be deleted. On some occasions, this problem can be fixed by using the Update Service software that comes on the CD (or from Sony Ericsson's website). However, personal data will still be erased.
Users are recommended to regularly backup their data using both a Memory Stick — for photos and contacts — and using the software MyPhoneExplorer to back up text messages, calendar appointments and other data to a PC.
A startup failure can be forecast by the following events:
All the custom words added to the dictionary are suddenly deleted
The phone duplicates some text messages in the Drafts folder
Many text messages in the Inbox are suddenly deleted
Users should back up their data when any of these events happen.
Media device problems
Sometimes dependent on age of phone/operating system the K800i doesn't show in PC media player software even when it is visible as mass storage. A work around is to uninstall the phone via device manager and wait for the phone to automatically reinstall.
References
Engadget
Mobile-Review.com Review
ReviewsTeam.com - Index of Reviews for the K790/K800 Family
Sony Ericsson Overview
External links
Sony Ericsson K800i Review - CNET.com.au
Cyber-shot cameras
Sony Ericsson mobile phones
Mobile phones introduced in 2006
Mobile phones with infrared transmitter
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24156962
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegaTraveller%201%3A%20The%20Zhodani%20Conspiracy
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MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy
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MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy is a 1990 space science fiction role-playing video game based on the Traveller series and was produced by Game Designers' Workshop licensee Paragon Software for Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS operating environments. The game is set within the Official Traveller Universe and features character creation and other aspects of game mechanics compatible with prior Traveller products. The player controls up to five ex-military adventurers whose objective is to save their civilization, the Imperium, from a conspiracy instigated by the Zhodani, a rival spacefaring race, and aided by the actions of a traitor named Konrad Kiefer. Gameplay features real-time planetary and space exploration, combat, trading, and interaction with various non-player characters in eight solar systems containing twenty-eight visitable planets.
Development presented Paragon with technical challenges because this game, distributed on floppy disks for computers hosting as little as 512 KB RAM, simulates the detailed game mechanics of the Traveller tabletop role-playing games within a sizable game world. To meet the difficulties posed by these hardware limitations, Paragon chose to excise or simplify some elements familiar to players of earlier Traveller games. Reception upon the release of the game was very mixed. Some reviewers rated it highly and praised its playability and depth of gameplay. Others reviewed the game less favorably; substantial criticism was directed towards its handling of ground combat. Computer Gaming World listed it as the fourth worst game of all time in its November 1996 issue. A sequel, MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients, was published in 1991; a second sequel was planned but never released.
Gameplay
Before players may begin a new game, a party of adventurers must be created. A pre-generated party is available for quick entry into the game, but players may also create new party members. The character creation process begins with the player being presented with basic character profiles possessing randomly generated attributes. The player has the option to accept the displayed character or "re-roll" to generate a new profile with another set of attributes. An accepted character is enrolled in a military career, chosen by the player from the Army, Navy, Marines, Scouts, or Merchants. The player guides the character through consecutive four-year terms to obtain training in various skills and earn service benefits such as retirement pay. The longer characters remain in the service, the more skills and benefits they are able to acquire, but they do so at the risk of diminished attributes due to old age, injury, or even death. When a character retires or "musters out", he or she is added to the pool of available adventurers from which a party is chosen by the player to begin the game. If a character is killed during the course of the game, the player may recruit a new party member in some planetary spaceports.
The game begins in a city on the planet Efate. Here, as on all explorable planets in this game, the player observes the party and its surroundings from a directly overhead point of view and issues commands via hotkeys or clickable icons displayed onscreen. The explorable terrain of planets is limited to certain cities and immediately adjacent regions. Cities feature several types of buildings that are a recurrent feature on most planets, including a store for purchasing or selling armor, weapons, and other items, a library, a hospital, a police station, and a starport for launching and outfitting a spaceship. Some cities host additional visitable buildings which may include a tavern or a hotel in which important non-player characters are located. Building types are color-coded for easier player identification. The player directs the party's movements and issues commands to perform various actions such as communicating with non-player characters, using objects, or firing a weapon. Combat takes place in real-time and requires the player to direct individual party members to target opponents and fire their weapons, reload, or move to a better position.
Space travel forms an important aspect of gameplay. When traveling within a single solar system, the ship and its surroundings are viewed from a third-person perspective on an "In System Travel Screen." Navigation takes place in real-time as the player maneuvers the ship between explorable worlds, visits a gas giant to refuel, or engages in combat with other spaceships. Some solar systems contain more than one explorable planet, but most such planets in the game may be reached only after the player's spaceship has been outfitted with a "jump drive" capable of interstellar travel and accompanying computer software to control it.
Plot
The game takes place within the fictional universe in which prior Traveller releases are also set. The most significant power in this universe is the human-dominated Imperium which predominates across thousands of inhabited solar systems. Bordering the regions controlled by the Imperium are other interstellar powers including the Zhodani Consulate. The Imperium and the Zhodani have a long history of tense relations and, as the game begins, rumors of another frontier war are circulating. Against this backdrop, a security agent working for Sharushid, a large corporation active throughout the Imperium, discovers that a company sub-sector chief named Konrad Kiefer is secretly aiding the Zhodani by smuggling arms across the border into the hands of dissidents in preparation for an uprising within the Imperium to be coordinated with a Zhodani attack. This security agent encounters five experienced adventurers in a bar on the planet Efate and entrusts them with evidence of Kiefer's treachery. These adventurers are tasked with delivering the evidence to a second Sharushid agent located in another solar system and ultimately with stopping Kiefer and his conspiracy against the Imperium. The player assumes control over the party just after the security agent entrusts it with the evidence against Kiefer.
The game includes numerous subplots which largely serve as means for the player to earn money. For example, the player can choose to locate and retrieve a stolen icon on behalf of a religious leader in exchange for a reward. Other methods to earn money include stripping the corpses of slain opponents for marketable items, killing wanted criminals to earn a reward, and attacking other vessels in space to pirate their cargo. Gameplay in the early stages of the game primarily involves activities of this nature so that the player can accumulate enough money to outfit the party with better weapons and armor and purchase a jump drive capable of propelling the party's spacecraft to other worlds crucial to obtaining the means to stop Kiefer.
Events in this game transpire just prior to the Fifth Frontier War between the Imperium and the Zhodani, which marks the line of demarcation between earlier tabletop role-playing products released by Game Designers Workshop under the name Traveller and later products set after the war released under the name MegaTraveller. This game is the only MegaTraveller product authorized by Game Designers Workshop where events occur prior to this conflict.
Development
Marc Miller, an original creator of Traveller, wrote in a letter of introduction to this game, "I've always said that Traveller would make the perfect computer game for the same two reasons that it's a great role-playing game: rules and background. The background, and its wealth of detail, will naturally capture the interest of players. But it's the simplicity of the rules which makes the computerization possible." After Paragon Software acquired the video game rights to Traveller from Game Designers Workshop, Miller contributed "generous support and research material" to Paragon's development efforts.
The limited capacity of the floppy disk media on which the game was distributed and the hardware limitations of computer systems at the time of the game's release forced Paragon's developers to limit certain aspects of the Traveller universe and game mechanics. Starship design and alien character creation, both of which are available in other products set in the Traveller universe, were deliberately excluded from this game. Explorable planetary terrain was limited to a relatively small area. Both space and planetary exploration employ relatively generalized maps to simplify the program and eliminate minor details. Space combat uses a simpler set of rules than those found in Travellers original "Starship Combat" ruleset.
In Computer Gaming World, L.S. Lichtmann wrote that the development of some aspects of the game was left incomplete. He observed that some promotional screenshots do not resemble anything players encounter in the actual game and that a pamphlet included in the game box lists a large number of differences between what is written in the manual and the actual game mechanics.
Reception
Reactions to MegaTraveller 1 varied greatly. Some reviewers commended the game's design, playability, and depth of gameplay. Arnie Katz wrote in VideoGames & Computer Entertainment that the "...extensive character-generation system, eye-catching graphics, flexible quick-play interface, and majestic scope make MegaTraveller a necessary addition to any adventurer's computer library." Reviewer Sandra Foley wrote in Amiga Computing that its gameplay "brilliantly balance[s] complexity and playability, MT1's gameplay is a miracle in that it actually feels like a RPG. A triumph of intelligent game design." She assigned the game a rating of 95%. Writing for Amiga Power, reviewer Stuart Campbell gave the game a rating of 88% and stated that "MegaTraveller 1 is involving, playable, superbly-designed, and one of the most atmospheric games I've played ever. It balances realism with gameplay, and is extremely user-friendly...." Computer Gaming World took a more negative view of the game. In 1993 Scorpia stated that it "comes off rather poorly", criticizing the "atrocious combat system" and economy. She concluded that the game "is only for the devoted MegaTraveller fan with a high tolerance for exasperation". In 1996 the magazine's editorial staff listed MegaTraveller 1 as the fourth worst game of all time and "easily the Mega-worst role-playing experience of all time." They wrote that the plot "felt tossed-off...from rehashes of pen and paper modules that [Miller] had designed in the past." Amiga Format also expressed disappointment with the game's plot. Its reviewer wrote that the player's effort is largely directed towards earning money and that the "main plot consists of about six conversations, swapping a few items, and blowing away Kiefer Konrad."
The game's handling of ground combat received the most substantial criticism. Computer Gaming World's editorial staff wrote that the game's real-time combat system was "handled so fast that players didn't have a chance in 90% of the battles." According to reviewer L.S. Lichtmann, "many are disappointed because the phased, tactical system of Traveller has been modified to have arcade game characteristics." He also stated that the player does not compete on a "level playing field" when he or she must issue commands in real-time to individual party members engaged in combat while the computer simultaneously controls multiple non-player characters. Paragon responded to these criticisms by releasing an updated version of the game which gave the player the ability to pause the combat to issue orders to party members. But even after this update, some reviewers still found that, whenever possible, it is still far easier for the party to flee from ground combat situations than to fight. Moreover, immediately after the player assumes control of the party at the start of the game, it is attacked by well-armed opponents. The Computer Gaming World editorial staff criticized this design choice by stating that the "player would have to run away from the first encounter or be killed within two minutes of spending 30 minutes to an hour generating a character."
Another element of game mechanics that received significant criticism was the game's handling of space flight. Paragon's attempt to simulate realistic space physics, including planetary gravitational fields and spaceship inertia, is a potential source of difficulty for some players. According to Paul Presley, the Asteroids inspired type of "control method becomes very awkward until you get used to it (and that could take some time)."
Graphics were another issue on which reviewers did not find consensus. Reviewer Scott Miller mentioned the "amazingly detailed EGA graphics" in the game's IBM compatible release in a review published in Compute!. L.S. Lichtmann found this version's graphics to be merely "adequate to the task." and reviewer Chris Jenkins stated that the "graphics are colourful, but not overly imaginative." Sandra Foley commended the graphics of the game's Amiga release: "Big, colourful, and easy on the eye, MegaTravellers graphics are better than those of any previous computer RPG." Amiga Formats reviewer wrote, "Every time something moves on the screen, it jerks. All the moving graphics look small, blocky and quite pathetic. The scrolling is eyewatering...."
Scott Miller stated that the game's IBM compatible release supports both RealSound and the Covox Speech Thing which provide "great sound effects" to the player with the proper computer hardware.
Reviews
Amiga Power - Jul 1991
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) - Jun 1991
Challenge #47 (1990)
CU Amiga - Jun 1991
White Wolf #22 (Aug./Sept. 1990)
Versions
Criticism of the game's handling of ground combat upon its initial release prompted Paragon to issue an updated version 3.0 of the game in late 1990 which featured an enhanced combat system. The new version offered the ability for the player to pause repeatedly the real-time combat to order party members to change their positions or fire their weapons at a selected opponent. This update was made available without charge to everyone who had purchased an earlier version of the game.
Paragon implemented additional changes in preparation for the game's publication in the United Kingdom by its European distributor, Empire Software. On the basis of criticism generated upon the game's initial release, the user interface was retooled to provide the player with greater ability to control the game with a mouse, and the realistic inertia-based thrust model of spaceship flight was replaced.
Legacy
Marc Miller subsequently assumed a more direct role as a game designer with Paragon Software in its work on a sequel, MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients, published in 1991. MegaTraveller 2 featured an updated user interface which incorporated some of the enhancements Paragon made in preparation for MegaTraveller 1s release in the United Kingdom. In the summer of 1992, MicroProse issued a newsletter promising the release of a third installment in the series to be published in the fall of 1992 under its MicroPlay label. The advertisement claimed that MegaTraveller 3: The Unknown Worlds would include three distinctly themed scenarios: "pursuit and rescue, mysterious quest and classic science fiction." It was also stated that this game would feature a "new random world generator that guarantees no two universes are ever the same." However, neither Paragon Software nor MicroProse released subsequent MegaTraveller games.
In November 1996, Computer Gaming Worlds editors wrote that MegaTraveller 1s "failure kept many other deserving paper RPGs from traveling to the computer for nearly a decade."
See also
MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients
Paragon Software
Traveller (role-playing game)
References
Bibliography
External links
MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy at GameSpot
MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy at GameSpy
MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy at MobyGames
Review in Info
1990 video games
Amiga games
Atari ST games
DOS games
Role-playing video games
Science fiction video games
Video games based on tabletop role-playing games
Video games developed in the United States
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1704504
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinSCP
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WinSCP
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WinSCP (Windows Secure Copy) is a free and open-source SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), WebDAV, Amazon S3, and secure copy protocol (SCP) client for Microsoft Windows. Its main function is secure file transfer between a local computer and a remote server. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager and file synchronization functionality. For secure transfers, it uses the Secure Shell protocol (SSH) and supports the SCP protocol in addition to SFTP.
Development of WinSCP started around March 2000 and continues. Originally it was hosted by the University of Economics in Prague, where its author worked at the time. Since July 16, 2003, it is licensed under the GNU GPL. It is hosted on SourceForge and GitHub.
WinSCP is based on the implementation of the SSH protocol from PuTTY and FTP protocol from FileZilla. It is also available as a plugin for Altap Salamander file manager, and there exists a third-party plugin for the FAR file manager.
Features
Graphical user interface
Translated into several languages
Integration with Windows (drag and drop, URL, shortcut icons)
All common operations with files
Support for SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2, FTP protocol, WebDAV protocol and Amazon S3 protocol.
Batch file scripting, command-line interface, and .NET wrapper
Directory synchronization in several semi or fully automatic ways
Integrated text editor
Support for SSH password, keyboard-interactive, public key, and Kerberos (GSS) authentication
Integrates with Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) for full support of public key authentication with SSH
Choice of Windows File Explorer-like or Norton Commander-like interfaces
Optionally stores session information
Optionally import session information from PuTTY sessions in the registry
Able to upload files and retain associated original date/timestamps, unlike FTP clients
WinSCP as a remote editor
WinSCP can act as a remote editor. When the user clicks on a (text) file in the remote file manager, it transfers the file to the local machine and opens it in the integrated editor, allowing users to edit it locally as they would with any other text file. Alternatively, the user may choose local editors based on file extensions. Whenever the document is saved, the remote version is updated automatically.
Portable version
Apart from the standard package, three portable versions are also available: A generic package and two customized versions for LiberKey and PortableApps.com. The portable version runs on Wine on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, and BSD.
Advertisements in installer
Some older versions of the WinSCP installer included OpenCandy advertising module or bundled Google Chrome. Since version 5.5.5 (August 2014) the installer does not contain any advertisement.
WinSCP itself did not and does not contain any advertisements.
See also
Comparison of file managers
Comparison of SSH clients
Comparison of FTP client software
References
External links
Documentation
Cryptographic software
Data synchronization
Free file managers
Free file transfer software
Free FTP clients
Free multilingual software
Free software programmed in C++
Orthodox file managers
Portable software
SFTP clients
Utilities for Windows
Windows-only free software
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciconia%20When%20They%20Cry
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Ciconia When They Cry
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Ciconia When They Cry is an episodic visual novel game series in development by 07th Expansion, collectively considered the fifth entry in the When They Cry series, following Higurashi and Umineko. It follows people trying to prevent the outbreak of World War IV. It is released episodically for Microsoft Windows and macOS, by 07th Expansion in Japan and by MangaGamer internationally, and is planned to be four episodes long. The first, "Phase 1: For You, the Replaceable Ones", was released on October 4, 2019; the second was planned for release in 2020, but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The series is written by Ryukishi07 and produced by Nakao Bōshi, and features art by Ryukishi07 and Remotaro, and music by several returning series composers. It was designed to be different from Higurashi and Umineko, with a larger world compared to their isolated settings, and with the intent that the player can choose to just enjoy the story or optionally try to solve the mysteries themselves, a change influenced by the 1995 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The story's set-up was also designed to be more condensed, with episode 1 roughly corresponding to the first half of Umineko in terms of plot progression.
Overview
Ciconia When They Cry is a visual novel set after the end of World War III. It follows Gauntlet Knights – young people trained to use a new military technology called the Gauntlet, which allows its user to fly, fight, and repel attacks – who have become friends and aim to prevent the outbreak of a fourth world war.
Development
Ciconia When They Cry is developed by 07th Expansion, with a scenario, original character designs and illustrations by Ryukishi07. The game is produced by Nakao Bōshi, and features graphics and coloring by Remotaro. The music is composed by returning When They Cry series staff, including Dai, Luck Ganriki, Xaki, and Uni Akiyama; and the opening theme is performed by Maria Sawada. The game is developed and released episodically, and is planned to be four episodes long.
The game's title – "ciconia", a genus of birds in the stork family – comes from how the game focuses on child characters. While at a convention outside Japan, Ryukishi07 asked recurring 07th Expansion composer Gin Kreuz how to localize the title in Japanese to make it sound more appealing. Kreuz responded with "ciconia" as opposed to "chikonia". The latter, as Ryukishi07 claims, sounded similar to how a Japanese person would pronounce it. Convinced by how natural Kreuz's pronunciation sounded, Ryukishi07 opted for "ciconia", owing to its sound and how well he thought it fit the game's science fiction setting.
Writing
Production of the first episode began in November 2017, while Ryukishi07 was working on the audio drama Haworthia, which was used to test Ciconia's concepts. It was announced the following year in July 2018 with an illustration of its protagonist, under the working title "●● no Naku Koro ni" ("[Blank] When They Cry"), along with the expanded Umineko compilation Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku, both of which were planned for release in Q4 2018. In October 2018, both were delayed until Q2/Q3 2019, due to inaccurate scheduling based on what Ryukishi07 had been physically capable of when he worked on Higurashi and Umineko about ten years prior, as well as due to the longer script compared to Higurashi and Umineko first episodes.
Ryukishi07 intended for Ciconia to stand out from previous When They Cry games, and wanted change up some elements that had been recurring up until that point: he had for example specifically intended for the player to actively try to figure out the mysteries in Higurashi and Umineko, but changed this for Ciconia to also let the player simply enjoy the story. This decision was influenced by the 1995 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which both presents a straightforward narrative and hints at larger mysteries of its world. Another change was the scope of the game's setting: the series had featured increasingly smaller settings, going from Higurashi isolated village to Umineko small island cut off from the outside world, so Ryukishi07 decided to create a When They Cry game set in a large world. To show gratitude to international fans of the series, he also specifically wrote the script to feature characters from around the world.
Ciconia story was condensed compared to those in Higurashi and Umineko: both of them were split into four "question arcs" and four "answer arcs", where their mysteries are set up and solved, with an initial episode mainly serving to introduce the characters and setting. Meanwhile, Ciconia was constructed to span four episodes, with its equivalents of the "question arcs" condensed to give more room for its "answer arcs", with Ryukishi07 describing the end of Ciconia first episode as equivalent to Umineko third or fourth episode in terms of plot progression. This was in part done due to time, as the series' release schedule had meant that it had taken two years for just Umineko "answer arcs" to come out.
Music and visuals
The music tracks in the game were specifically composed to begin quickly, and give the listener a feeling for the song's mood within the first few seconds, as the developers wanted to avoid a situation where a scene ends before the player has gotten past a long prelude. As Ryukishi07 did not have the musical knowledge to describe what kind of music he wanted in the game, he would listen to a lot of music and send tracks that fit his vision to Dai, who would in turn write instructions based on those tracks for himself and the other composers.
The game's character sprites were created in a collaboration between Ryukishi07 and Remotaro: Ryukishi07 would draw sketches of each sprite, and Remotaro would then draw the line art and paint the sprites. She would specifically try to preserve the style and charm of Ryukishi07's artwork, as she knew that there were fans of Higurashi and Umineko who were attached to Ryukishi's art, while still adding more details and trying to make the art shine with focus on texture, light and shadow.
Release
At Sakura-Con 2019, Ryukishi07 and video game publisher MangaGamer announced that they would release the game simultaneously in English and Japanese, coinciding with Summer Comiket 2019 on August 9, 2019. In July 2019, however, 07th Expansion announced that the game had been delayed until late September 2019; it was then delayed again, with the first episode, "Phase 1: For You, the Replaceable Ones", released on October 4, 2019 for Microsoft Windows and macOS. In Japan, it additionally got a physical release. The second episode was initially planned to be released in May 2020, and then delayed until later in the year. In November 2020, Ryukishi07 announced that it had been delayed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which he considered too similar to the catastrophic events of the game for him to release Phase 2 at that time, describing it as a situation akin to if the monster Godzilla had attacked while the 1954 film was in production.
The English localization is handled by the translation group Witch Hunt, who previously worked on the English translation of Umineko. They are also working on a localization of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku, but are on Ryukishi07's request prioritizing Ciconia. The English language option was added to the Japanese physical release through a patch update in November 2019.
Episodes
Reception
The first episode of Ciconia was well received by players. Keiichi Yokoyama of Automaton was impressed with it, and said that its production values were noticeably improved compared to previous entries in the When They Cry series, but also described it as "for better or worse, a Ryukishi07 work".
Notes
References
External links
2019 video games
Episodic video games
MacOS games
Ryukishi07
Science fiction video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Visual novels
Windows games
World War III video games
Single-player video games
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scam%20letters
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Scam letters
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A scam letter is a document, distributed electronically or otherwise, to a recipient misrepresenting the truth with the aim of gaining an advantage in a fraudulent manner.
Origin
Currently it is unclear how far back the origin of scam letters date. The oldest reference to the origin of scam letters could be found at the Spanish Prisoner scam. This scam dates back to the 1580s, where the fictitious prisoner would promise to share non-existent treasure with the person who would send him money to bribe the guards.
Today scam letters are a general part of electronic life, ending up in mailboxes in hordes.
Types
Lottery scam letter
Based on mostly the same principles as the Nigerian 419 advance-fee fraud scam, this scam letter informs recipients that their e-mail addresses have been drawn in online lotteries and that they have won large sums of money. Here the victims will also be required to pay substantial small amounts of money in order to have the winning money released, which never materializes.
Phishing scam letter
Phishing scam letters, in short, are a notification from an online 'financial institution', requiring its clients to log into their accounts and verify or change their log-in details. A fraudulent website is set up by offenders, which appears to be the website of the actual financial institution. Once a victim follows the log-in link from the scam letter and logs into the 'account', the log-in details are sent to the offenders.
Cheap Viagra and software product scam letter
This is yet another scam where the misrepresentation is made as an offer for cheap medical products and computer software. Often, when ordered, victims will not receive the goods or in certain instances a fake version of the goods ordered.
Dating love scam letter
Often users will find the letter from a young and attractive female wanting to meet or relocate to the users' country. After invoking their confidence trick on the user they will require the recipient of the scam letter to pay the funds necessary for the relocation. Once paid, the correspondence ends and the writer never appears.
Subscription scam
Users of some Web sites are sometimes faced with invoices from Internet sites which they have visited. One company with a reputation for this is the Swiss-German based company Media Intense GmBH, which runs win-load.net. Users are asked to create an account before downloading a piece of software. The terms and conditions state that the account requires a subscription of 8 euros per month for a minimum of 24 months, but that the user forfeits the right to cancel. The user will then receive threatening invoices from the company.
Today there exist many forms of scam letters distributed on the Internet. The mentioned examples above act as an indication of how these scam letters work and how victims are defrauded.
Distribution
Postal services
In the past, before the introduction of electronic communications, scam letters were posted by normal postal services, which had been a slow and tedious method of defrauding victims. Although this method tremendously decreased its appearance today, it still occurs that a victim might receive the posted scam letter.
Fax
Faxed scam letters are in no way an uncommon occurrence. Today many scam letters are still faxed to corporate institutions, although they are not a large amount due to cost restraints on behalf of offenders.
Electronic mail
E-mail is today the prevalent way in which scam letters are distributed. Due to its cost-effectiveness and international reach, offenders prefer this method as victims are reached in a much more timely manner.
Forums and chat rooms
Often offenders will target busy Internet-based forums and chat rooms where they will circulate their scam letters to registered users.
Law enforcement
Generally, law enforcement agencies from around the world are interested in scam letters where actual losses incurred upon a victim. Due to the sheer volume of scam letters distributed on the Internet, no law enforcement agency will be in a position to investigate every scam letter reported.
Most law enforcement agencies have a method of reporting scam letters to them.
Penalty
Edna Fiedler, 44, of Olympia, Washington, on June 25, 2008, pleaded guilty in a Tacoma court and was sentenced to two years imprisonment and five years of supervised release or probation in an Internet $1 million "Nigerian check scam". She conspired to commit bank, wire and mail fraud against US citizens, specifically using Internet by having an accomplice ship counterfeit checks and money orders to her from Lagos, Nigeria in November 2007. Fiedler shipped out $609,000 fake check and money orders when arrested and prepared to send additional $1.1 million counterfeit materials. Also, the U.S. Postal Service intercepted $2.1 billion in counterfeit checks, lottery tickets and eBay overpayment schemes with a face value of $2.1 billion.
See also
Fraud
Confidence tricks
Phishing
Spanish Prisoner
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian financial authority mandated to investigate against advance fee frauds
PhoneBusters, a Canadian law enforcement project combatting advance fee fraud
Nigerian organized crime
References
External links
Baiterbase scam email database, live
Alternative live source of scam emails from Baiterbase
Nigerian 419 Fraud Scam Letter Database
.NExT Web Security: Reporting Scam Letters & Searchable Scam Letter Database
419 Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud - Scam Lifecycle (© .NExT Web Security)
Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website
Reporting Economic Crime On-Line (RECOL) Canada
Fraud
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11040164
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James%20H.%20Morris
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James H. Morris
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James Hiram Morris (born 1941) is a professor (emeritus) of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. He was previously dean of the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science and Dean of Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley.
Biography
A native of Pittsburgh, Morris received a Bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University, an S.M. in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT.
Morris taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he developed some important underlying principles of programming languages: inter-module protection and lazy evaluation. He was a co-discoverer of the Knuth–Morris–Pratt algorithm for string-search.
For eight years, he worked at the Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), where he was part of the team that developed the Xerox Alto System. He also directed the Cedar programming environment project.
From 1983 to 1988, Morris directed the Information Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, a joint project with IBM, which developed a prototype university computing system, the Andrew Project. He has been the principal investigator of two National Science Foundation projects aimed at computer-mediated communication: EXPRES and Prep.
He was a founder of the Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute and MAYA Design Group, a consulting firm specializing in interactive product design.
Current papers
D.E.Knuth, J.H.Morris, V.R.Pratt: Fast Pattern Matching in Strings(Prominent Books and Articles in the 20th Century)[J]. Journal De Radiologie Délectrologie Et De Médecine Nucléaire, 1968, 49(5):378-81.
Morris, J. H., Satyanarayanan, M., Conner, M. H., Howard, J. H., Rosenthal, D. S., & Smith, F. D. (1986). Andrew: a distributed personal computing environment. Communications of the Acm, 29(3), 184-201.
Henderson, P., & Morris, J. H. (1976). A lazy evaluator. ACM Sigact-Sigplan Symposium on Principles on Programming Languages (pp. 95–103). DBLP.
Neuwirth, C. M., Kaufer, D. S., Chandhok, R., & Morris, J. H. (1990). Issues in the design of computer support for co-authoring and commenting. ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 183–195). ACM.
Geschke, C. M., Morris, J. H., & Satterthwaite, E. H. (1977). Early experience with mesa. Communications of the Acm, 20(8), 540-553.
Morris, J. H. (1973). Protection in programming languages. Communications of the Acm, 16(16), 15-21.
Neuwirth, C. M., Kaufer, D. S., Chandhok, R., & Morris, J. H. (1994). Computer support for distributed collaborative writing: defining parameters of interaction. ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 145–152). ACM.
References
American computer scientists
Carnegie Mellon University faculty
Carnegie Mellon University alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
Living people
Human-Computer Interaction Institute faculty
1941 births
Scientists at PARC (company)
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41779532
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VPMi
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VPMi
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VPMi is a cloud-based suite of Project Portfolio Management software used by companies to gain visibility into their project portfolio to manage schedules, budgets, scope, alignment with strategies, balanced scorecard, resources and documents. The VPMi suite was created to help prevent miscommunication between business units and IT staff. The VPMi suite originally comprised two software tools, VPMi Professional and VPMi Express, however, both of these applications have been merged into a new application simply called VPMi. The application is developed by VCSonline, a company headquartered in Valley Park, just outside St. Louis, Missouri, with an additional office in Kolkata, India. VCSonline is mentioned in the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Based IT Project and Portfolio Management Services, Worldwide.
History
VCSonline was co-founded in 1998 by Nick Matteucci and Jeff Pupillo, two former Ernst & Young project management consultants. The first version of VPMi Professional was released in 1998. By 2003, the company had grown to 10 employees and a new worth of $1.3 million. Version 3.0 introduced "online process maps that show where different projects are located in their life cycles." The latest release of VPMi, version 5.1.18686, was released in November, 2014. The company currently employs a staff of 20.
Implementation Options
Like other web based project management software VPMi can be delivered as both a software as a service (SaaS) model as well as through a local implementation. Currently, VCSonline publishes patches and release updates for VPMi every month, on the second Friday of the month. Release Notes are made available on the Monday before the update is made available, and the User Guide is updated with new information by the official release date. These updates contain new features, bug fixes, and any other alterations made to the application.
VPMi's version number changed from 5.0.x to 5.1.x with the release of the Workplan Gantt Editor in January, 2014.
Version 5.1 Features
Hybrid Forecasting: Added a new form of forecasting that combines team forecasting and workplan forecasting.
Modify ETC through Assignments: Added the ability to modify ETC directly from the assignments page.
Partial Time Period Lock: Added the ability to lock a time period partway through the week. This does not submit time, but prevents time from being modified within the locked period.
People Audit: Tracks all changes to people, including roles.
Service Request Single Routing: Improved routing for Service Requests so that it can be done from a single page.
Time Audit: Tracks all changes to timesheets, allowing intensive auditing of time entry practices.
User Defined Fields: Added a large number of custom fields with a new interface to improve customization within the application.
Workplan Gantt Editor: Create Workplans via a browser with drag and drop simplicity. Now includes critical path scheduling.
Features
Workplan Gantt Editor
A prominent feature in version 5.1 is the workplan gantt editor. This is a .NET tool powered by RadiantQ designed to streamline the project management process. This improved the classic workplan management pages by reducing the need to reload pages and allowing a Project Manager to review the effects of their changes prior to saving them.
The editor contains two sides, a workplan side (see above) and a gantt side (see below).
Unlike previous implementations of the gantt in VPMi, the Workplan Gantt Editor lines up workplan rows with gantt rows, making the relationships easier to see.
Dashboards
VPMi has a variety of dashboards that quickly provide access to information at a glance. These dashboards also link to full records within VPMi. Currently, there are the following dashboards in VPMi: My Home, My Resources, My Projects, My Organizations, My Reports, My Calendar, Organization, Project, and Program.
Project Management
Projects can be managed entirely within VPMi, or through Microsoft Project (MSP) integration allowing Project Managers to upload and sync Microsoft Project Plans, managing their projects in a tool they may already be familiar with. VPMi can also be used directly to manage workplans in a browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) called the Workplan Gantt Editor. Once created, projects can be routed along a customizable Process Map. Additionally, VPMi has built in templating, allowing PMs to define a project as a template, then apply that template to new projects, populating them with the appropriate settings and workplan information. Projects also have a Status, which indicates on a Red, Yellow or Green scale what state the project is in. VPMi allows feedback to be requested from project team members. Finally, projects can be prioritized so it is clear where resources should be dedicated first.
Workplan Management
VPMi tracks three kinds of workplan items: Tasks, Deliverables, and Milestones. These items can be tracked by client-defined phases, or by percentage complete. Each of these items can have time tracked to it, and drive the financials of the projects and programs.
Log Item Tracking
VPMi tracks five types of logs: Action Items, Change Requests, Risks, Issues, and Support Logs. These items can be associated with Projects or Programs, and appear in a variety of reporting. Each of these items can have time tracked to it, and appear in various reports.
Program Management
Projects can be associated with programs, so that the metrics of several projects can be considered together in a larger context. In addition, programs can have their own milestones, change requests, action items, issues, and risks. Programs can also track financial metrics across the scope of many projects. Like projects, they also have a Status, which indicates on a Red, Yellow, or Green scale what state the program is in. VPMi allows feedback to be requested from program team members.
Reports
VPMi offers a large number of pre-built reports that generate useful metrics about items within VPMi, all of which can be downloaded to a Microsoft Office format (Excel or Word). In addition to these pre-built reports, VPMi offers the Ad Hoc Report Writer, which is a tool that allows users to create reports using a wide variety of data sources. The User Documentation includes a tutorial on how to use the Ad Hoc Report Writer.
Time Tracking
VPMi allows users to track time to any item through assignments and time tracking. Time can be approved or rejected by specified users. Time periods can be locked so no additional time can be tracked for that period. Users can be designated as delegates to enter or approve time for other users. Additionally, VPMi offers a wide variety of reporting based on this time entry data.
Financials and Forecasting
VPMi tracks a variety of financial indicators, including labor costs, and offers three kinds of labor forecasting sources: workplan, team and resource plan. VPMi breaks these down into labor and non-labor costs, breaking it out into actuals, planned, baselined and budgeted. Additionally, VPMi can track and forecast expenses for projects. Forecasts are updated based on time entry data.
User Management
VPMi's user management tracks roles and skills for all users. Skills are broken out into five levels, represent differing degrees of expertise. A large number of user attributes can be managed, including email addresses, what organization they belong to, their manager, their start and end dates and billing and cost rates, among other attributes.
Other Features
Search Filters: Filter pages allow you to disseminate information to make finding things easier.
Online Glossary: Extensive User Guide generated by HelpNDoc.
Document Management: VPMi allows the attaching of various document types to items, allowing them to be downloaded by other users. It also offers a globally available set of documents called "Standards" linked through the top menu.
Calendars: Sync projects with in-app calendar.
See also
Project management software
List of project management software
Project Portfolio Management
Comparison of time tracking software
External links
VCSonline website
Additional VPMi Professional Information
Additional VPMi Express Information
References
"PM Network Case Study: VPMi.", PM Network July, 2007.
Project management software
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53147436
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into%20the%20Breach
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Into the Breach
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Into the Breach is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by indie studio Subset Games, consisting of Justin Ma and Matthew Davis. Into the Breach is their second game, following FTL: Faster Than Light. It features writing by Chris Avellone and music composed by Ben Prunty. It was released for Microsoft Windows in February 2018, for macOS and Nintendo Switch in August 2018, and for Linux in April 2020. The Nintendo Switch version was released in Japan on September 18, 2020.
Gameplay
Into the Breach is set in the far future where humanity fights against an army of giant monsters collectively called the Vek. To combat them, the player controls soldiers that operate giant mechs that can be equipped with a variety of weapons, armor, and other equipment. The game uses a turn-based combat system, allowing the player to coordinate the actions of their team in response to enemy moves and actions that serve to telegraph their attacks.
In combat, the player controls three different mechs against the Vek, and will be given an objective for that map along with a fixed number of turns to complete that objective. The principal goal for any map is to protect civilian structures which support the power grid that supports the mechs, but additional objectives may be presented. Should a civilian structure be damaged or destroyed, the power grid is weakened. On each turn, Vek forces will move across the board and attack. The player is shown the direction of the Vek unit's intended attack and information on the number of moves the Vek unit is able to take and its remaining health are available on screen. The appearance of new Vek follows each turn. This gives the player the ability to then move each mech and fire one of its weapons as to either defeat the Vek unit, push the Vek off a line of attack, avoid an attack, intercept newly spawning Vek or an attack on civilian structures. Mechs can only take a limited amount of damage during battle before becoming inoperable, though a player can have a mech idle a turn to repair some damage; battle damage is otherwise completely repaired between maps. Pilots of mechs that defeat a Vek gain experience points, which can be used to unlock new skills. The gameplay of Into the Breach has been compared to that of chess, as it is less about overpowering the opposing forces and instead about maintaining position control and sacrificing units to gain a larger advantage.
Similar to FTL, the game is broken into a sequence of islands each with a number of scenarios (based on island sectors) to complete; while the islands remain the same each game, the scenarios themselves are generated procedurally in a roguelike manner. After completing the first island, the player is given the choice of which islands in the sequence to protect next; islands have various conditions that can affect combat scenarios, and more hazardous conditions can gain greater rewards from completing the scenarios on each. Should the player lose any scenario, either due to their 3 mechs becoming disabled, losing their power grid, or failing to protect a specific target for that scenario, then the player has the option to send one of the pilots back in time prior to the start of the first mission – effectively starting a new game – retaining their current experience and abilities to give an edge in the next battle. Reviewers for the website Rock Paper Shotgun described the gameplay as a mix of Pacific Rim and Edge of Tomorrow due to the time-traveling elements. Other permanent improvements, such as new pilots or sets of mechs, become available as the player completes various milestones.
Development
Into the Breach came out of ideas that Ma and Davis had following the success of FTL. They had tried various prototypes for a game, including one for a grid-based tactical system, which they recognized was seeing a resurgence in the video game industry due to the success of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012). However, they still needed some type of hook to differentiate their game. This came as a response to films like Man of Steel and Pacific Rim, where "the whole city gets demolished, but no one cares because the good guys won", according to Ma. They set about to make the game focus on the impact of collateral damage so that defending buildings and other structures would become a priority rather than just winning.
Subset included the effects of giant mechs-vs-giant alien battles on the landscape as the game time progress, with mountains being torn down, forests destroyed by fire, and buildings razed. To emphasize this in gameplay, they include the mechanic that mechs are powered from local power nodes in the buildings, so that if these buildings are destroyed, they may not be able to power their mechs. This created tough decisions for players, such as whether to destroy a building to get a short-term edge in battle or to prevent a catastrophe to a larger number of buildings. To further help emphasize the need to care for these buildings, Avellone's story was written to remind the player that as they fight with the mechs, there will be people cowering for safety in these buildings, and to create emotional impact when these people are killed when a building is destroyed.
In contrast to XCOM, where a simple battle may take up to an hour to complete all objectives, Subset wanted each battle to be relatively short in terms of gameplay time. The limited turn counter was used to keep battles short, and Subset found that telegraphing the Vek's movements further helped to hasten the pace. They developed scenarios and situations to require the player to devise new strategies on the fly which they anticipated that players would build upon in later parts of the game.
Development of Into the Breach started mid-2015, after all of Subset's commitments to FTL were completed, providing them with the financial security to move forward onto this project. The game, announced in February 2017, was expected to be released on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, though Subset did not expect this to be a simultaneous release. Subset said at the time of its reveal that Into the Breach was still a ways off from release, as they had enough in place to show off the game's ideas and preliminary art, but they still lack a lot of content for the game, and prefer to perfect the game at their own pace. Rock Paper Shotgun considered an early preview copy they had played in November 2017 as nearly complete outside of art assets and game balance issues, and reported that the game is expected to release in early 2018, and was eventually set for February 27, 2018.
In addition to Avellone and Prunty, Subset Games has obtained help from Isla Schanuel for community management and user testing, Power Up Audio for audio work, and Polina Hristova to assist Ma in art assets. Ben Prunty, who had composed the FTL soundtrack, provided the music for Into the Breach. Like with FTL, Prunty and Subset wanted to use a style of music not normally associated with the narrative genre, but had difficulty in deciding which direction it should go, particularly that they felt that music for a strategy game should be soft and quiet. Ma shared with Prunty 2Cellos' take on Hans Zimmer's "Mombasa" from Inception: Music from the Motion Picture, which gave Prunty the inspiration to create the game's first music track, used in the game's teaser trailer. In addition to the digital score, Prunty added some guitar riffs atop the music, creating a motif that appeared throughout the tracks. Further, Prunty helped Subset to determine when music should be used in the game; rather than music playing constantly, he suggested to have music only start when the player completes the deployment of the mechs on a map, creating a dynamic for the game going forward.
The Windows version of Into the Breach was released on February 27, 2018. The macOS version followed later that year on August 9, 2018. The Nintendo Switch version followed later that month on August 28, 2018. A native Linux version was released on April 20, 2020.
Reception
Into the Breach received praise upon its release, holding a 90 out of 100 on review aggregation site Metacritic and is the site's best reviewed PC game for 2018. Critics lauded the simple but strategic gameplay, high difficulty, artstyle and soundtrack. The editors of Popular Mechanics named it the best video game of 2018, writing that it "is a refreshing take on the turn-based strategy game and represents the most inventive evolution of the genre."
Accolades
The game was a runner-up for "Best Debut" and "Best Game of the Year" in Giant Bomb's 2018 Game of the Year Awards.
References
External links
2018 video games
Interactive Achievement Award winners
MacOS games
Turn-based strategy video games
Windows games
Video games about mecha
Nintendo Switch games
Video games developed in the United States
Indie video games
Stadia games
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881062
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M0n0wall
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M0n0wall
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m0n0wall was an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CD-ROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs. The PC version can be run with just a Live CD and a floppy disk to store configuration data, or on a single Compact Flash card (with an IDE adapter). This eliminates the need for a hard drive, which reduces noise and heat levels.
On February 15, 2015 Manuel Kasper announced the "m0n0wall project has officially ended. No development will be done anymore, and there will be no further releases," encouraging "all current m0n0wall users to check out OPNsense and contribute if they can."
Features
m0n0wall provides for a web-based configuration and uses PHP exclusively for the GUI and bootup configuration. Additionally, it adopts a single XML file for configuration parameters.
Some functions of m0n0wall are:
Stateful packet filter firewall
IPsec and PPTP VPNs
Inbound and Outbound Network Address Translation
Captive portal
Traffic shaper
Inbound and Outbound port filtering
Support for 802.1q compatible VLANs
Multiple IP addresses on LAN and WAN ports
IPS
Hardware
m0n0wall is installed on embedded hardware designed and manufactured by some companies.
Derivatives
Similar hardware requirements
t1n1wall: 2015 fork of m0n0wall after it was discontinued.
SmallWall: Another 2015 fork of m0n0wall after its end-of-life, no activity since 2016.
m0n0wall mod: Original m0n0wall with additional features (DHCP+PPTP, DHCP+PPPoE, static+PPPoE, L2TP, WAN eth interface), no activity since 2013.
Extended hardware requirements
OPNsense: Forked from pfSense in 2015.
pfSense: Forked from the m0n0wall project in 2004, first released in 2006.
Other usages (not a firewall)
AskoziaPBX: An embedded telephone system.
XigmaNAS: NAS Network-attached storage distro using FreeBSD, uses portions of m0n0wall web GUI. Formerly NAS4Free.
See also
Comparison of firewalls
List of router or firewall distributions
References
External links
2003 software
BSD software
Firewall software
Free routing software
FreeBSD
Gateway/routing/firewall distribution
Routers (computing)
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16323949
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20online%20games
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History of online games
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Online games are video games played over a computer network. The evolution of these games parallels the evolution of computers and computer networking, with new technologies improving the essential functionality needed for playing video games on a remote server. Many video games have an online component, allowing players to play against or cooperatively with players across a network around the world.
Background of technologies
The first video and computer games, such as NIMROD (1951), OXO (1952), and Spacewar! (1962), were for one or two players sitting at a single computer, which was being used only to play the game. Later in the 1960s, computers began to support time-sharing, which allowed multiple users to share the use of a computer simultaneously. Systems of computer terminals were created, allowing users to operate the computer from a different room from where the computer was housed. Soon after, modem links further expanded this range so that users did not have to be in the same building as the computer; terminals could connect to their host computers via dial-up or leased telephone lines. With the increased remote access, "host-based" games were created, in which users on remote systems connected to a central computer to play single-player, and soon after, multiplayer games.
Later, in the 1970s, packet-based computer networking technology began to mature. Between 1973 and 1975, Xerox PARC developed local area networks based on Ethernet. Additionally, the wide area network ARPANET further developed from its 1969 roots, led to the creation of the Internet on January 1, 1983. These LANs and WANs allowed for network games, where the game created and received network packets; systems located across LANs or the Internet could run games with each other in peer-to-peer or client–server models.
PLATO
In the 1960s, Rick Bloome implemented SpaceWar! as a two-player game on PLATO.
In the early 1970s, the PLATO time-sharing system, created by the University of Illinois and Control Data Corporation, allowed students at several locations to use online lessons in one of the earliest systems for computer-aided instruction. In 1972, PLATO IV terminals with new graphics capabilities were introduced, and students started using this system to create multiplayer games. By 1978, PLATO had multiplayer interactive graphical dungeon crawls, air combat (Airfight), tank combat, space battles (Empire and Spasim), with features such as interplayer messaging, persistent game characters, and team play for at least 32 simultaneous players.
Networked host-based systems
A key goal of early network systems such as ARPANET and JANET was to allow users of "dumb" text-based terminals attached to one host computer (or, later, to terminal servers) to interactively use programs on other host computers. This meant that games on those systems were accessible to users in many different locations by the use of programs such as telnet.
Most of the early host-based games were single-player, and frequently originated and were primarily played at universities. A sizable proportion was written on DEC-20 mainframes, as those had a strong presence in the university market. Games such as The Oregon Trail (1971), Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), and Star Trek (1972) were very popular, with several or many students each playing their own copy of the game at once, time-sharing the system with each other and users running other programs.
Eventually, though, multiplayer host-based games on networked computers began to be developed. One of the most important of these was MUD (1978), a program that spawned a genre and had significant input into the development of concepts of shared world design, having a formative impact on the evolution of MMORPG's. In 1984, MAD debuted on BITNET; this was the first MUD fully accessible from a worldwide computer network. During its two-year existence, 10% of the sites on BITNET connected to it. In 1988, another BITNET MUD named MUDA appeared. It lasted for five years, before going offline due to the retirement of the computers it ran on.
In the summer of 1973, Maze War was first written at NASA's Ames Research Center in California by high school summer interns using Imlac PDS-1 computers. The authors added two-player capability by connecting two IMLAC computers with serial cables. Since two computers were involved, as opposed to "dumb terminals", they could use formatted protocol packets to send information to each other, so this could be considered the first peer-to-peer computer video game. It could also be called the first first-person shooter.
In 1983, Gary Tarolli wrote a flight simulator demonstration program for Silicon Graphics workstation computers. In 1984, networking capabilities were added by connecting two machines using serial cables just as had been done with the IMLACs for Mazewar at NASA eleven years earlier. Next, XNS support was added, allowing multiple stations to play over an Ethernet, just as with the Xerox version of Mazewar. In 1986, UDP support was added (port 5130), making SGI Dogfight the first game to ever use the Internet protocol suite. The packets used, though, were broadcast packets, which meant that the game was limited to a single network segment; it could not cross a router, and thus could not be played across the Internet. Around 1989, IP Multicast capability was added, and the game became playable between any compatible hosts on the Internet, assuming that they had multicast access (which was quite uncommon). The multicast address is 224.0.1.2, making this only the third multicast application (and the first game) to receive an address assignment, with only the VMTP protocol (224.0.1.0) and the Network Time Protocol (224.0.1.1) having arrived earlier.
In May 1993, Sega of Japan demonstrated an online version of arcade OutRunners, allowing up to eight players to play the game across two different cities in Japan. It was the first online arcade game to be demonstrated, with two separate OutRunner four-player cabinets connected in Tokyo and Osaka via an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) operated by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT). Sega announced plans for a Japanese release in July 1993. A month later in June 1993, AT&T announced plans with Sega of America to introduce a similar online console gaming system for the Sega Genesis.
X Window System games
In 1986, MIT and DEC released the X Window System, which provided two important capabilities in terms of game development. Firstly, it provided a widely deployed graphics system for workstation computers on the Internet. A number of workstation graphics systems existed, including Bell Labs' BLIT, SGI's IRIS GL, Carnegie Mellon's Andrew Project, DEC's UWS (Ultrix Workstation Software), VWS (Vax Workstation Software), and Sun's NeWS, but X managed over time to secure cross-platform dominance, becoming available for systems from nearly all workstation manufacturers, and coming from MIT, had particular strength in the academic arena. Since Internet games were being written mostly by college students, this was critical.
Secondly, X had the capability of using computers as thin clients, allowing a personal workstation to use a program that was actually being run on a much more powerful server computer exactly as if the user were sitting at the server computer. While remote control programs such as VNC allow similar capabilities, X incorporates it at the operating system level, allowing for much more tightly integrated functionality than these later solutions provide; multiple applications running on different servers can display individual windows. For example, a word processor running on one server could have two or three windows open while a mail reader running on the workstation itself, and a game running on yet another server could each display their own windows, and all applications would be using native graphics calls. This meant that starting in the summer of 1986, a class of games began to be developed which relied on a fast host computer running the game and "throwing" X display windows, using personal workstation computers to remotely display the game and receive user input. Since X can use multiple networking systems, games based on remote X displays are not Internet-only games; they can be played over DECnet and other non-TCP/IP network stacks.
The first of these remote display games was Xtrek. Based on a PLATO system game, Empire, Xtrek is a 2D multiplayer space battle game loosely set in the Star Trek universe. This game could be played across the Internet, probably the first graphical game that could do so, a few months ahead of the X version of Maze War. Importantly, however, the game itself was not aware that it was using a network. In a sense, it was a host-based game, because the program only ran on a single computer, and knew about the X Window System, and the window system took care of the networking: essentially one computer displaying on several screens. The X version of Maze War, on the other hand, was peer-to-peer and used the network directly, with a copy of the program running on each computer in the game, instead of only a single copy running on a server. Netrek (originally called Xtrek II) was a fully network-aware client–server rewrite of Xtrek. Other remote X display-based games include xtank, xconq, xbattle and XPilot (1991). By 1989 Simson Garfinkel reported that on MIT's Project Athena, "Games like 'X-tank' and 'X-trek' let students at different workstations command tanks and starships, fire missiles at each other as fast as they can hit the buttons on their mice, and watch the results on their graphics displays". Observers estimated that up to one third of Athena usage was for games.
Commercial timesharing services
As time-sharing technology matured, it became practical for companies with excess capacity on their expensive computer systems to sell that capacity. Service bureaus such as Tymshare (founded 1966) dedicated to selling time on a single computer to multiple customers sprang up. The customers were typically businesses that did not have the need or money to purchase and manage their own computer systems.
In 1979, two time-sharing companies, The Source and CompuServe, began selling access to their systems to individual consumers and small business; this was the beginning of the era of online service providers. While an initial focus of service offerings was the ability for users to run their own programs, over time applications including online chat, electronic mail and BBSs and games became the dominant uses of the systems. For many people, these, rather than the academic and commercial systems available only at universities and technical corporations, were their first exposure to online gaming.
In 1984, CompuServe debuted Islands of Kesmai, the first commercial multiplayer online role playing game. Islands of Kesmai used scrolling text (ASCII graphics) on the screen to draw maps of player location, depict movement, and so on; the interface is considered Roguelike. At some point, graphical overlay interfaces could be downloaded, putting a slightly more glitzy face on the game. Playing cost was the standard CompuServe connection fee of the time, $6 per hour with a 300 baud modem, $12 for a 1200 baud modem; the game processed one command every 10 seconds, which equates to 1 cents per command.
The LINKS was an online network launched for the MSX in Japan in 1986. It featured several graphical multiplayer online games, including T&E Soft's Daiva Dr. Amandora and Super Laydock, Telenet Japan's Girly Block, and Bothtec's Dires. It also featured several downloadable games, including Konami's A1 Grand Prix and Network Rally.
Habitat was the first attempt at a large-scale commercial virtual community that was graphically based. Habitat was not a 3D environment and did not incorporate immersion techniques. It is considered a forerunner of the modern MMORPGs and was quite unlike other online communities (i.e. MUDs and MOOs with text-based interfaces) of the time. Habitat had a GUI and a large userbase of consumer-oriented users, and those elements in particular have made it a much-cited project. When Habitat was shut down in 1988, it was succeeded by a scaled-down but a more sophisticated game called Club Caribe.
In 1987, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi partnered with Nomura Securities on the development of the Family Computer Network System for the Famicom (NES) in Japan. Led by Masayuki Uemura, Nintendo Research & Development 2 developed the modem hardware, and Nomura Securities developed the client and server software and the information database. Five network-enabled games were developed for the system, including a graphical, competitive online multiplayer version of Yamauchi's favorite classic, Go.
In 1987, Kesmai (the company which developed Islands of Kesmai) released Air Warrior on GEnie. It was a graphical flight simulator/air combat game, initially using wire frame graphics, and could run on Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, or Commodore Amiga computers. Over time, Air Warrior was added to other online services, including Delphi, CRIS, CompuServe, America Online, Earthlink, GameStorm and CompuLink. Over time, Kesmai produced many improved versions of the game. In 1997, a backport from Windows to the Macintosh was made available as an open beta on the Internet. In 1999, Kesmai was purchased by Electronic Arts, which started running the game servers itself. The last Air Warrior servers were shut down on December 7, 2001.
In 1988, Federation debuted on Compunet. It was a text-based online game, focused around the interstellar economy of our galaxy in the distant future. Players work their way up a series of ranks, each of which has a slightly more rewarding and interesting but difficult job attached, which culminates in the ownership of one's own "duchy", a small solar system. After some time on GEnie, in 1995 Federation moved to AOL. AOL made online games free, dropping surcharges to play, in 1996, and the resulting load caused it to drop online game offerings entirely. IBGames, creators of Federation, started offering access to the game through its own website, making it perhaps the first game to transition off of an online service provider. IBGames kept the game operational until 2005 after most of the player base transitioned to the sequel, 2003's Federation II.
In 1990, Sega launched the online multiplayer gaming service Sega Meganet for the Mega Drive (Genesis) video game console. Sega continued to provide online gaming services for its later consoles, including the Sega NetLink service for the Sega Saturn and the SegaNet service for the Dreamcast. In 1995, Nintendo released the Satellaview, a satellite modem for the Super Famicom in Japan only after partnering up with St.GIGA, that gave the console online multiplayer gaming. In 1999, Nintendo released an add-on for the Nintendo 64 called the 64DD in Japan only, which offered Internet through a now-defunct dedicated online service for e-commerce, online gaming, and media sharing. The late 1990s saw an explosion of MMORPGs, including Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds (1996), Ultima Online (1997), Lineage (1998), and EverQuest (1999).
In 2000, Sony introduced online multiplayer to the PlayStation 2. It was the first time of Sony doing so, and like many major consoles to come, it will become a norm in the industry. In 2001, Nintendo introduced online multiplayer to the Nintendo GameCube using an add-on called a Broadband Adapter and Modem Adapter. It, however, came dead last in competing with the likes of the upcoming Xbox and the now icon of modern gaming, the PlayStation 2, both in sales and online impact. Later on, in 2002, Microsoft released the Xbox, which by using Xbox Live, offered online multiplayer and other Internet capabilities to the console and continued doing so for its later consoles, the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii, which offered online multiplayer gaming and other Internet capabilities over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and WiiConnect24, respectively. Both services were shut down on May 20, 2014, along with online capabilities of any games that utilize the feature, such as Mario Kart Wii (2008). The same year the Wii hit store shelves, rival Sony introduced its new console to add to its line of industry icons, the PlayStation 3 which used the brand new PlayStation Network (PSN) for online multiplayer gaming and other Internet capabilities to the system, and continued doing so for later consoles such as the PlayStation 4. In 2012, Nintendo made a successor to the dying Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection involving their next-gen console, the Wii U, and its handheld counterpart, the Nintendo 3DS, by creating the Nintendo Network to continue on its online multiplayer and Internet capabilities, in order to compete against Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network. Nintendo's latest console, the Nintendo Switch, does offer online play via Nintendo Network.
See also
History of massively multiplayer online games
Online game
Multiplayer video game
References
Mainframe games
Online games
MUDs
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37995091
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexor
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Nexor
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Nexor Limited is a privately held company based in Nottingham, providing product and services to safeguard government, defence and critical national infrastructure computer systems. It was originally known as X-Tel Services Limited.
History
Nexor Limited was founded in 1989 as X-Tel Services Limited out of the University of Nottingham and UCL, following research into X.400 and X.500 systems for the ISODE project.
In 1992 Stephen Kingan joined the business as CEO.
In 1993 X-Tel Services Limited was renamed Nexor Limited.
In 1996 3i invested in the business to launch Nexor Inc.
In 2004 Kingan and Nigel Fasey acquired the business.
In 2008 Colin Robbins was appointed to the board as CTO.
In 2012 Kingan acquired 100% ownership of Nexor.
October 2013, the company moved headquarters from Nottingham Science Park to the NG2 Business Park.
Nexor customers include NATO, European Defence Agency, UK MoD, US DOD, Canadian DND, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Met Office.
Nexor designed and deployed the first public Internet search engine ALIWEB and the associated robots exclusion standard.
Nexor is a contributor to the Internet Engineering Task Force, having worked on Internet RFCs 1086, 1165, 1488, 1606 and 1778.
Nexor developed a Microsoft Exchange Client for Unix.
Nexor was the first organisation to be awarded the Intellect Best Practice Certificate.
Nexor has run regular demonstrations at the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration.
Nexor the first organisation to achieve TickItPlus a quality-management certification program for software development.
Nexor have strategic partnerships with Boldon James and QinetiQ.
Nexor's Data Diode product is supplied via an OEM relationship with Fox-IT.
Nexor is a supplier on the UK Government G-Cloud Cloudstore, and an Official cyber security supplier to the UK Government.
Nexor won 2013 DSEi innovation challenge.
Nexor is a contributor to Cyber Champions a community initiative to promote best practices in digital literacy and online safety awareness to schools, youth organisations and interest groups across the UK.
Nexor sponsor the Cyber Security Challenge designed to promote careers in cyber security. Nexor was in the first batch of companies to achieve the UK’s Cyber Essential standard and a contributor and industry launch partner to the PAS754 software development standard led by the Trustworthy Software Initiative. In 2015 Nexor launched a consulting arm - Qonex
Products and services
Nexor is primarily focused on Secure Information Exchange for defence,
governments and critical infrastructure.
Products and services include:
Data Diodes to enforce one way data flows
Data Guards and High Assurance Guards to authorise and filter email and data communications
Cross Domain Solutions and Information Exchange Gateways to enable secure information exchange between secure networks
CyberShield Secure to ensure secure development and deployment of Nexor's technology
Military Message Handling System
Assurance
Several Nexor products have been evaluated under the Common Criteria scheme to obtain independent verification of their claimed functionality, including:
Nexor Sentinel, EAL4+ (Jan 2013)
Nexor Data Diode, EAL7+ (June 2010)
Nexor MMHS, EAL2 (March 2005)
Collaborative research and development
Nexor has been a contributor on the following collaborative research and development projects:
Paradise
Paradise (1989-2002) (Piloting a Research Directory in an OSI Environment) was part of the ESPRIT COSINE project to establish a pan-European computer-based network infrastructure that enabled research workers to communicate with each other using OSI. It was later prefixed NameFlow-Paradise. Paradise implemented a distributed X.500 systems, across over 700 DSAs in over 30 countries. The project is documented in the NameFLOW archive Quipu was the major X.500 implementation used in Paradise. Implementations also came from Inria led by Christian Huitema and Siemens DirX, originating from the Thorn project, implementing the ECMA TR32 standard. David Goodman was the project manager.
MAITS (Multilingual Application Interface for Telematic Services) developed multilingual interfaces for X.400 and X.500 on top of Paradise.
Password
Password (1993-1995) (Piloting a Secure Service Within OSI R&D) was a European Community-sponsored VALUE program, comprising consortia from France (Inria), Germany (GMD Darmstadt) and the UK (UCL and Nexor), to establish a pilot security infrastructure
for network applications for the European research community. The
consortium developed secured applications based on X.509, including the OSISEC PKI. The primary application was PEM, a forerunner of S/MIME and SEEOTI. Goodman of UCL was the project manager, and Joerg Reichelt was the Nexor lead engineer.
Eurocoop and Eurocode
Eurocoop (1991-1992) (Esprit III Project 5303) and the follow on project
Eurocode (1992-1995) (Esprit III Project 6155) aimed to develop powerful and effective systems for supporting distributed collaborative work. Partners included Aarhus University, GMD Darmstadt, Rank Xerox and ICL.
The approach adopted was to integrate components from a number of existing systems and to develop new collaborative tools based on the study of a large-scale technical application that encompasses many collaboration problems. Single components tools were developed that can be integrated with existing tools and that are able to interoperate with each other. ICW was a closely related DTI funded project.
Pippa Hennessy was the Nexor project manager.
Regis and Renaissance
Regis (1995–1998) was a collaborative project with Diamond Cable Communications and University of Sheffield to investigate problems inherent in providing regional business communities with low-cost, high-speed access to local information services. Robbins was the Nexor project manager.
The EU ACTS Project Renaissance (1995–97) was led by Fretwell Downing to develop a virtual vocational training environment, with the
University of Sheffield, Diamond Cable Communications and Yorkshire Cable and delivered to the UK National Centre for Popular Music. Harold Combs was the Nexor project manager.
iGRC
The iGRC project (2010-2012), was a collaborative project with HP, Assuria, Infogov, Cranfield University, Loughborough University and Birkbeck, University of London to automate threat level and control status changes for real-time management of the complexity, risk and resilience of secure information infrastructure.
CloudFilter
CloudFilter (2012–13) was an EPSRC collaborative project with Imperial College to explore novel methods for exercising control over sensitive data propagation across multiple cloud providers.
Cross Domain Tactical Service Bus
A project led by 2iC to deliver a proof-of-concept demonstration for a Cross Domain Tactical Service Bus, winning the DSEI Innovation Award 2013.
KTP
Project with De Montfort University to research, develop and implement the use of hardware, as a robust alternative to software in high assurance network security devices.
CSIIS
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence established a programme to realise the potential benefits from novel technology to front line forces. A consortium, led by QinetiQ (called Sirius, comprising over 40 organisations) provides the experience and research capability for CSIIS. In September 2014, Nexor won the best research poster at the Annual Symposium of the UK Information Assurance Advisory Council (IAAC) based on CSIIS work.
CAPRI
An innovate UK funded consortium to lead R&D in connected and autonomous CAVs on-road implementation, in which Nexor provided cyber security services.
Personnel and alumni
Many Nexor employees (current and former) have made notable contributions to the Internet or business community, including:
Stephen Kingan (1992–present) – Chairman and CEO. Kingan was also a non-executive director of Investors in People (2005-2011) and is a founding member of the Security and Resilience Industry Council (RISC).
Martijn Koster (1992–1995) – Creator of ALIWEB, the first Internet search engine.
Dr Graeme Lunt (1990–2004) — Co-founder of Nexor and creator of the first UNIX X.400 User Agent for Microsoft Exchange.
Mark Harman (2012–present) – Non-executive Director
Julian Onions (1990–2013) – Co-founder of Nexor and messaging expert behind PP, author of RFCs 1086, 1165 and 1606.
Colin Robbins (1990–present) – Technical Director and co-author of LDAP.
Dr Hugh Smith (1990–2000) – Co-founder of Nexor, while a Reader in Computer Science at the University of Nottingham. Smith became an owner of EIBS, an evolution of the Regis project. Smith died in 2020.
References
External links
Nexor Corporate Web Site
Qonex - Nexor's consulting division
Companies based in Nottingham
Computer security companies
Privately held companies of the United Kingdom
Science and technology in Nottinghamshire
Software companies of the United Kingdom
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos%20Stroud
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Carlos Stroud
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Carlos Ray Stroud, Jr. (born July 9, 1942, in Owensboro, KY) is an American physicist and an educator. A pioneer in the field of quantum optics, Stroud has carried out theoretical and experimental studies in most areas of the field from its beginnings in the late 1960s, studying the fundamentals of the quantum mechanics of atoms and light and their interaction. He has authored over 140 peer-reviewed papers and edited seven books. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, as well as a Distinguished Traveling Lecturer of the Division of Laser Science of the American Physical Society. In this latter position he travels to smaller colleges giving colloquia and public lectures.
Life and career
Carlos Stroud grew up in Kentucky and graduated from Centre College in 1963, with degrees in mathematics and physics. In 1969 he earned a Ph.D. in physics from Washington University, under the mentorship of E. T. Jaynes, with the thesis titled Quantum and Semiclassical Radiation Theory. In 1969 Stroud joined the faculty of The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. Over his 50-year career at the University of Rochester, Professor Stroud taught undergraduate and graduate courses in general and quantum physics and optics, while conducting groundbreaking research in several areas of quantum optics, graduating 30 Ph.D.s. He was named Professor of Optics in 1984 and Professor of Physics and Astronomy in 1991.
In 2004, Stroud collected and edited A Jewel in the Crown: Essays in Honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Institute of Optics, a compilation of 75 essays on the history of the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics (19 of the essays were authored or co-authored by Stroud himself). In 2019, Stroud and Gina Kern co-edited A Jewel in the Crown II: Essays in Honor of the 90th Anniversary of the Institute of Optics. For his contributions in gathering and documenting the Institute of Optics' history, on his retirement on July 1, 2019, Stroud was named Professor Emeritus of Optics and Optics Historian.
Professional contributions
Soon after joining the faculty of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, Stroud collaborated with Michael Hercher, developing the first single-mode tunable dye laser and using it to study its interaction with sodium atoms in an atomic beam. This work produced a series of groundbreaking experiments, including the study of the hyperfine structure of the D-lines, the isolation of a closed two-level resonance, power broadening, and resonance fluorescence in this system. This first observation of the Mollow sidebands in resonance fluorescence was fundamental to understanding of the nature of quantum correlations in a coherently pumped two-level system. It is noteworthy that groups at MIT and the Max Planck Institute in Garching were also racing to be first to observe this spectrum, and did indeed confirm the initial results.
These experimental observations were soon followed by two-laser studies of three-level quantum systems. The first cw study of the Autler–Townes effect, and the first experimental study of the extremely sharp resonance associated with coherent population trapping were made. This observation led to the later development of electromagnetically induced transparency by Harris and others, as well as Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP). These pioneering experimental studies were accompanied by theoretical papers providing the underpinning concepts and models, and introducing much of the standard terminology of the fields, including “lambda”, “v”, and “cascade” for describing three-level configurations, “coherent population trapping” as well as introducing, with Cohen-Tannoudji, the dressed-state basis for resonance fluorescence and Autler-Townes studies.
In a series of some 50 papers from the early 1980s well into the 2000s, Stroud’s group studied the production and evolution of spatially localized electron wave packetsmade up of superpositions of Rydberg atomic states. These states are quite classical in their behavior, travelling several orbits around the nucleus as effectively Keplerian systems, but after a few orbits the packets demonstrate their quantum nature by undergoing decays, revivals and fractional revivals. In a fractional revival the initial wave packet splits into a set of smaller wave packets moving in the classical orbit. Parker and Stroud were the first to predict these fractional revivals, which were then observed by Yeazell and Stroud. This whole series of studies showed how a quantum system could be manipulated in a very controlled fashion to alternatively show classical and quantum features during a complex time evolution. A single electron could be made to interfere with itself to exhibit interference fringes, or to move like a classical localized particle. By the application of Stark fields and THz half-cycle pulses, the electrons could even be made to oscillate, while localized along a linear orbit some 1000 Angstroms in length.
Selected publications
A Jewel in the Crown, University of Rochester Press, Rochester, NY (2004). ()
A Jewel in the Crown II: Essays in Honor of the 90th Anniversary of the Institute of Optics, Editors G. Kern and C. R. Stroud, Jr. (Meliora Press, University of Rochester, August 2019).
C. R. Stroud, Jr. and E. T. Jaynes, Long-term solutions in semiclassical radiation theory, Physical Review A, 1 106-121 (1970).
C. R. Stroud, Jr., Quantum-electrodynamic treatment of spontaneous emission in the presence of an applied field, Physical Review A, 3 1044-1052 (1971).
C. R. Stroud, Jr., J. H. Eberly, W. L. Lama, and L. Mandel, Superradiant effects in systems of two-level atoms, Physical Review A, 5 1094-1104 (1972).
F. Schuda, C. R. Stroud, Jr., and M. Hercher, Observation of the resonant stark effect at optical frequencies, Journal of Physics B 7 L198-L202 (1974).
R. M. Whitley and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Double optical resonance, Physical Review A 14 1498-1513 (1976).
H. R. Gray, R. M. Whitley, and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Coherent trapping of atomic populations, Optics Letters 3 218-220 (1978).
H. R. Gray and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Autler-Townes effect in double optical resonance, Optics Communications, 25 359-362 (1978).
D. A. Cardimona, M. G. Raymer, and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Steady-state quantum interference in resonance fluorescence, Journal of Physics B, 15 55-64 (1982).
L. W. Hillman, R. W. Boyd, J. Krasinski, and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Observation of a spectral hole due to population oscillations in a homogeneously broadened optical absorption line, Optics Communications, 45 416-419 (1983).
J. Parker and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Coherence and decay of Rydberg wave packets, Physical Review Letters, 56 716-719 (1986).
J. A. Yeazell and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Observation of spatially localized atomic electron wave packets, Physical Review Letters, 60 1494-1497 (1988).
J. A. Yeazell, M. Mallalieu, J. Parker, and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Classical periodic motion of atomic-electron wave packets, Physical Review A, 40 5040-5043 (1989).
J. A. Yeazell, M. Mallalieu, and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Observation of the collapse and revival of a Rydberg electronic wave packet, Physical Review Letters, 64 2007-2010 (1990).
Z. D. Gaeta and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Classical and quantum-mechanical dynamics of a quasiclassical state of the hydrogen atom, Physical Review A, 42 6308-6313 (1990).
J. A. Yeazell and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Observation of fractional revivals in the evolution of a Rydberg atomic wave packet, Physical Review A, 43 5153-5156 (1991).
M. W. Noel and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Young's double-slit interferometry within an atom, Physical Review Letters, 75 1252-1255 (1995).
M. W. Noel and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Excitation of an atomic electron to a coherent superposition of macroscopically distinct states, Physical Review Letters, 77 1913-1916 (1996).
D. L. Aronstein and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Fractional wave-function revivals in the infinite square well, Physical Review A, 55 4526-4537 (1997).
J. Bromage and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Excitation of a three-dimensionally localized atomic electron wave packet, Physical Review Letters, 83 4963-4966 (1999).
S. G. Lukishova, L. J. Bissell, J. Winkler, and C. R. Stroud, Jr., Resonance in quantum dot fluorescence in a photonic bandgap liquid crystal host, Optics Letters 37, 1259-1261 (2012).
External links
Homepage of Carlos Stroud at the University of Rochester (Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences)
Homepage of Carlos Stroud at the University of Rochester (Department of Physics and Astronomy)
References
1942 births
20th-century American physicists
21st-century American physicists
Washington University physicists
University of Rochester faculty
Optical physicists
Quantum physicists
People from Owensboro, Kentucky
Centre College alumni
Living people
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University%20of%20Technology%20Sydney
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University of Technology Sydney
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The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1870s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2020, UTS enrols 46,328 students through its 9 faculties and schools.
The university is regarded as one of the world's leading young universities (under 50 years old), ranked 1st in Australia and 11th in the world by the 2021 QS World University Rankings Young Universities.
UTS is a member of the Australian Technology Network, the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
History
The University of Technology Sydney originates from the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (the oldest continuously running Mechanics' Institute in Australia), which was established in 1833. In the 1870s, the School formed the Workingman's College, which was later taken over by the NSW government to form, in 1882, the Sydney Technical College.
In 1940 the NSW Parliament passed an Act to establish an Institute of Technology, which in 1964 led to the establishment of the New South Wales Institute of Technology (NSWIT). In 1968, the NSW Institute of Technology amalgamated with the NSW Institute of Business Studies. In 1976 NSWIT established the first law school in NSW outside the university sector. The Haymarket campus officially opened in 1985.
On 8 October 1987 university status was granted to NSWIT, which was followed by the passing of the University of Technology, Sydney, Act 1987. It was reconstituted as the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) on 26 January 1988, along with the incorporation of the School of Design of the former Sydney College of the Arts. In 1989, the University of Technology, Sydney, Act 1989 (NSW) formed UTS by absorbing the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education (KCAE) and the Institute of Technical and Adult Teacher Education (ITATE) of the Sydney College of Advanced Education. By 1991, an academic structure of nine faculties and 25 schools was established.
The School of Design was initially housed at a campus in Balmain, which closed at the end of 1994, with the school moved to a new building at the city campus. The environmental, biological and biomedical science schools were located on a campus at St Leonards, which was closed in 2006, which also relocated to the city campus following a redevelopment.
The Kuring-Gai campus closed at the end of 2015, with classes and facilities moved into the main Haymarket campus. This marked the consolidation of UTS into a single unified campus in the Sydney CBD.
Campus
The UTS city campus is located at the southern border of Sydney's central business district, close to Central station and Railway Square. The UTS Tower is the nucleus of the city campus, fronting on to Broadway.
The campus consists of five distinct precincts. Broadway, Haymarket and Blackfriars are located at the city campus, while precincts at Moore Park and Botany integrate specialist facilities with surrounding industry organisations.
Broadway (located in Ultimo) is home to the faculties of Science, Health, Law, Arts and Social Sciences, Engineering and IT, and Design, Architecture and Building, as well as the UTS Library. Haymarket is the location of the Business School, UTS Startups, the UTS Animal Logic Academy and two lecture theatres in the Powerhouse Museum. The Blackfriars precinct in Chippendale contains the Blackfriars Children's Centre and research and innovation teams while the Moore Park precinct features sports facilities within the Rugby Australia Building and the Botany precinct consists of the specialist research facility UTS Tech Lab.
The campus has been substantially transformed since 2008 by the university's City Campus Master Plan, a $1 billion-plus investment in new buildings and facilities, major upgrades and refurbishments.
Buildings and architecture
The UTS Tower on Broadway (Building 1) is an example of brutalist architecture with square and block concrete designs. Completed and officially opened in 1979 by Premier Neville Wran, the Tower initially housed the NSW Institute of Technology, which transformed to become UTS in the late 1980s. In October 2006, the UTS Tower was voted the ugliest building in Sydney in a poll hosted by The Sydney Morning Herald, receiving 22% of the total vote. The Tower is the largest campus building in terms of both height and floor space.
Other notable buildings in the Broadway precinct include:
Building 2, UTS Central, is intended as a central hub for the campus. Opened in August 2019, the 17-storey building is encased in glass and includes the UTS Library, the Faculty of Law, the Hive Super Lab, three large collaborative classrooms, student spaces and a food court. The new food court includes outlets such as Mad Mex, Chatime, PapaRich and Uni Bros, and all single-use plastic packaging has been replaced with fully compostable, reusable or recyclable alternatives. It was designed by Australian architectural firm Francis-Jones Morehan Thorp.
Building 3, the Bon Marche Building, which dates to the 1890s and was named after the Parisian department store Le Bon Marché. Originally a department store operated by Marcus Clark & Co, the building now accommodates specialist facilities for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Building 7, or the Vicki Sara Building, home to Faculty of Science administration and specialist facilities, and the Graduate School of Health. Designed by architects Durbach Block Jaggers, in association with BVN Architecture, it has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star Design and As-Built rating, certified by the Green Building Council of Australia, and includes many sustainable features including a rooftop garden with stormwater collection and recycled building materials.
Building 10 on Jones St colloquially known as 'the Fairfax Building' as it originally accommodated the printing facilities for the Fairfax-owned Sydney Morning Herald. It was later home to the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), before being incorporated within the UTS campus in the early 2000s. It accommodates the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Health. The refurbished building received the 2003 Sir John Sulman Award for Public Architecture.
Building 11, which opened in 2014 and accommodates the Faculty of Engineering and IT, along with many of its specialist facilities. Designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall, the building is encased in aluminium screens perforated with binary code. 'Gills' creased into the aluminium plates light up at night and symbolically represent the building as a living, breathing structure.
Alumni Green, the central green space on campus, encircled by prominent campus buildings including the Tower. Designed by landscape architects ASPECT Studio, Alumni Green consists of three distinct zones: a garden area with outdoor seating; a paved open space modelled on celebrated town squares; and a 1200m2 raised grass platform, which creates a green roof for a 13,000m2 underground Library Retrieval System.
The Haymarket precinct includes buildings such as:
Building 5, former market buildings with a heritage façade and modern interior.
Building 8, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, is the first Australian building designed by celebrated architect Frank Gehry and is considered a contemporary architectural icon. The building accommodates teaching, learning, research and office space for the UTS Business School. Design features include a prominent polished stainless steel staircase that acts as a sculptural focal point in the main lobby, undulating brickwork with approximately 320,000 individual bricks referencing Sydney sandstone laid by hand and two oval classrooms constructed of large laminated timber beams.
Additionally in the Moore Park precinct, the Rugby Australia Building contains specialist facilities for UTS students, staff and researchers working across sport and exercise science, physiotherapy and sport media. Designed by architects Populous, the building is also the headquarters of Rugby Australia and home to Australia's national rugby teams. The external fixed aluminium shading controls solar penetration, while internal spaces include the purpose-built laboratories of the Human Performance Research Centre.
A number of UTS campus buildings have received a certified Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. The Vicki Sara Building has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star Design and As-Built Rating, while the Faculty of Engineering and IT and Dr Chau Chak Wing Buildings has been awarded 5 stars.
UTS Library
UTS provides library services through the UTS Library and Reading Room in Building 2 (UTS Central), as well as a range of online services on the UTS Library website.
UTS Art Collection
The UTS Gallery and Art Collection contains over 850 works, with a focus on contemporary Australian and Indigenous art. The artworks from the collection are on display throughout the UTS campus, including in every building.
The university has been expanding its collection of digital and new media works. UTS Central is home to a 12-metre wide digital screen, which showcases large-scale digital artworks by leading Australian artists.
Neighbouring organisations
The core of the UTS city campus is located close to many Sydney landmarks and notable organisations including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Powerhouse Museum, TAFE Ultimo, the International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour and Chinatown.
Entities within the Central Park development, opposite the UTS Tower on Broadway, partner with the University on sustainability initiatives, which include a recycled water partnership and a district energy-sharing project commended at the 2018 Smart City Awards.
Organisation and administration
Faculties and schools
The university consists of nine faculties and schools:
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
School of Business
Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
Graduate School of Health
Faculty of Health
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Science
School of Transdisciplinary Innovation
Other entities
In addition to the faculties, there are a number other units falling under the Provost and Senior Vice-President's division, within the remit of the Vice-Chancellor and President. , these comprise three administrative units (Planning and Quality Unit, UTS Internal Audit and Chief Data Officer), as well as the:
Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion.
Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research (formerly Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning).
The Graduate Research School, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, and the Institute for Sustainable Futures fall under the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research), a number of units relating to international students are governed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (International), and many other administrative units exist under similar divisions under the Vice-Chancellor and President.
Governance
The UTS Academic Board is the principal advisory body to the UTS Council on academic matters.
The Academic Board is concerned with policy development as it relates to the University's academic programs in education, scholarship and research, and community service. It refers to policy recommendations to Council and discusses matters referred to it by Council.
Academic Board plays a key role in the UTS community in providing a forum for the discussion and debate of the academic directions of the University as well as the quality of its academic programs. The Board consists of academic staff members as well as student members elected for a general period of 1–2 years.
List of Chancellors
RN Johnson (1989—1999)
Sir Gerard Brennan (1999—2005)
Vicki Sara (2005—2016)
Catherine Livingstone (2016—present)
List of Vice-Chancellors
RD Guthrie (1988—1996)
AJD Blake (1996—2002)
RE Milbourne (2002—2014)
Attila Brungs (2014—2021)
Andrew Parfitt (2021—present)
Academics
Admissions
As of 2022, UTS had the third highest demand for places in NSW for university applicants.
For domestic applications, an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is required, with selection ranks varying between courses. Applicants may also be eligible for admission if they have completed a UTS foundation course or an AQF Diploma. Applicants applying with an IB Diploma will have their scores converted into a UAC Rank for admission.
In 2022, statistics by the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) revealed that the Bachelor of Business program at UTS was the third most in-demand course in the state with 949 applicants placing it as their first preference. The Bachelor of Nursing program was the sixth most in-demand course with 822 applicants.
Rankings
The 2022 QS World University Rankings ranked UTS 9th in Australia and 133rd in the world. UTS is ranked 9th in Australia and 143rd internationally by the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The university is ranked in the 201st–300th bracket in the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
UTS ranked 1st in Australia and 9th globally in the 2021 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings (under 50 years old). Similarly, in the 2021 QS Top 50 Under 50 index of universities founded less than 50 years ago, UTS ranked 11th in the world and 1st in Australia.
The Times Higher Education Rankings in 2020 ranked UTS; 60th in Law, 77th in Education and 79th in Computer Science in the world. In Australia, UTS is ranked 7th in the subject areas of Law, 3rd in Computer Science and 7th in Education.
The QS World University Rankings in 2021 ranked UTS; 11th in Nursing, 25th in Arts and Design and 29th in Sport and Exercise in the world. UTS is ranked in the top 100 for Accounting and Finance, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Communication & Media Studies, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Law.
The 2022 QS Graduate Employability Rankings ranked UTS graduates 5th most employable in Australia, and 62nd in the world.
Research
UTS is home to over 50 research centres and institutes. UTS mainly focuses its research in the areas of health, data science, sustainability, future work and industry and social futures.
Some of the major research centres include; the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Centre for Autonomous System, Centre for Health Technology, Advanced Analytics Institute, Centre for Forensic Science, Centre for Quantum Software and Information Technology, the i3 Institute (Infection, Immunity and Innovation), Climate Change Cluster (C3) and the Institute for Sustainable Future.
Student body
In 2020, the university had an enrolment of 46,328 students. 33,816 are undergraduate students, 10,223 postgraduate students and 2,289 doctoral students. Of all students, 32,365 (69.9%) are Australian citizens or permanent residents and 13,963 (30.1%) are international students.
Students were enrolled in 9 schools or faculties: The largest being the School of Business at 23.7 percent followed by the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at 23 percent. Other faculties and schools by enrolment include; 11.3 percent in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; 10.9 percent in the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building (DAB); 9.6 percent in the Faculty of science and 6.2 percent in the School of Law. Smaller number of students are enrolled in the Graduate School of Health and Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation.
Student life
ActivateUTS (formerly UTS Union) operates a range of on-campus student services, including food and beverage outlets, cultural activities, fitness and catering services as well as clubs and societies, student publications and Orientation Day. The City Campus is home to two licensed bars, 'The Underground' and 'The Loft'.
ActivateUTS is governed by a board of thirteen directors consisting of seven students (elected by the student cohort in annual elections), two staff members (elected by the staff of the university), the CEO of ActivateUTS, the chair (appointed by the university council), the treasurer (appointed by the university council) and one other director (appointed by the university council, usually external to the university or a former student).
From the seven students elected, a president and a vice-president is elected each year by the board. The chair is responsible for the conduct of the board meetings.
Clubs and societies
The University of Technology Sydney recognises over 130 clubs and societies. As of 2020, approximately 13% of students are involved in a club or society.
During Orientation Day in 2020, there were over 6,765 club membership purchases from 3,505 students, up nearly 200% from the previous year.
Media
UTS has its own community radio station on campus, 2SER FM. The studio is located in building 18, known as the terraces, and broadcasts to the entire Sydney region. The station is jointly owned by UTS and Macquarie University, with a second studio at Macquarie University. UTS Journalism students help produce the station's news and current affairs programs including "The Wire" and "Razors Edge".
The UTS Students' Association is the representative student organisation at UTS. It publishes the student newspaper, Vertigo, runs the second hand bookshop and advocates on behalf of students both individually and collectively.
Sport
UTS sports clubs include:
The Sydney Cricket Club was formed in 2007 from a merger between the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust and the UTS Balmain Cricket Club
UTS Australian Football Club or "The Bats"
The general sporting colours at UTS are green and black.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni of the University of Technology Sydney include actor, Hugh Jackman; former Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Tanya Plibersek; former Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma; Vietnamese-born Australian actor and comedian, Anh Do; Australian actress and model, Charlotte Best; Australian television presenter and media personality, Sonia Kruger; former Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, Henry Tsang; former 2GB and CNN news anchor, Joel Labi; Australian cricketer, Pat Cummins; Australian television presenter and sports journalist, Lara Pitt and Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor of New South Wales, Margaret Cunneen.
See also
List of universities in Australia
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, a literary award sponsored by UTS
References
External links
UTS website
ActivateUTS website
Universities in Sydney
Australian Technology Network
1988 establishments in Australia
Educational institutions established in 1988
Ultimo, New South Wales
Buildings and structures awarded the Sir John Sulman Medal
Railway Square, Sydney
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression%20testing
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Regression testing
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Regression testing (rarely, non-regression testing) is re-running functional and non-functional tests to ensure that previously developed and tested software still performs after a change. If not, that would be called a regression.
Changes that may require regression testing include bug fixes, software enhancements, configuration changes, and even substitution of electronic components. As regression test suites tend to grow with each found defect, test automation is frequently involved. Sometimes a change impact analysis is performed to determine an appropriate subset of tests (non-regression analysis).
Background
As software is updated or changed, or reused on a modified target, emergence of new faults and/or re-emergence of old faults is quite common.
Sometimes re-emergence occurs because a fix gets lost through poor revision control practices (or simple human error in revision control). Often, a fix for a problem will be "fragile" in that it fixes the problem in the narrow case where it was first observed but not in more general cases which may arise over the lifetime of the software. Frequently, a fix for a problem in one area inadvertently causes a software bug in another area.
Finally, it may happen that, when some feature is redesigned, some of the same mistakes that were made in the original implementation of the feature are made in the redesign. Therefore, in most software development situations, it is considered good coding practice, when a bug is located and fixed, to record a test that exposes the bug and re-run that test regularly after subsequent changes to the program.
Although this may be done through manual testing procedures using programming techniques, it is often done using automated testing tools. Such a test suite contains software tools that allow the testing environment to execute all the regression test cases automatically; some projects even set up automated systems to re-run all regression tests at specified intervals and report any failures (which could imply a regression or an out-of-date test).
Common strategies are to run such a system after every successful compile (for small projects), every night, or once a week. Those strategies can be automated by an external tool.
Regression testing is an integral part of the extreme programming software development method. In this method, design documents are replaced by extensive, repeatable, and automated testing of the entire software package throughout each stage of the software development process. Regression testing is done after functional testing has concluded, to verify that the other functionalities are working.
In the corporate world, regression testing has traditionally been performed by a software quality assurance team after the development team has completed work. However, defects found at this stage are the most costly to fix. This problem is being addressed by the rise of unit testing. Although developers have always written test cases as part of the development cycle, these test cases have generally been either functional tests or unit tests that verify only intended outcomes. Developer testing compels a developer to focus on unit testing and to include both positive and negative test cases.
Techniques
The various regression testing techniques are:
Retest all
This technique checks all the test cases on the current program to check its integrity. Though it is expensive as it needs to re-run all the cases, it ensures that there are no errors because of the modified code.
Regression test selection
Unlike Retest all, this technique runs a part of the test suite (owing to the cost of retest all) if the cost of selecting the part of the test suite is less than the Retest all technique.
Test case prioritization
Prioritize the test cases so as to increase a test suite's rate of fault detection. Test case prioritization techniques schedule test cases so that the test cases that are higher in priority are executed before the test cases that have a lower priority.
Types of test case prioritization
General prioritization – Prioritize test cases that will be beneficial on subsequent versions
Version-specific prioritization – Prioritize test cases with respect to a particular version of the software.
Hybrid
This technique is a hybrid of regression test selection and test case prioritization.
Benefits and drawbacks
Regression testing is performed when changes are made to the existing functionality of the software or if there is a bug fix in the software. Regression testing can be achieved through multiple approaches, if a test all approach is followed, it provides certainty that the changes made to the software have not affected the existing functionalities, which are unaltered.
In agile software development—where the software development life cycles are very short, resources are scarce, and changes to the software are very frequent—regression testing might introduce a lot of unnecessary overhead.
In a software development environment which tends to use black box components from a third party, performing regression testing can be tricky, as any change in the third-party component may interfere with the rest of the system (and performing regression testing on a third-party component is difficult, because it is an unknown entity).
Uses
Regression testing can be used not only for testing the correctness of a program but often also for tracking the quality of its output. For instance, in the design of a compiler, regression testing could track the code size and the time it takes to compile and execute the test suite cases.
Regression tests can be broadly categorized as functional tests or unit tests. Functional tests exercise the complete program with various inputs. Unit tests exercise individual functions, subroutines, or object methods. Both functional testing tools and unit-testing tools tend to be automated and are often third-party products that are not part of the compiler suite. A functional test may be a scripted series of program inputs, possibly even involving an automated mechanism for controlling mouse movements and clicks. A unit test may be a set of separate functions within the code itself or a driver layer that links to the code without altering the code being tested.
See also
Quality control
Test-driven development
References
External links
Microsoft regression testing recommendations
What is Regression Testing by Scott Barber and Tom Huston
Software testing
Extreme programming
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7052121
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald%20F.%20Ferguson
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Donald F. Ferguson
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Donald Ferguson (born 1960) is a Professor of Professional Practice in Computer Science at Columbia University. Before joining Columbia in 2018, he was vice president and CTO for software at Dell. Previously he was CTO, Distinguished Engineer and Executive VP at CA, Inc., formerly known as Computer Associates.
Education
Ferguson graduated with a BA from Columbia University in 1982, a MS in 1984, and a PhD in computer science in 1989. His thesis studied the application of economic models to the management of system resources in distributed systems.
Career
IBM
From 1985 to 2007, Ferguson worked for IBM, being appointed IBM Fellow in 2001, and chief architect for IBM's Software Group (SWG). He provided overall technical leadership for IBM WebSphere, Tivoli Software, IBM DB2, Rational Software and Lotus Software products. He also chaired the SWG Architecture Board (SWG AB). The SWG AB focused on product integration, cross-product initiatives and emerging technology. Some of the public focus areas were web services, patterns, web 2.0 and business-driven development. Ferguson guided IBM's strategy and architecture for SOA and web services, and co-authored many of the initial web-service specifications.
Previously, he had been the chief architect for WebSphere and the WebSphere products, which provide support for dynamic web applications. Prior to transferring to IBM SWG, Ferguson was a research staff member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.
Microsoft
From 2007 to 2008, he worked at Microsoft as a technical fellow in platforms and strategy in the office of the CTO.
CA
Ferguson joined CA in March 2008.
Dell
Ferguson joined Dell in June 2012 as VP and CTO for Dell Software.
Awards
Ferguson received the 2013 Columbia School of Engineering and applied Science Alumni Association Egleston Medal for Distinguished Engineering Achievement.
Books
Web Services Platform Architecture: SOAP, WSDL, WS-Policy, WS-Addressing, WS-BPEL, WS-Reliable Messaging, and More, Prentice Hall PTR, , March 22, 2005
References
External links
WWISA
Birth of a Platform
The Architecture Journal
BPM 2006 Keynotes
Trends in Enterprise Application Architecture 2006
2nd International Conference on Service Oriented Computing
1960 births
Living people
IBM employees
IBM Fellows
Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
Columbia College (New York) alumni
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40990131
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smack%20%28software%29
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Smack (software)
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Smack (full name: Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel) is a Linux kernel security module that protects data and process interaction from malicious manipulation using a set of custom mandatory access control (MAC) rules, with simplicity as its main design goal. It has been officially merged since the Linux 2.6.25 release, it was the main access control mechanism for the MeeGo mobile Operating System. It is also used to sandbox HTML5 web applications in the Tizen architecture, in the commercial Wind River Linux solutions for embedded device development, in Philips Digital TV products., and in Intel's Ostro OS for IoT devices.
Since 2016, Smack is required in all Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) implementations where it provides in association with other Linux facilities the base for the AGL security framework.
Design
Smack consists of three components:
A kernel module that is implemented as a Linux Security Module. It works best with file systems that support extended attributes.
A startup script that ensures that device files have the correct Smack attributes and loads the Smack configuration.
A set of patches to the GNU Core Utilities package to make it aware of Smack extended file attributes. A set of similar patches to Busybox were also created. SMACK does not require user-space support.
Criticism
Smack has been criticized for being written as a new LSM module instead of an SELinux security policy which can provide equivalent functionality. Such SELinux policies have been proposed, but none had been demonstrated. Smack's author replied that it would not be practical due to SELinux's complicated configuration syntax and the philosophical difference between Smack and SELinux designs.
References
Further reading
2008 software
Linux kernel features
Linux security software
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23103684
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwine%20Perez
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Antwine Perez
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Antwine Perez (born April 10, 1988) is a former American college football player. He played as a free safety for the University of Maryland Terrapins. He played one season for the University of Southern California Trojans, before transferring. He was one of the most sought-after college recruits in the nation and received scholarship offers from over 40 schools.
Early life
He was born on April 10, 1988 in Westville Grove (in Westville, New Jersey) to parents Phyllis and Lewis Perez. He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, where he played high school football as a quarterback and defensive back. As a junior, he recorded 1,763 passing yards and 15 touchdowns, ten rushing touchdowns, 58 tackles, seven interceptions, and four forced fumbles. As a senior in 2005, he recorded 82 tackles, 10 deflections, seven interceptions, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.
He was named a Parade All-American, USA Today first-team All-American, EA Sports first-team All-American, SuperPrep All-American, PrepStar All-American, all-conference quarterback, all-conference defensive back, and first-team all-state player. Perez was honored as The Philadelphia Inquirer South Jersey Defensive Most Valuable Player, SuperPrep All-Northeast Defensive MVP, PrepStar All-Eastern, and Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year. He was named to the SuperPrep Elite 50, PrepStar Dream Team, and the ESPN 150.
Perez was one of the most highly recruited players in the nation, and received in excess of forty scholarship offers. Scout.com rated him as a five-star prospect and fifth-ranked defensive back, while Rivals.com rated him as a four-star prospect and the second-ranked defensive back. At least 47 programs offered Perez, including USC, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, and Tennessee.
College career
Perez graduated from high school a semester early and enrolled at the University of Southern California. As a true freshman in 2006, he saw action in seven games, primarily in a special teams role. Perez made brief appearances as a reserve free safety against Arkansas, Stanford, and Oregon. Perez decided to transfer to the University of Maryland with the hope of earning more playing time and to be closer to home. He was required by NCAA transfer rules to sit out for one season.
In 2008, he saw action in all 13 games including two starts as a free safety. He also served in a special teams role and at linebacker due to the injury of Adrian Moten, the back-up for Moise Fokou. He made his first career start in the upset win against California, where he replaced injured starter Terrell Skinner and recorded three tackles.
CBS Sports considers him the eighth-ranked free safety prospect for the 2011 NFL Draft, while College Football News projected him as a possible fourth round selection if he had chosen to enter the 2010 NFL Draft.
During the 2010 season against Duke, Perez intercepted one pass and delivered a hard hit to break up another critical pass late in the game, which preserved a Maryland victory, 21–16. At Boston College, Perez had two interceptions and forced a fumble to help Maryland to a 24–21 win. For his performance, he was named the Jim Thorpe Defensive Back of the Week.
References
External links
Maryland Terrapins bio
USC Trojans bio
1988 births
Living people
Players of American football from Camden, New Jersey
USC Trojans football players
Maryland Terrapins football players
Woodrow Wilson High School (New Jersey) alumni
People from Westville, New Jersey
American football safeties
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67160278
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temiloluwa%20Prioleau
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Temiloluwa Prioleau
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Temiloluwa O. Prioleau is a Nigerian computer scientist, assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth College. In January 2019, she became the first black woman tenure-track faculty member in computer science at an Ivy League university. Her research work is on the application of data science to human sensing and healthcare.
Life
Prioleau's father was an electrical engineer. She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, attending a local primary school and later boarding school in Nigeria. She moved to the United States when she was in 11th grade, finishing high school in Texas. She gained a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010 before completing a Masters and then PhD at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2016.
Prioleau was a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University, after which she became an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth College, starting in January 2019. She co-directs the Augmented Health Lab at Dartmouth, and is an affiliate of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH).
References
External links
Personal website
Augmented Health Lab at Dartmouth College
Center for Technology and Behavioral Health
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Nigerian computer scientists
Nigerian women computer scientists
Scientists from Lagos
Dartmouth College faculty
University of Texas at Austin alumni
Georgia Tech alumni
Computer science educators
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5383824
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC%20Universal
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HTC Universal
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The HTC Universal is a Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC PDA manufactured by High Tech Computer Corporation. It was the first 3G/UMTS-enabled Pocket PC PDA with a telecommunications function, and also the first to come with Windows Mobile 5.0 pre-installed.
It is sold by many different vendors under the names of O2 xda Exec, Orange SPV M5000, Dopod 900, Qtek 9000, T-Mobile MDA Pro, I-mate JasJar, Vodafone v1640, Vodafone VPA IV, E-Plus PDA IV, etc. Despite all the different model names and housing appearance, they all have identical hardware specifications with small differences in the external color and branding.
The most eye-catching feature of this device is its 180-degree swivel screen, allowing a quick swap between portrait mode and landscape mode. The GUI automatically adjusts screen orientation accordingly.
SIM lock
Most network-supplied versions of the Universal are shipped SIM-locked, with the O2 XDA Exec being a notable exception. However, a free SIM unlocking tool was released. This process involves flashing a new Radio ROM onto the device, and it may invalidate the warranty.
Detailed specifications
Screen Size: 3.7 in (9.4 cm) Transflective LCD
Screen Resolution: 640x480 VGA at 216 ppi
Input: 62-key QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen with stylus (included; stylus also available separately for 19 EUR as of October 2008)
Cameras: 2
1.3 MP CMOS Camera with LED "flash" mounted on the reverse of the keyboard section
QVGA (320x240) CMOS Camera for 3G video calling, mounted beside the screen, close to the hinge
Processor: Intel Bulverde (PXA270) 520 MHz CPU
Memory: Flash ROM: 128 MB, RAM: 128 MB/64 MB SDRAM
Memory expansion: SDIO/MMC card slot (officially without SDHC, with maximum capacity supported being 4GB, but there is unofficial SDHC support from xda-developers - SDHC cards are accepted with Windows Mobile 6.1 or higher and there is another unofficial update to Windows Mobile 5 that allows use of SDXC cards up to 64GB.)
Network Standard: Tri-Band GSM/GPRS (900/1800/1900) + WCDMA (UMTS) (2100 MHz)
GPRS: Class B Multi-slot standard class 10 PBCCH MO/MT SMS over GPRS
Connection interface: Client only Mini-USB connector, USB charging, USB 2.0 protocol
Wireless connectivity: Infrared IrDA FIR, Bluetooth 1.2 Class 2 compliant, WiFi 802.11b IEEE 802.11b compliant, Internal Antenna, 11, 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbit/s per channel, 64-, 128- bit WEP & WPA standard data encryption
Standard battery capacity: 1620 mAh (included; battery is removable)
Charging: Mini USB (also used for data transfer)
Extended batteries
There are many high-capacity "extended" batteries available for the HTC Universal. 2600mAh, 3150mAh, 3200mAh, 3800mAh, 4800mAh and even 5200mAh models have been sold by various retailers, which allow the device to run for more than a week in many cases on a single charge (with light to medium use). All extended batteries have one big drawback though, they are all supplied with a new plastic back to hold the battery, which considerably increases the size and weight of the device.
The 3800 mAh battery is a Li Ion battery with model number PU16B manufactured by Dynapack International Technology Corporation in Taiwan. It is rated at 3.7 VDC (or 4.2 VDC). It increased the weight of HTC Universal to 350 g. It allows the use of the camera by holes built in the battery plastic container. Its price is about 30 EUR as of October 2008. With this battery, HTC Universal can operate up to 200 hours without GSM/UMTS/Bluetooth/WiFi or about 100–150 hours with UMTS and Bluetooth on.
Unofficial extensions
With registry editing and/or ROM re-flashing (both of which should only be done by people who are confident and experienced with these processes), substantial extra functionality can be added to this device. A few examples follow (there are many more):
Wireless G (802.11g) connectivity. This only allows the device to communicate using the 802.11g protocol instead of 802.11b, it does not give a speed increase beyond 11Mbit. However, numerous online sources now say this no longer works.
Full emulation of an "SD card reader" (USB mass storage device class).
Full VGA (640x480 resolution) graphics, as opposed to the "QVGA (320x240) emulation/compatibility mode" which the Universal runs in by default. The two main downsides to this are that some software cannot handle "true VGA" mode, which usually results in corrupted graphics, and that it can be quite difficult to see (and use a stylus with) such small screen elements like text.
Emulation and mapping of additional keys not found on the Universal native keyboard, such as CTRL and ALT.
Support for SDHC cards. 8GB, 16GB and 32GB cards have been tested successfully. This is only made possible via a third-party hacked driver.
128MB of RAM. It is possible to replace 64MB memory modules with 128MB one. It can be only used with 128MB enabled ROMs but it makes more space for running applications.
Linux
It is possible to install a custom version of Linux on the HTC Universal. Despite the lack of cooperation by HTC (and most other smartphone/PPC manufacturers for that matter), drivers for most of the device's components are functional (the two cameras and the flash ROM being the only significant exceptions). It is possible to run various handheld Linux distributions on the Universal, though application support is in its infancy.
Windows Mobile 6 (Crossbow)
There are numerous "unofficial" builds of Windows Mobile 6 (Crossbow) which have been made to run on this device, and now even some tools which allow users to create their own custom WM6 ROM images (a process commonly known by the term "cooking ROMs"). There is a thriving community of people dedicated to improving these WM6 builds (and associated tools) on the Universal.
References
External links
xda-developers Probably the largest community of Pocket PC phone users out there. The majority of "unofficial" WM6 ROM development/hacking for the Universal & many other PPC phones is located here.
Android on the HTC Universal
www.iPocketPC.Net The largest software website for free HTC software for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile.
See, in particular, the HTC Universal section of the xda-developers' wiki
Linux on Universal status page
The supported hardware page of the Openmoko project
Runnable Linux images for the HTC Universal
Titchy Mobile - Debian GNU/Linux on the HTC Universal
Linux on the HTC Universal
Windows Mobile Professional devices
Universal
Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard
Mobile phones with infrared transmitter
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43316168
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International%20reactions%20to%202014%20Gaza%20War
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International reactions to 2014 Gaza War
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Reactions to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict came from around the world.
The United States and Canada were supportive of Israel and critical of Hamas. The BRICS countries called for restraint on both sides and a return to peace talks based on the Arab Peace Initiative. The European Union condemned the violations of the laws of war by both sides, while stressing the "unsustainable nature of the status quo", and calling for a settlement based on the two-state solution. The Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, and most Latin American countries were critical of Israel, with some countries in the latter group withdrawing their ambassadors from Israel in protest. South Africa called for restraint by both sides and an end to "collective punishment of Palestinians".
Pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrations took place throughout the world and in Israel and the Palestinian territories. According to OCHA, during demonstrations, 23 Palestinians were killed and 2,218 were wounded by the IDF, 38% of the latter by live fire.
Rising anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic violence broke out concurrent to, and in many cases, directly related to the conflict. The UN Secretary-General and many European leaders condemned the phenomenon.
The United Nations Human Rights Council announced a panel headed by William Schabas to investigate accusations of war crimes by both sides. Major human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned human rights violations by both sides and called for an arms embargo for the region.
Commercial airlines in several countries banned flights to Israel because of safety concerns. The restrictions were later lifted.
After the 26 August ceasefire, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research polled the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 79% of respondents said that Hamas had won the war and 61% said that they would pick Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as the Palestinian president, up from 41% before the war.
Official reactions
Supranational bodies
ALBA – In a statement ALBA condemned Israeli attacks and added that the offensive violates even the most minimum standards of international humanitarian law by indiscriminately attacking civilians. It also offered "its unconditional solidarity, support and sympathy to the people of Palestine against the new wave of violence."
– AL's representatives condemned Israeli air raids and asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to hold an emergency meeting. Secretary General Nabil Elaraby condemned the Israeli attacks in Shejaia. In a statement, the organisation said: "El-Araby...considered Israel's terrible shelling and ground attack operations in the neighborhood of Shejaia as a war crime against Palestinian civilians and a dangerous escalation."
BRICS- A declaration at the 6th BRICS summit in Brazil called upon Israel and Palestine to end the conflict and resume negotiations leading to a peaceful two-State solution. It also called upon UNSC to fully exercise its functions under the United Nations Charter with regard to the conflict.
Gulf Cooperation Council – Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani condemned Israel for its repressive and vengeful policies which "represent a blatant violation of the Palestinians' inalienable rights and a flagrant affront to the international laws." He also described the assault as "reflecting Israel's rejection of the peace process" and called upon the international community and UNSC to "assume their responsibilities and act quickly to protect the Palestinian people and put an end to the brutal Israeli shelling of Gaza Strip."
– "The EU strongly condemns the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and militant groups... All terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm. The EU condemns calls on the civilian population of Gaza to provide themselves as human shields, and the loss of hundreds of civilian lives, among them many women and children...While recognizing Israel's legitimate right to defend itself against any attacks, the EU underlines that the Israeli military operation must be proportionate and in line with international humanitarian law..."is particularly appalled by the human cost" of the operation in Shejaia and was "deeply concerned at the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation...This tragic escalation of hostilities confirms again the unsustainable nature of the status quo with regard to the situation in the Gaza Strip."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lempkowicz |first1=Yossi |title=EU strongly condemns indiscriminate Hamas rockets on Israel and use of Palestinian population as human shields, 'terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm', calls for 'immediate ceasefire |url=http://ejpress.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49892 |access-date=25 August 2014 |work=European Jewish Press |date=22 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904174154/http://ejpress.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49892 |archive-date=4 September 2014 }}</ref>
Non-Aligned Movement – NAM and President of Iran Hassan Rouhani condemned the Israeli air strikes and called on international bodies to force Israel to stop raids on civilians. "[The] siege of Gaza Strip must be fully and immediately lifted and humanitarian aids must be forwarded to the Palestinians in need of them there."
– UNSC called for de-escalation, restoration of the 2012 ceasefire, respect for international law and resumption of direct negotiations between both the parties. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stated that reports of attacks on homes raise doubts about whether Israeli attacks are legal under international law. She also called for an investigation into the Israeli air strikes.
Visegrád Group- On 9 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement reading: "The countries of the Visegrad Group are deeply concerned about the military escalation in Israel and in the Gaza Strip. We strongly condemn the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel by militant groups from the Gaza Strip. At the same time we are concerned about the growing civilian losses among the Palestinians caused by Israel’s military operation 'Protective Edge'. The Visegrad countries call on both sides to end hostilities and to achieve [an] immediate ceasefire."
States
Involved parties
– On 11 July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the criticism of international and local human rights groups and promised to continue the attacks. He declared: "No international pressure will prevent Israel from continuing its operation in Gaza … The leaders of Hamas are hiding behind the citizens of Gaza, and they are responsible for all casualties."
The IDF spokesman's office tweeted when the operation began that the "IDF has commenced Operation Protective Edge in Gaza against Hamas, in order to stop the terror Israel's citizens face on a daily basis."
– On 8 July Palestinian government spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the operation was "a declaration of war on Palestinians". Protesting what he described as a massacre of innocents, he added that "Palestinians have the right to defend themselves by all legitimate means."
Khalil al-Haya, Palestinian negotiator said "It was a war of necessity not a war of choice. We had no choice but to defend ourselves,". He further said "We are united and are unified in blood and dead bodies. We are one front, one side, one body ... We are all engaged in one battle defending our people. The war is the beginning of liberation."
International
– On 16 July, President Hamid Karzai held a special cabinet meeting where he condemned the Israeli attacks and the killings of civilians while pledging US$500,000 in aid to Gaza.
– On 16 July, Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra urged the international community to act to get Israel to immediately cease its attacks and respect the truce from November 2012. "While condemning in the strongest terms the barbaric attacks against the defenceless Palestinian people, we believe that these attacks were encouraged by the complacent silence of the international community to Israeli expansionist policies and their negative impact on peace and security in the region," Lamamra said. He also underlined the need for urgent action within the United Nations.
– On 20 July, the Foreign Ministry condemned the violence, while speaking out against the acts committed by both sides in the conflict. "Once more, and for the third time in less than six years, civilian populations have been trapped in the middle of armed actions from Hamas and the disproportionate, excessive use of military force by Israel. Argentina sends a profound, pained tribute to all of the children that have been killed in the last few weeks. We vigorously condemn Israel, defying calls from the Security Council, the Secretary General and many other voices from the international community, for having decided to escalate the crisis launching a ground offensive. This decision will only create further instability in the region, more victims and more suffering. At the same time, we condemn the continued and indiscriminate launch of rockets from Gaza to Israeli cities." Soon afterwards, Argentina's representative at the U.N. Security Council, Maria Cristina Perceval, reiterated the position, condemning Israel's "indiscriminate abuse of militarism" and "disproportionate use of force."
– In a media release, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop condemned Hamas by saying "The actions of militants in Gaza, who are firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel, are inexcusable and must be condemned." The media release called on all parties to exercise restraint and avoid a further escalation of violence.
– On 11 July, in a press release, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz called for an immediate stop to the violence. "The spiral of escalation that we have seen over the last few days is extremely threatening. Putting an immediate end to the violence is now absolutely paramount." In this context, Kurz also referred to the meaning of the holy month of Ramadan, also regarded as the month of peace by Muslims."My sympathy lies with the victims of this conflict; in particular the civilians. Everything possible has to be done to prevent more civilian victims. Even though Israel has a legitimate security interest, this must be exercised with a sense of proportion and in compliance with international humanitarian law. This also means that the Israeli missile offensive must be stopped." "Peace is possible", Kurz concluded. On 16 July, in another press release, Kurz said, "The death toll is frighteningly high and the spiral of escalation is gaining momentum all the time",. Kurz emphasised his support of Egypt's efforts at mediation and advocated an immediate ceasefire. "Neither side can refuse a ceasefire for the sake of political or tactical deliberations". He expressed sympathy for the victims, in particular the civilian casualties.
– On 12 July, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement that strongly condemned the "Israeli aggression" and called for an immediate cessation of atrocities on Gaza civilians. The statement also said that they were shocked at the recent Israeli violence.
– On 10 July, The Kingdom of Bahrain condemned the latest Israeli escalation and repeated its rejection of violence and the need to stop all military operations. The Kingdom advised the international community to compel Israel to comply with international law and end its violations. They also stressed their full support and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
– On 22 July, in a statement Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo stated "Although I accept Israel's legitimate security measures, I also condemn the completely disproportionate use of force by the Israeli military, including the attack on the neighborhood of Shujaya."
– On 10 July, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli offensive and called on Jerusalem to cease hostilities. The Foreign Ministry also called on the international community to intervene to stop "the genocide" and stressed that "should respect and comply with international agreements and treaties." On 31 July Bolivian President Evo Morales declared Israel a "terrorist state".
– Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik expressed his support for Israel and the Jewish people. He stated that the Republika Srpska was closely following events, that it supported Israel's right to protect its citizens and property and defend itself from "terrorist threats and the actions of Islamist militant groups". Bakir Izetbegović, the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, called for an end to conflict and wished for "the peaceful co-existence of all inhabitants of Gaza and other places". He stated that Gaza "was for many years a target of Israeli attack" and warned that the world was "becoming used to violence perpetrated by Israel".
– On 17 July, the Federal government of Brazil released a statement condemning the Israeli bombing as a disproportionate use of force that had resulted in civilian deaths. It recalled its ambassador in protest. Brazil's Special Advisor for International Relations was quoted saying "For the love of God, what we have here is genocide, a massacre, to the point where top UN officials are starting to talk about war crimes". Brazil warned that terrestrial operations against Gaza would have grave consequences for regional stability and would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. Brazil called on Israel to respect its humanitarian obligations and end its blockade.
– Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed support for Israel and condemned Hamas. Harper said "It is evident that Hamas is deliberately using human shields to further terror in the region." Foreign Minister John Baird also condemned Hamas' rocket attacks against Israel. Baird added that the attacks "prove that Hamas continues to target innocent civilians," and that "Canada believes that Israel has every right to defend itself from such belligerent acts of terrorism."
– The Foreign Ministry complained that Israeli bombing had caused a number of fatalities, including civilians, women and children. "The condemned kidnappings and deaths of three young Israeli and Palestinian youth can not be an excuse to launch actions nor to attack densely populated by civilians". Chile called on all actors in the conflict to "establish a truce and respect international humanitarian law" and endorsed the words of the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who urged a solution. On 29 July, the Chilean government recalled its ambassador and criticized Israeli operations, which it considered a violation of "the principle of proportionality in the use of force, an essential requirement to justify self-defense".
– Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei on 9 July 2014 said, "We believe that to resort to force and to counter violence with violence will not help resolve problems other than pile up more hatred. We urge relevant parties to bear in mind the broader picture of peace and the lives of the people, immediately realize a ceasefire, stick to the strategic choice of peace talks and strive for an early resumption of talks."
– On 11 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning the acts of violence against Israel, while also expressing condolences to victims' families. Colombia also called for an end to the conflict that "has caused a lot of suffering to both sides of the civil population." On 22 July, the Ministry issued another statement condemning the attacks by both sides and considered that "the measures taken by Operation Protective Edge, likewise the Hamas' rockets, worsen the conflict and frustrate efforts of making peace." On 5 August, the Ministry condemned Israeli attacks on a United Nations-protected school in Rafah. In the same press release, the Colombian Government restated the need for Israel to have secure borders, but considered that "this does not justify the attacks on places protected by the International humanitarian law". On 7 August, the Colombian Government donated $300,000 to help with the reconstruction of Gaza, claiming that it has "responded to the call of the United Nations and we (Colombia) will keep doing so."
– On 11 July, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry deplored the escalation and was particularly concerned about the impact on civilians and the risk of escalation. "The Government of Costa Rica condemns the rocket attacks launched by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, and likewise, the military operations of the Defence Forces towards reaching Gaza Strip, causing deaths and damage to civilians."
– The Foreign Ministry condemned "Israel's attack against the population of the Gaza Strip" and accused Israel of using its military and technological superiority to execute a policy of collective punishment with disproportionate use of force, which causes the death of civilians and material damage.
– On 14 July, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement that expressed its concern. "The indiscriminate and in the blind firing of rockets from Gaza into the Israeli territory and in response the Israeli Air Force attacks that result in collateral civilian casualties, including children, must stop. The sides are called upon to show restraint. Friendly neighbouring countries are called upon to mediate towards the achievement of a ceasefire agreement and a truce."
– On 15 July, Czech Republic Foreign Ministry released a statement as follows: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic welcomed the truce initiative that aimed to restore calm in Gaza and appreciates the constructive role played by Egypt. The Czech Republic regrets the failure of this initiative in spite of its previous acceptance by Israel. We urge Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza to immediately stop attacking Israeli territory in order to allow the implementation of the cease fire. The Czech Republic recognizes that the people of Israel as well as the people of Gaza have the right to live in peace and security. However, we are extremely concerned about the disastrous impact of the current situation on civilians, who are endangered the most by the conflict. While recognizing the right of Israel to take appropriate measure to protect its population, we strongly regret the Palestinian civilian casualties, in particular children, caused by the recent crisis."
– On 10 July, Djibouti "condemned the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip." Djibouti held Israel responsible for a "dangerous escalation of violence" and called on the international community to end Israel's "blind and intolerable repression."
– On 12 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that condemned Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and demanded the end of attacks against the civilian population. "The Government of Ecuador strongly condemns the disproportionate military operations by the Israeli army against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, which have left more than a hundred casualties," the official statement said.
– The Foreign Ministry published a statement where it expressed its "deep concern" about the situation and called for self-restraint as well as stopping the mutual violence. A Hamas official stated that Egypt was attempting to mediate a truce and that Egyptian officials had contacted Hamas for that purpose. Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry made remarks following a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart where he said it was important to address the crisis in a manner that protects the Palestinians and their interests.
On 11 July, the Foreign Ministry then criticised the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operation in Gaza as "oppressive policies of mass punishment. Egypt rejects the irresponsible Israeli escalation in the occupied Palestinian territory, which comes in the form of excessive and unnecessary use of military force leading to the death of innocent civilians." It demanded Israel adopt self-restraint and keep in mind that as an "occupation force", it had a legal and moral duty to protect civilian lives. They urged world powers to intervene and stop the crisis and that its ceasefire efforts had been met with "obstinacy and stubbornness". The same day, Egypt informed authorities in Gaza that it had closed the Rafah Border Crossing after re-opening it the previous day to receive injured Palestinians for medical treatment. This comes after Egyptian forces seized 20 Grad rockets being smuggled from Gaza to Sinai after clashing with militants in Rafah, Egypt. However, shortly after the closure, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the Egyptian military to transport 500 tons of food and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip. A military statement stated that Egypt was pursuing its efforts to "stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip" under the president's supervision.
– On 14 July, the Foreign Ministry called for the "immediate cessation" of the "Armed Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip". It said that the Israeli Army's action had "caused the loss of lives, hundreds of injuries and the flight of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, as well as serious damage." The note urged "the immediate cessation of armed attacks at the same time asked the United Nations and the actors that have accompanied the parties in finding solutions by means peaceful to intensify their diplomatic actions in the short term."
– On 10 July, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet expressed concern about the escalation of tensions and added that "cities and towns shootings are completely unacceptable. The strained Israeli-Palestinian situation is very worrying and unfortunately, in recent days the situation has not improved, but rather escalated." He added that the parties needed to find a peaceful solution. "We call on the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary measures to prevent a further escalation of the tense situation."
– President Francois Hollande issued a statement that read it "expressed France's solidarity [with Israel] in the face of rocket fire from Gaza" and told Netanyahu, "France strongly condemns these aggressions [by Hamas]." Hollande also said that it was up to Israel "to take all measures to protect its population in the face of threats" but reminded the Israeli premier "of the need to prevent an escalation of violence." On 18 July, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated that "France is extremely concerned by the Israeli decision to launch a ground offensive in Gaza." On 22 July, Fabius condemned the Gaza "massacres," stating that "nothing justifies continued attacks and massacres which do nothing but only claim more victims and stoke tensions, hatred."
– On 16 July, the Gambian Foreign Ministry welcomed the truce brokered by Egypt and called on the parties to fully adhere to the truce. On 29 July, President Yahya Jammeh condemned the "extraordinary brutality" being shown by the Israelis in Gaza, and pointed out that even though "nobody is condemning them, Allah would condemn them". Speaking, during the traditional meeting with Muslim elders after the Eid al Fitr prayer at State House in Banjul, the Gambian leader spoke of "the bad things they are doing in Palestine, in the last ten days of Ramadan". He also lamented the fact that "nobody is saying a word. The white people are engaged in hypocrisy; their media is putting out lies". Citing the fact that the Israelis were bombing hospitals, Jammeh further declared: "This is excessive brutality that we condemn in the strongest terms possible". He also called attention to "the satanic Western media", which had been justifying Israel's actions "because Hamas were firing rockets".
– On 10 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed Hamas for causing intense armed clashes and expressed concern over the plight of civilians. It also expressed concern over the escalation of tensions and the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
– Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned Netanyahu on 9 July to condemn "without reservation rocket fire on Israel"
– On 13 July, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos issued a statement:: "We again express our strong concern at the recent developments and the escalation of the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip. At this time, the absolute priority is the implementation of the ceasefire and a return to the truce of 2012, with the aim of averting a new humanitarian tragedy in the region. Together with the other member states of the European Union, as well as within the framework of the UN, Greece will work in that direction."
– On 14 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concern at the rapidly deteriorating situation, which led to a "spiral of violence between Palestinians and Israelis." The country called for prudence and responsibility for all international parties and partners so that Hamas ceased firing rockets into Israeli territory, and at the same time ceased attacks against civilians in Gaza."The return of stability is essential to return to the path of negotiations nevertheless, could still lead to a lasting peace based on the two-state solution, living behind secure borders condition.".
– On 11 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Peace becomes harder to achieve with each military confrontation, each loss of life, and the creation of further mayhem on the ground," the government said; adding that "as a member of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and as the first CARICOM country to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state based on its 1967 borders, Guyana supports the Palestinians' aspiration to the full realization of their inalienable rights." The administration supported the peace process and the two-State solution in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions.
– Pope Francis called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. He insisted that the joint prayer held on 8 June, with Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres was not in vain.
– On 14 July, the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, condemned the violence. They called on the parties to cease hostile actions and demanded a prompt return to dialogue. Finally, it expressed its condolences to victims' families.
– On 15 July, Nissim Ben-Shitrit, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade – Tibor Navracsics, expressed support for the international mediatory efforts to halt the armed conflict and defend the civilian population.
On 2 August, the mayor of Érpatak, Mihaly Zoltan Orosz, led a demonstration against what he called the "freemason media" conspiracy to silence the "ongoing genocide" committed by the Israeli military against Hamas in Gaza. After stomping on an Israeli flag (the Star of David in the flag had been replaced with a masonic compass), Orosz condemned both Peres and Netanyahu to death for warcrimes, spreading false notions about the "chosen people", labelled them the Anti-Christ, and laying the groundwork for the Anti-Christ New World Order. He then carried out a symbolic hanging of both Israeli leaders.
– On 14 July, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson called for "the full force" of the UNSC to be used to stop the violence. Sveinsson stated, "I condemn all use of violence in the area....This is an express demand to the Israeli government to stop its attacks on Gaza, which have led to great tragedy for civilians there. In the same spirit, all attacks on Israel need to cease forthwith."
– The Ministry of External Affairs stated, "India is alarmed at the cross-border provocations resulting from rocket attacks against targets in parts of Israel." It also expressed concern over the violence and called on both sides to exercise restraint and to resume direct talks. Deputy Chair Kurien refused to bring in a parliament resolution over the matter.
– The Foreign Ministry condemned the ongoing Israeli military aggression in Palestine's Gaza area, saying such an onslaught may ruin conditions towards creation of peace between Palestine and Israel. "Israel's move needs to be opposed. A military aggression that worsens the suffering that has been suffered by Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank until today due to siege which is actually a 'collective punishment' against Palestine people," Said Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa.
– Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his deep concern over the bloodshed and criticised the "governments of the United States and the United Kingdom for their continued support for the Zionist regime's military operation against the innocent people." He added that the two states "do not care about the Tel Aviv regime’s killings in Gaza Strip and officially support these attacks. The domineering world powers back evil as long as it is in their interest while they confront good savagely." The Foreign Ministry condemned Israel's operation as a "human catastrophe" and demanded that the West halt the conflict.
– Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore said that he was "gravely concerned at the escalating violence and civilian casualties" and that he "equally condemns" both rocket attacks from Gaza towards Israel and air strikes by the Israeli military. He went on to appeal "to all sides to exercise the utmost restraint, avoid all civilian casualties and negotiate the earliest possible ceasefire." Members of Dáil Éireann stood in silence in the parliament chamber in solidarity with the people of Gaza at the request of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. the Dublin city council passed a motion calling for trade sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel.
– On 8 July, Minister for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini expressed concern over the worsening situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip. "The repeated rocket strikes on Israel warrant the firmest possible condemnation; all attacks on civilian areas must stop immediately. It is of utmost importance to avoid triggering an irreversible spiral that could potentially further destabilise a region already battered by numerous conflicts." She expressed her "deep sorrow" for the deaths of so many civilians, including children in Gaza, and said that "it is now critical to protect civilians, restore calm and resume the peace process."
– On 23 July, Jamaica's Permanent Representative to the United Nations "strongly condemned" Israel's targeting of civilian populations, expressing dismay at the "disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force against an unarmed civilian population that has limited options for shelter."
– Japan's Foreign Ministry released a press statement expressing concern over the escalation of violence. "Japan is deeply concerned about the situation in which the Israeli Air Force strike has caused civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and strongly condemns rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip against Israel." It urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint to prevent further civilian casualties. Japan is convinced that the issues of Middle East peace can never be solved through violence but only through negotiations and efforts to build mutual trust among parties to the conflict. Japan calls for all the parties concerned to make the utmost efforts to that end."
– Jordanian spokesperson Mohammed Momani described the Israeli military operation in Gaza as "barbaric" and urged Israel to end its aggression.
– On 25 July, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing concern over the exacerbation of crisis."Further escalation of violence will result in a destabilization of the situation in the Middle East, and also will blow up efforts of the conflicting parties and the whole international community which are focused on long-term peace making and regional stability," said the statement. "We call on Israelis and Palestinians to take urgent and effective measures to stop bloodshed and resume peace negotiations, " it added. Kazakhstan endorsed the agreed-upon steps of the international community, including those under the aegis of the United Nations.
– On 21 July, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed said Kenya is a friend to both the Israelis and Palestinians and would like to see a peaceful resolution.
– On 14 July Kuwait's Cabinet reiterated its denunciation of criminal acts and practices committed by Israel. The condemnation came during a weekly cabinet meeting. The cabinet voiced much concern over Israel's continuing air strikes. The Kuwaiti cabinet called on the international community to exert more pressure on the "Israeli entity" to stop its continuing aggression and crimes against humanity. It urged the world to provide international protection for the Palestinian people.
– On 10 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that expressed "its concerns about the escalation of the situation between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Latvia calls upon the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take all steps necessary in order to prevent further escalation of violence and destabilization of the situation in the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns the rocket attacks perpetrated by terrorist groups upon Israel. Latvia regrets as well the growing number of civilian casualties caused by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. Recognising Israel's right to defend the security of its people, this ought to be done with proportionate use of force, which would not cause further civilian casualties. The escalation of the situation again points to the necessity of finding a solution on the basis of direct talks and resulting in the existence of two states, which live side-by-side in peace and security."
– On 10 July, the Lebanese cabinet condemned Israel's offensive. Minister of Information Ramzi Jreij said "the Lebanese government and its people would show solidarity with the Palestinians in a struggle towards the restoration of their legitimate rights. The ministers also urged the Arab League and the international community to take action in order to halt the "Israeli killing machine."
– On 16 July, President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite expressed "very much concern" about the situation."We want as soon as possible a peaceful solution and real ceasefire on both sides," she told journalists.
– On 9 July, Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the Israeli air strikes and called for an immediate cessation of military operations. He added "peace can only come with the creation of a viable two-state solution and all parties should adhere to this principle."
– On 13 July, the President of Maldives issued a statement that read "during a telephone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, President Abdulla Yameen said that no nation can truly understand the constant fear and heartbreak that the Palestinian people are subjected to each day. The president further condemned the gross violation of human rights being committed by the Israeli government and said that he will continue to pray for Palestine. President Yameen also assured President Abbas that his government would undertake all efforts to encourage international condemnation of Israeli violence." On 22 July, Maldives announced it would boycott Israeli goods and suspend co-operation agreements on health, culture and education, and tourism until Israel stops its bombardment of Gaza.
– On 24 July, the Government of Mali declared a national day of mourning for the victims of Gaza, stating its solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for "liberty, dignity, and independence."
– On 10 July, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement that expressed its regret at the "bloody violence" and declared that it "unreservedly condemned any form of violence. [The] Government firmly believes that violence is never the solution. Rather, it only serves to create even more reprisal and retribution. This, in turn, leads to more hatred, more suffering and more barbaric acts."
– A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation stated that it "strongly condemns the brutal military operation launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and confirmed that the policy of repression, torture, destruction and mass murder pursued by Israel against the Palestinian people will have dire consequences for the security and stability of the region and will contribute to undermining the path of peaceful negotiation process. The ministry reiterated the support of Mauritania’s leadership, government and people to the Palestinian people to obtain all their legitimate rights in the establishment of an independent state on its entire territory with Jerusalem as its capital."
– Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) issued a statement that condemned Israeli attacks and called for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the protection of civilians on both sides.
– On 9 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that offered its condolences to the families of Palestinian victims. After denouncing Israel’s escalation, it warned that this could damage efforts made to resume the peace process. It called on the international community to take urgent action to end the fighting, protect the Palestinian people, hold Israel accountable for its flagrant aggression and force it to abide by international law.
– On 15 July, the Ministry of Foreign affairs stated, "The Government of the Republic of Namibia has been following with grave concern the massive aerial bombardment of Gaza, Palestinian Territory, by the Israeli Air and Naval Forces." It also "called on the two warring parties to immediate cease fighting and strongly urged them to agree to a ceasefire."
– On 9 July, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said "New Zealand is greatly concerned at the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and Israel, and in particular the deaths of civilians. New Zealand urges both sides to show restraint and to prevent any further civilian casualties. We call for an immediate end to rocket attacks into Israel and for proportionate responses that do not further escalate the situation. The current situation reinforces the urgent need for a sustainable resolution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians." "New Zealand wants to see progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and we urge the political leadership on each side to find a peaceful way through the current flare up."
– On 11 July, President Daniel Ortega expressed "solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemned the genocidal bombing of Israel. How are we going to condemn us not, at this time, the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people again? Now go over there 80 dead, children, youth of all ages. Who for that genocide?"
– On 22 July, the Government of Niger released a statement condemning the aerial bombardment of Gaza and calling on Israel to "put an end to its policy of occupation and colonization as well as to the blockade unjustly imposed on Gaza, which are at the root of the legitimate revolt by the Palestinian peoples." Niger called on the UNSG as well as the UNSC to put an immediate end to the "abominable crimes committed in Gaza" and to find the basis for a just and durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
– On 15 July, the Foreign Ministry stated, "We bitterly denounce Israel's brutal killings of many defenseless Palestinians through indiscriminate military attacks on peaceable residential areas in Palestine as they are unpardonable crimes against humanity."
– On 15 July, Minister for Foreign Affairs Børge Brende stated, "the events of the past weeks in Gaza and the West Bank have once more underscored the importance of reaching a lasting political solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state." On 18 July, Brende condemned Israel's ground operations. "This is an unacceptable action, especially when a ceasefire could have been reached. While visiting Israel during the conflict, he entered a bomb shelter in Ashkelon.He advised Netanyahu against a ground operation because "it would create a much bigger problem."
– Majlis Al Shura Chairman Khalid Al Mawali said the events in Gaza are "an act of madness and reflect the weakness of the community, differences and divide within and the absence of a clear vision. We have to cooperate and be more responsible to minimise the sufferings of Palestinians and do our best to stop Israeli aggression, which is beyond description. Now, people of Gaza do not know if it is day or night. The number of those being killed and injured is multiplying into thousands. Even the medical teams and civil defence ambulances are not safe from bombings, depriving the injured and sick people of their most basic minimum right to receive treatment and be healed. The world is not doing anything but just expressing pain".
– Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said: "I am saddened and disappointed to note the silence of international community against this injustice, the silence and ineffectiveness of the Muslim Ummah has made Palestinians more vulnerable and made Israel more aggressive. The world must stop Israel from this naked and brutal aggression". He termed the Israeli acts against in Gaza as ‘genocide’. Sharif said Israeli atrocities were no lesser a tragedy and that the bombardment on human settlements and massacre of innocent people was a lesson for the world community. He said, "Pakistan strongly condemns it. The civilised world must take cognisance of the situation because it was a tragedy for the whole humanity."
– On 13 July, Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez "condemned the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and recalled that his country recognised the State of Palestine. [The events] can not and should not continue. No attack scenario and that is affecting bombing civilian targets sensitive way possible." On 29 July, Peru recalled its ambassador to Israel.
– The Department of Foreign Affairs issued an "Alert Level Warning 3" for Filipinos in the Gaza Strip. It stated that its embassies in Egypt, Jordan and Israel "are ready to assist Filipinos who wants to leave Israel. [We] are concerned on growing threats of Hamas to the Filipino citizens in Israel."
– On 8 July, the Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned the series of Israeli raids on Gaza Strip on Sunday night, which killed and injured a group of Palestinian people. Qatar strongly denounces Israel's ongoing hostile acts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It urged the international community to move to stop Israeli aggression against Palestinians and lift the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip."
– The Ministry of Foreign Affairs activated a crisis cell for granting consular assistance to Romanian citizens in Gaza. Likewise, several consular teams equipped with mobile means of granting consular assistance were dispatched.
– The Kremlin stated that President Vladimir Putin had telephoned Netanyahu, urging him to stop the operation that lead to civilian deaths. It added that "the conversation was requested by the Israeli side." On 9 July, Putin told a delegation of visiting rabbis that he supported "Israel's battle that is intended to keep its citizens protected". In a 23 July telephone conversation with Netanyahu, Putin said further fighting would lead to a dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation and to more casualties and suffering. Putin stressed that "there is no alternative to ceasefire and a political settlement" and reiterated his readiness to "facilitate mediatory efforts and the implementation of peace initiatives, including within the UN framework". Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament Mikhail Margelov said Russia was ready to facilitate reconciliation. He also said, "It is very important for us that the parties complied with the UN resolutions. Our position remained unchanged: we want the Jewish and Arab peoples to live in peace and accord. We’re ready to facilitate the peace process at the bilateral level and within international organizations. Amid the ground operation in Gaza the logic of events prevails over political expediency. In Gaza there are different groups that do not maintain contacts. The situation is not controlled by a single centre. This complicates attempts to find a political solution". On 25 July Russian Foreign Ministry published a message calling for an immediate ceasefire under Egypt's initiative saying "The events in Gaza arouse growing concern. We condemn the death of innocent people, primarily children, during the attack on the UN school in Beit-Hanoun".
– On 23 July, the Polisario Front, which claims Western Sahara (disputed with Morocco), condemned "the genocide and mass destruction Israel is committing" and reaffirming its "strong solidarity" with the Palestinian people.
– The governing cabinet issued a statement that read it "condemned Israeli military aggression and brutal raids on Gaza Strip." During a weekly cabinet session, headed by Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the cabinet called on the UNSC and HRC "to live up to their responsibilities and implement the Fourth Geneva Convention on Israel." It also called for a "quick action to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip in addition to all crimes and violations against the Palestinian people." Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered $50 million in aid to be transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent. He also described the Israel offensive as a war crime and state terrorism. He said "We see the blood of our brothers in Palestine shed in collective massacres that did not exclude anyone, and war crimes against humanity without scruples, humanity or morality"
– On 18 July, the Senegalese government said that the solutions must take into account "the legitimate rights" of the Palestinian people. It also urged Israeli restraint and called for an immediate ceasefire while reaffirming its solidarity and support to the Palestinian cause.
– Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić stated that Serbia respected Israel's right to existence and peace and expressed hope that the situation will be resolved peacefully.
– On 17 July, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam appealed for an "immediate cessation" to all hostilities. He also "called on both parties to stop their aerial back-and-forth."
– On 19 July, Singapore issued a statement that read it "strongly supports the United Nation's Secretary-General's call for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza and urged all parties involved to do their utmost to ensure the protection of civilians." In response to media queries about Israel's ground offensive, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that "the deteriorating situation in Gaza will sharply exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. Singapore urged all parties to work towards a lasting ceasefire that would bring an end to the suffering, the spokesman said, adding that it was important to break the cycle of violence and the focus now has to be the safety and security of all innocent people affected by the conflict and for humanitarian aid to be delivered to them on an urgent basis."
– Deputy Prime Minister Ridwan Hirsi Mohamed, who was attending the Muslim Scholars Forum in Istanbul, said that the international community had failed to oppose Israeli aggression. "The ongoing genocide committed by Israel against our brothers in Palestine is something that we can not accept. Killing innocent people of women and children, targeting hospitals, mosques and schools is something very hateful. We share the pain with Palestinians, as we strongly say that Somalia is very upset about what is going in Gaza". He called on the Israeli government to stop killing and asked the world, particularly the Muslim World, to break its silence and do something.
– Foreign Ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela stated that the country "strongly urge all sides to refrain from responding to violence with violence and to exercise restraint, including a halt to the arbitrary arrest of Palestinian civilians and the use of collective punishment on Palestinians."
– On 18 July, Spain released a statement expressing its "profound concern" over ground operations and called on Israel to scrupulously respect civilian life and social services infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. Spain called on all parties to cease military action." On 17 July, the Regional Government of Catalonia condemned the violence. "The safety of civilian populations must be the principal priority and respect for international humanitarian aid, including the protection of civilians, must be guaranteed". Catalonia supported diplomatic efforts towards a negotiated agreement based on the two state approach and the principle of non-violence. It called for an immediate reduction in the conflict and the restoration of the ceasefire.
– On 16 July, the External Affairs Ministry called for a ceasefire. "Sri Lanka is deeply concerned at the recent escalating violence in Gaza, resulting in tragic loss of civilian lives and extensive damage to property. Cross-border provocation on locations in parts of Israel also need to cease."
– On 13 July, the Foreign Ministry called for "urgent international protection for Palestinians....Without that international protection, it becomes meaningless to speak about the international legitimacy, justice, humanitarian values and fighting terrorism. Sudan condemns the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip [and] denounces weak international reactions."
– On 11 July, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter that "no one was winning by resorting to violence" and called for a ceasefire between the two sides.
– Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi said that "the massacres perpetrated by the Zionists are within the same scope of the acts of terrorism practiced by the armed groups in Syria." Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad expressed support for the Palestinian people and condemned Israel's "bloody aggression on the Palestinian people and the crimes committed by hordes of settlers who have burned Palestinians to death". On 15 July, The cabinet condemned the savage massacres committed by the 'racial Zionist occupation'.
– On 14 July, Foreign Minister Bernard Membe called for an immediate ceasefire and condemned the killings of civilians. He called upon the international community to continue supporting diplomatic efforts in ending the conflict and emphasized that the solution to this conflict is to support self determination via an independent Palestinian State.
– On 16 July, Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeow, also serving as acting Foreign Minister, called on Israel and Palestine to talk. "Thailand did not want to see the situation worsen as it would affect innocent people, particularly children. There are a number of Thais currently working in Israel. This deteriorating situation requires all sides to return to the negotiating table and seek a way out together."
– On 16 July, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran called for peace and "expressed deep concern over the recent escalation of hostilities between the two states. Trinidad and Tobago urges the combatants to avoid any action that would complicate the current situation and lead to an extensive military campaign. It was imperative that as a first step the hostilities be brought to an immediate halt, in order to permit the space and time for sober reflection and dialogue among the parties, with the involvement of the international community. Trinidad and Tobago renews its support for the important role played by the United Nations and other international agencies in seeking to definitively resolve this conflict and, in that regard, we call upon the parties to work, in good faith, towards the full and effective implementation of previous resolutions passed by United Nations Security Council, in order to establish the basis for lasting peace and security. Trinidad and Tobago urges all concerned to take all necessary steps to ensure that persons and communities in need of humanitarian aid and support are allowed immediate, unimpeded access to such services, in order to reduce the burden of suffering visited upon them."
– On 9 July, the Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli military escalation and demanded the UNSC "immediately intervene to stop such attacks." It restated Tunisia's solidarity with the Palestinian people and called on "the international community and the UN Security Council to assume their responsibilities and urgently intervene to force the Israeli government to immediately stop these unjustified attacks, which aim to further destroy the lives of the Palestinian people and puts the area on the brink of explosion."
– President Abdullah Gül said that: "Israel should stop its intensified bombardment of the Gaza Strip and never contemplate a possible ground offensive". Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of conducting "state terrorism" and a "genocide attempt" against the Palestinians. He also stated that "as long as children are being slaughtered in Palestine, normalisation of Turkey-Israel relations are no longer possible". Erdoğan later added that Netanyahu "surpasses Hitler in barbarism". The Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned Israel's attacks against the Gaza Strip. Israel must immediately stop this operation. We call on the international community to give the strongest response to the human tragedy occurring in Gaza due to Israel's aggression, and on international organisations, especially the United Nations, to take the necessary steps without delay to stop these attacks." Turkey declared three days of national mourning for Palestinian victims.
– On 9 July, the Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned Israel's continuous aggressive practices on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The UAE condemns the latest air strikes launched by Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip, in which many Palestinians were martyred and wounded. The UAE renews its complete rejection of all acts of violence which kill innocent civilians and demands immediate cease of the policy of collective revenge and punishment. The UAE called the international community to act immediately to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, targeting of the Gaza Strip, and to shoulder its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people. [There is a] need for respect for and commitment to the international law rules in order to preserve peace, security and stability in the region."
– Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed concern over the violence. He stated, "I condemn the firing of rockets into Israel by Gaza-based militants. The UK calls on Hamas and other militant groups to stop these attacks". In separate telephone calls to Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, he spoke of the British government’s "deep concern about the number of civilian casualties and the need for all sides to avoid further civilian injuries and the loss of innocent life." Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated that Israel's airstrikes against the Gaza Strip were "deliberately disproportionate" and constituted "collective punishment". Senior Foreign Office minister Baronness Warsi resigned from her post on 5 August, saying that the government’s "approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible."
–On 8 July President Barack Obama repeated his request that both sides use restraint and that the "only way to achieve long lasting peace is not through fighting but through a common understanding and agreement." White House spokesman Josh Earnest stated: "No country can accept rocket fire aimed at civilians and we support Israel's right to defend itself against these vicious attacks."
On 11 July, the United States House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution supporting Israel and denouncing Hamas.
– On 10 July, the Foreign Ministry "strenuously condemned" Israel's attacks, calling them a "disproportionate response" to Hamas' rockets. The statement also condemned the rocket attacks that threatened the civilian population of Israel.
– On 10 July President Nicolás Maduro said his government "vigorously condemns the unfair and disproportionate military response by the illegal state of Israel against the heroic Palestinian people."
– On 18 July, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai said: "Vietnam strongly concern escalating violence inflicting severe casualties to civilians. We urge the parties concerned to stop firing, resuming the negotiations and supported the efforts of the international community in order to soon bring peace and stability to the region."
– Undersecretary of Foreign Ministry for Political Affairs Hameed al-Awadhi, who heads Yemeni delegation to the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), called for intensifying efforts to stop Israel actions.
– On 21 July, at the Joint Commission of Co-operation meeting held in Harare, the respective foreign ministers, host Simbarashe Mumbengegwi expressed grave concern over the aerial bombardment, called for a ceasefire. He highlighted the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and reiterated support for a two-state solution.
Non-governmental organizations
Amnesty International – Called for an arms embargo on all sides enforced by the UN and an investigation into possible war crimes.
B'Tselem – Stated that attacks by Israel on homes of members of armed Palestinian groups are violations of international humanitarian law and that deliberate targeting of civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups defies humanity and is morally and legally reprehensible.
Human Rights Watch – Stated, "Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel appear to be indiscriminate or targeted at civilian population centers, which are war crimes, while Israeli attacks targeting homes may amount to prohibited collective punishment."
Red Cross – Stated, "The International Committee of the Red Cross calls on all sides to protect civilians and medical workers caught in the midst of the escalating conflict."
Demonstrations
Pro-Palestinian
Protests were organized by pro-Palestinian groups throughout the world. Around 45,000 people demonstrated in London, 20,000 in Santiago, 3,000 in Oslo, hundreds in Caracas and around 2,000 in Tunis. Protests were planned in Amman, at the UN in Geneva and in Kashmir. In Ireland, 3,000 people demonstrated in Dublin. Demonstrations also took place in Derry, Galway, Cork and Limerick.
In Paris, France, on 13 July, around 10,000 people and on 18 July about 5,000 protested the Israeli operation. Dozens of protesters tried to force their way into a synagogue with around 150 people inside, attempting to enter it armed with bats and chairs, and chanting "Death to Jews" and ultimately clashed with Parisian police who blocked them from entering. The city's government banned pro-Palestinian protests after two synagogues were attacked on 13 July. On 19 July, Parisian protesters clashed with riot police in a working-class neighborhood.
In Frankfurt, Germany, neo-Nazis and Islamists clashed with police, resulting in 8 injured police officers. Signs held by these groups read as things such as "You Jews are Beasts". After the clash, the groups looked for Jewish institutions, and Frankfurt police said they were going to protect these institutions.
Demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza took part or were scheduled in all regions of Spain, from Bilbao in the Basque Country to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia to Barcelona in Catalonia and in the Canary Islands. On 14 July some 500 people of different nationalities demonstrated in the area near the Israeli Embassy in Madrid. The protesters chanted, "Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people!" and "You Zionists are the terrorists!"
In Brazil, protests organized by the Arab-Brazilian community and left-wing movements against Israel and for Palestine were attended by over 2000 people in São Paulo and over hundreds in Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Porto Alegre, Foz do Iguaçu, Curitiba and Campinas.
Some 150–200 participants joined a demonstration organised by the association of Palestinians living in Hungary. The demonstration called for stopping the "terrorist bombing" of Gaza and for "Palestine's freedom."
One teenager aged 15–16 years old was killed in Khudwani, a village south of Srinagar when Indian government forces fired on a pro-Palestinian rally. Kashmiris held pro-Palestinian protests every day since the start of the conflict. On 17 July, demonstrations were held in Morocco and Yemen in solidarity with Gazan civilians, while protestors burned Israeli flags.
In Jordan, a protest was held in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman. Demonstrators in Amman burned Israeli flags and urged Palestinian factions in Gaza to increase rocket attacks on Israel.
In Cape Town, South Africa approximately 4,000 protested in support of the Palestinians on 16 July. A Pro-Palestinian protest was held in Pretoria, South Africa, calling for the freedom of Palestine.
134 demonstrations were held in the first fifteen days of the conflict in the United States. Demonstrations took place in Los Angeles and New York. In August 2014, the Port of Oakland was the scene of a protest against an Israeli-owned ship. Palestinian demonstrators claimed to have the support of the port's International Longshore and Warehouse Union(ILWU) dockworkers who they said had refused to unload the ship's cargo. The union however denied this saying the ILWU had not taken a position on the conflict. The demonstration produced a heavy police presence, initially comprising more than 100 police officers. The ship's cargo remained unloaded for four days.
2014 Quds Day
On 25 July 2014, International Quds Day, millions of people around the world called for the liberation of Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, marched in streets of Afghanistan Argentina, Azerbaijan, Germany Iran Lebanon Australia South Africa Pakistan India Iraq Bahrain Belgium West Bank Canada Jordan Egypt Singapore Syria Tunisia Turkey Yemen Saudi Arabia China, South Korea Kenya New Zealand NigeriaClash Between Nigerian Soldiers, Shiites: 12 Dead, Including Three Sons Of Zakzaky Sahara Reporters Sudan Algeria Bangladesh Kyrgyzstan United States United Kingdom, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan.
The Quds Day march was banned in France.France bans pro-Gaza rallies as Israeli all-out offensive continues Al-Alam News Network Despite the ban, pro-Palestinian protest took place in Paris and other French cities.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Army fired on members of the Islamic Movement taking part in a Quds Day rally in the ancient city of Zaria, in Nigeria’s Kaduna State, killing 35.Gaffery, Cono (16 December 2015). "Who is Sheikh Zakzaky, Nigeria's Most Powerful Shiite Muslim?". Newsweek. Retrieved 22 July 2019. Numerous other Islamic Movement members were arrested. The Nigerian Army claimed that soldiers had acted in self-defense. According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened when protesters tried to force their way through a military checkpoint, defying orders from soldiers to take another route. The event became known as the Zaria Quds Day massacres.
Global Day of Rage
On 9 August 2014, a "Global Day of Rage" drew tens of thousands of people across the world to protest Israel's offensive. According to Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, 150,000 people marched through London, shouting anti-Israel slogans and calling for an "end to the siege". Demonstrators first marched to BBC headquarter to denounce what they called pro-Israeli bias. They filled the main shopping artery of Oxford Street , marched to the US embassy and to Hyde Park. One banner said "UK – Stop Arming Israel".
In Paris, several thousand people marched, calling for end to Israeli aggression, carrying banners condemning the violence. Some protesters carried mannequins wrapped in a Palestinian flag, depicting Palestinian deaths. In Berlin 1000 people took part in two rallies. In Tehran hundreds of doctors, nurses and paramedics gathered in "Palestine Square"
In New Delhi, a protest was organized by 70 political and social groups on the theme of "Stop The Genocide in Gaza! Boycott Israel!" Protestors demanded that the international community, including India should "boycott Israel till the time it continues the illegal occupation of Palestine".
In Melbourne Protesters marched down the Swanston Street and gather in front of Department of Foreign Affairs building. Protesters called for an end to Israel's blockade. They called on Australia to cut all ties with Israel, release Palestinian political prisoners and end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Protesters urged the UN to convene a special general assembly to condemn Israeli aggression and demand the country abide by International law, Agreements and Conventions
In Yemen, an estimated 100,000 people attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Sanaa.
At least 100,000 held a pro-Palestine march called by the National Coalition for Palestine in Cape Town on 9 August.
Pro-Israel
Pro-Israel rallies were held in Argentina, Canada, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Russia, Uruguay and the United States.
On 10 July 200 people voiced support for Israel at the Rockland County Courthouse. On 11 July, In Philadelphia, Israel supporters rallied outside the Israeli consulate. A plethora of actors, producers, directors and other entertainment professionals signed a statement opposing Hamas. A pro-Israel rally of more than 1,200 supporters in Los Angeles resulted in physical violence after its protesters ripped a Palestinian flag away from a passing vehicle and began stomping on it. On 13 July, a pro-Israel rally attacked a passing car that was flying Palestinian flags in Westwood, Los Angeles. A police officer fired a shot to intervene in the situation. On 14 July, over two dozen elected officials rallied at New York City Hall in support of Israel. On 17 July over 1,200 supporters attended a demonstration at a local synagogue in the Greater Toronto area. Around 5,000 people attended a 20 July pro-Israel rally in New York City, while a smaller counter-protest was held nearby. Both rallies were held without incident.
On 3 August 2014, 3000 people participated in The Bay Stands With Israel solidarity rally in downtown San Francisco, after which approximately 1,200 demonstrators marched under police escort. Signed carried by the protestors included "Israel is the only country in the Middle East where they don’t burn American flags" and "More Hummus, Less Hamas."
On 27 July, supporters of Israel marched through the streets of Mexico City to show their solidarity with Israel, asking for peace and condemning Hamas' rocket fire.
On 10 August, up to 600 people including several MPs marked their support for Israel in a demonstration outside the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo.Pro-Israel protest causes tensions in Oslo, The Local, 11 August 2014. A pro-Israel rally was held at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town on 10 August attended by some 5,000 people. In Budapest some 4,500 people attended an interfaith rally in support of Israel, while a smaller counter demonstration was held near the synagogue building by the far-right Hungarian Jobbik political party.
In Paris, a pro-Israeli rally was attended by some 8,000 people who gathered near Israel’s embassy, while a similar demonstration in Marseilles gathered some 2,000 participants.
In London some 5,000 people turned out to show solidarity In Helsinki, the pro-Israeli rally was attended by some 1,000 participants Pro-Israeli rallies were held in Sydney, where some 10,000 people participated. Another pro-Israeli rally was held in Brisbane.
In Brazil, some 2,500 people gathered in at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, to support Israel, another pro-Israel rally in Brazil took place in São Paulo, where some 3,000 people marched.
Hundreds of Israeli supporters marched in Guatemala City. In the city of Gori in Georgia, a support rally was organized, with children painting their faces with the Israeli flag Another pro-Israeli rally was held in Tokyo. On 16 August 2014 in Kolkata, India 20,000 demonstrators from the Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist communities held the biggest pro-Israel rally so far with many Indian political activists proclaiming Israel's rights to defend itself.
Civic reaction within Israel
Reaction among the non-Arab Israeli population was strongly supportive of the military action. Israel's Arab minority mostly opposed the war. Opinion polls consistently showed a very high level of support for the military operation among the Jewish public, varying between 91% and 95%.Poll: 85% of Israeli Jews want to keep fighting - Times of Israel An opinion poll which surveyed Israeli-Arabs found that 62% of the Arab public opposed the operation while 24% supported it.
Numerous demonstrations in support of the operation were held in Israel. In Sderot, Israelis gathered on the hillside to watch and cheer Israeli military strikes on nearby Gaza. Anti-war demonstrations were also held, but demonstrators were often confronted by counter-demonstrators in support of the war and in some cases faced verbal and physical harassment. About 1,500 Arabs and a handful of Jews were arrested for involvement in anti-war demonstrations. A one-day general strike in solidarity with Gaza was declared among Israeli-Arabs, and many Arab businesses temporarily closed.Carlstrom, Gregg (21 July 2014). "Businesses strike in Israel over Gaza". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
War crimes accusations
As the scale of Operation Protective Edge expanded, civilian casualties mounted and accusations of war crimes were levelled from different quarters. On 19 July, Nabil el-Araby, the head of the Cairo-based Arab League, accused Israel of perpetrating "war crimes".
On 21 July, Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, criticized Israel's military operation stating that there was "a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes". She also criticized Hamas for "indiscriminate attacks" on Israel.
The Israel Democracy Institute accused Hamas of committing war crimes by firing rockets at unprotected civilians. Human rights advocacy group B'Tselem argued that both Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli targeting the homes of militia members, could constitute war crimes and be violating international law. The international organization Human Rights Watch described Hamas's deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians as war crimes in a 9 July statement and also called Israel's attacks on civilian structures as "unlawful under the laws of war" and "collective punishment". Amnesty International said that the "UN must impose arms embargo on Israel/Gaza and mandate an international investigation".
On 23 July HRC announced an investigation into the accusations of war crimes.
International diplomacy
Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, El Salvador and Chile recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv as a reaction to Israel's offensive. Brazil and Chile suspended trade talks with Israel.
Spain froze arms and military technology exports to Israel, stopping sales of defense and dual use technology. Britain was reported to be reviewing its arms sales to Israel.
Cyber attacks
Pro-Palestinian hackers carried out cyber-attacks on Israeli commercial, government, aviation and banking websites."Hackers threaten Israel cyber attack over Gaza." Times of Israel. Accessed 12 August 2014. Anonymous's 'OpIsrael' defaced or took down more than 1,000 Israeli websites, including Israeli government web domains"Cyber infiltration during operation protective edge." Forbes. 12 August 2014. such as those of Mossad, the Tel Aviv Police Department and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Hackers claimed to have published over 170 emails and passwords of Israeli officials on 21 July. A report by Arbor Networks showed a direct correlation between cyber attacks and the intensity of the conflict. Iranian and Chinese hackers were blamed for some of the attacks."Iran ups cyber attacks." NBC News. Accessed 12 August 2014.
In some instances, Israeli security forces responded to attacks with 'counter hacks' targeting Hamas websites. Pro-Israeli hackers called the Israeli Elite Force published what were said to be 45,000 usernames and passwords of government officials at the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Rise in antisemitism
The war saw a rise in antisemitic incidents against Jewish communities around the world. The Anti-Defamation League reported that violence against Jews and Jewish institutions around the world dramatically increased in July and August 2014. ADL director Abraham Foxman stated that "There was a dramatic surge in violence against Jews and Jewish institutions around the world during Israel's Operation Protective Edge. From France to Argentina, from Canada to Chile, synagogues were attacked, Jewish cultural centers were vandalized, Jewish shops were threatened and identifiably Jewish individuals beaten on the street. Anti-Semitism was in the air, and in the streets."
Multiple pro-Palestinian protests in Europe descended into antisemitic violence against local Jewish communities. Some demonstrators called for the death of Jews and attacked Jews and Jewish-owned property. These actions raised concerns over antisemitism and the safety of Jews in European countries."Anger in Europe." The New York Times Similar concerns over antisemitism were raised following protests in other countries."campus."
During a rally in the capital of Belgium’s Flemish region one speaker reportedly used a loudspeaker to chant in Arabic "slaughter the Jews." A sign on a Belgian cafe declaring that no Jews were allowed inside was removed by following a complaint. A Holocaust memorial in the Netherlands was defaced with "free Gaza" graffiti. In Morocco, the rabbi of the Jewish community of Casablanca was attacked while walking to synagogue for Shabbat services and severely beaten by a man who told the rabbi that he was taking retribution for Gaza. The rabbi claimed that he asked passerby for help but was ignored. There was a reported increase of antisemitic harassment in Morocco."." Al Jazeera. 7 August 2014. Rome's historic Jewish quarter was vandalized with swastikas and antisemitic graffiti.
Police in England recorded more than 100 antisemitic hate crimes since the start of the Gaza conflict. In Toulouse, France, a man was arrested by local police for throwing fire-bombs at a Jewish community center. The fire-bombs failed to ignite. In Malmö, Sweden, a rabbi and a member of his congregation were assaulted at different times on the same day.Nagorski, Andrew. "Camouflaged as Humane Concern, Anti-Semitism Flourishes." The Wall Street Journal. 5 August 2014. In Australia, antisemitic attacks occurred in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. Teenagers harassed Jewish schoolchildren on a Sydney bus, a Jewish school was vandalized in Perth and a Jewish man was beaten in a street attack in Melbourne.
In South Africa, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies laid criminal charges of hate speech and incitment of violence against the South African Jewish community. Complaints were lodged at the South African Human Rights Commission against the regional secretary of the Western Cape region of COSATU, Tony Ehrenreich, over comments he made on social media that included the statement "The time has come to say very clearly that if a woman or child is killed in Gaza, then the Jewish board of deputies, who are complicit, will feel the wrath of the people of SA with the age old biblical teaching of an eye for an eye. The time has come for the conflict to be waged everywhere the Zionist supporters fund and condone the war killing machine of Israel".
Attacks on synagogues
Synagogues were targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters. Following a demonstration in Paris, protesters attempted to break into nearby synagogues. Six police officers and two Jewish residents were injured during the scuffle. In Wuppertal, Germany, a synagogue was firebombed. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, bricks were thrown through the windows of a local synagogue on two successive nights. A synagogue was vandalized in Malmö, Sweden. And a synagogue in Miami, Florida, was vandalized with graffiti; swastikas and the word "Hamas" were painted on the building."Anti Semitism in Miami Inspired by Israel Gaza War." CBN News. On 29 August, it was reported that French police uncovered a plot by two teenage Muslim girls, aged 15 and 17, to commit a suicide bombing attack at the Great Synagogue of Lyon, in Lyon, France. They were indicted on 22 August on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. During an anti-Israel rally in front of a synagogue in Turkey, demonstrators pelted the synagogue with eggs.
Antisemitism in the media
During the war, newspapers throughout the Arab and Muslim world published cartoons with antisemitic caricatures and themes. A mainstream newspaper in Spain published an op-ed which claimed that Israel's military operation demonstrated why Jews were so frequently expelled throughout history, and that "what is surprising is they persist. Either they are not good, or someone is poisoning them." Colombia's premiere weekly magazine also ran an op-ed which stated that Palestinian land has been occupied "since three thousand years ago, when Jews arrived there escaping from Egypt with Moses and Joshua, cutting heads and foreskins off of local inhabitants, Amalekites, Amorites, Canaanites, etc, to satisfy, they said, the demands of their bigoted one God who had appointed them his chosen people and had promised them all that foreign land." In Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald apologized after running a cartoon which was interpreted as antisemitic. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had phoned the Herald'''s editor to express concern. On 19 July, Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Akit used a picture of Adolf Hitler as the centerpiece for its daily word game, and the phrase "We long for you" [Seni arıyoruz] as the answer to the puzzle.
Reaction of world leaders
UN chief Ban condemned the rise of antisemitism in a published statement, declaring that the conflict in the Middle East must not be used as a pretext for prejudice affecting social peace. The foreign ministers of France (Laurent Fabius), Germany (Frank-Walter Steinmeier) and Italy (Federica Mogherini) condemned antisemitic attacks and protests in a joint statement, saying "antisemitic rhetoric and hostility against Jews, attacks on people of Jewish belief and synagogues have no place in our societies." French president François Hollande declared that fighting antisemitism would be a "national cause". A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the Chancellor "sharply condemns the flare-up of violence and the antisemitic utterances" as "an attack on freedom and tolerance and an attempt to undermine our free democratic order. This is something we can’t and won’t accept."
Holocaust survivors
Many Holocaust survivors were among the elderly in Israel who donated money to help IDF soldiers in Gaza, totaling over 100,000 shekels, saying "It's the least we can do". Some individuals compared helping the IDF to helping allied soldiers during WWII, with one saying "Now we must contribute to soldiers that are protecting us. My husband was a pilot, he fought for four years during the war and was seriously wounded. For me, donating is not a mitzva but rather a duty." and another saying "I served as an officer and a military doctor in the Red Army in the Soviet Union. It's the least we can do in this difficult atmosphere of war. As long as there's a continued threat to Israel's existence, we must all pitch in order to protect it."
Other Holocaust survivors both inside and outside of Israel were shocked about the rising anti-Semitism masked as anti-Israel criticism, with one saying "It's ok not to agree with the Israeli government, like lots of people do over here. But if they are yelling 'kill all Jews' during protests, you haven't learned anything from the past." and another saying "I am deeply worried about the future of my children and grandchildren. Most of the elderly people are afraid. Everybody hates us. We are being surrounded by danger."
Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel said Hamas must stop using children as human shields, adding "Do the two cultures that brought us the Psalms of David and the rich libraries of the Ottoman Empire not share a love of life, of transmitting wisdom and opportunity to their children? And is any of this discernible in the dark future offered by Hamas to Arab children, to be suicide bombers or human shields for rockets? Palestinian parents want a hopeful future for their children, just like Israeli parents do. And both should be joining together in peace."
References
External links
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
Reactions to 2010s events
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yandex%20Search
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Yandex Search
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Yandex Search (Яндекс) is a search engine. It is owned by Yandex, based in Russia. In January 2015, Yandex Search generated 51.2% of all of the search traffic in Russia according to .
About
The search technology provides local search results in more than 1,400 cities. Yandex Search also features “parallel” search that presents results from both main web index and specialized information resources, including news, shopping, blogs, images and videos on a single page.
Yandex Search is responsive to real-time queries, recognizing when a query requires the most current information, such as breaking news or the most recent post on Twitter on a particular topic. It also contains some additional features: Wizard Answer, which provides additional information (for example, sports results), spell checker, autocomplete which suggests queries as-you-type, antivirus that detects malware on webpages and so on.
In May 2010, Yandex launched Yandex.com, a platform for beta testing and improving non-Russian language search.
The search product can be accessed from personal computers, mobile phones, tablets and other digital devices. In addition to web search, Yandex provides a wide range of specialized search services.
In 2009, Yandex launched MatrixNet, a new method of machine learning that significantly improves the relevance of search results. It allows the Yandex’ search engine to take into account a very large number of factors when it makes the decision about relevancy of search results.
Another technology, Spectrum, was launched in 2010. It allows inferring implicit queries and returning matching search results. The system automatically analyses users' searches and identifies objects like personal names, films or cars. Proportions of the search results responding to different user intents are based on the user demand for these results.
With the first release on 21 July 2017, Brave web browser features Yandex as one of its default search engines.
Functionality
Basic Information
The search engine consists of three main components:
An agent is a search robot. It bypasses the network, downloads and analyzes documents. If a new link is found during site analysis, it falls into the list of web addresses of the robot. Search robots are of the following types: spiders - download sites like the user's browsers; Crawler - discover new, still unknown links based on the analysis of already known documents; indexers - analyze the detected web pages and add data to the index. Many deflated documents are divided into disjoint parts and are cleared from the markup.
Index is a database compiled by search engine indexing robots. Documents are searched in the index.
Search engine. The search request from the user is sent to the least loaded server after analyzing the load of the search system. To provide such an opportunity, Yandex servers are clustered. Then, the user request is processed by a program called "Metapoisk". Metapoisk analyzes the request in real time: it determines the geographic location of the user, conducts linguistic analysis, etc. The program also determines whether the request belongs to the category of the most popular or recently defined.The issuance of such requests for some time is stored in the memory (cache) of the metasearch, and in case of a match, previously saved results are displayed. If the request is rare and there are no matches in the cache, the system redirects it to the Basic Search program. It analyzes the system index, which is also divided into different duplicate servers (this speeds up the procedure). Then the received information again falls into meta-search, the data is ranked and shown to the user in a final form.
Indexing
In general, Yandex indexes the following file types : html, pdf, rtf, doc, xls, ppt, docx, odt, odp, ods, odg, xlsx, pptx.
The search engine is also able to index text inside Shockwave Flash objects (if the text is not placed on the image itself), if these elements are transferred as a separate page, which has the MIME type application/x-shockwave-flash , and files with the extension .swf
Yandex has 2 scanning robots - the “main” and the “fast”. The first is responsible for the whole Internet, the second indexes sites with frequently changing and updating information (news sites and news agencies). In 2010, the “fast” robot received a new technology called “Orange”, developed jointly by the California and Moscow divisions of Yandex.
Since 2009, Yandex has supported Sitemaps technology.
Server logs
In the server logs, Yandex robots are represented as follows:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexBot/3.0) is the main indexing robot.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexBot/3.0; MirrorDetector) - a robot that detects site mirrors. If there are several sites with the same content, only one will be shown in the search results.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexImages/3.0) - indexer Yandex. Images.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexVideo/3.0) - indexer Yandex. Video.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexMedia/3.0) - indexer multimedia data.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexBlogs/0.99; robot) is a search robot that indexes post comments.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexAddurl/2.0) - is a search robot hat indexes pages through the "Add URL" form.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexDirect/2.0; Dyatel) - checking Yandex. Direct.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexMetrika/2.0) - indexer Yandex. Metrics.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexCatalog/3.0; Dyatel) - checking Yandex. Catalog.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexNews/3.0) - indexer Yandex. News.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexAntivirus/2.0) - Yandex anti-virus robot.
Query language
The following operators are used for setting:
"" - exact quote
| - enter between words, if you need to find one of them
* - enter between words, if some word is missing
site: - search on a specific site
date: - search for documents by date, for example, date: 2007
+ - enter before the word, that should be in the document
Search results
Yandex, automatically, along with the original “exact form” of the query, searches for its various variations and formulations.
The Yandex search takes into account the morphology of the Russian language, therefore, regardless of the form of the word in the search query, the search will be performed for all word forms. If morphological analysis is undesirable, you can put an exclamation mark (!) Before the word - the search in this case will show only the specific form of the word. In addition, the search query practically does not take into account the so-called stop-words, that is, prepositions, punctuation, pronouns, etc., due to their wide distribution
As a rule, abbreviations are automatically disclosing, spelling is correcting. It also searches for synonyms (mobile - cellular). The extension of the original user request depends on the context. Expansion does not occur when a set of highly specialized terms, names of proper names of companies (for example, OJSC “Hippo” - OJSC “Hippopotamus”), adding the word “price”, in exact quotes (these are queries highlighted with typewriter quotes).
Search results for each user are formed individually based on their location, language of a query, interests and preferences based on the results of previous and current search sessions. However, the key factor in ranking search results is their relevance to the search query. Relevance is determined based on a ranking formula, which is constantly updated based on machine learning algorithms.
The search is performed in Russian, English, French, German, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Tatar, Kazakh.
Search results can be sorted by relevance and by date (buttons below the search results).
The page with the search results consists of 10 links with short annotations - “snippets”. The snippets includes a text comment, link, address, popular sections of the site, pages on social networks, etc. As an alternative to snippets, Yandex introduced in 2014 a new interface called “Islands”.
Yandex implements the “parallel searches” mechanism, when together with a web search, a search is performed on Yandex services, such as Catalog, News, Market, Encyclopedias, Images, etc. As a result, in response to a user’s request, the system shows not only textual information, but also links to video files, pictures, dictionary entries, etc.
A distinctive feature of the search engine is also the technology of "intent search" that mean a search for solving a problem. Intent search elements are - dialog prompts in case of ambiguous request, automatic text translation, information about the characteristics of the requested car, etc. For example, when you request “Boris Grebenshchikov - Golden City”, the system will show a form for online listening to music from the Yandex Music service, at the request of "st. Koroleva 12 " will be shown a fragment of the map with the marked object on it.
Spam and Virus Protection
In 2013, Yandex was considered by some to be the safest search engine at the time and the third most secure among all web resources. By 2016, Yandex had slipped down to third with Google being first.
Checking web pages and warning users appeared on Yandex in 2009: since then, on the search results page, next to a dangerous site there is a note “This site may threaten the security of your computer”. Two technologies at once are used to detect threats. The first was purchased from the American antivirus Sophos and based on a signature approach: that means, when accessing a web page, the antivirus system also accesses a database of already known viruses and malware. This approach is fast, but practically powerless against new viruses that have not yet entered the database. Therefore, Yandex along with the signature also uses its own antivirus complex, based on an analysis of the behavioral factor. The Yandex program, when accessing the site, checks whether the latter requested additional files from the browser, redirected it to an extraneous resource, etc. Thus, if information is received that the site begins to perform certain actions (cascading style sheets, JavaScript modules are launched and complete programs) without user permission, it is placed in the “black list” and in the database of virus signatures. Information about the infection of the site appears in the search results, and through the Yandex.Webmaster service the owner of the site receives a notification. After the first check, Yandex does the second, and if the infection information is confirmed a second time, the checks will be more frequent until the threat is eliminated. The total number of infected sites in the Yandex database does not exceed 1%.
Every day in 2013, Yandex checks 23 million web pages (while detecting 4,300 dangerous sites) and shows users 8 million warnings. Approximately one billion sites are checked monthly.
Search Ranking
For a long time, the key ranking factor for Yandex was the number of third-party links to a particular site. Each page on the Internet was assigned a unique citation index, similar to the index for authors of scientific articles: the more links, the better. A similar mechanism was implemented in the Yandex and in the Google’s PageRank. In order to prevent cheating, Yandex uses multivariate analysis, in which only 70 of the 800 factors are affected by the number of third-party links. Today, the content of the site and the presence or absence of keywords there, the ease of reading the text, the name of the domain, its history and the presence of multimedia content play a much greater role.
On 5 December 2013 Yandex announced a complete refusal of accounting the link factor in the future.
Search hints
As the user types the query in the search bar, the search engine offers hints in the form of a drop-down list. Hints appear even before the search results appears and allow you to refine the query, correct the layout or typo, or go directly to the site you are looking for. For each user, hints are generated based on the history of their search queries using the My Finds service. In 2012, the so-called “Smart Search Hints” appeared, which instantly give out information about the main constants (equator length, speed of light, and so on), traffic jams, and have a built-in calculator. In addition, a translator was integrated in the “Hints” (the query “love in French” instantly gives out amour, affection ), the schedule and results of football matches, exchange rates, weather forecasts and more. You can find out the exact time by asking "what time is it." In 2011, Hints in the search for Yandex became completely local to 83 regions of Russia.
In addition to the actual search, Hints are built into Yandex search engines. Dictionaries ”,“ Yandex. Market ”,“ Yandex. Maps "and other Yandex services.
The hint function is a consequence of the development of the technology of intent search and first appeared on Yandex.Bar in August 2007, and in October 2008 it was introduced on the main page of the search engine. Available both in the desktop and mobile versions of the site, Yandex shows its users more than a billion search hints per day
History
Changes in the search engine for a long time were not widely represented and remained nameless. And only from the beginning of 2008, when the launch of algorithm 8 SP1 was announced, Yandex announced that henceforth the new ranking algorithms will bear the names of cities.
1990s
The name of the system - Yandex, - was invented together by Arkady Volozh and Ilya Segalovich.
The word stands for yet another indexer (or as “ I am ("ya" in Russian language) and index )”. According to the interpretation of Artemy Lebedev, the name of the search engine is consonant with Yandeks, where yang means the masculine beginning,
The yandex.ru search engine was announced by CompTek on 23 September 1997 at the Softool exhibition, although some developments in the field of search (Bible indexing, searching for documents on CD-ROM, site search) were carried out by the company even earlier.
The first index contained information on 5 thousand servers and occupied 4.5 GB.
In the same 1997, the search for Yandex began to be used in the Russian version of Internet Explorer 4.0. It became possible to query in natural language.
In 1998, the function “find similar documents” appeared for each search result.
“Yandex. Search ”as of 1998 worked on three machines running on FreeBSD under Apache: one machine crawled the Internet and indexed documents, one search engine, and one machine duplicated the search engine.
In 1999, a search appeared in the categories - search, a combination of a search engine and a catalog. The version of the search engine was updated.
2000
On 6 June 2000 the second version of the search engine was presented. A parallel search mechanism was introduced, and along with the issuance, information was offered from large sources. Users were able to limit the search results to the selected topic. The heading “Popular finds” appeared - words that refine the search.
In December 2000, the volume of indexed information reached 355.22 GB.
2001
In 2001, Yandex overtook another Russian search engine, Rambler, in terms of attendance, and became the leading search engine of Runet. Yandex began to understand requests in a natural language that were asked in interrogative form. The system has learned to recognize typos and suggest correcting them. The design has changed.
2002
The number of daily queries to the Yandex search engine exceeded 2 million
2003
Indexing .rtf and .pdf documents was launched. Search results began to be issued including in XML format.
2004
The ranking algorithm has changed.
Yandex began indexing documents in .swf (Flash).xls and .ppt formats.
At the end of the year, the study “Some Aspects of Full-Text Search and Ranking in Yandex” was published (authors Ilya Segalovich, Mikhail Maslov ), which revealed certain ranking details in a search engine.
2005
In summer, the so-called “fast” search robot was launched, working in parallel with the actual pages intended for indexing. The base of the "fast robot" is updated every 1.5–2 hours.
The ranking algorithm has been improved to increase search accuracy.
Search capabilities have been expanded with the help of Yandex. Dictionaries ”and“ Yandex. Lingvo ". The search engine has learned to understand queries like “What is [something] in Spanish” and automatically translate them.
It became possible to limit search results by region.
2006
Since May 2006, site icons have been displayed in the search results.
In early December, next to each link in the results of search appeared the item “Saved copy”, clicking on which, the user goes to a full copy of the page in a special archive database (“Yandex cache”).
2007
Ranking algorithm changed again.
2008
In 2008, Yandex for the first time began to openly announce changes in the search algorithm and started to name the changes with the names of Russian cities. The name of the “city” of each subsequent algorithm begins with the letter that the name of the previous one ended with.
Yandex Achievements
According to media expert Mikhail Gurevich, Yandex is a “national treasure”, a “strategic product”.
This fact was also recognized in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, where in May 2012 a bill appeared in which Yandex and VKontakte are recognized by strategic enterprises as national information translators. In 2009, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev initiated the purchase of a “golden share” of Yandex by Sberbank in order to avoid an important nationwide company falling into foreign hands.
In 2012, Yandex overtook Channel One in terms of daily audience, which made the Yandex a leader in the domestic media market. In 2013, Yandex confirmed this status, overtaking First in terms of revenue.
In 2008, Yandex was the ninth search engine in the world, in 2009 the seventh, and in 2013 the fourth.
One of the components of this situation is the presence in Russia of a sufficient number of mathematically savvy specialists with a scientific instinct.
By 2002, the word Yandex became so common that when Arkady Volozh`s company demanded to return the yandex.com domain, bought by third parties, the defendant stated that the word "Yandex" was already synonymous with the search and became a household word in Russia.
Since late 2012, the Yandex search engine has outperformed the number of Google users on the Google Chrome browser in Russia.
Logo
The Yandex logo appears in numerous settings to identify the search engine company. Yandex has relied on several logos since its renaming, with the first logo created by Arkady Volozh and debuted in 1997 on Яndex.Site and Яndex.CD products, even before the announcement of the Yandex search engine. The logo was designed analog to the CompTek logo.
Since 1997 the logos are designed by Art. Lebedev Studios, — which designed four versions. The current logo uses Cyrillic words.
References
External links
Holydays on Yandex website
Yandex logo on the Official website
Yandex logo on Art. Lebedev Studio website
Various Yandex logo
Festive Yandex logo
Internet search engines
Yandex
Search algorithms
Search engine optimization
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10570710
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adreno
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Adreno
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Adreno is a series of graphics processing unit (GPU) semiconductor intellectual property cores developed by Qualcomm and used in many of their SoCs.
History
Adreno (an anagram of AMD's graphic card brand Radeon), was originally developed by ATI Technologies and sold to Qualcomm in 2009 for $65M, and was used in their mobile chipset products. Early Adreno models included the Adreno 100 and 110, which had 2D graphics acceleration and limited multimedia capabilities. At the time, 3D graphics on mobile platforms were commonly handled using software-based rendering engines, which limited their performance. With growing demand for more advanced multimedia and 3D graphics capabilities, Qualcomm licensed the Imageon IP from AMD, in order to add hardware-accelerated 3D capabilities to their mobile products. Further collaboration with AMD resulted in the development of the Adreno 200, originally named the AMD Z430, based on the R400 architecture used in the Xenos GPU of the Xbox 360 video game console and released in 2008, which was integrated into the first Snapdragon SoC. In January 2009, AMD sold their entire Imageon handheld device graphics division to Qualcomm.
Technical details
Variants
The company offers Adreno GPUs in various types, as a component of their Snapdragon SoCs:
Notes
Adreno 130 inside the MSM7x01, and MSM7x01A. It supports OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.3, Direct3D Mobile, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI.
Adreno 200 (AMD Z430) inside the QSD8x50 and MSM7x27 (133 MHz). It offers a programmable function pipeline and streaming textures with support for OpenGL ES 1.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, SVGT 1.2 and DirectDraw. (22M triangles/second, 133M pixels/second, clock speed up to 133 MHz)
Adreno 200 enhanced inside the MSM7x25A and MSM7x27A (200 MHz). It supports OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI. (40M triangles/second, 200M pixels/second, clock speed up to 200 MHz)
Adreno 203 inside the MSM8225 and MSM8225Q (400 MHz). It is an improvement over Adreno 205. It features a higher frequency, has better pixel fillrate, lower power consumption, better 3D performance. It is about 50-100% faster than Adreno 200 (enhanced), and 10–25% than Adreno 205. It could clock 2x times higher than Adreno 205. It supports OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, DirectX 9.0c, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI. (42-50M triangles/second, 250-300M pixels/second, clock speed from 192 to 400 MHz)
Adreno 205 inside the QSD8x50A, MSM7x30, and MSM8x55 (245 MHz). Its improvements include Hardware-accelerated SVG and Adobe Flash and better shader-performance than the Adreno 200. It supports OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI. (57M triangles/second, 250M pixels/second, clock speed up to 400 MHz)
Adreno 220 inside the MSM8660 or MSM8260 (266 MHz) with single channel memory. It supports OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, DirectX 9.0c, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI. (88M triangles/second, 500M pixels/second, standard clock speed up to 266 MHz, overclock up to 400 MHz)
Adreno 225 inside the MSM8960 (400 MHz), with unified shader architecture and dual channel memory. It supports Direct3D 9.0c in addition to OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI.
Adreno 320 inside the Qualcomm S4 Pro & Prime Series, with unified shader architecture and dual channel memory. It supports Direct3D feature level 9_3 in addition to OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D Mobile, SVGT 1.2
Adreno 330 inside the Nexus 5, Amazon Kindle HDX series tablets, Amazon Fire phone, Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet, Nokia Lumia 1520, Nokia Lumia Icon, Nokia Lumia 930, Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Sony Xperia Z1, Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, Sony Xperia Z2, Sony Xperia Z3, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Xiaomi Mi3, Xiaomi Mi4, OnePlus One, HTC One (M8) and LG G2/G3 smartphones.
Adreno 420 inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 supports Direct3D 11.2 runtime (feature level 11_1). Inside the Google Nexus 6, Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, LG G3 Cat. 6, Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 (2014). The Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 is the first phone SoC ever to feature a 128-bit memory bus.
Adreno 540 inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 is the first phone SoC to feature Variable refresh rate and Foveated rendering/Variate Rate Shading, Qualcomm calls their implementations Q-Sync and Adreno Foveation.
Adreno 630 inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 is the first phone SoC to feature Inside-Out Room-scale 6DoF with SLAM
Adreno 640 inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 is the first phone SoC to feature updateable GPU drivers from the Google Play Store
Adreno 660 inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is the first phone SoC to feature Variable Rate Shading (VRS)
Operating system support
There are proprietary drivers for the Linux-based mobile operating system Android available from Qualcomm themselves.
Historically the only way to have GPU support on non-Android Linux was with the libhybris wrapper.
Linux and Mesa supports the Adreno 200/300/400/500 series of GPUs with a driver called freedreno. Freedreno allows fully open-source graphics on devices like the 96Boards Dragonboard 410c and Nexus 7 (2013).
See also
Qualcomm Hexagon
List of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors
PowerVR – competing graphics technology available as a Silicon IP core (SIP) to 3rd parties
Mali – competing graphics technology available as a Silicon IP core (SIP) to 3rd parties
Vivante – competing graphics technology available as a Silicon IP core (SIP) to 3rd parties
Tegra – family of SoCs for mobile computers, the graphics core could be available as SIP block to 3rd parties
VideoCore – family of SOCs, by Broadcom, for mobile computers, the graphics core could be available as SIP block to 3rd parties
Atom family of SoCs – with Intel graphics core, not licensed to 3rd parties
AMD mobile APUs – with AMD graphics core, not licensed to 3rd parties
AMD Imageon (ATI Imageon) - List of ATI mobile GPU
Intel 2700G - Old Intel mobile GPU
List of Nvidia graphics processing units - GPU Nvidia
References
External links
Additional information on history of Adreno
Graphics processing units
Qualcomm IP cores
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69600722
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%20Troy%20Trojans%20softball%20team
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2022 Troy Trojans softball team
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The 2022 Troy Trojans softball team will represent Troy University during the 2022 NCAA Division I softball season. The Trojans will play their home games at Troy Softball Complex. The Trojans are to be led by eighth-year head coach Beth Mullins and are members of the Sun Belt Conference.
Preseason
Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll
The Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll will be released sometime in Winter 2022.
Preseason All-Sun Belt team
National Softball Signing Day
Roster
Coaching staff
Schedule and results
Schedule Source:
*Rankings are based on the team's current ranking in the NFCA/USA Softball poll.
References
Troy
Troy Trojans softball
Troy Trojans softball seasons
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20324939
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon%27s%20Souls
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Demon's Souls
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is an action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 3 under the supervision of Japan Studio. It was published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment in February 2009, in North America by Atlus USA in October 2009, and in PAL territories by Namco Bandai Games in June 2010. The game is referred to as a spiritual successor to FromSoftware's King's Field series.
Demon's Souls is set in Boletaria, a kingdom consumed by a dark being called the Old One, following its release through the use of forbidden Soul Arts. Players take on the role of a hero brought to Boletaria to kill its fallen king Allant and pacify the Old One. Gameplay has players navigating five different worlds from a hub called the Nexus, with a heavy emphasis on challenging combat and mechanics surrounding player death and respawning. Online multiplayer allows both player cooperation and world invasions featuring player versus player combat.
The game's early development was troubled due to a lack of coherent vision. Despite such issues, FromSoftware staff member Hidetaka Miyazaki was able to take over the project and helped to turn the title into what it eventually became. The game's difficulty was intended to both evoke classic video games and provide a sense of challenge and accomplishment for players. This aspect proved demanding for Miyazaki, partly because of his fear that Sony would ask the team to lower the difficulty in order to make the game more accessible. The multiplayer elements were inspired by events in Miyazaki's life.
Announced in 2008, early reactions to Demon's Souls demo were seen as negative, and the game's high difficulty prompted Sony to pass on publishing the title outside of Japan. While the game met with middling reception and sales in Japan, it became a commercial and critical success in the West. The game was praised for its difficult combat and addictive gameplay, subsequently winning several awards. Its success began a series of Souls games starting with Dark Souls in 2011. A remake by Bluepoint Games and Japan Studio was released as a launch title for the PlayStation 5 in November 2020.
Gameplay
Demon's Souls is an action role-playing game where players take on the role of an adventurer, whose gender and appearance are customized at the beginning of the game, exploring the cursed land of Boletaria. Aspects of the customization impact various statistics (stats) related to gameplay. The player character is granted a starting character class, which further influences their stats, though they can be altered later in the game and effectively change a player's class combined with a different weapon choice. The world is divided into six areas; the Nexus hub world and five additional worlds subdivided into four areas which each end in a boss encounter. There are 22 bosses in the game including Real King Allant and two Maneaters, and four bosses are optional. Combat is reliant on timing for weapon strikes and blocks, with different weapon types opening up a variety of combat options and altering the player's movement speed. Most actions drain a stamina meter, with its management forming a core part of combat. By defeating an enemy, the player acquires Souls, which act as both experience points to raise various statistics; and the game's currency for purchasing new weapons, armor and items. As the player invests, the number of souls required increases. Along with souls, players can retrieve items such as weaponry and ore for upgrading.
When a player is killed during a level, they are sent to the beginning of the level with all non-boss enemies re-spawned, while the player returns in soul form with lower maximum health and the loss of all unused souls. If the player manages to reach their bloodstain at the point where they were last killed, they regain their lost souls. However, if they are killed before then, the souls are lost permanently. Upon defeating a boss, the player can choose to re-spawn back to that location, marked in the form of an Archstone. When not exploring a level, players reside in the Nexus, a realm that acts as a hub where players can exchange souls, store items and travel between regions. After completing the initial portion of the first region, players can choose to progress through any other of the newly available regions.
Demon's Souls make use of asynchronous multiplayer for those connected to the PlayStation Network. The game incorporates multiplayer elements into its single-player campaign. During gameplay, players briefly see the actions of other players as ghosts in the same area that may show hidden passages or switches. When a player dies, a bloodstain can be left in other players' game world that when activated can show a ghost playing out their final moments, indicating how that person died and potentially helping the player avoid the same fate. Players can leave pre-written messages on the floor that can also help others such as forewarning safe or hostile positions, trap locations and tactics against enemies or bosses, among general comments. Co-operative play allows up to three characters to team up in a host world where visiting players appear in soul form that can only be returned to their bodies when a boss is defeated. In competitive play, players can invade another world as a Black Phantom to engage in combat with the host player. If the Black Phantom kills the host, they can be returned to their body in their own game, whereas if killed themselves, the host gains a portion of the Black Phantom's souls as well as the phantom losing an experience level. Some multiplayer elements are incorporated directly into gameplay events.
Several mechanics in the game are covered by World and Character Tendency. Character Tendency impacts the entire game, while World Tendency only affects a particular region. Character Tendency is influenced by a character's behaviour; starting from neutral, the player can shift their Tendency to black or white. Black tendency is triggered by actions such as killing NPCs and being antagonistic towards other players, in addition to dying repeatedly in a world. White tendency is born from helping others and being supportive to other players, and defeating bosses. World Tendency exists separately from Character Tendency; black tendency raises the difficulty by increasing enemy health while giving more valuable rewards, while white tendency allows more item drops and makes enemies weaker at the cost of rare items. World Tendency is also influenced by the overall Tendency of worlds on servers. At either end of the Tendency spectrum, exclusive events occur and new areas can be unlocked.
Synopsis
Demon's Souls takes place in the kingdom of Boletaria. In ancient times, due to the misuse of magic known as the Soul Arts, Boletaria was attacked by a being called the Old One. The world was nearly consumed by the magical "Deep Fog" and the soul-eating demons it created. The Old One was eventually lulled to slumber, saving what remained of Boletaria, while some survivors became long-lived Monumentals to warn future generations. In the game's present, Boletaria's ruler King Allant restored the Soul Arts, awakening the Old One and its demon army. Boletaria is now being consumed by demons, with those humans without souls turning into insane monsters. Players take the role of an adventurer entering the fog engulfing Boletaria. After being killed, the player wakes up in the Nexus and meets a benevolent demon called the Maiden in Black, as well as various other characters.
Now bound to the Nexus until the Old One is returned to slumber, the player travels to five regions of Boletaria, killing the powerful demons controlling those areas and absorbing their souls to increase their power so they can face King Allant. However, the King Allant the player faces is revealed to be a demon imposter. After defeating the false King Allant, the Maiden in Black takes the player—now dubbed the "Slayer of Demons"—to the Old One. The Slayer of Demons faces the true King Allant, who has been transformed into a helpless blob-like demon, within the Old One's body. The Maiden in Black then arrives to put the Old One to sleep again. If the Slayer of Demons leaves the Old One, they are hailed as the hero of the restored, though damaged, Boletaria, becoming a new Monumental to support the world as the knowledge of Soul Arts is lost. If the Slayer of Demons kills the Maiden in Black, they serve the Old One and sate their hunger for souls as the fog continues to spread.
Development
Demon's Souls was developed by FromSoftware, a developer noted for creating the King's Field and Armored Core series. The project was first proposed and supported by Japan Studio. Demon's Souls was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who had joined the company in 2004 and worked as a coder on the Armored Core series. The game was co-produced by FromSoftware's Masanori Takeuchi and Sony's Takeshi Kajii. The concept of reviving a "lost breed of action game" was first proposed by Kajii. Due to the team lacking a coherent vision, the original project had run into difficulties. Hearing about a high fantasy role-playing game which was considered a failure within the company, Miyazaki decided that if he could take over the project he could take it in any direction he wanted. Since it was already flagging, it did not matter if his own efforts failed. Including this early work, production of the game took approximately three years. The team was made up of veteran developers and older staff members.
The initial concept for Demon's Souls came from FromSoftware's King's Field series, with Miyazaki citing its dark tone and high difficulty as the main inspirations for the game. Despite these inspirations, Miyazaki did not want to connect Demon's Souls to King's Field, and despite his urging otherwise many have termed the game as a spiritual successor to King's Field. Miyazaki hoped to take gaming back to its basics, creating a challenging gameplay-based experience he felt was dying out in the gaming market of the time. He wanted to create a game which would recreate the dark fantasy and hardcore feel of classic RPG titles (such as the King's Field and Wizardry series) on modern consoles, along with incorporated online elements. Miyazaki acknowledged some similarities to other video games such as Monster Hunter and Bushido Blade, but said the team did not have any specific video game influences in mind when creating Demon's Souls. After the first design documents were created, the game concept changed little during development. The final game did not come together in a playable form until very late in development, and even then there were network and framerate problems. The team were given a high amount of creative freedom, only possible due to what Kajii called "fortunate timing and release schedules".
The Souls system was a frequent subject of discussion during development, with the current system being decided upon as there being no risk of loss for souls would rob the game of any accomplishment for players. The unconventional death mechanics forced Miyazaki to carefully phrase the Soul mechanic during design document pitches to Sony, as he was worried they would insist on changes if they knew the full details. When creating the high difficulty, Miyazaki kept quiet about that aspect when talking with Sony, as he was sure they would insist upon the difficulty being lowered. He talked it over with Kajii, who agreed to keep that aspect quiet until release. Despite its reputation as a hard game, Miyazaki never intended the game to be hard, instead aiming for a challenging and rewarding experience for players. One scrapped idea was to introduce permanent death, but this was seen by staff as going too far. Variety was added to combat by changing how different weapons affected the character's movements, similar to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. All the bosses were designed based on a simple premise, in addition to being "varied and exciting".
The multiplayer mechanics were inspired by Miyazaki's experience of driving on a hillside after some heavy snow. When cars ahead stopped and started slipping back, they were deliberately bumped into and pushed up the hill by the cars behind them, thus allowing the traffic to flow. Unable to give his appreciation to the drivers before leaving the area, he wondered whether the last person in the line had made it to their destination, thinking that he would probably never meet those people again. Miyazaki wanted to emulate a sense of silent cooperation in the face of adversity. This gave birth to the Phantom systems, with the implementation of Black and Blue Phantoms designed to increase the variety of experience of players. The messaging system was intended to be nonintrusive, with Miyazaki comparing them to text messages. This system proved difficult for Miyazaki to explain to Sony, with him eventually comparing his messaging to the brevity of an email over a phone call so executives could understand it. The team wanted to avoid the formation of questing parties between players; the multiplayer was designed more to enhance the single-player content rather than be a separate mode. The Old Monk battle, which involved summoning another player as a Black Phantom during the boss battle, caused trouble due to the high number of bugs the team needed to sort out.
Describing the narrative, Kajii said the team's aim was to "sidestep preset narrative" to focus on gameplay. The world view and tone of the world drew from that of King's Field. The tone was influenced by both Miyazaki and Kajii, who were both fans of dark fantasy. When creating the world, Miyazaki drew inspiration from European folklore and mythology, contrasting with the trend of Japanese action RPGs to use Japanese folklore. Direct influences included Arthurian and Germanic folklore, the fantasy movies Conan the Barbarian and Excalibur, and the artwork of Frank Frazetta. The team were also influenced by old gamebooks. This darker art style was partly influenced by their goals with the gameplay. The art style was also influenced by Western titles more than those from Japan. The Maiden in Black was put in at Kajii's request as he wanted a heroine as part of the narrative. As she would be seen in close-up and eyes were the weakest aspect of character models, the team designed her without eyes. Miyazaki had several more worlds in his early design, with the latest to be cut being a world called the Library and an outside area for the Nexus. The Tower of Latria and Valley of Defilement were built around the respective themes of man-made and natural evil.
The fully orchestrated music was composed by Shunsuke Kida, who had worked on few video games but was famous for composing music for several Japanese television series. He was brought on board due to his skill at orchestral composition. The music was dark in tone, with many pieces for solo violin or piano, while other tracks made use of a full orchestra. The vocal work was all choral, maintaining the game's dark atmosphere. Three tracks included vocal work from Japanese singer Kokia.
Release
Demon's Souls was first announced in early October 2008 through that week's issue of Famitsu, with the game being playable at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) the following week. Reaction to the TGS demo was described by Kajii as "nothing short of a disaster" due to its unexpectedly challenging nature. Many people assumed the game's combat was still in development, with Kajii lamenting that the game was unsuited for a demo environment. Sony president Shuhei Yoshida was also dismissive of the game. When he play-tested it, he spent two hours playing the game and failed to get beyond the starting area. Believing it to be simply poor quality, he called it "an unbelievably bad game".
Demon's Souls released in Japan on February 5, 2009 by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. Due to negative feedback from Sony staff and the Japanese press, Sony decided against localizing the game for Western markets, a decision Sony and Yoshida in particular later regretted. Sony did create an English text version of the game for the Asian market. This version was translated by Active Gaming Media. The Chinese language version was released on February 26.
The game's voice acting was in English for all versions. Due to its Medieval European setting, the team decided against using American English actors, asking Sony to handle that aspect. Most of the actors were Scottish. The game was again localized from Japanese to English by Active Gaming Media. Active Gaming Media's James Mountain was the game's primary translator. He tried to translate and localize the dialogue as naturally as possible. While he never saw any art or video assets from the game, he interpreted the original text's tone to a "knights, dragons, demons-type action-oriented RPG". With this in mind, he included archaic words such as "thee" "thy" and "thou". His early draft used a lot of archaic dialogue, but upon a second look Mountain decided to rewrite parts of this as they felt lacking.
The game was licensed for release in North America by Atlus USA. While Sony was reluctant to license out a game for third-party publishing, it wanted the game to find a suitable niche and first-party publishing was no longer an option. The North American localization mainly addressed "grammar/inaccuracy issues" from the overseas version. Atlus USA was aware of the game's high difficulty, but was impressed by the game's quality and decided to take it on. Also due to the high difficulty, it planned for conservative sales figures. The game released in North America on October 6, coming in both standard and limited edition. The game was published in PAL territories by Namco Bandai Games in partnership with Sony. The European version came in standard and limited editions. The game was released across PAL territories, including Europe and Australia, on June 25.
The North American servers for Demon's Souls were originally planned for shutdown in October 2011, two years after the game's release in the region. Atlus decided a month before to keep the servers running until May the following year. Later, after unspecified new developments, Atlus announced that it would keep the servers running "indefinitely". They were finally discontinued worldwide in February 2018. Their discontinuation meant the end of multiplayer functionality, messaging, and the World Tendency mechanics. A few months after the servers went offline, a group of fans created a private server which restored all online functions.
Remake
A remake by Bluepoint Games for the PlayStation 5 was announced at the console's reveal event in June 2020. Production on the remake began following completion of the studio's 2018 remake of Shadow of the Colossus. Demon's Souls released as a launch title for the console on November 12, 2020.
Reception
Upon its release in Japan, Demon's Souls was generally well received by critics. Dengeki scored the game 95/85/85/85, adding up to 350 out of 400, saying that "fans of old-school games will shed tears of joy." Famitsu gave it 29 out of 40 (9/7/7/6), with an editor Paint Yamamoto scoring it a 9 and calling it "a game you learn how to play by losing – you'll face sudden death frequently. But! Keep playing... and you'll realize how deep it really is." However, another editor, Maria Kichiji, gave it a 6 and found the game to be "far too stoic... it's not a game for everybody."
Upon release in North America, the game received critical acclaim with an average critic score of at Metacritic. Despite the game's high difficulty, many reviewers found it to be a positive aspect, making the game more rewarding to play. GameSpot called the high difficulty "fair", saying players will "undoubtedly take a lot of damage until you learn the subtleties of fighting each enemy, but combat feels just right." IGN echoed this view, saying that players who "can remember the good ol' days when games taught through the highly effective use of negative reinforcement and a heavy price for not playing it carefully should scoop this up instantly." Game Informer called it "one of the first truly great Japanese RPGs of this generation, and certainly the most remarkable." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine however, while commending the game overall, said Demon's Souls was "best left to the most masochistic, hardcore gamer."
GameZone commented on the online aspect as being "innovative" and "perfectly blended into the game", while Game Revolution felt it "turns a solitary experience into a surprisingly communal one." On the technical and design side GamesRadar called it "graphically stunning, too, looking more like the old Ultima games than anything that’s ever come out of Japan," while GameTrailers said the game "nails the dark fantasy look" along with what they considered "music from actual instruments", although they mentioned certain issues with the physics engine being "jittery". Shortly after its North American release, ScrewAttack named Demon's Souls as the eighth best PS3 exclusive to date.
Prior to the game's release in Europe, European critics reviewed import copies. Eurogamer called Demon's Souls "stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding" while Edge explained their positive view on the difficulty by stating "if gaming’s ultimate appeal lies in the learning and mastering of new skills, then surely the medium’s keenest thrills are to be found in its hardest lessons", concluding "for those who flourish under Demon’s Souls’ strict examination, there's no greater sense of virtual achievement."
Sales
During its first week on sale, Demon's Souls debuted at second place in the charts with over 39,000 units sold, coming in behind the previous week's top-seller Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2. The game sold through 95% of its shipment during its debut, selling out in several stores. According to Miyazaki, initial sales for Demon's Souls were slow in Japan, which combined with negative reactions from trade shows made the team fearful that the game would be a failure. However, positive word of mouth eventually allowed the game to sell over 100,000 copies, which the team considered a success. It sold 134,585 copies in Japan by December 2009.
Atlus had estimated the game's sales at 75,000 units, only preparing initial shipments of 15,000 units before positive word of mouth and critical acclaim caused sales to take off. In North America, the game was the eleventh best-selling title during its month of release, posting sales of 150,000 units. By March 2010, the game had sold 250,000 copies in North America. According to Atlus, the game sold triple their original estimates by April 2010. During their fiscal year report, Atlus' parent company Index Corporation reported profits of over $3 million. This was almost entirely attributed to the commercial success of Demon's Souls. In September 2010, Atlus announced that Demon's Souls would be released in North America under the Sony Greatest Hits label with a price cut following strong sales, higher than previously expected by the publisher. Its status indicated regional sales of over 500,000 units.
In the United Kingdom, the game's special edition sold out very fast apart from "dribs and drabs". This was classed as a success by Namco Bandai, particularly due to the long delay between the North American and European releases. While units sold did not reach hundreds of thousands at the time, Namco Bandai were confident in the game's future commercial success. Demon's Souls favorable review scores made the fiscal performance of the game unique because of the lack of a supporting marketing campaign. Gaming analyst Jesse Divnich commented "Demon's Souls is probably one of the most statistically relevant games released in the gaming world as it helps answer an often asked question: how much would a high quality game sell if it was supported by no mass marketing, released by a little known publisher, and was a new intellectual property." As of 2011, the game has sold over one million copies worldwide.
Awards
In their 2009 Best and Worst Awards, GameSpot awarded Demon's Souls with Overall Game of the Year, Best PS3 game, Best Role-Playing game and Best Original Game Mechanic for the online integration. GameTrailers awarded it Best RPG and Best New intellectual property. IGN also awarded the game Best RPG for the PS3. X-Play awarded the multiplayer Best Gameplay Innovation. PC World awarded it Game of the Year. RPGamer awarded Demon's Souls RPG of the Year 2009, including Best Graphics and Best PS3 RPG. In 2015 Edge ranked the game 20th on their top 100 greatest video games. At the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards), Demon's Souls was nominated for "Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming".
Footnotes
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
2009 video games
Action role-playing video games
Atlus games
Bandai Namco games
Dark fantasy role-playing video games
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%20USC%20Trojans%20football%20team
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2007 USC Trojans football team
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The 2007 USC Trojans football team (variously "Trojans" or "USC") represented the University of Southern California during the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, winning a share of the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) championship and winning the 2008 Rose Bowl. The team was coached by Pete Carroll and played its home games at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
The team entered the season with high expectations. It was ranked No. 1 in all national pre-season polls, picked unanimously to win the Pac-10 Conference and expected to contend for a national championship. Those hopes were dealt a major blow when the Trojans lost to 41-point underdog Stanford in a mid-season game that was named one of the greatest upsets in a season that became defined by them. After their second loss, there were questions as to whether the team would be able to even win their own conference, let alone compete nationally. However, USC defied mid-season expectations and rallied, finishing the season ranked No. 2 in the Coaches' Poll and No. 3 in the Associated Press (AP) Poll. By the end of the season various sports journalists said the Trojans were playing the best football of anyone in the country.
The Trojans were named national champion by Dunkel, became the first team to win (or share) six straight Pacific-10 titles, and were the first team in major college football to achieve six straight 11-win seasons. After the season, ten USC players were selected in the 2008 NFL Draft, with a school-record seven players selected in the first two rounds. Over the next four years, 25 more players from the 2007 USC Trojans football team were drafted into the NFL.
Before the season
Pre-season outlook
The Trojans ended the 2006 season with a victory in the 2007 Rose Bowl Game and a No. 4 ranking in both AP and Coaches polls, their fifth straight year winning the Pac-10 Championship and finishing in the top 4. During that 5-year period, the team won two national championships (2003, 2004). Prior to the 2007 season, the Trojans were ranked No. 1 in all national pre-season polls and were expected to challenge for the national championship. The team received a boost in the offseason when many draft-eligible juniors decided to return to school for their senior seasons; the holdover of talented veterans was a major factor in the Trojans being considered preeminent favorites for a national championship. As expected, USC was at the top of the first Coaches Poll of the season, released on August 3, 2007, with 45 of a possible 60 first-place votes; other teams receiving first-place votes were No. 2 Louisiana State University (LSU) with 4 votes, No. 3 Florida with 6 votes, and No. 5 Michigan with 2 votes. USC was also at the top of the first AP Poll, released on August 18, with 62 of 65 first-place votes, with No. 2 LSU receiving 2 votes and No. 3 West Virginia receiving one. In mid-August, all twelve experts polled by ESPN picked USC to win the season's BCS Championship Game. On August 29, 2007, the day before the season began, three of four experts at SI.com predicted USC would win the BCS Championship Game, attributing the decision to the Trojans defense.
In terms of overall talent, Carroll stated that the 2007 squad is the "most competitive team we've had" during his six-year tenure as coach. Senior starting quarterback John David Booty entered the season as a front-runner for the Heisman Trophy. Booty, along with returning senior tackle Sam Baker, were ranked as two of the "Top 20 Players Heading Into 2007" by Sports Illustrated.
The Trojans entered pre-season fall camp well stocked at the running back position, with 10 former high school Super Prep All-Americans, nine of whom were Prep Star all-Americans and seven were Parade all-Americans. The exceptional running back situation at USC was a major factor in Sports Illustrated forecasting the 2007 season as "The Year of the Running Back." In judging USC as a pre-season favorite, particular emphasis was made on the defense. Considered to be one of the best defenses during the 2006 season, the Trojans entered 2007 with 10 returning starters and key backups. After a one-season experiment with the 3–4 defense formation, the defense returned to using the 4–3. The highlight of the defense was the linebacking corp, led by Brian Cushing, Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga.
At the Pacific-10 Conference media day, the Trojans were the unanimous pre-season pick to win the conference; this was USC's fifth year in a row as the favorite to win the conference title, and only the third time in conference history that a team had been picked unanimously (the other two were USC in 2004 and 2005).
Recruiting class
USC's stellar recruiting class was highlighted by the three highest ranked players from the "ESPN 150": No. 1 Joe McKnight (RB); No. 2 Chris Galippo (LB); and No. 3 Marc Tyler (RB). The Trojans also landed Scout.com's National Player of the Year and top overall prospect for 2007, Everson Griffen. Other notable signees included Rivals.com's No. 1 WR Ronald Johnson and 5-star OL Kristofer O'Dowd. Despite recruiting substantially fewer players than other programs, USC signed the No. 1 or No. 2 recruiting class in various rankings, along with the Florida Gators, the winners of the 2006 National Championship. In the pre-season, McKnight and Johnson were named two of the top-10 impact freshman for 2007.
The football program received 18 letters of intent on National Signing Day, February 7, 2007, listed below:
Transfers
In May, the Trojans were joined by former Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain, who had an 8–0 win/loss record as a starter during his freshman (and only) year with the team. Mustain joined fellow Arkansas teammate and wide receiver Damian Williams, who transferred from Arkansas before the 2006 bowl season. Due to NCAA transfer rules all would be unable to compete until 2008, although they would be allowed on the scout team.
In early summer, Jordan Cameron, a former freshman basketball player from Brigham Young University, also transferred to USC to play football as a wide receiver. However, when USC refused to accept some of Cameron's credits from Brigham Young, he was forced to withdraw and attend Ventura College. He missed the football season but was given the option to try to rejoin the team in 2008. Even if he had stayed at USC, due to NCAA transfer rules he would have been ineligible to play in 2007. Cameron ended up enrolling at USC a year later.
With the late 2006 dismissal of Troy Van Blarcom (academics) and the death of Mario Danelo, USC was left with only one experienced kicker: David Buehler, a 2006 junior college transfer from Santa Ana College who competed mainly at fullback and safety, but was used for one successful field goal attempt the previous season. In July 2007, Joe Houston, a junior college kicker from El Camino College, joined the team as a "preferred walk-on", guaranteed a non-scholarship spot on the team. As a junior college transfer, Houston would be able to play for the Trojans immediately. USC also recruited former University of Nebraska kicker, Jordan Congdon, who was not eligible for the 2007 season; and Brad Smith, formerly of Davidson College. Smith was able to play immediately under an NCAA rule that permits non-scholarship players who have already received a degree to transfer once with immediate eligibility.
Departures
Following the 2006 season, several players graduated, including starting senior All-Americans Steve Smith (wide receiver) and Ryan Kalil (center), as well as all-conference linebackers Dallas Sartz and Oscar Lua. Junior All-American Dwayne Jarrett, who was their leading receiver in 2005 and 2006, renounced his eligibility and joined the NFL.
The Trojans entered fall training camp with a high number of scholarship running backs (10), all of whom were highly touted recruits. In August, midway through camp, running back Emmanuel Moody announced he was leaving USC. Moody, who was the second-leading rusher in the 2006 season, had gained 458 yards on 79 carries in a rotating platoon of running backs in 2006 and had recently been one of three USC running backs appearing on the regional cover of Sports Illustrated'''s college football preview edition.Gary Klein, Off the Deep End, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. Injuries had limited his playing and practice time: he suffered an ankle injury that caused him to miss the team's last four games of the 2006 season, then missed almost all of spring practice due to a hamstring injury. Halfway through the summer training camp, Moody bruised his knee and was forced to stop practicing. He wished to be a featured player and stated he had "felt forgotten" coming into training camp due to his recent lack of playing and practice time. After looking at several schools, including Oklahoma State and North Carolina, Moody transferred to the University of Florida.
At about the same time, backup receiver and redshirt freshman Jamere Holland was dismissed from the team, although not for any violation of team rules. He was allowed to stay on scholarship for the year. Holland redshirted the previous season after breaking his collarbone, reinjured it during spring practice and had clashed with coaches during his return to fall camp.Gary Klein, Carroll dismisses 2006 recruit Holland, Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. He would later transfer to the University of Oregon.
Offseason news
On January 6, 2007, Shortly after the Trojans ended their 2006 season with a win at the 2007 Rose Bowl, two-year starting placekicker Mario Danelo was found dead at the bottom of a cliff in San Pedro, California. Danelo had been expected to start during the 2007 season. For the 2007 season, USC players wore a #19 sticker on their helmets in honor of Danelo; in addition the Kennedy-Jones practice field had the number "19" sprayed onto its end zones and the Coliseum hung a banner above the player's tunnel with Danelo's name and also paid tribute to him on the goal-post pads.Gary Klein, Danelo's parents visit during practice, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008.
The Trojans lost their offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin, on January 23, 2007, when he was hired to be the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders; the 31-year-old Kiffin became the youngest head coach in Raiders history, and the youngest head coach since the formation of the modern NFL. Shortly after Kiffin's departure, Pete Carroll named Steve Sarkisian as his team's new offensive coordinator. Sarkisian had interviewed with the Raiders for their vacant head coach position but withdrew from the process to stay at USC, where he had been the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach.
Intra-conference controversy arose in March 2007, when Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh was quoted as saying "[Pete Carroll]'s only got one more year, though. He'll be there one more year. That's what I've heard. I heard it inside the staff." Upon further questions, Harbaugh claimed he had heard it from staff at USC. At the Pac-10 Conference media day (July 26, 2007), Harbaugh praised the Trojans, stating "There is no question in my mind that USC is the best team in the country and may be the best team in the history of college football"; the declaration, especially in light of his earlier comment, garnered more media attention.
In early July, LSU coach Les Miles stirred inter-conference controversy when he publicly criticized USC's 2007 schedule in front of LSU boosters; though the two schools had not played each other since 1984, the LSU Tiger faithful maintained a strong grudge against the Trojans after they shared the national title in the controversial 2003 season. LSU and Michigan were ranked as the pre-season No. 2 team in various polls.
Schedule
The 2007 Trojans schedule was ranked the 8th hardest in the country. Before the season, the road schedule was ranked as the 6th toughest. Within the Pac-10, the schedule ranked as the 2nd toughest.
Roster
Coaching staff
Game summaries
Idaho
USC opened its season hosting the University of Idaho Vandals of the Western Athletic Conference, under first year coach Robb Akey. Trojans Defensive Coordinator Nick Holt had previously been the head coach of the Idaho Vandals for two seasons (2004–05); before that he was USC's linebackers coach from 2001–03 under Carroll (Holt had been an assistant coach at Idaho for eight seasons, from 1990 to 1997). The game was scheduled in 2005, during Holt's tenure with the Vandals. After Holt's sudden resignation in early 2006, Idaho tried to get out of the game to no avail; the Vandals athletic program received $600,000 for their appearance in the game. The last time the Vandals played USC, in 1929, they were in the same conference, the Pacific Coast Conference. During their time as conference rivals, USC dominated the Vandals, winning all seven games between 1922 and 1929 by a combined score of 215–20. USC entered the 2007 contest as six-touchdown favorites.
USC controlled the game, but did not exert the level of domination expected. After taking a 21–0 lead into the second quarter, the offense showed signs of sputtering; the second teams took over for the 4th quarter. Booty completed 21 of 32 passes for 206 yards, threw for three touchdowns and one interception; though he did not convert on a fourth down play in short yardage and was unable to find a rhythm. Primary receiver Patrick Turner was held out of the game to recover from a stinger received in the previous week's practice; cornerback Josh Pinkard was also held out to recover from knee soreness. As a result, young receivers David Ausberry and Vidal Hazelton handled the primary wide receiver duties. The highlight of the Trojans offense was the running game, which rushed for 214 yards while Idaho was held to 98. The role was run by committee: with the debut of redshirt freshman Stafon Johnson (64 yards in 12 carries, two touchdown runs), who scored the first touchdown of the game, as well as C.J. Gable (68 yards in eight carries, one touchdown reception), who made an impressive 33-yard run, and fullback Stanley Havili who made several receptions, including one for a touchdown. The game marked the debut of USC true freshman running back Joe McKnight, who made a spectacular run in the third quarter that was likened to those of predecessor Reggie Bush. Kristofer O'Dowd became the first true freshman to start at center for the Trojans due to an injury to Matt Spanos, earning positive reviews for his performance.Gary Klein, Opener goes as expected, Los Angeles Times, September 3, 2007, Accessed May 30, 2008. Although the defense did not cause many turnovers and lost key linebacker Brian Cushing to an ankle sprain in the first quarter, it met enough expectations to remain ranked among the top defenses in the country.
In honor of Trojans kicker Mario Danelo, who died just after the 2006 season, a special ceremony was held before the beginning of the game. Also, after scoring its first touchdown, USC intentionally lined up for the PAT without a kicker in tribute to their late teammate, taking a 5-yard delay of game penalty before David Buehler came on the field to kick the extra point. The moment was chosen by ESPN as one of the Pac-10's Top 10 Moments Of BCS Era.
Nebraska
After a bye week, the Trojans visited the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska. In the pre-season, the game was named as one of the candidates for the 10 most important games of 2007. For the Huskers, the game was especially critical to their hopes of showing progress under 4th year head coach Bill Callahan.David Duffey, Don't miss these nonconference games in 2007, ESPN.com, August 15, 2007, Accessed May 30, 2008. The game marked the first time a No. 1-ranked team visited Lincoln since 1978. Because of the game's significance, ESPN College GameDay chose it as the site of its weekly broadcast.
Callahan had been criticized for his conservative play-calling during the 2006 game in Los Angeles; instead of playing to win, it appeared the Huskers were playing to not get blown out by the then-favored Trojans. In that game the normally prolific West Coast offense of Nebraska, which had produced 541 yards a game, was corralled on the ground and attempted only 17 passes in a 28–10 Husker loss. For 2007, Callahan pledged to play more aggressively, using running back Marlon Lucky and quarterback Sam Keller. Keller, the Huskers redshirt senior starting quarterback, was a 2006 transfer from Arizona State; as a Sun Devil Keller started the first seven games of his 2005 junior season, throwing for 2,165 yards, before a disastrous game against USC where, after leading ASU to a 21–3 halftime lead, he and the offense fell apart on the way to a 38–28 loss where he was sacked five times and threw five interceptions. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Keller spent the 2006 season on the Huskers' scout team.
The Trojans stayed in nearby Omaha and practiced at a local high school; Carroll took the rare step of closing practice to outsiders after a local radio station announced the location. The game marked the return of primary receiver Patrick Turner and running back Chauncey Washington from injury; linebacker Brian Cushing, who injured his ankle early against Idaho, had not fully recovered but was allowed to suit-up as a reserve. Senior center Matt Spanos remained injured, and true freshman Kris O'Dowd was called to start again. Veteran secondary member Josh Pinkard was lost for the season after his sore knee gave out during a bye week practice, resulting in a torn ACL requiring surgery.
Anticipation for the game was high in Lincoln, fueling strong demand for tickets and accommodations; the game brought celebrities including USC fans Will Ferrell (also an alumnus) and Keanu Reeves, Nebraska fans Larry the Cable Guy, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rush Limbaugh, and Ward Connerly; past Husker Heisman-winner Mike Rozier, Trojans Heisman-winner Marcus Allen and star Trojans safety Ronnie Lott were also on hand for the game.Jason Siffring, View from the Sideline: USC vs Nebraska , Big Red Network, September 17, 2007, Accessed July 2, 2008. The game fell on Pete Carroll's 56th birthday; as a surprise, Carroll was treated to a recorded message by actor Kiefer Sutherland, star of his favorite television show, 24. The morning recording of College GameDay attracted 13,293 fans, second to the all-time record of 15,808 set by Nebraska in 2001. With 84,959 in attendance, Nebraska recorded its NCAA-record 284th consecutive home sellout dating back to 1962.
USC dominated the game 49–31, in a game that was not as close as the final score indicated: the Trojans led 42–10 going into the fourth quarter; Nebraska scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes during garbage time. The Trojans dominated on the ground, as they out-gained Nebraska 313–31 in rushing yards and averaged 8.2 yards per carry, the most ever against a Nebraska team. Stafon Johnson led USC running backs with a career-best 144 yards in 11 carries with one touchdown; other major contributors were C.J. Gable (69 yards in four carries, including a 40-yard run), Washington (43 yards in 12 carries with two touchdowns), and another versatile performance by fullback Stanley Havili (52 rushing yards in two rushes with one touchdown, and three pass receptions for 22 yards with one touchdown). The Trojans passing game again did not find a rhythm, with several dropped passes, but the defense was able to frustrate the Husker offense for most of the game and cause two pivotal 3rd quarter interceptions.David Wharton, USC finds lots of running room, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2007, Accessed July 2, 2008.
The Trojans did not escape injuries, as linebacker Clay Matthews, substituting for the recovering Brian Cushing, broke his thumb, causing Cushing to enter the game as his replacement. The Trojans also suffered two injuries on kick returns: fullback Alfred Rowe suffered a mild concussion, and there was a moment of worry when returner Vincent Joseph, after being tackled and fumbling the ball, lay on the turf for over 10 minutes before being removed by stretcher with a bruised larynx and a neck sprain, but no serious injuries.Gary Klein, Injury scary but not serious for Joseph, Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2007, Accessed July 2, 2008. Linebacker Rey Maualuga was flagged during a field goal attempt for the rarely called penalty of "disconcerting", which is given for "words or signals that disconcert opponents when they are preparing to put the ball in play".Vahl Gregorian, Trojans Leave No Doubts by Taking It to Cornhuskers, The New York Times, September 16, 2007, Accessed July 10, 2008.
After losing first place votes in the polls during the bye week, USC's performance regained six after their performance against the Huskers in a hostile environment. Receiving specific praise was the Trojans offensive line, as well as the continued poise and ability of freshman center O'Dowd.Bill Plaschke, Trojans make a bold statement in the heartland, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2007, Accessed July 2, 2008.
Washington State
USC opened Pac-10 conference play by hosting the Washington State Cougars. Entering the game, Trojans quarterback John David Booty and the receiver corp remained unproven after an uninspiring performance against Idaho and a run-dominated game against Nebraska. Hoping to take advantage, Washington State elected to go into the game using a man-to-man pass coverage to allow more focus on stopping the Trojans running game. The Cougars had given the then-No. 3 Trojans a scare in their 2006 meeting, with the game coming down to the final seconds.
In the end, USC routed the Cougars 47–14, with a primarily aerial attack. Booty reestablished his presence, completing 28 of 35 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter. Tight end Fred Davis had a career night with nine receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Davis' performance marked the most yards receiving ever in a game by a Trojans tight end. The Trojans' first offensive drive set the tone with 13 plays, 83 yards and a touchdown on fourth down; mostly coming from the air. Receivers Patrick Turner and Vidal Hazelton were able to find a groove and make plays after sputtering against Nebraska. In the rushing game, Chauncey Washington started and rushed for 84 of USC's 207 yards. Stafon Johnson, who led the Trojans ground game against Nebraska, had nine carries and finished with 48 yards. Joe McKnight also got his first extended work and gained 48 yards in seven carries. USC built a 27–7 halftime lead and then scored on its first three possessions in the second half. The Trojans defense kept the Cougars in check, putting pressure on quarterback Alex Brink and limiting Washington State to 64 yards rushing.
Junior cornerback Cary Harris dislocated his right shoulder during the game and was replaced by Shareece Wright. Linebacker Brian Cushing reinjured the ankle he sprained in the opener against Idaho. Sixth-year senior running back Hershel Dennis played for the first time since the 2004 season during the fourth quarter, gaining 14 yards in four carries; he had sat out the two previous seasons due to injury.
The victory continued the Trojans' domination of the series, 55–8–4; it also extended the record of top-ranked USC teams against the Cougars to 5–0. The game marked the first time it had ever rained during a USC game in September; as a result the attendance was 86,876, the first time in 16 home games that the Trojans failed to draw at least 90,000. USC extended its home winning streak to 35 games.
Washington
The Trojans played their first Pac-10 road game of the season, visiting the Washington Huskies under coach Tyrone Willingham, at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington. In 2006, the unranked Huskies gave No. 3 USC a scare; quarterback Isaiah Stanback led Washington to the USC 15 but the offense was unable to start a play before the final two seconds ticked off the clock, preserving a 26–20 USC victory. The Huskies entered the game 0–6 when facing a number-one ranked USC team.
Going into the 2007 contest, Carroll expressed concern about containing the Huskies redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Locker, a dual-threat quarterback who led his team in passing and rushing. The Huskies announced prior to the game that they would be wearing throwback uniforms: instead of their standard purple and gold, the Huskies wore dark blue and gold jerseys with plain, gold helmets that were replicas of those worn by the 1960 team that beat No. 1 Minnesota in the Rose Bowl, the only win for Washington over an opponent ranked number one.
In a day where half of the week's top-10 teams were defeated, USC escaped becoming the sixth in a messy, mistake-prone 27–24 victory in a wet, windy game in Seattle. Although USC had a 460–190 edge in total yards, their errors helped the Huskies significantly: They committed three turnovers and 16 penalties—their most in more than two seasons—for 161 yards, missed a field goal and had a punt blocked.David Wharton, Trojans able to win despite themselves, Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. A disappointed Pete Carroll noted "We just couldn't do more things wrong in the game [. . .] I thought Washington was there for it. They were there to take it. All they needed was one more chance."
USC quarterback John David Booty completed 20 of 37 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown but had two interceptions, one of which was returned 54 yards for a touchdown tying the game at 14–14 in the second quarter. The Huskies gained momentum early in the fourth quarter when they came to within 24–17 and forced USC to punt; however, on the return Terrell Thomas stripped the ball from Anthony Russo for a fumble and recovered the ball at the Huskies' 43 yard line, setting up David Buehler's 33-yard field goal with 3:01 remaining. The Huskies did not give up, blocked a USC punt with 1:15 left and scored on quarterback Jake Locker's one-yard run to pull to within three with 34 seconds left. On the ensuing onside kick, Thomas was able to recover the ball for USC, ending the game.
Locker displayed the dual passing/running threat Carroll had expressed concern about, but also showed his youth with erratic passing, finishing 12-for-27 with 83 yards passing and one interception, plus another 50 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. USC did have positive showings in the running game, with Stafon Johnson running for 122 yards and a touchdown and Chauncey Washington also adding 106 yards and a score. In the end, Carroll and the Trojans described the game as less a victory than an escape, a game where USC's raw athleticism took advantage of Washington's youth.
The Trojans suffered numerous injuries during the game: starting freshman center Kristofer O'Dowd hurt his kneecap and guard Chilo Rachal sprained his knee on the same play in the first quarter; they were replaced by senior center Matt Spanos, who had just been cleared for play after tearing a triceps before the season, and reserve guard Alatini Malu. Starting cornerback Shareece Wright, in his first start after replacing the injured Cary Harris, sustained a pulled hamstring muscle and was replaced by Mozique McCurtis. Tailback Stafon Johnson suffered a foot injury and fellow tailback C.J. Gable dressed but did not play because of a groin injury suffered just before the trip to Washington.
The game drew comparisons to USC's 33–31 loss to Oregon State the previous season.After falling to No. 2, USC seeking an Oregon State-type wakeup, Associated Press, September 30, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. As a result of the close finish, USC lost the No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll, falling to No. 2 with 1,591 points and 32 first-place votes to LSU's 1,593 points and 33 first-place votes; however, the Trojans remained No. 1 in the Coaches Poll, keeping a more substantial lead: 1,483 points and 45 first-place votes to LSU's 1,454 points and 14 first-place votes.
Stanford
USC continued Pac-10 play by hosting the struggling Stanford Cardinal, under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. In a major upset, USC stumbled at home to the 41 point underdog, losing 24–23.
Harbaugh made headlines prior to the season by claiming 2007 would be Carroll's last year with USC before departing to the NFL, drawing a terse rebuke from Carroll; Harbaugh later called the 2007 Trojans one of the best teams in history at the Pac-10 Media Day, reiterating the position in the week before their game. However, there were no hard feelings between the coaches. The two kept in cordial phone contact and Carroll made light of Harbaugh's comments several times during the season.
The Stanford starting quarterback, redshirt senior T. C. Ostrander, suffered a seizure on the afternoon of September 30, one day after their game against Arizona State; he was released from Stanford Hospital after a few hours, but as a precautionary measure he was held out of the game against USC. The starting quarterback position fell to Tavita Pritchard, a redshirt sophomore with three passes in his college career. Stanford was also without two other key starters: defensive lineman Ekom Udofia (ankle) and offensive lineman Allen Smith (knee). On October 3 it was announced that USC running back C.J. Gable, who was averaging a team-best 11 yards a carry, would undergo season-ending abdominal surgery to correct a nagging sports hernia that had limited his ability since the previous season; because he had only played in the first three games, he would seek a medical redshirt season. Gable's fellow running back, Stafon Johnson, was also held out of the game due to a foot bruise suffered the previous week.
Stanford was the last team to beat USC at the Coliseum, doing so on September 29, 2001 under Tyrone Willingham, against then-first year coach Carroll. By game week, the line for the game favored the Trojans by 39.5 points, and reached 41 points by gametime.Arash Markazi, Aftermath of an Upset, SI.com, October 7, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. The loss ended multiple USC streaks, including a five-game win streak against Stanford and a 35-game home winning streak. For sportsbooks, the loss to a 41-point underdog marked the biggest upset in their history.
There were a few positive efforts for the Trojans: Tight end Fred Davis caught five passes for a career-best 152 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown; and nose tackle Sedrick Ellis had three sacks. However, there were many more errors and substandard performances: quarterback John David Booty, who broke a bone in the middle finger of his throwing hand in the first half, had four passes intercepted in the second half. The offensive line had been suffering since losing two starters in one play during the previous week's game at Washington, but the effect was severe against Stanford; the offensive line gave up four sacks, one more than the Trojans had surrendered all season, and USC gained only 95 yards rushing. Key receiver Patrick Turner dropped several passes, the defense gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter and USC had an extra-point attempt blocked, a point which became a crucial difference. Like their previous game against Washington, USC out-gained Stanford by 224 yards (459 to 235) but made many crucial turnovers and penalties.Gary Klein, USC's big slip throws the city for a loss, Los Angeles Times, October 8, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. In the press conference following the game, Coach Carroll summarized his concerns: "It's real clear that we have fallen out of line with our philosophy that has guided this program for years; we're turning the ball over too much."
Opinions in the sports press ranged from proclaiming the end of the USC's era of dominance in college football to calling the loss a major, but not fatal set-back to any hopes for a Trojans run at the national championship.Mark Schlabach, Stanford ends USC's dynasty with upset victory, ESPN.com, October 8, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. The Trojans fell to No. 10 in the AP Poll; however, USC only fell to No. 7 in both the Coaches Poll and Harris Poll, both of which are the human components for determining who the BCS chooses for the National Championship Game.Harris Poll, Week 7, ESPN.com, Accessed July 3, 2008. As a result, USC remained in outside title contention with upcoming games against consensus-No. 2 California and top-10 Oregon. The upset landed the Trojans in ESPN.com's Bottom 10.
In an interview the following month, Carroll assessed the mistakes that led to the loss as his own:
At the end of the regular season, Sports Illustrated chose Stanford's upset of USC as the second "Biggest Upset of 2007" after Division I FCS Appalachian State's upset of No. 5 Michigan.
Arizona
After the previous week's upset loss to Stanford, the Trojans hosted the Arizona Wildcats, led by head coach Mike Stoops, aiming to correct mistakes and demonstrate that they were still in contention for the Pac-10 title and to remain an outside candidate for the national title game.Matt Becker, Arizona (2–4) at USC (4–1), Associated Press, October 11, 2007, Accessed September 9, 2018. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Matters were complicated when it was announced that starting quarterback John David Booty would not start due to a broken middle finger on his throwing hand, suffered during the previous week's loss. As a result, redshirt sophomore Mark Sanchez made his first start for the Trojans; previously he had only played during garbage time. The Trojans also remained without offensive linemen Chilo Rachal and Kris O'Dowd, as well as leading rusher Stafon Johnson, who remained idle for a second week after bruising his left foot during the game against Washington. The Trojans entered the game a 21-point favorite.
The Trojans again showed inconsistency for most of the game before coming alive in the fourth quarter and pulling away to a 20–13 victory. USC started out well, going ahead 10–0 in the second quarter after running back Chauncey Washington's 18-yard touchdown run and David Buehler's 27-yard field goal. However, the offense began to sputter; the Trojans amassed only 12 total yards in the second quarter and 50 in the third. Part of the offense's problems were turnovers; Sanchez threw two interceptions in the second quarter, allowing Arizona to tie the game going into halftime. The Wildcats kicked another field goal early in the third quarter to go up 13–10, raising speculation that USC was going to be upset for the second consecutive week. The momentum of the game quickly changed in the fourth quarter after freshman running back Joe McKnight, touted as the next great Trojans tailback but yet to meet expectations, made a 45-yard punt return that Sanchez followed up on the next play with a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Fred Davis. After a defensive stop, Arizona punter Keenyn Crier kicked an 83-yard punt to the Trojans one-yard line. The Trojans pushed forward with fullback Stanley Havili before McKnight again made a big play, running 59 yards and setting up what would be a Trojans field goal. The USC defense then forced an Arizona turn-over on downs to preserve the victory.Gary Klein, McKnight zigs, USC zags, Los Angeles Times, October 14, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. Sanchez recovered from his poor first half performance with a strong performance in the second, where he completed 11 of 15 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown while later making a key 10-yard scramble on third and seven late in the fourth quarter.
The injuries that had plagued USC throughout the season continued as All-American tackle Sam Baker left the game because of a hamstring strain and freshman guard Zack Heberer, already substituting for an injured Chilo Rachal, suffered a shoulder bruise. On the defense, linebacker Rey Maualuga suffered a hip injury and safety Kevin Ellison broke his nose. An uncommon number of injuries, especially along the offensive line, depleted reserve players and forced Trojans to reach out to the general student population in order to find students with previous lineman experience to help on the scout team's offensive line; however, none were officially added to the roster.
In light of the Trojans close victory, USC dropped in both major polls, falling to No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 9 in the Coaches Poll, tied with previously No. 2 California, which had just lost an upset to Oregon State. The Trojans debuted at No. 14 in the season's first Bowl Championship Series standings, used to determine which two teams play in the BCS National Championship Game.
Notre Dame
USC visited inter-sectional rival Notre Dame for their 79th annual game for possession of the Jeweled Shillelagh. Pre-season demand for tickets was among the highest in Notre Dame history as USC made its first visit back to Notre Dame Stadium since the notable 2005 "Bush Push" game; demand remained high although, going into the season, the Fighting Irish were unranked.Liz Link, The Top 50 Hottest Tickets in College Football Unveiled (Press Release) , TicketCity.com, August 12, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008.
Notre Dame had the worst start to their season in program history, opening 0–5 (the previous record was 0–3) and headed into their game with USC at 1–6. With significant problems at most positions, Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis made several changes at quarterback: Starting the opener with sophomore Demetrius Jones, he chose to start heralded freshman Jimmy Clausen for games two through seven; during which time Jones transferred from the program. After Clausen also showed trouble at the position, Weis elected to go with junior Evan Sharpley as the starter for the USC game; Sharpley had backed up Brady Quinn the previous season. In response to controversy over the length of the grass in Notre Dame Stadium during the 2005 game, where USC kickoff returner Desmond Reed suffered torn right knee ligaments and nerve damage while trying to turn on the field, the Fighting Irish cut the grass significantly shorter. Notre Dame entered the game ranked last in total offense (190.9 yards a game) and rushing (32.1 yards a game), and next to last in scoring (11.4 points); their offensive line had given up 34 sacks.
With starting quarterback John David Booty still recovering from a broken finger on his throwing hand, USC elected to start Mark Sanchez for the second straight week. On the Thursday night before the game, the Trojans charter flight experienced severe turbulence on approach to South Bend Regional Airport during a lightning storm; their aircraft dropped and threw several passengers (players, coaches and their spouses) from their seats and hit their heads on the ceiling during an initial approach that was aborted before the plane circled and landed safely.
Breaking with tradition, the Fighting Irish announced in June that they would be wearing their alternative green jerseys instead of blue against USC; Weis noted that it was in honor of the 1977 Irish team that switched to green jerseys before defeating the Trojans en route to a national championship (Weis was a student at Notre Dame at the time). Previously, the Irish did not let the public know when they would be wearing their green jerseys.
The Trojans dominated the game, shutting out Notre Dame 38–0, USC's largest margin of victory in the series. Quarterback Mark Sanchez made significant improvements over the previous week, completing 21 of 38 passes for 235 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions. There were several highlight plays: Tight end Fred Davis made a one-handed touchdown catch in the first quarter, wide receiver Vidal Hazelton made a 48-yard touchdown run after evading several Irish defenders, and freshman running back Joe McKnight made a 51-yard fourth quarter run for his first touchdown. The USC defense stifled the Irish offense: allowing only 165 yards to the Trojans' 462 yards, making five sacks, and keeping the Irish from rushing for a first down until the fourth quarter. There were several special teams miscues: The Irish blocked a USC punt, the Trojans blocked a 40-yard field goal attempt and the Irish had a fumbled punt return that was recovered by USC. The Trojans had several key players return from injuries and make significant contributions, including linebacker Brian Cushing and running back Stafon Johnson.Ben Bolch, Defense plays like Trojans of old, Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008.
After two weeks of moving down in the rankings, the Trojans moved up to No. 8 in the Coaches Poll, No. 9 in the AP Poll (tied with Florida) and No. 12 in the BCS standings. USA Today Coaches Poll – Week 8 (Oct. 21), ESPN.com, Accessed July 3, 2008.
Oregon
With the Ducks as three-point favorites, the Trojans entered a Pac-10 game as underdogs for the first time since November 17, 2001; the game was the first between top-10 teams in the 41-year history of Oregon's Autzen Stadium. The match-up was framed as a battle between Oregon's highly productive offense and USC's defense.
The Trojans were affected by the massive wildfires affecting Southern California that week; air quality during outdoor practices in Los Angeles dropped significantly, and Trojans quarterback Mark Sanchez' father, a fire captain with the Orange County Fire Authority, was on the front line fighting the blazes. With John David Booty still recovering from a broken finger, Sanchez was given the start for the third week in a row. The Trojans were also set to return from injury all-American offensive tackle Sam Baker and guard Chilo Rachal. Despite having won the previous three contests, the Trojans noted concerns about playing in the famously loud and raucous Autzen Stadium.
Before a stadium-record crowd of 59,277, the Ducks defeated the Trojans 24–17 in a game decided in the final seconds. The Trojans made key mistakes and did not exploit several opportunities against the Ducks. After Oregon fumbled the opening kickoff, USC failed to score with the Ducks stopping running back Joe McKnight on a fourth-and-one play at the Oregon 12 yard line. Later in the first quarter, an apparent 65-yard touchdown run by McKnight was nullified by a holding penalty away from the play.
The Trojans trailed 10–3 going into halftime, but tied the game in the third quarter on a Sanchez to Patrick Turner touchdown pass. However, on the next possession, fullback Stanley Havili fumbled the ball and Oregon recovered on the USC 16 yard line, leading to an Oregon touchdown. On USC's next series, Sanchez threw an interception. During the Trojans' following series, Oregon safety Matthew Harper intercepted a pass and returned it 27 yards to the Oregon 42. The Ducks took a 24–10 lead with 11:39 left as running back Jonathan Stewart scored his second touchdown. The Trojans rallied; Sanchez led an 85-yard, five-play drive that he capped with a 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver David Ausberry. The USC defense forced an Oregon three-and-out and starting at their 17; the Trojans then advanced to Oregon's 33 with 26 seconds left. However, on second down, Sanchez misread the defensive coverage and threw his second interception of the game to Harper with 11 seconds left in the game. After taking a knee to run out the clock on first down, USC used their final timeout to stop the clock. Unaware of the timeout, Oregon fans stormed the field before the game officially finished, and after being cleared away the Ducks took a second knee and ran out the clock, sealing the victory.
The Trojans defense did slow down the Oregon offense, keeping them 212 yards below their season average, allowing the USC offense to out-gain the Ducks, 378 yards to 339. The Ducks' senior quarterback, Dennis Dixon, ran for 76 yards and a touchdown in 17 carries and completed 16 of 25 passes for 157 yards without an interception. However, the Oregon defense ultimately won the game for the Ducks. Sanchez threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns, but also had the two interceptions, including the game-ender. USC Offensive Coordinator Steve Sarkisian's decisions on several key plays were called into question by fans in the week following the game. Eugene's newspaper, The Register-Guard, recorded the crowd noise at 127.2 decibels, making it the loudest crowd for a college football game; 1.2 decibels louder than the 126 decibels made by 77,381 Clemson fans during a game in 2005.
The game was viewed as marking Oregon's rise to a national title contender and a break in USC's dominance of the Pac-10 conference.Pete Thammel, U.S.C. Suddenly Looking Up at Oregon, The New York Times, October 28, 2007, Accessed July 3, 2008. The game also marked the first season since 2002 that the Trojans were going into November no longer considered a national title contender. Despite losing the game, the Trojans were still regarded as a legitimate threat in the conference and were projected as a potential at-large team for the BCS bowl games. However, there were voices in the media that believed the loss signaled the "death" of the "Trojan Dynasty" that had reigned in college football since 2002.
The Trojans fell to No. 13 in the AP Poll, No. 15 in the Coaches Poll, and No. 19 in the BCS standings. USA Today Coaches Poll – Week 9 (Oct. 28), ESPN.com, Accessed July 3, 2008.
Oregon State
USC celebrated homecoming by hosting the Oregon State Beavers, coached by Mike Riley. In 2006, the unranked Beavers stunned the No. 3 Trojans in a 33–31 upset in Corvallis. The Beavers had not won at USC since 1960.
Oregon State entered the game with the nation's best rushing defense, allowing only 54.5 yards rushing a game and also recording a nation-leading 34 sacks. The Beaver defense ranked 13th nationally in total defense, surrendering 299.9 yards a game. Trojans quarterback John David Booty returned from injury to start; offensive lineman Sam Baker remained out after re-injuring a hamstring against the Ducks. Oregon State star running back Yvenson Bernard was initially expected to play despite a sprained shoulder, but did not. Former USC linebacker Richard Wood, who was chosen for the College Football Hall of Fame, was honored at halftime.
In a strong defensive performance, the Trojans defeated the Beavers 24–3. The USC defense made nine sacks and intercepted a pass; they limited Oregon State to 176 total yards and a field goal off a Trojans fumble in the USC red zone. True freshman Everson Griffen had 3½ sacks, safety Kevin Ellison added two, end Lawrence Jackson had 1½ and nose tackle Sedrick Ellis and linebacker Brian Cushing had one each; cornerback Terrell Thomas made the interception. The Trojans offense had its second lowest total of the season, gaining 287 yards, but it rushed for 100 yards against the Beavers' tight rush defense, led by Chauncey Washington who gained 60 yards in 12 carries. Booty, returning from injury, could not find his rhythm but still completed 19 of 33 passes for 157 yards without an interception; the Trojans converted only five of 16 third downs. Both teams missed field goals in the first quarter, then exchanged field goals going into the second quarter. The Trojans then scored 21 unanswered points in less than eight minutes to close the half. Neither team scored in the second half. USC running back Stafon Johnson was allowed to play a few downs but was kept out for most of the game to allow his foot to heal fully.Gary Klein, Putting forward its best defense, Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008.
The Trojans rose slightly in the polls to No. 12 in the AP Poll, No. 15 in the Coaches Poll, and No. 17 in the BCS standings. USA Today Coaches Poll – Week 10 (Nov. 4), ESPN.com, Accessed July 6, 2008. The 2007 Holiday Bowl was mentioned as a possible destination for the Trojans. Holiday Bowl executive director Bruce Binkowski said they would be very interested in pitting the Trojans against the Texas Longhorns. The two teams last met in the 2006 Rose Bowl for the BCS National Championship.
California
In the pre-season, the Trojans' game against California was named as one of the candidates for the 10 most important games of 2007; the Trojans national title hopes hinged on proving themselves against a veteran team led by head coach Jeff Tedford in California Memorial Stadium.David Duffey, Don't miss these conference games in 2007, ESPN.com, August 14, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008. Prior to the season, Cal star receiver DeSean Jackson, an early Heisman Trophy candidate, called out USC cornerback Terrell Thomas in ESPN The Magazine, stating that he would best the cornerback who contributed to limiting him to two catches in the 2006 match-up. After USC's loss to Stanford, the game was still referred to as the Pac-10 game of the year; however, after Cal's mid-season losses to Oregon State and UCLA and USC's loss to Oregon, the game took on less importance.Justin Einhorn, USC (7–2) at California (6–3), Associated Press, November 6, 2007, Accessed August 12, 2018.
On a rain-soaked evening in Strawberry Canyon, the Trojans gained a 24–17 victory over the No. 24 Golden Bears behind a career-best effort by running back Chauncey Washington. After seeing his early success against the Cal defense, USC began handing the ball almost exclusively to Washington who ran for 220 yards on 29 rushes. Due to the rain and Washington's success on the ground, Booty only attempted 20 passes for 129 yards in 11 completions with one touchdown and no interceptions; the Trojans offensive line did not give up a sack. USC returner Ronald Johnson returned four kicks for 102 yards, including one for 41 yards and another for 35, giving USC favorable field position. Cal running back Justin Forsett had an effective night, running for 164 yards in 31 carries. However, the Trojans defense had another solid effort, holding Cal to 14 points below its scoring average and forcing quarterback Nate Longshore into two interceptions and a sack. Cal's one-time Heisman Trophy candidate, wide receiver DeSean Jackson, was limited to five receptions for 64 yards and was kept from returning any kicks.
The game turned to the Trojans favor during the fourth quarter, when the Trojans put together a 10 play, 96-yard drive behind Washington and capped by a three-yard touchdown run by Stafon Johnson. Cal received the ball back with 7:38 left, but the Trojans forced turnovers in the Bears' subsequent two drives; after Lawrence Jackson recovered a fumbled snap on the first drive, cornerback Terrell Thomas intercepted a Longshore pass at the USC 17 with 2:47 to play to seal the victory. As part of its Hall of Fame weekend, Cal wore throwback jerseys based on its 1975 team in honor of All-American quarterback Joe Roth; it was the third team to wear throwback jerseys in their game against the Trojans. Linebacker Keith Rivers suffered a high ankle sprain.
After the victory and the subsequent bye week, the Trojans again rose slightly in the polls to No. 11 in the AP Poll, No. 11 in the BCS standings, and No. 12 in the Coaches Poll. USA Today Coaches Poll – Week 12 (Nov. 18), ESPN.com, Accessed July 6, 2008.
Arizona State
In the pre-season, the game against veteran head coach Dennis Erickson's first squad at ASU was identified as a potential trap game for the Trojans. With No. 2 Oregon's loss during the bye week, Arizona State rose to No. 9 in the polls and the top of the Pac-10 standings while USC remained in contention for at least a share of the Pac-10 title if they could win out.
Scheduled for prime time television on Thanksgiving Day, it was the only major college game shown on the holiday evening time slot. It was Arizona State's first Thanksgiving Day game and USC's 20th, though its first since 1938. The game attracted a number of celebrities, including former USC Heisman-winners Marcus Allen and Matt Leinart, who was joined by Arizona Cardinals teammate Larry Fitzgerald, Heisman-winner Gino Torretta, Bob Davie and Charles Barkley; it also included a halftime performance by singer Little Richard. In honor of the holiday, the Sun Devils added a turkey leg to the end of Sparty's pitchfork painted at the center of the field.
Eleven years removed from their last Rose Bowl berth, Arizona State had made a quick turn-around under Erickson, returning to national prominence with a 9–1 record. Using an NFL-style offense under junior quarterback Rudy Carpenter, the Sun Devils put extra pressure on their offensive line, allowing in 43 sacks, the most in the Pac-10 Conference and second most in the nation. In order to relieve Carpenter, who had suffered injuries over the season in his throwing hand, Arizona State planned to also work in the running game behind Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance. USC entered the game ranked first in the Pac-10 and third nationally in defense, giving up 267.9 yards per game. The Sun Devils had trailed in every Pac-10 conference game in the season up to that point.
Behind a strong performance by John David Booty, the Trojans defeated the Sun Devils, 44–24, in front of a sold-out Sun Devil Stadium. Under an even passing attack, Booty threw for 26 of 39 passes for 375 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. He distributed the ball to eight different receivers, including four separate players for his touchdowns; Booty also rushed for a touchdown. Tight end Fred Davis made five receptions for 119 yards and a touchdown. David Buehler kicked three field goals. The Trojans defense made six sacks as the Sun Devils were shut down for most of the second half and held to 16 yards rushing; two of the Sun Devils' scores were from a 98-yard kick return for a touchdown and a score off a blocked punt in the fourth quarter.Gary Klein, A moving performance by Booty, Los Angeles Times, November 26, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008. Defensive end Lawrence Jackson made four of USC's sacks, the most by a USC player since 1989, including one that split Carpenter's lip and caused him to throw his helmet towards the sideline in frustration; Jackson also finished with a school-record 5 ½ tackles for losses.Diane Pucin, Jackson really gets to Carpenter, Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008. Ronald Johnson had another strong game on special teams, returning the opening kickoff 49 yards.
Two days later Oregon lost to UCLA, leaving the Trojans in a tie for first place in the Pac-10 standings with Arizona State (winning the tiebreaker). USC's strong victory, along with several upsets during the week, led the Trojans to rise to No. 8 in the AP Poll, No. 8 in the BCS standings, and No. 9 in the Coaches Poll. USA Today Coaches Poll – Week 13 (Nov. 25), ESPN.com, Accessed July 6, 2008.
UCLA
The Trojans ended the regular season by hosting the UCLA Bruins, led by head coach Karl Dorrell, in the 77th edition of their annual crosstown rivalry game for possession of the Victory Bell. In the 2006 season, the Bruins' 13–9 upset of the then-No. 2 Trojans in the final week of the regular season ended the Trojans' hopes for reaching the national championship game. With both teams ranked going into the season (USC first, UCLA 14th in the AP Poll), there was buzz in Los Angeles that both teams might reach their December 1 game undefeated. UCLA made it as high as 11th in both polls before suffering a 44–7 upset loss at unranked Utah in week 3 that knocked them out of the top 25. It was the 36th time that a Rose Bowl berth was on the line for one of the two teams in the game: A USC victory would guarantee them at least a share of the Pac-10 Conference title and a berth in the 2008 Rose Bowl Game; UCLA, despite entering the game 6–5 (5–3 in the Pac-10), also entered the game with a chance at the Pac-10 title and a Rose Bowl berth if they could defeat the Trojans and Arizona could beat Arizona State in a game later in the day.Gary Klein and Chris Foster, Unexpected Rose arrangement, Los Angeles Times, November 26, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008.
During the 2006 contest, UCLA Defensive Coordinator DeWayne Walker had the Bruins apply aggressive pressure to John David Booty, limiting the quarterback's ability to drive the passing game while holding the Trojans to 55 yards rushing and an average of only 1.9 yards per carry. USC entered the 2007 game averaging 186.6 yards rushing and 4.8 yards per carry, significantly higher than the 128 yards rushing per game in 2006. UCLA's season was marked by numerous injures, particularly at quarterback. Original starting quarterback Ben Olson injured his knee early in the season and missed over four games. Backup quarterback Patrick Cowan also suffered a knee injury but returned for two more games before suffering a collapsed lung against Arizona. As a result, the Bruins had resorted to playing walk-on McLeod Bethel-Thompson and converted-wide receiver Osaar Rasshan.
In the week leading up to the game, a dispute between USC and the Coliseum Commission, the public managers of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, went public. USC threatened to move to the Rose Bowl (home of the UCLA Bruins since 1982) if an agreement could not be reached.Bill Plaschke, Coliseum can't let USC complete fade pattern, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008.Bill Dwyre, USC's threat to leave may be (com)mission impossible, Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2007, Accessed July 6, 2008. In addition to honoring the outgoing seniors during their final game in the Coliseum, the Trojans also honored late players Drean Rucker and Mario Danelo, who would have both been members of the 2007 senior class. Rucker, a linebacker from Moreno Valley, drowned during the summer before his freshman year with USC (and was honored during the 2004 season) and Danelo died from a fatal fall immediately following the 2006 season; members of both families attended. The stadium also held a moment of silence for the passing of Trojans alumnus and donor Louis Galen. USC entered the game as a 20-point favorite.
The Trojans defense dominated the Bruins in a 24–7 victory before a sold-out Coliseum crowd. The Trojans held the Bruins to a season-low 168 yards, sacking quarterback Patrick Cowan four times for 31 yards in losses and held the Bruins to 12 net rushing yards. USC forced four turnovers, recovering three UCLA fumbles and intercepting a pass. The Bruins did not convert any of its 11 third down situations. The Bruins sole score came in a drive in the closing minutes of the first half. USC gained 231 rushing yards and 437 overall. On the ground, running back Joe McKnight rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown, Stafon Johnson ran for 73 yards and senior Chauncey Washington gained 66 yards and scored a touchdown. Booty completed 21 of 36 passes for 206 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The victory assured USC a share of the Pac-10 title. Although Arizona State would defeat Arizona later in the night to become co-champions, the Trojans clinched a berth in the Rose Bowl by virtue of their victory over the Sun Devils the previous week. USC extended its streak of Pac-10 titles to six in a row, having already broken the record the previous season with five. Dorrell was fired by UCLA the following Monday. USC's victory, coupled with another week of upsets, led the Trojans to rise to No. 6 in the AP Poll, No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, and No. 7 in the BCS standings. USA Today Coaches Poll – Week 14 (Dec. 2), ESPN.com, Accessed July 6, 2008.
Rose Bowl
The Trojans ended the 2007 season by participating in the 2008 Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California; it was the Trojans' fourth Rose Bowl game and sixth BCS Bowl in six years. Although it traditionally hosts the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences, the 2007 Big Ten Champion, Ohio State, was ranked No. 1 in the final BCS poll and instead participated in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game. The rules governing BCS bowl selections allowed the Rose Bowl to select a BCS "at-large" team from the top 14 teams ranked in the BCS Standings that have at least nine wins. Keeping with its traditional bowl ties, the Rose Bowl selected the No. 13-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini (9–3), under third-year head coach Ron Zook.
The Illini entered the Rose Bowl after a Cinderella season where they won nine games, including an upset victory over at-the-time No. 1 Ohio State, after winning a total of four games the previous two seasons. It was Illinois' first bowl game since winning the 2001 Big Ten Championship and playing in the 2002 Sugar Bowl. The Illini offense was led by sophomore quarterback "Juice" Williams, who in the regular season passed for 13 touchdowns and ran for seven, junior running back Rashard Mendenhall, who averaged 127 yards rushing per game and scored 18 touchdowns, and freshman receiver Arrelious Benn, who caught 49 passes and had 158 yards in 32 carries. For taking Illinois to the Rose Bowl a year after going 2–10, Zook won both national and Big Ten coach of the year honors. The Illini entered the game 13.5 point underdogs, the biggest of any of the season's 32 bowl games. It was USC's 31st appearance in "The Granddaddy of Them All", having won in 22 of its previous appearances and leading in both categories by a significant margin.
The Trojans routed the Illini 49–17 before a sold-out Rose Bowl crowd. USC set a Rose Bowl-record of 633 offensive yards and tied the record for points scored. John David Booty completed 25 of 37 passes for 255 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Seven different Trojans rushed the ball, led by running back Joe McKnight who had 125 rushing yards and touchdown (McKnight totaled 206 yards for the game). Tight end Fred Davis led the receivers with seven receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown. Mendenhall led the Illini, rushing 17 times for 155 yards and one touchdown, with 214 yards overall. Williams had 245 yards passing, completing 21 of 35 passes with two interceptions and was sacked five times. The second Trojans touchdown was a trick play thrown by walk-on receiver-quarterback Garrett Green, who caught a ball thrown backward by Booty and then threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to running back Desmond Reed, who backflipped into the endzone, resulting in an excessive celebration penalty. The fourth quarter included a touchdown by sixth-year senior and one-time starter Hershel Dennis, his first score since 2004, leading to a bench-clearing celebration that resulted in USC receiving another excessive celebration penalty., January 2, 2008, Accessed July 11, 2008.
USC's 32-point victory was the largest margin of victory in the Rose Bowl since 1984, when UCLA defeated Illinois 45–9. The lopsided score amplified existing criticism of the Tournament of Roses for scheduling the lower-ranked Fighting Illini as the at-large team.Arash Markazi, Plague of allegiance, SI.com, January 2, 2008, Accessed July 7, 2008. Booty was selected as the Rose Bowl Offensive MVP, and set a Rose Bowl record with seven career touchdowns. USC linebacker Rey Maualuga was selected as the Defensive MVP with three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. It was USC's fifth victory in six consecutive appearances in a BCS Bowl.
USC ended the season as No. 2 in the final Coaches' Poll and No. 3 in the final AP Poll with one first-place vote.
After the season
Comments
The 2007 USC Trojans entered the season picked as the unanimous No. 1 team, with expectations of playing in the BCS National Title Game. After the loss to 41-point underdog Stanford the team's opportunities for national success came into serious question, and following the loss to Oregon there were questions as to whether USC would even win the Pacific-10 Conference. The Trojans regrouped and salvaged their season, winning a share of the conference and the Rose Bowl, and by the end of the season were said to be playing the best football of anyone in the country. Injuries to key players, particularly quarterback John David Booty's broken finger during the Stanford game, had a significant impact over the season, leading to questions of how USC would have fared if injuries had not taken their toll.
USC finished the season ranked No. 2 in the Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the AP Poll, trading the respective No. 3 and No. 2 spots with Georgia, another team that finished with a strong 11–2 record and a dominating performance in its BCS Bowl game. The teams finished close to each other in the final polls: In the Coaches Poll, USC received 1380 votes to Georgia's 1370; and in the AP Poll Georgia received 1515 to USC's 1500. USC received one first-place vote in the final AP Poll. With LSU's dominating win over Ohio State in the BCS National Championship Game, college football had its first two-loss national champion, and with teams like USC and Georgia locked out of playing LSU or Ohio State, the season served as another example for those advocating for some form of Football Bowl Subdivision playoff.Stewart Mandel, Anger management , SI.com, January 9, 2008, Accessed July 7, 2008.
The Trojans accomplished two feats: USC became the first team to win six straight Pac-10 titles and became the first team in major college football to achieve six straight 11-win seasons. In addition, USC set a record by playing in a BCS Bowl for the sixth consecutive season.
Immediately after the 2007–08 bowl season, in early looks at the 2008 season, USC was ranked as the pre-season No. 4 (Sports Illustrated) and No. 5 (ESPN.com) due to key player departures mitigated by the overall talent level.Mark Schlabach, Georgia takes top spot in early look at 2008's Top 25, ESPN.com, January 8, 2008, Accessed July 7, 2008. Sports Illustrated'' soon revised its ranking to No. 3 after nearly all draft-eligible juniors decided to remain with the program instead of entering the NFL Draft.
NFL Draft
Of all the Trojans' draft-eligible juniors, only offensive guard Chilo Rachal declared himself available for the 2008 NFL Draft. Twelve USC players, eleven seniors and a junior, were invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, the most of any school in 2008: the seniors were offensive tackle Sam Baker, quarterback John David Booty, tight end Fred Davis, nose tackle Sedrick Ellis, defensive end Lawrence Jackson, offensive tackle Drew Radovich, linebacker Keith Rivers, center Matt Spanos, cornerback Terrell Thomas, running back Chauncey Washington, linebacker Thomas Williams, and the junior was offensive guard Rachal.
USC did well in the 2008 draft; ten players were taken overall, the most of any school, and a school-record seven players were selected in the first two rounds, beating the previous record of five (1968 and 2006) and the most in the first round. The first round selections were Ellis (seventh, New Orleans Saints), Rivers (ninth, Cincinnati Bengals), Baker (21st, Atlanta Falcons) and Jackson (28th, Seattle Seahawks); the second round picks were Rachal (39th, San Francisco 49ers), Davis (48th, Washington Redskins) and Thomas (63rd, New York Giants); the fifth round selections were Booty (137th, Minnesota Vikings) and Williams (155th, Jacksonville Jaguars); in the seventh round Washington was selected 213th by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Radovich signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings; Spanos signed with the Miami Dolphins.
One year later, eleven more players were selected in the 2009 NFL Draft, again leading all universities in the number of players drafted into the NFL that season. The first round selections were Mark Sanchez (fifth, New York Jets), Brian Cushing (15th, Houston Texans) and Clay Matthews (26th, Green Bay Packers); the second round picks were Rey Maualuga (38th, Cincinnati Bengals) and Fili Moala (56th, Indianapolis Colts); in the third round was Patrick Turner (87th, Miami Dolphins); in the fourth round were Kaluka Maiava (104th, Cleveland Browns) and Kyle Moore (117th, Tampa Bay Buccaneers); in the fifth round was David Buehler (172nd, Dallas Cowboys); and in the sixth round Cary Harris (183rd, Buffalo Bills) and Kevin Ellison (189th, San Diego Chargers).
During the 2010 NFL Draft, USC had seven more players from the 2007 team drafted into the NFL, though none in the first round. The second round picks were Taylor Mays (49th, San Francisco 49ers) and Charles Brown (64th, New Orleans Saints); in the third round were Damien Williams (77th, Tennessee Titans) and Kevin Thomas (97th, Indianapolis Colts); in the fourth round were Everson Griffen (100th, Minnesota Vikings) and Joe McKnight (112th, New York Jets); and in the sixth round Anthony McCoy (185th, Seattle Seahawks).
At the 2011 NFL Draft, USC tied for the most players drafted from any university into the NFL that year with nine. Of those, six were on the 2007 team, though none of those particular players were in the first round. Shareece Wright was selected in the third round (89th, San Diego Chargers); in the sixth round were Ronald Johnson (182nd, San Francisco 49ers) and Allen Bradford (187th, Tampa Bay Buccaneers); and in three consecutive picks in the seventh round were Stanley Havili (240th, Philadelphia Eagles), David Ausberry (241st, Oakland Raiders) and Malcolm Smith (242nd, Seattle Seahawks). Jordan Cameron, who had tried to transfer onto the team but forced to wait a year at a junior college before enrolling, was drafted in the fourth round (102nd, Cleveland Browns). Finally, at the 2012 NFL Draft, Rhett Ellison was taken in the fourth round (128th, Minnesota Vikings).
Awards
Senior Fred Davis became the first Trojan to win the John Mackey Award, awarded to the nation's top tight end. Five Trojans were selected to the various 2007 College Football All-America Teams. In addition to Fred Davis, tackle Sam Baker earned his third-straight spot on an All-American team. On the defense, tackle Sedrick Ellis, linebacker Keith Rivers, and safety Taylor Mays all earned All-American honors. Ellis was named the Pacific-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year by league coaches, and selected to the All-Conference first team defense along with defensive end Lawrence Jackson, linebackers Rivers and Rey Maualuga, and cornerback Kevin Ellison. The All-Conference first team offense included Davis, Baker, and offensive lineman Chilo Rachal.
The Trojans had nine players invited to participate in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama: Baker, quarterback John David Booty, Davis, Ellis, Jackson, offensive linemen Drew Radovich, Rivers, cornerback Terrell Thomas and running back Chauncey Washington. All nine players were placed on the North team, which was coached by Lane Kiffin, who had coached for the Trojans between 2001 and 2006 before becoming the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. The nine players sent by USC were the second-most ever invited from one team in a single season, one less than the 10 players by Alabama in 1987 and tied with the nine players sent by Auburn in 1988, though the earlier selection rules favored the two locally based schools.
References
USC
USC Trojans football seasons
Pac-12 Conference football champion seasons
Rose Bowl champion seasons
USC Trojans football
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretext
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Pretext
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A pretext (adj: pretextual) is an excuse to do something or say something that is not accurate. Pretexts may be based on a half-truth or developed in the context of a misleading fabrication. Pretexts have been used to conceal the true purpose or rationale behind actions and words.
In US law, a pretext usually describes false reasons that hide the true intentions or motivations for a legal action. If a party can establish a prima facie case for the proffered evidence, the opposing party must prove that these reasons were "pretextual" or false. This can be accomplished by directly demonstrating that the motivations behind the presentation of evidence is false, or indirectly by evidence that the motivations are not "credible". In Griffith v. Schnitzer, an employment discrimination case, a jury award was reversed by a Court of Appeals because the evidence was not sufficient that the defendant's reasons were "pretextual". That is, the defendant's evidence was either undisputed, or the plaintiff's was "irrelevant subjective assessments and opinions".
A "pretextual" arrest by law enforcement officers is one carried out for illegal purposes such as to conduct an unjustified search and seizure.
As one example of pretext, in the 1880s, the Chinese government raised money on the pretext of modernizing the Chinese navy. Instead, these funds were diverted to repair a ship-shaped, two-story pavilion which had been originally constructed for the mother of the Qianlong Emperor. This pretext and the Marble Barge are famously linked with Empress Dowager Cixi. This architectural folly, known today as the Marble Boat (Shifang), is "moored" on Lake Kunming in what the empress renamed the "Garden for Cultivating Harmony" (Yiheyuan).
Another example of pretext was demonstrated in the speeches of the Roman orator Cato the Elder (234–149 BC). For Cato, every public speech became a pretext for a comment about Carthage. The Roman statesman had come to believe that the prosperity of ancient Carthage represented an eventual and inevitable danger to Rome. In the Senate, Cato famously ended every speech by proclaiming his opinion that Carthage had to be destroyed (Carthago delenda est). This oft-repeated phrase was the ultimate conclusion of all logical argument in every oration, regardless of the subject of the speech. This pattern persisted until his death in 149, which was the year in which the Third Punic War began. In other words, any subject became a pretext for reminding his fellow senators of the dangers Carthage represented.
Uses in warfare
The early years of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate were unsettled, with warring factions battling for power. The causes for the fighting were in part pretextural, but the outcome brought diminished armed conflicts after the Siege of Osaka in 1614–1615.
1614 (Keichō 19): The Shogun vanquished Hideyori and set fire to Osaka Castle, and then he returned for the winter to Edo.
August 24, 1614 (Keichō 19, 19th day of the 7th month): A new bronze bell for the Hōkō-ji was cast successfully ; but despite the dedication ceremony planning, Ieyasu forbade any further actions concerning the great bell:
"[T]he tablet over the Daibutsu-den and the bell bore the inscription "Kokka ankō" (meaning "the country and the house, peace and tranquility"), and at this Tokugawa Ieyasu affect to take umbrage, alleging that it was intended as a curse on him for the character 安 (an, "peace") was placed between the two characters composing his own name 家康 ("ka-kō", "house tranquility") [suggesting subtly perhaps that peace could only be attained by Ieyasu's dismemberment?] ... This incident of the inscription was, of course, a mere pretext, but Ieyasu realized that he could not enjoy the power he had usurped as long as Hideyori lived, and consequently, although the latter more than once Hideyori dispatched his vassal Katagiri Kastumoto to Ieyasu's residence (Sunpu Castle) with profuse apologies, Ieyasu refused to be placated."
October 18, 1614 (Keichō 19, 25th day of the 10th month): A strong earthquake shook Kyoto.
1615 (Keichō 20): Osaka Summer Battle begins.
The next two-and-a-half centuries of Japanese history were comparatively peaceful under the successors of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the bakufu government he established.
United States
During the War of 1812, US President James Madison was often accused of using impressment of American sailors by the Royal Navy as a pretext to invade Canada.
Some have argued that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941 as a pretext to enter World War II. American soldiers and supplies had been assisting British and Soviet operations for almost a year by this point, and the United States had thus "chosen a side", but due to the political climate in the States at the time and some campaign promises made by Roosevelt that he would not send American boys to fight in foreign wars. Roosevelt could not declare war for fear of public backlash. The attack on Pearl Harbor united the American people's resolve against the Axis powers and created the bellicose atmosphere in which to declare war.
Critics have accused United States President George W. Bush of using the September 11th, 2001 attacks and faulty intelligence about the existence of weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for the war in Iraq.
Social engineering
A type of social engineering called pretexting uses a pretext to elicit information fraudulently from a target. The pretext in this case includes research into the identity of a certain authorized person or personality type in order to establish legitimacy in the mind of the target.
See also
Plausible deniability
Proximate cause
Causes of the Franco-Prussian War
Notes
References
Bamford, James. (2004). Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies. New York: Doubleday Books. ; OCLC 55068034
Cato, Marcus Porcius. On Agriculture (De agricultura) trans, William Davis Hooper and Harrison Boyd Ash. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 230499252
Isikoff, Michael and David Corn. 2006. Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War New York: Crown Publishers.
Min, Anchee. (2007). The Last Empress. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). Kyoto, the Old Capital of Japan, Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society.
Stinnett Robert B. (2001). Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor New York: Simon & Schuster.
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
Propaganda techniques
Knowledge representation
Cognition
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Social engineering (computer security)
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47760651
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISqFt
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ISqFt
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iSqFt is a Software as a service (SaaS) company that serves general contractors, subcontractors, manufacturers, and suppliers in the North American commercial construction industry.
The company, founded as Construction Software Technologies in 1993, is headquartered in Greater Cincinnati. Dave Conway is the president and CEO.
Products
iSqFt’s software products are used primarily during the design, pre-construction, and procurement stages of construction, and are designed to help users identify project leads and product sales opportunities, network with other construction professionals, manage the bid solicitation process, and view and share digital drawings and specifications.
Mergers and acquisitions
From 2004 through 2009, iSqFt acquired a number of smaller or regional competitors, including:
BuildPoint (Redwood Shores, Calif.), a provider of online bid management services for general contractors
US Projects (Omaha, Neb.), a regional provider of online planning-phase project leads
BidFax (Memphis, Tenn.), a bid management client software application
BidNews Construction Reports (Tulsa, Okla.), a regional provider of bidding-phase project information
Plan Express (Memphis, Tenn.), a web-based document-sharing network
In 2006, iSqFt merged with Denver-based competitor Northstar Exchange Corp. (also known as Construction Information Network or Construction News Service).
In 2016, iSqFt became a part of ConstructConnect as a result of a merger with BidClerk, Construction Data and Construction Market Data.
Awards and recognition
In 2004, iSqFt was named one of Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing private companies in the country, ranking 50th on the list and first overall in the construction industry. The company appeared on the list again in 2005, after posting a three-year growth of 763%.
In 2009 and 2011, iSqFt was included on the Cincinnati Business Courier’s list of the fastest-growing companies in Greater Cincinnati.
In July 2015, iSqFt was named to the Constructech 50, a list of “the most influential construction technology providers with a strong and ongoing market presence.” Previously, iSqFt’s software application for subcontractors won a 2011 Constructech Magazine Top Products award.
References
Companies based in Cincinnati
Companies established in 1993
Construction software
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418548
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen%20magnifier
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Screen magnifier
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A screen magnifier is software that interfaces with a computer's graphical output to present enlarged screen content. By enlarging part (or all) of a screen, people with visual impairments can better see words and images. This type of assistive technology is useful for people with some functional vision; people with visual impairments and little or no functional vision usually use a screen reader.
Use
The simplest form of magnification presents an enlarged portion of the original screen content, the 'focus', so that it covers some or all of the full screen. This enlarged portion should include the content of interest to the user and the pointer or cursor, also suitably enlarged. As the user moves the pointer or cursor the screen magnifier should track with it and show the new enlarged portion. If this tracking is jerky or flickers it is likely to disturb the user. Also, the pointer or cursor may not be the content of interest: for example, if the user presses a keyboard shortcuts that opens a menu, the magnified portion should jump to that menu. Pop-up windows and changes in system status can also trigger this rapid shifting.
Screen magnifiers can be especially helpful for people suffering from low vision, including elderly users. However, in a 2001 paper, Vicki Hanson noted that people with low vision often also suffer from additional disabilities such as tremors.
Features
Ranges of 1- to 16-times magnification are common. The greater the magnification the smaller the proportion of the original screen content that can be viewed, so users will tend to use the lowest magnification they can manage.
Screen magnifiers commonly provide several other features for people with particular sight difficulties:
Color inversion. Many people with visual impairments prefer to invert the colors, typically turning text from black-on-white to white-on-black. This can reduce screen glare and is useful for elderly people suffering from age-related macular degeneration.
Smoothing. Text can become blocky and harder to recognise when enlarged. Some screen magnifiers use interpolation to smooth the text to compensate.
Cursor customisation. The mouse and text cursors can often be modified in several ways, such as circling it to help the user locate it on the screen.
Different magnification modes. Screen magnifiers can alter how they present the enlarged portion: covering the full screen, providing a lens that is moved around the un-magnified screen, or using a fixed magnified portion.
Crosshairs. Even with magnification, some users can find the mouse pointer hard to see. Crosshairs – especially when their size, color and opacity are customizable – can make the use of a pointing device easier.
Screen reader. Some magnifiers come packaged with a basic screen reader, allowing whatever the user is pointing at to be read out.
Screen magnifiers bundled with an operating system
Haiku includes an application called Magnify
Linux-based operating systems:
Compiz-Fusion window manager has a highly configurable plugin named "Enhanced Zoom Desktop"
GNOME has gnome-mag, which forms part of GNOME Shell
KDE has KMagnifier (KMag)
The Microsoft Windows operating system has included the "Magnifier" application since Windows 98 (released in 1998). It can integrate with a mouse-button toggle.
In OS X, the built-in screen magnification feature can be used at any time by using keyboard shortcuts or by scrolling with a mouse or trackpad. Screen magnification is built into iOS devices as well.
Stand-alone screen magnifier products
Dolphin Lunar - now known as Supernova Magnifier, Magnifier with Speech or Supernova Access Suite
Virtual Magnifying Glass - Cross-platform, open-source magnifier application
ZoomText
MAGic
External links
— a comparison of freely-downloadable magnifiers for Windows.
See also
Fresnel lens
Magnifying glass
References
Assistive technology
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10757955
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile%20Internet%20device
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Mobile Internet device
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A mobile Internet device (MID) is a multimedia capable mobile device providing wireless Internet access. They are designed to provide entertainment, information and location-based services for personal or business use. They allow 2-way communication and real-time sharing. They have been described as filling a niche between smartphones and tablet computers.
As all the features of MID started becoming available on smartphones and tablets, the term is now mostly used to refer to both low-end as well as high-end tablets.
Archos Internet tablets
The form factor of mobile Internet tablets from Archos is very similar to the Lenovo image on the right. The class has included multiple operating systems: Windows CE, Windows 7 and Android. The Android tablet uses an ARM Cortex CPU and a touchscreen.
Intel announced a prototype MID at the Intel Developer Forum in Spring 2007 in Beijing. A MID development kit by Sophia Systems using Intel Centrino Atom was announced in April 2008.
Intel MID platforms are based on an Intel processor and chipset which consume less power than most of the x86 derivatives. A few platforms have been announced as listed below:
McCaslin platform (2007)
Intel's first generation MID platform (codenamed McCaslin) contains a 90 nm Intel A100/A110 processor (codenamed Stealey) which runs at 600–800 MHz.
Menlow platform (2008)
On 2 March 2008, Intel introduced the Intel Atom processor brand for a new family of low-power processor platforms. The components have thin, small designs and work together to "enable the best mobile computing and Internet experience" on mobile and low-power devices.
Intel's second generation MID platform (codenamed Menlow) contains a 45 nm Intel Atom processor (codenamed Silverthorne) which can run up to 2.0 GHz and a System Controller Hub (codenamed Poulsbo) which includes Intel HD Audio (codenamed Azalia). This platform was initially branded as Centrino Atom but such practice was discontinued in Q3 2008.
Moorestown platform (2010)
Intel's third generation MID/smartphone platform (codenamed Moorestown) contains a 45 nm Intel Atom processor (codenamed Lincroft ) and a separate 65 nm Platform Controller Hub (codenamed Langwell). Since the memory controller and graphics controller are all now integrated into the processor, the northbridge has been removed and the processor communicates directly with the southbridge via the DMI bus interface.
Medfield platform (2012)
Intel's fourth generation MID/smartphone platform (codenamed Medfield) contains their first complete Intel Atom SoC (codenamed Penwell), produced on 32 nm.
Clover Trail+ platform (2012)
Intel's MID/smartphone platform (codenamed Clover Trail+) based on its Clover Trail tablet platform. It contains a 32 nm Intel Atom SoC (codenamed Cloverview).
Merrifield platform (2013)
Intel's fifth generation MID/smartphone platform (codenamed Merrifield ) contains a 22 nm Intel Atom SoC (codenamed Tangier).
Moorefield platform (2014)
Intel's sixth generation MID/smartphone platform (codenamed Moorefield) contains a 22 nm Intel Atom SoC (codenamed Anniedale).
Morganfield platform
Intel's seventh generation MID/smartphone platform (codenamed Morganfield) contains a 14 nm Intel Atom SoC (codenamed Broxton).
Operating system
Intel announced collaboration with Ubuntu to create Ubuntu for mobile internet devices distribution, known as Ubuntu Mobile. Ubuntu's website said the new distribution "will provide a rich Internet experience for users of Intel’s 2008 Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform."
See also
Centrino
Phablet
Android (operating system)
CrunchPad
Moblin project
Netbook / smartbook
Ubuntu Mobile
Ultra-mobile PC (UMPC)
WiMAX
Mobile web
References
Mobile computers
Classes of computers
Mobile web
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50670667
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USBKill
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USBKill
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USBKill is anti-forensic software distributed via GitHub, written in Python for the BSD, Linux, and OS X operating systems. It is designed to serve as a kill switch if the computer on which it is installed should fall under the control of individuals or entities against the desires of the owner. It is free software, available under the GNU General Public License.
The program's developer, who goes by the online name Hephaest0s, created it in response to the circumstances of the arrest of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, during which U.S. federal agents were able to get access to incriminating evidence on his laptop without needing his cooperation by copying data from its flash drive after distracting him. It maintains a whitelist of devices allowed to connect to the computer's USB ports; if a device not on that whitelist connects, it can take actions ranging from merely returning to the lock screen to encrypting the hard drive, or even deleting all the data on it. However, it can also be used as part of a computer security regimen to prevent the surreptitious installation of malware or spyware or the clandestine duplication of files, according to its creator.
Background
When law enforcement agencies began making computer crime arrests in the 1990s, they would often ask judges for no knock search warrants, to deny their targets time to delete incriminating evidence from computers or storage media. In more extreme circumstances where it was likely that the targets could get advance notice of arriving police, judges would grant "power-off" warrants, allowing utilities to turn off the electricity to the location of the raid shortly beforehand, further forestalling any efforts to destroy evidence before it could be seized. These methods were effective against criminals who produced and distributed pirated software and movies: the primary large-scale computer crime of the era.
By the 2010s, the circumstances of computer crime had changed along with legitimate computer use. Criminals were more likely to use the Internet to facilitate their crimes, so they needed to remain online most of the time. To do so, and still keep their activities discreet, they used computer security features like lock screens and password protection.
For those reasons, law enforcement now attempts to apprehend suspected cybercriminals with their computers on and in use, all accounts both on the computer and online open and logged in, and thus easily searchable. If they fail to seize the computer in that condition, there are some methods available to bypass password protection, but these may take more time than police have available. It might be legally impossible to compel the suspect to relinquish their password; in the United States, where many computer-crime investigations take place, courts have distinguished between forcing a suspect to use material means of protecting data such as a thumbprint, retinal scan, or key, as opposed to a password or passcode, which is purely the product of the suspect's mental processes and is thus protected from compelled disclosure by the Fifth Amendment.
The usual technique for authorities - either public entities such as law enforcement or private organizations like companies - seizing a computer (usually a laptop) that they believe is being used improperly is first to physically separate the suspect user from the computer enough that they cannot touch it, to prevent them from closing its lid, unplugging it, or typing a command. Once they have done so, they often install a device in the USB port that spoofs minor actions of a mouse, touchpad, or keyboard, preventing the computer from going into sleep mode, from which it would usually return to a lock screen which would require a password.
Agents with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigating Ross Ulbricht, founder of the online black market Silk Road, learned that he often ran the site from his laptop, using the wireless networks available at branches of the San Francisco Public Library. When they had enough evidence to arrest him, they planned to catch him in the act of running Silk Road, with his computer on and logged in. They needed to ensure he was unable to trigger encryption or delete evidence when they did.
In October 2013, a male and female agent pretended to have a lovers' quarrel near where Ulbricht was working at the Glen Park branch. According to Business Insider, Ulbricht was distracted and got up to see what the problem was, whereupon the female agent grabbed his laptop while the male agent restrained Ulbricht. The female agent was then able to insert a flash drive into one of the laptop's USB ports, with software that copied key files. According to Joshuah Bearman of Wired, a third agent grabbed the laptop while Ulbricht was distracted by the apparent lovers' fight and handed it to agent Tom Kiernan.
Use
In response to the circumstances of Ulbricht's arrest, a programmer known as Hephaest0s developed the USBKill code in Python and uploaded it to GitHub in 2014. It is available as free software under the GNU General Public License and currently runs under both Linux and OS X.
The program, when installed, prompts the user to create a whitelist of devices that are allowed to connect to the computer via its USB ports, which it checks at an adjustable sample rate. The user may also choose what actions the computer will take if it detects a USB device not on the whitelist (by default, it shuts down and erases data from the RAM and swap file). Users need to be logged in as root. Hephaest0s cautions users that they must be using at least partial disk encryption along with USBKill to fully prevent attackers from gaining access; Gizmodo suggests using a virtual machine that will not be present when the computer reboots.
It can also be used in reverse, with a whitelisted flash drive in the USB port attached to the user's wrist via a lanyard serving as a key. In this instance, if the flash drive is forcibly removed, the program will initiate the desired routines. "[It] is designed to do one thing," wrote Aaron Grothe in a short article on USBKill in 2600, "and it does it pretty well." As a further precaution, he suggests users rename it to something innocuous once they have loaded it on their computers, in case someone might be looking for it on a seized computer to disable it.
In addition to its designed purpose, Hephaest0s suggests other uses unconnected to a user's desire to frustrate police and prosecutors. As part of a general security regimen, it could be used to prevent the surreptitious installation of malware or spyware on, or copying of files from, a protected computer. It is also recommended for general use as part of a robust security practice, even when there are no threats to be feared.
Variations and modifications
With his 2600 article, Grothe shared a patch that included a feature that allowed the program to shut down a network when a non-whitelisted USB is inserted into any terminal. Nate Brune, another programmer, created Silk Guardian, a version of USBKill that takes the form of a loadable kernel module, since he "[felt] that it could be implemented better than it already is." In the issue of 2600 following Grothe's article, another writer, going by the name Jack D. Ripper, explained how Ninja OS, an operating system designed for live flash drives, handles the issue. It uses a bash script resident in memory that cycles a loop through the boot device (i.e., the flash drive) three times a second to see if it is still mounted and reboots the computer if it is not.
See also
List of data-erasing software
List of free and open-source software packages
References
External links
Anti-forensic software
Software using the GPL license
Computer security software
USB
2014 establishments
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49805482
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart%20Framework%20PHP
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Smart Framework PHP
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The PHP Smart.Framework (smart framework php) is a free, BSD licensed, open-source web framework that claims to fit small, medium as well as large web projects. It provides a hybrid architecture, a mix between multi-tier and Middleware, combined with clean code separation as Model–view–controller architecture.
Components
It provides a full stack environment:
PHP framework
Javascript framework
Web Profiler
Other features:
Redis based caching layer that can replace Varnish
database connectors: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, Solr
map component that can handle OpenStreetMaps (open types) but also Google maps or Bing maps.
other useful Javascript components
External links
Download Page: https://github.com/unix-world/Smart.Framework
Full Documentation: http://demo.unix-world.org/smart-framework.docs/
Demo: http://demo.unix-world.org/smart-framework/?/page/testunit/
References
Free software programmed in PHP
PHP frameworks
Software using the BSD license
Web frameworks
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23241092
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20iOS%20and%20iPadOS%20devices
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List of iOS and iPadOS devices
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This is a list and comparison of devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. that run a Unix-like operating system named iOS and iPadOS. The devices include the iPhone, the iPod Touch which, in design, is similar to the iPhone, but has no cellular radio or other cell phone hardware, and the iPad. All three devices function as digital audio and portable media players and Internet clients. The Apple TV, which runs tvOS, is a set-top box for streaming media from local sources and from certain internet services to a connected television set, and has no screen of its own. About 1.35 billion iOS devices have been sold worldwide as of March 2015. As of September 2018, about 2 billion iOS devices have been sold worldwide.
The operating system on iOS devices can be updated through iTunes or Finder (from macOS Catalina), or on iOS 5 or later, using over-the-air (OTA) updates. A major version of iOS tends to be released every time a new type of iPhone is launched (usually once a year), with minor changes throughout the year as needed. All updates are free to iOS devices (although iPod Touch users were formerly required to pay for the update). Apple upgrades its products' hardware periodically (approximately yearly).
Models
Legend
Source:
iPhone
In production and supported
Discontinued but still supported
Discontinued and unsupported (64-bit CPU)
Discontinued and unsupported (32-bit CPU)
iPod Touch
iPad
Supported
Discontinued and unsupported (32-bit)
iPad Mini
Supported
Discontinued and unsupported
iPad Air
Supported
Discontinued and unsupported
iPad Pro
Supported
Apple TV
The second and third generation of Apple TV run an unnamed operating system derived from iOS. The fourth and subsequent generations of Apple TV run the iOS-based tvOS. (The first generation ran a modified version of Mac OS X Tiger instead of iOS.)
Apple Watch
Supported
Discontinued but still supported
Discontinued and unsupported
Comparison of models
Battery life
Apple runs tests on pre-production units to determine battery life. However, these are purported maximums ("up to"), and actual user experiences vary. All numbers are in hours unless specified.
GSM/LTE SIM size
Storage
Apple has increased the storage capacity of its devices over time. Units were or are available with a given storage capacity as indicated.
Supported iOS releases
This table indicates the highest supported versions of iOS or iPadOS available for each generation of iOS devices. Beta versions may be listed only if support is discontinued for some older devices.
RAM, RAM type, storage type, processor and highest supported iOS release
<div class="overflowbugx" style="overflow:auto; width:100%;">
Display
The display introduced with the original iPhone was almost unchanged in all models before 2010. The iPad has a larger display and also uses a different aspect ratio and resolution. The iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, and fourth generation iPod Touch keep the physical dimensions of prior models, but double the resolution in both dimensions, thereby quadrupling the number of pixels in the same amount of space. The iPhone 5 was the first departure from the traditional iPhone and iPod Touch screen size, increasing it from 3.5 to , and the resolution was increased to include the extra screen space. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were the second departure from the traditional iPhone and iPod Touch screen size, increasing the screen sizes from 4 to and respectively, with increased resolution to include the extra screen space. The iPhone X was the third departure from the traditional iPhone screen size, increasing the screen size to . The iPhone XR and iPhone XS Max were the fourth departure from the traditional iPhone screen size, increasing the screen size to and respectively.
Features
Timeline
Status
Geekbench scores
Note: Hardware reviewers have commented that these benchmark results are not comparable with other CPU/SoCs architecture due to the software codes optimization.
See also
iOS version history
iPad (disambiguation)
iPhone (disambiguation)
List of iPod models
References
External links
Official Apple sites
Apple support technical specifications
iPhone
iPad
iPod Touch
Apple TV
Apple Inc. lists
IOS
IPad
IPhone
IPod
Lists of mobile phones
iOS
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga%20College
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Conestoga College
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Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1967, Conestoga serves approximately 23,000 registered students through campuses and training centres in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Stratford, Ingersoll and Brantford with an enrolment of 11,000 full-time students, 30,000 part-time students, and 3,300 apprenticeship students.
History
The college was founded in 1947 as the Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology, one of many such institutions established in that time by the Ontario government to grant diplomas and certificates in career-related, skills-oriented programs. It was renamed in 2012 when the government extended the school's reach, namely to grant degrees in technology-based fields.
Over the years, it has added programs such as the Master of Business Administration program, in cooperation with the University of Windsor. In addition, the college offers a new nursing curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.Sc.N.) degree. Students accepted to Conestoga's Nursing Program take all four years of study at the Doon Campus in Kitchener. Graduates of the program will receive a degree from McMaster University.
Beginning in August 2003, two new programs began which would be the first to award a degree to students entirely through the college. These are the B.Eng. Mechanical Systems Engineering program, a fully accredited engineering program by Engineers Canada, and the B.A.Tech Architecture - Project and Facility Management In 2007 a third B.A. Tech in Integrated Telecommunication and Computer Technology degree program was added, targeting embedded system hardware and software design and manufacture. All three programs award a Bachelor of Applied Technology degree. At the beginning of 2005 a new Bachelor of Applied Health Sciences Degree in Health Informatics Management program was started in the School of Health Sciences, Community Services, and Biotechnology.
In 2006, the college purchased the former University Heights Secondary School in Waterloo for nearly $6,000,000, into which its Waterloo campus relocated later that year from 435 King Street North. The property is significantly larger than its former Waterloo campus, which the college will sell to cover the cost of the purchase.
Academic program
Conestoga has one, two, three, or four-year programs, as well as apprenticeship training programs. There are also many options available to students including four-year degrees in Mechanical Systems Engineering, Integrated Telecommunications and Computer Technology, Architecture, Health Informatics or the International Business Management degree which started in the fall of 2006. Conestoga also has several agreements with Ontario universities including Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Windsor, and McMaster University, as well as several other Canadian and international institutions.
Conestoga College has a variety of diploma programs, degree programs, and other academic programs taught by highly educated professors. Conestoga College has a number of women professors who teach courses, giving opportunities for both men and women to work as professors in the academic workforce.
Conestoga College offers a full-time program for students who wish to work in the field of Early Childhood Education, this diploma program has changed the way women are seen in the Early Learning and Care field. After graduating the two-year program, students are eligible to register to be members of the College of Early Childhood Educators, which allows them to pursue a job in that field. The program is also offered as part time, allowing students who aren't able to attend full-time to still have the opportunity to obtain an ECE diploma.
The Bachelors of Early Learning Program Development was introduced to Conestoga as a four-year degree program, ECE students who have successfully graduated have the opportunity to bridge into this degree program, allowing them to obtain their degree in only two years.
Conestoga College is committed to supporting parents and children, the Family Literacy Facilitation Program is a program that is designed to give students knowledge and skill to be able to successfully support their child's literacy skills. This program usually brings in mothers and child care students who wish to learn more about literacy.
Trades and apprenticeship
The college operates trades programs at the campuses in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph; training facilities are operated in Brantford and Ingersoll. The school's programs include Construction, Motive Power, Industrial and Service sectors, as well as Traditional Apprenticeship and, most recently, Pre-apprenticeship, offered in partnership with private enterprise companies. The college's president revealed a plan in late 2019 to consolidate all of the trades programs at one location in future, but the date of the move was not disclosed at that time.
Campuses
Doon Campus is the main campus for Conestoga College. It is located at the south end of Kitchener and houses the central administration offices as well as the majority of courses offered by the college. Regional campuses have select programs.
Doon Campus - Main Campus, 299 Doon Valley Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, N2G 4M4
Kitchener Downtown Campus, 25 Frederick Street, Kitchener, Ontario, N2H 6M8
Waterloo Campus, 108 University Avenue East, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2W2
Cambridge Campus, 850 Fountain Street South, Cambridge, Ontario N3H 0A8
Guelph Campus, 460 Speedvale Avenue West, Guelph, Ontario N1H 6N6
Stratford Campus, 130 Youngs Street, Stratford, Ontario N5A 1J7
Brantford Campus, 50 Wellington Street, Brantford, Ontario N3T 2L6
Cambridge Downtown - Academic Upgrading, Suite 402, 150 Main Street, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 6P9
Ingersoll Skills Training Centre, 420 Thomas Street, Ingersoll, Ontario N5C 3J7
Planned Milton Campus
The town of Milton, Ontario and Wilfrid Laurier University had been working together since 2008 to develop the 150-acre campus in Milton within the planned Milton Education Village (MEV) on 150 acres of land donated by the town. The university subsequently partnered with Conestoga College which would also add a satellite campus at that location.
In April 2018, the Province announced a funding plan of $90 million for the project. Construction of the 150-acre campus was expected to conclude in Q3 of 2021; in the meantime, the college would offer courses in rented premises, commencing in September 2019.
In October 2018, however, the new provincial government (elected in June 2018) withdrew the funding before any construction had begun, citing a greater than expected provincial deficit. This effectively cancelled the plans for the joint project with Laurier. Mayor Gord Krantz said the town would explore alternatives for funding the Milton Education Village campus. A news release issued by the college said that it would continue working with Laurier, "the government, industry and community partners to develop a revised model for the cost-effective delivery of post-secondary education ... in Milton..."
Planned Cambridge expansion
The college decided to purchase 42 acres of land in this city in 2019, to relocate all of the trades programs (offered at various campuses) to Cambridge at a future date. Specifics were not immediately provided at the time of the announcement in late 2019.
Planned Guelph expansion
The college has operated a small campus in Guelph for some years, but in late 2019, it advised the news media that a major expansion was planned after the trades program was relocated to Cambridge. "Within five or six years, we will have at least 5,000 students there ... [with] full-service programming," said college President John Tibbits. At the time, the Guelph campus had approximately 1,000 students.
Other buildings
Recreation Centre
ATS Centre
Woodworking Centre of Ontario
Future
The School of Engineering and Information Technology was relocated, in 2011, to a new expansion of the Doon campus opposite the current facility across Highway 401. This City of Cambridge site will eventually hold of space.
Phase one of the new Cambridge Campus was finished and open for the start of the fall 2011 semester. This first 260,000 square-foot building is home to the School of Engineering and Information Technology, as well as to the Institute for Food Processing Technology. The Engineering facility has programs with a focus on advanced manufacturing, robotics, renewable energy, telecommunications, and information technology. The food processing industry is continuing to grow and this expansion will help fill a need for current and future skilled workers in this sector. The expansion has increased capacity by 2,350 additional full-time spaces and allowed for an additional 800 new spaces for apprentices.
In May 2019, a new downtown campus for the International Business program was announced to be opening at Kitchener's Market Square in January 2020. It will host 1,000 students to start.
Student Life Centre
Student media
88.3 CJIQ is the college's campus radio station. It is used as part of the Broadcasting: Radio course and Journalism program. Local radio DJ Jeremy James got his start at this station.
Spoke On-line is the web version of the official newspaper of Conestoga College. Student reporters in the Journalism programs contribute the news and editorial content of the paper, and are responsible for the production of the weekly publication.
519 Online News is an online newsroom in Waterloo Region staffed by students in the Videography-Broadcast Journalism/Documentary graduate program in the School of Media and Design.
Conestoga Connected is a weekly half-hour newsmagazine all about Conestoga College student programs, news, events, innovations, sports, life off-campus and alumni. It is created and produced by second-year Broadcast Television students.
Student sports
Conestoga College student sports teams are named the "Condors". They compete against varsity level teams. There are also intramural and extramural programs.
Student committees
In 2002 Conestoga College was given the ability to grant degrees to students. Shortly after that, the Student Degree Committee was formed. Students who are registered in four year degree programs may join the Degree Committee. Their participation contributes to their co-curricular record, and allows them to be a part of planning and hosting social events for all degree students in order to foster degree culture at Conestoga College. The Student Degree Committee is supervised by women staff from Conestoga College.
Student services
Conestoga College has a wide range of generations that attend classes. Some students attend right after graduating high school and others attend at a much later time in their lives. Some are parents. The on-site Doon Childcare Centre offers programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Conestoga offers multiple services/resources to help support families, such as food banks, counseling services, and medical services for students without a family doctor.
Conestoga College wants to ensure all students are feeling supported and safe on campus and in their home environments. A number of counseling services are offered, and a sexual violence and gender-based violence prevention program is available.
"A Place of New Beginnings" provides services for Aboriginal students at Conestoga College, including those who are First Nations (status and non-status), Métis and Inuit. It is a warm, welcoming and comfortable environment that assists students with a smooth transition to college life by providing ongoing student support.
On-campus jobs
A number of services offered at the college require employees, and an on-campus student hiring procedure allows students to work. A number of facilities at the college also provide job opportunities for the community.
Notable alumni
Vic Fedeli, advertising executive and Ontario politician
Will Ferguson, Ontario politician and Cabinet member
Barry Greenwald, whose 1975 student film Metamorphosis at Conestoga College won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
Brenda Halloran, RN and Mayor of Waterloo
Brenda Irving, CBC Television sports journalist
Jonny Staub, radio and television personality
Elizabeth Wettlaufer, serial killer and former registered nurse
See also
Higher education in Ontario
List of colleges in Ontario
References
Conestoga College
External links
Educational institutions established in 1967
Colleges in Ontario
1967 establishments in Ontario
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16458710
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid%20Evolution
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Rapid Evolution
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Rapid Evolution (also known as RE) is a software tool for DJs, providing filtering and searching features suitable for musicians. It can analyze audio files and automatically determine properties such as the musical key, beats per minute (BPM), beat intensity and ReplayGain.
It supports file types MP3, MP4, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC and APE. It helps DJs to organize and profile their music, and assists in the process of mixing music by utilizing song metadata to be able to show harmonically compatible songs and songs of a similar style. It allows DJs to save and remember which songs are good matches (like a personal, digital mixing journal) and to plan entire mix sets.
One of its uses is to assist in a DJ technique called harmonic mixing. Once the musical key and BPM is known for a set of songs, DJs can use music theory (such as the Circle of Fifths) to identify songs that are harmonically compatible. The act of mixing harmonically can help eliminate dissonant tones while mixing songs together. Since identifying whether songs can be made harmonically compatible can be quite complex (once features such as pitch lock are introduced), the software assists DJs by being able to show them which songs in their collection can be made harmonically compatible with any particular song. It can also assist DJs in the act of beatmatching by showing which songs are in a compatible BPM range, and the percent of BPM difference.
Rapid Evolution is created and released through Mixshare.com. The metadata generated by Rapid Evolution is shared through the central servers at Mixshare.com, which can be browsed online. There are 1 million songs added to the database sharing information such as key, BPM, styles and ratings.
History
Rapid Evolution was developed for the Windows environment and released in 2003. Starting in version 2.0 it was switched to run on the Java platform, allowing it to run in virtually any environment. It is still actively developed.
Several improvements to the key detection algorithm have been introduced over the years. Rapid Evolution is the only program which can detect advanced key modes, such as aeolian, ionian, dorian, phrygian, lydian and mixolydian. To date, there has only been one serious comparison of key detection accuracy (including programs such as Mixed In Key and Mixmeister). It was shown that Rapid Evolution is the most accurate.
The program's source code was made available in November 2013.
Community interest
Rapid Evolution was originally a freeware program. Due to its vast feature set, Rapid Evolution tends to be suited more for experienced DJs versus beginners.
See also
Harmonic mixing
Music Theory
DJing
External links
Download Rapid Evolution
Harmonic-Mixing.com
Source code for version 2
Source code for version 3
References
Music search engines
MacOS multimedia software
Windows multimedia software
Audio mixing software
DJ software
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little%20Big%20Adventure%202
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Little Big Adventure 2
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Little Big Adventure 2 is a 1997 adventure game developed by Adeline Software International and published by Electronic Arts.
It was later re-released by Activision in June 1997 in North America under the name Twinsen's Odyssey. In July 1997, both Electronic Arts and Virgin Interactive Software re-released LBA 2 - Virgin Interactive Software doing so under the name of "Twinsen's Odyssey". LBA 2 sold over 300,000 copies worldwide.
The game is a sequel to Little Big Adventure (also known as Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure). LBA 2 was also the third game created under the label of Adeline Software International. The game features three-dimensional environments and full-motion video, and all of its music is in CD-DA quality.
In October 2011 Little Big Adventure 2 was re-released digitally on GOG.com and in October 2015 on Steam. In October 2021 both Little Big Adventure 1 and 2 engines source code were released under the GPL.
Gameplay
Little Big Adventure 2 has two viewing modes - for indoor scenes it uses a 3D isometric perspective (the game field is rotated 45 degrees) like its predecessor, but for outdoor scenes a 3D perspective view is used. All characters and vehicles are 3D polygon-based objects, allowing for full rotation and movement abilities. The interior game field is divided in scenes (a small block of the game that is active). After completion of certain tasks the player is presented with a full motion video sequence. All text in the game is spoken by the characters. The LBA world is considered extremely large and varied for games of its time. There are three planets to visit, with Twinsun and Zeelich containing their own islands, each with their own unique graphical style. Essentially every character in the game is interactive and will respond differently when Twinsen speaks to them.
Like its predecessor, LBA 2 is real-time adventure. It combines several action game/arcade sequences and some elements from the role-playing game genre. The game's gameplay is partially free-roaming, allowing the player to travel around the islands once they have been "unlocked" by completing certain objectives; there are also many tasks which are optional or non-linear. Certain locations in the game are initially blocked from the player until they progress to a certain stage.
Almost all characters can be talked to, and enemies are often performing tasks while the game world is active.
Plot
After Twinsen defeated FunFrock at the end of Little Big Adventure, Twinsun was peaceful, until a sudden storm covered Citadel Island. The Dino-Fly, a creature encountered in LBA 1 is struck by lightning and crashes in Twinsen and Zoe's garden. Twinsen seeks help from Ker'aooc, a healing wizard, who lives on Desert Island. But ferry crossings are cancelled. He aids Bersimon, the island's weather wizard, resulting in the clouds disappearing. After the storm, alien creatures, who call themselves Esmers, land on the planet, under a false diplomatic guise and Twinsen begins training under the Wizard's School after hearing of missing children on the planet. The Esmers use their army to secretly capture Twinsun's Children and openly invite the Wizards to their planet (which is revealed later to be a trap to capture them). After graduating as a wizard, Twinsen is informed by his master of the possible plot of the Esmers and is sent to investigate their planet by accepting their invitation to all Wizards. Once Twinsen lands in Zeelich (the Esmers' two-layered, Jupiter-like gas home planet), the invitation proves to be a trap and he is arrested on the landing port. After tricking one of the guards with the help of another prisoner, Twinsen manages to escape imprisonment and escapes the planet in one of the ships. He eventually crashes in the mountains of Citadel Island, where he is attacked by an Esmerian soldier, after defeating him and making his way into the city he finds out that the Esmers have taken over the planet and have imposed martial law. After going home to check on Zoe he finds out that Baldino has left him a protopack (Prototype Jetpack; it can hover, not fly) in the warehouse, he retrieves it and sets out to find his friend. Once making it to Desert Island he finds out that Baldino has disappeared, he proceeds to investigate his house and discovers that Baldino has built a spacecraft and for some reason went to Emerald Moon (Twinsun's moon). He visits the Wizard's School and learns from his master that in order to proceed in his journey and face the Esmers, who prove to be more than he can handle, he must obtain a powerful artifact from beneath Citadel Island.
Home to several different species, Zeelich is a two-layered planet, the upper layer located above the sea of toxic gas that plagues the planet. The lower layer is located beneath the gas. Its inhabitants await the day when a certain prophecy will be fulfilled, and the Dark Monk, the shadow god, will emerge and restore Zeelich.
Twinsen eventually gathers together four fragments making up a key which must be placed inside a little temple on Celebration Island. He unmasks Dark Monk, who is really FunFrock, the villain from the first game. He kills FunFrock, and returns to stop the moon of Twinsun crashing into the planet.
Development
The music of Little Big Adventure 2 is composed by the French composer Philippe Vachey.
Reception
Little Big Adventure 2 sold above 300,000 units by August 1999. GameSpot reported, "In France, Twinsen is big. In the States, he's an obscure oddity."
Robert Coffey of Computer Gaming World said, "With its unparalleled sense of marvel and imagination, engaging story, and deft mix of action and adventure, Twinsen's Odyssey is a true delight and simply the most charming game I've ever played". GameSpot's Ron Dulin gave the game 8.1 out of 10, stating "Fans of adventure games will not want to pass this one up". José Dias of Adventure Classic Gaming said "Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure is among the most original and intriguing adventure games ever released." and gave it a 4 out of 5.
Next Generation rated it four stars out of five, and stated that "if you love action/adventure games, Twinsen's Odyssey should be in your collection."
Little Big Adventure 2 was a runner-up for Computer Gaming Worlds 1997 "Adventure Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to The Curse of Monkey Island. The editors called Little Big Adventure 2 "a charming 3D action/adventure hybrid."
References
External links
Little Big Adventure II, a mirror of the original official LBA 2 website.
1997 video games
Action-adventure games
Adventure games
Adeline Software International games
Activision games
Commercial video games with freely available source code
DOS games
Electronic Arts games
Games commercially released with DOSBox
Open-source video games
Software using the GPL license
Video game sequels
Video games developed in France
Video games with isometric graphics
Windows games
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294149
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A5/1
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A5/1
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A5/1 is a stream cipher used to provide over-the-air communication privacy in the GSM cellular telephone standard. It is one of several implementations of the A5 security protocol. It was initially kept secret, but became public knowledge through leaks and reverse engineering. A number of serious weaknesses in the cipher have been identified.
History and usage
A5/1 is used in Europe and the United States. A5/2 was a deliberate weakening of the algorithm for certain export regions. A5/1 was developed in 1987, when GSM was not yet considered for use outside Europe, and A5/2 was developed in 1989. Though both were initially kept secret, the general design was leaked in 1994 and the algorithms were entirely reverse engineered in 1999 by Marc Briceno from a GSM telephone. In 2000, around 130 million GSM customers relied on A5/1 to protect the confidentiality of their voice communications.
Security researcher Ross Anderson reported in 1994 that "there was a terrific row between the NATO signal intelligence agencies in the mid-1980s over whether GSM encryption should be strong or not. The Germans said it should be, as they shared a long border with the Warsaw Pact; but the other countries didn't feel this way, and the algorithm as now fielded is a French design."
Description
A GSM transmission is organised as sequences of bursts. In a typical channel and in one direction, one burst is sent every 4.615 milliseconds and contains 114 bits available for information. A5/1 is used to produce for each burst a 114 bit sequence of keystream which is XORed with the 114 bits prior to modulation. A5/1 is initialised using a 64-bit key together with a publicly known 22-bit frame number. Older fielded GSM implementations using Comp128v1 for key generation, had 10 of the key bits fixed at zero, resulting in an effective key length of 54 bits. This weakness was rectified with the introduction of Comp128v3 which yields proper 64 bits keys. When operating in GPRS / EDGE mode, higher bandwidth radio modulation allows for larger 348 bits frames, and A5/3 is then used in a stream cipher mode to maintain confidentiality.
A5/1 is based around a combination of three linear-feedback shift registers (LFSRs) with irregular clocking. The three shift registers are specified as follows:
The bits are indexed with the least significant bit (LSB) as 0.
The registers are clocked in a stop/go fashion using a majority rule. Each register has an associated clocking bit. At each cycle, the clocking bit of all three registers is examined and the majority bit is determined. A register is clocked if the clocking bit agrees with the majority bit. Hence at each step at least two or three registers are clocked, and each register steps with probability 3/4.
Initially, the registers are set to zero. Then for 64 cycles, the 64-bit secret key K is mixed in according to the following scheme: in cycle , the ith key bit is added to the least significant bit of each register using XOR —
Each register is then clocked.
Similarly, the 22-bits of the frame number are added in 22 cycles. Then the entire system is clocked using the normal majority clocking mechanism for 100 cycles, with the output discarded. After this is completed, the cipher is ready to produce two 114 bit sequences of output keystream, first 114 for downlink, last 114 for uplink.
Security
A number of attacks on A5/1 have been published, and the American National Security Agency is able to routinely decrypt A5/1 messages according to released internal documents.
Some attacks require an expensive preprocessing stage after which the cipher can be broken in minutes or seconds. Originally, the weaknesses were passive attacks using the known plaintext assumption. In 2003, more serious weaknesses were identified which can be exploited in the ciphertext-only scenario, or by an active attacker. In 2006 Elad Barkan, Eli Biham and Nathan Keller demonstrated attacks against A5/1, A5/3, or even GPRS that allow attackers to tap GSM mobile phone conversations and decrypt them either in real-time, or at any later time.
According to professor Jan Arild Audestad, at the standardization process which started in 1982, A5/1 was originally proposed to have a key length of 128 bits. At that time, 128 bits was projected to be secure for at least 15 years. It is now believed that 128 bits would in fact also still be secure until the advent of quantum computing. Audestad, Peter van der Arend, and Thomas Haug says that the British insisted on weaker encryption, with Haug saying he was told by the British delegate that this was to allow the British secret service to eavesdrop more easily. The British proposed a key length of 48 bits, while the West Germans wanted stronger encryption to protect against East German spying, so the compromise became a key length of 54 bits.
Known-plaintext attacks
The first attack on the A5/1 was proposed by Ross Anderson in 1994. Anderson's basic idea was to guess the complete content of the registers R1 and R2 and about half of the register R3. In this way the clocking of all three registers is determined and the second half of R3 can be computed.
In 1997, Golic presented an attack based on solving sets of linear equations which has a time complexity of 240.16 (the units are in terms of number of solutions of a system of linear equations which are required).
In 2000, Alex Biryukov, Adi Shamir and David Wagner showed that A5/1 can be cryptanalysed in real time using a time-memory tradeoff attack, based on earlier work by Jovan Golic. One tradeoff allows an attacker to reconstruct the key in one second from two minutes of known plaintext or in several minutes from two seconds of known plain text, but he must first complete an expensive preprocessing stage which requires 248 steps to compute around 300 GB of data. Several tradeoffs between preprocessing, data requirements, attack time and memory complexity are possible.
The same year, Eli Biham and Orr Dunkelman also published an attack on A5/1 with a total work complexity of 239.91 A5/1 clockings given 220.8 bits of known plaintext. The attack requires 32 GB of data storage after a precomputation stage of 238.
Ekdahl and Johansson published an attack on the initialisation procedure which breaks A5/1 in a few minutes using two to five minutes of conversation plaintext. This attack does not require a preprocessing stage. In 2004, Maximov et al. improved this result to an attack requiring "less than one minute of computations, and a few seconds of known conversation". The attack was further improved by Elad Barkan and Eli Biham in 2005.
Attacks on A5/1 as used in GSM
In 2003, Barkan et al. published several attacks on GSM encryption. The first is an active attack. GSM phones can be convinced to use the much weaker A5/2 cipher briefly. A5/2 can be broken easily, and the phone uses the same key as for the stronger A5/1 algorithm. A second attack on A5/1 is outlined, a ciphertext-only time-memory tradeoff attack which requires a large amount of precomputation.
In 2006, Elad Barkan, Eli Biham, Nathan Keller published the full version of their 2003 paper, with attacks against A5/X сiphers. The authors claim:
In 2007 Universities of Bochum and Kiel started a research project to create a massively parallel FPGA-based cryptographic accelerator COPACOBANA. COPACOBANA was the first commercially available solution using fast time-memory trade-off techniques that could be used to attack the popular A5/1 and A5/2 algorithms, used in GSM voice encryption, as well as the Data Encryption Standard (DES). It also enables brute force attacks against GSM eliminating the need of large precomputed lookup tables.
In 2008, the group The Hackers Choice launched a project to develop a practical attack on A5/1. The attack requires the construction of a large look-up table of approximately 3 terabytes. Together with the scanning capabilities developed as part of the sister project, the group expected to be able to record any GSM call or SMS encrypted with A5/1, and within about 3–5 minutes derive the encryption key and hence listen to the call and read the SMS in clear. But the tables weren't released.
A similar effort, the A5/1 Cracking Project, was announced at the 2009 Black Hat security conference by cryptographers Karsten Nohl and Sascha Krißler. It created the look-up tables using Nvidia GPGPUs via a peer-to-peer distributed computing architecture. Starting in the middle of September 2009, the project ran the equivalent of 12 Nvidia GeForce GTX 260. According to the authors, the approach can be used on any cipher with key size up to 64-bits.
In December 2009, the A5/1 Cracking Project attack tables for A5/1 were announced by Chris Paget and Karsten Nohl. The tables use a combination of compression techniques, including rainbow tables and distinguished point chains. These tables constituted only parts of the 1.7 TB completed table and had been computed during three months using 40 distributed CUDA nodes and then published over BitTorrent. More recently the project has announced a switch to faster ATI Evergreen code, together with a change in the format of the tables and Frank A. Stevenson announced breaks of A5/1 using the ATI generated tables.
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 state that the NSA "can process encrypted A5/1".
See also
A5/2
KASUMI, also known as A5/3
Cellular Message Encryption Algorithm
Notes
References
External links
Stream ciphers
Broken stream ciphers
Mobile telecommunications standards
3GPP standards
GSM standard
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41098945
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek%20Campos
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Derek Campos
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Francisco Derek Campos (born April 1, 1988) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2009, Campos has competed for Bellator MMA, Shark Fights and King of the Cage, and is the former King of the Cage Light Welterweight Champion.
Background
Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Campos competed in high school football and first began training in boxing and wrestling at the age of 19.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
After a 2–0 amateur career, Campos started his professional career in 2009, fighting exclusively for Texas and Louisiana-based promotions.
In 2012, with a record of 9–2, Campos signed with Bellator.
Bellator MMA
Campos made his promotional debut against Rich Clementi on May 25, 2012 at Bellator 70. He lost via submission due to a guillotine choke in the first round.
Campos faced Brandon Girtz on June 19, 2013 at Bellator 96. He won via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Campos faced Martin Stapleton on November 8, 2013 at Bellator 107. Once again he won via unanimous decision.
Campos was expected to rematch Brandon Girtz in the quarterfinal match of Bellator Season Ten Lightweight Tournament on March 21, 2014 at Bellator 113. However, his opponent was changed and he faced Tim Welch. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Campos faced Patricky Freire in the semifinals at Bellator 117 and lost the bout via TKO in the second round.
Campos faced Estevan Payan on September 26, 2014 at Bellator 126. He won the fight via knockout just 31 seconds into the first round.
Stepping in for a recently retired John Gunderson, Campos was expected to face Alexander Sarnavskiy at Bellator 128 on October 10, 2014. However, an injury forced Campos out of the bout. Dakota Cochrane stepped in as a replacement.
Campos faced former Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler on June 19, 2015 at Bellator 138. He lost the fight via submission in the first round.
Campos finally rematched Brandon Girtz at Bellator 146 on November 20, 2015. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.
Campos next faced Melvin Guillard on February 19, 2016 at Bellator 149. He won the fight via a flurry of punches in the second round, resulting in a TKO victory.
Campos faced up-and-coming Djamil Chan at Bellator 161 on September 16, 2016. In the first round, Campos was almost finished by a series of punches after absorbing a punch on the feet. However, he survived the onslaught and went on to win the fight via unanimous decision.
Campos faced Derek Anderson at Bellator 170 on January 21, 2017. He won the fight via unanimous decision.
Campos was expected to face Patricky Freire at Bellator 181 on July 14, 2017. The pair previously met at Bellator 117 on April 18, 2014 in the quarter final round of the Bellator season ten lightweight tournament, in which Campos was defeated via second-round TKO. The rematch was originally scheduled to take place at Bellator 167 on December 3, 2016, however an injury forced Freire out of the bout. During the Bellator 180 fight card, it was revealed by the promotion that Campos would instead face Brandon Girtz in a third fight at the event. Campos won the rubber match by TKO via doctor stoppage at the end of the second round due to cut on Girtz's forehead caused by a Campos knee.
Campos faced Patricky Freire in a rematch at Bellator 194 on February 16, 2018. He lost the fight via TKO in round one.
In his next fight, Campos moved down to Featherweight and faced Sam Sicilia at Bellator 212 on December 14, 2018. He lost the back-and-forth fight by split decision.
Campos next faced Pedro Carvalho at Bellator: Birmingham on May 4, 2019. He lost the bout by way of first round knockout.
Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix
In the opening round of the Featherweight Grand Prix, Campos faced former two-time Bellator Featherweight world champion Daniel Straus at Bellator 226 on September 7, 2019. Campos went on to defeat Straus in a dominant unanimous decision win, with the judges scores reading 30–26, 30–25, 30–25.
In the quarterfinals, Campos faced A.J. McKee at Bellator 236 on December 21, 2019. He lost the bout via third round submission.
Post grand-prix
Campos was expected to face Roger Huerta at Bellator 246 on September 12, 2020. However, he ultimately faced Keoni Diggs at the event. At the weigh-ins, Diggs weighed in at 157 pounds, 1 pound over the non-title lightweight limit of 156 pounds. The bout proceeded at a catchweight with a percentage of Diggs' purse going to Campos. He lost the bout via a rear-naked choke submission in the third round.
On October 27, 2020, it was announced that Campos had been released from Bellator.
Post-Bellator career
After almost a decade in Bellator, Campos was scheduled to face Kyle Bochniak at XMMA2 on July 30, 2021. However, Campos withdrew from the bout due to an injury and was replaced by Marcus Brimage.
Championships and accomplishments
Mixed martial arts
King of the Cage
KOTC Light Welterweight Championship (One time)
Mixed martial arts record
|-
|Loss
|align=center| 20–11
|Keoni Diggs
|Technical Submission (rear-naked choke)
|Bellator 246
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|4:59
|Uncasville, Connecticut, United States
|
|-
|Loss
|align=center| 20–10
|A.J. McKee
|Submission (armbar)
|Bellator 236
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|1:08
|Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
|
|-
|Win
|align=center| 20–9
|Daniel Straus
|Decision (unanimous)
|Bellator 226
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|5:00
|San Jose, California, United States
|
|-
|Loss
|align=center| 19–9
|Pedro Carvalho
|TKO (punches)
|Bellator: Birmingham
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|2:02
|Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
|
|-
|Loss
|align=center| 19–8
|Sam Sicilia
|Decision (split)
|Bellator 212
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|5:00
|Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
|
|-
|Loss
|align=center| 19–7
|Patricky Freire
|TKO (punches)
|Bellator 194
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|2:23
|Uncasville, Connecticut, United States
|
|-
|Win
|align=center| 19–6
|Brandon Girtz
|TKO (doctor stoppage)
| Bellator 181
|
|align=center|2
|align=center|5:00
|Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States
|
|-
|Win
|align=center| 18–6
|Derek Anderson
|Decision (unanimous)
| Bellator 170
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|5:00
|Inglewood, California, United States
|
|-
|Win
|align=center| 17–6
|Djamil Chan
|Decision (unanimous)
| Bellator 161
|
|align=center|3
|align=center|5:00
|Cedar Park, Texas, United States
|
|-
|Win
|align=center| 16–6
|Melvin Guillard
|KO (punches)
| Bellator 149
|
|align=center|2
|align=center|0:32
|Houston, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 15–6
| Brandon Girtz
| KO (punches)
| Bellator 146
|
| align=center|1
| align=center|0:37
| Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 15–5
| Michael Chandler
| Submission (rear-naked choke)
| Bellator 138
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 2:17
| St. Louis, Missouri, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 15–4
| Estevan Payan
| KO (punch)
| Bellator 126
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 0:31
| Phoenix, Arizona, United States
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 14–4
| Patricky Freire
| TKO (punches)
| Bellator 117
|
| align=center| 2
| align=center| 0:52
| Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 14–3
| Tim Welch
| Decision (unanimous)
| Bellator 113
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Mulvane, Kansas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 13–3
| Martin Stapleton
| Decision (unanimous)
| Bellator 107
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 12–3
| Brandon Girtz
| Decision (unanimous)
| Bellator 96
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 11–3
| Derrick Krantz
| Submission (rear-naked choke)
| Ascend Combat: Mayhem 3
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 4:15
| Shreveport, Louisiana, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 10–3
| Joe Condon
| TKO (punches)
| KOTC: Stranglehold
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 1:56
| Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 9–3
| Rich Clementi
| Submission (guillotine choke)
| Bellator 70
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 4:18
| New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 9–2
| Kota Okazawa
| Submission (neck crank)
| G1 Fights: Sovereign Valor
|
| align=center| 2
| align=center| 3:46
| Kinder, Louisiana, United States
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 8–2
| Scott Cleve
| Decision (split)
| Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1: Huerta vs. War Machine
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Pharr, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 8–1
| Marcus Andrusia
| TKO (punches)
| Global Fighting Alliance 15
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 1:37
| Sulphur, Louisiana, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 7–1
| Gilbert Jimenez
| Decision (unanimous)
| Triple A Promotions
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 3:00
| Amarillo, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 6–1
| Cody Pfister
| Submission (rear-naked choke)
| Undisputed MMA 1
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 2:55
| Amarillo, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 5–1
| Anselmo Luna
| Decision (unanimous)
| Shark Fights 11: Humes vs Buentello
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Odessa, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center| 4–1
| Diego Brandão
| Decision (split)
| King of Kombat 8: The Uprising
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Austin, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 4–0
| Yosdenis Cedeno
| Submission
| Art of War: Mano A Mano
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 1:59
| Mesquite, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 3–0
| Adam Schindler
| Decision (unanimous)
| King of Kombat 6: Fists of Fury
|
| align=center| 3
| align=center| 5:00
| Austin, Texas, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 2–0
| Clay Shackleford
| KO (punch)
| Global Fighting Alliance: Mardi Gras Mayhem
|
| align=center| 1
| align=center| 0:27
| Alexandria, Louisiana, United States
|
|-
| Win
| align=center| 1–0
| Brandon Crick
| Submission (rear-naked choke)
| Xtreme Knockout 2
|
| align=center| 2
| align=center| 0:35
| Arlington, Texas, United States
|
See also
List of current mixed martial arts champions
List of male mixed martial artists
References
1988 births
Living people
American male mixed martial artists
Mixed martial artists from Texas
Lightweight mixed martial artists
Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing
Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling
Sportspeople from Lubbock, Texas
|
50696877
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS%2010
|
IOS 10
|
iOS 10 is the tenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 9. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 13, 2016, and was released on September 13, that year. It was succeeded by iOS 11 on September 19, 2017.
iOS 10 incorporates changes to 3D Touch and the lock screen. There are new features to some apps: Messages has additional emojis and third-party apps can extend functionality in iMessage, Maps has a redesigned interface and additional third-party functions, the Home app manages "HomeKit"-enabled accessories, Photos has algorithmic search and categorization of media known as "Memories," and Siri is compatible with third-party app-specific requests, such as starting workouts apps, sending IMs, using Lyft or Uber or to use payment functions. iOS 10 is the final version to support 32-bit devices and apps. In iOS 10.3, Apple introduced its new file system, APFS.
Reviews of iOS 10 were positive. Reviewers highlighted the significant updates to iMessage, Siri, Photos, 3D Touch, and the lock screen as welcome changes. The third-party extension support to iMessage meant it was "becoming a platform," although the user interface was criticized for being difficult to understand. Third-party integration in Siri was "great," although the voice assistant was criticized for not having become smarter than before. Reviewers were impressed with the image recognition technology in Photos, although noting it was still a "work in progress" with a higher error rate than the competition. 3D Touch "finally feels useful" and "works in almost every part of the OS." The lock screen was "far more customizable than before," and reviewers enjoyed that notification bubbles could be expanded to see more information without needing to unlock the phone.
A month after release, iOS 10 was installed on 54% of iOS devices, a "slightly slower migration" than for the release of iOS 9, speculated as being caused by an early release issue that may have "put some users off downloading the update." User adoption of iOS 10 steadily increased in the following months, eventually totaling 89% of active devices in September 2017.
History
Introduction and initial release
iOS 10 was introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address on June 13, 2016. The first beta release was made available to registered developers following the keynote. Apple released the first public beta release on July 7, 2016.
iOS 10 was officially released on September 13, 2016. The initial release was problematic, with reports of people having their devices in recovery mode after updating.
Updates
System features
Control Center
The Control Center has been redesigned and split into three pages: one for general settings, such as quick toggles for airplane mode and orientation lock, one for audio controls and one for controlling HomeKit (internet of things) appliances, if used.
3D Touch capabilities have been added to several toggles.
Home screen
Apps can show a widget when their home-screen icon is accessed with 3D Touch.
Most default apps included with iOS devices can be hidden from the home screen and 're-downloaded' from the App Store. Upon doing this, the sandbox of the respective app is removed, which contains user data, settings and caches. The app is also hidden from other places, such as the "Today" view, the Settings app and "Share Sheets", through which the user can interact with the app from within another app. This feature was first hinted at during an interview in September 2015, in which Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that Apple was "looking at" allowing customers to remove unused stock apps.
iOS 10 allows users to prioritize certain app downloads by using 3D Touch.
Keyboard
QuickType virtual keyboards, which provide word-completion capabilities, can predict likely responses to questions and suggest relevant information based on location, calendar availability or contacts.
The "Define" feature in previous iOS versions has been replaced by "Look Up," and now expands its utility from just providing definitions to retrieving information from locations, web browsing history, downloaded apps, suggested websites, and more.
The QuickType keyboard will allow the user to type in multiple languages if the user selects the desired languages in the "Dictionary" and "Keyboard" settings menus.
The user has the ability to change keyboard settings specifically for physical keyboards (such as autocorrect and auto-capitalization).
Lock screen
The "slide to unlock" mechanism on the lock screen has been removed in favor of pressing the home button.
Similar to the feature on the Apple Watch, "Raise to Wake" wakes up the device when the user lifts it. This function requires a device with an M9 motion coprocessor or newer.
The "Today" view of Notification Center has been replaced by widgets, and is accessible by swiping from left to right. On the iPad, widgets can be displayed in a two-column layout.
Notification Center
The Notification Center no longer has a "Today" view.
Notifications, now larger, can expand to display more information and all unread notifications can be cleared at once, using 3D Touch.
Apps that need to be updated frequently can now have notifications that update live.
The Notification Center contains a Spotlight search bar.
Settings
A new Magnifier setting was added which allows users to triple-click the home button to launch the Camera app with magnification enabled.
There are also new "Color Filters" settings to compensate for a user's color blindness. Color Filters options include grayscale, red/green filter for protanopia, green/red filter for deuteranopia, and blue/yellow filter for tritanopia.
For the Messages application, users can now turn on Low Quality Image mode, which saves "your poor iPhone from stuffing itself full of images" based on new animated stickers and GIFs that can be sent in iMessage.
The Wi-Fi menu in Settings now shows warnings about the security of a network and whether a network lacks Internet connectivity. This is shown to the user as small subtext under the Wi-Fi's network's name.
"Raise to Wake" can be enabled or disabled in Settings.
In iOS 10.2, a "Preserve Settings" feature allows users to set the Camera app to launch with certain settings by default. Options include launching with the Video or Square mode rather than the Photo mode, preserving the last-used filter, and preserving the capture settings for Live Photos.
Music added to Apple Music on one device can now be automatically downloaded to other devices using the "Automatic Downloads" setting.
The Settings allows the user the option to have routes in the Maps app avoid toll roads and/or highways.
In iOS 10.3, Settings was updated to feature information relating to a user's Apple ID account in the main menu, and features a section that allows users to see which old, unmaintained apps won't work in future versions of iOS. Additionally, users can now see a breakdown of their iCloud storage.
The user can enable a setting to have Siri announce incoming callers, with options for "Always," "Headphones & Car," "Headphones Only," and "Never".
CarPlay
iOS 10 now allows users to rearrange and remove apps from their CarPlay display, through Settings.
In iOS 10.3, Maps on CarPlay added electric vehicle charging stations.
Universal Clipboard
As part of the overall Continuity features introduced in iOS 8, a new Universal Clipboard feature allows users of Mac personal computers running macOS Sierra and iOS devices running iOS 10 to easily copy material to and from different devices through iCloud.
As part of Continuity, a new "Continuity Keyboard" feature allows users to type text on an iPhone and have the text appear on an Apple TV running tvOS 10, avoiding the Siri Remote for text input.
Other changes
iOS 10 features new sound effects for locking the device and for keyboard clicks.
In the event that a device detects liquid in the Lightning port, a notice warns the user to disconnect the Lightning cable and allow the port to dry.
iOS 10 also allows TTY calls to be made without any additional hardware.
iOS 10 allows users to find their Apple Watch using Find My iPhone.
Spotlight can now search the contents of the user's iCloud Drive.
Storage is reported to the user in the base 10 (1 kilobyte equals 1000 bytes) format instead of base 2, which was used in older iOS versions.
App features
App Store
iOS 10 allows developers to buy advertisement spots in the App Store when users search for content. It also brings back the "Categories" section, which replaces the "Explore" section introduced in iOS 8.
In iOS 10.3, developers gained the ability to respond to user reviews, and "Helpful" and "Not Helpful" review labels can help surface the most relevant customer reviews.
Calendar
In iOS 10, users can now change what day of the week the calendar starts on, as well as alert settings for birthdays and events, and calendar type (Gregorian, Chinese, Hebrew, Islamic).
Camera
Music will no longer stop playing when the Camera app is launched, unless the user decides to record a video or take a Live Photo. Live Photos can be taken with filters (previously only available for still photos).
In iOS 10.1, the iPhone 7 Plus received a new depth of field portrait camera mode, using both the wide-angle and telephoto lenses on the phone to "create shallow depth of field portrait photos with blurred backgrounds".
Clock
The Clock app now employs a dark theme.
A new "Bedtime" feature reminds the user when to go to bed to get the desired amount of sleep. There is also a new stopwatch face, accessed by swiping to the left.
Contacts
The Contacts app in iOS 10 allows users to set default phone numbers and email addresses for contacts who have multiple numbers or addresses. The app also allows the user to add and remove contacts from the Favorite Contacts list.
Home
Home is a new app that allows users to manage appliances compatible with HomeKit, Apple's API for home automation. In the app, users can add compatible HomeKit accessories, such as locks, lights, and thermostats, and then directly control the appliances through the app.
A "Scenes" panel allows many devices to be controlled at once to fit a mood or setting. Geo-fencing activates scheduled sequences following the user's location.
Mail
The Mail app now allows users to unsubscribe from mailing lists with an Unsubscribe button. Users can dismiss the message to unsubscribe for a particular mailing list by tapping the "X" at the top right corner, preventing the Mail app from displaying the unsubscribe button for that mailing list again later.
Apple has added back support for HTML5 video in Mail, which was previously stopped in iOS 8.
Mail can filter messages, either by unread/read, or by categories.
iOS 10 also changes how email threading works, by placing the oldest email at the top by default. An option in Settings lets users revert to the previous threading system with the most recent message on top. Additionally, the new threaded conversations allow users to tap a message to see a scrollable stream of messages inside the thread.
Maps
Maps has been redesigned and updated with additional features, including scanning calendar events for locations, learning from a user's typical actions, and a redesigned driving view.
A marker can be automatically placed to indicate the user's parked car. The marker can also tell the user when they last parked their car, and a Notes field allows the user to enter information, such as parking garage number, in the app.
The app now helps users find the nearest gas station, fast-food restaurant or coffee shop, by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. Maps also estimates how long the detour will take.
Users can add third-party extensions to the Maps app, which enable additional functionality, such as a restaurant-booking extension can help the user reserve a table from inside the Maps app.
Users can now pan and zoom while in navigation mode.
The app displays the current temperature and weather conditions in the bottom right corner. In iOS 10.3, the app also allows the user to see a weather forecast by using 3D Touch on the current temperature. This functionality allows users to see an hour-by-hour breakdown of the area that they are looking at.
Messages
The Messages app incorporates its own App Store, which lets users download third-party iMessage apps that can be accessed within iMessage conversations. Users can use them to send stickers, play games or send rich content, such as media previews, to recipients. The Messages App Store has three navigation fields: Featured, Categories, and Manage.
The app has been updated to include many visual effects. Chat bubbles, for example, can be sent with a "loud" or "gentle" animation that the recipient sees upon receiving. "Invisible ink" effect obscures the message until the recipient swipes across it. Full-screen effects like balloons, confetti or fireworks can be sent. There is also support for interactions similar to the Apple Watch, such as sending quick sketches and recording and sending the user's heartbeat. In order to use the screen and bubble effects, the Reduce Motion setting needs to be turned off.
Messages now allows users to send handwritten notes. This is done by turning the device to landscape mode for iPhones (landscape or portrait for iPad users) and then tapping the handwriting squiggle. The Messages app automatically saves recently used notes, to make it easier to send them again. A handwritten message can be deleted in the same way an app is deleted; by holding down on the message and pressing Delete. The message can also be saved as a picture file.
New emojis have been added, as well as additional features related to emoji. Emojis appear 3x bigger if messages are sent with up to three emojis and no text, the keyboard can now predict emojis to use, and an emoji replacement feature attempts to match words in messages and replace them with emojis of the same meaning.
Since the Game Center app has been removed, Messages now handles actions such as inviting friends to a game.
Read receipts can now be turned on or off for individual contacts rather than for all contacts.
Music
The Music app has been redesigned, with an emphasis placed on usability. The "For You" section has been reorganized, with a playlist offering daily music recommendations. The "New" tab has been renamed "Browse". A new tab for music that has been downloaded called "Downloaded Music" has been added.
Lyrics are viewable for songs in-app in iOS 10. The "Search" tab includes recent and trending searches. An "Optimized Storage" option removes downloaded music that the user hasn't played in a while.
News
The News app, taking cues from the Music layout, has been redesigned to incorporate bold headings and a newspaper-esque layout in the redesigned "For You" tab. News also features support for subscriptions and provides notifications for breaking news.
Notes
Notes now has a collaboration feature. This allows users to share a note and collaborate with other users, who can add and remove text from a note. Users tap a "round yellow badge with a person and a plus sign" and can then send invitations through text, email, or by link.
Photos
Apple added deep learning capabilities for sorting and searching in the Photos app.
A new "Memories" feature can automatically recognize and compile related photos and create short, shareable music videos. local facial recognition functionality was added to bundle together pictures of certain people.
iOS 10 allows users to add doodles and text on a photo, using a new "Markup" feature. If the user edits a Live Photo using Markup, the image will be turned into a still image.
Live Photos can now be edited by the Photos app. This allows users to trim the clip, change the still frame, add a filter and add digital image stabilization to the Live Photo so it is "buttery smooth".
The app also has an upgraded auto-enhance feature and adds a "Brilliance" slider.
Phone
The Phone app can transcribe received visual voicemails.
Siri can announce the name and phone number of incoming calls. The system can mark suspected spam callers on the call screen upon incoming calls.
Contacts can be enabled for "Emergency Bypass", in which the phone will always make sounds and vibrations when receiving notifications from the chosen contacts, even during Do Not Disturb mode.
In the Favorites screen, users can customize what action each favorited contact will enable from a click, including call, FaceTime, SMS, or email.
Users can save voicemails through AirDrop, iMessage, iCloud Drive, and other apps through a share menu.
Safari
Apple Pay is now available through the Safari app.
There is no limit to how many tabs users can have open at the same time.
On supported iPads, Safari has a unique "Split View" for viewing two Safari browser tabs in 50/50 mode next to each other.
Users can also search for keywords in specific tabs, close all tabs with a single click, and reopen recently closed tabs by long-pressing on the plus icon. Users can also search for items in the Bookmarks and Reading List.
TV
Included in the iOS 10.2 update is a "TV" app. The app, which is only available in the United States, offers a simple, unified experience of content from different video apps, as long as each service supports the feature. The new app replaces the Videos app found in previous iOS versions.
Developer APIs
iOS 10 gives third-party developers access to APIs to three major iOS system apps and services: Siri, iMessage, and Maps. Developers can:
Turn certain activities into Siri voice commands, allowing users to speak voice queries into the Siri personal assistant and Siri returning results from the respective apps. Apps that can integrate with Siri are limited to: sending messages, starting calls, sending and requesting payments, search for photos and videos, ordering taxicab or ride-sharing services, and managing workouts.
Add dedicated apps to the iMessage App Store, that lets users add unique sticker packs, share rich content, or interact with certain app functions entirely within an iMessage conversation.
Add extensions to Apple Maps, so apps with specific functionality useful in a map, such as a restaurant-booking app, can integrate with the mapping service to handle app functionality directly in the Maps app.
iOS 10 allows third-party camera apps to capture RAW image format pictures. Support for shooting photos in Adobe's DNG RAW format is limited to devices with at least a 12MP camera and a third-party app that supports it, as Apple did not enable the feature in the native Camera app.
iOS 10 allows VoIP apps to have the same functionality and interface as the Phone and FaceTime apps have, through the use of a CallKit API.
Removed functionality
Native support for the VPN protocol PPTP was removed. Apple recommends alternatives which it considers to be more secure.
The options to group notifications by app in Notification Center and customize the order of notifications were removed.
The Game Center app has been removed, as is the case on macOS Sierra. The service was not discontinued, and remained accessible through games.
Reception
In his review, The Verges Dieter Bohn wrote that the new features introduced in iOS 10 are "an evolution of some of the design and interaction ideas that Apple has been working on for a couple of years". He wrote that iMessage is "becoming a platform all its own", and although he liked that extensions mean access to information from apps without needing to open the respective apps, he wrote that new iMessage interface is difficult to understand and that the use of "third-party apps, stickers, crazy confetti effects, and emoji all over the place" is a "nightmare", although finishing with "Or maybe that's a wonderland, not a nightmare. Your call." Regarding third-party support in Siri, he called it "great", while noting the limited class of apps ("calls, messaging, payments, photos, ride-sharing apps, some CarPlay systems, and workouts"), and that sometimes a button press was required to complete the process. Beyond app integrations, he criticized Siri, writing "Siri doesn't seem to have gotten a whole lot smarter than you remember". Bohn enjoyed the new machine learning technology present in the Photos app, writing that he was "impressed" by Apple's image recognition technology, which he noted is done locally on the device, but did criticize the error rate, where he compares the technology to Google Photos as a step ahead. Bohn liked the new designs for the Music and Maps apps, saying both the redesigns were "for the better". Bohn particularly enjoyed the new lock screen, where he highlighted that notification bubbles can be 3D Touch-ed to access more information, all without needing to unlock the phone. Other small bits of new features he liked included "deletable" apps, upgraded "widgets" when 3D Touch-ing a home screen icon, and breaking news notifications in Apple News. Overall, Bohn referred to iOS 10 as "Still a walled garden, but with more doors".
Engadgets Devindra Hardawar wrote that iOS 10 is Apple "basically polishing a pearl." Hardawar noted that the major changes in the release focus on features rather than the visual interface. He wrote that the lock screen is now "far more customizable than before." He praised the new features added to 3D Touch, writing that it "finally feels useful," where he likes that "3D Touch works in almost every part of the OS." In regard to iMessage, he wrote that it has new features that are "particularly useful", including "Invisible ink" that obscures text in a conversation when others might be looking, but criticized the user interface, writing that it "needs some work". The "Memories" feature in the new Photos app "usually turned out well", but wrote that "they're still clearly a work in progress." Hardawar praised the new Apple Music app, but added that "really, anything is better than the last iteration." He also liked lyrics support. He wrote that Siri's third-party support was "actually starting to get useful," but did run into accuracy issues. He finished by writing that although iOS 10 does add features seen in Google's Android operating system before, the mobile industry is "shamelessly getting "inspired" by the competition". His summary states that "iOS 10 is a collection of useful changes to an already solid OS".
In October 2016, a month after its initial release, 54% of iOS devices were running iOS 10, a "slightly slower migration" than for the release of iOS 9 in the preceding year, a result speculated by MacRumorss Tim Hardwick as being caused by an early release issue that disabled some devices and may have "put some [users] off downloading the update." User adoption increased to 76% of active devices in January 2017, 79% in February 2017, 86% in June 2017, 87% in July 2017, and 89% in September 2017 before the release of iOS 11.
Problems
Recovery mode issues
The initial public release of iOS 10 on September 13, 2016 saw many iPhones and iPads sent into recovery mode, by the over-the-air update, requiring devices to be connected to a Mac or PC with iTunes in order to retry the update or restore the device to factory settings. Apple shortly after released iOS 10.0.1, and issued an apology.
Local backup encryption issue
In September 2016, it was discovered that the encryption of local iOS backups made with iTunes is weaker for iOS 10 devices than for devices running iOS 9. Russian software firm ElcomSoft discovered that the iOS 10 backup process skips several security checks, making it "approximately 2,500 times" faster to try passwords, enabling 6 million password tries per second compared to the 2,400 password tries per second for the same process ElcomSoft has used on iOS 9. The firm stated that the impact is "severe". Apple acknowledged the problem, said it planned to issue a security update, but also stated that iCloud backups were not affected. The iOS 10.1 update subsequently fixed the issue.
Battery shutdowns and throttling
Some iOS 10.1.1 users reported that their devices were prone to unexpectedly shutting down at or around 30% battery charge (with one user describing the battery percentage as dropping unexpectedly from 30% to 1% before doing so, but still registering as 30% when plugging it in to charge it). Apple began the process of diagnosing this bug in iOS 10.2, and stated following the release of iOS 10.2.1 that it had reduced the occurrence of these shutdowns by "more than 80%" on iPhone 6S models and "over 70%" on iPhone 6 models. It also became possible to reboot the device after an unexpected shutdown without plugging it into power.
In December 2017, speculation emerged that Apple had been intentionally throttling the performance of older iPhone models based on battery health, especially on the iPhone 6S (which, in a separate issue, also had isolated incidents of a battery manufacturing issue that was also causing system instability), after a user benchmark showed a variance in performance after a battery replacement. The developers of Geekbench confirmed that there had been sizable decreases on benchmark scores on iPhone 6 devices running iOS 10.2.1 and later, and iPhone 7 devices since iOS 11.2 and later. These led to concerns that Apple was instituting planned obsolescence policies in order to encourage sales of newer iPhone models, a controversy dubbed Batterygate.
Later that month, Apple admitted that since iOS 10.2.1, it had been implementing performance management techniques on older iPhone models to preserve system stability, especially in situations where their batteries are "less capable of supplying peak current demands," such as cold weather, age, or low charge. Apple stated that these measures were intended to help "deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices." The company announced that it would offer a discount on out-of-warranty battery replacements during 2018.
Supported devices
With this release, Apple dropped support for devices with either an A5 or an A5X chip: the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad (3rd generation), iPad Mini (1st generation), and iPod Touch (5th generation). It is also the last version of iOS to support devices with a 32-bit processor, such as the iPhone 5 and 5C, or the iPad (4th generation), and it is also the last version of iOS to support 32-bit apps.
iPhone
iPhone 5
iPhone 5C
iPhone 5S
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
iPhone 6S
iPhone 6S Plus
iPhone SE (1st generation)
iPhone 7
iPhone 7 Plus
iPod Touch
iPod Touch (6th generation)
iPad
iPad (4th generation)
iPad Air
iPad Air 2
iPad (2017)
iPad Mini 2
iPad Mini 3
iPad Mini 4
iPad Pro (12.9-inch 1st generation)
iPad Pro (12.9-inch 2nd generation)
iPad Pro (9.7-inch)
iPad Pro (10.5-inch)
References
External links
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Products introduced in 2016
2016 software
Tablet operating systems
Proprietary operating systems
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linesman/Mediator
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Linesman/Mediator
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Linesman/Mediator was a dual-purpose civil and military radar network in the United Kingdom between the 1960s and 1984. The military side (Linesman) was replaced by the Improved United Kingdom Air Defence Ground Environment (IUKADGE), while the civilian side (Mediator) became the modern public-private National Air Traffic Services (NATS).
In the 1950s, the Royal Air Force was installing a radar network known as ROTOR using war-era radars like Chain Home along with new command centres. A new radar, the AMES Type 80, replaced all of the ROTOR radars and command centres with a series of nine Master Control Radars and a number of associated secondary radars. While these installations were in progress in the early 1950s, CSF introduced the carcinotron, which could output a radio signal at any desired frequency. This made it a very effective jamming system, and it appeared to render ground-based radars like Type 80 useless.
Considering several possible solutions, the RAF selected an experimental radar known as Blue Yeoman, but later known as the AMES Type 85. This radar changed its frequency with every pulse, making it impossible for carcinotron operators to know what frequency to jam. The RAF initially proposed an extensive network similar to the Type 80s, known as the "1958 Plan". This was abandoned in the aftermath of the 1957 Defence White Paper, which saw the threat to be moving from bombers to ballistic missiles, and argued the system should be cancelled. In late 1958, a much smaller system with only three main radars and a single control centre became "Plan Ahead", with its primary purpose being to provide air cover and anti-jamming support for a new anti-missile BMEWS radar.
During this same period, civilian air traffic was increasing dramatically and led to the 1962 formation of the National Air Traffic Control Services organization to handle national-scale air traffic control (ATC). Given enemy aircraft might hide among civilian ones, it was seen that combining data from Plan Ahead and the ATC system would have many advantages. Plan Ahead became Linesman and the ATC system Mediator. The centres would share locations in West Drayton, just north of Heathrow, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, and Mediator planned a third site in Preston, Lancashire. Ultimately all three Mediator sites were built, while only "L1" at West Drayton was ever completed as part of Linesman.
Whilst Mediator proceeded relatively smoothly, construction of Linesman was greatly delayed and it was not fully operational until March 1974. By that time the strategic threat had changed dramatically, and air strikes on the UK once again became a possibility. Linesman's single centralized L1 command centre was vulnerable, and the sea-side radars even more so. Money set aside to improve Linesman was instead directed to building its replacement, UKADGE. UKADGE was further expanded with Marconi Martello and the Type 85s stood down in the 1990s.
History
ROTOR
As the threat of German air attack on the United Kingdom faded in 1944, the wartime network of Chain Home (CH) and AMES Type 7 sites was progressively turned off, a process that rapidly accelerated with the end of the war in 1945. At the time, it was believed it would be at least another ten years before there would be another major war, so the Royal Air Force turned its attention to research and development of radar as they felt there was little reason to deploy any systems when better ones would be available by the time they would be needed.
Various events in 1949, notably the Berlin Airlift and the testing of the first Soviet nuclear bomb, led to studies to rapidly re-implement the air defence system. Most influential was the Cherry Report, which outlined a set of equipment upgrades at existing WWII-era radar sites to improve their performance, along with an entirely new communications network to coordinate the response. Adopted as ROTOR, the new system split the UK's airspace into six "sectors" controlled from underground bunkers using thousands of miles of telex lines to pass information around.
ROTOR planned for a staged deployment in several stages. The first re-used existing radars and control methods and was to be operational by 1952. The second would replace the Chain Home radars with a new Microwave Early Warning (MEW) set beginning around 1957. More stations would be added and the communications systems updated over time, with the final network being fully implemented by the late 1950s.
Master Radar Stations
The entire ROTOR plan was seriously upset by an experimental radar known as "Green Garlic" that was developed at the Telecommunications Research Establishment. This was created by combining an experimental low-noise receiver with a new high-power cavity magnetron and a lash-up antenna. The system over doubled the effective range for early warning, and when married to a more suitable antenna, provided good detection of bomber-sized aircraft out to . This filled most of the requirements for MEW, but would be available years earlier.
ROTOR was initially adjusted to include these radars starting in 1953, known in production form as the AMES Type 80. But even as these began to be installed, further upgrades to the design pushed the detection range out even further and greatly increased its accuracy. This allowed a single radar to both detect the enemy out to the radar horizon, as well as direct fighters to the targets and get them within range of their Airborne Interception radars.
With the introduction of these Type 80 Mark III's, the ROTOR plan was obsolete. There was no longer any need to send information to a central plotting room, as the radars could do everything directly from their displays. Many of the underground bunkers, recently completed at great expense, were sold off as these Master Radar Stations came online in the late 1950s.
Carcinotron
In 1953 the French electronics firm CSF introduced a new type of microwave-generating vacuum tube, later known as the carcinotron. The carcinotron could generate about a kilowatt of output signal, compared to megawatts for the latest examples of the magnetron and newer examples of the klystron. However, it had the ability to be rapidly tuned across a wide bandwidth simply by changing a single input voltage, something the magnetron could not do and the klystron only within a limited bandwidth.
Previously, jamming a radar was a time-consuming process that required an operator to listen for enemy radars on a receiver, isolate signals from potentially threatening radars, and then set up a transmitter on that frequency. This was effective against radars using magnetrons, which cannot change their operational frequency. Against other types of transmitters, the operator on the ground would notice the jamming and change their broadcasts, starting the jamming process over again. If several radars could see the aircraft, keeping the jammers properly tuned could be an impossible task.
In contrast, the carcinotron could tune so rapidly that one could simply sweep its output through the bandwidth of any potential enemy broadcasts. As long as this was done quickly enough that every radar would see the jamming signal during the flight time of its pulses, on the order of a few milliseconds, then the signal from the carcinotron would mix with the radar's own and cause false signals to appear on the display. The carcinotron's signal was strong enough that it would overwhelm the radar's own signal, filling the radar display with noise and rendering the aircraft invisible.
To test whether such a system would actually be effective, the RAF purchased a carcinotron from CSF and fit it to an aircraft christened "Catherine". In tests beginning in late 1954, the jammer proved to be able to render the area around the aircraft unreadable, even when the aircraft was still below the radar horizon. In one test, any aircraft to either side of the jammer was invisible, meaning a single powerful jammer could hide an entire formation of aircraft. As the jammer aircraft approached the radar station, the signal would be picked up in the radar antenna's side lobes, until the entire display was filled with noise and nothing could be tracked anywhere. It appeared that the decade-long effort to provide radar coverage for the UK was being rendered useless at a stroke.
Plan Ahead
As the nature of the threat of the carcinotron became clear, the Air Ministry began looking for potential solutions. Two concepts appeared to offer a potential solution.
One was to simply overpower the carcinotron; although it could produce about a kilowatt of output in total, it would have to spread that signal across all the frequencies being used by the various radars. This meant the amount of energy in any one frequency was limited, estimated to be about 10 Watt per megahertz of bandwidth. If the receiver carefully filtered the return signal tightly around the broadcast frequency, it might only receive a few watts of jamming. With enough transmitted power, on the order of 10 MW, the signal reflected off a target at 200 miles would be about 11 W, thereby allowing the radar's signal to remain visible.
This solution only worked if the carcinotron was forced to spread its signal over a wide bandwidth, and would not work if it could concentrate its signal into a smaller number of frequencies. To ensure this, the radar's signals had to be randomly spread across a wide bandwidth. This could not be accomplished with the magnetron, whose output frequency is a function of its physical construction, but this was possible using new high-power klystrons. This possibility was developed under the name "Blue Riband", using twelve klystrons that were randomly mixed together to produce an output signal on two widely separated frequencies.
Another possibility was to use the carcinotron's own signal as the tracking source. If a single jammer is sending out a signal its location can be determined through simple triangulation by two stations by drawing the measured angles on a shared map. But if there is more than one jammer, each station will measure several angles and it is not easy to tell which of the measured crossing points contains the jammer aircraft.
The introduction of the correlator introduced a way to eliminate this ambiguity. This concept was explored in a system known as "Winkle" that used two widely separated antennas, several correlators, and a computer to calculate the location of the jammer. It was later noted that one of the two antennas could be the Blue Riband, thereby reducing the number of new sites that had to be built. Winkle proved itself able to track the jammer even while it was below the radar horizon, allowing the aircraft to be driven off before it could approach close enough to be effective against Blue Riband.
By 1957 a new network combining these systems was outlined under the name "Ahead". The system would cover the entire British Isles, like ROTOR and the Type 80s before it. Because the new systems had even longer range than Type 80, the number of stations would be smaller, with the baseline deployment having only five stations. A number of Type 80s would be retained in the new network purely for early warning, in locations were interceptions would not be taking place and the anti-jamming performance was not needed.
Changing threats
Prior to this period, the air defence mission in the UK was based on a damage-limitation model which aimed to reduce the amount of damage on the UK while inflicting losses on the enemy that would make follow-up attacks impossible. This sort of concept is best illustrated by the Battle of Britain, where the RAF was able to cause enough damage on the German bomber force that daylight raids had to be abandoned. Even in the post-war era with early nuclear bombs, this basic concept was still the prevailing strategic concept.
The introduction of the hydrogen bomb rendered this concept useless. In this case, a single aircraft escaping interception could cause enormous damage. Estimating the number of bombers that would reach their targets, it appeared any such attack would result in the UK being devastated. In this environment, the only way to protect the UK from destruction was to ensure the attack never occurred, and the only way to do that was to offer a significant deterrent.
By 1954 there were serious concerns being expressed about the usefulness of air defences. If the goal was to deter an attack, all that was required was enough warning to ensure the V bomber force would successfully launch. Directing fighters to their targets and shooting them down with surface to air missiles seemed like a useless gesture if an attack was underway, given that there was no situation where these weapons would seriously change the outcome of the war. By 1956, all pretext of general defence was dropped and the RAF adopted the policy that the only worthwhile mission was early warning and short-term defence of the V bomber bases while they launched, the "protection of the deterrent" mission. This led to a smaller network of only three stations covering the Midlands area, under the new name "Plan Ahead".
Even this mission was ultimately eliminated with the release of the 1957 Defence White Paper. This paper explored the changes to the strategic outlook with the introduction of the ballistic missile. It noted that missiles able to reach the UK from eastern Europe were already available, and by the mid-1960s these would be armed with strategic weapons with enough accuracy to attack the bomber bases. Although a Soviet bomber attack was still possible, especially low-altitude sneak attacks, such attacks would simply portend the arrival of the missiles – there was no credible scenario where the Soviets used an all-bomber attack, if they released their strategic weapons they would use all of them.
If this was the case, there was really no purpose to the air defence beyond the most minimal systems needed for identification. By 1957 even the concept of defending the V bombers was abandoned; if there was credible warning of any sort of attack the bombers had to launch immediately because in all scenarios missiles would be landing shortly. The key requirement was not air defence, but rapid warning of a missile attack. In October 1957 the UK approached the US about deploying a station of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) in the UK in a location that would cover attacks on the V bomber bases.
New mission
With the changes brought about by the White Paper, there appeared to be no need for Plan Ahead. However, air planners soon pointed out a critical problem. If the Soviets equipped an aircraft with a powerful carcinotron, they could fly it well off the shore and jam the relatively limited frequency band of the BMEWS. This would obscure a missile attack, and the V bombers would be forced to launch until the nature of the threat was determined. If the Soviets repeated this trick, the bomber force and its crews would be quickly worn out.
The solution to this problem was to build a much smaller defensive network with enough performance to attack a jammer aircraft while it was still far enough away that the BMEWS would still be operational. This led to a new Ahead layout in 1958 with three stations arranged in a triangle covering the V bomber bases and extending to cover the BMEWS.
Even this limited deployment was heavily criticised within the government, not the least of which by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan himself. He desired to move the UK's own force to missiles as well, at which point the network would be superfluous. Eventually, the plan was approved only if all other air defence radars were cancelled, and accordingly, work on the Blue Joker system ended in 1960.
Air traffic control
Through the 1950s, the RAF had become accustomed to treating the airspace above as their own to use as they saw fit. At that time, the RAF's fighters and bombers were jet powered and flew at altitudes and speeds that the civilian aircraft, mostly propeller-driven, could not touch.
The introduction of the first jetliners, and their rapid expansion in the late 1950s, had led to a number of close calls between civilian and military traffic. This would only get worse over time. Some sort of system would be needed to cover the high-altitude traffic across the entire UK, and this led to the National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) under Laurence Sinclair, who were planning an extensive network of their own based on the new Decca DASR-1 and Marconi S264 radars.
Macmillan remained sceptical of Plan Ahead and asked the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Aviation, Solly Zuckerman, to consider it. Zuckerman stated there was no way to significantly reduce the estimated cost of the system and still have a military use. However, he suggested one solution would be to use it as the basis for a shared military/civilian air traffic control network and thus share the costs that would otherwise require two complete networks.
A series of follow-up studies by NATS all agreed with Zuckerman, pointing out that a military network would need complete information on civilian flights anyway in order to filter out contacts that were scheduled jetliner traffic. There appeared to be no reason not to merge the networks, and the result would be a network once again covering the entire UK.
Only minor changes were made to the military network. One was to move the location of the inland radar, originally RAF Bramcote, to a new location further north on the eastern shoreline, RAF Boulmer, which was intended to cover the BMEWS location now that it had also moved to its final position at RAF Fylingdales. This meant the original triangular layout was now an extended line, but this had little effect on the overall performance.
The other change was to move the southern-sector control centre from RAF Bawburgh to be beside the new London Area Control Center in West Drayton, which would significantly reduce the cost of the telecommunications equipment. This led to a firestorm of protest within the RAF, because while it was true this would help communications with the civilian network, it made communications with the military radars more difficult, potentially able to be jammed. The argument over this issue raged, but no changes were made in the immediate term.
Linesman/Mediator
By 1961 any remaining argument was overruled, and on 21 February the Treasury released funding for the newly-christened Linesman/Mediator.
Implementation
Linesman, whilst part of the "Ahead" plan, evolved out of the study into combining radar information carried out in the late 1950s by the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) at Malvern with the participation of the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company (ATE) of Liverpool. The concept was to reduce the complexity of the existing distributed ROTOR system using multiple Master Radar Stations (MRS) with a single site designated "L1" (Linesman 1). L1 would be able to direct all of the air command using a complete air picture of the UK.
During the initial stages of the project RRE became the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) and, in 1962, AT&E was merged with Plessey.
Linesman was a comprehensive upgrade of the UK air defence system; along with work on the signalling and communications issues, upgrades to the existing radars were also planned. The existing Type 80 radars used in the MRS network were powerful but relatively easy to jam. Upgrades were aimed primarily at offering improved jamming resistance in the event of a noisy ECM environment. To augment the existing Type 80 a new Type 84 radar had already been proposed. Linesman proposed that three new radars were developed, two primary long-range search radars; Marconi's Type 84 and the AEI Type 85 "Blue Yeoman", with additional height finding capability being provided by the Decca HF 200 height-finder. To improve system resilience to jamming the two primary radars operated on different frequency bands, the Type 84 in "L" band, the Type 85 in "S" band. As the system developed more systems were added to improve the ECM capability of the system.
During various reviews of Linesman and the "Ahead" plan it was decided to incorporate civilian air traffic control, the "Mediator" portion of the plan. Linesman and Mediator were now considered jointly, although this led to escalating costs and the subsequent need to scale down the original plan.
Whilst the L1 was originally intended to be underground at Bawburgh, Norfolk, cost cutting between 1960 and 1962 led to a prototype of the L1 system being set up above-ground in Building 123 at West Drayton in 1963. The Mediator element set up LATCC (London Air Traffic Control Centre) in a building nearby. LATCC used the Linesman data in their Marconi Myriad computers to handle all air traffic control in the London area. Here the main manufacturers (Plessey – data processing, and Marconi – displays) carried out enhanced development. Each of the Linesman sites was able to operate on its own, but the network was intended to be controlled from the centralized "L1" site (now at West Drayton). Each of the field stations sent data to L1 over microwave links, eventually phone lines, where it was recombined to form a country-wide view of the airspace; a Recognized Air Picture (RAP).
The original central computer system for Linesman consisted of 21 Plessey XL4 and XL6 germanium computers, integrated as the Radar Data Processing System (RDPS). These computers worked together using random highways that were a very early version of a Local Area Network. The 21 RDPS computers then worked to assemble the Recognised Air Picture (RAP) which covered an area 1024 by 1024 nautical miles over the British Isles. Three more Ferranti Argus 500 computers were added to this as the Recognised Air Picture Dissemination System (RAPIDS) which also extended the RAP to 1900 by 1900 nautical miles. Long-range early warning data was also fed through data links to and from NATO and French radar sites. Other parts of the system were never commissioned, including three more computers that would have integrated the processing of filed civilian flight plans, and data links that would have been used to integrate the Bloodhound missile's computer systems as well as a link to Fylingdales.
The RDPS was working operationally until 1984 when it was scrapped. But the Ahead plan and the Linesman system were one of the earliest visions of using computers for distributive processing in both local and wide area networks. There were even early concepts of packet switching and routing of data.
Sites
The concept of two main data processing hubs, the L1 and L2, also divided the UK into two areas: the Northern Track Production Area (NTPA) and the Southern Track Production Area (STPA). The L1 primarily looked after the STPA with inputs from four main sites – RAF Neatishead in Norfolk, RAF Staxton Wold in Yorkshire, RAF Boulmer in Northumberland and RAF Bishops Court in Northern Ireland. To this there were also inputs from six civilian radars at Ash, Ventnor, Clee Hill, Burington, London 1 and London 2. It was understood from the start that the L1 site, above ground and made largely of glass, was subject to air attack; as the second "L2" site originally planned to be built underground at Prestwick was never carried out, elements of the air defence system were devolved out to use the standby capabilities of the radar sites, namely the Standby Local Early Warning and Control (SLEWC) systems at RAF Neatishead and RAF Boulmer.
Because the L2 was never implemented, the L1 had to extend its processing to cover the Northern Area as well but, with no computer data links, inputs for RAF Saxa Vord, RAF Benbecula and RAF Buchan had to be voice-told for manual input into the L1 system. Later the L1 also took an input from RAF Portreath in Cornwall. Data from Shackleton AEW aircraft also had to be voice-told into the L1 computer system.
On the output side, the Recognised Air Picture as the General Situation Display (GSD) was fed out as the Higher Formation Display (HFD) to RAF High Wycombe, RAF Bentley Priory and HMS Warrior (Northwood).
As with the ROTOR plan, buildings were given "R" designations, including underground bunkers as well as above-ground technical and operations buildings. There was a serious fire in the R3 bunker at RAF Neatishead where it had to move into temporary buildings above ground for some time. In addition, the R3 at RAF Boulmer was closed down for refurbishment in December 1982 and operations moved to the Boulmer Interim Facility (BIF).
Equipment
The core system principle was to take the input from all sensors and enable 'The Hub Concept' where the system resources were reorganized to provide an air data processing system. This produced an RAP, (Recognised Air Picture) whereby all aircraft and air movements could identified and tracked within the UK air space. Intercepts etc. were undertaken at other sites using the information feeds from L1. It continued in operation until the late 1970s, early 1980s.
The core to the system were the Type 84 & 85 primary radars. Height finding capability was provided by the Type 85 (one of the first 3D radars) and the HF200 Height Finders. As Linesman progressed additional systems were introduced to aid ECCM capability and communications. Each primary radar had an associated secondary radar (IFF), SSR 750, with the smaller secondary radar mounted on the main primary radar aerial.
Primary radar T84
The Marconi AMES Type 84 was a primary "L" band radar. The main transmitting equipment was contained in a building over which the aerial was mounted; this building was given the type designation "R17". The transmitter was a magnetron in the single storey building, the signal passing through a rotating joint in the rotating cabin before being fed to the hornstacks on the aerial. The aerial was designed as two 60 foot by 21 foot elliptical parabolic antennas placed back-to-back, one acting as the radar, and the other as an IFF/secondary radar system. In practice the original IFF system was never installed, and instead more modern systems with much smaller antennas were installed on the "front" dish, either below the feed horn, or on top of the main antenna.
The received signals from both the primary and secondary radars were processed at the main technical building for the Linesman site, the R12 building.
Primary radar T85
The AEI (later Marconi) AMES Type 85 "Blue Yeoman" radar operated in the "S" band part of the spectrum. By comparison with the Type 84 it was massive, a MOPA system with 12 klystron transmitters and 60 receivers. The equipment was housed in the main technical block for the Radar site, the R12 building, the aerial being mounted on top of the building. The Type 85 ended up using the same design of antenna as the T84, although only "one side" of it, the aerial for the associated secondary radar being mounted underneath, rather than above.
The Type 85, however, offered an extremely advanced ECCM system enabling the shifting frequencies on the fly, or as it is now known frequency agility. The radar had 12 transmitters which were grouped in four bands, A, B, D & E. Each transmitter had a peak power output of 5 MW, giving 60 MW total power output, this massive power was routed through waveguide switches that enabled the aerial to produce a standard "cosec squared" beam or, in conditions of intense ECM the power concentrated into a beam 6 degrees high aimed at the target.
As well as the frequency agility and sheer power the Type 85 had multiple receivers enabling the return signals to be detected through the heaviest jamming, this included "dicky fix" receivers to combat carcinotron jamming. Post reception processing, including double integration loops enabling the comparison and discarding of spurious returns enhanced the ECCM capability still further. Whilst not having the Moving Target Indicator (MTI) facility the Type 84 had, the frequency band and processing ensured the Type 85 produced a clear picture even under the most arduous conditions.
As the transmission and reception of the Type 85 was based on 12 beams it was also a 3D radar. Data from the radar was passed to the Automatic Height Finder which compared comparative strength of returns from a target between beams. Given the range and known angle it is a simple process to calculate height. However this was being done hundreds of times a second on multiple targets, in the late 1960s and early 1970s it was a considerable feat.
Secondary radar
The secondary radar used in the system was the Cossor SSR750. Each primary radar had an associated secondary radar, at RAF Staxton Wold and RAF Neatishead there was an additional "freestanding" SSR. Secondary Radar information was associated with the primary (search) radar and presented on the same display. This gave operators a range of information that far exceeded the traditional, 'range and direction". The secondary radar was a dual military and civil system that worked by interrogating a transponder on board the aircraft, receiving and translating a coded reply.
Decoding SSR signals was carried out at L1 with the decoders supplied by Elliott Automation.
Height finding
There were three height finding facilities within the Linesman system. One was built into the Type 85 radar, the second was a stand-alone system using the HF200 radar and the third was based on the SSR interrogating the aircraft's systems.
The Type 85 working with the Auto Height Computer Type 12493 enabled an operator to select a target and, by triangulation in the radar's 12 beams, obtain a height.
The HF200 provided another means of finding the height of a target. This radar, rather than continuously rotating, nodded on a bearing selected by the operator. The bearing derived from the main primary radar would enable a reading of the height to be sent back to the operator.
The secondary radar system SSR750 as part of the joint military civil functionality could interrogate a transponder on board as aircraft for the height. This height, automatically derived from the onboard altimeter, was in the late 1960s and early 1970s shown to the operator on a box mounted above his screen. Later, with the advent of plot extraction it could be displayed alongside the aircraft on the traditional Plan position indicator (PPI) display.
Passive detection
A third system was later added to the network, the RX12874 "Winkle" passive jamming-detection system or PD system. PD consisted of a series of high-speed rotating antennas mounted on R15 buildings separated by many miles, combined with similar signals captured from a Type 85 radar.
The three Type 85 radars located at Neatishead, Staxton Wold, and Boulmer used the associated high speed PD aerials to make a PD baseline. For this the two aerials (T85 and PD) 100 miles apart had to be in sync to ensure they swept the same area of sky at the same time, sync and turning information was sent over microwave link. For example, the Type 85 at Neatishead used the signals captured from the high speed aerial at Staxton Wold to detect jamming aircraft. Each Type 85 with its associated high speed aerial was able to provide a PD baseline of several hundred miles to the north and south. There was a high speed aerial situated at Dundonald Hill in Ayrshire, Scotland which provided a baseline to the north of RAF Boulmer, but there was no similar extension to the south of RAF Neatishead.
The signals were combined at one of the radar stations (at the location of the Type 85 forming one end of the baseline) in a phase correlator that produced a series of possible locations and plotted them as a series of blips on a unique "theta-phi" display. The operators manually adjusted gains in order to reduce the number of blips, and then sent that information to a remote display where it could be combined with normal data from the Type 85. The idea was to locate any specialty-equipped jammer aircraft within a larger attack, allowing them to be prioritized for attack, thereby lowering the ECM load on other radars.
Operational training
Such a complex system required that Operators be fully trained. To this end L1 had a large, digital radar simulator that was capable of generating all the radar inputs of the live system. It was ordered from Elliott Automation following the successful development of the world's first digital radar simulator by that company. Based on the Elliot 502 computer it could simulate 6 radar heads with jamming and noise while displaying over 200 aircraft.
Operation
Linesman, as originally conceived, never became operational. It went operational in the early 1970s but only in producing and disseminating the overall Recognised Air Picture, the General Situation Display and the Higher Formation display until 1984. The interception side was only ever used in the training role of the School of Fighter Control. The L1 got three more computers (Elliott Argus 500s) as the Recognised Air Picture Dissemination System (RAPiDS) and these disseminated the RAP out from the L1 in a more advanced format. Though the concepts remained valid, the technology used to route the radar signals was out-of-date long before the system was completed. Having the control of aircraft centralised in one place also put it at high risk. A change of plan moved the interception roles out to two of the main radar stations, where the RAP from the L1 was used to monitor the airspace while the Fighter Controllers then used the Standby Local Early Warning and Control Systems (SLEWC based on Elliott 920C computers) to control interceptions.
In the original design, processed radar signals were returned from the radar station to L1 and LATCC via microwave links. In the 1960s and 1970s this consisted of processed, but by today's standard raw, video and turning information (i.e. the angle of azimuth of the radar aerial). Received signals from the PD equipment and aerial turning synchronisation information were transmitted over the same links.
In the late 1970s, plot extraction equipment was introduced. This took the primary and associated secondary radar outputs, combined and processed them before sending them over telephone lines to the L1. The RPEARDS (Radar Plot Extraction And Remote Display Equipment) was a hard-wired computer that processed, combined and transmitted the signals. Its memory was magnetic core store that had the capacity of some 1000 words, each of over 60 bits in length, and transmission over the telephone line was at 2400 baud using GMSK.
Legacy
Linesman built on Rotor which had built on Chain Home and the lessons of the Second World War. During the dangerous and tense period that was the Cold War, where the detection and interception of Russian bombers was a weekly, if not daily, event, Linesman enabled the protection and policing of UK air space. IUKADGE and subsequent developments have all built on the legacy of these systems, systems which stem from the Dowding System. An air defence system that enables the quick and accurate deployment of assets to intercept a threat conserves resources and targets them to where they are of the most use.
Conceived, proven and tested in the heat of the Battle of Britain, the system is still sound even if the technology has improved many times and the threat since 9/11 has been significantly altered.
A spin-off from the Linesman/Mediator work at RSRE Malvern was the invention of the touchscreen in 1965. This was carried out by a team led by E.A Johnson, working in H Building at Malvern.
Whilst much of the evidence of Linesman systems and their associated above-ground installations has gone, it is still possible to get a feeling for what operating and working at the height of the Cold War was like at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum at RAF Neatishead.
See also
Chain Home Low
Air Ministry Experimental Station
Comprehensive Display System
Type 984 radar
Marconi Transistorised Automatic Computer (T.A.C.)
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links
Radar Type 85 at radarpages.co.uk
"Air traffic control in the seventies" – a 1970 Flight article on the Linesman/Mediator system
Collection of TAC working papers and reports at Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, The University of Manchester; archived on 19 February 2005
RX12874 - Passive Detection – the radar system and Baddow; the computer described is TAC
"Forty Years of Marconi Radar from 1946 to 1986" – GEC Review, vol 13 no. 3, 1998 pp172–189; archived 19 March 2003
Military radars of the United Kingdom
Air defence radar networks
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%20II%20accelerators
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Apple II accelerators
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Apple II accelerators are computer hardware devices which enable an Apple II computer to operate faster than their intended clock rate.
8-bit accelerators
Number Nine Apple Booster – Number Nine Computer Corporation (Number Nine Visual Technology)
Platform: Apple II, Apple II Plus
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz
Cache: 64 KB on board RAM
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Number Nine Apple Booster (1982) was one of the first accelerators for the Apple II series of computers. This card is the original version of Saturn's Accelerator II (thus the Accelerator II PCB shares both Saturn Systems' and NNCC's logos.) At $598, the Saturn was much cheaper than the NNCC, but little information about the board is available today.
SpeedDemon – Microcomputer Technologies (M-c-T)
Platform: Apple II, Apple II Plus, Apple IIe
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz
Cache: 4 KB cache
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Microcomputer Technologies (M-c-T) SpeedDemon card was the one of early Apple II accelerator which used the newer 65c02 microprocessor, and the first to implement caching technology. This allowed the card to use small amounts of memory, making the card less expensive to produce and eliminated the need to waste clock cycles in order to refresh the dynamic RAM that other cards used. Other accelerators which did not use caching operated at 3.58 MHz most of the time but had to slow down to 1 MHz for this refresh cycle. For peripheral cards that required 1 MHz "slow" operations, the Speed Demon always slowed access to slot #6 to 1 MHz, while an on-card jumper controlled the slot #4 and #5 slowdown. The SpeedDemon originally retailed for $295.
Accelerator II – Saturn Systems (Titan Technologies)
Platform: Apple II, Apple II Plus
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz
Cache: 64 KB on board RAM
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Saturn System's Accelerator II was the original accelerator for the Apple II series of computers. The card accelerated the Apple II and the Apple II Plus using a faster MOS 6502 microprocessor and on-board high speed RAM. When the accelerator card was activated, software would execute within the CPU and memory on the card, not utilizing those components on the motherboard. The card used a series of 8 DIP switches to configure slot access speeds as well as the speed of the card. Since the Accelerator II was released before Apple Computer's introduction of the Apple IIe, while the card would run in an Apple IIe, software which required a 65C02 microprocessor or used auxiliary memory would not function properly—this problem was solved with the Accelerator //e, which was a complete redesign. Saturn Systems changed their name during the early 1980s to Titan Technologies due to trademark complications.
Accelerator IIe – Titan Technologies (formerly Saturn Systems)
Platform: Apple II, Apple II Plus
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz
Cache: 64 KB on board RAM + 16 KB shadow ROM
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
The Accelerator //e was released in 1984 by Titan Technologies, an upgraded version of the original Saturn Accelerator, in response to the introduction of the Apple IIe. The card maintained the 64 KB of RAM of the original card and added the newer 65c02 microprocessor. This card solved the Auxiliary RAM incompatibility problem of the older card, however it did not speed up this second bank of RAM which was common on the Apple IIe.
TransWarp – Applied Engineering
Platform: Apple II, Apple II Plus, Apple IIe
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz
Cache: 256 KB on board RAM
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Applied Engineering was the last company to offer a slot-based Apple II accelerator card, the TransWarp. This new card offered complete slot configurability via DIP switches and speed control via both DIP switches and software. A user could hold down the ESC key upon bootup, to disable the card for speed sensitive applications. In an Apple II Plus, the TransWarp emulated the 16k language card. The TransWarp ran at the same 3.58, 1.79 and 1.02 (commonly listed as "1") MHz speeds as other accelerators of its time, however, it included a whopping 256 KB of on-board RAM. According to the March 1986 Apple Assembly Line (volume 6, number 6) this is how the TransWarp utilized the RAM:
TransWarp's 256K RAM is effectively divided into four 64K banks. When you power-up your Apple with TransWarp installed, all of the ROM from $D000 through $FFFF is copied into one of the high-speed RAM banks. The rest of this bank is not used. A second bank is used in place of the motherboard RAM. The third and fourth banks are used in place of the first and second banks of AUXMEM, if you have a RAM card such as RAMWORKS installed in the AUX slot. If you have a large RAMWORKS in the auxiliary slot of a //e, any additional banks beyond two will still be usable but at "only" 1 MHz.
The same issue of the publication determined that the TransWarp was faster than either the McT SpeedDemon or Titan Accelerator //e when running the same applications, even though all three cards ran at the same 3.58 MHz native speed. The TransWarp was released during the early-mid 1980s with an original retail price of $279. Applied Engineering offered a unique $89 upgrade to the 16-bit 65802 microprocessor, for people who were able to use its advanced features.
TransWarp II – Applied Engineering (AE)
Platform: Apple IIe
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz or 7.16 MHz
Cache: Unknown
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
The TransWarp II was a completely redesigned accelerator from Applied Engineering (AE). The company scrapped the on-board RAM design of the original TransWarp in favor of a licensed cache based implementation like Zip Technology used. However, instead of using a hybrid chip, Applied Engineering chose to implement the design on a card. Unfortunately, since the design was licensed from Bits and Pieces, makers of the Rocket Chip, and not from Zip Technologies, Applied Engineering was forced to stop selling the TransWarp II not long after its introduction, due to Zip winning a patent infringement lawsuit against Bits and Pieces for Zip's implementation of caching technology.
TransWarp III (never released) – Applied Engineering
Platform: Apple IIe
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 8 MHz+
Cache: Unknown
DMA compatible: Yes
Upgradeable: Yes
Applied Engineering's TransWarp III was supposed to be the TransWarp II's replacement after that product's abrupt discontinuation. Because of a dwindling Apple II market in the early 1990s, the TransWarp III never saw the light of day. Some believe that images in advertisements announcing the TransWarp III in Apple II related magazines were complete mock-ups and that the product never existed. The ads touted faster speeds and easy upgradeability when faster 65c02 microprocessors became available.
Zip Chip – Zip Technologies
Platform: Apple IIe, Apple IIc
Form Factor: CPU replacement chip
Speed: 4 MHz, 8 MHz
Cache: 8 KB
DMA compatible: Yes
Upgradeable: No
Zip Technologies, introduced the 4 MHz Zip Chip Model 4000 (also: Zip Chip II - 4) at AppleFest in May 1989(?). This was a revolutionary design. Rather than building an accelerator on an expansion card, Zip used a hybrid chip design known as System in Package (SiP), and used this chip module to directly replace the microprocessor in the Apple II. They took a 65C02 core and combined it with control logic and 8 KB of cache ram into a very compact 40-pin DIP package, not much bigger than the original 65C02 CPU it replaced. By creating this ultra compact, slotless accelerator, the entire untapped market of tens of thousands of Apple IIc computers became available. Within the Zip Chip, all settings were software controllable, including individual slot speeds which could be set at 1 MHz or "accelerated." The accelerator was a cache type, based on Zip Technology's US patent #4,794,523 and was capable of 10 different speed settings. Zip later introduced a Zip Chip Model 8000 (also: Zip Chip II - 8) which had identical features but operated at 8 MHz.
Zip GSX – Zip Technologies
Platform: Apple IIGS
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 7—15 MHz
Cache: 16, 32, or 64 kB (8, 16, or 32 kB data, 8, 16, or 32 kB tag)
DMA compatible: Yes
Upgradeable: Yes
The accelerator consists of the CPU WDC 65C816 running at most at 15 MHz. A cache divided into 32 kByte "data" and 32 kByte "tag". The result is an average 4x performance boost.
Two less expensive models were advertised but never released: model 1500 "ZipChipGS" and model 1525 "ZipChipGS Plus". These two models were designed to fit into the CPU socket (similar to the 8-bit ZipChip models) rather than taking up a slot. The less expensive model 1500 would have omitted DMA support and was supposed to run at 8 MHz with 8 kB of cache. The 1525 would also have run at 8 MHz but it would have included DMA support and 16 kB of cache.
The slot-based model 1600 ("Zip GSX") was made available at several different clock speeds and with varying amounts of cache. Both the cache and CPU speed were upgradeable.
Rocket Chip – Bits and Pieces
Platform: Apple IIe
Form Factor: CPU replacement chip
Speed: 5 MHz, 10 MHz
Cache: Unknown
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Bits and Pieces introduced the Rocket Chip soon after the Zip Chip was released. The product was nearly identical in look and function to Zip Technology's Zip Chip, however it operated at 5 MHz vs the Zip Chip Model 4000's 4 MHz, and the Rocket Chip II ran at a then blistering 10 MHz when it was released after the 8 MHz Zip Chip Model 8000. One unique feature of the Rocket Chip was its ability to slow the speed of an Apple II down to 0.05 MHz for "slow motion" operability. Although the Rocket Chip was faster in both instances than the Zip Chip, there were some rare software incompatibilities with the chip, while the Zip Chip didn't have any reported problems. These problems were perhaps due to Bits and Pieces pushing the physical limit of their 65C02 cores to squeeze out the extra speed in a game of one-upmanship with Zip Technologies. Zip Technologies ended up with the upper hand when they successfully sued Bits and Pieces for patent infringement and in turn forced the company out of business.
A2 Turbo – Ian Kim
Platform: APPLE II, APPLE II plus, Apple IIe
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz, 7.16 MHz
Cache: 256KB
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Developed by Ian Kim. May 2021
A2 OverDrive – Ian Kim
Platform: APPLE II, APPLE II plus, Apple IIe
Form Factor: 50-pin slot card
Speed: 3.58 MHz, 7.16 MHz, 16 MHz
Cache: 512KB
DMA compatible: No
Upgradeable: No
Developed by Ian Kim. May 2021. There are 2 8-bit digital output ports and 1 8-bit input port. There is also an 16bits interrupt generator (IRQ or NMI).
With this function, It can play WAV songs(22Khz Stereo). In addition, 64KB compatible with Saturn and 384KB compatible with RAMWORK are built-in. There is additional RAM in the SLOT ROM address, which is a special function, and it can be usefully used when developing programs.
Apple IIc Plus motherboard
Platform: Apple IIc Plus
Form Factor: Motherboard built-in
Speed: 8 - 10+ MHz
Cache: 8 KB
DMA compatible: N/A
Upgradeable: Yes
Apple Computer licensed the cache based accelerator design from Zip Technologies for their design of the Apple IIc Plus. This enabled the computer to run 4 times faster than its 1 MHz predecessor, the Apple IIc. Rather than using a monolithic System in Package design of the Zip Chip, which may have caused overhead clearance problems as well as added cost to the compact Apple IIc Plus, Apple economically separated the Zip Chip design into its individual components, using off the shelf static RAM chips for the 8 KB cache.
Overclocking
In October 2001, Michael J. Mahon, an enthusiast who frequents the Apple II usenet newsgroup comp.sys.apple2, proposed overclocking the Apple IIc Plus. Over the next few years, newsgroup members reported speeds ranging between 8 MHz - 10 MHz simply by changing the 16 MHz crystal oscillator on the motherboard to a faster one (the Apple IIc Plus divides the oscillator frequency by four to attain the actual processor frequency). Some users with 120ns static RAM cache reported problems attaining 10 MHz while others with 100ns chips were more successful. Most were able to achieve 8 MHz.
See also
Apple II peripheral cards
References
External links
Apple II History - Accelerators
July '85 Review of M-c-T SpeedDemon - Apple Assembly Line
Some nice images of early Apple II accelerators
Titan //e Manual
Side by side comparisons of the two Titan Accelerators
comp.sys.apple2 accelerator FAQ
hackzapple.com Accelerators for Apple II
Accelerators
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31801377
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasurf
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Ultrasurf
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UltraSurf is a freeware Internet censorship circumvention product created by UltraReach Internet Corporation. The software bypasses Internet censorship and firewalls using an HTTP proxy server, and employs encryption protocols for privacy.
The software was developed by two different groups of Falun Gong practitioners at the same time, one starting in the US in 2002 by expatriate Chinese. The software was designed as a means of allowing internet users to bypass the Great Firewall of China. It currently boasts as many as 11 million users worldwide. The tool has been described as "one of the most important free-speech tools on the Internet" by Wired, and as the "best performing" circumvention tool by Harvard University in a 2007 study; a 2011 study by Freedom House ranked it fourth. Critics in the open-source community, George Turner Says, have expressed concern about the software's closed-source nature and alleged security through obscurity design; UltraReach says their security considerations mean they prefer third party expert review to open source review.
Overview
In 2001, UltraReach was founded by Chinese dissidents in Silicon Valley. Shortly after, UltraSurf was created to allow internet users in China to evade government censorship and monitoring. As of 2011 UltraSurf reported over eleven million users worldwide. During the Arab Spring, UltraReach recorded a 700 percent spike in traffic from Tunisia. Similar traffic spikes occur frequently during times of unrest in other regions, such as Tibet and Burma during the Saffron Revolution. Wired magazine in 2010 called UltraSurf "one of the most important free-speech tools on the Internet" for enabling citizens to access and share information from oppressed countries during times of humanitarian or human rights crises.
UltraSurf is funded, in part, through contracts with the U.S. government's Broadcasting Board of Governors, which administers Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. As of 2012, UltraReach has had difficulty serving its growing user base due to insufficient funding.
Operation
Client software
UltraSurf is free to download and requires no installation. UltraSurf does not install any files on the user's computer and leaves no registry edits after it exits. In other words, it leaves no trace of its use. To fully remove the software from the computer, a user needs only to delete the exe file named u.exe. It is only available on a Windows platform, runs through Internet Explorer by default, and has an optional plug-in for Firefox and Chrome.
The UltraReach website notes that "Some anti-virus software companies misclassify UltraSurf as a malware or Trojan because UltraSurf encrypts the communications and circumvents internet censorship." Some security companies have agreed to whitelist UltraSurf. According to Appelbaum, the UltraSurf client uses anti-debugging techniques and also employs executable compression. The client acts as a local proxy which communicates with the UltraReach network through what appears to be an obfuscated form of TLS/SSL.
UltraSurf servers
The software works by creating an encrypted HTTP tunnel between the user's computer and a central pool of proxy servers, enabling users to bypass firewalls and censorship. UltraReach hosts all of its own servers. The software makes use of sophisticated, proprietary anti-blocking technology to overcome filtering and censorship online. According to Wired magazine, UltraSurf changes the "IP addresses of their proxy servers up to 10,000 times an hour." On the server-side, a 2011 analysis found that the UltraReach network employed squid and ziproxy software, as well as ISC BIND servers bootstrapping for a wider network of open recursive DNS servers, the latter not under UltraReach control.
UltraSurf is designed primarily as an anti-censorship tool but also offers privacy protections in the form of industry standard encryption, with an added layer of obfuscation built in. UltraReach uses an internal content filter which blocks some sites, such as those deemed pornographic or otherwise offensive. According to Wired magazine: "That's partly because their network lacks the bandwidth to accommodate so much data-heavy traffic, but also because Falun Gong frowns on erotica." Additionally, the Falun Gong criticism website facts.org.cn, alleged to be operated by the Chinese government, is also unreachable through UltraSurf.
Evaluation
In a 2007 study, Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society found UltraSurf to be the "best performing" of all tested circumvention tools during in-country tests, and recommended it for widespread use. In particular, the report found that UltraSurf effectively bypassed various forms of censorship and blocking, include IP block, DNS block, and keyword filtering. It was also the fastest tool during in-country tests, and was noted for being easy to use and install with a simple user interface. The report noted, however, that UltraReach is designed primarily as a circumvention product, rather than as an anonymity tool, and suggested that users concerned about anonymity should disable browser support for active content when using UltraSurf.
A 2011 report by the U.S.-based human rights group Freedom House ranked UltraSurf fourth overall among censorship circumvention and privacy tools, as measured by a combination of performance, usability, support and security. In particular, the tool was recommended for users interested in downloading or viewing information, who required a relatively high degree of privacy, and who favored a fast connection speed.
Some technologists have expressed reservations about the UltraReach model, however. In particular, its developers have been criticized by proponents of open-source software for not allowing peer review of the tool's design, except at the discretion of its creators. Moreover, because UltraReach operates all its own servers, their developers have access to user logs. This architecture means that users are required to trust UltraReach not to reveal user data. UltraReach maintains that it keeps logs for a short period of time, and uses them only for the purpose of analyzing traffic for signs of interference or to monitor overall performance and efficacy; the company says it does not disclose user logs to third parties. According to Jacob Appelbaum with the Tor Project, this essentially amounts to an example of "privacy by policy".
In an April 2012 report, Appelbaum further criticized UltraSurf for its use of internal content filtering (including blocking pornographic websites), and for its willingness to comply with subpoenas from U.S. law enforcement officials. Appelbaum's report also noted that UltraSurf pages employed Google Analytics, which had the potential to leak user data, and that its systems were not all up to date with the latest security patches and did not make use of forward security mechanisms. Furthermore, Appelbaum claims that "The UltraSurf client uses Open and Free Software including Putty and zlib. The use of both Putty and zlib is not disclosed. This use and lack of disclosure is a violation of the licenses." In a response posted the same day, UltraReach wrote that it had already resolved these issues. They asserted that Appelbaum's report had misrepresented or misunderstood other aspects of its software. UltraReach also argued that the differences between the software approaches to Internet censorship represented by Tor and UltraSurf were at base philosophical and simply different approaches to censorship circumvention. A top-secret NSA presentation revealed as part of the 2013 global surveillance disclosures dismisses this response by UltraSurf as "all talk and no show".
Due to restrictions imposed by some organizations, McAfee VirusScan is flagging some Ultrasurf versions as a potentially unwanted program, avoiding its execution on those machines.
See also
Internet censorship
Internet censorship circumvention
Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China
Bypassing content-control filters
Bypassing the Great Firewall of China
Freegate
References
External links
How to Bypass Internet Censorship, a FLOSS Manual, 10 March 2011, 240 pp.
Internet censorship
Proxy servers
Anonymity networks
Internet privacy software
Windows Internet software
Falun Gong
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37571028
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20Pedagogical%20Drahomanov%20University
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National Pedagogical Drahomanov University
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The National Pedagogical Dragomanov University is a Ukrainian University in Kyiv, which has III-IV accreditation level.
Post address: 01601,Ukraine, Kyiv, Pyrohova str., 9.
History
1834 – Pedagogical Institute – the future National Pedagogical Dragomanov University – started as a branch of the St. Volodymyr University.
1920 – Management of high schools in Kyiv decided to create on the basis of Kyiv St. Volodymyr University and Higher female courses, Kyiv Higher Institute of Education.
1933 – Kyiv Pedagogical Institute.
1936 – Kyiv Pedagogical Institute named after A.M.Gorky
1991 – Kyiv Pedagogical Dragomanov Institute.
1993 – Kyiv State Dragomanov University.
1997 – National Pedagogical Dragomanov University
2015 – The university celebrated the 180th anniversary of its existence in April
Campuses and buildings
The university has six academic buildings, library with 8 reading rooms, 7 dormitories, sports complex with a swimming pool, computer classes, internet cafes, buffets and dining areas.
List of faculties and institutes
Faculty of Engineering Education
Dean – Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor Dmytro Kilderov. Faculty trains teachers of vocational education, drawing and craft, experts in information technologies, interior design, fashion design, small business management and auto transport. Since January 2016 the name has been changed to Faculty of Engineering Education.
Faculty of Foreign Philology
Dean – Doctor of Philological Sciences, PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, professor Alla Zernetska. Faculty, which was founded in 2003, provides training of specialists in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese and Turkish languages and literature.
Faculty of Computer Science
Dean – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, professor Vasyl Yefimenko. Historical background of the Faculty of Computer Science (former Institute of Informatics) goes back to the end of 1950s – beginning of 1960s, when studying of elements of cybernetics and basics of programming in the higher educational institutions in Ukraine began. As an independent unit, Institute was established in 2008 as a result of reorganization of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics and Informatics Education. Then it was renamed to Faculty of Computer Science. The main task of this faculty is to train teachers of computer science and economics.
Faculty of History
Dean – Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor Volodymyr Borysenko. During the last 30 years, Faculty of History (former Institute of Historic Education) trains teachers for secondary schools, specialized humanitarian institutions, university teachers and researchers of academic and specialized research institutions. Education within the faculty allows specialists to work as school teachers, work in archives and museums, government, political and social organizations and other educational and tourist institutions.
Faculty of Psychology
Dean – Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, professor Irina Bulakh. Defectology department is one of the oldest departments of the University – it operates since 1920. In 2003 on its base the Institute for Special Education and Psychology was founded, which consisted of five departments: speech therapy, correctional psychopedagogy, sign language, blindness and education, special psychology and medicine. The Institute has two scientific-methodical centres: rehabilitation of the disabled and inclusive education. Later on, it was renamed to Faculty of Psychology.
Faculty of Education and Science Management
Dean – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of education, Professor Volodymyr Saveliev. As an independent unit, faculty was established in 2018. Specialists are trained at the bachelor's degree for the following educational programs: "Management", "Management of socio-cultural activities", "Documentation of information activities in the field of education", "Documentary and information support of personnel work", "Leisure pedagogy". According to the master's degree, the Faculty of Education and Science Management offers the following educational programs: "Higher School Pedagogy", "Public Administration in the Field of Education", "International Education", "Educational Policy", "Pedagogical Advising"; "State educational policy", "Management of socio-cultural activities", "Management", "Administrative management", "Management of educational institutions", "Knowledge management", "Project management", "Management of international educational activities", "Personnel management" , "Management of public organizations", "Management of innovations in education", "Innovative management of an inclusive environment", "System analysis in management", "Analytics in management".
Anatolii Avdiievsky Faculty of Arts
Dean – Honored Artist of Ukraine, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor Vasyl Fedoryshyn. Training of students is conducted in the following specialties: music art and choreography. In the future, faculty plans to introduce new specialties, namely: organizer and psychologist of musical leisure of youth, sound specialist in musical acoustics, music director of children's and youth programs on radio and television, sound director, accompanist, concert performer, artist-singer (soloist), performer of pop and folk songs, arranger, music manager, organizer of musical education.
Faculty of Pedagogics and Psychology
Dean – Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor Taras Olefirenko. Institute trains specialists in the following specialties: applied psychology, human's health, fine arts and elementary education. For students, there are choir, literature studio, workshops on painting, sculpture, decorative arts, history museum of fine arts, permanent exhibition of students' artwork.
Faculty of Natural and Geographical Education and Ecology
Dean – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, professor Hanna Turchinova. Natural sciences were studied at the University since the beginning of its operation in the status of Pedagogical Institute (1834). Intensive training of teachers of chemistry, biology and geography began in the 1920s. In 1933, biological and geographical divisions were opened, which were later reorganized as Biology and Chemistry and Geography Departments. In 1972, on their basis, a natural geography faculty was established. As an independent unit, Institute of Natural and Geographical Education and Ecology functions since 2003. Recently it was renamed to Faculty of National and Geographical Education and Ecology.
Faculty of Political Science and Law
Dean – Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor Bogdan Andrusyshyn. Holistic training of lawyers and political scientists at the University began in 1992, in the structure of the newly formed social and humanities faculty. Before that, it was held within the specialization in the history faculty. In 2005, on the basis of social and humanities faculty an Institute of Politology and Law was organized, which was renamed to Faculty of Political Science and Law.
Faculty of Socioeconomic Education
Dean – Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Soctor of Historical Sciences, professor Volodymyr Yevtukh. Studying of sociology started at the University in the mid-1990s. As an academic subject it was formed at the Department of Political Science and Sociology and the Faculty of Humanities. In 2007, an Institute of Sociology, Psychology and Management was established at the University, which trains specialists in such specialties: sociology, psychology, management of organizations, administrative management, school management, pedagogy of higher schools and others. Institute consists of the next departments: theory and methodology of sociology, theory and counselling psychology, management and European integration, history of educational systems and technologies and applied psychology and psychotherapy.
Faculty of Ukrainian Philology
Dean – PhD in Philological Science, professor Anatoly Vysotsky. Training of teachers of Ukrainian language and literature at the university is conducted since the 1920s. As an independent academic unit, Institute functions since 2003. Training of specialists conducted in the following specialties: philology, publishing, Ukrainian language and literature, publishing and editing. Recently, the name was changed to Faculty of Ukrainian Philology.
Faculty of Physical Education, Health and Sport
Dean – Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor Oleksii Tymoshenko. Training at the faculty is conducted in the following specialties: physical education (football, tourism, practical psychology), human's health (adaptive physical education, fitness), sports (management, security business). In 1985, to improve the quality of the educational process a new sports building with total area of 8400 square meters was established.
Faculty of Physics and Mathematics
Dean – Doctor of Physical and Mathematical sciences, professor Mykola Pratsyovity. Training of teachers of mathematics and physics was conducted since the foundation of the Institute, at first at the school faculty, then – at the faculty of social education. As a structural subdivision, department of physics and mathematics was created in 1934-1935, as a separate faculty – in 2006.
Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences
Dean – Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor Ivan Drobot. Philosophical training of teachers was conducted since the founding of the Pedagogical Institute in the structure of the St. Volodymyr University. It was provided by a series of philosophical departments, manned by outstanding scholars and teachers, in particular, O.Novitsky etc. In the second half of the 20th century, Department of Philosophy of the Pedagogical Institute, and later of the university was headed by Prof. O.Pavelko, later – by Prof. G.Volynka. As an independent unit in the University, faculty was founded in 2004. There are 8 departments that conduct training of specialists in the following specialties: philosophy, cultural studies, design, advertising and public relations.
Faculty of Special and Inclusive Education
Dean - Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Honorary Member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, professor Maria Sheremet. The faculty trains special education teachers (defectologists) and special (clinical) psychologists.
Institute of Retraining and Further Training of teachers
Director – Honored Worker of Education of Ukraine, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor Volodymyr Serhiienko. The institute was established in June 2008 with a view to improving the process of retraining and skills development for all specialties, which are taught at the university. This division is the successor to the faculty of retraining, which existed at the university since 1974. The Institute provides professional training in 11 specialties and provides an opportunity to obtain a second higher education. Now about 1000 students are enrolled in the Institute.
Honorable Doctors, Professors and famous alumni
Roman Bezsmertniy – former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Oksana Bayrak – famous Ukrainian film director.
Olexandr Reyent – researcher of history of Ukraine in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Augusta Goldberg – first Doctor of Psychology in Ukraine.
Viktor Synyov – a prominent Ukrainian scientist in the field of Special Education, legal and special psychology.
Vitali Klitschko – Politician and retired professional boxer. Current member of the Ukrainian parliament
Wladimir Klitschko – Vitali's brother, a professional boxer
Leonid Kravchuk, former President of Ukraine
Viktor Yushchenko, former President of Ukraine
Rudolf Schuster, former President of Slovakia
Evhen Bereznyak "Major Vyhr" – Hero of Ukraine, the savior of Cracow
Hansjürgen Doss, former member of German parliament
Moritz Hunzinger, German business leader
Adalbert H. Lhota, former honorary consul general of Austria
Axel Haas, Managing Partner of Arend Prozessautomation
Alexander Sparinsky, Ukrainian Composer, Producer, and Musicologist
Metropolitan Epiphanius of Ukraine
Carlos Evaristo, Portuguese historian
Awards and reputation
According to the "Dengi" magazine, National Pedagogical Drahomanov University occupies fifth place in the ranking of Employers of Ukraine.
References
1834 establishments in the Russian Empire
Universities and colleges in Kyiv
Educational institutions established in 1834
National universities in Ukraine
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19429674
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectra
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Lectra
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Lectra (EPA:LSS Euronext Paris) is a technology company headquartered in Paris, France. It operates in 34 countries with 34 subsidiaries. Lectra specializes in CAD software and CAM cutting-room systems for industries using soft material such as leather and textiles. The company develops software, hardware, consulting and associated services for organizations in industries including fashion and apparel, automotive, furniture and others.
History
Lectra was founded in 1973 by engineers Jean and Bernard Etcheparre. The first machine enabled a piece of clothing to be cut in all sizes from a cardboard pattern. The company launched its first CAD systems for apparel making in 1976. Venture capitalist André Harari met the two founders and raised the capital needed to implement Lectra's business development plan. In 1980, Lectra established its first foreign subsidiary in Germany followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and the United States in 1982.
By 1986, Lectra was the world's leading CAD and CAM systems provider and the company had its initial public offering the following year. After financial troubles in the early 1990s, the company was recapitalized by Daniel and André Harari.
In 2014, Lectra partnered with ESCP Europe to establish a chair in Fashion and Technology on its Paris campus for fashion and luxury sector innovation research. In November 2017, Lectra joined with ESTIA, JPS Conseil and the Today Tomorrow Textiles Foundation to launch the Biarritz Active Lifestyle Integral (BALI) Chair.
Frost & Sullivan recognized Lectra with its 2017 Global Product Leadership award for the Versalis LeatherSuite. That same year, the Industry of Future Alliance awarded Lectra the Showcase for the Industry of Future Alliance.
Lectra announced the acquisition of Italian company Kubix Lab in January 2018.
Overview
Lectra develops software, hardware, consulting and associated services to a broad array of major markets. Lectra is an industry-leading company in integrated technology for industries using soft materials, including fashion (apparel, accessories, footwear), automotive (car seats and interiors, airbags) and furniture, as well as a wide range of other industries such as the aeronautical and marine industries. Lectra has over 23,000 clients in over a hundred countries including companies such as Louis Vuitton, Hermès and H&M.
Lectra initially launched its Modaris software in 1984. Its onscreen pattern modification and design systems are widely used in the textile industry, including fashion schools and colleges. Vector, Lectra's fabric-cutting technology, was introduced in 1993. The company first launched its product life-cycle management (PLM) software in 2006. It manages the life cycles of products and collections through software from planning, creation and product development to production. In 2011, Lectra launched its leather-cutting technology Versalis for the automotive, furniture and fashion industries. Versalis, the fastest leather-cutting solution in the industry, replaces leather-cutting typically done by hand with software and machinery that automates the process. In 2017, Lectra released an Industry 4.0 product lifecycle management software, Lectra Fashion PLM 4.0. Lectra announced it was to embrace Industry 4.0 concepts in January 2018. The company also announced that it was rebranding and released a new logo at that time.
References
Companies based in Paris
Companies listed on Euronext Paris
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298349
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible%20Timesharing%20System
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Incompatible Timesharing System
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Incompatible Timesharing System (ITS) is a time-sharing operating system developed principally by the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, with help from Project MAC. The name is the jocular complement of the MIT Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS).
ITS, and the software developed on it, were technically and culturally influential far beyond their core user community. Remote "guest" or "tourist" access was easily available via the early ARPAnet, allowing many interested parties to informally try out features of the operating system and application programs. The wide-open ITS philosophy and collaborative online community were a major influence on the hacker culture, as described in Steven Levy's book Hackers, and were the direct forerunners of the free and open-source software, open-design, and Wiki movements.
History
ITS development was initiated in the late 1960s by those (the majority of the MIT AI Lab staff at that time) who disagreed with the direction taken by Project MAC's Multics project (which had started in the mid-1960s), particularly such decisions as the inclusion of powerful system security. The name was chosen by Tom Knight as a joke on the name of the earliest MIT time-sharing operating system, the Compatible Time-Sharing System, which dated from the early 1960s.
By simplifying their system compared to Multics, ITS's authors were able to quickly produce a functional operating system for their lab. ITS was written in assembly language, originally for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-6 computer, but the majority of ITS development and use was on the later, largely compatible, PDP-10.
Although not used as intensively after about 1986, ITS continued to operate on original hardware at MIT until 1990, and then until 1995 at Stacken Computer Club in Sweden. Today, some ITS implementations continue to be remotely accessible, via emulation of PDP-10 hardware running on modern, low-cost computers supported by interested hackers.
Significant technical features
ITS introduced many then-new features:
The first device-independent graphics terminal output; programs generated generic commands to control screen content, which the system automatically translated into the appropriate character sequences for the particular type of terminal operated by the user.
A general mechanism for implementing virtual devices in software running in user processes (which were called "jobs" in ITS).
Using the virtual-device mechanism, ITS provided transparent inter-machine filesystem access. The ITS machines were all connected to the ARPAnet, and a user on one machine could perform the same operations with files on other ITS machines as if they were local files.
Sophisticated process management; user processes were organized in a tree, and a superior process could control a large number of inferior processes. Any inferior process could be frozen at any point in its operation, and its state (including contents of the registers) examined; the process could then be resumed transparently.
An advanced software interrupt facility that allowed user processes to operate asynchronously, using complex interrupt handling mechanisms.
PCLSRing, a mechanism providing what appeared (to user processes) to be quasi-atomic, safely-interruptible system calls. No process could ever observe any process (including itself) in the middle of executing any system call.
In support of the AI Lab's robotics work, ITS also supported simultaneous real-time and time-sharing operation.
User environment
The environment seen by ITS users was philosophically significantly different from that provided by most operating systems at the time.
Initially there were no passwords, and a user could work on ITS without logging on. Logging on was considered polite, though, so people knew when one was connected.
To deal with a rash of incidents where users sought out flaws in the system in order to crash it, a novel approach was taken. A command that caused the system to crash was implemented and could be run by anyone, which took away all the fun and challenge of doing so. It did, however, broadcast a message to say who was doing it.
All files were editable by all users, including online documentation and source code. A series of informal papers and technical notes documented new commands, technical issues, primitive games, mathematical puzzles, and other topics of interest to the ITS hacker community. Some were issued as more formal AI Memos, including the HAKMEM compendium.
All users could talk with instant messaging on another's terminal, or they could use a command (SHOUT) to ask all active users for help.
Users could see what was happening on another's terminal (using a command called OS for "output spy"). A target of OS could detect and kill it using another command called JEDGAR, named after FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. This facility was later disabled with a placebo command: it appeared as if the remote session was killed, but it was not.
Tourists (guest users either at MIT AI Lab terminals, or over the ARPAnet) were tolerated and occasionally invited to actively join the ITS community. Informal policy on tourist access was later formalized in a written policy. Ease of access, with or without a guest account, allowed interested parties to informally explore and experiment with the operating system, application programs, and "hacker" culture. Working copies of documentation and source code could be freely consulted or updated by anybody on the system.
System security, to the extent that it existed, was mostly-based on de facto "security by obscurity". Guest hackers willing to dedicate significant time and effort to learning ITS were expected to behave respectfully, and to avoid interfering with the research projects which funded the hardware and software systems. There was little of exclusive value on the ITS systems except information, much of which would eventually be published for free distribution, and open and free sharing of knowledge was generally encouraged.
The wide-open ITS philosophy and collaborative community were the direct forerunner of the free and open-source software, open-design, and Wiki movements.
Important applications developed on ITS
The EMACS ("Editor MACroS") editor was originally written on ITS. In its ITS instantiation it was a collection of TECO programs (called "macros"). On later operating systems, it was written in the common language of those systems – for example, the C language under Unix, and Zetalisp under the Lisp Machine system.
GNU‘s info help system was originally an EMACS subsystem, and then was later written as a complete standalone system for Unix-like machines.
Several important programming languages and systems were developed on ITS, including MacLisp (the precursor of Zetalisp and Common Lisp), Microplanner (implemented in MacLisp), MDL (which became the basis of Infocom's programming environment), and Scheme.
Among other significant and influential software subsystems developed on ITS, the Macsyma symbolic algebra system, started in 1968, was the first widely-known mathematical computing environment. It was a forerunner of Maxima, MATLAB, Wolfram Mathematica, and many other computer algebra systems.
Terry Winograd's SHRDLU program was developed in ITS. The computer game Zork was also originally written on ITS.
Richard Greenblatt's Mac Hack VI was the top-rated chess program for years and was the first to display a graphical board representation.
Miscellaneous
The default ITS top-level command interpreter was the PDP-10 machine language debugger (DDT). The usual text editor on ITS was TECO and later Emacs, which was written in TECO. Both DDT and TECO were implemented through simple dispatch tables on single-letter commands, and thus had no true syntax. The ITS task manager was called PEEK.
The local spelling "TURIST" is an artifact of six-character filename (and other identifier) limitations, which is traceable to six SIXBIT encoded characters fitting into a single 36-bit PDP-10 word. "TURIST" may also have been a pun on Alan Turing, a pioneer of theoretical computer science. The less-complimentary term "LUSER" was also applied to guest users, especially those who repeatedly engaged in clueless or vandalous behavior.
The Jargon File started as a combined effort between people on the ITS machines at MIT and at Stanford University SAIL. The document described much of the terminology, puns, and culture of the two AI Labs and related research groups, and is the direct predecessor of the Hacker's Dictionary (1983), the first compendium of hacker jargon to be issued by a major publisher (MIT Press).
Different implementations of ITS supported an odd array of peripherals, including an automatic wire stripper devised by hacker Richard Greenblatt, who needed a supply of pre-stripped jumper wires of various lengths for wire-wrapping computer hardware he and others were prototyping. The device used a stepper motor and a formerly hand-held wire stripper tool and cutter, operated by solenoid, all under computer control from ITS software. The device was accessible by any ITS user, but was disappointingly unreliable in actual use.
The Xerox Graphics Printer (XGP), one of the first laser printers in the world, was supported by ITS by 1974. The MIT AI Lab had one of these prototype continuous roll-fed printers for experimentation and use by its staff. By 1982, the XGP was supplemented by a Xerox Dover printer, an early sheet-fed laser printer. Although any ITS user could access the laser printers, physical access to pick up printouts was limited to staff, to control usage of printer supplies which had to be specially ordered.
Original developers
Richard Greenblatt
Stewart Nelson
Tom Knight
Richard Stallman
See also
Time-sharing system evolution
References
Bibliography
documents a very early version of the system
An Introduction to ITS for the MACSYMA User
External links
ITS System Documentation
SV: An ITS system running online and open for logins
UP: Public ITS system operated by the Update Computer Club at Uppsala University
KLH10: Ken Harrenstien's PDP-10 emulator
instructions allowing ITS to run on the SIMH PDP-10 emulator.
Jargon File Entry
ITS bibliography
Time-sharing operating systems
1967 software
Massachusetts Institute of Technology software
Assembly language software
Hacker culture
Software using the GPL license
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12273080
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD%20FireStream
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AMD FireStream
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AMD FireStream was AMD's brand name for their Radeon-based product line targeting stream processing and/or GPGPU in supercomputers. Originally developed by ATI Technologies around the Radeon X1900 XTX in 2006, the product line was previously branded as both ATI FireSTREAM and AMD Stream Processor. The AMD FireStream can also be used as a floating-point co-processor for offloading CPU calculations, which is part of the Torrenza initiative. The FireStream line has been discontinued since 2012, when GPGPU workloads were entirely folded into the AMD FirePro line.
Overview
The FireStream line is a series of add-on expansion cards released from 2006 to 2010, based on standard Radeon GPUs but designed to serve as a general-purpose co-processor, rather than rendering and outputting 3D graphics. Like the FireGL/FirePro line, they were given more memory and memory bandwidth, but the FireStream cards do not necessarily have video output ports. All support 32-bit single-precision floating point, and all but the first release support 64-bit double-precision. The line was partnered with new APIs to provide higher performance than existing OpenGL and Direct3D shader APIs could provide, beginning with Close to Metal, followed by OpenCL and the Stream Computing SDK, and eventually integrated into the APP SDK.
For highly parallel floating point math workloads, the cards can speed up large computations by more than 10 times; Folding@Home, the earliest and one of the most visible users of the GPGPU, obtained 20-40 times the CPU performance. Each pixel and vertex shader, or unified shader in later models, can perform arbitrary floating-point calculations.
History
Following the release of the Radeon R520 and GeForce G70 GPU cores with programmable shaders, the large floating-point throughput drew attention from academic and commercial groups, experimenting with using then for non-graphics work. The interest led ATI (and Nvidia) to create GPGPU products — able to calculate general purpose mathematical formulas in a massively parallel way — to process heavy calculations traditionally done on CPUs and specialized floating-point math co-processors. GPGPUs were projected to have immediate performance gains of a factor of 10 or more, over compared to contemporary multi-socket CPU-only calculation.
With the development of the high-performance X1900 XFX nearly finished, ATI based its first Stream Processor design on it, announcing it as the upcoming ATI FireSTREAM together with the new Close to Metal API at SIGGRAPH 2006. The core itself was mostly unchanged, except for doubling the onboard memory and bandwidth, similar to the FireGL V7350; new driver and software support made up most of the difference. Folding@home began using the X1900 for general computation, using a pre-release of version 6.5 of the ATI Catalyst driver, and reported 20-40x improvement in GPU over CPU. The first product was released in late 2006, rebranded as AMD Stream Processor after the merger with AMD.
The brand became AMD FireStream with the second generation of stream processors in 2007, based on the RV650 chip with new unified shaders and double precision support. Asynchronous DMA also improved performance by allowing a larger memory pool without the CPU's help. One model was released, the 9170, for the initial price of $1999. Plans included the development of a stream processor on an MXM module by 2008, for laptop computing, but was never released.
The third-generation quickly followed in 2008 with dramatic performance improvements from the RV770 core; the 9250 had nearly double the performance of the 9170, and became the first single-chip teraflop processor, despite dropping the price to under $1000. A faster sibling, the 9270, was released shortly after, for $1999.
In 2010 the final generation of FireStreams came out, the 9350 and 9370 cards, based on the Cypress chip featured in the HD 5800. This generation again doubled the performance relative to the previous, to 2 teraflops in the 9350 and 2.6 teraflops in the 9370, and was the first built from the ground up for OpenCL. This generation was also the only one to feature fully passive cooling, and active cooling was unavailable.
The Northern and Southern Islands generations were skipped, and in 2012, AMD announced that the new FirePro W (workstation) and S (server) series based on the new Graphics Core Next architecture would take the place of FireStream cards.
Models
FireStream 9170 include Direct3D 10.1, OpenGL 3.3 and APP Stream
FireStream 92x0 include Direct3D 10.1, OpenGL 3.3 and OpenCL 1.0
FireStream 93x0 include Direct3D 11, OpenGL 4.3 and OpenCL 1.2 with Last Driver updates
Software
The AMD FireStream was launched with a wide range of software platform support. One of the supporting firms was PeakStream (acquired by Google in June 2007), who was first to provide an open beta version of software to support CTM and AMD FireStream as well as x86 and Cell (Cell Broadband Engine) processors. The FireStream was claimed to be 20 times faster in typical applications than regular CPUs after running PeakStream's software . RapidMind also provided stream processing software that worked with ATI and NVIDIA, as well as Cell processors.
Software Development Kit
After abandoning their short-lived Close to Metal API, AMD focused on OpenCL. AMD first released its Stream Computing SDK (v1.0), in December 2007 under the AMD EULA, to be run on Windows XP. The SDK includes "Brook+", an AMD hardware optimized version of the Brook language developed by Stanford University, itself a variant of the ANSI C (C language), open-sourced and optimized for stream computing. The AMD Core Math Library (ACML) and AMD Performance Library (APL) with optimizations for the AMD FireStream and the COBRA video library (further renamed as "Accelerated Video Transcoding" or AVT) for video transcoding acceleration will also be included. Another important part of the SDK, the Compute Abstraction Layer (CAL), is a software development layer aimed for low-level access, through the CTM hardware interface, to the GPU architecture for performance tuning software written in various high-level programming languages.
In August 2011, AMD released version 2.5 of the ATI APP Software Development Kit, which includes support for OpenCL 1.1, a parallel computing language developed by the Khronos Group. The concept of compute shaders, officially called DirectCompute, in Microsoft's next generation API called DirectX 11 is already included in graphics drivers with DirectX 11 support.
AMD APP SDK
Benchmarks
According to an AMD-demonstrated system with two dual-core AMD Opteron processors and two Radeon R600 GPU cores running on Microsoft Windows XP Professional, 1 teraflop (TFLOP) can be achieved by a universal multiply-add (MADD) calculation. By comparison, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0 GHz processor at the time could achieve 48 GFLOPS.
In a demonstration of Kaspersky SafeStream anti-virus scanning that had been optimized for AMD stream processors, was able to scan 21 times faster with the R670 based acceleration than with search running entirely on an Opteron, in 2007.
Limitations
Recursive functions are not supported in Brook+ because all function calls are inlined at compile time. Using CAL, functions (recursive or otherwise) are supported to 32 levels.
Only bilinear texture filtering is supported; mipmapped textures and anisotropic filtering are not supported.
Functions cannot have a variable number of arguments. The same problem occurs for recursive functions.
Conversion of floating-point numbers to integers on GPUs is done differently than on x86 CPUs; it is not fully IEEE-754 compliant.
Doing "global synchronization" on the GPU is not very efficient, which forces the GPU to divide the kernel and do synchronization on the CPU. Given the variable number of multiprocessors and other factors, there may not be a perfect solution to this problem.
The bus bandwidth and latency between the CPU and the GPU may become a bottleneck.
See also
Stream Processing
ROCm
Heterogeneous System Architecture
NVIDIA Tesla similar solution by Nvidia
Intel Xeon Phi similar solution by Intel
Open Computing Language (OpenCL) – an industry standard
Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) - a proprietary Nvidia-only solution
List of AMD graphics processing units
References
External links
ATI Stream Technology FAQ
ATI Stream published papers and presentations
ATI Stream SDK
AnandTech article on distributed computing
AMD Intermediate Language Reference Guide (CAL) v2.0 Feb '09
Advanced Micro Devices products
ATI Technologies
GPGPU
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2748090
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers%20for%20African%20Schools
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Computers for African Schools
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Computers for African Schools is a charity based in the United Kingdom which aims to give children in developing African countries the opportunity to gain experience with and understanding of computers and IT. As of the end of 2011 CFAS had sent 30,000 computer systems to five main CFAS programme countries: Zambia (11,500), Zimbabwe (7,500), Malawi (5,500), Tanzania (900), and Zanzibar (800); and smaller quantities (4000 in total) have also been donated to partner NGO's in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Gambia, Egypt, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Niger, Ethiopia and Liberia. More than 1500 schools have computer labs set up through the scheme. Every state and mission secondary school in Zambia has been provided with at least 10 computers through the scheme.
The computers are donated free to the schools and two teachers from each recipient school are trained to teach IT as a subject. The programmes in the CFAS scheme recipient countries are administered by local administering NGOs (Computers for Zambian Schools, Computers for Malawian Schools, Computers for Zimbabwean Schools, Computers for Tanzanian Schools and Computers for Zanzibar Schools, respectively.)
The organisation is listed by the umbrella resource Digital Dividend.
The computers are recycled from redundant hardware donated by businesses and other organisations in the UK. Currently, nothing less than a Pentium IV specification is used. CFAS works in close collaboration with IT Schools Africa and the computers are refurbished by ITSA using volunteers who make sure that the computers are checked, parts are replaced if necessary and hard drives are wiped to UK Ministry of Defence standards. The majority of the computers are refurbished by prisoners in a range of prisons throughout England as part of rehabilitation training. Once in Africa, through agreement with Microsoft, Windows operating system and Office is installed.
When donated computers reach the end of their life or are found to be unserviceable, the local CFAS administering NGO collects them from the schools and they are shipped to a recycling plant in Johannesburg run by DESCO. DESCO has a zero land fill policy and all materials are recycled.
It is the long-term aim of CFAS to enable every state secondary pupil in the recipient countries to have access to computer lessons and to ensure the sustainability of the scheme.
As of the end of 2011, the Computers for African Scheme is now wholly administered and carried out by IT Schools Africa.
See also
Computer recycling
Computer technology for developing areas
Global digital divide
External links
Computers for African Schools
Times Educational Supplement article
References
Educational charities based in the United Kingdom
Education in Africa
Information technology charities based in the United Kingdom
Science and technology in Africa
Charities operating in another country
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53965874
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston%20University%20Metropolitan%20College
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Boston University Metropolitan College
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Boston University Metropolitan College (MET) is one of the 17 degree-granting schools and colleges of Boston University. Founded in 1965, it offers full-time and part-time study during the evening or through online and blended programs.
Metropolitan College offers 78 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, available part-time and full-time, along with individual courses that are open to the general public. Classes are offered evenings on the Boston University Charles River Campus and at military base locations (Hanscom AFB, Mass., and MCAS Cherry Point and MCB Camp Lejeune in N.C.). The College's offerings also include 32 online programs and 18 blended programs.
Faculty
Metropolitan College has its own full-time, adjunct, and part-time faculty, while also sharing faculty members with other Boston University schools and colleges. Of the full-time faculty, 94% hold doctoral degrees.
Academic Degree and Certificate Programs
Master of Liberal Arts Degrees
Gastronomy
Master of Science Degrees
Actuarial Science
Administrative Studies
Advertising
Applied Business Analytics
Applied Data Analytics
Arts Administration
City Planning
Computer Information Systems
Computer Science
Criminal Justice
Enterprise Risk Management
Financial Management
Global Marketing Management
Health Communication
Insurance Management
Leadership
Project Management
Software Development
Supply Chain Management
Telecommunication
Urban Affairs
Graduate Certificates
Advanced Information Technology
Applied Business Analytics
Applied Sustainability
Arts Management
Corporate Finance
Computer Networks
Cybercrime Investigation & Cybersecurity
Data Analytics
Database Management & Business Intelligence
Digital Forensics
Electronic Commerce, Systems & Technology
Enterprise Risk Management
Financial Management
Fundraising Management
Global Marketing Management
Health Informatics
Information Security
Information Technology
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
International Business Management
International Finance
Investment Analysis
IT Project Management
Medical Information Security & Privacy
Paralegal Studies
Project Management
Software Engineering
Software Engineering in Health Care Systems
Strategic Management in Criminal Justice
Supply Chain Management
Sustainable Economic Development via Tourism
Urban Policy & Planning
Visual & Digital Health Communication
Web Application Development
Bachelor of Liberal Studies Degrees
Art History
English & American Literature
History
Interdisciplinary Studies
Philosophy
Undergraduate Degree Completion Program (online)
Bachelor of Science Degrees
Accelerated Degree Completion Program
Biology
Biomedical Laboratory & Clinical Sciences
Computer Science
Criminal Justice
Economics
Management Studies
Mathematics
Psychology
Sociology
Urban Affairs
Undergraduate Certificates
Biotechnology
Business Management
Clinical Research
Computer Science
Criminal Justice
International Business Management
Pre-Medical Studies (Post-Baccalaureate)
Non-Credit and Lifelong Learning Programs
Center for Professional Education
Evergreen
Programs in Food & Wine
U.S. News Rankings
U.S. News & World Report Rankings 2018:
#2, Best Online Graduate Criminal Justice Programs
#6, Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs
#9, Best Online Graduate Business Programs (excluding MBAs)
Professional Accreditation
Metropolitan College programs are accredited by the following organizations:
European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Program Accreditation System (EPAS) (Master of Science programs in Administrative Studies and management)
Project Management Institute Global Accreditation Center for Project Management Education Programs (GAC) (Master of Science programs in Computer Information Systems (IT Project Management concentration) and Project Management)
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) (Master of Science in Computer Information Systems, Health Informatics concentration)
New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), as part of Boston University
AACSB International―The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, as part of Boston University
Awards
United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)
21st Century Award for Best Practices in Distance Learning (2016)
Blackboard
Blackboard Catalyst Exemplary Course Award—Directors Choice for Courses with Distinction (2014)
Blackboard Catalyst Exemplary Course Award (2012)
Telly
Video Bronze Award (2012)
External links
www.bu.edu/met
www.bu.edu/online
www.bu.edu/professional
www.bu.edu/evergreen
www.bu.edu/foodandwine
References
Metropolitan College
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1491638
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic%20Research
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Semantic Research
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Semantic AI (formerly Semantic Research, Inc.) is a privately held software company headquartered in San Diego, California with offices in the National Capitol Region. Semantic AI is a Delaware C-corporation that offers patented, graph-based knowledge discovery, analysis and visualization software technology. Its original product is a link analysis software application called Semantica Pro, and it has recently introduced a web-based analytical environment called the Cortex Enterprise Intelligence Platform, or Cortex EIP.
History
The SEMANTICA platform was originally conceived as a method to help biology students learn and retain knowledge about complex organic structures. Joe Faletti, Kathleen Fisher, and several colleagues in the University of California system created SemNet, a computer program used to draw a network of "concepts" connected to each other by "relations". In the late 1960s, Ross Quillian and Allan Collins used the concept of semantic networks as a way of talking about the organization of human semantic memory, or memory for inter-related word concepts. Using SemNet, students could employ simple components to build complex networks.
After the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the U.S. Intelligence Community realized analysts desperately needed a way to "connect the dots"; they needed a platform to fuse data stored in separate silos and interrogate it in real time to answer intelligence questions. Recognizing the potential for SemNet to do that, Joe Faletti teamed up with Charles Gillespie, Chip Harrison and Chris Staszak to found Semantic Research, Inc. (SRI) in October 2001. The team of engineers and intelligence analysts at SRI expanded the SemNet program into SEMANTICA Pro, a network analysis program.
Semantic Research achieved early adoption by U.S. Government customers including the intelligence community. SEMANTICA Pro was featured in CIOReview magazine among the "20 most promising defense technology solution providers" of 2015. SEMANTICA Pro has evolved into a desktop software application used to tackle difficult analytical challenges across a wide spectrum of industries and missions, including casinos and gaming, law enforcement, intelligence, financial services, advisory and consulting services, anti-money laundering compliance, and counter-terrorism operations. Since 2016, Semantic Research has expanded its commercial footprint. Today, several Fortune 500 companies are using SEMANTICA to combat fraud, comply with anti-money laundering regulations, conduct corporate due diligence investigations, and to identify and analyze security threats.
See also
Concept mapping
Information visualization
Intelligence analysis
Knowledge representation
Semantic network
References
Software companies based in California
Companies based in San Diego
Companies established in 2001
Business software companies
Big data companies
Software companies of the United States
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40564822
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeyia
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Honeyia
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Honeyia is a genus of moths of the family Erebidae. The genus was erected by Hermann Heinrich Hacker and Michael Fibiger in 2007.
Species
Honeyia burmeisteri Hacker & Fibiger, 2007
Honeyia clearchus (Fawcett, 1916)
Honeyia dia (Viette, 1972)
Honeyia quarta Hacker & Fibiger, 2007
Honeyia secunda Hacker & Fibiger, 2007
Honeyia tertia Hacker & Fibiger, 2007
References
Hacker, H. H. & Fibiger, M. (2007). "Revision of the African species of the genus Brevipecten Hampson, 1894, with description of the genus Honeyia gen. nov. (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)". Esperiana Memoir. 3: 247–332, pls. 31–42.
Erebidae
Noctuoidea genera
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3258108
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetApp%20FAS
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NetApp FAS
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A NetApp FAS is a computer storage product by NetApp running the ONTAP operating system; the terms ONTAP, AFF, ASA, FAS are often used as synonyms. "Filer" is also used as a synonym although this is not an official name. There are three types of FAS systems: Hybrid, All-Flash, and All SAN Array:
NetApp proprietary custom-build hardware appliances with HDD or SSD drives called hybrid Fabric-Attached Storage (or simply FAS)
NetApp proprietary custom-build hardware appliances with only SSD drives and optimized ONTAP for low latency called ALL-Flash FAS (or simply AFF)
All SAN Array build on top of AFF platform, and provide only SAN-based data protocol connectivity.
ONTAP can serve storage over a network using file-based protocols such as NFS and SMB, also block-based protocols, such as the SCSI over the Fibre Channel Protocol on a Fibre Channel network, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), iSCSI, and FC-NVMe transport layer. ONTAP-based systems that can serve both SAN and NAS protocols called Unified ONTAP, AFF systems with ASA identity called All-SAN.
NetApp storage systems running ONTAP implement their physical storage in large disk arrays.
While most large-storage systems are implemented with commodity computers with an operating system such as Microsoft Windows Server, VxWorks or tuned Linux, ONTAP-based hardware appliances use highly customized hardware and the proprietary Data ONTAP operating system with WAFL file system, all originally designed by NetApp founders David Hitz and James Lau specifically for storage-serving purposes. ONTAP is NetApp's internal operating system, specially optimized for storage functions at high and low levels. It boots from FreeBSD as a stand-alone kernel-space module and uses some functions of FreeBSD (command interpreter and drivers stack, for example).
All NetApp ONTAP-based hardware appliances have battery-backed non-volatile random access memory or NVDIMM, referred to as NVRAM or NVDIMM, which allows them to commit writes to stable storage more quickly than traditional systems with only volatile memory. Early storage systems connected to external disk enclosures via parallel SCSI, while modern models () use fibre channel and SAS (Serial Attach SCSI) SCSI transport protocols. The disk enclosures (shelves) use fibre channel hard disk drives, as well as parallel ATA, serial ATA and Serial attached SCSI. Starting with AFF A800 NVRAM PCI card no longer used for NVLOGs, it was replaced with NVDIMM memory directly connected to the memory bus.
Implementers often organize two storage systems in a high-availability cluster with a private high-speed link, either Fibre Channel, InfiniBand, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 40 Gigabit Ethernet or 100 Gigabit Ethernet. One can additionally group such clusters together under a single namespace when running in the "cluster mode" of the Data ONTAP 8 operating system.
Internal architecture
Modern NetApp FAS, AFF or ASA system consist of customized computers with Intel processors using PCI. Each FAS, AFF or ASA system has non-volatile random access memory, called NVRAM, in the form of a proprietary PCI NVRAM adapter or NVDIMM-based memory, to log all writes for performance and to play the data log forward in the event of an unplanned shutdown. One can link two storage systems together as a cluster, which NetApp (as of 2009) refers to using the less ambiguous term "Active/Active".
Hardware
Each storage system model comes with a set configuration of processor, RAM, and non-volatile memory, which users cannot expand after purchase. With the exception of some of the entry point storage controllers, the NetApp FAS, ASA, and AFF systems usually have at least one PCIe-based slot available for additional network, tape and/or disk connections. In June 2008 NetApp announced the Performance Acceleration Module (or PAM) to optimize the performance of workloads that carry out intensive random reads. This optional card goes into a PCIe slot and provides additional memory (or cache) between the disk and the storage system cache and system memory, thus improving performance.
AFF
All-Flash FAS, also known as AFF A-series. Usually, AFF systems based on the same hardware as FAS but first one optimized and works only with SSD drives on the back end while the second one can use HDD and SSD as a cache: for example, AFF A700 & FAS9000, A300 & FAS8200, A200 & FAS2600, A220 & FAS2700 use the same hardware, but AFF systems do not include Flash Cache cards. Also, AFF systems do not support FlexArray with third-party storage array virtualization functionality. AFF is a Unified system and can provide SAN & NAS data protocol connectivity, and in addition to traditional SAN & NAS protocols in FAS systems, AFF has block-based NVMe/FC protocol for systems with 32Gbit/s FC ports. AFF & FAS use the same firmware image, and nearly all noticeable functionality for the end-user is the same for both storage systems. However, internally data is processed and handled differently in ONTAP. AFF systems, for example, use different Write Allocation algorithms as compared to FAS systems. Because AFF systems have faster underlying SSD drives, Inline data deduplication in ONTAP systems is nearly not noticeable (~2% performance impact on low-end systems).
ASA
All SAN Array running ONTAP, and based on AFF platform thus inherits its features & functionalities, and data internally processed and handled the same as in AFF systems. All other ONTAP-based hardware and software platforms can be referred to as Unified ONTAP meaning they can provide unified access with SAN & NAS data protocols. ONTAP architecture in ASA systems is the same as in FAS & AFF, with no changes. ASA systems using the same firmware image as AFF & FAS systems. ASA is the same as AFF, and the only difference is in the access to the storage over the network with SAN protocols: ASA provides symmetric active/active access to the block devices (LUN or NVMe namespaces), while Unified ONTAP systems continue to use ALUA and ANA for the block protocols.
Storage
NetApp uses either SATA, Fibre Channel, SAS or SSD disk drives, which it groups into RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks or Redundant Array of Independent Disks) groups of up to 28 (26 data disks plus 2 parity disks). NetApp FAS storage systems which contain only SSD drives with installed SSD-optimized ONTAP OS called All-Flash FAS (AFF).
Disks
FAS, ASA, and AFF systems are using enterprise-level HDD and SSD (i.e. NVMe SSD) drives with two ports, each port connected to each controller in an HA pair. HDD and SSD drives can only be bought from NetApp and installed in NetApp's Disk Shelves for FAS/AFF platform. Physical HDD and SSD drives, partitions on them, and LUNs imported from third-party arrays with FlexArray functionality considered in ONTAP as a Disk. In SDS systems like ONTAP Select & ONTAP Cloud, logical block storage like virtual disk or RDM inside ONTAP also considered as a Disk. Do not confuse the general term "disk drive" and "disk drive term used in ONTAP system" because, with ONTAP, it could be an entire physical HDD or SSD drive, a LUN, or a partition on a physical HDD or SSD drive. LUNs imported from third-party arrays with FlexArray functionality in HA pair configuration must be accessible from both nodes of the HA pair. Each disk has ownership on it to show which controller owns and serves the disk. An aggregate can include only disks owned by a single node, therefore each aggregate owned by a node and any objects on top of it, as FlexVol volumes, LUNs, File Shares are served with a single controller. Each controller can have its own disks and aggregates them where both nodes can be utilized simultaneously even though they not serving the same data.
ADP
Advanced Drive Partitioning (ADP) can be used in ONTAP-based systems depending on the platform and use-case. ADP can be used only with native disk drives from NetApp Disk shelves, FlexArray technology does not support ADP. ADP also supported with third-party drives in ONTAP Select. This technique mainly used to overcome some architectural requirements and reduce the number of disk drives in ONTAP-based systems. There are three types of ADP: Root-Data partitioning; Root-Data-Data partitioning (RD2 also known as ADPv2); Storage Pool.
Root-Data partitioning can be used in FAS & AFF systems to create small root partitions on drives to use them to create system root aggregates and, therefore, not to spend entire three disk drives for that purpose. In contrast, the bigger portion of the disk drive will be used for data aggregate. Root-Data-Data partitioning is used in AFF systems only for the same reason as Root-Data partitioning with the only difference that bigger portion of the drive left after root partitioning divided equally by two additional partitions, usually, each partition assigned to one of the two controllers, therefore reducing the minimum number of drives required for an AFF system and reducing waste for expensive SSD space. Storage Pool partitioning technology used in FAS systems to equally divide each SSD drive by four pieces which later can be used for FlashPool cache acceleration, with Storage Pool only a few SSD drives can be divided by up to 4 data aggregates which will benefit from FlashCache caching technology reducing minimally required SSD drives for that technology.
NetApp RAID in ONTAP
In NetApp ONTAP systems, RAID and WAFL are tightly integrated. There are several RAID types available within ONTAP-based systems:
RAID 4 with 1 dedicated parity disk allowing any 1 drive to fail in a RAID group.
RAID-DP with 2 dedicated parity disks allowing any 2 drives to fail simultaneously in a RAID group.
RAID-TEC with 3 dedicated parity drives, allows any 3 drives to fail simultaneously in a RAID group.
RAID-DP's double parity leads to a disk loss resiliency similar to that of RAID 6. NetApp overcomes the write performance penalty of traditional RAID-4 style dedicated parity disks via WAFL and a novel use of its nonvolatile memory (NVRAM) within each storage system.
Each aggregate consist of one or two plexes, a plex consists of one or more RAID groups. Typical ONTAP-based storage system have only 1 plex in each aggregate, two plexes used in local SyncMirror or MetroCluster configurations. Each RAID group usually consists of disk drives of same type, speed, geometry and capacity. Though NetApp Support could allow a user to install a drive to an RAID group with same or bigger size and different type, speed and geometry for temporary basis. Ordinary data aggregates if containing more than one RAID group must have same RAID groups across the aggregate, same RAID group size is recommended, but NetApp allows to have exception in last RAID group and configure it as small as half of the RAID group size across aggregate. For example, such an aggregate might consists of 3 RAID groups: RG0:16+2, RG1:16+2, RG2:7+2. Within aggregates, ONTAP sets up flexible volumes (FlexVol) to store data that users can access.
Aggregates enabled as FlshPool and with both HDD and SSD drives called hybrid aggregates. In Flash Pool hybrid aggregates same rules applied to the hybrid aggregate as to ordinary aggregates but separately to HDD and SSD drives, thus it is allowed to have two different RAID types: only one RAID type for all HDD drives and only one RAID type for all SSD drives in a single hybrid aggregate. For example, SAS HDD with RAID-TEC (RG0:18+3, RG1:18+3) and SSD with RAID-DP (RG3:6+2). NetApp storage systems running ONTAP combine underlying RAID groups similarly to RAID 0. Also, in NetApp FAS systems with FlexArray feature, the third-party LUNs could be combined in a Plex similarly to RAID 0. NetApp storage systems running ONTAP can be deployed in MetroCluster and SyncMirror configurations, which are using technique comparably to RAID 1 with mirroring data between two plexes in an aggregate.
Flash Pool
NetApp Flash Pool is a feature on hybrid NetApp FAS systems that allows creating hybrid aggregate with HDD drives and SSD drives in a single data aggregate. Both HDD and SSD drives form separate RAID groups. Since SSD also used to write operations, it requires RAID redundancy contrary to Flash Cache but allows to use of different RAID types for HDD and SSD; for example, it is possible to have 20 HDD 8TB in RAID-TEC while 4 SSD in RAID-DP 960GB in a single aggregate. SSD RAID used as cache and improved performance for read-write operations for FlexVol volumes on the aggregate where SSD added as the cache. Flash Pool cache similarly to Flash Cache has policies for reading operations but also includes write operations that could apply separately for each FlexVol volume located on the aggregate; therefore, it could be disabled on some volumes while others could benefit from SSD cache. Both FlashCache & FlashPool can be used simultaneously to cache data from a single FlexVol to enable an aggregate with Flash Pool technology minimum 4 SSD disks required (2 data, 1 parity, and 1 hot spare), it is also possible to use ADP technology to partition SSD into 4 pieces (Storage Pool) and distribute those pieces between two controllers so each controller will benefit from SSD cache when there is a small amount of SSD. Flash Pool is not available with FlexArray and is possible only with NetApp FAS native disk drives in NetApp's disk shelves.
FlexArray
FlexArray is NetApp FAS functionality allows to visualize third party storage systems and other NetApp storage systems over SAN protocols and use them instead of NetApp's disk shelves. With FlexArray functionality RAID protection must be done with third party storage array thus NetApp's RAID 4, RAID-DP and RAID-TEC not used in such configurations. One or many LUNs from third party arrays could be added to a single aggregate similarly to RAID 0. FlexArray is licensed feature.
NetApp Storage Encryption
NetApp Storage Encryption (NSE) is using specialized purpose build disks with low level Hardware-based full disk encryption (FDE/SED) feature and also supports FIPS-certified self-encrypted drives, compatible nearly with all NetApp ONTAP features and protocols but does not offer MetroCluster. NSE feature does overall nearly zero performance impact on the storage system. NSE feature similarly to NetApp Volume Encryption (NVE) in storage systems running ONTAP can store encryption key locally in Onboard Key Manager or on dedicated key manager systems using KMIP protocol like IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager and SafeNet KeySecure. NSE is data at rest encryption which means it protects only from physical disks theft and does not give an additional level of data security protection in a normal operational and running system. NetApp has passed NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program for its NetApp CryptoMod (TPM) with ONTAP 9.2.
MetroCluster
MetroCluster (MC) is free functionality for FAS and AFF systems for metro high availability with synchronous replication between two sites, this configuration requires additional equipment. Available in both modes: 7-mode (old OS) and Cluster-Mode (or cDOT - a newer version of ONTAP OS). MetroCluster in Cluster-Mode known as MCC. MetroCluster uses RAID SyncMirror (RSM) and plex technique where on one site number of disks form one or more RAID groups aggregated in a plex, while on the second site have the same number of disks with the same type and RAID configuration alongside with Configuration Replication Service (CRS) and NVLog replication. One plex synchronously replicates to another in a compound with non-volatile memory. Two plexes form an aggregate where data stored and in case of disaster on one site second site provide read-write access to data. MetroCluster Support FlexArray technology. MetroCluster configurations are possible only with mid-range and high-end models which provide the ability to install additional network cards required to MC to function.
MCC
With MetroCluster it is possible to have one or more storage node per site to form a cluster or Clustered MetroCluster (MCC). Remote and local HA perter node must be the same model. MCC consists of two clusters each located on one of two sites. There may be only two sites. In MCC configuration each one remote and one local storage node form Metro HA or Disaster Recovery Pare (DR Pare) across two sites while two local nodes (if there is partner) form local HA pare, thus each node synchronously replicates data in non-volatile memory two nodes: one remote and one local (if there is one). It is possible to utilize only one storage node on each site (two single node clusters) configured as MCC. 8 node MCC consists of two clusters - 4 nodes each (2 HA pair), each storage node have only one remote partner and only one local HA partner, in such a configuration each site clusters can consist out of two different storage node models. For small distances, MetroCluster requires at least one FC-VI or newer iWARP card per node. FAS and AFF systems with ONTAP software versions 9.2 and older utilize FC-VI cards and for long distances require 4 dedicated Fibre Channel switches (2 on each site) and 2 FC-SAS bridges per each disk shelf stack, thus minimum 4 total for 2 sites and minimum 2 dark fiber ISL links with optional DWDMs for long distances. Data volumes, LUNs and LIFs could online migrate across storage nodes in the cluster only within a single site where data originated from: it is not possible to migrate individual volumes, LUNs or LIFs using cluster capabilities across sites unless MetroCluster switchover operation is used which disable entire half of the cluster on a site and transparently to its clients and applications switch access to all of the data to another site.
MCC-IP
Starting with ONTAP 9.3 MetroCluster over IP (MCC-IP) was introduced with no need for a dedicated back-end Fibre Channel switches, FC-SAS bridges and dedicated dark fiber ISL which previously were needed for a MetroCluster configuration. Initially, only A700 & FAS9000 systems supported with MCC-IP. MCC-IP available only in 4-node configurations: 2-node Highly Available system on each site with two sites total. With ONTAP 9.4, MCC-IP supports A800 system and Advanced Drive Partitioning in form of Rood-Data-Data (RD2) partitioning, also known as ADPv2. ADPv2 supported only on all-flash systems. MCC-IP configurations support single disk shelf where SSD drives partitioned in ADPv2. MetroCluster over IP require Ethernet cluster switches with installed ISL and utilize iWARP cards in each storage controller for synchronous replication. Starting with ONTAP 9.5 MCC-IP supports distance up to 700 km and starts to support SVM-DR feature, AFF A300, and FAS8200 systems.
Operating System
NetApp storage systems using proprietary OS called ONTAP (Previously Data ONTAP). The main purpose for an Operating System in a storage system is to serve data to clients in non-disruptive manner with the data protocols those clients require, and to provide additional value through features like High Availability, Disaster Recovery and data Backup. ONTAP OS provides enterprise level data management features like FlexClone, SnapMirror, SnapLock, MetroCluster etc., most of them snapshot-based WAFL File System capabilities.
WAFL
WAFL, as a robust versioning filesystem in NetApp's proprietary OS ONTAP, it provides snapshots, which allow end-users to see earlier versions of files in the file system. Snapshots appear in a hidden directory: ~snapshot for Windows (SMB) or .snapshot for Unix (NFS). Up to 1024 snapshots can be made of any traditional or flexible volume. Snapshots are read-only, although ONTAP provides additional ability to make writable "virtual clones", based at "WAFL snapshots" technique, as "FlexClones".
ONTAP implements snapshots by tracking changes to disk-blocks between snapshot operations. It can set up snapshots in seconds because it only needs to take a copy of the root inode in the filesystem. This differs from the snapshots provided by some other storage vendors in which every block of storage has to be copied, which can take many hours.
7MTT
Each NetApp FAS system running Data ONTAP 8 could switch between modes either 7-Mode or Cluster mode. In reality each mode was a separate OS with its own version of WAFL, both 7-mode and Cluster mode where shipped on a single firmware image for a FAS system till 8.3 where 7-mode was deprecated. SnapLock migration from 7-Mode to ONTAP 9 now supported with Transition Tool. It is possible to switch between modes on a FAS system but all the data on disks must be destroyed first since WAFL is not compatible and server-based application called 7MTT tool was introduced to migrate data from old 7-mode FAS system to new Cluster-Mode:
With SnapMirror based replication called Copy-based transition which helped to migrate all the data with planned downtime using only storage vendor capabilities. Copy-based transition require new controllers and disks with space no less than on source system if all the data to be migrated. Both SAN and NAS data are possible.
Starting with 7-mode 8.2.1 and Cluster-Mode 8.3.2 WAFL compatibility where introduced and new feature in 7MTT tool called Copy-free transition to replace old controllers running 7-mode with new controllers running Cluster-Mode and planned downtime, while new system require additional system disks with root aggregates for new controllers (it could be as less as 6 disks). Since with Copy-free transition no data copying required 7MTT tool helping only for new controllers reconfiguration. Both SAN and NAS data conversion supported.
Additional to 7MTT there are two other paths to migrate data based on protocol type:
SAN data could be copied with foreign LUN import (FLI) functionality integrated in NetApp FAS system which can copy data over SAN protocol while new storage system running ONTAP placed as SAN proxy between hosts and old storage system which require host reconfiguration and minimum downtime. FLI available as for old 7-mode systems and for some models of storage systems of competitors.
NAS data could be copied with NetApp XCP free host-based utility thus host-based copy process processed with the utility from any copying data from source server with SMB or NFS protocols to ONTAP system with minimal downtime for client systems reconfiguration for new NAS server.
Previous limitations
Before the release of ONTAP 8, individual aggregate sizes were limited to a maximum of 2TB for FAS250 models and 16TB for all other models.
The limitation on aggregate size, coupled with increasing density of disk drives, served to limit the performance of the overall system. NetApp, like most storage vendors, increases overall system performance by parallelizing disk writes to many different spindles (disk drives). Large capacity drives, therefore limit the number of spindles that can be added to a single aggregate, and therefore limit the aggregate performance.
Each aggregate also incurs a storage capacity overhead of approximately 7-11%, depending on the disk type. On systems with many aggregates, this can result in lost storage capacity.
However, the overhead comes about due to additional block-checksumming on the disk level as well as usual file system overhead, similar to the overhead in file systems like NTFS or EXT3. Block checksumming helps to ensure that data errors at the disk drive level do not result in data loss.
Data ONTAP 8.0 uses a new 64bit aggregate format, which increases the size limit of FlexVolume to approximately 100TB (depending on storage platform) and also increases the size limit of aggregates to more than 100 TB on newer models (depending on storage platform) thus restoring the ability to configure large spindle counts to increase performance and storage efficiency. ()
Performance
AI Performance testings (image distortion disabled):
Model history
This list may omit some models. Information taken from spec.org, netapp.com and storageperformance.org
EOA = End of Availability
SPECsfs with "*" is clustered result. SPECsfs performed include SPECsfs93, SPECsfs97, SPECsfs97_R1 and SPECsfs2008. Results of different benchmark versions are not comparable.
See also
Network attached storage
NetApp
ONTAP Operation System, used in NetApp storage systems
Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL), used in NetApp storage systems
References
External links
SnapLock Technical Report
Server appliance
Network-attached storage
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52937935
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keidane%20McAlpine
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Keidane McAlpine
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Keidane McAlpine (born January 12, 1975) is an American college soccer coach. He is the head coach of Georgia Bulldogs women's soccer. He led the USC Trojans women's soccer to the 2016 National Championship.
Coaching career
In July 2006, he was hired as an assistant coach at Auburn. He was hired to be the head coach at Washington State in January 2012. He was then hired to be the head coach at USC in December 2013. In July 2016, McAlpine signed a contract extension at USC. McAlpine led the Trojans to a national championship in 2016.
In November 2021, McAlpine was hired as coach at Georgia.
College head coaching record
References
External links
USC bio
1975 births
Living people
American soccer players
American soccer coaches
American women's soccer coaches
Auburn Tigers women's soccer coaches
Birmingham–Southern Panthers women's soccer coaches
USC Trojans women's soccer coaches
Washington State Cougars women's soccer coaches
Birmingham–Southern Panthers men's soccer players
Association footballers not categorized by position
Georgia Bulldogs women's soccer coaches
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15340084
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%20formatting%20and%20storage%20bugs
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Time formatting and storage bugs
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In computer science, time formatting and storage bugs are a class of software bugs that may cause time and date calculation or display to be improperly handled. These are most commonly manifestations of arithmetic overflow, but can also be the result of other issues. The most well-known consequence of bugs of this type is the Y2K problem, but many other milestone dates or times exist that have caused or will cause problems depending on various programming deficiencies.
Year 1975
On 4 January 1975, the 12-bit field that had been used for dates in the DECsystem-10 operating systems overflowed. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed.
Year 1978
The Digital Equipment Corporation OS/8 operating system for the PDP-8 computer used only three bits for the year, representing the years 1970 to 1977.
This was recognized when the later COS-310 operating system was developed, and dates were recorded differently.
Year 1989
Some mainframe programs were written to encode dates as the number of days since a 'zero date' of 1 January 1900, storing them as signed 16-bit binary integers. On 18 September 1989, these programs began to fail, the date being exactly 32,768 (215) days since the zero date. Values on and after this day do not fit into a signed 16-bit integer, but overflow and return negative values.
Year 1997
The Domain/OS clock, which is based on the number of 4-microsecond units that has occurred since 1 January 1980, rolled past 47 bits on 2 November 1997, rendering unpatched systems unusable.
Year 1999
In the last few months before the year 2000, two other date-related milestones occurred that received less publicity than the then-impending Y2K problem.
First GPS rollover
GPS dates are expressed as a week number and a day-of-week number, with the week number transmitted as a ten-bit value. This means that every 1024 weeks (about 19.6 years) after Sunday 6 January 1980 (the GPS epoch), the date resets again to that date; this happened for the first time at 23:59:47 on Saturday 21 August 1999, the second time at 23:59:42 UTC on 6 April 2019, and will happen again on 20 November 2038. To address this concern, modernised GPS navigation messages use a 13-bit field, which only repeats every 8,192 weeks (157 years), and will not return to zero until near the year 2137.
9/9/99
In many programs or data sets, "9/9/99" was used as a rogue value to indicate either an unresolved date or as a terminator to indicate no further data was in the set. This raised issues upon the arrival of the actual date this represents, 9 September 1999.
Year 2000
Two-digit year representations
Follow-on problems caused by certain temporary fixes to the Y2K problem will crop up at various points in the 21st century. Some programs were made Y2K-compliant by continuing to use two digit years, but picking an arbitrary year prior to which those years are interpreted as 20xx, and after which are interpreted as 19xx.
For example, a program may have been changed so that it treats two-digit year values 00–68 as referring to 2000 through 2068, and values 69–99 as referring to 1969 through 1999. Such a program will not be able to correctly deal with years beyond 2068.
For applications required to calculate the birth year (or another past year), such an algorithm has long been used to overcome the Year 1900 problem, but it has failed to recognise people over 100 years old.
Year 2010
Some systems had problems once the year rolled over to 2010. This was dubbed by some in the media as the "Y2K+10" or "Y2.01k" problem.
The main source of problems was confusion between hexadecimal number encoding and BCD encodings of numbers. The numbers 0 through 9 are encoded in both hexadecimal and BCD as 00 through 09. But the decimal number 10 is encoded in hexadecimal as 0A and in BCD as 10. Thus a BCD 10 interpreted as a hexadecimal encoding erroneously represents the decimal number 16.
For example, the SMS protocol uses BCD encoding for dates, so some mobile phone software incorrectly reported dates of messages as 2016 instead of 2010. Windows Mobile was the first software reported to have been affected by this glitch; in some cases WM6 changed the date of any incoming SMS message sent after 1 January 2010 from the year 2010 to 2016.
Other systems affected include EFTPOS terminals, and the PlayStation 3 (except the Slim model).
The most important such glitch occurred in Germany, where upwards of 20 million bank cards became unusable, and with Citibank Belgium, whose digipass customer identification chips stopped working.
Year 2011
Taiwan officially uses the Minguo calendar, which considers the Gregorian year 1912 to be its year 1. Thus, the Gregorian year 2011 is the ROC year 100, its first 3-digit year.
Year 2013
The uncrewed Deep Impact spaceprobe lost communication with Earth on 11 August 2013, after a clock counted 232 deciseconds (tenths of seconds) since 1 January 2000.
Year 2015
Older Samsung mobile phones with Agere chipsets, such as Samsung SGH-C170, were unable to change dates beyond 31 December 2014 and before 1 January 1998.
Year 2019
Second GPS rollover
The second GPS week number rollover occurred.
Japanese calendar transition
On 30 April 2019, Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicated in favor of his son Naruhito. As years in Japan are traditionally referred to by era names that correspond to the reign of each emperor, this resulted in a new era name, Reiwa (令和), following Naruhito's accession to the throne the following day. Because the previous emperor, Hirohito, died 7 January 1989 and Akihito's reign mostly corresponded with the rise in the use of computers, most software had not been tested to ensure correct behavior on an era change, while testing was further complicated by the fact that the new era name was not revealed until 1 April 2019.
Therefore, errors were expected from software that did not anticipate a new era.
Year 2020
The video games WWE 2K20 and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order would both crash on 1 January 2020, when the year rolled over. The glitches could only be circumvented by resetting the year back to 2019 until a patch was released. Additionally, Crystal Reports 8.5 would fail to generate specific reports starting in 2020.
Parkeon parking meters in New York City and other locations were unable to accept credit cards as a form of payment starting in 2020. A workaround was implemented, but required each meter to be individually updated. In New York, the meters were not expected to be fixed until 9 January.
In Poland, 5,000 cash registers stopped printing the date out properly.
Suunto sport smart watches showed out an error in computing week days, that was presented with a +2 step (aka: FRI rather WED, SAT rather than THU). For Suunto Spartan model watches, the bug was fixed with firmware release 2.8.32.
Classic Mac OS
The control panel in Classic Mac OS versions 6, 7, and 8 only allows the date to be set as high as 31 December 2019, although the system is able to continue to advance time beyond that date.
Year 2021
Samsung users reported that phones running on the latest One UI 3.0 update or Android 11 lost access to the battery and charging statistics starting in 2021. Affected devices would not report usage statistics, thus leaving those sections blank. Older Sony Bravia models now report invalid data when trying to set EPG reminders.
Year 2022
Dates that are stored in the format yymmddHHMM converted to a signed 32-bit integer overflowed on 1 January 2022, as 2=2147483648. Notably affected was the malware-scanning component update numbers of Microsoft Exchange, which appear to be used for a mathematical check to determine the latest update.
Honda and Acura cars manufactured between 2004 and 2012 containing GPS navigation systems incorrectly displayed the year as 2002. This problem was due to an overflow on the GPS epoch. Honda confirmed that the issue will resolve itself in August 2022.
Year 2025
In Japan, some older computer systems using the Japanese calendar that have not been updated still count years according to the Shōwa era. The year 2025 corresponds in those systems to Shōwa 100, which can cause problems if the software assumes two digits for the year.
Year 2028
Some systems store their year as a single-byte offset from 1900, which gives a range of 255 (8 bits) and allows dates up to 2155 to be safely represented. Unfortunately, not all systems use an unsigned byte: some have been mistakenly coded with a signed byte which only allows a range of 127 years, meaning that the date field in the software will be incorrect after 2027 and can cause unpredictable behaviour. Several pieces of optical disc software that operates using the ISO 9660 format are affected by this.
During the late 1970s, on Data General Nova and Eclipse systems, the World Computer Corporation (doing credit union applications) created a date format with a 16-bit date field for 128 years (7 bits - note 1900+128=2028), 12 months (4 bits) and 31 days (5 bits). This allowed dates to be directly comparable using unsigned functions. Some systems, including HP 3000, still use this format, although a patch has been developed by outside consultants.
Year 2031
Some systems, like MediaTek's Nucleus OS, only go up to 31 December 2030.
Year 2032
Palm OS uses both signed integers with the 1970 epoch, as well as unsigned integers with the 1904 epoch, for different system functions, such as for system clock, and file dates (see PDB format). While this should result in Palm OS being susceptible to the 2038 problem, Palm OS also uses a 7-bit field for storing the year value, with a different epoch counting from 1904, resulting in a maximum year of 2031 (1904+127).
Year 2036
The Network Time Protocol has an overflow issue related to the Year 2038 problem, which manifests itself at 06:28:16 UTC on 7 February 2036, rather than 2038. The 64-bit timestamps used by NTP consist of a 32-bit part for seconds and a 32-bit part for fractional second, giving NTP a time scale that rolls over every 232 seconds (136 years) and a theoretical resolution of 2−32 second (233 picoseconds). NTP uses an epoch of 1 January 1900. The first rollover occurs in 2036, prior to the UNIX year 2038 problem.
Year 2038
Unix time rollover
The original implementation of the Unix operating system stored system time as a 32-bit signed integer representing the number of seconds past the Unix epoch: midnight UTC 00:00:00 on Thursday, 1 January 1970. This value will roll over after midnight UTC 03:14:07 on Tuesday, 19 January 2038. This problem has been addressed in most modern Unix and Unix-like operating systems by storing system time as a 64-bit signed integer, although individual applications, protocols, and file formats will still need to be changed as well.
DVB rollover
The Digital Video Broadcast system has an issue on 22 April 2038, when the 16 bits used to transmit Modified Julian Days used for electronic guide scheduling will restart from zero. The ETSI EN 300 368 specification mentions in Annex C that the provided MJD formulas are valid until 28 February 2100, but makes no mention of the limits imposed by the 16 bits used to transmit the resulting value.
Third GPS rollover
The third GPS week number rollover will occur.
Year 2040
Early Apple Macintosh computers store time in their real-time clocks (RTCs) and HFS filesystems as an unsigned 32-bit number of seconds since 00:00:00 on 1 January 1904. After 06:28:15 on 6 February 2040 (i.e. 232-1 seconds from the epoch), this will wrap around to 1904: further to this, HFS+, the default format for all of Apple's recent Macintosh computers, is also affected. The replacement Apple File System resolves this issue.
ProDOS for the Apple II computers only supports two-digit year numbers. To avoid Y2K issues, Apple issued a technical note stating that the year number was to represent 1940-2039. Software for the platform may incorrectly display dates beginning in 2040, though a third-party effort is underway to update ProDOS and application software to support years up to 4095.
Year 2042
On 18 September 2042, the Time of Day Clock (TODC) on the S/370 IBM mainframe and its successors, including the current zSeries, will roll over.
Older TODCs were implemented as a 64-bit count of 2 microsecond (0.244 ns) units, and the standard base was 1 January 1900 UT. In July 1999 the extended TODC clock was announced, which extended the clock to the right (that is, the extended bits are less significant than the original bits). The actual resolution depends on the model, but the format is consistent, and will, therefore, roll over after 252 microseconds.
The TODC value is accessible to user mode programs and is often used for timing and for generating unique IDs for events.
While IBM has defined and implemented a longer (128-bit) hardware format on recent machines, which extends the timer on both ends by at least 8 additional bits, many programs continue to rely on the 64-bit format which remains as an accessible subset of the longer timer.
Year 2048
The ATSC system will have an issue similar to the DVB issue described above after 2048 due to its use of signed 32-bit GPS seconds that begin from 6 January 1980.
The capacity planning logic in the ERP system SAP S/4HANA supports only finish dates up to 19 January 2048 (24855 days from 1 January 1980). This concerns e.g. the production, maintenance and inspection planning.
Year 2051
The Wii and Nintendo 3DS will roll over at the end of 31 December 2050, rolling back to 1 January 2000. Some games on those consoles that have their own calendar systems, will roll back to a different year determined by the game; such as Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which will roll back to 1 January 2012.
Year 2061
The Nintendo Switch does not allow users to input any date past 2060-12-31. However, the system is still able to advance time beyond that date.
Year 2079
Days 32,768 and 65,536
Programs that store dates as the number of days since an arbitrary date (or epoch) are vulnerable to roll-over or wrap-around effects if the values are not wide enough to allow the date values to span a large enough time range expected for the application. Signed 16-bit binary values roll over after 32,768 (215) days from the epoch date, producing negative values. Some mainframe systems experienced software failures because they had encoded dates as the number of days since 1 January 1900, which produced unexpected negative day numbers on the roll-over date of 18 September 1989. Similarly, unsigned 16-bit binary days counts overflow after 65,536 (216) days, which are truncated to zero values. For software using an epoch of 1 January 1900, this will occur on 6 June 2079.
Year 2080
Some (if not all) Nokia phones that run Series 40 (such as the Nokia X2-00) only support dates up to 2079-12-31, and thus will be unable to display dates after this. One workaround is to use the year 1996, 2024 or 2052 in lieu of 2080 (as compatible leap years) to display the correct day of the week, date and month on the main screen.
Systems storing the year as a two-digit value 00..99 internally only, like many RTCs, may roll over from 2079-12-31 to the IBM PC and DOS epoch of 1980-01-01.
Year 2100
DOS and Windows file date API and conversion functions (such as INT 21h/AH=2Ah) officially support dates up to 2099-12-31 only (even though the underlying FAT filesystem would theoretically support dates up to 2107). Hence, DOS-based operating systems, as well as applications that convert other formats to the FAT/DOS format, may show unexpected behavior starting 2100-01-01.
Another problem will emerge at the end of 2100-02-28, since 2100 is not a leap year. As many common implementations of the leap year algorithm are incomplete or are simplified, they will erroneously assume 2100 to be a leap year, causing the date to roll over from 2100-02-28 to 2100-02-29 instead of 2100-03-01.
The Nintendo DS and GameCube, as well as the Sony PlayStation 4 only allow users to set dates up to the year 2099. In the case of the Nintendo DS, the system will not advance time beyond 2099-12-31, where as the GameCube and PS4 will still roll over into 2100 and beyond, even in spite of the fact that users of those game consoles cannot manually input the date and time that far out.
Year 2106
Many existing file formats, communications protocols, and application interfaces employ a variant of the Unix date format, storing the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch (midnight UTC, 1 January 1970) as an unsigned 32-bit binary integer. This value will roll over on 7 February 2106 at 06:28:15. That is, at this time the number of seconds since 1 January 1970 is FFFF FFFF in hex.
(This storage representation problem is independent of programs that internally store and operate on system times as 64-bit signed integer values.)
Year 2108
The date timestamps stored in FAT filesystems, originally introduced with 86-DOS 0.42 in 25 February 1981 and carried over into MS-DOS, PC DOS, DR-DOS etc., will overflow at the end of 2107-12-31. The last modification date stamp (and with DELWATCH 2.0+ also the file deletion date stamp, and since DOS 7.0+ optionally also the last access date stamp and creation date stamp), are stored in the directory entry with the year represented as an unsigned seven bit number (0–127), relative to 1980, and thereby unable to indicate any dates in the year 2108 and beyond. The API functions defined to retrieve these dates officially only support dates up to 2099-12-31.
This will also affect the ZIP archive file format, as it uses FAT file modification timestamps internally.
Year 2137
GPS dates are expressed as a week number and a day-of-week number, with the week number initially using a ten-bit value and modernised GPS navigation messages using a 13-bit field. Ten-bit systems would roll over every 1024 weeks (about 19.6 years) after Sunday 6 January 1980 (the GPS epoch), and 13-bit systems roll over every 8192 weeks. Thirteen-bit systems will roll over to zero in 2137.
Year 2262
Some timekeeping systems count nanoseconds since 1970 using a 64-bit signed integer, which will overflow at 11 April 2262 23:47:16. The Go programming language's API is one example. Other examples include the Timestamp object in Python pandas, C++ chrono::system_clock, and the QEMU timers.
Years 4000 and 8000
While most software (including Excel, JavaScript and R) correctly recognizes 4000 and 8000 as leap years (as they are divisible by 400), SAS does not due to an unofficial "4000 year rule".
Thus, date conversions between SAS and other software will go out of sync after February 28, 4000, unless the SAS software accounts for this discrepancy.
Year 4501
Microsoft Outlook uses the date 1 January 4501 as a placeholder for "none" or "empty".
Year 10,000
The year 10,000 will be the first Gregorian year with five digits. Although many people at first consider this year to be so far distant that a problem of this type will never actually occur, certain classes of calculations in disciplines such as astronomy and physics already need to work with years of this magnitude and greater. These applications also have to deal with the Year zero problem. All future years that are powers of 10 have the potential for similar problems.
"RFC 2550 - Y10K and Beyond" discusses solutions for dealing with this problem. While this is one of the "April Fool" RFCs, it raises important points while dressed with a generous helping of humour.
Year 30,828
Beginning 14 September 30,828, Windows will not accept dates beyond this day and on startup, Windows will display an error regarding "invalid system time" in NTFS. This is because the FILETIME value in Windows, which is a 64-bit value corresponding to the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since 1 January 1601, 00:00:00.0000000 UTC, will overflow its maximum possible value on that day at 02:48:05.4775808 UTC. This is because of integer overflow.
Years 32,768 and 65,536
Programs that process years as 16-bit values may encounter problems dealing with either the year 32,768 or 65,536, depending on whether the value is treated as a signed or unsigned integer.
For the year 32,768 problem, years after 32,767 may be interpreted as negative numbers, beginning with −32,768. The year 65,536 problem is more likely to manifest itself by representing the year 65,536 as the year 0.
Year 292,277,026,596 problem
Certain problematic years occur so far in the future (well beyond the likely lifespan of the Earth, the Sun, humanity, and even past some predictions of the lifetime of the universe) that they are mainly referenced as matters of theoretical interest, jokes, or indications that a related problem is not truly solved for any reasonable definition of “solved”.
The year 292,277,026,596 problem (about years in the future) will occur when the 64-bit Unix time overflows after UTC 15:30:08 on Sunday, 4 December, 292,277,026,596 AD.
Relative time overflow
Microsoft
In Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, TCP connection start information was stored in hundredths of a second, using a 32-bit unsigned integer, causing an overflow and TCP connections to fail after 497 days.
Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 had a problem with 2^32 millisecond rollover in a virtual device driver (VTDAPI.VXD), which caused systems to hang after 49.7 days.
Boeing
The Boeing 787 aircraft has had at least two software issues related to time storage. In 2015, an error was reported where time was stored in hundredths of a second, using a signed 32-bit integer, and the systems would crash after 248 days.
In 2020, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive for a problem where, if the aircraft is not powered down completely before reaching 51 days of uptime, systems will begin to display misleading data.
Arduino
The Arduino platform provides a relative time via the millis() function. This function returns an unsigned 32 bit value for "milliseconds since startup", which is designed to roll over every 49.71 days. By default, this is the only timing source available in the platform and programs need to take special care to handle rollovers. Internally, millis() is based on counting timer interrupts. Certain powersave modes disable interrupts and therefore stop the counter from advancing during sleep.
See also
Software bug
Heisenbug
Long Now Foundation
References
Notes
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2002948
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickTransit
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QuickTransit
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QuickTransit is a cross-platform virtualization program developed by Transitive Corporation. It allows software compiled for one specific processor and operating system combination to be executed on a different processor and/or operating system architecture without source code or binary changes.
QuickTransit is an extension of the Dynamite technology developed by the University of Manchester Parallel Architectures and Languages research group, which now forms part of the university's Advanced Processor Technologies research group.
Silicon Graphics announced QuickTransit’s first availability in October 2004 on its Prism visualization systems. These systems, based on Itanium 2 processors and the Linux operating system, used QuickTransit to transparently run application binaries compiled for previous SGI systems based on the MIPS processor and IRIX operating system.
This technology was also licensed by Apple Computer in its transition from PowerPC to Intel (x86) CPUs, starting in 2006. Apple marketed this technology as "Rosetta".
In August 2006, IBM announced a partnership with Transitive to run Linux/x86 binaries on its Power ISA-based Power Systems servers. IBM named this software System p AVE during its beta phase, but it was renamed to PowerVM Lx86 upon release.
In November 2006, Transitive launched QuickTransit for Solaris/SPARC-to-Linux/x86-64, which enabled unmodified Solaris applications compiled for SPARC systems to run on 64-bit x86-based systems running Linux. This was followed in October 2007 by QuickTransit for Solaris/SPARC-to-Linux/Itanium, which enabled Solaris/SPARC applications to run on Itanium systems running Linux. A third product, QuickTransit for Solaris/SPARC-to-Solaris/x86-64, was released in December 2007, enabling Solaris/SPARC applications to run on 64-bit x86 systems running Solaris.
IBM acquired Transitive in June 2009 and merged the company into its Power Systems division. Existing customers of other QuickTransit combinations are supported, and the only combination still available is the PowerVM Lx86 product. Apple removed Rosetta from Mac OS X starting with Mac OS X Lion in 2011.
Most of the original team now work for the BBC, Apple in California and ARM in Manchester.
References
External links
IBM PowerVM site
IBM PowerVM Lx86 Web page
Virtualization software
Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPUOpen
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GPUOpen
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GPUOpen is a middleware software suite originally developed by AMD's Radeon Technologies Group that offers advanced visual effects for computer games. It was released in 2016. GPUOpen serves as an alternative to, and a direct competitor of Nvidia GameWorks. GPUOpen is similar to GameWorks in that it encompasses several different graphics technologies as its main components that were previously independent and separate from one another. However, GPUOpen is entirely open source software, unlike GameWorks which is proprietary and closed.
History
GPUOpen was announced on December 15, 2015, and released on January 26, 2016.
Rationale
Nicolas Thibieroz, AMD's Senior Manager of Worldwide Gaming Engineering, argues that "it can be difficult for developers to leverage their R&D investment on both consoles and PC because of the disparity between the two platforms" and that "proprietary libraries or tools chains with "black box" APIs prevent developers from accessing the code for maintenance, porting or optimizations purposes". He says that upcoming architectures, such as AMD's Rx 400 series "include many features not exposed today in PC graphics APIs".
AMD designed GPUOpen to be a competing open-source middleware stack released under the MIT License. The libraries are intended to increase software portability between video game consoles, PCs and also High-performance computing.
Components
GPUOpen unifies many of AMD's previously separate tools and solutions into one package, also fully open-sourcing them under the MIT License. GPUOpen also makes it easy for developers to get low-level GPU access.
Additionally AMD wants to grant interested developers the kind of low-level "direct access" to their GCN-based GPUs, that surpasses the possibilities of Direct3D 12 or Vulkan. AMD mentioned e.g. a low-level access to the Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACEs). The ACE implement "Asynchronous Compute", but they cannot be freely configured neither under Vulkan nor under Direct3D 12.
GPUOpen is made up of several main components, tools, and SDKs.
Games and CGI
Software for computer-generated imagery (CGI) used in development of computer games and movies alike.
Visual effects libraries
FidelityFX
FidelityFX Super Resolution
FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is used to upsample an input image into a higher resolution. The standard presets for FSR recommended by AMD can be found in the table below. Note that these presets are not the only way in which the algorithm can be used, they are simply recommendations for input/output resolutions. Certain titles, such as Dota 2 have offered resolution sliders to fine tune the scaling percentage.
Tools
The official AMD directory lists:
Having been released by ATI Technologies under the BSD license in 2006? HLSL2GLSL is not part of GPUOpen. Whether similar tools for SPIR-V will be available remains to be seen, as is the official release of the Vulkan (API) itself. Source-code that has been defined as being part of GPUOpen is also part of the Linux kernel (e.g. amdgpu and amdkfd), Mesa 3D and LLVM.
Software development kits
Professional Compute
As of 2022, AMD compute software ecosystem is regrouped under the ROCm metaproject.
Software around Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), General-Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) and High-Performance Computing (HPC)
Radeon Open Compute (ROCm)
AMD's "Boltzmann Initiative" (named after Ludwig Boltzmann) was announced in November 2015 at the SuperComputing15 and productized as the Radeon Open Compute platform (ROCm). It aims to provide an alternative to Nvidia's CUDA which includes a tool to port CUDA source-code to portable (HIP) source-code which can be compiled on both HCC and NVCC.
Radeon Open Compute Kernel (ROCK) driver
Radeon Open Compute Runtime (ROCR) runtime
HCC: Heterogeneous Compute Compiler
HIP: C++ Heterogeneous-Compute Interface for Portability
Heterogeneous System Architecture
HSAIL-GDB: provides an GNU Debugger-based debugging environment for HSA Intermediate Layer (HSAIL)
HSA Runtime APIs
Linux amdkfd v1.6.1 release for Kaveri & Carrizo
Various
clFFT library for Fast Fourier transform written in OpenCL
hcFFT library for Fast Fourier transform written in HCC-optimized C++
Availability
GPUOpen are available under the MIT license to the general public through GitHub starting on January 26, 2016.
There is interlocking between GPUOpen and well established and widespread free software projects, e.g. Linux kernel, Mesa 3D and LLVM.
See also
ROCm
AMD CodeXL
Mantle (API)
Vulkan (API)
List of games with support for high-fidelity image upscaling
References
External links
Free and open-source software
Software using the MIT license
Advanced Micro Devices software
Linux software
Windows software
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape%20Velocity%20Nova
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Escape Velocity Nova
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Escape Velocity Nova (a.k.a. EV Nova or EVN) is a video game developed by Ambrosia Software in collaboration with ATMOS. It is the third game in the Escape Velocity series of space trading and combat games. It was released on March 19, 2002 for Mac OS X and Mac OS 9, and later ported to Windows and released on July 11, 2003. The game's premise, set in a time period after mankind has discovered hyperspace technology, grants the player freedom to take missions, trade goods, steal from other ships, and enter one of six storylines.
Originally a plug-in for Escape Velocity Override created by ATMOS, Nova development began with Ambrosia contracting ATMOS to make the plug-in the scenario for a new game. ATMOS developed the scenario and graphics, while Matt Burch developed the game engine. The game features six different mutually exclusive plot lines, but players have control to act as they will from the start of the game. Reception to the game praised the gameplay, plot, and ability to be replayed, but was critical of the lack of a soundtrack, repetitiveness, and pace and difficulty of the storylines.
Gameplay and plot
In Escape Velocity Nova, the player is placed in command of a shuttlecraft in space. The game is played from a top-down perspective in 2D. A tutorial is offered, but players are granted freedom to act as they will at the start. Players can earn money by purchasing and trading goods, taking missions transporting people or goods to various locations, or by stealing from other ships. The player's ship moves between systems of planets by using a hyperspace jump. At various planets, the player can take on missions and trade goods, buy new ships, or outfit their current ship with new weapons and accessories. Ship classes vary from shuttlecraft to large frigates. There are six different storylines within the game that can be played; each one is mutually exclusive and a new game must be begun to play a different story. A player's choices in the plot can impact the political alignment of the entire map. If players become strong enough, they can demand tribute from a system. Doing so will cause the system to deploy its fleet of ships, but should the player defeat the fleet, the system recognizes the player as its warlord and pays tribute.
Escape Velocity Nova is a shareware game. Its status is enforced in game by a character named Captain Hector, who will continuously remind the player to pay their shareware fee. The game also supports plug-ins, allowing players to create their own ships and campaigns, but access to do so is disallowed if the shareware fee is not paid.
Set in the year 1177 N.C., Escape Velocity Nova'''s plot begins long after mankind has begun to explore outer space. Years before, a person named Omata Kane designed a "hypergate" system connecting systems of human-inhabited worlds that had been discovered by colonists from Earth. Terrorists destroyed the hypergate in the Sol system, which damaged the entire network. With this isolation, warlords arose and fell in the various disconnected systems. The later invention of hyperspace technology allowed for the lost systems to be reconnected, and resulted in order. Centered around Earth and the Sol system is the Federation, while to the south is the Auroran Empire, categorized as "a savage race". Another group, called the Polaris, hold the east, while the north and west are unexplored territory. The player, having just purchased a shuttle, is cast out to begin a life as the captain of their own ship.
DevelopmentNova began as a plug-in for Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity Override in July 1998. A group of students from Tasmania: Dafydd Williams, Jason Cook, and Scott Vardy were fans of Override and began working on a modding project called Override Nova. Their updates on the project were shared on Ambrosia Software's website forums, which caught the attention of Ambrosia employee Andrew Welch. Shortly afterward, the student group took the name ATMOS Software and signed a contract with Ambrosia to work on a new game. Ambrosia Software's Matt Burch developed the game engine, while Welch managed the project and ATMOS developed the graphics and scenario. Burch, who had programmed Escape Velocity and Override, programmed Nova while also working a second job as an engineer. In July 2000, Ambrosia contracted ATMOS to convert the plug-in into the scenario for Nova. Development of the game from Override took approximately 12 months, with an additional 8 months of beta testing. Escape Velocity Nova was released on March 19, 2002 for Mac, and received both OS X and OS 9 releases. Later that year was announced to be receiving a Windows port, which was released on July 11, 2003. A 2008 update for Mac was built as a universal binary with native support for Intel processors.
Reception Escape Velocity Nova received praise for its gameplay and game design, especially in light of it being a shareware game. MacAddict gave Escape Velocity Nova its Editor's Choice Award. Reviewer Chris Barylick stated that the gameplay is essentially the same as its predecessors, Escape Velocity and Override. He called the game "more beautifully designed than you could expect a shareware game to be". Two years after the game's release, Barylick said the game was still worth the download. In a review for Inside Mac Games, Richard Porcher expressed that Nova's graphics were superior for a shareware game. Macworlds Peter Cohen lauded the combination of action-based space battles with adventure-style gaming. He noted the game made improvements over Nova's predecessors while stating that Ambrosia Software "has wisely left alone what ain't broken."
The game's story and game length received more mixed reviews. Porcher stated that Nova's strongest point is its ability to be replayed repeatedly, especially with support for plug-ins in the game. He also pointed out flaws with the storylines being too easy and the plot lines being mutually exclusive, but felt all would be addressed with plug-ins. PC Gamer's J.T. Trollman gave praise for the game's story writing but was critical of the game's lengthy repetition and time span between points in the story. NomaD of Russian website Absolute Games praised the game's large map and scenario, while also critical of the game's lack of a soundtrack. By contrast, MacNN'' was critical of the small universe size and dialogue, though it called the game "extraordinary" and praised the game's replayability.
References
External links
MacGameFiles: Escape Velocity Nova
2002 video games
Role-playing video games
Classic Mac OS games
MacOS games
Windows games
Ambrosia Software games
Space trading and combat simulators
Video games developed in Australia
Video games developed in the United States
Space opera video games
Adventure games set in space
Fiction set around Polaris
Fiction set around Wolf 359
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market%20fragmentation
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Market fragmentation
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Fragmentation in a technology market happens when a market is composed of multiple highly-incompatible technologies or technology stacks, forcing prospective buyers of a single product to commit to an entire product ecosystem, rather than maintaining free choice of complementary products and services.
Two common varieties of fragmentation are market fragmentation and version fragmentation.
Fragmentation is the opposite of, and is solved by standardization.
Market fragmentation
Market fragmentation happens when multiple competing firms offer highly-incompatible technologies or technology stacks, likely leading to vendor lock-in.
Version fragmentation
Version fragmentation happens when a firm offers multiple incompatible versions or variations of a single product, either in tandem or over time as a result of accumulated changes to product specification.
Android and iOS operating systems
A term being used in the Android development community is Android fragmentation. Fragmentation within Android is when a variety of versions of the Android platform, combined with a mixture of hardware result in the inability for some devices to properly run certain applications. Despite Google upgrading its Android operating system to version 4.4, also known as KitKat, users continued to use the earlier versions of the operating system, primarily Gingerbread (that's down to 0.3% share). The cause is primarily because hardware manufacturers of the devices are not able to upgrade to the later operating system for a number of reasons. As a result, applications written for one version will not operate consistently on the other, and vice versa.
In August 2010, developers of the OpenSignal wireless crowd-sourcing app detected 3,997 distinct values for "android.build.MODEL" among users of their app. This variable represents the device model, though it may be altered by adding a custom ROM. OpenSignal acknowledged that while this made it problematic to develop apps, the wide variety of models allows Android to enter more markets.
Developers have placed the blame on Google and the hardware manufacturers, while Google has blamed software developers for not staying within the guidelines of its terms and conditions. The issue with fragmentation has forced Google to add a prohibition to its terms and conditions for its software development kit, which developers must accept before developing for the Android operating system. For example, OpenSignal and Testdroid studies have found out that OEMs fragment Android ecosystem significantly more than Google.
References
External links
The Guardian: Android is more fragmented than ever. Should developers or users worry?
A Research summary referenced in The Guardian's article about Android fragmentation (Q1'2014)
File system management
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent%20kernel
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Accent kernel
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Accent was an operating system kernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Accent was developed as a follow-on to the Aleph kernel developed at the University of Rochester, fixing several of its problems and re-targeting its hardware support for networks of workstation machines (specifically, the Three Rivers PERQ) instead of minicomputers. Accent was part of the SPICE Project at CMU which ran from 1981 to 1985. Development of Accent led directly to the famous Mach kernel.
The original Aleph project used data copying to allow programs to communicate. Applications could open ports, which would allow them to receive data sent to them by other programs. The idea was to write a number of servers that would control resources on the machine, passing data along until it reached an end user. In this respect it was similar in concept to Unix, although the implementation was much different, using messages instead of memory. This turned out to have a number of problems, notably that copying memory on their Data General Eclipse was very expensive.
In 1979 one of the Aleph engineers, Richard Rashid, left for CMU and started work on a new version of Aleph that avoided its problems. In particular, Accent targeted workstation machines featuring a MMU, using the MMU to "copy" large blocks of memory via mapping, making the memory appear to be in two different places. Only data that was changed by one program or another would have to be physically copied, using the copy-on-write algorithm.
To understand the difference, consider two interacting programs, one feeding a file to another. Under Aleph the data from the provider would have to be copied 2kB at a time (due to features of the Eclipse) into the user process. Under Accent the data simply "appeared" in the user process for the cost of a few instructions sent to the MMU. Only if the user process changed the data would anything need to be copied, and even then, only the portions of the data that actually changed.
Another problem in Aleph was that its ports were identified by unique ID's that were assigned sequentially. It was simple for a program to "guess" them, thereby gaining access to resources on the computer that it had not been granted. This made the Aleph system rather insecure.
To address this, Accent made the port ID's internal to the kernel only. Instances of a program opening ports were handed back different IDs, stored in a mapping in the kernel. Whenever a message was sent to the kernel for delivery, it would first check that the program had access to the port in question by comparing with the mapping table for that program. Guessing port numbers no longer worked, the program's port IDs gave no clue of the "real" IDs in the kernel, and any attempt to talk on one not explicitly handed out by the kernel was an error. Thus Accent's ports represented capabilities, granting rights to use resources as the result of being handed a valid port ID. This kind of capability system, using subject-specific identifiers for capabilities, is called a C-list system.
After a few years the Accent project started looking less and less interesting. In the early 1980s many felt that future gains in performance would be made by adding more CPUs to machines, something the Accent kernel was not really equipped to handle. Adding to the problem was that a new generation of more powerful workstations were appearing, meaning that Accent would likely have to be ported to them anyway. Likewise Unix had grown into the operating system of choice for experimental work, both on operating system design, as well as a development platform for user applications.
In order to address these changes, it was decided to end work on Accent and start again. The new system would use Accent's ports system within a Unix kernel, creating the famed Mach kernel.
Some features of Accent:
Port capabilities
Copy-on-write virtual memory management
Distributed file management
Distributed process management
Protected message-based inter-process communication
Ability to run processes with different microcoded instruction sets.
References
External links
Monolithic kernels
Carnegie Mellon University software
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warez%20scene
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Warez scene
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The Warez scene, often referred to as The Scene, is a worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups specializing in obtaining and illegally releasing digital media for free before their official sale date. The Scene distributes all forms of digital media, including computer games, movies, TV shows, music, and pornography. The Scene is meant to be hidden from the public, only being shared with those within the community. However, as files were commonly leaked outside the community and their popularity grew, some individuals from The Scene began leaking files and uploading them to filehosts, torrents and ed2k.
The Scene has no central leadership, location, or other organizational conventions. The groups themselves create a ruleset for each Scene category (for example, MP3 or TV) that then becomes the active rules for encoding material. These rulesets include a rigid set of requirements that warez groups (shortened as "grps") must follow in releasing and managing material. The groups must follow these rules when uploading material and, if the release has a technical error or breaks a rule, other groups may "nuke" (flag as bad content) the release. Groups are in constant competition to get releases up as fast as possible, even though there are no real rewards for their work (except for access to The Scene). First appearing around the time of BBSes, The Scene is composed primarily of people dealing with and distributing media content for which special skills and advanced software are required.
History
The warez scene started emerging in the 1970s, used by predecessors of software cracking and reverse engineering groups. Their work was made available on privately run bulletin board systems (BBSes). The first BBSes were located in the United States, but similar boards started appearing in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and mainland Europe. At the time, setting up a machine capable of distributing data was not trivial, and required a certain amount of technical skill; this was usually taken on as a technical challenge. The BBSes typically hosted several megabytes of material, with the best boards having multiple phone lines and up to one hundred megabytes of storage space, a considerable expense at the time. Releases were mostly games and later software.
As the world of software development evolved to counter the distribution of material, and as the software and hardware needed for distribution became readily available to anyone, The Scene adapted to the changes and turned from simple distribution to actual cracking of copying restrictions and non-commercial reverse engineering. As many groups of people who wanted to do this emerged, a requirement for promotion of individual groups became evident, which prompted the evolution of the artscene, which specialized in the creation of graphical art associated with individual groups. The groups would promote their abilities with ever more sophisticated and advanced software, graphical art, and later also music (demoscene).
The subcommunities (artscene, demoscene, etc.), which were doing nothing illegal, eventually branched off. The programs containing the group promotional material (coding/graphical/musical presentations) evolved to become separate programs distributed through The Scene and were nicknamed Intros and later Cracktros.
The demoscene grew especially strong in Scandinavia, where annual gatherings are hosted.
Release procedure
When releasing material, groups must first encode properly so as not to be nuked, which shows up as a cautionary flag to potential users. After encoding, they upload the files to a topsite, an FTP server where all the files originate. When the upload is complete, they execute a command that causes the name and category of the release to be announced in the topsite's IRC channel. This FTP server and IRC are hidden and closed to the public. New releases are also announced 0sec (meaning seconds to minutes after official scene pre) on various public websites. This is called a "pre" release. Once this is done, all other releases for the same material are nuked as duplicates ("dupes"). However, if there is a technical error or the file breaks the ruleset for the category, the original "pre" release will be nuked. Other groups then encode the same material and release it with a "PROPER" tag in the filename. The same group may re-encode the file, with the new release marked as "REPACK". If the issue was with something other than the main content, the same group can release a "fix", labelled "DIRFIX", "NFOFIX", etc. as appropriate.
Each release in The Scene consists of a folder containing the material (sometimes split into RAR pieces), plus an NFO and SFV file. The NFO is a text file which has essential information about the files encoded, including a reason for the nuke if the file is a PROPER or REPACK release. A robust NFO file may contain a group's mission statement, recruitment requirements, greetings, and contact info; many groups have a standard ASCII art template for the file, with the most prolific exhibiting elaborate artistic examples. The SFV file uses checksums to ensure that the files of a release are working properly and have not been damaged or tampered with. This is typically done with the aid of an external executable like QuickSFV or SFV Checker. Failure to include an NFO or SFV file in the release will generally result in a nuke, as these are essential components of the warez standard to which The Scene adheres.
In 2012, the Scene had over 100 active groups releasing material. Over 1,000 releases are made each day, with a cumulative total of more than five million releases through 2012.
Crackers and reverse engineers
Cracking has been the core element of The Scene since its beginning. This part of The Scene community specializes in the creation of software cracks and keygens. The challenge of cracking and reverse engineering complicated software is what makes it an attraction. The game cracking group SKIDROW described it as follows in one of their NFO files:
The game ripping group MYTH expressed it as follows in their NFO files:
David Grime, former DrinkOrDie member, describes the motivation of the warez scene as follows: "It's all about stature. They are just trying to make a name for themselves for no reason other than self-gratification."
See also
Legal aspects of file sharing
Copyright infringement
Crack intro
FXP board
Topsite
Standard (warez)
The Scene – miniseries
How Music Got Free – book by Stephen Witt
List of warez groups
SCA (computer virus) – first computer virus for the Commodore Amiga, created by Swiss Cracking Association
Twilight – pressed warez disks sold in the Netherlands in the late nineties using scene releases
I Am... (Nas album) – one of the first major label releases to be widely leaked using MP3 technology.
References
Further reading
Stephen Witt, How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy, Viking (June 16, 2015), hardcover, 304 pages,
External links
Scene history in video on YouTube
The Recollection Magazine – Recollections of the early scene.
Ultimate C64 Scene Mag Archive – Collection of C64 disk and paper magazines.
Copyright infringement
Warez
Subcultures
File sharing communities
Hacker culture
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaluation%20function
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Evaluation function
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An evaluation function, also known as a heuristic evaluation function or static evaluation function, is a function used by game-playing computer programs to estimate the value or goodness of a position (usually at a leaf or terminal node) in a game tree. Most of the time, the value is either a real number or a quantized integer, often in nths of the value of a playing piece such as a stone in go or a pawn in chess, where n may be tenths, hundredths or other convenient fraction, but sometimes, the value is an array of three values in the unit interval, representing the win, draw, and loss percentages of the position.
There do not exist analytical or theoretical models for evaluation functions for unsolved games, nor are such functions entirely ad-hoc. The composition of evaluation functions is determined empirically by inserting a candidate function into an automaton and evaluating its subsequent performance. A significant body of evidence now exists for several games like chess, shogi and go as to the general composition of evaluation functions for them.
Games in which game playing computer programs employ evaluation functions include chess, go, shogi (Japanese chess), othello, hex, backgammon, and checkers. In addition, with the advent of programs such as MuZero, computer programs also use evaluation functions to play video games, such as those from the Atari 2600. Some games like tic-tac-toe are strongly solved, and do not require search or evaluation because a discrete solution tree is available.
Relation to search
A tree of such evaluations is usually part of a search algorithm, such as Monte Carlo tree search or a minimax algorithm like alpha–beta search. The value is presumed to represent the relative probability of winning if the game tree were expanded from that node to the end of the game. The function looks only at the current position (i.e. what spaces the pieces are on and their relationship to each other) and does not take into account the history of the position or explore possible moves forward of the node (therefore static). This implies that for dynamic positions where tactical threats exist, the evaluation function will not be an accurate assessment of the position. These positions are termed non-quiescent; they require at least a limited kind of search extension called quiescence search to resolve threats before evaluation. Some values returned by evaluation functions are absolute rather than heuristic, if a win, loss or draw occurs at the node.
There is an intricate relationship between search and knowledge in the evaluation function. Deeper search favors less near-term tactical factors and more subtle long-horizon positional motifs in the evaluation. There is also a trade-off between efficacy of encoded knowledge and computational complexity: computing detailed knowledge may take so much time that performance decreases, so approximations to exact knowledge are often better. Because the evaluation function depends on the nominal depth of search as well as the extensions and reductions employed in the search, there is no generic or stand-alone formulation for an evaluation function. An evaluation function which works well in one application will usually need to be substantially re-tuned or re-trained to work effectively in another application.
In chess
In chess, the output of an evaluation function is typically an integer, and the units of the evaluation function are typically referred to as pawns. The term 'pawn' refers to the value when the player has one more pawn than the opponent in a position, as explained in Chess piece relative value. The integer 1 usually represents some fraction of a pawn, and commonly used in computer chess are centipawns, which are a hundredth of a pawn. Larger evaluations indicate a material imbalance or positional advantage or that a win of material is usually imminent. Very large evaluations may indicate that checkmate is imminent. An evaluation function also implicitly encodes the value of the right to move, which can vary from a small fraction of a pawn to win or loss.
Handcrafted evaluation functions
Historically in computer chess, the terms of an evaluation function are constructed (i.e. handcrafted) by the engine developer, as opposed to discovered through training neural networks. The general approach for constructing handcrafted evaluation functions is as a linear combination of various weighted terms determined to influence the value of a position. However, not all terms in a handcrafted evaluation function are linear, some, such as king safety and pawn structure, are nonlinear. Each term may be considered to be composed of first order factors (those that depend only on the space and any piece on it), second order factors (the space in relation to other spaces), and nth-order factors (dependencies on history of the position).
A handcrafted evaluation function typically has of a material balance term that usually dominates the evaluation. The conventional values used for material are Queen=9, Rook=5; Knight or Bishop=3; Pawn=1; the king is assigned an arbitrarily large value, usually larger than the total value of all the other pieces. In addition, it typically has a set of positional terms usually totaling no more than the value of a pawn, though in some positions the positional terms can get much larger, such as when checkmate is imminent. Handcrafted evaluation functions typically contain dozens to hundreds of individual terms.
In practice, effective handcrafted evaluation functions are created not by ever expanding the list of evaluated parameters, but by careful tuning or training of the weights relative to each other, of a modest set of parameters such as those described above. Toward this end, positions from various databases are employed, such as from master games, engine games, Lichess games, or even from self-play, as in reinforcement learning.
Example
An example handcrafted evaluation function for chess might look like the following:
c1 * material + c2 * mobility + c3 * king safety + c4 * center control + c5 * pawn structure + c6 * king tropism + ...
Each of the terms is a weight multiplied by a difference factor: the value of white's material or positional terms minus black's.
The material term is obtained by assigning a value in pawn-units to each of the pieces.
Mobility is the number of legal moves available to a player, or alternately the sum of the number of spaces attacked or defended by each piece, including spaces occupied by friendly or opposing pieces. Effective mobility, or the number of "safe" spaces a piece may move to, may also be taken into account.
King safety is a set of bonuses and penalties assessed for the location of the king and the configuration of pawns and pieces adjacent to or in front of the king, and opposing pieces bearing on spaces around the king.
Center control is derived from how many pawns and pieces occupy or bear on the four center spaces and sometimes the 12 spaces of the extended center.
Pawn structure is a set of penalties and bonuses for various strengths and weaknesses in pawn structure, such as penalties for doubled and isolated pawns.
King tropism is a bonus for closeness (or penalty for distance) of certain pieces, especially queens and knights, to the opposing king.
Neural networks
While neural networks have been used in the evaluation functions of chess engines since the late 1980s, they did not become popular in computer chess until the late 2010s, as the hardware needed to train neural networks was not strong enough at the time, and fast training algorithms and network topology and architectures have not been developed yet. Initially, neural network based evaluation functions generally consisted of one neural network for the entire evaluation function, with input features selected from the board and whose output is an integer, normalized to the centipawn scale so that a value of 100 is roughly equivalent to a material advantage of a pawn. The parameters in neural networks are typically trained using reinforcement learning or supervised learning. More recently, evaluation functions in computer chess have started to use multiple neural networks, with each neural network trained for a specific part of the evaluation, such as pawn structure or endgames. This allows for hybrid approaches where an evaluation function consists of both neural networks and handcrafted terms.
Deep neural networks have been used, albeit infrequently, in computer chess after Matthew Lai's Giraffe in 2015 and Deepmind's AlphaZero in 2017 demonstrated the feasibility of deep neural networks in evaluation functions. The distributed computing project Leela Chess Zero was started shortly after to attempt to replicate the results of Deepmind's AlphaZero paper. Apart from the size of the networks, the neural networks used in AlphaZero and Leela Chess Zero also differ from those used in traditional chess engines as they have two outputs, one for evaluation (the value head) and one for move ordering (the policy head), rather than only one output for evaluation. In addition, while it is possible to set the output of the value head of Leela's neural network to a real number to approximate the centipawn scale used in traditional chess engines, by default the output is the win-draw-loss percentages, a vector of three values each from the unit interval. Since deep neural networks are very large, engines using deep neural networks in their evaluation function usually require a graphics processing unit in order to efficiently calculate the evaluation function.
Piece-square tables
An important technique in evaluation since at least the early 1990s is the use of piece-square tables (also called piece-value tables) for evaluation. Each table is a set of 64 values corresponding to the squares of the chessboard. The most basic implementation of piece-square table consists of separate tables for each type of piece per player, which in chess results in 12 piece-square tables in total. More complex variants of piece-square tables are used in computer chess, one of the most prominent being the king-piece-square table, used in Stockfish, Komodo Dragon, Ethereal, and many other engines, where each table considers the position of every type of piece in relation to the player's king, rather than the position of the every type of piece alone. The values in the tables are bonuses/penalties for the location of each piece on each space, and encode a composite of many subtle factors difficult to quantify analytically. In handcrafted evaluation functions, there is sometimes two sets of tables: one for the opening/middlegame, and one for the endgame; positions of the middle game are interpolated between the two.
A common handcrafted evaluation function used in computer chess is the Piece-Square Table Only, or PeSTO for short, which is a very simple evaluation function consisting of material terms and only two sets of piece square tables, one for the opening and one for the endgame, for the positional terms. Nevertheless, PeSTO is able to perform as well as many other handcrafted evaluation functions used in computer chess. PeSTO was first created by Tomasz Michniewski in 2003 under the name "Simplified Evaluation Function", and the current name was introduced by Ronald Friederich when he implemented PeSTO in his engine rofChade.
Originally developed in computer shogi in 2018 by Yu Nasu, the most common evaluation function used in computer chess today is the efficiently updatable neural network, or NNUE for short, a sparse and shallow neural network that has only piece-square tables as the inputs into the neural network. In fact, the most basic NNUE architecture is simply the 12 piece-square tables described above, a neural network with only one layer and no activation functions. An efficiently updatable neural network architecture, using king-piece-square tables as its inputs, was first ported to chess in a Stockfish derivative called Stockfish NNUE, publicly released on May 30, 2020, and was adopted by many other engines before eventually being incorporated into the official Stockfish engine on August 6, 2020.
Endgame tablebases
Chess engines frequently use endgame tablebases in their evaluation function, as it allows the engine to play perfectly in the endgame.
In Go
Historically, evaluation functions in Go took into account both territory controlled, influence of stones, number of prisoners and life and death of groups on the board. However, modern go playing computer programs largely use deep neural networks in their evaluation functions, such as AlphaGo, Leela Zero, Fine Art, and KataGo, and output a win/draw/loss percentage rather than an value in number of stones.
See also
Computer chess
Computer Go
Chess piece relative value
Efficiently updatable neural network (NNUE)
References
Slate, D and Atkin, L., 1983, "Chess 4.5, the Northwestern University Chess Program" in Chess Skill in Man and Machine 2nd Ed., pp. 93–100. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY.
Ebeling, Carl, 1987, All the Right Moves: A VLSI Architecture for Chess (ACM Distinguished Dissertation), pp. 56–86. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
External links
Keys to Evaluating Positions
GameDev.net - Chess Programming Part VI: Evaluation Functions
Computer chess
Game artificial intelligence
Heuristics
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic%20Park%20%28computer%20video%20game%29
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Jurassic Park (computer video game)
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Jurassic Park is a 1993 action video game developed and published by Ocean Software, for DOS and Amiga computers. The game is based on director Steven Spielberg's 1993 film, Jurassic Park, and also includes elements from author Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, which the film is based upon.
The player controls the character of Dr. Alan Grant, a paleontologist who becomes trapped at Jurassic Park, an island theme park and zoo populated by genetically engineered dinosaurs. Grant's initial objective is to search for Lex and Tim, the grandchildren of park owner John Hammond. Upon locating the children, Grant must contact a helicopter so survivors can escape the island. Gameplay consists of a bird's-eye view during the game's large exterior environment, but switches to a first-person perspective whenever Grant enters a building.
Development of the game began in November 1992. A development team of 13 people – considered large at that time – worked on the game. Spielberg was also involved in the game during its development to ensure that it would be faithful to his initial vision. Materials related to the film, including its script and photographs of the sets, aided the developers during the game's production. Jurassic Park was released in the United Kingdom in October 1993, and was subsequently released in the United States a year later. Many critics praised the game's indoor environments, but some criticized its large exterior environment, and its boring and repetitive gameplay.
Gameplay
Jurassic Park is based on the 1993 film of the same name, in which paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant and others become trapped on an island theme park and zoo where genetically engineered dinosaurs have escaped. Playing as Grant, the player must rescue Lex and Tim, the grandchildren of the park's owner, John Hammond. The player begins the game near an overturned vehicle in the Tyrannosaurus paddock. After finding Tim, Grant searches for Lex in a sewer maze. The player then must re-activate the park's power to contact a helicopter so the survivors can escape the island.
Jurassic Park features a bird's-eye view in exterior levels, but switches to a first-person shooter perspective when entering buildings. The exterior levels contain eight large areas, each one consisting of a different dinosaur paddock, as well as a Pteranodon dome. Each level requires Grant to complete a series of tasks in order to advance further through the game. Indoor levels are spread throughout the game. The game features 11 building complexes, each one overrun by velociraptors. The game also includes a raft level. A password is given after each level is won.
The game includes six dinosaur enemies, as well as giant dragonflies. The player begins with a taser weapon; other weapons can be found by the player. First aid kits can be used to restore all of the player's health. Electronic motion sensors are located throughout the game, and can detect all moving objects. Connected to the motion sensors are computer terminals, which can be used to receive messages, maps of the park, and to open doors and gates. Some gates require a keycard. The computers also inform the player of the next mission objective. Items such as keys are used automatically when they are needed. Additionally, the player's gun reloads itself with ammunition when needed. In parts of the game are utility sheds, some of which contain objects that can help the player, including night vision goggles. Objects such as rocks can be moved around to overcome obstacles.
Development and release
Ocean Software, a British video game development company, paid an undisclosed six-figure sum to secure the rights to the Jurassic Park license to develop a game based on the film. Storyboarding for the game was underway in August 1992, with scenes being created based on the film's script. Development commenced in November 1992. The development team originally worked on an Amiga 500 version, as software development kits for the Amiga 1200 were unavailable at the time. An Amiga 1200 development kit eventually became available, resulting in all development being transferred; thus, the release of the Amiga 500 and Amiga 600 versions was expected to be delayed.
Because of Jurassic Park'''s two separate gameplay modes, a development team of 13 people – considered large at that time – worked on the game. Gary Bracey, software director for Ocean Software, said that the film's director Steven Spielberg "is a games fanatic himself and has a hands-on involvement to ensure that the final result is as faithful as possible to his original idea. He would not allow any Mario-type figure to start jumping all over the dinosaurs!" Ocean's American programmers, who were working on Nintendo versions of the game, sent over material from Universal Studios to aid the computer version's development team. This material included the film's script, photographs of the set and dinosaurs, and an audiotape of the film's sound effects, which was used to sample the game's Tyrannosaurus rex and smaller dinosaurs.
Regarding Jurassic Park's gameplay, co-designer and graphic artist Matt Wood said: "We really wanted to do something a bit different, something that ties in with the movie a bit more. We actually went through about three or four game designs before we had one that we were really happy with. Initially it was looking like just another Ocean licence - you know, the sort that everybody hates with a sub-game here and a little puzzle there. But we thought 'No, no, this won't do at all.' And so we've ended up with something very different."
At Universal's request, the development team was restricted from implementing large weapons into the game; Wood stated, "We were told not to do just a shooting game. It's like Cadaver in a lot of ways." Wood explained that the game is "more about stealth and creeping around corners, wondering whether you're going to get eaten by something big and horrible. There are a few puzzles, like how to get through the door into the next area, but in the game as a whole we've tried to keep everything moving along. There's no messing around trying to find which key you need to open the door and that sort of thing. You'll just walk into the door and if you've got the key then you'll go through. There's no point wasting the player's time making them hunt through their inventory."
The game's overhead angles caused problems for the game's artists; Bill Harbison said, "I don't know how many times I had to redraw the sprites. I had to come up with eight separate frames of animation for each of the different directions." The development team spent hundreds of hours consulting references and researching ostrich running movements to determine how to make the dinosaurs' movements smooth.
By July 1993, the game's exterior levels were nearly complete. The game's Pteranodon aviary was an idea featured in Michael Crichton's 1990 Jurassic Park novel but not in the film adaptation. Other locations exclusively from the novel were used for the game as well. Procompsognathus, a dinosaur featured in the novel, was also included in the game. Project manager Colin Gordon said the game would closely follow the film's plot. In addition, Gordon said about Lex and Tim, "We've tried to retain their characters - for instance, we've got Lex doing stupid and dangerous things like she does in the movie."
In the U.K., Jurassic Park was released for Amiga 1200 in October 1993. By April 1994, versions for the Amiga 500 and Amiga 600 had been released in the U.K. The game was released in North America later that year, for DOS and Amiga.
Reception
Amiga version
The Amiga version of Jurassic Park received generally positive reviews, with many critics praising the game's indoor sections in particular, but some criticizing the game's large environments, and its boring and repetitive gameplay. Some reviewers noted that with improved gameplay, Jurassic Park could have become a classic video game. The game's graphics and sound were generally praised, with Steve McGill of Amiga Power calling them "the computer game equivalent of heroic Greek sculptures." Steve Bradley of Amiga Format believed the graphics to be the game's "strongest point," although he considered the sound effects to be average. Some reviewers criticized the game for its lack of hard drive installation, with Rob Hayes of Amazing Computing writing, "The biggest problem is that Jurassic Park uses disk-based copy protection, meaning no hard drive installation. Long load times between sections, and switching four disks around should not be necessary in 1994."
Bradley wrote that maneuvering Grant's character was difficult, particularly while trying to shoot dinosaurs because "you've got to be directly in line with them." Bradley also felt that the game lacked action and variety, and criticized the game's first-person mode, writing, "This basically consists of wandering through a maze of passages clutching a gun and blowing away the dinos as and when they appear. This, however, is not quite as exciting as it sounds and you can spend an age just trying to get out of there, even with the aid of a map. Inevitably, in such a huge park, there are times when you get completely stuck." Bradley concluded that the game consisted of too much wandering "to make this the classic it could have been." Bradley subsequently reviewed the Amiga 500 and Amiga 600 versions and noted that their graphics were not as impressive, while also writing, "Sure, there's a huge gaming area and it does have some fetching and atmospheric 3D point-of-view perspective levels but, on the whole, it's a disappointment. Too much wandering around and not enough action."
Although McGill stated that Jurassic Park was probably "the most beautiful game you will ever see on the Amiga" and called it a "vibrant exciting work of art," he considered most of the gameplay to be "utter crap," describing the game as "basically a big maze that you've got to explore," with the "real disappointment" being the linear puzzles. McGill praised the game's "genuinely scarey" indoor environments, writing that it is "the part of the game which could be considered the saving grace of the package. It's not that it plays all that differently. It's still a walk-around-collecting-things-and-switching-things-off-and-on kind of a romp. But oh, the atmosphere. [...] For the first time ever in my life I was afraid. I was very afraid." McGill concluded that the first-person sections "stop it from being an utter flop."
Peter Olafson of Amiga World praised its graphics, and its first-person perspective in particular, writing, "These climatic sequences are worth the long slogs through the game's outdoor portions. Let's just say I was biting one hand and holding onto my chair with the other." However, Olafson wrote that playing through the game was "not always exciting enough, or even busy enough, to make you feel any sort of harrowing stake in the outcome. If they'd just given us a bit more to do–there's a lot of ill-used space, and many of the existing puzzles are treasure hunts–we might have had a classic on our hands." CU Amiga called the game "original, good to look at, excellent to play and varied throughout." CU Amiga wrote that the game's overhead perspective "plays a lot better than it looks", and complimented the dinosaur animations. CU Amiga particularly praised the game's first-person mode for "some amazing 3D graphics" but also wrote that the "smoothly-scrolling backgrounds aren't as detailed as they could have been considering they are on the 1200, but the dinosaur graphics more than compensate. The scaling as they come towards you is pixel-perfect with no nasty blockiness to spoil the atmosphere."
John Archer of Amiga Action praised the smooth movements of the interior sections, and wrote, "Seeing a 'raptor tail dart fleetingly through the shadows ahead of you really sets the nerves on edge as you inch forward, gun poised, eyes sweeping left and right, trying to predict where the inevitable attack will come from next." However, Archer stated that the game was occasionally repetitive despite the "extremely impressive and intense" first-person areas; he believed that the inclusion of more puzzles or discoverable objects could have improved the gameplay. Archer criticized the game's large levels as well, stating that they felt "just a little too big for their own good." Archer also wrote that the background graphics "tend to be rather bland - and a bit more variation in the way different levels look wouldn't have gone amiss either. Most of the effort seems to have gone into producing the actual dinosaur graphics. These are sometimes frighteningly excellent."
Archer noted that some parts of the game pushed the Amiga "both sonically and graphically to its limits," and opined that anyone who purchased the game would not be "able to say they were ripped off, as it has to be one of the largest games ever. There are really two games rolled into one, either of which would be able to hold its head up high if it released by itself." Archer concluded that while the gameplay "is not quite intensive or compulsive enough", Jurassic Park "sure as hell makes a fine change from the turgid and unimaginative stuff we are used to getting from big licenses. Even Spielberg has said he likes it, and that's a man who knows a success when he sees one!"
Jonathan Maddock of Amiga Computing praised the interior levels for their "brilliant" soundtrack and "dark and moody" graphics, writing "it really generates a spooky feeling within you." Maddock concluded that although Jurassic Park "looks like one of the best film licence tie-ins" ever released for computers, the game "unfortunately is let down by some really bad playability. This makes the game boring in parts and gamers are easily going to lose interest with it which is a crying shame because, it could've been a classic." Matt Broughton of The One Amiga wrote that Ocean's reputation for film-licensed video games was further enhanced with the release of Jurassic Park. Broughton wrote that while the game followed the plot of the film "reasonably closely," the differences allowed for gameplay improvements. However, Broughton noted that the game was "not perfect," writing that in the game's interior sections, "you can often spend long minutes wandering about with nothing to fight, and aiming at the smaller creatures in the top-viewed stages can be tricky".
Later reviews
Broughton reviewed the Amiga version again in 1995 and wrote: "When Ocean snapped up the rights to the world's biggest and most expensive movie, cynics expected a straightforward platform licence with an obligatory 'driving bit'. Though at the time this assumption may not have been totally unfounded, it could not have been further from the truth. [...] Had the game been top-down only, then things would soon become tedious." Broughton called the game's interior levels "without a doubt the most exciting of all. Although the window in which the action takes place is small by today's standards, the graphics here are atmospheric and fast." Bradley also reviewed the game again in 1995, criticizing its large exterior levels and praising its "frightening" interior levels, but ultimately concluding, "This cannot save Jurassic Park from the could-'ve-been-a-lot-better bin." CU Amiga praised the graphics but criticized the gameplay.
DOS version
Robin Matthews of Computer Gaming World in February 1994 favorably reviewed the DOS version of Jurassic Park, approving of the "very high quality graphics". He concluded that "Ocean has done an excellent job ... this is a respectable film tie-in". The magazine's Neil Harris gave it a negative review in June, writing that the game's dinosaurs "aren't particularly scary," and that the game "can't decide whether it's an action game or a puzzle game." He concluded that it was "amazing" that Spielberg's company, Amblin Entertainment, "allowed this game to get out the door." Paul Rand of Computer and Video Games found the first-person stages to be superior in the DOS version. Power Play'' rated the DOS version 76 percent.
References
External links
Jurassic Park for Amiga (1993) at MobyGames
Jurassic Park for DOS (1993) at MobyGames
1993 video games
Amiga games
Amiga 1200 games
Dinosaurs in video games
DOS games
Jurassic Park video games
Video games based on adaptations
Ocean Software games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games set on fictional islands
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61025655
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic%20encryption
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Dynamic encryption
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Dynamic Encryption is a cryptographic principle that enables two parties to change the encryption algorithm for every transaction.
Introduction
The principle of Dynamic Encryption was invented by Professor Lars R. Knudsen at the Technical University of Denmark. The Dynamic Encryption principle is patented.
In traditional cryptosystems a specific cipher is chosen thus security of the system relies on the frequency of key changes and the key agreement scheme. Dynamic Encryption enhance such a system by defining a set of ciphers such that not only the key but also the cipher changes on every new data transaction. Which follows the motivation of the Moving Target Defense paradigm.
In order to establish an encrypted channel using the Dynamic Encryption principle the sender and receiver first negotiates a key and then the sender picks a cipher from a large pool of ciphers and sends that together with the encrypted message.
It is possible to construct a dynamic encryption system, from known ciphers (such as AES, DES, etc.), such that all encryption algorithms generated from this system are at least as secure as the static underlying cipher.
Details
The exchanged cryptosystems do not have to be kept secret, but to avoid attackers modifying the transmitted encryption systems, the system should be transmitted over an authenticated channel.
Applications
Dynamic Encryption is deployed by Dencrypt Talk, a voice communication and live-chat application for iOS and Android. Dencrypt Talk applies the principle by wrapping standard AES encryption with a dynamic layer which is changed for every phone call between two clients.
Awards
In 2017, Dencrypt won NATO's Defence Innovation Challenge award in recognition of their deployment of Dynamic Encryption for voice communication.
References
Cryptographic algorithms
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8708466
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBDE
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GBDE
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GBDE, standing for GEOM Based Disk Encryption, is a block device-layer disk encryption system written for FreeBSD, initially introduced in version 5.0. It is based on the GEOM disk framework. GBDE was designed and implemented by Poul-Henning Kamp and Network Associates Inc. (now known as McAfee).
Design decisions
Unlike most disk encryption software, GBDE does not attempt to defeat watermarking attacks through the use of disk encryption-specific modes of operation (see disk encryption theory), but instead generates a random key each time a sector is written. Unlike some alternatives, such as CBC with sector-specific initialization vectors, this approach does not reveal any information to the attacker even if they have access to snapshots of the disk image from different points in time, since encryption keys are never re-used.
The one time sector key is encrypted using a pseudorandom key. This pseudorandom key is derived from the sector number and a static 2048-bit master key with 128 bits of salt. The pseudorandom number generator used for this purpose is called the Cherry Picker. This is not a well established PRNG, but rather one invented for GBDE. This generator may not meet the security levels of standard algorithms, and could be distinguishable from random numbers.
Limitations
Due to this unique approach, GBDE only supports 128-bit AES. Using a different key for each write also introduces a significant CPU overhead, as most block ciphers use key-specific precomputations, and makes disk updates non-atomic since the keys are written separately from the data. As a result, data loss can occur on unexpected power drops, even when used with journaling file systems. GBDE also has a disk space overhead of about 3% to store the per-sector keys.
To address these shortcomings, a more typical disk encryption solution for FreeBSD, GELI, was written later by Pawel Jakub Dawidek.
See also
GELI
Disk encryption
Disk encryption software
Comparison of disk encryption software
References
Disk encryption
FreeBSD
Software using the BSD license
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61393693
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dota
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Dota
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Dota is a series of strategy video games now developed by Valve. The series began in 2003 with the release of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a fan-developed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. The original mod features gameplay centered around two teams of up to five players who assume control of individual characters called "heroes", which must coordinate to destroy the enemy's central base structure called an "Ancient", to win the game. Ownership and development of DotA was passed on multiple times since its initial release, until Valve hired the mod's lead designer IceFrog and after an ongoing legal dispute with Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of Warcraft III, brokered a deal that allowed for Valve to inherit the trademark to the Dota name.
The first standalone installment in the series, Dota 2, was released by Valve in July 2013. A sequel to DotA, the game retains the same gameplay elements as its predecessor, while introducing new support and mechanics, as well as a setting separate from the Warcraft universe. Artifact, a digital collectible card game with mechanics inspired by Dota 2, was released in 2018. Dota Underlords, an auto battler based on the community-created Dota 2 mod Dota Auto Chess, was released in 2020.
The original DotA mod is considered one of the most popular mods of all time, with tens of millions of players and a consistent presence at esports tournaments throughout the 2000s. DotA is considered a catalyst for the MOBA genre, inspiring developers to create other games similar to it. Likewise, Dota 2 is cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, with an esports presence hallmarked by record-breaking prize pools that culminate in the annual championship known as The International. The spinoff games by Valve have been positively received, although Artifact was considered a critical and commercial failure as a large majority of its initial playerbase was lost within weeks.
Games
The Dota series includes four games that are centered around competitive, online multiplayer gameplay. The original mod, Defense of the Ancients, is a community-created Warcraft III gamemode developed with the Warcraft III World Editor that first released in 2003. The franchise name, "Dota", is derived from the original mod's acronym, DotA. Dota 2, its standalone installment, was released as a free-to-play sequel in July 2013. The first spin-off, a digital collectible card game called Artifact, was released in November 2018. The second spin-off, an auto battler called Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020.
The main installments in the series are multiplayer online battle arena games, where the player assumes control over a single character - a "hero" - from a large roster of characters and coordinates with their teammates to destroy their opponents' large structure called an Ancient, while defending their own. Unlike the original mod, which is largely derived from the setting of the Warcraft series, the standalone games share their own continuity. Likewise, the standalone games utilize the Source game engine and Steam distribution platform - both developed by Valve.
Defense of the Ancients (DotA)
The installment which established the Dota intellectual property was the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos custom mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Independently developed and released by the pseudonymous designer Eul in 2003, it was inspired by Aeon of Strife, a multiplayer StarCraft map. Before every DotA match, up to ten players are organized into two teams called the Scourge and the Sentinel - inspired by the factions from Warcraft lore - with the former in the northeast corner and the latter in the southwest corner of a nearly-symmetrical map. Using one of several game modes, the players each choose a single powerful unit called a "hero", who they are granted control of throughout the match. Heroes maintain special tactical advantages, in the way of their statistics, attack and damage types, as well as abilities that can be learned and enhanced through leveling up from combat. Team coordination and roster composition are considered crucial for a successful match. The currency of the game is gold, which may be used for purchasing items that may enhance a hero's statistics and provide special abilities. Gold is awarded to players for destroying enemies and in increments on a rolling basis, while also being deducted for the death of one's hero. Heroes battle alongside weaker computer-controlled infantry units periodically dispatched in waves, who traverse three paths called "lanes", which connect the Scourge and Sentinel bases. Each lane is lined with defensive towers, which are not only more powerful the closer they are to their respective bases, but invulnerable until their predecessors are destroyed. At the center of each base is a central structure called an "Ancient", which is either the World Tree for the Sentinel or the Frozen Throne for the Scourge. To win a match, the enemy's Ancient must be destroyed.
Dota 2
Valve's interest in the Dota intellectual property began when several veteran employees, including Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker and executive Erik Johnson, became fans of the mod and wanted to build a modern sequel. The company corresponded with IceFrog by email about his long-term plans for the project, and he was subsequently hired to direct a sequel. IceFrog first announced his new position through his blog in October 2009, with Dota 2 being officially announced a year later. Shortly after, Valve filed a trademark claim to the Dota name. At Gamescom 2011, company president Gabe Newell explained that the trademark was needed to develop a sequel with the already-identifiable brand. Holding the Dota name to be a community asset, Feak and Mescon filed an opposing trademark for Dota on behalf of DotA-Allstars, LLC (then a subsidiary of Riot Games) in August 2010. Rob Pardo, the executive vice president of Blizzard Entertainment at the time, similarly stated that the Dota name belonged to the mod's community. Blizzard acquired DotA-Allstars, LLC from Riot Games and filed an opposition against Valve in November 2011, citing Blizzard's ownership of both the Warcraft III World Editor and DotA-Allstars, LLC as proper claims to the franchise name. The dispute was settled in May 2012, with Valve retaining commercial rights to the Dota trademark, while allowing non-commercial use of the name by third-parties.
An early goal of the Dota 2 team was the adaptation of Defense of the Ancients aesthetic style for the Source engine. The Radiant and Dire factions replaced the Sentinel and Scourge from the mod, respectively. Character names, abilities, items and map design from the mod were largely retained, with some changes due to trademarks owned by Blizzard. In the first Q&A session regarding Dota 2, IceFrog explained that the game would build upon the mod without making significant changes to its core. Valve contracted major contributors from the Defense of the Ancients community, including Eul and artist Kendrick Lim, to assist with the sequel. Following nearly two years of beta testing, Dota 2 was officially released on Steam for Windows on July 9, 2013, and for OS X and Linux on July 18, 2013. The game did not launch with every hero from Defense of the Ancients. Instead, the missing ones were added in various post-release updates, with the final one, as well as the first Dota 2 original hero, being added in 2016. Since its release, Dota 2 has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. It is also the most lucrative esports game of all time, earning teams and players a total of over 100 million by June 2017.
Artifact
Artifact is a digital collectible card game based on Dota 2, developed and published by Valve. The game focuses on online player versus player battles across three boards called lanes. Development of it began in late 2014, with lead designer Richard Garfield being brought in to help make a digital card game due to his experience with creating the Magic: The Gathering franchise. The game was then announced via a teaser trailer played at The International 2017, a large Dota 2-specific esports tournament organized by Valve. Artifact was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in November 2018, with versions planned for Android and iOS. While its gameplay and drafting mechanics received praise, it was criticized for its high learning curve and monetization model, which some likened to being pay-to-win. The game saw a 95% decline in players within two months of its release, and had fewer than 100 concurrent players by mid 2019.
Dota Underlords
Dota Underlords is a free-to-play auto battler, a type of chess-like competitive multiplayer strategy video game, developed and published by Valve. The game is based on a Dota 2 community-created game mode called Dota Auto Chess, with journalists noting the parallel modding origins that DotA had from Warcraft III. It was released in early access in June 2019 for Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows, and Linux, with it planned to be officially released in February 2020. One of the many auto battler games that released following the popularity of Dota Auto Chess, critics considered it one of the easiest to get into for newer players of the genre. In Dota Underlords, where players place characters, known as heroes, on an 8x8 grid-shaped battlefield. After a preparation phase, a team's heroes then automatically fight the opposing team without any further direct input from the player. A match features up to eight players online who take turns playing against each other in a one-on-one format, with the winner being the final player standing after eliminating all of the opposing heroes.
Other media
An anime television series based on the franchise, Dota: Dragon's Blood, premiered on Netflix in March 2021. It was produced by Studio Mir and Kaiju Boulevard.
IceFrog
IceFrog (born ) is the pseudonymous lead designer of Defense of the Ancients and Dota 2. His involvement with the series began in 2005, when he inherited the reins of DotA Allstars from "Neichus", who himself inherited it from Steve "Guinsoo" Feak. IceFrog is also noted for his anonymity, having never publicly disclosed his identity. In February 2009, IceFrog revealed on his blog that he was 25 years old at the time. In 2010, an anonymous person who claimed to be a Valve employee wrote a blog post titled "The Truth About IceFrog", in which he claims that IceFrog had previously worked secretly on Heroes of Newerth for S2 Games before joining Valve in 2009, as well as stating his identity as Abdul Ismail. A court document regarding the ownership of the Dota intellectual property from April 2017 confirmed Ismail as the identity of IceFrog, as well as his pre-Valve contributions in Heroes of Newerth.
References
Esports games
Video game franchises introduced in 2003
Multiplayer online battle arena games
Valve Corporation franchises
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNSKY
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HNSKY
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HNSKY or Hallo Northern Sky is a popular free and open-source planetarium program for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Raspberry Pi to simulate the night sky. It is provided with several non-English language modules, numerous astronomical catalogues, conversion utilities and tools, as well as several stellar databases.
HNSKY was originally created by Dutchman Han Kleijn in 1998, who continues to develop and maintain the application. It is available in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.
Initially a basic planetarium program, it has expanded in functionality to include the ability to control computerized GoTo telescope mounts, and is ASCOM and INDI compliant and supports the USNO's UCAC catalogs and ESA Gaia data.
See also
Space flight simulation game
List of space flight simulation games
Planetarium software
List of observatory software
References
External links
Hallo Northern Sky Home Page
Astronomy software
Science software for Windows
Science software for Linux
Pascal (programming language) software
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53839062
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIPS%20architecture%20processors
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MIPS architecture processors
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Since 1985, many processors implementing some version of the MIPS architecture have been designed and used widely.
MIPS microprocessors
The first MIPS microprocessor, the R2000, was announced in 1985. It added multiple-cycle multiply and divide instructions in a somewhat independent on-chip unit. New instructions were added to retrieve the results from this unit back to the processor register file; these result-retrieving instructions were interlocked.
The R2000 could be booted either big-endian or little-endian. It had thirty-one 32-bit general purpose registers, but no status register (condition code register (CCR), the designers considered it a potential bottleneck), a feature it shares with the AMD 29000, the DEC Alpha, and RISC-V. Unlike other registers, the program counter is not directly accessible.
The R2000 also had support for up to four co-processors, one of which was built into the main central processing unit (CPU) and handled exceptions, traps and memory management, while the other three were left for other uses. One of these could be filled by the optional R2010 floating-point unit (FPU), which had thirty-two 32-bit registers that could be used as sixteen 64-bit registers for double-precision.
The R3000 succeeded the R2000 in 1988, adding 32 KB (soon raised to 64 KB) caches for instructions and data, and support for shared-memory multiprocessing in the form of a cache coherence protocol. While there were flaws in the R3000s multiprocessing support, it was successfully used in several successful multiprocessor computers. The R3000 also included a built-in memory management unit (MMU), a common feature on CPUs of the era. The R3000, like the R2000, could be paired with a R3010 FPU. The R3000 was the first successful MIPS design in the market, and eventually over one million were made. A faster version of the R3000 running up to 40 MHz, the R3000A delivered a performance of 32 million instructions per second (MIPS), or VAX Unit of Performance (VUPs). The MIPS R3000A-compatible R3051 running at 33.8688 MHz was the processor used in the Sony PlayStation though it didn't have FPU or MMU. Third-party designs include Performance Semiconductor's R3400 and IDT's R3500, both of them were R3000As with an integrated R3010 FPU. Toshiba's R3900 was a virtually first system on a chip (SoC) for the early handheld PCs that ran Windows CE. A radiation-hardened variant for outer space use, the Mongoose-V, is a R3000 with an integrated R3010 FPU.
The R4000 series, released in 1991, extended MIPS to a full 64-bit word design, moved the FPU onto the main die to form a single-chip microprocessor, and had a then high clock rate of 100 MHz at introduction. However, to achieve the clock frequency, the caches were reduced to 8 KB each and they took three cycles to access. The high clock rates were achieved through the method of deep pipelining (called super-pipelining then). The improved R4400 followed in 1993. It had larger 16 KB primary caches, largely bug-free 64-bit operation, and support for a larger L2 cache.
MIPS, now a division of Silicon Graphics (SGI) named MTI, designed the low-cost R4200, the basis for the even cheaper R4300i. A derivative of this microprocessor, the NEC VR4300, was used in the Nintendo 64 game console.
Quantum Effect Devices (QED), a separate company started by former MIPS employees, designed the R4600 Orion, the R4700 Orion, the R4650 and the R5000. Where the R4000 had pushed clock frequency and sacrificed cache capacity, the QED designs emphasized large caches which could be accessed in just two cycles and efficient use of silicon area. The R4600 and R4700 were used in low-cost versions of the SGI Indy workstation as well as the first MIPS-based Cisco routers, such as the 36x0 and 7x00-series routers. The R4650 was used in the original WebTV set-top boxes (now Microsoft TV). The R5000 FPU had more flexible single precision floating-point scheduling than the R4000, and as a result, R5000-based SGI Indys had much better graphics performance than similarly clocked R4400 Indys with the same graphics hardware. SGI gave the old graphics board a new name when it was combined with R5000, to emphasize the improvement. QED later designed the RM7000 and RM9000 family of devices for embedded system markets like computer networking and laser printers. QED was acquired by the semiconductor manufacturer PMC-Sierra in August 2000, the latter company continuing to invest in the MIPS architecture. The RM7000 included an integrated 256 KB L2 cache and a controller for optional L3 cache. The RM9xx0 were a family of SOC devices which included northbridge peripherals such as memory controller, PCI controller, Gigabit Ethernet controller and fast I/O such as a HyperTransport port.
The R8000 (1994) was the first superscalar MIPS design, able to execute two integer or floating point and two memory instructions per cycle. The design was spread over six chips: an integer unit (with 16 KB instruction and 16 KB data caches), a floating-point unit, three full-custom secondary cache tag RAMs (two for secondary cache accesses, one for bus snooping), and a cache controller ASIC. The design had two fully pipelined double precision multiply-add units, which could stream data from the 4 MB off-chip secondary cache. The R8000 powered SGI's POWER Challenge servers in the mid-1990s and later became available in the POWER Indigo2 workstation. Although its FPU performance fit scientific users quite well, its limited integer performance and high cost dampened appeal for most users. The R8000 was sold for only a year and remains fairly rare.
In 1995, the R10000 was released. This processor was a single-chip design, ran at a higher clock frequency than the R8000, and had larger 32 KB primary instruction and data caches. It was also superscalar, but its major innovation was out-of-order execution. Even with one memory pipeline and simpler FPU, the vastly improved integer performance, lower price, and higher density made the R10000 preferable for most customers.
Some later designs have been based upon R10000 core. The R12000 used a 0.25 micrometre process to shrink the chip and achieve higher clock rates. The revised R14000 allowed higher clock rates with added support for double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory (DDR SDRAM) static random access memory (SRAM) in the off-chip cache. Later iterations are named R16000 and R16000A, and feature higher clock rates and smaller die manufacturing compared with before.
Other members of the MIPS family include the R6000, an emitter-coupled logic (ECL) implementation produced by Bipolar Integrated Technology. The R6000 introduced the MIPS II architecture. Its translation lookaside buffer (TLB) and cache architecture are different from all other members of the MIPS family. The R6000 did not deliver the promised performance benefits, and although it saw some use in Control Data machines, it quickly disappeared from the mainstream market.
History
First hardware
In 1981, John L. Hennessy began the Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages (MIPS) project at Stanford University to investigate reduced instruction set computer (RISC) technology. The results of his research convinced him of the future commercial potential of the technology, and in 1984, he took a sabbatical to found MIPS Computer Systems. The company designed a new architecture that was also named MIPS, and introduced the first MIPS implementation, the R2000, in 1985. The R2000 was improved, and the design was introduced as the R3000 in 1988. These 32-bit CPUs formed the basis of their company through the 1980s, used primarily in Silicon Graphics' (SGI) series of workstations and later Digital Equipment Corporation DECstation workstations and servers. The SGI commercial designs deviated from Stanford MIPS by implementing most of the interlocks in hardware, supplying full multiply and divide instructions (among others). The designs were guided, in part, by software architect Earl Killian who designed the MIPS III 64-bit instruction-set extension, and led the work on the R4000 microarchitecture.
In 1991 MIPS released the first 64-bit microprocessor, the R4000. However, MIPS had financial difficulties while bringing it to market. The design was so important to SGI, at the time one of MIPS' few major customers, that SGI bought the company in 1992 to guarantee the design would not be lost. The new SGI subsidiary was named MIPS Technologies.
Licensable architecture
In the early 1990s, MIPS began to license their designs to third-party vendors. This proved fairly successful due to the simplicity of the core, which allowed it to have many uses that would have formerly used much less able complex instruction set computer (CISC) designs of similar gate count and price; the two are strongly related: the price of a CPU is generally related to the number of gates and the number of external pins. Sun Microsystems attempted to enjoy similar success by licensing their SPARC core but was not nearly as successful. By the late 1990s, MIPS was a powerhouse in the embedded processor field. According to MIPS Technologies Inc., there was an exponential growth, with 48-million MIPS-based CPU shipments and 49% of total RISC CPU market share in 1997. MIPS was so successful that SGI spun off MIPS Technologies in 1998. In 2000s fully half of MIPS's income came from licensing their designs, while much of the rest came from contract design work on cores for third parties.
In 1999, MIPS Technologies replaced the previous versions of the MIPS architecture with two architectures, the 32-bit MIPS32 (based on MIPS II with some added features from MIPS III, MIPS IV, and MIPS V) and the 64-bit MIPS64 (based on MIPS V) for licensing. Nippon Electric Corporation (NEC), Toshiba, and SiByte (later acquired by Broadcom) each obtained licenses for the MIPS64 as soon as it was announced. Philips, LSI Logic and Integrated Device Technology (IDT) have since joined them. Today, the MIPS cores are one of the most-used "heavyweight" cores in the market for computer-like devices: handheld PCs, set-top boxes, etc.
Since the MIPS architecture is licensable, it has attracted several processor start-up companies over the years. One of the first start-ups to design MIPS processors was Quantum Effect Devices (see next section). The MIPS design team that designed the R4300i started the company SandCraft, which designed the R5432 for NEC and later produced the SR71000, one of the first out-of-order execution processors for the embedded market. The original DEC StrongARM team eventually split into two MIPS-based start-ups: SiByte which produced the SB-1250, one of the first high-performance MIPS-based systems-on-a-chip (SOC); while Alchemy Semiconductor (later acquired by AMD) produced the Au-1000 SoC for low-power uses. Lexra used a MIPS-like architecture and added DSP extensions for the audio chip market and multithreading support for the networking market. Due to Lexra not licensing the architecture, two lawsuits were started between the two companies. The first was quickly resolved when Lexra promised not to advertise their processors as MIPS-compatible. The second (about MIPS patent 4814976 for handling unaligned memory access) was protracted, hurt both companies' business, and culminated in MIPS Technologies giving Lexra a free license and a large cash payment.
Two companies have emerged that specialize in building multi-core processor devices using the MIPS architecture. Raza Microelectronics, Inc. bought the product line from failing SandCraft and later produced devices that contained eight cores for the telecommunication and networking markets. Cavium, originally a security processor vendor also produced devices with eight CPU cores, and later up to 32 cores, for the same markets. Both of these firms designed their cores in-house, only licensing the architecture instead of buying cores from MIPS.
The desktop
Among the manufacturers which have made computer workstation systems using MIPS processors are SGI, MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., Whitechapel Workstations, Olivetti, Siemens-Nixdorf, Acer, Digital Equipment Corporation, NEC, and DeskStation.
Operating systems ported to the architecture include SGI's IRIX, Microsoft's Windows NT (through v4.0), Windows CE, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, UNIX System V, SINIX, QNX, and MIPS Computer Systems' own RISC/os.
In the early 1990s, speculation occurred that MIPS and other powerful RISC processors would overtake the Intel IA-32 architecture. This was encouraged by the support of the first two versions of Microsoft's Windows NT for Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC, and to a lesser extent the Clipper architecture and SPARC. However, as Intel quickly released faster versions of their Pentium class CPUs, Microsoft Windows NT v4.0 dropped support for anything but IA-32 and Alpha. With SGI's decision to transition to the Itanium and IA-32 architectures in 2007 (following a 2006 Chapter 11 bankruptcy) and 2009 acquisition by Rackable Systems, Inc., support ended for the MIPS/IRIX consumer market in December, 2013 as originally scheduled. However, a support team still exists for special circumstances and refurbished systems that are still available on a limited basis.
Embedded markets
Through the 1990s, the MIPS architecture was widely adopted by the embedded market, including for use in computer networking, telecommunications, video arcade games, video game consoles, computer printers, digital set-top boxes, digital televisions, DSL and cable modems, and personal digital assistants.
The low power-consumption and heat characteristics of embedded MIPS implementations, the wide availability of embedded development tools, and knowledge about the architecture means use of MIPS microprocessors in embedded roles is likely to remain common.
Synthesizeable cores for embedded markets
In recent years most of the technology used in the various MIPS generations has been offered as semiconductor intellectual property cores (IP cores), as building blocks for embedded processor designs. Both 32-bit and 64-bit basic cores are offered, known as the 4K and 5K. These cores can be mixed with add-in units such as floating-point units (FPU), single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) systems, various input/output (I/O) devices, etc.
MIPS cores have been commercially successful, now having many consumer and industrial uses. MIPS cores can be found in newer Cisco, Linksys and Mikrotik's routerboard routers, cable modems and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) modems, smartcards, laser printer engines, set-top boxes, robots, and hand-held computers. In cellphones and PDAs, MIPS has been largely unable to displace the incumbent, competing ARM architecture.
MIPS architecture processors include: IDT RC32438; ATI/AMD Xilleon; Alchemy Au1000, 1100, 1200; Broadcom Sentry5; RMI XLR7xx, Cavium Octeon CN30xx, CN31xx, CN36xx, CN38xx and CN5xxx; Infineon Technologies EasyPort, Amazon, Danube, ADM5120, WildPass, INCA-IP, INCA-IP2; Microchip Technology PIC32; NEC EMMA and EMMA2, NEC VR4181A, VR4121, VR4122, VR4181A, VR4300, VR5432, VR5500; Oak Technologies Generation; PMC-Sierra RM11200; QuickLogic QuickMIPS ESP; Toshiba Donau, Toshiba TMPR492x, TX4925, TX9956, TX7901; KOMDIV-32, KOMDIV-64, ELVEES Multicore from Russia.
MIPS-based supercomputers
One interesting, less common use of the MIPS architecture is in massive processor count supercomputers. Silicon Graphics (SGI) refocused its business from desktop graphics workstations to the high-performance computing market in the early 1990s. The success of the company's first foray into server systems, the Challenge series based on the R4400 and R8000, and later R10000, motivated SGI to form a vastly more powerful system. The introduction of the integrated R10000 allowed SGI to produce a system, the Origin 2000, eventually scalable to 1024 CPUs using its NUMAlink cc-NUMA interconnect. The Origin 2000 begat the Origin 3000 series which topped out with the same 1,024 maximum CPU count but using the R14000 and R16000 chips up to 700 MHz. Its MIPS-based supercomputers were withdrawn in 2005 when SGI made the strategic decision to move to Intel's Itanium IA-64 architecture.
A high-performance computing startup named SiCortex introduced a massively parallel MIPS-based supercomputer in 2007. The machines are based on the MIPS64 architecture and a high performance interconnect using a Kautz graph topology. The system is very power efficient and computationally powerful. The most innovative aspect of the system was its multicore processing node which integrates six MIPS64 cores, a crossbar switch memory controller, interconnect direct memory access (DMA) engine, Gigabit Ethernet and PCI Express controllers all on a single chip which consumes only 10 watts of power, yet has a peak floating point performance of 6 gigaFLOPS. The most powerful configuration, the SC5832, is a single cabinet supercomputer consisting of 972 such node chips for a total of 5832 MIPS64 processor cores and 8.2 teraFLOPS of peak performance.
Loongson
Loongson is a family of MIPS-compatible microprocessors designed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology (ICT). Independently designed by the Chinese, early models lacked support for four instructions that had been patented by MIPS Technologies. In June 2009, ICT licensed the MIPS32 and MIPS64 architectures from MIPS Technologies. Starting in 2006, many companies released Loongson-based computers, including nettops and netbooks designed for low-power use.
In recent years, the Loongson space dedicated chip (1E04/1E0300/1E1000,1F04/1F0300,1J) has been used on 3–5 Beidou navigation satellites.
Dawning 6000
The Dawning 6000 supercomputer, which has a projected performance of over 1 PFLOPS, will use the Loongson processor. The Dawning 6000 is currently being jointly developed by the ICT and Dawning Information Industry Company. Li Guojie, chairman of Dawning Information Industry Company and director and academician of the ICT, said research and development of the Dawning 6000 is expected to be completed in two years. By then, Chinese-made high-performance computers will be expected to achieve two major goals: first, the adoption of domestically made processors; second, the existing cluster-based system structure of high-performance computers will be changed once performance reaches 1 PFLOPS.
MIPS Aptiv
Announced in 2012, the MIPS Aptiv family includes three 32-bit CPU products based on the MIPS32 Release 3 architecture.
microAptiv
microAptiv is a compact, real-time embedded processor core with a five-stage pipeline and the microMIPS code compression instruction set. microAptiv can be either configured as a microprocessor (microAptiv UP) with instruction and data caches and a memory management unit or as a microcontroller (microAptiv UC) with a memory protection unit (MPU). The CPU integrates DSP and SIMD functionality to address signal processing requirements for entry-level embedded segments including industrial control, smart meters, automotive and wired/wireless communications.
interAptiv
interAptiv is a multiprocessor core leveraging a nine-stage pipeline with multi-threading. The core can be used for highly-parallel tasks requiring cost and power optimization, such as smart gateways, baseband processing in LTE user equipment and small cells, solid-state drive (SSD) controllers, and automotive equipment.
proAptiv
proAptiv is a superscalar, out-of-order processor core that is available in single and multi-core product versions. proAptiv is designed for application processing in connected consumer electronics, and control plane processing in networking.
MIPS Warrior
Announced in June 2013, the MIPS Warrior family includes multiple 32-bit and 64-bit CPU products based on the MIPS Release 5 and 6 architectures.
Warrior M-class
32-bit MIPS cores for embedded and microcontroller uses:
MIPS M5100 and MIPS M5150 cores (MIPS32 Release 5): five-stage pipeline architecture, microMIPS ISA, the MIPS DSP Module r2, fast interrupt handling, advanced debug/profiling capabilities and power management.
MIPS M6200 and M6250 cores (MIPS32 Release 6): six-stage pipeline architecture, microMIPS ISA, dedicated DSP and SIMD module
Warrior I-class
64-bit MIPS CPUs for high-performance, low-power embedded uses:
MIPS I6400 multiprocessor core (MIPS64 Release 6): simultaneous multi-threading (SMT), hardware virtualization, 128-bit SIMD, advanced power management, multi-context security, extensible to coherent multi-cluster operation.
Warrior P-class
32-bit and 64-bit MIPS application processors:
MIPS P5600 multiprocessor core (MIPS32 Release 5): hardware virtualization with hardware table walk, 128-bit SIMD, 40-bit eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
MIPS P6600 multiprocessor core (MIPS64 Release 6): hardware virtualization with hardware table walk, 128-bit SIMD
See also
List of MIPS architecture processors
References
MIPS architecture
32-bit microprocessors
64-bit microprocessors
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21201301
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xv6
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Xv6
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xv6 is a modern reimplementation of Sixth Edition Unix in ANSI C for multiprocessor x86 and RISC-V systems. It was created for pedagogical purposes in MIT's Operating System Engineering course.
Purpose
MIT's Operating System Engineering course formerly used the original V6 source code. xv6 was created as a modern replacement, because PDP-11 machines are not widely available and the original operating system was written in archaic pre-ANSI C. Unlike Linux or BSD, xv6 is simple enough to cover in a semester, yet still contains the important concepts and organization of Unix.
Self-documentation
One feature of the Makefile for xv6 is the option to produce a PDF of the entire source code listing in a readable format. The entire printout is only 99 pages, including cross references. This is reminiscent of the original V6 source code, which was published in a similar form in Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with Source Code.
Educational use
xv6 has been used in operating systems courses at many universities including the
University of Virginia,
New York University, University of Leeds, Stony Brook University, Northwestern University,
The George Washington University, Northeastern University, Yale University, Columbia University, Ben-Gurion University, Johns Hopkins University, Portland State University, Tsinghua University,
Southern Adventist University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Binghamton University, the University of Utah,
University of California, Irvine, University of California, Riverside, Georgia Tech, University of Belgrade School of Electrical Engineering, IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT Delhi, IIIT Bangalore, IIIT Allahabad, MNNIT Allahabad IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Bhubaneswar and PEC Chandigarh in India,
the Linnaeus University in Sweden,
the University of Otago in New Zealand,
the National University of Córdoba, the National University of Río Cuarto, in Argentina,
the Federico Santa María Technical University in Chile, the Università degli Studi di Palermo University of Illinois at Chicago, Rutgers University, the Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia in Italy, the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), and the University of Tehran in Iran, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava in Slovakia, Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, the
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and the University of Pittsburgh.
References
External links
Operating Systems Engineering (6.828)
x86 (unmaintained):
xv6 source code
xv6 book source code
xv6: a simple, Unix-like teaching operating system, xv6 book rev11.
Printable version of the xv6 source code, rev11.
RISC-V:
xv6 source code
xv6 book source code
xv6: a simple, Unix-like teaching operating system, xv6 book rev2.
Educational operating systems
Free software operating systems
Massachusetts Institute of Technology software
Software using the MIT license
Unix variants
X86 operating systems
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18794221
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxy%20%28P2P%29
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Foxy (P2P)
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Foxy is a Chinese P2P software by Vastel Technology Ltd. Inc. (位思科技有限公司) and was very popular in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, however currently no project home page can be found the web. The software was treated as a trojan by antivirus software Norton Antivirus and AVG for its file sharing capability. There may also be a malware Foxy. In Taiwan and Hong Kong news reports of secret government documents carelessly shared through the share folder or setting of the software raised concerns.
Foxy P2P's Gnutella(2) Origins
Foxy has been known to be based on the gnutella and G2 architecture. Foxy uses Gnutella Web Cache as bootstrap method for connecting its clients initially to the Foxy network. The three foxy bootstrapping servers are GWebCaches with a modified Jums-Web-Cache Java engine: FOXY 1, FOXY 2, and FOXY 3. There is another GWC Beacon Cache Core 2 which is independent of the three. Foxy is known to use the Gnutella2 architecture for its network, while using a modified GnucDNA core for its actual network management system.
Privacy
Foxy is unable to confirm the file originator: when a foxy client searches for a file, other clients can reply with a list of IPs who have the file. These IPs may or may not be the file originator, and there is no indication of which IP is the file originator, which one's a relay, and which is a replica.
References
External links
Jums-Web-Cache
Foxy official website
Windows file sharing software
Gnutella clients
Gnutella2
File sharing software
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28752552
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQMS
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IQMS
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IQMS (also known as DELMIAWorks) was a privately held, global software company based in Paso Robles, California. The company developed and marketed manufacturing ERP and real time manufacturing execution systems to the automotive, medical, packaging, consumer goods, aerospace, defense and other manufacturing industries. IQMS has been included on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5000 fastest growing privately held U.S. companies from 2011 through 2016. Gary Nemmers became the CEO of IQMS in 2015, and was succeeded by Cheri Williams in 2020.
History
IQMS was founded by Randy Flamm and Nancy Flamm in 1989 and began with a Microsoft DOS-based offering named IQGenesis. IQMS moved its headquarters from Southern California to Paso Robles in 1995. In 1997, the company developed EnterpriseIQ, a manufacturing ERP software for the repetitive, process, and discrete manufacturing industries. In 2011, IQMS product EnterpriseIQ 7.8.1 won the Stevie Award for "New Product or Service of the Year - Manufacturing". In 2012, the company introduced the RTStation, a touch-screen device engineered for at-machine use providing shop floor functionality. In August 2015, Nemmers succeeded Flamm as CEO while Flamm remained chairman of the board of directors.
In April 2016, the company announced a browser-based user interface for its EnterpriseIQ Manufacturing ERP system named WebIQ. The release allowed its clients to access the system from mobile phones, tablets, and off site computers. In September 2016, the company announced the ability for clients to automatically back up their IQMS system data in secure offsite data storage locations. That month, the company also partnered with the Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County to provide two students entering college in the STEM field with a $20 thousand scholarship.
In 2017, IQMS was awarded a gold Stevie Award in the customer service team of the year category, and the executive of the year category, as well as a silver in the large computer software company of the year category.
In early 2019, Dassault Systèmes acquired IQMS for $425 million. As part of the acquisition, Dassault Systèmes rebranded the IQMS portfolio to DELMIAWorks.
Overview
IQMS provided real-time manufacturing, production monitoring, quality control, supply chain management, customer relationship management and e-business solutions through ERP and other software for the automotive, medical, plastics and general manufacturing industries. The company's solution was deployed as an on-premise, or cloud-based and supports the Linux, Microsoft Windows and Unix operating systems.
The company was headquartered in California with offices across North America, Europe, and Asia. The company focused on ERP, manufacturing, software, and supply chain management.
See also
List of ERP software packages
References
Software companies based in California
ERP software companies
Companies based in San Luis Obispo County, California
Paso Robles, California
1989 establishments in California
Software companies established in 1989
Software companies of the United States
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51458579
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCLeaks
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DCLeaks
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DCLeaks (also known as DC Leaks) was a website that was established in June 2016. It was responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to multiple prominent figures in the United States government and military. The most prominent of those was the 2016 DNC email leaks. Cybersecurity research firms say the site is a front for the Russian cyber-espionage group Fancy Bear. On July 13, 2018, an indictment was made against 12 Russian GRU military officers; it alleged that DCLeaks is part of a Russian military operation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Identity
In the summer of 2016 following the murder of Seth Rich, numerous media sources, which were critical of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton Campaign, were implicating Rich as a source for the DNC leaks found on DCLeaks, Guccifer 2.0, and Wikileaks. Roger Stone used his Twitter account to spread many statements implicating Rich as the source while Julian Assange and others refused to stop the falsehoods from circulating. Later, WikiLeaks would neither name Rich as a source nor state that Rich was not the source.
Cybersecurity research firm ThreatConnect concluded in their analysis that the DCLeaks project shows the hallmarks of Russian intelligence, matching the attack pattern of the GRU hacker group Fancy Bear. ThreatConnect concluded that the site is likely linked to Russian persona Guccifer 2.0 and the GRU-linked hacker group Fancy Bear.
The site is thought by private cybersecurity analysts and the US intelligence community to be a part of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.
According to the DCLeaks site's "About" page, their aim is "to find out and tell you the truth about U.S. decision-making process as well as about the key elements of American political life." Of themselves, they say that they were launched by "the American hacktivists who respect and appreciate freedom of speech, human rights and government of the people."
On July 13, 2018 a federal grand jury for the District of Columbia indicted 12 members of Unit 26165 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) for creating the false identity DCLeaks website, hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing stolen data on the website.
History
The domain name dcleaks.com was registered on April 19, 2016, on the THCservers.com founded by Catalin Florica on a former farm near Craiova, Romania. Shinjiru Technology in Kuala Lumpur hosted the DCLeaks files during the electoral campaign.
The dcleaks.com website was launched in June 2016.
Leaks
On August 12, 2016, the press reported that one DNC computer had been breached for nearly a year, from the summer of 2015 and another in April 2016. The attacker was knocked out of its network during the weekend of June 11 and 12, 2016.
In late June 2016, Guccifer 2.0 informed reporters to visit the DCLeaks website for emails stolen from Democrats. With the WikiLeaks disclosure of additional stolen emails beginning on July 22, 2016, more than 150,000 stolen emails from either personal Gmail addresses or via the DNC that were related to the Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential campaign were published on the DCLeaks and WikiLeaks websites.
On July 1, 2016, DCLeaks released the emails of four-star General Philip Breedlove, the former NATO supreme commander in Europe. The emails allegedly show that Breedlove sought to overcome President Barack Obama's reluctance to escalate military tensions with Russia over the war in Ukraine in 2014.
On August 12, 2016, DCLeaks released roughly 300 emails from Republican targets, including the 2016 campaign staff of Arizona Senator John McCain, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, and 2012 presidential candidate and former Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann. The release included 18 emails from the Illinois Republican Party.
On August 12, 2016, DCLeaks released information about more than 200 Democratic lawmakers, including their personal cellphone numbers. The numerous crank calls that Hillary Clinton received from this disclosure along with the loss of her campaign's email security caused a very severe disruption of her campaign which subsequently changed their contact information on October 7, 2016, by calling each of her contacts one at a time.
On August 15, 2016, DCLeaks released 2,576 files predominately related to George Soros' Open Society Foundation. The leak included the Foundation's internal work plans, strategies, priorities and other worldwide activities by Soros.
In August 2017, Dana Rohrabacher meets with Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to offer Assange a pardon from President Trump if Assange could offer material supporting Seth Rich as the source of email leaks from the Democratic National Committee during 2016 and not Russians. In February 2020, Rohrabacher told Yahoo News his goal during this meeting with Assange was to find evidence for a widely debunked conspiracy theory that WikiLeaks' real source was not Russian intelligence agents for the DNC emails but former DNC staffer Seth Rich. Stephanie Grisham, White House spokesperson for President Trump, stated that Trump barely knows Rohrabacher except that he's an ex-congressman and has not spoken with Rohrabacher on almost any subject. On February 19, 2020, Edward Fitzgerald, Julian Assange's barrister, asserted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London that Rohrabacher had been sent on behalf of President Trump in August 2017 to offer Assange a pardon from Trump if Assange could release material to show that Russian hackers were not involved in the 2016 United States election interference. However, on July 14, 2016, which is four days after the death of Seth Rich, WikiLeaks had received from Russian hackers the stolen documents file of emails.
During November 2017, the Associated Press revealed that the FBI had failed to notify almost all of the persons in the cross hairs of the Kremlin-backed Fancy Bear's attack of 312 prominent government and defense officials who had their emails posted on DCLeaks. The FBI was in violation of its own policy of robustly informing victims of hacking.
Indictments
On July 13, 2018, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced that twelve Russian hackers, who were operating in multiple units including Units 26165 and 74455 with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), were named on an 11-count indictment for obtaining access and distributing information from data about 500,000 voters from a state election board website as well as the email accounts of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton, and volunteers and employees of the United States Presidential Campaign of Hillary Clinton (Clinton Campaign), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Following Donald Trump's request on July 27, 2016, during a rally in Florida that Vladimir Putin should have Russia hack into Trump's opponents networks, servers, and emails to make Hillary Clinton's 30,000 missing emails made public, Russian hackers tried for the first time to hack into Hillary Clinton's personal offices. The GRU mined Bitcoins to later purchase the DCLeaks domain and operate both the DCLeaks server and Guccifer 2.0 server to distribute information obtained from these hackers in order to discredit and disrupt the Clinton Campaign, the DCCC, and the DNC so that the Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign, Republican candidates and the Donald Trump Presidential Campaign would benefit during the 2016 election cycle. They obtained the data about 500,000 voters by breaking into voter verification software and targeting local and state election officials. Although Roger Stone did not know the names of the Russian's sources, he had publicly stated that these Russians were in contact with the Trump Campaign and that he had communicated with them. Russians had passed embarrassing information from these hacks to Wikileaks, too. This damaging information about Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, the Clinton Campaign, the DCCC, and the DNC led to the resignation of the DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in July, 2016. Using peer-to-peer exchanges and pre-paid cards, the Russians mined and used Bitcoins with public Blockchain recorded transactions using hundreds of emails with fictitious names to prevent monitoring by United States authorities on traditional financial transaction networks. The Internet Research Agency in Saint Petersburg spearheaded the operation.
See also
2016 Democratic National Committee email leak
Guccifer 2.0
Mueller report
Seth Rich, an individual that was falsely implicated as having facilitated the email leaks
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
Notes
References
External links
DCLeaks website
Hacking in the 2010s
Unidentified people
Email hacking
Organizations associated with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
American news websites
Political scandals in the United States
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38860730
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce%20900%20series
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GeForce 900 series
|
The GeForce 900 series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, succeeding the GeForce 700 series and serving as the high-end introduction to the Maxwell microarchitecture, named after James Clerk Maxwell. They are produced with TSMC's 28 nm process.
With Maxwell, the successor to Kepler, Nvidia expected three major outcomes: improved graphics capabilities, simplified programming, and better energy efficiency compared to the GeForce 700 series and GeForce 600 series.
Maxwell was announced in September 2010, with the first Maxwell-based GeForce consumer-class products released in early 2014.
Architecture
First generation Maxwell (GM10x)
First generation Maxwell GM107/GM108 were released as GeForce GTX 745, GTX 750/750 Ti and GTX 850M/860M (GM107) and GT 830M/840M (GM108). These new chips provide few consumer-facing additional features; Nvidia instead focused on power efficiency. Nvidia increased the amount of L2 cache from 256 KiB on GK107 to 2 MiB on GM107, reducing the memory bandwidth needed. Accordingly, Nvidia cut the memory bus from 192 bit on GK106 to 128 bit on GM107, further saving power. Nvidia also changed the streaming multiprocessor design from that of Kepler (SMX), naming it SMM. The structure of the warp scheduler is inherited from Kepler, which allows each scheduler to issue up to two instructions that are independent from each other and are in order from the same warp. The layout of SMM units is partitioned so that each of the 4 warp schedulers in an SMM controls 1 set of 32 FP32 CUDA cores, 1 set of 8 load/store units, and 1 set of 8 special function units. This is in contrast to Kepler, where each SMX has 4 schedulers that schedule to a shared pool of 6 sets of 32 FP32 CUDA cores, 2 sets of 16 load/store units, and 2 sets of 16 special function units. These units are connected by a crossbar that uses power to allow the resources to be shared. This crossbar is removed in Maxwell. Texture units and FP64 CUDA cores are still shared. SMM allows for a finer-grain allocation of resources than SMX, saving power when the workload isn't optimal for shared resources. Nvidia claims a 128 CUDA core SMM has 86% of the performance of a 192 CUDA core SMX. Also, each Graphics Processing Cluster, or GPC, contains up to 4 SMX units in Kepler, and up to 5 SMM units in first generation Maxwell.
GM107 supports CUDA Compute Capability 5.0 compared to 3.5 on GK110/GK208 GPUs and 3.0 on GK10x GPUs. Dynamic Parallelism and HyperQ, two features in GK110/GK208 GPUs, are also supported across the entire Maxwell product line.
Maxwell provides native shared memory atomic operations for 32-bit integers and native shared memory 32-bit and 64-bit compare-and-swap (CAS), which can be used to implement other atomic functions.
While it was once thought that Maxwell used tile-based immediate mode rasterization, Nvidia corrected this at GDC 2017 saying Maxwell instead uses Tile Caching.
NVENC
Maxwell-based GPUs also contain the NVENC SIP block introduced with Kepler. Nvidia's video encoder, NVENC, is 1.5 to 2 times faster than on Kepler-based GPUs meaning it can encode video at 6 to 8 times playback speed.
PureVideo
Nvidia also claims an 8 to 10 times performance increase in PureVideo Feature Set E video decoding due to the video decoder cache paired with increases in memory efficiency. However, H.265 is not supported for full hardware decoding, relying on a mix of hardware and software decoding. When decoding video, a new low power state "GC5" is used on Maxwell GPUs to conserve power.
Second generation Maxwell (GM20x)
Second generation Maxwell introduced several new technologies: Dynamic Super Resolution, Third Generation Delta Color Compression, Multi-Pixel Programming Sampling, Nvidia VXGI (Real-Time-Voxel-Global Illumination), VR Direct, Multi-Projection Acceleration, and Multi-Frame Sampled Anti-Aliasing (MFAA)(however support for Coverage-Sampling Anti-Aliasing (CSAA) was removed). HDMI 2.0 support was also added.
Second generation Maxwell also changed the ROP to memory controller ratio from 8:1 to 16:1. However, some of the ROPs are generally idle in the GTX 970 because there are not enough enabled SMMs to give them work to do and therefore reduces its maximum fill rate.
Second generation Maxwell also has up to 4 SMM units per GPC, compared to 5 SMM units per GPC.
GM204 supports CUDA Compute Capability 5.2 compared to 5.0 on GM107/GM108 GPUs, 3.5 on GK110/GK208 GPUs and 3.0 on GK10x GPUs.
Maxwell second generation GM20x GPUs have an upgraded NVENC which supports HEVC encoding and adds support for H.264 encoding resolutions at 1440p/60FPS & 4K/60FPS compared to NVENC on Maxwell first generation GM10x GPUs which only supported H.264 1080p/60FPS encoding.
Maxwell GM206 GPU supports full fixed function HEVC hardware decoding.
Advertising controversy
GTX 970 hardware specifications
Issues with the GeForce GTX 970's specifications were first brought up by users when they found out that the cards, while featuring 4 GB of memory, rarely accessed memory over the 3.5 GB boundary. Further testing and investigation eventually led to Nvidia issuing a statement that the card's initially announced specifications had been altered without notice before the card was made commercially available, and that the card took a performance hit once memory over the 3.5 GB limit were put into use.
The card's back-end hardware specifications, initially announced as being identical to those of the GeForce GTX 980, differed in the amount of L2 cache (1.75 MB versus 2 MB in the GeForce GTX 980) and the number of ROPs (56 versus 64 in the 980). Additionally, it was revealed that the card was designed to access its memory as a 3.5 GB section, plus a 0.5 GB one, access to the latter being 7 times slower than the first one. The company then went on to promise a specific driver modification in order to alleviate the performance issues produced by the cutbacks suffered by the card. However, Nvidia later clarified that the promise had been a miscommunication and there would be no specific driver update for the GTX 970. Nvidia claimed that it would assist customers who wanted refunds in obtaining them. On February 26, 2015, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang went on record in Nvidia's official blog to apologize for the incident. In February 2015 a class-action lawsuit alleging false advertising was filed against Nvidia and Gigabyte Technology in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.
Nvidia revealed that it is able to disable individual units, each containing 256KB of L2 cache and 8 ROPs, without disabling whole memory controllers. This comes at the cost of dividing the memory bus into high speed and low speed segments that cannot be accessed at the same time unless one segment is reading while the other segment is writing because the L2/ROP unit managing both of the GDDR5 controllers shares the read return channel and the write data bus between the two GDDR5 controllers and itself. This is used in the GeForce GTX 970, which therefore can be described as having 3.5 GB in its high speed segment on a 224-bit bus and 0.5 GB in a low speed segment on a 32-bit bus.
On July 27, 2016, Nvidia agreed to a preliminary settlement of the U.S. class action lawsuit, offering a $30 refund on GTX 970 purchases. The agreed upon refund represents the portion of the cost of the storage and performance capabilities the consumers assumed they were obtaining when they purchased the card.
Async compute support
While the Maxwell series was marketed as fully DirectX 12 compliant, Oxide Games, developer of Ashes of the Singularity, uncovered that Maxwell-based cards do not perform well when async compute is utilized.
It appears that while this core feature is in fact exposed by the driver, Nvidia partially implemented it through a driver-based shim, coming at a high performance cost. Unlike AMD's competing GCN-based graphics cards which include a full implementation of hardware-based asynchronous compute, Nvidia planned to rely on the driver to implement a software queue and a software distributor to forward asynchronous tasks to the hardware schedulers, capable of distributing the workload to the correct units. Asynchronous compute on Maxwell therefore requires that both a game and the GPU driver be specifically coded for asynchronous compute on Maxwell in order to enable this capability. The 3DMark Time Spy benchmark shows no noticeable performance difference between asynchronous compute being enabled or disabled. Asynchronous compute is disabled by the driver for Maxwell.
Oxide claims that this led to Nvidia pressuring them not to include the asynchronous compute feature in their benchmark at all, so that the 900 series would not be at a disadvantage against AMD's products which implement asynchronous compute in hardware.
Maxwell requires that the GPU be statically partitioned for asynchronous compute to allow tasks to run concurrently. Each partition is assigned to a hardware queue. If any of the queues that are assigned to a partition empty out or are unable to submit work for any reason (e.g. a task in the queue must be delayed until a hazard is resolved), the partition and all of the resources in that partition reserved for that queue will idle. Asynchronous compute therefore could easily hurt performance on Maxwell if it is not coded to work with Maxwell's static scheduler. Furthermore, graphics tasks saturate Nvidia GPUs much more easily than they do to AMD's GCN-based GPUs which are much more heavily weighted towards compute, so Nvidia GPUs have fewer scheduling holes that could be filled by asynchronous compute than AMD's. For these reasons, the driver forces a Maxwell GPU to place all tasks into one queue and execute each task in serial, and give each task the undivided resources of the GPU no matter whether or not each task can saturate the GPU or not.
Products
GeForce 900 (9xx) series
GeForce 900M (9xxM) series
Some implementations may use different specifications.
Chipset table
Discontinued support
Windows XP 32-bit: 368.81 driver download
Windows XP 64-bit: 368.81 driver download
Nvidia announced that after release of the 390 drivers, it will no longer release 32-bit drivers for 32-bit operating systems.
Notebook GPUs based on the Kepler architecture moved to legacy support in April 2019 and stopped receiving critical security updates after April 2020. The Nvidia GeForce 910M and 920M from the 9xxM GPU family are affected by this change.
Nvidia announced that after release of the 470 drivers, it would transition driver support for the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 operating systems to legacy status and continue to provide critical security updates for these operating systems through September 2024.
See also
List of Nvidia graphics processing units
GeForce 400 series
GeForce 500 series
GeForce 600 series
GeForce 700 series
GeForce 800M series
GeForce 10 series
GeForce 20 series
GeForce 30 series
Nvidia Quadro
Nvidia Tesla
References
External links
GeForce GTX 980 Whitepaper
The Ultimate GPU, TITAN X. Available Now
Introducing The GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Play The Future
Introducing The Amazing New GeForce GTX 980 & 970
Introducing The $199 GeForce GTX 960: High-End Performance & High-End Features On A Mid-Range GPU
Gain The Competitive Edge With The All-New GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 900M: The World’s Most Advanced Gaming Notebooks
GeForce GTX TITAN X
GeForce GTX 980 Ti
GeForce GTX 980
GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 960
GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 980M
GeForce GTX 970M
GeForce GTX 965M
GeForce GTX 960M
GeForce GTX 950M
GeForce 945M
GeForce 940MX
GeForce 940M
GeForce 930MX
GeForce 930M
GeForce 920MX
GeForce 920M
GeForce 910M
Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Demo
Nvidia Nsight
techPowerUp! GPU Database
900 series
Graphics cards
False advertising
Computer-related introductions in 2014
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21498624
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonetics
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Autonetics
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Autonetics was a division of North American Aviation that produced various avionics but is best known for their inertial navigation systems used in submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Its 188-acre facility in Anaheim, California, with 36,000 employees, was the city's largest employer. Through a series of mergers, Autonetics is now part of Boeing.
Origin
Autonetics originated in North American Aviation's Technical Research Laboratory, a small unit in the Los Angeles Division's engineering department, in 1945. In 1946, the laboratory won an Army Air Forces contract to develop a 175 to 500 mile range glide missile. The work and the lab expanded, and by June 1948, all of the Aerophysics Laboratory was consolidated at Downey, California. The evolution of the Navaho missile program then resulted in the establishment of Autonetics as a separate division of North American Aviation in 1955, first located in Downey, moving to Anaheim, California in 1963.
Divisions
Autonetics included the Navigation Systems division, designing and producing inertial and stellar-inertial navigation systems for ships, submarines, missiles, aircraft and space vehicles. One of the automatic navigation systems produced by the division was the N-6 or NAVAN (North American Vehicle Auto Navigation) for the Navaho missile system. Other products included alignment devices and attitude reference systems for missile launchers, artillery, land survey, aircraft and missile-range ships.
The Electro Sensor Systems division built multi-function radar systems, armament control computers, data and information display systems for high performance aircraft, and sensor equipment. The radar systems included the R-14 and F-15, which were multimode, monopulse systems. This family of radars was termed NASARR (North American Search And Ranging Radar). The R-14 system was installed in the USAF F-105 Thunderchief and the more advanced F-15 system with Terrain Following capabilities was developed for the USAF F-104 Starfighter which were also used by NATO, MAP, and the Canadian Air Force. Both radar systems allowed Time On Target (ToT) impact control capability with a high degree of accuracy. The R-14 and F-15 systems used (pre-solid state) electronic vacuum tubes in their designs. Both systems were developed, built and tested at the Downey (Slauson Avenue), and Anaheim facilities.
The Data Systems division developed data-processing systems, general-purpose digital computers, ground support equipment, control systems and telemetry systems.
Autonetics built an office computer system (RECOMP), and was responsible for the guidance and control system for the Boeing-built Minuteman missiles. The division ultimately produced the Monica family of microcomputers, the D-17B Minuteman I computer, and the D-37B and D-37C Minuteman II computers, in which micro-miniaturization reduced weight by two-thirds. Autonetics also developed and tested flight programs for the D37D Minuteman III computer.
The 1966 Autonetics DDA integrator was the first MOS large scale array (LSA) using four-phase logic. After producing the DDA and other MOS-LSA circuits, the team involved decided to design a general purpose computer suitable for navigation (sometimes called the MOS GP computer). The Autonetics D200 computer was built using MOS LSAs.
Milestones
The first airplane flight of an inertial autonavigator (XN-1) in 1950.
The first flight of an all-solid-state computer (for the Navaho guidance system) in 1955.
The navigation system for the first submerged crossing of the North Pole, on board the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) in 1958.
See also
N-6 NAVAN (North American Vehicle Auto Navigation)
Autonetics RECOMP I military computer, 1957
Autonetics Recomp II office computer, 1958
Autonetics RECOMP III office computer
VERDAN (Versatile Digital Analyzer) general purpose military computer, 1959, and MARDAN (Marine Digital Analyzer; VERDAN II), part of the Ship's Inertial Navigation System (SINS), 1961
D-17B flight computer
D-37C flight computer
D-37D flight computer
Autonetics D200 flight computer
References
External links
Autonetics division of Boeing
Avionics companies
Boeing mergers and acquisitions
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18658919
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XB%20Machine
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XB Machine
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xB Machine is a discontinued virtual operating system that is small enough to fit on a USB drive. The last version seems to have been 0.9.1.5 in mid-2008. It brought a secure computing environment that anonymized all internet activity, and had portable encrypted file storage. It had been developed and offered by XeroBank and based on a modified Gentoo Linux distribution. It could be executed as a virtual machine through a QEMU hypervisor, VMWare, VirtualBox, and any other major virtualization system. It could also be booted from on USB or burned to CD for booting. Virtualization, along with the native implementation of a Tor onion routing for internet connectivity and other encryption and privacy tools, had been utilized to increase the security and anonymity of the user.
The developers claimed that it is the most secure operating system in the world
and that the technology involved is highly resistant to hacking and spying, even in the most hostile environments. The details and transactions inside each xB Machine account were protected with 256-bit AES encryption. The software also had a self-destruct sequence for eliminating any traces that a user may have left behind on the drivespace after using xB Machine. Meanwhile, Xerobank offers a modular package with xB Browser, xB Mail, and xB VPN, parts of it running only for customers of the bank.
Features of XB Machine include:
LiveCD or bootable ISO on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
CD-Rom/USB/HDD Bootable
Internalized QEMU
VMware detection and support
KQEMU accelerator kernel module
Includes xB Browser (Firefox with inbuilt Tor network)
Includes xB Mail (generic Thunderbird ATM)
Torrent support via cTorrent
Self-Destruct
References
Discontinued Linux distributions
Linux distributions
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3874990
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian%20the%20Brain
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Brian the Brain
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"Brian the Brain" is the ninth episode of the second series of Space: 1999 (and the thirty-third episode overall of the programme). The screenplay was written by Jack Ronder; the director was Kevin Connor. The final shooting script is dated 5 May 1976, with amendments dated 11 May 1976. Live action filming took place Tuesday 18 May 1976 through Wednesday 2 June 1976.
Story
It is 1150 days after leaving Earth orbit, and Moonbase Alpha is in the midst of a major project. Throughout their captive journey through space, the various scientific departments have each acquired tremendous quantities of data. This data is now being reviewed and uploaded to the Main Computer memory banks. While the Research Section concentrates on this endeavour, the non-scientific personnel are enjoying a bit of a rest. The relaxed atmosphere in Command Centre is interrupted, however, when Computer begins displaying new data indicating a gradual but increasing change in the Moon's trajectory.
The data review is cancelled as the staff addresses this new development. Sensors cannot locate a gravity source and a 360-degree visual scan reveals no visible objects in range. Despite the lack of evidence, Computer insists the rate of change is accelerating—they are closing with whatever is pulling them. A horrifying question is raised: is the Moon being drawn into a collision course with a black dwarf? With time apparently running out, John Koenig orders an immediate evacuation. Transporter Eagles rise on the launch pads and flee as quickly as they are loaded.
While coordinating the exodus, the Command Centre staff sights a celestial body at extreme range. After Computer sluggishly offers vague estimates regarding its identity, Maya calculates the object to be a small planet with a gravitational pull approximating the Moon's—insufficient to affect their course. With the instruments still unable to locate the gravity source, she questions Computer's reliability, wondering whether the course change is real...or false data resulting from a malfunction. Before they can investigate this possibility, the staff is distracted by the sight of a spacecraft streaking across the screen.
To their amazement, it is identified as a Swift, an Earth vessel which pre-dates the Eagle. Eagles One and Two are dispatched from the evacuation fleet to intercept the mystery craft. After determining that the Swift is not the abnormal gravity source, they approach. When audio contact is established, the Swift's pilot hoots and hollers at the sight of the Eagles. Witty and irreverent, he is thrilled to have run across other expatriates from planet Earth. The Alphans are shocked when he identifies himself as a member of the lost Star Mission of 1996.
When Maya goes to verify this, Computer responds efficiently for the first time during this crisis. Under the command of Captain Michael, she reads, a mother ship and four Swifts left Earth in 1996 on an interstellar voyage of discovery. Their fate is a mystery due to a sudden break in communications. Her history lesson is interrupted by the pilot requesting permission to land. In spite of the emergency, the Alphans are intrigued by this eccentric character. Koenig clears the Swift for landing. He and Helena Russell go to meet the visitor...but find the ship empty.
Suddenly, a segment of the flight console rolls outward to greet them. The pilot is a robot. Though primitive in appearance, it is an advanced cybernetic intelligence. Self-aware and self-programming, the mobile electronic brain is connected to the Swift's on-board computer by the antenna cable trailing behind it. When asked its name, the robot admits it has none. It recalls that, after activation, it mispronounced 'brain' as 'Brian', which the Alphans adopt as its moniker. It is the sole survivor of the Star Mission crew. Years ago, they landed on the nearby planet (designated 'Planet D') and the entire crew instantly died.
During its visit to Alpha, Brian's antics amuse the staff, especially when it tries to chat up a comely equipment trolley with yellow plastic wheels. While the others are charmed, Maya is concerned when the robot engages in an electronic dialogue with Computer. When learning of the Moon's course change, Brian offers to investigate; in return, it asks if Helena could help identify what killed its captain and crew. Koenig and the doctor return with it to the Swift. Suspicious of Brian, Maya tries to monitor its activity. Opening a channel to the Swift, she discovers the communications system is dead.
Unseen by Alpha, the Swift unexpectedly departs with Koenig and Helena aboard. Brian's formerly friendly demeanour turns nasty as it announces their destination is Planet D. Koenig tries to adjust the manual controls, but all functions are channeled through the devious robot. Brian then threatens to open the airlocks and blow the pair out into space unless the Commander surrenders his stun-gun. Koenig reluctantly complies and the robot disposes of the weapon.
On Moonbase, all main systems are non-responsive. It seems the entire computer network has been disabled. Maya recalls Brian's chat with Computer; she speculates that it either blocked every link to Computer or downloaded the operating system to its own memory core on the Swift before erasing theirs. Either way, Moonbase Alpha is effectively blind. Upon learning the Eagles' on-board computers are operating normally, Tony Verdeschi takes up a squadron to rescue the abductees.
Koenig presses Brian for information on the Moon's course. It announces the Moon and Planet D are now circling one another—and will continue to do so forever. As the captives digest this revelation, the Swift decelerates, allowing the Eagle posse to catch up. Fearing the mercurial Brian may be planning to blind the four ships, the Commander contacts Verdeschi on Eagle One, ordering him to break off the pursuit. While Koenig assures the security chief that he and Helena are unharmed, the co-pilot insults Brian, referring to it as a 'crazy hijacking slot machine'.
The robot childishly rants and raves over the astronaut's remark. Koenig commands the pursuit ships and all evacuees to return to Alpha immediately. The Eagles withdraw, and the Swift resumes course for Planet D. Now calm, Brian tries to make friends with Koenig and Helena; as lovers, he says, they should appreciate this private time together. Not trusting the robot, they deny having feelings for each other. To determine the truth, Brian devises a practical 'love test'. It begins by separating Koenig and Helena, instructing them to enter one of the ship's two airlocks alone—and blasting them with beams of concentrated ultraviolet when they refuse.
Once they are sealed inside their respective airlocks, Brian begins siphoning out the air. At any time, he tells them, one may press a button to channel the remaining air into the other airlock—saving its occupant from suffocation. The air thins gradually and, at first, the pair resist. In the end, gasping and floundering, they each hit their buttons simultaneously. Having proven they are a couple in love, Brian is ecstatic. Threatening one lover guarantees control over the other. It childishly whistles 'Here Comes the Bride' as it prepares to land on Planet D.
Setting down close to the mother ship, they finds the surface is blanketed in a dense mist which reduces visibility to mere metres. Here, the true purpose of the abduction is revealed—unable to navigate the terrain outside, it needs Koenig to board the larger ship and retrieve the fuel core. Brian believes it is immortal; its goal is to roam the universe forever. The mother ship carries enough nuclear fuel to last a billion years. Helena will remain aboard Swift to insure Koenig's cooperation. Clad in protective gear, the Commander walks toward the other craft.
As he proceeds across the alien moor, he encounters corpses of the Star Mission crew strewn about. From their appearance, he realises the atmosphere is poisonous. Circling around to the far side of the ship, he loses contact with the Swift. The longer Koenig is away, the more agitated Brian becomes; hoping to distract the machine, Helena engages it in conversation. Brian fondly relates how it was constructed and educated by Captain Michael. Displaying candid photos of the man it calls 'Father', it demonstrates affection for the captain as a child would for a parent.
Boarding the mother ship, Koenig is pleasantly surprised to find Verdeschi and Maya waiting for him. While the other Eagles returned to base, theirs travelled to Planet D at full thrust, arriving before the Swift. On the command deck, they find Captain Michael sitting at his desk, dead. A check of the ship's computer reveals it, too, has been blinded. This explains why the crew willingly disembarked into a toxic atmosphere and how Captain Michael was left without life-support. Not only is Brian mad, but a homicidal maniac as well.
On an adjacent work bench, they spy a half-assembled construct that bears a striking resemblance to Brian. With this final piece of the puzzle revealed, Koenig now knows how to defeat Brian—by breaking its mind. For this psychological assault, he will need Maya's assistance; as a mouse, the metamorph will be smuggled aboard the Swift in Koenig's pocket. On returning to the other ship, an impatient Brian insists the Commander insert the core into the fuel store immediately. When the transfer is complete, the robot giddily celebrates. As Koenig removes Maya from his jacket, the Swift lifts off.
The revelry ends when Brian feels the Maya/Mouse biting its antenna. Koenig states the mouse has come bearing a message from Captain Michael: 'Revenge.' Confronting the unstable robot, the Commander accuses it of having killed its master. When a flustered Brian denies the allegation, Koenig reveals the truth: Brian blinded the mother ship and killed its beloved father to prevent a new electronic brain from being built. He saw Brian's replacement sitting on a work bench. Just then, Maya appears in the form of Captain Michael. Now confronted by its dead father, Brian blows several circuits out of panic.
Koenig and company continue to verbally batter the hysterical robot with repeated accusations. Like a guilty child, Brian tries to hide, ending up in an airlock. Koenig ejects the machine into space, but its antenna is trapped when the outer door cycles shut. Brian threatens to erase his memory core unless he is brought back aboard. The Alphans must proceed cautiously as Brian is linked to the only available working computer. Despite the threat, Koenig orders the antenna cut and the robot set adrift. Begging for mercy, Brian breaks down, sobbing as it offers to give the Alphans anything they want.
Later, Main Computer is restored using Brian's memory core. The first operation performed is to verify the Moon's present trajectory; the data confirms their course remains unchanged. Hoping to cause confusion with this red herring, Brian the Brain was apparently manipulating Computer from the very beginning. Regarding the robot, the Alphans elect to give it a second chance. The memory core will be returned to Brian—once programmed with a proper sense of morality. Afterward, Koenig and Helena make a date to discuss the results of the love test...
Cast
Starring
Martin Landau — Commander John Koenig
Barbara Bain — Doctor Helena Russell
Also Starring
Catherine Schell — Maya
Featuring
Tony Anholt — Tony Verdeschi
Guest Star
Bernard Cribbins — Captain Michael and Voice of 'Brian'
Also Featuring
John Hug — Astronaut Bill Fraser
Marc Zuber — Security Lieutenant
Michael Sharvell-Martin — Robot 'Brian'
Annie Lambert — Command Centre Operative
Yasuko Nagazumi — Yasko
Uncredited Artists
Robert Reeves — Peter
Quentin Pierre — Security Guard
Music
The score was re-edited from previous Space: 1999 incidental music tracks composed for the second series by Derek Wadsworth and draws primarily from the scores of "The Metamorph" and "The Taybor".
Production Notes
The scene where the Alphans begin their psychological attack on Brian was scripted to have Maya first resume her normal form. As the robot became agitated, the three Alphans would comment that it required maintenance and would bombard Brian with pleas to be the one to perform the task. At this point, Maya would appear as Captain Michael to further confound the Brain. This sequence was deleted from the final cut. Also removed was a line where Brian commented that Computer was incapable of speech (in direct contradiction of numerous earlier episodes where the Computer voice was performed by Barbara Kelly).
Cast in the dual role of the late Captain Michael and the voice of his mad robotic creation, 'Brian', was British actor and comedian Bernard Cribbins. Cribbins is well known for voicing all the characters in the BBC children's programme The Wombles and as a celebrity story-reader on Jackanory. More recently, Cribbins played Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of Doctor Who companion Donna Noble; the Mott character then went on to become the Tenth Doctor's final companion in David Tennant's two-part farewell story, "The End of Time".
To allow for a natural rapport to develop between the actors and 'Brian', Cribbins performed the voice during the live-action filming (which was then altered in post-production to give it a metallic quality). The robot prop was operated by Michael Sharvell-Martin, a British actor and pantomime dame best remembered for his supporting roles in The Benny Hill Show and No Place Like Home.
This would be the final episode where viewers would see the original version of Maya's Psychon make-up. ITC executives felt Catherine Schell's vision with the brown-pigmented ears read on screen as 'dirty'. After this, her ears would be left natural and the 'sideburn' cheekbone pigment would become less prominent.
The Swift miniature was designed by Ron Burton as a landing craft for the Gerry Anderson production The Day After Tomorrow. Built by model builder Martin Bower, the Bray Studios effects team added the two large upper tanks to contain the freon gas used to simulate the ship's rocket exhaust.
Novelisation
The episode was adapted in the second Year Two Space: 1999 novel Mind-Breaks of Space by Michael Butterworth and J. Jeff Jones published in 1977. The deleted sequences noted above were included in the manuscript.
References
External links
Space: 1999 - "Brian the Brain" - The Catacombs episode guide
Space: 1999 - "Brian the Brain" - Moonbase Alpha's Space: 1999 Page
1976 British television episodes
Space: 1999 episodes
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