AI Art Zeus

AI Art Zeus — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

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  Wunderlist

  Wunderlist is a discontinued cloud-based task management application. It allowed users to create lists to manage their tasks from a smartphone, tablet, computer and smartwatch. Wunderlist was free; additional collaboration features were available in a paid version known as Wunderlist Pro, released April 2013. Wunderlist was created in 2011 by Berlin-based startup 6Wunderkinder (Engl.: 6Prodigies). The company was acquired by Microsoft in June 2015, at which time the app had over 13 million users. In April 2017, Microsoft announced that Wunderlist would eventually be discontinued in favor of Microsoft To Do, a new multi-platform app developed by the Wunderlist team that has direct integration with the company's Office 365 service. On December 6, 2019, Microsoft announced that it would shut down Wunderlist on May 6, 2020. After this date, the application would no longer sync but users could still import their content into Microsoft To Do. == History == In 2009, Wunderlist's CEO Christian Reber called on the social network platform XING for business partners to create a new to-do app. Frank Thelen responded and together Reber and Thelen developed first concepts for Wunderlist. The necessary seed funding was granted by High-Tech Gründerfonds and e42 GmbH. The first version of Wunderlist was launched on November 9, 2010. Initially, the program was created for desktop PCs and platforms such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. In December 2011, the app received approval for the iPhone. Subsequently, the developers released a version prepared for the iPad with the name Wunderlist HD. In September 2012, the developers announced a shutdown of their service Wunderkit. Instead they wanted to focus on creating a new version of Wunderlist, which was later on released in December 2012 under the name Wunderlist 2. In September 2013, the company announced it had over 5 million users. In July 2014, a new major update was released under the name of Wunderlist 3, with a new real-time sync architecture. Wunderlist reached 10 million users in December 2014. On June 1, 2015, it was announced that Microsoft had acquired 6Wunderkinder, makers of Wunderlist, for between US$100 million and US$200 million (~$258 million in 2024). Following its acquisition of the app, Microsoft announced in April 2017 a preview of To-Do, a multi-platform task management app developed by the Wunderlist team that was intended to eventually replace Wunderlist and incorporate most of its features. As of January 2019, To-Do had not yet reached feature parity with Wunderlist, with its team citing that the service had to be completely re-written to use Microsoft Azure instead of Amazon Web Services. Frustrated by the perceived lack of roadmap, in September 2019, Reber began to publicly ask Microsoft-related accounts on Twitter whether he could buy Wunderlist back. Shortly afterward, however, Microsoft unveiled updates to To-Do that make it more closely resemble Wunderlist. In December 2019, Microsoft announced that it would fully shut down Wunderlist as of May 6, 2020. The team responsible for creating Wunderlist, led by co-founder Christian Reber, created that Superlist app in early 2024. == Finances == In its initial round of funding, 100,000 euro was invested in 6Wunderkinder by Frank Thelen and others. In December 2010, High-Tech Gründerfonds invested 500,000 euro (approximately US$660,000) in the company. T-Venture also invested an undisclosed amount in the startup. In its Series A round of funding in November 2011, Atomico invested $4.2 million (~$5.76 million in 2024) while High-Tech Gründerfonds invested an undisclosed additional amount. In May 2012, High-Tech Gründerfonds sold off its stake in 6Wunderkinder to Earlybird Venture Capital. In November 2013, $19 million (~$25.2 million in 2024) was raised in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Earlybird and Atomico. == Awards == In 2013, Wunderlist for Mac was named App of the Year. Wunderlist was selected as a Google Play Top Developer in 2013. In 2014, Wunderlist won the "Golden Mi" award from Xiaomi, and also named as one of its Best Apps of 2014 was given a "Google Play Editor's Choice" award, and was named in Google Play's Best Apps of 2014 as well as Apple's Best of 2014.

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  Line splice

  In electrical engineering and telecommunications, a line splice is a joint directly connecting lengths of electrical cables (electrical splice) or optical fibers (optical splice). The splices are often protected by sleeves. == Splicing of copper wires == The splicing of copper wires happens in the following steps: The cores are laid one above the other at the junction. The core insulation is removed. The wires are wrapped two to three times around each other (twisting). The bare veins on a length of about 3 cm "strangle" or "twist". In some cases, the strangulation is soldered. To isolate the splice, an insulating sleeve made of paper or plastic is pushed over it. The splicing of copper wires is mainly used on paper insulated wires. LSA techniques (LSA: soldering, screwing and stripping free) are used to connect copper wires, making the copper wires faster and easier to connect. LSA techniques include: Wire connection sleeves (AVH = Adernverbindungshülsen) and other crimp connectors. The two wires to be connected are inserted into the AVH without being stripped, which is then compressed with special pliers. The about 2 cm long AVH consist of contact, pressure and insulation. For wire connection strips (AVL = Adernverbindungsleisten) several pairs of wires (10 = AVL10 or 20 = AVL20) are inserted, the strip is then closed with a lid and pressed together with a hydraulic press, which ensures the connection. == Splicing of glass fibers == Fiber-optic cables are spliced using a special arc-splicer, with installation cables connected at their ends to respective "pigtails" - short individual fibers with fiber-optic connectors at one end. The splicer precisely adjusts the light-guiding cores of the two ends of the glass fibers to be spliced. The adjustment is done fully automatically in modern devices, whereas in older models this is carried out manually by means of micrometer screws and microscope. An experienced splicer can precisely position the fiber ends within a few seconds. Subsequently, the fibers are fused together (welded) with an electric arc. Since no additional material is added, such as gas welding or soldering, this is called a "fusion splice". Depending on the quality of the splicing process, attenuation values at the splice points are achieved by 0.3 dB, with good splices also below 0.02 dB. For newer generation devices, alignment is done automatically by motors. Here one differentiates core and jacket centering. At core centering (usually single-mode fibers), the fiber cores are aligned. A possible core offset with respect to the jacket is corrected. In the jacket centering (usually in multimode fibers), the fibers are adjusted to each other by means of electronic image processing in front of the splice. When working with good equipment, the damping value is according to experience at max. 0.1 dB. Measurements are made by means of special measuring devices including optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR). A good splice should have an attenuation of less than 0.3 dB over the entire distance. Finished fiber optic splices are housed in splice boxes. One differentiates: Fusion splice Adhesive splicing Crimp splice or NENP (no-epoxy no-polish), mechanical splice

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  Mini-STX

  Mini-STX (mSTX, Mini Socket Technology EXtended, originally "Intel 5x5") is a computer motherboard form factor that was released by Intel in 2015 (as "Intel 5x5"). These motherboards measure 147mm by 140mm (5.8" x 5.5"), making them larger than "4x4" NUC (102x102mm / 4.01" x 4.01" inches) and Nano-ITX (120x120mm / 4.7" x 4.7") boards, but notably smaller than the more common Mini-ITX (170x170mm / 6.7" x 6.7") boards. Unlike these standards, which use a square shape, the Mini-STX form factor is 7mm longer from front-to-rear, making it slightly rectangular. == Mini-STX design elements == The Mini-STX design suggests (but does not require) support for: Socketed processors (e.g. LGA or PGA CPUs) Onboard power regulation circuitry, enabling direct DC power input IO ports embedded on the front and rear of the motherboard (akin to NUC, but unlike typical motherboards which often use headers instead to connect built-in ports on enclosures) == Adoption by manufacturers == This motherboard form factor is still not in particularly common use with consumer-PC manufacturers, although there are a few offerings: ASRock offers both DeskMini kits (that use mini-STX boards) and standalone motherboards, Asus offer VivoMini kits (that use mini-STX boards) and standalone motherboards, Gigabyte offers a few motherboards, and industrial PC suppliers (e.g. Kontron, Iesy, ASRock Industrial) also provide some options for mini-STX equipment. == Derivatives == ASRock developed a derivative of mini-STX, dubbed micro-STX, for their 'DeskMini GTX/RX' small form-factor PCs and industrial motherboards. Micro-STX adds an MXM slot which allows the use of special PCI Express expansion cards, including graphics or machine learning accelerators, but increases the width of the board to be extended two inches, resulting in measurements of 147 x 188 mm (5.8" x 7.4")

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  CSS box model

  In web development, the CSS box model refers to how HTML elements are modeled in browser engines and how the dimensions of those HTML elements are derived from CSS properties. It is a fundamental concept for the composition of HTML webpages. The guidelines of the box model are described by web standards World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifically the CSS Working Group. For much of the late-1990s and early 2000s there had been non-standard compliant implementations of the box model in mainstream browsers. With the advent of CSS2 in 1998, which introduced the box-sizing property, the problem had mostly been resolved. == Specifics == The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) specification describes how elements of web pages are displayed by graphical browsers. Section 4 of the CSS1 specification defines a "formatting model" that gives block-level elements—such as p and blockquote—a width and height, and three levels of boxes surrounding it: padding, borders, and margins. While the specification never uses the term "box model" explicitly, the term has become widely used by web developers and web browser vendors. All HTML elements can be considered "boxes", this includes div tag, p tag, or a tag. Each of those boxes has five modifiable dimensions: the height and width describe dimensions of the actual content of the box (text, images, ...) the padding describes the space between this content and the border of the box the border is any kind of line (solid, dotted, dashed...) surrounding the box, if present the margin is the space around the border According to the CSS1 specification, released by W3C in 1996 and revised in 1999, when a width or height is explicitly specified for any block-level element, it should determine only the width or height of the visible element, with the padding, borders, and margins applied afterward. Before CSS3, this box model was known as W3C box model, in CSS3, it is known as the content-box. The total width of a box is therefore margin-left + border-left + padding-left + width + padding-right + border-right + margin-right. Similarly, the total height of a box equals margin-top + border-top + padding-top + height + padding-bottom + border-bottom + margin-bottom. For example, the following CSS code would specify the box dimensions of each block belonging to 'my-class'. Moreover, each such box will have total height 140px and width 240px. CSS3 introduced the Internet Explorer box model to the standard, known referred to as border-box. == History == Before HTML 4 and CSS, very few HTML elements supported both border and padding, so the definition of the width and height of an element was not very contentious. However, it varied depending on the element. The HTML width attribute of a table defined the width of the table including its border. On the other hand, the HTML width attribute of an image defined the width of the image itself (inside any border). The only element to support padding in those early days was the table cell. Width for the cell was defined as "the suggested width for a cell content in pixels excluding the cell padding." In 1996, CSS introduced margin, border and padding for many more elements. It adopted a definition width in relation to content, border, margin and padding similar to that for a table cell. This has since become known as the W3C box model. At the time, very few browser vendors implemented the W3C box model to the letter. The two major browsers at the time, Netscape 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0 both defined width and height as the distance from border to border. This has been referred to as the traditional or the Internet Explorer box model. Internet Explorer in "quirks mode" includes the content, padding and borders within a specified width or height; this results in a narrower or shorter rendering of a box than would result following the standard behavior. The Internet Explorer box model behavior was often considered a bug, because of the way in which earlier versions of Internet Explorer handle the box model or sizing of elements in a web page, which differs from the standard way recommended by the W3C for the Cascading Style Sheets language. As of Internet Explorer 6, the browser supports an alternative rendering mode (called the "standards-compliant mode") which solves this discrepancy. However, for backward compatibility reasons, all versions still behave in the usual, non-standard way by default (see quirks mode). Internet Explorer for Mac is not affected by this non-standard behavior. === Workarounds === Internet Explorer versions 6 and onward are not affected by the bug if the page contains certain HTML document type declarations. These versions maintain the buggy behavior when in quirks mode for reasons of backward compatibility. For example, quirks mode is triggered: When the document type declaration is absent or incomplete; When an HTML 3 or earlier document is encountered; When an HTML 4.0 Transitional or Frameset document type declaration is used and a system identifier (URI) is not present; When an SGML comment or other unrecognized content appears before the document type declaration Internet Explorer 6 also uses quirks mode if there is an XML declaration prior to the document type declaration. Various workarounds have been devised to force Internet Explorer versions 5 and earlier to display Web pages using the W3C box model. These workarounds generally exploit unrelated bugs in Internet Explorer's CSS selector processing in order to hide certain rules from the browser. The best known of these workarounds is the "box model hack" developed by Tantek Çelik, a former Microsoft employee who developed this idea while working on Internet Explorer for the Macintosh. It involves specifying a width declaration for Internet Explorer for Windows, and then overriding it with another width declaration for CSS-compliant browsers. This second declaration is hidden from Internet Explorer for Windows by exploiting other bugs in the way that it parses CSS rules. The implementation of these CSS “hacks” has been further complicated by the public release of Internet Explorer 7, which has had some issues fixed, but not others, causing undesired results in pages using these hacks. Box model hacks have proven unreliable because they rely on bugs in browsers' CSS support that may be fixed in later versions. For this reason, some Web developers have instead recommended either avoiding specifying both width and padding for the same element or using conditional comment and/or CSS filters to work around the box model bug in older versions of Internet Explorer. == Support for Internet Explorer's box model == Web designer Doug Bowman has said that the original Internet Explorer box model represents a better, more logical approach. Peter-Paul Koch gives the example of a physical box, whose dimensions always refer to the box itself, including potential padding, but never its content. He says that this box model is more useful for graphic designers, who create designs based on the visible width of boxes rather than the width of their content. Bernie Zimmermann says that the Internet Explorer box model is closer to the definition of cell dimensions and padding used in the HTML table model. The W3C has included a "box-sizing" property in CSS3. When box-sizing: border-box; is specified for an element, any padding or border of the element is drawn inside the specified width and height, "as commonly implemented by legacy HTML user agents". Internet Explorer 8, WebKit browsers such as Apple Safari 5.1+ and Google Chrome, Gecko-based browsers such as Mozilla Firefox 29.0 and later, Opera 7.0 and later, and Konqueror 3.3.2 and later support the CSS3 box-sizing property. Gecko browsers previous than 29.0 support the same functionality using the browser-specific -moz-box-sizing property. border-box is the default box model used in Bootstrap framework.

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  Logogen model

  The logogen model of 1969 is a model of speech recognition that uses units called "logogens" to explain how humans comprehend spoken or written words. Logogens are a vast number of specialized recognition units, each able to recognize one specific word. This model provides for the effects of context on word recognition. == Overview == The word logogen can be traced back to the Greek-language word logos, which means "word", and genus, which means "birth". British scientist John Morton's logogen model was designed to explain word recognition using a new type of unit known as a logogen. A critical element of this theory is the involvement of lexicons, or specialized aspects of memory that include semantic and phonemic information about each item that is contained in memory. A given lexicon consists of many smaller, abstract items known as logogens. Logogens contain a variety of properties about given word such as their appearance, sound, and meaning. Logogens do not store words within themselves, but rather they store information that is specifically necessary for retrieval of whatever word is being searched for. A given logogen will become activated by psychological stimuli or contextual information (words) that is consistent with the properties of that specific logogen and when the logogen's activation level rises to or above its threshold level, the pronunciation of the given word is sent to the output system. Certain stimuli can affect the activation levels of more than one word at a time, usually involving words that are similar to one another. When this occurs, whichever of the words' activation levels reaches the threshold level, it is that word that is then sent to the output system with the subject remaining unaware of any partially excited logogens. This assumption was made by Marslen-Wilson and Welch (1978), who added to the model some assumptions of their own in order to account for their experimental results. They also assumed that the analysis of phonetic input can only become available to other parts of the system by process of how the input affects the logogen system. Finally, Marslen-Wilson and Welch assume that the first syllable of a given word will increase the activation level of a given logogen more than those of the latter syllables, which supported the data found at the time. == Analysis == The logogen model can be used to help linguists explain particular occurrences in the human language. The most-helpful application of the model is to show how one accesses words and their meanings in the lexicon. The word-frequency effect is best explained by the logogen model in that words (or logogens) that have a higher frequency (or are more common) have a lower threshold. This means that they require less perceptual power in the brain to be recognized and decoded from the lexicon and are recognized faster than those words that are less common. Also, with high-frequency words, the recovery from lowering the item's threshold is less fulfilled compared to low-frequency words so less sensory information is needed for that particular item's recognition. There are ways to lower thresholds, such as repetition and semantic priming. Also, each time a word is encountered through these methods, the threshold for that word is temporarily lowered partially because of its recovering ability. This model also conveys that specific concrete words are recalled better because they use images and logogens, whereas abstract words are not as easily recalled well because they only use logogens, hence showing the difference in thresholds between these two types of words. At the time of its conception, Morton's logogen model was one of the most influential models in springing up other parallel word access models and served as the essential basis for these subsequent models. Morton's model also strongly influenced other contemporary theories on lexical access. However, despite the advantages that the logogen theory presents, it also displays some negative facets. First and foremost, the logogen model does not explain all occurrences in language, such as the introduction of new words or non-words into a person's lexicon. Also, because of the distinctive model application, it may vary in its effectiveness in different languages. == Criticisms == While this model does a reasonable job of understanding the underlying semantics of many aspects in psycholinguistics, there are some flaws that have been pointed out in the logogen model. It has been argued that the prior stimulus patterns that have been seen in the logogen theory are not centrally localized in the logogen itself but are actually distributed throughout the different pathways over which the stimulus is being processed. What this directs at is that the notion and proliferation of logogens was due to modality. In essence, the logogen is unnecessary in the idea of attaining the title of being a recognition unit because of the variety of pathways that it is open to, not just logogens. Another criticism has been that this model essentially ignores larger and more critical structures in language and phonetics such as the different syntactic rules or grammatical construction that innately exists in language. Since this model overtly limits itself to the scope of lexical access then this model is seen as biased and misunderstood. To many psychologists, the logogen model does not meet the functional or representational adequacy that a theory should include to sufficiently comprehend language. Also, another criticism is that the logogen theory was supposed to predict that stimulus degradation should affect priming and word frequency in humans. However, many psychologists have conducted studies and researched the model to show that only priming and not word frequency is interacted with stimulus degradation. Priming is supposed to deteriorate a stimulus because it postulates that the semantic characteristics of previously known words are fed back into the detector of a person which in turn raises the threshold of related items. In word frequency, stimulus degradation is supposed to occur because it postulates that familiar words have lower thresholds than their low-frequency counterparts. However, in studies, priming is the only structure that does show observable and notable stimulus decadence. Even though the logogen theory has many unfilled holes, Morton was a revolutionary of his field whose speculation and research has opened up a remarkable era of psycholinguistics. == Other models to consider == cohort model – This model was proposed by Marslen-Wilson and was designed specifically to account for auditory word recognition. It works by breaking the word down and states that when a word is heard all words that begin with the first sound of the target word are activated. This set of words is considered the cohort. Once the first cohort has been activated, the other information, or sounds in the word narrow down the choices. The person recognizes the word when you are left with a single choice; this is considered the "recognition point". checking model – This model was developed by Norris in 1986. In this particular model, he took the approach that any word that partially matches the input is analyzed and checked to see if it fits with the context of the situation. interactive-activation model – This model is considered a connectionist model. Proposed by McClelland and Rumelhart in the 1981 to 1982 period, it is based around nodes, which are visual features, and positions of letters within a given word. They also act as word detectors which have inhibitory and excitatory connections between them. This model starts with first letter and suggests that all the words with that first letter are activated at first and then going through the word one can determine what the word is they are looking at. The main principle is that mental phenomena can be described by interconnected networks of simple units. verification model – The model was developed by Curtis Becker in 1970. The main idea is that a small number of candidates that are activated in parallel are subject to a serial-verification process. This model starts the word-recognition process with a basic representation of the stimulus. Then, sensory trace, consisting of line features is used to activate word detectors. When an acceptable number of detectors are activated these are used to generate a search set. These items are drawn from the lexicon on the basis of similarity to the sensory trace, which help with the identity of the stimulus. Then, in a serial process the candidates are compared to the representation of the sensory-trace input. == Related concepts == word frequency – This is the belief that the speed and accuracy with which a word is recognized is related to how frequently the word occurs in our language. Each logogen has a threshold (for identification) and words with higher frequencies have lower thresholds. Words with higher freq

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  Bootstrap (front-end framework)

  Bootstrap (formerly Twitter Bootstrap) is a free and open-source CSS framework directed at responsive, mobile-first front-end web development. It contains HTML, CSS and (optionally) JavaScript-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components. As of May 2023, Bootstrap is the 17th most starred project (4th most starred library) on GitHub, with over 164,000 stars. According to W3Techs, Bootstrap is used by 19.2% of all websites. == Features == Bootstrap is an HTML, CSS and JS library that focuses on simplifying the development of informative web pages (as opposed to web applications). The primary purpose of adding it to a web project is to apply Bootstrap's choices of color, size, font and layout to that project. As such, the primary factor is whether the developers in charge find those choices to their liking. Once added to a project, Bootstrap provides basic style definitions for all HTML elements. The result is a uniform appearance for prose, tables and form elements across web browsers. In addition, developers can take advantage of CSS classes defined in Bootstrap to further customize the appearance of their contents. For example, Bootstrap has provisioned for light- and dark-colored tables, page headings, more prominent pull quotes, and text with a highlight. Bootstrap also comes with several JavaScript components which do not require other libraries like jQuery. They provide additional user interface elements such as dialog boxes, tooltips, progress bars, navigation drop-downs, and carousels. Each Bootstrap component consists of an HTML structure, CSS declarations, and in some cases accompanying JavaScript code. They also extend the functionality of some existing interface elements, including for example an auto-complete function for input fields. The most prominent components of Bootstrap are its layout components, as they affect an entire web page. The basic layout component is called "Container", as every other element in the page is placed in it. Developers can choose between a fixed-width container and a fluid-width container. While the latter always fills the width with the web page, the former uses one of the five predefined fixed widths, depending on the size of the screen showing the page: Smaller than 576 pixels 576–768 pixels 768–992 pixels 992–1200 pixels 1200–1400 pixels Larger than 1400 pixels Once a container is in place, other Bootstrap layout components implement a CSS Flexbox layout through defining rows and columns. A precompiled version of Bootstrap is available in the form of one CSS file and three JavaScript files that can be readily added to any project. The raw form of Bootstrap, however, enables developers to implement further customization and size optimizations. This raw form is modular, meaning that the developer can remove unneeded components, apply a theme and modify the uncompiled Sass files. == History == === Early beginnings === Bootstrap, originally named Twitter Blueprint, was developed by Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton at Twitter in 2010 as a framework to encourage consistency across internal tools. Before Bootstrap, various libraries were used for interface development, which led to inconsistencies and a high maintenance burden. According to Otto: A super small group of developers and I got together to design and build a new internal tool and saw an opportunity to do something more. Through that process, we saw ourselves build something much more substantial than another internal tool. Months later, we ended up with an early version of Bootstrap as a way to document and share common design patterns and assets within the company. After a few months of development by a small group, many developers at Twitter began to contribute to the project as a part of Hack Week, a hackathon-style week for the Twitter development team. It was renamed from Twitter Blueprint to Twitter Bootstrap and released as an open-source project on August 19, 2011. It has continued to be maintained by Otto, Thornton, a small group of core developers, and a large community of contributors. === Bootstrap 2 === On January 31, 2012, Bootstrap 2 was released, which added built-in support for Glyphicons, several new components, as well as changes to many of the existing components. This version supports responsive web design, meaning the layout of web pages adjusts dynamically, taking into account the characteristics of the device used (whether desktop, tablet, mobile phone). Shortly before the release of Bootstrap 2.1.2, Otto and Thornton left Twitter, but committed to continue to work on Bootstrap as an independent project. === Bootstrap 3 === On August 19, 2013, Bootstrap 3 was released. It redesigned components to use flat design and a mobile first approach. Bootstrap 3 features new plugin system with namespaced events. Bootstrap 3 dropped Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3.6 support, but there is an optional polyfill for these browsers. Bootstrap 3 was also the first version released under the twbs organization on GitHub instead of the Twitter one. === Bootstrap 4 === Otto announced Bootstrap 4 on October 29, 2014. The first alpha version of Bootstrap 4 was released on August 19, 2015. The first beta version was released on August 10, 2017. Otto suspended work on Bootstrap 3 on September 6, 2016, to free up time to work on Bootstrap 4. Bootstrap 4 was finalized on January 18, 2018. Significant changes include: Major rewrite of the code Replacing Less with Sass Addition of Reboot, a collection of element-specific CSS changes in a single file, based on Normalize Dropping support for IE8, IE9, and iOS 6 CSS Flexible Box support Adding navigation customization options Adding responsive spacing and sizing utilities Switching from the pixels unit in CSS to root ems Increasing global font size from 14px to 16px for enhanced readability Dropping the panel, thumbnail, pager, and well components Dropping the Glyphicons icon font Huge number of utility classes Improved form styling, buttons, drop-down menus, media objects and image classes Bootstrap 4 supports the latest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari (except on Windows). It additionally supports back to IE10 and the latest Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR). === Bootstrap 5 === Bootstrap 5 was officially released on May 5, 2021. Major changes include: New offcanvas menu component Removing dependence on jQuery in favor of vanilla JavaScript Rewriting the grid to support responsive gutters and columns placed outside of rows Migrating the documentation from Jekyll to Hugo Dropping support for Internet Explorer Moving testing infrastructure from QUnit to Jasmine Adding custom set of SVG icons Adding CSS custom properties Improved API Enhanced grid system Improved customizing docs Updated forms RTL support Built in darkmode support

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  Social media use by the Islamic State

  The Islamic State is widely known for its posting of disturbing content, such as beheading videos, on the internet. This propaganda is disseminated through websites and many social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and YouTube. By utilizing social media, the organization has garnered a strong following and successfully recruited tens of thousands of followers from around the world. In response to its successful use of social media, many websites and social media platforms have banned accounts and removed content promoting the Islamic State from their platforms. == Background == The Islamic State is a Jihadist militant group and a former unrecognised proto-state. The group sophisticatedly utilizes social media as a tool for spreading its message and for international recruitment. == Target audience == IS targets a variety of different groups both in the Middle East and Western Countries. There are a wide variety of motives for why fighters may be prompted to join IS. Researchers from Quantum cite nine attributes characteristic of a fighter looking to join IS: status seeking, identity seeking, revenge, redemption, thrill, ideology, justice, and death. The standard IS recruit, both from the Middle East and Western countries, is relatively young. The average age of IS fighters is around 26 years old, with 86% of recruits being male. Middle Eastern recruits come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Northern Iraq. Recent destruction in the Iraq War and Syrian Civil War has created hatred of Western Powers in the region. By 2025, researchers identified a significant shift toward targeting minors and adolescents, a phenomenon dubbed the "Alt-Jihad." This younger demographic is targeted not through theological arguments, but through a "victimhood-revenge" narrative that blends extremist ideology with pop-culture aesthetics in gaming environments like Roblox and Minecraft. In 2024 alone, 42 minors were arrested in Europe for involvement in IS-related plotting or propaganda. Western recruits are often second or third-generation immigrants. Computer scientists Zeeshan ul-hassan Usmani also found that the majority of the Western recruits do not feel "at home" in their home country. As a result, these fighters often have desires to go abroad and escape conditions in their home country. In addition to recruitment, IS's social media presence is also meant to intimidate and spread terror around the world. IS's posting of beheadings and other execution videos primarily target the Western world. == Content and messages == IS produces propaganda videos that range from video executions to full-length documentaries. The videos have a high production quality and incorporate montages, slow motion scenes, and are often accompanied by a short dialogue. IS has a dedicated team of over 100 media insurgents dedicated to recording these videos. While the group previously relied on glossy magazines like Dabiq, post-territorial strategies have shifted focus to the weekly newsletter Al-Naba. Unlike previous publications designed for recruitment, Al-Naba serves as a "central pillar" of the group's media strategy, focusing on bureaucratic reporting and military statistics to project a narrative of endurance and maintain internal cohesion among dispersed fighters. The IS executions typically consist of beheadings or mass shootings in retaliation to western intervention in IS territory. The particular videos that IS often post include executions of "enemies of the Caliphate," which often consist of westerners or Jordanian nationals. Most infamously, an executioner nicknamed Jihadi John was seen in many of these videos prior to his death in 2015. Jihadi John is notorious for executing many US, UK, and Japanese citizens such as Steven Sotloff, David Haines, and Alan Henning. In many of the videos and materials produced by IS, there is the theme of inclusion and brotherhood. Additionally, the videos also focus on three main messages: Convey narrative of global war and ultimate victory Radicalize populations globally Encourage international lone state actor and small cell attacks in support of IS These messages can be seen throughout all content produced by the Islamic State such as war documentaries, execution videos, and Rumiyah (magazine). == Social media usage == From 2013 to 2014, the organization primarily used mainstream platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. In 2014, these large social media platforms removed IS content. Since then, IS has chosen to utilize social media platforms that either protect their content or allow for content to quickly be reposted. These platforms of choice are Telegram, Justpaste.it, and Surespot, until the latter's shutdown in 2022. By 2025, the group had further diversified into decentralized platforms like Rocket.Chat and TamTam to evade moderation. IS also implements marketing initiatives like “Jihadist Follow Friday,” which encourages users to follow new IS-related accounts each Friday. This specific hashtag mirrors commonly used hashtags such as #motivation monday or #throwbackthursday. To augment their online presence and popularity, the organization encourages their followers to use a plethora of Arabic hashtags, which translate to #theFridayofSupportingISIS, and #CalamityWillBefalltheUS. This allows them to gain followers each week while promoting their community and message on a weekly basis. === Twitter === During 2014, there were an estimated 46,000 to 90,000 Twitter accounts that advocated for IS or were run by supporters of the group. In 2015, Twitter reported that it banned 125,000 IS sympathetic accounts. In 2016, it published an update of 325,000 deleted accounts. Though many accounts have been suspended, IS supporters often create new accounts. Twitter defines those who recreate accounts as “resurgents” and explains that these are often difficult accounts to remove completely, since they tend to pop back up in alternate forms. It is estimated that approximately 20% of all IS affiliated Twitter accounts can be traced back to fake accounts created by the same user. Many of these accounts are traced back to the “Baqiya family,” which is an online network of thousands of IS followers. Many of these accounts are active during important IS military victories. During the IS march on Mosul, there were about 42,000 tweets on Twitter supporting the invasion. === Telegram === During 2014, IS became very active on Telegram after many major social media platforms banned IS content and sympathetic accounts. Telegram is an encrypted messaging application. The platform by nature is created as an end-to-end user encryption platform. Further, it also has special features such as the self-destruct timer which erase all evidence and messages. The app has a user data protection policy because violating this policy could potentially damage the app’s brand of customer privacy. Government agencies have been unable to break Telegram's encryption technology. On Telegram, IS often uses the hashtag #KhilafahNews to attract their users. Telegram is used by IS to plan social media campaigns on alternate platforms. The organization also uses Telegram as an anchor platform to connect with their user base when their other accounts are banned on Twitter and Facebook. On 28 February 2016 a video was uploaded threatening to expose the najaasah and shoot the hesitates. Produced by Ibn-Altayb and distributed by Al-Hayat, the video shows footage of Bruxelles attacks and the victims. In July 2017, Telegram came under scrutiny from the media and news media outlets. It has been documented that IS gunmen have used this app to maintain contact with IS leaders in Raqqa days before terror attacks in Turkey, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. Despite concerns from Western media, there has been little to no action taken against IS accounts on Telegram. In April 2019 a video was uploaded in which they urged lone wolves to attempt to attack during the Holy Week in Sevilla and Málaga. In Sevilla, a jihadist who intended to perform a lone wolf attack was arrested. === TikTok === In October 2019, it was reported that IS recruitment content was discovered on TikTok. Approximately two dozen accounts were subsequently shut down in response. By 2025, TikTok had evolved into a "low-threshold" gateway for extremist recruitment, characterized by researchers as part of a "Virtual Caliphate Complex." Nearly 93 unofficial IS support groups, known as "feeder groups," were found to be repackaging official IS content into short-form videos with pink hearts, catchy music, and internet memes to evade detection and appeal to the "TikTok generation." This content often promotes a "victimhood-revenge" narrative rather than complex theology, specifically designed to radicalize minors. === Justpaste.it === Justpaste.it, an anonymous photo and text sharing website, has also been utilized heavily. With the option to lock images, the website allows anonymous

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  Robert Abel and Associates

  Robert Abel and Associates (RA&A) was an American pioneering animation production company specializing in television commercials made with computer graphics. Founded by Robert Abel and Con Pederson in 1971, RA&A was especially known for their art direction and won many Clio Awards. Abel and his team created some of the most advanced and impressive computer-animated works of their time, including full ray-traced renders and fluid character animation at a time when such things were largely unknown. A variety of high-profile television advertisements, graphics sequences for motion pictures (including The Andromeda Strain and Tron), and work on laserdisc video games such as Cube Quest, put Abel and his team on the map in the early 1980s. The company was also originally commissioned to create the visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but were subsequently taken off the project for mishandling funds. The company was also notable on its work for The Jacksons' 1981 music video "Can You Feel It." RA&A was on the southwest corner of Highland Avenue and Romaine in the heart of Hollywood, California. RA&A closed in 1987 following an ill-fated merger with now-defunct Omnibus Computer Graphics, Inc., a company which had been based in Toronto. Many people who worked at RA&A went on to other ground-breaking projects, including the founding of Wavefront Technologies, Rhythm & Hues and other studios. Many RA&A people went on to win Academy Awards.

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  List of assembly software and tools

  This is a list of assembly software and tools, including software used for assembly language programming, machine code generation, disassembly, debugging, binary analysis, reverse engineering, and instruction-set simulation. == Assemblers and machine-code generators == == Disassemblers and binary-analysis tools == == Debuggers with assembly-level features == == Educational IDEs, simulators and emulators == == Portable and intermediate assembly-like languages == == Assembly language families == Assembly language is not a single programming language, but a family of low-level languages associated with particular instruction set architectures and processor families. Examples include:

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  Webby Awards

  The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include websites, advertising and media, online film and video, mobile sites and apps, and social. Two winners are selected in each category, one by members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and one by the public who cast their votes during Webby People's Voice voting. Each winner presents a five-word acceptance speech, a trademark of the annual awards show. In its early years, the award was hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" and was associated with the phrase "The Oscars of the Internet." == History == In its early years, the organization was one of several vying to be the premiere internet awards show. Both shows would compare themselves to the Oscars, as did media outlets such as The New York Times to Canada's Globe & Mail. The winners of the First Annual Webby Awards in 1995 were presented by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, writers for Columbia Pictures. It was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The televised Webby Awards were sponsored by the Academy of Web Design and Cool Site of the Day. The first Webby Awards were produced by Kay Dangaard at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel as a nod to the first site of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars). That first year, they were called "Webbie" Awards. The first "Site of the Year" winner was the pioneer webisodic serial The Spot. The modern Webby Awards were co-founded by Tiffany Shlain, a filmmaker, when she was hired by The Web Magazine to re-establish them, and were first held in San Francisco in 1997. They quickly became known for its requirement that winners give their acceptance speeches in five words. After this, the awards became more successful than the magazine and IDG closed the publication. Shlain and co-founder Maya Draisin Farrah continued to run The Webby Awards until 2004. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which selects the winners of The Webby Awards, was established in 1998 by co-founders Tiffany Shlain, Spencer Ante and Maya Draisin. Members of the Academy include Kevin Spacey, Grimes, Questlove, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, Instagram's Head of Fashion Partnerships Eva Chen, comedian Jimmy Kimmel, Twitter founder Biz Stone, Vice Media co-founder and CEO Shane Smith, Tumblr's David Karp, Director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Susan P. Crawford, Refinery29's Executive Creative Director Piera Gelardi, and CEO and co-founder of Gimlet Media Alex Blumberg. The Webby Awards is owned and operated by the Webby Media Group, a division of Recognition Media, which also owns and produces the Lovie Awards in Europe and Netted by the Webbys, a daily email publication launched in 2009. David-Michel Davies, CEO of Webby Media Group, current Executive Director of the Webby Awards and co-founder of Internet Week New York, was named Executive Director of the Webby Awards in 2005. In 2009, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 US states and over 60 countries. That same year, more than 500,000 votes were cast in The Webby People's Voice Awards. In 2012, the 16th Annual Webby awards received 1.5 million votes from more than 200 countries for the People's Voice awards. In 2015, the 19th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 13,000 entries from all 50 U.S. states and over 60 countries worldwide. == Nomination process == The 2000 awards began the transition to nominee submissions. Previously, nominees had been selected by an internal committee. As early as 2017, organizations wanting to nominate themselves were charged $395 for a single entry. An "ad campaign entry" would cost $595. By 2024, those fees had risen to $495 and $675, respectively. Executive Academy Members with category-specific expertise evaluate the shortlisted entries based on the appropriate Website, Advertising & Media, Online Film & Video, Mobile Sites & Apps, and Social category criteria, and cast ballots to determine Webby Honorees, Nominees and Webby Winners. Deloitte provides vote tabulation consulting for the Webby Awards. In addition to the award given in each category by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, another winner is selected in each category as determined by the general public during People's Voice voting. Winners of both the Academy-selected and People's Voice-selected awards are invited to the Webbys. == Awards granted == The Webby Awards are presented in over a hundred categories among all four types of entries. A website can be entered in multiple categories and receive multiple awards. In each category, two awards are handed out: a Webby Award selected by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and a People's Voice Award selected by the general public. == Ceremony == Between 2005 and 2019, the Webby Awards were presented in New York City. Many of the ceremony hosts are comedians and comedic actors. Comedian Rob Corddry hosted the ceremony from 2005 to 2007. Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live hosted in 2008 and 2009, B.J. Novak of the sitcom The Office in 2010, and Lisa Kudrow in 2011. Comedian, actor, and writer Patton Oswalt hosted from 2012 to 2014. Comedian Hannibal Buress hosted in 2015. The Webbys are famous for limiting recipients to five-word speeches, which are often humorous, although some exceed the limit. In 2005 when accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, former Vice President Al Gore's speech was "Please don't recount this vote." He was introduced by Vint Cerf who used the same format to state, "We all invented the Internet." In 2013, the creator of the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), Steve Wilhite, accepted his Webby and delivered his now famous five-word speech, "It's pronounced 'Jif' not 'Gif'." == Criticism == The Webbys have been criticized for their pay-to-enter and pay-to-attend policy (winners and nominees also have to pay to attend the award ceremony), and thus for not taking most websites into consideration before distributing their awards. Gawker, its Valleywag column, and others, have called the awards a scam, with Valleywag saying, "...somewhere along the way, the organizers figured out that this goofy charade could be milked for profit." In response, Webby Awards executive director David-Michel Davies told the Wall Street Journal that entry fees "provide the best and most sustainable model for ensuring that our judging process remains consistent and rigorous and is not dependent on things like sponsorships that can fluctuate from year to year." == Anthem Awards == In 2021, the Webby organization started a new line of awards, the Anthem Awards, to honor the purpose and mission-driven work of people, companies and organizations worldwide. The finalists and winners are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

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  Outline of telecommunication

  The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to telecommunication: Telecommunication – the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. In modern times, this process almost always involves the use of electromagnetic waves by transmitters and receivers, but in earlier years it also involved the use of drums and visual signals such as smoke, fire, beacons, semaphore lines and other optical communications. == Modes of telecommunication == E-mail Fax Instant messaging Radio Satellite SMS Telegraphy Telephony Television Television broadcasting mobile telephony Videoconferencing VoIP Voicemail == Types of telecommunication networks == Telecommunications network Computer networks ARPANET Ethernet Internet Wireless networks Public switched telephone networks (PSTN) Packet switched networks Radio network Broadband Wireless Broadband == Aspects of telecommunication transmission == Telecommunication Analog Digital Functional profile Optics === Telecommunication technology === Modulation Amplitude modulation Frequency modulation Quadrature amplitude modulation Nyquist rate Nyquist ISI criterion Pulse shaping Intersymbol interference === Communications media types === Physical media for Telecommunication Twisted pair Coaxial cable Optical fiber Telecommunication through Free Space Broadcast radio frequency including television and radio Line-of-sight Communications satellite Terrestrial Microwave Wireless LAN === Relationship between media and transmitters === Physical access to media Simplex Duplex (telecommunications) Logical relationships Return channel Two-way alternating Two-way simultaneous === Multiple access to media === Multiplexing Analog Frequency division multiplexing Space division multiplexing Digital Time-division multiplexing Statistical multiplexing and Packet switching Media Access Control Contention Token-based Centralized token control Distributed token control == History of telecommunication == History of telecommunication History of telegraphy History of the telephone Invention of the telephone Timeline of the telephone History of radio History of television History of videophones History of mobile phones History of computing hardware History of the Internet == Major telecommunications equipment manufacturers == Alcatel-Lucent – French global telecommunications equipment company Aricent – Former company AT&T – American telecommunications company Avaya – American technology company Ciena – American telecommunications company Cisco Systems – American multinational technology companyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Ericsson – Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company Fujitsu – Japanese multinational technology company HCL Technologies – Indian multinational technology companyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Huawei – Chinese multinational technology company NEC – Japanese technology corporation Nokia – Multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company ShoreTel – US telecommunications company Verizon – American telecommunications company ZTE – Chinese telecommunications company == Major telecommunications service providers == List of mobile network operators List of telephone operating companies == Telecommunication organizations == Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions Telecommunications Industry Association == Telecommunication publications == Magazines Billing and OSS World Cabling Installation & Maintenance Call Center Communications News Communications System Design Lightwave Mobile Radio Technology (MRT) New Telephony Phone+ RCR Wireless News Telecom Asia Telecommunications Magazine Telephony WhatSatphone Magazine Wireless Systems Design Wireless Week Xchange == Persons influential in telecommunication == Edwin Howard Armstrong – American radio-frequency engineer and inventor (1890–1954) John Logie Baird – Scottish inventor (1888–1946) Paul Baran – American-Jewish engineer (1926–2011) Alexander Graham Bell – Inventor of the telephone (1847–1922) Tim Berners-Lee – English computer scientist (born 1955) Jagadish Chandra Bose – Physicist, biologist and botanist (1857–1937) Vint Cerf – American computer scientist and Internet pioneer (born 1943) Claude Chappe – Late 18th-century French inventor Donald Davies – British computer scientist (1924–2000) Louis Pouzin – French computer scientist and Internet pioneer (born 1931) Lee de Forest – American inventor (1873–1961) Philo Farnsworth – American inventor (1906–1971) Reginald Fessenden – Canadian-American electrical engineer and inventor (1866–1932) Elisha Gray – American electrical engineer (1835–1901) Innocenzo Manzetti – Italian inventor (1826–1877) Guglielmo Marconi – Italian radio-frequency engineer and inventor (1874–1937) Antonio Meucci – Italian inventor (1808–1889) Alexander Stepanovich Popov – Russian physicist (1859–1906)Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Johann Philipp Reis – German scientist and inventor Almon Brown Strowger – American inventor of the telephone exchange (1839–1902) Nikola Tesla – Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943) Camille Tissot – French physicist (1868–1917) Alfred Vail – 19th-century American machinist and inventor Charles Wheatstone – English physicist and inventor (1802–1875) Vladimir K. Zworykin – Russian-American engineer (1888–1982)

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  Common-mode signal

  In electrical engineering, a common-mode signal is the identical component of voltage present at both input terminals of an electrical device. In telecommunication, the common-mode signal on a transmission line is also known as longitudinal voltage. Common-mode interference (CMI) is a type of common-mode signal. Common-mode interference is interference that appears on both signal leads, or coherent interference that affects two or more elements of a network. In most electrical circuits, desired signals are transferred by a differential voltage between two conductors. If the voltages on these conductors are U1 and U2, the common-mode signal is the average of the voltages: U cm = U 1 + U 2 2 {\displaystyle U_{\text{cm}}={\frac {U_{1}+U_{2}}{2}}} When referenced to the local common or ground, a common-mode signal appears on both lines of a two-wire cable, in phase and with equal amplitudes. Technically, a common-mode voltage is one-half the vector sum of the voltages from each conductor of a balanced circuit to local ground or common. Such signals can arise from one or more of the following sources: Radiated signals coupled equally to both lines, An offset from signal common created in the driver circuit, or A ground differential between the transmitting and receiving locations. Noise induced into a cable, or transmitted from a cable, usually occurs in the common mode, as the same signal tends to be picked up by both conductors in a two-wire cable. Likewise, RF noise transmitted from a cable tends to emanate from both conductors. Elimination of common-mode signals on cables entering or leaving electronic equipment is important to ensure electromagnetic compatibility. Unless the intention is to transmit or receive radio signals, an electronic designer generally designs electronic circuits to minimise or eliminate common-mode effects. == Methods of eliminating common-mode signals == Differential amplifiers or receivers that respond only to voltage differences, e.g. those between the wires that constitute a pair. This method is particularly suited for instrumentation where signals are transmitted through DC bias. For sensors with very high output impedance that require very high common-mode rejection ratio, a differential amplifier is combined with input buffers to form an instrumentation amplifier. An inductor where a pair of signaling wires follow the same path through the inductor, e.g. in a bifilar winding configuration such as used in Ethernet magnetics. Useful for AC and DC signals, but will filter only higher frequency common-mode signals. A transformer, which is useful for AC signals only, and will filter any form of common-mode noise, but may be used in combination with a bifilar wound coil to eliminate capacitive coupling of higher frequency common-mode signals across the transformer. Used in twisted pair Ethernet. Common-mode filtering may also be used to prevent egress of noise for electromagnetic compatibility purposes: High frequency common-mode signals (e.g., RF noise from a computing circuit) may be blocked using a ferrite bead clamped to the outside of a cable. These are often observable on laptop computer power supplies near the jack socket, and good quality mouse or printer USB cables and HDMI cables. Switch mode power supplies include common and differential mode filtering inductors to block the switching signal noise returning into mains wiring. Common-mode rejection ratio is a measure of how well a circuit eliminates common-mode interference.

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  Shape context

  Shape context is a feature descriptor used in object recognition. Serge Belongie and Jitendra Malik proposed the term in their paper "Matching with Shape Contexts" in 2000. == Theory == The shape context is intended to be a way of describing shapes that allows for measuring shape similarity and the recovering of point correspondences. The basic idea is to pick n points on the contours of a shape. For each point pi on the shape, consider the n − 1 vectors obtained by connecting pi to all other points. The set of all these vectors is a rich description of the shape localized at that point but is far too detailed. The key idea is that the distribution over relative positions is a robust, compact, and highly discriminative descriptor. So, for the point pi, the coarse histogram of the relative coordinates of the remaining n − 1 points, h i ( k ) = # { q ≠ p i : ( q − p i ) ∈ bin ( k ) } {\displaystyle h_{i}(k)=\#\{q\neq p_{i}:(q-p_{i})\in {\mbox{bin}}(k)\}} is defined to be the shape context of p i {\displaystyle p_{i}} . The bins are normally taken to be uniform in log-polar space. The fact that the shape context is a rich and discriminative descriptor can be seen in the figure below, in which the shape contexts of two different versions of the letter "A" are shown. (a) and (b) are the sampled edge points of the two shapes. (c) is the diagram of the log-polar bins used to compute the shape context. (d) is the shape context for the point marked with a circle in (a), (e) is that for the point marked as a diamond in (b), and (f) is that for the triangle. As can be seen, since (d) and (e) are the shape contexts for two closely related points, they are quite similar, while the shape context in (f) is very different. For a feature descriptor to be useful, it needs to have certain invariances. In particular it needs to be invariant to translation, scaling, small perturbations, and, depending on the application, rotation. Translational invariance comes naturally to shape context. Scale invariance is obtained by normalizing all radial distances by the mean distance α {\displaystyle \alpha } between all the point pairs in the shape although the median distance can also be used. Shape contexts are empirically demonstrated to be robust to deformations, noise, and outliers using synthetic point set matching experiments. One can provide complete rotational invariance in shape contexts. One way is to measure angles at each point relative to the direction of the tangent at that point (since the points are chosen on edges). This results in a completely rotationally invariant descriptor. But of course this is not always desired since some local features lose their discriminative power if not measured relative to the same frame. Many applications in fact forbid rotational invariance e.g. distinguishing a "6" from a "9". == Use in shape matching == A complete system that uses shape contexts for shape matching consists of the following steps (which will be covered in more detail in the Details of Implementation section): Randomly select a set of points that lie on the edges of a known shape and another set of points on an unknown shape. Compute the shape context of each point found in step 1. Match each point from the known shape to a point on an unknown shape. To minimize the cost of matching, first choose a transformation (e.g. affine, thin plate spline, etc.) that warps the edges of the known shape to the unknown (essentially aligning the two shapes). Then select the point on the unknown shape that most closely corresponds to each warped point on the known shape. Calculate the "shape distance" between each pair of points on the two shapes. Use a weighted sum of the shape context distance, the image appearance distance, and the bending energy (a measure of how much transformation is required to bring the two shapes into alignment). To identify the unknown shape, use a nearest-neighbor classifier to compare its shape distance to shape distances of known objects. == Details of implementation == === Step 1: Finding a list of points on shape edges === The approach assumes that the shape of an object is essentially captured by a finite subset of the points on the internal or external contours on the object. These can be simply obtained using the Canny edge detector and picking a random set of points from the edges. Note that these points need not and in general do not correspond to key-points such as maxima of curvature or inflection points. It is preferable to sample the shape with roughly uniform spacing, though it is not critical. === Step 2: Computing the shape context === This step is described in detail in the Theory section. === Step 3: Computing the cost matrix === Consider two points p and q that have normalized K-bin histograms (i.e. shape contexts) g(k) and h(k). As shape contexts are distributions represented as histograms, it is natural to use the χ2 test statistic as the "shape context cost" of matching the two points: C S = 1 2 ∑ k = 1 K [ g ( k ) − h ( k ) ] 2 g ( k ) + h ( k ) {\displaystyle C_{S}={\frac {1}{2}}\sum _{k=1}^{K}{\frac {[g(k)-h(k)]^{2}}{g(k)+h(k)}}} The values of this range from 0 to 1. In addition to the shape context cost, an extra cost based on the appearance can be added. For instance, it could be a measure of tangent angle dissimilarity (particularly useful in digit recognition): C A = 1 2 ‖ ( cos ⁡ ( θ 1 ) sin ⁡ ( θ 1 ) ) − ( cos ⁡ ( θ 2 ) sin ⁡ ( θ 2 ) ) ‖ {\displaystyle C_{A}={\frac {1}{2}}{\begin{Vmatrix}{\dbinom {\cos(\theta _{1})}{\sin(\theta _{1})}}-{\dbinom {\cos(\theta _{2})}{\sin(\theta _{2})}}\end{Vmatrix}}} This is half the length of the chord in unit circle between the unit vectors with angles θ 1 {\displaystyle \theta _{1}} and θ 2 {\displaystyle \theta _{2}} . Its values also range from 0 to 1. Now the total cost of matching the two points could be a weighted-sum of the two costs: C = ( 1 − β ) C S + β C A {\displaystyle C=(1-\beta )C_{S}+\beta C_{A}\!\,} Now for each point pi on the first shape and a point qj on the second shape, calculate the cost as described and call it Ci,j. This is the cost matrix. === Step 4: Finding the matching that minimizes total cost === Now, a one-to-one matching π ( i ) {\displaystyle \pi (i)} that matches each point pi on shape 1 and qj on shape 2 that minimizes the total cost of matching, H ( π ) = ∑ i C ( p i , q π ( i ) ) {\displaystyle H(\pi )=\sum _{i}C\left(p_{i},q_{\pi (i)}\right)} is needed. This can be done in O ( N 3 ) {\displaystyle O(N^{3})} time using the Hungarian method, although there are more efficient algorithms. To have robust handling of outliers, one can add "dummy" nodes that have a constant but reasonably large cost of matching to the cost matrix. This would cause the matching algorithm to match outliers to a "dummy" if there is no real match. === Step 5: Modeling transformation === Given the set of correspondences between a finite set of points on the two shapes, a transformation T : R 2 → R 2 {\displaystyle T:\mathbb {R} ^{2}\to \mathbb {R} ^{2}} can be estimated to map any point from one shape to the other. There are several choices for this transformation, described below. ==== Affine ==== The affine model is a standard choice: T ( p ) = A p + o {\displaystyle T(p)=Ap+o\!} . The least squares solution for the matrix A {\displaystyle A} and the translational offset vector o is obtained by: o = 1 n ∑ i = 1 n ( p i − q π ( i ) ) , A = ( Q + P ) t {\displaystyle o={\frac {1}{n}}\sum _{i=1}^{n}\left(p_{i}-q_{\pi (i)}\right),A=(Q^{+}P)^{t}} Where P = ( 1 p 11 p 12 ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ 1 p n 1 p n 2 ) {\displaystyle P={\begin{pmatrix}1&p_{11}&p_{12}\\\vdots &\vdots &\vdots \\1&p_{n1}&p_{n2}\end{pmatrix}}} with a similar expression for Q {\displaystyle Q\!} . Q + {\displaystyle Q^{+}\!} is the pseudoinverse of Q {\displaystyle Q\!} . ==== Thin plate spline ==== The thin plate spline (TPS) model is the most widely used model for transformations when working with shape contexts. A 2D transformation can be separated into two TPS function to model a coordinate transform: T ( x , y ) = ( f x ( x , y ) , f y ( x , y ) ) {\displaystyle T(x,y)=\left(f_{x}(x,y),f_{y}(x,y)\right)} where each of the ƒx and ƒy have the form: f ( x , y ) = a 1 + a x x + a y y + ∑ i = 1 n ω i U ( ‖ ( x i , y i ) − ( x , y ) ‖ ) , {\displaystyle f(x,y)=a_{1}+a_{x}x+a_{y}y+\sum _{i=1}^{n}\omega _{i}U\left({\begin{Vmatrix}(x_{i},y_{i})-(x,y)\end{Vmatrix}}\right),} and the kernel function U ( r ) {\displaystyle U(r)\!} is defined by U ( r ) = r 2 log ⁡ r 2 {\displaystyle U(r)=r^{2}\log r^{2}\!} . The exact details of how to solve for the parameters can be found elsewhere but it essentially involves solving a linear system of equations. The bending energy (a measure of how much transformation is needed to align the points) will also be easily obtained. ==== Regularized TPS ==== The TPS formulation above has exact matching requirement for the pairs of points on the two shapes. For noisy data, it is best to

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  Open Rights Group

  The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including mass surveillance, internet filtering and censorship, and intellectual property rights. == History == The organisation was started by Danny O'Brien, Cory Doctorow, Ian Brown, Rufus Pollock, James Cronin, Stefan Magdalinski, Louise Ferguson and Suw Charman after a panel discussion at Open Tech 2005. O'Brien created a pledge on PledgeBank, placed on 23 July 2005, with a deadline of 25 December 2005: "I will create a standing order of 5 pounds per month to support an organisation that will campaign for digital rights in the UK but only if 1,000 other people will too." The pledge reached 1000 people on 29 November 2005. The Open Rights Group was launched at a "sell-out" meeting in Soho, London. == Work == The group has made submissions to the All Party Internet Group (APIG) inquiry into digital rights management and the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. The group was honoured in the 2008 Privacy International Big Brother Awards alongside No2ID, Liberty, Genewatch UK and others, as a recognition of their efforts to keep state and corporate mass surveillance at bay. In 2010 the group worked with 38 Degrees to oppose the introduction of the Digital Economy Act, which was passed in April 2010. The group opposes measures in the draft Online Safety Bill introduced in 2021, that it sees as infringing free speech rights and online anonymity. The group campaigns against the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's plan to switch to an opt-out model for cookies. The group spokesperson stated that "[t]he UK government propose to make online spying the default option" in response to the proposed switch. == Areas of interest == The organisation, though focused on the impact of digital technology on the liberty of UK citizens, operates with an apparently wide range of interests within that category. Its interests include: === Access to knowledge === Copyright Creative Commons Free and open source software The public domain Crown copyright Digital Restrictions Management Software patents === Free speech and censorship === Internet filtering Right to parody s. 127 Communications Act 2003 === Government and democracy === Electronic voting Freedom of information legislation === Privacy, surveillance and censorship === Automatic Vehicle Tracking Communications data retention Identity management Net Neutrality NHS patients' medical database Police DNA Records RFID == Structure == ORG has a paid staff, whose members include: Jim Killock (executive director) Former staff include Suw Charman-Anderson and Becky Hogge, both executive directors, e-voting coordinator Jason Kitcat, campaigner Peter Bradwell, grassroots campaigner Katie Sutton and administrator Katerina Maniadaki. Neil Gaiman was previously the group's patron. As of October 2022, the group had over 43,000 supporters. == ORGCON == ORGCON was the first ever conference dedicated to digital rights in the UK, marketed as "a crash course in digital rights". It was held for the first time in 2010 at City University in London and included keynote talks from Cory Doctorow, politicians and similar pressure groups including Liberty, NO2ID and Big Brother Watch. ORGCON has since been held in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2019 where the keynote was given by Edward Snowden.

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  NexDock

  NexDock is a series of lapdock devices (containing a laptop screen, keyboard, trackpad, and battery connected to a phone or other device) sold by Nex Computer LLC. The product can be used with mobile desktop environments, including Samsung DeX and the former Windows Continuum. Critical reception for the series has been mixed, with reviewers praising the concept's utility for mobile productivity while noting hardware limitations and its niche appeal. == History == The first NexDock was introduced in 2016 through a successful Indiegogo campaign. Its development coincided with interest in smartphone-powered desktop interfaces, and it was marketed as a companion for Windows 10 Mobile's Continuum feature. Subsequent models, often launched via Kickstarter, added features like higher-resolution displays, touchscreens, and convertible hinges to adapt to the growing capabilities of smartphones. == Models == === NexDock (Original, 2016) === The first model featured a 14.1-inch 1366x768 display and connected primarily via a mini HDMI port. === NexDock 2 (2019) === This model introduced a 13.3-inch 1080p IPS display and a USB-C port, improvements aimed at better supporting platforms like Samsung DeX. === NexDock Touch (2020) === A touchscreen was added to the 13.3-inch display, allowing for more direct interaction with the connected device's operating system. === NexDock 360 (2021) === This version incorporated a 360-degree hinge, allowing the device to be used in laptop, tablet, tent, or stand modes. === NexDock Wireless (2023) === Wireless display connectivity was the key feature of this model, offering a cable-free connection to compatible phones and computers. === NexDock XL (2023) === The screen size was increased to 15.6 inches. It retained the 360-degree hinge and also offered a version with wireless charging for a connected phone. == Reception == Reviews of NexDock products have been mixed, generally praising the concept while pointing out execution flaws. The devices are often lauded for their utility with Samsung DeX, turning a high-end Samsung phone into a viable portable workstation. A review of the NexDock 2 from ZDNet concluded it was a "great companion for the modern road warrior," and Digital Trends called the original a "no-brainer shell" for expanding a phone's capability. However, reviewers have consistently highlighted hardware limitations. In its review of the NexDock Touch, TechRadar stated that while it was a "compelling package for a very specific niche," the "trackpad and keyboard are a bit of a letdown and the screen could be brighter." This sentiment was echoed in other reviews, with criticism often aimed at the trackpad's performance and feel. A review of the NexDock 2 from Android Authority described the experience as being "janky at times," concluding that the device "delivers on its promise — sort of." A common point across many reviews is that the overall performance is entirely dependent on the power of the connected phone, and the experience is often best suited for light productivity tasks rather than replacing a dedicated laptop.

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