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Private cloud computing infrastructure

Private cloud computing infrastructure is a category of cloud computing that provides comparable benefits to public cloud systems, such as self-service and scalability, but it does so via a proprietary framework. In contrast to public clouds, which cater to multiple entities, a private cloud is specifically designed for the requirements and objectives of one organization. == Definition == A private cloud computing infrastructure constitutes a distinctive model of cloud computing that facilitates a secure and distinct cloud environment where only the intended client can function. It can either be physically housed in the organization's in-house data center or be managed by a third-party provider. In a private cloud, the infrastructure and services are always sustained on a private network, and both the hardware and software are devoted exclusively to a single organization. == History == The concept of private cloud infrastructure started to take shape around the mid-2000s, coinciding with the rise of other cloud computing forms. It came into existence as a solution to the shortcomings of public clouds, particularly concerns over data control, security, and network performance. IT departments began to mirror the automation and self-service features of the public cloud in their data centers. Over time, these services became more advanced, and private cloud technology has been refined to address businesses and organizations' diverse needs. == Architecture == Private cloud computing infrastructure generally involves a mix of hardware, network infrastructure, and virtualization software. The hardware, often referred to as a cloud server or cloud array, consists of a server rack or a collection of server racks containing the storage and processors that constitute the cloud. The virtualization software, such as Hyper-V, OpenStack, or VMWare, establishes and oversees virtual machines with which users interact. The network infrastructure connects the private cloud to users and may facilitate connectivity with other on-premises data centers or clouds. == Applications == Private cloud infrastructures are usually utilized by medium to large businesses and organizations that need robust control over their data, have extensive computing needs, or have specific regulatory or compliance obligations. This includes healthcare organizations, government agencies, financial institutions, and any business that needs to process and store large data volumes.
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Photonically Optimized Embedded Microprocessors

The Photonically Optimized Embedded Microprocessors (POEM) is DARPA program. It should demonstrate photonic technologies that can be integrated within embedded microprocessors and enable energy-efficient high-capacity communications between the microprocessor and DRAM. For realizing POEM technology CMOS and DRAM-compatible photonic links should operate at high bit-rates with very low power dissipation. == Current research == Currently research in this field is at University of Colorado, Berkley University, and Nanophotonic Systems Laboratory ( Ultra-Efficient CMOS-Compatible Grating Coupler Design).
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Virtual DOM

A virtual DOM is a lightweight JavaScript representation of the Document Object Model (DOM) used in declarative web frameworks such as React, Vue.js, and Elm. Since generating a virtual DOM is relatively fast, any given framework is free to rerender the virtual DOM as many times as needed relatively cheaply. The framework can then find the differences between the previous virtual DOM and the current one (diffing), and only makes the necessary changes to the actual DOM (reconciliation). While technically slower than using just vanilla JavaScript, the pattern makes it much easier to write websites with a lot of dynamic content, since markup is directly coupled with state. Similar techniques include Ember.js' Glimmer and Angular's incremental DOM. == History == The JavaScript DOM API has historically been inconsistent across browsers, clunky to use, and difficult to scale for large projects. While libraries like jQuery aimed to improve the overall consistency and ergonomics of interacting with HTML, it too was prone to repetitive code that didn't describe the nature of the changes being made well and decoupled logic from markup. The release of AngularJS in 2010 provided a major paradigm shift in the interaction between JavaScript and HTML with the idea of dirty checking. Instead of imperatively declaring and destroying event listeners and modifying individual DOM nodes, changes in variables were tracked and sections of the DOM were invalidated and rerendered when a variable in their scope changed. This digest cycle provided a framework to write more declarative code that coupled logic and markup in a more logical way. While AngularJS aimed to provide a more declarative experience, it still required data to be explicitly bound to and watched by the DOM, and performance concerns were cited over the expensive process of dirty checking hundreds of variables. To alleviate these issues, React was the first major library to adopt a virtual DOM in 2013, which removed both the performance bottlenecks (since diffing and reconciling the DOM was relatively cheap) and the difficulty of binding data (since components were effectively just objects). Other benefits of a virtual DOM included improved security since XSS was effectively impossible and better extensibility since a component's state was entirely encapsulated. Its release also came with the advent of JSX, which further coupled HTML and JavaScript with an XML-like syntax extension. Following React's success, many other web frameworks copied the general idea of an ideal DOM representation in memory, such as Vue.js in 2014, which used a template compiler instead of JSX and had fine-grained reactivity built as part of the framework. In recent times, the virtual DOM has been criticized for being slow due to the additional time required for diffing and reconciling DOM nodes. This has led to the development of frameworks without a virtual DOM, such as Svelte, and frameworks that edit the DOM in-place such as Angular 2. == Implementations == === React === React pioneered the use of a virtual DOM to make components declaratively. Virtual DOM nodes are constructed using the createElement() function, but are often transpiled from JSX to make writing components more ergonomic. In class-based React, virtual DOM nodes are returned from the render() function, while in functional hook-based components, the return value of the function itself serves as the page markup. === Vue.js === Vue.js uses a virtual DOM to handle state changes, but is usually not directly interacted with; instead, a compiler is used to transform HTML templates into virtual DOM nodes as an implementation detail. While Vue supports writing JSX and custom render functions, it's more typical to use the template compiler since a build step isn't required that way. === Svelte === Svelte does not have a virtual DOM, with its creator Rich Harris calling the virtual DOM "pure overhead". Instead of diffing and reconciling DOM nodes at runtime, Svelte uses compile-time reactivity to analyze markup and generate JavaScript code that directly manipulates the DOM, drastically increasing performance.
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Frictionless sharing

Frictionless sharing refers to the transparent or automatic dissemination of user activity across social media platforms, typically without requiring explicit action from the user each time content is shared. The concept gained prominence in 2011 after Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of new features for Facebook at the F8 developers conference, framing the changes as enabling “real-time serendipity in a friction-less experience.” == History and concept == Before 2011, the term “frictionless sharing” was occasionally used in academic and technical contexts to describe sharing of resources with minimal effort, such as through social bookmarking or Creative Commons licensing to reduce barriers to reuse of research data. The concept took on a broader cultural meaning when Facebook introduced its Timeline interface and new “social apps” in 2011. These features enabled third-party applications to automatically publish user activity to the platform—effectively shifting sharing from a deliberate act to a passive process. For example, integrating music streaming service Spotify meant that any song a user listened to could automatically appear in a Facebook “Ticker,” allowing friends to see the activity and click through to play the song themselves. == Zuckerberg’s vision == Zuckerberg articulated a vision of a Web in which sharing occurs by default rather than by choice: “You read, you watch, you listen, you buy—and everyone you know will hear all about it on Facebook.” This “frictionless” model assumes ongoing consent after an initial opt-in. Once users connect an app to their profile, any future activity with that app may be automatically shared. This shift from intentional posting to ambient sharing represented a significant evolution in how personal data is distributed online. == Criticism and debate == Many commentators and users have raised concerns about frictionless sharing. While some criticism centers on online privacy, others focus on how automatic updates can flood news feeds and erode the social value of sharing. Critics argue that when sharing becomes automatic, it dilutes the personal curation that makes social media exchanges meaningful. According to Slate, this approach risks “killing taste,” because users typically choose to share only select content they find worth highlighting, rather than everything they consume. AL.com similarly observed that the frictionless model encourages over-sharing, overwhelming both users and their networks with minor or trivial activities. For example, integrating multiple platforms—such as Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Spotify, and others—can create an incessant stream of updates that some users may find intrusive or irritating. This can lead to what critics describe as “narcissistic” or noisy timelines, potentially undermining the “social” nature of social media. == Business model and data implications == For Facebook, frictionless sharing offers clear business advantages. More frequent and detailed sharing provides valuable data that can be used to refine targeted advertising and personalize content delivery. The model also encourages users to spend more time on the platform, reinforcing its position as a central hub of online social activity. Other technology companies have experimented with similar approaches. Google has introduced forms of cross-platform integration that facilitate automatic activity sharing, though with a more explicit opt-in structure compared to Facebook. This approach has been described as “friction with consent,” allowing users to manually enable or disable integrations on a per-service basis.
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EffectsLab Pro

EffectsLab Pro is a discontinued visual effects software product developed by FXhome. It has since been superseded by the FXhome HitFilm range. The company also produced a limited functionality version, EffectsLab Lite, containing just the Particle engine. A more extensive product, VisionLab Studio, combined the functionality of EffectsLab Pro and the company's CompositeLab Pro product with enhancements to both. == Effects Engines == The effects are generated by the program's effect engines: The Neon Light engine allows light beams to be drawn onto the video, allowing the generation of lightsaber-like weapons, neon lighting, fantasy glow effects and laser blasts. The Particle engine is used for particle effects, such as smoke, fire, explosions, and weather effects. The Muzzle Flash engine is designed for creating and animating muzzle flashes such as machine gun firing, tank blasts, etc. It's possible to rotate the created muzzle flash in 3D, making it the only engine with 3D use. The Optics engine is designed for creating artificial lens flares and light sources. It is useful for enhancing other light-based effects, and mimicking the distinctive flashes of light that accompany Star Wars' lightsaber battles. The Laser engine (introduced in EffectsLab Pro in late 2007) is designed as a simplified method of creating laser weapon effects, including the ability to add simulated perspective to the effect. == Presets == EffectsLab Pro allows the user to save the effects using presets. Since all effects are generated from settings in the different engines, it is fairly easy to generate an XML style description of the effect. It is also possible to share presets on FXhome's website.
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Far-Play

Far-Play (stylized fAR-Play, from augmented reality) was a software platform developed at the University of Alberta, for creating location-based, scavenger-hunt style games which use the GPS and web-connectivity features of a player's smartphone. According to the development team, "our long-term objective is to develop a general framework that supports the implementation of AARGs that are fun to play and also educational". It utilizes Layar, an augmented reality smartphone application, QR codes located at particular real-world sites, or a phone's web browser, to facilitate games which require players to be in close physical proximity to predefined "nodes". A node, referred to by the developers as a Virtual Point of Interest (vPOI), is a point in space defined by a set of map coordinates; fAR-Play uses the GPS function of a player's smartphone — or, for indoor games, which are not easily tracked by GPS satellites, specially-created QR codes— to confirm that they are adequately near a given node. Once a player is within a node's proximity, Layar's various augmented reality features can be utilized to display a range of extra content overlaid upon the physical play-space or launch another application for extra functionality. == Development and features == fAR-Play began development in 2008, emerging from a collaborative project undertaken by a group of University of Alberta students from the Computer Science and Humanities Computing departments. fAR-Play is still under development, but a beta version is available for testing by request. fAR-Play's development is managed by a team of interdisciplinary professors and students at the University of Alberta. Currently, the developing team's roster includes Supervising Professors Geoffrey Rockwell and Eleni Stroulia, Developers Lucio Gutierrez and Matthew Delaney, and Website Developers Calen Henry and Garry Wong. === Technology === fAR-Play relies on a number of open- and closed-source web technologies as tools to create, and enhance the users' experience. Layar is the recommended client-side frontend for delivering game content to the player; it is available on Android and iOS, which covers over 91% of smartphones. While Layar is not a requirement to play fAR-Play games, the application does supply additional augmented reality functionality; Layar also includes a built-in QR scanner. Depending on the design of the particular game, the player may instead use a dedicated QR code scanner; the developers recommend BeeTagg, but any such application will do. Layar or a QR code scanner are the maximum software requirements to play a fAR-Play game, making implementation of games on a wide variety of platforms relatively straightforward. fAR-Play games can also be designed for play strictly within a mobile phone's web browser. On the server side, fAR-Play's engine is composed of an Apache server which manages the system's web interface, including the mobile and desktop versions of the fAR-Play website, and a Java-based REST framework for managing the database of nodes. === Features === As a platform for designing AR games, as opposed to an AR game itself, fAR-Play offers little in the way of explicit shapes or patterns for games to take; instead, these elements are left to the game designer or players to develop. However, the nonspecific nature of nodes, the many options they offer for content delivery, and the open design of the platform are such that these elements can be developed extensively. Functionally, fAR-Play is a tool for tracking arbitrary points in space and a given player's proximity to them; what it does beyond that is up to the developers' and players' discretion. However, the fAR-Play website contains a leaderboard which tracks registered user's total scores. Players are assigned levels based on their total score, ranging from Novice — Super Player. Player profiles will display nodes that the player has recently caught, and any achievements the player has gained. Additionally, players can share their adventure progress, achievements, and the capture of vPOIs on Facebook. == How to play == In order to participate in the locative aspects of fAR-Play games, users must have an Android or iOS mobile device and access to wireless internet. Players can participate in fAR-Play anonymously, or create and sign into a fAR-Play account. Those who choose to play anonymously will lose the ability to track their progress across multiple games. When signed in, the player is presented with a list of games that are currently available for play. Each game includes a brief description and the various "adventures" available to the player. Once the game has been started, the player has three different methods for capturing nodes: they may scan a QR in the physical space, discover a node through the Layar camera virtual view, or receive a link in their device's web browser. === QR codes and Layar === QR codes can only be used as a method for capturing nodes and initiating games when there is a physical code present. In order to scan a QR code, players are required to have an application which can capture and recognize QR codes. If the player is utilizing a QR scanning application that has a built in browser, they will be required to log into fAR-Play through the app. Layar is a free to download augmented reality app, containing a built in QR code scanner, which enables its users to participate in fAR-Play games. === Capturing nodes === Layar permits the player to see nodes on their mobile device, guiding the player to their goal. Using this application, the player is able to navigate to their objective with map provided by Google Maps' API or by using their camera — Layar overlays a virtual image onto the real-world scene presented by the camera. The representations on screen expand in size as the player approaches the node destination, simulating relative distance. If the player taps any of the nodes that are presented on the screen, they will be provided additional information about that node, including the node's name and a brief description. Nodes can be captured by tapping the "capture" button. === Playing on browsers === The player can also play fAR-Play games within their mobile device's browser. By visiting https://archive.today/20131123223038/http://farplay.ualberta.ca/far-play/ on a mobile device, players will be presented with a fully realized user interface, permitting full interaction with the games. The player can capture the in game vPOIs through their browser by tapping the "nodes" button. This will bring up a list of all the accessible nodes, complete with a brief description for each location. By clicking on one of the nodes, the player is shown to a screen with a mapped location of the vPOI, an in-depth description of it, and hints. At the top of the page, the player can tap "CAPTURE THIS NODE" and advance in the game. When attempting to capture a node, the developer may or may not associate a challenge with the node. For example, in the game "Zombies ate my Campus", when players are attempting to capture a node, they're presented with a multiple choice question associated with the current node. === Game types === Players complete an adventure when they have captured all of the nodes within it. fAR-Play provides two game modes: in a Virtual Scavenger Hunt, nodes must be captured in a specific order; in a Virtual Treasure Hunt, the order is unimportant. == Existing fAR-Play games == Games currently available through fAR-Play include: Giselle Ever After Thought Hub Comics Arts Capture Challenge Pioneering Edmonton The Intelliphone Challenge A Tour of Atwater Zombies ate my Campus == For developers == fAR-Play's ultimate goal is to provide a simple, effective platform for the creation of locative augmented reality games, but the developer tools are still under active development and not openly available to the public. Access can be granted on a case-by-case basis, however, and a developer's manual is available. Users with development privileges can create new games or edit their existing games, in addition to playing their own or others' games. === Adventures === Games that are developed with fAR-Play are segmented into components called "Adventures". To progress through each game adventure, the player must reach and capture virtual points of interest, referred to in the game as vPOIs. In order to capture a vPOI, the player must travel to a physical location that is set by the developer. It is the developer's choice to include a challenge question to capture the vPOI, though it is not mandatory. A deduction of points can be implemented if the player submits an incorrect answer to a challenge question. === Points and achievements === Each of the nodes will reward the player with a predetermined number of points once they have been captured by the player. These points are added to the player's total points. Each of the adventures that are created require a predetermined number of vPOIs
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Digital divide

Digital divide is inequitable access to and use of digital technology, encompassing four interrelated dimensions: motivational, material, skills, and usage access. The digital divide worsens inequality in access to information and resources. According to 2026 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, a significant 'digital divide' persists, with over 15.7 million Americans lacking access to high-speed broadband. Students from low-income households often face limited access to reliable internet and digital devices, which negatively affects their educational opportunities. In the Information Age, people without access to the Internet and other technology are at a disadvantage, for they are less able to connect with others, find and apply for jobs, shop, and learn. People living in poverty, in insecure housing or who are homeless, elderly people, and those living in rural communities may have limited access to the Internet; in contrast, urban middle class people have easy access to the Internet. Another divide is between producers and consumers of Internet content, which could be a result of educational disparities. While social media use varies across age groups, a US 2010 study reported no racial divide. == History == The historical roots of the digital divide in the United States refer to the increasing gap that occurred during the early modern period between those who could and could not access the real time forms of calculation, decision-making, and visualization offered via written and printed media. "Over time, focus has shifted from binary access to differentiated use, where quality and purpose of engagement vary across socio-economic groups." Within this context, ethical discussions regarding the relationship between education and the free distribution of information were raised by thinkers such as Immanuel Kant, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Mary Wollstonecraft (1712–1778). The latter advocated that governments should intervene to ensure that any society's economic benefits should be fairly and meaningfully distributed. Amid the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, Rousseau's idea helped to justify poor laws that created a safety net for those who were harmed by new forms of production. Later, when telegraph and postal systems evolved, many used Rousseau's ideas to argue for full access to those services, even if it meant subsidizing hard-to-serve citizens. Thus, "universal services" referred to innovations in regulation and taxation that would allow phone services such as AT&T in the United States to serve hard-to-serve rural users. In 1996, as telecommunications companies merged with Internet companies, the Federal Communications Commission adopted Telecommunications Act of 1996 to consider regulatory strategies and taxation policies to close the digital divide. Though the term "digital divide" was coined among consumer groups that sought to tax and regulate information and communications technology (ICeT) companies to close the digital divide, the topic soon moved onto a global stage. The focus was the World Trade Organization which passed the Telecommunications Services Act, which resisted regulation of ICT companies so that they would be required to serve hard-to-serve individuals and communities. In 1999, to assuage anti-globalization forces, the WTO hosted the "Financial Solutions to Digital Divide" in Seattle, US, co-organized by Craig Warren Smith of Digital Divide Institute and Bill Gates Sr. the chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It catalyzed a full-scale global movement to close the digital divide, which quickly spread to all sectors of the global economy. In 2000, US president Bill Clinton mentioned the term in the State of the Union Address. Since the early 2000s, the international community has transitioned from a focus on domestic infrastructure to a global, multi-dimensional framework for digital equity. This shift was formalized through the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005), where the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established a roadmap for bridging the Global North-South disparity as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Academic and policy discourse has since evolved to distinguish between the first-level divide (physical access), the second-level divide (digital literacy), and the third-level divide (the ability to translate technology use into socio-economic capital). By the 2020s, critical reflections on national development emphasized that the divide is fundamentally a socio-institutional gap. Research by Tiwari, Kostenko, and Yekhanurov (2025) identifies four pillars for achieving national digital maturity which are digital governance capacity, institutional design to prevent adverse digital incorporation, infrastructure resilience, and citizen capability. This modern era is characterized by the pursuit of meaningful connectivity, a standard that requires internet access to be not only available but affordable, high-speed, and supportive of active content creation. === During the COVID-19 pandemic === At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide issued stay-at-home orders that imposed lockdowns, quarantines, restrictions, and closures. The resulting interruptions to schooling, public services, and business operations drove nearly half of the world's population into seeking alternative methods to live while in isolation. These methods included telemedicine, virtual classrooms, online shopping, technology-based social interactions and working remotely, all of which require access to high-speed or broadband internet access and digital technologies. A Pew Research Centre study reports that 90% of Americans describe the use of the Internet as "essential" during the pandemic. The accelerated use of digital technologies created a landscape where the ability, or lack thereof, to access digital spaces became a crucial factor in everyday life. According to the Pew Research Center, 59% of children from lower-income families were likely to face digital obstacles in completing school assignments. These obstacles included the use of a cellphone to complete homework, having to use public Wi-Fi because of unreliable internet service in the home and lack of access to a computer in the home. This difficulty, titled the homework gap, affects more than 30% of K-12 students living below the poverty threshold, and disproportionally affects American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic students. These types of interruptions or privilege gaps in education exemplify problems in the systemic marginalization of historically oppressed individuals in primary education. The pandemic exposed inequity causing discrepancies in learning. "Large-scale events such as COVID-19 intensify both access and skills gaps, underlining the need for resilient digital inclusion policies. Studies during COVID-19 reveal first-level (access) and second-level (skills) divides, with underserved students struggling with reliable internet, devices, and platform navigation ” A lack of "tech readiness", that is, confident and independent use of devices, was reported among the US elderly population; with more than 50% reporting an inadequate knowledge of devices and more than one-third reporting a lack of confidence. "Older adults often face skills and confidence barriers, illustrating later-stage divides in van Dijk’s model." Moreover, according to a UN research paper, similar results can be found across various Asian countries, with those aged over 74, reporting less confident or inconsistent use of digital devices. This aspect of the digital divide and the elderly occurred during the pandemic as healthcare providers increasingly relied upon telemedicine to manage chronic and acute health conditions. == Aspects == There are various definitions of the digital divide, all with slightly different emphasis, which is evidenced by related concepts like digital inclusion, digital participation, digital skills, media literacy, and digital accessibility.“Van Dijk’s model identifies sequential barriers—motivational, material, skills, and usage—that must be addressed to bridge the divide.” === Infrastructure === The infrastructure by which individuals, households, businesses, and communities connect to the Internet addresses the physical mediums that people use to connect to the Internet such as desktop computers, laptops, basic mobile phones or smartphones, MP3 players, gaming consoles, electronic book readers, and tablets. Traditionally, the nature of the divide has been measured in terms of the existing numbers of subscriptions and digital devices. Given the increasing number of such devices, some have concluded that the digital divide among individuals has increasingly been closing as the result of a natural and almost automatic process. Others point to persistent lower levels of connectivity among women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes, rura
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General-Purpose Serial Interface

General-Purpose Serial Interface, also known as GPSI, 7-wire interface, or 7WS, is a 7 wire communications interface. It is used as an interface between Ethernet MAC and PHY blocks. Data is received and transmitted using separate data paths (TXD, RXD) and separate data clocks (TXCLK, RXCLK). Other signals consist of transmit enable (TXEN), receive carrier sense (CRS), and collision (COL).
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PCVC Speech Dataset

The PCVC (Persian Consonant Vowel Combination) Speech Dataset is a Modern Persian speech corpus for speech recognition and also speaker recognition. The dataset contains sound samples of Modern Persian combination of vowel and consonant phonemes from different speakers. Every sound sample contains just one consonant and one vowel So it is somehow labeled in phoneme level. This dataset consists of 23 Persian consonants and 6 vowels. The sound samples are all possible combinations of vowels and consonants (138 samples for each speaker). The sample rate of all speech samples is 48000 which means there are 48000 sound samples in every 1 second. Every sound sample starts with consonant then continues with vowel. In each sample, in average, 0.5 second of each sample is speech and the rest is silence. Each sound sample ends with silence. All of sound samples are denoised with "Adaptive noise reduction" algorithm. Compared to Farsdat speech dataset and Persian speech corpus it is more easy to use because it is prepared in .mat data files. Also it is more based on phoneme based separation and all samples are denoised. == Contents == The corpus is downloadable from its Kaggle web page, and contains the following: .mat data files of sound samples in a 23630000 matrix, in which 23 is number of consonants, 6 is the number of vowels and 30000 is the length of sound sample.
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Open Media Framework Interchange

Open Media Format (OMF), Open Media Framework, or Open Media Framework Interchange (OMFI), is a platform-independent file format intended for transfer of digital media between different software applications. OMFI is a file format that aids in exchange of digital media across applications and platforms. This framework enables users to import media elements and to edit information and effects summaries. Sequential media representation is the primary concern that is addressed by this format. The primary objective of OMFI is video production. However, there are a number of additional features which can be listed as follows: The origin of the data can be easily backtracked or identified since the import material is in the form of a videotape or film. There are predefined effects and transitions, which paves the way for easy and quick overlapping and sequencing of various track. The format supports motion control. (i.e. enabling a particular segment to play at a ratio of the speed of another segment) Some of the key benefits of OMFI are: It saves time by getting rid of tape-based file transfers. It brings in flexibility owing to its ability to use a number of applications on multiple workstations. The format preserves the best sound and picture quality during all imports. It eliminates the risk of file formatting and incompatibilities, which in turn allows users to spend their productive time on the creative aspects of their work. It preserves the formatting information during file transfers between applications or workstations. Hence, the need for rebuilding the effects and sequences is eliminated. The OMFI format consists of four primary sections namely Header, Object data, Object dictionary and Track data. The header contains an index of all the segments that constitute the file.
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W3C Device Description Working Group

The W3C Device Description Working Group (DDWG), operating as part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Mobile Web Initiative (MWI), was chartered to "foster the provision and access to device descriptions that can be used in support of Web-enabled applications that provide an appropriate user experience on mobile devices." Mobile devices exhibit the greatest diversity of capabilities, and therefore present the greatest challenge to content adaptation technologies. The group published several documents, including a list of requirements for an interface to a Device Description Repository (DDR) and a standard interface meeting those requirements. The group was rechartered in 2006 to work in public towards the development of the Application Programming Interface (API) for a DDR. Early in 2007, the group launched a wiki and a blog to add to the public mailing list. The group subsequently published a formal vocabulary of core device properties, and an API called the DDR Simple API, which became a W3C Recommendation in December 2008. The group closed at the end of 2008, but with the intention of maintaining the Web pages, blog and wiki through W3C volunteer effort. == Publications == The DDWG published several W3C Working Group Notes and one W3C Recommendation. A W3C WG Note that articulates what the W3C and other organizations are doing or have already done with regard to device information. This document suggests an environment in which these technologies work together to meet the goals of content adaptation. The completed document was published on 31 October 2007. A W3C WG Note describing the ecosystem surrounding creation, maintenance and use of device descriptions. The completed document was published on 31 October 2007. A W3C WG Note describing a set of requirements for a reference repository of device descriptions. The completed document was published on 17 December 2007. A W3C WG Note describing a process to manage contributions to an initial core vocabulary, identification of key device properties, a formal initial core vocabulary and the identification of a maintainer for the core vocabulary. The details were contained in the Working Group Note describing the DDWG Core Vocabulary published on 14 April 2008. A W3C WG Note defining useful grouping and structure patterns in device descriptions. The Device Description Structures document was published as a Working Draft on 5 December 2008. The intention is that this document will be future input to other W3C groups. A W3C Recommendation defining a language-neutral programming interface to a Device Description Repository. The DDR Simple API was published on 5 December 2008. There is the possibility of future publications on the DDWG wiki describing implementations of the API in various languages, including Java, IDL, WSDL, C# etc. Much of the DDWG's material was developed in public via the DDWG Wiki and through their public mailing lists.
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Hashtag

A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, #. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enables cross-referencing of content by topic or theme. For example, a search within Instagram for the hashtag #flowers returns all posts that have been tagged with that term. After the initial hash symbol, a hashtag may include letters, numerals or other punctuation. The use of hashtags was first proposed by American blogger and product consultant Chris Messina in a 2007 tweet. Messina made no attempt to patent the use because he felt that "they were born of the internet, and owned by no one". Hashtags became entrenched in the culture of Twitter and soon emerged across Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. In June 2014, hashtag was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as "a word or phrase with the symbol # in front of it, used on social media websites and apps so that you can search for all messages with the same subject". == Origin and acceptance == The number sign or hash symbol, #, has long been used in information technology to highlight specific pieces of text. In 1970, the number sign was used to denote immediate address mode in the assembly language of the PDP-11 when placed next to a symbol or a number, and around 1973, '#' was introduced in the C programming language to indicate special keywords that the C preprocessor had to process first. The pound sign was adopted for use within IRC (Internet Relay Chat) networks around 1988 to label groups and topics. Channels or topics that are available across an entire IRC network are prefixed with a hash symbol # (as opposed to those local to a server, which uses an ampersand '&'). The use of the pound sign in IRC inspired Chris Messina to propose a similar system on Twitter to tag topics of interest on the microblogging network. He proposed the usage of hashtags on Twitter: How do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]? According to Messina, he suggested use of the hashtag to make it easy for lay users without specialized knowledge of search protocols to find specific relevant content. Therefore, the hashtag "was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages". The first published use of the term "hash tag" was in a blog post "Hash Tags = Twitter Groupings" by Stowe Boyd, on August 26, 2007, according to lexicographer Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect Society's New Words Committee. Messina's suggestion to use the hashtag was not immediately adopted by Twitter, but the convention gained popular acceptance when hashtags were used in tweets relating to the 2007 San Diego forest fires in Southern California. The hashtag gained international acceptance during the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests; Twitter users used both English- and Persian-language hashtags in communications during the events. Hashtags have since played critical roles in recent social movements such as #jesuischarlie, #BLM, and #MeToo. Beginning July 2, 2009, Twitter began to hyperlink all hashtags in tweets to Twitter search results for the hashtagged word (and for the standard spelling of commonly misspelled words). In 2010, Twitter introduced "Trending Topics" on the Twitter front page, displaying hashtags that are rapidly becoming popular, and the significance of trending hashtags has become so great that the company makes significant efforts to foil attempts to spam the trending list. During the 2010 World Cup, Twitter explicitly encouraged the use of hashtags with the temporary deployment of "hashflags", which replaced hashtags of three-letter country codes with their respective national flags. Other platforms such as YouTube and Gawker Media followed in officially supporting hashtags, and real-time search aggregators such as Google Real-Time Search began supporting hashtags. == Format == A hashtag must begin with a hash (#) character followed by other characters, and is terminated by a space or the end of the line. Some platforms may require the # to be preceded with a space. Most or all platforms that support hashtags permit the inclusion of letters (without diacritics), numerals, and underscores. Other characters may be supported on a platform-by-platform basis. Some characters, such as "&", are generally not supported as they may already serve other search functions. Hashtags are not case sensitive (a search for "#hashtag" will match "#HashTag" as well), but the use of embedded capitals (i.e., CamelCase) increases legibility and improves accessibility. Languages that do not use word dividers handle hashtags differently. In China, microblogs Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo use a double-hashtag-delimited #HashName# format, since the lack of spacing between Chinese characters necessitates a closing tag. Twitter uses a different syntax for Chinese characters and orthographies with similar spacing conventions: the hashtag contains unspaced characters, separated from preceding and following text by spaces (e.g., '我 #爱你' instead of '我#爱你') or by zero-width non-joiner characters before and after the hashtagged element, to retain a linguistically natural appearance (displaying as unspaced '我‌#爱‌你', but with invisible non-joiners delimiting the hashtag). === Etiquette and regulation === Some communities may limit, officially or unofficially, the number of hashtags permitted on a single post. Misuse of hashtags can lead to account suspensions. Twitter warns that adding hashtags to unrelated tweets, or repeated use of the same hashtag without adding to a conversation can filter an account from search results, or suspend the account. Individual platforms may deactivate certain hashtags either for being too generic to be useful, such as #photography on Instagram, or due to their use to facilitate illegal activities. === Alternate formats === In 2009, StockTwits began using ticker symbols preceded by the dollar sign (e.g., $XRX). In July 2012, Twitter began supporting the tag convention and dubbed it the "cashtag". The convention has extended to national currencies, and Cash App has implemented the cashtag to mark usernames. == Function == Hashtags are particularly useful in unmoderated forums that lack a formal ontological organization. Hashtags help users find content similar interest. Hashtags are neither registered nor controlled by any one user or group of users. They do not contain any set definitions, meaning that a single hashtag can be used for any number of purposes, and that the accepted meaning of a hashtag can change with time. Hashtags intended for discussion of a particular event tend to use an obscure wording to avoid being caught up with generic conversations on similar subjects, such as a cake festival using #cakefestival rather than simply #cake. However, this can also make it difficult for topics to become "trending topics" because people often use different spelling or words to refer to the same topic. For topics to trend, there must be a consensus, whether silent or stated, that the hashtag refers to that specific topic. Hashtags may be used informally to express context around a given message, with no intent to categorize the message for later searching, sharing, or other reasons. Hashtags may thus serve as a reflexive meta-commentary. This can help express contextual cues or offer more depth to the information or message that appears with the hashtag. "My arms are getting darker by the minute. #toomuchfaketan". AnoHashtags can also be used to express personal feelings and emotions. ther function of the hashtag can be used to express personal feelings and emotions. For example, with "It's Monday!! #excited #sarcasm" in which the adjectives are directly indicating the emotions of the speaker. Verbal use of the word hashtag is sometimes used in informal conversations. Use may be humorous, such as "I'm hashtag confused!" By August 2012, use of a hand gesture, sometimes called the "finger hashtag", in which the index and middle finger both hands are extended and arranged perpendicularly to form the hash, was documented. === Co-optation by other industries === Companies, businesses, and advocacy organizations have taken advantage of hashtag-based discussions for promotion of their products, services or campaigns. In the early 2010s, some television broadcasters began to employ hashtags related to programs in digital on-screen graphics, to encourage viewers to participate in a backchannel of discussion via social media prior to, during, or after the program. Television commercials have sometimes contained hashtags for similar purposes. The increased usage of hashtags as brand promotion devices has been compared to the promotion of branded "keywords" by AOL in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as such keywords were also promoted at the end of television commercials and series episodes. Organized real-world events have used hashta
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Kuki AI

Kuki is an embodied AI bot designed for usage in the metaverse. Formerly known as Mitsuku, Kuki is a chatbot created from the Pandorabots framework. The bot has won the Loebner Prize 5 times. == Features == Kuki claims to be an 18-year-old female chatbot from the Metaverse, and the developers have stated she has been worked on since 2005. Early work by one of the company's co-founders inspired the Spike Jonze movie Her. As of 2015, she conversed, on average, in excess of a quarter of a million times daily, and it was estimated 5 million unique users had interacted with her between 2016 and 2020. == Virtual talent, model, and influencer == Kuki has appeared as a Virtual Model in Vogue Business and at Crypto Fashion Week where she modelled NFTs and spoke about the future of digital fashion. In 2021, Kuki modelled five digital looks from emerging Vogue Talents designers for Italian Vogue, that sold out as NFTs in under an hour. Kuki has also modeled for H&M on Instagram in a digital campaign that resulted in an "11x increase in ad recall" per a case study by Meta. == Awards == As of 2019, Kuki had been awarded the Loebner Prize five times, more than any other entrant. In 2020, Kuki competed against Facebook AI's Blenderbot in a 24/7 verbal sparring match called "Bot Battle", winning 79% of the audience vote.
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List of UPnP AV media servers and clients

This is a list of UPnP AV media servers and client application or hard appliances. == UPnP AV media servers == === Software === === Cross-platform === Allonis myServer, a multi-faceted media player/organizer with a DLNA/UPnP server, controller, and renderer, including conversion. Runs on Microsoft Windows. Supports most all HTML5 devices as remote controls. Asset UPnP (DLNA compatible) from Illustrate. An audio specific UPnP/DLNA server for Windows, QNAP, macOS and Linux. Features audio WAVE/LPCM transcoding from a range of audio codecs, ReplayGain and playlists. FreeMi UPnP Media Server, very simple server, historically used to stream to the STB Freebox, based on .net/mono. Home Media Server, a free media server/player/controller for Windows, Linux, macOS, individual device settings, transcoding, external and internal subtitles, restricted device access to folders, uploading files, Internet-Radio, Internet-Television, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), DMR-control and "Play To", Music (Visualization), Photo (Slideshow), support for 3D-subtitles, support for BitTorrent files, Web-navigation with HTML5 player, Digital Media Renderer (DMR) emulation for AirPlay and Google Cast devices. Jellyfin, a free and open-source suite of multimedia applications designed to organize, manage, and share digital media files to networked devices. JRiver Media Center, a multi-faceted media player/organizer with a DLNA/UPnP server, controller, and renderer, including conversion. Supports Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. Kodi (previously XBMC), a cross platform open source software media-player/media center for Android, Apple TV, Linux, macOS and Windows. LimboMedia, a free cross platform home- and UPnP/DLNA mediaserver with android app and WebM transcoding for browser playback (build with java and FFmpeg). MinimServer, a Java-based highly configurable uPnP/DNLA music server with additional consideration given to Classical Music, supports transcoding with MinimStreamer, supports Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, and various NAS devices. Neutron Music Player, acts as a cross platform UPnP/DLNA Media Renderer server available for Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10 & PlayBook platforms. Supports gapless playback and has possibility to output rendered audio further to the high-resolution internal DAC or external USB DAC or another UPnP/DLNA Media Renderer with all supported DSP effects applied. Plex, a cross-platform and closed source software media player and entertainment hub for digital media, available for macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, as well as mobile clients for iOS (including Apple TV (2nd generation) onwards), Android, Windows Phone, and many devices such as Xbox. Supports on-the-fly transcoding of video and music. PonoMusic World. Based on the JRiver Media Center software, includes similar features along with a store for purchasing HD audio tracks. PS3 Media Server, a free cross platform Java based UPnP DLNA server especially good for AVC and other current HD media codecs with on-the-fly transcoding. Serviio, is available with a free and a pro license. It can stream media files (music, video or images) to renderer devices (e.g. a TV set, Blu-ray player, games console or mobile phone) on a local area network. TVMOBiLi, a cross platform, high performance UPnP/DLNA Media Server for Windows, macOS and Linux. TwonkyMedia server, a cross-platform multimedia server and entertainment hub for digital media, available for Android, Apple TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox 360. Universal Media Server, a free (open source) DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server for Windows, macOS and Linux (originally based on the PS3 Media Server). It is able to stream videos, audio and images to any DLNA-capable device. It contains more features than most paid UPnP/DLNA Media Servers. It streams to many devices including TVs (Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Philips and more.), PS3, Xbox(One/360), smartphones, Blu-ray players and more. vGet Cast, a simple, cross platform (Chrome App) DLNA server and controller for single, local video files. Vuze, an open-source Java-based BitTorrent client which contains MediaServer plugin. Wild Media Server, a media server/player/controller for Windows, Linux, macOS, individual device settings, transcoding, external and internal subtitles, restricted device access to folders, uploading files, Internet-Radio, Internet-Television, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), DMR-control and "Play To", Music (Visualization), Photo (Slideshow), support for 3D-subtitles, support for BitTorrent files, Web-navigation with HTML5 player, Digital Media Renderer (DMR) emulation for AirPlay and Google Cast devices. === Android === BubbleUPnP Android UPnP/DLNA server, player, controller and renderer CastLab Android UPnP/DLNA server. Pixel Media Server, Android UPnP/DLNA Media Server. Supports all popular Video and Audio files. It also support external subtitle file (SRT) Plato is an Android UPnP client app that can play videos and audio. Toaster Cast Android UPnP/DLNA server, controller and renderer vGet, Android App that can play videos embedded in websites on DLNA renderers. Media Cast UPnP, Android UPnP client app that can play videos/Audio. Media Server Pro is a DLNA server that allows individual file selections for sharing. Slick UPnP A minimal and intuitive open-source Android UPnP client app that can play video/audio. (It is not DMS) YAACC Open source UPnP controller, renderer and server app === Linux === === Microsoft Windows === Sundtek Streamingserver a native Windows TV Server providing DVB, ATSC and ISDB-T via UPnP/DLNA, it also supports streaming media files (it only supports TV devices from Sundtek). Stream What You Hear, a Windows application that streams the sound of your computer (i.e.: “what you hear”) to UPnP/DLNA device such as TVs, amps, network receivers, game consoles, etc... TVersity Media Server, a Windows application that streams multimedia content from a personal computer to UPnP, DLNA and mobile devices (Chromecast is also supported). It was the first media server to offer real-time transcoding (back in 2005). TVersity Screen Server, a Windows application that mirrors the screen of a personal computer to UPnP, DLNA and mobile devices. DVBViewer, a Windows application, mainly for TV/Radio recording/playback, but with the ability to stream live TV/radio as well as multimedia files via UPnP/DLNA. DivX, a Windows application, mainly for video encoding into DivX format, but has the ability to stream multimedia files via DLNA. foobar2000, a freeware audio player for Windows. Highly customizable, audio only. Download of dlna-extension from the developers' webpage necessary. Home Media Center, a free and open source media server compatible with DLNA. Includes web interface for streaming content to web browser (Android, iOS, ...), subtitles integration and Windows desktop streaming. This server is easy to use. KooRaRoo Media, a commercial DLNA media server and organizer for Windows. Includes on-the-fly transcoding, per-file and per-folder parental controls, powerful organizing features with dynamic playlists, Internet radio streaming, "Play To" functionality and remote device control, burned-in and external subtitles, extensive format support including RAW photo formats. Streams all files to all devices. Media Go, media player and tagger MediaMonkey, a free media player/tagger/editor with an UPnP/DLNA client and server for Microsoft Windows MusicBee, an audio player, supports UPnP via a plugin. Mezzmo, a commercial software package. Mezzmo streams music, movies, photos and subtitles to the UPnP and DLNA-enabled devices. It automatically finds and organizes music, movies and photos, imports multimedia files from iPad, iPhone, iPod, Audio CDs, iTunes, Windows Media Player and WinAmp. DLNA server supports all popular media file formats with real time transcoding to meet the device specifications. PlayOn, a commercial UPnP/DLNA media server for Windows, includes a transcoder for streaming web video. TVble, a cloud connected (Rotten tomatoes/TMDB etc.), Torrent streaming, DLNA enabled media server. Allows single file or playlist downloads. Windows Media Connect from Microsoft, a free UPnP AV MediaServer and control point (server and client) for Microsoft Windows WMC version 2.0 can be installed for usage with Windows Media Player 10 for Windows XP WMC version 3.0 can be installed for usage with Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP WMC version 4.0 comes pre-installed on Windows Vista with its Windows Media Player 11 WMC can also refer to Windows Media Center. From the Windows Media Center entry in Wikipedia: In May 2015, Microsoft announced that Windows Media Center would be discontinued on Windows 10, and that it would be uninstalled when upgrading; but stated that those upgrading from a version of Windows that included the Media Center application would receive the paid Windows DVD Player app to maintain DVD playback functio
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The Culture of Connectivity

The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media is a book by José van Dijck published by Oxford University Press in 2013 on social media platforms and their history. The author considers the histories of five social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Wikipedia. She focuses on how their technological, social and cultural dimensions contribute to their current status.
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