Neural gas is an artificial neural network, inspired by the self-organizing map and introduced in 1991 by Thomas Martinetz and Klaus Schulten. The neural gas is a simple algorithm for finding optimal data representations based on feature vectors. The algorithm was coined "neural gas" because of the dynamics of the feature vectors during the adaptation process, which distribute themselves like a gas within the data space. It is applied where data compression or vector quantization is an issue, for example speech recognition, image processing or pattern recognition. As a robustly converging alternative to the k-means clustering it is also used for cluster analysis. == Algorithm == Suppose we want to model a probability distribution P ( x ) {\displaystyle P(x)} of data vectors x {\displaystyle x} using a finite number of feature vectors w i {\displaystyle w_{i}} , where i = 1 , ⋯ , N {\displaystyle i=1,\cdots ,N} . For each time step t {\displaystyle t} Sample data vector x {\displaystyle x} from P ( x ) {\displaystyle P(x)} Compute the distance between x {\displaystyle x} and each feature vector. Rank the distances. Let i 0 {\displaystyle i_{0}} be the index of the closest feature vector, i 1 {\displaystyle i_{1}} the index of the second closest feature vector, and so on. Update each feature vector by: w i k t + 1 = w i k t + ε ⋅ e − k / λ ⋅ ( x − w i k t ) , k = 0 , ⋯ , N − 1 {\displaystyle w_{i_{k}}^{t+1}=w_{i_{k}}^{t}+\varepsilon \cdot e^{-k/\lambda }\cdot (x-w_{i_{k}}^{t}),k=0,\cdots ,N-1} In the algorithm, ε {\displaystyle \varepsilon } can be understood as the learning rate, and λ {\displaystyle \lambda } as the neighborhood range. ε {\displaystyle \varepsilon } and λ {\displaystyle \lambda } are reduced with increasing t {\displaystyle t} so that the algorithm converges after many adaptation steps. The adaptation step of the neural gas can be interpreted as gradient descent on a cost function. By adapting not only the closest feature vector but all of them with a step size decreasing with increasing distance order, compared to (online) k-means clustering a much more robust convergence of the algorithm can be achieved. The neural gas model does not delete a node and also does not create new nodes. === Comparison with SOM === Compared to self-organized map, the neural gas model does not assume that some vectors are neighbors. If two vectors happen to be close together, they would tend to move together, and if two vectors happen to be apart, they would tend to not move together. In contrast, in an SOM, if two vectors are neighbors in the underlying graph, then they will always tend to move together, no matter whether the two vectors happen to be neighbors in the Euclidean space. The name "neural gas" is because one can imagine it to be what an SOM would be like if there is no underlying graph, and all points are free to move without the bonds that bind them together. == Variants == A number of variants of the neural gas algorithm exists in the literature so as to mitigate some of its shortcomings. More notable is perhaps Bernd Fritzke's growing neural gas, but also one should mention further elaborations such as the Growing When Required network and also the incremental growing neural gas. A performance-oriented approach that avoids the risk of overfitting is the Plastic Neural gas model. === Growing neural gas === Fritzke describes the growing neural gas (GNG) as an incremental network model that learns topological relations by using a "Hebb-like learning rule", only, unlike the neural gas, it has no parameters that change over time and it is capable of continuous learning, i.e. learning on data streams. GNG has been widely used in several domains, demonstrating its capabilities for clustering data incrementally. The GNG is initialized with two randomly positioned nodes which are initially connected with a zero age edge and whose errors are set to 0. Since in the GNG input data is presented sequentially one by one, the following steps are followed at each iteration: It is calculating the errors (distances) between the two closest nodes to the current input data. The error of the winner node (only the closest one) is respectively accumulated. The winner node and its topological neighbors (connected by an edge) are moving towards the current input by different fractions of their respective errors. The age of all edges connected to the winner node are incremented. If the winner node and the second-winner are connected by an edge, such an edge is set to 0. Else, an edge is created between them. If there are edges with an age larger than a threshold, they are removed. Nodes without connections are eliminated. If the current iteration is an integer multiple of a predefined frequency-creation threshold, a new node is inserted between the node with the largest error (among all) and its topological neighbor presenting the highest error. The link between the former and the latter nodes is eliminated (their errors are decreased by a given factor) and the new node is connected to both of them. The error of the new node is initialized as the updated error of the node which had the largest error (among all). The accumulated error of all nodes is decreased by a given factor. If the stopping criterion is not met, the algorithm takes a following input. The criterion might be a given number of epochs, i.e., a pre-set number of times where all data is presented, or the reach of a maximum number of nodes. === Incremental growing neural gas === Another neural gas variant inspired by the GNG algorithm is the incremental growing neural gas (IGNG). The authors propose the main advantage of this algorithm to be "learning new data (plasticity) without degrading the previously trained network and forgetting the old input data (stability)." === Growing when required === Having a network with a growing set of nodes, like the one implemented by the GNG algorithm was seen as a great advantage, however some limitation on the learning was seen by the introduction of the parameter λ, in which the network would only be able to grow when iterations were a multiple of this parameter. The proposal to mitigate this problem was a new algorithm, the Growing When Required network (GWR), which would have the network grow more quickly, by adding nodes as quickly as possible whenever the network identified that the existing nodes would not describe the input well enough. === Plastic neural gas === The ability to only grow a network may quickly introduce overfitting; on the other hand, removing nodes on the basis of age only, as in the GNG model, does not ensure that the removed nodes are actually useless, because removal depends on a model parameter that should be carefully tuned to the "memory length" of the stream of input data. The "Plastic Neural Gas" model solves this problem by making decisions to add or remove nodes using an unsupervised version of cross-validation, which controls an equivalent notion of "generalization ability" for the unsupervised setting. While growing-only methods only cater for the incremental learning scenario, the ability to grow and shrink is suited to the more general streaming data problem. == Implementations == To find the ranking i 0 , i 1 , … , i N − 1 {\displaystyle i_{0},i_{1},\ldots ,i_{N-1}} of the feature vectors, the neural gas algorithm involves sorting, which is a procedure that does not lend itself easily to parallelization or implementation in analog hardware. However, implementations in both parallel software and analog hardware were actually designed.
Talking Angela
Talking Angela is a mobile game (formerly a chatbot), developed by Slovenian studio Outfit7 as part of the Talking Tom & Friends series. It was released on 13 November 2012 and December 2012 for iPhone, iPod and iPad, January 2013 for Android, and January 2014 for Google Play. The game's successor, the My Talking Angela game, was released in December 2014. The game takes place in a café in Paris and allows players to interact with Angela, an anthropomorphic white cat in different ways. Players can use coins to purchase makeup, accessories and items, as well as drinks that will trigger different visual effects. The fortune cookie button causes Angela to read out a fortune cookie, while the bird icon will prompt birds to fly around the screen, or have Angela feed them. Players can also pet or poke Angela, as well the café's sign. Prior to their removal, the game featured a chat system and a camera button. Users can engage in conversations with Angela, ask for quizzes or initiate a short snippet of the song "That's Falling In Love". If the player was to type in "Who is an idiot?", Angela would respond with a random swear word. Additionally, inquiring Angela about sexual topics would cause her to reply with "Do you want to talk about sex?", though she will quickly change the topic regardless of what the player writes next. A hoax claiming that Angela's eyes were hidden cameras that enabled hackers or paedophiles to watch children was spread. Despite the claims, Snopes and The Guardian found no evidence. Due to the hoax, Angela received a blue dress, as well as an altered eye asset with a different reflection, and later the chat and camera functions were removed altogether. == Hoaxes == In February 2014, Talking Angela was the subject of an Internet hoax alleging that the application was a front for child predators to exploit children. The rumor, which was widely circulated on Facebook and various websites claiming to be dedicated to parenting, claims that a sinister sexual predator or hacker, asked children for private personal information using the game's text-chat feature. Other versions of the rumour even attributed the disappearance of a child to the game; one news report claimed that a seven year old boy disappeared after downloading the app. Another variation included that it was run by a paedophile ring, citing a man that could be seen in Angela's eyes. The app's developers, Outfit7, later gave a statement refuting the hoaxes. The hoax was eventually debunked by Snopes, a fact-checking website. The site's owners, Barbara and David Mikkelson, reported that they had tried to "prompt" it to give responses asking for private information, but were unsuccessful, even when asking it explicitly sexual questions. While it is true that, in the game with child mode off, Angela does ask for the user's name, age and personal preferences to determine conversation topics, Outfit7 has said that this information is all "anonymized" and all personal information is removed from it. It is also impossible for a person to take control of what Angela says in the game, since the game is based on chatbot software. When the mode was turned on, the chat feature was disabled, meaning no personal questions could be asked. In 2015, the hoax was revived on Facebook, which prompted online security company Sophos and The Guardian to debunk it again. Sophos employee Paul Ducklin wrote that the message being posted on Facebook promoting the hoax was "close to 600 rambling, repetitious words, despite claiming at the start that it didn't have words to describe the situation. It's ill-written, and borders on being illiterate and incomprehensible." Bruce Wilcox, one of the game's programmers, attributed the hoax's popularity to the fact that the chatbot program in Talking Angela aimed to sound realistic. Concern was raised that the game's child mode may have been too easy for children to turn off. It allowed them to purchase "coins", premium currency in the game, via iTunes, and enabled the chat feature. While not "connecting your children to paedophiles", this still raised concerns according to The Guardian. === Impact === The scare significantly boosted the game's popularity, and was credited with helping the app enter the top 10 free iPhone apps soon after the hoax became widely known in February 2015,In the truth the reason there is a man in Angela’s eyes is because of pareidoila, the ability to see through diamonds and other minerals and water bodies and shiny objects,which is the reason why players notice a man in her eyes,The truth is that being Angela’s eyes simply serve as a reflective surface,Because of the low quality of this reflection the reflection was mistaken for a humanoid figure. oref>Smith, Josh (19 February 2014). "Talking Angela App Scare Skyrockets App to Top of Charts". GottaBeMobile.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2014. and third most popular for all iPhone apps at the start of the following month. In 2016, Outfit7 removed the chat feature along with the camera function from the app due to this controversy, though this decision was met with criticism.
Classora
Classora is a knowledge base for the Internet oriented to data analysis. From a practical point of view, Classora is a digital repository that stores structured information and allows it to be displayed in multiple formats: analytically, graphically, geographically (through maps); as well as carry out OLAP analysis. The information contained in Classora comes from public sources and is uploaded into the system through bots and ETL processes. The Knowledge Base has a commercial API for semantic enhancement, and an open web through which any user can access to part of the information collected (it also allows users to complete data and share opinions). Internally, Classora is organized into Knowledge Units and Reports. A «Knowledge Unit» is any element of the World about which information may be stored and presented in the form of a data sheet (a person, a company, a country, etc.) A «Report» is a group of Knowledge Units: a ranking of companies, a sport classification table, a survey about people, etc. In fact, one of the technical capabilities of Classora is that it allows the comparison of reports and knowledge units gathered from different sources, thereby generating an added value for the media in which this information is published: digital media, interactive TV, etc. == Key definitions == === Knowledge unit === The units of knowledge (also known as entries) in Classora are data sheets that have a certain semantic equivalence with the articles on the Wikipedia: they store information about any element of the world, be it a film, a country, a company or an animal. However, they differ from Wikipedia in that Classora stores structured information, enriched with a metadata layer; and therefore it is able to automatically interpret the meaning of each unit of knowledge. === Data report === A report is a group of units of knowledge in which the repetition of elements is not allowed. This definition includes any list, poll, ranking, etc.; and, in general, any consultation that involves more than one unit of knowledge. Classora excels at the reports management due to its visualization capabilities, being able to display data in the form of tables, graphs and maps. Types of reports: Sports scores: Sports competitions results sanctioned by the competent institution. Rankings and lists: All types of interesting and curious lists, whether they have an implicit order or not. Polls: Units of knowledge that are ranked according to users’ votes. Queries to the Knowledge Base: Questions from users using CQL. Networks of connections: automatically calculated from the reports and the taxonomy of each Knowledge Unit. === Organizational taxonomy === An organizational taxonomy (also referred to as entry type) is a data sheet that brings together the common attributes of a set of units of knowledge. For instance, the organizational taxonomy F1 Driver displays attributes such as date of debut, team, etc.; and the organizational taxonomy Football Club presents attributes such as city, stadium, etc. In Classora, taxonomies are hierarchically organized, so that they inherit attributes from their parent taxonomies. For instance, F1 Driver is a subsidiary taxonomy of Sportsperson, which is a subsidiary taxonomy of Person, which in turn is a subsidiary taxonomy of Organism. The simplest type of entry in Classora is Classora Object. All the other taxonomies are its subsidiaries and inherit its attributes. In fact, the only attribute Classora Object possesses is name (all units of knowledge are required to have one name at least). == Architecture of Classora == === Data Extraction Module === The Data Extraction Module consists of a set of robots coordinated by software that also manages the potential incidents. Most of the information available in Classora is automatically uploaded through those robots, which connect to the main online public sources to gather all types of data. There are three categories of robots: Extraction robots: responsible for the massive uploading of reports from official public sources (FIFA, CIA, IMF, Eurostat...). They are used for either absolute or incremental data uploading. Data scanner robots: responsible for looking for and updating the data of a unit of knowledge. They use specific sources to perform this task: Wikipedia, IMDB, World Bank, etc. Content aggregators: they don’t connect to external sources. Instead, they generate new information using Classora’s internal database. === Participatory Module === In Classora’s Open Website, Internet users may participate providing their knowledge as they would on the Wikipedia. There are different ways to participate: adding or correcting data in the Knowledge Base, voting in surveys (participatory rankings) and creating new Knowledge Units and Data Reports. === Connectivity Module === The Knowledge Base is designed to be embedded in multi-platform, multi-channel systems, thus enabling its integration into mobile devices, tablets, interactive TV, etc. This integration may be carried out through specific plugins (for navigators or other devices) or an API REST that provides content in XML or JSON formats. The API is divided into three blocks of operations. The first one is the block of general utility tools (ranging from autosuggest components about geographical hierarchies to operations to obtain the list of today’s celebrity birthdays, using CQL). The second one is the block of operations for widget generation (graphs, maps, rankings) using information from the knowledge base. Finally, there is a block of operations designed for the publication of free-source content. == Project statistics == As of April 2012, 2,000,000 Knowledge Units, 15,000 Reports, around 10,000 Maps and several million potential Comparative Analyses had been added to Classora. According to the site of web metrics Alexa, Classora Open Website is ranked at 100,557 globally and at 2,880 in the Spanish traffic ranking. Users spend an average of 9 ½ minutes in Classora.
Blocknots
Blocknots were random sequences of numbers contained in a book and organized by numbered rows and columns and were used as additives in the reciphering of Soviet Union codes, during World War II. The Blocknot consisted of a booklet of fifty sheets of 5-figure random additive, 100 additive groups to a sheet. No sheet was used more than once, thus the blocknots were in effect a form of one-time pad. The Soviet Unions highest grade ciphers that were used in the East, were the 5-figure codebook enciphered with the Blocknot book, and were generally considered unbreakable. == Technical Description == Blocknots were distributed centrally from an office in Moscow. Every Blocknot contained 5-figure groups in a number of sheets, for the enciphering of 5-figure messages. The encipherment was effected by applying additives taken from the pad, of which 50-100 5-figure groups appeared. Each pad had a 5-figure number and each sheet had a 2-figure number running consecutively. There were 5 different types of Blocknots, in two different categories The Individual in which each table of random numbers was used only once. The General in which each page of the Blocknot was valid for one day. The security of the additive sequence rested on the choice of different starting points for each message. In 5-figure messages, the blocknot was one of the first 10 Groups in the message. Its position changed at long intervals, but was always easy to re-identify. The Russians differentiated between three types of blocks: The 3-block, DRIERBLOCK. I-block for Individual Block: 50 pages, additive read off in one direction only. The messages could be used and read only between 2 wireless telegraphy stations on one net. The 6-block, SECHSERBLOCK. Z-block for Circular Block: 30 pages, additive read off in either direction. The messages could be used and read, between all W/T stations in a net. The 2-block, ZWEIERBLOCK. OS-block. Used only in traffic from lower to higher formations. Two other types were used, in lower echelons. Notblock: Used in an emergency. Blocknot used for passing on traffic. The distribution of Blocknots was carried out centrally from Moscow to Army Groups then to Armies. The Army was responsible for their distribution throughout the lower levels of the army down to company level. Independent units took their cipher material with them. Occasionally the same blocknot was distributed to two units on different parts of the front, which enabled Depth to be established. Records of all Blocknots used were kept in Berlin and when a repeat was noticed a BLOCKNOT ANGEBOT message was sent out to all German Signals units, to indicate that it may have been possible to break the code using it. There was no certainty in this. A cryptanalyst with the General der Nachrichtenaufklärung stated while being interrogated by TICOM: It seems that depths of up to 8 were established at the beginning of the Russian Campaign but that no 5-figure code was broken after May 1943 German cryptanalysts who were prisoners of war stated under interrogation, that each of the figures 0 to 9 were placed en clair usually within the first ten groups of the text or sometimes at the end. One indicator was the Blocknot number and the consisted of two random figures, the figure representing the type, and the remaining two, the page of the Blocknot being used. In long messages, 000000 was placed in the message when the end of a page had been reached. == Chi number == The Chi-number was the serial numbering of all 5-figure messages passing through the hands of the Cipher Officer, starting on the first of January and ending on thirty-first December of the current year. It always appeared as the last group in an intercepted message, e.g. 00001 on the 1st January, or when the unit was newly set up. The progression of Chi-numbers was carefully observed and recorded in the form of a graph. A Russian corps had about 10 5-figure messages per day, and Army about 20-30 and a Front about 60–100. After only a relatively short time, the individual curves separated sharply and the type of formation could be recognized by the height of the Chi-number alone. == Monitoring == Blocknots were tracked in a card index, that was maintained by the Signal Intelligence Evaluation Centre (NAAS). The NAAS functionality included evaluation and traffic analysis, cryptanalysis, collation and dissemination of intelligence. The card index, which was one amongst several Card Indexes. A careful recording and study of blocks provided the positive clues in the identification and tracking of formations using 5-figure ciphers. The index was subdivided into two files: Search card index, contained all blocknots and chi-numbers whether or not they were known. Unit card index, contained only known Block and Chi-numbers. Inspector Berger, who was the chief cryptanalyst of NAAS 1 stated that the two files formed: The most important and surest instruments for identifying Russian radio nets, known to him. The Blocknots were also used in the Stationary Intercept Company (Feste), the military unit that were designed to work at a lower level to the NAAS, at the Army level and were semi-motorized, and closer to the front. The Feste used the Blocknot value along with several other parameters to build a network diagram. The network diagram was studied extensively, as part of a 6-stage process, that involved several departments within the Feste. The outcome was a metric which determined the most interesting circuit for traffic monitoring, and least interesting, where monitoring of traffic should cease. == Analysis == Johannes Marquart was a mathematician and cryptanalyst who initially worked for Inspectorate 7/VI and later led Referat Ia of Group IV of the General der Nachrichtenaufklärung. Marquart was assigned the study of the Soviet Union Blocknot traffic. Marquart and his unit conducted extensive research in an attempt to discover the method by which they were produced. All the counts which they made, however, failed to reveal any non-random characteristics in the design of the tables, and while they thought the Blocknots must have been generated by machine, they were never able to draw any concrete deductions as a result of their research. == Example == The Soviet 3rd Guard Tank Army transmits a 5-figure message with the Blocknot of 37581 (one of the first 10 groups in the message). On the same day the Block 37582 was used by the same formation. The next day 37583 appeared. Thereafter, for a period, the Army was not heard by German Wireless telegraphy intercept operators, as it was maintaining wireless silence. After a few days, an unidentified net with the Blocknot 37588 is picked up. This message net is claimed, because of the proximity of the blocks (88/83) to be the 3rd Guard Tank Army. The missing Blocknots 84-87 were presumably used in telegraphic, telephonic or courier communications. The Chi number provides confirmation of the first assumption, based on proximity of blocknots in most cases.
Viral marketing
Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product or service on social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. It can be delivered by word of mouth, or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks. The concept is often misused or misunderstood, as people apply it to any successful enough story without taking into account the word "viral". Viral advertising is personal and, while coming from an identified sponsor, it does not mean businesses pay for its distribution. Most of the well-known viral ads circulating online are ads paid by a sponsor company, launched either on their own platform (company web page or social media profile) or on social media websites such as YouTube. Consumers receive the page link from a social media network or copy the entire ad from a website and pass it along through e-mail or posting it on a blog, web page or social media profile. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, text messages, email messages, or web pages. The most commonly utilized transmission vehicles for viral messages include pass-along based, incentive based, trendy based, and undercover based. However, the creative nature of viral marketing enables an "endless amount of potential forms and vehicles the messages can utilize for transmission", including mobile devices. The ultimate goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals and their competitors in their communications with others in a short period. The term "viral marketing" has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—marketing strategies that advertise a product to people without them knowing they are being marketed to. == History == The emergence of "viral marketing", as an approach to advertisement, has been tied to the popularization of the notion that ideas spread like viruses. The field that developed around this notion, memetics, peaked in popularity in the 1990s. As this then began to influence marketing gurus, it took on a life of its own in that new context. The brief career of Australian pop singer Marcus Montana is largely remembered as an early example of viral marketing. In early 1989, thousands of posters declaring "Marcus is Coming" were placed around Sydney, generating discussion and interest within the media and the community about the meaning of the mysterious advertisements. The campaign successfully made Montana's musical debut a talking point, but his subsequent music career was a failure. The term is found in PC User magazine in 1989 with a somewhat differing meaning. It was later used by Jeffrey Rayport in the 1996 Fast Company article "The Virus of Marketing", and Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson of the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1997 to describe Hotmail's practice of appending advertising to outgoing mail from their users. Doug Rushkoff, a media critic, wrote about viral marketing on the Internet in 1996. Bob Gerstley wrote about algorithms designed to identify people with high "social networking potential." Gerstley employed SNP algorithms in quantitative marketing research. In 2004, the concept of the alpha user was coined to indicate that it had now become possible to identify the focal members of any viral campaign, the "hubs" who were most influential. Alpha users could be targeted for advertising purposes most accurately in mobile phone networks, due to their personal nature. In early 2013, the first ever Viral Summit was held in Las Vegas. == Factors == Marketer Jonah Berger defines six key factors that drive virality, organized in an acronym called STEPPS: Social currency – the better something makes people look, the more likely they will be to share it Triggers – things that are "top of mind" are more likely to be "tip of the tongue" Emotion – when people care, they share Public – the easier something is to see, the more likely people are to imitate it Practical value – people share useful information to help others Stories – like a Trojan Horse, stories carry messages and ideas along for the ride. Another important factor that drives virality is the propagativity of the content, referring to the ease with which consumers can redistribute it. == Psychology == To form deeper connections with viewers and increase the chances of virality, many marketers use psychological principles. They argue that this approach is scientific and can foster an environment where the odds of gaining traction are much higher. People find psychological safety and can develop a sense of trust when more people interact with online content. For this reason, marketers work to develop media that resonates with viewers on a deeper, emotional level as this approach frequently results in higher engagement. This level of interaction serves as a sign of approval, reducing the personal risk that is subconsciously linked to associating oneself with a company or brand’s content. Professor Jonah Berger at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business affirms that marketing campaigns that trigger psychological responses linked to strong emotions tend to perform better. In particular, Berger found that positive emotions like happiness, joy, and excitement have more successful share rates than their negative counterparts. This outcome results from the human instinct to respond more positively to content with activating emotions, increasing the desire to share content, which contributes to its virality. Viral marketing utilizes the primitive feeling of frisson to increase their view and share counts. This feeling of excitement is considered powerful because of its ability to cause a physical response. From increased heart rates to full body chills, Professor Brent Coker at the University of Melbourne describes that this approach to marketing triggers a primitive response that immerses the viewer in the content on a deeper level. Researchers Juliana Fernandes from the University of Florida and Sigal Segev from the Florida International University also found that people are more inclined to share emotional campaigns over those that are heavily informational. They claim that consumers do not often care to learn about a product’s actual features and benefits. Instead, people prefer to be immersed in experience-based content that creates an emotional impact. Companies and brands can benefit from treating their content in this manner and go viral more frequently than those who do not. Social proof is another psychological phenomenon that impacts viral content. Experts in this field argue that it is a natural instinct to want to behave similarly to others because it results in positive validation. This phenomenon explains the human need to conform, so marketers focus on creating engaging content that encourages interactions and causes a snowball effect. This subconsciously influences people to like, comment, and share if they already see others doing the same. Social proof goes further by providing people with a form of social currency. When individuals interact with and share content, they become associated with the topics at hand. People naturally tend to perceive one another, and this pattern carries over to the digital world. As a result, many people tend to be vigilant about the viral marketing they engage with, since they want to be perceived positively. Companies and brands have the opportunity to develop social currency themselves by aligning with their target audiences and creating marketing campaigns that fit their interests or match their values. == Methods and metrics == According to marketing professors Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, to make viral marketing work, three basic criteria must be met, i.e., giving the right message to the right messengers in the right environment: Messenger: Three specific types of messengers are required to ensure the transformation of an ordinary message into a viral one: market mavens, social hubs, and salespeople. Market mavens are individuals who are continuously 'on the pulse' of things (information specialists); they are usually among the first to get exposed to the message and who transmit it to their immediate social network. Social hubs are people with an exceptionally large number of social connections; they often know hundreds of different people and have the ability to serve as connectors or bridges between different subcultures. Salespeople might be needed who receive the message from the market maven, amplify it by making it more relevant and persuasive, and then transmit it to the social hub for further distr
Tuber (app)
Tuber (Chinese: Tuber浏览器) was a web browser mobile app developed by Shanghai Fengxuan Information Technology that allowed users within mainland China to view filtered versions of certain websites normally blocked by the Great Firewall. Filtered versions of websites such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Netflix, IMDb, and Wikipedia could be viewed. The app was backed by cybersecurity company Qihoo 360 which served as the parent company. The app required phone number registration. Sensitive keywords were blocked by the app. On October 9, 2020, Global Times editor Rita Bai Yunyi tweeted that the move represented "a great step for China's opening up". The app was removed from China domestic app stores and operations ceased as of October 10, 2020. On October 12, when questioned by a Bloomberg News reporter on the topic, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian replied, "This is not a diplomatic issue, and I do not have the relevant information you mentioned. China has always managed the Internet in accordance with the law. I suggest you ask the competent department for the specific situation."
CrySyS Lab
CrySyS Lab (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈkriːsis]) is part of the Department of Telecommunications at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The name is derived from "Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security", the full Hungarian name is CrySys Adat- és Rendszerbiztonság Laboratórium. == History == CrySyS Lab. was founded in 2003 by a group of security researchers at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Currently, it is located in the Infopark Budapest. The heads of the lab were Dr. István Vajda (2003–2010) and Dr. Levente Buttyán (2010-now). Since its establishment, the lab participated in several research and industry projects, including successful EU FP6 and FP7 projects (SeVeCom, a UbiSecSens and WSAN4CIP). == Research results == CrySyS Lab is recognized in research for its contribution to the area of security in wireless embedded systems. In this area, the members of the lab produced 5 books 4 book chapters 21 journal papers 47 conference papers 3 patents 2 Internet Draft The above publications had an impact factor of 30+ and obtained more than 7500 references. Several of these publications appeared in highly cited journals (e.g., IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Systems, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing). == Forensics analysis of malware incidents == The laboratory was involved in the forensic analysis of several high-profile targeted attacks. In October 2011, CrySyS Lab discovered the Duqu malware; pursued the analysis of the Duqu malware and as a result of the investigation, identified a dropper file with an MS 0-day kernel exploit inside; and finally released a new open-source Duqu Detector Toolkit to detect Duqu traces and running Duqu instances. In May 2012, the malware analysis team at CrySyS Lab participated in an international collaboration aiming at the analysis of an as yet unknown malware, which they call sKyWIper. At the same time Kaspersky Lab analyzed the malware Flame and Iran National CERT (MAHER) the malware Flamer. Later, they turned out to be the same. Other analysis published by CrySyS Lab include the password analysis of the Hungarian ISP, Elender, and a thorough Hungarian security survey of servers after the publications of the Kaminsky DNS attack.