Trebel is an on-demand music download and discovery platform developed by M&M Media Inc. The company's business model aims to combat digital music piracy by giving users access to on-demand music at no cost while delivering fair compensation to artists and music rights holders. Trebel has a patent that allows it to market itself as the only international music service in which users can legally download music and listen to it offline for free. As of March 2023, Trebel has a catalog of 75 million songs from record labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and hundreds of independent labels. Trebel is based in Stamford, Connecticut. with additional locations in Mexico City, Jakarta, Bogota, Los Angeles and Miami. The app is available in the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Huawei AppGallery. == History == Trebel was founded in 2014 by Gary Mekikian, who was previously the co-founder of answerFriend, Inc., which commercialized web based question-answering technologies and merged with Electric Knowledge, forming InQuira. This company was eventually acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2011. His co-founders at Trebel include Stanford classmates Corey Jones and Luis Soto Durazo, as well as his daughters Grace and Juliette. Mekikian envisioned Trebel as an alternative to music piracy after a high school classmate of his daughters was targeted by cyberattackers while illegally downloading music online. Trebel was initially released in 2015 under the name Project Carmen to students at Ohio State, Santa Monica College, Cal State Fullerton, UCLA and Long Beach State. In its original incarnation, the service planned to target students at 3,000 universities and 30,000 high schools in the United States. A beta version of the app was introduced in 2016 with content from Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. Trebel launched commercially in the United States and Mexico in 2018. In 2018, Mexican mass-media corporation Televisa also became a minority investor in Trebel. In May 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trebel was a digital broadcast partner for Se Agradece, a concert produced in Mexico by Televisa to honor frontline COVID workers that featured artists such as Rosalia, J Balvin, Maluma and Ricky Martin. In June 2021, Trebel reached 3 million monthly active users. In October 2021, Trebel signed a music licensing agreement with Merlin Network, the licensing agency for the independent music sector that controls an estimated 12% of the global digital recorded music market. In January 2022, Trebel announced a strategic alliance with MNC Corporation, an Indonesian media conglomerate, which also became a minority backer of the company. In March 2022, Trebel reported 5.2 million monthly active users as a result of growth in Latin America. In the same month,, Latin music star Maluma became a backer of Trebel and an advisor to Gary Mekikian, helping expand the service throughout Latin America. On April 18, 2022, Trebel launched in Indonesia during the finale of the music competition show X Factor Indonesia. Trebel also signed a deal that month with Soccer Media Solutions, a sports and entertainment marketing agency in Mexico, to sell Trebel’s premium advertising inventory through Soccer Media. In May 2022, Guillermo Ochoa, goalkeeper for the Mexican national soccer team, invested in Trebel and became an ambassador for the company. On October 2, 2022, Trebel collaborated with Musica Studios, one of the largest music companies in Indonesia, on the production of a music festival in Jakarta titled Trebel Music Fest. The event featured performances by top Indonesian music artists such as Noah, Nidji, and d'Masiv. In October 2022, Trebel launched in Colombia. The service reached 1.2 million monthly active users in Colombia six months after launching. In December 2022, Trebel collaborated with KFC in Indonesia on the release of a KFC digital music program using a product called Trebel Max. As part of the program, KFC customers who bought the Crazy Superstar Combo package at KFC received a subscription to Trebel Max for 30 days. Trebel announced the launch of Trebel AI in May 2023. Trebel AI uses ChatGPT-powered technology to generate playlists based on natural language queries from users. In Indonesia, the Trebel AI feature was announced during a broadcast of the show Indonesian Idol XII that took place on May 8, 2023. In July 2023, Trebel reached more than 13 million monthly active users. In November 2023, Trebel became a featured app on the Discord app directory. Discord users that add the Trebel bot to their servers have access to Trebel's on-demand music library and have the exclusive privilege of being DJ's during server sessions with up to 150 concurrent listeners. == Platform == === Features === Trebel has a patent that allows it to market itself as the only international music service in which users can legally download music and listen to it offline for free. As of March 2023, Trebel has a catalog of 75 million songs from record labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and hundreds of independent labels. Trebel offers unlimited music downloads that are playable in the app by registered users only. Offline listening is free to all users and not blocked by a paywall. Users can search for music based on song, artist, album, browsing friends' recent activity, and through other users' playlists. The app also offers free cloud storage for downloaded songs. Trebel also contains a feature called SongID, which identifies music being played nearby using a short sample, then offers it for download on the service. Podcasts are available for free listening on the service as well. === Business model === Trebel uses a business model that generates revenue from the sale of digital advertising as well as user interactions with branded experiences, and consumption of virtual goods within the app (akin to mobile games). The app also features a brand takeover feature called Trebel Max, which offers unlimited access in exchange for users engaging with experiences offered by specific brands. Trebel’s brand partners include Uber, KFC, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Amazon and P&G. === Content === In September 2022, Trebel secured an exclusive release of the song “Suara Hatiku” by Indonesian actress Amanda Monopo. As of March 2023, Trebel offers 75 million songs through licensing agreements with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and global indie rights agency Merlin. == Awards == In 2023, Trebel won three Google Play awards including "Best App of 2023", "Best Everyday Essentials" and "Users' Choice".
HTK Limited
HTK Limited is a software-as-a-service company that provides mobile phone messaging and IVR services. Founded in 1996, HTK is headquartered in Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. HTK provide mass notification services. Specifically, the "Police Direct" messaging service to Suffolk and Norfolk Constabularies. In 2010 the HTK Horizon SaaS platform was selected by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for their Floodline Warnings Direct service. == History == HTK was founded in 1996 by Marlon Bowser and Adrian Gregory and from the outset focused on what has now become commonly known as Software-as-a-Service. in 2004, according to the Deloitte Fast 50 (UK), HTK was the 17th fastest growing company in the East of England. In 2005 The Times listed HTK 65th nationally and 4th in the East of England in the Sunday Times & Microsoft "Tech Track 100" awards. In 2009 the company was approved as a supplier to UK Government under a new framework agreement. In 2010 HTK launched version 2.2 of its Horizon platform, with a feature set that signals a shift from mass notification into the customer service automation market.
The Raimones
The Raimones (stylized as THE RAiMONES) is a 2017 generative music project that utilized artificial intelligence to compose music in the style of the American punk rock band The Ramones. Developed by Matthias Frey, a researcher at Sony CSL Tokyo, the project was an early experiment in applying deep learning to high-energy, minimalist musical genres. == Technical Development == The project utilized Long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks to generate musical structures and lyrics. The model was trained on a dataset consisting of 130 Ramones songs in MIDI format and the band's complete lyrical catalog. The technical framework was built using Python and Jupyter Notebook, drawing influence from the character-level RNN text generation models popularized by Andrej Karpathy. Unlike contemporary AI music projects that focused on the harmonic complexities of classical or pop music, THE RAiMONES sought to determine if neural networks could replicate the "1-2-3-4" rhythmic consistency and formulaic nature of early punk. == "I'm Alive" == The primary output of the project was the song "I'm Alive," released in 2017. The work is described as a form of "augmented intelligence," a hybrid approach where the AI provides the compositional foundation and human musicians handle the arrangement and performance. The song was recorded by the musician Mr. Ratboy (Gilbert Avondet). Avondet's involvement provided a stylistic link to the subject material, as he had previously served as a touring guitarist for Marky Ramone and the Intruders in 1996. The project's discography has since been made available on major streaming platforms, including Apple Music. == Reception and Significance == The project has been cited as a "proof of concept" for AI's ability to tackle "noisy" and aggressive aesthetics. In 2019, the Belgian magazine Knack Focus profiled the project alongside other AI pioneers such as Holly Herndon, noting the project's attempt to recreate the sound of "deceased legends" while maintaining a distinct, machine-like quality. It has also been featured in academic settings, such as at UC Santa Cruz, as a case study for AI-driven genre mimicry.
Fuzzy differential inclusion
Fuzzy differential inclusion is the extension of differential inclusion to fuzzy sets introduced by Lotfi A. Zadeh. x ′ ( t ) ∈ [ f ( t , x ( t ) ) ] α {\displaystyle x'(t)\in [f(t,x(t))]^{\alpha }} with x ( 0 ) ∈ [ x 0 ] α {\displaystyle x(0)\in [x_{0}]^{\alpha }} Suppose f ( t , x ( t ) ) {\displaystyle f(t,x(t))} is a fuzzy valued continuous function on Euclidean space. Then it is the collection of all normal, upper semi-continuous, convex, compactly supported fuzzy subsets of R n {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}} . == Second order differential == The second order differential is x ″ ( t ) ∈ [ k x ] α {\displaystyle x''(t)\in [kx]^{\alpha }} where k ∈ [ K ] α {\displaystyle k\in [K]^{\alpha }} , K {\displaystyle K} is trapezoidal fuzzy number ( − 1 , − 1 / 2 , 0 , 1 / 2 ) {\displaystyle (-1,-1/2,0,1/2)} , and x 0 {\displaystyle x_{0}} is a trianglular fuzzy number (-1,0,1). == Applications == Fuzzy differential inclusion (FDI) has applications in Cybernetics Artificial intelligence, Neural network, Medical imaging Robotics Atmospheric dispersion modeling Weather forecasting Cyclone Pattern recognition Population biology
Cruel World of Dreams and Fears
Cruel World of Dreams and Fears is the debut album from Ukrainian-born Czech black metal artist Draugveil, released independently on 13 June 2025. The album became notable among metal fans due to its cover, featuring Draugveil in a suit of armour and corpse paint, and lying in a field of red roses. The cover was the subject of parodying internet memes, as well as accusations of using artificial intelligence (AI) to make it. These claims were later expanded to suggest that AI was used to make the album's music. == Memes and AI accusations == Upon the album being released on YouTube on the channel Black Metal Promotion, the album attracted attention due to its cover, depicting Draugveil lying in a field of roses, dressed in armour, wearing corpse paint and having a sword stuck in the ground. Some compared it to covers where other artists are lying on the ground, such as Michael Jackson's Thriller, Luther Vandross's Give Me the Reason, and the UK cover of Lionel Richie's You Are. Critics of the album, however, suggested that AI was used to make the cover. This was partly due to suggestions that the rose stems in the picture come out from the ground in an unrealistic way. This later resulted in claims from some fans that AI was also used to produce the music, and later the lyrics and vocals. These claims began on a Facebook page entitled "AI Generated Nonsense", which was later deleted. No definitive evidence, however, was produced to back these claims. Derek McArthur, a journalist for Glasgow-based newspaper The Herald, wrote: "The music is in line with what one would expect from a one-man black metal project in the vein of Judas Iscariot and Burzum, but then if AI was asked to create music in a black metal style, that is probably what it would decide to generically produce and spit out." Draugveil's reaction to the claims was: "Let people decide." The result of the claims of AI has led to some writers to claim that artists in the future will have to prove they are human to be taken seriously, and that members of the public will be increasing doubt as to whether creative works are produced by either humans or AI. == Track listing ==
ClearForest
ClearForest was an Israeli software company that developed and marketed text analytics and text mining solutions. == History == Founded in 1998, ClearForest had its headquarters just outside Boston and a development center in Or Yehuda. The company was acquired by Reuters in April, 2007. It now markets its services under the names Calais, OpenCalais, and OneCalais. ClearForest was previously venture-backed; its last funding round was led by Greylock Ventures and closed in 2005. Other investors included DB Capital Partners, Pitango, Walden Israel, Booz Allen, JP Morgan Partners and HarbourVest Partners. On February 7, 2008 Reuters announced the launch of Open Calais, a named-entity recognition and semantic analysis service that uses ClearForest technology. On April 30, 2007, Reuters announced that it would acquire ClearForest. Sources estimate the acquisition to be for $25 Million. == Solutions and products == ClearForest offers several hosted solutions, including: OpenCalais, a free web service and open API (for commercial and non-commercial use) that performs named-entity recognition and enables automatic metadata generation using the ClearForest financial module. Semantic Web Services (SWS), an on-demand service that makes ClearForest's natural language processing tools available as a standard web service. A subset of ClearForest's capabilities is available via SWS at no cost. Gnosis, a free Firefox extension that uses SWS to analyze the content of a web page. Gnosis identifies named entities such as people, companies, organizations, geographies and products on the page being viewed. Gnosis also automatically processes pages from Wikipedia, providing additional links for people, geographies and other entities which were not explicitly linked within the subject article. Harvest, a real-time machine-readable news service that uses SWS to process a company's news and document feeds and return machine-readable information about people, companies, locations and over 200 other entities facts and events. ClearForest also offers Text Analytics solutions targeted at specific business problems, including: Equity valuation for hedge funds and alternative investments firms Metadata & database creation for publishers and information providers/services Tapping "voice of customer" for market and survey research firms Quality Early Warning for vehicle, capital equipment & durable goods manufacturers
ACM SIGEVO
The ACM SIGEVO is a Special Interest Group of the Association of Computing Machinery for members of that organization who are practitioners, academics, students or others with interests in evolutionary computation and related algorithms. == History == ACM SIGEVO was founded in 2005 when the International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (ISGEC) became an ACM Special Interest Group under its present title. The ISGEC had been formed in 1999 by the merger of the Genetic Programming conference organization with the International Conference on Genetic Algorithms (ICGA) leading to the first Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO). == Membership == Members of this SIG pay a small fee in addition to the ACM membership fee. In return they have access to a quarterly online newsletter, but more importantly can obtain reduced registration rates at the two conferences organised by ACM SIGEVO: GECCO and the Foundations of Genetic Algorithms conference (FOGA). They can also access material on evolutionary computation and related topics in the ACM Digital Library. In addition they can subscribe to email mailing lists in order to keep informed about news over time. For students, ACM SIGEVO sponsors Travel Awards for attendance at the GECCO Conference and FOGA (the Foundations of Genetic Algorithms conference). ACM SIGEVO also sponsors a Graduate Student Workshop. ACM also sponsors Awards to be competed for by attendees at the conferences it organises. == Conferences == ACM SIGEVO organises two major conferences in the field of evolutionary computation. The Genetic and Evolutionary Conference (GECCO) is held annually, while the Foundations of Genetic Algorithms conference (FOGA) is held biennially. === GECCO === The first GECCO conference was held prior to the formation of ACM SIGEVO but since 2005 (see History above) it has been organised annually by ACM SIGEVO. The latest (2025) was held in Málaga, Spain. The next (2026) will be held in San José, Costa Rica. === FOGA === Foundations of Genetic Algorithms (FOGA) is a biennial peer-reviewed research conference focusing on the theoretical principles underlying genetic algorithms, other evolutionary algorithms and related heuristics. It is organized by ACM SIGEVO. Its relevance to the computer science research community has been reflected in an A-rating in the CORE computer science conference assessment system. The Foundations of Genetic Algorithms (FOGA) conference originated as a workshop in 1990 in order to create an opportunity for researchers on genetic algorithms and related areas of evolutionary computation to focus on the theoretical principles underlying their field. From the start its multi-day duration made it comparable to conferences in the field, and since 2015 its proceedings have used conference rather than workshop in their titles. In 2005 ACM SIGEVO the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation was formed and every FOGA conference since then has been supported by SIGEVO. The table below shows FOGA conferences by year, location, websites (where available) and publisher of proceedings. A citation follows the reference to the publisher giving the full details of each FOGA proceedings. Papers accepted at recent conferences have been presented as digital or print posters in poster sessions at the conference, before being published in written form in the conference proceedings. FOGA is comparable in its multi-day duration to other conferences on evolutionary computation such as CEC, GECCO and PPSN. The main difference is that FOGA focuses on the theoretical basis of evolutionary computation and related subjects. While the above conferences devote some time to theory they also cover a wide range of other topics including competitions and applications. This focus on theoretical computer science was reflected in the CORE computer science conference assessment exercise, where FOGA was given an A-ranking in the 2023 assessment. GECCO and PPSN also obtained A-rankings, but many other conferences in the field of evolutionary computation obtained lower rankings. This suggests that FOGA is a relevant conference in its field, comparable with others including the much larger CEC or GECCO. Keynote speakers at past conferences have been: == Awards == ACM SIGEVO sponsors a number of awards. === SIGEVO Outstanding Contribution Award === The SIGEVO Outstanding Contribution Award commenced in 2023, and these awards are designed to recognise distinctive contributions to the field of evolutionary computation when evaluated over a period of at least 15 years. As a result many recipients to date are notable academics or industrial practitioners, and include Anne Auger, Kalyanmoy Deb, Stephanie Forrest, Emma Hart and Hans-Paul Schwefel. === SIGEVO Dissertation Award === The SIGEVO Dissertation Award recognises thesis research in the field of evolutionary computation completed at least by the year prior to a GECCO conference. Theses are submitted and reviewed by a panel that selects one winner and a maximum of two honourable mentions. Awards will be made to the winner and any others at the next GECCO conference. === SIGEVO Chair Award === The SIGEVO Chair Award, established in 2016 is a lecture sponsored by ACM SIGEVO, to take place on the last day of the GECCO conference. It recognizes through the lectures that the lecturers are influential researchers in the field of evolutionary computation. The more recent lectures are available online. The 2024 Award winner was Una-May O'Reilly. === SIGEVO Impact Award === The SIGEVO Impact Award looks back to the GECCO conference ten years earlier and recognizes up to three papers a year which are considered by the current ACM SIGEVO Executive Committee to have had significant impact over the period since their first publication at the GECCO conference. An example (originally published in GECCO 2010) received this award in 2020. === GECCO Best Paper Award === The ACM SIGEVO sponsors awards for the best papers presented at the GECCO conference. Because GECCO conferences have very many parallel tracks there are multiple awards recognising presentations in the different tracks. At GECCO 2025 Best Paper Awards were presented across 12 tracks. === FOGA Best Paper Award === The ACM SIGEVO sponsors awards for the best papers presented at the FOGA conference. Because FOGA operates on a single track, it is easier to compare papers. Since 2019 this Award has been made (suggesting only four awards up to the latest conference in 2025). ACM SIGEVO records the 2019 award. === Humie Award === The Humies Awards are rewards for the best form of human-competitive results using evolutionary computation or related algorithms and published in the wider literature (they do not need to be published at a conference or in a journal sponsored by ACM SIGEVO or even the ACM.) They were established through a gift from John Koza and have been in operation from 2004 to the present. The link with ACM SIGEVO is that the winners of the competition (submissions are evaluated in advance) are presented with Humie Awards at GECCO conferences. The Humie Awards website provides full details for the rules and how to submit entries to the competition. == Journals == ACM SIGEVO sponsors the main journal covering evolutionary computation published by the ACM: ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization. ACM SIGEVO refers to the preceding ISGEC organisation (see History above) as sponsoring two other important journals in the field: The Evolutionary Computation journal. Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines. While these journals continue to be important in the field, the wording on the website of ACM SIGEVO suggests that ACM SIGEVO is not involved in their publication. == References and notes ==