AI Art Filter

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

GeoNetwork opensource

The GeoNetwork opensource (GNOS) project is a free and open source (FOSS) cataloging application for spatially referenced resources. It is a catalog of location-oriented information. == Outline == It is a standardized and decentralized spatial information management environment designed to enable access to geo-referenced databases, cartographic products and related metadata from a variety of sources, enhancing the spatial information exchange and sharing between organizations and their audience, using the capacities of the internet. Using the Z39.50 protocol it both accesses remote catalogs and makes its data available to other catalog services. As of 2007, OGC Web Catalog Service are being implemented. Maps, including those derived from satellite imagery, are effective communicational tools and play an important role in the work of decision makers (e.g., sustainable development planners and humanitarian and emergency managers) in need of quick, reliable and up-to-date user-friendly cartographic products as a basis for action and to better plan and monitor their activities; GIS experts in need of exchanging consistent and updated geographical data; and spatial analysts in need of multidisciplinary data to perform preliminary geographical analysis and make reliable forecasts. == Deployment == The software has been deployed to various organizations, the first being FAO GeoNetwork and WFP VAM-SIE-GeoNetwork, both at their headquarters in Rome, Italy. Furthermore, the WHO, CGIAR, BRGM, ESA, FGDC and the Global Change Information and Research Centre (GCIRC) of China are working on GeoNetwork opensource implementations as their spatial information management capacity. It is used for several risk information systems, in particular in the Gambia. Several related tools are packaged with GeoNetwork, including GeoServer. GeoServer stores geographical data, while GeoNetwork catalogs collections of such data.
Read more →
HtmlUnit

HtmlUnit is a headless web browser written in Java. It allows high-level manipulation of websites from other Java code, including filling and submitting forms and clicking hyperlinks. It also provides access to the structure and the details within received web pages. HtmlUnit emulates parts of browser behaviour including the lower-level aspects of TCP/IP and HTTP. A sequence such as getPage(url), getLinkWith("Click here"), click() allows a user to navigate through hypertext and obtain web pages that include HTML, JavaScript, Ajax and cookies. This headless browser can deal with HTTPS security, basic HTTP authentication, automatic page redirection and other HTTP headers. It allows Java test code to examine returned pages either as text, an XML DOM, or as collections of forms, tables, and links. The goal is to simulate real browsers; namely Chrome, Firefox and Edge. The most common use of HtmlUnit is test automation of web pages, but sometimes it can be used for web scraping, or downloading website content. == Benefits == Provides high-level API, taking away lower-level details away from the user. Compared to other WebDriver implementations, HtmlUnitDriver is the fastest to implement. It can be configured to simulate a specific browser. == Drawbacks == Element layout and rendering can not be tested. The JavaScript support is not complete, which is one of the areas of ongoing enhancements. == Used technologies == W3C DOM HTTP connection, using Apache HttpComponents JavaScript, using forked Rhino HTML Parsing, NekoHTML CSS: using CSS Parser XPath support, using Xalan == Libraries using HtmlUnit == Selenium WebDriver Spring MVC Test Framework Google Web Toolkit tests WebTest Wetator
Read more →
Content Credentials

Content Credentials (also known as C2PA signatures) are a digital media metadata specification. They aim to provide provenance information about a piece of media (such as an image or a video) and help prove its authenticity. They are described as the equivalent of nutrition labels for digital media. One of the stated goal of this specification is to fight online disinformation. The specification is written and maintained by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a group of many media and tech organizations including Adobe, Amazon, the BBC, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Sony. Another organization, the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), is responsible for promoting the standard and accelerate its adoption. The standard relies on cryptographic digital signatures. == Adoption == There are two main stakeholders who can implement Content Credentials: Producers (softwares and hardwares that produce or modify digital media) and publishers (softwares that show digital media to users). === Producers === ==== Adobe ==== Adobe is one of the first companies to implement the specification, announcing support in Photoshop in 2021. Content Credentials can be enabled and the complete history of edits is kept. ==== Google ==== Google announced support for Content Credentials on its Pixel 10 phones in August 2025. The Content Credentials are embedded on each picture taken from the Pixel Camera, and modifications done using Google Photos. Information include picture timestamp and a non-identifiable signature that proves it was taken from a Pixel 10. As for Google Photos, a list of AI and non-AI edits are kept. Google is the first company to introduce support for Content Credentials on either phones or consumer-grade devices, and also the first company to make it available for free to all users. ==== Nikon ==== Nikon announced in 2024 that their Z6 III camera would support embedding Content Credentials in its photos. However, in 2025, a vulnerability was discovered in the software of the camera that allowed to combine unauthentic images with authentic photos and still have the resulting image with a valid digital signature. Nikon revoked the certificates. ==== Media organizations ==== CBC/Radio-Canada and the BBC both have started attaching Content Credentials to media they produce or verify. ==== OpenAI ==== OpenAI embeds Content Credentials on the images and videos it generates that includes that the media was created by AI using their platforms. ==== Sony ==== In June 2025, Sony announced the release of its Camera Verify system for press photographers and news editors using C2PA digital signatures. Initially, the system will be limited to still images, high‑end cameras, and selected news agencies. Registration with Sony Creators' Cloud is also required. === Publishers === ==== LinkedIn ==== In 2024, LinkedIn started showing a "CR" icon on images that contain Content Credentials of AI-generated images. In 2025, they announced a partnership with Adobe to allow photographers to prove ownership of images using Content Credentials. ==== TikTok ==== TikTok announced in 2024 that an "AI-generated" label would be applied to videos containing Content Credentials if they were AI-generated. In 2025, they announced that users could control the amount of AI-generated content they see, using self-reported labels, Content Credentials and an invisible, proprietary AI watermark embedded in videos by their AI editor tool. ==== YouTube ==== In 2024, YouTube started showing to users a label that reads "captured with a camera" on videos that show authentic, unedited videos taken by Content Credentials-compatible cameras.
Read more →
Web engineering

The World Wide Web has become a major delivery platform for a variety of complex and sophisticated enterprise applications in several domains. In addition to their inherent multifaceted functionality, these Web applications exhibit complex behaviour and place some unique demands on their usability, performance, security, and ability to grow and evolve. However, a vast majority of these applications continue to be developed in an ad hoc way, contributing to problems of usability, maintainability, quality and reliability. While Web development can benefit from established practices from other related disciplines, it has certain distinguishing characteristics that demand special considerations. In recent years, there have been developments towards addressing these considerations. Web engineering focuses on the methodologies, techniques, and tools that are the foundation of Web application development and which support their design, development, evolution, and evaluation. Web application development has certain characteristics that make it different from traditional software, information systems, or computer application development. Web engineering is multidisciplinary and encompasses contributions from diverse areas: systems analysis and design, software engineering, hypermedia/hypertext engineering, requirements engineering, human-computer interaction, user interface, data engineering, information science, information indexing and retrieval, testing, modelling and simulation, project management, and graphic design and presentation. Web engineering is neither a clone nor a subset of software engineering, although both involve programming and software development. While Web Engineering uses software engineering principles, it encompasses new approaches, methodologies, tools, techniques, and guidelines to meet the unique requirements of Web-based applications. == As a discipline == Proponents of Web engineering supported the establishment of Web engineering as a discipline at an early stage of Web. Major arguments for Web engineering as a new discipline are: Web-based Information Systems (WIS) development process is different and unique. Web engineering is multi-disciplinary; no single discipline (such as software engineering) can provide a complete theory basis, body of knowledge and practices to guide WIS development. Issues of evolution and lifecycle management when compared to more 'traditional' applications. Web-based information systems and applications are pervasive and non-trivial. The prospect of Web as a platform will continue to grow and it is worth being treated specifically. However, it has been controversial, especially for people in other traditional disciplines such as software engineering, to recognize Web engineering as a new field. The issue is how different and independent Web engineering is, compared with other disciplines. Main topics of Web engineering include, but are not limited to, the following areas: === Modeling disciplines === Business Processes for Applications on the Web Process Modelling of Web applications Requirements Engineering for Web applications B2B applications === Design disciplines, tools, and methods === UML and the Web Conceptual Modeling of Web Applications (aka. Web modeling) Prototyping Methods and Tools Web design methods CASE Tools for Web Applications Web Interface Design Data Models for Web Information Systems === Implementation disciplines === Integrated Web Application Development Environments Code Generation for Web Applications Software Factories for/on the Web Web 2.0, AJAX, E4X, ASP.NET, PHP and Other New Developments Web Services Development and Deployment === Testing disciplines === Testing and Evaluation of Web systems and Applications. Testing Automation, Methods, and Tools. === Applications categories disciplines === Semantic Web applications Document centric Web sites Transactional Web applications Interactive Web applications Workflow-based Web applications Collaborative Web applications Portal-oriented Web applications Ubiquitous and Mobile Web Applications Device Independent Web Delivery Localization and Internationalization of Web Applications Personalization of Web Applications == Attributes == === Web quality === Web Metrics, Cost Estimation, and Measurement Personalisation and Adaptation of Web applications Web Quality Usability of Web Applications Web accessibility Performance of Web-based applications === Content-related === Web Content Management Content Management System (CMS) Multimedia Authoring Tools and Software Authoring of adaptive hypermedia == Education == Master of Science: Web Engineering as a branch of study within the MSc program Web Sciences at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria Diploma in Web Engineering: Web Engineering as a study program at the International Webmasters College (iWMC), Germany
Read more →
Docic

Docic is a Tunisian digital health platform available as a web and mobile application, headquartered in Tunis, Tunisia. Founded in 2022 by Sami Kallel, an orthopedic surgeon, and Sofiane Trabelsi. The service helps patients and healthcare professionals store, organize, and share medical records digitally and to connect with the doctor online. == History == Docic was founded in 2022 as a health-technology company based in Tunisia, after which the mobile application was subsequently developed and made available to users. The platform was designed to provide healthcare professionals with access to patients’ complete medical history, including updates and recent changes, aiming at supporting clinical decision-making and reducing the risk of medical errors. In January 2025, Docic was listed amongst companies that have received the Startup Act label, which is a recognition under the Tunisian legal framework made to support innovative startups.
Read more →
Control communications

In telecommunications, control communications is the branch of technology devoted to the design, development, and application of communications facilities used specifically for control purposes, such as for controlling (a) industrial processes, (b) movement of resources, (c) electric power generation, distribution, and utilization, (d) communications networks, and (e) transportation systems.
Read more →
Digital first

Digital first is a communication theory that publishers should release content into new media channels in preference to old media. The premise behind the theory is that after the advent of Internet, most established media organizations continued to give priority to traditional media. Over time, those organizations faced a choice to either publish first in digital media or traditional media. A "digital first" decision occurs when a publisher chooses to distribute information online in preference to or at the expense of traditional media like print publishing. Many employers and employees find it challenging to imagine using digital first practices. Distributing content digital first introduces new practices, including a need to manage the data which tracks readership. Many paper print publishers feel intimidated by the idea of publishing content online before publishing it in paper media. Comedian John Oliver in the show Last Week Tonight criticized digital first practices as a cause of lower standards in journalism. == Digital-First Transformation in Business and Education == The classical perspective of an information system is that it represents and reflects physical reality. However, it is increasingly evident that digital technologies not only represent reality but also actively shape it, as, in many instances, the digital version is created first, and the physical version follows. Gradually, digital infrastructures are integrated in people's work and life, shaping a digital environment through technologies such as 5G, sensors, and blockchain. The Digital First Framework, developed by Professor Youngjin Yoo, is a conceptual approach that helps the physical companies in the integration of digital technologies into the core of product and service design. The shift from traditional cars, where the physical vehicle precedes its digital representation on Google maps, to autonomous vehicles, where the digital representation (the blue dot) is created first, emphasizes the digital-first mindset in the design and operation of systems. In today's business environment, it's critical for organizations to embrace a digital-first strategy. Companies built on digital platforms will significantly diverge from traditional, hierarchical business structures that typically focus on a single product or market. These digitally-centered enterprises will offer products and services that are tailored to individual requirements, utilizing algorithms to assess needs based on specific situations, and relying on external partners to provide these solutions. This highlights the need to transform traditional R&D practices. It's essential for R&D teams to move beyond their laboratories and immerse themselves in the environments of their users. Understanding the context of use is fundamental to creating a relevant platform. As an illustration, the concept of Digital-first, as defined by Rohm et al. (2019), involves the integration of digital projects within educational courses, exemplified by institutions like M-School. The program adopts a programmatic approach, where successive courses progressively build upon one another, adopting an all-encompassing perspective that regards all aspects of marketing as inherently digital. Students actively participate in real-world projects, including campaigns for community improvement, and are tasked with generating content for diverse platforms. Through hands-on collaboration with live clients and the utilization of tools such as Google AdWords and Facebook Advertising, students acquire practical experience in the realms of digital marketing and analytics. == vBook == A vBook is an eBook that is digital first media with embedded video, images, graphs, tables, text, and other media.
Read more →
Web content development

Web content development is the process of researching, writing, gathering, organizing, and editing information for publication on websites. Website content may consist of prose, graphics, pictures, recordings, movies, or other digital assets that could be distributed by a hypertext transfer protocol server, and viewed by a web browser. == Web developers and content developers == When the World Wide Web began, web developers either developed online content themselves, or modified existing documents and coded them into hypertext markup language (HTML). In time, the field of website development came to encompass many technologies, so it became difficult for website developers to maintain so many different skills. Content developers are specialized website developers who have content generation skills such as graphic design, multimedia development, professional writing, and documentation. They can integrate content into new or existing websites without using information technology skills such as script language programming and database programming. Content developers or technical content developers can also be technical writers who produce technical documentation that helps people understand and use a product or service. This documentation includes online help, manuals, white papers, design specifications, developer guides, deployment guides, release notes, etc. == Search engine optimization == Content developers may also be search engine optimization specialists, or internet marketing professionals. High quality, unique content is what search engines are looking for. Content development specialists, therefore, have a very important role to play in the search engine optimization process. One issue currently plaguing the world of web content development is keyword-stuffed content which are prepared solely for the purpose of manipulating search engine rankings. The effect is that content is written to appeal to search engine (algorithms) rather than human readers. Search engine optimization specialists commonly submit content to article directories to build their website's authority on any given topic. Most article directories allow visitors to republish submitted content with the agreement that all links are maintained. This has become a method of search engine optimization for many websites today. If written according to SEO copywriting rules, the submitted content will bring benefits to the publisher (free SEO-friendly content for a webpage) as well as to the author (a hyperlink pointing to his/her website, placed on an SEO-friendly webpage). == New content types == Web content is no longer restricted to text. Search engines now index audio/visual media, including video, images, PDFs, and other elements of a web page. Website owners sometimes use content protection networks to scan for plagiarized content.
Read more →
DreamLab

DreamLab was a volunteer computing Android and iOS app launched in 2015 by Imperial College London and the Vodafone Foundation. It was discontinued on 2nd April 2025. == Description == The app helped to research cancer, COVID-19, new drugs and tropical cyclones. To do this, DreamLab accessed part of the device's processing power, with the user's consent, while the owner charged their smartphone, to speed up the calculations of the algorithms from Imperial College London. The aim of the tropical cyclone project was to prepare for climate change risks. Other projects aimed to find existing drugs and food molecules that could help people with COVID-19 and other diseases. The performance of 100,000 smartphones would reach the annual output of all research computers at Imperial College in just three months, with a nightly runtime of six hours. The app was developed in 2015 by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney and the Vodafone Foundation. In May 2020, the project had over 490,000 registered users.
Read more →
Contact center telephony

In marketing, contact center telephony is the communication and collaboration system used by businesses to either manage high volumes of inbound queries or outbound telephone calls keeping their workforce or agents productive and in control to serve or acquire customers. This business communication system is an extension of computer telephony integration (CTI). == Overview == The interactions between callers and customer service representatives are supported by the collective system of computers, telephones and the Internet. The shift from CTI to contact center telephony is marked by the sheer change in the customer’s behavior when it comes to communication. Means customers are no longer confined only to voice-based communication i.e. phone to connect with their customer service departments. In addition, they are making use of email, SMS, chat, social media, and other virtual contact channels. This is also the reason for the shift in nomenclature from "call centers" to "contact centers", "contact" being a wider term than "call". Respecting the trend, contact center owners need to adopt unified communication or multi-channel approach to let customers get in touch with them via their preferred communication mediums, either voice or non-voice (data). Cloud-based phone system is a further advancement in the direction as it allows operators to access all the features and benefits of call center telephony over the Web against an affordable & flexible pay-as-you-go subscription model. Thus, in-house infrastructure deployment to manage public switched telephone networks, storage, communication applications, and collaboration servers is no more an obligation. Neither is the need to invest resources for their upgrade, repair, maintenance and security as cloud vendor would be responsible for the same. == India == India, a popular call center business process outsourcing destination, often uses a cloud-based phone system in order to cut operational expenses and downtime, and increase connectivity. == Promotion == Businesses can rely on contact center telephony services to respond to their customers’ queries over phone, email, chat, fax, etc. Integrating it with their customer relationship management tools, entire contact details of customers and their interaction sessions with different customer service representatives can be found at one place. The combination can manage not just sales and marketing but also deliver excellent post-sales customer service or technical support to allow customers derive the most from their products or services. Hence, it’s becoming instrumental in increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty and most of the call center services in India are taking refuge from it. The entire contact center telephony service can be availed by professionals over a browser. Hence, businesses can leverage the concept of BYOD (bring your own device) and mobility and serve their customers well using mobile applications. According to market analysts, BYOD increases satisfaction among workforce, and hence their individual and collective productivity as well. BYOD programme significantly reduces the TCO (total cost of ownership) as professionals prefer to work with their own devices rather than using company-provisioned devices. Next, they tend to be more caring towards such devices and can even shell out money to update and upgrade those when required. Integration of IM, along with audio and video conferencing services helps call center or contact center representatives to get real time assistance from their peers or seniors to resolve any complex issues. They can internally exchange information and knowledge articles as and when required. Real-time call monitoring/barging system can be used by quality assessment team to provide important guidelines to agents to maintain the standard of the service as per industry norms. Integrated recording feature is helpful for internal training and quality purposes to improve productivity and customer satisfaction in equal measures. It also helps in getting business insights and improving products or services to gain deeper penetration into the market.
Read more →
Contact center telephony

In marketing, contact center telephony is the communication and collaboration system used by businesses to either manage high volumes of inbound queries or outbound telephone calls keeping their workforce or agents productive and in control to serve or acquire customers. This business communication system is an extension of computer telephony integration (CTI). == Overview == The interactions between callers and customer service representatives are supported by the collective system of computers, telephones and the Internet. The shift from CTI to contact center telephony is marked by the sheer change in the customer’s behavior when it comes to communication. Means customers are no longer confined only to voice-based communication i.e. phone to connect with their customer service departments. In addition, they are making use of email, SMS, chat, social media, and other virtual contact channels. This is also the reason for the shift in nomenclature from "call centers" to "contact centers", "contact" being a wider term than "call". Respecting the trend, contact center owners need to adopt unified communication or multi-channel approach to let customers get in touch with them via their preferred communication mediums, either voice or non-voice (data). Cloud-based phone system is a further advancement in the direction as it allows operators to access all the features and benefits of call center telephony over the Web against an affordable & flexible pay-as-you-go subscription model. Thus, in-house infrastructure deployment to manage public switched telephone networks, storage, communication applications, and collaboration servers is no more an obligation. Neither is the need to invest resources for their upgrade, repair, maintenance and security as cloud vendor would be responsible for the same. == India == India, a popular call center business process outsourcing destination, often uses a cloud-based phone system in order to cut operational expenses and downtime, and increase connectivity. == Promotion == Businesses can rely on contact center telephony services to respond to their customers’ queries over phone, email, chat, fax, etc. Integrating it with their customer relationship management tools, entire contact details of customers and their interaction sessions with different customer service representatives can be found at one place. The combination can manage not just sales and marketing but also deliver excellent post-sales customer service or technical support to allow customers derive the most from their products or services. Hence, it’s becoming instrumental in increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty and most of the call center services in India are taking refuge from it. The entire contact center telephony service can be availed by professionals over a browser. Hence, businesses can leverage the concept of BYOD (bring your own device) and mobility and serve their customers well using mobile applications. According to market analysts, BYOD increases satisfaction among workforce, and hence their individual and collective productivity as well. BYOD programme significantly reduces the TCO (total cost of ownership) as professionals prefer to work with their own devices rather than using company-provisioned devices. Next, they tend to be more caring towards such devices and can even shell out money to update and upgrade those when required. Integration of IM, along with audio and video conferencing services helps call center or contact center representatives to get real time assistance from their peers or seniors to resolve any complex issues. They can internally exchange information and knowledge articles as and when required. Real-time call monitoring/barging system can be used by quality assessment team to provide important guidelines to agents to maintain the standard of the service as per industry norms. Integrated recording feature is helpful for internal training and quality purposes to improve productivity and customer satisfaction in equal measures. It also helps in getting business insights and improving products or services to gain deeper penetration into the market.
Read more →
Military communications

Military communications or military signals involve all aspects of communications, or conveyance of information, by armed forces. Examples from Jane's Military Communications include text, audio, facsimile, tactical ground-based communications, naval signalling, terrestrial microwave, tropospheric scatter, satellite communications systems and equipment, surveillance and signal analysis, security, direction finding and jamming. The most urgent purposes are to communicate information to commanders and orders from them. Military communications span from pre-history to the present. The earliest military communications were delivered by runners. Later, communications progressed to visual signals. For example, Naval ships would use flag signaling to communicate from ship to ship. These flags are a uniform set of easily identifiable nautical codes that would convey visual messages and codes between ships and from ship to shore. Then militaries discovered methods to use audible signaling to communicate with each other. This way of communicating was possible because of telegraphs. They are an electronic device that is used by a sender and when the sender presses on the telegraph key, they interrupt the current creating an audible pulse that is heard at the receiving station. The receiver then decodes the pulses to decode the messages. Since then, military communication has evolved and advanced much further. Today, there are many perspectives used to examine how troops around the world communicate. Anthony King states how Military sociologists have attempted to explain how military institutions develop and maintain high levels of social cohesion. == History == In past centuries communicating a message usually required someone to go to the destination, bringing the message. Thus, the term communication often implied the ability to transport people and supplies. A place under siege was one that lost communication in both senses. The association between transport and messaging declined in recent centuries. The first military communications involved the use of runners or the sending and receiving of simple signals (sometimes encoded to be unrecognizable). The first distinctive uses of military communications were called semaphore. Modern units specializing in these tactics are usually designated as signal corps. The Roman system of military communication (cursus publicus or cursus vehicularis) is an early example of this. Later, the terms signals and signaller became words referring to a highly-distinct military occupation dealing with general communications methods (similar to those in civil use) rather than with weapons. Present-day military forces of an informational society conduct intense and complicated communicating activities on a daily basis, using modern telecommunications and computing methods. Only a small portion of these activities are directly related to combat actions. Modern concepts of network-centric warfare (NCW) rely on network-oriented methods of communications and control to make existing forces more effective. == Military communications equipment == Drums, horns, flags, and riders on horseback were some of the early methods the military used to send messages over distances. The advent of distinctive signals led to the formation of the signal corps, a group specialized in the tactics of military communications. The signal corps evolved into a distinctive occupation where the signaller became a highly technical job dealing with all available communications methods including civil ones. In the middle 20th century radio equipment came to dominate the field. Many modern pieces of military communications equipment are built to both encrypt and decode transmissions and survive rough treatment in hostile climates. They use different frequencies to send signals to other radio stations to communicate. Radios have played a major role in military communication. Since they are capable of sending radio waves to transmit voice signals over long distances. This can be helpful for communication on the battlefield since it is a good way to send messages undetected over long distances. Radios are also very reliable because even in harsh weather conditions they are still able to help communicate among the soldiers. Militaries still use radios and continue to improve the technology because of their durability and reliability for military communication. Spelling alphabets such as the NATO phonetic alphabet are used to aid radio communications by reducing ambiguity between letters. Military communications – or "comms" – are activities, equipment, techniques, and tactics used by the military in some of the most hostile areas of the earth and in challenging environments such as battlefields, on land (compare radio in a box), underwater and also in air. Military comms include command, control and communications and intelligence and were known as the C3I model before computers were fully integrated. The U.S. Army expanded the model to C4I when it recognized the vital role played by automated computer equipment to send and receive large, bulky amounts of data. In the modern world, most nations attempt to minimize the risk of war caused by miscommunication or inadequate communication. As a result, military communication is intense and complicated and often motivates the development of advanced technology for remote systems such as satellites. Satellites have been improving and are being used more and more for communication. They are being made to have higher transmission capacity to help with their communication abilities. The military is upgrading satellites to be immune to interference during combat operations. This advancement will establish stable, high-quality information highways for long distance communication. Aircraft are also beneficial for communication, both crewed and uncrewed, as well as computers. Computers and their varied applications have revolutionized military comms. Although military communication is designed for warfare, it also supports intelligence-gathering and communication between adversaries, and thus sometimes prevents war. The six categories of military comms are: alert measurement systems cryptography military radio systems command and control signal corps network-centric warfare The alert measurement systems are various states of alertness or readiness for the armed forces used around the world during a state of war, act of terrorism or a military attack against a state. They are known by different acronyms, such as DEFCON, or defense readiness condition, used by the U.S. Armed Forces. Cryptography is the study of methods of converting messages to a form unreadable except to one who knows how to decrypt them. This ancient military comms art gained new importance with the rise of radio systems whose signals traveled far and were easily intercepted. Cryptographic software is also widely used in civilian commerce. == Commercial refile == In United States military communications systems, commercial refile refers to sending a military message via a commercial communications network. The message may come from a military network, such as a tape relay network, a point-to-point telegraph network, a radio-telegraph network, or the Defense Switched Network. Commercial refiling of a message will usually require a reformatting of the message, particularly the heading.
Read more →
Programming tool

A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that is used to develop another computer program, usually by helping the developer manage computer files. For example, a programmer may use a tool called a source code editor to edit source code files, and then a compiler to convert the source code into machine code files. They may also use build tools that automatically package executable program and data files into shareable packages or install kits. A set of tools that are run one after another, with each tool feeding its output to the next one, is called a toolchain. An integrated development environment (IDE) integrates the function of several tools into a single program. Usually, an IDE provides a source code editor as well as other built-in or plug-in tools that help with compiling, debugging, and testing. Whether a program is considered a development tool can be subjective. Some programs, such as the GNU compiler collection, are used exclusively for software development while others, such as Notepad, are not meant specifically for development but are nevertheless often used for programming. == Categories == Notable categories of development tools: Assembler – Converts assembly language into machine code Bug tracking system – Software application that records software bugs Build automation – Building software via an unattended fashion Code review software – Activity where one or more people check a program's code Compiler – Software that translates code from one programming language to another Compiler-compiler – Program that generates parsers or compilers, a.k.a. parser generator Debugger – Software for debugging a computer program Decompiler – Program translating executable to source code Disassembler – Computer program to translate machine language into assembly language Documentation generator – Automation technology for creating software documentation Graphical user interface builder – Software development tool Linker – Program that combines intermediate build files into an executable file Loader – Loads executable files into memory and prepares them for execution by the CPU. Memory debugger – Software memory problem finder Minifier – Removal of unnecessary characters in code without changing its functionality Pretty-printer – Formatting to make code or markup easier to readPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Performance profiler – Measuring the time or resources used by a section of a computer program Static code analyzer – Analysis of computer programs without executing themPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Source code editor – Text editor specializing in software codePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Source code generation – Type of computer programmingPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Version control system – Stores and tracks versions of files
Read more →
Futel

Futel is a public arts organization in Portland, Oregon dedicated to preserving and maintaining public telephone hardware and offering free phone and basic information services. Futel was founded by Karl Anderson, a former software engineer, and Elijah St. Clair. == Technology == Karl Anderson stated that one motivation for the project was to explore the idea of urban furniture. Other reasons were to preserve an important part of hacker history, and to salvage and re-use manufactured items at the end of their lifecycle. The original Futel phones were set up in Portland, Oregon. The organization cleans and repurposes old public payphones which are often salvaged from Craigslist or scrappers. Using interface boxes, they are converted into VoIP phones which are made available publicly, with no cost for phone calls. Anderson has said the service runs on "Asterisk and OpenVPN and a lot of scripts." The payphones operate using publicly-available internet connections. The phones have automated phone trees and users can make a call to local social services, to a weather forecast line, or access local transit information. Volunteers act as telephone operators, offering information about the Futel service, or are available for conversation. Users using Futel's phones may also access voicemail boxes. The system has a "wildcard line" where people can listen to samples of audio left on the main voicemail line along with commentary from Anderson and others. == Network == In February 2021, there were 10 Futel phones in Portland and 3 in other cities. Phones were set up in Detroit and Ypsilanti, Michigan, and Long Beach, Washington. The organization has provided free phone service for a Portland-area homeless encampment after receiving funding from the Awesome Foundation. In 2019 the organization reported their phones being used to make 12,000 phone calls. Futel also said their usage went up and not down during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic when they outfitted their phone kiosks with handwashing stations and used volunteers to keep the phones clean. The project is funded is primarily through grants and is staffed with volunteers. The project has inspired others such as the PhilTel project in Philadelphia and the RandTel project in Randolph, Vermont. Futel publishes a zine called Party Line.
Read more →
Digital cassettes

Digital audio cassette formats introduced to the professional audio and consumer markets: Digital Audio Tape (or DAT) is the most well-known, and had some success as an audio storage format among professionals and "prosumers" before the prices of hard drive and solid-state flash memory-based digital recording devices dropped in the late 1990s. Hard-drive recording has mostly made DAT obsolete, as hard disk recorders offer more editing versatility than tape, and easier importation into digital audio workstations (DAWs) and non-linear video editing (NLE) systems. Digital Compact Cassette was intended as a digital replacement for the mass-market analog cassette tape, but received very little attention or adaptation. Its failure is generally attributed to higher production costs than audio CDs, durability and indifferent reception by consumers. Digital video cassettes include: Betacam IMX (Sony) D-VHS (JVC) D1 (Sony) D2 (Sony) D3 D5 HD Digital-S D9 (JVC) Digital Betacam (Sony) Digital8 (Sony) DV HDV ProHD (JVC) MiniDV MicroMV == Analog cassettes used as digital data storage == Historically, the compact audio cassette which was originally designed for analog storage of music was used as an alternative to disk drives in the late 1970s and early 1980s to provide data storage for home computers. There is a number of unique and incompatible cassette tape data storage formats that all use the same analog compact audio cassette tape media. The ADAT system uses Super VHS tapes to record 8 synchronized digital audiotracks at once. There have also been several audio recording systems that used VHS video recorders as storage devices and video tape transports, generally by encoding the digital data to be recorded into an analog composite video signal (which resembles static) and then recording this to magnetic tape. These systems were often used as "mixdown" recorders, to record the finished mix from a multi-track recorder in preparation for the manufacture of a vinyl record, cassette tape, or CD. An example was the Dbx Model 700. Another example is the Sony PCM adaptor series. Several companies sold VHS backup solutions in the 1980s and 1990s where data was converted to a video image which was then saved onto a VHS tape. the Corvus "Mirror" ( U.S. patent 4380047A ) the Metrum Model 64 on S-VHS tape, the Danmere Backer tape backup system, the Alpha Microsystems Videotrax the Legacy Storage Systems International VAST (Variable Array Storage) the ArVid the Video Backup System Amiga, The S2 VLBI system at three NASA Deep Space Network complexes and over 20 other radio telescopes stores digital data on SVHS tapes.
Read more →