AI Code Visualizer

AI Code Visualizer — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

Crackme

A crackme is a small computer program designed to test a programmer's reverse engineering skills. Crackmes are made as a legal way to crack software, since no intellectual property is being infringed. == Description == Crackmes often incorporate protection schemes and algorithms similar to those used in proprietary software. However, they can sometimes be more challenging because they may use advanced packing or protection techniques, making the underlying algorithm harder to analyze and modify. == Keygenme == A keygenme is specifically designed for the reverser to not only identify the protection algorithm used in the application but also create a small key generator (keygen) in the programming language of their choice. Most keygenmes, when properly manipulated, can be made self-keygenning. For example, during validation, they might generate the correct key internally and compare it to the user's input. This allows the key generation algorithm to be easily replicated. Anti-debugging and anti-disassembly routines are often used to confuse debuggers or render disassembly output useless. Code obfuscation is also used to further complicate reverse engineering.
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Site Security Handbook

The Site Security Handbook, RFC 2196, is a guide on setting computer security policies and procedures for sites that have systems on the Internet (however, the information provided should also be useful to sites not yet connected to the Internet). The guide lists issues and factors that a site must consider when setting their own policies. It makes a number of recommendations and provides discussions of relevant areas. This guide is only a framework for setting security policies and procedures. In order to have an effective set of policies and procedures, a site will have to make many decisions, gain agreement, and then communicate and implement these policies. The guide is a product of the IETF SSH working group, and was published in 1997, obsoleting the earlier RFC 1244 from 1991.
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Thunderspy

Thunderspy is a type of security vulnerability, based on the Intel Thunderbolt 3 port, first reported publicly on 10 May 2020, that can result in an evil maid (i.e., attacker of an unattended device) attack gaining full access to a computer's information in about five minutes, and may affect millions of Apple, Linux and Windows computers, as well as any computers manufactured before 2019, and some after that. According to Björn Ruytenberg, the discoverer of the vulnerability, "All the evil maid needs to do is unscrew the backplate, attach a device momentarily, reprogram the firmware, reattach the backplate, and the evil maid gets full access to the laptop. All of this can be done in under five minutes." The malicious firmware is used to clone device identities which makes classical DMA attack possible. == History == The Thunderspy security vulnerabilities were first publicly reported by Björn Ruytenberg of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands on 10 May 2020. Thunderspy is similar to Thunderclap, another security vulnerability, reported in 2019, that also involves access to computer files through the Thunderbolt port. == Impact == The security vulnerability affects millions of Apple, Linux and Windows computers, as well as all computers manufactured before 2019, and some after that. However, this impact is restricted mainly to how precise a bad actor would have to be to execute the attack. Physical access to a machine with a vulnerable Thunderbolt controller is necessary, as well as a writable ROM chip for the Thunderbolt controller's firmware. Additionally, part of Thunderspy, specifically the portion involving re-writing the firmware of the controller, requires the device to be in sleep, or at least in some sort of powered-on state, to be effective. Machines that force power-off when the case is open may assist in resisting this attack to the extent that the feature (switch) itself resists tampering. Due to the nature of attacks that require extended physical access to hardware, it's unlikely the attack will affect users outside of a business or government environment. == Mitigation == The researchers claim there is no easy software solution, and may only be mitigated by disabling the Thunderbolt port altogether. However, the impacts of this attack (reading kernel level memory without the machine needing to be powered off) are largely mitigated by anti-intrusion features provided by many business machines. Intel claims enabling such features would substantially restrict the effectiveness of the attack. Microsoft's official security recommendations recommend disabling sleep mode while using BitLocker. Using hibernation in place of sleep mode turns the device off, mitigating potential risks of attack on encrypted data.
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Materialized view

In computing, a materialized view is a database object that contains the results of a query. For example, it may be a local copy of data located remotely, or may be a subset of the rows and/or columns of a table or join result, or may be a summary using an aggregate function. The process of setting up a materialized view is sometimes called materialization. This is a form of caching the results of a query, similar to memoization of the value of a function in functional languages, and it is sometimes described as a form of precomputation. As with other forms of precomputation, database users typically use materialized views for performance reasons, i.e. as a form of optimization. Materialized views that store data based on remote tables were also known as snapshots (deprecated Oracle terminology). In any database management system following the relational model, a view is a virtual table representing the result of a database query. Whenever a query or an update addresses an ordinary view's virtual table, the DBMS converts these into queries or updates against the underlying base tables. A materialized view takes a different approach: the query result is cached as a concrete ("materialized") table (rather than a view as such) that may be updated from the original base tables from time to time. This enables much more efficient access, at the cost of extra storage and of some data being potentially out-of-date. Materialized views find use especially in data warehousing scenarios, where frequent queries of the actual base tables can be expensive. In a materialized view, indexes can be built on any column. In contrast, in a normal view, it's typically only possible to exploit indexes on columns that come directly from (or have a mapping to) indexed columns in the base tables; often this functionality is not offered at all. == Implementations == === Oracle === Materialized views were implemented first by the Oracle Database: the Query rewrite feature was added from version 8i. Example syntax to create a materialized view in Oracle: === PostgreSQL === In PostgreSQL, version 9.3 and newer natively support materialized views. In version 9.3, a materialized view is not auto-refreshed, and is populated only at time of creation (unless WITH NO DATA is used). It may be refreshed later manually using REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW. In version 9.4, the refresh may be concurrent with selects on the materialized view if CONCURRENTLY is used. Example syntax to create a materialized view in PostgreSQL: === SQL Server === Microsoft SQL Server differs from other RDBMS by the way of implementing materialized view via a concept known as "Indexed Views". The main difference is that such views do not require a refresh because they are in fact always synchronized to the original data of the tables that compound the view. To achieve this, it is necessary that the lines of origin and destination are "deterministic" in their mapping, which limits the types of possible queries to do this. This mechanism has been realised since the 2000 version of SQL Server. Example syntax to create a materialized view in SQL Server: === Stream processing frameworks === Apache Kafka (since v0.10.2), Apache Spark (since v2.0), Apache Flink, Kinetica DB, Materialize, RisingWave, and Epsio all support materialized views on streams of data. === Others === Materialized views are also supported in Sybase SQL Anywhere. In IBM Db2, they are called "materialized query tables". ClickHouse supports materialized views that automatically refresh on merges. MySQL doesn't support materialized views natively, but workarounds can be implemented by using triggers or stored procedures or by using the open-source application Flexviews. Materialized views can be implemented in Amazon DynamoDB using data modification events captured by DynamoDB Streams. Google announced in 8 April 2020 the availability of materialized views for BigQuery as a beta release.
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Webull

Webull Corporation, often stylized as simply Webull, is a U.S.-based financial services holding company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. It owns and operates the Webull electronic trading platform for self-directed retail investors. Depending on jurisdiction, the Webull platform offers trading in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, margin, bonds, cryptocurrency and futures, as well as market-data tools. Webull began operations in 2016 under Hunan Fumi Information Technology, a China-based financial technology company founded by Wang Anquan. It launched U.S. brokerage services through Webull Financial LLC in 2018 and expanded during the retail-trading boom of 2020 and 2021. In April 2025, Webull became a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company SK Growth Opportunities Corporation. The company's U.S. brokerage revenue relies substantially on payment for order flow, with options trading accounting for the larger share of its order-flow rebates in 2025. Webull has faced regulatory actions related to options customer approvals, complaint handling, suspicious activity reporting, social-media marketing and customer disclosures. It has also faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and state officials over its historical and operational ties to China and the handling of U.S. customer data. == History == === Founding === Webull was founded in 2016 under Hunan Fumi Information Technology, a China-based financial technology company, by Wang Anquan, a former employee of Alibaba Group and Xiaomi. Hunan Fumi Information Technology received backing from Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital, and other investors in China. Fumi Technology was a Hunan-based fintech start-up incubated by Xiaomi and raised about CNY200 million (approximately US$30 million) in a Series B financing round in 2018. On May 24, 2017, Webull Financial LLC was established as a Delaware limited liability company. It began offering brokerage services in the United States in May 2018. Wang hired Anthony Denier as CEO of the U.S. brokerage that year and the two mapped out their strategy on napkins at a Mexican restaurant in New York City. Webull Corporation was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in September 2019 as the group's holding company. === Retail trading boom === In May 2020, the company received SEC approval to launch a robo-advisor on its platform. By August 2020, the platform had over 11 million registered users, and in October 2020, it had 750,000 daily active users. Webull introduced options trading in 2020 and later added cryptocurrency trading through a separate digital-asset business. In November 2020, Webull began supporting cryptocurrency transactions. In December 2020, Webull launched trading services in Hong Kong. During the GameStop short squeeze in January 2021, Webull gained attention as some retail traders looked for alternatives to Robinhood. On January 27, 2021, Webull recorded its highest-ever number of active daily users, at 952,000, and the Webull app was downloaded across the Apple App and Google Play stores an estimated 100,000 times. That week, approximately 1.2 million people downloaded the Webull mobile app, which the company reported as a 1,548% week-over-week increase. On January 28, 2021, Webull was directed by its clearing house to temporarily halt buy orders for stocks affected by the GameStop short squeeze. In June 2021, Webull was reported to be considering a U.S. initial public offering that could raise up to $400 million. === Restructuring and expansion === Webull restructured its China-related corporate arrangements in 2022 and later stated that Hunan Fumi was no longer affiliated with the group. In 2022 and 2023, Webull expanded in several non-U.S. markets, including Singapore, Australia, South Africa, Japan, the United Kingdom and Indonesia. In June 2023, Webull moved cryptocurrency trading to a separate app called Webull Pay. By the end of 2023, Webull had 4.3 million funded accounts and US$8.2 billion in customer assets. In January 2024, Anthony Denier was promoted to group president of Webull Corporation. In November 2024, Webull launched overnight, or extended-hours, trading, expanding the trading window of U.S. stocks for users inside and outside the United States. === SPAC merger and Nasdaq listing === On February 28, 2024, Webull agreed to go public through a business combination with SK Growth Opportunities Corporation (NASDAQ: SKGR), a special-purpose acquisition company, in a deal that valued the company at approximately US$7.3 billion. The proposed valuation drew scrutiny because of Webull's limited financial disclosure at announcement, reliance on payment for order flow and small expected public float. SK Growth shareholders approved the business combination on March 30, 2025, and the transaction closed on April 10, 2025. Webull's Class A ordinary shares and warrants began trading on the Nasdaq on April 11, 2025 under the ticker symbols BULL and BULLW (incentive warrants traded under BULLZ until their redemption in June 2025). The merger brought Webull to the public market but generated little cash for the company: after shareholder redemptions, Webull disclosed net proceeds of US$430,066 from the transaction. After the listing, Webull's shares experienced extreme volatility, rising as much as 500% to US$79.56 on April 14, 2025, after closing at US$13.25 on the prior trading day. The initial post-listing surge increased the value of Webull holdings owned by earlier investors, including RIT Capital Partners, which had first invested in Webull in 2021. In April 2026, after Webull's shares had fallen about 70% over the previous year, the company authorized a US$100 million share repurchase program. == Business model and financials == Webull provides a self-directed electronic trading platform available through mobile, desktop and web applications. Depending on jurisdiction, the platform offers trading in stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, margin, futures, fixed income products, cryptocurrency, cash management features and market data tools. In the United States, Webull Financial LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, while Webull operates in other markets through locally licensed brokerage subsidiaries. Webull operates a commission-free or low-cost brokerage model for self-directed retail investors. In the United States, a substantial part of its trading-related revenue comes from payment for order flow, while in some non-U.S. markets the company more commonly charges commissions directly to customers. The platform is aimed at more active retail investors, including users seeking options tools, extended-hours trading and real-time market data. For 2025, Webull reported total revenue of US$571.0 million, up from US$390.2 million in 2024. Equity and option order-flow rebates accounted for US$304.1 million, or 53.3% of revenue, making order-flow rebates the company's largest reported revenue category. Interest-related income accounted for US$154.3 million, handling charge income for US$87.3 million and other revenue for US$25.3 million. Options were the larger component of the company's order-flow rebates in 2025, generating US$210.0 million compared with US$94.2 million from equities. Webull also generates revenue from interest-related activities, including margin financing, customer bank deposits, stock lending and corporate bank deposits. The company has stated that its interest-related income is affected by interest rates, customer cash balances, margin balances and demand for stock lending. The company had approximately 20 million registered users worldwide as of February 2024. As of December 31, 2025, it reported 26.8 million registered users, 5.0 million funded accounts and US$24.6 billion in customer assets. As of March 2025, Webull operated in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia and Mexico. == Marketing and sponsorships == Webull has used paid digital advertising, referral incentives, free-stock promotions, affiliate marketing and sports sponsorships to acquire customers and promote its brand. In its 2025 annual filing, the company reported marketing and branding expenses of US$152.3 million in 2023, US$138.7 million in 2024 and US$135.9 million in 2025. Webull said most of its advertising and promotion costs were related to paid search and paid social advertising, and that it had reduced free-stock promotions while shifting toward deposit- and asset-transfer-based incentives. In September 2021, BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, entered into a global multi-year agreement with Webull. Under the agreement, Webull became an official sponsor and online brokerage partner of the teams, with branding that included a jersey patch on Brooklyn Nets uniforms. Spo
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Retained mode

Retained mode in computer graphics is a major pattern of API design in graphics libraries, in which the graphics library, instead of the client, retains the scene (complete object model of the rendering primitives) to be rendered and the client calls into the graphics library do not directly cause actual rendering, but make use of extensive indirection to resources, managed – thus retained – by the graphics library. It does not preclude the use of double-buffering. Immediate mode is an alternative approach. Historically, retained mode has been the dominant style in GUI libraries; however, both can coexist in the same library and are not necessarily exclusionary in practice. == Overview == In retained mode the client calls do not directly cause actual rendering, but instead update an abstract internal model (typically a list of objects) which is maintained within the library's data space. This allows the library to optimize when actual rendering takes place along with the processing of related objects. Some techniques to optimize rendering include: managing double buffering treatment of hidden surfaces by backface culling/occlusion culling (Z-buffering) only transferring data that has changed from one frame to the next from the application to the library Example of coexistence with immediate mode in the same library is OpenGL. OpenGL has immediate mode functions that can use previously defined server side objects (textures, vertex buffers and index buffers, shaders, etc.) without resending unchanged data. Examples of retained mode rendering systems include Windows Presentation Foundation, SceneKit on macOS, and PHIGS.
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Packed pixel

In packed pixel or chunky framebuffer organization, the bits defining each pixel are clustered and stored consecutively. For example, if there are 16 bits per pixel, each pixel is represented in two consecutive (contiguous) 8-bit bytes in the framebuffer. If there are 4 bits per pixel, each framebuffer byte defines two pixels, one in each nibble. The latter example is as opposed to storing a single 4-bit pixel in a byte, leaving 4 bits of the byte unused. If a pixel has more than one channel, the channels are interleaved when using packed pixel organization. Packed pixel displays were common on early microcomputer system that shared a single main memory for both the central processing unit (CPU) and display driver. In such systems, memory was normally accessed a byte at a time, so by packing the pixels, the display system could read out several pixels worth of data in a single read operation. Packed pixel is one of two major ways to organize graphics data in memory, the other being planar organization, where each pixel is made of individual bits stored in their own plane. For a 4-bit color value, memory would be organized as four screen-sized planes of one bit each and a single pixel's value built up by selecting the appropriate bit from each plane. Planar organization has the advantage that the data can be accessed in parallel, and is used when memory bandwidth is an issue.
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Visible (mobile app)

Visible is a health tracking mobile app for people with long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The company was founded by a Harry Leeming, an engineer from London living with long Covid since 2020, and Luke Martin-Fuller. In November 2022, Visible released an open beta of an app that aims to help people pace their activities to avoid post-exertional malaise. The app gathers data on exertion levels, symptom severity, and heart-rate variability. HRV is approximated using a smartphone's camera via a technique called photoplethysmography, and according to the app's developers, can indicate how much someone needs rest. The app is currently free, but is expected to be freemium in the future. Users can also opt to allow their data be used for research purposes. In July 2023, Visible and Imperial College London announced the start of the first two studies. One is on the effects of the menstrual cycle on long COVID symptoms, and the other is on the condition's epidemiology and economic impact. Visible has announced plans to couple the app with activity trackers for continuous monitoring of heart-rate and actimetry data, which the developers claim will be more effective. As of 2022, no clinical trials on Visible's effectiveness have been conducted.
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JasPer

JasPer is a computer software project to create a reference implementation of the codec specified in the JPEG-2000 Part-1 standard (i.e. ISO/IEC 15444-1) - started in 1997 at Image Power Inc. and at the University of British Columbia. It consists of a C library and some sample applications useful for testing the codec. The copyright owner began licensing the code to the public under an MIT License-style license in 2004 in response to requests from the open-source community. As of 2011 JasPer operated as a component of many software projects, both free and proprietary, including (but not limited to) netpbm (as of release 10.12), ImageMagick and KDE (as of version 3.2). As of 22 June 2010 the GEGL graphics library supported JasPer in its latest Git versions. In a series of objective JPEG-2000-compression quality tests conducted in 2004, "JasPer was the best codec, closely followed by IrfanView and Kakadu". However, Jasper remains one of the slowest implementations of the JPEG-2000 codec, as it was designed for reference, not performance. == Etymology == The name "JasPer" has simultaneous connotations with Canada's Jasper National Park, with the semi-precious gemstone, jasper, and with "JP" as an abbreviation of the JPEG-2000 standard.
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WeChat

WeChat or Weixin in Chinese (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: Wēixìn ; lit. 'micro-message') is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018 with over 1 billion monthly active users. The Chinese version of WeChat, Weixin, has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions. WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing. It has been described as having "an almost indispensable part of life in China". Accounts registered using Chinese phone numbers are managed under the Weixin brand, and their data is stored in mainland China and subject to Weixin's terms of service and privacy policy. Non-Chinese numbers are registered under WeChat, and WeChat users are subject to a more liberal terms of service and better privacy policy, and their data is stored in the Netherlands for users in the European Union, and in Singapore for other users. User activity on Weixin, the Chinese version of the app, is analyzed, tracked and shared with Chinese authorities upon request as part of the mass surveillance network in China. Chinese-registered Weixin accounts censor politically sensitive topics, and the software license agreement for Weixin (but not WeChat) explicitly forbids content which "[en]danger[s] national security, divulge[s] state secrets, subvert[s] state power and undermine[s] national unity", as well as other types of content such as content that "[u]ndermine[s] national religious policies" and content that is "[i]nciting illegal assembly, association, procession, demonstrations and gatherings disrupting the social order". Due to its central part of Chinese life, a Chinese person having their WeChat account banned can cause a significant disruption to their life. Any interactions between Weixin and WeChat users are subject to the terms of service and privacy policies of both services. == History == By 2010, Tencent had already attained a massive user base with their desktop messenger app QQ. Recognizing smart phones were likely to disrupt this status quo, CEO Pony Ma sought to proactively invest in alternatives to their own QQ messenger app. WeChat began as a project at Tencent Guangzhou Research and Project center in October 2010. The original version of the app was created by Allen Zhang, named "Weixin" (微信) by Pony Ma, and launched in 2011. The user adoption of WeChat was initially very slow, with users wondering why key features were missing; however, after the release of the Walkie-talkie-like voice messaging feature in May of that year, growth surged. By 2012, when the number of users reached 100 million, Weixin was re-branded "WeChat" by President Martin Lau for the international market. During a period of government support of e-commerce development—for example in the 12th five-year plan (2011–2015)—WeChat also saw new features enabling payments and commerce in 2013, which saw massive adoption after their virtual Red envelope promotion for Chinese New Year 2014. WeChat had over 889 million monthly active users by 2016, and as of 2019 WeChat's monthly active users had risen to an estimate of one billion. As of January 2022, it was reported that WeChat has more than 1.2 billion users. After the launch of WeChat payment in 2013, its users reached 400 million the next year, 90 percent of whom were in China. By comparison, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp had about one billion monthly active users in 2016 but did not offer most of the other services available on WeChat. For example, in Q2 2017, WeChat's revenues from social media advertising were about US$0.9 billion (RMB6 billion) compared with Facebook's total revenues of US$9.3 billion, 98% of which were from social media advertising. WeChat's revenues from its value-added services were US$5.5 billion. By 2018, WeChat had been used by 93.5% of Chinese internet users. In that year, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018 with over 1 billion monthly active users. In response to a border dispute between India and China, WeChat was banned in India in June 2020 along with several other Chinese apps, including TikTok. U.S. president Donald Trump sought to ban U.S. "transactions" with WeChat through an executive order but was blocked by a preliminary injunction issued in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in September 2020. Joe Biden officially dropped Trump's efforts to ban WeChat in the U.S. in June 2021. == Features == WeChat, has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions. WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing. It has been described as having "an almost indispensable part of life in China". Due to its central part of Chinese life, a Chinese person having their WeChat account banned can cause a significant disruption to their life. === Messaging === WeChat provides a variety of features including text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video calls and conferencing, video games, photograph and video sharing, as well as location sharing. WeChat also allows users to exchange contacts with people nearby via Bluetooth, as well as providing various features for contacting people at random if desired (if people are open to it). It can also integrate with other social networking services such as Facebook and Tencent QQ. Photographs may also be embellished with filters and captions, and automatic translation service is available and could also translate the conversation during messaging. WeChat supports different instant messaging methods, including text messages, voice messages, walkie talkie, and stickers. Users can send previously saved or live pictures and videos, profiles of other users, coupons, lucky money packages, or current GPS locations with friends either individually or in a group chat. WeChat also provides a message recall feature to allow users to recall and withdraw information (e.g. images, documents) that are sent within 2 minutes in a conversation. WeChat also provides a voice-to-text feature that brings convenience when it is not convenient to listen to voice messages, as well as the basic ability to recognize emojis based on different tones of voice. A distance sensing feature is implemented in WeChat. It has the ability to activate the receivers' hold-to-talk function when the phone was brought in close proximity to the ear. After the receiver was held at a certain distance from the ear, the sensor would then proceed to automatically disable the phone speakers. This feature eliminates the risk of the user's voice messages being inadvertently broadcast to the general public. === Public accounts === WeChat users can register as a public account (公众号), which enables them to push feeds to subscribers, interact with subscribers, and provide subscribers with services. Users can also create an official account, which fall under service, subscription, or enterprise accounts. Once users as individuals or organizations set up a type of account, they cannot change it to another type. By the end of 2014, the number of WeChat official accounts had reached 8 million. Official accounts of organizations can apply to be verified (cost 300 RMB or about US$45). Official accounts can be used as a platform for services such as hospital pre-registrations, or credit card service. To create an official account, the applicant must register with Chinese authorities, which discourages "foreign companies". In April 2022, WeChat announced that it will start displaying the location of users in China every time they post on a public account. Meanwhile, overseas users on public accounts will also display the country based on their IP address. === Moments === "Moments" (朋友圈) is WeChat's brand name for its social feed of friends' updates. "Moments" is an interactive platform that allows users to post images, text, and short videos taken by users. It also allows users to share articles and music (associated with QQ Music or other web-based music services). Friends in the contact list can like the content and leave comments, functioning similarly to a private social network. In 2017 WeChat had a policy of a maximum of two advertisements per day per Moments user. Privacy in WeChat works by groups of friends: only the friends from the user's contact are able to view their Moments' contents and comments. The friends of the user will only be able to see the likes and comments from other users only if they are in a mutual friend group. For example, friends from high school are not able to
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View synthesis

In computer graphics, view synthesis, or novel view synthesis, is a task which consists of generating images of a specific subject or scene from a specific point of view, when the only available information is pictures taken from different points of view. This task was only recently (late 2010s – early 2020s) tackled with significant success, mostly as a result of advances in machine learning. Notable successful methods are Neural radiance fields and 3D Gaussian Splatting. Applications of view synthesis are numerous, one of them being Free view point television. The technique has also been applied to real-estate marketing, where novel views of a listing's interior are generated from a limited set of photographs for use in virtual home staging.
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Roadie (app)

Roadie Inc. is an American package delivery company for business and private same-day, urgent and scheduled delivery in the United States. The company was founded in 2014 and launched its web and mobile apps in January 2015. As of September 2021, it reported having over 200,000 drivers covering more than 20,000 zip codes. Roadie states it matches gig drivers with deliveries that are directed along the routes they plan to travel. Major customers include The Home Depot, Walmart, Tractor Supply Company, Best Buy and Delta Air Lines. In September 2021, UPS entered into an agreement to acquire Roadie for an undisclosed amount with the transaction expected to be closed in the fourth quarter. == History == Roadie was founded by Marc Gorlin, a co-founder of Kabbage and founder of VerticalOne and Pretty Good Privacy, as a same-day and urgent delivery company in 2014. In January 2015, Roadie launched the first consumer to consumer (C2C) version of its app with a Series A funding round of $10 million. In February, Roadie announced a partnership with Waffle House to designate its restaurants "Roadie Roadhouses", offering a neutral meeting place for drivers and senders. Drivers receive free food and drink through the partnership. In May, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel discussed the Roadie-Waffle House relationship in an opening monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Roadie's driver network expanded significantly as a result. Roadie closed a Series B round of funding in June, raising $15 million, and its first business to business (B2B) app version launched that November. In 2015, Delta Air Lines signed an agreement with Roadie to deliver mishandled luggage, becoming Roadie’s first enterprise customer. Roadie launched a pilot program with Delta at Daytona Beach International Airport. Since then, the relationship has expanded to include over 70 airports around the United States and a first mile/last mile line haul relationship with Delta Cargo. In 2017, the company signed a deal with The Home Depot, also based in Atlanta, and in February 2019, closed a Series C round of funding. In October 2019, Roadie and Delta Cargo announced a partnership to create a same-day cross-country delivery offering, DASH Door-to-Door, the first of its kind from a U.S. passenger airline. Tractor Supply Company became the first general merchandise retailer to offer same-day delivery from every store in April 2020 through Roadie. In September 2021, UPS entered an agreement to acquire Roadie for an undisclosed amount. The transaction was expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. Roadies, which at the time reported having 200,000 operators serving over 20,000 ZIP Codes, was expected to continue operations under its name as a separate company with no transfer of packages between the UPS and Roadies networks. The relationship between the companies goes back several years with UPS being an early investor. Earlier in 2021, UPS had begun a pilot program testing same-day deliveries via Roadies. == Operations == === On-the-way model === Roadie’s app works by connecting drivers with senders, businesses or consumers who have items that need to be delivered. Deliveries within the app are referred to as "Gigs", which Gorlin said was inspired by live music road crews, also known as roadies. A sender creates a Gig on Roadie's web app or via its API. Drivers then review deliveries in their area on their mobile app and may choose to offer to take on individual or groups of deliveries along the same route. Gigs are then assigned to drivers by Roadie's algorithm. According to the company, this model encourages drivers to choose Gigs that align with their planned schedules and routes. Roadie calls this its "on-the-way" delivery model. The go-to-market approach taken by Roadie also differs from its competitors. Rather than launching in major cities and sequentially adding new markets city-by-city, Roadie launched nationwide from its inception. The company relies on retail and airline partners to drive volume of deliveries in individual markets, which in turn builds up a network of drivers in those areas, making it easier for small businesses and consumers to send deliveries as well. This strategy allows Roadie to reach smaller cities and towns in rural or exurban communities, traditionally difficult markets for delivery providers to serve. === Service lines === Roadie’s platform is most popular for same-day, on-demand or scheduled first mile/last mile delivery, especially delivery from stores and warehouses. Some retailers also use it for returns and reverse logistics, moving inventory, and hot shot shipping. Roadie operates 1-hour grocery delivery for Walmart, and delivers perishable food items for others including small, independent retailers. The on-the-way model complements the grocery industry’s just in time model, making last-mile deliveries that do not break the cold chain. === Cross-country same-day delivery === In October 2019, Roadie and Delta Cargo launched DASH Door-to-Door, a 24/7 door-to-door pick-up and delivery service. Roadie handles the first and last mile and Delta manages the line haul via passenger flights. The service launched originally from Atlanta to 55 cities and is an industry-first for a US commercial airline. === Promotion, awards and corporate citizenship === In September 2015, Roadie announced a partnership with Atlanta-based musician Ludacris, to promote the app. Following the devastation caused by flooding in Baton Rouge in 2016, Roadie offered free pickup and delivery for all deliveries traveling to and from the Baton Rouge area. In December 2020, Walmart named Roadie its top delivery partner for "Highest Driver Customer Satisfaction" and "Highest Net Promoter Score", after expanding into general merchandise deliveries as well as grocery that same year.
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Overcast (app)

Overcast is a podcast app for iOS that was launched in 2014 by founder and operator Marco Arment. == Founder and operator == Arment was also the Chief Technology Officer of Tumblr and founder of Instapaper before founding Overcast, and he had created his own podcasts before launching the app. In March 2023, Arment told The Vergecast how he built and maintains Overcast by himself, and that he uses ad banners promoting podcasts to cover the costs of the free app. == Features and reception == In 2014, Overcast received positive reviews from MacWorld and iMore. In 2015, The Verge and The Sweet Setup each named it the best podcast app for iOS that year. In 2017, Discover Pods gave an endorsement citing the "smart speed" feature, which shortens quiet gaps in a podcast. In April 2019, Overcast introduced a feature that allowed users to share clips from podcasts to social media. In January 2020, Overcast was updated to allow users to skip the intros and outros of podcasts.
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Swap chain

In computer graphics, a swap chain (also swapchain) is a series of virtual framebuffers used by the graphics card and graphics API for frame rate stabilization, stutter reduction, and several other purposes. Because of these benefits, many graphics APIs require the use of a swap chain. The swap chain usually exists in graphics memory, but it can exist in system memory as well. A swap chain with two buffers is a kind of double buffer. == Function == In every swap chain there are at least two buffers. The first framebuffer, the screenbuffer, is the buffer that is rendered to the output of the video card. The remaining buffers are known as backbuffers. Each time a new frame is displayed, the first backbuffer in the swap chain takes the place of the screenbuffer, this is called presentation or swapping. A variety of other actions may be taken on the previous screenbuffer and other backbuffers (if they exist). The screenbuffer may be simply overwritten or returned to the back of the swap chain for further processing. The action taken is decided by the client application and is API dependent. == Direct3D == Microsoft Direct3D implements a SwapChain class. Each host device has at least one swap chain assigned to it, and others may be created by the client application. The API provides three methods of swapping: copy, discard, and flip. When the SwapChain is set to flip, the screenbuffer is copied onto the last backbuffer, then all the existing backbuffers are copied forward in the chain. When copy is set, each backbuffer is copied forward, but the screenbuffer is not wrapped to the last buffer, leaving it unchanged. Flip does not work when there is only one backbuffer, as the screenbuffer is copied over the only backbuffer before it can be presented. In discard mode, the driver selects the best method. == Comparison with triple buffering == Outside the context of Direct3D, triple buffering refers to the technique of allowing an application to draw to whichever back buffer was least recently updated. This allows the application to always proceed with rendering, regardless of the pace at which frames are being drawn by the application or the pace at which frames are being sent to the display. Triple buffering may result in a frame being discarded without being displayed if two or more newer frames are completely rendered in the time it takes for one frame to be sent to the display. By contrast, Direct3D swap chains are a strict first-in, first-out queue, so every frame that is drawn by the application will be displayed even if newer frames are available. Direct3D does not implement a most-recent buffer swapping strategy, and Microsoft's documentation calls a Direct3D swap chain of three buffers "triple buffering". Triple buffering as described above is superior for interactive purposes such as gaming, but Direct3D swap chains of more than three buffers can be better for tasks such as presenting frames of a video where the time taken to decode each frame may be highly variable.
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Split screen (computing)

Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into non-overlapping adjacent parts, typically as two or four rectangular areas. This allows for the simultaneous presentation of (usually) related graphical and textual information on a computer display. TV sports adopted this presentation methodology in the 1960s for instant replay. Non-dynamic split screens differ from windowing systems in that the latter allowed overlapping and freely movable parts of the screen (the "windows") to present both related and unrelated application data to the user. In contrast, split-screen views are strictly limited to fixed positions. The split screen technique can also be used to run two instances of an application, potentially allowing another user to interact with the second instance. == In operating systems == Split screen modes are used by mobile operating systems to enable computer multitasking similar to the window interface present in desktop operating systems. Android supports split screen view of two apps natively on all devices, while certain devices, such as Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, support three sumultaneous views. Split screen functionality is not supported on iOS, but a similar feature called Split View is present in iPadOS, first introduced in 2015 with the first generation of iPad Pro. == In video games == The split screen feature is commonly used in non-networked, also known as couch co-op, video games with multiplayer options. In its most easily understood form, a split screen for a multiplayer video game is an audiovisual output device (usually a standard television for video game consoles) where the display has been divided into 2-4 equally sized areas (depending on number of players) so that the players can explore different areas simultaneously without being close to each other. This has historically been remarkably popular on consoles, which until the 2000s did not have access to the Internet or any other network and is less common today with modern support for networked console-to-console multiplayer. In competitive split-screen games, it is customarily considered cheating to look at another player's screen section to gain an advantage. === History === Split screen gaming dates back to at least the 1970s, with games such Drag Race (1977) from Kee Games in the arcades being presented in this format. It has always been a common feature of two or more player home console and computer games too, with notable titles being Kikstart II for 8-bit systems, a number of 16-bit racing games (such as Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge and Road Rash II), and action/strategy games (such as Toejam & Earl and Lemmings), all employing a vertical or horizontal screen split for two player games. Xenophobe is notable as a three-way split screen arcade title, although on home platforms it was reduced to one or two screens. The addition of four controller ports on home consoles also ushered in more four-way split screen games, with Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64 being two well known examples. In arcades, machines tended to move towards having a whole screen for each player, or multiple connected machines, for multiplayer. On home machines, especially in the first and third person shooter genres, multiplayer is now more common over a network or the internet rather than locally with split screen. Starting from the late 2000s, the presence of split screen multiplayer has largely been declining due to the increasing prevalence of online multiplayer, though TechRadar reported a resurgence of split screen due to support from independent studios and increased interest from the players.
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