AI Detector In Photos

AI Detector In Photos — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

  • Qloo

    Qloo

    Qloo (pronounced "clue") is a company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to understand taste and cultural correlations. It provides companies with an application programming interface (API). It received funding from Leonardo DiCaprio, Elton John, Barry Sternlicht, Pierre Lagrange and others. Qloo establishes consumer preference correlations via machine learning across data spanning cultural domains including music, film, television, dining, nightlife, fashion, books, and travel. The recommender system uses AI to predict correlations for further applications. == History == Qloo was founded in 2012 by chief executive officer Alex Elias and chief operating officer Jay Alger. Qloo initially launched an app designed for consumers, allowing them to understand their own tastes and receive personalized recommendations. The company amassed several million users and built a large catalog of cultural entities and corresponding user sentiment. In 2012, Qloo raised $1.4 million in seed funding from investors including Cedric the Entertainer, and venture capital firm Kindler Capital. Qloo had a public beta release in November 2012 after its initial funding. In 2013, the company raised an additional $1.6 million from Cross Creek Pictures founding partner Tommy Thompson, and Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury, founders of Maktoob, an Internet services company purchased by Yahoo! for $164 million in 2009. On November 14, 2013, a website and an iPhone app were announced. The company later released an Android app, and tablet versions, in mid-2014. In 2015, Twitter approached Qloo about powering personalized social feeds and targeted eCommerce ads on the platform based on what users were posting. Qloo developed an enterprise-grade API to support Twitter’s needs. Twitter ended up pivoting to enable brands to use the social platform for customer service and support, but Qloo was able to sell access to its cultural intelligence via API to many other enterprise clients, marking the official transition from a B2C company to a B2B company. In 2016, Qloo secured $4.5 million in venture capital investment. The $4.5 million was split between a number of investors, including Barry Sternlicht, Pierre Lagrange, and Leonardo DiCaprio. In July 2017, Qloo raised $6.5 million in funding rounds from AXA Strategic Ventures, and Elton John. Following the investment, the founders stated in an interview with Tech Crunch that they would use the investment to expand Qloo's database. They hoped the move would secure larger contracts with corporate clients. At the time, clients already included Fortune 500 companies such as Twitter, PepsiCo, and BMW. In 2019, the company announced that it had acquired cultural recommendation service TasteDive, with Alex Elias becoming chairman of TasteDive. In September 2019, Qloo was named among the Top 14 Artificial Intelligence APIs by ProgrammableWeb. In 2022, Qloo raised $15M in Series B funding from Eldridge and AXA Venture Partners, enabling the privacy-centric AI leader to expand its team of world-class data scientists, enrich its technology, and build on its sales channels in order to continue to offer premier insights into global consumer taste for Fortune 500 companies across the globe. Qloo was recognized as the "Best Decision Intelligence Company" at the 2023 AI Breakthrough Awards. Also in 2023, the company was awarded a Top Performer Award by SourceForge. As of 2024, Qloo is a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree: No. 360 (2022), No. 344 (2021), No. 187 (2020). Qloo raised $25 million Series C round on February 21, 2024. The round was led by AI Ventures with participation from AXA Venture Partners, Eldridge, and Moderne Ventures, allowing Qloo to address new commercial surface areas for Taste AI, including on-device learning and foundational models leveraging Qloo, as well as introduce self-service platform to make consumer and taste analytics available to small and mid-sized enterprises and individuals. Qloo also announced pursuing opportunistic M&A using its balance sheet along the lines of the TasteDive acquisition completed, which expanded Qloo's first-party data moat and corpus of cultural learning. This latest financing brought the total amount raised since the company's founding in 2012 to over $56 million. == Services and features == Qloo calls itself a cultural AI platform to provide real-time correlation data across domains of culture and entertainment including: film, music, television, dining, nightlife, fashion, books, and travel. Each category contains subcategories. Qloo’s knowledge of a user's taste in one category can be utilized to offer suggestions in other categories. Users then rate the suggestions, providing it with feedback for future suggestions. Qloo has partnerships with companies such as Expedia and iTunes. == Technology == Qloo’s Taste AI technology uses machine learning to decode and predict consumers’ interests, maintaining user anonymity. It is powered by 3.7 billion lifestyle entities (brands, music, film, TV, dining, nightlife, fashion, books, travel, and more) and trillions of anonymized consumer behavioral signals. Through AI, Qloo identifies patterns in these data signals, making predictions about how much interest a person or group has in a concept or thing. Central to Qloo’s technology are algorithms designed to detect and mitigate biases within datasets and models, allowing Qloo to assess the fairness of its AI systems with a focus on attributes such as age, gender, and race, enabling the company to fine-tune its AI models to align with their ethical standards. They also use visualization tools to probe the behavior of their AI models for conducting counterfactual analyses and for comparing the performances of the AI models across diverse demographic segments. Qloo’s Taste AI doesn’t collect or use any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Instead, it derives recommendations for audience segments based on co-occurrences between lifestyle entities and anonymized behavioral signals. == Applications == Starbucks uses Qloo to create in-store music playlists tailored to specific neighborhoods. Hershey’s uses Qloo to customize the content of assorted candy bags. Michelin uses Qloo to serve recommendations in its Michelin Guide app. Netflix leverages Qloo’s technology to enhance merchandising by identifying actors who resonate with certain demographics. Qloo also works with PepsiCo, Samsung, The New York Mets, BuzzFeed, and Ticketmaster, Universal Music Group, and OOH advertising company JCDecaux.

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  • Social media use in the fashion industry

    Social media use in the fashion industry

    Social media in the fashion industry refers to the use of social media platforms by fashion designers and users to promote and participate in trends. Over the past several decades, the development of social media has increased along with its usage by consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic was a sharp turn of reliance on the virtual sphere for the industry and consumers alike. Social media has created new channels of advertising for fashion houses to reach their target markets. Since its surge in 2009, luxury fashion brands have used social media to build interactions between the brand and its customers to increase awareness and engagement. The emergence of influencers on social media has created a new way of advertising and maintaining customer relationships in the fashion industry. Numerous social media platforms are used to promote fashion trends, with Instagram and TikTok being the most popular among Generation Y and Z. The overall impact of social media in the fashion industry included the creation of online communities, direct communication between industry leaders and consumers, and criticized ideals that are promoted by the industry through social media. == Background == In 2003, at the beginning of social media development, MySpace was founded as a “social networking service.” It allowed people to create a profile, connect with other people, and post videos, pictures, and songs. As MySpace grew in popularity, it attracted interest from companies wishing to promote their brands on the social platform. MySpace is most well known for exposing musicians and artists who made it big in the industry, and companies wanted to capitalize on their popularity by making brand deals. One of MySpace's deals was with Chevrolet, putting on a ‘secret show’. They had a ‘secret’ list of 10 top artists on MySpace, and many artists posted about the show on their accounts. Another brand deal was with Gucci promoting their “Gucci Synch Watch”, which was very successful as Gucci tapped into the youthful audience on MySpace and advertised a sleek, simple, trendy unisex watch. In 2005, YouTube was released and remains one of the most popular social media platforms today. YouTube allows users to upload videos and is free to anyone with access to the internet. It grew in popularity offering a range of videos: vlogs, cooking, health and diet videos, step-by-step tutorials, tutoring help, and more. Much like MySpace, users create accounts and can build a following, often referring to themselves as ‘YouTubers.’ When YouTube grew in popularity, it piqued the interest of brands wanting to partner with YouTube and individual YouTubers. Some brand deals were made by having ads at the beginning of each video, and the YouTuber would make a profit from each view they receive. Some deals are made by individual YouTubers thanking the brand in videos and promoting the brand's products. More recently, YouTube has delved into fashion. While there were always YouTube channels for Vogue and other fashion companies, popular YouTubers have been invited to different fashion shows and have filmed experiences there. Brands are able to target individual YouTubers based on their followers and the target audiences. In 2010, Instagram was launched, which enlarged the scope of fashion advertising. Instagram allows people to post pictures and short videos with the ability to tag different accounts. For brand deals, companies can simply be tagged in a picture instead of creating ads or lines for a user to say. In each picture, users can tag the brands of clothing they were wearing, making it very easy to promote brands. Additionally, Instagram could display ads on users' feed based on other posts the users liked, which used by fashion companies to target their potential customers. Users also use Instagram to promote fashion when they get invited to fashion events. For example, they can take a picture at the event and post it to their Instagram and put their location at the venue and tag the company. During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies relied more on social media to keep their public virtually engaged. Fashion companies had virtual fashion shows, creating videos and content about their designs. As social media expands and new platforms come into existence, new ways of advertising are projected to be created. == Uses == === Advertising === Social media is a popular use of advertisement in the fashion industry. Information sharing has expanded due to the growth of social media platforms, which impacts social consumer involvement with fashion brands. Fashion companies use social media platforms to reach customers on emotional levels and stoke engagement with brand images and messages. Researchers in the United Kingdom have demonstrated that engaging with customers with social media messages that express social passion, social tendency, and personal warmth can boost social engagement with fashion brands. In social spheres, fashion is a method for individuals to represent their distinction through clothing. Some people who desire to socially influence others through their fashion and style now have the possibility thanks to social media in the fashion sector. Customers who want to purchase fashion brands frequently follow fashion authorities on social media and heed their recommendations for purchasing fashion products. === Influencers === Companies leveraged celebrities' fame and social standing to advertise their brands, as Tommy Hilfiger did when incorporating social media into their marketing strategy, making Gigi Hadid, who has 15.5 million Instagram followers as of 2016, a brand ambassador. Though recent developments in social media platforms have led to an increase in the awareness of influencers. Influencer marketing has emerged as a fast expanding marketing strategy in various industries as a result of the unheard-of increase in the number of social media influencers' followers. Recently, influencer marketing has received significant attention in the fashion industry. Research shows that influencer marketing may provide a rate of influence that is 11x times greater than that of other conventional advertising channels. Fashion consumers, specifically those in generations Y and Z, may be more influenced by influencers in the context of the fashion industries as they often view them as friends and personal assistants. Fashion influencer marketing on social media platforms have led fashion consumption on social sopping services. One of these social fashion services is LTK (LIKEtoKNOW.it before 2021) where everyday consumers can find and purchase clothing worn by social media fashion influencers (also known as SMFIs). Launched in 2014, LTK has gained a massive following on Instagram (over 3 million) and has 1.3 million registered users on their mobile application. Utilizing SMFIs has led to massive sales within the fashion industry, 80% of visitors of Nordstrom's mobile platform are referred by influencers. Social media fashion influencers try new fashion products, adopt fashion trends and have power in what their audience purchases. Social media fashion influencers gain a following though promoting fashion products, and posting about their lavish lifestyles attained through their higher socioeconomic status. The attractive lifestyles of the influencers influence their followers to mimic their luxurious lifestyle and are allowed to consume the same products through social shopping services. In addition to brands themselves having direct access to social media users, many content creators have great influence over consumers. "Influencers" across all social media platforms have great power when it comes to where people shop and what they purchase. Influencer marketing has become one of the most effective marketing strategies for many fashion brands. These brand deals and creator partnerships are targeted towards Millennial and Gen Z consumers, specifically on Instagram and TikTok, and 74% of consumers have made a purchase simply because an influencer they follow had recommended it. === Trends === The connection between social media and fashion has become common. Influencer marketing has emerged as a necessity and crucial component of advertising. 85% of American businesses are presently using influencer marketing as part of their marketing plan. Wearing fashion brands is a method to show oneself at social gatherings. Through their clothing, people try to demonstrate how distinct they are. Some people who really desire to socially influence others through their fashion and style now have the possibility thanks to social media in the fashion sector. Customers who want to purchase fashion brands frequently follow fashion authorities on social media and heed their recommendations for purchasing fashion products. In January 2021, the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta deleted all its social media accounts "to lean much more on its ambassadors and fans" to spread the com

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  • Social media surgery

    Social media surgery

    A social media surgery is a gathering at which volunteer "surgeons" with expertise in using web tools, chiefly social media, offer free advice in using such tools, to representatives ("patients") of non-profit organisations, charities, community groups and activists, with "no boring speeches or jargon". The idea was conceived by Pete Ashton, with Nick Booth of Podnosh Ltd, who ran the first such surgery in Birmingham, England, on 15 October 2008. In July 2009, a spin-off surgery (dubbed the "Social media mob") started in Mosman, Australia, and in January 2010, the first spin-off surgery in Africa was held. On 16 February 2012, it was announced that the Social Media Surgery movement had won "the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award". Prime Minister David Cameron said: This is an excellent initiative - such a simple idea and yet so effective. The popularity of these surgeries and the fact that they have inspired so many others across the country to follow in their footsteps, is testament to its brilliance. Congratulations to Nick and all the volunteers who have shared their time and expertise to help so many local groups make the most of the internet to support their community. A great example of the Big Society in action. The scheme also won the 2013 Adult Learners' Week "BBC Learning Through Technology Award".

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  • Brain Imaging Data Structure

    Brain Imaging Data Structure

    The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a standard for organizing, annotating, and describing data collected during neuroimaging experiments. It is based on a formalized file and directory structure and metadata files (based on JSON and TSV) with controlled vocabulary. This standard has been adopted by a multitude of labs around the world as well as databases such as OpenNeuro, SchizConnect, Developing Human Connectome Project, and FCP-INDI, and is seeing uptake in an increasing number of studies. While originally specified for MRI data, BIDS has been extended to several other imaging modalities such as MEG, EEG, and intracranial EEG (see also BIDS Extension Proposals). == History == The project is a community-driven effort. BIDS, originally OBIDS (Open Brain Imaging Data Structure), was initiated during an INCF sponsored data sharing working group meeting (January 2015) at Stanford University. It was subsequently spearheaded and maintained by Chris Gorgolewski. Since October 2019, the project is headed by a Steering Group and maintained by a separate team of maintainers, the Maintainers Group, according to a governance document that was approved of by the BIDS community in a vote. BIDS has advanced under the direction and effort of contributors, the community of researchers that appreciate the value of standardizing neuroimaging data to facilitate sharing and analysis. == BIDS Extension Proposals == BIDS can be extended in a backwards compatible way and is evolving over time. This is accomplished through BIDS Extension Proposals (BEPs), which are community-driven processes following agreed-upon guidelines. A full list of finalized BEPs and BEPs in progress can be found on the BIDS website

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  • Elastic cloud storage

    Elastic cloud storage

    An elastic cloud is a cloud computing offering that provides variable service levels based on changing needs. Elasticity is an attribute that can be applied to most cloud services. It states that the capacity and performance of any given cloud service can expand or contract according to a customer's requirements and that this can potentially be changed automatically as a consequence of some software-driven event or, at worst, can be reconfigured quickly by the customer's infrastructure management team. Elasticity has been described as one of the five main principles of cloud computing by Rosenburg and Mateos in The Cloud at Your Service - Manning 2011. == History == Cloud computing was first described by Gillet and Kapor in 1996; however, the first practical implementation was a consequence of a strategy to leverage Amazon's excess data center capacity. Amazon and other pioneers of the commercial use of this technology were primarily interested in providing a “public” cloud service, whereby they could offer customers the benefits of using the cloud, particularly the utility-based pricing model benefit. Other suppliers followed suit with a range of cloud-based models all offering elasticity as a core component, but these suppliers were only offering this service as an element of their public cloud service. Due to perceived weaknesses in security, or at least a lack of proven compliance, many organizations, particularly in the financial and public sectors, have been slow adopters of cloud technologies. These wary organizations can achieve some of the benefits of cloud computing by adopting private cloud technologies. An alternative form of the elastic cloud has been offered by vendors such as EMC and IBM, whereby the service is based around an enterprise's own infrastructure but still retains elements of elasticity and the potential to bill by consumption. == Description == Elasticity in cloud computing is the ability for the organization to adjust its storage requirements in terms of capacity and processing with respect to operational requirements. This has the following benefits: Operational Benefits - Services can be acquired quickly, meaning that the evolving requirements of the business can be addressed almost immediately, giving an organization a potential agility advantage. A properly implemented elastic system will provision/de-provision according to application demands, so if a particular business has activity spikes then the provision can be enabled to match the demand and the capacity can be re-allocated. Research and Development (R&D) Projects - R&D activities are no longer hindered by a requirement to secure a capex budget prior to a project starting. Capability can simply be provisioned from the cloud and released at the end of the exercise. Testing and Deployment - With most large-scale projects a size test needs to be performed prior to final rollout. By taking advantage of the elasticity of the cloud and creating a full-scale avatar of the proposed production system, realistic data and traffic volumes can be provisioned and released as needed. Expensive Resources Allocated - This will normally apply only in the context where a customer is applying at least some of their own servers as part of a cloud infrastructure, specifically where a business (for performance reasons) has decided to invest in solid-state storage as opposed to spinning platters. There are instances when, due to activity spikes, a less critical process may need to be moved from the high-performance resources to more traditional storage. Server Specification - When a customer has elected to own/lease hardware, they can select and specify servers that are specifically tuned to meet the likely needs of their operation (i.e., directly controlling the cost/benefit equation). Utility Based Payments - There is, of course, a key cost driver in this process, and the notion that you should pay for what you consume is acceptable for many organizations. When hardware capacity is sourced internally, organizations need to over-provision. This applies just as much to traditional outsourcing as it does to capex-related expenditure on in-house servers. Cloud Platform – At the heart of any cloud storage system is the ability to manage hyperscale object storage and a Hadoop Distributed Files System (HDFS). Elastic storage capability is particularly well suited to hyperscale and Hadoop environments, where its capability to rapidly respond to changing circumstances and priorities is essential

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  • Correlation immunity

    Correlation immunity

    In mathematics, the correlation immunity of a Boolean function is a measure of the degree to which its outputs are uncorrelated with some subset of its inputs. Specifically, a Boolean function is said to be correlation-immune of order m if every subset of m or fewer variables in x 1 , x 2 , … , x n {\displaystyle x_{1},x_{2},\ldots ,x_{n}} is statistically independent of the value of f ( x 1 , x 2 , … , x n ) {\displaystyle f(x_{1},x_{2},\ldots ,x_{n})} . == Definition == A function f : F 2 n → F 2 {\displaystyle f:\mathbb {F} _{2}^{n}\rightarrow \mathbb {F} _{2}} is k {\displaystyle k} -th order correlation immune if for any independent n {\displaystyle n} binary random variables X 0 … X n − 1 {\displaystyle X_{0}\ldots X_{n-1}} , the random variable Z = f ( X 0 , … , X n − 1 ) {\displaystyle Z=f(X_{0},\ldots ,X_{n-1})} is independent from any random vector ( X i 1 … X i k ) {\displaystyle (X_{i_{1}}\ldots X_{i_{k}})} with 0 ≤ i 1 < … < i k < n {\displaystyle 0\leq i_{1}<\ldots Read more →

  • Bus encryption

    Bus encryption

    Bus encryption is the use of encrypted program instructions on a data bus in a computer that includes a secure cryptoprocessor for executing the encrypted instructions. Bus encryption is used primarily in electronic systems that require high security, such as automated teller machines, TV set-top boxes, and secure data communication devices such as two-way digital radios. Bus encryption can also mean encrypted data transmission on a data bus from one processor to another processor. For example, from the CPU to a GPU which does not require input of encrypted instructions. Such bus encryption is used by Windows Vista and newer Microsoft operating systems to protect certificates, BIOS, passwords, and program authenticity. PVP-UAB (Protected Video Path) provides bus encryption of premium video content in PCs as it passes over the PCIe bus to graphics cards to enforce digital rights management. The need for bus encryption arises when multiple people have access to the internal circuitry of an electronic system, either because they service and repair such systems, stock spare components for the systems, own the system, steal the system, or find a lost or abandoned system. Bus encryption is necessary not only to prevent tampering of encrypted instructions that may be easily discovered on a data bus or during data transmission, but also to prevent discovery of decrypted instructions that may reveal security weaknesses that an intruder can exploit. In TV set-top boxes, it is necessary to download program instructions periodically to customer's units to provide new features and to fix bugs. These new instructions are encrypted before transmission, but must also remain secure on data buses and during execution to prevent the manufacture of unauthorized cable TV boxes. This can be accomplished by secure crypto-processors that read encrypted instructions on the data bus from external data memory, decrypt the instructions in the cryptoprocessor, and execute the instructions in the same cryptoprocessor.

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  • Brain Imaging Data Structure

    Brain Imaging Data Structure

    The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a standard for organizing, annotating, and describing data collected during neuroimaging experiments. It is based on a formalized file and directory structure and metadata files (based on JSON and TSV) with controlled vocabulary. This standard has been adopted by a multitude of labs around the world as well as databases such as OpenNeuro, SchizConnect, Developing Human Connectome Project, and FCP-INDI, and is seeing uptake in an increasing number of studies. While originally specified for MRI data, BIDS has been extended to several other imaging modalities such as MEG, EEG, and intracranial EEG (see also BIDS Extension Proposals). == History == The project is a community-driven effort. BIDS, originally OBIDS (Open Brain Imaging Data Structure), was initiated during an INCF sponsored data sharing working group meeting (January 2015) at Stanford University. It was subsequently spearheaded and maintained by Chris Gorgolewski. Since October 2019, the project is headed by a Steering Group and maintained by a separate team of maintainers, the Maintainers Group, according to a governance document that was approved of by the BIDS community in a vote. BIDS has advanced under the direction and effort of contributors, the community of researchers that appreciate the value of standardizing neuroimaging data to facilitate sharing and analysis. == BIDS Extension Proposals == BIDS can be extended in a backwards compatible way and is evolving over time. This is accomplished through BIDS Extension Proposals (BEPs), which are community-driven processes following agreed-upon guidelines. A full list of finalized BEPs and BEPs in progress can be found on the BIDS website

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  • Pixel binning

    Pixel binning

    Pixel binning, also known as binning, is a process image sensors of digital cameras use to combine adjacent pixels throughout an image, by summing or averaging their values, during or after readout. It improves low-light performance while still allowing for highly detailed photographs in good light. Charge from adjacent pixels in CCD or charge-coupled device image sensors and some other image sensors can be combined during readout, increasing the line rate or frame rate. In the context of image processing, binning is the procedure of combining clusters of adjacent pixels, throughout an image, into single pixels. For example, in 2×2 binning, an array of 4 pixels becomes a single larger pixel, reducing the number of pixels to 1/4 and halving the image resolution in each dimension. The result can be the sum, average, median, minimum, or maximum value of the cluster. Some systems use more advanced algorithms such as considering the values of nearby pixels, edge detection, self-claimed "AI", etc. to increase the perceived visual quality of the final downsized image. This aggregation, although associated with loss of information, reduces the amount of data to be processed, facilitating analysis. The binned image has lower resolution, but the relative noise level in each pixel is generally reduced. == History == Normally, an increase in megapixel count on a constant image sensor size would lead to a sacrifice of the surface size of the individual pixels, which would result in each pixel being able to catch less light in the same time, thus leading to a darker and/or noisier image in low light (given the same exposure time). In the past, camera manufacturers had to compromise between low-light performance and the amount of detail in good light, by dropping the megapixel count like HTC did in 2013 with their four-megapixel "UltraPixel" camera. However, this results in less detailed images in daylight where enough light is available. With pixel binning, the camera has "the best of both worlds", meaning both the benefit of high detail in good light and the benefit of high brightness in low light. In low light, the surfaces of four or more pixels can act as one large pixel that catches far more light. For example, some smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy A15 are able to capture photographs with up to fifty megapixels in daylight. However, in low light, the individual pixels would be too small to capture the light needed for a bright image with the short exposure time available for handheld shooting. Therefore, with pixel binning activated, the 50-megapixel image sensor acts as a 12.5-megapixel image sensor, a quarter of its original resolution, with an accordingly larger surface area per pixel.

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  • Simply Local

    Simply Local

    Simply Local is a decentralized community social networking and neighborhood broadcasting service developed by Simply Local, based in New Delhi. The app is used as a tool by residents to bridge the information gap and know what is happening in the locality. Simply Local creates private geo-fenced networks for people living in an area and provides social and community related services within that network. The user doesn’t post to a single person but broadcasts to a chosen community. One of its primary purposes is also to connect citizens to their elected representatives. Each community is independent of the other and information shared remains telescoped to that particular community. The app has been designed to maintain privacy and security of users and provides decentralized social networking in the sense that it forms an owner-independent, micro community, which is not connected with the world outside. Simply Local is available on Android Play and iOS App Store. It is available in two languages - English and Hindi. Simply Local’s founder and CEO is Nikhil Bapna. == History == 2020 May: Included as a Top 5 Useful App by Zee News. 2020: Used to connect candidates with local residents during the Delhi assembly elections. 2019: Renamed from Gadfly to its current name. 2018: Used for Karnataka State Elections to get detailed information on candidates. 2017: Launched under the name Gadfly as a tool to connect citizens with their elected representatives.

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  • Cut, copy, and paste

    Cut, copy, and paste

    Cut, copy, and paste are essential commands of modern human–computer interaction and user interface design. They offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The cut command removes the selected data from its original position, and the copy command creates a duplicate; in both cases the selected data is kept in temporary storage called the clipboard. Clipboard data is later inserted wherever a paste command is issued. The data remains available to any application supporting the feature, thus allowing easy data transfer between applications. The command names are a (skeuomorphic) interface metaphor based on the physical procedure used in manuscript print editing to create a page layout, like with paper. The commands were pioneered into computing by Xerox PARC in 1974, popularized by Apple Computer in the 1983 Lisa workstation and the 1984 Macintosh computer, and in a few home computer applications such as the 1984 word processor Cut & Paste. This interaction technique has close associations with related techniques in graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that use pointing devices such as a computer mouse (by drag and drop, for example). Typically, clipboard support is provided by an operating system as part of its GUI and widget toolkit. The capability to replicate information with ease, changing it between contexts and applications, involves privacy concerns because of the risks of disclosure when handling sensitive information. Terms like cloning, copy forward, carry forward, or re-use refer to the dissemination of such information through documents, and may be subject to regulation by administrative bodies. == History == === Origins === The term "cut and paste" comes from the traditional practice in manuscript editing, whereby people cut paragraphs from a page with scissors and paste them onto another page. This practice remained standard into the 1980s. Stationery stores sold "editing scissors" with blades long enough to cut an 8½"-wide page. The advent of photocopiers made the practice easier and more flexible. The act of copying or transferring text from one part of a computer-based document ("buffer") to a different location within the same or different computer-based document was a part of the earliest on-line computer editors. As soon as computer data entry moved from punch-cards to online files (in the mid/late 1960s) there were "commands" for accomplishing this operation. This mechanism was often used to transfer frequently-used commands or text snippets from additional buffers into the document, as was the case with the QED text editor. === Early methods === The earliest editors (designed for teleprinter terminals) provided keyboard commands to delineate a contiguous region of text, then delete or move it. Since moving a region of text requires first removing it from its initial location and then inserting it into its new location, various schemes had to be invented to allow for this multi-step process to be specified by the user. Often this was done with a "move" command, but some text editors required that the text be first put into some temporary location for later retrieval/placement. In 1983, the Apple Lisa became the first text editing system to call that temporary location "the clipboard". Earlier control schemes such as NLS used a verb—object command structure, where the command name was provided first and the object to be copied or moved was second. The inversion from verb—object to object—verb on which copy and paste are based, where the user selects the object to be operated before initiating the operation, was an innovation crucial for the success of the desktop metaphor as it allowed copy and move operations based on direct manipulation. === Popularization === Inspired by early line and character editors, such as Pentti Kanerva's TV-Edit, that broke a move or copy operation into two steps—between which the user could invoke a preparatory action such as navigation—Lawrence G. "Larry" Tesler proposed the names "cut" and "copy" for the first step and "paste" for the second step. Beginning in 1974, he and colleagues at Xerox PARC implemented several text editors that used cut/copy-and-paste commands to move and copy text. Apple Computer popularized this paradigm with its Lisa (1983) and Macintosh (1984) operating systems and applications. The functions were mapped to key combinations using the ⌘ Command key as a special modifier, which is held down while also pressing X for cut, C for copy, or V for paste. These few keyboard shortcuts allow the user to perform all the basic editing operations, and the keys are clustered at the left end of the bottom row of the standard QWERTY keyboard. These are the standard shortcuts: Control-Z (or ⌘ Command+Z) to undo Control-X (or ⌘ Command+X) to cut Control-C (or ⌘ Command+C) to copy Control-V (or ⌘ Command+V) to paste The IBM Common User Access (CUA) standard also uses combinations of the Insert, Del, Shift and Control keys. Early versions of Windows used the IBM standard. Microsoft later also adopted the Apple key combinations with the introduction of Windows, using the control key as modifier key. Similar patterns of key combinations, later borrowed by others, are widely available in most GUI applications. The original cut, copy, and paste workflow, as implemented at PARC, utilizes a unique workflow: With two windows on the same screen, the user could use the mouse to pick a point at which to make an insertion in one window (or a segment of text to replace). Then, by holding shift and selecting the copy source elsewhere on the same screen, the copy would be made as soon as the shift was released. Similarly, holding shift and control would copy and cut (delete) the source. This workflow requires many fewer keystrokes/mouse clicks than the current multi-step workflows, and did not require an explicit copy buffer. It was dropped, one presumes, because the original Apple and IBM GUIs were not high enough density to permit multiple windows, as were the PARC machines, and so multiple simultaneous windows were rarely used. == Cut and paste == Computer-based editing can involve very frequent use of cut-and-paste operations. Most software-suppliers provide several methods for performing such tasks, and this can involve (for example) key combinations, pulldown menus, pop-up menus, or toolbar buttons. The user selects or "highlights" the text or file for moving by some method, typically by dragging over the text or file name with the pointing-device or holding down the Shift key while using the arrow keys to move the text cursor. The user performs a "cut" operation via key combination Ctrl+x (⌘+x for Macintosh users), menu, or other means. Visibly, "cut" text immediately disappears from its location. "Cut" files typically change color to indicate that they will be moved. Conceptually, the text has now moved to a location often called the clipboard. The clipboard typically remains invisible. On most systems only one clipboard location exists, hence another cut or copy operation overwrites the previously stored information. Many UNIX text-editors provide multiple clipboard entries, as do some Macintosh programs such as Clipboard Master, and Windows clipboard-manager programs such as the one in Microsoft Office. The user selects a location for insertion by some method, typically by clicking at the desired insertion point. A paste operation takes place which visibly inserts the clipboard text at the insertion point. (The paste operation does not typically destroy the clipboard text: it remains available in the clipboard and the user can insert additional copies at other points). Whereas cut-and-paste often takes place with a mouse-equivalent in Windows-like GUI environments, it may also occur entirely from the keyboard, especially in UNIX text editors, such as Pico or vi. Cutting and pasting without a mouse can involve a selection (for which Ctrl+x is pressed in most graphical systems) or the entire current line, but it may also involve text after the cursor until the end of the line and other more sophisticated operations. The clipboard usually stays invisible, because the operations of cutting and pasting, while actually independent, usually take place in quick succession, and the user (usually) needs no assistance in understanding the operation or maintaining mental context. Some application programs provide a means of viewing, or sometimes even editing, the data on the clipboard. == Copy and paste == The term "copy-and-paste" refers to the popular, simple method of reproducing text or other data from a source to a destination. It differs from cut and paste in that the original source text or data does not get deleted or removed. The popularity of this method stems from its simplicity and the ease with which users can move data between various applications visually – without resorting to permanent storage. Use in healthcare do

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  • Data proliferation

    Data proliferation

    Data proliferation refers to the prodigious amount of data, structured and unstructured, that businesses and governments continue to generate at an unprecedented rate and the usability problems that result from attempting to store and manage that data. While originally pertaining to problems associated with paper documentation, data proliferation has become a major problem in primary and secondary data storage on computers. While digital storage has become cheaper, the associated costs, from raw power to maintenance and from metadata to search engines, have not kept up with the proliferation of data. Although the power required to maintain a unit of data has fallen, the cost of facilities which house the digital storage has tended to rise. Data proliferation has been documented as a problem for the U.S. military since August 1971, in particular regarding the excessive documentation submitted during the acquisition of major weapon systems. Efforts to mitigate data proliferation and the problems associated with it are ongoing. == Problems caused == The problem of data proliferation is affecting all areas of commerce as a result of the availability of relatively inexpensive data storage devices. This has made it very easy to dump data into secondary storage immediately after its window of usability has passed. This masks problem that could gravely affect the profitability of businesses and the efficient functioning of health services, police and security forces, local and national governments, and many other types of organizations. Data proliferation is problematic for several reasons: Difficulty when trying to find and retrieve information. At Xerox, on average it takes employees more than one hour per week to find hard-copy documents, costing $2,152 a year to manage and store them. For businesses with more than 10 employees, this increases to almost two hours per week at $5,760 per year. In large networks of primary and secondary data storage, problems finding electronic data are analogous to problems finding hard copy data. Data loss and legal liability when data is disorganized, not properly replicated, or cannot be found promptly. In April 2005, the Ameritrade Holding Corporation told 200,000 current and past customers that a tape containing confidential information had been lost or destroyed in transit. In May of the same year, Time Warner Incorporated reported that 40 tapes containing personal data on 600,000 current and former employees had been lost en route to a storage facility. In March 2005, a Florida judge hearing a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Morgan Stanley issued an "adverse inference order" against the company for "willful and gross abuse of its discovery obligations." The judge cited Morgan Stanley for repeatedly finding misplaced tapes of e-mail messages long after the company had claimed that it had turned over all such tapes to the court. Increased manpower requirements to manage increasingly chaotic data storage resources. Slower networks and application performance due to excess traffic as users search and search again for the material they need. High cost in terms of the energy resources required to operate storage hardware. A 100 terabyte system will cost up to $35,040 a year to run—not counting cooling costs. == Proposed solutions == Applications that better utilize modern technology Reductions in duplicate data (especially as caused by data movement) Improvement of metadata structures Improvement of file and storage transfer structures User education and discipline The implementation of Information Lifecycle Management solutions to eliminate low-value information as early as possible before putting the rest into actively managed long-term storage in which it can be quickly and cheaply accessed.

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  • Sayre's paradox

    Sayre's paradox

    Sayre's paradox is a dilemma encountered in the design of automated handwriting recognition systems. A standard statement of the paradox is that a cursively written word cannot be recognized without being segmented and cannot be segmented without being recognized. The paradox was first articulated in a 1973 publication by Kenneth M. Sayre, after whom it was named. == Nature of the problem == It is relatively easy to design automated systems capable of recognizing words inscribed in a printed format. Such words are segmented into letters by the very act of writing them on the page. Given templates matching typical letter shapes in a given language, individual letters can be identified with a high degree of probability. In cases of ambiguity, probable letter sequences can be compared with a selection of properly spelled words in that language (called a lexicon). If necessary, syntactic features of the language can be applied to render a generally accurate identification of the words in question. Printed-character recognition systems of this sort are commonly used in processing standardized government forms, in sorting mail by zip code, and so forth. In cursive writing, however, letters comprising a given word typically flow sequentially without gaps between them. Unlike a sequence of printed letters, cursively connected letters are not segmented in advance. Here is where Sayre's Paradox comes into play. Unless the word is already segmented into letters, template-matching techniques like those described above cannot be applied. That is, segmentation is a prerequisite for word recognition. But there are no reliable techniques for segmenting a word into letters unless the word itself has been identified. Word recognition requires letter segmentation, and letter segmentation requires word recognition. There is no way a cursive writing recognition system employing standard template-matching techniques can do both simultaneously. Advantages to be gained by use of automated cursive writing recognition systems include routing mail with handwritten addresses, reading handwritten bank checks, and automated digitalization of hand-written documents. These are practical incentives for finding ways of circumventing Sayre's Paradox. == Avoiding the paradox == One way of ameliorating the adverse effects of the paradox is to normalize the word inscriptions to be recognized. Normalization amounts to eliminating idiosyncrasies in the penmanship of the writer, such as unusual slope of the letters and unusual slant of the cursive line. This procedure can increase the probability of a correct match with a letter template, resulting in an incremental improvement in the success rate of the system. Since improvement of this sort still depends on accurate segmentation, however, it remains subject to the limitations of Sayre's Paradox. Researchers have come to realize that the only way to circumvent the paradox is by use of procedures that do not rely on accurate segmentation. == Directions of current research == Segmentation is accurate to the extent that it matches distinctions among letters in the actual inscriptions presented to the system for recognition (the input data). This is sometimes referred to as “explicit segmentation”. “Implicit segmentation,” by contrast, is division of the cursive line into more parts than the number of actual letters in the cursive line itself. Processing these “implicit parts” to achieve eventual word identification requires specific statistical procedures involving hidden Markov models (HMM). A Markov model is a statistical representation of a random process, which is to say a process in which future states are independent of states occurring before the present. In such a process, a given state is dependent only on the conditional probability of its following the state immediately before it. An example is a series of outcomes from successive casts of a die. An HMM is a Markov model, individual states of which are not fully known. Conditional probabilities between states are still determinate, but the identities of individual states are not fully disclosed. Recognition proceeds by matching HMMs of words to be recognized with previously prepared HMMs of words in the lexicon. The best match in a given case is taken to indicate the identity of the handwritten word in question. As with systems based on explicit segmentation, automated recognition systems based on implicit segmentation are judged more or less successful according to the percentage of correct identifications they accomplish. Instead of explicit segmentation techniques, most automated handwriting recognition systems today employ implicit segmentation in conjunction with HMM-based matching procedures. The constraints epitomized by Sayre's Paradox are largely responsible for this shift in approach.

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  • Data definition specification

    Data definition specification

    In computing, a data definition specification (DDS) is a guideline to ensure comprehensive and consistent data definition. It represents the attributes required to quantify data definition. A comprehensive data definition specification encompasses enterprise data, the hierarchy of data management, prescribed guidance enforcement and criteria to determine compliance. == Overview == A data definition specification may be developed for any organization or specialized field, improving the quality of its products through consistency and transparency. It eliminates redundancy (since all contributing areas are referencing the same specification) and provides standardization and degrees of compliance, making it easier and more efficient to create, modify, verify, analyze and share information across the enterprise. To understand how a data definition specification works in an enterprise, we must look at the elements of a DDS. Writing data definitions, defining business terms (or rules) in the context of a particular environment, provides structure for an organization's data architecture. In developing these definitions, the words used must be traceable to clearly defined data. A data definition specification may be used in the following activities: Business intelligence Business process modeling Business rules management Data analysis and modeling Information architecture Metadata modeling Data mastering Report generation == Criteria == A data definition specification requires data definitions to be: Atomic – singular, describing only one concept. Commonly used and ambiguous terms should be defined. While a term refers to one concept, several words may be used in a term: File – A concept identifiable with one word File extension – A concept identifiable with more than one word Traceable – Mapped to a specific data element. In business, a term may be traced to an entity (for example, a customer) or an attribute (such as a customer's name). A term may be a value in a data set (such as gender), or designate the data set itself. Traceability indicates relationships in the data hierarchy. Consistent - Used in a standard syntax; if used in a specific context, the context is noted Accurate - Precise, correct and unambiguous, stating what the term is and is not Clear - Readily understood by the reader Complete - With the term, its description and contextual references Concise - To avoid circular references == Applications == === Enterprise data === A data definition specification was produced by the Open Mobile Alliance to document charging data. The document, the centralized catalog of data elements defined for interfaces, specifies the mapping of these data elements to protocol fields in the interfaces. Created for the exchange of financial data, Market Data Definition Language (MDDL) is an XML specification designed to enable the interchange of information necessary to account, to analyze, and to trade financial instruments of the world's markets. It defines an XML-based interchange format and common data dictionary on the fields needed to describe: (1) financial instruments, (2) corporate events affecting value and tradability, and (3) market-related, economic and industrial indicators. The principal function of MDDL is to allow entities to exchange market data by standardizing formats and definitions. MDDL provides a common format for market data so that it can be efficiently passed from one processing system to another and provides a common understanding of market data content by standardizing terminology and by normalizing the relationships of various data elements to one another ... From the user perspective, the goal of MDDL is to enable users to integrate data from multiple sources by standardizing both the input feeds used for data warehousing (i.e., define what's being provided by vendors) and the output methods by which client applications request the data (i.e., ensure compatibility on how to get data in and out of applications)." === Clinical submissions === The Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium, a global, multidisciplinary, non-profit organization, has established standards to support the acquisition, exchange, submission and archiving of clinical research data and metadata. CDISC standards are vendor-neutral, platform-independent and freely available from the CDISC website. The Case Report Tabulation Data Definition Specification (define.xml) draft version 2.0, the oldest data definition specification, is part of the evolution from the 1999 FDA electronic submission (eSub) guidance and electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) documents specifying that a document describing the content and structure of included data be included in a submission. Define.xml was developed to automate the review process by generating a machine-readable data-definition document. Define.xml has standardized submissions to the Food and Drug Administration, reducing review times from over two years to several months. === Archival data === A data definition specification is the foundation of metadata for scientific data archiving. The Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) uses one principle of a DDS: consistent use of key terms to catalog digital objects for global use. The METS schema is a flexible mechanism for encoding descriptive, administrative and structural metadata for a digital library object and expressing complex links between metadata, and can provide a useful standard for the exchange of digital-library objects between repositories. A similar effort is underway to preserve complex data associated with video-game archiving. Preserving Virtual Worlds attempted to address archival-format deficiencies, citing the lack of suitable documentation for interactive fiction and games at the bit level: specifically, the absence of "representation information" needed to map raw bits into higher-level data constructs. Preserving Virtual Worlds 2 is a research project expanding on initial efforts in this field.

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  • Thirst trap

    Thirst trap

    A thirst trap is a type of social media post intended to entice viewers sexually. It refers to a viewer's "thirst", a colloquialism likening sexual frustration to dehydration, implying desperation, with the afflicted individual being described as "thirsty". The phrase entered into the lexicon in the late 1990s, but is most related to Internet slang that developed in the early 2010s. Its meaning has changed over time, previously referring to a graceless need for approval, affection or attention. == History == The term thirst trap originated within selfie culture, though its precise origins remain unclear. An early use of the phrase with reference to dehydration appears in the 1999 book Running for Dummies by Florence Griffith Joyner and John Hanc, where it referred to the deceptive sensation of thirst being quenched after initial fluid intake, advising continued hydration to avoid the so-called "thirst trap." The modern usage of thirst trap resurfaced around 2011 on platforms such as Twitter and Urban Dictionary, coinciding with the growing popularity of Snapchat, Instagram, and dating apps like Tinder and Grindr. In 2011, Urban Dictionary defined it as "any statement used to intentionally create attention or 'thirst'." By 2018, the term had entered mainstream discourse, appearing in outlets such as The New York Times and GQ without the need for explanation. == Usage of the term == Often, the term thirst trap describes an attractive picture of an individual that they post online. Thirst trap can also describe a digital heartthrob. For instance, former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has been described as a political thirst trap. It has also been described as a modern form of "fishing for compliments". == Motivation == Thirst trapping may be driven by a variety of motives. Individuals often seek attention through "likes" and comments on social media, which can offer a temporary sense of validation and improved self-esteem. It can also serve as an outlet for expressing one's sexuality or enhancing a personal brand. In some cases, sharing such content may provide financial gain. Others might post thirst traps to cope with emotional distress, such as after breakup, or to spite a former lover. Sharing a thirst trap has also been used as a way to connect in times of social isolation (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic). From a physiological standpoint, endorphins and neurotransmitters like oxytocin and dopamine are released during sexual contact. It has been speculated outside of the academic setting that sharing and engaging with thirst traps may elicit similar pleasure responses. == Methodology == Methodologies have developed to take an optimal thirst trap photo. Reporting for Vice magazine, Graham Isador found several of his social network contacts spent a lot of time considering how to take the best photo and what text they should use. They considered angles and lighting. Sometimes they made use of the self-timer feature available on some cameras. Often, body parts are put on display without being too explicit (e.g. bulges of male genitalia, breast cleavage, abdominal muscles, pectoral muscles, backs, buttocks). Often, the thirst trap is accompanied by a caption. For instance, in October 2019, actress Tracee Ellis Ross posted bikini pictures on Instagram with a caption that included the message: "I've worked so hard to feel good in my skin and to build a life that truly matches me and I'm in it and it feels good. ... No filter, no retouch 47 year old thirst trap! Boom!" On Instagram, #ThirstTrapThursdays is a popular tag. Followers reply in turn after a posting. == Variations == "Gatsbying" is a variation of the thirst trap, where one puts posts on social media to attract the attention of a particular individual. The term alludes to the novel The Great Gatsby where the character Jay Gatsby would throw extravagant parties to attract the attention of his love interest, Daisy. "Instagrandstanding" is an alternative name for this. "Wholesome trapping" has developed, where one posts pictures of more meaningful aspects of life, such as spending time with friends or doing outdoor activities. == Criticism == Psychotherapist Lisa Brateman has criticized thirst traps as an unhealthy method of receiving external validation. This desire for external validation can be addictive. Thirst traps can cause pressure to maintain a good physical appearance, and therefore cause self-esteem issues. Additionally, thirst traps are often highly choreographed and thus present a distorted perception of reality. The manufacturing of thirst traps can be limited when one enters a relationship or with time as the body ages. In some cases, thirst traps can lead to harassment and online bullying. In April 2020, model Chrissy Teigen posted a video of herself wearing a black one-piece swimsuit, and she received a multitude of negative comments that constituted bullying and body shaming.

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