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Computer Graphics International

Computer Graphics International (CGI) is one of the oldest annual international conferences on computer graphics. It is organized by the Computer Graphics Society (CGS). Researchers across the whole world are invited to share their experiences and novel achievements in various fields - like computer graphics and human-computer interaction. Former conferences have been held recently in Hong Kong (China), Geneva (Switzerland), Shanghai (China), Geneva (virtually), Calgary (Canada), Bintan (Indonesia) and Yokohama (Japan). == Awards == Starting in the year of 2013, CGI has given yearly a Best Paper Award and a Career Achievement Award. == Venues ==
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GEPIR

GEPIR (Global Electronic Party Information Registry) was a distributed database operated and owned by GS1 that contains basic information on over 1,000,000 companies in over 100 countries. The database could be searched by Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) code (including Universal Product Code (UPC) and EAN-13 codes), container Code (Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)), location number (Global Location Number (GLN)), and (in some countries) the company name. A SOAP webservice existed for API access. As of end December 2023, GEPIR was replaced by a service called Verified by GS1. While it operated, GEPIR had more than 1 million members in more than 100 countries. In 2013, all GS1 111 member organisations joined GEPIR. == Access == GEPIR was accessible for free in almost all countries but the number of request per day was limited (from 20 to 30). Since October 2013, GS1 France restricts access to GEPIR to companies (registration with SIREN code was required to use it). A premium access service had been created by GS1 France in January 2010 which allows companies to use GS1 web and SOAP interface without any limit. == System architecture == GEPIR was a lookup service coordinated by the GS1 GO that provided all end users with the ability to look up information about GS1 Identification Keys. Depending on the service, systems were provided by GS1 Member Organisations (MOs) or 3rd party service providers, or both. Where a GS1 MO did not choose to provide the service directly to its end users, the GS1 Global Office provided the service for that geography. Some services involved a technical component deployed by the GS1 Global Office that coordinates the systems provided by GS1 MOs and/or 3rd party service providers. The GEPIR service was provided by systems deployed by GS1 MOs, with the GS1 GO providing a central point of coordination to federate the local systems. The GS1 GO also provides the MO-level service for MOs that could not or did not wish to deploy their own system.
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Elasticity (data store)

The elasticity of a data store relates to the flexibility of its data model and clustering capabilities. The greater the number of data model changes that can be tolerated, and the more easily the clustering can be managed, the more elastic the data store is considered to be. == Types == === Clustering elasticity === Clustering elasticity is the ease of adding or removing nodes from the distributed data store. Usually, this is a difficult and delicate task to be done by an expert in a relational database system. Some NoSQL data stores, like Apache Cassandra have an easy solution, and a node can be added/removed with a few changes in the properties and by adding specifying at least one seed. === Data-modelling elasticity === Relational databases are most often very inelastic, as they have a predefined data model that can only be adapted through redesign. Most NoSQL data stores, however, do not have a fixed schema. Each row can have a different number and even different type of columns. Concerning the data store, modifications in the schema are no problem. This makes this kind of data stores more elastic concerning the data model. The drawback is that the programmer has to take into account that the data model may change over time.
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Collaboration-oriented architecture

Collaboration Oriented Architecture (COA) is a computer system that is designed to collaborate, or use services, from systems that are outside of the operators control. Collaboration Oriented Architecture will often use Service Oriented Architecture to deliver the technical framework. Collaboration Oriented Architecture is the ability to collaborate between systems that are based on the Jericho Forum principles or "Commandments". Bill Gates and Craig Mundie (Microsoft) clearly articulated the need for people to work outside of their organizations in a secure and collaborative manner in their opening keynote to the RSA Security Conference in February 2007. Successful implementation of a Collaboration Oriented Architecture implies the ability to successfully inter-work securely over the Internet and will typically mean the resolution of the problems that come with de-perimeterisation. == Etymology == The term Collaboration Oriented Architectures was defined and developed in a meeting of the Jericho Forum at a meeting held at HSBC on 6 July 2007. == Definition == The key elements that qualify a security architecture as a Collaboration Oriented Architecture are as follows; Protocol: Systems use appropriately secure protocols to communicate. Authentication: The protocol is authenticated with user and/or system credentials. Federation: User and/or systems credentials are accepted and validated by systems that are not under your (locus of) control. Network Agnostic: The design does not rely on a secure network, thus it will operate securely from an Intranet to raw-Internet Trust: The collaborating system have the capacity to be able to confirm to a specified degree of confidence that the components in a transaction chain have. Risk: The collaborating systems can make a risk assessment on any transaction based on the communicated levels of required trust, based on the required degree of identity, confidentiality, integrity, availability. == Authentication == Working in a collaborative multi-sourced environment implies the need for authentication, authorization and accountability which must interoperate / exchange outside of your locus / area of control. People/systems must be able to manage permissions of resources and rights of users they don't control There must be capability of trusting an organization, which can authenticate individuals or groups, thus eliminating the need to create separate identities In principle, only one instance of person / system / identity may exist, but privacy necessitates the support for multiple instances, or one instance with multiple facets, often referred to as personas Systems must be able to pass on security credentials /assertions Multiple loci (areas) of control must be supported
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Sarpa (snakebite app)

Sarpa or SARPA (Snake Awareness, Rescue and Protection app) is a snakebite app, an application for mobile devices developed in India to provide rapid, life-saving help for victims of snakebite, which kill an estimated 58,000 people a year in India. The app provides information about snakes, gets fast aid for people bitten, and helps in the development of antivenoms. Similar systems developed in India include SnakeHub, Snake Lens, Snakepedia, Serpent and the Big Four Mapping Project. The apps provide rapid response to snakebite incidents, often in remote areas, using a network of volunteers managed by local wildlife departments; their use can save human lives by providing rapid medical care, and also snakes, by helping to avoid interaction between the species. In 2026, it was announced that the app had plans to offer real-time contact from doctors directly from the app to provide users with decision-making advice.
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Tandem Money

Tandem is one of the UK's original challenger banks. Tandem is a digital bank with a mobile app, and no branches. The acquisition of Harrods Bank in 2017 allowed the company to provide services using the former's banking licence. Tandem Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Tandem has offices across the UK in Blackpool, Cardiff, Durham and London, employing over 500 people. == History == The company was founded by Ricky Knox, Matt Cooper and Michael Kent in 2014. In December 2016, Tandem announced that it had secured a £35 million investment from The Sanpower Group, the Chinese company that also owned the department store House of Fraser; however, £29 million of this investment was later revoked by Sanpower over concerns that the Chinese Government would object to the investment following increased restrictions on outbound investment in China. This resulted in a delay in the launch of Tandem's savings products, which, at the time of the revocation, was expected imminently and, more importantly, meant that Tandem volunteered the return of their banking license but retained all other permissions. In April 2018, Tandem launched fixed-term savings accounts, offering one-, two- and three-year terms through its app. === Acquisitions === In August 2017, it was announced that Tandem would fully acquire Harrods Bank, founded in 1893, in a deal that would bring a near-£200m loan book, over £300m of deposits and nearly £80 million of capital. Prior to its sale to Tandem Money, Harrods Bank catered for high-net-worth (HNW) individuals and operated from the Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London. It offered a variety of personal and business current and savings accounts, mortgages, foreign currency and gold bullion trading services. On 7 August 2017, Tandem Money Limited announced a deal to acquire 100% of Harrods Bank Limited shares. The purchase deal closed successfully on 11 January 2018. In March 2018, Tandem agreed to acquire Pariti Technologies Limited, developers of the Pariti money management application. In August 2020 Tandem acquired green home improvement loan specialists Allium Lending Group. It was announced on 8 February 2021 that Tandem had agreed to purchase the mortgage book from private bank Bank and Clients, consisting of 300 B&C customers for an undisclosed amount. In January 2022 Tandem Bank acquired consumer lender Oplo, creating a combined business with £1.2 billion of total assets. In April 2023, it was announced that Tandem had acquired money-sharing app Loop Money. At the time of the purchase, one of Loop's founders – Paul Pester – was also chairman at Tandem. == Features == Tandem Bank offers customers savings, mortgages, personal and secured loans, green home improvement loans and motor finance. In November 2022, the bank launched its new Tandem Marketplace, providing information and resources to help promote greener living.
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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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Tuber (app)

Tuber (Chinese: Tuber浏览器) was a web browser mobile app developed by Shanghai Fengxuan Information Technology that allowed users within mainland China to view filtered versions of certain websites normally blocked by the Great Firewall. Filtered versions of websites such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Netflix, IMDb, and Wikipedia could be viewed. The app was backed by cybersecurity company Qihoo 360 which served as the parent company. The app required phone number registration. Sensitive keywords were blocked by the app. On October 9, 2020, Global Times editor Rita Bai Yunyi tweeted that the move represented "a great step for China's opening up". The app was removed from China domestic app stores and operations ceased as of October 10, 2020. On October 12, when questioned by a Bloomberg News reporter on the topic, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian replied, "This is not a diplomatic issue, and I do not have the relevant information you mentioned. China has always managed the Internet in accordance with the law. I suggest you ask the competent department for the specific situation."
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Path tracing

Path tracing is a rendering algorithm in computer graphics that simulates how light interacts with objects and participating media to generate realistic (physically plausible) images. It is based on earlier, more limited, ray tracing algorithms. Path tracing is used to create photorealistic images for artistic purposes, and for applications such as architectural rendering and product design. It is also used to render frames for animated films, and visual effects for film and television. Because it can be very accurate and unbiased, it is commonly used to generate reference images when testing the quality of other rendering algorithms. The technique uses the Monte Carlo method to compute estimates of global illumination and simulate the ways different materials reflect (or scatter), transmit, absorb, and emit light. It can incorporate simple modeling of the effects of aperture and lens (depth of field, and bokeh) and shutter speed (motion blur), or more realistic simulation of the optical components in a camera. The algorithm works by describing illumination in a scene using the rendering equation, or light transport equation, and finding an approximate solution using Monte Carlo integration. An inefficient (but accurate) version of the algorithm can be very simple, and involves tracing a ray from the camera, allowing this ray to bounce in random directions as it hits different objects in the scene, and computing the amount of light transmitted along the path to the camera whenever the path encounters a light source. This process is repeated many times for each pixel (each repetition, with generated path and transmitted light, is called a sample), and the results are averaged. One main difference between this algorithm and standard ray tracing is that a single unbranching path is traced each time, while "Whitted-style" or "Cook-style" ray tracing recursively samples branching paths (e.g. when light is both reflected and refracted by a glass object). More practical versions incorporate improvements such as quasi-Monte Carlo methods (techniques that distribute samples more evenly), importance sampling (take more samples of paths that are likely to transport more light), and next event estimation (allow a very limited form of branching, and sample additional paths that connect to the lights more directly). Because path tracing uses random samples there is noise in the final image, which decreases as more samples are taken. Images commonly require many thousands of samples per pixel (spp) to reduce noise to an acceptable level, and denoising techniques (e.g. based on neural networks) are often used. Denoising is usually necessary when path tracing is used for real-time rendering in video games, because relatively few samples can be taken. Many alternative algorithms for path tracing have been developed, although they do not always outperform more straightforward implementations. These include bidirectional path tracing (which traces paths forwards from the light source as well as backwards from the camera), Metropolis light transport, and ways of combining path tracing with photon mapping. Video games often use biased versions of path tracing to improve performance (e.g. limiting the number of bounces in each path). A family of techniques called ReSTIR has been developed that can help real-time path tracing by sharing data between nearby pixels and consecutive frames. == History == Like all ray tracing methods, path tracing is based on ray casting, which Arthur Appel used for computer graphics rendering in the late 1960s. In 1980, John Turner Whitted published a recursive ray tracing algorithm that allows rendering images of scenes containing mirrored surfaces and refractive transparent objects. In 1984, Cook et al. described a form of ray tracing called distributed ray tracing, which uses Monte Carlo integration to render effects such as depth of field, motion blur, reflection from rough surfaces, and area lights. The same year, the radiosity method (not a ray tracing method) was published, which was the first physically based method for rendering diffuse global illumination. In 1986, Jim Kajiya published a paper exploring how to use distributed ray tracing to render physically-based global illumination, and this paper also introduced and named the method called "path tracing". Path tracing and other distributed ray tracing techniques were further refined in the late 1980s and early 1990s by researchers such as James Arvo and Peter Shirley, and by Greg Ward in the open source Radiance software. Despite being theoretically able to render any lighting, the original form of path tracing can sometimes be very inefficient (or noisy) for rendering light that is reflected or refracted before illuminating a visible surface, including diffuse global illumination where light enters an area through narrow gaps, because it traces paths only from the camera. To address this, variations of path tracing that trace paths from both the camera and from light sources, called bidirectional path tracing, were published in 1993 by Eric Lafortune and Yves Willems, and in 1997 by Eric Veach and Leonidas Guibas. In 1997 Veach and Guibas also published an alternative method called Metropolis light transport, which combines bidirectional path tracing with the Metropolis method. Veach's lengthy Ph.D. dissertation described both techniques, along with the theoretical background of path tracing; later, the book Physically Based Rendering (which won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 2014) helped to make information about path tracing more widely available. Path tracing requires tracing a large number of paths of light in order to produce an image with a visually acceptable amount of noise. This made path tracing very slow on computers available in the 1980s and 1990s, and noise remained a problem when trying to reproduce the style of earlier computer graphics animated films. Most animated films produced until around 2010, by studios such as Pixar, used rasterization-based rendering, with ray tracing used selectively for reflections (and later for precomputed or cached global illumination). However the speed of computers rapidly increased during the 1990s. Blue Sky Studios pioneered using Monte Carlo ray tracing for global illumination in animation, including in the 1998 short film "Bunny", but they did not disclose the precise techniques used. Path tracing gradually become more practical for film production in the early 2000s. The Arnold renderer, developed by Marcos Fajardo, was used by Sony Pictures Imageworks to produce the feature-length film Monster House, released in 2006. Pixar rewrote their RenderMan software to use path tracing, and released their first feature-length path-traced film Finding Dory in 2016. Although path tracing still had a large computational cost, animation studios discovered that less human labor was required when using it, for example because global illumination no longer needed to be faked by manually placing lights. The amount of noise present in path traced images still caused difficulties, particularly when rendering motion blur (which was used extensively by earlier animated films) but denoising techniques were developed to address this. New techniques were also needed for rendering hair and fur, and to handle the extremely large scenes sometimes required by films. Renderers such as Arnold, and Disney's Hyperion, originally only used CPUs for rendering, but as GPUs became more capable (and APIs such as CUDA, OpenCL, and OptiX were released) researchers and developers began adapting algorithms and implementations to use GPUs. GPUs can dramatically reduce rendering time: for example using a high-end GPU to accelerate portions of the rendering code can make it over 30 times faster than using only a high-end CPU. == Description == Kajiya's 1986 paper defined a recursive integral equation called the rendering equation, which describes a simplified form of light transport. Using Monte Carlo integration for the integral on the right side of the equation leads fairly directly to the path tracing algorithm: I ( x , x ′ ) = g ( x , x ′ ) [ ϵ ( x , x ′ ) + ∫ S ρ ( x , x ′ , x ″ ) I ( x ′ , x ″ ) d x ″ ] {\displaystyle I(x,x')=g(x,x')\left[\epsilon (x,x')+\int _{S}\rho (x,x',x'')I(x',x'')dx''\right]} This expresses I(x,x'), the light arriving at point x from point x', as the product of a geometry term, g(x,x'), which is 0 if there is something blocking the light between the two points and 1 otherwise, and the amount of light leaving point x' and traveling towards x. The light leaving point x' is the sum of the light emitted by the surface at x', and the integral of the light arriving at x' from all other points in the scene (the integration domain S) and being reflected towards x. The factor ρ(x,x',x''), which calculates how much light is reflected, must take into account the angles at which the light is arriving and leaving, and
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Molecular graphics

Molecular graphics is the discipline and philosophy of studying molecules and their properties through graphical representation. IUPAC limits the definition to representations on a "graphical display device". Ever since Dalton's atoms and Kekulé's benzene, there has been a rich history of hand-drawn atoms and molecules, and these representations have had an important influence on modern molecular graphics. Colour molecular graphics are often used on chemistry journal covers artistically. == History == Prior to the use of computer graphics in representing molecular structure, Robert Corey and Linus Pauling developed a system for representing atoms or groups of atoms from hard wood on a scale of 1 inch = 1 angstrom connected by a clamping device to maintain the molecular configuration. These early models also established the CPK coloring scheme that is still used today to differentiate the different types of atoms in molecular models (e.g. carbon = black, oxygen = red, nitrogen = blue, etc). This early model was improved upon in 1966 by W.L. Koltun and are now known as Corey-Pauling-Koltun (CPK) models. The earliest efforts to produce models of molecular structure was done by Project MAC using wire-frame models displayed on a cathode ray tube in the mid 1960s. In 1965, Carroll Johnson distributed the Oak Ridge thermal ellipsoid plot (ORTEP) that visualized molecules as a ball-and-stick model with lines representing the bonds between atoms and ellipsoids to represent the probability of thermal motion. Thermal ellipsoid plots quickly became the de facto standard used in the display of X-ray crystallography data, and are still in wide use today. The first practical use of molecular graphics was a simple display of the protein myoglobin using a wireframe representation in 1966 by Cyrus Levinthal and Robert Langridge working at Project MAC. Among the milestones in high-performance molecular graphics was the work of Nelson Max in "realistic" rendering of macromolecules using reflecting spheres. Initially much of the technology concentrated on high-performance 3D graphics. During the 1970s, methods for displaying 3D graphics using cathode ray tubes were developed using continuous tone computer graphics in combination with electro-optic shutter viewing devices. The first devices used an active shutter 3D system, generating different perspective views for the left and right channel to provide the illusion of three-dimensional viewing. Stereoscopic viewing glasses were designed using lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) ceramics as electronically controlled shutter elements. Active 3D glasses require batteries and work in concert with the display to actively change the presentation by the lenses to the wearer's eyes. Many modern 3D glasses use a passive, polarized 3D system that enables the wearer to visualize 3D effects based on their own perception. Passive 3D glasses are more common today since they are less expensive. The requirements of macromolecular crystallography also drove molecular graphics because the traditional techniques of physical model-building could not scale. The first two protein structures solved by molecular graphics without the aid of the Richards' Box were built with Stan Swanson's program FIT on the Vector General graphics display in the laboratory of Edgar Meyer at Texas A&M University: First Marge Legg in Al Cotton's lab at A&M solved a second, higher-resolution structure of staph. nuclease (1975) and then Jim Hogle solved the structure of monoclinic lysozyme in 1976. A full year passed before other graphics systems were used to replace the Richards' Box for modelling into density in 3-D. Alwyn Jones' FRODO program (and later "O") were developed to overlay the molecular electron density determined from X-ray crystallography and the hypothetical molecular structure. === Timeline === == Types == === Ball-and-stick models === In the ball-and-stick model, atoms are drawn as small sphered connected by rods representing the chemical bonds between them. === Space-filling models === In the space-filling model, atoms are drawn as solid spheres to suggest the space they occupy, in proportion to their van der Waals radii. Atoms that share a bond overlap with each other. === Surfaces === In some models, the surface of the molecule is approximated and shaded to represent a physical property of the molecule, such as electronic charge density. === Ribbon diagrams === Ribbon diagrams are schematic representations of protein structure and are one of the most common methods of protein depiction used today. The ribbon shows the overall path and organization of the protein backbone in 3D, and serves as a visual framework on which to hang details of the full atomic structure, such as the balls for the oxygen atoms bound to the active site of myoglobin in the adjacent image. Ribbon diagrams are generated by interpolating a smooth curve through the polypeptide backbone. α-helices are shown as coiled ribbons or thick tubes, β-strands as arrows, and non-repetitive coils or loops as lines or thin tubes. The direction of the polypeptide chain is shown locally by the arrows, and may be indicated overall by a colour ramp along the length of the ribbon.
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Transparency in the software supply chain

Transparency in the software supply chain is a condition in which participants involved in the development, procurement, operation, auditing, or regulation of software can determine which components, dependencies, build stages, identifiers, and relationships within the supply chain make up the delivered product. The disclosure of information about software components, their interrelationships, origins, and development methods—for the purposes of risk management, vulnerability detection, and compliance—takes place throughout the software lifecycle. Transparency is one of the key security attributes of the software supply chain, as a deeper understanding of the chain enables participants to identify vulnerabilities and mitigate threats. Problems in the software supply chain can cause billions in losses and create operational challenges for government and commercial entities, as demonstrated by incidents involving SolarWinds, Bybit, 3CX, Jaguar Land Rover, GitHub, and NotPetya. Modern software is often assembled from third-party libraries and open-source components. According to research by the Linux Foundation and Synopsys, 96% of the commercial codebases analyzed contained open-source software, and 70–90% of a typical codebase may consist of open-source components. Without transparency, any software component can become a threat. As a result, companies may spend billions of dollars building robust external defenses, but this will not protect against vulnerabilities in legitimate software inside the perimeter. At the same time, supply chain attacks also erode trust between customers and their IT providers, as malicious code is often embedded in official updates with certificates and digital signatures. One of the primary ways to ensure transparency is through a software bill of materials, which documents the components used to create the software and the relationships within the supply chain. == Concept == The software supply chain is the collection of systems, devices, people, artifacts, and processes involved in the creation of the final software product. Attacks on the software supply chain differ from conventional attacks in that they follow a four-stage pattern: compromise, modification, distribution, and subsequent exploitation of the compromised or modified component. A defining feature of a supply chain attack is the introduction or manipulation of a change at an upstream stage, which is subsequently exploited at a downstream stage. Transparency refers to the availability of knowledge about the chain, while validity concerns the integrity of operations and artifacts and the authentication of participants, and separation involves reducing unnecessary trust relationships and the radius of impact through compartmentalization. In this framework, transparency primarily helps during the pre-compromise and detection phases, as a clearer understanding of participants, operations, and artifacts makes it easier to identify weak links before attackers exploit them. Current major attack vectors include dependencies and containers, build infrastructure, and human participants, such as maintainers or developers. == History == Software supply-chain transparency developed from earlier efforts to document software components, long before the term came into widespread use in the cybersecurity field. Early component-documentation formats included SPDX, first published in 2011, and CycloneDX, first published in 2017. Initially, these formats were created to support license compliance, package identification, and tool compatibility. Their development helped shape a broader concept of software supply chain transparency, encompassing component documentation, disclosure practices, risk management, security analysis, and regulatory compliance. In 2018, the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration launched a multistakeholder process on promoting software component transparency. This process helped move work on SBOMs from a specialized technical practice into the realm of policy and procurement to identify components used in software products. The 2020 compromise of the SolarWinds Orion platform made software supply chain security a central issue in government cybersecurity policy. An analysis of the “Sunburst” campaign prepared by the Atlantic Council noted that the vulnerability of the software supply chain had become a realized risk for national-security agencies. In May 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14028, which directed federal agencies to improve cybersecurity and increase transparency in the software supply chain, including requirements related to SBOMs. Reuters reported that the executive order required software developers selling their products to the federal government to provide greater visibility into their software and make security data available. In July 2021, the NTIA published the document “The Minimum Elements for a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)”, defining the basic data fields and practices for creating SBOMs. Between 2021 and 2025, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency updated its guidance on “Framing Software Component Transparency”, expanding the set of SBOM attributes, metadata requirements, and operational recommendations for the creation, exchange, and use of SBOMs. Major incidents that occurred following the SolarWinds attack have underscored the importance of transparency in vulnerability management and supply chain security. The Log4Shell vulnerability in the Log4j library, disclosed in December 2021, demonstrated how difficult it can be for organizations to identify a vulnerable component deeply embedded within applications and services. In 2024, an attempt to plant a backdoor in XZ Utils showed how attackers could exploit trust in open-source maintenance processes to introduce malicious code into widely used infrastructure software. By the mid-2020s, software supply chain transparency had become part of international cybersecurity coordination and regulation. On September 3, 2025, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the National Cybersecurity Office, in collaboration with cybersecurity agencies from 15 countries, released the document “A Shared Vision of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for Cybersecurity.” In the European Union, the Cyber Resilience Act required manufacturers of products with digital elements to create, maintain, and retain SBOMs as part of the technical documentation for software placed on the EU market. == Transparency mechanisms == The primary mechanism for ensuring transparency is the software bill of materials (SBOM). An SBOM is a structured list of components, libraries, and tools used to build and distribute a software product, and it records dependencies in a way that helps organizations understand and assess their software supply chains. It can also be described as a formal record of components and their interdependencies, which gives users insight into their actual exposure to risks and threats. Five key areas of SBOM application in software supply chain security have been identified: vulnerability management, ensuring transparency, component evaluation, risk assessment, and ensuring supply chain integrity. In software supply chains, an SBOM documents all components, both open-source and proprietary. Under Executive Order 14028, U.S. federal agencies require software suppliers to provide SBOMs for government-procured software. The list of minimum required SBOM elements defined by NTIA includes three main categories: required data fields for describing each component (name, version, identifiers), automation support (machine-readable format, generation tools), and recommendations for creating SBOMs during development and purchasing. The post-2021 push for SBOMs was intended to provide visibility into the components used within software and to expose parts of an application that would otherwise remain hidden. This information can be used to prioritize patches, manage vulnerabilities, and support compliance work. Transparency also supports software traceability, which is becoming a standard feature of developer platforms. Traceability has become important because organizations are increasingly required to demonstrate how software was created, rather than simply listing its components. Higher levels of assurance require signed, tamper-proof traceability and more isolated, verifiable build environments. A related mechanism is build reproducibility. Reproducible builds are defined as build processes that make the compilation process deterministic, ensuring that the same source code always produces the same binary file. These builds are considered a foundational element for distributed verification, transparency-log maintenance, supply-chain workflow integration, and the creation of keyless signatures based on verifiable logs. Although reproducibility does not replace inventory or attestation, it gives external par
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Score bug

A score bug is a digital on-screen graphic which is displayed in a broadcast of a sporting event, displaying the current score and other statistics. It is similar in function to a scoreboard, and is usually placed at either the top or lower third of the television screen. == History == The concept of a persistent score bug was devised by Sky Sports head David Hill, who was dissatisfied over having to wait to see what the score was after tuning into a football match in-progress. The score bug was introduced when Sky launched its coverage of the then newly-formed English Premier League in August 1992. Hill's boss repeatedly demanded that the graphic be removed, describing it as the "stupidest thing [he] had ever seen". Hill defied the boss's demands and kept the graphic in place. ITV introduced a score bug at the start of the 1993–94 football season, and the BBC introduced a score bug towards the end of 1993. The concept was introduced to the United States by ABC Sports and ESPN during coverage of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Their justification for the graphic was to provide a location for a rotating series of sponsor logos, in order to allow matches to air without commercial interruption. With the acquisition of rights to the National Football League (NFL) by BSkyB's American sibling Fox (a fellow venture of Rupert Murdoch), Hill became the first president of Fox Sports. Under Hill's leadership, Fox introduced a version of the score bug branded as the "Fox Box", which was part of its inaugural season of NFL coverage in 1994. Variety criticized it as an "annoying see-through clock and score graphic" and expressed concern for people "who actually watched the beginning of the game and would rather have their screen clear of graphics". Hill even received a death threat from an irate viewer, with a specific emphasis on him being a "foreigner", but the score bug soon became a ubiquitous feature for American football broadcasts, along with almost all American sports broadcasts in the years that followed. Dick Ebersol of NBC Sports initially opposed the idea of a score bug, as he thought that fans would dislike seeing more graphics on the screen and would change the channel from blowout games if the score was constantly being displayed. Since the 2010s, the on-air design and positioning of some score bugs have been influenced by the needs of Internet video (especially when viewing an event on devices with smaller screens), including bugs noticeably larger than prior iterations designed with television viewing in mind, or designs primarily kept towards the bottom-center of the screen (easing the ability for the bug to remain visible when highlights are cropped for square videos posted on social media). == Details == Score bugs used in team sports typically include the names of both teams, an abbreviation of the team's name, and/or the team's logo; for individual sports, they include the names of individual competitors. In sports where a game clock or playing periods are used, those are generally also displayed as part of the score bug. Some broadcasts also include teams' win-loss records. In 2024, ESPN experimented with adding a persistent win probability meter to its bug in Major League Baseball, which was based on input from its statisticians. === Variations === In addition to the above information, score bugs in some sports include additional information: In baseball, score bugs display the current inning, number of outs, the pitch clock if applicable, and a graphic displaying which bases are occupied; and usually include names of the current pitcher and batter, the pitcher's pitch count, and the number of balls and strikes accrued by the batter. In basketball, score bugs generally include the shot clock, the number of fouls accrued by each team, and whether a team is in the bonus. In cricket, score bugs often take the form of larger dashboards across the bottom of the screen, displaying the current team up and their number of runs, wickets, and overs, a display showing the runs scored and number of balls faced by the current batting partnership, and statistics for the opposing team's bowler (including the number of wickets scored and runs given up). In American football, score bugs usually include the play clock and the down and distance of the current play; they also incorporate graphics indicating when a penalty flag has been thrown. In ice hockey, score bugs display when a penalty or power play is in effect, and often include the number of shots on goal accrued by each team. In golf, Fox popularized the display of a persistent leaderboard graphic in the bottom-right of the screen, usually displaying the top 5. ==== Racing ==== Telecasts of automobile races often include a score bug with the current positions of participants, statistics such as distance behind the leader, and the remaining distance or number of laps. In the mid-2010s, NASCAR broadcasters such as Fox began to transition from horizontal tickers to vertical leaderboards (also referred to as "pylons", in reference to the physical scoring pylons at). The CW differentiated itself by using a horizontal display that divides the field into multiple columns along the bottom of the screen.
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Canva

Canva Pty Ltd. is an Australian multinational proprietary software company launched in 2013 based in Sydney, Australia. The platform provides a graphic design platform to create visual content for presentations, websites, and other digital products. Its uses include templates for presentations, posters, and social media content, as well as photo and video editing functionality. The platform uses a drag-and-drop interface designed for users without professional design training or experience. Canva operates on a freemium model and has added features such as print services and video editing tools over time. == History == === 2013–2020 === Canva was founded in Perth, Australia, by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams on 1 January 2013. One of the company's early investors was Susan Wu, an American entrepreneur. In its first year, Canva had more than 750,000 users. In 2017, the company reached profitability and had 294,000 paying customers. In January 2018, Perkins announced that the company had raised A$40 million from Sequoia Capital, Blackbird Ventures, and Felicis Ventures, and the company was valued at A$1 billion. It raised A$70 million in May 2019, followed by A$85 million in October 2019 and the launch of Canva for Enterprise. In December 2019, Canva announced Canva for Education, a free product for schools and other educational institutions intended to facilitate collaboration between students and teachers. === 2021–2025 === In June 2020, Canva announced a partnership with FedEx Office and with Office Depot the following month. As of June 2020, Canva's valuation had risen to A$6 billion, rising to A$40 billion by September 2021. In September 2021, Canva raised US$200 million, with its value peaking that year at US$40 billion. By September 2022, the valuation of the company had leveled at US$26 billion. While Canva's value declined from its 2021 peak by mid-2022, it remained one of Australia's most prominent technology companies, alongside Atlassian. In March 2022, Canva had over 75 million monthly active users. In 2023, the pair were named in the Australian Financial Review's AFR Rich List as among the 10 most wealthy people in Australia. On 7 December 2022, Canva launched Magic Write, which is the platform's AI-powered copywriting assistant. On 22 March 2023, Canva announced its new Assistant tool, which makes recommendations on graphics and styles that match the user's existing design. On 11 January 2024, Canva launched its own GPT in OpenAI's GPT Store. The company has announced it intends to compete with Google and Microsoft in the office software category with website and whiteboard products. In May 2024, the company announced the launch of Canva Enterprise, a plan designed for large organisations, alongside new tools including Work Kits, Courses and AI capabilities. In 2024, it announced a co-funded solar energy project to enhance its sustainability efforts. On 10 April 2025, Canva released Visual Suite 2. The new interface combines Canva's design and productivity tools. New features include a spreadsheets application (Canva Sheets), a generative AI coding assistant (Canva Code), a chatbot, and an updated photo editor that can modify or remove background objects. In August 2025, Canva launched a stock sale to employees, valuing the company at US$42 billion. == Acquisitions == In 2018, the company acquired presentations startup Zeetings for an undisclosed amount, as part of its expansion into the presentations space. In May 2019, the company announced the acquisitions of Pixabay and Pexels, two free stock photography sites based in Germany, which enabled Canva users to access their photos for designs. In February 2021, Canva acquired Austrian startup Kaleido.ai and the Czech-based Smartmockups. In 2022, Canva acquired Flourish, a London-based data visualization startup. In March 2024, Canva acquired UK-based Serif, the developers of the Affinity suite of graphic design software, for approximately $380 million. In August 2024, Canva acquired the AI image generation platform and startup, Leonardo AI, for an undisclosed amount. In June 2025, it was announced that Canva had acquired Australian AI marketing startup MagicBrief for an undisclosed amount. In February 2026, Canva acquired two startups: Cavalry, which specializes in animation software, and MangoAI, which focuses on improving advertising performance. In April 2026, Canva acquired Simtheory, an AI Workflow Tool, and Ortto, a marketing automation tool. == Philanthropy == Canva's co-founders, Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, have publicly stated their intention to donate a significant portion of their personal wealth to charity. In 2021, Canva started a partnership with GiveDirectly, a nonprofit organization operating in low income areas that makes unconditional cash transfers to families living in extreme poverty. Since then, the company has donated $50 million to support GiveDirectly's work across Malawi. In 2025, Canva announced an additional $100 million commitment to expand its GiveDirectly partnership. == Controversies == === Data breach === In May 2019, Canva experienced a data breach in which the data of roughly 139 million users was exposed. The exposed data included real names of users, usernames, email addresses, geographical information, and password hashes for some users. In January 2020, approximately 4 million user passwords were decrypted and shared online. Canva responded by resetting the passwords of every user who had not changed their password since the initial breach. === Russian operations === In May 2022 Canva was criticized for continuing to provide free access to its services in Russia, even after suspending payment processing in the country. Activists from the Ukrainian diaspora in Australia and others said this could be viewed as indirectly supporting Russia’s war effort. They noted the company was the only one of several major Australian firms to receive the lowest “digging in” rating on a tracker run by the Yale School of Management for failing to pull out of Russia. Canva responded that it had suspended financial transactions in Russia from March 2022 and maintained the free version to allow the continued creation and sharing of “pro-peace and anti-war” content for its 1.4 million Russian users.
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Vx-underground

vx-underground, also known as VXUG, is an educational website about malware and cybersecurity. It claims to have the largest online repository of malware. The site was launched in May, 2019 and has grown to host over 35 million pieces of malware samples. On their account on Twitter, VXUG reports on and verifies cybersecurity breaches. == Reception == Kim Crawley compared the site to VirusTotal and states that vx-underground is more susceptible to suspicion for law enforcement. == Data breach reports == In May 2024, the International Baccalaureate organizations faced allegations over supposed breaches in their IT infrastructure after an incident of examination leaks. Upon inspecting leaked data, VXUG were the first to report that the breach seemed legitimate on the morning of May 6.
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Sprayprinter

SprayPrinter is a device that attaches to aerosol paint cans whereby users can print images via Bluetooth from a smartphone onto a wall or almost any surface. == History == The technology behind SprayPrinter was developed by Mihkel Joala. He explained in a 2016 interview with New Atlas that his idea was inspired by the modern car engine and the Nintendo Wii console. "Engines nowadays use extremely fast valves to spray fuel to [the] combustion chamber," says Joala. "I realized I can use them to shoot paint with pinpoint accuracy." As of December 2021, the company appears to be no longer selling products. == Awards and Recognitions == In 2015, SprayPrinter received €8,000 from the Estonian prototyping contest Prototron for its initial prototype. In 2016, the SprayPrinter team won the grand prize of €30,000 from the televised pitching competition Ajujaht.
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