AI Generator Letter

AI Generator Letter — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

CapCut

CapCut, known domestically as JianYing (Chinese: 剪映; pinyin: Jiǎnyìng) and formerly internationally as ViaMaker, is a video editor developed by ByteDance, available as a mobile app, desktop app, and web app. == History == The app was first released in China in 2019 and was initially available for iPhone and Android. In 2020, it was rebranded in English from ViaMaker to CapCut and became available globally. It later expanded to include web and desktop versions for Mac and Windows. In 2022, CapCut reached 200 million active users. According to The Wall Street Journal, in March 2023, it was the second-most downloaded app in the U.S., behind that of Chinese discount retailer Temu. In January 2025, CapCut had over 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store. On February 1, 2021, CapCut Pro for Windows was launched. On November 27, the Pro version for Mac was launched. In July 2025, CapCut Pro for HarmonyOS was available on HarmonyOS NEXT tablets. In July 2024, CapCut was reported by the South China Morning Post to be a generative AI (GenAI) application that led global AI app downloads, with approximately 38.42 million downloads and 323 million monthly active users. == Features == CapCut supports basic video editing functions, including editing, trimming, and adding or splitting clips. Editing projects is limited to single-layer editing, but the app supports overlay options that enable additional effects, including multi-layer editing. The app includes a library of pre-made templates and a tool that generates editable video captions. It also provides photo editing tools, including retouch and product photo features integrated within the editing interface. CapCut's video editor includes AI-based features such as video and script generation. Users can export or save completed projects directly to different social media platforms. CapCut includes a free version and a paid Pro version with cloud storage and advanced features. == Controversies == === Illegal data collection === In July 2023, many users of CapCut accused it of illegally profiting off their personal data. A class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on July 28, 2023, alleged that CapCut illegally harvests and profits from user data including biometric information and geolocation without consent. In September 2025, a federal court excluded most of the lawsuit, which alleged that TikTok’s parent company improperly scraped private data from CapCut's video editing software, as lacking grounds, with some of the class action continuing to move forward. == Bans and restrictions == === Ban in India === As a response to border clashes with China in May 2020, the Indian government banned around 56 Chinese applications including CapCut and TikTok, which is owned by CapCut's parent company ByteDance. Indian users were unable to use and download the application. As of February 2022, around 273 Chinese applications have been banned by the Indian government under the concern of national security and Indian user privacy. === Ban in the United States === On January 18, 2025, at 10 PM EST, CapCut was banned in the United States along with TikTok and all other ByteDance apps due to the implementation of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Hours after the suspension of services took effect, President Donald Trump indicated on Truth Social that he would issue an executive order on the day of his inauguration "to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect". On January 21, CapCut began restoring service. On February 13, Google and Apple restored CapCut on the App Store and Google Play Store.
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Wispr

Wispr AI is a software company founded in 2021 by Tanay Kothari and Sahaj Garg that develops voice-based interfaces for computers and other devices. The company’s main product, Wispr Flow, is an AI-powered speech-to-text application available on macOS, Windows and iOS. == History == Wispr was founded in 2021 with the goal of building a non-invasive wearable device that would allow users to control smartphones without touch input. The device was intended to translate neurological signals into actions and to enable silent text entry by mouthing words, drawing on techniques similar to brain–computer interfaces. Early funding was directed toward this hardware-focused effort. After around three years of development, Wispr concluded that contemporary AI systems were not sufficient for the requirements of the wearable device. The company shifted its focus to Flow voice dictation software, the software layer originally built for the wearable, and in 2024 released a macOS application based on this platform. == Wispr Flow == Wispr Flow (often referred to as Flow) is a speech-to-text application for macOS, Windows and iOS. It provides real-time dictation and transcription in more than 100 languages and can operate across applications, including email clients, messaging platforms and chatbots. In June 2025 Wispr released an iOS version that functions as a third-party keyboard, allowing voice input in any app. == Technology == Wispr Flow is based on automatic speech recognition (ASR) and other AI models. The system adapts to individual users over time, learning their vocabulary and preferred style with the aim of reducing manual editing. Flow operates through configurable “Flow Sessions”, defined as time windows during which the app has access to the microphone; users can set session timeouts or disable automatic time limits. == Users and Adoption == Wispr initially targeted users such as venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and executives who process large volumes of text and often work in private or flexible environments. The user base later expanded via platforms such as Product Hunt to students, software developers, writers, lawyers and consultants. Flow has also been adopted by users with conditions such as ADHD, dyslexia, paralysis and carpal tunnel syndrome. About 40% of users are in the United States, 30% in Europe and the remaining 30% in other regions. More than 30% of users come from non-technical backgrounds. Flow supports 104 languages, with approximately 40% of dictations in English and 60% in other languages, including Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Hindi and Mandarin. Wispr has reported monthly user growth above 50%, a six-month active-user retention rate of about 80%, a payment rate around 19%, and revenue of approximately US$3.8 million between July 2024 and July 2025. == Development == Wispr has announced plans for an Android application and maintains waiting lists for Android, Linux and web versions of Flow. The company is developing shared-context features for teams so that the software can recognize common terminology within organizations and has stated that it aims to evolve Flow into a broader AI assistant for tasks such as messaging, note-taking and reminders. Wispr has also reported working with unnamed AI hardware partners on interaction layers for future devices. == Funding == In 2025 Wispr raised US$30 million in a Series A funding round led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from NEA, 8VC and several individual investors, including Evan Sharp and Henry Ward. Earlier investors include Neo, MVP Ventures and AIX Ventures. In November of that same year, the company raised a US$25 million Series A extension led by Notable Capital, with participation from Flight Fund, bringing its total funding to US$81 million. Wispr competes with other AI-based dictation and voice-input tools, including Aqua, Talktastic, Superwhisper and Betterdication.
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Imix video cube

The Imix (also known as ImMix) Video Cube is one of the first computer non-linear editing systems that was a full broadcast quality online video finishing machine. After its release in 1994, Imix released a more advanced version, the Imix Turbo Cube, which boasted 4 channels of real time layered visual effects. It was a hardware computer system controlled by an Apple Macintosh computer.
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Automated restaurant

An automated restaurant or robotic restaurant is a restaurant that uses robots to do tasks such as delivering food and drink to the tables or cooking the food. Restaurant automation means the use of a restaurant management system to automate some or occasionally all of the major operations of a restaurant establishment. More recently, restaurants are opening that have completely or partially automated their services. These may include: taking orders, preparing food, serving, and billing. A few fully automated restaurants operate without any human intervention whatsoever. Robots are designed to help and sometimes replace human labour (such as waiters and chefs). The automation of restaurants may also allow for the option for greater customization of an order. == History == === Vending machines === In the late 19th and early 20th century a number of restaurants served food solely through vending machines. These restaurants were called automats or, in Japan, shokkenki. Customers ordered their food directly through the machines. === Sushi conveyors === Yoshiaki Shiraishi is a Japanese innovator who is known for the creation of conveyor belt sushi. He had the idea following difficulty staffing his small sushi restaurant and managing the restaurant on his own. He was inspired seeing beer bottles on a conveyor belt in an Asahi brewery. Yoshiaki's restaurants are an early example of restaurant automation; they used a conveyor belt to distribute dishes around the restaurant, eliminating the need for waiters. This example of automation dates back to the Japanese economic miracle; the first of Yoshiaki's conveyor belt sushi restaurants was opened under the name Mawaru Genroku Sushi in 1958, in Osaka. === Partial automation === As of 2011, across Europe, McDonald's had already begun implementing 7,000 touch screen kiosks that could handle cashiering duties. From 2015 to 2020, Zume had an automated pizza parlor. Later companies would try to produce smaller, less ambitious devices, with one robotics company producing a machine that could automate the slowest and most repetitive parts of assembling a pizza, such as spreading pizza sauce or placing slices of pepperoni, while leaving other customizations to employees. In 2020, a restaurant in the Netherlands began trialling the use of a robot to serve guests. In September 2021, Karakuri's 'Semblr' food service robot served personalised lunches for the 4,000 employees of grocery technology solutions provider ocado Group's head offices in Hatfield, UK. 2,700 different combinations of dishes were on offer. Customers could specify in grams what hot and cold items, proteins, sauces and fresh toppings they wanted. In 2021, Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science engineers developed a method of cooking 3D printed chicken with software-controlled robotic lasers. The “Digital Food” team exposed raw 3D printed chicken structures to both blue and infrared light. They then assessed the cooking depth, colour development, moisture retention and flavour differences of the laser-cooked 3D printed samples in comparison to stove-cooked meat. In June 2022 a California nonprofit chain of residential communities, Front Porch, experimented with robots in dining rooms at two locations to supplement wait staff by carrying plated food and drink to tables, and removing dishes. 65% of residents found the robots helpful, with 51% saying they let the staff spend more quality time with diners. 51% of staff were "excited" and 58% said they enabled more quality time with diners. The chain has 19 senior living communities (and 35 affordable housing communities), so it has potential to expand robots to more dining rooms. It is shifting to memory care, which may affect plans. == Rationales == === Advantages === Efficiency: Automated restaurants can significantly enhance operational efficiency by minimizing human error and reducing service time. With automated ordering, payment, and food preparation systems, customers can enjoy faster service and reduced waiting times. Cost savings: By reducing the need for human staff, automated restaurants can potentially lower labor costs. This can be particularly beneficial in areas with high labor expenses, as it allows for better resource allocation and cost management. Consistency: Automation ensures consistency in food quality and presentation. With precise portion control and standardized cooking methods, customers can expect the same quality and taste in their meals every time they visit. Enhanced customer experience: Self-service kiosks and automated systems provide customers with control and convenience. They can customize their orders, browse through menu options, and pay seamlessly, creating a more interactive and satisfying dining experience. === Disadvantages === Lack of personal touch: Automated restaurants may lack the personal interaction and warmth that traditional restaurants provide. Some customers prefer the human touch, personalized recommendations, and the social aspect of dining out. Technical issues: Reliance on technology means that technical glitches and malfunctions can occur, resulting in service disruptions or delays. Maintenance and technical support become critical in ensuring smooth operations. Limited menu complexity: The automation process may be better suited for standardized menu items rather than complex or customized dishes. The ability to cater to unique dietary preferences or accommodate special requests may be limited. Employment implications: Automated restaurants may result in job losses for traditional restaurant staff, potentially impacting the local workforce. It is important to consider the social and economic implications of adopting such technology. == Locations == Automated restaurants have been opening in many countries. Examples include: Nala Restaurant in Naperville, Illinois Fritz's Railroad Restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas Výtopna, a Railway Restaurant using model trains: franchise of various restaurants and coffeehouses in the Czech Republic Bagger's Restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany FuA-Men Restaurant, a ramen restaurant located in Nagoya, Japan Fōster Nutrition in Buenos Aires, Argentina Dalu Robot Restaurant in Jinan, China Haohai Robot Restaurant in Harbin, China Robot Kitchen Restaurant in Hong Kong Robo-Chef restaurant in Tehran, Iran, started in 2017, is the first robotic and "waiterless" restaurant of the Middle East. MIT graduates opened Spyce Kitchens in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, in 2018 Foodom, under Country Garden Holdings, opened January 12, 2020, in Guangzhou, China Robot Chacha, the first robot restaurant of India, is planning to open in the capital city of New Delhi. Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, with a number of locations in the United States, uses a tablets at tables for ordering, a conveyor belt to deliver food, and robots to deliver drinks and condiments. Chipotle Mexican Grill is beginning to deploy the Hyphen Makeline, which assembles up to 350 bowls and salads automatically per hour, and Chippy, an automatic tortilla chip fryer made by Miso Robotics. Serious Dumplings in Boca Raton, Florida
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Curvelet

Curvelets are a non-adaptive technique for multi-scale object representation. Being an extension of the wavelet concept, they are becoming popular in similar fields, namely in image processing and scientific computing. Wavelets generalize the Fourier transform by using a basis that represents both location and spatial frequency. For 2D or 3D signals, directional wavelet transforms go further, by using basis functions that are also localized in orientation. A curvelet transform differs from other directional wavelet transforms in that the degree of localisation in orientation varies with scale. In particular, fine-scale basis functions are long ridges; the shape of the basis functions at scale j is 2 − j {\displaystyle 2^{-j}} by 2 − j / 2 {\displaystyle 2^{-j/2}} so the fine-scale bases are skinny ridges with a precisely determined orientation. Curvelets are an appropriate basis for representing images (or other functions) which are smooth apart from singularities along smooth curves, where the curves have bounded curvature, i.e. where objects in the image have a minimum length scale. This property holds for cartoons, geometrical diagrams, and text. As one zooms in on such images, the edges they contain appear increasingly straight. Curvelets take advantage of this property, by defining the higher resolution curvelets to be more elongated than the lower resolution curvelets. However, natural images (photographs) do not have this property; they have detail at every scale. Therefore, for natural images, it is preferable to use some sort of directional wavelet transform whose wavelets have the same aspect ratio at every scale. When the image is of the right type, curvelets provide a representation that is considerably sparser than other wavelet transforms. This can be quantified by considering the best approximation of a geometrical test image that can be represented using only n {\displaystyle n} wavelets, and analysing the approximation error as a function of n {\displaystyle n} . For a Fourier transform, the squared error decreases only as O ( 1 / n ) {\displaystyle O(1/{\sqrt {n}})} . For a wide variety of wavelet transforms, including both directional and non-directional variants, the squared error decreases as O ( 1 / n ) {\displaystyle O(1/n)} . The extra assumption underlying the curvelet transform allows it to achieve O ( ( log ⁡ n ) 3 / n 2 ) {\displaystyle O({(\log n)}^{3}/{n^{2}})} . Efficient numerical algorithms exist for computing the curvelet transform of discrete data. The computational cost of the discrete curvelet transforms proposed by Candès et al. (Discrete curvelet transform based on unequally-spaced fast Fourier transforms and based on the wrapping of specially selected Fourier samples) is approximately 6–10 times that of an FFT, and has the same dependence of O ( n 2 log ⁡ n ) {\displaystyle O(n^{2}\log n)} for an image of size n × n {\displaystyle n\times n} . == Curvelet construction == To construct a basic curvelet ϕ {\displaystyle \phi } and provide a tiling of the 2-D frequency space, two main ideas should be followed: Consider polar coordinates in frequency domain Construct curvelet elements being locally supported near wedges The number of wedges is N j = 4 ⋅ 2 ⌈ j 2 ⌉ {\displaystyle N_{j}=4\cdot 2^{\left\lceil {\frac {j}{2}}\right\rceil }} at the scale 2 − j {\displaystyle 2^{-j}} , i.e., it doubles in each second circular ring. Let ξ = ( ξ 1 , ξ 2 ) T {\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\xi }}=\left(\xi _{1},\xi _{2}\right)^{T}} be the variable in frequency domain, and r = ξ 1 2 + ξ 2 2 , ω = arctan ⁡ ξ 1 ξ 2 {\displaystyle r={\sqrt {\xi _{1}^{2}+\xi _{2}^{2}}},\omega =\arctan {\frac {\xi _{1}}{\xi _{2}}}} be the polar coordinates in the frequency domain. We use the ansatz for the dilated basic curvelets in polar coordinates: ϕ ^ j , 0 , 0 := 2 − 3 j 4 W ( 2 − j r ) V ~ N j ( ω ) , r ≥ 0 , ω ∈ [ 0 , 2 π ) , j ∈ N 0 {\displaystyle {\hat {\phi }}_{j,0,0}:=2^{\frac {-3j}{4}}W(2^{-j}r){\tilde {V}}_{N_{j}}(\omega ),r\geq 0,\omega \in [0,2\pi ),j\in N_{0}} To construct a basic curvelet with compact support near a ″basic wedge″, the two windows W {\displaystyle W} and V ~ N j {\displaystyle {\tilde {V}}_{N_{j}}} need to have compact support. Here, we can simply take W ( r ) {\displaystyle W(r)} to cover ( 0 , ∞ ) {\displaystyle (0,\infty )} with dilated curvelets and V ~ N j {\displaystyle {\tilde {V}}_{N_{j}}} such that each circular ring is covered by the translations of V ~ N j {\displaystyle {\tilde {V}}_{N_{j}}} . Then the admissibility yields ∑ j = − ∞ ∞ | W ( 2 − j r ) | 2 = 1 , r ∈ ( 0 , ∞ ) . {\displaystyle \sum _{j=-\infty }^{\infty }\left|W(2^{-j}r)\right|^{2}=1,r\in (0,\infty ).} see Window Functions for more information For tiling a circular ring into N {\displaystyle N} wedges, where N {\displaystyle N} is an arbitrary positive integer, we need a 2 π {\displaystyle 2\pi } -periodic nonnegative window V ~ N {\displaystyle {\tilde {V}}_{N}} with support inside [ − 2 π N , 2 π N ] {\displaystyle \left[{\frac {-2\pi }{N}},{\frac {2\pi }{N}}\right]} such that ∑ l = 0 N − 1 V ~ N 2 ( ω − 2 π l N ) = 1 {\displaystyle \sum _{l=0}^{N-1}{\tilde {V}}_{N}^{2}\left(\omega -{\frac {2\pi l}{N}}\right)=1} , for all ω ∈ [ 0 , 2 π ) {\displaystyle \omega \in \left[0,2\pi \right)} , V ~ N {\displaystyle {\tilde {V}}_{N}} can be simply constructed as 2 π {\displaystyle 2\pi } -periodizations of a scaled window V ( N ω 2 π ) {\displaystyle V\left({\frac {N\omega }{2\pi }}\right)} . Then, it follows that ∑ l = 0 N j − 1 | 2 3 j 4 ϕ ^ j , 0 , 0 ( r , ω − 2 π l N j ) | 2 = | W ( 2 − j r ) | 2 ∑ l = 0 N j − 1 V ~ N j 2 ( ω − 2 π l N ) = | W ( 2 − j r ) | 2 {\displaystyle \sum _{l=0}^{N_{j}-1}\left|2^{\frac {3j}{4}}{\hat {\phi }}_{j,0,0}\left(r,\omega -{\frac {2\pi l}{N_{j}}}\right)\right|^{2}=\left|W(2^{-j}r)\right|^{2}\sum _{l=0}^{N_{j}-1}{\tilde {V}}_{N_{j}}^{2}\left(\omega -{\frac {2\pi l}{N}}\right)=\left|W(2^{-j}r)\right|^{2}} For a complete covering of the frequency plane including the region around zero, we need to define a low pass element ϕ ^ − 1 := W 0 ( | ξ | ) {\displaystyle {\hat {\phi }}_{-1}:=W_{0}(\left|\xi \right|)} with W 0 2 ( r ) 2 := 1 − ∑ j = 0 ∞ W ( 2 − j r ) 2 {\displaystyle W_{0}^{2}(r)^{2}:=1-\sum _{j=0}^{\infty }W(2^{-j}r)^{2}} that is supported on the unit circle, and where we do not consider any rotation. == Applications == Image processing Seismic exploration Fluid mechanics PDEs solving Compressed sensing
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AARON

AARON is the collective name for a series of computer programs written by artist Harold Cohen that create original artistic images autonomously, which set it apart from previous programs. Proceeding from Cohen's initial question "What are the minimum conditions under which a set of marks functions as an image?", AARON was in development between 1972 and the 2010s. As the software is not open source, its development effectively ended with Cohen's death in 2016. The name "AARON" does not seem to be an acronym; rather, it was a name chosen to start with the letter "A" so that the names of successive programs could follow it alphabetically. However, Cohen did not create any other major programs. Initial versions of AARON created abstract drawings that grew more complex through the 1970s. More representational imagery was added in the 1980s; first rocks, then plants, then people. In the 1990s more representational figures set in interior scenes were added, along with color. AARON returned to more abstract imagery, this time in color, in the early 2000s. Cohen used machines that allowed AARON to produce physical artwork. The first machines drew in black and white using a succession of custom-built "turtle" and flatbed plotter devices. Cohen would sometimes color these images by hand in fabric dye (Procion), or scale them up to make larger paintings and murals. In the 1990s Cohen built a series of digital painting machines to output AARON's images in ink and fabric dye. His later work used a large-scale inkjet printer on canvas. Development of AARON began in the C programming language then switched to Lisp in the early 1990s. Cohen credits Lisp with helping him solve the challenges he faced in adding color capabilities to AARON. An article about Cohen appeared in Computer Answers that describes AARON and shows two line drawings that were exhibited at the Tate gallery. The article goes on to describe the workings of AARON, then running on a DEC VAX 750 minicomputer. Raymond Kurzweil's company has produced a downloadable screensaver of AARON for Microsoft Windows PCs. This version of AARON can also produce printable images. AARON's source code is not publicly available, but Cohen has described AARON's operations in various essays and it is discussed in abstract in Pamela McCorduck's book. AARON cannot learn new styles or imagery on its own; each new capability must be hand-coded by Cohen. It is capable of producing a practically infinite supply of distinct images in its own style. Examples of these images have been exhibited in galleries worldwide. AARON's artwork has been used as an artistic equivalent of the Turing test. It does seem however that AARON's output follows a noticeable formula (figures standing next to a potted plant, framed within a colored square is a common theme). Cohen is very careful not to claim that AARON is creative. But he does ask "If what AARON is making is not art, what is it exactly, and in what ways, other than its origin, does it differ from the 'real thing?' If it is not thinking, what exactly is it doing?" — The further exploits of AARON, Painter. The Whitney Museum featured AARON in 2024, showcasing the evolution of AARON as the earliest artificial intelligence (AI) program for artmaking.
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Digital Darkroom

Digital Darkroom was a graphics program for editing gray-scale photos, published by Silicon Beach Software for the Macintosh in 1987. It was programmed by Ed Bomke and Don Cone. Digital Darkroom was the first Macintosh program to incorporate a plug-in architecture. Silicon Beach and Ed Bomke are credited with having coined the term "plug-in". Another innovation of Digital Darkroom was the Magic Wand tool, which also appeared later in Photoshop. When Silicon Beach Software was acquired by Aldus Corporation, Digital Darkroom continued to be published by the Aldus Consumer Division, but was never updated to include color. The trademark "Digital Darkroom" was acquired by MicroFrontier in 1997 and used for a completely new image-editing program that does work with color. The software was acquired by Digimage Arts in 2002 and was sold for both Windows and Mac systems.
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Super app

A super app or super-app (also known as an everything app) is a mobile or web application that can provide multiple services including payment and instant messaging services, effectively becoming an all-encompassing, self-contained, commerce and communication online platform that embraces many aspects of personal and commercial life. Notable examples of super apps include Tencent's WeChat in China, Tata Neu in India, Grab in Southeast Asia and Max in Russia. For end users, a super app is an application that provides a set of core features while also giving access to independently developed miniapps. For app developers, a super app is an application integrated with the capabilities of platforms and ecosystems that allows third-parties to develop and publish miniapps. == History == The super app term was first used to describe WeChat when it combined the instant messaging service with the digital wallet function. Recognition of WeChat as a super app stems from its combination of messaging, payments, e-commerce, and much more within a single application, making it indispensable for many users. WeChat's establishment of the super app model has led companies like Meta to try to build similar applications outside of China. In India, Tata Group has announced that it is currently developing a super app named Tata Neu. Major Indian companies like Paytm, PhonePe, and ITC Maars also have apps in development that might constitute super apps. In Southeast Asia, Grab and Gojek lay claim to the super app classification despite lacking many of the features offered by WeChat. Accordingly, growth-stage companies like Shopee, Traveloka, and AirAsia have also expanded the range of services offered by their respective applications. == Notable examples == === Alipay === Alipay is a third-party mobile and online payment platform established in Hangzhou, China in February 2004 by Alibaba Group and its founder Jack Ma. It operates in association with Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese Alibaba Group. === Gojek === Gojek is an Indonesian on-demand multiservice digital platform and fintech payment super app. Established in Jakarta in 2010, as a call center to connect consumers to courier delivery and two-wheeled ride-hailing services, it launched its mobile app in 2015 with four services: GoRide, GoSend, GoShop, and GoFood, which has since expanded to offer over 20 services. In 2021, it merged with another Indonesian unicorn, Tokopedia, forming the decacorn GoTo Gojek Tokopedia. === Grab === Grab is a Southeast Asian technology company headquartered in Singapore and Indonesia. Founded in 2012 as the MyTeksi app in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it expanded the following year as GrabTaxi, before moving its headquarters to Singapore in 2014 and rebranding officially as Grab. In addition to ride-hailing and transportation services, the company's mobile app also offers food delivery and digital payment services. === Max === Max is a messenger from the Russian company VK, positioned as a super app. The application combines messaging, calls, and channels features with the integration of additional services: payments, miniapps, taxi ordering, deliveries, and other everyday services are available within a single interface. The goal is to unite communication and routine tasks in a unified ecosystem. === Tata Neu === Tata Neu is a multipurpose super app, developed in India by the Tata Group. It is the country's first super app. The app was launched to coincide with the start of a 2022 Indian Premier League cricket match. === WeChat === WeChat is a Chinese multipurpose instant messaging, social media and mobile payment app. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, the sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing. === X === X is an American social network, originally known as Twitter from its launch through 2023. Prior to his acquisition of the service, new owner Elon Musk stated that he planned for Twitter to become an "everything app" known as "X"; in 2023, the service added an AI chatbot known as "Grok" as well as integrated job search tools known as "X Hiring". In January 2025, X announced its intent to offer a digital wallet service in the future. Later in the year, X revamped its direct messaging system as "Chat". == Criticism == Although apps that fit the super app classification can offer users a wider variety of services in comparison to single-purpose alternatives, internet regulators in regions such as the US and Europe have become more concerned about the overall power of the technology industry and have become more critical of companies developing such apps. In China, WeChat and other local firms have been ordered to open up their platforms to rivals by local regulators. There are also reports that suggest it might be difficult to replicate WeChat's super app model. This stems partly from the peaking of smartphone penetration rates in many regions worldwide, which has led to overcrowded app stores and tighter restrictions on targeted advertising as regulators assert more control over the companies. From a technical viewpoint, single-purpose apps are comparatively faster, more responsive and easier to navigate than super apps, which helps improve the overall user experience. Super-apps are also likelier to store larger amounts of personal data to facilitate the delivery of their services, so users run a greater risk of becoming victims of severe data breaches. In 2020, this unfolded with Tokopedia, which had the data of 91 million of its users stolen and shared by crackers. It has also been noted that a user who loses access to their account or is banned from a super app generally loses access to multiple real-life services and digital applications; the Chinese government has used this approach to penalize people who shared the photos of the Sitong Bridge protest.
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Hexagonal sampling

A multidimensional signal is a function of M independent variables where M ≥ 2 {\displaystyle M\geq 2} . Real world signals, which are generally continuous time signals, have to be discretized (sampled) in order to ensure that digital systems can be used to process the signals. It is during this process of discretization where sampling comes into picture. Although there are many ways of obtaining a discrete representation of a continuous time signal, periodic sampling is by far the simplest scheme. Theoretically, sampling can be performed with respect to any set of points. But practically, sampling is carried out with respect to a set of points that have a certain algebraic structure. Such structures are called lattices. Mathematically, the process of sampling an N {\displaystyle N} -dimensional signal can be written as: w ( t ^ ) = w ( V . n ^ ) {\displaystyle w({\hat {t}})=w(V.{\hat {n}})} where t ^ {\displaystyle {\hat {t}}} is continuous domain M-dimensional vector (M-D) that is being sampled, n ^ {\displaystyle {\hat {n}}} is an M-dimensional integer vector corresponding to indices of a sample, and V is an N × N {\displaystyle N\times N} sampling matrix. == Motivation == Multidimensional sampling provides the opportunity to look at digital methods to process signals. Some of the advantages of processing signals in the digital domain include flexibility via programmable DSP operations, signal storage without the loss of fidelity, opportunity for encryption in communication, lower sensitivity to hardware tolerances. Thus, digital methods are simultaneously both powerful and flexible. In many applications, they act as less expensive alternatives to their analog counterparts. Sometimes, the algorithms implemented using digital hardware are so complex that they have no analog counterparts. Multidimensional digital signal processing deals with processing signals represented as multidimensional arrays such as 2-D sequences or sampled images.[1] Processing these signals in the digital domain permits the use of digital hardware where in signal processing operations are specified by algorithms. As real world signals are continuous time signals, multidimensional sampling plays a crucial role in discretizing the real world signals. The discrete time signals are in turn processed using digital hardware to extract information from the signal. == Preliminaries == === Region of Support === The region outside of which the samples of the signal take zero values is known as the Region of support (ROS). From the definition, it is clear that the region of support of a signal is not unique. === Fourier transform === The Fourier transform is a tool that allows us to simplify mathematical operations performed on the signal. The transform basically represents any signal as a weighted combination of sinusoids. The Fourier and the inverse Fourier transform of an M-dimensional signal can be defined as follows: X a ( Ω ^ ) = ∫ − ∞ + ∞ x a ( t ^ ) e − j Ω ^ T t ^ d t ^ {\displaystyle X_{a}({\hat {\Omega }})=\int _{-\infty }^{+\infty }\!x_{a}({\hat {t}})e^{-j{\hat {\Omega }}^{T}{\hat {t}}}d{\hat {t}}} x a ( t ^ ) = 1 2 π M ∫ − ∞ + ∞ X ( Ω ^ ) e ( j Ω ^ T t ^ ) d Ω ^ {\displaystyle x_{a}({\hat {t}})={\frac {1}{2\pi ^{M}}}\int _{-\infty }^{+\infty }\!X({\hat {\Omega }})e^{(j{\hat {\Omega }}^{T}{\hat {t}})}\,\mathrm {d} {\hat {\Omega }}} The cap symbol ^ indicates that the operation is performed on vectors. The Fourier transform of the sampled signal is observed to be a periodic extension of the continuous time Fourier transform of the signal. This is mathematically represented as: X ( ω ) = 1 | d e t ( V ) | ∑ k X a ( Ω ^ − U k ) {\displaystyle X(\omega )={\frac {1}{|det(V)|}}\sum _{k}\!X_{a}({\hat {\Omega }}-Uk)} where ω = V ~ Ω {\displaystyle \omega ={\tilde {V}}\Omega } and U = 2 π V ~ {\displaystyle U=2\pi {\tilde {V}}} is the periodicity matrix where ~ denotes matrix transposition. Thus sampling in the spatial domain results in periodicity in the Fourier domain. === Aliasing === A band limited signal may be periodically replicated in many ways. If the replication results in an overlap between replicated regions, the signal suffers from aliasing. Under such conditions, a continuous time signal cannot be perfectly recovered from its samples. Thus in order to ensure perfect recovery of the continuous signal, there must be zero overlap multidimensional sampling of the replicated regions in the transformed domain. As in the case of 1-dimensional signals, aliasing can be prevented if the continuous time signal is sampled at an adequate sufficiently high rate. === Sampling density === It is a measure of the number of samples per unit area. It is defined as: S . D = 1 | d e t ( V ) | = | d e t ( U ) | 4 π 2 {\displaystyle S.D={\frac {1}{|det(V)|}}={\frac {|det(U)|}{4\pi ^{2}}}} . The minimum number of samples per unit area required to completely recover the continuous time signal is termed as optimal sampling density. In applications where memory or processing time are limited, emphasis must be given to minimizing the number of samples required to represent the signal completely. == Existing approaches == For a bandlimited waveform, there are infinitely many ways the signal can be sampled without producing aliases in the Fourier domain. But only two strategies are commonly used: rectangular sampling and hexagonal sampling. === Rectangular and Hexagonal sampling === In rectangular sampling, a 2-dimensional signal, for example, is sampled according to the following V matrix: V r e c t = [ T 1 0 0 T 2 ] {\displaystyle V_{rect}={\begin{bmatrix}T1&0\\0&T2\end{bmatrix}}} where T1 and T2 are the sampling periods along the horizontal and vertical direction respectively. In hexagonal sampling, the V matrix assumes the following general form: V h e x = [ T 1 T 1 − T 2 T 2 ] {\displaystyle V_{hex}={\begin{bmatrix}T1&T1\\-T2&T2\end{bmatrix}}} The difference in the efficiency of the two schemes is highlighted using a bandlimited signal with a circular region of support of radius R. The circle can be inscribed in a square of length 2R or a regular hexagon of length 2 R 3 {\displaystyle {\frac {2R}{\sqrt {3}}}} . Consequently, the region of support is now transformed into a square and a hexagon respectively. If these regions are periodically replicated in the frequency domain such that there is zero overlap between any two regions, then by periodically replicating the square region of support, we effectively sample the continuous signal on a rectangular lattice. Similarly periodic replication of the hexagonal region of support maps to sampling the continuous signal on a hexagonal lattice. From U, the periodicity matrix, we can calculate the optimal sampling density for both the rectangular and hexagonal schemes. It is found that in order to completely recover the circularly band-limited signal, the hexagonal sampling scheme requires 13.4% fewer samples than the rectangular sampling scheme. The reduction may appear to be of little significance for a 2-dimensional signal. But as the dimensionality of the signal increases, the efficiency of the hexagonal sampling scheme will become far more evident. For instance, the reduction achieved for an 8-dimensional signal is 93.8%. To highlight the importance of the obtained result [2], try and visualize an image as a collection of infinite number of samples. The primary entity responsible for vision, i.e. the photoreceptors (rods and cones) are present on the retina of all mammals. These cells are not arranged in rows and columns. By adapting a hexagonal sampling scheme, our eyes are able to process images much more efficiently. The importance of hexagonal sampling lies in the fact that the photoreceptors of the human vision system lie on a hexagonal sampling lattice and, thus, perform hexagonal sampling.[3] In fact, it can be shown that the hexagonal sampling scheme is the optimal sampling scheme for a circularly band-limited signal. == Applications == === Aliasing effects minimized by the use of optimal sampling grids === Recent advances in the CCD technology has made hexagonal sampling feasible for real life applications. Historically, because of technology constraints, detector arrays were implemented only on 2-dimensional rectangular sampling lattices with rectangular shape detectors. But the super [CCD] detector introduced by Fuji has an octagonal shaped pixel in a hexagonal grid. Theoretically, the performance of the detector was greatly increased by introducing an octagonal pixel. The number of pixels required to represent the sample was reduced and there was significant improvement in the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) when compared with that of a rectangular pixel. But the drawback of using hexagonal pixels is that the associated fill factor will be less than 82%. An alternative method would be to interpolate hexagonal pixels in such a manner that we ultimately end up with a rectangular grid. The Spot 5 satellite incorporates a
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Bandhan Tod

Bandhan Tod is a mobile app to stop child marriage in India's Bihar state through SOS button in the app. When the SOS on Bandhan Tod is activated, the nearest small NGO will attempt to resolve the issue. If the family resists, then the police gets notified. Till now so many child marriages has been cancelled through Bandhan Tod interventions. Bandhan Tod is an initiative of Gender Alliance managed by Prashanti Tiwari to support the state government's efforts to end child marriage and dowry.
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Agent-assisted automation

Agent-assisted automation is a type of call center technology that automates elements of what the call center agent 1) does with his/her desktop tools and/or 2) says to customers during the call using pre-recorded audio. It is a relatively new category of call center technology that shows promise in improving call center productivity and compliance. == Types of agent-assisted automation == === Pre-recorded audio === Pre-recorded audio (sometimes referred to as soundboard (computer program) or as soundboard technology) is another form of agent-assisted automation. The purpose of using pre-recorded messages is to increase the probability (and in some cases error-proof the process so) that the right information is provided to customers at the right time. The required disclosures are pre-recorded to ensure accuracy and understandability. By integrating the recordings with the customer relationship management software, the right combination of disclosures can be played based on the combination of goods and services the customer purchased. The integration with the customer relationship management software also ensures that the order cannot be submitted until the disclosures are played, essentially error-proofing (poka-yoke) the process of ensuring the customer gets all the required consumer protection information. Phone surveys are ideal applications of this technology. Whether surveying market preferences or political views, the pre-recorded audio with an agent listening allows the questions to be asked in the same way every time, uninfluenced by the agents' fatigue levels, accents, or their own views. === Fraud prevention === Fraud prevention is a specialized type of agent-assisted automation focused on reducing ID theft and credit card fraud. ID theft and credit card fraud are huge threats for call centers and their customers and few good solutions exist, but new agent-assisted automation solutions are producing promising results. The technology allows the agents to remain on the phone while the customers use their phone key pads to enter the information. The tones are masked and the information passes directly into the customer relationship management system or payment gateway in the case of credit card transactions. The automation essentially makes it impossible for call center agents and also call center personnel that might be monitoring the calls to steal the credit card number, social security number, or other personally identifiable information. === Outbound telemarketing === Another specialized application space of agent-assisted automation is in outbound telemarketing, which goes under numerous headings including outbound prospecting, cold calling, solicitation, fund-raising, etc. Turnover is high among agents engaged in this kind of work because the task is tedious and emotionally difficult. It is tedious because the agent spends the bulk of their day, not talking to qualified leads, but in getting wrong numbers and answering machines. == Benefits == Just as automation has benefited manufacturing by reducing the mental and physical effort required of workers while simultaneously improving throughput, quality, and safety, agent-assisted automation is improving call center results while reducing the tiring aspects of the job for agents. In some cases, the agent-assisted automation streamlines the process and allows calls to be handled more quickly. By eliminating cutting and pasting from one application to another, by auto-navigating applications, and by providing a single view of the customer, agent-assisted automation can reduce call handle time and increase agent productivity. Second, in theory, the more steps that can be automated and the more logic that can be built into the call flow (e.g., if the customer buys items 2 and 9, then disclosures a, c, and f are read by the pre-recorded audio), then companies may be able to reduce the amount of training that is required of the agents while at the same time ensuring more consistency and accuracy. However, no published studies have reported this result yet. But an even larger problem in call centers is between-agent variation in behavior and results. Agents differ in the amount of training and coaching they receive, they differ in the amount of experience they have, their jobs are repetitious and tiring, and the process and procedures the agents are supposed to follow constantly change. Moreover, there are significant individual differences between agents in their intelligence, personality, motivations, etc. which all affect performance. Despite the large amount of money call centers have spent over decades trying to reduce between-agent variation, the problem is still so prevalent that one large study of customer interactions with call centers found that a customer's experience was completely a function of the quality of the agent who happened to answer the phone. Therefore, the most significant benefit of agent-assisted automation may prove to be in how the automation error-proofs or poka-yoke the process and ensures that something that needs to be done or said happens every time. Properly implemented, the between-agent variation for whatever step of the process the automation is applied to may be able to be reduced to near zero. This is especially important in a collection agency whose processes and procedures are closely regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
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Spherical basis

In pure and applied mathematics, particularly quantum mechanics and computer graphics and their applications, a spherical basis is the basis used to express spherical tensors. The spherical basis closely relates to the description of angular momentum in quantum mechanics and spherical harmonic functions. While spherical polar coordinates are one orthogonal coordinate system for expressing vectors and tensors using polar and azimuthal angles and radial distance, the spherical basis are constructed from the standard basis and use complex numbers. == In three dimensions == A vector A in 3D Euclidean space R3 can be expressed in the familiar Cartesian coordinate system in the standard basis ex, ey, ez, and coordinates Ax, Ay, Az: or any other coordinate system with associated basis set of vectors. From this extend the scalars to allow multiplication by complex numbers, so that we are now working in C 3 {\displaystyle \mathbb {C} ^{3}} rather than R 3 {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{3}} . === Basis definition === In the spherical bases denoted e+, e−, e0, and associated coordinates with respect to this basis, denoted A+, A−, A0, the vector A is: where the spherical basis vectors can be defined in terms of the Cartesian basis using complex-valued coefficients in the xy plane: in which i {\displaystyle i} denotes the imaginary unit, and one normal to the plane in the z direction: e 0 = e z {\displaystyle \mathbf {e} _{0}=\mathbf {e} _{z}} The inverse relations are: === Commutator definition === While giving a basis in a 3-dimensional space is a valid definition for a spherical tensor, it only covers the case for when the rank k {\displaystyle k} is 1. For higher ranks, one may use either the commutator, or rotation definition of a spherical tensor. The commutator definition is given below, any operator T q ( k ) {\displaystyle T_{q}^{(k)}} that satisfies the following relations is a spherical tensor: [ J ± , T q ( k ) ] = ℏ ( k ∓ q ) ( k ± q + 1 ) T q ± 1 ( k ) {\displaystyle [J_{\pm },T_{q}^{(k)}]=\hbar {\sqrt {(k\mp q)(k\pm q+1)}}T_{q\pm 1}^{(k)}} [ J z , T q ( k ) ] = ℏ q T q ( k ) {\displaystyle [J_{z},T_{q}^{(k)}]=\hbar qT_{q}^{(k)}} === Rotation definition === Analogously to how the spherical harmonics transform under a rotation, a general spherical tensor transforms as follows, when the states transform under the unitary Wigner D-matrix D ( R ) {\displaystyle {\mathcal {D}}(R)} , where R is a (3×3 rotation) group element in SO(3). That is, these matrices represent the rotation group elements. With the help of its Lie algebra, one can show these two definitions are equivalent. D ( R ) T q ( k ) D † ( R ) = ∑ q ′ = − k k T q ′ ( k ) D q ′ q ( k ) {\displaystyle {\mathcal {D}}(R)T_{q}^{(k)}{\mathcal {D}}^{\dagger }(R)=\sum _{q'=-k}^{k}T_{q'}^{(k)}{\mathcal {D}}_{q'q}^{(k)}} === Coordinate vectors === For the spherical basis, the coordinates are complex-valued numbers A+, A0, A−, and can be found by substitution of (3B) into (1), or directly calculated from the inner product ⟨, ⟩ (5): A 0 = ⟨ e 0 , A ⟩ = ⟨ e z , A ⟩ = A z {\displaystyle A_{0}=\left\langle \mathbf {e} _{0},\mathbf {A} \right\rangle =\left\langle \mathbf {e} _{z},\mathbf {A} \right\rangle =A_{z}} with inverse relations: In general, for two vectors with complex coefficients in the same real-valued orthonormal basis ei, with the property ei·ej = δij, the inner product is: where · is the usual dot product and the complex conjugate must be used to keep the magnitude (or "norm") of the vector positive definite. == Properties (three dimensions) == === Orthonormality === The spherical basis is an orthonormal basis, since the inner product ⟨, ⟩ (5) of every pair vanishes meaning the basis vectors are all mutually orthogonal: ⟨ e + , e − ⟩ = ⟨ e − , e 0 ⟩ = ⟨ e 0 , e + ⟩ = 0 {\displaystyle \left\langle \mathbf {e} _{+},\mathbf {e} _{-}\right\rangle =\left\langle \mathbf {e} _{-},\mathbf {e} _{0}\right\rangle =\left\langle \mathbf {e} _{0},\mathbf {e} _{+}\right\rangle =0} and each basis vector is a unit vector: ⟨ e + , e + ⟩ = ⟨ e − , e − ⟩ = ⟨ e 0 , e 0 ⟩ = 1 {\displaystyle \left\langle \mathbf {e} _{+},\mathbf {e} _{+}\right\rangle =\left\langle \mathbf {e} _{-},\mathbf {e} _{-}\right\rangle =\left\langle \mathbf {e} _{0},\mathbf {e} _{0}\right\rangle =1} hence the need for the normalizing factors of 1 / 2 {\displaystyle 1/\!{\sqrt {2}}} . === Change of basis matrix === The defining relations (3A) can be summarized by a transformation matrix U: ( e + e − e 0 ) = U ( e x e y e z ) , U = ( − 1 2 − i 2 0 + 1 2 − i 2 0 0 0 1 ) , {\displaystyle {\begin{pmatrix}\mathbf {e} _{+}\\\mathbf {e} _{-}\\\mathbf {e} _{0}\end{pmatrix}}=\mathbf {U} {\begin{pmatrix}\mathbf {e} _{x}\\\mathbf {e} _{y}\\\mathbf {e} _{z}\end{pmatrix}}\,,\quad \mathbf {U} ={\begin{pmatrix}-{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\+{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\0&0&1\end{pmatrix}}\,,} with inverse: ( e x e y e z ) = U − 1 ( e + e − e 0 ) , U − 1 = ( − 1 2 + 1 2 0 + i 2 + i 2 0 0 0 1 ) . {\displaystyle {\begin{pmatrix}\mathbf {e} _{x}\\\mathbf {e} _{y}\\\mathbf {e} _{z}\end{pmatrix}}=\mathbf {U} ^{-1}{\begin{pmatrix}\mathbf {e} _{+}\\\mathbf {e} _{-}\\\mathbf {e} _{0}\end{pmatrix}}\,,\quad \mathbf {U} ^{-1}={\begin{pmatrix}-{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&+{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\0&0&1\end{pmatrix}}\,.} It can be seen that U is a unitary matrix, in other words its Hermitian conjugate U† (complex conjugate and matrix transpose) is also the inverse matrix U−1. For the coordinates: ( A + A − A 0 ) = U ∗ ( A x A y A z ) , U ∗ = ( − 1 2 + i 2 0 + 1 2 + i 2 0 0 0 1 ) , {\displaystyle {\begin{pmatrix}A_{+}\\A_{-}\\A_{0}\end{pmatrix}}=\mathbf {U} ^{\mathrm {} }{\begin{pmatrix}A_{x}\\A_{y}\\A_{z}\end{pmatrix}}\,,\quad \mathbf {U} ^{\mathrm {} }={\begin{pmatrix}-{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\+{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\0&0&1\end{pmatrix}}\,,} and inverse: ( A x A y A z ) = ( U ∗ ) − 1 ( A + A − A 0 ) , ( U ∗ ) − 1 = ( − 1 2 + 1 2 0 − i 2 − i 2 0 0 0 1 ) . {\displaystyle {\begin{pmatrix}A_{x}\\A_{y}\\A_{z}\end{pmatrix}}=(\mathbf {U} ^{\mathrm {} })^{-1}{\begin{pmatrix}A_{+}\\A_{-}\\A_{0}\end{pmatrix}}\,,\quad (\mathbf {U} ^{\mathrm {} })^{-1}={\begin{pmatrix}-{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&+{\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {2}}}&0\\0&0&1\end{pmatrix}}\,.} === Cross products === Taking cross products of the spherical basis vectors, we find an obvious relation: e q × e q = 0 {\displaystyle \mathbf {e} _{q}\times \mathbf {e} _{q}={\boldsymbol {0}}} where q is a placeholder for +, −, 0, and two less obvious relations: e ± × e ∓ = ± i e 0 {\displaystyle \mathbf {e} _{\pm }\times \mathbf {e} _{\mp }=\pm i\mathbf {e} _{0}} e ± × e 0 = ± i e ± {\displaystyle \mathbf {e} _{\pm }\times \mathbf {e} _{0}=\pm i\mathbf {e} _{\pm }} === Inner product in the spherical basis === The inner product between two vectors A and B in the spherical basis follows from the above definition of the inner product: ⟨ A , B ⟩ = A + B + ⋆ + A − B − ⋆ + A 0 B 0 ⋆ {\displaystyle \left\langle \mathbf {A} ,\mathbf {B} \right\rangle =A_{+}B_{+}^{\star }+A_{-}B_{-}^{\star }+A_{0}B_{0}^{\star }}
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ArcObjects

ArcObjects is a development environment of the ArcGIS family of applications. Using Visual Basic for Applications, C# or Java SDK for ArcGIS, it allows developers to extend these applications.ArcObjects is a library of Component Object Model (COM) components that build up the foundation of Esri's ArcGIS platform. ArcObjects is written primarily in the C++ programming language. Since ArcGIS is completely built on top of ArcObjects, the ArcGIS platform can be fully customized and extended by making use of its COM services and capabilities. This allows for easy extension of the ArcObjects data model with any programming language that is compatible with COM, such as Visual Basic, C#, Visual Basic.NET, Java and Python. COM enables components to be reused at a binary level, meaning developers do not require access to the source code of ArcObjects in order to extend the ArcGIS platform. For this reason, an ArcObjects programmer can make use of any type inside the ArcObjects system without knowing the implementation details of the type, only needing to know what the type is able to do. The ArcObjects data model is based on the COM standard, which makes it compatible with other COM objects and applications. This allows for easy integration and collaboration with other systems that are also based on the COM standard. The ArcGIS platform was built using ArcObjects types, such as classes, interfaces, and enumerations. ArcObjects use COM interfaces to organize and communicate properties and methods of its classes, ensuring compatibility with other COM-based objects and systems. When working with an ArcObjects COM class, its properties and methods are accessed solely through one of its implemented interfaces via the process of Query Interface (QI). Multiple interfaces are commonly available for classes in ArcObjects. For example, it is possible to query for additional interfaces implemented by an object after instantiation via the process of QI. Although only one interface can be used when instantiating an object, multiple interfaces are often available for classes in ArcObjects, allowing for greater flexibility and compatibility with other systems based on the COM standard.
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Xara Designer Pro+

Xara Designer Pro+ is an image editing program incorporating photo editing and vector illustration tools created by British software company Xara. Xara Xtreme LX was an early open source version for Linux. The Windows version was previously sold under the names Xara Studio, Xara X and Xara Xtreme, and traces its origin in the late 1980s to a title called ArtWorks for the Acorn Archimedes line of computers using RISC OS. There is a pro version called Xara Designer Pro (formerly Xara Xtreme Pro). The current commercial version of Xara Photo & Graphic Designer runs only on Windows, although Xara documents can be edited in a web browser on any platform using the Xara Cloud service. Versions up to 4.x can be run on Linux using Wine. == History == ArtWorks, the predecessor of Xara Photo and Graphic Designer, was developed on Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC 32-bit RISC computers running RISC OS by Computer Concepts during the late 1980s. The first version, developed for Microsoft Windows was initially called Xara Studio. It was licensed to Corel Corporation before wide-scale public availability, and from 1995 to 2000 was released as CorelXARA. Corel ceded the licensing rights back to Xara in 2000. The first Xara X version released in 2000 by its original owner. The next version, Xara X¹, was released in 2004. Xara Xtreme was released in 2005. In November 2006, Xara Xtreme PRO (an enhanced version of Xara Xtreme) was released. Xara Xtreme 3.2 and Xtreme Pro 3.2 were released in May 2007. 3.2 Pro included Xara3D, and both versions had more robust typography. In April 2008, Xara Xtreme 4.0 was released. Xara Xtreme and Xara Xtreme Pro 5.1 were released in June 2009. Features included more text-area enhancements, content-aware scaling of bitmap images, improved file import and export, master-page (repeated) objects, an object gallery (replacing the layer gallery), website-creation tools, and multi-stage graduated transparency. In June 2010, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 6 and Xara Designer Pro 6 were released. Xtreme was renamed Photo & Graphic Designer, and Xtreme Pro was renamed Designer Pro. In May 2011, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 and Xara Designer Pro 7 were released. Features included "magic" photo erase, user interface improvements to docking galleries and snapping alignment, and (in Pro) new webpage and website-design features. In May 2012, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 2013 and Xara Designer Pro X (v8) were released. Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 was released in May 2013. In July of that year, Xara Designer Pro X9 was released. Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10 was released on 16 July 2014, and Xara Designer Pro X10 on 23 July. Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 11 was released on 29 June 2015, and Xara Designer Pro X11 was released the following month. In 2016, the delivery model was changed to an update service which can be renewed annually. Users are entitled to any updates released while the update service is active. The first update-service updates were in May 2016 for Xara Photo & Graphic Designer, and July 2016 for Xara Designer Pro X. == Features == Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is known for its usability and fast renderer. It provides a fully anti-aliased display, advanced gradient fill, and transparency tools. Among vector editors, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is considered to be fairly easy to learn, with similarities to CorelDRAW and Inkscape in terms of interface. Alongside the vector illustration tools, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer also includes an integrated photo tool offering manual and automatic photo enhance, cropping, adjustment of brightness levels, red-eye fix, 'magic' erase, photo healing, color and background erase, panoramas and content aware resizing. Designer Pro includes a wider range of tools for other design tasks including the creation of web pages and websites, and text and page layout tools for DTP with the aim of providing a single solution for all graphic and web design tasks.
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Behavior-based robotics

Behavior-based robotics (BBR) or behavioral robotics is an approach in robotics that focuses on robots that are able to exhibit complex-appearing behaviors despite little internal variable state to model its immediate environment, mostly gradually correcting its actions via sensory-motor links. == Principles == Behavior-based robotics sets itself apart from traditional artificial intelligence by using biological systems as a model. Classic artificial intelligence typically uses a set of steps to solve problems, it follows a path based on internal representations of events compared to the behavior-based approach. Rather than use preset calculations to tackle a situation, behavior-based robotics relies on adaptability. This advancement has allowed behavior-based robotics to become commonplace in researching and data gathering. Most behavior-based systems are also reactive, which means they need no programming of what a chair looks like, or what kind of surface the robot is moving on. Instead, all the information is gleaned from the input of the robot's sensors. The robot uses that information to gradually correct its actions according to the changes in immediate environment. Behavior-based robots (BBR) usually show more biological-appearing actions than their computing-intensive counterparts, which are very deliberate in their actions. A BBR often makes mistakes, repeats actions, and appears confused, but can also show the anthropomorphic quality of tenacity. Comparisons between BBRs and insects are frequent because of these actions. BBRs are sometimes considered examples of weak artificial intelligence, although some have claimed they are models of all intelligence. == Features == Most behavior-based robots are programmed with a basic set of features to start them off. They are given a behavioral repertoire to work with dictating what behaviors to use and when, obstacle avoidance and battery charging can provide a foundation to help the robots learn and succeed. Rather than build world models, behavior-based robots simply react to their environment and problems within that environment. They draw upon internal knowledge learned from their past experiences combined with their basic behaviors to resolve problems. == History == The school of behavior-based robots owes much to work undertaken in the 1980s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Rodney Brooks, who with students and colleagues built a series of wheeled and legged robots utilizing the subsumption architecture. Brooks' papers, often written with lighthearted titles such as "Planning is just a way of avoiding figuring out what to do next", the anthropomorphic qualities of his robots, and the relatively low cost of developing such robots, popularized the behavior-based approach. Brooks' work builds—whether by accident or not—on two prior milestones in the behavior-based approach. In the 1950s, W. Grey Walter, an English scientist with a background in neurological research, built a pair of vacuum tube-based robots that were exhibited at the 1951 Festival of Britain, and which have simple but effective behavior-based control systems. The second milestone is Valentino Braitenberg's 1984 book, "Vehicles – Experiments in Synthetic Psychology" (MIT Press). He describes a series of thought experiments demonstrating how simply wired sensor/motor connections can result in some complex-appearing behaviors such as fear and love. Later work in BBR is from the BEAM robotics community, which has built upon the work of Mark Tilden. Tilden was inspired by the reduction in the computational power needed for walking mechanisms from Brooks' experiments (which used one microcontroller for each leg), and further reduced the computational requirements to that of logic chips, transistor-based electronics, and analog circuit design. A different direction of development includes extensions of behavior-based robotics to multi-robot teams. The focus in this work is on developing simple generic mechanisms that result in coordinated group behavior, either implicitly or explicitly.
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