AI Grammar Clean Up

AI Grammar Clean Up — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

  • Artificial intelligence arms race

    Artificial intelligence arms race

    A military artificial intelligence arms race is a technological, economic, and military competition between two or more states to develop and deploy advanced AI technologies and lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). The goal is to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over rivals, similar to previous arms races involving nuclear or conventional military technologies. Since the mid-2010s, many analysts have noted the emergence of such an arms race between superpowers for better AI technology and military AI, driven by increasing geopolitical and military tensions. An AI arms race is sometimes placed in the context of an AI Cold War between the United States and China. Several influential figures and publications have emphasized that whoever develops artificial general intelligence (AGI) first could dominate global affairs in the 21st century. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the leader in AI will "rule the world." Researchers and experts, such as Leopold Aschenbrenner and Adrian Pecotic respectively, warn that the AGI race between major powers like the U.S. and China could reshape geopolitical power. This includes AI for surveillance, autonomous weapons, decision-making systems, cyber operations, and more. == Terminology == Lethal autonomous weapons systems use artificial intelligence to identify and kill human targets without human intervention. LAWS have colloquially been called "slaughterbots" or "killer robots". Broadly, any competition for superior AI is sometimes framed as an "arms race". Advantages in military AI overlap with advantages in other sectors, as countries pursue both economic and military advantages, as per previous arms races throughout history. == History == In 2014, AI specialist Steve Omohundro warned that "An autonomous weapons arms race is already taking place". According to Siemens, worldwide military spending on robotics was US$5.1 billion in 2010 and US$7.5 billion in 2015. China became a top player in artificial intelligence research in the 2010s. According to the Financial Times, in 2016, for the first time, China published more AI research papers than the entire European Union. When restricted to number of AI papers in the top 5% of cited papers, China overtook the United States in 2016 but lagged behind the European Union. 23% of the researchers presenting at the 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) conference were Chinese. Eric Schmidt, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Alphabet, has predicted China will be the leading country in AI by 2025. == Risks == One risk concerns the AI race itself, whether or not the race is won by any one group. There are strong incentives for development teams to cut corners with regard to the safety of the system, increasing the risk of critical failures and unintended consequences. This is in part due to the perceived advantage of being the first to develop advanced AI technology. One team appearing to be on the brink of a breakthrough can encourage other teams to take shortcuts, ignore precautions and deploy a system that is less ready. Some argue that using "race" terminology at all in this context can exacerbate this effect. Another potential danger of an AI arms race is the possibility of losing control of the AI systems; the risk is compounded in the case of a race to artificial general intelligence, which may present an existential risk. In 2023, a United States Air Force official reportedly said that during a computer test, a simulated AI drone killed the human character operating it. The USAF later said the official had misspoken and that it never conducted such simulations. A third risk of an AI arms race is whether or not the race is actually won by one group. The concern is regarding the consolidation of power and technological advantage in the hands of one group. A US government report argued that "AI-enabled capabilities could be used to threaten critical infrastructure, amplify disinformation campaigns, and wage war":1, and that "global stability and nuclear deterrence could be undermined".:11 == By nation == === United States === In 2014, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel posited the "Third Offset Strategy" that rapid advances in artificial intelligence will define the next generation of warfare. According to data science and analytics firm Govini, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) increased investment in artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing from $5.6 billion in 2011 to $7.4 billion in 2016. However, the civilian NSF budget for AI saw no increase in 2017. Japan Times reported in 2018 that the United States private investment is around $70 billion per year. The November 2019 'Interim Report' of the United States' National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence confirmed that AI is critical to US technological military superiority. The U.S. has many military AI combat programs, such as the Sea Hunter autonomous warship, which is designed to operate for extended periods at sea without a single crew member, and to even guide itself in and out of port. From 2017, a temporary US Department of Defense directive requires a human operator to be kept in the loop when it comes to the taking of human life by autonomous weapons systems. On October 31, 2019, the United States Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Board published the draft of a report recommending principles for the ethical use of artificial intelligence by the Department of Defense that would ensure a human operator would always be able to look into the 'black box' and understand the kill-chain process. However, a major concern is how the report will be implemented. The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) (pronounced "jake") is an American organization on exploring the usage of AI (particularly edge computing), Network of Networks, and AI-enhanced communication, for use in actual combat. It is a subdivision of the United States Armed Forces and was created in June 2018. The organization's stated objective is to "transform the US Department of Defense by accelerating the delivery and adoption of AI to achieve mission impact at scale. The goal is to use AI to solve large and complex problem sets that span multiple combat systems; then, ensure the combat Systems and Components have real-time access to ever-improving libraries of data sets and tools." In 2023, Microsoft pitched the DoD to use DALL-E models to train its battlefield management system. OpenAI, the developer of DALL-E, removed the blanket ban on military and warfare use from its usage policies in January 2024. The Biden administration imposed restrictions on the export of advanced NVIDIA chips and GPUs to China in an effort to limit China's progress in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. The policy aimed to prevent the use of cutting-edge U.S. technology in military or surveillance applications and to maintain a strategic advantage in the global AI race. In 2025, under the second Trump administration, the United States began a broad deregulation campaign aimed at accelerating growth in sectors critical to artificial intelligence, including nuclear energy, infrastructure, and high-performance computing. The goal was to remove regulatory barriers and attract private investment to boost domestic AI capabilities. This included easing restrictions on data usage, speeding up approvals for AI-related infrastructure projects, and incentivizing innovation in cloud computing and semiconductors. Companies like NVIDIA, Oracle, and Cisco played a central role in these efforts, expanding their AI research, data center capacity, and partnerships to help position the U.S. as a global leader in AI development. ==== Project Maven ==== Project Maven is a Pentagon project involving using machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos, apparently giving the government real-time battlefield command and control, and the ability to track, tag and spy on targets without human involvement. Initially the effort was led by Robert O. Work who was concerned about China's military use of the emerging technology. Reportedly, Pentagon development stops short of acting as an AI weapons system capable of firing on self-designated targets. The project was established in a memo by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense on 26 April 2017. Also known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross Functional Team, it is, according to Lt. Gen. of the United States Air Force Jack Shanahan in November 2017, a project "designed to be that pilot project, that pathfinder, that spark that kindles the flame front of artificial intelligence across the rest of the [Defense] Department". Its chief, U.S. Marine Corps Col. Drew Cukor, said: "People and computers will work symbiotically to increase the ability of weapon systems to detect objects." Project Maven has been noted by allies, such as Australia's Ian Langford, for the

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  • Signal-to-crosstalk ratio

    Signal-to-crosstalk ratio

    The signal-to-crosstalk ratio at a specified point in a circuit is the ratio of the power of the wanted signal to the power of the unwanted signal from another channel. The signals are adjusted in each channel so that they are of equal power at the zero transmission level point in their respective channels. The signal-to-crosstalk ratio is usually expressed in dB.

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  • Blend4Web

    Blend4Web

    Blend4Web is a free and open source framework for creating and displaying interactive 3D computer graphics in web browsers. == Overview == The Blend4Web framework leverages Blender to edit 3D scenes. Content rendering relies on WebGL, Web Audio, WebVR, and other web standards, without the use of plug-ins. It is dual-licensed. The framework is distributed under the free and open source GPLv3 and, a non-free license - with the source code being hosted on GitHub. A 3D scene can be prepared in Blender and then exported as a pair of JSON and binary files to load in a web application. It can also be exported as a single, self-contained HTML file, in which exported data, the web player GUI, and the engine itself are packed. The HTML option is considered to be the simplest way. The resulting file, which has a minimum size of 1 MB, can be embedded in a web page using a standard iframe HTML element. Blend4Web-powered web applications can be deployed on social networking websites such as Facebook. The Blend4Web toolchain consists of JavaScript libraries, the Blender add-on, and a set of tools for tweaking 3D scene parameters, debugging, and optimization. Developed by Moscow-based company Triumph in 2010, Blend4Web was publicly released on March 28, 2014. At the end of 2017, the project founders Yuri and Alex Kovelenov quit Triumph to start the development of a new WebGL framework Verge3D. In October 2019, an "Absolutely new Blend4Web" was announced, planned to make developing 3D apps easier and to add a new marketplace where people can offer their 3D models. == Features == The framework has a number of components typically found in game engines, including a positional audio system, physics engine (a fork of Bullet ported to JavaScript), animation system, and an abstraction layer for game logic programming. Up to 8 different types of animations can be assigned to a single object, including skeletal and per-vertex animation. The speed and the direction of animation (forward/backward play), as well as particle system parameters (size, initial velocity, and count), can be changed through the API. Among other supported features are: scene data dynamic loading and unloading, subsurface scattering simulation, and image-based lighting. Some out-of-box options exist for rendering extended outdoor environments, including foliage-wind interaction, water, atmosphere, and sunlight simulation. One example demonstrating these effects is "The Farm" tech demo, which also features multiple animated NPCs and the ability to walk, interact with objects and drive a vehicle in first-person mode. Being based on the cross-browser WebGL API, Blend4Web runs in the majority of web browsers, including mobile ones. There are some caveats for browsers with experimental WebGL support, such as Internet Explorer. There are also applications developed to run on Tizen-powered devices such as the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch. Other features include: draw call batching, hidden surface determination, threaded physics simulation and ocean simulation. In version 14.09, Blend4Web introduced the possibility of adding interactivity to 3D scenes using a visual programming tool. The tool is reminiscent of the BGE's logic editor as it uses logic blocks that are placed inside Blender. It plays back animation tracks authored by an artist when the user interacts with predefined 3D objects. Since version 15.03, Blend4Web has supported attaching HTML elements (such as information windows) to 3D objects ("annotations") and copying objects in run time ("instancing"). The following post-processing effects are supported: glow, bloom, depth of field, crepuscular rays, motion blur, and screen space ambient occlusion. == Virtual reality and augmented reality == Virtual reality devices have been supported since the end of 2015. Specifically, Oculus Rift head-mounted display works over experimental WebVR API. The software also now includes preliminary support for gamepads, based on the Gamepad API. In 2017, the option to author augmented reality content was added. The system is based on the open-source tracking library ARToolKit and uses the WebRTC protocols. Starting from version 17.08, finger tracking is supported through the Leap Motion device. == Blender integration == The Blender add-on is written in Python and C and can be compiled for the Linux x86/x64, OS X x64, and MS Windows x86/x64 platforms. A Blend4Web-specific profile can be activated in the add-on settings. When switching to this profile, the Blender interface changes so that it only reveals settings relevant to Blend4Web. Blend4Web supports a set of Blender-specific features such as the node material editor (a tool for visual shader programming) and the particle system. There is basic support for Blender's non-linear animation (NLA) editor for creating simple scenarios. Blend4Web is based on Blender's real-time GLSL rendering engine, which users are recommended to use in order to enable WYSIWYG editing. == Notable uses == NASA developed an interactive web application called Experience Curiosity to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the Curiosity rover landing on Mars. This Blend4Web-based app makes it possible to operate the rover, control its cameras and the robotic arm, and reproduce some of the prominent events of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. The application got presented at the beginning of the WebGL section at SIGGRAPH 2015. Experience Curiosity was ported to Verge3D for Blender in 2018 with several performance improvements and bug fixes. A General Motors authorized dealer in the United Arab Emirates has placed a functional Chevrolet Camaro 3D configurator on its website. Greenpeace created interactive 3D infographics to back Greenpeace's Detox campaign in Russia. Tallink featured an interactive 3D presentation of its MS Megastar vessel to allow visitors to browse details of the ship.

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  • Vinyl cutter

    Vinyl cutter

    A vinyl cutter is an entry-level machine for making signs. Computer-designed vector files with patterns and letters are directly cut on the roll of vinyl which is mounted and fed into the vinyl cutter through USB or serial cable. Vinyl cutters are mainly used to make signs, banners and advertisements. Advertisements seen on automobiles and vans are often made with vinyl cut letters. While these machines were designed for cutting vinyl, they can also cut through computer and specialty papers, as well as thicker items like thin sheets of magnet. In addition to sign business, vinyl cutters are commonly used for apparel decoration. To decorate apparel, a vector design needs to be cut in mirror image, weeded, and then heat applied using a commercial heat press or a hand iron for home use. Some businesses use their vinyl cutter to produce both signs and custom apparel. Many crafters also have vinyl cutters for home use. These require little maintenance, and the vinyl can be bought in bulk relatively cheaply. Vinyl cutters are also often used by stencil artists to create single use or reusable stencil art and lettering == How it works == A vinyl cutter is a type of computer-controlled machine tool. The computer controls the movement of a sharp blade over the surface of the material as it would the nozzles of an ink-jet printer. This blade is used to cut out shapes and letters from sheets of thin self-adhesive plastic (vinyl). The vinyl can then be stuck to a variety of surfaces depending on the adhesive and type of material. To cut out a design, a vector-based image must be created using vector drawing software. Some vinyl cutters are marketed to small in-home businesses and require download and use of a proprietary editing software. The design is then sent to the cutter where it cuts along the vector paths laid out in the design. The cutter is capable of moving the blade on an X and Y axis over the material, cutting it into the required shapes. The vinyl material comes in long rolls allowing projects with significant length like banners or billboards to be easily cut. A major limitation with vinyl cutters is that they can only cut shapes from solid colours of vinyl, paper, card or thin plastic sheets such as Mylar. The type and thickness of material will vary for each cutter and how much downforce the cutter is capable of. If the material has no backing, a backing sheet, material or cutting mat and a temporary adhesive are needed to allow the cutter to cut through the material. A design with multiple colours must have each colour cut separately and then layered on top of each other as it is applied to the substrate. This is a process that is often applied in stencil art. Also, since the shapes are cut out of solid colours, photographs and gradients cannot be reproduced with a stand-alone cutter. === Design creation === Designs are created using vector-based software like Adobe Illustrator, FlexiSign, EasyCutPro, or other software. Vector artwork is either drawn with lines, shapes and text or images are vectorized thus create vector shapes. Most cutters (also called plotters) require special software to load/edit the artwork and communicate with the cutter. Computer designed images are loaded onto the vinyl cutter via a wired connection or over a wireless protocol. Then the vinyl is loaded into the machine where it is automatically fed through and cut to follow the set design. The vinyl can be placed on an adhesive mat to stabilize the vinyl when cutting smaller designs. === Types of vinyl === Adhesive vinyl is the type of vinyl used for store windows, car decals, signage, and more. Adhesive vinyl is applied with a transfer medium often called "transfer tape" or "carrier sheet". Heat transfer vinyl is the type of vinyl used to apply a design to fabric including t-shirts, tea towels, canvas bags, and more. Heat Transfer vinyl can be applied using a heat press or an iron, though the constant pressure and heat from a heat press is recommended by experts. === Using other materials === In addition to vinyl some cutters are capable of cutting other materials such as paper, card, plastic sheets and even thin wood. The thickness and type of material that can be cut will depend on the model of the cutter and heavily depends on the downforce. Cricut is a popular home cutter used by arts and craft enthusiasts since it allows for a wide use of different materials and is similar in size to a household printer and has strong downforce for its size. === Backing and cutting mat === If you cut material that doesn't have an adhesive backing you will require a cutting mat that you need to attach your material to. Some cutting mats are sticky, others will require you to use a temporary adhesive and/or masking tape to keep the material in place when cutting. === Cutting === The vinyl cutter uses a small knife or blade to precisely cut the outline of figures into a sheet or piece of vinyl, but not the release liner. The process of cutting vinyl material without penetrating it completely is referred to as "kiss cutting". The knife moves side to side and turns, while the vinyl is moved beneath the knife. The results from the cut process is an image cut into the material. === Weeding === The material is then 'weeded' where the excess parts of the figures are removed from the release liner. It is possible to remove the positive parts, which would give a negative decal, or remove the negative parts, giving a positive decal. Removing the figure would be like removing the positive, giving a negative image of the figures. === Transfer tape === A sheet of transfer tape with an adhesive backing is laid on the weeded vinyl when necessary. Heat Transfer vinyl often does not require use of a separate transfer tape. A roller is applied to the tape, causing it to adhere to the vinyl. The transfer tape and the weeded vinyl is pulled off the release liner, and applied to a substrate, such as a sheet of aluminium. This results in an aluminium sign with vinyl figures. == Uses == In addition to the capabilities of the cutter itself, adhesive vinyl comes in a wide variety of colors and materials including gold and silver foil, vinyl that simulates frosted glass, holographic vinyl, reflective vinyl, thermal transfer material, and even clear vinyl embedded with gold leaf. (Often used in the lettering on fire trucks and rescue vehicles.) As the vinyl film is supplied by the manufacturer, it comes attached to a release liner. == Challenges when cutting on a vinyl cutter == Cutting on a vinyl cutter requires careful calibration to achieve clean and accurate results, especially when the goal is to cut through only the top layer of material while leaving the backing intact. One of the most common challenges is setting the correct cutting depth. If the blade is not lowered enough, the vinyl material may not separate properly; if it goes too deep, it can cut through the backing layer and potentially damage the cutting mat. The cutting depth on the vinyl cutter machines typically does not exceed 1 mm. Another frequent issue is the mismatch between the blade and the type of material being processed. Using an inappropriate blade can lead to uneven cuts, premature dulling of the edge, and torn or frayed material. The overall quality of the output also depends on factors such as the cutting speed, blade sharpening and cutting angle, and the material the knife is made of.

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  • List of large language models

    List of large language models

    A large language model (LLM) is a type of machine learning model designed for natural language processing tasks such as language generation. LLMs are language models with many parameters, and are trained with self-supervised learning on a vast amount of text. == List == For the training cost column, 1 petaFLOP-day equals 1 petaFLOP/sec × 1 day, or 8.64×1019 FLOP (floating point operations). Only the cost of the largest model is shown. The number of parameters is measured in billions, and the training cost is measured in petaFLOP-days. === 2018 === === 2019 === === 2020 === === 2021 === === 2022 === === 2023 === === 2024 === === 2025 === === 2026 ===

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  • Hype (marketing)

    Hype (marketing)

    Hype in marketing is a strategy of using extreme publicity. Hype as a modern marketing strategy is closely associated with social media. Marketing through hype often uses artificial scarcity to induce demand. Consumers of hyped products often participate as a form of conspicuous consumption to signify characteristics about themselves. Hype allows brands to promote their image above the actual quality of the product. Streetwear brands have collaborated with luxury fashion to justify charging premium prices for their goods. As an example, fashion label Vetements used social media channels to promote a limited-edition hoodie which sold 500 units in hours, recording sales of €445,000. When hype marketing is used to drive demand for limited-edition goods, consumers sometimes attempt resell those good on secondary markets for a profit (comparable to ticket scalping). The resale market is a $24 billion industry. == Method == Luxury brands may release products as a collaborate with ready-made garment brands as a way to build hype. Collaborations have been used by some luxury brands to circumvent fast fashion brands copying their designs. NYU Professor Adam Alter says that for an established brand to create a scarcity frenzy, they need to release a limited number of different products, frequently. Hype is often built via Pop-up retail. Comme des Garçons was one of the first to use this strategy, leasing a short-term vacant shop solved the storage problems of releasing product for quick sale. Hype campaigns also rely on influencer marketing, where brands enlist creators whose parasocial relationships with their followers help convert audience attention into demand for limited releases. == In popular culture == The term 'hypebeast' has been coined to define consumers vulnerable to hype marketing. The origins of the term come from the Hong Kong-based company Hypebeast. The behaviours of the hypebeast define hype marketing; the purchase of popular goods they can't afford to impress others. Hype also manifests itself in queues with brands often retailing hyped products through pop-up stores. Many luxury brands release hyped products via their online shop. This has led to the creation of companies that allow consumers to use bots to guarantee or improve their chances of purchasing a limited-edition product.

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  • Content reference identifier

    Content reference identifier

    A content reference identifier or CRID is a concept from the standardization work done by the TV-Anytime forum. It is or closely matches the concept of the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, as used on the World-Wide Web: A unit of content, in a broadcast stream, can be referred to by its globally unique CRID in the same way that a webpage can be referred to by its globally unique URL on the web. The concept of CRID permits referencing contents unambiguously, regardless of their location, i.e., without knowing specific broadcast information (time, date and channel) or how to obtain them through a network, for instance, by means of a streaming service or by downloading a file from an Internet server. The receiver must be capable of resolving these unambiguous references, i.e. of translating them into specific data that will allow it to obtain the location of that content in order to acquire it. This makes it possible for recording processes to take place without knowing that information, and even without knowing beforehand the duration of the content to be recorded: a complete series by a simple click, a program that has not been scheduled yet, a set of programs grouped by a specific criterion... This framework allows for the separation between the reference to a given content (the CRID) and the necessary information to acquire it, which is called a “locator”. Each CRID may lead to one or more locators which will represent different copies of the same content. They may be identical copies broadcast in different channels or dates, or cost different prices. They may also be distinct copies with different technical parameters such as format or quality. It may also be the case that the resolution process of a CRID provides another CRID as a result (for example, its reference in a different network, where it has an alternative identifier assigned by a different operator) or a set of CRIDs (for instance, if the original CRID represents a TV series, in which case the resolution process would result in the list of CRIDs representing each episode). From the above it can be concluded that provided that a given content can belong to many groups (each possibly defined by distinctive qualities), it is possible that many CRIDs carry the same content. That is, several CRIDs may be resolved into the same locator. A CRID is not exactly a universal, unique and exclusive identifier for a given content. It is closely related to the authority that creates it, to the resolution service provider, and to the content provider in such a way that the same content may have different CRIDs depending on the field in which they are used (for example, a different one for each television operator that has the rights to broadcast the content). == Format == A CRID is specified much like URLs. In fact, a CRID is a so-called URI. Typically, the content creator, the broadcaster or a third party will use their DNS-names in a combination with a product-specific name to create globally unique CRIDs. That is, the syntax of a CRID is: crid://authority/data The authority field represents the entity that created the CRID and its format is that of a DNS name. The data field represents a string of characters that will unambiguously identify the content within the authority scope (it is a string of characters assigned by the authority itself). As an example, let's assume that BBC wanted to make a CRID for (all the programs of) the Olympics in China. It may have looked something like this crid://bbc.co.uk/olympics/2008/ This would be a group CRID, that is, a CRID representing a group of contents. Then, to refer to a specific event – such as the women's shot-put final – they could have used the following inside their metadata. crid://bbc.co.uk/olympics/2008/final/shotput/women Currently, four types of CRIDs are playing a major role in some unidirectional television networks: programme CRID, series CRID, group CRID, and recommendation CRID. One of the most important applications of CRIDs is the so-called series link recording function (SL) of modern digital video recorders (DVR, PVR). In turn, a locator is a string of characters that contains all the necessary information for a receiver to find and acquire a given content, whether it is received through a transport stream, located in local storage, downloaded as a file from an Internet server, or through a streaming service. For example, a DVB locator will include all the necessary parameters to identify a specific content within a transport stream: network, transport stream, service, table and/or event identifiers. The locators' format, as established in TV-Anytime, is quite generic and simple, and corresponds to: [transport-mechanism]:[specific-data] The first part of the locator's format (the transport mechanism) must be a string of characters that is unique for each mechanism (transport stream, local file, HTTP Internet access...). The second part must be unambiguous only within the scope of a given transport mechanism and will be standardized by the organism in charge of the regulation of the mechanism itself. For instance, a DVB locator to identify a content within the transport stream of networks that follow this standard would be: dvb://112.4a2.5ec;2d22~20121212T220000Z—PT01H30M which would indicate a content (identified by the string “2d22”) that airs on a channel available on a DVB network identified by the address “112.4a2.5ec” (network “112”, transport stream “4a2” and service “5ec”), on 12 December 2012 at 10 p.m. and with a duration of 90 minutes. == The location resolution process == The location resolution process is the procedure by which, starting from the CRID of a given content, one or several locators of that content are obtained. Resolving a CRID can be a direct process, which leads immediately to one or many locators, or it may also happen that in the first place one or many intermediate CRIDs are returned, which must undergo the same procedure to finally obtain one or several locators. This procedure involves some information elements, among which we find two structures named resolving authority record (RAR) and ContentReferencingTable, respectively. Consulting them repeatedly will take the receiver from a CRID to one or many locators that will allow it to acquire the content. The RAR table The RAR table is one or many data structures that provide the receiver, for each authority that submits CRIDs, information on the corresponding resolution service provider. Among other things, it informs about which mechanism is used to provide information to resolve the CRIDs from each authority. That is, one or many RAR records must exist for each authority that indicate the receiver where it has to go to resolve the CRIDs of that particular authority. For example, in the record of the figure (expressed by means of a XML structure, according to the XML Schema defined in the TV-Anytime) there is an authority called “tve.es”, whose resolution service provider is the entity “rtve.es”, available on the URL "http://tva.rtve.es/locres/tve", which means there is resolution information in that URL. These RAR records will have reached the receiver in an indefinite form, unimportant for the TV-Anytime specification, which will depend on the specific transport mechanism of the network to which the receiver is connected. Each family of standards that regulates distribution networks (DVB, ATSC, ISDB, IPTV...) will have previously defined such procedure, which will be used by devices certified according to those standards. The ContentReferencingTable table The second structure involved in the location resolution process is a proper resolution table which, given a content's CRID, returns one or several locators that enable the receiver to access an instance of that content, or one or many CRIDs that allow it to move forward in the resolution process. The figure shows an example of this second structure, an XML document according to the specifications of the XML Schema defined in TV-Anytime. In it, several sections are included ( elements) that structure the information that describes each resolution case. The first one declares how a CRID (crid://tv.com/Friends/all), which corresponds to a group content that encompasses several episodes (two) of the “Friends” series is resolved. The result of the resolution process provides two new CRIDs each of them corresponding to one of the two episodes. The second element resolves the CRID of the first episode of the first season. The result of the resolution process is two DVB locators. The “acquire” attribute with “any” value indicates that any of them are good (the second one is a repetition broadcast a week later). The third element gives information about the second episode. It indicates that it cannot be resolved yet (“status” attribute with the “cannot yet resolve” value), indicating a date on which the request for resolution information must be repeated. The pro

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  • Acousto-electronics

    Acousto-electronics

    Acousto-electronics (also spelled 'Acoustoelectronics') is a branch of physics, acoustics and electronics that studies interactions of ultrasonic and hypersonic waves in solids with electrons and with electro-magnetic fields. Typical phenomena studied in acousto-electronics are acousto-electric effect and also amplification of acoustic waves by flows of electrons in piezoelectric semiconductors, when the drift velocity of the electrons exceeds the velocity of sound. The term 'acousto-electronics' is often understood in a wider sense to include numerous practical applications of the interactions of electro-magnetic fields with acoustic waves in solids. In particular, these are signal processing devices using surface acoustic waves (SAW), different sensors of temperature, pressure, humidity, acceleration, etc.

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  • Quantexa

    Quantexa

    Quantexa is a UK-based software company that develops artificial intelligence-based applications for data analytics and decision-making. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in London, with operations in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. As of 2025, Quantexa reported a valuation of $2.6 billion and provides services to organizations in over 70 countries. Investors include Warburg Pincus, HSBC, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. == History == Quantexa was founded in London in 2016 by several co-founders, including Jamie Hutton, Richard Seewald, Imam Hoque, Felix Hoddinott, and Vishal Marria, who also serves as the company's chief executive officer. The company was established to develop tools intended to address limitations in traditional data analysis methods, particularly those related to identifying hidden connections across large datasets. The name "Quantexa" is derived from the company's focus on quantitative methods and data analysis. In 2023, Quantexa acquired Dublin-based AI firm Aylien. In April 2023, the company completed a Series E funding round, raising $129 million at a valuation of approximately $1.8 billion, marking its entry into "unicorn" status. In October 2024, the company reported annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeding $100 million. In early 2025, Quantexa participated in the World Economic Forum's Unicorn Program, which supports high-growth technology companies. In March 2025, Quantexa completed a Series F funding round of $175 million, led by Teachers' Venture Growth, the venture arm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. That August, the company was reported to be considering a 2026 IPO. The company formed a partnership with Zurich in October 2025, the first insurer to add its AI-based Decision Intelligence platform to enhance fraud detection.

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  • Event cinema

    Event cinema

    Event cinema sometimes called alternative content cinema or livecasts refers to the use of movie theaters to display a varied range of live and recorded entertainment excluding traditional films, such as sport, opera, musicals, ballet, music, one-off TV specials, current affairs, comedy and religious services. == History and development == Event Cinema was set up at the start of the century with rock concerts by Bon Jovi (2001), David Bowie (2003), and Robbie Williams (2005) bringing non-film audiences into cinemas that had newly installed digital equipment. The Metropolitan Opera in New York through their partnership with Fathom Events is acknowledged as the trailblazer in this area, aggressively seeking out new markets and setting high standards for live broadcasts via satellite. Emulated by other opera houses worldwide such as the Royal Opera House following a close second, Glyndebourne, La Scala and the Sydney Opera House the genre of opera within the 'Event Cinema' industry has been a huge success, and has brought new, younger audiences into cash-strapped opera houses depended on state funding and wealthy benefactors for the first time - an unforeseen and happy consequence of digitisation. Ballet and theater have also been very successful, as have rock concerts, both live and recorded. The UK's National Theatre has been a huge success here with their season of live broadcasts under the banner 'NT Live', featuring big name casts such as Helen Mirren, whose recent turn as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience was a sell out everywhere. (This was in partnership with another West End theatre and the NT are keen to help other theatres maximise their potential through live broadcasts). The Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company are also producing work for live broadcast and recorded exhibition. As digitisation of cinemas matures, the Event Cinema industry is growing. The strongest territory is the US, followed by the UK and mainland European territories. Latin America is also a very strong market. Recent additions include Pompeii Live, a unique exhibition by the UK's British Museum, featuring celebrities and curators taking the audience on a live tour around the recreated set of Pompeii within the museum itself, and they are also exploring the schools market for the first time, following the live broadcast on June 18 with a daytime broadcast aimed at UK schools for the first time. If successful this will no doubt prove a model for future museums to emulate. An added incentive for exhibitors is the ability to show alternative content, i.e. alternative to mainstream, studio-driven content, such as live special events, sports, pre-show advertising and other digital or video content. In industry terms this has become known as 'Alternative Content', but has recently become known more widely as 'Event Cinema'. === Expanding markets === Some low-budget films that would normally not have a theatrical release because of distribution costs might be shown in smaller engagements than the typical large release studio pictures. The cost of duplicating a digital "print" is very low, so adding more theaters to a release has a small additional cost to the distributor. Movies that start with a small release could scale to a much larger release quickly if they were sufficiently successful, opening up the possibility that smaller movies could achieve box office success previously out of their reach. ==== Technical specifications ==== Event Cinema is also finding a market in 3rd world countries in which the higher costs and quality of DCI equipment are not yet affordable, as crucially there are no DCI specifications for Alternative Content as there is in mainstream [studio] content. This has led to an explosion in the variety of content on offer, but a lack of standardisation has led to questionable quality at times. As the industry matures, this lack of regulation is expected to change and there are moves afoot to introduce codes of practice and technical specifications. Recorded content complements mainstream studio content by maximising the 'downtime' that plagues the cinema industry, where screens worldwide spend a large proportion of their time in darkness and cinemas empty. Some cinema chains have targeted pensioners in particular, offering free tea and coffee for afternoon matinees of recorded opera, for example. Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) have been useful to cinemas not yet equipped with satellite broadcasting capability and has enabled exhibitors to build their Event Cinema audience, which is not generally the 18-24 demographic that multiplexes are targeting. ==== New Audiences ==== Event Cinema has seen a return of an older, affluent audience, previously turned off by the multiplex experience, and cinemas are starting to capitalise on this by offering waiter-serviced, high class finger food and alcoholic beverages, complete with bars and restaurants, a world away from the traditional popcorn/soft drink model; art house cinemas are increasingly marketing themselves as 'destination' venues for an evening's entertainment, somewhere to spend an entire evening, rather than just a couple of hours. As exhibition admissions have plateau'd in recent years due to the explosion in VOD, tablet and mobile content technology, this new revenue stream has been a surprise and welcome addition to the cinema industry, though the US studios have been cautious in embracing the change as yet. The thrill of Live broadcasts means they are generally regarded as more popular than recorded events, but there are exceptions; artists with a loyal cult or teenage following tend to do particularly well in this area, as concert films featuring artists such as the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, JLS, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones have shown. ==== The Future ==== As more and more distributors are emerging, offering an increasingly broad range of content to cinemas worldwide, the landscape itself is shifting: screen advertising companies, technical providers, and exhibitors themselves are reinventing themselves as Alternative Content or Event Cinema distributors, and the industry is witnessing a re-evaluation of business models and practices worldwide. Predictions are that this industry could be work in excess of US$1bn by 2015. An illustration of the growth of this industry is the news the establishment of a European trade association promoting the industry to the general public and supporting those involved in it and the Event Cinema Association.

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  • MADI

    MADI

    Multichannel Audio Digital Interface (MADI) standardized as AES10 by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) defines the data format and electrical characteristics of an interface that carries multiple channels of digital audio. The AES first documented the MADI standard in AES10-1991 and updated it in AES10-2003 and AES10-2008. The MADI standard includes a bit-level description and has features in common with the two-channel AES3 interface. MADI supports serial digital transmission over coaxial cable or fibre-optic lines of 28, 56, 32, or 64 channels; and sampling rates to 96 kHz and beyond with an audio bit depth of up to 24 bits per channel. Like AES3 and ADAT Lightpipe, it is a unidirectional interface from one sender to one receiver. == Development and applications == MADI was developed by AMS Neve, Solid State Logic, Sony and Mitsubishi and is widely used in the audio industry, especially in the professional audio sector. It provides advantages over other audio digital interface protocols and standards such as AES3, ADAT Lightpipe, TDIF (Tascam Digital Interface), and S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface). These advantages include: Support for a greater number of channels per line Use of coaxial and optical fiber media that support transmission of audio signals over 100 meters, up to 3000 meters over multi-mode and 40,000 meters over single-mode optical fiber The original specification (AES10-1991) defined the MADI link as a 56-channel transport for linking large-format mixing consoles to digital multitrack recording devices. Large broadcast studios also adopted it for routing multi-channel audio throughout their facilities. The 2003 revision (AES10-2003) adds a 64-channel capability by removing varispeed operation and supports 96 kHz sampling frequency with reduced channel capacity. The latest AES10-2008 standard includes minor clarifications and updates to correspond to the current AES3 standard. Audio over Ethernet of various types is the primary alternative to MADI for transport of many channels of professional digital audio. == Transmission format == MADI links use a transmission format similar to Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) networking. Since MADI is most often transmitted on copper links via 75-ohm coaxial cables, it more closely compares to the FDDI specification for copper-based links, called CDDI. AES10-2003 recommends using BNC connectors with coaxial cables and SC connectors with optic fibers. MADI over fibre can support a range of up to 2 km. The basic data rate is 100 Mbit/s of data using 4B5B encoding to produce a 125 MHz physical baud rate. Unlike AES3, this clock is not synchronized to the audio sample rate, and the audio data payload is padded using JK sync symbols. Sync symbols may be inserted at any subframe boundary, and must occur at least once per frame. Though the standard disassociates the transmission clock from the audio sample rate, and thus requires a separate word clock connection to maintain synchronization, some vendors do give the option of locking to parts of the transmission timing information for purposes of deriving a word clock. The audio data is almost identical to the AES3 payload, though with more channels. Rather than letters, MADI assigns channel numbers from 0–63. Frame synchronization is provided by sync symbols outside the data itself, rather than an embedded preamble sequence, and the first four time slots of each sub-channel are encoded as normal data, used for sub-channel identification: Bit 0: Set to 1 to mark channel 0, the first channel in each frame Bit 1: Set to 1 to indicate that this channel is active (contains interesting data) Bit 2: notA/B channel marker, used to mark left (0) and right (1) channels. Generally, even channels are A and odd channels are B. Bit 3: Set to 1 to mark the beginning of a 192-sample data block == Sampling frequency == The original AES10-1991 specification allowed 56 channels at sample rates from 32 to 48 kHz with an additional vari-speed range of ± 12.5%. This leads to a total range of 28 to 54 kHz. At the highest frequency, this produces a total of 56 × 32 × 54 = 96768 kbit/s, leaving 3.232% of the channel for synchronization marks and transmit clock error. The 2003 revision specifies different relations between sampling frequency and number of channels. 32 kHz to 48 kHz ± 12.5%, 56 channels; 32 kHz to 48 kHz nominal, 64 channels; 64 kHz to 96 kHz ± 12.5%, 28 channels. With a 48 kHz sampling frequency, 64 channels take 64 × 32 × 48000 = 98.304 Mbit/s. Adding the minimum 8 × 58 kbit/s of framing produces 98688 bit/s, leaving 1.312% free for timing variation and other overhead. Both versions of the standard accommodate higher sampling frequencies (for example, 96 kHz or 192 kHz) by using two or more channels per audio sample on the link.

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  • Event cinema

    Event cinema

    Event cinema sometimes called alternative content cinema or livecasts refers to the use of movie theaters to display a varied range of live and recorded entertainment excluding traditional films, such as sport, opera, musicals, ballet, music, one-off TV specials, current affairs, comedy and religious services. == History and development == Event Cinema was set up at the start of the century with rock concerts by Bon Jovi (2001), David Bowie (2003), and Robbie Williams (2005) bringing non-film audiences into cinemas that had newly installed digital equipment. The Metropolitan Opera in New York through their partnership with Fathom Events is acknowledged as the trailblazer in this area, aggressively seeking out new markets and setting high standards for live broadcasts via satellite. Emulated by other opera houses worldwide such as the Royal Opera House following a close second, Glyndebourne, La Scala and the Sydney Opera House the genre of opera within the 'Event Cinema' industry has been a huge success, and has brought new, younger audiences into cash-strapped opera houses depended on state funding and wealthy benefactors for the first time - an unforeseen and happy consequence of digitisation. Ballet and theater have also been very successful, as have rock concerts, both live and recorded. The UK's National Theatre has been a huge success here with their season of live broadcasts under the banner 'NT Live', featuring big name casts such as Helen Mirren, whose recent turn as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience was a sell out everywhere. (This was in partnership with another West End theatre and the NT are keen to help other theatres maximise their potential through live broadcasts). The Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company are also producing work for live broadcast and recorded exhibition. As digitisation of cinemas matures, the Event Cinema industry is growing. The strongest territory is the US, followed by the UK and mainland European territories. Latin America is also a very strong market. Recent additions include Pompeii Live, a unique exhibition by the UK's British Museum, featuring celebrities and curators taking the audience on a live tour around the recreated set of Pompeii within the museum itself, and they are also exploring the schools market for the first time, following the live broadcast on June 18 with a daytime broadcast aimed at UK schools for the first time. If successful this will no doubt prove a model for future museums to emulate. An added incentive for exhibitors is the ability to show alternative content, i.e. alternative to mainstream, studio-driven content, such as live special events, sports, pre-show advertising and other digital or video content. In industry terms this has become known as 'Alternative Content', but has recently become known more widely as 'Event Cinema'. === Expanding markets === Some low-budget films that would normally not have a theatrical release because of distribution costs might be shown in smaller engagements than the typical large release studio pictures. The cost of duplicating a digital "print" is very low, so adding more theaters to a release has a small additional cost to the distributor. Movies that start with a small release could scale to a much larger release quickly if they were sufficiently successful, opening up the possibility that smaller movies could achieve box office success previously out of their reach. ==== Technical specifications ==== Event Cinema is also finding a market in 3rd world countries in which the higher costs and quality of DCI equipment are not yet affordable, as crucially there are no DCI specifications for Alternative Content as there is in mainstream [studio] content. This has led to an explosion in the variety of content on offer, but a lack of standardisation has led to questionable quality at times. As the industry matures, this lack of regulation is expected to change and there are moves afoot to introduce codes of practice and technical specifications. Recorded content complements mainstream studio content by maximising the 'downtime' that plagues the cinema industry, where screens worldwide spend a large proportion of their time in darkness and cinemas empty. Some cinema chains have targeted pensioners in particular, offering free tea and coffee for afternoon matinees of recorded opera, for example. Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) have been useful to cinemas not yet equipped with satellite broadcasting capability and has enabled exhibitors to build their Event Cinema audience, which is not generally the 18-24 demographic that multiplexes are targeting. ==== New Audiences ==== Event Cinema has seen a return of an older, affluent audience, previously turned off by the multiplex experience, and cinemas are starting to capitalise on this by offering waiter-serviced, high class finger food and alcoholic beverages, complete with bars and restaurants, a world away from the traditional popcorn/soft drink model; art house cinemas are increasingly marketing themselves as 'destination' venues for an evening's entertainment, somewhere to spend an entire evening, rather than just a couple of hours. As exhibition admissions have plateau'd in recent years due to the explosion in VOD, tablet and mobile content technology, this new revenue stream has been a surprise and welcome addition to the cinema industry, though the US studios have been cautious in embracing the change as yet. The thrill of Live broadcasts means they are generally regarded as more popular than recorded events, but there are exceptions; artists with a loyal cult or teenage following tend to do particularly well in this area, as concert films featuring artists such as the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, JLS, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones have shown. ==== The Future ==== As more and more distributors are emerging, offering an increasingly broad range of content to cinemas worldwide, the landscape itself is shifting: screen advertising companies, technical providers, and exhibitors themselves are reinventing themselves as Alternative Content or Event Cinema distributors, and the industry is witnessing a re-evaluation of business models and practices worldwide. Predictions are that this industry could be work in excess of US$1bn by 2015. An illustration of the growth of this industry is the news the establishment of a European trade association promoting the industry to the general public and supporting those involved in it and the Event Cinema Association.

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  • AI Overviews

    AI Overviews

    AI Overviews is an artificial intelligence (AI) feature integrated into Google Search that produces AI-generated summaries of search results. The feature has been criticized for its inaccuracy and for reducing website traffic. == History and development == AI Overviews were first introduced as part of Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE), which was unveiled at the Google I/O conference in May 2023. In May 2024 at Google I/O 2024, the feature was rebranded as AI Overviews and launched in the United States. The introduction of AI Overviews was seen as a strategic move to compete with other generative AI advancements, including OpenAI's ChatGPT. By August 2024, AI Overviews was rolled out to several other countries, including the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia, with support for multiple languages. In October 2024, Google expanded the feature globally, making it available in over 100 countries. In December 2024, Botify x Demandsphere released findings stating that when AI Overviews and featured snippets appear together on the search engine results page, they take up approximately 67.1% of the screen on desktop and 75.7% on mobile. Even if content is ranking in the #1 position, it may not be visible to consumers if other visual elements on the results page are more prominent. In March 2025, Google started testing an "AI Mode", where the search results page is AI-generated. The company was also considering adding advertisements to the AI Mode, as they already exist in AI Overviews. As of May 2025, AI Overviews are available in over 200 countries and territories and in more than 40 languages. As of March 2026, Google AI Overviews appear on more than 48% of total Google Search queries, compared to just 6.49% in the previous year (58% year-over-year growth). == Functionality == The AI Overviews feature uses large language models to generate summaries from web content. The overviews are designed to be concise, providing a snapshot of relevant information about the queried topic. Google allows users to adjust the language complexity in summaries, offering both simplified and detailed options. The overviews also include links to sources. According to a June 2025 study by Semrush, the most cited source is Quora, followed by Reddit. == Reception == The feature has faced criticism for inaccuracies, including instances where erroneous or nonsensical content was generated. Depending on what is searched for, the overview may also consist of hallucinated content, such as when searching for idioms that do not exist. In May 2024, Google temporarily restricted the AI tool after it provided suggestions that were seen as nonsensical and harmful, such as telling users to eat rocks or apply glue on pizza. Concerns were also raised by content publishers, who feared a decline in web traffic as users relied on the summaries instead of visiting source websites. A Google patent from 2026 raised the concern of webmasters that Google could entirely replace the landing page of websites by an AI optimized copy of the website in its results. There is also apprehension about the ethical implications of AI-driven content aggregation, including its impact on intellectual property rights and the visibility of smaller content providers. The European Commission announced in December 2025 that they were investigating whether AI Overviews breached European competition law. In response, Google has stated its commitment to improve content validation and refine the algorithms used to filter unreliable information. Google implemented measures to prioritize link placement within AI Overviews, aiming to balance user convenience with the needs of content creators. In January 2026, Google restricted AI Overviews on certain health-related searches following an investigation by The Guardian. == Lawsuits == On February 24, 2025, Chegg sued Alphabet over the AI Overviews feature, claiming that it was leading to students preferring "low-quality, unverified AI summaries", thus violating antitrust law. Chegg also said it was considering either a sale or a take-private transaction. In September 2025, Penske Media Corporation, the publisher of Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter, sued Google, claiming that AI Overviews illegally regurgitate content from their websites and drive off potential site visitors by always appearing on top of the search results while leaving little incentive to see the linked sources. The company stated that "the future of digital media and [...] its integrity [...] is threatened by Google's current actions", alleging that 20% of searches that link to Penske-owned websites show AI Overviews and that the figure is expected to rise. Google spokesperson José Castañeda called the claims "meritless" and stated that "AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites." In 2026, Canadian musician Ashley MacIsaac filed a lawsuit against Google claiming that the AI Overview feature had wrongly stated that MacIsaac had been convicted of numerous criminal offences and was on the sex offender registry. He claims this incorrect information led to the cancellation of a December 2025 gig organized by the Sipekne'katik First Nation.

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  • Signal-to-crosstalk ratio

    Signal-to-crosstalk ratio

    The signal-to-crosstalk ratio at a specified point in a circuit is the ratio of the power of the wanted signal to the power of the unwanted signal from another channel. The signals are adjusted in each channel so that they are of equal power at the zero transmission level point in their respective channels. The signal-to-crosstalk ratio is usually expressed in dB.

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  • Acousto-electronics

    Acousto-electronics

    Acousto-electronics (also spelled 'Acoustoelectronics') is a branch of physics, acoustics and electronics that studies interactions of ultrasonic and hypersonic waves in solids with electrons and with electro-magnetic fields. Typical phenomena studied in acousto-electronics are acousto-electric effect and also amplification of acoustic waves by flows of electrons in piezoelectric semiconductors, when the drift velocity of the electrons exceeds the velocity of sound. The term 'acousto-electronics' is often understood in a wider sense to include numerous practical applications of the interactions of electro-magnetic fields with acoustic waves in solids. In particular, these are signal processing devices using surface acoustic waves (SAW), different sensors of temperature, pressure, humidity, acceleration, etc.

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