Intelligent character recognition (ICR) is a method of extracting handwritten text from images. It is a more sophisticated type of OCR technology that recognizes different handwriting styles and fonts to intelligently interpret data from physical documents. ICR is used to organize paper-based unstructured data by scanning documents, extracting information, and adapting extracted data for database storage. ICR algorithms collaborate with OCR to automate data entry from forms by removing the need for keystrokes. It has a high degree of accuracy and is a dependable method for processing various handwritten media quickly. == Capabilities == Most ICR software has a self-learning neural network-based algorithms, which automatically update the recognition database for new handwriting patterns. It extends the usefulness of scanning devices for the purpose of document processing, from printed character recognition (a function of OCR) to hand-written matter recognition. Because this process is involved in recognizing hand writing, accuracy levels may, in some circumstances, not be very good but can achieve 97%+ accuracy rates in reading handwriting in structured forms. Often to achieve these high recognition rates several read engines are used within the software and each is given elective voting rights to determine the true reading of characters. In numeric fields, engines which are designed to read numbers take preference, while in alpha fields, engines designed to read hand written letters have higher elective rights. When used in conjunction with a bespoke interface hub, hand-written data can be automatically populated into a back office system avoiding laborious manual keying and can be more accurate than traditional human data entry. === Automated forms processing === An important development of ICR was the invention of automated forms processing in 1993 by Joseph Corcoran who was awarded a patent on the invention. This involved a three-stage process of capturing the image of the form to be processed by ICR and preparing it to enable the ICR engine to give best results, then capturing the information using the ICR engine and finally processing the results to automatically validate the output from the ICR engine. This application of ICR increased the usefulness of the technology and made it applicable for use with real world forms in normal business applications. Modern software applications use ICR as a technology of recognizing text in forms filled in by hand (hand-printed). == Differences between ICR and OCR == === OCR === Optical character recognition (OCR) is commonly considered to apply to any recognition technique that reads machine printed text. An example of a traditional OCR use case would be to translate the characters from an image of a printed document, such as a book page, newspaper clipping, or legal contract, into a separate file that could be searched and updated with a word processor or document viewer. It's also quite helpful for automating the processing of forms. Information can be swiftly extracted from form fields and entered into another application, like a spreadsheet or database, by zonally applying the OCR engine to those fields. Yet, data is typically manually input rather than typed into form fields. Character identification becomes even more challenging while reading handwritten material. The diversity of more than 700,000 printed font variants is tiny compared to the near unlimited variations in hand-printed characters. The recognition program must take into account not just stylistic differences but also the kind of writing implement used, the standard of the paper, errors, hand stability, and smudges or running ink. === ICR === Intelligent character recognition (ICR) makes use of continuously improving algorithms to collect more information about the variances in hand-printed characters and more precisely identify them. ICR, which was created in the early 1990s to aid in the automation of forms processing, enables the conversion of manually entered data into text that is simple to read, search for, and change. When used to read characters that are obviously divided into distinct areas or zones, such as fixed fields seen on many structured forms, it works best. Both OCR and ICR can be configured to read a variety of languages; however, limiting the expected character set to a smaller number of languages will produce better recognition outcomes. ICR cannot read cursive handwriting since it must still be able to assess each character individually. While writing in cursive, it might be difficult to tell where one character ends and another one begins, and there are more differences across samples than when hand-printing text. A more recent method called intelligent word recognition (IWR) focuses on reading a word in context rather than recognizing individual characters. == Intelligent word recognition == Intelligent word recognition (IWR) can recognize and extract not only printed-handwritten information, cursive handwriting as well. ICR recognizes on the character-level, whereas IWR works with full words or phrases. Capable of capturing unstructured information from every day pages, IWR is said to be more evolved than hand print ICR. Not meant to replace conventional ICR and OCR systems, IWR is optimized for processing real-world documents that contain mostly free-form, hard-to-recognize data fields that are inherently unsuitable for ICR. This means that the highest and best use of IWR is to eliminate a high percentage of the manual entry of handwritten data and run-on hand print fields on documents that otherwise could be keyed only by humans.
System context diagram
A system context diagram in engineering is a diagram that defines the boundary between the system, or part of a system, and its environment, showing the entities that interact with it. This diagram is a high level view of a system. It is similar to a block diagram. == Overview == System context diagrams show a system, as a whole and its inputs and outputs from/to external factors. According to Kossiakoff and Sweet (2011): System Context Diagrams ... represent all external entities that may interact with a system ... Such a diagram pictures the system at the center, with no details of its interior structure, surrounded by all its interacting systems, environments and activities. The objective of the system context diagram is to focus attention on external factors and events that should be considered in developing a complete set of systems requirements and constraints. System context diagrams are used early in a project to get agreement on the scope under investigation. Context diagrams are typically included in a requirements document. These diagrams must be read by all project stakeholders and thus should be written in plain language, so the stakeholders can understand items within the document. == Building blocks == Context diagrams can be developed with the use of two types of building blocks: Entities (Actors): labeled boxes; one in the center representing the system, and around it multiple boxes for each external actor Relationships: labeled lines between the entities and system For example, "customer places order." Context diagrams can also use many different drawing types to represent external entities. They can use ovals, stick figures, pictures, clip art or any other representation to convey meaning. Decision trees and data storage are represented in system flow diagrams. A context diagram can also list the classifications of the external entities as one of a set of simple categories (Examples:), which add clarity to the level of involvement of the entity with regards to the system. These categories include: Active: Dynamic to achieve some goal or purpose (Examples: "Article readers" or "customers"). Passive: Static external entities which infrequently interact with the system (Examples: "Article editors" or "database administrator"). Cooperative: Predictable external entities which are used by the system to bring about some desired outcome (Examples: "Internet service providers" or "shipping companies"). Autonomous (Independent): External entities which are separated from the system, but affect the system indirectly, by means of imposed constraints or similar influences (Examples: "regulatory committees" or "standards groups"). == Alternatives == The best system context diagrams are used to display how a system interoperates at a very high level, or how systems operate and interact logically. The system context diagram is a necessary tool in developing a baseline interaction between systems and actors; actors and a system or systems and systems. Alternatives to the system context diagram are: Architecture Interconnect Diagram: The figure gives an example of an Architecture Interconnect Diagram: A representation of the Albuquerque regional ITS architecture interconnects for the Albuquerque Police Department that was generated using the Turbo Architecture tool is shown in the figure. Each block represents an ITS inventory element, including the name of the stakeholder in the top shaded portion. The interconnect lines between elements are solid or dashed, indicating existing or planned connections. Business Model Canvas, a strategic management template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements describing a firm's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances.[1] It assists firms in aligning their activities by illustrating potential trade-offs. Enterprise data model: this type of data model according to Simsion (2005) can contain up to 50 to 200 entity classes, which results from specific "high level of generalization in data modeling". IDEF0 Top Level Context Diagram: The IDEF0 process starts with the identification of the prime function to be decomposed. This function is identified on a "Top Level Context Diagram" that defines the scope of the particular IDEF0 analysis. Problem Diagrams (Problem Frames): In addition to the kinds of things shown on a context diagram, a problem diagram shows requirements and requirements references. Use case diagram: One of the Unified Modeling Language diagrams. They also represent the scope of the project at a similar level of abstraction. - Use Cases, however, tend to focus more on the goals of 'actors' who interact with the system, and do not specify any solution. Use Case diagrams represent a set of Use Cases, which are textual descriptions of how an actor achieves the goal of a use case. for Example Customer Places Order. ArchiMate: ArchiMate is an open and independent enterprise architecture modeling language to support the description, analysis and visualization of architecture within and across business domains in an unambiguous way. Most of these diagrams work well as long as a limited number of interconnects will be shown. Where twenty or more interconnects must be displayed, the diagrams become quite complex and can be difficult to read.
UpScrolled
UpScrolled is an Australian social media platform for microblogging and short-form online video sharing that was launched in June 2025 by Recursive Methods Pty Ltd. It was founded by Issam Hijazi. == History == UpScrolled was launched in June 2025 by Recursive Methods Pty Ltd. It was founded by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Australian app developer. UpScrolled is backed by the Tech for Palestine incubator. In January 2026, UpScrolled saw increased attention and number of downloads after the acquisition of TikTok by a group of pro-Donald Trump US investors, including Larry Ellison, which led to calls to boycott TikTok and migrate to other apps. TikTok was alleged to be suppressing pro-Palestinian content, as well as news surrounding the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on the platform. UpScrolled subsequently climbed to the top 10 of Apple's App Store list of free apps. The app saw a reported 2,850% increase in downloads between 22 and 24 January 2026. As of 27 January 2026, UpScrolled "had been downloaded about 400,000 times in the US and 700,000 globally since launching in June 2025". The app became the most downloaded app in the Apple App store on 29 January 2026, following allegations that TikTok was suppressing videos and content opposed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under its new ownership. By 2 February 2026, UpScrolled had reached 2.5 million users. According to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, it has become the most downloaded social media app in the United States and Canada, with rising interest in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. On 14 February, UpScrolled was suspended from the Google Play Store; the suspension was reverted by 15 February. == Founder == Hijazi was born in Jordan. His parents and grandparents are from Safad, a northern Israeli city near the Lebanese border. He worked for IBM and Oracle prior to starting UpScrolled. Hijazi told Rest of World that he launched UpScrolled in response to Israel's genocide in Gaza which followed the October 7 attacks. He said, "I couldn't take it anymore. I lost family members in Gaza, and I didn't want to be complicit. So I was like, I'm done with this, I want to feel useful. I found this gap in the market, with a lot of people asking why there is no alternative to the Big Tech platforms for their content, which was getting censored." Hijazi also alleges that social media accounts that were posting pro-Palestinian content were getting shadow banned on larger platforms, and alleges that even his account was not exempt from being targeted by censors. Hijazi has further elaborated on the importance of social media independence to further the Palestinian cause. In January 2026, Web Summit Qatar announced that Hijazi would be an opening night speaker. Following the announcement, there was a surge in ticket sales for the summit. Hijazi lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter. He lost 60 family members during the Gaza war. == Features == UpScrolled's algorithm allows users to discover posts based on likes, comments, and shares with time decay and some randomness, all chronologically, with "no manipulation" according to the app's website. UpScrolled has an interface resembling a mix of Instagram and Twitter, allowing users to post and view text posts, photos, and videos. It also lets users send private messages to each other. The app is currently available for iOS and Android devices, with plans to upscale. UpScrolled does not include Israel as an option in its location selection menu. Cities such as Tel Aviv are included under "Occupied Territories of Palestine", and Palestine can also be set as the location. UpScrolled says that it is against censorship and shadow banning, and describes itself as "belong[ing] to the people who use it — not to hidden algorithms or outside agendas". Hijazi said, "The other platforms claim to be free speech platforms. But when it comes to anything on Palestine, that's a different story." UpScrolled states that it "does not tolerate hate speech, propaganda, or bad-faith behaviour, but it also refuses to silence voices quietly or without explanation". == User base and content == Al Jazeera reported that posts expressing pro-Palestinian sentiment or depicting the continued suffering in the Gaza Strip were "flooding" the app. Political and global issues such as the Gaza war are prominent. Content includes updates from the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, posts by doctors working in Gaza, video essays about Palantir’s influence within the military and calls for boycotts of Israel. It has been used by Gazans to crowdfund and record daily life. Celebrity users of UpScrolled include American labour activist Chris Smalls and actor Jacob Berger, both of whom were on the July 2025 Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Political figures have also joined UpScrolled, such as South African politician and Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Esmail Qaani. One user said that most early users were attracted to the platform for the opportunity to criticize Zionism. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported that UpScrolled was observed to be "flooded" with antisemitic and anti-Israel content, including Holocaust denial and accusations that Israel carried out the 9/11 attacks. In a statement, UpScrolled said, "Our content moderation hasn't been able to keep up with the massive rise of users this week. We're working with digital rights experts to grow our Trust & Safety team and are beefing up our content moderation to prevent this. We apologise to all impacted users, thank you for being part of Upscrolled." The Times reported in February 2026 that UpScrolled was hosting content that could potentially breach UK law, including antisemitic content and posts promoting Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, as well as footage of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings and content praising the perpetrators of the 2019 Halle synagogue shooting and 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Antisemitic influencers Lucas Gage, Jake Shields, Stew Peters and Anastasia Maria Loupis have accounts on UpScrolled. UpScrolled’s policies prohibit threats, glorification of harm or support for terrorist or violent groups. Hijazi said harmful content was being uploaded to UpScrolled and the company had expanded its content moderation team and upgraded its technology infrastructure to deal with the issue. In May 2026, Moment magazine said that users had identified some antisemitic content, pornography and extremist videos on the platform. The magazine said there were gaps in content moderation due to the small size of the developer team. == Reception == In January 2026, the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised UpScrolled for "pledging to protect the free flow of ideas on its platform, including both support for and opposition to the Israeli government's human rights abuses." Guy Christensen, a pro-Palestinian social media celebrity, has encouraged his audience to download UpScrolled. Christensen characterized UpScrolled as having "no censorship, no ownership by billionaires who put their interests and biases onto you to control you". He compared the platform to others like TikTok, saying that Israel is behind censorship that wouldn't happen on UpScrolled. Jaigris Hodson, an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University in Canada, has argued that "Network effects mean that unless UpScrolled continues its explosive growth, people are unlikely to continue to choose it over the more established TikTok. At best, we might see a Twitter/X effect, which is where TikTok will host more pro-U.S. government content creators and those people who want to follow them, and UpScrolled will host more critical content creators and their followers."
Sanchar Saathi
Sanchar Saathi (lit. 'Communication Partner' or 'Communication Companion') is an Indian state-owned app and web portal, operated by the Department of Telecommunications, designed to assist Indian mobile users in tracking and blocking stolen or lost mobile devices. In late 2025, a government order requiring Sanchar Saathi to be pre-installed on all mobile devices sold nationwide, with explicit provisions on preventing users from deleting the app or disabling any of its broad functionalities, triggered widespread backlash. The order was subsequently withdrawn. == Background == The Telecommunications Act 2023 introduced an exceptionally broad definition of the term "telecommunications" and conferred wide-ranging powers on the government. Although the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) assured reporters that this definition would not be used to justify government overreach, a November 2024 amendment to the Telecom Cyber Security Rules expanded it further and introduced the concept of the Telecommunication Identifier User Entity (TIEU), enabling users to be personally identified through their phone numbers. Sanchar Saathi was launched amid a widespread rise in cybercrime and hacking, as part of the Indian government's effort to prevent stolen phones from being used for fraud and to promote a state-backed application. In an official statement, the DoT said, "India has big second-hand mobile device market. Cases have also been observed where stolen or blacklisted devices are being re-sold. It makes the purchaser abettor in crime and causes financial loss to them." == Launch == Sanchar Saathi was originally launched as a web portal in May 2023. It was later launched as a mobile app in January 2025. Describing itself as a "citizen-centric" safety tool, Sanchar Saathi allows users to check a device's IMEI, report and block lost or stolen phones, and flag suspected fraud communications. Under Sanchar Saathi's privacy policy, it can make and manage phone calls, view and send messages, read call logs, access photos and files, access the location and camera of the device in which the app is used, as well as read and write into the device's storage. According to official government data, by December 2025, the Sanchar Saathi app had helped recover more than 700,000 lost and stolen mobile devices across India. Users report around 2,000 fraud incidents through the app each day. == Pre-installation controversy == On 28 November 2025, the Bharatiya Janata Party government, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, privately ordered phone manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, among others, to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on new devices sold in the country, alongside mandating that old devices get issued a software update for the installation of the app. The order had a 90-day deadline and further included explicit provisions to ensure that the app is to be "readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup" and that users should neither be able to delete the app nor disable or restrict any of its broad functionalities. The order caused widespread political backlash. K. C. Venugopal, a general secretary of the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress (or simply the Congress), called the order "beyond unconstitutional" and said, "A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen", adding, "Big Brother cannot watch us." Another Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi, termed Sanchar Saathi a "snooping app", and attacked the government for "turning this country into a dictatorship". Uddhav Thackeray, former chief minister of Maharashtra, compared Sanchar Saathi to the Pegasus spyware. Sanjay Hegde, a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India, said "Here in the garb of security, the intrusion is vast, unfettered, unguided and is totally disproportionate. The app ought to be struck down on that account". The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), an Indian digital rights advocacy organisation, said, "Forcing every smartphone to carry a permanent government app for a simple verification task is excessive and violates the Puttaswamy proportionality standard", referring to Puttaswamy v. Union of India, a 2017 landmark decision of the Supreme Court, which asserted that the right to privacy should be protected as a fundamental right. The IFF further said, "For this to work in practice, the app will almost certainly need system level or root level access, similar to carrier or OEM system apps, so that it cannot be disabled. That design choice erodes the protections that normally prevent one app from peering into the data of others, and turns Sanchar Saathi into a permanent, non-consensual point of access sitting inside the operating system of every Indian smartphone user." Moreover, the organisation said that while the app was being "framed as a benign IMEI checker", a server-side update could allow the app to engage in "client side scanning for 'banned' applications, flag VPN usage, correlate SIM activity, or trawl SMS logs in the name of fraud detection. Nothing in the order constrains these possibilities." In reaction to the controversy, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the union minister of communications, said, "There is no snooping or call monitoring", adding, "Obviously you can delete it. There is no problem. This is a matter of customer protection. It is not mandatory. If you don't want to register, and don't want to use the app, don't use it; don't register, and it will lay dormant." Scindia compared the app to other pre-installed mobile apps such as Google Maps, which he said could be deleted if users wished so. However, contrary to Scindia's statement, on many phone brands, such pre-installed apps cannot be deleted, although users can disable them. Furthermore, upon enquiry, Scindia did not clarify whether his remarks applied to the app after the order took effect, making no comment on the provision in the order that would prevent users from deleting the app. When Congress member Renuka Chowdhury submitted an adjournment motion notice in the Rajya Sabha seeking the suspension of all other matters to discuss the Sanchar Saathi issue, Kiren Rijiju, the union minister of parliamentary affairs, accused the opposition of "manufacturing issues" to stall session proceedings. By 2 December, it had been reported that Apple did not plan to comply with the order, citing privacy and security concerns for the iOS ecosystem and the fact that the order would violate its internal policy against the pre-installation of third-party software in iPhones. Although it was clarified that Apple did not intend to take the matter to court or publicly oppose the government, it was said that Apple "can't do this. Period." The order would have also required Google to create a custom version of Android solely for India which would include the Sanchar Saathi app, a requirement described to "not be acceptable to the company". Following the backlash, the order was revoked on 3 December 2025. In a press release, the government said, "Given Sanchar Saathi's increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers".
PenTile matrix family
PenTile matrix is a family of patented subpixel matrix schemes used in electronic device displays. PenTile is a trademark of Samsung. PenTile matrices are used in AMOLED and LCD displays. These subpixel layouts are specifically designed to operate with proprietary algorithms for subpixel rendering embedded in the display driver, allowing plug and play compatibility with conventional RGB (Red-Green-Blue) stripe panels. == Overview == "PenTile Matrix" (a neologism from penta-, meaning "five" in Greek and tile) describes the geometric layout of the prototypical subpixel arrangement developed in the early 1990s. The layout consists of a quincunx comprising two red subpixels, two green subpixels, and one central blue subpixel in each unit cell. It was inspired by biomimicry of the human retina, which has nearly equal numbers of L and M type cone cells, but significantly fewer S cones. As the S cones are primarily responsible for perceiving blue colors, which do not appreciably affect the perception of luminance, reducing the number of blue subpixels with respect to the red and green subpixels in a display does not reduce the image quality. However, the layout may cause color leakage image distortion, which can be reduced by filters. In some cases the layout causes reduced moiré and blockiness compared to conventional RGB layouts. The PenTile layout is specifically designed to work with and be dependent upon subpixel rendering that uses only one and a quarter subpixel per pixel, on average, to render an image. That is, that any given input pixel is mapped to either a red-centered logical pixel, or a green-centered logical pixel. === History === PenTile was invented by Candice H. Brown Elliott, for which she was awarded the Society for Information Display's Otto Schade Prize in 2014. The technology was licensed by the company Clairvoyante from 2000 until 2008, during which time several prototype PenTile displays were developed by a number of Asian liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturers. In March 2008, Samsung Electronics acquired Clairvoyante's PenTile IP assets. Samsung then funded a new company, Nouvoyance, Inc. to continue development of the PenTile technology. == PenTile RGBG == PenTile RGBG layout used in AMOLED and plasma displays uses green pixels interleaved with alternating red and blue pixels. The human eye is most sensitive to green, especially for high resolution luminance information. The green subpixels are mapped to input pixels on a one-to-one basis. The red and blue subpixels are subsampled, reconstructing the chroma signal at a lower resolution. The luminance signal is processed using adaptive subpixel rendering filters to optimize reconstruction of high spatial frequencies from the input image, wherein the green subpixels provide the majority of the reconstruction. The red and blue subpixels are capable of reconstructing the horizontal and vertical spatial frequencies, but not the highest of the diagonal. Diagonal high spatial frequency information in the red and blue channels of the input image are transferred to the green subpixels for image reconstruction. Thus the RG-BG scheme creates a color display with one third fewer subpixels than a traditional RGB-RGB scheme but with the same measured luminance display resolution. This is similar to the Bayer filter commonly used in digital cameras. === Devices === As of 2021, "almost all" OLED screens in portable consumer devices use some form of Pentile subpixel layout. == PenTile RGBW == PenTile RGBW technology, used in LCD, adds an extra subpixel to the traditional red, green and blue subpixels that is a clear area without color filtering material and with the only purpose of letting backlight come through, hence W for white. This makes it possible to produce a brighter image compared to an RGB-matrix while using the same amount of power, or produce an equally bright image while using less power. The PenTile RGBW layout uses each red, green, blue and white subpixel to present high-resolution luminance information to the human eyes' red-sensing and green-sensing cone cells, while using the combined effect of all the color subpixels to present lower-resolution chroma (color) information to all three cone cell types. Combined, this optimizes the match of display technology to the biological mechanisms of human vision. The layout uses one third fewer subpixels for the same resolution as the RGB stripe (RGB-RGB) layout, in spite of having four color primaries instead of the conventional three, using subpixel rendering combined with metamer rendering. Metamer rendering optimizes the energy distribution between the white subpixel and the combined red, green, and blue subpixels: W <> RGB, to improve image sharpness. The display driver chip has an RGB to RGBW color vector space converter and gamut mapping algorithm, followed by metamer and subpixel rendering algorithms. In order to maintain saturated color quality, to avoid simultaneous contrast error between saturated colors and peak white brightness, while simultaneously reducing backlight power requirements, the display backlight brightness is under control of the PenTile driver engine. When the image is mostly desaturated colors, those near white or grey, the backlight brightness is significantly reduced, often to less than 50% peak, while the LCD levels are increased to compensate. When the image has very bright saturated colors, the backlight brightness is maintained at higher levels. The PenTile RGBW also has an optional high-brightness mode that doubles the brightness of the desaturated color image areas, such as black-and-white text, for improved outdoor viewability. === Devices === Motorola MC65 Motorola ES55 Motorola ES400 Motorola Atrix 4G Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 version Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro HP ENVY TouchSmart 14-k022tx Sleekbook MSI GS60 Ghost Pro 4K Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 4K Asus ZenBook UX303LN 4K Asus ZenBook Pro UX501JW LG UH7500/6500/6100 LG ThinQ G7/G7+ Oculus Quest 1 == Controversy == An ongoing controversy regarding the definition or measurement of resolution of color subpixelated flat panel displays led many people to question the resolution claims of PenTile display products. Journalists have noted that in "just about every flat-panel TV in existence, each pixel is composed of one red, one green, and one blue subpixel (RGB), all of uniform size". In traditional flat-panel screens, the resolution is defined by the number of red, green, and blue subpixels, in groups of three, in an array in each axis. As a result, each pixel or group of subpixels can render any colour on the screen, regardless of neighbouring pixels. This is not the case with PenTile screens. The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) method of measuring and defining resolution in color displays is to measure the contrast of line pairs, requiring a minimum of 50% Michelson contrast for displays intended for rendering text. The developers of PenTile displays use this VESA criterion for contrast of line pairs to calculate the resolutions specified. In the RGBG layout the alternate red and blue subpixels are 'shared' or sub-sampled with neighboring pixels. Due to the one third lower subpixel density on PenTile displays the pixel structure may be more visible when compared to RGB stripe displays with the same pixel density. The loss of subpixels for a given resolution specification has led some journalists to describe the use of PenTile as "shady practice" and "sort of cheating". For a given size and resolution specification, the PenTile screen can appear grainy, pixelated, speckled, with blurred text on some saturated colors and backgrounds when compared to RGB stripe color. This effect is understood to be caused by the restriction of the number of subpixels that may participate in the image reconstruction when colors are highly saturated to primaries. In the RGBW case, this is caused as the W subpixel will not be available in order to maintain the saturated color. In the RGBG case, this effect will occur when the color boundary is primarily red or blue, as the fully populated (one green per pixel) sub-pixel cannot contribute. For all other cases, text and especially full color images are effectively reconstructed. == Advantages and disadvantages == The PenTile layout reduces the number of subpixels needed to create a specified resolution. Consequently it is possible to achieve an HD resolution on a PenTile AMOLED screen at lower cost than other technologies, and most reviewers note that "300 ppi" (as per VESA - not full pixels) resolution displays (such as Samsung Galaxy S III) make the PenTile effect less obvious than lower resolution PenTile displays (Droid Razr). The second advantage is lower power consumption: the HTC One S's use of a PenTile display makes it more energy efficient and thinner than equivalent LCD screens, giving it better battery life than the HTC One X's IPS LCD. A PenTile AMOLED screen is also
Observability (software)
In software engineering, more specifically in distributed computing, observability is the ability to collect data about programs' execution, modules' internal states, and the communication among components. To improve observability, software engineers use a wide range of logging and tracing techniques to gather telemetry information, and tools to analyze and use it. Observability is foundational to site reliability engineering, as it is the first step in triaging a service outage. One of the goals of observability is to minimize the amount of prior knowledge needed to debug an issue. == Etymology, terminology and definition == The term is borrowed from control theory, where the "observability" of a system measures how well its state can be determined from its outputs. Similarly, software observability measures how well a system's state can be understood from the obtained telemetry (metrics, logs, traces, profiling). The definition of observability varies by vendor: Observability is the process of making a system’s internal state more transparent. Systems are made observable by the data they produce, which in turn helps you to determine if your infrastructure or application is healthy and functioning normally. a measure of how well you can understand and explain any state your system can get into, no matter how novel or bizarre [...] without needing to ship new code software tools and practices for aggregating, correlating and analyzing a steady stream of performance data from a distributed application along with the hardware and network it runs onobservability starts by shipping all your raw data to central service before you begin analysisthe ability to measure a system’s current state based on the data it generates, such as logs, metrics, and traces Observability is tooling or a technical solution that allows teams to actively debug their system. Observability is based on exploring properties and patterns not defined in advance. proactively collecting, visualizing, and applying intelligence to all of your metrics, events, logs, and traces—so you can understand the behavior of your complex digital system The term is frequently referred to as its numeronym o11y (where 11 stands for the number of letters between the first letter and the last letter of the word). This is similar to other computer science abbreviations such as i18n and l10n and k8s. === Observability vs. monitoring === Observability and monitoring are sometimes used interchangeably. As tooling, commercial offerings and practices evolved in complexity, "monitoring" was re-branded as observability in order to differentiate new tools from the old. The terms are commonly contrasted in that systems are monitored using predefined sets of telemetry, and monitored systems may be observable. Majors et al. suggest that engineering teams that only have monitoring tools end up relying on expert foreknowledge (seniority), whereas teams that have observability tools rely on exploratory analysis (curiosity). == Telemetry types == Observability relies on three main types of telemetry data: metrics, logs and traces. Those are often referred to as "pillars of observability". === Metrics === A metric is a point in time measurement (scalar) that represents some system state. Examples of common metrics include: number of HTTP requests per second; total number of query failures; database size in bytes; time in seconds since last garbage collection. Monitoring tools are typically configured to emit alerts when certain metric values exceed set thresholds. Thresholds are set based on knowledge about normal operating conditions and experience. Metrics are typically tagged to facilitate grouping and searchability. Application developers choose what kind of metrics to instrument their software with, before it is released. As a result, when a previously unknown issue is encountered, it is impossible to add new metrics without shipping new code. Furthermore, their cardinality can quickly make the storage size of telemetry data prohibitively expensive. Since metrics are cardinality-limited, they are often used to represent aggregate values (for example: average page load time, or 5-second average of the request rate). Without external context, it is impossible to correlate between events (such as user requests) and distinct metric values. === Logs === Logs, or log lines, are generally free-form, unstructured text blobs that are intended to be human readable. Modern logging is structured to enable machine parsability. As with metrics, an application developer must instrument the application upfront and ship new code if different logging information is required. Logs typically include a timestamp and severity level. An event (such as a user request) may be fragmented across multiple log lines and interweave with logs from concurrent events. === Traces === ==== Distributed traces ==== A cloud native application is typically made up of distributed services which together fulfill a single request. A distributed trace is an interrelated series of discrete events (also called spans) that track the progression of a single user request. A trace shows the causal and temporal relationships between the services that interoperate to fulfill a request. Instrumenting an application with traces means sending span information to a tracing backend. The tracing backend correlates the received spans to generate presentable traces. To be able to follow a request as it traverses multiple services, spans are labeled with unique identifiers that enable constructing a parent-child relationship between spans. Span information is typically shared in the HTTP headers of outbound requests. === Continuous profiling === Continuous profiling is another telemetry type used to precisely determine how an application consumes resources. === Instrumentation === To be able to observe an application, telemetry about the application's behavior needs to be collected or exported. Instrumentation means generating telemetry alongside the normal operation of the application. Telemetry is then collected by an independent backend for later analysis. In fast-changing systems, instrumentation itself is often the best possible documentation, since it combines intention (what are the dimensions that an engineer named and decided to collect?) with the real-time, up-to-date information of live status in production. Instrumentation can be automatic, or custom. Automatic instrumentation offers blanket coverage and immediate value; custom instrumentation brings higher value but requires more intimate involvement with the instrumented application. Instrumentation can be native - done in-code (modifying the code of the instrumented application) - or out-of-code (e.g. sidecar, eBPF). Verifying new features in production by shipping them together with custom instrumentation is a practice called "observability-driven development". == "Pillars of observability" == Metrics, logs and traces are most commonly listed as the pillars of observability. Majors et al. suggest that the pillars of observability are high cardinality, high-dimensionality, and explorability, arguing that runbooks and dashboards have little value because "modern systems rarely fail in precisely the same way twice." == Self monitoring == Self monitoring is a practice where observability stacks monitor each other, in order to reduce the risk of inconspicuous outages. Self monitoring may be put in place in addition to high availability and redundancy to further avoid correlated failures.
Headway (app)
Headway, also known as the Headway App, is an educational technology (EdTech) product that provides short text and audio summaries of nonfiction books. The product was launched in 2019 by Anton Pavlovsky and is developed by Headway Inc, a global consumer tech company that operates in the lifelong learning space. == History == The Headway app was launched in January 2019, with the first version of the application released the same year. In 2021, Headway ranked first globally in downloads within the book summary application niche. In 2022, the application received the Golden Novum Design Award for product design. In 2023 and 2024, Headway appeared in several App Store editorial selections, including App of the Day in multiple countries, and received an Editors’ Choice label in the United States. In April 2025, the application was listed as a Webby Honoree in the Learning & Education category. The company has also launched the Headway Scholarship for Book Lovers. As of 2025, publicly available reporting notes that the Headway app has surpassed 50 million downloads and is among the Top 10 iOS applications by revenue in the Education category worldwide. == Products and features == The Headway app provides short-form summaries of nonfiction books in both text and audio formats. Content is produced by an in-house team of writers, editors, and voice actors. Features include highlighting and saving key insights, spaced repetition for knowledge retention, and offline access to downloaded summaries. The app is available on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, Android, CarPlay, and Android Auto, and supports multiple languages. == Pricing == Headway operates on a subscription business model, with optional paid plans alongside free access. The company publicly provides its terms of use, privacy policy, subscription details, and AI usage policy on its official website. == Technology and integrations == Headway reports that its book summaries are written and edited manually, while artificial intelligence tools are used in limited supporting functions, such as experimental conversational features and selected marketing processes. == Adoption == According to figures released by the company, the app has exceeded 50 million downloads worldwide. Sensor Tower data indicates that Headway has been the most downloaded application in its niche since October 2020. In January 2025, the app claimed the #1 position in the Education category in both the United States and United Kingdom App Stores and remained among the Top 10 iOS applications globally by revenue within the Education category. == Awards == The Headway app has received several product-level distinctions. In 2023 and 2024, it appeared in multiple App Store editorial selections, including App of the Day features and an Editors’ Choice label in the United States. In 2025, the app was recognized as a Webby Honoree in the Learning & Education category. The product has also been featured in independent media roundups of notable educational applications.