Katherine Louise Bouman (; born 1989) is an American engineer and computer scientist working in the field of computational imaging. She led the development of an algorithm for imaging black holes, known as Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors (CHIRP), and was a member of the Event Horizon Telescope team that captured the first image of a black hole. The California Institute of Technology, which hired Bouman as an assistant professor in June 2019, awarded her a named professorship in 2020. In 2021, asteroid 291387 Katiebouman was named after her. In 2024, she became an associate professor. == Early life and education == Bouman grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana. Her father, Charles Bouman, is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering at Purdue University. As a high school student, Bouman conducted imaging research at Purdue University. She graduated from West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School in 2007. Bouman studied electrical engineering at the University of Michigan and graduated summa cum laude in 2011. She earned her master's degree in 2013 and obtained a doctoral degree in electrical engineering and computer science in 2017 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At MIT, she was a member of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). This group also worked closely with MIT's Haystack Observatory and with the Event Horizon Telescope. She was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Her master's thesis, Estimating Material Properties of Fabric through the Observation of Motion, was awarded the Ernst Guillemin Award for best Master's Thesis in electrical engineering. Her Ph.D. dissertation, Extreme imaging via physical model inversion: seeing around corners and imaging black holes, was supervised by William T. Freeman. Prior to receiving her doctoral degree, Bouman delivered a TEDx talk, How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole, which explained algorithms that could be used to capture the first image of a black hole. == Research and career == After earning her doctorate, Bouman joined Harvard University as a postdoctoral fellow on the Event Horizon Telescope Imaging team. Bouman joined Event Horizon Telescope project in 2013. She led the development of an algorithm for imaging black holes, known as Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors (CHIRP). CHIRP inspired image validation procedures used in acquiring the first image of a black hole in April 2019, and Bouman played a significant role in the project by verifying images, selecting parameters for filtering images taken by the Event Horizon Telescope, and participating in the development of a robust imaging framework that compared the results of different image reconstruction techniques. Her group is analyzing the Event Horizon Telescope's images to learn more about general relativity in a strong gravitational field. Bouman received significant media attention after a photo, showing her reaction to the detection of the black hole shadow in the EHT images, went viral. Some people in the media and on the Internet misleadingly implied that Bouman was a "lone genius" behind the image. However, Bouman herself repeatedly noted that the result came from the work of a large collaboration, showing the importance of teamwork in science. Bouman also became the target of online harassment, to the extent that her colleague Andrew Chael made a statement on Twitter criticizing "awful and sexist attacks on my colleague and friend", including attempts to undermine her contributions by crediting him solely with work accomplished by the team. Bouman joined the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) as an assistant professor in June 2019, where she works on new systems for computational imaging using computer vision and machine learning. In 2024, she was promoted to associate professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering and astronomy as well as a Rosenberg Scholar. Bouman received a named professorship at Caltech in 2020. In 2021, Bouman was awarded the Royal Photographic Society Progress Medal and Honorary Fellowship. == Recognition == She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019. In 2024, Bouman was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship.
Macromedia FreeHand
Macromedia FreeHand (formerly Aldus FreeHand) is a discontinued computer application for creating two-dimensional vector graphics oriented primarily to professional illustration, desktop publishing and content creation for the Web. FreeHand was similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Xara Designer Pro. Because of FreeHand's dedicated page layout and text control features, it also compares to Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. Professions using FreeHand include graphic design, illustration, cartography, fashion and textile design, product design, architects, scientific research, and multimedia production. FreeHand was created by Altsys Corporation in 1988 and licensed to Aldus Corporation, which released versions 1 through 4. In 1994, Aldus merged with Adobe Systems and because of the overlapping market with Adobe Illustrator, FreeHand was returned to Altsys by order of the Federal Trade Commission. Altsys was later bought by Macromedia, which released FreeHand versions 5 through 11 (FreeHand MX). In 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product line which included FreeHand MX, under whose ownership it presently resides. Since 2003, FreeHand development has been discontinued; in the Adobe Systems catalog, FreeHand has been replaced by Adobe Illustrator. FreeHand MX continues to run under Windows 11 and under Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) within Rosetta, a PowerPC code emulator, and requires a registration patch supplied by Adobe. FreeHand 10 runs without problems on Mac OS X Snow Leopard with Rosetta enabled, and does not require a registration patch. Later versions of macOS can use a Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server virtual machine to emulate the required PowerPC support. == History == === Altsys and Aldus FreeHand === In 1984, James R. Von Ehr founded Altsys Corporation to develop graphics applications for personal computers. Based in Plano, Texas, the company initially produced font editing and conversion software; Fontastic Plus, Metamorphosis, and the Art Importer. Their premier PostScript font-design package, Fontographer, was released in 1986 and was the first such program on the market. With the PostScript background having been established by Fontographer, Altsys also developed FreeHand (originally called Masterpiece) as a Macintosh Postscript-based illustration program that used Bézier curves for drawing and was similar to Adobe Illustrator. FreeHand was announced as "... a Macintosh graphics program described as having all the features of Adobe's Illustrator plus drawing tools such as those in Mac Paint and Mac Draft and special effects similar to those in Cricket Draw." Seattle's Aldus Corporation acquired a licensing agreement with Altsys Corporation to release FreeHand along with their flagship product, Pagemaker, and Aldus FreeHand 1.0 was released in 1988. FreeHand's product name used intercaps; the F and H were capitalized. The partnership between the two companies continued with Altsys developing FreeHand and with Aldus controlling marketing and sales. After 1988, a competitive exchange between Aldus FreeHand and Adobe Illustrator ensued on the Macintosh platform with each software advancing new tools, achieving better speed, and matching significant features. Windows PC development also allowed Illustrator 2 (aka, Illustrator 88 on the Mac) and FreeHand 3 to release Windows versions to the graphics market. FreeHand 1.0 sold for $495 in 1988. It included the standard drawing tools and features as other draw programs including special effects in fills and screens, text manipulation tools, and full support for CMYK color printing. It was also possible to create and insert PostScript routines anywhere within the program. FreeHand performed in preview mode instead of keyline mode but performance was slower. FreeHand 2.0 sold for $495 in 1989. Besides improving on the features of FreeHand 1.0, FreeHand 2 added faster operation, Pantone colors, stroked text, flexible fill patterns and automatically import graphic assets from other programs. It added accurate control over a color monitor screen display, limited only by its resolution. FreeHand 3.0 sold for $595 in 1991. New features included resizable color, style, and layer panels including an Attributes menu. Also tighter precision of both the existing tools and aligning of objects. FH3 created compound Paths. Text could be converted to paths, applied to an ellipse, or made vertical. Carried over from version 1.0, FreeHand 3 suffered by having text entered into a dialog box instead of directly to the page. In October 1991, a 3.1 upgrade made FreeHand work with System 7 but additionally, it supported pressure-sensitive drawing which offered varying line widths with a users stroke. It improved element manipulation and added more import/export options. FreeHand 4.0 sold for $595 in 1994. Altsys ported FreeHand 3.0 to the NeXT system creating a new program named Virtuoso. Virtuoso continued its development at Altsys and version 2.0 of Virtuoso was feature-equivalent to FreeHand 4 (with the addition of NeXT-specific features such as Services and Display PostScript) and file compatible, with Virtuoso 2 able to open FreeHand 4 files and vice versa. A prominent feature of this version was the ability to type directly into the page and wrap inside or outside any shape. It also included drag-and-drop color imaging, a larger pasteboard, and a user interface that featured floating, rollup panels. The colors palette included a color mixer for adding new colors to the swatch list. Speed increases were made. In the same year of FreeHand 4 release, Adobe Systems announced merger plans with Aldus Corporation for $525 million. Fear about the end of competition between these two leading applications was reported in the media and expressed by customers (Illustrator versus FreeHand and Adobe Photoshop versus Aldus PhotoStyler.) Because of this overlapping of the market, Altsys stepped in by suing Aldus, saying that the merger deal was "a prima facie violation of a non-compete clause within the FreeHand licensing agreement." Altsys CEO Jim Von Ehr explained, "No one loves FreeHand more than we do. We will do whatever it takes to see it survive." The Federal Trade Commission issued a complaint against Adobe Systems on October 18, 1994, ordering a divestiture of FreeHand to "remedy the lessening of competition resulting from the acquisition as alleged in the Commission's complaint," and further, the FTC ordering, "That for a period of ten (10) years from the date on which this order becomes final, respondents shall not, without the prior approval of the Commission, directly or indirectly, through subsidiaries, partnerships, or otherwise .. Acquire any Professional Illustration Software or acquire or enter into any exclusive license to Professional Illustration Software;" (referring to FreeHand.) FreeHand was returned to Altsys with all licensing and marketing rights as well as Aldus FreeHand's customer list. === Macromedia Freehand === By late 1994, Altsys still retained all rights to FreeHand. Despite brief plans to keep it in-house to sell it along with Fontographer and Virtuoso, Altsys reached an agreement with the multimedia software company, Macromedia, to be acquired. This mutual agreement provided FreeHand and Fontographer a new home with ample resources for marketing, sales, and competition against the newly merged Adobe-Aldus company. Altsys would remain in Richardson, Texas, but would be renamed as the Digital Arts Group of Macromedia and was responsible for the continued development of FreeHand. Macromedia received FreeHand's 200,000 customers and expanded its traditional product line of multimedia graphics software to illustration and design graphics software. CEO James Von Ehr became a Macromedia vice-president until 1997 when he left to start another venture. FreeHand 5.0 sold for $595 in 1995. This version featured a more customizable and expanded workspace, multiple views, stronger design and editing tools, a report generator, spell check, paragraph styles, multicolor gradient fills up to 64 colors, speed improvements, and it accepted Illustrator plugins. In September 1995, a 5.5 upgrade added Photoshop plug-in support, PDF import capabilities, the Extract feature, inline graphics to text, improved auto-expanding text containers, the Crop feature, and the Create PICT Image feature. A FreeHand 5.5 upgrade was part of the FreeHand Graphics Studio (a suite that included Fontographer, Macromedia xRes image editing application, and Extreme 3D animation and modeling application). FreeHand 6.0 in 1996. This version only existed in beta. Some Freehand 7 prerelease versions were released under the Freehand 6 tag. FreeHand 7.0 sold for $399 in 1996, or $449 as part of the FreeHand Graphics Studio (see above.) Features included a redesigned user interface that allowed recombining Inspectors, Panel Tabs, Dockable Panels, Smart Cursors,
Open Mashup Alliance
The Open Mashup Alliance (OMA) is a non-profit consortium that promotes the adoption of mashup solutions in the enterprise through the evolution of enterprise mashup standards like EMML. The initial members of the OMA include some large technology companies such as Adobe Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel and some major technology users such as Bank of America and Capgemini. According to Dion Hinchcliffe, "Ultimately, the OMA creates a standardized approach to enterprise mashups that creates an open and vibrant market for competing runtimes, mashups, and an array of important aftermarket services such as development/testing tools, management and administration appliances, governance frameworks, education, professional services, and so on." == Specification development == The initial focus of the OMA is developing EMML, which is a declarative mashup domain-specific language (DSL) aimed at creating enterprise mashups. The EMML language provides a comprehensive set of high-level mashup-domain vocabulary to consume and mash a variety of web data sources. EMML provides a uniform syntax to invoke heterogeneous service styles: REST, WSDL, RSS/ATOM, RDBMS, and POJO. EMML also provides the ability to mix and match diverse data formats: XML, JSON, JDBC, JavaObjects, and primitive types. The OMA website provides the EMML specification, the EMML schema, a reference runtime implementation capable of running EMML scripts, sample EMML mashup scripts, and technical documentation. The OMA is developing EMML under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives license. The eventual objective of the OMA is to submit the EMML specification and any other OMA specifications to a recognized industry standards body.
Robert Abel and Associates
Robert Abel and Associates (RA&A) was an American pioneering animation production company specializing in television commercials made with computer graphics. Founded by Robert Abel and Con Pederson in 1971, RA&A was especially known for their art direction and won many Clio Awards. Abel and his team created some of the most advanced and impressive computer-animated works of their time, including full ray-traced renders and fluid character animation at a time when such things were largely unknown. A variety of high-profile television advertisements, graphics sequences for motion pictures (including The Andromeda Strain and Tron), and work on laserdisc video games such as Cube Quest, put Abel and his team on the map in the early 1980s. The company was also originally commissioned to create the visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but were subsequently taken off the project for mishandling funds. The company was also notable on its work for The Jacksons' 1981 music video "Can You Feel It." RA&A was on the southwest corner of Highland Avenue and Romaine in the heart of Hollywood, California. RA&A closed in 1987 following an ill-fated merger with now-defunct Omnibus Computer Graphics, Inc., a company which had been based in Toronto. Many people who worked at RA&A went on to other ground-breaking projects, including the founding of Wavefront Technologies, Rhythm & Hues and other studios. Many RA&A people went on to win Academy Awards.
Virtual advertising
Virtual advertising is the use of digital technology to insert virtual advertisements into a live or pre-recorded television show, often in sports events. This technique is often used to allow broadcasters to overlay existing physical advertising panels inside the sports venue with virtual content on the screen when broadcasting the same event in multiple regions; a Spanish football game can be broadcast in Mexico with Mexican advertisements. Similarly, virtual content can be inserted onto empty space within the sports venue such as the pitch, where physical advertising cannot be placed due to regulatory or safety reasons. Virtual advertising content is intended to be photorealistic, so that the viewer has the impression they are seeing the real in-stadium advertising. == History == Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, advertising on television and in newspapers was a popular method of spreading information. The marketer Jeremiah Lynwood stated that "Thirty years ago, [U.S.] consumers viewed an average of 560 ads per day", mostly from newspapers, television shows, gasoline pumps, and so on. Lynwood also stated that, at the time, "American consumers may be exposed to 3,000 commercial messages every day". Within that time frame, the exposure of daily ads have supported many local and big businesses. With the arrival of the 2000s and 2010s, technological advances have created new opportunities for many businesses to grow. In the 21st century, virtual advertising has been used to create virtual product placements in television shows hours, days, or years after they have been produced. Advertisements can be targeted to regional markets and updated over time to ensure maximum efficiency of advertising money. A good example of how virtual advertising is used in everyday life is in sports. Virtual advertising uses the latest technology to place an ad in position to the field of play, regardless of camera motion, and the players' movement over the logos. Recently, the NHL have virtually inserted sponsors on the glass above the physical boards in NHL stadiums. Big brands will not spend their time or money on hitting a certain region when their main goal is to build global brand awareness. Digital signage opportunities allow these larger brands to purchase signage in a stadium during games that are instead nationally televised. This gets even more expansive thanks to social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon. On the other hand, local businesses sign when there are smaller games going on. The signage is much more affordable and still reaches a vast number of people. Virtual advertising may even make live attendance more attractive to sport fans because the technology allows the playing field and surrounding areas to be cleared of advertisements while television viewers at home are exposed to commercials. For the most part, virtual advertising makes a live attendance more attractive to sports fans, because instead of being at home watching commercials, live fans are able to be clear of advertisements and enjoy the game without pop-up ads. == Technology == The technology used in virtual insertions often uses automated processes such as: automatic detection of playfield limits, automatic detection of cuts, recognition of playfield surface, recognition of existing logos for logo replacements, etc. An operator is usually dedicated to the visual control of the effect but new systems allow to use the instant replay operator. == Examples == === Live events === Virtual advertisements can be effectively integrated into live television in real-time. For example, Fox Sports Net places a virtual advertisement on the glass behind the goaltender that can only be seen on television. The advertising in the playfields is property of the club, except in some professional sports where the league or federation owns the advertising rights. However, the advertising rights broadcast on the screen are property of the broadcasters or the TV channel. This means that second right holders can benefit from selling this virtual advertising. The number of TV viewers is also higher than the people in the stadium, generating more visibility to the advertised marks and more income to the broadcasters. Virtual advertising was first introduced in football during the 2015 Audi Cup at the Allianz Arena in Munich. AIM Sport implemented the technology to digitally overlay advertisements on the stadium's perimeter boards, allowing different sponsors to be displayed to viewers in different broadcast regions. In Formula One, virtual ads are placed on the grass or as virtual billboards. In baseball, Major League Baseball places virtual advertisements on a back-board behind the batter which can be targeted differently in local markets or countries. During the World Series, MLB international broadcasts of the World Series feature different advertisements on a per market basis, showing a different ad in the US, Canadian, Latin American and Japanese markets. In tennis, e.g. during the 2019 ATP Finals in London's O2 Arena certain logos in the background were replaced for various country feeds. In table tennis e.g. during the ITTF World Tour Australian Open 2019 virtual advertising overlays were used by uniqFEED AG in Switzerland. Since the 2022–23 season, the National Hockey League (NHL) has used digitally enhanced dasherboards (DED) to erase and replace ads on each arena's boards with up to 120 thirty-second segments on all or part of the rink. Each broadcaster can use a different set of ads. DED were first used at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which was organized by the NHL. At UEFA Euro 2024, AIM Sport provided virtual advertising for all matches, marking one of the largest implementations of the technology in an international tournament. In addition to the tournament itself, virtual advertising was also used in the participating teams' domestic matches, extending region-specific advertising beyond the competition itself.
TSheets
TSheets was a web-based and mobile time tracking and employee scheduling app. The service was accessed via a web browser or a mobile app. TSheets was an alternative to a paper timesheet or punch cards. == History == Based in Eagle, Idaho, TSheets was co-founded in 2006 by CEO Matt Rissell and CTO Brandon Zehm. In 2008, TSheets released a native employee time tracking app for the iPhone. In 2012, TSheets released an integration with accounting and payroll software QuickBooks. In 2015, TSheets accepted $15 million in growth equity funding from Summit Partners, bought a building in Eagle, Idaho, and opened a second location in Sydney, Australia. On 5 December 2017, Intuit announced an agreement to acquire TSheets. The transaction was valued at approximately $340 million of cash and other consideration and closed on 11 January 2018. After the transaction closed, Time Capture became a new business unit within Intuit's Small Business and Self-Employed Group with Matt Rissell assuming the leader role reporting to Alex Chriss. TSheets's Eagle, Idaho site became an Intuit location.
Verge3D
Verge3D is a real-time renderer and a toolkit used for creating interactive 3D experiences running on websites. == Overview == Verge3D enables users to convert content from 3D modelling tools (Blender, 3ds Max, and Maya are currently supported) to view in a web browser. Verge3D was created by the same core group of software engineers that previously created the Blend4Web framework. == Features == Verge3D uses WebGL for rendering. It incorporates components of the Three.js library and exposes its API to application developers. Puzzles Application functionality can be added via JavaScript, either by writing code directly or by using Puzzles, Verge3D’s visual programming environment based on Google Blockly. Puzzles is aimed primarily at non-programmers allowing quick creation of interactive scenarios in a drag-and-drop fashion. App Manager and web publishing App Manager is a lightweight web-based tool for creating, managing and publishing Verge3D projects, running on top of the local development server. Verge3D Network service integrated in the App Manager allows for publishing Verge3D applications via Amazon S3 and EC2 cloud services. PBR For purposes of authoring materials, a glTF 2.0-compliant physically based rendering pipeline is offered alongside the standard shader-based approach. PBR textures can be authored using external texturing software such as Substance Painter for which Verge3D offers the corresponding export preset. Besides the glTF 2.0 model, Verge3D supports physical materials of 3ds Max and Maya (with Autodesk Arnold as reference), and Blender's real-time Eevee materials. glTF and DCC software integration Verge3D integrates directly with Blender, 3ds Max, and Maya, enabling users to create 3D geometry, materials, and animations inside the software, then export them in the JSON-based glTF format. The Sneak Peek feature allows for exporting and viewing scenes from the DCC tool environment. Facebook 3D posts For Facebook publishing, Verge3D offers a specific GLB export option. The exported GLB files are displayed and can be opened in the App Manager. Asset compression Exported files can optionally use LZMA compression, resulting in a reduction in file size of up to 6x. UI and website layouts Interface layouts, created using external WYSIWYG editors, can be linked with Puzzles to trigger changes to a 3D scene being rendered in the browser and vice versa. Animation Verge3D supports skeletal animation, including animation of bipeds and character rigs, and allows for animation of material parameters. Model parts can also be set up to be dragged by the user. Physics The physics module can be linked separately to enable collision detection, dynamically moving objects, support for characters and vehicles, springs, ropes and cloth simulation. As of version 2.11, simple physics simulations can be created and controlled without coding via Puzzles, the visual programming system used by Verge3D. AR/VR The 2.10 update added support for WebXR, an in-development open technology designed to enable virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to be displayed in web browsers. It works with both headsets with controllers, like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and those without, like Google Cardboard. AR/VR experiences can enabled via Puzzles or JavaScript. == Workflow == Verge3D's workflow differs substantially from other mainstream WebGL frameworks. Development of a new Verge3D application is usually started from modeling, texturing and animating 3D objects. The models are assembled in the 3D authoring tool. The scene file is then used as a basis for a Verge3D project initialized from the App Manager. An interactive scenario is optionally added using the Puzzles editor. A Verge3D application can be previewed in the web browser at any development stage using the App Manager. The finished web application can be deployed on the Verge3D Network, on Facebook or on the user's website. == Notable uses == NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory used Verge3D to create an interactive 3D visualization of the Mars InSight lander. The web application allows for exploring and interacting with the real-time model of the spacecraft, with the possibility to move different parts and unfurl the solar panels. NASA's older interactive web application Experience Curiosity was ported to Verge3D from Blend4Web. The application makes it possible to operate the rover, control its cameras and the robotic arm and reproduces some of the prominent events of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Route 66 Digital's Escape Room used Verge3D and Blender. This interactive short explores how users can navigate 3D spaces and interact with objects without the need for instruction.