BBC

TECNO Unveils its Industry Bench-marking Multi-Skin Tone Color Card at MWC Barcelona 2024, Marking a Major Step-Forward in Mobile Portrait Inclusivity

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 26, 2024

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative technology brand TECNO officially announced its groundbreaking multi-skin tone color card at MWC Barcelona 2024.

Key Points: 
  • BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative technology brand TECNO officially announced its groundbreaking multi-skin tone color card at MWC Barcelona 2024.
  • The multi-skin tone color card sets a new benchmark for multi-skin tone imaging with industry's largest and most accurate skin tone database.
  • It will further assist TECNO Universal Tone technology's algorithm to adjust the accuracy of every skin tone in each capture, achieving greater mobile portrait inclusivity.
  • To address this issue, TECNO's multi-skin tone color card utilized international standard skin color collection methods to collect 2,838 skin color spectral data points.

Blueshift Recognized in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) Report

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 23, 2024

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Blueshift, a leading platform for intelligent customer engagement, today announced that it was recognized in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Data Platforms. Leading brands are choosing Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to effectively use their data to drive business success.

Key Points: 
  • SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Blueshift , a leading platform for intelligent customer engagement, today announced that it was recognized in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Data Platforms.
  • Leading brands are choosing Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to effectively use their data to drive business success.
  • "It's a pleasure to be included in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Data Platforms."
  • "Gartner defines customer data platforms (CDPs) as software applications that support marketing and customer experience use cases by unifying a company's customer data from marketing and other channels.

ALCS & RSL announce V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize winner

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 22, 2024

LONDON, Feb. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Society of Literature is delighted to announce the winner of the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. The prize, worth £1,000, is an annual award for unpublished short stories between 2,000 to 4,000 words in length.

Key Points: 
  • The prize, worth £1,000, is an annual award for unpublished short stories between 2,000 to 4,000 words in length.
  • Tom was presented with the prize at the ALCS Annual Awards ceremony in London on 22 February.
  • The RSL is grateful to the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) for supporting this Prize for over a decade.
  • Pritchett Short Story Prize was founded by the RSL in 1999 to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short story writer of the 20th century.

Scientific Systems Develops Non-GPS Navigation for GPS-Denied Environments

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

WOBURN, Mass., Feb. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientific Systems, an industry leader in advanced artificial intelligence for defense applications, announced today that it is continuing development of ImageNav™, the company's non-GPS, image-based, precision navigation software. The company has recently extended and demonstrated its image-based solution during flight operations ranging from 25,000 feet down to 200 feet. ImageNav has been developed for over a decade with funding totaling more than $45 million.

Key Points: 
  • For many air vehicle flights, the military relies on the Global Positioning System (GPS) for navigation, risking exposure to electronic jamming in contested environments.
  • ImageNav provides accurate navigation, without GPS, for a range of systems, including weapons, aircraft, and uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).
  • "ImageNav is an innovative, compact solution that helps air vehicles generate accurate position fixes in the most challenging environments," said Tom Frost, Senior VP of the Products Division at Scientific Systems.
  • Scientific Systems has multiple efforts underway to integrate ImageNav onto GPS-guided munitions and UASs, enabling them to operate in GPS-denied environments.

Freya Skye Inks First-Time Simultaneous Record and Television Deals With Disney

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Everything is coming up Disney for singer and actress Freya Skye, as she simultaneously locks recording and television deals with Disney.

Key Points: 
  • Everything is coming up Disney for singer and actress Freya Skye, as she simultaneously locks recording and television deals with Disney.
  • Freya has begun recording music for Hollywood Records, a division of Disney Music Group (DMG), after recently landing a holding deal with Disney Branded Television.
  • Freya’s DMG deal also includes Disney Music Publishing as a songwriter, officially launching her into the multi-hyphenate stratosphere as a singer, songwriter and actress.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240214806926/en/
    Commented Freya, “Signing with Disney is literally everything I’ve ever dreamed of!

North Korea steps up efforts to stamp out consumption of illegal foreign media – but entertainment-hungry citizens continue to flout the ban

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Consuming and sharing foreign media in North Korea can be punishable by death.

Key Points: 
  • Consuming and sharing foreign media in North Korea can be punishable by death.
  • However, North Korea closed its borders during the COVID pandemic, and since then the steady flow of escapees has slowed considerably.
  • This has prompted North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to adopt increasingly harsh measures to combat access to illegal media.

Crackdown

  • Shortly after inheriting the leadership in 2011, Kim tried a number of relatively soft approaches to controlling foreign media access, alongside continued punitive measures.
  • This law sets out specific punishments for both viewers and distributors of foreign media, going further than the existing criminal code.
  • At the same time, Kim has publicly condemned K-Pop (pop music originating in South Korea) as a “vicious cancer” permeating North Korean society.

Changing hearts and minds

  • North Korean escapees have also reported paying keen attention to the settings they saw in films and dramas.
  • Modern streets, cars and homes, with people displaying relative freedom of choice, expression and movement, all offer North Koreans a glimpse into life under capitalism.
  • A similar campaign condemns young North Koreans for showing affection in public and mimicking “western style” dating culture.

Building social bonds

  • It also unsettles the government’s ability to maintain a culture of suspicion and mistrust between citizens.
  • This could potentially generate social change.
  • Foreign diplomats, humanitarian aid workers and tourists are not yet allowed back into North Korea following the pandemic.
  • So, combined with many fewer escapees arriving in the South, it is difficult to know whether foreign media access and consumption has declined since 2020.


Sarah A. Son does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Island/UMe Celebrates the New Biopic Bob Marley: One Love With the Release of Limited Edition of Exodus LP + Bonus 10” with Alternate Cover

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

In conjunction with the upcoming biopic Bob Marley: One Love, which is based on the life of global icon, Island/UMe will be releasing a new limited edition of Bob Marley’s timeless album, Exodus, on May 24, 2024.

Key Points: 
  • In conjunction with the upcoming biopic Bob Marley: One Love, which is based on the life of global icon, Island/UMe will be releasing a new limited edition of Bob Marley’s timeless album, Exodus, on May 24, 2024.
  • Including an exclusive 10” LP of rare bonus tracks and an essay by Jamaican historian Herbie Miller, this all-new package will be encased in a gatefold design for the first time and is available for preorder HERE .
  • This press release features multimedia.
  • Garrick’s final and now-classic album art will adorn the back of this new package.

Don’t blame parents for wanting their children to speak differently – blame society

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

One way his mother did this, he says, was to send them to extra drama lessons.

Key Points: 
  • One way his mother did this, he says, was to send them to extra drama lessons.
  • To make sure they “didn’t speak with accents”, and instead would be able to “speak properly”.
  • It is hard to criticise Mrs Sunak for wanting to do what’s best for her children.
  • She was aware of an injustice that her children were facing, and so she did what she could to minimise that injustice.

What does ‘to speak without an accent’ mean?

  • In fact, the right accent does such a good job of going unnoticed, that it ceases to be seen as an accent at all.
  • And like all accents, its use can give us insights into who somebody is, or who somebody is trying to be.
  • The way we speak is inextricably linked to who we are, to our sense of identity.
  • But it is not the fault of the parents in encouraging their children to speak in ways that erase their background.
  • Surely we should work to change the way we listen, not force others to change the way they speak.


Rob Drummond has previously received funding from The Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Leverhulme Trust, and The British Council

Watchful Waiting Shows Value as Treatment Option for Frozen Shoulder

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Frozen shoulder , also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a condition characterized by pain and stiffness in the shoulder, resulting in difficulty of movement in the shoulder.

Key Points: 
  • SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Frozen shoulder , also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a condition characterized by pain and stiffness in the shoulder, resulting in difficulty of movement in the shoulder.
  • Even without treatment, frozen shoulder can get better with time; however, recovery may take up to three years.
  • The study, "Watchful Waiting Achieves Higher Value Than Physical Therapy for the Treatment of Idiopathic Frozen Shoulder: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial," randomized 61 patients to either WW (31 patients) or PT (30 patients) and assessed outcomes at six weeks, three months, six months and 12 months.
  • This is the first RCT to compare PT versus WW for frozen shoulder treatment using a value-based health care framework.

Google Joins C2PA Steering Committee

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

Today, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a global standards body advancing transparency online through certifying the provenance of digital content, announced that Google has joined C2PA as a steering committee member.

Key Points: 
  • Today, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a global standards body advancing transparency online through certifying the provenance of digital content, announced that Google has joined C2PA as a steering committee member.
  • Google joining the C2PA marks a significant moment for bringing more transparency to digital content.
  • Alongside other steering committee members including Adobe, BBC, Intel, Microsoft, Publicis Groupe, Sony and Truepic, Google will collaborate to further develop the C2PA’s technical standard for digital content provenance.
  • “This is why we are excited to join the committee and incorporate the latest version of the C2PA standard.