How Playboy unexpectedly helped create the JPEG
Playboyfounder and cultural icon Hugh Hefner's legacy of provocation and sexual liberality has been steering the online conversation since his death Wednesday night. But no matter how you feel about the company and mindset he built, he left behind a surprising gift, one that had an important impact on our digital world. Namely, a photo from an issue of a 1972 Playboymagazine that was used as a test image during the creation of widely used image processing standards like JPEG and MPEG. Hefner's magazine published an alluring photo that turned into an invaluable resource for generations of computer scientists. The subtle shot eventually became one of the most widely used test images for image processing algorithms. The model, Lena (sometimes anglicized as "Lenna") Soderberg, whose photo was used for the centerfold of Playboy's November 1972 issue, is now widely known as the "First Lady of the Internet." This strange footnote in computer science history started way back in 1973, according to the IEEE Professional Communication Society. USC Signal and Image Processing Institute (SIPI) assistant professor of electrical engineering Alexander Sawchuk was part of a group looking for an intriguing new image — preferably with a human face — to scan for a colleague's conference paper when someone came into the lab toting the Nov. 1972 Playboy. The team settled on the centerfold, tearing out its top third so the paper would fit on the drum of their Muirhead wirephoto scanner, which they had tricked out with analog-to-digital converters for red, green, and blue, along with a Hewlett Packard 2100 minicomputer. They were aiming to produce a 512x512 image using the scanner, which had a resolution of 100 lines per inch, so they only scanned 5.12 inches of the pic, cropping out the more risqué aspects of the nude photo at the shoulders. The three sets of 512 colored lines that composed the image became the standard format for digital image processing and compression. Other researchers eventually tested their own algorithms against SIPI's using the photo of Lena. That led to mass distribution of the image by SIPI to other groups over the years — which resulted in an informal property dispute, then an unofficial arrangement with Playboyin the early 1990s — making the photo an icon within the image processing community. Some credit the image for having an even greater impact. The photo helped engineers hone their compression algorithms, and better compression rates allowed computers to display more images — which some, like Jeff Seideman, who served as president of the Society of Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T), say enabled the modern age of digital communications and the internet as a whole. The subject of the photo, Lena Soderberg, eventually embraced her role in image processing history, appearing at an IS&T 50th anniversary event in 1997. The image has fallen out of popularity in recent years, both because of its lascivious and sexist history, and for more practical reasons as modern algorithms surpass its limited scope. Still, Lena's legacy makes something like the television show Silicon Valley's sex-driven middle out compression breakthrough all the more realistic. A bunch of hormone-addled coders couldconceivably stumble upon a massive compression breakthrough based on theoretical jerk-off calculations — after all, modern image compression came about after an engineer walked into a lab with a Playboymag and showed off the centerfold. Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Featured Video For You
This camera prints out customizable sticker photos
相关推荐
-
Freedom from Dissent
-
Train trip to Vietnam no longer pipe dream for South Koreans
-
Sexually harassed lawmaker says civic group’s criminal complaint ‘regrettable’
-
韶关武江区获评2023年度广东省“百千万工程”考核优秀等次!
-
Black Friday GPU Buying Guide: November GPU Pricing Update
-
These electric vehicles are so cute you'll want to cuddle instead of drive them
- 最近发表
-
- What Ever Happened to Flickr?
- Would $1 million in hot dogs violate the Emoluments Clause?
- Netflix won't stream on some old Roku devices starting in December
- North Korea elects top assembly members
- Best smartphone deal: Google Pixel 8a on sale for $449 at Amazon
- Waze Carpool is nothing like using Lyft and Uber — and that’s the point
- The first Amazon Go store in NYC will be across from the World Trade Center
- Report: iOS 12 blocks GrayKey iPhone
- 共同推动雅安职工思想政治引领数智化发展工作做深做实
- 'Kim's visit to Samsung factory in Vietnam still possible'
- 随机阅读
-
- A Barbie flip phone is here from HMD
- UN grants sanctions exemption for video reunions of separated families
- New virus cases over 400 again on cluster infections
- The NFL has a secret plan to give Donald Trump exactly what he wants.
- When Are Next
- Pentagon’s proposed nuclear strategy elevates cyberattacks to a terrifying new realm
- Judicial gerrymandering is coming to North Carolina.
- 'Kim's visit to Samsung factory in Vietnam still possible'
- Apple's iPhone 17 will come with a huge RAM upgrade, report claims
- Waze Carpool is nothing like using Lyft and Uber — and that’s the point
- 其行为严重影响安全 考试成绩被判不合格
- 砥砺奋进的五年——你是我的眼
- Apple Watch bands: 5 favorites to consider as Apple Watch 10 looms
- Verstappen quickest in final practice at Imola
- Anthony Scaramucci
- Atletico need Eibar win to resuscitate title challenge
- When will Trump and Harris debate? The presidential campaigns snipe over ABC News’ rules.
- What Google revealed at its big event: Pixel 4, Nest Mini, and more
- Exhausted Real won't rest on laurels at Anfield, says Zidane
- Trump refuses to give up his iPhone despite Chinese and Russian spying
- 搜索
-
- 友情链接
-