Beta
Beta (UK /ˈbiːtə/ or US /ˈbeɪtə/; uppercase Β, lowercase β, or cursive ϐ; Ancient Greek: βῆτα bḗta or Modern Greek: βήτα víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/. Letters that arose from beta include the Roman letter ⟨B⟩ and the Cyrillic letters ⟨Б⟩ and ⟨В⟩.
Name
Like the names of most other Greek letters, the name of beta was adopted from the acrophonic name of the corresponding letter in Phoenician, which was the common Semitic word *bayt ('house'). In Greek, the name was βῆτα bêta, pronounced [bɛ̂ːta] in Ancient Greek. It is spelled βήτα in modern monotonic orthography, and pronounced [ˈvita]. In US English, the name is pronounced /ˈbeɪtə/, while in British English it is pronounced /ˈbiːtə/.
History
The letter beta was derived from the Phoenician letter beth 
.
The letter Β had the largest number of highly divergent local forms. Besides the standard form (either rounded or pointed, 
), there were forms as varied as 
(Gortyn), 
and 
(Thera), 
(Argos), 
(Melos), 
(Corinth), 
(Megara, Byzantium), 
(Cyclades).
Software release life cycle
A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software: ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help improve software or fix bugs still present in the software.
History
Usage of the "alpha/beta" test terminology originated at IBM. As long ago as the 1950s (and probably earlier), IBM used similar terminology for their hardware development. "A" test was the verification of a new product before public announcement. "B" test was the verification before releasing the product to be manufactured. "C" test was the final test before general availability of the product. As software became a significant part of IBM's offerings, the alpha test terminology was used to denote the pre-announcement test and beta test was used to show product readiness for general availability. Martin Belsky, a manager on some of IBM's earlier software projects claimed to have invented the terminology. IBM dropped the alpha/beta terminology during the 1960s, but by then it had received fairly wide notice. The usage of "beta test" to refer to testing done by customers was not done in IBM. Rather, IBM used the term "field test".
Beta (motorcycle manufacturer)
Beta is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer, specialising in off-road motorcycles. Beta are best known for their popular trials bikes. In 2005, they launched a range of enduro motorcycles using KTM engines. In 2010 they launched the new RR series, with a new engine made in-house. Beta motorcycles have been used by world trials champions such as Jordi Tarrés, Dougie Lampkin and Albert Cabestany.
History
Beta has its origins in 1904 as a bicycle manufacturing company named "Società Giuseppe Bianchi", originally based in Florence. The company started making motorcycles in 1948. The name Beta comes from the initials of Enzo Bianchi and Arrigo Tosi, who ran the company at that time. Focusing on two-stroke bikes through the 1950s and 1960s, the company started focusing development and production to off-road motorcycles in the 1970s.
Trials models
Beta have produced motorcycles for observed trials since the early 1980s and are now one of the leading manufacturers. Unlike the Trail and Enduro models, the trials bike have used Beta's own engines.
Planar Systems
Planar Systems, Inc. is a U.S. digital display manufacturing corporation based in Hillsboro, Oregon. Founded in 1983 as a spin-off from Tektronix, it was the first U.S. manufacturer of electroluminescent (EL) digital displays. Planar currently makes a variety of other specialty displays. The company, with $166.8 million in revenue (2013), is headed by chief executive officer and president Gerald K. Perkel. It is a subsidiary of Leyard Optoelectronic Co., a Chinese company.
History
1980s
Planar was founded in 1983 by Jim Hurd, Chris King, John Laney and others as a spin-off from the Solid State Research and Development Group of the Beaverton, Oregon, based Tektronix. In 1986, a division spun off from Planar to work on projection technology, InFocus.
1990s
In 1991, FinLux, a competitor in Espoo, Finland was purchased and is now the company's European headquarters. Planar's executives took the company public in 1993, listing the stock on the NASDAQ boards Planar acquired Tektronix's avionics display business, creating the short-lived Planar Advance in 1994. Standish Industries, a manufacturer of flat panel LCDs in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, was sold to Planar in 1997. This plant was closed in 2002 as worldwide LCD manufacturing shifted to East Asian countries.
Planar (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, planar is the method of representing pixel colours with several bitplanes of RAM. Each bit in a bitplane is related to one pixel on the screen. Unlike Chunky, Highcolour or Truecolour graphics, the whole data for an individual pixel isn't in one specific location in RAM, but spread across the bitplanes that make up the display.
This scheme originated in the early days of home computing, when cheaper memory chips could not supply data fast enough on their own to generate a picture on a TV screen or monitor. By splitting the data up into multiple planes, each plane could be stored on a separate memory chip. These chips could then be read in parallel at a slower rate, allowing graphical display on modest hardware. The CGA and EGA video adapters on early IBM PC computers used planar arrangement in colour graphical modes for this reason. When the later VGA was introduced, memory speeds had increased to the point where planar video modes were no longer a necessity, and aside from backwards-compatibility, using planar mode or not was left as a choice for the programmer.
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