AES

October 2 update: Rijndael has been selected as the winner, and will be proposed as a federal standard.

AES is an acronym for Advanced Entertainment System, the subtitle for SNK's Neo-Geo home system (as opposed to the arcade version, the MVS).

As the home and arcade systems are essentially the same (the only difference being the cartridges, which while containing both home and arcade code, are made in different sizes to prevent arcade operators buying the cheaper home versions), the use of "AES" has become common when describing games or systems for sale.

This distinction becomes vital in the second-hand market, as prices between versions of games can become quite extreme. While someone declaring they had an MVS cartridge of Metal Slug for sale might expect offers of around $40, an AES cartridge will sell for prices well in excess of $1,000. Naturally with prices being so expensive for the rarer AES titles, there are those willing to convert an MVS game into an AES one, although this involves the destruction of an existing game as a 'sac cart'.

AES^® stands for Amateur Electronic Supply, a retail business that specializes in amateur radio. AES sells ham radios, shortwave radios, antennas, test equipment, and just about everything that has to do with ham radio. They do most of their business through catalog sales but maintain four retail stores.

AES was founded in 1957 by Terry J. Sterman when he was only 18. He earned his amatuer radio license at the age eight and was a multi-engine rated pilot. He got interested in radio working in his father's radio shop in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and eventually opened his own store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He sold the business in 1998 to Amateur Electronic Supply LLC, headed by Phil Majerus.

AES Store Locations:

• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Wickliffe, Ohio (Cleveland)
• Orlando, FL
• Las Vegas, NV

AES - Audio Engineering Society

"The Audio Engineering Society, now in its fifth decade, is the only professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology. Its membership of leading engineers, scientists and other authorities has increased dramatically throughout the world, greatly boosting the society's stature and that of its members in a truly symbiotic relationship.

The AES serves its members, the industry and the public by stimulating and facilitating advances in the constantly changing field of audio. It encourages and disseminates new developments through annual technical meetings and exhibitions of professional equipment, and through the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, the professional archival publication in the audio industry."

The name might be familier to you due to the work their member have done on industry standards, inventing the AES/EBU digital audio standard, which is used extensively in the Broadcasting industry.

They also produces a monthly journal for their members, provides access to many white papers on many aspects of Professional Audio from Acoustics to Electronic Design which is available worlwide, both on-line and paper versions

They are also active all year round with events and conferances across Europe and America where people will come to hear about new technologies and to see the latest equipment demonstrated first hand by exhibitors.

Membership to the AES has always been restricted to Engineers with a relevant degree, or with the appropiate real life experience. This is because it is concerned with the technologies behind what the every day user sees when only operatping the equpipment. They do have other levels of membership, in the forms of Associate and Student Members, with limited functions in the Society, such as voting. It does give them access to the monthly journal, and thus the infomation contained within the AES.

Sources: http://www.aes.org/