Internet Word of the Day Archive

June 01, 2008

A person who insists on printing out everything available onscreen. "Keith is such a gutenberg. He printed out a 150-page manual just to read a few sections of it."

June 02, 2008

Slang for keyboard commands that tax the hand's ability to reach all of the appropriate keys. For instance, the soft boot for a Mac II involves simultaneously pressing both Control keys, the Command key, and the Power On key. On a PC it refers to pressing the Ctl-Alt-Del buttons on your keyboard at the same time.

June 04, 2008

Different than searching online, a "full-text search" refers to a search that is performed within a Word document or on your local computer. Instead of searching by keyword, as with many online search engines, a FTS compares its results word for word.

In some cases full-text searching can refer to online searching performed by most Web search engines on the Web pages that have been found and added to their caches. All the words on the Web pages are searched, and then indexed, and the user's search request is cross-checked via the indexes.

June 05, 2008

Refers to a person's in-depth knowledge about a specific project because he or she has been working on the project since its inception. Commonly heard around the high-tech office, "It would be a WOMBAT to ramp up another person so we've decided to keep her on the project since she has tribal knowledge of the process."

June 08, 2008

To steal the source code and related files of a Web page and to publish a copy of them on another Web site. It is a form of digital plagiarism. Some programmers will allow you to copy and source their code, but Web designers tend to view their design creations as copyrightable. So, it is not OK to pagejack. You may be tempted to copy a Web page in order to quote a news article on your site, for example (since a link would be unreliable if the original Web site ever removed the article), but you should still to get permission from the original Web site.

June 09, 2008

A computer or arcade game that's all hand-eye and little brain. Similar to "thumb candy".

June 10, 2008

Slang for a child born to a high-tech professional after 1995.

June 11, 2008

A term used to embellish the truth beyond reasonable recognition. This term was imported from the German word gonken and the Spanish verb gonkar. For example, "Du gonkst mir" means "You're pulling my leg" in German. In cyber-speak, it may be said as "You're gonking me."

June 13, 2008

A support and investment arrangement for creating, launching, and operating Internet businesses, financed by a network of investors. Incubators are designed to nurture young businesses by providing a wide range of services, including management assistance, access to financing, business or technical support services, shared office equipment, flexible and affordable leases, and expandable space.

Entrepreneurs who get accepted into an incubator program are thought to benefit from an official affiliation with the incubator, but most say it is the supportive entrepreneurial atmosphere and the ability to network directly with others that help get their plans off the ground. The range of services and benefits of business incubators varies, as does their missions and objectives.

June 14, 2008

Slang for an entrepreneur who is receiving assistance from an incubator.

June 15, 2008

The state of being fried, burned out, or cancelled, meaning one is simply too tired to go on. For example, "I can't work on this code anymore tonight. I'm toast" or "That project is toast."

June 16, 2008

Individuals who send inquiring e-mail messages and, after receiving only a slightly favorable response, begin flooding you with multiple messages of little or no interest.

June 18, 2008

People who take training classes just to get a vacation from their jobs. "We had about three serious students in the class; the rest were tourists."

June 20, 2008

To read messages in a newsgroup or a chat room or on a social networking site or a blog without ever posting or replying yourself.

June 23, 2008

Online jargon for people who link to your mini-homepage on a social networking site.

June 25, 2008

The hardware device used to play video games. The term "console" isn't used to describe the video game system overall, it refers to a specific part of the video game system. The first company to use the term was Sony, with the PlayStation.

More than 132 million next-generation game consoles, like Microsoft's Xbox and the PlayStation, will dominate screen time by 2010.

June 26, 2008

A nickname for any type of high bandwidth connection via high-capacity wiring, fiber-optic cable, cable modems, or DSL. Here's an example of its usage: "CUSeeMe on the Net doesn't look half-bad, if you've got fat pipes."

June 27, 2008

A word with a long history and several meanings, it is commonly used in hacker jargon to describe a clever programming trick to repair bugs. It can also mean something put together without any elegance, planning, or forethought, resulting in an unattractive solution or an inelegant piece of software. For example, "That's what TIIC came up with. Talk about a klugey fix."

June 28, 2008

Ultraworkaholics who go for days on end and then power-sleep most of the weekend in an attempt to store up rest for the week ahead.

June 29, 2008

To inspire personal identification with or approval for a product, service, concept, or idea. For example, "That last marketing campaign really resonated with the public, due in part to good timing."