Internet Word of the Day Archive

March 07, 2008

A phrase used in the industry to describe an attempt at something that is way too ambitious. For example, "They're trying to get their site launched by COMDEX. They could easier boil the ocean."

March 16, 2008

see: P2P

March 17, 2008

A play on the term "whitewash," it lampoons the way companies play up the environmental benefits of a product (or policy), in order to deflect attention from other, less savory aspects.

March 20, 2008

A way of processing data to extract value from it or to rid it of outdated information, especially within a database.

March 22, 2008

A fictional town in America used by marketers when describing the worst-case scenario for mass-marketing merchandise. It's meant to be funny and said in a sarcastic tone. For example, "This smart toy may be a clever product, but who's going to buy it in Deadfish, Idaho?"

March 25, 2008

A software feature that's been buried. For example, we're told that in future releases of Windows, clippy won't appear as often on the screen to offer assistance.

March 26, 2008

"The Matrix", "Duece Bigalo", "Shrek", and "Resident Evil" are all movies that have been matricized, in other words, they include the still-action special effect feature.

March 30, 2008

A networked collection of computers (usually more than six) set aside exclusively for the purpose of rendering animations.

March 31, 2008

A Bayesian filter is a program that uses Bayesian logic (also called Bayesian analysis) to evaluate the header and content of an incoming e-mail message and determine the probability that it constitutes spam. Bayesian logic is an extension of the work of the 18th-century English mathematician Thomas Bayes.

Bayesian filters aren't perfect, but because spam characteristically contains certain types of text, such a program can be amazingly effective when it is fine-tuned over a period of time. A Bayesian filter works by categorizing e-mail into groups such as "trusted" and "suspect," based on a probability number (ranging from 0 or 0% to 1 or 100%). The categories are defined according to user preference.

Spammers are constantly trying to invent new ways to defeat spam filters. Certain words, commonly identified as characteristic of spam, can be altered by the insertion of symbols (such as periods), or by the use of nonstandard but readable characters (such as Â, Ç, Ë, or Í). But as the user instructs a Bayesian filter to quarantine or delete certain messages, the filter incorporates this data into its future actions. Thus a Bayesian filter improves with time, so it becomes more likely to block spam without also blocking desired messages.

Bayesian filters are best used in conjunction with anti-virus programs. Malicious viruses or worms can occasionally appear as attachments to e-mail messages, even from trusted sources.