Internet Word of the Day Archive

February 09, 2009

A picture or still image generated on a computer. There are two basic types of computer-generated graphics: object-oriented graphics (vector graphics) and bitmapped graphics (raster graphics). "Graphics" may be short for "graphic arts," including the creation, modification, and printing of visual works.

A play on the name "Hollywood," this refers to a group of entertainment companies using Internet technology to create media products.

Insert Your Favorite Ethnic Group

February 10, 2009

A technical problem, also referred to as a "known issue," an "intermittent issue," a "design side effect," or "undocumented behavior."

A modern military term for having superior intelligence and the ability to cripple an enemy's information infrastructure, for example "In the Gulf War, the coalition clearly had information dominance. In Somalia, it was Aidid."

February 11, 2009

Mock HTML tags, such as or . They're used in e-mail, chat rooms, and newsgroups in place of ASCII emoticons, such as: "Someone tell that dude to give it a rest I'm over his incessant complaints."

This refers to the assumption that data transmission rates, error rates, and other characteristics can be measured, improved, and to some degree, guaranteed in advance. Basically, QoS describes a collective measure of the level of service a provider delivers to its customers or subscribers. It is commonly used to compare against speed.

For example, Wi-Fi has the speed but not the QoS, and HomeRF has the QoS but not the speed. Service providers may guarantee subs a particular level of QoS defined in a service-level agreement.

The heart of the new "Knowledge Management" systems, it's the process of tapping into a computer database to "retrieve" an answer instead of simply asking a fellow worker. You may find this unsettling, but such systems increase in value each time a fellow employee gets laid off.

February 12, 2009

a.k.a. "IEEE-1394"

A standard established by the IEEE for a very fast port that may eventually replace serial ports. It is a high speed data bus protocol sometimes referred to as "Serial SCSI." Originally developed by Sony and Apple, Firewire has several advantages for connecting peripheral devices such as scanners, DV camcorders, CD burners and external hard drives. Some of its benefits include: 50 MB/sec throughput, it is "hot swappable" meaning devices can be connected and disconnected without shutting down your computer, no device termination is needed, up to 63 devices can be connected to a Firewire bus, and cables can be up to 30 meters long.

The inability to remember where you spotted a piece of information (newspaper, e-mail, TV, etc.).

February 13, 2009

A buzzword to describe a proactive service that is so complete it enables customers to solve their problems without requiring the assistance of a customer-service representative.

A file extension for a simple, text-based document. It stands for "Rich Text Format."

For a list of file extensions click here!

Slang for a typo made by a speech recognition program.

Not Online Yet

February 14, 2009

Another name for an old-time computer science engineer. see also: gearhead, modemhead, Net head, Web head.

To put it simply, it is a set of rules (a syntax) that programmers use to write computer applications. It is an artificial language (code) that is written in an editor, read through a compiler, and then interpreted by the computer, which executes the program (or "commands," as techies say).

There are many programming languages; see the section entitled "Programming, Technologies & Standards" in the Index of the book "NetLingo The Internet Dictionary."

One of the most successful marketing ploys used in the computer industry, it was created by semiconductor maker Intel in the '90s to make everyone think it was important to buy a computer that carried an Intel computer chip. Pssssst, it worked!

February 15, 2009

The standard interface used by a host's software to communicate with peripheral devices.

As opposed to generating revenue exclusively from online ads, some publishers are turning to a subscription-based business model. Publishers charge users a small fee to access their online content (which allows Web sites to get rid of online ads thereby making the browsing experience more pleasant). For users, it's similar to paying for a magazine, newspaper, or cable TV subscription each month. The challenge is that many netizens feel information on the Web should be free (see: dot-commies), yet at the same time, the majority of content-worthy sites need to generate revenue from their online presence. The hope is that eventually subscriptions will become accepted online, especially if they are cheap, have little or no advertising, and supplement the content with additional material.

A person who comes up in an online search but is not the person you're searching for.

Just Playing

February 16, 2009

The title for a person who architecturally builds or structures a Web site from a technical standpoint. He or she researches and provides through programming and suggested software the means for a particular Web product to work. Not to be confused with a Web designer, the Web developer is responsible for integrating the back end technology with any front end interfaces.

The study and implementation of ways to make work spaces and electronic devices more physically comfortable for humans to use. For example, the shape of a keyboard or the distance of a computer monitor can help reduce RSI and blurred vision.

Plastic surgery jargon for the amount and type of bodily cosmetic changes one is willing to pay for. A digital imaging system is used to simulate the image aspirations of a potential client and to generate a price list for the various desired body modifications.

Nerd Without A Life

February 17, 2009

The buildup of traffic or information that slows down a software application's ability to perform. For example, "Their technology improves our product's performance by eliminating the data cholesterol that builds with transaction volume."

To manually remove your name and e-mail address from a mailing list, LISTSERV, or discussion group. It is different than opting-out.

An Internet standard developed for managing nodes on an IP network. SNMP is a widely used network-monitoring protocol that's supported on most major platforms. It manages and monitors all sorts of network equipment (including computers, routers, and hubs) by passing data from SNMP agents to workstations, reporting activity in each network device. SNMP 2 provides enhanced security and continuous feedback.

February 18, 2009

Prefix to denote one quadrillion, as in petabyte.

The notion of integrating a new software product into an old system without any repercussions or ill effects. A seamless integration is actually considered a myth and darn near close to impossible. You may also hear the word "seamlessness" to describe the same thing.

February 19, 2009

An individual who wages a war against spamming.

A packet interface protocol that adheres to the ANSI/ITU-T standard. Frame relay has a few advantages over ISDN. For one thing, you can purchase frame relay lines in increments between 56K and 1.5 Mbps (equivalent to a T1 connection). Also, the protocol has a flat-rate billing structure instead of a per-hour usage charge. However, since frame relay is designed for data transfer only, it's not well suited for video conferencing or any other voice application.

Frame relay is sometimes confused with a leased line. Both are primarily used to extend a local area network (LAN) between business branches, but a leased line is a dedicated line (permanently connected between sites), whereas frame relay uses the telephone company's shared network on an as-needed basis.

A link from someone else's Web site to your site.

One of the most important and challenging factors in promoting your Web site is encouraging other Web sites to link to yours. The more sites that link to yours, especially if they have similar or related content, the more of an "authority" you become in the eyes of the search engines. However, because you have little control over other Web sites, it takes a lot of person-to-person communication to make these links happen and it takes time to establish long-term relationships with other site owners.

Tips and white hat techniques from FortyMedia.com for building inbound links:

• Ensure you have a high quality Web site to which site owners can feel comfortable sending their visitors;
• Create content worth linking to (articles, how-tos, games, lists, etc.);
• Focus on acquiring links from sites with related content;
• Avoid artificial link building and link farms (a black hat SEO technique);
• Try to get listed in industry directories, association Web sites, etc.;
• Create side project sites that can link to your main business Web site.

Click on "more info" below to read about Google's Link Filter.

February 20, 2009

An industry standard software technology for setting up and managing computing and data exchange in a system of distributed computers. DCE is typically used in a large client/server network of computing systems that include servers of different sizes, scattered geographically.

With DCE, application users can share applications and data at remote servers. Application programmers don't need to be aware of where their programs will run or where the data will be located. DCE was developed by the Open Software Foundation (OSF). DCE can also refer to "Data Communication Equipment," which has to do with the interface that a modem (or other device) uses to exchange data with a computer.

If an internet user or content provider posts copyrighted material without the proper permission, the ISP hosting the site is obliged to act against the violator-but not until the abuse is identified by the copyright owner. This process is called "notice and take down" because the ISP must "take down" the copyrighted content.

Used in video production to mean: "We (or somebody else) will deal with this in post-production." Sometimes used as an excuse to get out of a sticky situation, postponing the agony of confronting a serious problem.

February 21, 2009

A modern expression which implies that you would do something immediately, as in you don't have to think twice about it. For example, "Go on a date with Viggo? I'd do that in a New York minute." While this phrase may have preceded the Internet, it is often seen in the online world.

The development of an optimized series of interactions that delivers maximum value to the end-user at the least possible cost. Value chain management comes from the notion of adding value to every step of a manufacturing process, from the raw materials to the delivery of the product to the end-user's disposal of the packaging.

February 22, 2009

When the pointer on your computer screen moves around wildly or irregularly, you are said to have a drunk mouse. This commonly happens when there is dirt inside the track ball area of your mouse.

A system that allows users to share files with one another in a truly distributed manner. Unlike the sharing software created by Napster, Gnutella does not rely on a central server (instead, it relies on distributed indexes), making it nearly impossible to shut down. Instead of logging into a central server, you must connect with at least one other Gnutella user. Once connected to that user, you can access all the machines he or she is connected to (like a daisy chain). Several open source Gnutella clones are in development, such as Gnapster. Gnutella allows users to download any file type, whereas Napster is limited to MP3 music files. It was unleashed through AOL's Nullsoft music software division.

A person who forges ahead with new business ideas and implements them successfully.

February 23, 2009

A type of graphics file written in the PostScript language. It stands for "Encapsulated PostScript." It is a file format generally used for desktop and offset printing. EPS is based on vector points and line segments (and gradient fills of color), as opposed to raster, individual pixels of color.

For a list of file extensions click here!

The process by which a software program sifts through user profiles or usage patterns and makes recommendations based on purchasing habits. For example, if you go to a Web site looking for a book on vegetarian cooking, and you click on the profile of that book, collaborative filtering technology kicks in and recommends a list of similar books. Its list is based on data that reflects the buying habits of other people who purchased that book. Collaborative filtering is a tool intended to increase e-commerce sales through targeted recommendations of additional products (though many see it as a cross between capitalism and big brother).

February 24, 2009

A person who makes a living doing online research and information retrieval. Also known as "data surfers" or "super searchers," these individuals are not necessarily librarians.

Similar to "counter-effective," this is slang for when a person applies previous experience to a problem without the recognition that his or her experience is obsolete and irrelevant to the problem at hand.

A security or copy-protection device for commercial computer programs. Programs can use a dongle query at the start of a program to determine if the registration is valid and to terminate if the correct code is not present.

Technically speaking, a dongle is a mechanism for ensuring that only authorized users can copy or use specific software applications, especially very expensive programs. Common mechanisms include: hardware keys that plug into a parallel or serial port, so a software application can access them for verification; special key diskettes, accessed in a similar manner; and registration numbers, loaded into some form of ROM (read-only memory) at the factory or during system set up. If more than one application requires a dongle, multiple dongles can be daisy-chained together from the same port. Dongles are not in frequent use, partly because enterprises don't like to have a serial or parallel port preempted for this use.

Mo Fo Who's In Charge

February 25, 2009

The World Wide Web browser that you want your computer to open (or launch) automatically whenever an HTML or Web page file is clicked on.

A movement consisting of individuals and community-based groups who are promoting the installation of wireless networks in their neighborhoods. Here's what is happening: People are installing private Wi-Fi access points in their homes and offices, knowing full well that anybody nearby can piggyback onto their connection. Some users see this as creating a public good, while others are tremendously concerned about the security ramifications.

A period in the information age in which communication and commerce via the Internet became a central focus for businesses, consumers, government, and the media. The Internet era also marks the convergence of the computer and communications industries and their associated services and products.

February 26, 2009

The date the first Web page was shown.

The practice of keeping your list of e-mail names and addresses "clean" so that the names are deliverable.

Information about a software program, a hardware device, or a programming language. Specifications describe the product's features and how it operates.

Not Now Chief, I'm In The F ***in' Zone

February 27, 2009

The amount of time you spend connected to an online service provider (OSP) or an Internet service provider (ISP).

Slang for when a person sells his or her start-up to a big company and quietly waits for their stock options to vest so they can quit (in peace).

Slang for when someone posts content that you like, you give it a "bump." It's another way of giving someone a nod, or a thumbs up, or a 5-star rating.

February 28, 2009

The branch of computer science devoted to translating printed text and images into a form that a computer can manipulate (into ASCII codes, for example). An OCR system enables you to scan a book or magazine article directly into a computer file, where you can edit it using a word processor.

OCR systems include an optical scanner for reading text and sophisticated software for analyzing images. Most OCR systems use a combination of hardware (specialized circuit boards) and software to recognize characters, although some inexpensive systems do it entirely through software. Advanced OCR systems can read text in large variety of fonts, but they still have difficulty with handwritten text.

The potential of OCR systems is enormous because they enable users to access printed documents by harnessing the power of computers. OCR is already being used widely in the legal profession, where searches that once required hours or days can now be accomplished in a few minutes.

Quite simply, it is a person who works in the industry. Most often, this person's job is to gather and disseminate information. A knowledge worker, however, can be anyone whose primary work responsibilities are centered on the use and manipulation of digital information, including stock traders, financial analysts, software programmers, and journalists, just to name a few.

The small handful of experts who are always quoted in news stories and asked to be guests on discussion shows. Example: Henry Kissinger appears to be in the "Golden Rolodex" under foreign policy.