Internet Word of the Day Archive

July 01, 2009

In common usage, the "baud rate" of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value. A 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, because it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second). Using baud is no longer fashionable, however, having been replaced by the more direct "bits per second" (bps).

The geographical area in northern California, where there is a large concentration of high-tech companies and venture capital (VC) firms. Often referred to as "the mecca of materialism," the Valley is south of San Francisco and specifically includes Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Fremont, Santa Clara, and San Jose.

Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (called microposts -- usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either publicly on a Web site and/or distributed to a private group of subscribers. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, MP3 or the Web.

Popular services include Twitter (launched in July 2006), Jaiku, and Pownce; popular social networking websites Facebook and MySpace also have a micro-blogging feature, called "status update".

July 02, 2009

A protocol that delivers server authentication, data encryption, and message integrity. SSL is layered beneath application protocols, such as HTTP, SMTP, Telnet, FTP, Gopher, and NNTP, and layered above the connection protocol TCP/IP.

This strategy allows SSL to operate without depending on the Internet application protocols. With SSL implemented on both the client and server, your Internet communications are transmitted in encrypted form. Information you send can be trusted to arrive privately and unaltered to the server you specify (and no other). In short, it is a form of channel encryption developed by Netscape.

To convert information from its original format into content that can be displayed on the Web. For example, to code a text file into an HTML file is to webify it; to turn a hard copy print file into a PDF is to webify it; to scan an image, use a program to convert it to a GIF or JPG file, and then FTP it to a server is to webify it; to convert an audio file into a format for play on the Web is to webify it; or to convert a video file into a program that can be streamed on the Web is to webify it.

An online activity in which you can turn your trash into someone else's treasure or vice versa via the Internet. Certain Web sites offer the ability for people to give (and get) stuff for free, the only rule is that no money can change hands. It works like this: Donors list items they have available giving their e-mail address. Visitors browsing the site then contact a donor via email and the two interested parties make private arrangements for the exchange. A win-win for all! It grew from a conservation-minded outreach intended to relieve pressure on landfills and protect the environment by encouraging people to recycle.

July 03, 2009

An interface box that is often built into ISDN adapters. It converts ISDN data into something a PC can understand (and vice versa). It works a little like a cable TV descrambler but for ISDN signals.

In this type of online auction, a seller offers multiple copies of the same item, and the winning bidders pay the amount of the lowest winning bid. Therefore, if the top three bids on an item are $25, $15, and $10, the three winning bidders pay $10.

Not This Again

July 04, 2009

A phrase used in the industry to describe the sale of content by the individual piece. (This term is derived from the manner in which most bars dispense alcohol.)

A collective way of referring to the Usenet newsgroups.

A "botnet" is a network of computers that are infected with malware and then used to send spam and shut down Web sites (DDoS).

One scenario works like this: A hacker takes advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's Windows operating system to infect hundreds of thousands of computers, creating a "zombie network" of machines. Net criminals "recruit" these so-called zombie PCs from around the world by way of malicious code. The computer owners are usually unaware that their computers have been compromised and are being used to send out spam or bombard Web sites with massive amounts of data.

This is a criminal activity and hackers who are found guilty of this admit to making money in several ways, including: selling access to their botnet to online advertising firms which feed pop-up ads to the infected computers, installing pop-up ads on the infected computers which generate income through affiliate schemes, renting out the botnet for hackers who wish to blackmail Web sites, or using the botnet to steal information or pump out spam campaigns. Once convicted, hackers may face up to 6 years in prison.

Here's an example of its usage in the news: On March 5, 2009, the Associated Press reported that a Los Angeles computer security consultant has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for using malicious software that turned thousands of computers into "zombies" so he could steal private information. Prosecutors say 27-year-old John Schiefer was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty last April to computer fraud. Prosecutors say Schiefer and his associates created "botnets" _ armies of infected computers _ to steal individuals' identities by extracting information from their personal computers. Schiefer also worked as a consultant with a Dutch Internet advertising company to defraud it with his botnets. He was ordered to pay $19,000 in restitution to PayPal and other companies.

July 05, 2009

The decoding of an encrypted message.

A job benefit featuring flexible work hours. With flex time, you don't have to "hang your hat" from 9 to 5, just to prove you're working.

July 06, 2009

Best thought of as the "table of contents" of a computer disk, hard drive, or server. A directory, sometimes called a folder, often lists the following information about its contents: file name, file size, creation date and time, file type, and author name. It can also refer to a search directory.

A useful software program that's available for download as freeware-apparently for noble reasons-but is actually part of an elaborate bigger marketing promotion.

For example, "I downloaded this cool new checkbook app, but I have to look at a picture of a bunch of Hollywood celebrities each time I want to use it. It must be pimpware promoting their new movie."

A variation on the pop-up ad, this online ad displays in a new browser window behind your current browser window. A pop-under ad is most commonly the size of the image to the right (or larger).

Click on "more info" below to view pop-up ads and rectangles!

Not To Worry

July 07, 2009

Similar to a cookie, it is an invisible file hidden on a Web page or in an HTML e-mail to help marketers determine who has seen their ads. Whereas cookies are tiny text files placed on your computer hard drive to help marketers track your movements and to help users personalize Web sites, Web bugs are buried in the source code as tiny IMG (image) tags that can supply the merchants with your IP address and match a browser cookie to your e-mail address (so they'll know who you are if you visit their Web sites). AOL, for example, uses Web bugs to help keep track of which advertisements its members have seen and who has responded to them. If you don't like the idea of this kind of invasion of your privacy, you can turn off the HTML features in your e-mail software or set your computer to refuse cookies.

If you hear a couple of truckers talking about reefer, you'll probably conjure up the pungent odor of marijuana. But in today's world, it's likely to be a vital link in the just-in-time economy. Reefer is the shorthand term for "refrigerated truck" or trailer, as in: "They have a whole fleet of reefers."

July 08, 2009

As a verb it refers to "breaking in" or "getting around" a software program. For example, there are certain newsgroups that post serial numbers for pirated versions of software. As a noun it refers to that serial number, for example "I've got the program I just need the crack." A cracker may download this information in an attempt to "crack the program" so that he or she can use it.

"Cracking" is the process of overcoming a security measure. "Cracking a key" means an attempt to recover the key's value; "cracking some ciphertext" means an attempt to recover the corresponding plaintext.

A way of collecting data from a single mainframe screen.

A marketing term that describes the process of slowly obtaining personal information from a customer over time. Asking for a little bit of information at a time can slowly build the relationship with the customer versus being too intrusive upon first meeting.

Like Leno on Meth

July 09, 2009

This is the flashing cursor on your computer screen (it looks like "|"), where you are supposed to type in something. You'll see the prompt when a host system asks you to do something and waits for you to respond.

For example, if you see "login:" and the flashing prompt, it means you should type your username. In most word processors, the prompt indicates where you are at the moment. name.

A general computing term for the hardware and operating system used for application programs. For example, you may use a "Macintosh environment."

Business slang for short-sighted decision-making in which one's data comes solely from poorly weighted statistics instead of from human value. For example, if a person gets laid off because he or she has the highest salary in the group, the spreadsheet shows a savings; but in reality, the productivity of the group falls since the most productive-and thus, most cost-effective-person was lost.

July 10, 2009

An exact count of each click a unique user makes, regardless of path or destination.

For example, when the same IP address (a unique user) clicks five times, each of these is counted as a raw click.

Slang for small and ineffective, if not questionable. For example, "I wouldn't give the account to them. I've been told they're a rinky-dink operation if ever there was one."

Most hosting is "shared," which means that multiple Web sites are on the same server in order to "share" costs. Since many Web sites do not require a dedicated server, this makes owning and operating a Web site more affordable.

July 11, 2009

Tech talk for "turning off" a computer system.

If a printed circuit board does not smoke from an electrical short or overload the first time electrical power is applied, it is said to have passed the smoke test.

Hot For You

July 12, 2009

An acronym for the visually more appealing alternative to the ugly server generated directory indices you sometimes see on the Web. By merely putting "snif" as your download directory's index file, you can maintain it without creating and changing huge HTML files (as well as make it look better). For an example, click on the link below.

Click on "more info" below to see a list of file extensions!

It's clear that business is still dominated by men. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many testosterone-driven sports terms masquerading as business phrases. "We've got bench," the salesman assures the customer who wants to know if the company can deliver as promised. "We need bench," complains the manager whose department has been running two down for the past six months. In other places, "bench" is the justification for an excessive number of excessively-paid executives sitting in gargantuan-sized offices.

May The Schwartz Be With You

July 13, 2009

Business jargon for something that is absolutely unbreakable. For example, "The beta testers have been banging his code for the last month. It's bulletproof, and we're set to launch." It also refers to a business idea or project that will survive someone else's criticism (namely, a client's). For example, "Our methodology for building a best-in-breed vortal is bulletproof."

Considered to be the lowest form of software programming known to mankind, it involves altering the assembly code in hex format after it has been output from a complier or assembler. Typically done when there is a compiler bug, the proper data is not being generated, or the original source code was lost.

July 14, 2009

Someone who is proficient in computers (hardware, software, or both); it can also refer to a programmer in the industry.

July 15, 2009

The content on a Web page that is visible without scrolling. The content you see when you have to scroll down is referred to as below the fold. The area above the fold is considered the most desirable real estate on a Web page. This expression originally referred to the position of articles in a newspaper.

A platform into which you can install a laptop computer. The docking station typically contains slots for expansion cards, bays for storage devices, and connectors for peripheral devices, such as printers and monitors. Once inserted in a docking station, the portable computer essentially becomes a desktop model computer. When it is taken out, it becomes a portable computer again. Most importantly, the same data is accessible in both modes because it resides on the portable computer's drives. The idea behind docking stations is to let you simultaneously enjoy the expansion possibilities of desktop model computers with the portability of notebook computers. In addition, the docking station enables you to use a full-size keyboard and monitor when you're not traveling. There is no standard for docking stations, so you must purchase one that is made specifically for your type of portable computer.

Love You, Mean It

Slang for the practice by fans of The Jerky Boys, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and others of trying to emulate - or outdo - their idols.

July 16, 2009

One who attacks the traditional way of doing things. For many, this term has become synonymous with the role of the Internet consultant. In the project-based environment of the industry, the gray-flanneled organization man has been replaced by the iconoclastic independent whose occasional bouts of noncomformity are tolerated in exchange for his or her creative contributions.

Silicon Valley slang for restricting your job performance to tasks you are expected to do because anything done differently is not encouraged and will be criticized. Being "in the pod" also means being in a cubical within a cube farm.

Abbreviation for kilobyte.

July 17, 2009

A measure of the amount of useful information found in a given Usenet newsgroup. This phrase is often used derogatorily; for example, "The signal-to-noise ratio in this newsgroup is pretty low." It is also a measurement of the quality of a connection (for example, of a phone line or network cable), in terms of speed and reliability.

The first page or front page of a Web site. It serves as the starting point for navigation, not be confused with a buffer page, doorway page, or splash page.

Why is it sometimes seen as one word and other times as two words? When referring to the Web site of an individual or a company, or to a Web site you want someone to visit, the one-word version is used. For example, "Have you seen my homepage?" or "We've got to get a homepage up, even if it just says 'under construction'." The two-word version is more applicable when talking about the front page of a larger Web site (consisting of many pages) or when referring to the front page from a site map or page of navigational directions. For example, "Welcome, this is our Home Page" or "From the Help Page, go back to the Home Page." You may also see it simply written as "Home."

One thing to take advantage of is the server space your ISP offers to account holders, where you can put up your own homepage. You will need an HTML editor, a graphics program, and an FTP program to get started. Sistergoldenhair.com is an example ;-)

Next-generation technology has evolved so that now individuals can have mini-homepages without needing to know how to code or upload the content. Often found on social networking sites, you can now have your own homepage and be part of a network of people.

Any technology that overturns a traditional business model. For example, the Internet is a disruptive technology in the age of paper publishing. This term was coined by Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School.

July 18, 2009

A play on the term dot-com, it refers to a bad idea, a failed business venture, or April 14, 2000.

A network of PCs linked together through a gaming server, it allows users to play together simultaneously from practically anywhere in the world.

The notion that everything you want is in one place, and that place is wherever you want it to be. For example, universal connectivity will bring together all the information and services you need, and it will make them available to you regardless of where you are, what you are doing, or which device you are using.

July 19, 2009

A group of networked servers that are housed in one location in order to streamline internal processes, distributing the workload between the individual components. In other words, a server farm expedites computing processes by harnessing the power of multiple servers. The farms rely on load-balancing software that tracks demand for processing power from different machines, prioritizes the tasks, and schedules and reschedules them depending on the priority and demand that users put on the network. When one server in the farm fails, another can step in as a backup.

Combining servers and processing power into a single entity has been relatively common for many years in research and academic institutions. Today, more and more companies are utilizing server farms to handle the enormous amount of computerized tasks and services they require.

A term used to describe the act of driving around looking for an unsecured wireless network to break into, which is illegal in most U.S. states.

Voted the single most overused word in news releases today, it is generally seen in the first or second paragraph and goes something like this: AnyBrandNameHere is the leading TypeOfBusinessHere in the VerticalMarketNameHere. Apparently the companies in second place aren't sending out news releases.

July 20, 2009

A way of encoding bad jokes, movie reviews that give away the ending, pornography, or anything else that may offend some users. It is a cryptography system that scrambles your text so that a casual, over-the-shoulder reader cannot read it. Essentially, each letter of a message is replaced by the thirteenth letter away from it in the alphabet. There are online decoders to read these; most Usenet news readers and other posting programs, as well as some browsers and e-mail programs, include a rot-13 feature. A major advantage of rot-13 is that the same code can be used for encoding and decoding.

Refers to the sequence of pages viewed by a user on a single Web site, including the page of entry, all the pages visited, and the page from which the user exited. A path is similar to a clickstream, except a clickstream may span many sites. Identifying paths within a Web site is useful toward understanding user behavior and designing effective site features.

A measurement used to describe the value of an e-mail customer.

July 21, 2009

Short for "postmodern."

Built-in computer memory that can be read but not written to. ROM contains the programming that allows your computer to boot up each time you turn it on, and it contains essential system programs that neither you or the computer can erase. Unlike a computer's random access memory (RAM), ROM does not lose its data when the computer power is turned off. It is sustained by a small, long-life battery. (If you ever run the hardware setup procedure on your computer, you are in effect writing to ROM.)

ROM can also refer to Rough Order of Magnitude, referring to the amount of time it takes to accomplish a given task.

Used frequently in the technical arena, this refers to the expertise a consultant possesses in a particular area. The term "deep domain" just adds that extra emphasis, that this person doesn't just know what they are talking about, but they really, really know what they are talking about.

July 22, 2009

To investigate something thoroughly and then discuss it in detail. For example, "In order to accurately assess the type of candidate they needed, we had to drill down on the skill set and management experience required for the job." This term also refers to the process of clicking on links within a Web site to find information in the deep Web.

Slang for Web sites that try to use female-focused content to drive e-commerce sales.

A component of a software program that makes it unique and that enables you to do something with that program (for example, a spell checker). The slang translation is a bug or discrepancy, inadvertently made by a programmer, that the marketing department somehow made useful.

July 23, 2009

A computer software setting or preference that states what will automatically happen in the event that the user has not stated another preference. For example, your computer may have a default setting to launch or start Netscape whenever a GIF is opened; if you prefer to use Photoshop whenever you need to view a GIF, you can change the default setting.

A product that has been digitally added to a scene on a television show, after the scene has actually been shot-without the product there. For example, it could be a Coke can sitting on the kitchen table of a Friends episode. Another instance is to add a sponsor's name behind home plate during a baseball broadcast or along a first-down stripe during a football game. It's another form of "in your face" advertising that supposedly makes up for the fact that a person can switch to a different channel when a commercial comes on.

A term that describes a new thread or series of postings in a blog or newsgroup. It comes from the Harry Potter series when the arrival of the owls heralds the news.

July 24, 2009

Another name for a portal.

A metric used to measure screen resolution.

Moving Right Along

July 25, 2009

A graphic that a user can "click on" to do something, such as download a program or go to another Web page. Traditionally, in GUIs, a button is a dialogue box option used to execute a command (such as the "OK" button or "Cancel" button).

The most common use of the term button is to describe a small ad banner (as seen in the upper right corner).

The alpha geek responsible for an office's Local Area Network.

July 26, 2009

How to turn high-quality content into a money-making business online.

A robot used to collect e-mail addresses for the future use of spamming. Spambots are also capable of automatically posting spam to BBS' and guestbooks.

One way to receive less spam is to not post your e-mail address on a Web site, but instead spell it out like this: info-at-netlingo-dot-com, that way the spambot can't pick up the usual @ and .com formula.

You're "platform diving" when you can choose between the Web, TV, print, etc., as a delivery method to get your message or product out. It's another way of leveraging your content.

July 27, 2009

A type of logic that recognizes more than simple true and false values. With fuzzy logic, propositions can be represented with degrees of truthfulness and falsehood. For example, the statement, "Today is sunny," might be 100 percent true if there are no clouds, 80 percent true if there are a few clouds, 50 percent true if it's hazy, and 0 percent true if it rains all day. Fuzzy logic has proved to be particularly useful in expert systems and other artificial intelligence (AI) applications and is usually used as the underlying logic system for fuzzy expert systems. It is also used in some spell checkers to suggest a list of probable words to replace a misspelled one. Fuzzy logic is a superset of conventional logic (also known as "Boolean logic") that has been extended to handle the concept of partial truth-truth values between "completely true" and "completely false."

Dr. Lotfi Zadeh of UC Berkeley introduced fuzzy logic in the 1960's as a means to model the uncertainty of natural language. Rather than regard fuzzy theory as a single theory, we should regard the process of "fuzzification" as a methodology to generalize any specific theory from a crisp (discrete) form to a continuous (fuzzy) form. Researchers have also introduced fuzzy calculus, fuzzy differential equations, and so on.

A nickname for a hacker who penetrates cryptographic software.

Not A Blonde

July 28, 2009

A metric used to measure print and screen resolution.

Slang for when your computer freezes and you can't do anything.

A derogatory term that refers to when a legitimate company goes over "to the dark side" and starts spamming their customers.

It's No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk

July 29, 2009

The name of one of the first Internet-oriented networking groups in Silicon Alley, founded circa 1995. Its mission was to bring together anyone and everyone involved in the industry, in order to further the business climate as a whole. It was a popular event every Thursday night, where Web pioneers, indie developers, dot-commers, and other ambitious individuals knocked back a few cold ones and talked about this "new thing" called the Web. (There was a funny joke among the female crowd, who appreciated the fact that in this scene, guys weren't just interested in "going to bed with you"; rather, they wanted to "go into business with you.") The cybersuds parties lasted many years and spawned several knock-offs in other new economy hotspots.

Excessive publicity or exaggerated claims made by companies or the media to make something appear bigger than it really is. It's commonly referred to as "media hype." the industry is unfortunately full of it.

My True Love Always

July 30, 2009

The Web page you intend to visit. For example, if you are looking up an article on an e-journal, but you click on an interstitial or ad banner instead, you have not yet reached your destination page.

A server that stores and transmits multimedia applications across a broadband interactive network, in either a client/server or distributed computing configuration.

Online jargon for bulk e-mail messages delivered from generic e-mail addresses with innocuous subject headers in order to confound filtering programs and end-users.

July 31, 2009

The person to contact at a particular newsgroup to ask for information about the forum or to complain about a posting.

An attitude of believing oneself to be superior or of a "higher class." For example, a "highbrow company" is one in which a majority of the staff has a graduate degree, and the company only wants to hire the "right" people who have gone to the "right" schools and who have the "right" mindset. These companies look at lowbrow companies with contempt.