Internet Word of the Day Archive

August 01, 2010

In the traditional sense, it is the process of converting a numeric IP address into a text name (for example, 66.201.69.207 is converted to www.netlingo.com).

In common usage, to do a "domain name lookup" refers to finding out whether a particular domain name is available for use. One place to find out whether a domain name is available is the link below. If you want to find out who owns a particular domain name, then use the "WHOIS" (pronounced who-is) link.

A cable TV industry term for a centrally localized facility where cable channels are received from the local cable company's satellite downlink. The channels are then packaged together and transmitted to subs' homes. It is similar to a central office in the telephone industry.

Slang for a human being.

Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain

August 02, 2010

A type of computer monitor that is very thin and flat-looking. In fact, it almost looks like it's just a screen (there's no bulky hardware behind it). It uses an LCD to display information, and there is less glare and radiation. It is not the same as a flat screen.

Pejorative term for a venture capitalist.

A data mining technique in which marketers assemble computerized databases of customer information to create profiles of users who will be most receptive to their messages.

Super Sexy Cute

August 03, 2010

A method for finding a host's Ethernet address from its Internet address. The sender broadcasts an ARP packet containing the Internet address of another host and waits for it (or some other host) to send back its Ethernet address. Each host maintains a cache of address translations to reduce delay and loading. ARP allows the Internet address to be independent of the Ethernet address but it only works if all hosts support it.

Similar to the framed dollar bill you see behind a retail counter. Some investors believe a company becomes "real" when it ships a product for the first time.

As A Friend -or- Always And Forever

Cheap Internet routers made with old PCs. May have been inspired by the Video Toaster desktop editing device for the Amiga, or by that ubiquitous home appliance. "Grunge Computing" has been proposed as a general term for the re-purposing of old PCs and other trashed digital technology.

August 04, 2010

The level of access a user has to read or write computer documents or execute computer programs. see also: access control list

An acronym - it indicates the expected time of completion for a particular project, as in "What's the TAT on that?"

To build a mold for a cast product. "The widget design was okayed. Let's cut steel."

Plot, What Plot?

August 05, 2010

A Web page that appears after you click on an ad banner, further explaining the specifics of the ad offer. For example, after you click on an ad banner, you may be sent to a buffer page instead of to the advertiser's homepage. The buffer page will either try to upsell you on the offer or it will gather information from you, which is what sweepstakes banners do. Buffer pages are typically hosted on the server where the ad banner resides (for example, the publisher's server) and not on the advertiser's server. That way, online marketers can track the effectiveness of certain campaigns.

Buffer pages can also be used to increase a Web site's ranking on a search engine. In this instance, a Web designer may create numerous buffer pages for one Web site and tailor each to adhere to the rules of a different search engine. These pages normally do not appear anywhere on the Web site itself; they only act as "entry pages" to provide the search engine spiders code that will increase the site's chances for a higher ranking in search results.

Note that buffer pages are not to be confused with splash pages.

A collection of data or information that is stored on a computer. There are many different types of files. For example, program files store programs, and text files store text.

Good Night

Where computer-mediated communication focused on the styles of online communication, ICTs alluded to the machines themselves (computers, PDAs, mobile phones) rather than the information they conveyed. According to Professor of Linguistic and Author, Naomi S. Baron, an umbrella term was need for the language transmitted via the gamut of ICTs. She and several colleagues now speak of electronically-mediated communication (EMC). 

August 06, 2010

The name you use to access certain programs, Web sites, software, or networks. A username is like a handle for a user on the Internet and is commonly left up to the user to select (although most systems will not allow the same username to be assigned to two different people). Usually it's the first part of your e-mail address, before the @ sign, or it could be the nickname you use in a chat room.

Doctor of Medicine -or- Managing Director

August 07, 2010

A group of programs collectively integrated into a Web server's environment so that it interacts with the API. Because these applications are connected to an API, they allow higher-level tasks to be performed remotely. This kind of server enables a user at a Web page to perform sophisticated interactions, such as querying a database or running other programs loaded on the server.

In the era of the microcelebrity, this is puffing up one's own "brand" in an attempt to get listed on Google.

A takeover of a company, using a combination of equity and borrowed funds (or loans). Generally, the target company's assets act as the collateral for the loans taken out by the acquiring group. The acquiring group then repays the loan from the cash flow of the acquired company.

For example, a group of investors may borrow funds, using the assets of the company as collateral, in order to take over a company. Or the management of the company may use this vehicle as a means to regain control of the company by converting a company from public to private. In most LBOs, public shareholders receive a premium to the market price of the shares.

loser

August 08, 2010

A file extension for a library on your hard drive that links to application programs when they are loaded. It stands for "Dynamic Link Library" and it is a Windows platform file that is an executable mini-program itself. Primarily a behind-the-screens operation, it needs to be of a version that's compatible with the executable programs (otherwise, you'll get an error message).

For a list of file extensions click here!

A businessperson who travels frequently for his or her job. A road warrior usually has a Web-based e-mail account or VPN access, a pager, cell phone, or Blackberry, a laptop with wireless access, and hundreds of thousands of frequent-flier miles.

A funny nickname for a BlackBerry, it is popular because people get addicted to this electronic device. For example, "My boss is out of town but I can ping him on his CrackBerry, it's the one thing he checks while traveling."

RIM (Research In Motion) is known for making the BlackBerry two-way messaging device and for providing the corresponding service that allows subscribers to wirelessly update their calendars and send and receive e-mail remotely.

Quality Control

August 09, 2010

A business term that means to tentatively plan something without making a final commitment.

A software program that compiles a large database of products sold at online stores. It is a bot that facilitates comparison-shopping.

This Is So Not Cool

August 10, 2010

To be accurate this term is written as "PageRank" because it is trademarked by Google; however, it is commonly seen and written as "page rank." It is Google's ranking software that calculates how relevant a Web page is to the keywords a user enters when doing an online search on Google.com. This software (which operates behind the scenes) analyzes both the number of incoming links and the quality of the referring Web page. It then produces a relative measure between 0 (low) and 10 (high) which is seen as a green bar next to the search result on Google.com (above), or seen as a number in the Google Toolbar on your browser.

Page rank has become a very hot topic amongst online marketers, SEO consultants, and Webmasters because of the popularity of Google. If your site has a high page rank (for example 7-10), your site will appear higher in the organic search results on Google, and therefore be more valuable to online advertisers.

As Google explains: "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the Web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value." Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

Enormous amounts of information is available online for those of you trying to figure out how to best take advantage of the page rank algorithm (but unfortunately it is often quite unreliable). Suffice to say that if a Web site with a PR = 0 links to your site, this will NOT negatively afflict your page rank; however, if YOU link to a PR = 0 Web site, you will be penalized (sad but true). For more discussion, check out the links below!

Webmasters: Be sure to click on "more info" below for an excellent article on "How to Understand Page Rank vs. Link Popularity and Linking Tips for Blogs!"

One who blogs, it can refer to a musicblogger, an audioblogger, an MP3blogger, etc.

Not currently Engaged in Employment, Education, or Training

August 11, 2010

A server (or an area on a server) that is used to temporarily test new or revised Web pages before they go live.

Oh Sh** I Forgot

A former political activist, whose idea of political activism has changed to that of just forwarding e-mail protests to other slackers.

The name of an online video commercial that appears at the end of an online video, it is typically :10 - :15 seconds in length. Once you click on certain online video links, you will be forced to watch a short commercial before the video content (known as a pre-roll) or after the video content (known as a post-roll).

Post-roll makes up a small percentage of the available interactive video inventory, but it is growing more popular because it is one of the simplest ways to utilize the Internet for sight, sound and motion.

August 12, 2010

A form of market research that appears on Web sites from time to time. Users respond to a variety of questions or provide opinions by filling out forms.

"Consumer opinion sites" that air grievances. Refers to the format of these sites' names or domains (www.chasebanksucks.com, www.aolsucks.org).

Part of the Web development process, it refers to the coding of Web sites and Web applications, and the configuration of Web servers.

August 13, 2010

Busting A Gut -or- Big Ass Grin

In the most basic sense, it is a way of getting television transmitted over high-speed Internet connections. Broadband is revolutionizing television because it is a step up from conventional TV, which uses cable or satellite via analog or digital signals. Like VoIP, IPTV means video data is sent across the Net in packets of data.

It can then be stored on a server and sent to computers (or to a set-top box) over ADSL lines or cable lines. IPTV can be in the form of live TV, but it is more usually stored video, sometimes known as video on demand (VOD). To watch IPTV, a person needs a computer, or set-top box, plugged into the TV.

Because there is limited space for more TV digital or analog channels, being able to use the net as another way to distribute programs is seen as extremely attractive and almost limitless. In theory, it means that anyone with a server could set themselves up as an IPTV service. If more "channels" are needed, it is simply a case of more server space.

An online term to describe software that, when downloaded, encrypts the contents of your hard drive. In this instance, encryption makes the data unreadable (which is not a good thing so be careful of the software you download). Afterwards, the parties responsible for the ransomware software demand payment to decrypt your data. Basically it is Internet extortion and I hope it doesn't happen to you.

A widespread condition among entrepreneurial business executives. Many will establish one company, and in a matter of time will get bored and move on to start up a new company.

August 14, 2010

A Windows-based compressed file. ZIP is the industry standard for data compression technology, in part because it can hold directory structures in addition to files. On the Net, large graphics and programs are usually compressed as ZIP files and then made available for download. After you download a ZIP file, you need to use a decompression software program to "unzip" it. This may sound a bit complicated, but in fact, the process of zipping and unzipping files is quite easy. It especially comes in handy when you want to send digital photos to a family member.

For a list of file extensions click here!

Leveraging new media (primarily Internet technology) as a company's core recruiting competency to help it hire better people, faster and at a lower cost. In other words, "ecruiting" is recruiting people (or headhunting) online.

For a discussion of why "ecruiting" is not spelled with a hyphen, read the e-mail definition.

To change a system or program to a newer version. You can upgrade hardware or software. Since high-tech companies make a living at selling technology, they are constantly coming out with new versions of their products so that users will upgrade. Thus the phrase, "It's already obsolete."

With Out Papers

August 15, 2010

A browser helper application for playing sound files.

The common notation for IP addresses (for example, 66.201.69.207). In the form A.B.C.D, each letter represents, in decimal, one byte of a four-byte IP address.

A new kind of customer service call center that offers not only telephone support for customers but also e-mail support, chat support, and other Web-based inquiries.

Text Instant Message

August 16, 2010

If you change your mind after clicking a check box or radio button to select an item, you can deselect the item by clicking the box or button again.

A person who violently opposes technology.

City

August 17, 2010

Be Back In A Bit

A type of computer monitor with a screen that only reflects what's directly in front of it (instead of reflecting everything, which sometimes makes the screen hard to see). It has the bulkiness of a regular monitor because it uses cathode-ray tubes. It is not the same as a flat panel.

Another name for X-rated software.

A type of ASP that offers learning management and training software on a hosted (rental) basis.

August 18, 2010

Supplemental software code that, when installed to the original software program, fixes problems. A patch can usually be downloaded off the Internet in order to fix a bug.

It is not the same as a driver.

Are You Up For It?

The request of an advertisement as a direct result of a visitor's action, as recorded by the advertisement server software.

August 19, 2010

Another name for a phone connection, it also refers to a company that provides wireless telecommunication services.

BITD, when you saw the CD light flash on an external modem, for example, you know the modem is receiving a carrier detect (CD) signal from another computer. Now it's used to identify your cell phone plan, as in "Who's your carrier?"

Evil Grin

A Web-based knowledge management system that gathers and organizes text and numeric data from a wide variety of sources (including data warehouses, e-mail, and the Web). Users can locate, present, share, and update the information. CBI systems capture information that would otherwise be lost when employees leave a company. For example, CBI can also recapture the context in which past decisions were made, thereby speeding up the decision-making process.

August 20, 2010

Scottie Doesn't Know -or- Software Developer's Kit

A business term used to describe sales on all of the channels a company has to sell its products. These channels may include distributors, resellers, retailers, telemarketers, catalogs, direct mail, a direct sales force, e-mail, and the Web.

Another name for a live audio and video broadcast.

A string of letters or numbers that dynamically appears on some Web pages, ransom notes require that you type this sequence of characters exactly as they appear into a form field below the image in order to gain access to another Web page. The reason ransom notes exist is because some search engines and Web sites have become abused by bots and automated services, so they employ ransom notes to ensure that an actual human is accessing or requesting this information. Often seen on link submission pages, this type of submission process has been designed to prevent people from being able to make automated submissions. Ransom notes generally resemble the image as seen here, and are accompanied by an instruction such as "Enter the Following Code to View More Results" at which point you must enter the code in order to advance to subsequent pages.

The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University.

August 21, 2010

The line of communication between your computer (or any other device) and the Internet. A commonly heard question is, "What speed is your connection?" To this, you answer "ISDN" or "DSL" or whatever it may be. If you're using a dial-up connection, though, you'd answer with the speed of your modem, as in, "28.8 dude."

What The Heck

A term coined in 1995 by a Scott Adams' devotee in response to a naming contest to describe anyone who doesn't keep up with Dogbert in the Dilbert comic series, it refers to a person who is less intelligent and less astonishingly attractive than yourself.

August 22, 2010

Communication that takes place via airwaves as opposed to cables or telephone lines. Specifically, wireless communication is enabled by packet radio, spread spectrum, cellular technology, satellites, and microwave towers, and it can be used for voice, data, video, and images. The convergence of wireless networks and computer networks has begun as Internet technology continues to develop and operate over a variety of networks.

Fixed wireless refers to wireless devices or systems that are situated in fixed locations, such as an office or home, as opposed to devices that are mobile, such as cell phones or PDAs. Fixed wireless devices normally derive their electrical power from utility mains, but portable wireless devices normally derive their power from batteries. The advantages of fixed wireless include the ability to connect with users in remote areas without the need for laying new cables. It is estimated that nearly 62 million people will use wireless devices to access the Internet by 2003, an increase of about 728 percent since 2000.

Gaining Perspective: As of October 2000, only about 36 percent of Americans subscribed to wireless phone service, a penetration rate less than half of some European countries and 15 to 20 percentage points lower than other tech-savvy nations (such as Japan and Israel). Finland and Sweden have penetration rates of 80 percent.

So why did the U.S. lag so badly in wireless communications? For a number of reasons, including government policies and business rivalries. But most importantly, it's the inability to agree upon a transmission protocol standard (which, for example, prevents phones tuned into Sprint's network to work on AT&T's). American carriers are split among three broadly defined digital technologies: Sprint uses CDMA, AT&T uses TDMA, and VoiceStream uses GSM. GSM is the standard used in Europe (which accounts for the wide compatibility of cell phones that coexist all over the continent). Industry analysts feel the three rival technologies will either converge or a new generation of phones will be capable of accessing more than one system, such as Japan's i-mode system. The other important reason the U.S. continues to lag in wireless calling is that its conventional phone service is much less expensive than that in the rest of the world (which is a good thing).

The modern equivalent of getting psyched. Ramping up can also refer to the time you need to learn enough about a job or project to work effectively on it. For example, "The ramp up time on this executive search is at least two weeks. I'll give you my preliminary report in five days."

The process by which links on a Web page become obsolete as the sites they're connected to change location or die.

there

August 23, 2010

A form of marketing that combines traditional marketing principles with the unique interactive qualities of the Internet. The purpose is to promote products and services online that satisfy customers. Online marketers devise campaigns to attract customers to a Web site and encourage them to register their names or purchase products.

Specific online marketing examples include: e-mail campaigns, search engine optimization updates (SEO), ad banners, text links, in-player messaging campaigns (IPM campaigns), contextual-based advertising, postings in chat rooms, forums, or blogs, affiliate marketing (sellers or resellers of information), and other forms of interactive marketing.

A play on words, it refers to a person who is distracted by texting while he or she is driving. For a list of countries and U.S. states that ban mobile phones and text messaging while driving, visit the link below!

August 24, 2010

"Black hat" search engine optimization generally seeks to exploit the weaknesses of search engines in order to boost a site's ranking on results pages. These techniques often rely on deception, redirection, and other artificial means to generate results.

For example, a black hat SEO specialist might create hundreds of pages filled with keyword-rich gibberish for search engines to find and parse, or they might post meaningless comments on hundreds of blogs, all linking back to the main Web site. It can be tempting to employ black hat techniques to promote Web sites, especially when it produces dramatic short-term results. However, search engines always attempt to out-think the black hat SEOs, and the results are therefore short term. In fact, using deceptive techniques can get you banned from search engines and permanently damange your ranking.

What David Banisar of EPIC calls Hewlett-Packard's proposed International Cryptography Framework, which would require the use of government-approved "policy activation tokens" to enable the encryption system. Stasi refers to the former East German secret police.

no problem

August 25, 2010

A disparaging name for the many attractive women who are hired to "man" industry trade show booths. Booth bunnies do not actually work for high-tech companies and usually have little or no knowledge about technology.

Slang for an independent contractor or consultant who unnecessarily extends the duration of a project, only to get paid more money.

On the Web, it is to reload a Web page into your browser to see if any of the content has changed since the last time you were there. At the top of your Web browser, to the right of the back button, there is a button that enables you to do this (on IE, it is called "Refresh"; on Netscape, it is called "Reload"). To make sure you are seeing the most recent version of a Web page, hold down the Control key on your keyboard while you click on the refresh or reload button.

Guess -or- Grin -or- Giggle

August 26, 2010

The simultaneous layering of music, media, performers, audience, and the surrounding ecosystem into a rhythmic "jungle" that includes the Web and other telecommunications systems. The objective is to celebrate an expanded sense of nature that's inclusive of culture and technology. With roots in African-American jazz and 1990's Rave culture, the Web jam takes an improvisational, "emergent" approach to cultural, political, and ecological systems. The first Web jam, known as Organism, was instigated by Ebon Fisher in the spring of 1993, in collaboration with 120 artists and musicians from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. More than 2,000 people attended and were jamming from six at night until nine the next morning ;-)

Peeing In My Pants

The primary language used on the Net. As of the year 2000, English language Web sites accounted for about 96 percent of all e-commerce Web sites, and 50 percent of all Internet users were native English speakers. As of 2007, one in every five humans speaks English with a reasonable degree of competency, making English the first language in history to be spoken by more people as a second language than as a first.

This is the notion that any company, especially cable companies, should be allowed to provide Internet access to home users over the networks controlled by the phone companies (the common carriers).

August 27, 2010

As Far As I Understand

The information industry's equivalent of a snow day, or what happens when employees are sent home after a network outage blamed on careless backhoe work along the buried fiber line. From the older "backhoe-induced deep fade".

Slang for the act of erasing your online identity or "digital doppelganger," it refers to taking certain actions in order to remove your personal data or "digital footprint" from the Internet. For example, "Ever since he applied for that government job, he removed his profiles from Facebook and MySpace. Apparently he's going Web dead."

Fortunately there are some practical steps a savvy surfer can take to prevent (and reverse) the "morning after" effects associated with putting TMI on the Web.

Click on the link below for a complete list on how to become Web dead!

August 28, 2010

Are You Stupid Or Something

Technology that was developed but never gained approval or popularity. For example, the clipper chip.

A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology in order to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency. Such a modernized electricity network is seen by many governments as a way of addressing energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience issues.

In principle, the smart grid is a simple upgrade of 20th century power grids which generally "broadcast" power from a few central generators to a large number of users, to instead be capable of routing power in more optimal ways to respond to a very wide range of conditions.

A "smart grid" is an umbrella term that covers modernization of both the transmission and distribution grids. Building the smart grid means adding computer and communications technology to the existing electricity grid. With an overlay of digital technology, the grid promises to operate more efficiently and reliably, and it can also accommodate more solar and wind power.

A form of cloud computing that helps enterprise developers quickly write and text customer- or employee-facing Web applications that center around one development language or methodology. This means developers don't have to create on just any platform but can rather select one that matches their preferences in tools and language, such as .Net, Java, or Ruby on Rails.

The platforms promise more efficient coding through automation of tasks such as setting up a newly composed app as a Web service. Most also offer a cloud infrastructure (or links to vendors such as Amazon.com) so that developers can launch what they build in a cloud infrastructure that can keep up with demand for the new application. In other words, the appeal of the Platform as a Service approach is that you develop using the same standards and technologies as the application will run under in production. This means cutting out the messy migration of moving an application off a Windows development box and into its target production environment. Debugging also occurs in an environmnet equal to the target production environment, leading to a surer resolution of bugs. And according to Charles Babcock of Information Week, it promises faster development. As of 2010 PaaS is still at an early stage.

August 29, 2010

A nickname for the Commodore Business Machines logo, which resembles a poultry part (rendered in ASCII as "C="). With the arguable exception of the Amiga, Commodore's computers are "notoriously crocky little bitty boxes" thus, this usage may owe something to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which was the basis for the movie Blade Runner, and the book is now sold under that title); in that story a chicken head is a mutant with below-average intelligence. STMRTB.

A data network designed for a town or city. MANs are considered larger than LANs but smaller than WANs. MANs are characterized by high-speed connections over fiber-optic cable.

A grueling requirement of every IPO, this is when the CEO (and various other execs and suits) travels across the country, "on the road," to pitch the company to investors, just before the offering begins.

Potty Break

August 30, 2010

Pulled From Ass -or- Please Find Attached

The act of picking up seemingly unconnected facts, figures, and data that eventually support a thesis. For example, "Right now, I'm just gathering string. We'll see where it takes us later."

Giving someone you want to impress your hippest e-mail address, even if it isn't where you usually pick up your mail. "Kevin is such a domain dropper. He gives people his Well address, but he actually gets his mail on AOL."

Data that is the result of applying a process, such as combining data elements. It can also refer to data that is taken collectively or in summary form. Summary data, on the other hand, is aggregated according to specific criteria. For example, individual daily sales may be aggregated to weekly totals, or averaged to a single per/day number rather than maintaining all of the individual data elements. 

August 31, 2010

One of several top-level domains assigned to URLs of an academic nature, generally for colleges and universities within the U.S. For example, www.pepperdine.edu is the URL for Pepperdine University. Note that .ac is for academic Web sites outside of the U.S. In addition to .edu and .ac, other domain suffixes include .com, .gov, .net, .mil, . .org, and a long list of country code domains. For a list of new suffixes, read the domain name definition.

Screaming With Laughter

This term is a spin off of "agreement". It was created because it sounds more important and official, and now is a common word used in the industry and corporate world.

A slang expression that refers to recharging the big, heavy NiCad batteries used in portable video cameras. "You better start juicing those bricks, we've got a long shoot tomorrow."