Internet Word of the Day Archive

January 01, 2010

Short for the WWW or the World Wide Web.

Tons Of Time

The process of looking inside the company to find someone with the needed skills to perform a certain job. This happens a lot in an economic slowdown, for example: "The budget's tight, we'd better insource this one."

January 02, 2010

An intentionally inflammatory posting in a newsgroup or discussion group, or an outlandish comment or remark on a blog, designed to elicit a strong reaction and to create a flame war.

A vector graphic animation technology that's bandwidth friendly and browser-independent. In other words, it is a programming technique that enables movies and animation to move seamlessly across a Web browser. As long as different browsers are equipped with the necessary plugins, Flash animations will look the same. If it's on the Web and it's moving, it is probably a design using Flash. (Flash was known as FutureSplash until 1997.)

Any variety of advertising (usually banner ads) found on directories. Directories typically are focused on local areas, opposed to general search engines that seek out requested information and categorize it.

No Sh** Sherlock

January 03, 2010

A problem-solving routine for human behavior as it is exercised in the realm of networks and cyberspace. The first bionic codes were developed by Ebon Fisher based on a series of his theatrical experiments involving communication systems among audience members. Fisher's bionic codes have been formalized as a series of diagrams and statements that "float" in the infosphere in a variety of media.

Ebon Fisher was one of the first guerrilla artists and instructors at the MIT Media Lab, and he has been developing the Bionic Codes since 1990.

Fisher's Codes also appear on stickers, T-shirts, the "ALULA Dimension" Web site, in a video, and as exhibits at art galleries in New York City. Go to this definition on NetLingo.com for a link to view some bionic codes.

Type of software development exemplified by the Linux OS and articulated by Eric Raymond in his paper "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." A bazaar approach involves "releasing early and often, delegating everything you can, and being open to the point of promiscuity". This strategy differs from the dominant cathedral model of software carefully crafted "by individual wizards or small bands of mages working in splendid isolation."

January 04, 2010

Modern business slang for the division within a corporation where ideas are distilled and turned into working models. For example, "Ford's moonshine shop works outside of the company's traditional channels, to develop cheaper, faster ways to build cars."

A digital wireless communication system based on the principles of cellular systems but operating in a different frequency range. PCS is a U.S. Federal Communications Commission classification. One example is "Sprint PCS."

Before You

A class of capital stock that may pay dividends at a specified rate and that has priority over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of assets. Many venture capital investments use preferred stock as their "investment vehicle." This preferred stock is convertible into common stock at the time of an IPO. 

January 05, 2010

An acronym that implies using the Internet to send, receive, and pay bills, this is considered by some people to be the next step in online banking. The convenience factor of an EBPP is often highlighted for the user, but the real winners in this new scenario are the high-volume billers and banks that would save a substantial amount of operating costs by switching from a paper-based system to an electronic system.

Netcom needs to be hit with a "clue-by-four" for its lack of an anti-spam policy.

text message

January 06, 2010

Social life on computer networks. The "hive mind" is considered by some to be the quintessential metaphor for the digital revolution.

A standard specification for the exchange of electronic financial data over the Internet. Using a request-response system of communication, OFX allows a client to connect directly to a financial institution's server. An OFX application sends a request to another OFX application, which then sends a response. OFX was created by CheckFree, Intuit, and Microsoft in 1997.

Vegan -or- Vegitarian

January 07, 2010

A virtual shopping mall where you can browse and buy products and services online.

Television shows that promote interactivity between home Internet users and TV programs. For example, MTV sometimes scrolls a ticker tape at the bottom of the TV screen displaying live transcripts of real-time chat. It also allows Net surfers to participate as game show guests and video voters.

a.k.a. "Digital Versatile Disc" "DVD-ROM"

A high-density CD format used to store music, films, or software.

January 08, 2010

A formatting language that allows the transfer of information between applications. It is an international standard for the publication and delivery of electronic information. Commands are embedded within a document so that an SGML-compatible app can interpret them and format the document accordingly.

An employee brought in for a particular project or set time period.

Makes Sense To Me

January 09, 2010

The grammar, structure, and order of elements in a language statement. In personal computing, it refers to the rules that govern the structure of computer commands (such as statements or other instructions used in code).

Slang for annoying entertainment and media spectacles you're unable to stop watching. For example, the O.J. Simpson trial and Paris Hilton going to jail.

Peace To You For You Are A Cutie Pie

To sign-up new affiliates and track affiliate-referred traffic on a website, a merchant requires a software solution that will do the following, among other things:

• Easily allow new affiliates to sign-up online
• Allow the merchant to track and manage their affiliates once they sign-up
• Track the affiliate's sales activities
• Allow the affiliates to see what sales they are responsible for online, anytime
• Provide the merchant reporting tools such as commission reports

January 10, 2010

An external bus that is beginning to replace parallel and serial ports. With a maximum transfer speed of 12 Mbps (megabits per second), USB is designed for low- to mid-speed peripheral devices (such as keyboards, mice, printers, joysticks, and modems) whereas more bandwidth-intensive devices (such as digital video cameras and storage devices) use the IEEE FireWire standard. The main advantage of USB over traditional ports is that it offers easy expandability; you can daisy chain up to 127 devices (far more than the number of devices supported by traditional ports). All USB devices support plug-and-play and hot plugging. The computer automatically recognizes any USB device as soon as it's plugged in or added to the chain. Desktop computers that support USB typically have two four-pin USB ports (one for a keyboard and mouse daisy chain, the other to daisy-chain all other USB devices). USB was introduced in computers in 1997 and has received a boost from Windows 98, which offered better support for the standard than Windows 95. Macintosh computers support the USB standard. The iMac, for example, has no serial or SCSI ports, only USB ports.

Those who go online for health care information. Often times these people end up misdiagnosing their symptoms and cause more worry about their condition than needed.

See Last Mail

January 11, 2010

A tiny piece of content formatted for a WAP environment, such as a wireless handheld e-mail device or an Internet-enabled cell phone.

As It Happens

Used in the business world, "entity" is used when discussing a thing of significance, either real or conceptual. Sample entities include, employees, departments, cars, etc. "We are outsourcing that work to be completed with another entity."

Online jargon used primarily in chat, IM, e-mail, blogs, or newsgroup postings, the brackets signify emotion from the person writing it. For example: She'd lose her head if it wasn't screwed on .

January 12, 2010

A business title for a person responsible for running and maintaining a computer system.

A euphemism for being fired.

No Date

January 13, 2010

A project of the Free Software Foundation to write a free version of the Unix operating system. The acronym was coined by Richard Stallman of MIT.

GNU is an operating system that began development in 1984. By 1991, only the kernel was lacking. Linux filled that last gap, and the combination, the GNU-Linux operating system, is what people use today.

FYI: The GNU General Public License (known as "GNU GPL" or simply "GPL") is a widely used free software license used by the GNU/Linux operating system, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. The GPL is the most popular and well known example of the "strong copyleft license" that requires derived works to be available under the same copyleft. Under this philosophy, the GPL is said to grant the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition and uses copyleft to ensure the freedoms are preserved, even when the work is changed or added to. (This is in distinction to permissive free software licences, of which the BSD licenses are the standard examples.

Cross Post

An acronym, it is corporate slang for a buyout. This kind of program offers "Voluntary Separation Packages" (meaning financial incentives) to encourage employees (hopefully older and higher-paid ones) to leave a company so it can reduce its work force and lower expenses.

Slang for spending money on small luxuries and frivolous purchases when hard economic times prevent purchasing big-ticket items such as cars, houses, and expensive vacations. Coined by cultural trend watcher Faith Popcorn.

January 14, 2010

A business term for a dot-com spin-off from a larger, usually brick-and-mortar, company. its purpose is to gain market share. The term is derived from the phrase "carving out a particular niche." The spin-off will look and feel like a separate company (and may offer different products or services), but it will leverage the marketing and distribution muscle of the parent company (for example, the creation of Barnesandnoble.com as a separate company from Barnes & Noble). VCs may do this to try and save a new economy investment, but all they're really doing is developing an online component of an already successful offline business.

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

The short form of the phrase "mobile blog" or "mobile blogging" it is the practice of blogging using mobile devices (such as PDAs, cell phones, camera phones, telephones, and email). Blogs that are updated using these devices are called "moblogs."

The seats found in VR entertainment venues that are equipped with motion bases and wired to respond to actions on the computer screen.

January 15, 2010

The process by which a network validates a connection request. For example, when you FTP to a server, you must enter your username and password to gain access. The server either authenticates your information and acknowledges the request or terminates the connection and offers you another chance.

You'd Hate To Be Me

Like a social networking site, an anti-social networking site is a an online community of people however these sites exist for the sole purpose of specifying why certain people are your enemies and to see who considers you an adversary. Just as you might classify "friends" on Facebook, these kinds of sites let you build personal lists of "enemies."

Modeled after the age old saying "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer" these websites are a much less friendly approach to social networking and are basically an open forum for abuse and aggression. On some of the sites you can befriend other haters of someone, track enemies with an "evil map," stay posted on the activity of "other fricking idiots," and send snubs to foes informing them that they are either "on notice" or "dead to me." C'mon people, summon a new spirit.

Here are a few examples of anti-social networking sites:

• Enemybook.info
• Hatebook
• Snubster

A computer system that provides three essential components of a secure online financial transaction in e-commerce:
1. Authentication,
2. Authorization, and
3. Accounting.

January 16, 2010

The inability of homes or businesses to access superfast fiber-optic cables, due to the high cost of building such a network.

This phrase is referring to an IP address once it receives its domain name.

As Far As I Remember

January 17, 2010

A question or request to find a particular file, Web site, record, or set of records in a search engine or database.

Paid search is when online advertisers bid on search engine or search directory queries and pay a fee whenever someone clicks on their online ad. In essence, the highest bidder on a particular keyword has its ad show up first on the list. For example, go to Google.com and search for "fishing supplies." The "sponsored links" in the right hand column (such as "basspro.com") are paid search ads.

As of 2005, paid search is about a $5 billion market and is expected to double by 2010 (according to Park Associates). When it comes to Internet advertising success, audience reach is the most important factor. The more visitors to the site, the more opportunity to generate revenue. Also as of 2005, Yahoo has the top audience, with 103.8 million unique visitors in November, followed by MSN with 96.1 million visitors, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Google is third, with 85.5 million visitors.

As I Said Before

The computer version of "in vitro," for example: "We've created a computer model of the forest fire and now we're letting it burn in silico to see what it might do."

January 18, 2010

When a user on a newsgroup or in a chat room goes on and on about something and/or types the same thing repeatedly over and over.

A nickname for a computer.

A technology that will redirect e-mail sent to any user's machine to a designated mail host. When the e-mail is being redirected, it is routed based on preference values. Low value=high priority.

Thank You For Your Kindness

January 19, 2010

A Web site or Web site owner. For example, NetLingo.com is a publisher. This title is often used in online advertising agreements to differentiate between the advertiser (the one who pays to place an online ad) and the publisher (the one who displays an online ad for payment).

The concept of taking a step back from a creative project in order to look at it from an objective point of view and to see if it makes sense to anyone else and if there are any practical applications for it in the real world.

For example, when you get really excited or overly involved in something of your own creation, it is easy to get caught up in the bevy of ideas swirling around in your head or to get so carried away with excitement and ambition that you can hardly see straight-and that's when it's time for an RC.

Want To Sell

January 20, 2010

Stealing the content of another site's HTML meta tag because it will place your site higher in a search engine's results.

Bored To Death

January 21, 2010

A user who behaves in a stupid or uneducated manner that's often characteristic of newbies.

In general it means to conduct transactions online. It is considered a technological term because any kind of commerce conducted online requires a technological application behind it. From a marketing point-of-view, commerce is discussed with reference to the three big C's: content, commerce, and community. These are thought to be the three components driving the new economy.

Note: it's considered "Net Technology" because commerce conducted online requires this kind of technology.

Over My Dead Body

A way of blocking access to a part of a Web site that is only available to paying subscribers. A paywall (or pay wall) blocks access to a specific Web page by displaying a window requiring payment instead of the online content.

For example, The New York Times had a subscription program, TimesSelect, which charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the newspaper's archives. In 2007 paid subscriptions were earning $10 million, but if every reader who reached the paywall had entered the site, ad revenue would have been higher. In 2007 The New York Times dropped the paywall to its post 1980 archive. Pre-1980 articles in PDF are still behind the paywall, and an abstract of most articles is available for free. See also: freemium

January 22, 2010

A person inside a corporation who pushes for real change in terms of getting the company up to speed with technological advances, by leading an e-commerce team, for example. These days, almost every established company has a small team of people responsible for leading the organization onto the Net. This group is often led by the company's change agent. Not many corporations like change, and more often than not, this person is seen as a threat to the existing status quo among his or her colleagues. But for companies that "get it" and need to reinvent their business to get technology to work for them, a change agent is essential. It can be a lonely job, though, one that requires all of the charm, political skills, and allies you can muster to rally your cause.

Slang for a PONA or anyone who is not in the computer industry. Muggle also refers to someone who is just plain mundane.

A general framework for describing a Web site's metadata, or the information about the information on the site (see: meta-). RDF is based on XML and provides interoperability between applications that exchange machine-understandable information on the Web.

For example, it details information such as a site's sitemap, the dates when updates were made, keywords that search engines look for, and the Web page's intellectual property rights. Developed under the guidance of the W3C, RDF enables search engines to rely on metadata and allows users to share Web site information more readily.

It's That Man Again

January 23, 2010

Any downloadable file that contains more than simply human-readable, ASCII text. Typically, it refers to a program available for download, but it can also refer to pictures, sounds, or movies, among other things. Most newsgroups have subgroups specifically for binaries; a posting in comp.sys.mac.comm might announce that a program is available for download, but the binary (the file itself) would be found in comp.sys.mac.comm.binaries. Newsgroups, such as alt.pictures.binaries, contain files for download (in this case, pictures). You will need a newsreader to download and decode binary files.

The service of pulling together specific kinds of information on behalf of a business or consumer. For example, an online financial services aggregator enables a user to see all of his or her financial balances and activities (including loans, investments, banking, and insurance) on one Web site-even though the accounts may be held in many firms.

The B2B sector typically aggregates buyers and sellers, and the more effective a company is at aggregation, the more likely the hub will reach critical mass. This term can also refer to an online auction business model, in which a Web site aggregates (or gathers) the buying power of as many consumers and businesses as possible, to achieve the best prices. For example, the more bidders there are, the higher the volume and, therefore, the lower the price of an item.

Voice Mail

A slang term that refers to a bitmap image file. Commonly used amongst graphic artists, gamers and 3D modelers.

January 24, 2010

A repository of Web pages used to speed the delivery of those pages to users. Many ISPs maintain "proxy servers" that store millions of pages copied from the Web. When a user requests a page stored on a proxy, the ISP delivers the page quickly from the proxy rather than using the Web server to retrieve the page from the Net (which can take much longer). There have been some problems with this, however (see: AOL) because content on the Web is dynamic and not meant to be stored.

A business management system designed to help companies manage and analyze the business processes associated with manufacturing goods, such as inventory control, order taking, and accounting. ERP is a broad set of activities that help a business manage certain processes. It is usually integrated with a relational database system (see: DBMS). Deploying ERP can be a complicated, enterprise-wide process, involving the analysis of business processes, the development of new work procedures, the replacement of legacy systems, and the retraining of staff. ERP systems address the people and partners that manufacturers collaborate and coordinate with in their supply chains. The software component helps midsize manufacturers effectively automate and manage business-critical operations across their supply chains, tying the front and back office together by integrating multiple applications for production, planning, engineering, finance, and customer relationship management (CRM). To keep midsize manufacturers competitive with their larger counterparts, extended ERP suites also offer interfaces to e-business technologies. PeopleSoft, SAP, and J.D. Edwards are a few providers of ERP outsourcing.

A person who sends e-mail messages to gather names on an activist petition. "Geektavism" is making donations to charities while you're online.

From Your Friend

January 25, 2010

An online marketing term that describes the point at which your company has engaged a prospective customer in a dialogue or led the customer to register or purchase something (as opposed to merely getting the person's attention).

In financial circles and the VC world, this term refers to the act of one company taking over controlling interest in another company. Investors often look for companies that are likely acquisition candidates, because the acquiring firms are often willing to pay a premium to the market price for the shares.

The brand name for several technically distinct proprietary compressed audio file formats developed by Microsoft. The original WMA (also known as WMA Standard) was initially intended to be a competitor to the popular MP3 format, and became the second most widely supported format for compressed audio. The newer and more advanced WMA Pro has positioned itself as a competitor to the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format (but hardware support remains scarce as of May 2007). The two other formats, WMA Lossless, and WMA Voice, enjoy niche popularity.

For a list of file extensions, click here!

Another name for user-generated content, it means content that is "created by the natives for themselves."

January 26, 2010

An acronym used to describe the sale and purchase of an item from one individual to another, as is the case with an online auction. Individuals commonly buy goods and property from each other in the real world (for example, artwork, automobiles, collectibles, and real estate), and now they can do this online. eBay pioneered C2C auctions in 1995, and it has since become one of the Internet's most popular Web sites.

A LAN that connects data devices with wireless transmissions (such as radio or infrared) instead of phone lines or fiber-optics.

Slang for the person in a corporate personnel department responsible for hiring NCGs or computer programmers.

you ate?

January 27, 2010

An account with an ISP that allows you to access the Internet, browse the Web, use FTP, send and receive e-mail, download files, and do a variety of other things online.

Nickname for AOL's less-than-full-featured Web browser.

That's A Knee Slapper

January 28, 2010

An umbrella term that describes any form of revenue generated via use of the Internet. It is spelled with a capital "I" because that stands for Internet commerce, and Internet is capitalized. It includes B2B, B2C, e-commerce, d-commerce, and m-commerce.

What Newsweek writer Jonathan Alter calls the recent historical period, where celebrity murder trials, royal car wrecks, and the president's DNA have distracted the world's attention from serious problems such as growing poverty and post-Cold War instability.

January 29, 2010

When you see a download or program labeled "fat binary," it means that the program is a little larger than a regular application.

One who advocates something, as in technology. For example, "E-commerce hasn't worked out the way the most fervent dot-com evangelists promised it would."

A phrase that describes the act of using technology in a fun but excessive manner. For example, if you're at home with your boyfriend watching the X-Files, and you both have your laptops booted up so you can do stuff during the commercials, you are said to be "geeking out."

Depends On Experience

January 30, 2010

Sound that is represented by a binary system (1's and 0's) and is read by audio software. On the Internet, digital audio takes many forms that can be downloaded, including technologies such as RealAudio and file formats such as AU and WAV.

The phone company (TPC).

Without A Doubt

When a product is said by its maker to work with all the standards and tech trends du jour.

January 31, 2010

The strange noises one hears when a computer is connecting to a network or when you pick up the phone while your computer is connected on the same line. You'll hear a bunch of strange-sounding, rubber-band-like boinging noises. Baud barf also refers to the garbage one sees on the display screen when the modem connection has an incorrect protocol setting. Baud barf is not completely random; hackers with serial-line experience can usually tell whether the device at the other end is expecting a higher or lower speed than that in which the terminal is set, and extremely experienced hackers can identify particular speeds.

A category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet rather than the traditional telephone to transmit voice or fax. In other words, it adds telephone capabilities to a PC. For users who have free or fixed-price Internet access, Internet telephony software essentially provides free telephone calls anywhere in the world. Although it generally does not yet offer the same sound quality as direct telephone connections, it does over broadband connections.

The term "telephony" refers to the science of translating sound into electrical signals, transmitting them, and then converting them back to sound-in other words, the science of telephones. Telephony software can also combine with your modem to turn your computer into an answering service. Voice mail is another popular telephony application.

Also known as "subs," online subscribers refer to people who subscribe to any kind of online service, whether it is paid or free.

Avoiding Work Like The Plague