Internet Word of the Day Archive

November 01, 2010

What Then Now? -or- Who Then Now?

The term "Engrish" refers to the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design. While Engrish can be found all over the world, the vast majority of really funny and creative Engrish comes from Japan.

It's important to note that most Engrish is not an attempt to communicate, but rather it is English used as a design element in Japanese products and advertising in order to "look cool." There is often no attempt to try and get it right (nor do the vast majority of the Japanese population even care). As a result there is less emphasis on spell checking and grammatical accuracy, and in fact, the same can be said for the addition of Japanese or Chinese characters to hats, shirts and tattoos found in the U.S. or Europe.

Historical perspective: You think Engrish is bad? The European Commission announced an agreement in 2010 whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.  In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.  

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w"with "v".  During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.  Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl!

Generally speaking, 3-D is anything appearing to have depth or thickness in addition to height and width. As a noun, 3-D refers to a system or effect that adds a three-dimensional appearance to visual images, as in films, slides, or drawings; as an adjective, it is producing or designed to produce an effect of three dimensions, such as "a 3-D movie." Online slang includes having a convincing or lifelike quality, as in "She and I totally connected dude, it was 3-D."

In terms of 3-D software, it is a category of software  that represents 3-dimensional objects on a computer. This includes CAD/CAM, computer games, and animation packages.

In terms of 3-D graphics, that refers to the field of computer graphics concerned with generating and displaying three-dimensional objects in a two-dimensional space (e.g., the display screen). Whereas pixels in a 2-dimensional graphic have the properties of position, color, and brightness, a 3-D pixels adds a depth property that indicates where the point lies on an imaginary Z-axis. When many 3-D pixels are combined, each with its own depth value, the result is a three-dimensional surface, called a texture. In addition to textures, 3-D graphics also supports multiple objects interacting with one another. For example, a solid object may partially hide an object behind it. Finally, sophisticated 3-D graphics use techniques such as ray tracing to apply realistic shadows to an image.

Converting information about 3-D objects into a bit map that can be displayed is known as rendering, and requires considerable memory and processing power. In the past, 3-D graphics was available only on powerful workstations, but now 3-D graphics accelerator are commonly found in personal computer. The graphics accelerator contains memory and a specialized microprocessor to handle many of the 3-D rendering operations.

In terms of 3-D audio, it is a technique for giving more depth to traditional stereo sound. Typically, 3-D sound, or 3-D audio, is produced by placing a device in a room with stereo speakers. The device dynamically analyzes the sound coming from the speakers and sends feedback to the sound system so that it can readjust the sound to give the impression that the speakers are further apart.  3-D audio devices are particularly popular for improving computer audio where the speakers tend to be small and close together. There are a number of 3-D audio devices that attach to a computer's sound card.

In terms of 3-D film, (also known as S3D ("Stereoscopic 3D") film, it is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. Derived from stereoscopic  photography, a special motion picture camera is used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are used to provide the illusion of depth when viewing the film. 3-D films are not limited to feature film theatrical releases; television broadcasts and direct-to-video films have also incorporated similar methods, primarily for marketing purposes.

There is now a hardware device called a 3-D printer. 3-D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by successive layers of material. 3-D printers offer product developers the ability to print parts and assemblies made of several materials with different mechanical and physical properties in a single build process. 3-D printers have become financially accessible to small- and medium-sized business, thereby taking prototyping out of the heavy industry and into the office environment. 3-D printers offer tremendous potential for production applications as well. The technology finds use in the jewelery, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction, automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries.

The image is an example of real object replication by means of 3D scanning and 3D printing: the gargoyle  model on the left was digitally acquired by using a 3D scanner and the produced 3D data was processed using MeshLab. The resulting digital 3D model, shown on the laptop's screen, was used by a rapid prototyping machine to create a real resin replica of the original object

November 02, 2010

You Gotta Be Kidding

A shortened way of saying WWW, as in, "Check out this awesome Web site at triple-dub dot dreamspy dot com."

The label given to a separate system, such as a mainframe or client/server system. A stovepipe is its own, complete application, designed to work independent of other applications.

November 03, 2010

Big Deal -or- Baby Dance -or- Brain Drain

November 04, 2010

Not Now -or- Need

The disgusting buildup of dirt and crud found on computer keyboards. "Are there any other terminals I can use? This one has a bad case of 'keyboard plaque'."

Communicating  visually with another person via computer or handheld device. The term "vidchat" came from video chat systems that evolved from typing text to incorporating two-way video.

In addition to communicating with other people F2F via a video chat room on your computer or iPhone or webcam, etc., many vidchat apps allow you to do many things including send files and record with your webcam. You can often send video to multiple people at once, share your documents or photos, and make phone calls to a mobile or landline.

Vidchat apps allow users to talk live, face-to-face, with other people. Known as real time chat, it can be fun for some but it also creates unintended consequences! Read my blog posting below about Chat Roulette and watch a Fox News video here).

November 05, 2010

Mathematical functions that cut up or slice data into different frequency components and then study each component that has a resolution matched to its scale.

To ruin a potential business deal or arrangement despite all favorable odds. For example, "They are a liberal company, so don't queer the deal by letting them know our conservative tactics."

Take A Bite Out Of My Ass

November 06, 2010

A link placed on your Web site to return the favor of having another site link to yours. In other words, you exchange outbound links for inbound links. It is a form of bartering with the intention that each Web site receives more exposure.

There are, however, some dangers associated with reciprocal linking to the degree that your site may not be ranked as popular and therefore not appear in higher up in organic search listings. For more information on that, visit the page rank and link farm definitions. To see an example of reciprocal linking, go to the NetLingo.com homepage and click on "Reciprocal Link Directory."

A specification that allows users' Web browsers to automatically understand Web sites' privacy practices. P3P works like this: Privacy policies will be embedded in the code of a Web site; browsers will read the policy and then automatically provide certain information to the site, depending on the type of site and the preferences set by the user.

For example, if the user visits an e-commerce site, the browser will automatically provide shipping info; if the site is requesting demographic info, the browser will know to provide it anonymously. P3P was developed by member organizations of the W3C and experts in the field of Web privacy, and it is based on W3C specifications that have already been established, including HTTP, RDF, and XML.

Driving While Intoxicated

November 07, 2010

A name server for the BSD operating system; a network service that enables clients to name resources or objects and share this information with other objects in the network. Put simply, it is a distributed database system for objects in a computer network. BIND is fully integrated into BSD network programs for use in storing and retrieving host names and DNS address. The system administrator can configure the system to use BIND as a replacement for the older host table lookup; the default configuration for BSD uses BIND.

Anything spam related, as in "That subject header looks a little pink."

everyone

November 08, 2010

In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, it is the highest level underneath the top-level domains. It is that portion of the domain name that appears immediately to the left of the top-level domain, separated by a dot. For example, the "NetLingo" in www.netlingo.com is a second-level domain.

with regard to

November 09, 2010

Short for gigabyte.

It can also refer to a project or a show, such as, "That consulting gig really paid off."

I Can't Wait

November 10, 2010

Slang for the entrepreneur within. The concept follows from the esoteric notion that there's an entrepreneur within each of us, waiting to start-up. A corporate executive responsible for developing new enterprises within a corporation (such as captive start-ups) could be considered an intrapreneur.

A measure of the bandwidth of a telecommunications medium (the total information flow over a given time). Bandwidth is also measured in Kbps (kilobits or thousands of bits per second) or in Gbps (gigabits or billions of bits per second), depending on the medium and transmission method.

anyways

November 11, 2010

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

A satellite communications transmission system that beams data into outer space. (see also: datasphere)

This term also refers flying, the way in which one's avatar travels around the virtual reality of Second Life. (see also: SL and TP)

A tool (usually made from a bent paper clip) used for manually ejecting disks from a disk drive.

November 12, 2010

The Internet Protocol for the transmission of information via wireless networks is CDPD.

Cool As A Cucumber

Slang for a particularly low capacity for learning and remembering new things, as in "He's got a 1K buffer when it comes to anything technical."

November 13, 2010

Nanotechnology is an umbrella term that covers many areas of scientific research dealing with objects that are measured in nanometers. A nanometer (nm) is a billionth of a meter, or a millionth of a millimeter. Generally speaking, nanotechnology is a science concerned with the process of creating minuscule machines from individual atoms.

Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. In the "bottom-up" approach, materials and devices are built from molecular components (which assemble themselves chemically by principles of molecular recognition). In the "top-down" approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger entities (without atomic-level control).

Examples of nanotechnology in modern use are the manufacture of polymers (plastics, DNA and proteins) based on molecular structure, and the design of computer chip layouts based on surface science. Despite the great promise of numerous nanotechnologies (such as quantum dots and nanotubes), real commercial applications have mainly used the advantages of colloidal nanoparticles in bulk form, such as suntan lotion, cosmetics, protective coatings, and stain resistant clothing.

Adspeak for "market."

God Help Me

November 14, 2010

The type and style of text letters and characters you see in documents, Web pages, and graphical images of words (images that look like they're typed or written). There are many font choices available to choose from (for example, Helvetica, Arial, and Times New Roman). Fonts make text look different, and some people use funky fonts to express themselves.

Can't Be Bothered

A diplomat selected for his or her celebrity and appearance, not for any particular knowledge of foreign policy or international affairs. For example, "Linda Gray of TV's Dallas was just made goodwill glambassador for the U.N. Population Fund."

November 15, 2010

The lingua franca for publishing hypertext on the World Wide Web. HTML is a nonproprietary format based on SGML. It can be created and processed in a wide range of software programs, from simple plain text editors to WYSIWYG programs to sophisticated authoring tools.

HTML is a mark-up language (versus a programming language) that uses tags to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, and links (like those seen on the NetLingo.com HTML Code Cheat Sheet). It tells a Web browser how to display text and images. You can see a Web page's HTML code if you select "view source" from the View menu in your Web browser.

A question that often comes up is how to make HTML code be visible on a page and not execute? You do this by using the ASCII code equivalents of the "less than" and "greater than" symbols (this way it is interpreted as just text and not real HTML code).

It is coded like this:
<p>Your paragraph goes between these tags.</p>

It is displayed on the page like this:

Your paragraph goes between these tags.

Coined by participants in San Francisco's Critical Mass bicycle protest movement, this is slang for an event that seems to occur spontaneously, but is actually the result of collective brainstorming --often done online. Individual responsibility for the event is thus avoided, but everyone can take credit for its success.

Excellent

November 16, 2010

An Internet utility (or program) that lets you find out information about an Internet user who has an e-mail address, such as the person's real name and whether or not he or she is online at the present moment. This utility used to work only for identifying Unix or VAX users, but it can now finger someone on the World Wide Web.

"To finger someone" sounds weird, we know, but it is a technology used in all earnest. To do it, you need to have a finger program on your computer (or you can go to a finger gateway on the Web and enter the e-mail address). Note: It may be fun to try, but realize that some accounts are simply not "fingerable."

Click on "more info" below!

Where The Sun Don't Shine

Slang for a preferred vendor.

November 17, 2010

A program that reads statements written in a human-readable programming language and translates them into a machine-readable program.

A "plog" is a personalized blog that appears on Amazon.com. It follows all of the form and function of a normal blog.

Talk/Type To You In A Few

A slang expression for a second or third career in one's life. Just as musicians save the best for last in an "encore," so too are people who make a career change thought to be older, wiser, and more experienced and determined than ever before.

November 18, 2010

The de facto standard for scanners, nearly all scanners come with a TWAIN driver (as part of the hardware) that makes them compatible with any TWAIN-supporting software. You will see this term, for example, when you're purchasing a scanner, but unfortunately-and here's a welcome to the world of technology-not all scanner software is TWAIN-compatible, so be sure to check it out before you buy.

A pattern of behavior exhibited by phone tech-support people who spout a bunch of jargon you don't understand, ask you to perform a bunch of procedures you don't follow, and then abruptly hang up.

Darn If I Know

November 19, 2010

In standard computing terms, it means moving your cursor onto something on the screen without clicking on it. There are a few different ways to "point" with your mouse: the grabber hand, the I-beam pointer (which is looks like the standard cursor), and the selection pointer, which looks like an arrow.

On the Net, "point" refers to the act of placing your cursor onto a link in order to direct the browser to go to another Web page.

For example, "Point your browser to NetLingo.com" means "go to" that particular Web site.

Care To Chat -or- Contact -or- Choking The Chicken

Known primarily as a Chinese portal, the largest "chortal" is Sina, created by CEO Wang Zhidong.

Alternatively, the comedy community claims this term refers to a "comedy portal." MySpace Comedy claims to be the largest comedy portal.

A visual display of the word content on a website, specifically of user-generated tags attached to online content, using color and font size to represent the prominence or frequency of the words or tags depicted. Whether it's a data cloud (which displays data such as population or stock market prices instead of words) or a text cloud (the visualization of word frequency in a given text as a weighted list), it's an easy way to see the most popular content on a website.

November 20, 2010

You Telling The Truth?

An online business expression that describes the persuasive ability of CEOs like Steve Jobs of Apple Computer. This phrase originated at Apple in the 1980's to describe his peculiar charisma.

It implies that workers who are close to these kinds of managers become passionately committed to possibly insane projects, without regard to the practicality of their implementation or competitive forces in the marketpace. For example, "In Steve's presence, reality is malleable, it's a total reality-distortion field. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules."

A device that plugs into a laptop computer, typically through a USB connection or PC Card slot that uses a cell phone signal to provide high-speed Internet access. The devices allow users to have Internet access without relying on Wi-Fi hot spots. They are sold by cell phone companies, and they require a monthly service plan. "AirCard" is a registered trademark of Sierra Wireless.

Something that is not happening in real time, rather senders ship off their messages for recipients to open or view at their convenience. Asynchronous communication examples include: email, texting, newsgroups, listservs, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube. Examples of one-to-one asynchronous communication include: email and text messaging. Examples of one-to-many asynchronous communication include: newsgroups, listservs, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

The opposite of asynchronous is synchronous, something that is happening in real time. Synchronous communication examples include: instant messaging, video conferencing, webcams, MUDs, MOOs, chat, Second Life. Examples of one-to-one synchronous communication include: instant messaging. Examples of one-to-many synchronous communication include: video conferencing, MUDs, and MOOs.

November 21, 2010

A technique enabling nodes to automatically select a unique network address.

Documentation that provides such items as guidelines, requirements, design, and test plans of a software application.

What's In It For You

November 22, 2010

A method of coding a Web page to divide the layout into two or more independent parts. Technically, it is the simultaneous loading of two or more Web pages within the same browser screen. For certain kinds of content frames are an excellent way to organize information on a Web site. Originally developed by Netscape and implemented in the Navigator 2.0 browser, it is now a popular feature supported by most browsers.

Some Web sites offer a "frames" version and a "no frames" version. The frames version may take a little longer to load, and it may contain "enhanced" features, such as Java or animation. Note: The way to go "back" from within a frame (since the back button doesn't always work within individual frames) is to use the right-click button on your mouse. A small menu will pop-up, and you can choose what you want to do from there, including printing the active frame. (Mac users, just press down on your mouse for several seconds, in the frame, and a small menu should appear ;-)

See You Soon

Slang for the trend of tying software applications to physical networks through the AT&T system. Used in reference to a deal AT&T and Novell struck to adapt Novell local area networking software to communicate over AT&T's long-distance network. Intel and Microsoft are also considering similar arrangements.

November 23, 2010

One of several top-level domains assigned to URLs owned by the U.S. military (for example: www.af.mil is the URL for the U.S. Air Force). Other domains include .ac, .com, .gov, .net, .edu, .org, and a long list of country codes. For a list of new suffixes, read the domain name definition.

You Know What?

Slang for a very powerful computer virus.

November 24, 2010

A nickname for President George W. Bush. His middle initial distinguishes his name from his father's, former President George H.W. Bush.

Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be able to access any Web content they choose and use any applications they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by their Internet service provider (ISP). In other words, this term refers to a network as not favoring one application or certain Web content over another, but rather should provide services in a nondiscriminatory, unrestricted fashion.

The debate over net neutrality has waxed and waned in the nation's capital for years. It gained prominence after critics accused Comcast of preventing customers from sharing files through BitTorrent and similar sites, resulting in an FCC investigation into Comcast's network management practices. The company has said it managed traffic to preserve bandwidth for less intensive users. It has vowed to improve its network management practices and lead efforts to set industry standards.

Proponents of network neutrality reacted to Comcast's proposals with outrage. They want policymakers to pass laws requiring cable and telecommunications companies to manage traffic in a non-discriminatory way. They include Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig, a software quality engineer who raised the issue after being unable to share songs with friends. Like many who support stronger network neutrality measures, proponents fear that ISPs could block information in favor of its own content.

Comcast, other ISPs, some FCC commissioners, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other groups oppose network neutrality regulations, saying that they would inhibit competition and stifle innovation. Similarly U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T has claimed that, without investment, the Internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.

"Now we face a constitutive choice with the Internet -- a choice between closed networks where the network operators control the user experience and open networks that are controlled by end users," said Michael Copps, one of two commissioners who have spoken in favor of stronger network neutrality measures. "This is an issue in which you must engage, not just because you are innovators and businesspeople, but because you are citizens," he said. "If I see what's happening accurately, I believe we will have an opportunity, before very long, to decide this issue of Internet freedom."

As Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, has stated, "The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. A lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive."

There are several somewhat related meanings in which "net neutrality" are associated with, including:

(1) No different quality grades ("fast lanes") for Internet service.

(2) No price discrimination among Internet providers.

(3) No monopoly price charged to content and applications providers.

(4) Nothing charged to the providers for transmitting their content.

(5) No selectivity by the carriers over content they transmit.

(6) No blocking of the access of users to some websites.

For more information on the net neutrality debate, including a link to tell Congress that you are FOR net neutrality, click on the links below.

New person to a site or game

November 25, 2010

The state of being connected to the Internet or to another type of computer network, such as a LAN. On the Internet, if you lose your connectivity, you are no longer online and must redial your ISP. When ISPs get many users signing on all at once, the connectivity weakens due to all the traffic (only so much data can transfer through certain phone lines). If someone asks, "What is your connectivity?" this usually means the speed of your Internet connection, such as 28.8, 56K, ISDN, DSL, or T1.

Slang for the line of interesting e-mail messages you've waited to be read after you've deleted all of your spam.

November 26, 2010

Information traveling on the Internet usually takes a circuitous route to its destination computer, through several intermediary computers. The actual route is not under your control. As your information travels, each intermediary computer presents the risk that someone will eavesdrop and make copies. An intermediary computer could even deceive you and exchange information with you by misrepresenting itself as your intended destination. These possibilities make the transfer of confidential information, such as passwords or credit card numbers, susceptible to abuse. This is where Internet security comes in, and why it is a concern for everyone who uses the Net.

Slang for the opposite of plug-and-play, it refers to the notion that Macs are generally easy to set up (because they are plug-and-play) whereas PCs tend to be a bit more technical so you're more apt to "plug-and-pray."

Security

November 27, 2010

A form of networking, grid computing is applying the resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time. According to John Patrick, IBM's vice-president for Internet strategies, "the next big thing will be grid computing."

Most commonly used for a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or access to large amounts of data, one of the most popular examples of grid computing in the public domain is the ongoing SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) @Home project in which thousands of people are sharing the unused processor cycles of their PCs in the vast search for signs of "rational" signals from outer space. This method saves the project both money and resources.

Practically speaking, a number of corporations, professional groups, universities, and others are developing frameworks and software for managing grid computing projects. Charles Schwab, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard are among a handful of companies (both big and small) that are attracted by the allure of the grid, not the least of which is its willingness to bestow its services for free.

Technically speaking, the European Community (EU) is sponsoring a project for a grid for high-energy physics, earth observation, and biology applications. In the United States, the National Technology Grid is prototyping a computational grid for infrastructure and an access grid for people. Sun Microsystems offers Grid Engine software. Described as a distributed resource management (DRM) tool, Grid Engine allows engineers at companies like Sony and Synopsys to pool the computer cycles on up to 80 workstations at a time.

The main difference between conventional networks and grid computing is that conventional networks focus on communication among devices; grid computing harnesses unused processing cycles of all computers in a network for solving problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine. Grid computing requires special software that is unique to the computing project for which the grid is being used.

A term that refers to search results that are not relevant to the user's query. A "false drop" can occur if the Web page found contains the keywords entered in the search, if the Web page is an attempt at spamdexing, or if the search engine used has a fault in its database or a bug in the query program.

Book Smart, Brain Dead & No Experience

November 28, 2010

A string of numbers used to denote how many people have visited a Web page. It's a misnomer in that counters don't "count" visits from actual people; they count page impressions. Unfortunately, some counters are rigged to display more visits than are actually received, so overall, it's considered unreliable information.

Traditionally, an "echo chamber" describes a group of media outlets that tend to parrot each other's uncritical reports on a view. In the online world this expression has expanded to refer to blogs that write about the views of other blogs, echoing the same views back and forth.

Too much information

November 29, 2010

A classroom experiment in which students create their own currency, postal service, court system, businesses, and government. Its purpose is to teach kids how to be leaders, what a paying job means, and why it is important to be held accountable. It is a consensus-based model in which teachers and students create a common set of expectations and students are financially rewarded for leadership skills.

Firefox is an open source browser organized by the folks at Mozilla that empowers users to browse faster, more safely and more efficiently than other browsers.

Some of the benefits of Firefox include:

By The Way I Think I Am In Love With You

November 30, 2010

On a server, an alias maps an incoming request for a Web page. When an alias is found in a URL, the alias' value is substituted in place of the alias. For example, if you have Web pages on a server that you wish to display on the Internet, the actual location of those files may be "http://www.well.com/user/silly" but with the use of an alias, you can tell people to access the site at "http://www.well.com/~silly" -- in this case, the tilde (~) represents an alias for the path, /user/.

Code name for the FBI's plan to send encryption-key and password-sniffing spyware disguised as email attachments to a suspect's computer. As seen in Wired from MSNBC: "Magic lantern installs so-called keylogging software on a suspect's machine that is capable of capturing keystrokes typed on a computer."