Internet Word of the Day Archive

January 01, 2011

A circuit board containing sockets into which other circuit boards can be plugged. In the context of PCs, it is the large circuit board with sockets for expansion cards. Active backplanes contain, in addition to the sockets, logic circuitry that performs computing functions. Passive backplanes, in contrast, contain almost no computing circuitry. Traditionally, most PCs have used active backplanes; in fact, the motherboard and the backplane have become synonymous. Recently, though, there has been a move toward passive backplanes, with the active components, such as the CPU, inserted on an additional card. Passive backplanes make it easier to repair or upgrade the components.

A profound/witty/quizzical/whatever quote that you include in your sig file, such as "incarnate the infinite into finite form."

Welcome Back -or- Write Back

January 02, 2011

A medium-capacity communications circuit/path, wideband speeds range from 64 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps.

What's Your Problem?

Slang for a piece of technology that's been hyped up, but when examined and used, reveals no uniqueness or value other than its marketing image. For example, "That so-called modern, object-oriented technology he developed was just a bunch of database requests inside a button click, but they used it as scarecrow technology during the M&A talks."

January 03, 2011

The act of using a remote-controlled robot and a mouse to hunt animals, it is an extremely controversial union of technology and gaming. Here's how it works: Some drump is sitting in his den looking at his computer screen displaying an image of a wild hog. Thinking he's never going to get a good shot at the wild hog, the beast finally moves into the rifle's sight and he fires...with the click of a mouse. The hog, oblivious to the remote-controlled 30.06 rifle pointing at his neck, is hit and killed.

Legislators and the public, who advocate this practice is unnatural, unfair and immoral, are moving to ban it saying "The creatures of this earth have a hard enough time sustaining themselves while we're after them when we're physically present. They don't need to die by the click of a mouse." Fueled by a Web site that charges dollars for 20-minute target-shooting sessions (in which up to 10 rounds may be fired), there are two cameras connected to the rifle which is mounted atop a pan-tilt motor. Users control the movement with four arrows and when the prey appears on the computer screen, they click on a "fire" button. People as far as Hong Kong, France and Peru are taking part. Apparently they are shooting exotic and imported game (in Texas) because regulations for native species--such as the white-tailed deer--require the hunter to physically attach a tag to the animal before it is moved.

The State Parks and Wildlife Department has proposed regulation banning the practice for native game animals, and Rep. Todd Smith has filed House Bill 391 to prohibit using or operating such computer-assisted remote hunting equipment to hunt any animal or bird.

Click on "more info" to read an article on cybershooting.

Slang for a professional who's called into an office or home to teach healthier organization habits.

Good Job Partner

January 04, 2011

Do I Look Like I Give A Sh**

A name for a robot that eats and digests sugar to generate its own power, or a robotic lawn mower that eats the grass and clippings for power... kewl!

Another name for a broken link, it refers to all of the broken links on the Web in general.

January 05, 2011

One of the many Macintosh sound file formats. On the Net, you may come across the option to listen to a sound clip. The file that is downloaded to your computer when "clicked on" might be in the AIF format (if the sound file was originally captured on a Macintosh). Your helper applications or browser plugins need to be configured to know how to process and play this file for you. If you have questions on how to set your configuration, call the tech support people at the related software or hardware companies and they will walk you through the set-up process ;-)

For a list of file extensions click here!

Scenes in syndicated TV shows that are included in foreign versions but cut from US episodes to increase the time available for commercials. "The scene where Rachel gets to Paris is only in the eurominutes."

Any Two Cards

January 06, 2011

A classroom that is connected to the Internet. Multiple computers access the Net (and other online components) simultaneously, from various locations within the classroom. Typically, a wired classroom utilizes a wireless LAN or wireless Ethernet, which provide high-speed access to multiple computers at a much lower cost than the traditional method of running cables through buildings and connecting them with switches or hubs.

Forward

A seven-digit salary (or project budget).

January 07, 2011

Slang for a Web page that has no meaningful content of its own, but instead is a long list of links or a long vertical display of ad banners.

Originally, the process of exchanging reciprocal links with sites was designed increase search engine optimization (SEO) because the idea was to increase the number of sites that link to yours. In the early days, the more Web sites that linked to yours would enable your site to appear first, or higher, in organic search results. In the past, this number of links defined the level of popularity of your site among users of the Internet. However, with the advance of technology, now algorithms have been written to place more value on the quality of the content on Web pages that link to your site, not the quantity. Search engines such as Google now consider link farming as a form of spam and have implemented anti-SEO tactics.

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

Too Good To Be True

January 08, 2011

For Your Amusement

Silicon Valley slang for people who live in the Santa Cruz Mountains (located west of "the Valley"). Many of these people have families who have lived there for generations. Some tech-refugees seek solace in the hills and choose to live remotely, while other "mountain folk" exist in 60's style communes with no running water. They are considered by some to be the yang of the high-tech ying energy in the area.

Refers to verification of a message's integrity using Message Digest Version 5, a hash function used to create digital signatures.

January 09, 2011

A pointing device consisting of a ball sitting in a socket that contains sensors to detect the rotation of the ball about its two axes. It looks like an upside-down mouse. To move a cursor, the user rolls the ball with his or her thumb or palm. Trackballs are common on CAD workstations, for ease of use, and on laptops, for use where there isn't enough surface area for a mouse. Some trackballs clip onto the side of a keyboard.

January 10, 2011

A preliminary or testing stage of a commercial software or hardware product. Someone may say, "It's still in the beta version." Software developers encourage users to report bugs while they "beta test" a program. The beta phase comes after the alpha version. You may also hear about a "beta site" or "beta software."

A criminal investigator of online fraud or harassment. The Report to the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (1997) states, "Cybercops are law enforcement personnel whose beat is cyberspace." The Patriot Act greatly expanded the abilites of cybercops to collect data from the Internet.

Giggling Out Loud

January 11, 2011

The process of moving a section of text from one place to another. First, you "cut it" (by highlighting the section of text you want to move and hitting Control-X or Command-X, on a Mac). Then you "paste it" where you want it (by positioning your cursor there and hitting Control-V or Command-V, on a Mac). While you are doing this, the cut portion is stored on your computer's "clipboard." In some versions, if you make more than one cut in succession without pasting, the clipboard will store them as well.

Ecology slang for an ocean where pollution has killed all the life forms near the water's surface, making it look like a nuked wasteland.

Keep Your Stick On The Ice

January 12, 2011

F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition (or Repair)

A free compression program commonly available as a Unix command for file compression. Gzip, which is also available for MS-DOS, compresses files and appends either ".z" or ".gz" to the file name.

For a list of file extensions click here!

Old military slang for "getting the hell outta here." It was more recently applied to those planning to head for the hills to ride out the feared Y2K crisis.

January 13, 2011

To "get it" or to understand something so completely that you absorb it and practically become the thing itself. In addition to getting it, "grok" also implies that one "likes it" or "appreciates it." For example, you can say, "Do you grok?" and that means, "Do you get it?" It comes from Robert Heinlein's 1961 science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land and implies that one scans all available information regarding a situation, digests it, and forms a distilled opinion.

A standard for a group of audio and video coding formats. MP4 was introduced in late 1998 and agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) under the formal standard ISO/IEC 14496. Uses of MP4 include compression of audio and visual data for the Web (streaming media) and CD distribution, voice (telephone, videophone) and broadcast television applications.

Technically, MPEG-4 is a patented collection of methods defining compression of audio and visual (AV) digital data. It was designed to encompass all the features that were part of earlier releases of MPEG files, and add a few more features including (extended) VRML support for 3D rendering, object-oriented composite files (including audio, video and VRML objects), support for externally-specified Digital Rights Management and various types of interactivity.

So great was the success of MP4 that by 1999, it was considered the standard for all types of streaming and broadcast applications online. The functionality of the format was such that programmers were able to easily make use of MP4 on Web sites and in various other applications. Businesses found it to be a great sales and marketing tool, and users had a great time viewing, swapping, and even creating their own streaming media in the MP4 format.

Full Time Employee

January 14, 2011

Slang for the thin coat of dirt on your computer screen.

A general term that describes old computers, dead cell phones, old PDAs, even old television sets, it refers to obsolete technology that is thrown in the trash instead of recycled.

In many places it is illegal to throw away your old electronic devices because they contain significant amounts of hazardous chemicals, and because they are clogging landfills. For example, the picture tube in a TV or a computer monitor typically contains 3 to 5 pounds of lead, and electronic circuit boards have additional lead, cadmium and mercury.

To find out where to recycle such items, contact a recycler on the list of businesses in the Google search below. There is often a fee and certain types of devices are not accepted.

Computer facts:

Scientifically Engineered Wild Ass Guess

January 15, 2011

Oh No I Didn't

Words (as opposed to images).

January 16, 2011

To highlight text or graphics in a software application, or to mark an item on a form. For example, to select content you wish to cut-and-paste, you must use your cursor, hold down your mouse button, and drag your mouse. When filling out an online form, you usually must click inside a radio button or check box to mark it as your selection. To select an item on a select box, you scroll down the menu and click on the desired item.

Don't Mention It

The inability to use a mouse correctly. Some people are naturally "mouselexic," while others are struck with mouselexia only when an IT guru is looking over their shoulder.

January 17, 2011

An acronym that describes the thousands of e-commerce Web sites which sell products directly to the public (the consumer market). B2C is different from the B2B sector, and this distinction is important when comparing Web sites. Each approach has its own business model, strategy, execution, and fulfillment. NetLingo.com has a B2C component that includes selling books (including NetLingo: The Internet Dictionary) and smiley merchandise :^)

Click on the "More" button to see NetLingo's B2C component.

You Are Too Wise For Me

Predictive text is an input technology most commonly used on cell phones. The technology allows some common words to be entered by a single key-press for each letter, as opposed to the multiple key-press approach used in the older generation of mobile phones. The intent is to simplify the writing of text messages and email.

However, the key sequence 4663 on a telephone keypad in English, will generally be defined as the word "good". However, the same key sequence also corresponds to other words, such as "home", "gone", "hoof", "hood" and so on. Such confusions may lead to mistaken meaning even if all of the words are typed correctly and spelled correctly. For example, "Are you home?" could be rendered as "Are you good?" Words produced by the same combination of key-presses are technically paragrams, but are commonly referred to as textonyms.

For the largest list of Internet acronyms and text message jargon, click on "more info" below!

January 18, 2011

The state of being connected to the Internet (generally through an ISP, an OSP, or a network). Used as an adjective, it describes a variety of activities that users do on the Internet, for example: online chat, online shopping, online games, online searching, online communities, and on and on. Note that some people think the word "online" in America Online should be spelled as "OnLine" since the "L" is part of the acronym in "AOL." However, the "L" in AOL is just there to make up a better acronym than simply "AO."

Editor's Note: NetLingo does not believe that online should be hyphenated (such as "on-line") due to the fact that in Internet lingo, the majority of words which are hyphenated (such as "e-commerce") are hyphenated because one of the terms is short for another word (in this case "e" is short for "electronic"). The term "online" was actually hyphenated in the beginning (circa 1995) but was quickly revised, and even though other lingo authorities (such as Webster's Dictionary) feel the term "online" should be hyphenated, there is no basis for including the hyphen, instead "on-line" is considered an outdated way of spelling it.

A computer device packaged in a small card, about the size of a credit card, in conformance with the PCMCIA standard. PC cards provide additional memory (RAM or ROM), modem and fax modem capabilities, and can even act as portable disk drives on portable (laptop) computers.

The newest version of the slot on the side of your laptop machine into which you can pop a wireless receiver or some other add-on is called an "Express Card" which comes in two flavors: a narrower one called ExpressCard/34, and a wider one called ExpressCard/54. FYI: As is the case with most kinds of technology upgrades, neither can accept cards designed for the older, PC Card standard.

password

January 19, 2011

A protocol for accessing online directory services, it was defined by the IETF since Directory Access Protocol (DAP) was seen as too heavy and complex for use by Internet clients. LDAP defines a relatively simple protocol for updating and searching directories running over TCP/IP.

Sound Effects -or- Stage Effects

Government money that flows to well-connected information superhighway contractors.

January 20, 2011

Porno images rendered in simple ASCII text.

You Wish I Was You

A "cuckoo egg" is an edited MP3 file that appears to be a copyright protected song being distributed via the Internet without the permission of the copyright owner. The initial portion of the song (first 30 seconds or so) will be of the real song. However, the remainder of the song is overwritten by something other than the initial song; usually cuckoo clock sound effects or or a series of random sounds and noises which are free of any copyright ownerships.

Cuckoo eggs will have the correct file size and playing time as the original copyrighted MP3 file will have. The Cuckoo Egg project was started to discourage people from trading copy protected music files online with Napster.

January 21, 2011

The term actually has many different meanings depending on the person, company, or context in which it is being used. Basically, it is a collection of two or more computers and associated devices that are linked together with communications equipment. Once connected, each part of the network can share the software, hardware, and information contained in the other parts.

The most common types of network are LANs (Local Area Networks, in which the computers share the same office space, room, or building) and WANs (Wide Area Networks, in which LANs are connected at different geographic locations by telephone lines or radio waves, as in wireless communications). Network connections are established by twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, connectors, or NICs (network interface cards). Network computing depends on protocols that work with a variety of operating systems and network hardware (see: IEEE and ISO). When you hear someone talking about "sharing network resources," they are referring either to client/server networks or peer-to-peer networks.

Also, you may hear Internet companies refer to their "network of Web sites," a group of associated sites that's analogous to a television network or cable TV network. If you have a small business that uses a network for Internet access and file sharing, be sure to have a firewall installed, to protect yourself from unauthorized access.

But Of Course There Are Always Exceptions

Food with pharmaceutical properties (such as beta carotene). Lobbyists are petitioning the FDA to recognize this as a new category -- a cross between a food and a drug.

January 22, 2011

Software that gathers information about a user as he or she navigates around the Web, it is intended to track surfing habits in order to build marketing profiles. Spyware is often included in "free downloads" from the Web, where the license agreement (which so many of us accept without reading) may mention that information about your habits will be transmitted back to the company's Web site. Spyware is a major cause for public concern about privacy on the Internet.

Spyware is a type of software that gets onto computers without their users' knowledge. The resource-hungry programs often render machines unusable causing your Internet experience to be very frustrating. It is necessary for you to download and run anti-spyware programs. Past experience has led to using the a combination of programs in conjunction with anti-adware programs and run them at a minimum once a week. Some programs will find certain malware which you delete, and other programs find other adware and malware, which you also delete. (In a test, I personally had it return more than 800 infected files -- this is a huge amount!) Keep running these programs until you get zero infected files and then run these programs at least once a week.

Spyware has forced us to think about the maintenace of our computers in the same way we maintain other things, such as brushing your teeth, cleaning your house, or oiling your car. For example, as a Windows user I had to download a Windows Service Pack and run anti-spyware, anti-adware, and an anti-virus program (with a firewall) in order to protect my information. For personal PC users, sometimes multiple programs are needed, and sometimes one suite will do it; businesses hire professionals to maintain their computer systems and keep these malicious programs off of their network.

When programmers shut out all forms of communication because they are entirely focused on-and extremely busy with-writing software (or slinging code). In this state, they are said to be "in the zone." It also refers to "doing what you want to be doing" and can indicate a transition, such as "I'm not in the zone for marriage and kids yet."

Parent In Room

January 23, 2011

Be Right Back

Refers to online, typed "conversation" in real time.

To shorten by cutting the end off. An example of this in computer terms would be the rounding of floating-point numbers, such as a program may "truncate" the value of pi (3.14159265&) to 3.14. Notice that truncation will always round the number down. The number 1.5999 becomes 1.5, never 1.6.

January 24, 2011

The name for a computer that can request information, such as a Web page, from a server. It also performs tasks independently by using its own applications and programs. Your desktop computer or laptop is a client when it is remotely connected to a host. The software that makes this connection possible is a client, as is the browser used by a visitor to a Web site.

In No Particular Order

This refers to an independent contractor or to a person or company that produces something without the help of an established corporation. For example, since an indie recording label isn't owned by a larger corporation, it does not have to adhere to the industry norms of a big record label. Indies take a grassroots approach. There are many kinds of indie, including indie computer companies

January 25, 2011

The practice of purchasing a domain name that contains a well-known trademark or commercial name (for example, generalelectric.com). The intent is not to develop it into a Web site but rather to sell it to the rightful owner for a big profit. This practice is being contested in various legal battles, and for the most part, the company wins, not the cybersquatter.

Something Like That

January 26, 2011

The precursor to the Internet, it was a network developed in the late 1960's and early 1970's by the U.S. Department of Defense. As an experiment in wide area networking (WAN), ARPANet was developed with the goal of being robust enough to survive a nuclear war. Part of the experiment was to study how distributed, noncentralized networks work.

The little trinkets, mementos and toys that decorate one's computer monitor. Objects that are imbued with spiritual or superstitious significance are also referred to as "monitor juju." They make life in a cube more manageable.

Fasten Your Seat Belts It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night

January 27, 2011

Commonly known as the place where information goes into and out of a computer, or both. For example, the serial port on a personal computer is where a modem or printer is connected.

On the Internet, "port" often refers to a number that is shown in a URL, following a colon right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server "listens" on a particular port number. Most of these services have standard port numbers. Web servers normally listen on port 80, and the standard Gopher port is 70. (Services can also listen on nonstandard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when the server is accessed.)

Finally, "port" also refers to the act of translating a piece of software from one type of computer system to another, such as from a Windows program to one on a Macintosh.

Slang for a person who has managed to cram an inordinate amount of data on to their hard drive, with no apparent filing system or known way of easily retrieving the data.

Just Playing

January 28, 2011

To start, begin, or open up a computer program or application. A launch is also the first day a Web site is "live" on the Net, as in, "When are you launching your Web site?"

Contrary to popular belief, "emo" is not short for "emotional" and it doesn't necessarily imply that someone is sensitive, shy, or introverted, even though the term has morphed and is now used in this way. For example, my friend's dog is overly sensitive so they nicknamed him emo.

Rather the term "emo" originated from a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" which was pioneered by bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace.

Generally emo is tied to both music and fashion as well as the emo subculture, which is stereotyped as tight jeans on males and females alike, long bangs brushed to one side of the face or over one or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight short-sleeved t-shirts with names of emo bands on them, studded belts, belt buckles, canvas sneakers, skate shoes, or other black shoes, and in some cases thick, black horn-rimmed glasses.

You often see this term online and as the style spread to younger teenagers, it became associated with depression, self-injury, and suicide. Some millennials describe "being emo" like "being a goth" only much less dark and much more Harry Potter with the differences being emos hate themselves whereas goths hate everyone; emos want to kill themselves whereas goths want to kill everyone.

For example, as seen on Wikipedia: emo music has been blamed for the suicide by hanging of Hannah Bond by both the coroner at the inquest into her death and her mother, Heather Bond, after it was claimed that emo music glamorized suicide and her apparent obsession with My Chemical Romance was said to be linked to her suicide. The inquest heard that she was part of an Internet "emo" cult and her Bebo page contained an image of an 'emo girl' with bloody wrists. It also heard that she had discussed the "glamor" of hanging online and had explained to her parents that her self harming was an "emo initiation ceremony". Heather Bond criticized emo fashion, saying: "There are 'emo' websites that show pink teddies hanging themselves." After the verdict was reported in a popular music magazine, fans of emo music contacted the magazine to defend against accusations that it promotes self harm and suicide.

Gimme Some Credit

January 29, 2011

The connecting of two or more intranets. If you think of an intranet as a company's internal Web site which allows users inside the company to communicate and exchange information, now imagine connecting that virtual space with another company's intranet, thus allowing these two (or more) companies to share resources and communicate over the Internet in their own virtual space. This technology greatly enhances business to business communications. Companies like Netscape, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and VeriSign announced support for a core set of open standards for enabling external networks (extranets).

Shut Up You Fool

Office slang for an incoming phone call transferred without notice or explanation from the transferring party. For example, "Someone in customer service cold transferred the call to me - by that point the guy was ready to crawl through the wire and kill somebody."

January 30, 2011

Prefix to denote one millionth. For example, microcomputer.

Sense Of Humor Failure

Office slang for a spontaneous gathering that takes place after two people begin talking in the hallway or an office cubicle, then draw a passersby into their conversation.

January 31, 2011

A system of digital certificates (and other registration authorities) that verify and authenticate the validity of each party involved in an Internet transaction. PKI lays the groundwork for requiring users to have an issued key (or password) to access information. PKIs are in development; there is no universal PKI or even a single agreed-upon standard for setting up a PKI, but nearly everyone agrees that reliable PKIs are necessary before e-commerce can become widespread.

Be Back Sooner or Later

The modern version of the pink slip parties during the tech bust beginning in 1999, it refers to the 2009 recession in which thousands of white-collar workers may be out of work, but still manage to make it to the gym. In this line of thinking, losing a job is like pulling up the anchor that once moored you to a mortgage, a daily routine and a career, setting you free to have some fun and pursue other interests. Blogging is become a popular sideline for the newly sacked.

A company that provides a safe and secure way to pass access to your digital assets to friends and loved ones, especially in the event you die. Services include "a digital safety deposit box" where you store passwords to all of your online accounts (emails, photos, social networks, everything online that requires a login) for easy access. For every account you store, you can assign a beneficiary, someone to whom you want to entrust your digital content for the future.