Internet Word of the Day Archive

July 01, 2011

The code of conduct and unofficial rules that govern online interaction and behavior, it comes from "net" plus "etiquette."

Important Do's and Don'ts regarding Professional Online Communication include:

(1) Do not spam.

(2) Do not implement mousetrapping.

(3) Do not rely on e-mail to address problems. If there is a sticky situation that needs to be dealt with at work, do it face-to-face. It will earn you respect in the long run.

(4) Balance work-related e-mail with telephone calls. E-mail may enhance a business relationship but it will not necessarily build one. If you've corresponded via e-mail with someone for the past couple of months, pick up the phone and have a conversation with that person as well.

(5) Intentional or not, e-mail can sometimes come across as rude. Be careful, one colleague had to ask another to communicate verbally because she was offended by the tone of her e-mail. It is easy to misread between the lines so at work, try to be extra polite.

(6) Send mature messages at work. If you use emoticons such as this smiley :-) in business e-mail, it may be interpreted as too casual. Just be straightforward and always use the spell checker!

(7) Don't respond to e-mail immediately. It is easy to hit the reply button and type up a quick response, but this has downsides. You will appear to be constantly reachable to colleagues, and too eager to clients or upper management. Unless it is urgent wait a couple of hours to respond so you can form a plan, and keep focused on your task at hand.

(8) Always make a point. The free flowing nature of e-mail encourages a casual style and back-and-forth communication, but make sure at work, each message has a purpose.

(9) DO NOT TYPE IN ALL UPPERCASE. Uppercase implies that you are SHOUTING.

(10) Refrain from using all lowercase letters in your professional e-mails. There are many of us who don't care about this, especially in personal e-mails, however, there are many more people who do care. They argue that writing in all lowercase appears you don't have enough respect for your recipient to use proper capitalization.

(11) Do your best to use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation in your e-mails. However, using incomplete sentences and lists for explanation is acceptable.

(12) When you're addressing a customer or a client in an e-mail, use their formal title (Dr., Senator, Ambassador, Mayor) followed by their last name unless they invite you to use their first name. If your client doesn't have a formal title, use Mr., Mrs. or Ms. followed by their last name (unless you've been invited to use their first name).

(13) On to faxes, avoid using heavy logo graphics in your faxes (it "eats" your recipient's ink). On the other hand, use a slighter larger and darker font when creating faxes so they can be legible in transmission.

(14) Send faxes during business hours. A fax sent at midnight to a home-based office can awaken a family.

(15) In terms of telephone and voice mail, if you return a phone call and you're forwarded to that person's voice mail, let them know when and where you can be reached: "I'll be at my desk at 4:30 this afternoon if you want to call me then."

(16) Return your calls in a timely manner. Ideally no more than twenty-four hours should go by.

(17) When leaving a voice-mail message, give your number at both the beginning and end of the message. If the recipient didn't write it down it at the beginning, they can either catch it at the end or replay the message and catch it at the top.

(18) When on your cell phone, practice netiquette and avoid screaming into your cell phone. The speaker on your cell phone is very sensitive and can transmit your slightest whisper. Also be sensitive to those around you, because believe it or not, they don't want to hear your conversation.

Known as component software, this is a document protocol and Microsoft standard that rivals Apple's OpenDoc technology. OLE enables one application to be embedded within another.

Sense Of Humor

July 02, 2011

A synonym for gadget. It's a specialized mechanical or electronic device, usually small in size.

You Are A Pain In The Ass

July 03, 2011

A commonly used term that can refer to a variety of individuals involved with the creation or management of a Web site. Most correctly, a Webmaster is the person who maintains, runs, or "watches over" the content and functionality of a Web site. In other words, he or she is the all-points information person or ambassador for a Web site.

The Webmaster is the person to which all feedback and correspondence for a Web site is to be sent and is usually an individual who either entirely or in part helped build the Web site(s) he or she maintains (in terms of supplying graphics, programming, and/or content updates). When you see a link on a Web page that says "webmaster@somedomain.com," this is the e-mail address where users can send comments or questions about that particular Web site; the Webmaster is the person designated to receive such feedback. (Some Webmasters may know very little about the Web site's content and may only handle technical problems.)

One thing to keep in mind is that the term "Webmaster" (like ambassador) is not gender-specific and can refer to a man, woman, or even a group of Web people who are performing the functions described above. That said, the term "Webmistress" is also in use for the many women who perform these functions.

The process of rewriting and/or transferring media sources from one format to another. For example, you can encode a VHS tape into a RealVideo file.

Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite

July 04, 2011

A network of satellites that broadcast digital data. For example, DirecTV broadcasts digital television signals. DSSs are expected to become more important as TVs and computers converge into a single medium for infotainment.

A solution that is a kludge; a fix designed to get the job done for the time being, only to be discarded later for a more permanent solution.

Does Not Compute

July 05, 2011

From the field of artificial intelligence, "artificial life" is the modeling of complex, lifelike behaviors in computer programs. Artificial life forms can supposedly evolve and produce behaviors not contained within the rules set by the programmers.

Always In My Prayers

Refers to a situation when two people are connected in a chat room, but they are so focused on IM'ing only with each other, that they are not paying attention to anyone else in the room.

July 06, 2011

Who Cares Anyway

An HTML tag that provides alternative text when Web pages are displayed without images. This text is helpful for the visually impaired or those who choose not to download images on Web pages in order to increase their surfing speed. With some browsers, this text appears when you put your mouse over an image and leave it there. It is not necessary for Web designers to put any text there, but if they include terms specific to the Web site, some of the search engines may list the site higher in their results.

A modern euphemism for being totally stressed out and "losing it." This expression makes reference to the unfortunate number of U.S. postal employees who have committed mass shooting rampages.

July 07, 2011

A derogatory term for those who would impose their standards on other users of the Net. Fortunately, no such real thing exists.

Sh** Out of Luck

A data mining software program that performs statistical mining of customer data to generate a predictive model of site behavior. It also refers to the programming used in voice recognition software.

July 08, 2011

In Real Life

A form of technology that detects and announces when a user connects to the net using some sort of a computing device.

The most common example of "presence technology" is instant messaging. When you log on to an IM service, your connectivity is immediately announced to your "buddy list".

Currently, Internet engineers are working on a way to develop presence technology so that the announcement of a users' connection to the network can be universal and can extend to other network services besides what the user is currently using.

Another name, like cube farms, for offices divided into cubicles.

July 09, 2011

To post a message to several newsgroups simultaneously, an action usually frowned upon in Internet culture.

The standard user interface for logging in to an application or computer system.

Young Experimenting Perfection Seekers

July 10, 2011

The data store "layer" is made up of objects that contain database routines and interact directly with a DBMS product. For example, a Java method might use SQL statements to obtain data from a relational database.

Person Will Call Back

July 11, 2011

Gratuitous animated GIFs and other Web special effects that are used to impress clients. "This page is kinda dull ...maybe a little dancing baloney will help."

Back In Five

July 12, 2011

The span of time in which it appears your computer is frozen, in that it is not responding to input or not connecting to a requested Web site or URL. Also called a computer hang. In more serious cases, when a system has to be rebooted, a lag results in a computer crash.

Pain In The Ass

A Unix command for scheduling computer-related jobs to be executed sometime in the future. A cron is normally used to schedule a job that is executed periodically, for example, the NetLingo Word of the Day Email is set up as a cron job to be sent out every morning. It is also a daemon process, meaning that it runs continuously, waiting for specific events to occur.

July 13, 2011

The video display unit (or VDU) that sits on your desktop and serves as your computer screen.

Used to describe fly-by-night graphic designers and Web consultants trying to cash in on the Web boom. "Can you believe they hired that clueless WAW for US$60K a year?!"

July 14, 2011

Aliasing is a Web design term used to describe the undesirable distortion of visual elements on a computer screen. These peculiarities take many forms, such as the appearance of jagged or stair-stepped edges along what is supposed to be a smooth, curvy surface (like an O or S) or diagonal lines on the screen (also known as "the jaggies"). Anti-aliasing is a software technique used in imaging systems (such as Photoshop) to make these curved edges or diagonal lines look smooth and continuous.

The nickname for a young cougar, these are women who are in their 20s and early 30s who are sexy and independent and date or have relationships with younger men. Celebrity examples include: Drew Barrymore, Claire Daines, and Jessica Alba. Not to be confused with a kitten.

See You For Sex

July 15, 2011

An acronym that refers to a standard keyboard (as identified by the first six letters in the upper row). One of the reasons why BlackBerries are so popular is because they have a QWERTY keyboard, whereas IM'ing on a regular cell phone is more difficult because it only has a numeric keypad.

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

Office slang for the male fear of peeing while standing next to one's CEO at a urinal.

Terms & Conditions

July 16, 2011

A play on the phrases "ass-backwards" and "a backwards-ass way of doing things," this term is generally used to describe execs in the industry who become focused on generating personal wealth rather than on providing a valuable service or product.

A multi-platform standard for multimedia applications. Developed by Apple, QuickTime is a software program that handles video, sound, animation, graphics, text, music, and 360-degree virtual reality (VR) scenes. It is a gateway for rich media, including images, music, MIDI, MP3, and streaming audio. QuickTime lets you experience more than 200 kinds of digital media with your Mac or PC. It allows users to experience virtual reality on a desktop without any special equipment and to view 3-D photographic (or rendered) representations of any person, place, or thing. (You can use your mouse and keyboard to rotate objects, zoom in and out of a scene, look around 360 degrees, and navigate from one scene to another.) QuickTime file name extensions include .qt and .mov.

Great Ideas for Starting Things

July 17, 2011

Prefix to denote one million, as in megabyte.

July 18, 2011

A type of programming that combines data structures with functions to create reusable objects. It works something like this: Programmers can create modules that do not need to be changed when a new type of object is added; instead, one can simply create a new object that inherits many of its features from existing objects. This inheritance relationship between objects makes object-oriented programs easier to modify than procedural programming techniques.

The most popular object-oriented programming languages are Java and C++. There is also UML (Unified Modeling Language) which is the industry-standard language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software systems. It simplifies the complex process of software design, making a "blueprint" for construction.

"Object-oriented" can also be used to describe a system that primarily deals with different types of objects, where the actions you take depend on what type of object you are manipulating. For example, an object-oriented graphics program might enable you to draw many types of objects, such as circles, rectangles, and triangles. Applying the same action to each of these objects, however, would produce different results. If the action is "Make 3-D," for instance, the result would be a sphere, a box, and a pyramid, respectively.

Object-oriented graphics are also called vector graphics.

A site devoted to sending out spam, it is considered a locus of evil in the modern world.

Change Of Dressing

July 19, 2011

To optimize your hard drive, usually with a program that "cleans it up" and makes it run as smoothly as possible. Slang usage implies some much needed R&R, as in, "I'm not going out tonight. I just want to have a quiet drink at home and defrag."

A method for communication between a client program and a server program in a network. A socket is defined as the endpoint in a connection. Sockets are created and used with a set of programming requests or "function calls," sometimes called the sockets application programming interface (API).

A socket is also an Internet address, combining an IP address (the four-part numerical address that uniquely identifies a particular computer on the Internet) and a port number (the number that identifies a particular Internet application, such as FTP, Gopher, or WWW).

Call To Action

July 20, 2011

The name for a network packet that induces a broadcast storm or a network meltdown. Named in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, in Ukraine.

A server located at a dedicated facility designed with special resources, such as a secure cage, regulated power, a dedicated Internet connection, online security, and online technical support. Co-location facilities offer customers a secure place to physically house their hardware and equipment (as opposed to keeping it in their offices or warehouse, where the potential for fire, theft, or vandalism is much greater). This term also refers to a "colo facility," a data center in an unserved or underserved market (also known as a "second-tier city").

Big Evil Grin

July 21, 2011

To conduct a conference between two or more participants at different locations, using computer networks or the Internet to transmit audio and video data. For example, a point-to-point (two-person) video conferencing system works much like a video telephone. Each participant has a video camera, a microphone, and speakers mounted onto his or her computer. As the two participants speak to one another, their voices are carried over the network and delivered to the other's speakers; whatever images appear in front of the video camera will appear in a window on the other participant's monitor (so be careful not to come to this conference in your underwear).

Multi-point video conferencing allows three or more participants to sit in a virtual conference room and communicate as if they were sitting right next to each other. Software programs such as CUSeeMe have brought video conferencing to the Internet and are easy to use.

Take Care Of Yourself

To remove someone as a "friend" specifically on Facebook, for example, "I can't believe it, I just got defaced."

How do you "deface" someone on Facebook? Go to the person's profile, go all the way to the bottom of the left column, you should see a link that says "Remove From Friends." Note: It's considered a serious breach of a friendship to deface someone, and if you decide you want to be friends with this person again, you will have to send a new friend request.

July 22, 2011

A small program or application, usually written in Java, that runs on a Web browser and powers many of the fancier features (such as animation or computation). It downloads quickly and can be used by any computer equipped with a Java- or ActiveX-enabled browser. Applets are found both online and offline (for example, the calculator on Windows 95 is an applet).

Just Kidding

Slang for a message posted on a Web page explaining why a popular site feature has been removed.

July 23, 2011

Slang for "malicious code," this term was primarily used by computer security programmers. For example, "Certain kinds of malware can be injected into a phone with the intent of destroying its functions." Regarding the Internet, this term is often heard in conjunction with hackers who use certain kinds of malware to infect computer systems and compromise the way they work. For example, "The hacker was arrested for setting up a botnet which sent out spam and bombard Web sites with massive amounts of data, thus shutting them down."

There is a long list of "-ware" terms in NetLingo.com; check out the "warez" definition to see a few of them.

You

Software that monitors and gathers information about a person's behavior, including personally identifiable and other sensitive information, through a computer program.

For example, parental controls refer to options included in digital television services, computer and video games, and computer software used to access the Internet, that allows a parent to monitor or limit what a child can see or do and/or time-limit these activities. These controls may allow for the blocking of television stations (using V-Chip technology), the removal of "gore" from computer games, the blocking of various websites (such as those containing online pornography), and the automatic censoring of swearing.

Employee monitoring software, on the other hand, refers to covert surveillance software designed and developed for companies to monitor their employee Internet activities. It "enables employers" to monitor employee screens, typed keystrokes, file transfer and downloads, FTP upload and download, and the opening and closing of files.

For more information about monitoring software, click on the NetLingo Resources link below!

July 24, 2011

Software available on the Internet for downloading so you can try it before buying it. It is copyrighted and distributed on a "free-will donation" basis, either via the Internet or by being passed along by satisfied customers. users who continue to use the program after a trial period are expected to pay a registration fee. In return, they get documentation, technical support, and access to updated versions.

Don't Go There

Slang for the "goto command," which is practically taboo among programmers.

July 25, 2011

One of several top-level domains primarily assigned to the URLs of American companies that work with computer networks (for example, www.earthlink.net is the URL for the ISP Earthlink). Other domains include .ac, .com, .gov, .mil, .mil, .org, and a long list of country codes.

For a list of other suffixes, see the definition for domain name. FYI: As of early 2007, there were about 9.1 million ".net" names in use ;-) Internet trivia!

wait a second

The idea of the self escaping bodily death by transforming into an age-proof, sickness-proof essence that can be uploaded into a computer or network dates back at least to Vernor Vinge’s 1981 novella True Names. A year after that, William Gibson gave us the word cyberspace to describe a new place where humans might exist, potentially forever, outside the physical world.

Basically beyond our digital footprint lies our immortal cybersoul, and the "self" you create online won’t die when you do. Now there are businesses , known as a digital estate management service, that provide a safe, secure repository for your online property that lets you grant access to digital assets for friends and loved ones in the event of loss, death, or disability. Apparently it's an idea who's time has come.

July 26, 2011

The little blinking line on your computer screen that looks like this a vertical bar ("|"). It is there to indicate where your next typed character will appear.

Good For Nothing

July 27, 2011

You're in technology heaven when your software is "platform agnostic." It means it'll run on any computer operating system such as Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac, etc. For example, Acrobat Reader.

A coded reference to a dense user or coworker. "DF" stands for "Dumb F***" as in "The DF module in sales can't seem to set up the default printer."

Similar to PEBCAK (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard) and ID-10-T (Idiot).

Being Annoyed By You

July 28, 2011

Real Life Friend

To consistently interface with a program in order to get to know its features and limitations; to type incessantly in order to teach oneself a new program.

A website "wireframe" is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website. The wireframe depicts the page layout or arrangement of the website’s content, including interface elements and navigational systems, and how they work together. The wireframe usually lacks typographic style, color, or graphics, since the main focus lies in functionality, behavior, and priority of content.  In other words, it focuses on “what a screen does, not what it looks like.”

July 29, 2011

In computer applications, this is the name of the strip of buttons you usually see at the top, bottom, or side of an application interface. The buttons activate tools. The idea is to help you work faster; if it weren't for toolbars, you'd have to spend more time figuring out which drop-down menu to select in order to find the option you want to use. A toolbar can be hidden, or it can be configured to appear with or without graphics (the pleasant little pictures on the buttons, such as scissors to denote the computer action "cut"). For example, this is what a computer toolbar looks like:

On the Web, toolbars are often used within Web browsers to perform certain functions such as searching or displaying content. A toolbar is not to be confused with the nav bar you may see in a Web browser (which also appears as little buttons). For example, this is what a Web toolbar looks like:

Don't Even Think It

A mistake among a group of musicians when two or more people play conflicting parts at the same time, resulting in a few seconds of musical chaos. Making its way into the general vernacular as an expression for any creative catastrophe.

July 30, 2011

A company that provides customer-only content to subscribers of its service. For example, AOL. This term has broadened to include companies (such as CDNs) that provide online services for other companies. Most traditional OSPs now offer Internet access (like an ISP), but their main feature is a privately maintained network that is only accessible to their subs. Because OSPs control the structure and content of their networks, they are considered user-friendly environments, especially for newbies. Unfortunately, however user-friendly they are, they do not display all of the Web's content for their customers.

Software that can be voluntarily or involuntarily downloaded. It consists of adware and its purpose is to worm its way onto your computer and hit the user with online advertising all day.

Do Not Disturb

July 31, 2011

May The Force Be With You

Instantly coined name for the Microsoft/Intel/Compaq/Baby Bell digital subscriber line standard.

An aggregator is software or a hosted application that collects RSS feeds from various sources and displays it in a single consolidated view, either in a window on your desktop or in a Web browser. Its purpose is to syndicate Web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing.

There are two main types of aggregators: web-based aggregators and desktop/software aggregators. Web-based aggregators allow individuals to subscribe to feeds online and read RSS feeds in a web browser. Desktop aggregators are software programs installed locally that updates when RSS feeds are updated. The aggregator shows new information and allow for users to read feeds.

In the mobile world, aggregator also refers to an organization that acts as a middleman between content providers and mobile carriers, providing the messaging traffic to the multiple carriers.