Internet Word of the Day Archive

September 01, 2011

A wireless term for the ability of a user to access data while mobile.

For example, while on a cell phone or on a plane.

Another name for ego-surfing on Google.

I Love You Too

September 02, 2011

Situation Normal, All F***ed Up

A phrase that describes intense periods of heavy use on a network system. It also refers to a large group of people who converge at the same time and the same place due to transmitting messages via text, email, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. This term was coined by sci-fi writer Larry Niven in The Flight of the Horse.

The foundation software of a computer system, responsible for controlling and launching the installed applications and computer peripherals. Common operating systems include MS-DOS, Unix, OS/2, Macintosh, and Windows. It is the software that schedules tasks, allocates storage, handles the interface to peripheral hardware, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running.

September 03, 2011

Newbies take heed: If a tech support person or a computer manual directs you to "hit any key," that means you can push any of the keys on your keyboard (there is no one specific key labeled "any"). We've heard tales of computer companies that are seriously considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" or "Press Enter Key" because of the flood of new user calls asking where the "any key" is.

Trying Not To Laugh

Earbuds are a pair of small headphones held inside of one's ears and connected to a signal source such as an an iPhone, MP3 player, or other device (sometimes an audio amplifier, radio, or CD player). These "in-ear" versions (specifically known as earbuds or earphones) differ from headsets in the sense that headsets are used to describe a combination of headphone and microphone used for two-way communication, for example with a telephone or VoIP service.

September 04, 2011

Another name for a bookmark.

All You Can Eat

The name for a cell phone service that provides background noise, such as noise from a traffic jam, to enable the owner to say with authority, "Sorry I'll be two hours late, I'm stuck in traffic" (while actually sitting at a cafe). These services can also generate a ring tone in the middle of a conversation (appearing to signal an incoming call), providing a plausible excuse for ending the current call.

September 05, 2011

On a search engine, for example, it's the term or phrase you type in order to begin an online search. In HTML, keywords appear in the meta tags for a Web page, where they help search engines readily identify and better index the Web site.

Click on "more info" below for an article on How to Find Keywords that Sell!

Where No One Has Gone Before

A poorly designed voice mail system that has so many submenus you get lost and have to hang up and call back.

September 06, 2011

Take A Pill

One who consumes online information on a daily basis.

A term related to a network outage in system administration. It usually implies your Web site is down due to technical difficulties at the Web hosting company.

September 07, 2011

A tiny amount of smoke released from a computer right after its electrical hardware burns out (and the computer stops working). This has become the basis for a joke played on newbies. They are told there is "magic smoke" inside computer chips, and it is that smoke which makes a computer work.

Do I Know You?

A heat map is a graphical representation of data where the values taken by a variable in a two-dimensional table are represented as colors. In the online world, Web "heat maps" have traditionally been used for displaying areas of a Web page or email most frequently scanned by visitors (in terms of clicks, mouse movements, and even eye-tracking). Heat mapping also refers to the live stream online display of where people are congregating at a particular time.

September 08, 2011

It is possible to login to a remote computer by using an application program based on TELNET - a terminal emulation protocol made for this purpose. The user can therefore enter commands on a keyboard attached to their local computer and access files etc. on a remote computer that may be located anywhere in the world.

A fake grass-roots political campaign. Posited in RISKS Digest as a potential future problem in net-based "issue" campaigning, in which massive phony mailings are easier than ever.

Just Helping out My (Mafia, Mob, Neighbors, etc.)

September 09, 2011

This term is usually seen in an error message in programs such as Netscape to let the user know that the stream of information he or she was downloading has been forcibly cut. This can occur for several reasons, most commonly because you are on a very crowded network or your access provider (ISP) is experiencing heavy traffic.

A computer server placed outside an organization's Internet firewall to provide a service that might otherwise compromise the local net's security. As seen in Cheswick & Bellovin's "Firewalls and Internet Security."

Shove It Up Your Ass

September 10, 2011

A Web browser plugin created by Macromedia that enables Director movies to be viewed on World Wide Web pages. It is one of the best programs for viewing interactive animation. Shockwave is a key component of Macromedia's solution for Web professionals who develop digital media for the Web. If you have created an interactive movie, using Director, you will need to compress it with Afterburner before you can use it as Shockwave on a Web site.

Tough Son Of a B*tch

September 11, 2011

The process of locating information on the Internet, whether it is to be found on a Web site, a newsgroup, or in an archive. In order to do a search, users often begin at search engines, search directories, or portals.

Banking industry jargon for people who refuse to use cost-saving ATMs, preferring to deal only with more expensive human bank tellers.

hook up?

September 12, 2011

A directory (or folder) on a server that "houses" all the CGI programs on that server. When you see this in your browser's URL window, you are probably running or are about to run a CGI program.

You Might Also Like

September 13, 2011

A form of shareware in which the author requests that in lieu of sending him or her money, you donate blood to the Red Cross.

A program that examines incoming data to ensure that only information within certain parameters is allowed to pass through. For example, you can filter out e-mail messages based on the sender's information or certain subject lines. A filter is also a program that accepts a certain type of data as input, transforms it in some manner, and then outputs the transformed data. For example, a program that sorts names is a filter: It accepts names in unsorted order, sorts them, and then outputs the sorted names. Basically, it is a means of narrowing the scope of a report by specifying ranges or types of data to include or exclude. Utilities that allow you to import or export data are also sometimes called filters.

Talk To You Soon

September 14, 2011

The name for a loss of contact between two IRC servers, it is usually fixed in a short period of time. When two IRC servers lose contact with each other, the whole network splits. Users on the same side of the network can still communicate, but they lose contact with users on the other side.

Hitting Bottom And Starting To Dig

September 15, 2011

Blow it Out Your Nose

Companies that reside in electronic networks rather than physical buildings, allowing them greater flexibility to change in size and configuration as market conditions dictate. Refers to click-and-mortar versus brick-and-mortar.

Similar to monitoring software, parental control software refers to "all-in-one" monitoring that enables parents to control, restrict and monitor anyone who uses the computer.

Internet filtering and parental control software programs give parents the ability to control and monitor their child's use of the Internet no matter where they are: in the neighboring room, at work, on vacation, it is designed to enable parents to protect children "from the dangers of the Internet." Truth is, this industry is very fragmented, meaning there is no one leader and no one solution.

For more information about parental control software, click on the NetLingo Resources link below.

September 16, 2011

Hold On, I'm Coming

The act of rating a person's level of influence based on evaluating one's followers, friends, and postings on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

Companies like Klout, PeerIndex and Twitter Grader are in the process of scoring millions, eventually billions, of people on their level of influence but they are not simply looking at the number of followers or friends you’ve amassed. They also measure influence in more nuanced ways, and post their judgments — in the form of a score — online. The increasing adoption of "social scoring" in mainstream culture can help build a personal brand and your rating could help determine how well you are treated by everyone with whom you interact. Critics, however, are concerned that we are moving closer to creating social media caste systems, where people with high scores get preferential treatment by retailers, prospective employers, even prospective dates. It is important to note that "social scoring" is subjective and imperfect. Most analytics companies rely heavily on a user’s Twitter and Facebook profiles, leaving out other online activities, like blogging or posting YouTube videos. As for influence in the offline world — it doesn’t count.

September 17, 2011

Only 216 colors in the common 256 color display palette appear exactly the same on both Mac and PC systems. These browser-safe colors should be used for Web graphics and colorful elements to look consistent on both platforms. For a sampling of browser-safe colors, check out the "Color Swatch Reference Guide" or the "Web Design Coloring Book" on NetLingo.com.

Get A F***ing Life

A form of phishing, "spear phishing" specifically refers to crimeware that fine tunes phishing attacks by correlating specific names and e-mail addresses about where a person banks or shops, and then customizes spoofed messages to trick individuals into clicking on a viral attachment or harmful Web link. Once that happens, the intruder can then take full control of the victim's PC.

If you suspect you have been phished, forward the e-mail to uce@ftc.gov or call the FTC help line, 1-877-FTC-HELP. Phishing is a variation on the word "fishing," with the idea that bait is thrown out in the hopes that while most will ignore it, some will be tempted into biting. Phishing can be a noun or a verb, while "a phish" or "a phisher" is the person doing the phishing.

Click on "more info" below to see an EXAMPLE!

September 18, 2011

The global standard for developing applications over wireless networks, it is a protocol for providing wireless devices with secure access to text-based information, including Web pages, chat, and e-mail. WAP runs over most wireless networks, including CDPD, CDMA, GSM, and TDMA. Basically, WAP enables Internet companies to configure their content only once for the microbrowsers (or small screens) of almost any WAP-enabled device, regardless of the service provider.

Right Thing To Say Dude

September 19, 2011

In computer terminology, it is a common connection point for devices in a network. For example, hubs are used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub has multiple ports so that when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the others so that all segments of the LAN can see all of the packets. Therefore, in data communications, a hub is a place of convergence, where data arrives from one or more directions and is forwarded out in one or more other directions.

The word "hub" was also used as one of the initial names for what is now known as a "portal." It came from the idea of producing a Web site that would contain many different "portal spots" (small boxes that looked like ads and linked to other people's content). Access to this content, combined with Internet technology, made the hub a milestone in the development and appearance of many Web sites. It was possible to display a lot of useful information without having to develop it all yourself. Despite its pioneering role, the term hub was later ditched for portal.

"HUB" is also used as an acronym or text message in online chat, IM, e-mail, blogs, or newsgroup postings which means "Head Up Butt."

Click on "more info" below!

Get Your Pants Off

Slang for the act of writing software without using debugging facilities.

September 20, 2011

A network exclusively set up to hold and retain data. A SAN is a network-based architecture that separates servers from storage. It provides a tremendous level of performance and flexibility that not even mainframes could supply in the older computing world. Mass storage is measured in kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes.

Got A Second?

September 21, 2011

A form of webcasting that uses streaming audio technology to deliver radio programming over the Internet. You need an audio streaming application (such as RealPlayer) before you go to a Net radio Web site. Net radio technology is very popular with college radio stations because of its low cost and the ability to reach a wider audience. It is also popular with road warriors who use Net radio to listen to programs such as local sports games in their home town, while they're on the road.

Slang for putting up an emotional shield just as a relationship enters that intimate, vulnerable stage. It refers to the retractable armor covering the Batmobile.

Thanks For Sharing -or- Three Finger Salute

September 22, 2011

To decompress and open up a ZIP file using WinZip or another type of file compression program.

Slang for having to travel a long distance in order to demo a product.

The Rest Are Mine

September 23, 2011

The name for a small icon used in Internet Explorer (version 5 and higher) to identify a favorite or a bookmark.

When users visit certain Web sites, you may see a "favicon" in the browser address bar next to the URL, and in your list of favorites next to the title of the Web site you've bookmarked. Favicons act as a branded icon as these small images are often modified versions of a company's logo. Most browsers support favicons, including IE 5/6+, Firefox 1+, Mozilla 1+, Netscape 7+, Opera 7+, Konqueror 3+, and Safari.

Bookmark NetLingo and you will see our favicon! It is the image above ;-)

A system that communicates with satellites in geosynchronous orbit some 22,300 miles above the earth.

Only Laughed Once

September 24, 2011

A hacker attack in which a forgery is assembled from pieces of valid messages to yield a message that will be decrypted more or less correctly.

As Always, Your Friend

One who "stalks" other users on Twitter in the sense that he or she doesn't post tweets, but rather just reads them (and therefore lurks like a troll).

September 25, 2011

The practice of pairing MP3 files with GPS coordinates, thereby transforming an iPod into an audio tour guide. It also refers to geocaching with clues provided by podcast.

An electronic monetary transaction card being proposed by several government agencies.

Just Helping Out

September 26, 2011

The state of a computer when it's not connected to a host system or to the Internet. This term is also used in the middle of a heated business meeting, where someone may say, "Let's discuss that offline." It usually means there is someone in the room who shouldn't hear what is being said, or more subtly, that "this is not the time to be talking about that-let's follow-up on it offline," as in after the meeting.

To switch back and forth between two modes. Common toggle keys include Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock. "Toggle" also means to type in alternating UPPERCASE and lowercase letters. For example, "gReGo LiKeS tO dO tHiS sTuFf."

See You In School

September 27, 2011

Refers to the data handled by networks that enable users to view Web content using a small wireless devices.

New WithOut Tags

September 28, 2011

A technology that provides privacy, integrity, and authentication in point-to-point communications, such as connections on the Internet between a Web browser and a Web server.

Action Required

September 29, 2011

It's All In The Subject

Refers to the administrative details that are found on a Web site. For example, the legal, copyright, liability, and licensing information. In the past, privacy issues were also categorized as "administrivia", however, with the increased awareness for security on Web sites, privacy is viewed as a more prominent topic.

Slang for a back and forth battle utilizing Facebook's poking mechanism. For example, "Jen will never win the poke war with Jude, he's a Facebook legend."

An engineering term, "cutover" is the process of transitioning from one system to a a new system. It specifically refers to switching from an old (hardware and/or software) system to a replacement system, covering the overlap from when the new system is live until the old system has been shut down.

Sometimes known as "going live" the cutover is the point at which a new program or system takes over, usually from a previous version, and the old program is no longer used. On major developments, this point is reached when the new software has been written, tested, and runs satisfactorily, in parallel with the old, for an agreed period.

September 30, 2011

Standard Operating Procedure

Listings that search engines sell to online advertisers, usually through paid search) or paid inclusion programs (such as CPC). In contrast, organic listings are not sold.

Useless gewgaws in a program or product. "The animation screens in this backup program may have some toy value, but they slow everything down to a crawl."