Internet Word of the Day Archive

August 01, 2012

Thunderbird is an e-mail program created by the folks at Mozilla who claim it makes sending e-mail safer, faster, and easier than ever before.

Some of the benefits of Thunderbird include:

It Could Be Worse, It Could Be Me

August 02, 2012

The nickname for a method of pranking whereby people will post a link to something but the link actually goes to a You Tube video of Rick Astley's song "I'm Never Gonna Give You Up." Also known as an Internet meme, "Rickrolling" is a bait-and-switch because the URL can be masked so that the user cannot determine the true source of the link without first clicking on it. Once a person clicks on the link and is led to the web page, he or she is said to have been "Rickrolled".

This term can also refer to playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.

The practice is said to have begun as an earlier prank originating from the imageboard 4chan and was called duckrolling. A user was "duckrolled" once he or she clicked on a link (such as a picture or news item) and would instead be taken to a thread or a website containing an edited picture of a duck on wheels. The first instance of Rickroll occurred on the site's video game board, where a link to the Rick Astley video was claimed to be a mirror of the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV (which was unavailable due to heavy traffic). The joke was confined to 4chan for a very brief period and then spread virally, becoming an Internet phenomenon. An April 2008 poll by SurveyUSA estimated that at least 18 million American adults have been Rickrolled.

For more examples, including the classic April Fools' Day 2008 Rickroll pranks, search for this term on Wikipedia below!

Ain't That A Bitch

August 03, 2012

Best Friends Forever

A radius of approximately 300 feet, a "hotspot" is an area that enables wireless Internet access. For example, if your laptop is properly equipped with a wireless card, you can access the Internet without having to be connected by phone line or cable if you are in a hotspot.

You will see coffee shops such as Starbucks, advertise that they are hotspots. Unlike piggybacking onto a wireless network, you must usually pay per day or hour to access the net via a hotspot.

August 04, 2012

Also known as "soup-to-nuts" it is shorthand for a sector of the industry that specializes in providing end-to-end solutions. E2E solutions extend technology beyond the Web, utilizing Internet, wireless, and broadband technologies and enabling companies to run e-businesses. Usually, E2E companies classify themselves as professional services firms.

Too Good To Be Forgotten

August 05, 2012

The amount of time it takes for a computer to retrieve stored data. Actually, it is the interval between the moment a computer calls for data from a storage medium (such as your hard drive, a CD-ROM, or the Internet) and the moment the data is delivered. On the Web, this time frame can be a matter of seconds or of minutes, depending on the speed of your connection. Your ISP may automatically "cut your time off" if you allow your browser to stay idle for too long. You'll have to dial-in again to regain access.

I Hear You

August 06, 2012

Can't Remember A F***ing Thing

August 07, 2012

Subscribers to newsgroups, mailing lists, blogs, and social networking sites take part in discussions by sending or "posting" their articles or comments online.

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

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

August 08, 2012

A play on the phrase "behind the scenes," it refers to programs that automatically run on your computer without need for your initiation or intervention. For example, when you launch a program, it does a variety of things to get the program up and running; those are behind-the-screens activities.

Idiot

August 09, 2012

In computer terms, a "peer" is an actual computer that exists on a network at the same level as another computer with similar access privileges. When you have two computers on a network, sharing files from each other's hard drives, it is known as a peer-to-peer relationship. This relationship has no shared resources on a server (as opposed to a client/server relationship, in which a workstation is specifically designated as a file server for allocating resources not available to client nodes). In technical terms, P2P is the ability of two or more computers to communicate on a network without a file server.

In popular culture, the "peer" in P2P refers to another person, someone else on the Internet with whom you share files. For example, music sharing is a popular P2P use of the net, as is photo, video and bookmark sharing.

Historical perspective: In 2009, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform introduced a bill to ban the use of public peer-to-peer networks by federal agencies and employees due to sensitive documents being leaked over a file-sharing network. Some of the data that surfaced on P2P includes a confidential report on ethics investigations in Congress, location of a safe house for the Obama family, U.S. military documents and personally identifiable information, and diagrams of the President's Marine One helicopter. The Secure Federal File Sharing Act would prohibit the use of P2P software such as BitTorrent and LimeWire on government computers and networks.

Without Thinking Too Much

August 10, 2012

Don't Write Back

A SIM card is a portable memory chip used in some models of cell phones. The SIM card makes it easy to switch to a new phone by simply sliding the SIM out of the old phone and into the new one. The SIM stores personal identity information, cell phone numbers, text messages and other data. It can be thought of as a mini hard disk that automatically activates the phone into which it is inserted.

According to wiseGEEK, a SIM card can come in very handy. For example, let's say your phone runs out of battery power at a friend's house. Assuming you both have SIM-based phones, you can remove the SIM card from your phone and slide it into your friend's phone to make your call. Your carrier processes the call as if it were made from your phone, so it won't count against your friend's minutes.

If you upgrade your phone there's no hassle involved. The SIM card is all you need. Just slide it into the new phone and you're good to go. You can even keep multiple phones for different purposes. An inexpensive phone in the glove compartment, for example, for emergency use, one phone for work and another for home. Just slide your SIM card into whatever phone you wish to use.

High-end cell phones can be very attractive and somewhat pricey. If you invest in an expensive phone you might want to keep it awhile. Using a SIM card, it is even possible to switch carriers and continue to use the same phone. The new carrier will simply issue you their own SIM card. The phone must be unlocked, however, and operate on the new carrier's frequency or band.

A SIM card provides an even bigger advantage for international travelers -- simply take your phone with you and buy a local SIM card with minutes. For example, a traveler from the U.S. staying in the U.K. can purchase a SIM card across the pond. Now the phone can be used to call throughout England without paying international roaming charges from the carrier back home.

SIM cards are used with carriers that operate on the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network. The competing network is Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a technology created by U.S. company Qualcomm. As of fall 2005, CDMA cell phones and CDMA carriers do not support SIM cards in most parts of the world, though this is changing. A CDMA SIM card called the R-UIM (Re-Useable Identification Module) was made available in China in 2002, and will eventually be available worldwide. Expectations for the future include a cell phone market that supports both SIM (GSM) and R-UIM (CDMA) cards by default.

August 11, 2012

For The Time Being

This is a feature of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), which "encases" an encrypted message in ASCII to allow it to be e-mailed as a regular message.

August 12, 2012

A directory or folder on a server that is not in the actual server directory structure.

I haven't a clue

August 13, 2012

A commonly heard phrase used to differentiate the actual, physical world around us and cyberspace. For example, if two keypals say, "Let's meet," they may need to specify whether it's in a chat room or in the real world.

Just Wondering

August 14, 2012

Be Back In A Bit

An application that resides on a merchant's server (or a server located at the merchant's ISP or CSP) that accepts payment information, encrypts it, and routes it across the Internet to a payment gateway.

August 15, 2012

An assertion by Gordon Moore, who cofounded Intel in 1965. Moore's Law originally states that the number of transistors we can fit on a chip (or semiconductor) will double every eighteen months (and therefore so will the potential power of our machines). He later revises it to every two years. This law is generally accepted within the high-tech industry to illustrate that computers get drastically better each year.

I Wonder

August 16, 2012

Same Sh** Different Day

To convert information from its original format into content that can be displayed on the Web. For example, to code a text file into an HTML file is to webify it; to turn a hard copy print file into a PDF is to webify it; to scan an image, use a program to convert it to a GIF or JPG file, and then FTP it to a server is to webify it; to convert an audio file into a format for play on the Web is to webify it; or to convert a video file into a program that can be streamed on the Web is to webify it.

August 17, 2012

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.

Never Again Volunteer Yourself

August 18, 2012

The nickname for images on a computer screen that have jagged or stair-stepped edges along what is supposed to be a smooth, curvy, or diagonal line (such as an O or S).

Excuse Me For Jumping In

August 19, 2012

Excellent

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

August 20, 2012

How's It Going

When a company's profits exceed the average for its industry, the company has acquired a "competitive advantage" over its competitors. The goal for all organizations is to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage.

August 21, 2012

Photo On Profile, Point Of Purchase, Point Of Presence, Post Office Protocol

Software designed to create online publications, online magazines and online photo albums that have a realistic page turning effect (complete with page turning sound), replacing flat traditional documents.

Not to be confused with a "flip book" or a "flick book," a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change.

Note: The term FlippingBookâ„¢ (with a capital F and a capital B) is a trademark.

August 22, 2012

A business measurement calculated by taking a year's worth of earnings and dividing it by the average shareholder's equity for that year. To calculate ROE, the earnings can be (1) taken directly from the Consolidated Statement of Earnings in the company's last annual filing with the SEC, (2) taken as the sum of the last four quarters' worth of earnings, (3) figured using the average of the last five or ten years' earnings, or (4) annualized, based on the last quarter's results.

As Late As Possible

August 23, 2012

Love You, Mean It

This phrase comes from the online search engine, Google, and refers to Internet users that will use a search engine to uncover any information that is present on the internet about a new girlfriend or boyfriend. Most people won't admit to it, but some will even "Google" themselves to boost self moral. Often heard in teh online dating scene, for example, "Have you tried to Googling him yet?"

August 24, 2012

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.

Are You Horny?

August 25, 2012

The standard interface used by a host's software to communicate with peripheral devices.

Well, I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle

August 26, 2012

The high-tech sibling of the bar code. A smart card is a plastic card, about the size of a credit card, embedded with a microchip that can store programmable data. It is frequently used in Europe to store electronic cash or to pay for telephone calls, public transportation, tollbooths, or parking. When the cash value of the card is depleted, it can be restocked to continue serving its purpose. Smart cards actually come in two types:

memory cards and processor cards. The memory card is the basic type, and its memory chip can store a few kilobytes of numbers.

The processor card looks like a memory card but is more sophisticated: in addition to read-or-write memory, it has a tiny microprocessor and a small amount of read-only memory that contains the software for its embedded computer chip. The processor card typically contains an 8-bit microprocessor, 16K of program storage, and 32K of read-or-write memory (the equivalent of a wallet-sized PC).

To execute a purchase in the real world, the smart card uses radio frequency identification (RFID) that sends data (such as the cost of your purchase) to a transmitter, which then processes it against your bank account, resulting in a wireless and paperless transaction. Smart cards rely on electricity from a smart card reader for the power they need to run.

Wireless smart cards, however, do not require electricity; instead, they have a built-in antenna that absorbs energy from nearby short-range electromagnetic fields. All smart cards are designed to protect the integrity of their data from theft or tampering. Are smart cards the future?

It may sound a little strange but apparently, everyday objects can be made intelligent via "smart" devices. A smart toy, for example, can be continually "refreshed" if the parent purchases a peripheral device and a home PC, downloads music, and transfers it to the toy. We've even heard of something called smart shoelaces. The smart card is a practical implementation of a useful, next-generation technology, but do we need smart toys? It sounds like technology gone awry, just waiting to happen.

Bring Your Own Bottle -or- Bring Your Own Beer

August 27, 2012

The content on a Web page that is visible without scrolling. The content you see when you have to scroll down is referred to as below the fold. The area above the fold is considered the most desirable real estate on a Web page. This expression originally referred to the position of articles in a newspaper.

Build Your Own Website -or- Bring Your Own Wine

August 28, 2012

Self Owning Idiot

Term of derision often used by young hackers who fancy themselves the legitimate residents of cyberspace and see the older generation of hackers and personal computer developers as parental party crashers. Also: techno-wimps and cyber-yuppies.

August 29, 2012

When used in computer searching, "relevancy" measures how closely a document or Web page matches the users' search query. Many search engines return the search results in a hierarchy from the most relevant to the least relevant. Search engines rank the relevancy of Web pages using several factors including the more often a term appears in a document, the more relevant it is, and the number of clicks on an item makes it more relevant (also known as run-time business intelligence).

I Did That Already

August 30, 2012

The practice of sticking the stock symbol of a blue-chip firm, such as "MSFT" for Microsoft, at the end of a press release so it gets picked up under Microsoft's stock news page on AOL or Yahoo Usually posted by publicity-hungry companies, ticker spam is fortunately dwindling now that PR newswires and others check for it.

Sensitive New Age Guy

August 31, 2012

That's What I'm Talking About

A data mining technique that seeks to reveal undiscovered affinities and associations (such as, for example, between the purchase of canned fruit filling and pie shells). Specific tools used for affinity grouping include standard statistics, memory-based reasoning, link analysis, and special-purpose market basket analysis tools.