Internet Word of the Day Archive

March 01, 2012

An IP address that is the same every time you log on to the Internet.

Peace To You For You Are A Cutie Pie

March 02, 2012

An online scam in which the perpetrator sends out a large number of legitimate looking e-mails that appear to come from respected companies (such as Citibank, eBay, PayPal, MSN, Amazon.com, Yahoo, BestBuy, AOL, etc.) with the intent of "fishing" for personal and financial information from the recipient. These e-mails are falsely claiming to be the respected company who needs the user's information to update their files, when in fact, it is an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will later be used for identity theft.

The phony e-mail directs the user to go to a Web site with the logo of the respected company, where they are asked to update personal information (such as passwords and credit cards, social security numbers, and bank account numbers) which the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and has been established only to steal the users' information. The e-mail usually includes a threat stating the user's account will close if they do not receive this updated information in a specified time period.

Historical Perspective: The year 2003 saw the proliferation of a phishing scam in which users received e-mails supposedly from eBay claiming that the user's account was about to be suspended unless he or she clicked on the provided link and updated the credit card information (which the genuine eBay Web site already had). Because it is relatively simple to make a Web site look like a bona fide organization's site by mimicking the HTML code and the logo, this scam tricked people into thinking they were actually being contacted by eBay and were subsequently going to eBay's site to update their account information.

A survey in 2005 from First Data Corp. found that 43 percent of US adults had received at least one of the bogus e-mails. Of those, one in 20, or about 4.5 million people, gave up the requested information. Half of those ended up being victims of theft or identity fraud. Phishing scams continue to become more widespread and sophisticated. In 2006, Symantec identified 7.92 million daily phishing attempts, an increase of over 5.5 million in the previous six months.

Phishing remains a growing problem. Some 49,084 unique phishing Web sites were set up in June, 2009 alone!

The important thing to do is to never click on a link that is provided in these kinds of e-mails, but rather open up a new browser window and go to the official Web site in question. In other words, whenever you log in to your bank account or any other online account, be sure to open up a new Web browser and type in the URL to make sure you are on a secure page within your account's Web site. Even if you don't provide what they ask for, simply clicking the link could subject you to background installations of keylogging software or viruses.

In another case before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a 17-year-old male sent out messages purporting to be from America Online that said there had been a billing problem with recipients' AOL accounts. The perpetrator's e-mail used AOL logos and contained legitimate looking links. If recipients clicked on the "AOL Billing Center" link, however, they were taken to a spoof Web site that asked for personal information, including credit card numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), and the like. It has been reported that more than 30 new phishing attacks occur every day. 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!

Laughing My Head Off

March 03, 2012

Estimated Time of Arrival -or- Edited To Add

A computer or arcade game that's all hand-eye and little brain. Similar to "thumb candy".

March 04, 2012

A branding plan that eliminates any uniqueness in a corporate identity, leaving the end result looking, well, bland.

Now More Than Ever

March 05, 2012

The problems, errors, glitches, or anomalies identified during the pre-release phase of a commercial computer product. Beta bugs usually pertain to software (such as an operating system or Web server application), but this term is also used to refer to hardware.

Let's F***

March 06, 2012

Go Ahead

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."

March 07, 2012

A Web browser which handles common Internet-related functions, such as exploring various Web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, and online chat.

"Opera" runs a variety of operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, and Linux systems. It is also used in mobile phones, smart phones, PDAs, game consoles, and interactive televisions.

Out To Lunch

March 08, 2012

A variable value (such as a "last modified" file date) that a server can include in an HTML file before it sends it to the requestor. Server-side includes allow authors to incorporate information that is regenerated each time a Web page is accessed. An example of a server-side include is when a Web site displays the current date.

I Have No Opinion

March 09, 2012

Mud Object-Oriented -or- Matter Of Opinion -or- My Opinion Only

Web jargon that refers to the ability to gamble online.

March 10, 2012

A source of funding for early-stage, risk-oriented business endeavors. A venture capital funding arrangement will typically require that the entrepreneur relinquish some level of ownership and control of the business. VC firms offset a high risk of failure for the promise of an even higher return on their investment. The investment is usually in the form of stock or something that can be converted into stock at a later date. As the business matures, an initial public offering (IPO) may take place, or the business may be merged, sold, or additionally funded. These events are intended to enable the company to buy out the venture capitalists. If the business does not mature, major amounts of money could be lost.

Nice To Meet You

March 11, 2012

Another name for manual submission.

So What's Up

March 12, 2012

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

Sealed With A Lick Because A Kiss Won't Stick

March 15, 2012

Somebody sufficiently opinionated-with plenty of time on his or her hands-to regularly post in dozens of Usenet newsgroups. A Net personality is known to thousands of people by his or her online presence (and not because of their work in the industry).

What Get's Measured Get's Done

March 16, 2012

Thanks In Advance

A term which means "to kill" or "put something out" it can be used in the present or past tense; for example, "We kevorked that project last week." It comes from the last name of Jack Kevorkian, the man known as the death doctor in the United States.

A large unit of computer data storage, equal to 260 bytes. The prefix "exa" means one billion billion, or one quintillion, which is a decimal term. Two to the sixtieth power is actually 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes in decimal, or somewhat over a quintillion (or 1018) bytes. However, it's common to say that an exabyte is approximately one quintillion bytes. In decimal terms, an exabyte is a billion gigabytes.

Business Intelligence

March 17, 2012

A term for "young, entrepreneurial, tech-based twenty-somethings" or "young, entrepreneurial technocrats." They represent the modern version of yuppies, "young, urban professionals."

Person Will Call Back

March 18, 2012

Instant Messaging -or- Immediate Message

The notion of simplifying a product too much, so that its ease-of-use actually reduces its perceived value and leads consumers to view it as a toy. For example, "Don't over-Mac the intro on the CD-ROM. We want users to feel like they're involved in getting the game going."

March 19, 2012

An online ad that uses pull-down menus and data boxes to let users search or shop for goods without leaving a Web site.

seriously

March 20, 2012

The decoding of an encrypted message.

Giggle To Myself

March 26, 2012

The method used to move data around on the Internet. Packet switching breaks all of the data coming out of a machine into chunks, and each chunk has the addresses of where it came from and where it is going. Chunks of data from many different sources commingle on the same transmission lines and are sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This kind of technology enables users to send and receive information on the same lines at the same time.

I Am Easy, Are You?

March 27, 2012

A computer or communications gadget that you can carry around with you, such as a cell phone, a BlackBerry, a pager, a PDA, a laptop, a smart phone, and so on.

Vinton Cerf, "founding father" of internet, was given this title for his job at Google.

Second Life

world

March 28, 2012

To stay up very late at night working on a project. For example, "We had an impromptu NetLingo.com marathon last night and worked for hours, burning the midnight oil."

There You Go -or- Thank You God

March 29, 2012

Acronyms for certain neighborhoods or urban areas, such as:

SoBe - South Beach in Miami, FL
SoDo - South of Downtown in Seattle, WA
SoFi - South of Fifth in South Beach in Miami, FL
SoHo - South of Houston Street in Manhattan, NYC
SoMa - South of Market Street in San Francisco, CA
SoNo - South Norwalk, CT
TriBeCa - Triangle Below Canal Street in Manhattan, NYC
LES - Lower East Side
UES - Upper East Side
Bx: The Bronx
D’Bx - Da Bronx
Bk - Brooklyn
LoDa - Lower Dauphin Street, Mobile, AL
LoDo - Lower Downtown in Denver, CO

We know there are more, send us your suggestions!

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

Sealed With A Loving Kiss

March 30, 2012

The achievement of something attempted, or the attainment of fame or prosperity.

Repondez S'il Vous Plait

March 31, 2012

See You Around The Universe

If you think this sounds like a Mickey Mouse term, you're right. In the Internet commerce world, it's the meshing of entertainment content with product information. Ralph Lauren's Polo.com has employed it extensively, but the term was created at Disney World. In fact, Disney staff are trained to be "Merchantainment Hosts" or "merchantainers." The goal is to create a positive experience for park visitors so they will be inclined to buy more goodies.