What Does Online Service Mean? An online service refers to any information and services provided over the Internet. These services not only allow subscribers to communicate with each other, but they also provide unlimited access to information. Online services can range from simple to complex. A basic online service may help subscribers gain needed data through a search engine, while a complex one might be an online mortgage application from a bank....
What Does Betamaxed Mean? Betamaxed is a slang term for when a superior product loses out to an inferior product. This term refers to the adoption of VHS over Betamax in the 1970s and ’80s. Betamax was perceived as the superior product, but the pricing and economies of scale behind VHS relegated Betamax to obsolescence. Since then, the term betamaxed has been applied to many technology showdowns, such as the browser wars between Netscape and Microsoft and the ongoing competition between Microsoft and Apple....
What Does Blocking Mean? In IT, blocking can be used in many ways to talk about the prevention of some action or command, or the hiding of some visual element from an interface. When something is blocked, it does not function or “go through” an interface. Blocking can be a user preference, or an essential part of a hardware and software system. Techopedia Explains Blocking One example of blocking is the use of write blocker tools....
What Does Call Control Mean? Call control is a function in a business telephone switch or PBX that routes telephone calls to the proper destination. Call control also maintains the connection between two endpoints of a call. It is one of the major categories of communications traffic in VoIP systems. Techopedia Explains Call Control Call control is a feature of PBX systems which determines where calls are routed and maintains the connections....
What Does Collapsed Backbone Mean? Techopedia Explains Collapsed Backbone Network backbones are distributed or collapsed. Traditional LANs connect via distributed backbone cables. Collapsed backbones use high-speed backplane switches to connect virtual Point-to-Point (PPP) LAN networks. Collapsed backbone advantages include:
What Does Content Scraping Mean? Content scraping is an illegal way of stealing original content from a legitimate website and posting the stolen content to another site without the knowledge or permission of the content’s owner. Content scrapers often attempt to pass off stolen content as their own, and fail to provide attribution to the content’s owners. Content scraping can be accomplished via manual copy and paste, or may use more sophisticated techniques, such as using special software, HTTP programming or HTML or DOM parsers....
What Does Dictionary Attack Mean? A dictionary attack is a technique or method used to breach the computer security of a password-protected machine or server. A dictionary attack attempts to defeat an authentication mechanism by systematically entering each word in a dictionary as a password or trying to determine the decryption key of an encrypted message or document. Dictionary attacks are often successful because many users and businesses use ordinary words as passwords....
What Does Dynamic Content Mean? Dynamic content — in the context of gaming — refers to virtual gaming world events that have an ongoing effect on the gaming world and player experience. Techopedia Explains Dynamic Content Dynamic content in gaming emerged as an industry buzzword in 2011, but the concept dates back to one of the first massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) — Ultima Online. Ultima gave players great freedom, in terms of game mechanics....
What Does Hybrid Online Analytical Processing (HOLAP) Mean? Techopedia Explains Hybrid Online Analytical Processing (HOLAP) If there are volumes of data that cannot be handled by one multidimensional database. If there are instances of performance bottlenecks whenever data is being accessed from a server. If there is a need to use existing summarized and arranged data sources.
What Does Lean Software Development Mean? Techopedia Explains Lean Software Development In lean software development, various goals apply, including how to: Eliminate waste Amplify learning Deliver as early and fast as possible Empower people Assess project integrity Look at the project comprehensively Many of these broad goals are expressed in the form of specific efforts. For example, eliminating waste comes in many forms, from creating smarter development modules to finding new ways of writing code....
What Does Nomadic Wireless Mean? Techopedia Explains Nomadic Wireless Nomadic wireless technology replaces or minimizes the requirement for physical connections, such as cables, between devices, which facilitates the network installation’s physical arrangement. It provides convenience with lower costs and maintenance, as there is no need for individual cables. Common examples of nomadic wireless technology are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Wi-Fi, often synonymous with wireless LAN, uses routers to provide the connection to user devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones....
What Does Offline Mean? In the world of technology, “offline” can have different meanings. Sometimes, saying something is “offline” means that it is not connected to a network at the moment. Other times, “offline” is a more permanent descriptor, referring to something that is only found in the “offline” world. Techopedia Explains Offline Cryptocurrency is one example where both online and offline activity is important. In order to make cryptocurrency trades over an exchange, it is necessary to bring the device online to perform the transaction....
What Does Plain Old XML (POX) Mean? The term “plain old XML” (POX) is a reference to certain types or uses of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) that are less complex or sophisticated than other versions of the language. In general, POX refers to the simple ways of using XML in projects. Techopedia Explains Plain Old XML (POX) One of the more technical definitions of POX is that it is an unadorned XML that is transferred over simple protocols such as HTTP, SMTP or FTP, or through some kind of proprietary middleware product....
What Does Software-Defined Anything (SDx) Mean? Software-defined anything (SDx) is an important yet ambiguous term that refers to new changes happening in the IT world. It is a movement toward promoting a greater role for software systems in controlling different kinds of hardware - more specifically, making software more “in command” of multi-piece hardware systems and allowing for software control of a greater range of devices. Techopedia Explains Software-Defined Anything (SDx) Experts explain SDx as a fundamentally connective tool that supports evolving network topologies....
What Does Tab Delimited Mean? Tab delimited is a text format which is widely accepted for creation and viewing by most spreadsheet programs and editor applications. A tab delimited text file is unique because an entry in the file cannot take more than a single line — the first line is called a header line, and it contains the labels for each field; various fields are separated by tabs and each entry must have the same number of fields....
What Does Time to Live (TTL) Mean? Time to live (TTL) is a mechanism used to limit the lifespan of data on a network. Data is discarded if the prescribed TTL elapses. The idea behind having a TTL is to prevent any data packet from circulating indefinitely. Techopedia Explains Time to Live (TTL) Time to live (TTL) is basically the number of hops that a packet travels before being discarded by a router....
What Does True Multitasking Mean? True multitasking is the ability of a processor or operating system to execute and process more than one task at a time, rather than switching between them. It is a multitasking technique that enables the underlying hardware or software system to perform multiple tasks in parallel. Techopedia Explains True Multitasking True multitasking is considered a true form of multitasking because the processor or the operating system are processing and running multiple processes and applications in parallel....
What Does Universal Authentication Mean? Universal authentication is a method for verifying the identity of users and computers on a network without asking for the same identification every time the user moves from site to site. The idea is that a security platform works out all the authentication requirements for all subsequent access to nodes within the same security area so that the user does not have to input his/her security credentials again every time a new node is encountered....
What Does Weenix Mean? Weenix is a term derived from combining “Unix” and “weenie,” a term that refers to those who use Unix by necessity, but would prefer simpler alternatives. Weenix points to what many critics see as the needless complexity of many Unix systems, which can lead Unix super users to believe they have mastery over the operating system. Some would argue that that mastery only involves tolerating Unix’s many quirks, making those super users, or “wizards,” weenies instead....
What Does Wireless Mean? Wireless is an encompassing term that describes numerous communication technologies that rely on a wireless signal to send data rather than using a physical medium (often a wire). In wireless transmission, the medium used is the air, through electromagnetic, radio and microwave signals. The term communication here not only means communication between people but between devices and other technologies as well. Techopedia Explains Wireless Wireless could refer to any device that communicates with other devices wirelessly, meaning there is no physical connection between them....
