A to D E to H I to L M to P Q to T U to Z Ac-3 (Dolby Digital) This digital surround-sound format for home audio is called Dolby Digital in theatres. It is the official sound format for digital TV, and is used in many DVDs and laser discs. ActiveX This is a set of technologies from Microsoft that provides developers with tools to link desktop applications to the Internet. It allows you to view Word and Excel documents directly in a browser. AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) This is an Intel specification designed to handlle the high thoughout demands of 3D graphics. The AGP channel is 32 bits wide and provides almost twice the toal bandwidth of the older PCI  channel. Think of it as Accelerated Gaming Performance. Animation Animation involves using a series of independent pictures or frames and putting them together to create the illusion of continuous motion. Advertisements, Web sites, cartoons and moves - it's used everywhere! Archie Not exactly the comic book character from Riverdale. This Archie was a system used to automatically gather, index and serve information on the Internet. It's not in use anymore. Baud Pronounced 'Bod'. One of the indicators of the speed of a modem. Barfmail Repeated bounce messages, ususally received because of gateway or mail server errors, which cause significant annoyance. Broadband Simply put - it's about BROADer BANDwith on the Internet.  Cracker A malicious individual who attemps to access computer systems without authorization. Cyberspace A term coined to describe the interconnected 'world' of computers and the society gathered around them. Cookies Small files stored on your computer, which hold information that can be retrieved by Web pages on a site. Cyberpunk A subgenre of science fiction inspired by William Gibson's 1982 novel Neuromancer. DVD (Digital Versatile Discs) These are high-capacity optical discs used for storing everything from massive computer applications to full-length movies. DivX It's an MP4-based video compression codec that promises to do for video and movies what MP3s did for music online. E3 The mother of all gaming trade shows, held in Los Angeles every year. Entrance for industry professionals only. E-Commerce Any transactions done electronically is E-Commerce. E-mail Universally accepted abbreviated version of electronic mail. Emoticon They are used to convey emotion in an ASCII world. For example, : represents a 'smiley'. Encryption The translation of data into a secret code. To read an encrypted file, you need a secret key or password. Easter Egg Hidden features placed by programmers in software applications and operating systems. Could display a secret message, play a sound or a small animation. Firewall One way of protecting a network against intrusion. Consists of mechanisms to block and to permit network traffic. Flame A downright inflammatory statement, usually in an electronic mail message. FWIW Chat lingo for For What It's Worth. FireWire Apple's name for a new, very fast external data standard that it has developed. Easter Egg Hidden features placed by programmers in software applications and operating systems. Could display a secret message, play a sound or a small animation. GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) Am image compression algorithm that facilitates the transfer of high quality images over a network. Gigabyte A billion bytes; this would be large enough to hold 1,250 copies of Moby Dick. GPS (Global Positioning System) A satellite navigation system that allows anyone using a simple handheld receiver to determine his place in time and space. Hacker Someone who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks. Gets most of the heat for the misdemeanours of malicious crackers. Host A computer that allows users to communicate with other host computers on a network. May or may not be hospitable. Handshake You want some data? I'll transmit it to your machine. If it's coming in too fast, tell me to wait so you can catch up. Modems need a handshake to get data transfer right. Lara As a Lara Croft. An extremely popular PC gaming icon who hasn't played a day of cricket in her entire life. Plays the lead role in Tomb Raider, an adventure game which will soon be released as a movie. Nanotechnolgy The science of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules. Will clearly define the next step in computing. Netiquette Proper behaviour on a network, universally applicable on the Internet. Newbie Slang term for a user who is new to the Internet. Postmaster The administrator responsible for resolving any email problems. QuickTime Apple's method of storing sound, graphics, and movie files which is designed for playback via the internet. RNA (Ring No Answer) This is the symptom used to describe a modem at a local that rings, but does not pick up the incoming call. SMS (Short Messaging Service) Allows cellphone users to exchange text based messages. Short means less than 128 characters. Spam A colloquial term referring to the act of posting the same message to several inappropriate newsgroups, or mass mailing unsolicited email messages to several users. Urban Legend A story, which may have started with a grain of truth that has been embroidered and retold until it has passed into the realm of myth. Spreads faster on the Internet. Veronica Is only a service that maintains an index of titles of items on gopher servers. Closely linked to Archie. Virus A program, which infects computer systems by incorporating itself into other programs or computer systems. W3 An acronym for the World Wide Web. Website It is an electronic page where information can be stored. Winsock A TCP/IP stack that allows you to send data to/from the Internet. Quite different from a "winsock". White Pages ICQ's version of a directory. It allows you to search for people to chat with. A/S/L anyone? Xbox Microsoft's much-hyped gaming console. Expect to land on Planet Earth sometime late in 2001. YMMV (Abbreviation of Your Mileage May Vary) Taken from the standard disclaimer attached to EPA mileage ratings. This warning can be found in some UNIX freeware distributions. ZIP An open standard that allows you to compress and decompress data. The file extension given to ZIP files is .zip.

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