Stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP is a protocol designed for transferring files over the Internet. Files stored on an FTP server can be accessed using an FTP client, such as a web browser, FTP software program, or a command line interface.
An FTP server can be configured to enable different types of access. For example, an anonymous FTP configuration allows anyone to connect to the server. However, anonymous users may only be allowed to view certain directories and may not be able to upload files. If anonymous FTP access is disabled, users are required to log in in order to view and download files.
The standard FTP protocol is not encrypted, meaning it is vulnerable to packet sniffers and other types of snooping attacks. Therefore, the FTPS and SFTP protocols were developed to provide secure FTP connections. FTPS (FTP with SSL security) provides SSL encryption for all FTP communication. SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) is a secure version of FTP that uses SSH to encrypt all data transfers.
To you connect to an FTP server, you first need to enter the server name and port number. The server name often starts with ftp, such as ftp.example.com. The standard port number for FTP is 21, while SFTP uses port 22 (SSH). If you connect via FTPS, you might be required to enter a custom port number, but the most common one is 990. In order to access an SFTP or FTPS server, you will also need to enter a username and password.
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FTP
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Facebook
Facebook is a social networking website that was originally designed for college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older. Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos, and information about themselves. Friends can browse the profiles of other friends and write messages on their pages.
Each Facebook profile has a wall, where friends can post comments. Since the wall is viewable by all the users friends, wall postings are basically a public conversation. Therefore, it is usually best not to write personal messages on your friends walls. Instead, you can send a person a private message, which will show up in his or her private Inbox, similar to an e-mail message.
Facebook allows each user to set privacy settings, which by default are pretty strict. For example, if you have not added a certain person as a friend, that person will not be able to view your profile. However, you can adjust the privacy settings to allow users within your network (such as your college or the area you live) to view part or all of your profile. You can also create a limited profile, which allows you to hide certain parts of your profile from a list of users that you select. If you dont want certain friends to be able to view your full profile, you can add them to your limited profile list.
Another feature of Facebook, which makes it different from MySpace, is the ability to add applications to your profile. Facebook applications are small programs developed specifically for Facebook profiles. Some examples include SuperPoke (which extends Facebooks poke function) and FunWall (which builds on the basic wall feature). Other applications are informational, such as news feeds and weather forecasts. There are also hundreds of video game applications that allow users to play small video games, such as Jetman or Tetris within their profiles. Since most game applications save high scores, friends can compete against each other or against millions of other Facebook users.
Facebook provides an easy way for friends to keep in touch and for individuals to have a presence on the Web without needing to build a website. Since Facebook makes it easy to upload pictures and videos, nearly anyone can publish a multimedia profile. Of course, if you are a Facebook member or decide to sign up one day, remember to use discretion in what you publish or what you post on other users pages. After all, your information is only as public as you choose to make it! -
RE: Emoticon
The term emoticon comes from emotion and icon and refers to facial expressions represented by keyboard characters. For example, the emoticon represents a happy face and represents a sad face. By inserting an emoticon into a message, you can help the recipient better understand the feeling you want to get across.
While most emoticons represent expressions, they have branched out to symbolize many other things, such as people, animals, objects, and actions. Some emoticons are meant to be read left-to-right, while others are displayed vertically. Below are examples of different types of emoticons:
Kaomoji emoticons, which originated in Japan, use Japanese symbols and uncommon characters to create unique emoticons. For example, the emoticon =( ^o^)ノ___o represents a person throwing a bowling ball. The flipping table emoticon (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ can be used to say you are really upset.
The popularity of text-based emotions led to the creation of actual icons or emojis. Emojis (which are sometimes called emoticons) are now part of the standard character set in most mobile and desktop operating systems. This means you can insert actual smiley faces (or other expressions) instead of using a string of characters. For example, you can insert a ️ instead of using the text-based
NOTE: If you want to have good netiquette, its best to avoid using emoticons in formal communication. However, its fine (and rather common) to use emoticons in text messages, informal emails, and on social media websites. -
Email Address
An email address is a unique identifier for an email account. It is used to both send and receive email messages over the Internet. Similar to physical mail, an email message requires an address for both the sender and recipient in order to be sent successfully.
Every email address has two main parts: a username and domain name. The username comes first, followed by an at (@) symbol, followed by the domain name. In the example below, mail is the username and techterms.com is the domain name.
[email protected]
When a message is sent (typically through the SMTP protocol), the sending mail server checks for another mail server on the Internet that corresponds with the domain name of the recipients address. For example, if someone sends a message to a user at techterms.com, the mail server will first make sure there is a mail server responding at techterms.com. If so, it will check with the mail server to see if the username is valid. If the user exists, the message will be delivered.
While a basic email address consists of only a username and domain name, most email clients and webmail systems include names with email addresses. An email address that contains a name is formatted with the name first, followed by the email address enclosed in angle brackets, as shown below.
Full Name [email protected]
Email can be sent to recipients with or without a name next to the email address. However, emails sent to addresses that include a name are less likely to be filtered as spam. Therefore, it is a good idea to fill in your full name when setting up an email account. Most mail clients and webmail systems will automatically include your name in your sending email address.
NOTE: When manually typing an email address into the To: field, it is a good idea to use the Full Name formatting as shown above and include the persons name before the email address. This will help prevent the message from being incorrectly flagged as spam. -
Domain Suffix
A domain suffix is the last part of a domain name and is often referred to as a top-level domain or TLD. Popular domain suffixes include .com, .net, and .org, but there are dozens of domain suffixes approved by ICANN.
Each domain suffix is intended to define the type of website represented by the domain name. For example, .com domains are meant for commercial websites, whereas .org domains are to be used by organizations. However, since any entity can register domain names with these suffixes, the domain suffix does not always represent the type of website that uses the domain name. For example, many individuals and organizations register .com domain names for non-commercial purposes, since the .com domain is the most recognized.
Each country also has a unique domain suffix that is meant to be used for websites within the country. For example, Brazilian websites may use the .br domain suffix, Chinese websites may use the .cn suffix, and Australian websites may use the .au suffix. These country-based TLDs, sometimes referred to as country codes, are also used to specify different versions of an international website. For example, the German home page for Google is www.google.de instead of www.google.com.
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RE: Digitize
When you digitize something, you convert it from analog to digital. For example, if you import a VHS tape from a VCR into your computer, you might use an analog-to-digital converter (DAC) to convert the analog signal to a digital stream of data. This is because computers are digital devices and can only read digital data.
Digital files are created by taking samples of analog data, typically at the rate of several thousand per second. For example, a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, which is what standard audio CDs use, indicates that the audio is being sampled 44,100 times every second. Therefore, the higher the sampling rate, the better the quality of the digitized file.
Because digitizing analog data is done by sampling sections of data, the end result is really an estimation of the original data. However, as long as a high sampling rate is used, our ears and eyes perceive digitized audio or video as a steady stream of analog data. Because digital data can be edited by computers and can be endlessly copied with no loss of quality, most of todays audio and video media are created in a digital format.
For more information about the difference between analog and digital data, view this Help Center Article. -
DAC
Stands for Digital-to-Analog Converter and is often pronounced dac. Since computers only recognize digital information, the output produced by computers is typically in digital format. However, some output devices only accept analog input, which means a digital-to-analog converter, or DAC, must be used.
The most common use for a DAC is to convert digital audio to an analog signal. This conversion typically takes place in the sound card, which has a built-in DAC. The digital signal, which is basically a stream of ones and zeros, is transformed into an analog signal that might take the form of an electrical charge. This electrical charge is recognized by most speaker inputs and therefore can be output to a speaker system.
DACs are also used for converting video signals. Historically, most video displays, such as TVs and computer monitors used analog inputs. Only in the last couple of years have digital displays with DVI and HDMI connections become commonplace. Therefore, in order for a computer to output to an analog display, the digital video signal must be converted to an analog signal. This is why all video cards with an analog output (such as a VGA connection) also include a DAC.
Any time a signal is converted from one format to another, there is a potential loss of quality. Therefore, it is important to have a high-quality DAC whether you are converting audio or video signals. The same holds true when performing the opposite conversion, which requires an analog-to-digital converter, or ADC. -
4G
4G is a collection of fourth generation cellular data technologies. It succeeds 3G and is also called IMT-Advanced, or International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced. 4G was made available as early as 2005 in South Korea under the name WiMAX and was rolled out in several European countries over the next few years. It became available in the United States in 2009, with Sprint being the first carrier to offer a 4G cellular network.
All 4G standards must conform to a set of specifications created by the International Telecommunications Union. For example, all 4G technologies are required to provide peak data transfer rates of at least 100 Mbps. While actual download and upload speeds may vary based on signal strength and wireless interference, 4G data transfer rates can actually surpass those of cable modem and DSL connections.
Like 3G, there is no single 4G standard. Instead, different cellular providers use different technologies that conform to the 4G requirements. For example, WiMAX is a popular 4G technology used in Asia and Eastern Europe, while LTE (Long Term Evolution) is more popular in Scandinavia and the United states. -
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing refers to applications and services offered over the Internet. These services are offered from data centers all over the world, which collectively are referred to as the cloud. This metaphor represents the intangible, yet universal nature of the Internet.
The idea of the cloud simplifies the many network connections and computer systems involved in online services. In fact, many network diagrams use the image of a cloud to represent the Internet. This symbolizes the Internets broad reach, while simplifying its complexity. Any user with an Internet connection can access the cloud and the services it provides. Since these services are often connected, users can share information between multiple systems and with other users.
Examples of cloud computing include online backup services, social networking services, and personal data services such as Apples MobileMe. Cloud computing also includes online applications, such as those offered through Microsoft Online Services. Hardware services, such as redundant servers, mirrored websites, and Internet-based clusters are also examples of cloud computing. -
Clip Art
Clip art is a collection of pictures or images that can be imported into a document or another program. The images may be either raster graphics or vector graphics. Clip art galleries many contain anywhere from a few images to hundreds of thousands of images.
Clip art is typically organized into categories, such as people, objects, nature, etc., which is especially helpful when browsing through thousands of images. Most clip art images also have keywords associated with them. For example, a picture of a female teacher in a classroom may have the keywords school, teacher, woman, classroom, and students associated with it. Most clip art programs allow you to search for images based on these keywords.
When you find a clip art image you want to use, you can copy it to your computers clipboard and paste it into another program, such as Photoshop or Microsoft Word. You may also be able to export the image to the Desktop or another folder on your hard disk. Most clip art is royalty free, meaning you can use the images without paying royalties to the creators of the images. So if you buy a clip art package with 50,000 images for .00, you are only paying 1/10 of one cent for each image. Thats a pretty good deal. -
Blob
If youre like me, you picture a blob as a enigmatic green object that lacks a defined shape or size. In the computer world, however, blobs are a bit easier to define. The term blob actually stands for Binary Large Object and is used for storing information in databases.
A blob is a data type that can store binary data. This is different than most other data types used in databases, such as integers, floating point numbers, characters, and strings, which store letters and numbers. Since blobs can store binary data, they can be used to store images or other multimedia files. For example, a photo album could be stored in a database using a blob data type for the images, and a string data type for the captions.
Because blobs are used to store objects such as images, audio files, and video clips, they often require significantly more space than other data types. The amount of data a blob can store varies depending on the database type, but some databases allow blob sizes of several gigabytes. Now that is a big blob! -
RE: Attachment
An attachment, or email attachment, is a file sent with an email message. It may be an image, video, text document, or any other type of file.
Most email clients and webmail systems allow you to send and receive attachments. To send an attachment along with your email, you can use the Attach command, then browse to the file you want to attach. In some email interfaces, you can simply drag a file into the message window to attach it. When you receive an attachment, most email programs allow you to view the attachment in place or save it to your local storage device.
While modern email programs make it easy to send and receive attachments, the original email system (SMTP) was actually not designed to handle binary files. Therefore, attachments must be encoded as text in order to be transferred with an email message. The most common encoding type is MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions). While MIME encoding makes it possible to send messages with emails, it typically increases the file size of the attachment about 30%. Thats why when you attach a file to an email message, the file size of the attachment appears larger than the original file.
You can attach multiple files to a single email message. However, the maximum size of the combined attachments is limited by the sending and receiving mail servers. In other words, the size of the attachment(s) after being encoded cannot be larger than the limit of either the outgoing or incoming mail server. In the early days of email, attachments were limited to one megabyte (1 MB). Today, many mail servers allow attachments larger than 20 MB. However, to protect against viruses and malware, many mail servers will not accept executable file types, such as .EXE or .PIF files. If you need to send an executable file to someone, you can compress the file as a .ZIP archive before attaching it to the email message.
NOTE: Even a large amount of text takes up a small amount of space compared to most binary files. Therefore, attaching a document to an email may increase the size substantially. For example, a typical email may only require one kilobyte (1 KB) of disk space. Attaching a single 1 MB file will make the message 1,000 times larger. Therefore, it is best to share large files using another method like FTP or DropBox. Additionally, if you have almost reached your email quota on your mail server, you can free up a lot of space by deleting old attachments. -
ActiveX
ActiveX is a technology introduced by Microsoft in 1996 as part of the OLE framework. It includes a collection of prewritten software components that developers can implement within an application or webpage. This provides a simple way for programmers to add extra functionality to their software or website without needing to write code from scratch.
Software add-ons created with ActiveX are called ActiveX controls. These controls can be implemented in all types of programs, but they are most commonly distributed as small Web applications. For example, a basic ActiveX control might display a clock on a webpage. Advanced ActiveX controls can be used for creating stock tickers, interactive presentations, or even Web-based games.
ActiveX controls are similar to Java applets, but run through the ActiveX framework rather than the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). This means you must have ActiveX installed on your computer in order to view ActiveX controls in your Web browser. Additionally, when loading a custom ActiveX control within a webpage, you may be prompted to install it. If this happens, you should only accept the download if it is from a trusted source.
While ActiveX provide a convenient way for Web developers to add interactive content to their websites, the technology is not supported by all browsers. In fact, ActiveX is only officially supported by Internet Explorer for Windows. Therefore, ActiveX controls are rarely used in todays websites. Instead, most interactive content is published using Flash, JavaScript, or embedded media.