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Word up! Explore the lexicon of tech
Don't be a newb. Get to know the neologisms of IT...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Friday 24 November 2006

A

Adware - Software that dishes up adverts once it is installed on a user's machine

Applet - A software component that runs within another piece of software and has limited functionality

Avatar - An old word with a very modern definition. Users of online community sites and instant messaging services choose characters as a visual representation of themselves. They can dress them and style them as they see fit
e.g. "Check out my new avatar! I'm going for maximum bling with this look"

New word order

Want to own your fellow techies? Then get your teeth into our essential guide to IT neologisms by clicking on the links below…

A to E: Adware to Exploit
F to N: Fat pipes to Nipples
O to S: Owned to Supercomputer
T to Z: Tag cloud to Zombie

B

Backdoor - A method of accessing a computer system that bypasses the standard security procedures
e.g. "Hackers unearthed a backdoor in the login system"

BlackBerry thumb - Sore thumb suffered by (over-)use of RIM's BlackBerry
e.g. "That's the 12th email I've sent this morning - I'm getting serious BlackBerry thumb!"

Blogosphere - The community of online commentators (aka bloggers)
e.g. "The blogosphere was buzzing with news of President Bush's latest gaffe"

Bluebugging - Hacking a Bluetooth-enabled device to gain access to mobile phone commands without the device owner knowing

Bluejacking - Sending unsolicited messages via Bluetooth
e.g. "I was on the bus the other day and someone started Bluejacking my phone"

Blue screen, blue screen of death (BSOD) - A terminal system error, named after the blue-coloured screen displayed by poorly Windows PCs
e.g. "Well, Hank, I would send you the spreadsheets but unfortunately Windows has seen fit to give me the blue screen"

Bluesnarfing - The theft of data from a Bluetooth-enabled device

Burn - To copy data to a CD or DVD
e.g. "Jez burned me a happy hardcore compilation CD"

C

Chatroom - A virtual meeting place in cyberspace where web users exchange typed messages
e.g. "Have you seen my new girlfriend? I met her last month in a vampire-enthusiasts' chatroom"

Chimping - The act of taking a photograph on a digital camera and then immediately checking out the result

Chipping - Modifying a games console to allow it to play games from another territory, or pirated games
e.g. "Let's go round to Jim's place - he's had his PS2 chipped so we can play all those knocked-off video games we bought down the pub".

Citizen journalist - A member of the public who uses personal technology such as a digital camera, cameraphone or camcorder to record newsworthy events; also, a blogger who writes about current affairs
e.g. "Johan fancies himself a bit of a citizen journalist - he's been blogging about the election results"

Click fraud - Rogue clicks on pay-per-click adverts - i.e. clicks by people attempting to drive up the amount of revenue generated by ads or to make a rival over-pay for their ads, rather than good-faith clicks made by bona fide consumers

Cookie - A data morsel generated by a website and stored on a PC's hard drive that contains information enabling the site to recognise the user - or something about them - when he or she returns

CrackBerry - Comedy moniker inspired by the BlackBerry's addictive properties
e.g. "I wouldn't say my boyfriend is a CrackBerry-addict but I caught him checking his emails over my shoulder while we were having sex the other night"

Cracker - A hacker; a person who attempts to circumvent - or 'crack' - computer systems or software copy-protection

Crowdsourcing - The process of utilising the spare time and willingness of people outside an organisation or business - via the internet - to get a task or project done, often for free

Cyberspace - The virtual place where the information superhighway exists
e.g. "We never see Betty anymore - she's always off in cyberspace"

D

Dark fibre - Fibre optics that have been installed but have not yet been used

Dictionary attack - A type of hack attack used to crack a password or pass-phrase by testing a series of likely possibilities, such as a list of words taken from a dictionary

Digg - A website where users submit stories they've unearthed from around the web and vote to either 'digg' or 'bury' each others' submissions; also the process of giving a thumbs-up to a story submitted to Digg - do you 'Digg' it?

Dongle - A piece of hardware coupled with software that must be connected to the computer in order for the software to function fully

Downtime - A period of time when a website, network or server is offline and unavailable

E

Ebusiness - The use of computers and particularly the internet as a platform for doing business, obviously. Following the convention first introduced by email, ebusiness along with ecommerce and e-tail sparked a flurry of e-neologisms, from the dull but worthy e-procurement to e-vangelism

Emoticon - Small graphics or a series of symbols depicting or representing human facial expressions in order to convey tone and nuance to non-face-to-face communications such as email and IM
e.g. "Maureen realised Yahoo! offered no emoticon to express the size of her hangover"

Exploit - Code that takes advantage of a bug in a piece of software
e.g. "A malicious exploit for Internet Explorer 7 has been spotted in the wild"

Next page: F to N: Fat pipes to Nipples