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Dave for Dummies: A Glossary

No offense intended, of course. The fact is, I'm a bit of a geek, and while most of my friends know what I'm talking about, I want this blog to be accessible to anyone. So I decided to write a glossary of terms I use all the time when writing about the topics I enjoy, and hopefully that will make some of my posts less cryptic. Cool? Cool.

(3rd Party) App || Short for Application, refers to computer software. A third party application is software compatible with a device or other software, that was written by an outside contributor.

Beta || A term given to the testing-stage/version of a game or service. The same goes for "Alpha", an even earlier stage of completeness.

Browser || Software, (usually free) for browsing the world wide web. Examples include Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Camino, and Internet Explorer (IE).

CGI || Computer-generated imagery. In this blog it is usually in reference to cinematic sequences in video games which have superior 3D graphics than regular gameplay.

E3 || The Electronic Entertainment Expo - now renamed the "E3 Media and Business Summit" - is an annual convention in which companies in the gaming and entertainment industry showcase their upcoming products.

Flash || Refers to either Adobe Flash, which is software for building animations, or Macromedia Flash Player - a feature now standard in most browsers that allows for viewing of Flash-created content and other media.

FPS || First Person Shooter; a video game genre.

Freeware || Short for free software, usually available online for download. May or may not be a trial version of purchasable software.

HTML || Hypertext Markup Language - one of many coding languages, (and by far the most prominent of them) that is used in the design in most sites on the world wide web, including this one.

ISP || Internet Service Provider...speaks for itself. Big players in Canada are Rogers and Bell.

Leopard || See OS X.

Linux || An open-source operating system with countless different versions, usually called "distributions" or "distros". Examples of popular distros are Ubuntu, Debian and Red Hat.

MMO(RPG) || Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game - usually abbreviated to MMO - is a video game genre where players are charged for access, often on a per-month basis.

Net Neutrality || See my post on Net Neutrality.

Next-Gen Console || One of the newest line of gaming consoles that currently represents the epitome of non-PC electronic entertainment. The consoles are Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Sony's Playstation 3 (PS3). Any mention of "the console wars" is a reference to the sales and overall popularity of these products.

Open-Source || Hardware or software whose defining source code is openly available for viewing and editing by its users (sometimes called "modding"), often for the purpose of multi-version distribution.

OS || Operating System - the essential program usually included by default in certain hardware such as computers and phones. The OS is the middleman between user and machine that makes it easy to use the machine's features and run other software. Windows (XP, Vista, etc.) are operating systems, as are Mac OS X and Sun Solaris.

OS X || The current default OS on all Apple's computers. The most recent version is OS 10.4, otherwise known as "Tiger". In October 2007, Apple is releasing OS 10.5, called "Leopard". It will become the new standard bundled OS on all Macs.

RTS || Real-Time Strategy - a genre of video game. Notable examples include the and the Warcraft and the Starcraft games.

Tiger || See OS X.

UI || User Interface - any setup of buttons and other interactive tools that provide usability within an application.

WoW || World of Warcraft - the immensely popular MMO from Blizzard Entertainment.



Blogs, Sites, People

Amber MacArthur || A Torontonian tech journalist, blogger, podcaster and net neutrality activist - a celebrity of sorts, at least in the Canadian tech scene.

del.icio.us || A social bookmarking site - frequently used in conjunction with external lists, as seen in this blog, to list links to items of interest.

Dennis McCauley || Member of the ECA and writer behind GamePolitics.com.

Digg || A community website in which items submitted by users are listed in a certain order, depending on popularity. Popularity is determined through a democratic voting system. Technology and science are the most emphasized content.

GamePolitics || Blog presented by the ECA that reports stories pertaining to political aspects of the gaming industry.

Jack Thompson || A controversial attorney from Miami whose anti-game activism has garnered widespread attention.

Paul Stamatiou || A student at Georgia Tech who maintains a popular tech blog.

Pete/Rockwell/Spunk Maestro || All the same guy.

The Sarahs || I have 3 close friends named Sara(h). There's Sarah Palaković, frequently referred to as her internet pseudonym and potential legal name "Kat", whose own blog inspired this one and who comments here frequently. Sara Pytka-Jones is my lifelong friend since days of yore. And finally, Sarah Lavine is my friend whom I met in Acting at Guelph.

Rotten Tomatoes || A website whose database of film reviews averages out final "scores" for hundreds of films.

Technorati || A blog-ranking site and searchable blog database.


Disclaimer: All of the above definitions are original.

Note: Want something added? Need additional explanation? Just want to say Hi? Comment!

Labels: glossary

posted by Dave @ 12:44 PM