Computers have become an important part of our lives. Like it or not, the role of computers in our lives is going to increase in the future. No one can afford to stay ignorant about computers, and things related to computers. Here is a list of ten computer terms that you must have come across, but did you know what these terms mean?

1. RSS : Originally stood for " Rich Site Summary", but lately has evolved to  "Really Simple Syndication".

What it does is keep you informed about the latest content on your favorite sites. With so many sites out there it is almost impossible to visit each and every site on a daily basis. So, the web developers devised  a way in which the latest content on a site is published as an XML file known popularly as "feed". Feeds from various sites can then be collected ( or aggregated) at one place using either online (Google reader is one) or offline aggregators. You can even get the feed from a site in your inbox. Once you have subscribed to a site, the feed is automatically sent to your aggregator, or your inbox, every time the site is updated and you never miss an update from your favourite site. ( To subscribe to The MAG's Feed on your email, click here)

2. USB : Universal Serial Bus is used to interface various peripheral devices to your computer.

What it does is it replaces the  archaic serial and parallel ports. Thus a large variety of peripherals like mouse, keyboard, flash drive, printer, etc. can be connected to your computer easily. This simplifies the process of adding a peripheral to your computer and there is no chance of you putting the wrong plug in the wrong socket.

3. IP Address: Internet Protocol address is a unique number assigned to a computer as soon as the computer is connected to the  World Wide Web. It is analogous to your snail-mail address. If someone wants to send you a letter, your house has to have an address at which the letter can be sent. Using the Internet essentially involves transfer of data, and having a unique IP address  makes the data transfer possible. (You can check the IP address of your computer at http://whatismyipaddress.com/ )

 4. HTML/XML : Hyper Text Mark-up Language/ Extended Mark up Language is the language of the World Wide Web, used for designing the web pages.

 What it does is makes the process of putting your content online easier and in a structured manner. Though a lot of developments have taken place in the field of web development but HTML still forms the core of web designing. Simple tags like <b> any text here will be bold</b>, <i>any text here will be in italics</i> , can spice up the comments you leave on this site or on any other site.

5.Flash Drives : A few years ago, a floppy drive was the standard in portable data storage. But with the use of audio, video and other huge sized files, a floppy drive was found inadequate. CD's and DVD's were an alternative but they were bulky and not easy to handle. Plus, burning a CD or  DVD is a slightly cumbersome process.

What a flash drive does is let you transfer huge amount of data ( up to 8 GB drives are becoming a norm) in a small drive that can be connected directly to a USB port. Saving data to the flash drive is as easy as saving it to your hard drive and usually no special software is needed.

6. DVD : Digital Versatile Disc is an optical storage device of the same physical size as a CD (Compact Disc), but has a storage capacity of almost ten times that of a CD.

What it does is reduces the number of discs that you need to store your data. For example to burn a Hindi movie, three CD's are needed, but the same movie is easily stored in a single DVD. The downside is that a special DVD player is needed to play the DVD's, and a DVD writer is needed to write data on to the DVD.

7. LCD : Liquid Crystal Display uses  two sheets of polarising material and liquid crystal solution between them.

What it does is reduces the power consumed by the display screen as it works on the principle of blocking light rather than emitting it (as done by traditional CRT's or LED's).  Also, LCD reduces the size of your display screen and you can use your desk space to place that cup of coffee.

8. MP3 : MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) Audio Layer 3 is a technology to compress audio files that reduces the size of audio files by up to one tenth, thus enabling faster transfer of music files over the Internet. It also enables a larger number of songs to be burned on to a single CD or DVD. What is remarkable about MP3 is that despite the huge reduction in file size the effect on the quality of sound is almost negligible.

9.Modem  : Modulator – Demodulator!

What it does is convert the digital signals ( o's and 1's)  from the computer to analog signals that can be transmitted over communication lines ( like telephone & cable). Similarly analog signals received by the modem are converted by it into digital signals that  the computer can understand. 

10. Blue Tooth : A technology named after Harald "blue tooth" Gormson, most popular among mobile phone users.

As more and more devices are connected to the computer, the workspace becomes a clutter of wires. To un-clutter this, a technology was developed by a group of companies ( Ericsson, Intel, Nokia, IBM, Toshiba) that could help devices communicate with each other without the need for any wires. Blue tooth can work between any two smart electronic devices, even in the absence of a traditional computer.  

(If you found the article useful, do leave a comment. And if there are any other terms that you hear but want an explanation of, tell us about them, and we will tackle them in subsequent articles)

Computers have become an important part of our lives. Like it or not, the role of computers in our lives is going to increase in the future. No one can afford to stay ignorant about computers, and things related to computers. Here is a list of ten computer terms that you must have come across, but did you know what these terms mean?