1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,920 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: and I love of all things tech. And we are 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: back on the tech glossary topic, in which we look 6 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: at the various initialisms and acronyms used in the tech 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: world and figure out what they actually mean. In the 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: last episode, we worked up to I r C or 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: Internet Relay Chat. I made a joke that I can 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: get through all the eyes in that episode because I 11 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: can stands for Internet Corporation for assigned names and numbers. 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,880 Speaker 1: But I actually have a few more eyes to cover 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,279 Speaker 1: before we move on, So I made a liar out 14 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: of myself. Let's do it, and we're gonna start with 15 00:00:54,560 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: I S d N that stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. 16 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: This requires a bit of a backstory. So way back 17 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: in the day, we only had what's called the plane 18 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: old telephone service or pots POTS, So that's kind of 19 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: a bonus acronym right there, and actually we still do 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: have that in some regard. But let's get back to 21 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: business here. Back before the nineteen sixties, all the telephone 22 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: connections depended upon actual interconnected physical wires and mechanical systems 23 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: and analog signals. So as more lines were joining the system, 24 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: and again these were analog signals passed over twisted pair 25 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: cables of wire, it became increasingly messy. Right as more 26 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: people and companies and places started to add phone lines, 27 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: it started to get to be a real mess and 28 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: analog systems were not great at supplying reliable long distance 29 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: communications service where you had to interconnect between different regional networks. 30 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: Around the nineteen fifties, the telephone companies began to work 31 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: on automating various systems and one potential solution, the one 32 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: that turned out to be the winner, was to migrate 33 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: from a purely analog telephone system to a voiceover digital 34 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: line system. Now that digital system also allowed for the 35 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: transmission of digital data, not just you know, voice, but 36 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: other types of information, and in the late nineteen eighties, 37 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: a part of the United Nations called the International Telecommunications 38 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: Union or i t U, another bonus initialism, began to 39 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: recommend the I s d N standard for data transmission 40 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: over phone lines. But there were actually two competing versions 41 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: of I S d N. There was not a standardized 42 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: version at first, that caused a lot of delays as 43 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: far as implementation and roll out, until a unified standard 44 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: emerged in the nineteen nineties, so I s d N 45 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,519 Speaker 1: finally kind of entered the scene and allowed for faster 46 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: data transmission speeds or more accurately, greater data throughput. More 47 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: on that in a little bit, But before too long, 48 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: other technologies like DSL and cable modems would replace I 49 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: s d N. Now you still find I s d 50 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: N in some places, and I should probably do a 51 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: full episode about it in the future to really talk 52 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: about its development, its history, and its implementation. But these 53 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: episodes are already going far beyond what I expected, so 54 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: I will spare you. Let's move on. I SP This 55 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: is an easy one. It stands for Internet service provider. 56 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: These are the companies that provide Internet connectivity services to customers. 57 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: Those customers might be people, and they might be businesses 58 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: or other organizations or very organized people. I guess some 59 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: I s p s also offer other services, uh, usually 60 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: directly connected to Internet services, and uh, you know, some 61 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: other I s p s end up offering services that 62 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: are related to telecommunications. So, for example, there are I 63 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: s P s that might say, all right, well, if 64 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: you purchase service from us, not only will you have 65 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: Internet connectivity, will also give you an email address, we 66 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: will host a personal website for you. We might have 67 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: other software that you have access to. And then you've 68 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: got you know, things like cable companies that are also 69 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: I s p s, and they'll bundle Internet service with 70 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: cable TV or telephone service. You get the idea. It's 71 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: pretty common thing now. Back in the nineteen nineties, there 72 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: were around ten thousand I s p s in the world, 73 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,119 Speaker 1: with the United States laying claim to more than half 74 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: of them. And if you've listened to my episodes on 75 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: earth Link, you heard me talk about one of those 76 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: I s p s. And these I s p s 77 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: frequently focused on specific regions, and hey, you know, the 78 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: Internet is a global thing. So these companies were relying 79 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: on bigger telecommunications companies to actually connect various you know, 80 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: computers together on the Internet. But telecommunications companies like telephone 81 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: companies and cable companies already had this infrastructure in place 82 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,919 Speaker 1: to deliver services to customers that could easily be converted 83 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 1: over or added onto with the Internet speeds, so you 84 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: could have Internet be there in addition to the other 85 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: services you provided, and these regional I sp s just 86 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: couldn't match that, right, They just didn't have that that 87 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: kind of infrastructure. And so there are still regional I 88 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: s p s. They do exist, but they essentially sit 89 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: on top of these other larger telecommunication company I s 90 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: p s. And I bring this up because there may 91 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: be cases in the United States and which it looks 92 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: like you might have multiple I s P options in 93 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: your area, but it's probably that all of the smaller 94 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: ones are just piggybacking on the infrastructure of the big one. 95 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: So what they're doing is they're essentially leasing space, if 96 00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: you want to think of it that way, on the 97 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: tele communication companies technology, and then they resell that to customers. Now, 98 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: the price that these regional I s p s get 99 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: isn't the same price that you would pay to have 100 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: Internet access. However, you might be paying more with the 101 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 1: regional I s P and they might try and make 102 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: it up make up for it with additional services like 103 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: those software packages I was talking about earlier. Okay, let's 104 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: move on I T. Okay. I included I T because 105 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: Jen Barber didn't know what it meant. And it means 106 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: information technology jen. The term originates from the late nineteen seventies, 107 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: which coincidentally marks the earliest days of the first personal computers, 108 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: and Miriam Webster defines it as quote the technology involving 109 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and 110 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: networks for the processing and distribution of data end quote. 111 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,559 Speaker 1: And that definition is a pretty broad one, and made 112 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: even larger with the era of big data, which necessitates 113 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: more robust networks and more sophisticated methods of data analysis. 114 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: And today we typically associate i T with networks in 115 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: general and the Internet in particular, but clearly the term 116 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: can apply to all sorts of computer systems. Okay, we're 117 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: killing it, let's keep moving. JPEG This stands for Joint 118 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: Photographic Experts Group, a joint committee that forms specifically for 119 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: the purposes of establishing standards for the coding of still pictures. 120 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: But when we use JPEG, we usually mean the file 121 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: format that this group created, not the group itself, So 122 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: we mean JPEG or JPG as a file extension of 123 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: file type. So the JPEG file format is an image file. Specifically, 124 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: it's a lossy compression file format, which means it's a 125 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: way to code still images, but you manage file size 126 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: by losing some of the data associated with that file. 127 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: Like a raw image file. If you were to take, 128 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: you know, a really nice digital camera and take a 129 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: photo of it, a raw image file is really really big, 130 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: and that could be a bit of a problem. With JPEG. 131 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: You compress that down, but you lose some of the 132 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: information in the process, and the higher the compression you choose, 133 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: the more data you have to lose in the process, 134 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: and as a result, the image will not look as good. 135 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: The more you compress it, the worst the image is 136 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: going to look, but the smaller the file size. There 137 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: was a need for this kind of file type because 138 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: the Internet in general, and the Web in particular, really 139 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: needed that in order to take off. Most of the 140 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: world was dependent upon dial up speeds in the early 141 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: days of the Web, and dial up speeds were not 142 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: terribly fast. Anyone who used a dial up modem to 143 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: log into say a bulletin board system back in the 144 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, before really the the dawn of the consumer Internet, 145 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: they know that it could take forever to download an image, 146 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: and by forever, I just mean like a crazy long 147 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: amount of time. But these compression formats like JPEG meant 148 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: that you could get images with smaller file sizes, which 149 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: meant faster download times for those files. This was also 150 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: important for stuff like email, which frequently has pretty strict 151 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: limits on how large a message can be before you 152 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: can send it out, like if it goes over that 153 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: you get that little annoying message saying you've exceeded the 154 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: the size allowed for sending out an email. The JPEG 155 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: standard took off like gangbusters and was a big part 156 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: of why the web itself was able to take off. 157 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,559 Speaker 1: It allowed for an experience that incorporated more images, and 158 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: the committee introduced other JPEG standards later on, but the 159 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,199 Speaker 1: original JPEG format was so popular that the subsequent standards 160 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: didn't really get much action, even though they had, you know, 161 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: arguably superior compression algorithms. Moving on, now we have a 162 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: trio here, and really it's just a an indication of 163 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: a whole series of things, which is kbps, mbps, and 164 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: g bps. These all referenced data throughput. Kbps is kill 165 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,240 Speaker 1: a bits per second or thousands of bits per second, 166 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: mbps is megabits per second or millions of bits per second, 167 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: and g bps is gigabits per second or billions of 168 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: bits per second, and a bit is a single unit 169 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: of binary information. It's either a zero or a one, 170 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 1: so you can think of it kind of like a 171 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: physical switch that has two positions off or on. Sometimes 172 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: people confuse a word like mega bit with the word megabyte, 173 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: but a byte is actually eight bits. To go into 174 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: why this is would actually require a pretty long story race, 175 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: so I'll save that for a different episode. But it 176 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: is good to know that megabit and megabyte are two 177 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: different things. So if you have a connection and your 178 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,719 Speaker 1: connection speed is one hundred megabits per second for downloads, 179 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: and then you go to download a file that's one 180 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,520 Speaker 1: hundred megabytes, you have a hundred megabits per second. That 181 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you could download a hundred megabyte file 182 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: in one second. That that's different. Also, we tend to 183 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: think of this as download speeds, Like a one hundred 184 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: megabit per second connection is a faster connection than a 185 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: one kill a bit per second connection, but it's slower 186 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: than a hundred gigabit per second, which told be phenomenal. 187 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: But the way we're describing this as kind of inaccurate. 188 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: We use it this way, because it's how we experience 189 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: this by by figuring out how long it takes us 190 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 1: to transfer certain amounts of information over a connection. But really, 191 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: by and large, all the data traveling across networks is 192 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: moving at the same speed. I'm kind of oversimplifying, but 193 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 1: largely this is true. So in other words, if I 194 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: have a connection that is just fifty six kill a 195 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: bits per second, like I'm using a dial up modem 196 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: and I'm getting fifty six kill a bits per second download, 197 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: that's fifty six thousand bits per second. But you are 198 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,839 Speaker 1: on a fiber connection, you're pulling down a gigabit per 199 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: second it's or one billion bits per second. While your 200 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: connection is better than mine, you're gonna get way more 201 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: data per second than I am. The actual speed of 202 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: the data traveling across these connections is pretty much the same. 203 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: It's just that your connection allows for way more data 204 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: to travel at that speed. The mind does. This is 205 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: easier to understand with an analogy. So let's say we've 206 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: got a really big room full of people, and all 207 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: the people in this room can walk at the same 208 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: top speed, and we'll say it's just three miles that's 209 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: their top speed of walking. We've got three doorways out 210 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 1: of this room. One doorway is wide enough just to 211 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: let one person through at a time, Doroy number two 212 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: is wide enough to let two people out at a time, 213 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: and Doroy number three is super wide. It allows twenty 214 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 1: people to leave at a time, shoulder to shoulder. Now 215 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 1: that last doorway is going to allow way more people 216 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: to exit the room in a given amount of time 217 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 1: than the other two would, But all the people are 218 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: still walking at that same top speed of three miles 219 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: per hour. So when someone says they have a fast 220 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:33,599 Speaker 1: Internet connection, you can be that person to say, well, actually, 221 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,559 Speaker 1: you have an Internet connection with a high data throughput, 222 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 1: and then you can probably escort yourself out of the 223 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:41,959 Speaker 1: area because no one will want to be around you. 224 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: Trust me, I know this from experience. Here in the 225 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,200 Speaker 1: United States, the national benchmark for broadband speeds is twenty 226 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 1: five megabits per second. That's twenty five megabits per second 227 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: download speed coming from the Internet to your device. In 228 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,559 Speaker 1: other words, then it's three megabit per second up that's 229 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: going from your device up to the Internet. So it's 230 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 1: it's not the same coming down as it is going up. 231 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 1: For most Internet connections, it's not, you know, symmetrical. In 232 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: other words, it's asymmetrical. Well, we got that standard for 233 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: that benchmark here in the United States back in two 234 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: thousand fifteen. Before that, the US definition of broadband was 235 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: embrace yourself for megabits per second down one megabit per 236 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: second up. And I am not joking, and that is 237 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: pretty low. So with the twenty five megabits down three 238 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: megabits up benchmark for broadband, we learned in the US 239 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: from census data back in twenty nineteen that twenty three 240 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: of people in the US lack a wired broadband connection. 241 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: This has been the center of numerous political issues, including 242 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: the f c cs stance on whether or not it 243 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,479 Speaker 1: has the authority to classify broadband internet as a utility 244 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: or something that is a basic right for all citizens. 245 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: That's something that is a It's an ongoing debate, and 246 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: it changes largely because the FCC itself changes every time 247 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: there's a change in an administration at the top of 248 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: US politics gets pretty complicated. Moving on, let's talk about 249 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 1: land and W. LAND So land or l a N 250 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: stands for local area network. This just refers to a 251 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: series of interconnected computer devices within a limited area. So 252 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: this could be as large as a college campus or 253 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: as small as a really cramped computer dorm room. It 254 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 1: doesn't all have to take place in colleges. But just 255 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 1: trust me on that last one. It's that counts as 256 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: a land. Now, the Internet is the network of networks, 257 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: but a land does not necessarily have to connect out 258 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: to the Internet. It can be self contained. So you 259 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: might create a land to work on stuff that probably 260 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: shouldn't be Internet accessible. That allows you to have what's 261 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: called an air gap, which means there's just no direct 262 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: link between that system and the Internet at large. Or 263 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: you might just have a land to facilitate a specific 264 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: type of computing. The example I always think about is 265 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 1: back in the nineties with the popularity of land parties 266 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: that referred to when geeks like me would go and 267 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: carry our computers with us to meet up with other geeks, 268 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: and then we would all link our computers together with 269 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: actual physical cables, or sometimes it would be gaming consoles 270 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: instead of computers, but you get what I'm saying, and 271 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 1: we'd link things together in order to play multiplayer games. 272 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: Because before internet broadband speeds made online gaming really feasible, 273 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: this was how we would you know the hoops we 274 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: jumped through in order to create a network to play 275 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: games like Descent and Duke Nukem three D against each other. Typically, 276 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: it's also how e sports tend to work. They use 277 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: local area networks so that one team or player doesn't 278 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: have a distinct advantage or disadvantage due to a difference 279 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: in paying times. A ping, by the way, refers to 280 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 1: a signal scent from one computer to another, typically like 281 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,919 Speaker 1: a server, and then the return signal comes back, and 282 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: it's a way of measuring the lag between those two 283 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 1: connection points. And you don't want one team to be 284 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: a disadvantage just because they're they're ping was worse, because 285 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: that doesn't indicate whether they were better players or not, 286 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: or poorer players are not. So local area networks are 287 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: a way to kind of eliminate that, or at least 288 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,400 Speaker 1: reduce it. A w land or w L a N 289 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: is surprise, surprise, a wireless land. So this is a 290 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: network that does the same thing as a local area network, 291 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: only without the physical cables. And like a land, a 292 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: w land doesn't necessarily have to connect out to the 293 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,439 Speaker 1: Internet as a whole. It can, but it doesn't have 294 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: to these days, broadband speeds allow for on line and 295 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: even cloud based gaming and computational uses without the need 296 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: for land parties, though some folks will still go and 297 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: do them, and to be honest, nothing really replaces the 298 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: experience of, you know, going to a land party and 299 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: playing with or against other people in the same physical location, 300 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: where the talking of smack can become an art form. 301 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: It's typically also a little less um objectively terrible than 302 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: what you would find with online chat that is like 303 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: the worst, but in person it tends to not quite 304 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: get that extreme though I guess one downside is that 305 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: you can't easily mute another player that that player is 306 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: saying next to you and annoying the heck out of you, 307 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: unless you know, you happen to have some duct tape handy. 308 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:47,439 Speaker 1: By the way, always carry duct tape. We've got more 309 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: to go, but I feel like we've picked up the 310 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: pace a little bit and when we come back, will 311 00:18:51,080 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: continue going down the alphabet, but first a quick break. Okay, 312 00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:05,359 Speaker 1: we're back, and now let's pick up with l c D. 313 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 1: This stands for liquid crystal display, which probably sounds a 314 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: little odd. After all, the general definition for a crystal 315 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: is that a crystal is a type of solid material 316 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: in which the constituent components are in a highly ordered structure, 317 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: like a lattice or scaffolding. So if you were to 318 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 1: take a piece of quartz or table salt and you 319 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 1: looked at it under a really powerful microscope, you would 320 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 1: see these this what looks like a fairly smooth surfaces 321 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,440 Speaker 1: in fact made up of these repeated patterns of lattice 322 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: like structures that form the overall you know, solid substance. 323 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: But if crystal is a subset of solid materials, then 324 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,679 Speaker 1: what the heck is a liquid crystal? How can you 325 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: have a liquid crystal? Well, we use the term liquid 326 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: crystals to describe stuff that as a state of matter 327 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: that has some elements of crystalline solid features and some 328 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 1: elements of a liquid material. So, in other words, you 329 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: might have a substance that, like a liquid, will take 330 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: on the shape of whatever container it's in, you know, 331 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,240 Speaker 1: like a bowl of water. You wouldn't have a square 332 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:17,920 Speaker 1: of water just sitting in the middle of a bowl, 333 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 1: though the water conforms to the shape of the bowl. 334 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: But if you were to look at that liquid under 335 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: a microscope, you would see that it's molecules are all 336 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 1: in a specific orientation, more like a crystalline structure. These 337 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: are really cool substances and they allow for all sorts 338 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: of neat applications. So with a liquid crystal display, these 339 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: crystals make images right, well, not exactly all right, So 340 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: there are liquid crystals that, when exposed to an electric current, 341 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: will change shape. There's a type called twisted pneumatics that 342 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: do this, and as the name suggests, these crystals have 343 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: a naturally twisted shape. But when you apply a current 344 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: to them, they will untwist to some degree, and the 345 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: degree to which they untwist depends upon the voltage of 346 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: that current. So by precisely controlling a voltage of a current, 347 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: you can then precisely control how much these liquid crystals 348 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: are able to untwist. And in addition, liquid crystals in 349 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: l c D s can transmit and change polarized light. Now, 350 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: a full discussion on what polarized light is and how 351 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:29,199 Speaker 1: it works is well beyond this particular podcast episode, but 352 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,199 Speaker 1: basically this means that through filters you can change the 353 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: orientation of light, and with l c D s you 354 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,880 Speaker 1: can change which light is able to pass through into, 355 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,600 Speaker 1: you know, a display or from a display to view, 356 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: and that determines what you see on that display. L 357 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,439 Speaker 1: c D s require typically a backlight. There are some 358 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: that rely on reflective material, so it relies on light 359 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: from your environment hitting the display and then you see 360 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: the reflection. But with things like l c D monitors 361 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,199 Speaker 1: and tell visions, we're talking about a backlit device, and 362 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: because of that, l c D s traditionally have limitations 363 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,919 Speaker 1: when it comes to displaying a high contrast ratio. Contrast 364 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: refers to the difference between the brightest colors a display 365 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: can show versus the darkest colors it can show. And 366 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: because l c D monitors and televisions have a backlight, 367 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,159 Speaker 1: that affects how dark you can get because there's always 368 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,199 Speaker 1: a little bit of bleed through with light. The history 369 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: and tech of l c D s is truly fascinating stuff, 370 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: so I'll save that for a future episode. Next, we 371 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,680 Speaker 1: have L E D and O l E D. Luckily, 372 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: we have some tech that frequently pops up when you're 373 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: talking about displays, and here we go, and L E 374 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: D is a light emitting diode and an O l 375 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: E D is an organic light emitting diode. So obviously 376 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: we need to define some stuff here, right, So first 377 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: of all, what in the blue blazes is a diode. 378 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,880 Speaker 1: It is a component in electronics that acts as kind 379 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: of like a one way street for electrical current. So 380 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 1: a diode will allow current to pass in one direction, 381 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,880 Speaker 1: but it will prevent it from going the opposite direction. 382 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: Diodes are one of the basic elements in circuitry and electronics, 383 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,920 Speaker 1: and it's a type of semiconductor. And there's a lot 384 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 1: more to be said, but we can't spend all podcasts 385 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: talking about it. So an l e ED or light 386 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: emitting diode is a subset of diodes. So it allows 387 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: electricity or current rather to pass one way but not 388 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: the other. And as the name suggests, it's a diode 389 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: that emits light as current flows through it. Essentially, electrons 390 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,879 Speaker 1: get pushed to higher energy levels, and when the electrons 391 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,160 Speaker 1: are moving back down to their normal energy levels, they 392 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: have to release that excess energy and they do that 393 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: in the form of photons. You know, the particles of light. 394 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: L E d s don't need as much energy to 395 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: produce light as other light sources. They are far are 396 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: more energy efficient than say, incandescent bulbs. They're even more 397 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: energy efficient than fluorescent lights. They also last a lot 398 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 1: longer than either of those two types of lights, so 399 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,439 Speaker 1: LED light bulbs are great though they tend to be 400 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: pretty expensive, particularly compared to fluorescence and the old incandescence, 401 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: but they last a lot longer and the amount of 402 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,360 Speaker 1: energy they use is much lower, so switching to them 403 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: can save money over the long term. It's just that 404 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: upfront cost is a high one. And LED television uses 405 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,400 Speaker 1: l e d s as the backlight source, and they 406 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: have great optical range and as I mentioned, they have 407 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,399 Speaker 1: high energy efficiency which brings down the power consumption on 408 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: flat panel televisions that use L e d s. They've 409 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: been around since two thousand five, and they tend to 410 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: have better contrast ratios than your typical, you know, normal 411 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,360 Speaker 1: l C D. Television's pre L e ED and organic 412 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: light emitting diode is an L e ED that contains 413 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 1: an organic compound on film, and that compound film is electroluminescent, 414 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,399 Speaker 1: which means that lights up when current passes through it. 415 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: One of the many cool things about O l e 416 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: d s is that, since we're talking about a film, 417 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,919 Speaker 1: you can actually create O l e D based displays 418 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: that are extremely thin and are in fact flexible. You 419 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: have to have the right electronics behind it that are 420 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,720 Speaker 1: also flexible, but you can have flexible displays. So oh 421 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,639 Speaker 1: lad displays have led to some really cool features, you know, 422 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 1: like bending TVs or curving TVs, or televisions that can 423 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: fold up or unfold or unrolled. Then smartphones as well, 424 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: we've seen some at least concepts of that. So these 425 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: malleable display technologies depend on oh lads, and most of 426 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: them cost more than my house did. Well, at least 427 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: that used to be the case. These days, you can 428 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: find oh LED televisions capable of displaying resolutions of four 429 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: K or higher starting at around dollars. That is not 430 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 1: chump change, I know, but it's still way less expensive 431 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: than the earliest oh LED TVs, which cost in the 432 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of dollars when they first hit the market. 433 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: Moving on next, we have MAC. Mac is the name 434 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,919 Speaker 1: of the fictional boxer in the punch Out series, but 435 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: it also stands for Media Access Control, and we typically 436 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:31,440 Speaker 1: see it paired with the word address, giving us MAC address. 437 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,440 Speaker 1: This refers to a unique identifier for a network interface 438 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: controller or n i C, so there's another bonus initialism. 439 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: This is used to identify a specific element connected to 440 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,640 Speaker 1: a computer network, and it just takes a little thinking 441 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,880 Speaker 1: to realize how this is necessary. Right, if you're connecting 442 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: various machines together in a network, you need some way 443 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:56,880 Speaker 1: to identify every single device connected, or else you would 444 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,160 Speaker 1: never know how to send information from one specific machineing 445 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,359 Speaker 1: to another. It would be more like a giant party 446 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: line with all machines just broadcasting to the rest of 447 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: the network, and that would be chaos. You wouldn't know 448 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: who was saying what, and it would all be jumbled up. 449 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 1: It's bad enough to think about just in terms of communication, 450 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 1: but when you get to stuff like file transfers and 451 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: the like, it would just be untenable. So a MAC 452 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,679 Speaker 1: address usually is something that is burned into a particular 453 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: network interface controller, So it's actually like a permanent thing 454 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,880 Speaker 1: as part of a piece of hardware that connects as 455 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: part of the network um and it's determined by whatever 456 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: company manufactured that controller. So you could think of it 457 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 1: kind of like a serial number that's tattooed onto the controller, 458 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,360 Speaker 1: and each tattoo is unique in that network. Now, sometimes 459 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,719 Speaker 1: a MAC address is only mostly permanent, which means there 460 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: are actually some methods in which a person like a 461 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: network administrator could change a MAC address for a specific 462 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: piece of hardware. Now for the fun bit, these network 463 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 1: interface controller and their unique MAC addresses. These are necessary 464 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: within a single network. So let's say we've got two 465 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 1: n i c s connected inside Network A. They would 466 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,320 Speaker 1: each need a unique MAC address or else nothing would work. 467 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: But let's say we've actually got two separate networks. We've 468 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: got network A and we've got network B. And we 469 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: find out that there's an n i C in Network 470 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,400 Speaker 1: A and it has the exact same MAC address as 471 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: an n I C network B. Does everything fall apart? 472 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:35,159 Speaker 1: Then nope. These unique MAC addresses are only necessary within 473 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: a single network. So when you have two different n 474 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,520 Speaker 1: i c s connecting to separate networks, they can have 475 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: the same MAC address, no problem, there's no conflict there. 476 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: There's a lot more to say than that, but you know, 477 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: you know the old song and dance at this point. 478 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: MIDI is next. This is Musical Instrument Digital Interface m 479 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: I d I. This is one of my favorite technologies. 480 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: It's a technical ANDERD that is sort of like an umbrella. 481 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: So under this technical standard, you have specifications for digital 482 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: interfaces as well as the connectors that connect these various 483 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: digital interfaces to things like electric musical instruments and computers. 484 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: And you have a communications protocol, and this allows various 485 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,000 Speaker 1: electronic audio and computer equipment to quote unquote talk to 486 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: each other. So a MIDI keyboard like a musical keyboard, 487 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 1: like a synthesizer, a synthesizer specifically with MIDI, that is, 488 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: with the right connectors, you could connect that directly to 489 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 1: a computer or to a digital audio station that in 490 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: turn connects to a computer. And it could be any 491 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: kind of computer as well. Like I always think of 492 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,320 Speaker 1: big desktops because I think of the big like production 493 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: type stuff. But you can have a laptop, it could 494 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:51,479 Speaker 1: be a smartphone, it could be a tablet. As long 495 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: as you have the compatible connectors that allow you to 496 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: insert that into the system, it would work. And the 497 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: MIDI protocol emerge in the nineteen eighties as electronic music 498 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 1: was really evolving, digital instruments and digital editing tools were 499 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: changing the industry. But that also meant there needed to 500 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: be some sort of standardized way to handle all this stuff, 501 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: or else we would again run into that problem where 502 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 1: you have a billion different proprietary formats that emerge, and 503 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: they make things difficult. Interestingly, MIDI does not transmit any 504 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 1: sort of audio signal. You may have listened to music 505 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: played back from a MIDI file, but that file doesn't 506 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 1: actually contain any sound. You can think of it more 507 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: as that file contains the description of sound instructions for 508 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: creating sound. So it's kind of like telling a system 509 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: you need to play this specific note at this specific 510 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: time for this long and with this an intonation and 511 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 1: with this amount of volume, the and through many an 512 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: engineer could change really really minute tiny things about digital recording, 513 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: how a note gets expressed. It's really neat stuff. This means, 514 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: by the way, that if you have a MIDI keyboard, 515 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: meaning a you know, like a musical keyboard that is 516 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: MIDI compliant, that keyboard has to have some other component 517 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: inside of it that actually generates the sound you could 518 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: create if you wanted to a purely MIDI keyboard without 519 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: that kind of component, but that would mean that if 520 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: you were to play that keyboard, you wouldn't actually be 521 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: generating any You couldn't like feed that to a speakers 522 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: or anything. It wouldn't create sound. I mean the only 523 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: sound you would get was that percussive sound of your 524 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: fingers hitting the keys, which kind of seems like it 525 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:40,680 Speaker 1: would be a type of performance art that I would 526 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: really rather not sit through. One of the best analogies 527 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: I've seen, and I really wish that I had come 528 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 1: up with this one, is that MIDI is to digital 529 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 1: music the way old piano roles were for player pianos. 530 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: So a piano role doesn't generate sound on its own, 531 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: It only works when you put it through a player piano. Know. 532 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: The real beauty of this is how Middy allows for 533 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: the computational control of musical expression, which can come in 534 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: awfully handy if you're seeking out a particular sound and 535 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,240 Speaker 1: vibe for a piece of music. Even if you don't 536 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: use the electronic digital version as your final product, it 537 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: might give you the feeling you want, so that when 538 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: you record it for real z s with you know, 539 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: quote unquote real musical instruments. I object to that phrase, 540 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: but some people use it. It means that then you 541 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: could replicate what you had created digitally. Now I've done 542 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 1: episodes about Mindy, so if you're interested in learning more, 543 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: be sure to do a search on the tech Stuff archives. 544 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll finish out the MS and 545 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: it's with a biggie. But first, let's take a quick break. Okay, 546 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: MP three and impact All right, here we go. MP 547 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,479 Speaker 1: three stands for IMPEG Audio Layer three. But then that 548 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: raises the question of what the heck does IMPEG stand for? 549 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 1: And we got to get there. So IMPEG technically stands 550 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 1: for the Moving Picture Experts Group. So you remember earlier 551 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,479 Speaker 1: in this episode about JPEG's and how that came out 552 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: of a subcommittee that was working on the digital coding 553 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: of still images. This is kind of similar, except IMPEG 554 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,560 Speaker 1: brings together various working groups of engineers from different organizations 555 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: to create standardized ways to encode different kinds of media, 556 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: which includes, but is not exclusive to video. And that 557 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: gets a little confusing, right, I mean, you would think 558 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: that a group called the Moving Picture Experts Group would 559 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: be concerning itself only with moving pictures like a video. 560 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: The group came together in the late nineteen eighties, and 561 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: while the primary effort was in encoding video digitally, that 562 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,960 Speaker 1: includes the necessity of encoding audio as well, because a 563 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 1: lot of video has audio associated with it, and encoding 564 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: also includes compression because raw media files like video and 565 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:16,759 Speaker 1: audio are pretty darn big, like way too large to 566 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: transmit easily over network connections. Way back in the nineties, 567 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: those were slow connections and it just wasn't feasible. So 568 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,719 Speaker 1: these working groups in this alliance innovated in ways to 569 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: code video and audio digitally in ways that computers can handle, 570 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 1: and to compress file sizes down so they weren't quite 571 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 1: so huge and you could actually transfer them from one 572 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:43,359 Speaker 1: computer to another without it taking a week. I think 573 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: most folks when they use the word IMPEG, or rather 574 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: I guess the acronym IMPEG, they actually mean the file 575 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: extension IMPEG or MPG. This is just one of the 576 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: formats that this particular working group spawned. An IMPEG file 577 00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 1: is a compressed video file format. Uh. It's one that 578 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: used either IMPEG one or IMPEG two file compression. But 579 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,160 Speaker 1: these days most of the time we're talking about IMPEG 580 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:14,840 Speaker 1: two because that's the type of file compression designed for 581 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:19,719 Speaker 1: higher definition video. IMPEG one was like VHS level definition. 582 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: Because you gotta remember this was coming out in the 583 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,480 Speaker 1: late eighties when VHS was still a thing, so not 584 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:29,440 Speaker 1: very practical for today's video. It's the enhanced version of 585 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 1: IMPEG compression is IMPEG two. Some folks use IMPEG as 586 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,000 Speaker 1: shorthand for just video file even if the video file 587 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: isn't an IMPEG format, so that can get a little confusing. 588 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,839 Speaker 1: But then that raises the question what about MP three. Well, 589 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: that's a coding format specifically for digital audio, and it's 590 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,080 Speaker 1: a lossy form of compression, which means that in the 591 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:55,080 Speaker 1: process of compressing the audio file to a smaller size, 592 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: the protocol ditches some of the information from that original 593 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: raw audio file. So how does the MP three process 594 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,840 Speaker 1: quote unquote know which information it should lose? And it's 595 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: all based on psychoacoustics, or how we perceive sound, and moreover, 596 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,920 Speaker 1: which sounds might be beyond the scope of human hearing. 597 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:22,239 Speaker 1: For example, because of our limitations in our perception, it 598 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 1: is very hard for us to hear a soft sound 599 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: that's played immediately after a very loud sound. So let's 600 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:34,280 Speaker 1: say you've got a digital audio file and that has 601 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,719 Speaker 1: a very soft sound played right after a really loud one. 602 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,759 Speaker 1: The MP three compression algorithm essentially says, heck, no one's 603 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: gonna be able to hear this little soft sound anyway, 604 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:47,560 Speaker 1: So we might as well lose it if you can't 605 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 1: hear it, it doesn't need to be there, and snip 606 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,160 Speaker 1: that a little bit of data doesn't make it into 607 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 1: the compressed file. Similarly, there may be some sounds within 608 00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:00,120 Speaker 1: that digital audio recording that are below or above the 609 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: threshold of human hearing when it comes to pitch, so 610 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,240 Speaker 1: we typically define this as consisting of tones between twenty hurts, 611 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,919 Speaker 1: which is a very very low pitch, and twenty thousand hurts, 612 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,479 Speaker 1: which is a very high pitch, and most folks start 613 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,919 Speaker 1: to lose the ability to hear the higher pitches as 614 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,319 Speaker 1: they age. This has led to some interesting technologies, such 615 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: as sounds designed to annoy young people that old people 616 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: can't hear, so it's used to help discourage loitering in 617 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: blazes like convenience stores. True Story and n P three 618 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,560 Speaker 1: algorithm could trim away all frequencies that are identified as 619 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:42,120 Speaker 1: being outside the scope of typical human hearing. The MP 620 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,400 Speaker 1: three compression algorithm is kind of a sliding scale, so 621 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: you can set parameters as to how much you want 622 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,760 Speaker 1: to compress the file size that in turn will affect 623 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:55,719 Speaker 1: how drastically the algorithm will alter the raw audio, So 624 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 1: this can result in a compressed file that just doesn't 625 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 1: sound good. And there are plenty of audio files who 626 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 1: will just turn their noses up at lossy compression formats 627 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:09,919 Speaker 1: like MP three no matter what level of compression you use, 628 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,040 Speaker 1: and they prefer lossless file formats that keep all the 629 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:16,040 Speaker 1: information there. And in some cases they have a point, 630 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 1: but in others, well, your own experience might vary drastically 631 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:25,040 Speaker 1: from someone else's. My own hearing must be shot because, 632 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,960 Speaker 1: at least in some cases, I have trouble telling the 633 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,280 Speaker 1: difference between a decent MP three and a lossless audio 634 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,160 Speaker 1: format of the same file played on the same set 635 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,960 Speaker 1: of equipment. Moving on next, we have n f C. 636 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,200 Speaker 1: This stands for near field communications and we're back on 637 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,759 Speaker 1: more protocols. So in this case, we're talking about communications 638 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:53,200 Speaker 1: protocols that allow for electronic communication between two devices that 639 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,360 Speaker 1: are pretty darn close to each other. And by pretty 640 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,399 Speaker 1: darn close, I mean they have to be at at 641 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: maximum four centimeters apart or one and a half inches. 642 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: You get beyond that and the NFC range doesn't work. 643 00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:10,920 Speaker 1: NFC allows for low throughput data exchanges, meaning you wouldn't 644 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: use NFC two, say, transfer a digital movie from a 645 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: computer to a smartphone or tablet. The protocols just don't 646 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,880 Speaker 1: allow for that, at least not on any time scale 647 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 1: that would be convenient. Instead, NFC is meant to transfer 648 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:30,960 Speaker 1: small bits of data for specific purposes. For example, you 649 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: might use an NFC enabled device to tap to pay 650 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: for something with a compatible payment system. You've got a 651 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: credit cards stored in your smartphone, your smartphone's got NFC chip. 652 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: The vendor you go to has an NFC pay area. 653 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: You just tap your phone to that and it makes 654 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:52,080 Speaker 1: the little communications transfer and boom your set. There are 655 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:54,719 Speaker 1: electronic ticket systems that use this kind of stuff where 656 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,080 Speaker 1: you can use your phone as like an electronic ticket 657 00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,400 Speaker 1: to get into a venue and no one has to 658 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:01,400 Speaker 1: scan a kee our code or anything like that. You 659 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,680 Speaker 1: just tap your phone. NFC allows for the communication between 660 00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:09,680 Speaker 1: your device and the venue device, and boom, once it's authenticated, 661 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,800 Speaker 1: you get to go in. That's the kind of stuff 662 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 1: that we're talking about here. And while you wouldn't use 663 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:20,480 Speaker 1: NFC to transmit large files directly, you could use NFC 664 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,759 Speaker 1: to facilitate some other type of connection between devices that 665 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: does allow for larger file transfers. So, for example, you 666 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,920 Speaker 1: might be able to tap your phone against the computer 667 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,280 Speaker 1: that happens to store, you know, like a particular digital 668 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,120 Speaker 1: movie you want to transfer, and NFC might be used 669 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:42,160 Speaker 1: to establish a wireless network link between your smartphone and 670 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,839 Speaker 1: the computer, and then the movie would transfer over this 671 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 1: wireless network link. It wouldn't be using NFC itself to 672 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,480 Speaker 1: do that. NFC would just be used to initiate that connection. 673 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:56,920 Speaker 1: One popular example of NFC technology is the Ambo, a 674 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:00,319 Speaker 1: collection of toys from Nintendo that use NFC chips to 675 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: allow the toys to connect with Nintendo game systems like 676 00:41:03,239 --> 00:41:06,319 Speaker 1: the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch. If you're not 677 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: familiar with these things, So there are these little toys 678 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,719 Speaker 1: that have, you know, a flat base, so you might 679 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,399 Speaker 1: have Mario or or Samus or think characters like that 680 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 1: link Zelda, so they're typically famous Nintendo characters. You buy 681 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: these toys and then on certain games with these systems, 682 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,680 Speaker 1: you can bring the toy in close contact with the 683 00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:32,640 Speaker 1: game system, and doing so unlocks new features in the game, 684 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,640 Speaker 1: which might mean that you can play as a new character, 685 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,120 Speaker 1: or you unlock levels that you didn't have access to before, 686 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,920 Speaker 1: or you get a new set of moves or equipment. 687 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,399 Speaker 1: All sorts of stuff like that. It's a pretty neat 688 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:49,080 Speaker 1: implementation of NFC technology. Other simple uses of NFC can 689 00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,480 Speaker 1: include anything from sharing information so it's like the equivalent 690 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:56,640 Speaker 1: of exchanging business cards but you're doing it digitally, or 691 00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,640 Speaker 1: using an old mobile device to transfer settings to a 692 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,040 Speaker 1: new one. So you buy a new phone, you bring 693 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,360 Speaker 1: your new phone in close contact with your old phone. 694 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: Your old phone says this is how this owner likes things, 695 00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:11,440 Speaker 1: and your new phone immediately adopts those settings, so that 696 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 1: way your phone's already the way you like it. I've 697 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,600 Speaker 1: done that multiple times with my various phones. Moving on, 698 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:24,240 Speaker 1: we have o e M. This stands for original equipment manufacturer, 699 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,719 Speaker 1: and typically we use o e M to describe a 700 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:30,520 Speaker 1: company that's in the business of making components that are 701 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,560 Speaker 1: used in the products of other companies. So, in other words, 702 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: and o e M is a type of company that 703 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,759 Speaker 1: might make the circuit board you find in a particular 704 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:42,360 Speaker 1: electronic device marketed by I don't know, let's say Atari. 705 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,160 Speaker 1: So Atari makes the device, or at least markets and 706 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,800 Speaker 1: sells it, but some of the components in that device 707 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:52,600 Speaker 1: come from other companies O e M s. Sometimes this 708 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:54,960 Speaker 1: gets a bit muddy. So, for example, let's say you 709 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 1: were to buy a computer off the shelf of a 710 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,880 Speaker 1: store like Best Buy, and let say that that computer 711 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,920 Speaker 1: was made by Dell, and it has the Windows operating 712 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:07,239 Speaker 1: system on it. Well, Dell doesn't make Windows. That's a 713 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,600 Speaker 1: Microsoft product. So in this case, the computer you buy 714 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:13,759 Speaker 1: is a Dell computer, but Microsoft is an O E. 715 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:16,720 Speaker 1: M because that's the company that made the operating system 716 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:22,879 Speaker 1: that this computer is using. Next, we've got O T T. Yeah, 717 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: you know me, this is over the top. That's what 718 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 1: O T T stands for, over the top. Now I 719 00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:31,560 Speaker 1: could get super silly on this and explain that over 720 00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,840 Speaker 1: the Top is a nineteen seven action film starring Sylvester 721 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,480 Speaker 1: Stallone in which he plays a truck driver who competes 722 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:41,200 Speaker 1: in professional arm wrestling tournaments and ultimately competes in a 723 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:43,799 Speaker 1: tournament that will win him a new truck and the 724 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:47,320 Speaker 1: love of his son. And yes, that is a real movie, 725 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,440 Speaker 1: and I love it, and it is not good. It 726 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,759 Speaker 1: is not a good movie, but I love it anyway. 727 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,520 Speaker 1: And that's what O T T is in my heart. 728 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:01,080 Speaker 1: But in tech, O T T actually stands for over 729 00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:03,839 Speaker 1: the top. In the case of a media service, So 730 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:06,919 Speaker 1: the media service goes over the top of some other 731 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:10,320 Speaker 1: traditional service like cable TV. So with O T T 732 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:14,520 Speaker 1: you get media delivered over Internet connectivity as opposed to 733 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 1: something like a cable feed or satellite feed. So all 734 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:23,440 Speaker 1: those streaming services like Disney Plus, Netflix, HBO, Max, Peacock, 735 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 1: Hulu and all the rest, all those count as O 736 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:32,399 Speaker 1: T T services. Next, we've got P to the new 737 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,200 Speaker 1: number two P so P the number two P that 738 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,480 Speaker 1: stands for peer to peer, and in this case the 739 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:42,759 Speaker 1: two is T O peer to peer. This is a 740 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 1: distributed approach to networking. The individual machines in a peer 741 00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,560 Speaker 1: to peer network are nodes that connect with each other, 742 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 1: and they can distribute workloads across the various nodes. This 743 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,160 Speaker 1: is different from the traditional client server network because if 744 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 1: you had just a P or client server network, you 745 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:05,560 Speaker 1: would have a centralized server that would then communicate with 746 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:10,160 Speaker 1: each individual client. The clients in the client server network 747 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:13,240 Speaker 1: would not communicate with each other. They wouldn't be like nodes. 748 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:15,799 Speaker 1: They would just communicate with the server. They might be 749 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:18,520 Speaker 1: able to communicate with each other using the server as 750 00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:22,040 Speaker 1: kind of a mediator, but they wouldn't directly connect to 751 00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,439 Speaker 1: each other. So and appeer to peer network. You can 752 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,479 Speaker 1: have the nodes communicate directly with each other and work 753 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:32,080 Speaker 1: directly with each other. That opens up all sorts of possibilities. 754 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:35,759 Speaker 1: For example, in certain computational problems, you can have the 755 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:39,000 Speaker 1: various computers on the p TWOP network lend a hand 756 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,440 Speaker 1: and speed up the time it takes to solve that problem. 757 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:45,600 Speaker 1: Or you can have p TWOP networks share files quickly 758 00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:49,440 Speaker 1: through the network itself. File sharing networks gave p t 759 00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:51,840 Speaker 1: P a really bad name in the late nineties and 760 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 1: early two thousand's. There is nothing wrong with sharing files 761 00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:58,960 Speaker 1: if you have the authority to do it, like if 762 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:02,600 Speaker 1: you have the perm mission to share files, but a 763 00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:05,160 Speaker 1: lot of folks took the opportunity to use p t 764 00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:08,360 Speaker 1: P networks to distribute files that they didn't actually have 765 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:12,000 Speaker 1: the rights to do that with, namely stuff like music 766 00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:16,320 Speaker 1: files and software. P TWOP allowed for the rapid sharing 767 00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:22,400 Speaker 1: of files across networks, uh exacerbated by organizations that specifically 768 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:26,279 Speaker 1: made software that that prioritize that sort of stuff, and 769 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:30,799 Speaker 1: that saw a spike in digital music privacy, which then 770 00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,920 Speaker 1: led to big media companies bringing the hammer down on 771 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,680 Speaker 1: various people accused of pirating music files and it got 772 00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:43,000 Speaker 1: real ugly. But there's nothing inherently wrong or bad about 773 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:46,319 Speaker 1: PTP networks. It's how you use a tool that makes 774 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:50,719 Speaker 1: it good or bad in most cases. Anyway, all right, 775 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,120 Speaker 1: that's enough for this episode. When we come back in 776 00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:56,920 Speaker 1: our next one. In this series, we will continue through 777 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,680 Speaker 1: the ps and we still got probably two more episodes left. 778 00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:02,600 Speaker 1: I'm looking at I'm just looking at the list of 779 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:06,799 Speaker 1: acronyms I have and feeling the weight of them on 780 00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:09,480 Speaker 1: my shoulders. But we we will get through them, and 781 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,120 Speaker 1: then we'll move on to totally different types of topics. 782 00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:15,799 Speaker 1: And on that note, if you have suggestions for things 783 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:17,600 Speaker 1: I should cover and tech stuff, reach out to me 784 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,600 Speaker 1: on Twitter. A few of you have been doing that recently. 785 00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:22,439 Speaker 1: It's been awesome, and let me know what you would 786 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,560 Speaker 1: like me to talk about. The Twitter handle for the 787 00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:29,040 Speaker 1: show is tech Stuff hs W, and I'll talk to 788 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:37,879 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart 789 00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:41,719 Speaker 1: Radio production. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit 790 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:44,799 Speaker 1: the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 791 00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:46,240 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.