Life in a High-tech world

· High-tech, hi-tech = describe very modern technology. High tech is just a shorter way of saying high technology. And high technology describes any invention, system or device that uses the newest ideas or discoveries of science and engineering The opposite of high tech is «low tech» which describes a technology that is traditional, simple and easy to operate, e.g.a wooden plow pulled by oxen is low tech. High tech became a popular expression in the United States during the early 1980’s.

· State of the art is something that is as modern as possible. It is a product that is based on the very latest methods and technology. Something that is «state of the art» is the newest possible design or product of a business or industry. A state of the art television set is the best that one can buy. Millions of Americans began to use the expression in the late 1970’s.

· virtual reality = a computer technology interacting in real time with the user who creates changes in a multimedia-generated environment;

The Internet, «the net», net = in computer technology abbreviation ofnetwork (a system of interconnected computers); WWW= World Wide Web;

Electronic mail/E-mail/e-mail=transmission of information (letters, messages, data, etc) from one computer terminal to another , the term which dates from the late seventies, combines the familiar sense of mail and a newer sense of electronic (computerized, machine readable) (Cf.: snail mail =conventional or surface mail as opposed to e-mail);

· Netiquette = the (unwritten)rules of behavior for Internet users); Netspeak =the jargon and language used by the Internet users;surfing the net=searching through the Internet or online services for interesting stuff.

cyber- = this proliferating prefix has become a popular and overused linguistic icon for coining many new words, from the term cybenertics (the science of automated systems) and the Greek kybernan =(to steer);

· cybertot=a youngster raised in the digital age;cyberpunk =an Internet outlaw, who tries to break government security codes; cyberspace , cybersex,etc.; Cyberspeech= the style of speech attributed to specialists in computer industries, originated in Silicon Valley, a region in Northern California around San Jose where the electronic and computer manufacturing industries are concentrated which is now spread all over the world among computer users;

· 404= someone who is totally clueless or ignorant on a subject, e.g. Janet is totally 404 when it comes to multimedia ( from the «404 File Not Found» - message on the Web when a site is closed or is temporarily inaccessible) 411= information;

· hacker, hack, hacking,nouns; alsoverb hack, hack into. In the computer slang of the 70s, ahacker was a computer fanatic, andhacking was the exploration of the computer’s potential ( the words appear to be from 1950s’ US slang in which to hack is to cope with, manage, I can hack it = I can manage it). However, hacking had become synonymous in the public mind with gaining access to other people’s computer systems improperly, mischieviously or criminally. This is now the predominant sense ofhacking, hacker,