IT Buzzwords: Mobile Device Edition
With all the press this week about Apple’s newest toys, I thought I’d focus this entry of IT Buzzwords on phrases related to mobile devices.
We know you’ve been nodding your head in agreement when your colleagues (or underlings) discuss the pros and cons of the 3GS, even though you have no clue why the world is so miffed about tethering and MMS. Here’s a chance to school yourself, so you know what your employees will be griping about in the near future.
How often do “smart phones” render us stupid, especially when syncing mail?
Tethering: If you search for “tethering” on Twitter, you will learn that it appears to be “pretty important to road warriors,” that AT&T has committed a massive “fail” by not offering it right away with the iPhone 3GS, and that, if you have the right friends, you can hack your iPhone to enable it.
But you still don’t know what it is.
Tethering refers to using a cell phone as a modem for a laptop or PDA. The term is on fire this week, thanks to AT&T’s gigantic “fail.” Seems technophiles are in a flap because the new 3GS has the capability, but the phone’s sole US carrier (AT&T) will not be offering it until the end of the summer.
Baked In: This term can be used to describe spices, love, goodness, and now software features. As far as the iPhone is concerned, critics of the device as a business tool point to its lack of antivirus and firewall as major security concerns. The traditional model of protecting applications with security packages after-the-fact has become outdated, experts say. Security needs to be “baked in,” which critics say isn’t the case with iPhones. IT departments should prepare for headaches.
Dumb Phones: It was inevitable. With the acceptance of the term “smart phones” to describe BlackBerrys, Windows Mobile devices, iPhones, Palms and the like, someone was bound to start calling their simpler counterparts “dumb phones.” It should be the other way around: After all, how often do smart phones render us stupid, especially when synchronizing mail? It’s the IT managers who purchase the devices and don’t offer any support or training who should be considered dumb, or at least a little thick. (Jen Darr)
Have any IT buzzwords to share? Send them my way, with “IT Buzzwords” in the subject line.
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Yes, with every new advancement in technology we get the annoying accompanying lexicon. I used to care where our language was headed, but then I realized that language is a living thing, and it’s exciting to see it evolve so rapidly. (And I’m heading off to the store to upgrade from my dumb phone.)