Tag: internet

The sharing economy: Part 2

On By colinjmcintoshIn the English language, Vocabulary8 Comments

by Colin McIntosh​

P2PIn my previous post we looked at some aspects of the sharing economy, made possible by Web 2.0 technology. This time we’ll look at new words connected with the sharing of data and content between users who are not trying to sell anything – or at least don’t appear to be. This type of sharing is sometimes called P2P, or peer-to-peer, although strictly speaking P2P involves a specific type of relationship between computers on a network, ​rather than using a ​central ​server.

At a simple level, this involves pooling resources. For example, if two people live and work near each other, it makes sense for them to find each other through a car-sharing app so that they can save on fuel and effort at the same time as reducing traffic congestion. Continue reading “The sharing economy: Part 2” →

The sharing economy: Part 1

On By colinjmcintoshIn the English language, Vocabulary4 Comments

by Colin McIntosh​

C2CWhen Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, could he have foreseen how radically it would change our lives? Web 2.0 – a name for all the internet ​features, ​websites, and apps that ​allow ​users to ​create, ​change, and ​share internet content – has brought about a revolution in (amongst other things) the way our economy works. Like most advances in technology, it brings a new set of words with it, and some of these have recently made their appearance for the first time in the Cambridge dictionary. Continue reading “The sharing economy: Part 1” →

The words of 2011

On By Paul HeacockIn the English language8 Comments

by Paul Heacock

As the year draws to an end, we make lists: Best Movies of the Year, Favorite Sports Moments and Key Political Events appear in national and international publications; Top Sales Reps or Most-Viewed Intranet Stories show up on corporate websites and in newsletters; many people even send out letters to friends and family detailing their personal “top events” of the year. Lexicographers, too, like to sift through the year’s work, and usually proclaim a Word of the Year. But we felt that a single Word of the Year was too limited. Continue reading “The words of 2011” →

Phishing for botherders: keeping up with modern crime

On By Liz WalterIn the English language4 Comments
Image courtesy of Andrej Troha

by Liz Walter

Edward Gibbon described history as ‘little more than the register of crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind’.  If this is true, it is perhaps not surprising to note a clear link between changes in a society – its inventions, habits, culture and technology – and changes in the nature of crimes committed within it.

In recent years it has been technology above all that has provided huge opportunities for a range of new crimes.  Phishing  (the practice of masquerading as a reputable organisation, especially via email, in order to trick people out of personal data such as bank account details) has been so widely publicized that only the most naïve would now fall for it.  However, there are still many other internet crimes of varying degrees of sophistication. Continue reading “Phishing for botherders: keeping up with modern crime” →