[CC] Circuits: The Gadget Vernacular (fwd)

[Alan Sondheim]

An excellent article on hype below - Alan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 15:06:33 -0500
From: The New York Times Direct <NYTDirect@nytimes.com>
To: sondheim@panix.com
Subject: Circuits: The Gadget Vernacular


Circuits from NYTimes.com
Thursday, November 29, 2001
-------------------------------------

1. From the Desk of David Pogue: The Gadget Vernacular
2. This Week in Circuits: Making the Music Sway to Your Beat
3. State of the Art: An Elegant New Sony Handheld
4. Basics: Personal Shopper for Online Bargains
5. Online Shopper: Sugarplum Visions Dance on the Web
6. The War at Home: Afghan E-Mail Seen as Too Geek to Be
True
7. What's Next: A Digital Spider's Web for Security
8. Game Theory: Speeding Breakneck Toward the Future


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1. From the Desk of David Pogue: The Gadget Vernacular
===================================================

>From time to time, I've used this column to make fun of
high-tech marketers who try to inflate their own importance
with a lingo all their own ("form factor" instead of *size*,
"price point" instead of *price*, and so on).

But people in my industry -- technical writing -- aren't
entirely bombast-free, either. In the minds of cliche-ridden
computer magazine writers, nothing is ever "500 gigs"; it's
always "a *whopping* 500 gigs." No computer is ever fast --
it can only be "*blazingly* fast." And if I read another
product review that incorporates a subheading called "The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly," I think I'll gag.

The stock phrase that bugs me most, though, is "de facto
standard." Tech writers use this term mindlessly just
because it sounds impressive, with little regard to its
meaning. They remind me of a novice golfer I once watched:
Having seen pro golfers toss some grass into the air before
each stroke -- but failed to grasp the purpose of this
gesture (to gauge the wind direction) -- he began each shot
by tossing some grass over his shoulder without even looking
at it.

"De facto" means "existing in fact, whether with lawful
authority or not." You might hear people described as "de
facto accomplices" if, for example, they fail to report a
planned heist. Maybe they didn't drive the getaway car, but
in effect, they're guilty.

A standard is "something, such as a practice or a product,
that is widely recognized or employed." Unleaded gasoline is
a standard because most people use it. The VHS tape format
is a standard. So is 8.5-by-11-inch paper in the U.S.

In other words, the term "standard," in the sense used by
computer magazine writers, *already* means "determined by
popular consensus." The phrase "de facto standard" is
redundant -- it's like saying "a standard standard." (It's a
different story when you're referring to a literal standard
-- that is, a technical specification determined by a
governing body. It makes sense to say, "The FDA defines
'full-strength' to mean a minimum of 35 mg per tablet, but
60 mg has become the de facto standard.")

But even "de facto standard" isn't as silly a term as "new
standard," a beloved marketing phrase in the high-tech
business. If anything is new, it hasn't had time to become a
standard anywhere but the in the marketers' fantasies. The
Apple Newton palmtop was supposed to have set a new
standard. Both DVD-RW and DVD+RW, incompatible formats for
recordable DVD's, have been declared standards by their
competing backers (although only DVD-RW has been defined as
a technical standard by the DVD Forum). And, of course,
Microsoft has declared just about everything it's ever done
to be a new standard.

For tech writers, may I suggest using the word "standard"
alone when you mean "what almost everyone uses." And as for
you marketers, keep in mind that only we, the people, will
determine which high-tech gadgets and operating systems
become standards.

In other words, it may be time to declare a new standard for
the use of the term "standard."


Visit David Pogue on the Web at: http://www.davidpogue.com


2. This Week in Circuits: Making the Music Sway to Your Beat
===================================================

Wearable instruments that put chips in dancers' shoes, an
orchestra on a sleeve and wireless duets on city streets.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29WEAR.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1o041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc

-----

In the Bronx, an Ounce of Connection

A new children's hospital in the Bronx is trying to make
technology part of the cure.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29HOSP.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1n041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc

-----

More From This Week's Circuits:
http://nyt.com/indexes/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1g041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc


3. State of the Art: An Elegant New Sony Handheld
===================================================

Sony's new Clie PEG-T415, which arrives in stores this week,
is not only the slimmest palmtop in the world, but also one
of the most beautiful.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29STAT.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1f041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc


4. Basics: Personal Shopper for Online Bargains
===================================================

The number of online merchants may have dwindled, but price
competition among the survivors is fierce. For shoppers, the
savings can be substantial.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29BASI.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1b041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc


5. Online Shopper: Sugarplum Visions Dance on the Web
===================================================

Too much chocolate may ruin dinner, but it makes the
holidays. Some online confection stores specialize in treats
you once loved, including some you may have forgotten.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29SHOP.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1Y041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc


6. The War at Home: Afghan E-Mail Seen as Too Geek to Be True
===================================================
=

A columnist's story about an e-mail he received from
Afghanistan rouses skepticism from his readers.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29AFGH.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a2l041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc


7. What's Next: A Digital Spider's Web for Security
===================================================

Researchers at Penn State have made use of taut lines to
create an inexpensive technology that turns a perimeter
fence into the digital equivalent of a spider's web.
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29NEXT.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1P041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc


8. Game Theory: Speeding Breakneck Toward the Future
===================================================


If you exceed the bounds of gravity and any reasonable speed
limit, is it still a racing game?
http://nyt.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29GAME.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041a1L041a3U44V0m012000mmHxdmHWc



ABOUT CIRCUITS
-----------------------
Appearing every Thursday, the Circuits section includes
coverage of all sorts of digital technology -- computers,
phones, audio and video equipment and digital television.
The New York Times on the Web offers an annotated list of
Circuits columns and reader discussions on the latest
gadgets and gizmos.

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