*** ANSWERMAN INTERNET EXTRA *** Sunday, June 16 1996 This is a weekly newsletter for the community of new Internet users on America Online. It is brought to you by AnswerMan, AOL's area for those learning to use the Internet. Come see what's new at keyword ANSWERMAN. Got comments about this newsletter? Send them to Kevin Savetz, "Savetz" on America Online. ||| IN THIS ISSUE || | AOL Converges on Washington, D.C. From the Internet Jargon File Upcoming Chats - This Week, Master the Web! The End - How to contact us or unsubscribe ||| YIPES! AOL CONVERGES ON WASHINGTON, D.C. || | Last week, more than 600 folks involved in providing information on AOL found themselves in our nation's capital for the AOL Partners Conference. We gorged ourselves on gourmet food and jelly beans, stayed up to all hours schmoozing, and visited the sites in Washington, D.C. Oh, and we also attended some conferences and got a glimpse in to the future of America Online. I was impressed, and I think you will be, too, at what's in store all across the service. The Internet goodies on display were particularly impressive -- I'm happy to see that AOL is moving in the right direction by providing a nice mix of tools: some useful, others maybe not so useful, but very cool. If you use Windows, you may have already downloaded the preview of AOL 3.0 -- which sports some dandy additions to e-mail and the Web browser. If you use a Mac, don't despair -- I'm told that the beta of the Macintosh 3.0 software will be available Real Soon Now. The alpha version on display at the conference was impressive, featuring buddy lists, the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser (including the ability to show tables and frames!), and a powerful e-mail interface. (If you're the adventurous type, you can go to keyword BETA APPLY to be first on your block to try it out when its almost ready.) In a simple but important addition to 3.0, both Mac and Windows users will be able to include different colors and font sizes in their e- mail messages to other AOL users. (Since the Internet e-mail standard can't handle color and fonts, mail to non-AOL users will still be plain text.) The e-mail interface has many other additions, like the ability to store messages that you send and receive for as long (or as short a time) as you want, and the ability to drag-and-drop attachments. Not ready for the 3.0 Web browser, but coming soon after, will be Shockwave. Shockwave allows you to see Web pages that include animation and sounds...and it even works at 9600 BPS. Also, an improved graphics protocol will mean sharper graphics, that load faster, on the Web. And, in a couple of weeks, the AOL Internet Connection well unveil net.help -- a complete resource for Internet information, and an expanded AnswerMan area. More on these things soon :):) ||| FROM THE INTERNET JARGON FILE || | The Internet, like most fields, is rife with its own jargon -- specialized, technical language. You're probably familiar with some of it: terms like Web, URL and Netiquette are so common that they're becoming familiar to even non-Net users. (If you're not familiar with these, you can look them up at keyword AM GLOSSARY :) But the jargon some Internet users use in their online postings can go far beyond trifling terms like "e-mail." In fact, the Internet's rich culture and background has given birth to many obscure, often humorous, words and phrases they you may be unfamiliar with. Five of these follow. frobnicate To manipulate or adjust something. "Please frob the light switch" means to flip it. Frob usually connotes aimless manipulation, such as turning a radio dial not because it needs to be tuned, but because knobs are fun. glitch From the Yiddish "glitshen", to slide or skid: a sudden interruption in electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function. An interruption in electric service is specifically called a "power glitch". In jargon, though, a hacker who got to the middle of a sentence and then forgot how he or she intended to complete it might say, "Sorry, I just glitched". snarf a. To grab, especially to grab a large document or file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's permission. b. To fetch a file or set of files across a network. c. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms or politesse (but not quite by stealing). "They were giving away samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them." virtual Friday The last day before an extended weekend, if that day is not a "real" Friday. For example, the U.S. holiday Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. The next day is often also a holiday or taken as an extra day off, in which case Wednesday of that week is a virtual Friday (and Thursday is a virtual Saturday, as is Friday). There are also "virtual Mondays" that are actually Tuesdays, after the three-day weekends associated with many national holidays in the U.S. xyzzy The canonical "magic word". This comes from the first computer adventure game (best known as "Adventure") in which the idea is to explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you find there. If you type "xyzzy" at the appropriate time, you can move instantly between two otherwise distant points. If, therefore, you encounter some bit of magic, you might remark on this quite succinctly by saying simply "Xyzzy!" Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented non-operational command on several operating systems; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it would typically respond "Nothing happens", just as Adventure did if the magic was invoked at the wrong time. In more recent 32-bit versions, by the way, AOS/VS responds "Twice as much happens". ||| UPCOMING ANSWERMAN CHATS || Chat live with AnswerMan in these hour-long sessions || Pick an interesting topic & bring your questions | Keyword: AM CHAT Internet Q&A - Wednesday, June 19, 9PM ET Have questions about the Internet? Can't browse the Web? Need to find a site, but don't know where to look? Need to find a friend's e- mail address, but don't know how? Bring your Internet questions-- AnswerMan will help you get online, find the information you need and get surfing the 'net in no time. The Internet Treasure Hunt - Thursday, June 20, 9PM ET The Internet is vast--so vast that there is almost sure to be something of interest on any topic you can name. Tonight AnswerMan will show you how to find just about *anything* on the Internet. Want maps of the world? The definition of "carbenicillin"? Information about bugs in Windows 95? Pictures of a certain breed of dog? Name what you're looking for, and AnswerMan will show you how to find it. Chatting on the Web - Sunday, June 23, 6PM ET Want to chew the rag with other people on the Internet? This hour, AnswerMan will show you how to you can use your Web browser to chat with other people, live! You can meet new people, or even use this technology to chat with friends who use other online services! This cutting-edge technology doesn't require WINSOCK, IRC or any complicated programs. The AOL Web browser is all you need. ||| THE END || | That's all for this week. Please send any comments or suggestions about the AnswerMan Internet Extra to "Savetz" (from AOL,) or "savetz@aol.com" (from the Internet.) To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an e-mail message -- To: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE Body: UNSUBSCRIBE ANSWERMAN This newsletter copyright 1996 by America Online and Kevin Savetz. All rights reserved. Made from 100% recycled electrons.