One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Reverse Address Search Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" Reverse Address Search states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt Reverse Address Search to connect to mail servers (to Reverse Address Search check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" Reverse Address Search it Reverse Address Search will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" Reverse Address Search state of the MUA does Reverse Address Search not necessarily reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL Reverse Address Search connection, but Reverse Address Search may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that Reverse Address Search it makes no Reverse Address Search attempt to Reverse Address Search send or to receive messages. Or Search Engine Optimisation the Reverse Address Search computer may be configured Reverse Address Search to employ a dial-up Reverse Address Search connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook Reverse Address Search attempts to make connection to a server), but the Reverse Address Search connection may Reverse Address Search be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that Reverse Address Search is "on-line" Reverse Address Search is one whose clock Reverse Address Search is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master Reverse Address Search commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself Reverse Address Search to the master Reverse Address Search and commences Reverse Address Search playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and Reverse Address Search relies Reverse Address Search upon Reverse Address Search its own internal clock. When a large number of devices Reverse Address Search are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the Reverse Address Search output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to Reverse Address Search locate the playback point and wait for Reverse Address Search each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further Reverse Address Search related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be Reverse Address Search in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. Reverse Address Search The Reverse Address Search browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. Reverse Address Search In the "off-line" state, users can Reverse Address Search perform Reverse Address Search offline browsing, Reverse Address Search where pages can Reverse Address Search be browsed Reverse Address Search using local copies of those pages Top Search Engines that have previously been downloaded whilst in Reverse Address Search the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the computer itself Reverse Address Search is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which it Reverse Address Search keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either Yahoo Search Engine by checking Reverse Address Search that the Web Search local copies are up-to-date at regular Reverse Address Search intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date Web Search Engines whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. Reverse Address Search When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for Reverse Address Search being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked Reverse Address Search page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed Reverse Address Search to be consumed, and the schedule on which local Reverse Address Search copies are checked to Reverse Address Search see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. Reverse Address Search The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and Reverse Address Search "off-line" is Reverse Search conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, Reverse Address Search and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his Reverse Address Search argument that the distinctions in Reverse Address Search relationships are more complex than a simple Reverse Address Search "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible Reverse Address Search to use the term Reverse Address Search 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce Reverse Address Search the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", Reverse Address Search with a Reverse Address Search "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line Reverse Address Search relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as Reverse Address Search just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although Reverse Address Search he states it to Reverse Address Search be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely Reverse Address Search on-line Reverse Address Search sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as Reverse Address Search "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality Reverse Address Search is Reverse Address Search sometimes Reverse Address Search inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define Reverse Address Search and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor Reverse Address Search with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and Reverse Address Search a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Reverse Address Search Another Reverse Address Search illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may Reverse Address Search "Take it home Reverse Address Search as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may Reverse Address Search be handled Reverse Address Search prior Reverse Address Search to purchase!". |
