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