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