One Google Mp3 Search example of a common use of these Google Mp3 Search concepts is a Mail User Agent that can Google Mp3 Search be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for Google Mp3 Search new mail at regular intervals, Google Mp3 Search for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt Google Mp3 Search to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the Overleigh Cemetery Search MUA does not necessarily reflect the connection Google Mp3 Search status between the computer Google Mp3 Search on Google Mp3 Search 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 connection, but may wish for Outlook to be Google Mp3 Search off-line, so that it makes no attempt Google Mp3 Search to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone call Google Mp3 Search from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel Google Mp3 Search 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 Google Mp3 Search concepts is in Google Mp3 Search the world of digital audio Google Mp3 Search 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 Google Mp3 Search a Google Mp3 Search "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences Google Mp3 Search 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 Google Mp3 Search "off-line" uses no external clock Google Mp3 Search reference Google Mp3 Search and relies upon its Google Mp3 Search own internal clock. When Google Mp3 Search a large number of devices are connected to Google Mp3 Search a sync Google Mp3 Search master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to Google Mp3 Search take it off-line, Google Mp3 Search because if Google Mp3 Search the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to Google Mp3 Search locate the playback point and wait for each other Google Mp3 Search to Google Mp3 Search be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of Google Mp3 Search these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages Google Mp3 Search from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform Google Mp3 Search offline browsing, where pages can Google Mp3 Search be browsed using local copies Google Mp3 Search of those pages that have previously Unformat Search been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be Google Mp3 Search useful when the computer itself Google Mp3 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 Google Mp3 Search the user, or explicitly by the browser Google Mp3 Search being configured to keep local copies Google Mp3 Search of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the Google Mp3 Search on-line state, either by checking that Google Mp3 Search the local copies are up-to-date Google Mp3 Search at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable Google Mp3 Search of being explicitly configured to download Google Mp3 Search pages for offline browsing is Google Mp3 Search Internet Explorer. When pages are Google Mp3 Search added to Google Mp3 Search the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Google Mp3 Search Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages Google Mp3 Search that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount Google Mp3 Search of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are Google Mp3 Search checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are Google Mp3 Search configurable for each
The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized Google Mp3 Search from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has Google Mp3 Search become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as Google Mp3 Search the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face Google Mp3 Search communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this Google Mp3 Search distinction is "obviously Google Mp3 Search far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" Google Mp3 Search dichotomy, Google Mp3 Search he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such Google Mp3 Search as being pen-pals. Google Mp3 Search He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an Google Mp3 Search "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 to use the term Google Mp3 Search 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts Google Mp3 Search that there are legal and regulatory pressures Google Mp3 Search to Google Mp3 Search reduce the distinction between Google Mp3 Search "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not Google Mp3 Search 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 relationships Google Mp3 Search (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as Google Mp3 Search "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard Google Mp3 Search to imagine courts Google Mp3 Search awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures Google Mp3 Search that an Google Mp3 Search "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by Google Mp3 Search people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts Google Mp3 Search being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, Google Mp3 Search 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 The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter Google Mp3 Search asking for a user name and a Google Mp3 Search password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual Google Mp3 Search size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and Google Mp3 Search where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
