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Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital Best Laptop Battery audio technology. Best Laptop Battery A tape recorder, digital editor, Best Sat Nav or other device that is Best Laptop Battery "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 "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same Best Laptop Battery point in the recording. Whereas a device that is Best Laptop Battery "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, Best Laptop Battery it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is Best Laptop Battery played Best Laptop Battery back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback Best Laptop Battery point and Best Laptop Battery wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI Best Halloween Party Ideas timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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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. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" Best Laptop Battery has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction Best Hatchback between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between Best Laptop Battery computer-mediated communication Best Laptop Battery and face-to-face communication (e.g. Best Laptop Battery face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real Best Laptop Battery life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex Best Laptop Battery than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he Best Laptop Battery observes Best Laptop Battery that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, Best Laptop Battery and an "off-line" Best Laptop Battery relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded Best Laptop Battery as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as Best Laptop Battery PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and Best Laptop Battery telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that Best Laptop Battery was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that Best Laptop Battery there are legal Best Laptop Battery and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general Best Laptop Battery tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced Best Laptop Battery to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line Best Laptop Battery relationships Best Laptop Battery (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 hard Best Laptop Battery to imagine courts awarding palimony to Best Laptop Battery people who have had Best Laptop Battery a Best Laptop Battery purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
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The distinction where Best Laptop Battery "on-line" Best Laptop Battery is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as Best Laptop Battery reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain Best Laptop Battery "off-line" activities, rather than Best Laptop Battery (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its Best Laptop Battery desktops, trash cans, Best Laptop Battery folders, and so Best Laptop Battery forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The Best Laptop Battery New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name Best Laptop Battery and a password before Best Laptop Battery admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates Best Laptop Battery "the off-line store" where "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!". Best Laptop Battery |
