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