The Digital Dictionary

About the Book

The Digital Dictionary is a compilation of easy to understand explanations for technical terms, abbreviations and acronyms that are used in our daily lives and on a daily basis. Not all of us know the real meaning when we talk about gigabyte, DSL or cable modems and USB connectors... but most of us wish they would know!

Over nine years of research, hundreds of interviews and thousands of computer hours went into writing this book. With The Digital Dictionary the reader will have a simple way of accessing translations for the most common terms and he or she will finally know the real meaning of today's tech-talk.

Since this book was written for the most common buzzwords, it can only contain a limited amount of information because our language, our vocabulary and our tech-talk grows every day. Therefore it is not unusual to come across a section in The Digital Dictionary, where the reader might think a word or abbreviation is missing... however... it is not... it was just not "common" enough to be included.

The author does not warrant The Digital Dictionary to be error-free. However - this book was compiled by using due diligence and reasonable common sense, but changes, updates and additions may be necessary to reflect new terms or acronyms in the future.

About the Author

Michael Phillips was born in Bonn, Germany, the second son of typesetter Heinz and his wife Hildegard. After completing the normal extensive educational training, he joined the military, serving four years and earning an honorable discharge. Over the next ten years, he held a number of upper management positions at Radio Shack and Alpine Electronics in his home country. He then decided to immigrate to the United States, where he has fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming involved in the film and movie Industry.

During the course of his first 15 years working with electronic media and technology in the U.S., he frequently would overhear the experts talking, but he, like many apprentices and "newcomers", was often unclear on what those professionals were talking about. Finally, he came to the conclusion that there was something missing, a reference source of some kind, that ordinary people could use and help them understand the tech-talk that increasingly surrounds them.

For weeks he searched bookstores, trying to find a dictionary or handbook that would shed some light on the "mystery terms" the tech experts used. His search was unsuccessful and so, in 1995, he began to write the handbook himself. His goal was to create a pocket-size reference that would allow people to quickly find an answer to the most basic questions and definitions of the terms most widely used in his part of the industry, the vastly expanding communications world and the approaching digital revolution.

He began his project in a very simple way: by writing down any words or phrases that he felt required clarification. For example, most people may know what a DVD is, but do they really know the meaning or just the acronym? And how many of us would like to know what a "jib" or a "gaffer" is? How about a "scratchpad?" A "base station?" A "kilobyte?" And what does a "cache" do? In his spare time, he identified more than 1000 acronyms and terms and researched their origin and meaningÉ and The Digital Dictionary was born!