Project Kangaroo

Project Kangaroo is the working title of a video-on-demand (VoD) service to be provided by a consortium made up of ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide.

Content available will include recent and classic TV programmes and serials. There will be a catch-up TV service for recently aired programmes. Other content will be available free (paid for by advertising on the service) or pay-for.

It is expected that other broadcasters and content owners will be asked to join the service at a later date.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Cloud computing

Cloud computing refers to the increasing tendancy for online applications to be built and housed online, rather than on an individual’s computer or a smaller company’s servers.

Large data centres are renting out spare capacity to store online applications.

Amazon (with its Elastic Cloud Service) and Google (with its online applications including Google Docs) are already active in the field of cloud computing, and Microsoft has just anounced Microsoft Azure, which will allow the online storage of applications and data.

At its best, cloud computing taps into the principles behind Web 2.0, as applications stored online, or “in the cloud”, can be updated regularly and quickly in response to the ongoing “conversation” between developers and users.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Dongle

Traditionally a dongle – which is a small piece of plug-in computer hardware – has been used as an authentication device which must be used before a full version of a piece of software can be run. This made it useful as an aid to revent software piracy.

Recently it has been increasingly used in relation to mobile broadband – as a small plug in USB device that allows access to mobile broadband via a mobile phone network.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Mobile Broadband

Mobile broadband uses mobile phone networks to access the internet. This means users are not restricted to home or work broadband, or the coverage of their wireless network – they can get online anywhere, as long as they are within the coverage of the relevant mobile phone network.

Mobile broadband is relatively easy to set up – in many cases when you sign up for a mobile broadband package you receive a USB modem or dongle. Simply plug this in and go online.

Broadband speeds tend to be slower than for fixed line broadband (between 1 and 3Mbps) though Vodafone is offering speeds of up to 7.2Mbps on their Turbo network.

USers can sign up to contracts, or some mobile broadband providers allow usage and access to be bought by the day.

Mobile broadband providers in the UK include 02, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Orange, Three and  T-Mobile.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Social Media

Social media is part of Web 2.0 and refers to content that is created and rated by users.

Social media includes but is not limited to:

• social networking – personal or business (eg MySpace, facebook, LinkedIn)
• video sites
• forums
• blogging
• podcasts
• folksonomies (categorisation by consumers and creators rather than using traditional taxonomies)

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Fibre Optic / Fiber Optic

Fibre optic cable is made of very thin strands or threads of glass or plastic that can carry large amounts of digital information for long distances, using light.  They can carry much more data at one time than traditional copper wires.

Fibre optic cable is used to carry signals for broadband, TV and voice.

Fibre optic cables are reliable as they don’t suffer from electromagnetic interference, but they are expensive to install.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

xDSL

xDSL refers to all high speed broadband DSL, or digital subscriber lines. This group includes ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line),  SDSL (symmetric digital subscriber line), VDSL (very high bit-rate digital subscriber line), etc. DSL technologies send data over the copper wire network.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Asynchronous

In broadband, asynchronous refers to different upload and download speeds. With ASDSL broadband (via a phone line) the download speed is faster than the upload speed.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Backbone

A backbone is a robust central transmission line (or a collection of transmission lines) that links many smaller local networks via connections known network access points.

It can be a local backbone for a group of office buildings or local area, linking smaller networks to create a wide area network (WAN); or the internet backbone itself, which is made up of superfast, high bandwidth lines (which may be commercial or governmental) that link smaller networks to the internet.

Large ISPs may connect to the internet backbone directly, though smaller ISPs may link to another larger ISP which then links to the backbone.

The fewer links there are between your internet connection and the backbone, the faster your internet connection will be.

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer

Freeware

Freeware is free software that users can download from the web (or any other distribution medium) and use as often as they like without payment or subscription. However although it is free to use and distribute, most freeware is not copyright-free (ie, the original developer will retain the copyright on the software).

By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
Read my Broadband Glossary disclaimer