What's a tech term you hate?

[Jurrunio]

 

On 5/9/2021 at 4:17 PM, Bombastinator said:

What it contains anyway. This word has changed a bit.  Wire, cord, and cable all have this problem.  “Cord” used to be a thin rope, not something that carries electricity, and “cable” was rope made of metal used to hold heavy things. The term “electrical cord” to differentiate it from the tensioning stuff happened, and There is a further term “wire rope” one also sees.  The language seems to be fumbling around to find itself when faced with technology changes. The difference between “electrical cord” and “electrical cable” used to be about how big one was. Perhaps “data” needs to be added to things. A “data cable” seems pretty self explanatory. A “data wire” then seems pretty unusual. Then of course you’ve got power over Ethernet and ethernet over household wiring to mess things up again.

Wire in electrical terms means the metal part, while cord and cable includes the insulation outside. It's just like GPU and graphics cards, one is inside another.

 

On 5/14/2021 at 11:39 AM, Bombastinator said:

Times implies multiplication as in 2x4=8 as it happens with Pcie either time or by would work.  eX almost never does unless it’s part of a name like Xbox series X.  “By” implies dimension. A 2”x4” would be a two by four which is a standard for construction lumber in the United States. Calling a 2 by 4 a two times four would be inaccurate.

I guess treating PCIe generation and lanes as a two vectors just isnt intuitive to most. Even XYZ is too confusing and "length width height" is used in technical descriptions.

 

On 5/14/2021 at 1:43 PM, Rex Hite said:

"SKU"- just say "model", or "product", or anything other than "SKU" Unless you're managing an inventory system it's dumb jargon.

 

"Form Factor"- Just say "shape", or "size" or "proportions" 

 

"Design language"- just say... nothing.  It's asinine.

 

George Carlin was right!

1600AF laughs

 

form factor is more than just the shape, it also defines features used to interact with something else. For example, ATX form factor regulates where the mounting holes to fit the motherboard tray of typically a case are.

 

You can call design language "style".

 

On 5/15/2021 at 12:26 PM, Rex Hite said:

"use case" when "use' would suffice.

 

"Tjmax" - it's a correct expression but it sounds like a department store.

 

Ask why "use" is both a noun and a verb

 

Junction temperature sounds like a reading on the road, which is even worse

 

11 hours ago, Middcore said:

I understand the concept of a PCI-e card, thanks. But since no discrete GPU's really exist in the PC space except the ones on cards, I think it's perfectly natural for people to call the cards GPU's... and since it's unlikely to cause any confusion about what's being referred to, objecting to it strikes me as pedantry. 

 

CPU's also used to come on cards that went in slots. Would it have been wrong to call them CPU's?

GPUs can come with different PCB designs. I dont think this was a thing for CPUs that come in cards.

 

10 hours ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Actually, it's not exactly wrong. You see, "2k" officially refers to resolutions where the total width is greater than 2,000 pixels. That includes Cinematic 1080P, which is what most movies are filmed in. Which is very confusing considering how the rest of the numbers play out.

 

1080p has a total of 2,073,600 pixels

1440p has a total of 3,686,400 pixels

4k has a total of 8,294,400 pixels

 

4k contains exactly 4 times the pixel count of 1080p. 1440p contains 1.7777777777777777777777777777778 times the pixels of 1080p.

 

This is confusing because the number you see in "1080p" refers to the vertical height, not the width. But in the situation of "4k" we are actually measuring the scale of the number of pixels relative to 1080p. Theoretically, this would mean 1080p is "1k." So although 1440p would technically speaking be not 2k (being 1.7777k), it is obvious why people would call it that, especially considering there is no other possible resolution between 1080p and 4k that a person would be referring to when they say "2k."

 

I think generally it is healthier to think of 4k as 2160p. If you think about it like this, you end up with these three numbers, 1080p, 1440p, 2160p. Half way between 4k and 1080p's vertical resolution would be "1620p." 

 

Ultimately it is just very confusing because the real resolution depends on a combination of both width and height resolution values and we seem to mix/match the ways different standards measure different resolutions for some strange reason.

 

In conclusion - even though we call 4k 4k because it is 4 times the resolution of 1080p, 1440p IS infact 2k. This is because, despite 1440p being 1.7 times 1080p, the "2k" standard states since both 1080p (cinematic) and 1440 have a horizontal resolution of over 2,000 pixels, they are "2k" even though the same logic doesn't apply to how we refer to 4k. And this also makes regular 1080p (1920x1080) only 80 pixels away from being "2k." Which essentially means 1080p, by percentage, is closer to being 2k than 1440p is, but 1440p is technically 2k while 1080p isn't (while 1080p is about 2 million pixels).

 

or on second thought before I start an argument, I probably shouldn't be on a forum at 2:00 AM....

 

oh and don't even get me started on quad HD.

No, [number]K is a rounded off (to thousands) number of total columns of pixels there are. K for kilo, which means thousands. It will be [number]X to show it's a multiply of something (X for times), or [number]M for millions if it refers to the total pixel count.

 

for 16:9 displays:

4K = 3840 * 2160. 3840 rounds off to 4000, hence "4K"

5K = 5120 * 2880, 5120 rounds off to 5000, hence "5K

8K = 7680 * 4320, 7680 rounds off to 8000, hence "8K"

If 1080p = 1920 * 1080, does 1920 not round off to 2000, hence "2K"?

If 1440p = 2560 * 1440, does 2560 not round off to 3000, hence "3K"? Or you could call it 2.5K, since no 16:9 display is closer to 2500 than this either.

 

If this doesnt convince you, yeah you should go to bed at 2am because rounding up/down/off is in grade school syllabus. Kids learn this after addition and subtraction. 

[WhitetailAni]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

GPUs can come with different PCB designs. I dont think this was a thing for CPUs that come in cards.

Every CPU had the same PCB shape for the same slot.

Slot 1 CPUs had the same PCB for every CPU, no matter if it was Katmai or Coppermine.

Slot A CPUs same, whether it was a Classic or a Thunderbird.

Slot 2 I don't know much about, but again, same PCB shape.

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

4K = 3840 * 2160. 3840 rounds off to 4000, hence "4K"

5K = 5120 * 2880, 5120 rounds off to 5000, hence "5K

8K = 7680 * 4320, 7680 rounds off to 8000, hence "8K"

If 1080p = 1920 * 1080, does 1920 not round off to 2000, hence "2K"?

If 1440p = 2560 * 1440, does 2560 not round off to 3000, hence "3K"? Or you could call it 2.5K, since no 16:9 display is closer to 2500 than this either.

I like doing K values after 4K.

Everything else has been ###p. 144p, 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, 1440p.

I use 4K for 2160p, and 8K for "4320p". Never heard of 5120x2880 before.

[Tristerin]

Sinchuwaz

 

Since you was able to help me with that issue...can you look at this other issue my stuff is having?

 

I do everything for free, but I usually like someone just telling me what they need me to look at ahead of time, as my time is precious to me.  And its not in me to say no because...I wanna see the hardware lol.

[Bombastinator]

7 minutes ago, Caroline said:

I was at the bank today. There was this guy -I'd reckon about 50 years old- trying to get a loan and an employee was telling him he'd need to fill some forms online then come back to the bank and this guy replied "uh huh I know how to do that with my CPU" over and over again for some reason. That was mildly infuriating.

A new term between these normies you mention is to use whatsapp instead of text or number, like "send me a whatsapp" or "what's your whatsapp", I don't use it and never will so whenever someone wants to text me he has to send me an actual text or simply call. My phone's old but one of the things I've noticed is that not using that service acts like a shitty people filter, and if someone gives a TINY f... about me or has something actually important to tell me then he'll try to contact me using the old school methods or IRL.

I’ve got WhatsApp but there was a nasty TOS change some time ago that more or less gave it most of the problems of Facebook.  I haven’t signed the TOS and I suspect the thing will just shut down in a little while.

[BigDamn]

How about every goddamn name people use to describe a flash drive?

Flash Drive, Thumb Drive, USB Drive, Memory stick, Pendrive, etc.

 

Half of our technological terminology is just different variations of FLASH DRIVE. People don't seem to have this issue with SD cards... maybe I should just use those.

[Dr_Whom]

I've come to really hate the term overheating. It's gotten to the point people use it as a blanket term for anything that goes wrong with their computer.

 

Got a BSOD? It's overheating

The fans turned on? It's overheating

Got a minor graphical glitch that was probably driver related? It's overheating

Getting 5 fps cause you're trying to run Cyberpunk maxed out on your "Gaming" laptop? It's overheating

The exhaust vent that is supposed to exhaust warm air is exhausting warm air? It's overheating

[pythonmegapixel]

Unfortunately I can't persuade my group of friends to move away from Whatsapp, so I'm pretty much stuck with it. I've tried many times, and even if I send them messages by SMS they'll often reply to me by Whatsapp out of habit...

 

[Bombastinator]

10 minutes ago, Caroline said:

pro tip: the ToS are just there to tell you what they've been doing in secret for the past... what, 10 years? I mean it's part of facebook what else was people expecting? actual privacy? LMAO.

 

I just use sms for normies and secure chat servers for the rest.

I only use WhatsApp to deal with a single group.  I worried about WhatsApp that way when it came out.  Moving to WhatsApp from Facebook was a security move that some (such as myself) felt wasn’t strong enough, and are being proved right.  I suspect the group will eventually have to move again.  I suspect I will not be able to be part of it when it does though.

[dilpickle]

I hate when people use the word "download" when they are copying a file to a USB drive.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

7 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

If this doesnt convince you, yeah you should go to bed at 2am because rounding up/down/off is in grade school syllabus. Kids learn this after addition and subtraction. 

You can be informative without being insulting. You are right about 4k, however it is still very strange that 4k corresponds to the width of the display while 1080p was named after the height. Also, I was pointing out the irony that 1080p would actually be "2k."

[Jurrunio]

42 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

You can be informative without being insulting. You are right about 4k, however it is still very strange that 4k corresponds to the width of the display while 1080p was named after the height. Also, I was pointing out the irony that 1080p would actually be "2k."

you can say there are two standards, p and K. p names came before K though, in fact before SD, HD, FHD etc terms appear. 720p and 540p were common, but logically both are "1K".

[Justaphysicsnerd]

People who use the phrase "SSD Drive", I have heard a friend or two of mine say that and I was immediately triggered

[WhitetailAni]

Just now, Justaphysicsnerd said:

People who use the phrase "SSD Drive", I have heard a friend or two of mine say that and I was immediately triggered

Solid State Drive Drive

HHD and SDD are worse IMO.

Hard Head Drive?

Solid Stupid Drive?
 

[CommanderAlex]

1 minute ago, Justaphysicsnerd said:

People who use the phrase "SSD Drive", I have heard a friend or two of mine say that and I was immediately triggered

Kinda like people saying CC Cleaner instead of C Cleaner? 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

“That’s what she said”

@LinusTechsays it all the time, it must be a tech term

[Bombastinator]

52 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

“That’s what she said”

@LinusTechsays it all the time, it must be a tech term

Would that make “nice!” Also a tech term?  I am somehow doubtful of this.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

19 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Would that make “nice!” Also a tech term?  I am somehow doubtful of this.

Yep.

theres 69gb (nice)of ram and a gt420

actually that’s a video I bet they would do

“The most meme of a pc”

pay for all of it in doge coin

Etc...

[wamred]

I guess this would be obvious for someone who works for an ISP but when someone talks about 'bandwidth' as speed from their internet. 

[TheCoder2019]

Just now, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yep.

theres 69gb (nice)of ram and a gt420

actually that’s a video I bet they would do

“The most meme of a pc”

pay for all of it in doge coin

Etc...

69 GB? GT420? A full 69420 system! Yay!

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 minutes ago, TheCoder2019 said:

69 GB? GT420? A full 69420 system! Yay!

Maybe 69.42tb of storage

[CommanderAlex]

When people use the term "memory" with respect to smartphone's storage capacity like, "How much memory does this phone have?" and the associate says "It has 128GB of memory". 

[fUnDaMeNtAl_knobhead]

nft

[TheCoder2019]

15 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Maybe 69.42tb of storage

Even 69.42GB eMMC would be fine for the laptop I posted about earlier!

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yep.

theres 69gb (nice)of ram and a gt420

actually that’s a video I bet they would do

“The most meme of a pc”

pay for all of it in doge coin

Etc...

But there isn’t.  There 64 and 92. 69 is 3x23 and 23 is prime.  A video card that was called a 420 might have happened.  It wouldn’t be gaming class though.  Old AND low end. 

[Bombastinator]

5 hours ago, FakeKGB said:

Solid State Drive Drive

HHD and SDD are worse IMO.

Hard Head Drive?

Solid Stupid Drive?
 

HhD is a misspelling so I’ll take that. It’s supposed to be HDD for hard disk drive, to differentiate it from FDDs which don’t really exist anymore.  HDDs seem to maybe be starting to be on their way out as well.