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 to connect Best Credit Card Interest Rate to Best Alltime Movies mail servers (to check for new mail at regular Whats The Best Cargo Trailer intervals, for example), and when it is Best Alltime Movies "off-line" it will not attempt Best Alltime Movies Best Price For Axid to make any Best Alltime Movies 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 is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, Best Alltime Movies connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, but Best Alltime Movies may wish Best Alltime Movies for Best Rated Dish Washer Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to Best Alltime Movies send or to receive messages. Or The Best Electric Scooter the computer may Best Alltime Movies be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to Best Alltime Movies a server), but the Best Alltime Movies connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 Best Alltime Movies minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is Best Alltime Movies in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose Best Alltime Movies clock is under the control of Best Alltime Movies the Best Alltime Movies clock of a Best Alltime Movies "synchronization master" device. When Best Alltime Movies the sync master commences playback, the Best Alltime Movies Best Obstetrician Near Blairsville Pa "on-line" device automatically Best Alltime Movies synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the Best Alltime Movies same Best Alltime Movies point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal Best Alltime Movies clock. When Best Alltime Movies a large number of devices Best Alltime Movies are connected to a sync master, it is often Best Alltime Movies convenient, if one wants to Best Alltime Movies hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back Best Alltime Movies on-line all synchronized devices have to Best Alltime Movies locate the playback point and wait Best Alltime Movies for each other to be in synchronization.[2] Best Alltime Movies (For Best Alltime Movies further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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A third Best Alltime Movies example of a common Best Alltime Movies use Best Friends For Life Photos of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The Best Alltime Movies 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 Best Alltime Movies that Best Alltime Movies have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or Best Alltime Movies impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the Best Alltime Movies web browser's Best Alltime Movies own cache, as a result of Best Alltime Movies prior on-line browsing by Best Alltime Movies the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies Best Alltime Movies of certain web Best Virus Removal pages, which it keeps Best Alltime Movies updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the Best Alltime Movies local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date Best Alltime Movies 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 will download to local copies both Best Alltime Movies the Best Alltime Movies marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct Best Alltime Movies and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc Best Alltime Movies space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of Best Drama Movies "on-line" and "off-line" have Best Alltime Movies been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the Best Alltime Movies field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered Best Alltime Movies "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has Best Alltime Movies become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as Best Alltime Movies the distinction between computer-mediated Best Alltime Movies communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. Best Alltime Movies face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real Best Alltime Movies life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions Best Alltime Movies in relationships Best Alltime Movies are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no 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 telephone can be regarded as Best Alltime Movies an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as Best Alltime Movies PDA and mobile telephone, television and Best Alltime Movies Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to Best Alltime Movies use Best Alltime Movies the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the Best Alltime Movies sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to Best Alltime Movies pre-existing off-line relationships. Best Alltime Movies He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to Best Alltime Movies on-line relationships (pointing Best Alltime Movies out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are Best Alltime Movies already seen Best Alltime Movies as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states Best Alltime Movies it to be hard The Best Pinot Noir In Us to imagine courts awarding palimony to Best Alltime Movies people who have had a purely Best Alltime Movies on-line sexual relationship. Best Alltime Movies He also conjectures that Best Alltime Movies an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint Best Alltime Movies and not Best Alltime Movies quite Best Alltime Movies comprehensible" within 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with Best Alltime Movies its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the Best Alltime Movies other way Best Alltime Movies around. Best Alltime Movies Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter Best Alltime Movies asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "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!". |
