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