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Another example of the use of these concepts Best Mobile Provider Au is in the Best Mobile Provider Au world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the Best Mobile Provider Au control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the Best Mobile Provider Au "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in Best Wedding Locations Houston the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. Best Mobile Provider Au When a large number of devices are connected to a Best Mobile Provider Au sync master, Best Mobile Provider Au it is often convenient, if one wants to hear Best Mobile Provider Au just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because Best Mobile Provider Au if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point Best Isa S and wait for each other to be in Best Mobile Provider Au synchronization.[2] (For Best Mobile Provider Au further related Best Mobile Provider Au discussion, see MIDI Best Mobile Provider Au timecode, word sync, and Best Mobile Provider Au recording system synchronization.)
A third example of Best Mobile Provider Au a Best Mobile Provider Au common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or The Best Rhubarb Pie Recipe "off-line" states. The 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 that have previously been downloaded whilst in Best Mobile Provider Au the "on-line" state. This can be useful when Best Mobile Provider Au the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to 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 Best Mobile Provider Au by the user, or explicitly by the browser Best Mobile Provider Au being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either Best Mobile Provider Au by Best Mobile Provider Au checking that the local copies are Best Mobile Provider Au up-to-date at regular intervals or Best Mobile Provider Au by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to Best Mobile Provider Au the on-line state. One Best Mobile Provider Au 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 Best Mobile Provider Au can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer Best Mobile Provider Au will download to local copies both the marked page Best Mobile Provider Au and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the Best Mobile Provider Au maximum amount of local disc space Best Mobile Provider Au allowed to be Best Mobile Provider Au consumed, and the Best Mobile Provider Au schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether Best Mobile Provider Au they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction Best Mobile Provider Au between what is considered "on-line" and what Best Mobile Provider Au is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in Best Mobile Provider Au the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction Best Mobile Provider Au between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), Best Mobile Provider Au respectively. "On-line" Best Mobile Provider Au is virtuality, Best Mobile Provider Au and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the Best Mobile Provider Au distinctions in relationships 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 Best Mobile Provider Au in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that Best Mobile Provider Au even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, Best Mobile Provider Au and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such Best Mobile Provider Au as PDA and Best Mobile Provider Au mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it Best Mobile Provider Au "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in Best Mobile Provider Au the Best Mobile Provider Au sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts Best Mobile Provider Au that there are legal and regulatory pressures to Best Mobile Provider Au 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 Best Mobile Provider Au on-line relationships are Best Mobile Provider Au being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status Best Mobile Provider Au may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as Best Mobile Provider Au just as "real" as their Best Mobile Provider Au off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony Best Mobile Provider Au to people who have Best Mobile Provider Au had a Best Mobile Provider Au purely on-line sexual relationship. He also Best Mobile Provider Au 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 Best Mobile Provider Au and "off-line" as Best Mobile Provider Au reality is Best Mobile Provider Au sometimes inverted, with Best Mobile Provider Au "on-line" concepts Best Mobile Provider Au being used to define Best Mobile Provider Au and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other Best Mobile Provider Au way around. Several cartoons by Best Mobile Provider Au The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user Best Mobile Provider Au name Best Mobile Provider Au 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 Best Mobile Provider Au be handled prior to purchase!". |
