Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday! Do you know your computer data terms? My words this week will take an unusual dive into the world of math, but issues with our satellite internet have forced me to take a close look at data usage and terms relevant to it.
Please visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion for more cool words to learn, “mathy” or otherwise.
We moved out to the country for the peaceful lifestyle and bucolic views. But sometimes, we pay the price. For example, last week’s “Snowmaggendon” wrecked our long gravel driveway. Take a look:
To play it safe, we keep the cars parked out by the road. Since our driveway is a third of a mile, I get to take 10 minute walk in 20 degree temperatures before I leave or return to the house. Nothing like a brisk hike to wake you up and clear your head.
Another joy of country living: Internet service. The cable company and high-speed phone lines don’t come out to us, so we pay a high premium for satellite service. Lately, the satellite company says we are burning through 15 GB halfway through our billing cycle. I think they are scamming me so I’ll buy more GB, but I have can’t prove it. Anyone, if you have tech geeks for friends who know how to monitor how much data one uploads and downloads, PLEASE refer them to me.
How can we use so much data when we don’t stream movies?! I’ve shut off Gmail chat and other program options that constantly update and use data, and now I’m watching the size of downloads closely. My big question last week was:
What’s bigger? A MB or a KB?
So here it is, the data vocab breakdown. I got lots of great info from the Whats a Byte website.
- Bit = the smallest unit of information a computer uses.
- Byte = 8 bits. One byte could = one character; 10 bytes could = one word.
- Kilobyte (KB) a unit of computer information equal to 1024 bytes; it comes from the fact that 1024 (210) is the power of 2 closest to 1000 (kilo = 1000)
- Megabyte (MB) 1,048, 576 bytes, and it comes from 1,048,576 = 220, the power of 2 closest to one million (mega = multiplied by one million)
- Gigabyte (GB) 1,073,741,824 bytes or one billion bytes (giga = billion and comes from the Greek word gigas, giant)
- Terabyte (TB) equals 1024 gigabytes or 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, or one trillion bytes (tera = trillion or 1012)
Apparently, there’s some controversy with the variation in definitions. See how a gigabyte can be one billion bytes OR 1,073,741,824 (a little over one million)? A hard drive might be advertised with a capacity of 250 GB, but since Windows programs stick to the 1,073,741,824 definition, that leaves only 232 gigabytes of available storage to use.
If you want to delve further into the world of computer speak, visit the What’s a Byte site. My head is starting to hurt.
Word Nerd Workout
Do you have any other computer tech terms you’d like to share? Enlighten us, please!
Thanks for getting nerdy with me.
Julia
Thanks for reminding me what everything is, Julia! You would think I would know because I’m surrounded by techie folks. (Also took some computer programming classes back in the day.) I’ll see if I can find anything out about how to monitor your GB usage…
Thanks Jen! I need all the help I can get.
I can never remember which is bigger, KB or MB. This explanation might help, if it doesn’t fall out of my head again.
(I say “again” because whenever I call from my workspace to my husband’s: “Is KB or MB bigger?!” he explains, and then I forget.)
Kilo = 1000 — which I know from teaching metric to 5th graders.
Mega just means BIG in my head. I will try to remember that it means million in this case, at least.
Maybe I should just try to remember that since K comes earlier in the alphabet, it’s “smaller.” I am so much better with letters than numbers! 😉
I have a confession. I know what those words mean – sort of. My IT Guy Hub explains them and many others in great and tedious detail. Here’s the confession…when he does that? My eyes kind of glaze over and I sort of tune him out and just try really hard to look like I’m still listening. He knows, I think. I have to perfect the ruse. 😀
If it’s any comfort, my eyes would glaze over too. Too much “number speak” and I tune out. Good luck with the rise. 😉
First of all, what a beautiful piece of property you have! Secondly, I am completely hopeless when it comes to technical jargon~ thanks for the tutorial!
Thanks Jessica!
I’m so glad we don’t have to rely on satellite service anymore, Julia. (And did you have to climb up on the roof and get the snow out of the dish during Snowmaggendon? We had to to that many times.) City dwellers take so much for granted.
Thanks for the link – that’s a handy page to bookmark.
Debbie, I know you understand the challenges of rural living. How were you able to rid yourself of satellite?
Glad you like the link. 😉