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Webpoedia
The tech world is so full of jargon that it's nearly a full-time job trying to stay informed. Enter Webpoedia, an online encyclopedia and dictionary of tech terms, updated regularly with new words and new categories. Find out the difference between a service level agreement and an application service provider, or a dongle and a honeypot. And don't forget the one-way hash function. It's all here, defined in mostly understandable layman's terms. World Wide Web: http://www.webopedia.com/
Planetary Type-cast
Although some of our xenophobic brethren might try to convince us otherwise, there is a big demand for non-English fonts. For those in need of non-English type, start at Fonts in Cyberspace. It searches the Web for fonts in Assyrian, Cree and Kyrgyz, to name a few. While it does not offer Klingon, Middle Earthers can find a Tolkien font. This is the place to start in a foreign language font search. World Wide Web: http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts
Animated Tech Definitions
Techtionary is a site that provides what its operators claim is "the world's first animated technical dictionary." And it is what it says it is. Pressing on the front page's blinking links to technical-term definitions - say, "chromatic dispersion" - unleashes an animated explanation complete with a moving cross-section of a fiber-optic cable and pointers to its various elements. That leaps automatically to another page containing the actual definition. Only problem: with a DSL connection, things moved so fast and pages were replaced so quickly that it was virtually impossible to latch onto the messages being conveyed, though the information looks great. A stop-animation button might be useful here. World Wide Web: http://www.crosstouch.com/techtionary
Apple Fritters Reunite
Engineer Joe Torzewski purchased an Apple 1 computer in 1977, not long after the machine was introduced. Soon after, he formed the Apple I owners club, a forum of information exchange between owners of the early PCs, which operated through a newsletter circulated among members. Now, the club is back and has a home on the Web. Applefritter.com is a veritable library of information on the Apple I, including archival articles, old photographs, photocopied original documents, histories, price lists (it cost $475 for an Apple I in April 1977), just about anything you could want. The Web site was years in the making and is said to contain more than 70 megabytes of data. World Wide Web: http://www.applefritter.com/apple1
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