Tech Jargon Dictionary

Two-factor authentication adds a second verification step when signing in, such as a code, security key or approval on another device.

The fourth generation of mobile network technology, widely used for calls, messaging and mobile internet.

The fifth generation of mobile network technology, designed for faster data, lower latency and greater network capacity than 4G.

5G Standalone is a form of 5G that uses a dedicated 5G core network rather than relying partly on 4G infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence is a broad term for computer systems designed to perform tasks that normally involve human-like recognition, prediction, reasoning or generation.

A set of rules or instructions a computer follows to solve a problem, make a calculation or process information.

A type of OLED display where individual pixels produce their own light, allowing deep blacks and high contrast.

Google's mobile operating system used by smartphones, tablets and other devices from many manufacturers.

An Application Programming Interface lets different software applications or services communicate with each other in a defined way.

Short for application: software designed to perform a particular task on a phone, tablet, computer, TV or other device.

Augmented reality places digital objects or information over a view of the real world, usually through a phone, tablet or headset.

The amount of data a network connection can carry in a given period. More bandwidth generally allows more data to move at once.

A bit is the smallest basic unit of digital information and can represent either a 0 or a 1.

A short-range wireless technology used to connect devices such as headphones, speakers, watches, keyboards and cars.

Bluetooth Low Energy is a power-efficient version of Bluetooth designed for devices that need to communicate while using very little energy.

A high-speed internet connection delivered to a home or business using technologies such as fibre, cable, copper or mobile networks.

Software used to visit and interact with websites, such as Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Edge.

Temporary stored data that helps a website, app or device load frequently used information more quickly.

Using remote internet-connected servers to provide computing power, software or other services instead of doing everything on your own device.

Online storage that keeps files on remote servers so they can be accessed from compatible internet-connected devices.

The Central Processing Unit is one of the main processors in a device and carries out general instructions and calculations.

Double Data Rate is a family of memory technologies used for computer RAM. Newer DDR generations generally offer higher performance and efficiency.

The Domain Name System translates human-friendly website names into the numerical IP addresses computers use to locate services online.

Receiving data from the internet or another device onto your device.

A phone feature that allows two mobile numbers or plans to be used on the same device.

The difference between the darkest and brightest detail that a camera, display or piece of media can capture or reproduce.

An embedded digital SIM that lets a compatible device activate a mobile plan without inserting a traditional plastic SIM card.

A wired networking technology used to connect devices directly to a router or local network.

Broadband that uses fibre-optic cable for some or all of the connection between the provider's network and your property.

A security system that controls incoming and outgoing network traffic according to a set of rules.

Low-level software stored on a device that controls how its hardware operates.

Frames per second measures how many individual images a game or video displays each second.

Fibre to the Cabinet uses fibre to a street cabinet and usually copper cable for the final section to the property.

Fibre to the Premises uses fibre-optic cable directly to a home or business and is commonly called full fibre.

A broadband connection where fibre-optic cable runs all the way to the property, commonly using FTTP technology.

Gigabyte is a unit commonly used to describe storage capacity, memory and mobile data allowances.

Gigahertz means one billion cycles per second and is commonly used when describing processor clocks or wireless frequencies.

A Graphics Processing Unit is a processor designed for graphics and other highly parallel computing tasks.

High Dynamic Range technology aims to show a wider range of brightness, colour and detail between dark and bright parts of an image.

High-Definition Multimedia Interface is a common connection used to carry digital video and audio between devices.

A mobile hotspot lets a phone or other cellular device share its mobile data connection with other devices, usually over Wi-Fi.

Hertz measures cycles per second. For screens it commonly describes how many times the display can refresh each second.

A numerical address used to identify a device or connection on an IP network.

An Internet Service Provider is a company that supplies internet access.

A Local Area Network connects devices within a limited area such as a home, office or school.

The delay between sending data and receiving a response across a network, usually measured in milliseconds.

Liquid Crystal Display is a screen technology that uses liquid crystals and a separate backlight to produce an image.

Light-Emitting Diode. In many TVs, 'LED TV' refers to an LCD panel that uses LEDs for its backlight.

Long Term Evolution is a mobile network technology most commonly associated with 4G services.

Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide is a display backplane technology that can help screens vary refresh rate efficiently to save power.

A branch of AI where computer systems learn patterns from data so they can make predictions, classifications or other outputs.

Apple's magnetic attachment system for compatible iPhones and accessories, including chargers, wallets and stands.

Megabits per second is a common unit used to describe internet connection speeds.

A Wi-Fi system using multiple connected access points around a property to provide broader and more consistent wireless coverage.

A display backlighting technology that uses many very small LEDs to provide more precise brightness control than traditional LCD backlights.

A device that connects your home or business network to the communication service used by your internet provider.

A Mobile Virtual Network Operator sells mobile service using another company's mobile network infrastructure rather than operating a complete radio network itself.

Near Field Communication is a very short-range wireless technology used for functions such as contactless payments and device pairing.

A Neural Processing Unit is hardware designed to accelerate AI and machine-learning workloads.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode is a display technology where individual pixels produce their own light, allowing true blacks when pixels are switched off.

The core software that manages a device's hardware, files and applications, such as Windows, macOS, Android or iOS.

A passkey is a passwordless sign-in credential that uses public-key cryptography and can often be unlocked with biometrics or a device PIN.

Software that securely stores login credentials and can generate and fill strong passwords for you.

A scam that tries to trick someone into revealing information, opening a malicious attachment or visiting a fake website.

A common test used to measure how quickly a network responds. The round-trip time is normally shown in milliseconds.

A pixel is one tiny picture element that forms part of a digital image or screen.

A measure of how closely pixels are packed together on a display, often expressed as pixels per inch or PPI.

A square machine-readable code that can contain information such as a web address, contact detail or payment link.

Qi is a widely used wireless charging standard for compatible phones, earbuds and other devices.

Qi2 is a newer wireless charging standard that can use magnetic alignment to position compatible devices correctly on a charger.

A marketing term commonly used for LCD TVs that use quantum-dot technology to improve colour and brightness.

Random Access Memory is fast temporary memory a device uses while apps, games and other software are running.

A graphics rendering technique that simulates how light behaves to create more realistic reflections, shadows and lighting.

How many times a display can update its image each second, measured in hertz.

The number of pixels used to form a digital image or display, commonly written as width by height.

A device that directs network traffic between your local devices and other networks, usually including the internet.

Software as a Service is software delivered over the internet, typically through a subscription rather than a traditional local installation.

A Subscriber Identity Module identifies a mobile subscription so a device can connect to a mobile network.

A home containing connected devices such as lights, thermostats, cameras or speakers that can be controlled or automated digitally.

System on a Chip combines several major computing components, such as CPU, graphics and other processors, onto one chip.

A Solid State Drive stores data using flash memory and has no moving mechanical parts, making it generally faster than a traditional hard drive.

Playing or viewing media over a network as it is delivered rather than downloading the entire file before playback starts.

A unit of digital storage equal to roughly one thousand gigabytes in decimal measurement.

A low-power mesh networking technology designed for connected smart-home devices.

A high-speed wired connection standard that can carry data, video and power over compatible ports and cables.

A sign-in method requiring two different forms of verification instead of relying on a password alone.

Sending data from your device to the internet, a server or another device.

A small reversible connector used on many modern phones, tablets, computers and accessories for data, charging and sometimes video.

USB Power Delivery, often called USB PD, is a charging standard that lets compatible devices and chargers negotiate supported power levels.

Virtual reality places the user inside a computer-generated environment, normally using a headset.

A Virtual Private Network creates an encrypted connection between your device and a VPN server.

A Wide Area Network connects networks or devices across a large geographical area. The internet itself is the best-known example.

A family of wireless networking technologies used to connect devices to local networks and usually the internet.

A generation of Wi-Fi based on IEEE 802.11ax, designed to improve efficiency, capacity and performance, particularly with many connected devices.

Wi-Fi 6E extends Wi-Fi 6 into the 6 GHz frequency band where supported, providing access to additional wireless spectrum.

A newer Wi-Fi generation based on IEEE 802.11be, designed for higher throughput, lower latency and improved use of multiple wireless links.

A mobile network feature that allows normal calls and, where supported, texts to use a Wi-Fi connection when mobile coverage is limited.

Charging a compatible device without plugging a charging cable directly into it, usually by placing it on or against a charging surface.

A widely used Wi-Fi security standard that encrypts wireless network traffic. It has largely been succeeded by WPA3 on newer equipment.

A newer Wi-Fi security standard designed to improve protection over WPA2 on compatible devices and networks.

A newly discovered software vulnerability for which defenders may have had little or no time to prepare a fix before it is exploited.

Software designed to communicate with people through text or voice, often using rules, AI models or a combination of both.

Artificial intelligence designed to create new content such as text, images, audio, video or code in response to prompts.

A Large Language Model is an AI model trained on large amounts of text and other data to understand and generate language.

An instruction, question or other input given to an AI system to guide the response it produces.

A machine-learning model made of interconnected computational layers that can learn complex patterns from data.

AI processing performed directly on a phone, computer or other local device instead of sending every task to a remote cloud server.

When a generative AI system produces information that sounds plausible but is incorrect, unsupported or invented.

In language AI, a token is a small unit of text that a model processes, such as a word, part of a word or punctuation.

NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling uses AI-assisted techniques on supported hardware to improve game performance and image quality.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution is a family of technologies designed to improve gaming performance by rendering and reconstructing images efficiently.

VRR lets a display adjust its refresh timing to match a game's frame output, helping reduce tearing and stutter.

The delay between an input, such as pressing a controller button, and seeing the resulting action on screen.

Playing a game that runs on a remote server while video is streamed to your device and your controls are sent back over the internet.

A feature that allows players using different gaming platforms to play the same online game together.

A smart-home interoperability standard designed to make compatible devices work more easily across different ecosystems and platforms.

An internet-connected speaker that can play audio and often includes a voice assistant for controlling information and compatible devices.

A connected mains plug or adaptor that can remotely switch power to an attached appliance and may support schedules or automations.

A central device or service that connects and coordinates compatible smart-home products.

Using a virtual boundary around a real-world location to trigger an action when a device enters or leaves that area.

A rule that makes connected devices perform actions automatically when a time, sensor reading or other condition is met.

A method or piece of software used to encode and decode digital audio or video.

High Efficiency Video Coding, also called H.265, is a video compression standard designed to deliver similar quality at lower bitrates than older formats.

An open video compression format designed to deliver efficient high-quality streaming and video delivery.

The amount of digital data used per second for audio, video or another media stream. Higher bitrates can allow higher quality but use more data.

One million pixels. Camera resolution is often described in megapixels.

Camera zoom produced by changing the lens optics rather than simply enlarging and cropping a digital image.

Zoom that enlarges part of a digital image, usually by cropping and processing rather than changing the physical optics.

An image file format that keeps minimally processed camera sensor data, giving more flexibility when editing.

A family of USB standards designed for faster data transfer than older USB 2.0 connections.

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express is a high-speed interface used inside computers to connect components such as graphics cards and SSDs.

Non-Volatile Memory Express is a protocol designed for high-speed solid-state storage, commonly used with PCIe SSDs.

A Hard Disk Drive stores data on spinning magnetic disks and is generally slower but often cheaper per gigabyte than an SSD.

Firmware that starts a PC, checks hardware and helps load the operating system. Modern computers often use UEFI instead.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is modern firmware used to initialise computer hardware and start the operating system.

A process that transforms readable information into protected data that normally requires the correct key or credential to decode.

Encryption designed so that only the communicating endpoints can read the protected content, rather than an intermediary service.

A general term for malicious software designed to damage, disrupt, spy on or gain unauthorised access to devices or data.

Malware that locks or encrypts data and demands payment or another action in exchange for restoring access.

Using physical or behavioural characteristics, such as a fingerprint or face, to verify identity.

A challenge designed to help distinguish human users from automated bots.