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The Biggest Tech Industry Buzzwords, Defined for Normal People


The tech industry loves catchy phrases, but the truth is that most of them either don't mean anything or they're just complicated ways to phrase simple ideas. With that in mind, let's dig into what sayings like "the internet of things" or "disruption" means to us normal people.

We've already covered the most useful tech terms worth knowing, but it seems like every day we see articles mentioning a ton of nonsense marketing words and phrases. Some of these terms are useful, but most are just confusing. Let's demystify a few of the more common.

Acqui-Hire

At its most obvious, acqui-hire is a portmanteau of acquisition and hire, and means just that. In the world of technology it's often used when one company buys another just to hire on talent. The New York Times described it like so:

Companies like Facebook,

Google

and Zynga are so hungry for the best talent that they are buying start-ups to get their founders and engineers — and then jettisoning their products.

So, "acqui-hire" is when a big company buys another smaller company just to get the people who work there.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is when you use a computer or phone to add computer generated information to the real world. Typically, this is an overlay on a camera screen. Think of it like having a video game-style HUD up at all times—when you point a camera at something, artificial information displays in real time in front of you. For example, someday you might have a car window that makes it possible to see through other cars. You'll find plenty of examples of current apps and services with augmented reality right now, but few are useful.

The Cloud

The cloud is one of those obnoxious overused terms that's hard to tell what exactly people are referring to. But at its core, the cloud is just the internet. It's when a bunch of computers get networked together and you can access that network from anywhere. For example, "cloud storage" refers to online storage like Dropbox, SkyDrive, or Google Drive. Storing other data in "the cloud" just means it's available online so you can get it on multiple devices.

Crowdfunding

As the name implies, crowdfunding is when an inventor asks the public to fund a project. These projects range from comic books to apps. The idea is that you give someone money so they can finish a project. When it's done, you get a reward. This funding comes through services like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. The problem is that it's often difficult to gauge whether something is worth funding, but we've put together a guide if you need some help.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency, in overly simple terms, is basically internet money—the most popular form of which is Bitcoin. In more complicated terms, it's a decentralized digital currency. That means a network of users keep a public transaction ledger so everyone knows where people spend them, trade them, or move them. It still works like real money, but the transaction is publicly recorded for everyone to verify, and impossible to counterfeit. If you're interested, we have a more in-depth explanation of Bitcoin here.

Disruptive

Disruptive might be the most overused term in tech these days. In tech, the word marks when a piece of technology changes the landscape of an industry. This means it either creates a new market by displacing an old one, or improves a product so exponentially that the old versions are barely recognizable. Historically, the terms is for innovations like the Model T or the MP3. Nowadays people use it to describe pretty much every app that does something even slightly different, even though a calendar app that imports your Facebook events isn't disruptive like the iPhone was disruptive.

Gamification

Gamification seeks to turn everything you do into a game, to incentivize you to do more. For example, an app might push you to complete your to-do list and give you a reward for doing so. The psychology behind it is a little iffy, but you'll still find a ton of examples of gamification in fitness, habits, and more.

The Internet of Things

When you see the words "Internet of Things" it's referring to objects we're not used to seeing have internet access with internet access. This might be thermostats, fridges, coffee pots, and whatever else someone decides to stuff a Wi-Fi card into. The Internet of Things is going to change everything, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Startup

A startup is a new business. That's it. In the tech industry, a startup may not every even make anything, it might just be a simple piece of intellectual property that gets sold off before it's even used. The word startup is also becoming an increasingly negative term describing a culture of young entrepreneurs who start companies at a rate that rivals the dot com era.

Quantified Self

Quantified self refers to the idea that you can use technology to track data about your personal daily life and use that data to make your life better. For example, a pedometer tracks your steps. You could use the data from a pedometer with a journal to see how exercise affects your mood. The term "quantified self" has been around for a while, but as it's gotten easier to track data it's become more in fashion in recent years.

Wearables

Wearables is a goofy way of referring to any and all wearable technology. It's a computer you wear. This includes things like smartwatches, fitness trackers, Google Glass, and just about anything else you'd wear that has technology inside of it.