What Is PC Card?

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Have you ever found yourself craving more memory for your laptop but couldn't find the right card? Fear not. PC cards are here! PC cards are the standard for peripheral interfaces for laptop/notebook computers. The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) created and promulgated the standards for memory cards for personal computers to compete with the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association's standard. PC cards are a great way to expand your computer's capabilities without spending too much money or lugging around accessories. You can get them in sizes ranging from 16MB to 2GB, so they're perfect for storing essential documents like your family tree (or maybe some video games). Just pop it into your PC card reader and enjoy the extra space on your machine! The PC card has been around for quite some time, but it's still got much life left! Initially used as a memory expansion option for PCs (hence the name), the PC card has since become the standard for connecting peripheral devices to laptop and notebook computers. Today's most common uses for PC cards include network cards, modems, hard disks, and memory cards for early digital cameras. Although many portable computers still use PC cards, they have been mainly replaced by ExpressCard interfaces. PC cards are the little brothers of the PCMCIA card. They used to be known as PCMCIA cards before they were renamed. PC cards vary in thickness from 0.13 inches up to 0.64 inches and have a 68-pin, dual-row connecting interface about the size of a credit card (hence their name). They're built around an enhanced 16-bit Industry Standard Architecture bus platform initially designed for laptop computers. Unlike their big brothers, who are stored in expansion slots on your computer's motherboard, PC cards can be inserted into any compatible slot without any tools required to pop them in and go!

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Related Terms by Computing

Cellular Automaton (CA)

Cellular automatons are not entirely cellular, quiet, and wholly atomic. They are the best of all worlds when you take the three fields mentioned above, study and play with them as any good scientist would. A cellular automaton (CA) is a system of many cells linked together using those cells' specific order and states. The goal is to change how each cell is ordered through repeated steps in an algorithm. The rules determine how cells change conditions over time. This happens multiple times until the CA stops changing and has reached an end state. Cellular automatons are many mathematical models studied in physics, computer science, social sciences, and other fields. Many natural phenomena, such as snowflakes, tree growth, and fire, inspire them. Cellular automatons are of interest for many reasons. One of them is that they are a non-linear model of physical phenomena. Given the same initial conditions, their outcomes may differ depending on the ruleset, much like non-linear differential equations. Another reason is that their rule sets are often simple enough to be implemented in a computer, allowing in-silico experimentation. Finally, some cellular automatons are used in modeling social and technological phenomena. If the number of ON neighbors exceeds the number of ones, the cell changes its state to ON; if the numbers are reversed, it changes its state to OFF. These rules are self-executing and do not require any external input. Depending on the number and placement of cells, it is possible to construct a variety of interesting CA with various properties and behaviors. The most common rule for a one-dimensional grid is for updating each site (i.e., each grid cell) independently, based on the values of its current neighbors. Cellular Automaton is exciting and intriguing. They're easy to understand but hard to predict. You'll need to sit down with a cup of coffee and think deeply about how they work to start seeing their beauty. Primarily though, they're fun.

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Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)

Are you prepared to "chain" yourself to the subject of Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)? It's a method of encrypting information that's used to help keep data safe, and despite how dull it may sound, it's pretty fascinating! CBC, or "block chaining," is a method for encrypting data. This method gets its name because it operates by first dividing the data into blocks and then chaining them together. The output of one block is used as the input for the subsequent block, meaning each block must be encrypted using a unique secret key. Because of this, it is significantly more difficult for potential attackers to decode the data since they would need to crack the encryption for each block in the chain. The CBC algorithm needs to be foolproof, as it has weaknesses that can be exploited by malicious actors, such as when they use padding attacks or other similar techniques. But in general, it is a reliable method for encrypting data. It is used extensively in various contexts, including SSL/TLS protocols, virtual private networks (VPNs), and disc encryption. You may be questioning why we must use encryption in the first place. Consider all the sensitive information, like credit card numbers, login credentials, personal messages, and more, that we send and receive over the internet. If someone with bad intentions were to obtain access to such information, they could put it to any number of unethical uses if they so chose. Even if unauthorized parties receive our data, encryption can ensure that it will remain secure and confidential. Cipher Block Chaining may not be the most exciting topic, but it is crucial for everyone who cares about security and privacy. That is all there is to it, folks; I hope you found this information useful. #CBC #Encryption #Cybersecurity #DataPrivacy #SSL #TLS #VPN #DiskEncryption

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Carrier IQ

If your phone company knows more about you than you do, it's probably Carrier IQ. Carrier IQ is a company that provides analytics software to various telecom providers. They've developed programs that offer information about smartphone users to cellphone carriers, like what apps they use, how often they use them, how long they spend on them, and even where the user is using them. The problem with this is that there needs to be a way for an average user to know whether or not her carrier has installed these programs on her phone. Even if she knows that her page uses the Carrier IQ program, she cannot opt out of it or stop it from collecting data about her activities and movements. The fact that this kind of information is being collected without our knowledge or consent raises serious privacy concerns—yet we have no say in whether or not our carriers can do this. Privacy advocates are up in arms over the Carrier IQ scandal, which involves a company collecting performance data on smartphone users. Carrier IQ gathers performance data, tracking and logging what users do on their phones. This can include calls made, texts sent, and emails received. While this is not necessarily an invasion of privacy in terms of content (e.g., Carrier IQ does not have access to the actual content of phone calls), it does present a risk to user privacy because it allows third parties access to information about whom you called or texted, whether you're using your phone to browse the web or send emails, etc. The issue came to light when reports revealed that Carrier IQ had collected information about users' phone activity without their knowledge or consent. It was reported that some phones were even sending data from users' text messages directly to Carrier IQ without permission from the device's owner!

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True Ultimate Standards Everywhere (TRUSTe)

Imagine living in a world where every website and app you use has the same commitment to protecting your personal information. This is the premise upon which TRUSTe, a company that assists businesses in gaining their customers' trust by ensuring that those businesses adhere to common privacy practices within their industry, was founded. At its core, TRUSTe is a certification program run by a third party. It assures websites and applications are clear about the data collection procedures they employ and gives consumers control over the personal information collected about them. Consider it a "stamp of approval" for one's privacy. When a business wants to get its TRUSTe accreditation, it must first pass a stringent evaluation procedure to ensure that it complies with specific requirements regarding collecting, using, and sharing customer data. This includes things like ensuring that they have a privacy policy that is straightforward to comprehend, offering users the choice to opt out of tracking and targeted advertising, and ensuring that data transmission is carried out securely. Customers will know that a company is serious about protecting their personal information if they see the TRUSTe seal displayed on their website and other marketing materials after it has been evaluated and passed. It's a win-win situation for both of you. Customers will be comfortable that their personal information is being managed appropriately, and businesses will have the opportunity to demonstrate that they can be trusted. TRUSTe isn't just for companies and organizations. In addition, they offer several tools and resources to customers to assist them in understanding the rights that pertain to their privacy and making well-informed choices regarding the websites and applications they use. In a nutshell, TRUSTe acts as a privacy watchdog by ensuring that businesses use your personal information responsibly and openly and monitor how they use it. And if they are successful, they are awarded the privilege of donning the TRUSTe badge of honor. #TRUSTe #privacy #dataprotection #compliance #certification

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BibTeX

BibTeX is a bibliography-generating tool for TeX and LaTeX documents. It is used to produce bibliographies in a variety of styles and formats. BibTeX allows users to easily create citations in the form of footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations using any style they want. It also allows users to create bibliographies using different techniques, such as Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver and APA. Lamport and Patashnik were computer scientists at Bell Laboratories looking for a way to generate bibliographies without manually typing them out every time they needed one. They were inspired by two other programs called BIBTEX and BIBLIOGRAPHIE. BibTeX is the program for you if you're a scholar and want to cite your sources. BibTeX is a program that formats citations for scholarly works such as books or journal articles. Instead of having to type the title and publisher of every book or article you want to cite, all you need to do is enter some basic information like the title, date published, etc. Bibtex will automatically format them into the correct style for any particular academic journal. If you have a TeX file with your bibliography, you can use BibTeX to create a PDF file automatically. The output will look clean and professional, even if it's just something simple like "Google Scholar has been used by over 100 million people since its launch in 2004." BibTeX is a bibliography management tool that makes it easy to keep track of your references. Its creators, Leslie Lamport and Oren Patashnik created BibTeX in 1985 as an add-on to TeX, which Donald Knuth had developed in 1982. BibTeX allows you to create a bibliography without knowing all the underlying TeX commands. Just like LaTeX, it was designed for people who don't have time to learn every single detail about their tools so they can get on with what they want to be doing: writing!

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Cell Tower

Cell towers are a big deal. They're where we go to get our phones charged, and they're also the place where we can get a signal when our phone is dead. Yet what are they REALLY? Cell towers are like little cities, full of people and cars and streetlights… but instead of people, you've got electronics and antennas. Instead of cars, you've got transmitters. Instead of streetlights… well, there's an antenna on top of each one! Cell towers are high-powered radio stations that send signals to your phone, so you can make calls and send texts. They're built into tall structures so the antennas can reach above the other buildings and mountains in your area. They need to reach as far as possible for everyone's phones (and other devices) to connect with them. You want one close by when you're looking for a cell tower. You don't want to have to travel across town to get a signal, and you don't want the people around you to be able to hear your conversation. That's why cell towers are grouped in geographical locations where the population density is high, and there are likely to be large numbers of cell phone users. This helps avoid saturation of the available capacity (and thus busy signals), which could result in unhappy consumers. Cell phones are designed to be aware of the nearest tower. This is shown to the user as signal strength, representing connectivity strength between the user's location and the nearest service tower. When a user calls, radio signals search for the nearest tower. The receiving antenna of that cell tower then picks up those radio signals and starts finding out where they came from. In other words, it starts searching for your phone! Once found, those radio signals are transmitted back to you and communication is established with back-and-forth radio signals passing until both ends are connected!

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