T

T1
This is a data transfer system that transfers digital signals at 1.544 megabits per second (quite a bit faster than a 56K modem, which maxes out at around 0.056 Mbps). Most small to mid-sized colleges and business have T1 lines for their Internet connections. Because of the T1's large bandwidth, hundreds of people can be accessing the Internet from one T1 line. However, like all good things, too many people on one T1 line can cause dramatic decreases in data transfer speeds. For this reason, multiple T1s are often used.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
T3
What about T2, you ask? For some reason, there just is no such thing. (There was probably some legal dispute about it involving the name of a popular Arnold Schwarzenegger movie). If a T1 connection just isn't going to cut it for you, a T3 should do the trick. However, if you thought a T3 was 3 times faster than a T1 connection, you're slightly off. A T3 line actually 30 times faster, supporting data transfer rates of 44.736 megabits per second. What I wouldn't do to have one of those in my basement.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Tape Drive
This is a removable storage device mainly used for backing up data. It is similar to a Zip Drive, but instead of Zip disks, it uses small tapes. The drive acts like a tape recorder, reading data from the computer and writing it onto the tape. Since tape drives have to scan through lots of tape to read small amounts of scattered data, they are not practical for most storage purposes. That is why they are used almost exclusively for data backup. The benefit of tape drives is that they typically have large capacities for storing data, for a lower cost than hard drives similar in size. Also, multiple tapes can be used to make incremental backups (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.), which is much cheaper than using multiple hard drives.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
TCP/IP
Stands for "Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol." These two protocols were developed in the early days of the Internet by the U.S. military. The purpose was to allow computers to communicate over long distance networks. The TCP part has to do with the verifying delivery of the packets. The IP part refers to the moving of data packets between nodes. TCP/IP has since then become the foundation of the Internet. Therefore, TCP/IP software is built into all major operating systems, such as Unix, Windows, and the Mac OS.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Telnet
This is a program that allows you log in to a Unix computer via a text-based interface. If you have an account on a Telnet server, you can access certain resources on the system such your home directory, your e-mail account, FTP files, etc. The downside of Telnet is that, to use it, you need to use Unix commands, which can be a challenge.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Template
A template is a file that serves as a starting point for a new document. When you open a template, it is pre-formatted in some way. For example, you might use template in Microsoft Word that is formatted as a business letter. The template would likely have a space for your name and address in the upper left corner, an area for the recipient's address a little below that on the left site, an area for the message body below that, and a spot for your signature at the bottom.

When you save a file created with a template, you are usually prompted to save a copy of the file, so that you don't save over the template. Templates can either come with a program or be created by the user. Most major programs support templates, so if you find yourself creating similar documents over and over again, it might be a good idea to save one of them as a template. Then you won't have to format your documents each time you want to make a new one. Just open the template and start from there.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Terabyte
As you might have guessed, this is a unit of measurement for computer data. A terabyte is 1024 gigabytes of data. And since a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes, and a megabyte is 1024 bytes, a terabyte is a little more than one trillion bytes. If you want to be exact, a terabyte is 2^40, or 1,099,511,627,776 bytes. Either way, that's a lot of space. Though this term isn't used very much today, you'll probably be hearing it used more often in the future. That is, unless the computer industry starts to move backwards.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Text Editor
A text editor is any word processing program that you can use to type and edit text. Hey, they don't call it a text editor for nothing... Word Pad and NotePad for Windows and SimpleText and TextEdit for the Mac are common text editors. Larger programs such as Microsoft Word and Word Perfect are also text editors, but they have many more features. You can actually write HTML code and create HTML pages with a simple text editor, as long as you know the correct HTML syntax.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
TFT
Stands for "Thin-Film Transistor." These transistors are used in high-quality flat panel liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). TFT-based displays have a transistor for each pixel on the screen. This allows the electrical current that illuminates the display to be turned on and off at a faster rate, which makes the display brighter and shows motion smoother. LCDs that use TFT technology are called "active-matrix" displays, which are higher-quality than older "passive-matrix" displays. So if you ever see a TFTAMLCD monitor at a computer store, it is a "thin-film transistor active-matrix liquid crystal display." That's just a fancy way of saying it is a good flat-screen display.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
TIFF
Stands for "Tagged Image File Format." It is graphics file format created in the 1980's to be the standard image format across multiple computer platforms. The TIFF format can handle color depths ranging from 1-bit to 24-bit. Since the original TIFF standard was introduced, people have been making many small improvements to the format, so there are now around 50 variations of the TIFF format. So much for a universal format. Recently, JPEG has become the most popular universal format, because of its small file size and Internet compatibility.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Token
Besides those small copper coins that allow you to play video games, there are three different types of tokens:

1. In networking, a token refers to a series of bits that circulate on a token-ring network. When one of the systems on the network has the "token," it can send information to the other computers. Since there is only one token for each token-ring network, only one computer at a time can send data.

2. In programming, a token is a single element of a programming language. Some examples of programming tokens are reserved words, punctuation marks, and operators (i.e. +,-,*,/).

3. In security systems, a token is small card that displays an ID code which can be used to log into a network. The card user enters a password which causes the card to display the current ID needed to log into the network. The token adds an extra security level to the network because the IDs change every five minutes or so.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
Trinitron
This is arguably the best consumer CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) in existence. The technology was developed by Sony Corporation, who owns complete rights to it. The Trinitron design has helped the company lead the market in the manufacturing of TVs and monitors for many years. The difference between a Trinitron tube and most other tubes is that the Trinitron uses an aperture grille instead of a shadow mask for creating the image on the screen. Considering you most likely know exactly what those are, not, I'll explain them. An aperture grille consists of wires stretched vertically down the screen (allowing for a vertically flat screen). A shadow mask is basically a metal plate with holes in it, where light can pass through. Because Trinitron monitors are vertically flat, they have less image distortion and less glare than most other monitors. If you look very closely at a Trinitron screen, you should see one or two very thin dark horizontal lines that span the width of the screen. These lines are small wires that support the aperture grille.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP
TTL
Stands for "Time To Live." Pretty intense for a computer term, huh? It refers an aspect of the Internet Protocol. TTL is used when a "ping," or a request for a response, is sent to another computer, such as a server. The TTL represents the number of hops, or servers in different locations, the request can travel to before returning a failed attempt message.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP

TWAIN
Other than being the last name of the author of "Huckleberry Finn," there are numerous other ideas concerning the origin of this term. Some believe it stands for "Toolkit Without An Informative Name," while others argue it is "Technology Without An Interesting Name." Still, there are some who believe that it came from the saying, "Ne'er the twain shall meet."

Though the real story behind the name may never be known, the purpose of TWAIN is quite clear. It is a graphics and imaging standard that allows companies to make drivers for scanners and digital cameras. Nearly all scanners on the market today are TWAIN-compliant, meaning the way they interact with your computer is based on the TWAIN standard.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         TOP