Sites Help Make Sense of Latest Internet Jargon

The Internet comes with its own jargon, often just a set of initials, that can be utterly baffling even to people with a lot of time logged in cyberspace. A study by Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 87 percent of those polled didn’t know what the term podcasting meant and 70 percent didn’t know about phishing. Relatively new terms like RSS? Forget about it. Only 3 percent of respondents had any idea.

Your only hope of keeping up is with Web sites like the artful Matisse.net and netlingo.com, which work hard to maintain wide- ranging — and current — glossaries.

www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html

www.netlingo.com

www.sharpened.net/glossary/index.php

COLORADO

Colorado QuickFacts provides a snapshot of how the state compares with the rest of the United States in terms of growth, racial composition, education, home ownership, business and population density. Next time you’re feeling hemmed in by crowds and traffic, take heart that Colorado has just 41.5 people per square mile compared with the national average of 79.6.

quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08000.html

www.census-online.com/links/CO

TRAVEL

Nashville-based MyTravel-Rights.com is the largest Webbased nonprofit organization in the United States dedicated to protecting the rights of traveling consumers.

www.mytravelrights.com

A redesign nine months in the making has made the Gibralter- based Travel Library a can’t-miss online destination. Every aspect of the site is now interactive, allowing travelers all over the world to share their experiences and tips on hotels, holiday destinations, airports, ski resorts and a whole lot more. There are 1,226 mini holiday guides and 312 ski resort guides.

www.travel-library.com

CARS

So, you’ve got a car you want to unload and you don’t know how much to ask for it? Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds and NADA all have interactive programs that allow you to plug in the year, make, model, mileage and condition to get you that number for free. Actually, that’s numbers, plural. They give you the asking price for trade-in, private sale or sale to dealer.

For information about how to donate a car to your favorite nonprofit, check out CarsHelpingCharities.org.

www.kbb.com

www.edmunds.com

www.nadaguides.com

www.carshelpingcharities.com

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0126 or bainbird@gazette.com