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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/867
30 MacDirectory DEPARTMENT AN APPLE A DAY > TECH TERMS MADE SIMPLE WORDS BY MARY ROSENTHOL Boot Camp > Boot Camp is a program that allows users of Intel-based Macintosh computers to run Microsoft Windows XP. Once Boot Camp has been installed on the Mac's hard drive, the machine can be restarted using either Mac OS X or Windows XP. It will be incorporated as a standard feature of the next release of Mac OS X, Leopard. FairPlay > FairPlay is the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to encrypt copyrighted media files sold on iTunes. Apple encyrpts music, television shows and movies to address the concerns of record companies and movie studios that fear their IP will be copied and traded illegally. Media encryp- ted under FairPlay can be transferred to an unlimited number of devices or played on up to five authorized computers simultaneously. FairPlay tracks may also be burned to an audio CD up to seven times. FLOPS > Floating Point Operations Per Second are typically used to measure the performance of a computer's processor. While clock speed, which is measured in megahertz, is often seen as an indicator on a processor's speed, it does not define how many calculations a processor can perform per second. Therefore, FLOPS is a more raw method of measuring a processor's speed. iTunes U > Is a dedicated section of Apple's iTunes Music Store that features educational audio and video files from universities, museums and public media organizations for free download. KBA > Knowledge-based authentication (KBA) is an authentication process where the user is asked to answer at least one "secret" question. It is often used as a component in multifactor authentication (MFA) and for self-service password retrieval. Secret questions can be static or dynamic. In a static scheme, the end user pre-selects the questions he would like to be asked and provides the correct answers. The question/answer pairs are stored by the host and used later to verify the end user's identity. In a dynamic scheme, the end user has no idea what question will be asked. Instead, the question/answer pairs are determined by harvesting data in public records. Kernel panic > A computer error from which the OS cannot quickly or easily recover. The term applies primarily to Unix-based systems and to Mac OS X. In other systems, the equivalent of a kernel panic is known by slang terms such as blue screen of death, sad Mac or bomb. A kernel panic produces a message or set of messages on the computer display. MFA > Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a security system in which more than one form of authentication is used to verify the legitimacy of a transaction. In contrast, single factor authentication (SFA) involves only a user ID and password. In two-factor authentication, the user provides dual means of identification, one of which is typically a physical token, such as a card, and the other of which is typically something memorized, such as a security code. Additional authentication methods that can be used in MFA include biometric verification such as finger- scanning, iris recognition, facial recognition and voice ID. OS X Widget > A download- able, interactive virtual tool that provides services or increased functionality within the Apple operating system. Widgets are miniature applications that allow the user to perform common tasks easily and access information quickly. OS X 10.3 and 10.4 automatically revert to the Dashboard after a set period of time, bringing whatever widgets that are installed and active to the foreground. Versioning > The creation and management of multiple releases of a product, which have the same general function but are improved, upgraded or customized. It applies especially to OSs, software and Web services. Version control is the practice of ensuring collaborative data sharing and editing among users of systems that employ different versions of a product. In software versioning, subsequent releases of a specific product receive numerical identifiers consisting of two or three numbers separated by periods. The first number, called the major number, is increased when there are significant improvements or changes in functionality. The second number, called the minor number, is incremented when there are minor feature changes or significant fixes. The third number, if it exists, is called the revision number. It is added or increased when minor bugs are eliminated.