3 ms·

They should have also mentioned the word "modem", which is actually an abbreviation but not many people know that.

jacobolus 7y ago
Nobody uses the word “modem” anymore; it isn’t a metaphor that worked its way into general speech. It’s just a dead word for a dead technology.
- hoseja 7y ago
  Dead? That's like calling a transistor a dead technology. They just mostly stopped being their own little boxes. Unless you mean dial-up modems specifically.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    Fair enough. I mean dial-up modems of the 1990s used to connect computers to the internet over the phone network by making a local telephone call. Those were the only type people in the broader public ever knew about. Otherwise, the word “modem” both before and since is just niche technical jargon, ignored by laypeople.
- nineteen999 7y ago
  Maybe in terms of POTS modems, but otherwise no. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_modem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_modem https://www.campbellsci.com.au/sat-inmarsat-bgan https://www.campbellsci.com.au/sat-inmarsat-bgan https://www.orbcomm.com/en/hardware/devices/modems https://www.orbcomm.com/en/hardware/devices/modems
- salawat 7y ago
  The heck? Modulator/demodulator is still used. In fact, I generally have great success in using it to illustrate the demarcation between LAN and WAN for non techie users. Your LAN ends at your router. Your WAN begins at your modem. Your modem is the thing the ISP gives that gives you access to the Internet. While it doesn't do the heavy lifting of converting digital traffic to/from analog signals anymore, it makes a very good nominative identifier for the particular purpose of identifying the piece of hardware that still fulfills the role of enabling connectivity with the world at large.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    Yes, but people used to know that “modem” = “those funny noises on your phone line”. Now laypeople don’t have a “modem”, they just have “that internet box the ISP technician plugged in when I signed up”. The word modem went out of popular currency too fast for it to ever spawn the kinds of more general metaphors we are talking about in this discussion.
    - hiccuphippo 7y ago
      We still have cable-modems in some parts of the world.

Nobody uses the word “modem” anymore; it isn’t a metaphor that worked its way into general speech. It’s just a dead word for a dead technology.

hoseja 7y ago
Dead? That's like calling a transistor a dead technology. They just mostly stopped being their own little boxes. Unless you mean dial-up modems specifically.
- jacobolus 7y ago
  Fair enough. I mean dial-up modems of the 1990s used to connect computers to the internet over the phone network by making a local telephone call. Those were the only type people in the broader public ever knew about. Otherwise, the word “modem” both before and since is just niche technical jargon, ignored by laypeople.
nineteen999 7y ago
Maybe in terms of POTS modems, but otherwise no. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_modem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_modem https://www.campbellsci.com.au/sat-inmarsat-bgan https://www.campbellsci.com.au/sat-inmarsat-bgan https://www.orbcomm.com/en/hardware/devices/modems https://www.orbcomm.com/en/hardware/devices/modems
salawat 7y ago
The heck? Modulator/demodulator is still used. In fact, I generally have great success in using it to illustrate the demarcation between LAN and WAN for non techie users. Your LAN ends at your router. Your WAN begins at your modem. Your modem is the thing the ISP gives that gives you access to the Internet. While it doesn't do the heavy lifting of converting digital traffic to/from analog signals anymore, it makes a very good nominative identifier for the particular purpose of identifying the piece of hardware that still fulfills the role of enabling connectivity with the world at large.
- jacobolus 7y ago
  Yes, but people used to know that “modem” = “those funny noises on your phone line”. Now laypeople don’t have a “modem”, they just have “that internet box the ISP technician plugged in when I signed up”. The word modem went out of popular currency too fast for it to ever spawn the kinds of more general metaphors we are talking about in this discussion.
  - hiccuphippo 7y ago
    We still have cable-modems in some parts of the world.