Bluetooth

ual’s diary while others have a focused topic, such as recipes or political news.

Blogger

Blogger a web site (www.blogger.com) providing one of the most popular and oldest web log services. Anyone can maintain a BLOG there and update it from any computer with an Internet connection. Blogger has been owned by GOOGLE since 2003. Compare LIVEJOURNAL; WORDPRESS; XANGA.

Blogosphere

blogosphere The world of BLOGs; the very loosely-knit community of blog writers and their audiences. The blogosphere provides important forums for political discussion and news reporting separate from the established news media.

Blu-Ray Disc

Blu-Ray disc an optical disc similar to a DVD and the same size, but read and written with a blue or violet laser, whose shorter wavelength makes a higher data density possible. Blu-Ray discs can hold 25 GB (single layer) or 50 GB (double layer). Contrast HD DVD.

Blue Screen of Death 

Blue Screen of Death (slang) (sometimes written BSOD) in Windows, a seri- ous error message displayed in white type on a blue screen, without any use of windows or graphics (see Figure 34). It usually means that the entire operating system has become inoperative. The memory addresses and file- names it displays are sometimes explained on www.microsoft.com, but they are usually meaningful to only the authors of Windows.
After experiencing a “Blue Screen of Death,” one should always restart the computer in order to load a fresh copy of the

FIGURE 34. Blue Screen of Death

operating system into memory. Windows Vista usually reboots after a serious error of this type, often bypassing the blue screen.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth a standard for wireless networking of relatively slow devices in the same room; for details see www.bluetooth.org. The name alludes to a medieval Danish king. Contrast 802.11.

Blur 

blur a paint program filter that throws the image slightly out of focus. Blur can be repeated until the desired effect is achieved. See also MOTION BLUR.

FIGURE 35. Blur filter

.Bmp

.bmp the filename extension for files in Microsoft Windows that contain bitmap representations of images. See BITMAP.
BNC connector a push-and-twist connector (see Figure 36) used to join coaxial cables in thinwire Ethernet networks and in some types of video equipment. See 10BASE-2; COAXIAL CABLE; ETHERNET. ContrastRCA PLUG.

Board

FIGURE 36. BNC connectors

1. a printed circuit board for a computer, the MOTHERBOARD, or an add- on board, sometimes also called a card. Most computers contain expan- sion slots where you can add additional boards to enhance the capabilities of the machine.

2. a bulletin board system (BBS) or similar discussion forum. See BBS.