Tech Terms Overheard in a Meeting

What follows is a set of terms that I had to look up the meanings for after a recent client meeting.  It was a big room and not a good place to ask for clarification, but in order to genuinely understand what the client was trying to express I was compelled to look up these items.  In some cases, (like appliance) you know intuitively what is being said, but a formal definition makes things clearer.

510K Class 2
510(k) is a form that medical device manufactures file with the FDA in order to receive permission to sell it in the United States.  This process is to ensure the safety of the device. There are 3 classes of devices under regulation and are referred to as Class I, II, and III.  Class I devices are those with the least potential for harm and are therefore the least regulated by the FDA whereas Class III devices are most subject to scrutiny before market approval.

Appliance vs. Computer
An appliance is a computer designed with a special purpose in mind.  For instance, a blood glucose monitor, or a handheld order entry device for restaurant wait staff are examples of computer appliances.

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)
As opposed to high speed access.  This term is actually used to refer to a dial up connection.  No idea why the world needed another acronym.

Predictive Modeling
A technique in statistical and actuarial analysis wherein a mathematical model is imposed on a known known set of data and allowed to run.  An analyst creates a set of rules by which the model will behave and runs data through the model to achieve an end result.  Common uses of predictive modeling might include trying to foretell if a person will become diabetic based on what we now know about that person, or whether an email is spam.

WARC (Web Archive Format)
A recent evolution of the original Internet Archive Format, an XML based WARC file contains content or data to be archived along with supporting meta data and describing content.

XUL (XML User Interface Language)
A Mozilla.org project providing an extensible view declaration language.  XML files declare a widget based GUI including CSS, JavaScript, and DHTML which can be bound to server logic via XBL (eXtensible Bindings Language).  The backend for a XUL application can be implemented in any language as long as it conforms to XPCOM (Cross Platform Component Object Model), a framework for cross-platform component libraries.  Typical back ends are implemented in C/C++, Perl, Python, and other languages. 

XUL is pronounced zool.