Glossary - G
Google Fit
Google Fit is a health-tracking platform developed by Google for the Android operating system.
Google®
Google, Inc. is an American company based in Mountain View, California, which is located in the heart of the Silicon Valley, (a.k.a. Googleplex), just south of San Francisco. Google® began in January, 1996 as a research project conducted by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, when they were both Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California. The company is known for its Internet search engine whose popularity is evidenced by the fact that its existence has spawned the infinitive “to google” and derivative verbs such as “googling” to describe the activity of conducting an Internet search via the Google® search engine. In 2006, the new verb was included in the Oxford Dictionary.
According to the 2011 Brandz© Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands survey, Google® is the second most valuable brand in the world (Apple® is #1) with an estimated value of $111,498,000.
Google® provides many Internet services such as:
- Google AdSense®
- Google AdWordsSM
- Google Alerts™
- Google Analytics™
- Google Android™
- Google Answers™
- Google Apps™
- Google Code™
- Google Desktop Search™
- Google Directory™
- Google Earth™
- Google Groups™
- Google Chrome™
- Google Images™
- Google Maps®
- Google News™
- Google Product Search™ (Froogle)
- Google Reader™
- Google Scholar™
- Google Translate™
- Google Wave SM
- Google® Web API
- Gmail®
- Orkut®
- Picasa®
- SketchUp®
- Google+ SM
As the most popular Internet search engine among casual and technical users alike, Google® draws criticism regarding its near-monopolization of the Internet services space.
Graphic Card
A graphics card (or video card or video adapter) is a computer component that facilitates the display of images on a monitor and handles the geometric calculations necessary to do so. Typically, the cards connect through the PCI-Express slot (or AGP for older graphics cards.) Some graphics cards also allow the input and output of video signals. This function is called VIVO, however nowadays it is rarely seen.
Graphics cards can also be integrated within the motherboard, but these rarely have their own memory. These types of cards are typically used in office workstations and laptops because these applications generally do not require a high-performing graphics card. And while these cards offer less in the way of performance, they consume less power as well. When the graphics card is integrated within the motherboard, users have the option to turn it off and replace it with a graphics card that is inserted into the appropriate position in the motherboard. Graphics cards have become increasingly powerful and complex over the years, and for quite some time they have contained their own microprocessor unit (GPU - graphics processing unit), memory and bus.
Major graphics card manufacturers include Intel®, ATI® Technologies (AMD®) and NVIDIA®.
Graphical user interface (GUI)
A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a user interface that enables a user to interact with a computer via interactive graphic controls. The computer screen displays windows in which the programs display their output. The user employs the keyboard, mouse, and graphical input elements such as menus, icons, buttons, scroll bars, forms, etc. The first graphical user interface (WIMP) was developed in 1973 at the Xerox® research laboratories. Around 1984, Mac® computers brought the benefits of a GUI to computer users, followed later by Microsoft Windows® operating systems.
Interfaces other than a graphic interface include:
- Text user interface (with menus, buttons and a mouse)
- Command prompt (the commands are entered by typing on the keyboard)
- A refreshable Braille display or Braille terminal
- Voice and other interfaces
Generally, GUIs can be used in many devices such as computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players, gaming devices, household appliances and office equipment.