Technical Glossary -- (Kurt Smith)

Also known as: Watt Watt (W) is the standard unit for measuring power, and it indicates the rate at which energy - for example electrical or electromagnetic energy - is radiated, absorbed, or dissipated. One Watt is equivalent to using one Joule of energy per second. The RF and audio power available from a mobile phone will determine its capacity to provide good signal strength, which is necessary in order to maintain satisfactory communications with users on the phone network. There has to be a compromise however, as the higher the power used by the phone, then the greater will be the drain on its battery. The power can be determined by calculating the product of the voltage and the current (i.e. Watts = Volts x Amps).

Wallpaper is a picture or graphical image that fully covers the display screen of a computer, mobile phone or other equipment with a visual monitor. This 'wallpaper' is used to customise the background environment on the user's screen, and to give the equipment a personalised or corporate appearance. Wallpaper is available for free download from many websites, although there are also specialist companies that sell designer wallpaper

wide area network

Also known as: Wireless Application Protocol WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is a common global standard, which defines the way in which Internet communications and advanced non-voice services are provided on wireless mobile devices, such as digital mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants. The current version of this protocol is WAP 2.0, and it is fast becoming the standard way for mobile devices to access Internet services, by communicating with a server installed in the mobile phone network. A mobile device can therefore combine telephony services with the limited capacity of mobile terminal displays, and so provide the user with a microbrowser. A WAP enabled phone provides interactive access to the Internet, and to services such as online news and information, e-commerce transactions, online banking, e-mail messaging, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and a host of new services still in development. Subscribers use WAP to access websites and pages that have been converted for WML (Wireless Markup Language), which are stripped down to their basic text format, and this is more suitable for the limited display capabilities of mobile devices. WAP works with multiple standards and is supported by most modern mobile networks, such as GSM, GPRS, and UMTS, and in the future equipment and networks that use WAP will be more compatible, regardless of the manufacturer. WAP is the mobile equivalent of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), and has been developed through the cooperation of the world's major telecommunications and software companies, their activities being co-ordinated through the WAP Forum. The WAP Forum has a website at www.wapforum.org. Some manufacturers claim that their handsets have WAP 2.0 browsers; this is often a re-branding of an XHTML-MP browser, the version number representing XHTML replacing WML for mobile content markup. An alternative system standard to WAP is i-Mode

Also known as: WIM WIM (WAP identity module) is a security module that provides a more secure environment when using WAP related applications and services on a mobile device via a WAP gateway. A WIM allows the user to store certificates and digital signatures

Watt (W) is the standard unit for measuring power, and it indicates the rate at which energy - for example electrical or electromagnetic energy - is radiated, absorbed, or dissipated. One Watt is equivalent to using one Joule of energy per second. The RF and audio power available from a mobile phone will determine its capacity to provide good signal strength, which is necessary in order to maintain satisfactory communications with users on the phone network. There has to be a compromise however, as the higher the power used by the phone, then the greater will be the drain on its battery. The power can be determined by calculating the product of the voltage and the current (i.e. Watts = Volts x Amps).

Wavelength is the physical distance spanned by one complete cycle or wave of an alternating signal as it travels through space. The term wavelength can be applied to many types of wave, e.g. audio, radio, light, etc, but is generally only applicable to a wave of a single frequency, such as the RF carrier transmitted by a mobile phone. Wavelength (l), usually measured in metres between the adjacent peaks or troughs of consecutive waves, is related to frequency (f) and propagation velocity (v) by the equation l = v / f. Note that the propagation velocity depends on the type of wave and the material through which it passes: radio waves travel at the speed of light, but audio waves at the speed of sound

A computer programme designed to produce web pages for a web site.

A web page or webpage is a resource on the World Wide Web

A collection of related pages (web pages) of information, owned and maintained by the same organisation or individual, and published on the Internet. It is relatively straightforward for schools and individuals to create a web site.