Chances are that you, or one of your co-workers, are heading to a trivia night this week at a local pub, but are you really prepared? Of course, there is just no way to be prepared for this test of the most random facts and figures around. Nevertheless, after being at a trivia night myself where one of the questions was asking for the meaning of “http”, I thought that Digital Pacific could at least help with a few of the Internet related questions through a quick blog post. So, have a look at these 10 things that you may not know but might get asked at trivia, and impress your friends next week at the pub!
- What year did the internet begin?
According to a recent article by National Geographic, the internet just turned the ripe age of 40! The internet was born in 1969 when “…two computers passed test data through a 15-foot gray cable,” inviting several universities to join up on the ARPANET. - What does HTTP stand for?
HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol which tells how the web server and browser should transmit data between one another. When a website address is typed into a browser, the browser is actually fetching the website from the web server with an HTTP protocol, instead of an FTP protocol, for example. - What does URL stand for?
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and it is the way the internet locates a file. A URL is an IP number (i.e. 197.0.0.1), but it is often associated with a domain name so it is more user friendly (i.e. www.mydomainname.com). A URL will consist of the protocol, computer name, domain name and domain, much like this example:
Protocol://computer name.domainname.domain
http://www.domainname.com - What does blog stand for?
Blog is actually a shortened form of the term “weblog”, and, in its shortened form, it can be used as both a noun and a verb. For example, a blog is the online journal itself, while to blog means to update the journal with content. - What are the top 6 sites on the internet, according to ALEXA?
1) Google
2) Yahoo!
3) Facebook
4) YouTube
5) Windows Live
6) Wikipedia - What does CMS stand for?
CMS stands for Content Management System. WordPress, Drupal and Joomla! are a few examples of content management systems, each of which are database driven programs used to construct largely data-oriented websites. A CMS can be used to run anything from simple blogs to intricate company websites. - What is a google?
In internet search engine terms, googles are the number of pages returned by a Google search. The term was probably based on “googol”, which is actually a 1 followed by 100 zeros. In other words, it is an insanely large number. - What are the names of the two people who started Google?
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the two masterminds behind the world’s largest search engine, and it was developed as a project during their graduate studies at Stanford University. - What does SEO stand for?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and it is the way of improving traffic results brought to a website from search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!. SEO depends on a combination of keywords, links and popularity. - What was ENIAC?
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) was the first computer, born in 1946 with a size that covered 63 square meters. It was not exactly the most portable system out there!
This topic is quite debatable since the idea for the internet most likely began as a method of defence communication for America back in the 50s and 60s, but it was not until the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989 that it became a commercialised concept.
And so concludes our “10 things you may not know, but might get asked at trivia” list. We know this is only a few of the possible questions you could be asked, but perhaps you will be lucky and become the shining star on your team if one of these does happen to come up! And, if that is the case, we certainly hope you remember where you got your info from.
*Can you think of other great computer and internet related trivia? Add them to the list by leaving a comment!
