Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. A character recognition system used on bank checks; special ink and characters are used, which can be magnetised for automatic reading.
magnetic tape drive
A drive that reads and writes magnetic tape.
magnetic tape
A data storage medium used for backup. The tape is made of a thin plastic strip with a magnetisable oxide coating on one side. To read or write, the tape drive winds the tape from one reel to another, causing it to move past a read/write head. Tapes are available in reels and cartridges of various sizes. The data is written in blocks with interblock gaps between them. To find a specific block of data on the tape the computer must read everything in front of it.
magneto-optical disk
A plastic or glass disk coated with a chemical (often TbFeCo) with special properties which make it rewritable. A combination of magnetic and optical methods are used to write data to the disk. A high-intensity laser heats the material up to its Curie point, the temperature at which molecules can be realigned by a magnetic field. A magnet is used to make changes in polarity which remain after cooling. The disk is read by directing a low-intensity laser at the disk and interpreting variations in its reflected light, which result from differences in polarity of the stored magnetic field.
MO disk
Magneto-optical disk. A plastic or glass disk coated with a chemical (often TbFeCo) with special properties which make it rewritable. A combination of magnetic and optical methods are used to write data to the disk. A high-intensity laser heats the material up to its Curie point, the temperature at which molecules can be realigned by a magnetic field. A magnet is used to make changes in polarity which remain after cooling. The disk is read by directing a low-intensity laser at the disk and interpreting variations in its reflected light, which result from differences in polarity of the stored magnetic field.
mail bomb
Massive amounts of electronic mail sent to a single person, with malicious intent to overload the recipient's system. Mail bombing can cause problems not only for the targeted recipient, but also for other users of the networks involved.
mailbox
A box that holds incoming mail; a box for electronic mail is a file where mail messages are stored until the addressee opens and reads them.
mail bridge
A gateway that forwards electronic mail messages between networks.
mail exploder
Part of an electronic mail system used by mailing lists. User send messages to a central address; the mail exploder delivers the messages to all individual mailboxes in its list.
mail filter
A program which can sort and process incoming email for the recipient, based on the mail headers. For example, all mail pertaining to a certain subject (as indicated by its header) could be put into a high-priority file.
Explanation : A more accurate but also more process-intensive technique than raytracing, that calculates patterns of light and shadow for rendering graphics images from three-dimensional models.
