JONATHON KEATS
JARGON WATCH
Outernet
n. / 'a -t r-'net /
A space-based alternative Internet designed to evade censorship. The plan envisions a fleet of several hundred cubesats broadcasting web content—from news to MOOCs—to anyone with Wi-Fi, though the interactivitywill be limited (no uploads).
superhabitable
adj. / 'sü-p r-'ha-b -t -b l /
More amenable to life than Earth. Superhabitable planets are slightly larger than ours, with shallow seas to nurture biodiversity and strong magnetic fields to shield life from cosmic radiation. Hypothetically, theyorbit small orange stars like Alpha Centauri B.
big code
n. / 'big 'kōd /
A large-scale repositoryof the software powering Big Data. Darpa is financing a program to study big code in an efort to build software that’s less vulnerable to errors and security threats.
selfie-friendly
adj. / 'sel-fē-'frend-lē /
A cell phone designed forselfies. The small image sensors in the front-facing cameras ofmost smartphones produce blurry, pixelated portraits. Selfie-friendlyphones boost front camera quality; HTC is marketing one with 5-megapixel resolution. ■