Retweet, Cloud and Tablet – among the 10 nerdic terms to be the most used in 2011

Cristina Blanaru Digital & Media, Media

Retweet, Mifi, Cloud and Tablet were revealed today as part of the 10 new technology words being added to the 2011 updated volume of the Nerdic dictionary.

The list of 10 nerdic terms to be most used in 2011 was compiled by European retailer PIXmania and technology magazine T3, after both have monitored the language. This list reflects the new emerging technologies and trends that are set to become commonplace across Europe next year.

According to a press release, Nerdic was discovered in 2008 and breaks down traditional language barriers across Europe by allowing people to communicate via technical terminology. Despite being based in the English language, Nerdic phrases such as “internet”, “dongle”, “wifi” and the verb “to google” are now widely understood throughout Europe, where around 2 billion uses of the Nerdic language is made daily by the 700 million Europeans.

According to an analysis made by PIXmania and T3 shows that the growing influence of social media and tablet related computing in Europe are responsible for over half of the new terms to be added to the dictionary.

Considering that almost 200 million people are using Twitter and over 500 million are using Facebook, there is no surprise that social media phrases that have qualified for submission in the 2011 volume with words such as Retweet, the act of passing a third-party tweet on to your Twitter following, and Cloud, the remote storage facility, making the cut.

Top Nerdic words for 2011

1. Facetime – Video calling service launched recently as part of the iPhone 4 upgrade
2. Tablet – Netbook-killing touch-screen computers, helping to create a Tweet-while-you-watch two-screen media experience in a lounge near you
3. Froyo – The latest version of Google’s fast growing Android platform for smart phones.
4. Augmented reality – Using the combined power of your device’s GPS chip, camera and screen to overlay virtual information on to the real world. Currently on show in iPhone and Android apps like Layar and being overused by advertisers for gimmicky campaigns
5. Connected TV – Catch-all phrase that essentially means unleashing the power of the internet (or the Cloud) on your TV, with apps offering a multitude of other entertainment from your gogglebox like video on demand services from LoveFilm along with the usual suspects like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
6. MiFi – Pocket-sized device that uses the mobile network to turn you into your own mobile WiFi hotspot. Internet wherever you have a 3G network
7. AMOLED – The latest generation of OLED technology, where each set of pixels is controlled individually. Leads to a far sharper picture and greater contrast ratio without sacrificing OLED’s super thin form factor
8. Retina Display – Apple’s latest screen technology that claims to be so sharp the human eye can’t even see how sharp it is. Could transform tablets into excellent ereaders
9. Cloud – The Big Yellow storage unit in the sky, the Cloud, lets you store all your information remotely and access it from any device wherever you need it, provided you have a connection
10. Retweet – The action of passing on a witty quip or insightful piece of commentary to your Twitter followers

Also, there are other words that will register an increased usage during 2011, such as Followers, Paywall, Motion gaming, Mind control gaming, MID (Mobile Internet Device), LTE / WiMax, MeeGo, Snapdragon, Social gaming.

Also, the 2 companies complied a list of terms that will be forgotten in 2011. Those words are:

1. Google Wave – Another ill-fated launch from Google that tried to bring a revolution in work, bringing instant messaging, email, and social networking together in one place. Main problem was that no one really knew how to make it work, or what it was really for
2. Bebo – Social networking site for a younger audience that took on Facebook and lost.
3. Landline – That thing you used to use to make phone calls to your family
4. Facebook fan – The act of showing the people you’ve not yet “unfriended” on Facebook that you’re really, really into something, let’s say Lady Gaga. Replaced by the “Likes” button which is the act of showing those same people that you’re into something but with no stalky overtones
5. MySpace – Place where musicians and music fans used to go to create profile pages using bizarre unreadable fonts
6. Widget TV – What TVs were called before we started hearing about Connected TV.
7. Maemo – Nokia’s defunct mobile operating system that’s about to be superseded by MeeGo
8. Poke –  The virtual act, via Facebook, of prodding someone to remind them that you’re still alive.

Created in 2000, PIXmania.com is an European consumer electronic products store on the Internet, present in 26 countries and having over 30 million unique visitors per month and more than 6 million customers.