Buzzwords are the scourge of the technology industry. Those words that we hear everywhere, that everyone tries to use to pitch whatever they’re selling, and that most people aren’t really sure what they mean. Every year the Global Language Monitor releases its list of the top tech buzzwords of the year, and the 2013 list is now out. Will the synergies scale vertically to the cloud? Let’s find out.

1. The top tech buzzwords of 2013
Buzzwords are the scourge of the
technology industry. Those words that we
hear everywhere, that everyone tries to
use to pitch whatever they’re selling, and
that most people aren’t really sure what
they mean.
Every year the Global Language Monitor
releases its list of the top tech buzzwords
of the year, and the 2013 list is now out.
Will the synergies scale vertically to the
cloud? Let’s find out.
By Jeff Jedras
Image courtesy of iprostocks at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. Debuting on the list in the top
position is dark data.
It’s a subset of big data, because
apparently big data wasn’t a big
enough buzzword – it needed to
spawn offspring.
It means your old data, the data that
isn’t part of your day to day
operations, but may still have
business value.
If you buy this new BI tool, that is…
1. Dark Data
Image courtesy of Photokanok at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

3. Holding down second spot on the
buzzword leaderboard for 2013 is the
cloud. We don’t all know what is, but by
golly, we’ve all got to go to the cloud!
Private cloud, public cloud, hybrid
cloud, everywhere a cloud cloud.
The hype around this buzzword shows no
sign of slowing down yet, even if its
meaning is still flexible.
2. The Cloud
Image courtesy of gubgib at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

4. How big is big data? According to MIT
researcher Andrew McAfee, it’s so big
it’s about to outgrow the metric
system.
The largest unit of measure we
currently have is the Yottabyte,
equivalent to a quadrillion gigabytes.
Now what’s a lot of episodes of Game
of Thrones.
If we need a new unit of measure, we
vote for the Hellabyte. Or maybe you
could just clean out your hard drive.
3. Yottabytes

5. The Next Big Thing is down one spot
from last year, so whatever The Next Big
Thing is, it’s apparently not The Next Big
Thing.
Perhaps there haven’t been enough Big
Things recently, so whichever one is
Next is probably going to be The one.
Either way, in an industry known for its
hype, The Next Big Thing is sure to
remain plentiful.
And always be next.
4. The Next Big Thing

6. Another newcomer to this year’s list is
the Heisenbug, which is apparently a
computer programming slang term for
“a software bug that seems to disappear
or alter its behavior when one attempts
to study it.”
It’s named for physicist Werner
Heisenberg, who did something with
quantum mechanics you can Google if
you’re really interested.
We’ll let you know if Sheldon brings it up
on Big Bang Theory.
5. Heisenbug