NANO: I hate to disappoint readers who might be Mork & Mindy fans, but nano is a prefix that means one-billionth.

NARROW BANDWIDTH: A data communication channel that can only transmit at slow speeds. The opposite is wide bandwidth channels that can transmit all kinds of dataincluding photographs, sounds, and video clipsat high speeds.

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS: The NBS, located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is the official government organization that prepares non-Department of Defense communications standards. They also operate a testing service to ensure products conformity to standards.

NATIVE MODE: This is the normal mode of a computer when executing programs, as compared to emulation mode. An emulation program, such as Virtual PC for Mac from Connectix (www.connectix.com), allows users of Mac OS computers to run the Microsoft Windows operating system and provides the software equivalent of an Intel chipset and other hardware components.

NCSA: The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Founded in 1985, NCSA provides supercomputer resources to universities and organizations and has a major web site (www.ncsa.uiuc.edu). Their main claim to fame was the creation of the Mosaic web browser software that has mutated into several versions that are being used by sources as diverse as Microsoft and CompuServe. The online world, being as acronym-riddled as the rest of computing, has another NCSA. This one, the National Computer Security Association, was founded in 1989 to create awareness about and provide a clearinghouse for computer security issues. But when you say NCSA to most Webheads, they think of Mosaic first.

NEF: Nikon Electronic image Format. The proprietary RAW image capture format thats used by Nikon digital cameras such as the D1X.

NESTED FOLDER: Waddya call a folder inside another folder?

NETIQUETTE: When corresponding via e-mail, certain levels of civilized behavior are expected. Instead of Emily Post, most people who are reading your e-mails or forum postings will try to educate in the proper form of written behavior. One of the most common mistakes newcomers make is typing everything in CAPITAL LETTERS. This is considered a breach of Netiquette because the writer is considered to be shoutingand its hard to read, too.

NETSCAPE: The company that created one of the two most popular web browsers, Netscape Navigator. Netscape is now part of the AOL Time Warner multinational conglomerate.

NETWORK: A group of computers that are interconnected by hardware and software, as in a Local Area Network (LAN).

NEWTON: Apple Computers long-dead Personal Data Assistant (PDA) which was a handheld device combining the function of a simple computer with a Day Timer and featuring input by handwriting that (mostly) worked. These days everyone is using some kind of Palm OS device, such as the really cool ones produced by Handspring (www.handspring.com).

NeXT: A company originally formed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1985 when he left Apple Computer. The firm created a family of high-resolution, UNIX-based computers in 1988, but never achieved the prominence or acceptance of the Apple Macintosh. The NeXTstep operating was ultimately purchased by Apple Computer signaling the second coming of Jobs to the company and is used as the basis of the current OS X.

NIH IMAGE: A freeware image-enhancement program originally developed as a scientific and technical imaging tool by the National Institute of Health; as a taxpayer, youve already paid for it. NIH Image has evolved to the point where the program has many features that the experimental-minded, Mac-using digital imager might appreciate. The program can acquire, display, edit, enhance, analyze, print, and even animate images. NIH Image can perform some image-processing functions, such as contrast enhancement, density profiling, smoothing, and sharpening and can draw lines, rectangles, ovals, and text. It will also let you flip, rotate, invert, and scale selections. You can download the latest version of NIH Image from http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/download.html. A free Microsoft Windows version of Image, called Scion Image for Windows, is available from Scion Corporation (www.scioncorp.com).

NNTP: Network News Transfer Protocol (a.k.a. News Server).

NODE: (1) In communications, a node is a point connecting a terminal or computer. You will also hear local telephone numbers that allow modem-equipped computer users to connect to online services such as CompuServe, America Online, and Prodigy referred to as nodes. (2) In computer graphics, an end point of a graphical element, a line or curve. (3) In database management, an item of data that can be accessed by two or more routes.

NOISE: (1) Noise in a digital image is the equivalent of grain in a photograph made with traditional film. Digital camera noise, from either CCD or CMOS imaging chips, is produced by many factors including underexposure, slow shutter speeds, and (much like its film-based cousin) high ISO settings. Some cameras, such as the Canon EOS D60 have a built-in noise reduction feature but while it does a good job it is far from perfect. Noise reduction software is available from many sources, including free Photoshop Actions (www.digitalsecrets.net/secrets/denoiseISO.html) and shareware and commercial programs such as nik Multimedias (www.nikmultimedia.com) Dfine Photoshop compatible plug-in that was announced at photokina 2002. (2) In Adobe Photoshop, there is a Noise submenu under Filter> Noise that lets you Add Noise (to simulate film grain or just plain noise) in non-noisy subjects but also includes Despeckle and other commands to minimize noise as well as Dust & Scratches in an image file.

NOTEBOOK (COMPUTER): Any laptop computer that weighs from 5-7 lbs is called a notebook. If it weighs less than 5 lbs, it is usually called a subnotebook.

NSFN: National Science Foundations Network is a major Internet link that connects supercomputer locations and 2500 scientific and educational institutions around the world.

NTSC: National Television Standards Committee. NTSC sets the standards that apply to television and video playback for resolution, speed, and color. All television sets in the US (and Japan, too, as it turns out) follow the NTSC standard as do videotape and other forms of video display such as games.

NUBUS: A 32-bit bus [motherboard slot] architecture originally developed at MIT and adapted by Apple Computer to use in their original Macintosh II series of color computers but soon abandoned in favor of the more compatible PCI (Personal Computer Interconnect) slot design. For all intents, the NuBus design is dead.