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About Naming
Matchbox
- About: Naming
Steve Marcus is a Boston venture capitalist who went to the other side. He sits on the admissions committee for the Sloan School at MIT–and saw how crazy the admissions process was from the inside. You know how you fill out all the applications on a computer? Well, it all winds up in paper files…
Finders keepers, sort of. How to name your new species.
- About: Naming
Any person who discovers a new species has the right to choose its scientific name, and to party as best as scientists can. After the celebrations, it’s time to find a name for that new fern you found. I’m sorry to say that My Little Ferny isn’t going to pass the test. Rules stipulate that you…
Matchbox at MIT
- About: Naming
Matchbox is being put to the test at MIT. The iPad-based admissions software is managing the 5000 applications received every year by MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Founder Stephen Marcus spent several years on the Sloan admissions committee. Rod Garcia, the Director of Admissions at MIT Sloan, asked Steve to build an application that would…
Wherewithal goes live
- About: Naming
WHEREWITHAL is changing the way people invest with a strategy based on meeting real goals, not hitting some magic number. Because as much fun as gambling is, when it comes to the future some of us want a little more than luck. Wherewithal is all about offering a real alternative to the myths of mainstream…
100M helps you get the lead out
- About: Naming
Losing weight is not a game. 100M names a company that cuts off the escape routes and promises to help you return your stats to the manufacturer’s spec. The name: RETROFIT. Check it out here. Press release here.
Lost in translation — why having a pronounceable and spell-able name matters less than you think
- About: Branding, Naming, Positioning
Everyone wants the perfect name. They want it to be edgy, imaginative, and inimitable, but only so long as it’s also easy to spell, easy to say, and impossible to forget. The only trouble being, easy and evocative are natural enemies. And nothing is so sure to slip between the ears undetected as the word that requires no effort…
Tiny woman trapped in iPhone sues local man
- About: Branding, Naming, Positioning
Attorneys representing a woman who lives in a local man’s iPhone 4S have filed a lawsuit against him, claiming he keeps her trapped in his smart phone, expects her to instantly know how to get to places she’s never heard of and frequently asks her bizarre questions. Worst of all, she says she doesn’t get…
Pandas, giraffes and magic dragons: animal names for those OTHER San Francisco Giants
- About: Naming
The San Francisco Giants need help. Falling fast in the National League West and trailing in the Wild Card race, the 2010 World Series Champions could use a serious boost if they want to make the playoffs this year. That’s why it’s time to call upon Mother Nature. For too long now fans have been…
Ten years after 9/11, what do we call Ground Zero?
A visitor to Lower Manhattan today has to admit: New York City looks a whole lot different than it did on September 12, 2001. Emerging from what used to be the rubble of America’s most disastrous terrorist attack are the blossoms of a new World Trade Center, a complex comprised of six gleaming new towers,…
A boy named Lucifer: Jermajesty, Violence and other adventures in baby naming
- About: Naming
Of all the myriad concerns piled upon the brain of an expecting parent — Does the hospital accept pennies? Which end does the diaper go on? Can you get rabies from a used stroller? — perhaps none are as frustrating and potentially disastrous as giving the kid a name. Fortunately, babies aren’t allowed to name…