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- inactive, on 11/11/2008, -5/+133I hate clicking next page ten times, so here are the cliffsnotes:
1. iPod: "Open the pod bay door, Hal" (movie: 2001)
"The stark plastic front of the prototype inspired the final connection: pod, a la 2001. Add an "i" and the connection to the iMac was complete."
2. BlackBerry: Sweet Addictiveness
"The consultancy pushed RIM founders away from the word "e-mail," which research shows can raise blood pressure. Instead, they looked for a name that would evoke joy and somehow give feelings of peace."
3. Firefox: Second Time's a Charm
"The early version of Mozilla's browser was called Firebird, but due to another open-source project with the same name, the Mozilla elders renamed their browser Firefox"
4. Twitter: Connecting the Digital Flock 140 Characters at a Time
"When cofounder Biz Stone saw the application that Jack Dorsey created in 2006 he was reminded of the way birds communicate: "Short bursts of information..."
5. Windows 7: Counting on the Power of 7
"Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7' just makes sense."
6. ThinkPad: Simplicity Wins Out
"IBM's pen-computing group wanted to keep it simple; ThinkPad won out, and it was a huge hit for IBM."
7. Android: Secretive, But Still Not Exciting
"Back in 2005, Google quietly acquired a mysterious startup named Android Inc., which had been operating under "a cloak of secrecy" on "making software for mobile phones,"
8. Wikipedia: Just What It Sounds Like
"According to Wikipedia, the name Wikipedia is a portmanteau of wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites) and encyclopedia (you remember, those large books that, as kids, we ruthlessly plagiarized for school book reports)." (Also: Wiki means 'fast in hawaiian')
9. Mac OS X and "The Big Cats": Catlike Sleekness and Style
"Apple's popular Mac operating system X actually denotes the Roman numeral 10, since it is the OS's tenth release"
10. Red Hat Linux: A Name Rich with Meaning
"Cofounder Bob Young (pictured) has given multidimensional origins of the red fedora name: 1. It was named after red, which in Western history is "the symbol of liberation and challenge of authority." 2. Cofounder Marc Ewing wore his grandfather's red Cornell lacrosse hat in college and became known for this tech expertise—those with problems went to see the guy in the red hat. 3. Ewing named his software projects Red Hat 1, Red Hat 2 and so on. "So, when he started his Linux project, he just named it Red Hat Linux," Young said. All righty then!" - BooLag, on 04/23/2009, -2/+23What, UBUNTU didn't make the list?
Horny Hippo, Gay Giraffe, etc... - inactive, on 11/12/2008, -1/+19Wow, Windows 7 = 7th iteration of Windows? Max OSX = Tenth iteration of MacOS? Wikipedia = An encyclopedia that's a wiki?
This article blew my mind! - pfleischman, on 11/12/2008, -0/+16Thank you for saving the world some bandwidth. You should be given a medal, or at least someone should get you a beer.
- xwater, on 11/12/2008, -0/+11that looks like alot of effort, i forsee digging in your future
- haentz, on 11/12/2008, -0/+11TWAIN: Technology without any interesting name
- Phoenixheart, on 11/12/2008, -6/+14Not really interesting...
- DevilDogs, on 11/12/2008, -0/+8Gotta love a list on how products got their name and they don't get it right. Firefox is actually the 3rd choice for the name. The original choice was Phoenix, as in a mythical creature rising from the ashes. With the domination of IE, the purchase of Netscape, and the creation of the Mozilla Foundation, that's pretty much what the browser was, rising from the ashes. However, Phoenix Technologies had an issue with the name. Mozilla then renamed it to Firebird, since a Phoenix is typically seen as a bird, and in order to rise from ashes, you have to have fire. Yet again, that name was taken, so they changed it to Firefox.
Oh, and did I mention, a lot of this information came from one of the products on their page? That's right, the info came from Wikipedia! - cawpin, on 11/12/2008, -0/+6There's only one problem with that. It isn't the 7th version of Windows, no matter how you count.
- rpgguy1o1, on 11/12/2008, -0/+6I work at Research in Motion, and that is not at all what I was lead to believe about the name origins of BlackBerry.
First of all it was launched in 1999, not 2001, and I was lead to believe Mike Lazaridis wanted a non descript name that would be more of a brand than a product, and that BlackBerry was the first name they'd come up with and they went with it right away. I was actually told that it had nothing to do with colour either. - wastern, on 11/12/2008, -0/+5*cough*Nintendo Revolution*cough*
I think all of those that claimed they would never say the name "Wii" have since given up on their quest to keep the name - McSwankypants, on 11/12/2008, -0/+5Numbers five and nine are simply pointless and, to some extent, so is number eight. Red Hat was actually kind of a cool story though.
- gerardpetersen, on 11/12/2008, -0/+4*don't
- Handz2heaven, on 11/12/2008, -0/+4Quite interesting, although i can't really see those saving me in a pub quiz!!
- gerardpetersen, on 11/12/2008, -0/+4Goddammit people it's the web, not a magazine! You have to page to see all the content!!
- Sokkratez, on 11/12/2008, -0/+4I don't think anybody claimed it was clever.
- falafelkiosken, on 11/12/2008, -0/+4I'd like to hear the thrilling story behind the name "iPhone"
- nikki2300dk, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3"Today, kids and adults now ruthlessly plagiarize Wikipedia instead of encyclopedias."
Hmm. a bit scary that. - nicepants, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3#8 is pointless....honestly is there anyone who doesn't understand how wiki - pedia got its name?
- ClevelandBrown, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3Much appreciated.
- redwallhp, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3Kevin Rose realized that the comments would eventually become so full of crap you'd have to digg your way out of them.
- inactive, on 11/12/2008, -1/+4Apart from the ipod and red hat (which had mildy interesting stories attached to them) the rest are pretty much exactly what you'd expect.
How boring. - daGUY, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3I don't think the iPod one is quite true. What I heard was that Apple originally created the name "iPod" for an Internet kiosk, which they never ended up releasing. Since they already owned the name and ended up not having a use for it, they gave it to the MP3 player instead.
If you think about it, the name makes much more sense that way - a self-contained kiosk ("pod") that connected to the Internet ("i", like in iMac). - jonglebeats, on 11/12/2008, -1/+4*smacks head*
Always read the comments first...
*smacks head*
Always read the comments first...
*smacks head*
Always read the comments first... - cawpin, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3Windows 7 isn't the 7th version. How is that not clear?
- Tarsmus, on 11/12/2008, -0/+3The iPod one is not true. It was actually a brand they held before they created the iPod (For some sor of kiosk, I believe). They then decided to use the name for mp3 player after the kiosk idea went down.
- inactive, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows
Win 3.1 = Version 3.1 of the Kernel
Win 95 = Version 4.0.950
Windows 98 = 4.10.1998
Win 2000 = NT 5.0.2195
WinXP = NT 5.1.2600
Win Server 2k3 = NT 5.2.3790
Windows Vista = NT 6.0.6001
...
Not counting all the releases, but you get the picture. - Philbert, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2That's always a fun one, but most people I talk to don't know what TWAIN is anyway, so it doesn't really interest them to know what it stands for.
- scully32, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2System 7 came out in 1991.
- Grazfather, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2The BlackBerry one is only semi true. They hired a company to get them a name, they chose 'StrawBerry', because the keys looked like the little seeds, but the company said strawberry sounds too slow, so they switched to blackberry.
- sadatoni, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2When I first downloaded what was to become "Firefox" (I believe it was version .4), it was indeed one of the Phoenix binaries. Much less bloated than Firefox is now.
- dragossh, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2Windows 1.0
Windows 2.0
Windows 3.x / Windows NT 3.x
Windows 4.x (9x) / Windows NT 4
Windows NT 5.x (2000/XP)
Windows NT 6.0 (Vista)
Windows NT 6.1 "for compatibility" (Windows 7) - logic6, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2It's named after an obscure town in the Swiss Alps (Digg, Switzerland) whose population of 450 is dedicated to sharing information, and voting up or down on whether it is worth reading. Ron Paul has a large following, all citizens love or hate Apple, and there are only 8 women.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client= ... - wwwluckyro, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2They are talking about the version of the kernel.. .I think.
- YouAreDead, on 11/12/2008, -0/+2dugg for "Windows 7: Counting on the Power of 7"
- ultrafez, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1But RTFA before commenting... otherwise you can sound like an idiot!
- Jektal, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Was there ever really a released 2.0?
- GavinZac, on 11/14/2008, -0/+1In football (soccer), a temporary team for a challenge game, e.g. a mixture of local teams or players who previously represented a single team, is usually termed XI, e.g. Cork City XI, to refer to them being a mish mash 11 players.
Unfortunately, more often than not people call them "ex one", and some newspapers even write it that way - X1. - aeling, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1very cool, def one of the better stories on digg, ive always wondered the reason behind almost all of those gadgets.
- tendonut, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Well maybe it was Windows 7 because 7 is lucky and it might not suck
Mac OSX because X stands for X-TREEEEEEME
Yeah, this was pretty stupid - ChayD, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1I'm sure I head the the crackberry - I mean Blackberry was named by one if its designers, due to its keys looking like blackberry (the fruit) pips, and not the marketing-friendly reason given in the article.
- redwallhp, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Because Windows Vista 2 wouldn't sell very well...
- custangro, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Isn't windows 2000/xp in the same family?
- Leithal, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1I recall having to buy complete upgrades....
these were not service packs.
But to accommodate you:
1. 1.0
2. 2.0
3. 3.0 et al
4. 95, 98, 98 SE, ME
5. 2000
6. XP
7. Vista
oopps that does not add up either and ignores NT totally.
It also ignores WINCE.
As for kernel versions... Windows will ship with a 6.1 kernel.
Oh, and lose the attitude. Check the net - many people asked the same question. - zeat, on 11/14/2008, -0/+1"Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7'..."?!?
FFS. I can't believe I spent 3 minutes looking at that ***** article. And it's over 10 ***** pages. What a waste of time and bandwidth. - tendonut, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1You should hang out in different pubs. The ones in my imagination where my nerdyness and I are welcome and I don't have to dumb down everything I say to blend in with the pub crawlers.
- vinigrette, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Yes, I know that, too. I was specifically referring to the addition of the phrasing "Mac OS" in release 7.6 (1997).
- tendonut, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1@wastern
That was exactly what I was gonna say. And remember Dolphin? - inactive, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1So it'll be the 7th major version of the NT kernel. Better?
- Handz2heaven, on 11/13/2008, -0/+1Lol!
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