Sprint and Clearwire closed their $14.5 billion WiMax joint venture last Friday. Sprint is contributing wireless airwaves to the venture, but not the impossible to say brand name they previously came up with: Xohm.
The new name for this next-generation (4G) nationwide mobile broadband network, aka WiMax, is much clearer and to the point than Xohm: Clear. The company behind it will retain the Clearwire name.
Apparently, Xohm is NOT where the heart is.
Via Reuters.
Hypermiling is the Oxford Universtiy Press “Word of the Year” and “moofer” is a runner-up amongst these finalists:
frugalista – person who leads a frugal lifestyle, but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying second-hand, growing own produce, etc.
moofer – a mobile out of office worker – ie. someone who works away from a fixed workplace, via Blackberry/laptop/wi-fi etc. (also verbal noun, moofing)
topless meeting – a meeting in which the participants are barred from using their laptops, Blackberries, cellphones, etc.
toxic debt – mainly sub-prime debts that are now proving so disastrous to banks. They were parceled up and sent around the global financial system like toxic waste, hence the allusion.
I prefer to think of myself as one of a new breed of digital nomads.
Introducing a brand new publication designed specifically for women professionals in the litigation practice specialty. “The legal community has been dominated by men since the establishment of the United States and Sue will be a valuable asset in helping women in litigation to equalize that dominance and further develop their position in the legal community,” says Christie LaBarca in a review of the new magazine named Sue.
The Canadian trial judge commented on the unusual nature of the parties’ marriage at para. 31 of her reasons for judgment:
Marriages are as varied as the people in them, but the courts have recognized certain common types of marriages when considering entitlements upon their dissolution. This marriage does not fit any standard pattern. There is a 30-year age difference between the plaintiff and the defendant, and their expectations upon marriage were respectively unrealistic and completely at odds. The plaintiff married because she wanted to have a child; the defendant married because he wanted a companion for the coming years. Their respective financial, educational, and employment experiences and backgrounds are completely different. Although both are of Chinese extraction, they come from different economic and political cultures – the plaintiff from northern China, and the defendant from Hong Kong. While the defendant immigrated to Canada many years ago, speaks English well, and has lived a cosmopolitan lifestyle, the plaintiff has spent her entire life in China, has never travelled, and speaks minimal English.
If only he were Mr. Wang and she Ms. Poon, but no marriage is perfect.
Voters in San Francisco have turned down two controversial ballot initiatives. The first would have barred police from arresting prostitutes, and the second would have re-named a local sewage plant.
Mothers in Kenya have marked Barack Obama’s historic win in the US presidential elections by naming their newborns after him and his wife, according to this international news report.
Meanwhile, in the real America, a supporter of Republican presidential candidate John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin went beyond a bumper sticker and named his newborn daughter after the duo. According to this local news report, the baby’s name, Sarah McCain Palin Ciptak, came as a surprise to her mother.
After Toyota pours somewhere between $8-$10M (AP) into what has become a nationally annoying commercial, the waning reputation of this ad is gaining as one antagonist launches the Facebook group “Stop Playing Toyota’s ‘Saved By Zero’ Commercial’” which has generated over 1,300 members and articles on AdAge, Google News/AP, among other top online media sites.
The notoriety of Toyota’s trying commercial is working to the favor of Facebook advertising; Online PR continues to dominate the AD sector, proving advertising free for some and $10M for others.
Please note, due to the overwhelming annoyance of this Toyota commercial, it will not be posted below.
One of TIME’s 50 best inventions of 2008: the branded candidate.
Barack Obama hat: $15.
Barack Obama special-edition Beyoncé T shirt: $60.
Devising a system to make and sell your own swag aand garner millions in profits, not to mention the phone numbers and addresses of hundreds of thousands of potential volunteers? Priceless.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has a hilarious analysis of Obama’s half-hour infomercial — complete with “unfortunate product placements.”
Today, Microsoft introduced what it said would be a slimmer and more responsive version of its Windows operating system, while unceremoniously dropping the brand name Vista for the new product. The new version will instead be branded Windows 7, because it is the seventh of a long line of operating systems for PCs developed by the company since the 1980s.
Via: New York Times
It will be interesting to see how Apple revamps its popular “I’m a Mac” advertisements mocking the Vista operating system.
Yesterday, Microsoft launched a new series of ads — a new “I’m a PC” campaign — “part of Crispin Porter & Bogusky’s $300 million marketing ploy to help the computer maker regain some positive buzz lost to competitor Apple,” according to Advertising Age. Computer users can upload to windows.com their own “I’m a PC” ad.
In the frequently asked questions section of the site, it says: “I have a Mac, can I participate?” Microsoft’s answer: “Of course you can. A Mac can be a PC too, most notably when it runs Windows Vista.”
Oh noes, there’s that V-word again.
Posted by Jay on
December 1st, 2008 - 2:31pm |
branding + company names + name changes + product names |
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