November 2006 Archives: Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog

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November 30, 2006

Seinfeld Brand Name: Seinlanguage Overshadows Michael Richards

In light of the recent debacle involving comedian Michael Richards and his offensive outbursts at an LA nightclub, I watched a few Seinfeld episodes last weekend to see if I could identify anything that was overtly or even tangentially racist about Richards’ "Kramer" character.

In so doing, I uncovered nothing that was inappropriate, and if something seemed risqué, it surely resided in the realms of satire and good taste. However, as a byproduct of this exercise, something significant popped up.

Though its title was a less-than-inspiring eponym, Seinfeld became a highly memorable brand name due largely to its cultural impact on the American language. More specifically, it penetrated America’s cultural DNA and embedded within it numerous coined words and terms often used today.

Case in point: “shrinkage”; “regifting”; “double dipping”; “master of my domain”; “yadda yadda yadda”; “no soup for you!”; “Serenity now”; et al.

These words, phrases and ideas, also known as memes, have infiltrated the public consciousness so effectively that DVD sales of the show continue to do well. This remains to be true despite the fact that Seinfeld is played in syndication ad nauseum nearly 8 years after it went off the air!

Why is this so? Although no extensive market research has been done on this, one can conclude that the show’s memes have been so heavily adopted by American culture that, in many ways, to live without the show is to deprive oneself of the cultural validation that those memes provide.

In other words, because the show had such an imprint on American culture, fans of the TV series want to show their sense of ownership over it by adopting its memes as their own. This is why DVD sales of the series and the Seinfeld brand name will remain strong, even despite the Michael Richards setback.

Technorati Tags: Michael Richards, Seinfeld, Kramer, Laugh Factory, Seinlanguage

Posted by Diane Prange at 6:17 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Media and Entertainment | Naming
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This Is Your Brain on Brands

The blogosphere is heated this week over a couple of great posts on NeuroscienceMarketing.com that picked up a press release from the Radiological Society of North America confirming what we in the product naming business have always suspected: brand names we know and recognize activate different areas of our brains than those that we do not.

Google was awash with related posts including a good one entitled Brain Branding - Coke Is It that mentions that Coke and Pepsi are both equally recognized but the Coke brand name has stronger “functional magnetic resonance imaging results.” IndianPad breaks down the findings, quoting from the report that “a benchmark test for strong vs. weaker brands is possible,” but, frustratingly, finding how to scientifically increase that resonance of brands upon our brains is still elusive.

Kyle Flaherty linked to the results on his Engage in PR Blog, pointing out that now PR people are building “brands” rather than simply promoting companies (something they have been doing for years anyway), and that the entire PR industry will be “shifting from customer satisfaction to customer advocacy.”

I would add that branding is deeply rooted in the way we use language, which is why we at SND place a strong emphasis on our linguistic expertise. Branding shows its face in the literary study of structuralism and in the myths we create about ourselves, as delineated in the writings of Claude Levi Strauss.

There's an excellent post on the subject that references Google’s struggles to “deverb” its name, and points out that “Brands are about what consumers think - their perception is what counts, not what the company wants”.

Now we have proof.

Technorati Tags: Brain on Brands, Coke, Brands, Claude Levi Strauss

Posted by William Lozito at 3:06 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Naming | Product Naming
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Links du Jour 11-30-06

Jimmy Buffett Protects Integrity of Margaritaville Brand Name - Madison, at the Glitter and Gold blog, reports that Jimmy Buffett has prevailed against Robert Akard for illegally selling Buffett’s trademarked items over the Internet. Akard has been illegally merchandising Margaritaville brand name merchandise for some time.

Martha Stewart: The Brand - Ted Mininni at Marketing Profs has a great post up analyzing the current state of the Martha Stewart brand name. His verdict? She’s baaaack - with a new TV show, numerous licensing deals, and an agreement with KB Home to build Martha Stewart themed houses in planned communities. Her “aura transcends the woman,” states the CEO of Macy’s who just signed her for a line of home store products, further assuring us that her “brand will prosper in any situation.” Seems like it.

Technorati Tags: Martha Stewart, Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett, Robert Akard

November 29, 2006

The End of Television, Cell Phones, Car Phones?

Today, we will put to rest three outdated technology device names that have to finally be considered outdated: "television," "cell phone," and "car phone."

Take a look at this blog on Funny Business that will bring you back to 1988, when Radio Shack could charge $1,499 for a cellular phone (I can’t remember when I used that name) and watch an ad for a car phone from the same year. If you must refer to a mobile phone that is especially for use in a car, the term to use, in my opinion, is “in-car phone” such as the Motorola M710 or a “handsfree” set - although you really cannot ask somebody to call you on your "handsfree.”

Textually.org has a nice post linking to a recent Business Week article, Time To Rename the Cell Phone?, reminding us that Nokia already refers to their units as “multimedia computers” and Samsung calls them “mobile information terminals.” The name cellphone or cell phone or, most egregiously, cell-phone, is just plain outdated, like the term “icebox.”

At one point, the fridge was a box with ice in it, hence the term icebox. At one point, analog mobile phones used “cells” of coverage in cities, hence the term “cellular phone”, which was shortened to “cell phone.” Those cells are no longer really used in the digital age.

With the advent of WiFi and WiMax and broadband phones, Time magazine has come out and asked its European readers what to do about the “New Wireless Tangle” - you need a glossary just to keep up with what is available. MocoNews points out that Motorola CEO Ed Zander refers to them as “the device formerly known as the cell phone.” And are people out there asking others to call them on their “broadband phone”?

This leaves us with the term “television” and even the term “radio,” both which the BBC thinks are obsolete. The BBC (Britain’s largest TV network) now refers to its video content as “Vision” and the name “radio” has been dropped in favor of “Audio and Music.” This, thinks David Deans, is the beginning of the end for these old, achingly analog terms.

I have to agree. While we in the U.S., the ones who came up with the term “cell phone” in the first place, while the Brits skipped happily to “mobiles”, will probably still stubbornly use the terms “television”, and “radio” for some years to come, their days are now officially numbered.

My prediction is that “television” will go first, and the term “TV” will linger on (think HDTV and 2DTV). “Radio” will also stay just long enough to go out when the last TV is switched off. And you read here first.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Cellular Phone, Television, Car Phone, Technology Names, Motorola, Samsung, Mobile Information Terminals, WiMax, Ed Zander

Links du Jour 11-29-06

Jaguar XF: S-Type replacement gets new name - Leftlane News reports that Jag is dropping the “S-Type” series in favor of “XF”. The new name creates a more consistent brand architecture, as Jag already offers the XJ and XK. Jag chief Bibiana Boerio says the new XF name will "challenge people to think again about Jaguar as daring and different." What do you think? Leftlane News reader Piablo says this: "I think they should really lay off challenging others and challenge themselves to come out with a car worthy of carrying the Jaguar name."

Intelligence Amplification - Great blog up by Brad Feld on the name “Web 3.0." In short, he prefers the phrase “Intelligence Amplification” which echoes the older name “Artificial Intelligence.” Some names that fit into this theme: Me.dium, Lijit, Collective Intellect, and HiveLive. Great read, and nice looking new site, Brad.

Technorati Tags: Jaguar XF, Web 3.0, Intelligence Amplification

Posted by William Lozito at 7:45 AM

Posted to Automotive | Brand Naming | Naming | Product Naming
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November 28, 2006

Brand Naming: The Power of the "-Ex" Suffix

Richard Lederer of the KPBS show A Way with Words describes “–ex” as “The killer advertising suffix.”

The US Patent and Trademark Office agrees with him: a search for terms ending in “-ex” yields 46,779 results. Even allowing for a company trademarking the same name in several different classes, and subtracting words that end in “–plex,” "–flex,” and the like, that’s a shed-load of brand names.

And unlike such endings as “–ium” and “–ion,” which are associated primarily with product names in the high tech and science industries, or "-one," "-ol," and "-in(e)," which are usually used for pharmaceuticals and chemical compounds, names for products in any category at all can end in “–ex.” Here are just a few examples:

Brand Names with “ex” Suffix

Even the popular abbreviations “AmEx” and “FedEx” may have come about in part because of the power of this suffix.

What other examples of brand names ending in "ex" can you think of?

Technorati Tags: USPTO, Suffix

Links du Jour 11-27-06

Dippy Chick - Here's a link to Marie's WAHM Spotlight blog, which profiles the Dippy Chick Company, which has come up with equally irreverant product names: Gettin' Piggy Widdit, Crabby ol' Beach Seafood Mix, Kamikaze Wasabi, and Parmesan Pesto Manifesto, to name a few. The Dippy Chick's original business name was SerenDIPity Gourmet Specialties.

DC Aims at Teenage Girls - Johanna Draper Carlson writes about DC Comics creating a graphic novel for teenage girls with the name "Minx". Tim Leong at Comic Foundry points out that DC had to take legal action to protect the brand name Minx. What do you think of the name Minx other comics aimed at girls: Paradox, WildStorm, CMX, Helix?

The Value of a Brand Name - Would you go to the theater to see "James Bond 21"? How about "Casino Royale"? Interesting post by Frank Cimatu on the naming strategies studios employ in marketing sequels.

The 69-word Name Change - A James Bond fan changed his name to all the Bond movie titles. You have to read this blog post by Adam Ash to believe it.

Technorati Tags: Dippy Chick Company, Johanna Draper Carlson, DC, Minx, Casino Royale, Movie Marketing, James Bond

November 27, 2006

TV Show Naming: Justice Has Its Predators

Justice TV Show Just two months into the new television season and already networks are announcing their cancellations, for example, Jerry Bruckheimer's show, Justice. Given Bruckheimer’s track record of creating such well-known TV brand names as CSI and Without a Trace, Justice seemed that it was bound for success.

Perhaps the reason that Justice was cancelled had something to do with its name. Is the word “justice” enticing enough to motivate a viewer to actually tune in?

American Crime might have been better. That was the show's original name, but due to the impending release of the 2007 film An American Crime, a name change had to be made. The word “crime” would have instantly infused suspense and mayhem into the show’s brand.

The only other freshman legal drama that had a chance of making it was CBS’s Shark, starring James Woods.

Shark TV Show Shark is a success, even though it suffers from seen-before storylines and a remarkably boring cast, with the exception of Woods, who already has a high level of brand recognition and identity. That’s the main reason why the show got better ratings and ultimately survived longer than Justice.

However, if you were to level the playing ground by eliminating Woods from the equation and just pitted the two shows Shark and Justice against one another on paper (say, in TV Guide, where the name of the show really matters), Shark would still prevail.

Why? Because it has a much more interesting and powerful brand name:

A shark is a predator, devouring its prey with reckless abandon, and therefore evokes images associated with conflict, danger, perhaps even survival

When used as a metaphor, the word “shark” describes highly competitive, ethically challenged business people, attorneys, politicians, agents, and other positions of power (Woods is a hotshot defense attorney who defects to the other side)

”Shark” helps deliver on the brand promise of providing excitement in a dangerous world (in this case, the world of criminal law)

Although Justice reached a more satisfying result per episode, it undermined itself from the outset with a title that was too vague and exhausted to deliver an accessible brand promise.

And that’s why it’s not surprising that Shark, as simple and as concrete as it sounds, devoured its freshmen competition.

For more information on this subject, check out these insightful blog posts: A Tale of Two Law Shows, Fox benches Justice, and Justice: FOX Throws Out Court Drama.

Technorati Tags: Jerry Bruckheimer, Shark, American Crime, Justice, James Woods, TV Show Naming, CBS, Fox, Legal Drama

November 26, 2006

Naming Rights for College Buildings, Lockers, and More

One of the interesting elements of being in the naming business is how educational institutions work out naming rights to buildings on campus. We all know that serious donors get the first chance, but there can often be more to simply putting down money for a building and getting your name over the door.

VCU Logo Recently, a blog posted on the Commonwealth Times, the online portal for Virginia Commonwealth University, looked at the issue of corporate naming rights at institutions of higher learning. The new Business School building there is selling name rights starting from $5,000 and going all the way to $2.5 million.

Once a donor has given money to the University, they are presented with a correspondingly long list of naming opportunities - $5,000 can give you the right to name a faculty office, $200,000 gets your name over a 200 seat classroom. Once you get up to the $2+ million level, you start to be able to name entire facilities.

The Un-Zone blog has discussed this trend, pointing out that smaller elements of buildings have been overlooked: what about clocks? Floor tiles? HVAC Systems? Bathrooms?

But this is not quite as crazy as one would think. Penn State’s new Lorenzo Wrestling Complex offered donors the right (at $5,000 a pop) to put their names above lockers. The Philip Merrill College of Journalism (named after a big donor) has recently named a new building after James L Knight, the founder of Knight Ridder.

Bill Gates gave $25 million to a computer center at Harvard that he did not visit for ten years, while another Harvard dropout, Edwin Land, gave funds for the science center to be shaped like a giant Polaroid camera, something that the university has tried to forget.

Yale University, for its part, has owned up to the slave holding past of John C. Calhoun, whose name is on one of their residential colleges.

Shaping buildings after the inventions of large donors is nothing new, however. The Library Pariah points out that Bayside University has agreed to install a massive Chutes and Ladders style slide from the top of the library to the quad to recognize the gift of a “distant heir to the Bradley side of the famous Milton Bradley gaming empire.” The slide will also serve as an emergency exit.

Well, not really...

Technorati Tags: Naming Rights, Name Rights, VCU, Harvard, Yale, Building Name, Corporate Donors, Penn State

November 25, 2006

Indian Motorcycle Brand Name Rides Again!

I am absolutely thrilled to link to Custom Motorcycle Talk today, where Jason hart has posted an article written by Eugenia Lawson at Fortune magazine about the revival of two classic brand names: Indian Motorcycles and Chris-Craft boats.

Two Harvard B-School classmates, Stephen Julius and Steve Heese already brought back the classic boat brand after years of neglect, and they have now turned their considerable expertise towards bringing back Indian Motorcycles, which once upon a time was just as big and popular as Harley.

Featured in the classic Anthony Hopkins movie The Worlds Fastest Indian, the Indian brand name is legendary among motorcycle enthusiasts and has exactly the kind of cachet among the rest of us to work.

Since the bikes will be made in America, they will have the same resonance as Harley. Chris-Craft is just as admired in the smaller, more rarified boating community: people lovingly restore old Chris Craft boats and keep them afloat for generations.

My feeling is that some brand names, like Chris-Craft and Indian, seem to have a mystique and allure that never dies.

If Chris-Craft can be revived, than Indian Motorcycles certainly can be. The new plant is certainly ambitious, and moreover the management has carefully studied rival Harley’s success and has committed itself to “remaining true to the rich heritage of this incredible brand” by creating heavy cruiser bikes along the same line as those we remember from decades ago.

Welcome back, Indian.

Technorati Tags: Harley-Davidson, Harley, Indian Motorcycles, Chris-Craft

November 24, 2006

Brand Naming: Air France, KLM, Alitalia to Join Mile High Club?

KLM Following rumors earlier this week that Air France and KLM are getting ready to launch a new brand name low budget airline comes news that Air France KLM and Alitalia are seriously considering at a merger, prompting Air France shares to drop and Alitalia’s to rise.

The question is, what would ultimately happen to the Alitalia brand?

Mark Pilling at Flight International points out that a kind of merger mania is sweeping the airline industry, pointing at the potential takeover of Quantas by a partnership of Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group equity firm.

Pilling notes that investors are very weary of mergers within an industry that seems to be hardly flying high nowadays, but Air France’s acquisition of Alitalia really would make a lot of sense.

Alitalia is an unprofitable, state-run airline that has huge brand name recognition, but very few happy customers. Earlier this week, the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, pointed out that “aside from Greece, only Italy still has an airline that hasn’t been privatized” and was highly critical of the Italian government's involvement with the ailing airline. David Williams noted last month that things have gotten so bad at Alitalia that they are starting to sell ad space on barf bags.

In a very in-depth article, Andrea Rothman notes that the CEO of Air France, Jean Cyril Spinetta, wants to see a “common vision” shared by the two airlines as well as “financial strength” - a good thing since Alitalia has not posted a profit since 2002.

Ms. Spinetta also profiles other recent takeover bids, including US Airways move on Delta, which I wrote about last week. A post yesterday on Ireland.com quotes the Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi as wondering whether such a merger would “create a big European air transport group in which Italy has also its place, or simply grab the Italian air transport market, which is big and very rich?"

My view is that the acquisition of Alitalia by Air France will make it no less Italian in spirit - I have flown KLM many times and find it to be quintessentially Dutch, just as Air France is suitably refined and French, especially the First Class, which, with its down comforters and Christian Lacroix pajamas, is magnifique.

I would expect the Alitalia brand name would retain its Italian flair and values, should the takeover happen.

Technorati Tags: Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Airline Mergers, Ryanair

November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving from Strategic Name Development

Here’s wishing all of our readers a happy and prosperous Thanksgiving.

Ever wonder about the name, Thanksgiving? Manhattan Chowder has an excellent post up that tells us who, exactly, we can thank for the modern Thanksgiving holiday: a woman named Sarah Joseph Hale, who created the official name of the holiday, on and off, in different guises, ever since 1541.

That's when Coronado’s expedition held a friendly meal with Teya Indians in West Texas...almost a hundred years before the Pilgrims enjoyed their harvest feast in Plymouth.

Before you sit down to your traditional turkey dinner, you might also enjoy reading about the origins of Thanksgiving, on Susie’s wonderful blog. You'll find some surprising facts revealed: Ben Franklin’s wish that the Turkey, and not the Bald Eagle, be the national symbol of America; and the difference between a “fryer” and a “roaster.” Great blog, Susie.

Thanksgiving And if you're interested in finding out where, precisely, your meal comes from, why not visit the Geography Matters blog. You can track each and every element of your meal - you may know where the potatoes in your meal were grown (Idaho), but what about the pecans? And the celery?

Lastly, have fun with Google's Thanksgiving holiday logo change, which will combine an image of, probably a turkey, into Google's logo. Like for many other holidays celebrated in the U.S. and around the world, Google's homepage will again temporarily change to reflect a unique Google visual identity.

The fun part is seeing how the holiday image is weaved into the Google name. Last year's logo on Thanksgiving replaced the o's with popular Thanksgiving dishes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving Name

Posted by William Lozito at 11:41 AM

Posted to Naming
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November 21, 2006

Positioning: Helio, Helio, Thou Doth Protest Too Much

Helio Billboard 7-Up won by being the un-cola. Nintendo Wii hopes to be the un-gaming system. And it seems Helio just might win by being an un-phone.

Helio aims to catch the public’s attention by an un-positioning campaign. The company’s billboards show pictures of devices that look like cell phones, with captions like “Friendar” and “Conversation Starter” and the tagline “Don’t call us a phone company.”

The tactic is working, at least in terms of getting attention. The obvious question is “Well, if it’s not a phone, what is it?” That provokes people to find out more. On the other hand, hiding its own name in small print left me looking “Friendar” up on Google.

Helio Billboard It’s unlikely that Helio will succeed in getting people to refer to their devices as “devices” rather than phones. Even Helio owners posting pictures on Flickr use the tag “cellphone” as well as “helio.”

What really matters to the wireless company, however, is not eliminating the word “phone” from the vocabulary of its users, but rather getting people to switch from other services to theirs. By rejecting the term “phone” and emphasizing features like MySpace Mobile and the Buddy Beacon, Helio turns its position as a newcomer into an advantage.

Thomas Sherman writes about Helio's "This is not your father's Oldsmobile" approach on his blog, The Sherman Foundation. Check it out for further insights into the campaign's approach, and for a couple links to the Helio TV spots which cleverly deliver the tagline as a punchline.

Technorati Tags: Helio, Friendar, Positioning

November 20, 2006

Branding Naming: Starbucks May Get Scalded

The disagreement that I have written about before between Starbucks and Ethiopia over the coffee giant’s trademarking of the country’s Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar bean names is about to boil over.

Starbucks and Oxfam Starbucks wants Ethiopian sellers of these beans to abandon efforts to trademark the names (after prompting the USPTO to call the names “generic”) and instead use a geographic certification model (think Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, Florida Orange Juice, Napa Valley Wines) to protect their names.

There is also a fight over who wanted to trademark the names first. The green LA girl blog has started a nifty little timeline to help track Ethiopia’s effort to trademark some of its coffee names.

The risks here are enormous and go right to the heart of brand naming. If Ethiopia gets its trademark, it risks pricing itself out of the market; if it goes for regional certification, it risks losing brand name equity and an important card in negotiations with coffee sellers. But in this case, Ethiopia cannot risk losing Starbucks, its biggest buyer, and is offering a licensing agreement to the Seattle-based coffee company free of charge.

At the same time, it should be noted that Ethiopia is becoming a steamy matter for Starbucks - bloggers are frustrated over what they see as a clear case of corporate exploitation.

IWW It is within Starbucks' best interest to come to a public, amicable agreement with the growers before the Starbucks brand name suffers serious harm. Already radical Starbucks baristas have declared November 24-25 the “Global Day of Action Against Starbucks”. This is exactly the kind of brand name nightmare that Nike and Apple have both managed to put behind them.

The fact is that the National Coffee Association is on Starbucks' side, stating that a trademark move on the part of Ethiopia is a scheme that “is going to hurt the Ethiopian coffee farmers economically”. It seems to me that Starbucks could put its weight behind a regional certification program, which would protect the interests of Ethiopian farmers as well as the company name.

Starbucks should also go on the offensive and take the extra effort to prove to suspicious activists that they are not engaging in exploitative behavior with Ethiopian growers or any other growers. Nobody likes to buy coffee from a rapacious corporate monolith, even one that is in the right, at least not the kind of people who frequent Starbucks.

Ethiopia, for its part, should tread carefully. The fact is, very few people have heard of these brand names (unlike, say, Blue Mountain or Kona) and if Starbucks is forced to stop selling them, you can bet that nobody will hear much about them in the future.

By the way, I hope my apostrophe use with the name Starbucks was correct.

Technorati Tags: Starbucks, Ethiopia, Trademark, National Coffee Association, Ethiopian Farmers

Brand Naming: Is Gresso the New Gucci of Mobile Phones?

V3iDG Until today I had believed the Motorola D&G RAZR v31 cell phone was pretty much the most luxurious looking cell phone out there. As I've written about before, cell phones are becoming fashion statements and the D&G RAZR is the phone you’d most expect to see on a catwalk.

Now, a new phone is on the block: the Russian made Gresso Luxury Phone, which Cell Phones Etc. says is the perfect phone to give your favorite mafia friend. I think this phone is even more pretentious than the D&G RAZR.

The name of the designer and the model are still secret and the only way to communicate with the company is via hotmail.

Even if Motorola brings out a hot pink version of the D&G RAZR, I think Gresso’s phone, every unit of which is unique and which features an eternal, patented keypad and is crafted of African Blackwood, earns Gresso the award for most over-the-top handset out there. And I must say I am impressed that the company has kept such a low profile, adding a mystique to its brand name that other fashion phone makers would like to earn.

What do you think? Which mobile phone will stand for the Gucci of mobile phones, the Gresso or the D&G RAZR?

Technorati Tags: Motorola, D&G RAZR, Gresso, Luxury Phone, Luxury Brands

Branding: Yahoo! Peanut Butter

Yahoo! Peanut Butter Michael Parekh's wrote a great post on his blog Saturday, giving some very insightful observations on Yahoo!'s multiple overlapping services, and other "Yahoo 2.0" considerations. It's a great read... and might make you start craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The news is all about the The Wall Street Journal story on Yahoo!’s amusingly named “Peanut Butter Manifesto”, penned by a senior executive which is an insight into the strife that has beset that Internet giant. Brad Garlinghouse, the writer of manifesto memo, claims that Yahoo! is trying be all things to everybody, and thus has spread itself too thin over a variety of business ventures.

Jim Benson suggests that when “life gives you peanut butter, make peanut butter cookies", and that Yahoo! has "open sourced their business strategy." Matt Asay at AC/OS has an excellent post up entitled “Yahoo! High in Fat”. Maybe so, but analysts remain bullish on Yahoo!, even if things are a little sticky over there.

Technorati Tags: Yahoo!, Yahoo 2.0, Peanut Butter Manifesto

November 19, 2006

Product Naming: 3DTV - Is It Here or Is It a Hoax?

3D TV image The Holy Grail of television is not HDTV, it’s 3DTV, which is just what it sounds like: three dimensional TV that brings a great white shark or the winning Super Bowl touchdown right into your living room.

Today, Alex Zaharov-Reutt claims it's no longer a dream — it's been pre-launched at the eGames Expo in Melbourne, Australia before its official launch on New Year's Day 2007.

People have been eagerly awaiting this new technology. Digital Media Wire wondered back in September is it was reality or fiction and predicted it coming in ten to twenty years. The Research Information Centre is more optimistic — at the end of October they predicted it would be here in a few years and ran an excellent blog post predicting that "stereoscopy-based 3DTV and 3D Cinema are expected to be a common form of mass communication in a few years" in an excellent profile of the aggressive EU Research Team named The 3DTV Project, while Coolest-Gadgets predicts that Philips will have 3D sets out by 2008, followed closely by Toshiba and Sharp.

3D TV image But nobody has predicted that the breakthrough would come from a product named "The Vortex Home Entertainment System," which reportedly already has a library of 500 current PC games with the ability to convert normal "2DTV" (that's what you and I watch) to 3D. Zaharov-Reutt says that when you use the Vortex System (right now it looks like you need to wear 3D glasses) to watch a football game it "emulates the feeling of being there more than anything I've ever experienced." The system comes from visionary 27 year-old Tony Welch who runs Fountain Consulting.

We weren't able to find anything about the Vortex System on Fountain Consulting's site, but we did notice a mention of "the emerging market of 3D Auto-Stereoscopic Displays (ASDs)."

What do you think? Does today’s post bring us a hoax or holograms?

Technorati Tags: TV, Television, Video, 3D, Technology, 3DTV

Posted by William Lozito at 11:26 AM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Product Naming | Technology
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