This obituary, issued by his family, recalls his remarkable achievements:
Jef created the Macintosh Computer as employee number 31 at Apple in the early 1980s, revolutionizing computer interface design. Jef established many methods now taken for granted by computer users, such as "click and drag." He named the Macintosh project after his favorite variety of apple, the McIntosh (modifying the spelling for copyright purposes). Jef strongly believed that computers should make tasks easy for people, not the other way around.
Jef viewed good design as a moral duty, holding interface designers to the same ethical standards as surgeons. Alluding to Isaac Asimov's first law of robotics, one of Jef's mantras was that "any system shall not harm your content or, through inaction, allow your content to come to harm."
There's a lot to be rediscovered about the contributions of Jef Raskin to the lifestyles of everyone sitting at their computers today reading this sad news. But, for those of us who appreciate the impact of naming and branding on our lives, this short note from Jef's own writings is particularly interesting, in retrospect:
In the spring of 1979 I went to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Apple, Mike Markkula, and proposed that Apple build a new kind of computer. It was to be inexpensive; have a small footprint; use a built-in, graphics-based screen; and—my most heretical point— it would be based on human factors considerations rather than driven by whatever was hottest in electronic technology at the moment. My name for this project was "Macintosh".
Today, this classic name seems so obviously "right" that the creative genius is not often given the credit he deserves for coming up with the "Macintosh" name in a corporate environment where, to others, it seemed like a good idea at the time to name a computer the Apple IIe, or as branding guru Steve Jobs might have named the computer with the first graphical user interface, LISA, after his eldest daughter.
Posted by
abnu on Monday, February 28, 2005 @ 7:38 AM
[ + ]
Once a week, we'll republish a post found in the blogosphere that is just the sort of thing that ought to have been written on Wordlab, if only we were smart enough.
As a rule, permission will not be sought. This would hardly be ganking if we had to get a release signed, now would it? And it probably won't help you get one of your own posts ganked by Wordlab if you send us an email begging for attention. It's "Gank of the Week" not ganking the weak.
On the other hand, we're counting on our readers to help us find great posts about naming and branding or creative wordplay that look like they should have been blogged on Wordlab. So, please send us recommendations! Something really good, like this one:
Save our slogans
There's the International Database of Corporate Commands. But where's the International Database of Corporate Questions ("Got milk?" "Does she or doesn't she?" "Where's the beef?")? And the International Database of Corporate Statements ("We are driven." "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." "Nothing runs like a Deere."), the International Database of Corporate Exclamations ("Look, Ma, no cavities!" "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" "It's Miller time!"), and the International Database of Corporate Descriptive Fragments ("The ultimate driving machine." "The quicker picker upper." "All the news that's fit to print.") Or -- well, you get the idea. The Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame documents some famous ones, and there are other lists here and here and elsewhere, but there's a long tail of more ephemeral slogans that collectively make up a lot of the language we see and hear every day. Is anybody documenting this stuff more systematically? Maybe the Wikipedia will?
This post was ripped off of Language Log, so give 'em a click to let them know they've been ganked.
Posted by
abnu on Sunday, February 27, 2005 @ 11:55 AM
[ + ]
Noah Webster was one of the first dictionary writers to buck convention and define (even spell) words according to common usage, especially American usage - accepting color as used in the United States versus colour as used in Britain. In a similar vein, we include as many versions of a given word as possible, including general and specialized synonyms. Since we have used, like so many other modern dictionaries (including those of his children and G. & C. Merriam Co.), Webster’s definitions (which are now part of the public domain) as a starting point. It is not surprising for aficionados to find a verbatim Noah Webster definition, or one that borrows long passages. In our case, we give general credit to Webster as most of the definitions for a bulk of the English section of The Rosetta Edition, share a lexicographic heritage from Webster. If a definition has been updated from his original, then the more recent definition is offered. If not, then Webster's original definition, or one from the 1913 unabridged dictionary bearing his name, is offered and credited. Technical terminology not known at the time of Webster is defined using modern sources.
Why The Rosetta Edition? In his lifetime, Noah Webster learned over 25 languages. Given his polyglot background, we combined Webster's name with Rosetta in honor of his contemporary Jean François Champollion, the intellectual giant in Egyptology who deciphered the three parallel inscriptions carved in hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek on the famous Rosetta Stone. Having decrypted a lost language, Champollion exposed the world to a civilization and its history. Starting from Webster's definitions, we have also tried to offer a modern Rosetta Stone which can introduce the reader to a large variety of linguistic cultures and word usage styles.
Would an infringement of any other name reek so foul?
Posted by
abnu on Saturday, February 26, 2005 @ 2:46 PM
[ + ]
What do you call a sponsor who dumps your blog? An occasional advertiser. At least that's how Nick Denton characterizes Cheaptickets, which pulled out of Gridskipper because the site was "too naughty."
We'd rather lose the occasional advertiser than the character that attracts the audience in the first place. If an advertiser wants a safe environment, there are thousands of tired media outlets to choose from.
Weblogs are supposed to be unexpected and wincingly frank. That's an essential part of the appeal to a generation that's turning away from network television and print media.
That said, it might remain to be seen whether Sony, which pays $25,000 a month for exclusive sponsorship of Gawker Media's Lifehacker, would maintain its financial support if that blog were to tell us how to hack into Paris Hilton's Sidekick and put our name and number on her "hot" list, or better still how to do a workaround on Digital Rights Management. And would Gawker Media care? It's apparent that at least one content concession was made to Sony already—Lifehacker has a modified Gawker Media banner ad that omits the incestuous link to their porn blog, Fleshbot. Maybe they considered that "too naughty" for Sony.
A while ago, there was an open discussion among Nick Denton and Jason Calacanis, and others in the blogosphere, concerning the degree to which Gawker-style sponsorship, and blog advertising generally, might affect editorial content on the blogs. Some wondered whether Audi's sponsorship of Jalopnik would ensure more favorable reviews for their cars. Absofuckinglutely not, readers were assured. After all, this is Gawker Media, and these bloggers are a new breed of journalists, without the constraints of MSM editorial boards, right?
Nick Denton described Gawker Media's sponsorship relationship with Audi at the beginning:
Audi has come in as exclusive launch sponsor on Jalopnik. It's part of a wider online campaign for the new A6. Rather than clutter the page with banners, Patric King has integrated Audi into the design of the page. Take a look at the date headers. That's an idea borrowed from Flavorpill. We're throwing the launch party for the new sites at the flagship Audi showroom in Manhattan.
So, with that kind of objectivity, it seemed odd that Jalopnik, which is now sponsored by the nytimes.com/autos, failed to note that the all-new 2005 Audi A6 was given the inaugural "World Car of the Year Award" during the media preview of the 2005 Canadian International Auto Show. Jalopnik posted on February 17, 2005 that the Ford Mustang had been selected "Canada's Car of the Year" at that same show. And Jalopnik mentioned the Toronto Auto Show again in a post on February 21, 2005 and linked to a story "French Student Wins Automotive Design Award" [The New York Times].
That same day, we sent an email to tips@jalopnik.com mentioning the good news for Audi, and including a link to this feature article: "Audi A6 Named 2005 World Car of the Year."
Ironically, that story includes this statement about the award's independence:
By design, World Car of the Year has no affiliation with, nor is it in any way influenced by any publication, auto show, automaker, or other commercial enterprise.
The jury of 48 experienced automotive journalists individually reviewed, evaluated, and voted on the 36 eligible vehicles, by secret ballot. To be eligible for consideration for the inaugural World Car of the Year award, a vehicle had to be available for purchase in at least five countries, on at least two continents, prior to January 1, 2005.
"The voting was far more than just a popularity contest," Malloy said. Initially, jurors assessed the cars on the basis of 20 separate parameters, ranging from styling and comfort to performance and fuel economy, to develop a short-list of ten finalists.
For their final selection, they rated those finalists on five key areas of importance to potential customers: Merit, Value, Safety and Environmental Responsibility, Significance, and Wow Factor!, the car's emotional appeal. Those secret ballots were collected and tabulated by the international accounting firm, KPMG.
Nick Denton is "wincingly frank" on his personal blog, so perhaps we'll soon learn whether there's some reason not to mention on Jalopnik that the Audi A6 has been named the 2005 World Car of the Year—like this blog did.
Gawker Media, boasting some of the most recognizable blog names, Gawker, Wonkette, Defamer, Jalopnik, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Screenhead, Fleshbot, Gridskipper, and Lifehacker, has had the creativity and courage to push the envelope of both blogging and journalism.
But the question that hasn't been answered, or perhaps even asked, is whether or not these blogs will continue to give full and fair editorial coverage to an "occasional advertiser" who pulls out of an exclusive sponsorship relationship. Or might there be hard feelings and acrimonious revenge? It's a fair question that enquiring minds want to know, and fact-checking bloggers might be able to find out.
Posted by
abnu on Friday, February 25, 2005 @ 3:10 PM
[ + ]
Raising a glass to the Vodkapundit, all I can say is, "We've got news for you."
Ivanabitch Vodka is in trouble with media censors in the United States. They're not bitchin' about the name, but they don't like the pickle in the vodka glass on the brand's billboard advertising. The story broke the other day on the adfreak blog:
According to Empire Communications Group, the ad agency for Ivanabitch, the campaign has now found itself in a pickle (OK, we simply had to throw that in), because Viacom Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor have both banned the ads in the brand's launch state of Florida. “These companies interpreted the pickle to be phallic,” said Pete Helow, a seemingly amazed managing partner at Empire, in this release. In fact, accompanying radio ads have also been banned, says the company, because they involve a woman saying she prefers her vodka "with a pickle."
To tell you the truth, I haven't seen a penis in ice cubes since university, when, as a student of Wilson Bryan Key, the author of Subliminal Seduction and other books on Media Sexploitation, I got high marks and graduated cum laude for finding sex in advertising.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Kalashnikov Joint Stock Vodka says it will be changing the name of its vodka in the UK after campaigners launched a boycott over the brand's military connections.
The powerful Portman Group, an alcohol awareness group that counts drinks giants Diageo and Interbrew UK among its members, said on Thursday the branding could link alcohol with violent behaviour.
A Kalashnikov spokeswoman said: "This is a funky and in-your-face brand, but we don't agree it causes people to take up armed conflict.
"We'll be working with the Portman Group because we have to," she added. "Our vodka will probably continue to be called Kalashnikov around the world, but something different in the UK."
The vodka was launched in Britain last September by the maker of the legendary assault rifle Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, who said he wanted to continue the "good name" of his gun.
Kalashnikov invented the rifle after being shot at by German soldiers during World War Two, but it went on to become the weapon of choice for guerrillas and gangsters across the world.
Last week, the Portman Group said it had upheld a complaint against Kalashnikov Vodka and had asked retailers to stop stocking it.
"(We) concluded that a name that primarily evoked an image of a contemporary gun, namely the AK-47, which was one of if not the most widely used firearm in the world, was an unacceptable choice of brand name for an alcoholic drink because it indirectly suggested an association with violent and dangerous behaviour," said the group.
In the United States, there's a constitutional right to a "well-lubricated militia" and the NRA would never stand for such nonsense. What's the problem with these Brits? Have they got a pickle up their arse, er what?
Posted by
abnu on Thursday, February 24, 2005 @ 5:54 PM
[ + ]
Do you know anything about biological nomenclature? Here's your chance for fame in the name game.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), in partnership with Bolivian protected area authorities, has announced a one-of-a-kind international auction for the right to name an entire species of monkey, recently discovered in an exotic South American national park.
According to WCS Conservationist Dr. Robert Wallace, who discovered the monkey, very little is known about the new monkey except that it stands about a foot tall, weighs two pounds and likes fruit. In the morning pairs of them gather and “duet,” calling back and forth while clutching each other in what resembles a human embrace.
A video clip of these rare monkeys, which might number less than a hundred, can be found at the website of the Charity Folks. The winner of this "name the monkeys" auction will have the name of their choice "permanently entered into all future references, including scientific publications, field guides, and other publications, that mention the new species."
Posted by
abnu on Sunday, February 20, 2005 @ 8:26 AM
[ + ]
Drinkable yogurt advertisements are gettin' as good as beer commercials. YOP, in particular, is quite memorable, and for some people, it's a real earworm.
If you've seen the advert, you know the one. Made in the UK, it shows teenagers getting out of bed, singing along to Eddy Grant's "Gimme Hope Jo'anna" with creatively remixed lyrics, mouthed as they sleep by the magic of videography. It's amazing.
At first, you can't take your eyes off the video, and then, you can't get the friggin' song out of your head.
When I wake up in de mornin' I'm still asleep. I really don't a want no toast. I want no OJ, no tea, and no cereal. It be a yogurt drink I'm wantin' first. Whoa, gimme YOP me mamma, smooooth, YOP me mamma. Gimme YOP me mamma, when de mornin' come. Gimme YOP me mamma. YOP me mamma. YOP for when de mornin' come.
According to Saski, a deviant artist on the web, it's the "best commercial ever. YOP (drinkable yogurt) is ickypoo. but the commercial RAWKS".
Posted by
abnu on Saturday, February 19, 2005 @ 2:39 AM
[ + ]
Uncle Kvetch and the Academiacs take up the challenge of naming hermit crabs over at Crooked Timber. If the crabs are a girl and a boy, the suggestion we've adopted for our post title here is my favorite. If they're both boys, you gotta love Gannon & Guckert.
Posted by
abnu on Friday, February 18, 2005 @ 6:36 AM
[ + ]
After 40 years of all manner of crude, rude and lewd remarks about his name, actor Alan Cumming is smelling like a rose.
Alan Cumming is one of Hollywood's most convincing chameleons: playing characters in movies as disparate as "The Anniversary Party", "Eyes Wide Shut", "Spy Kids 2", "X-Men", and "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion", he proved that no characterization is beyond his grasp, no matter how silly or serious it may be. In his latest film, he plays both sides of that comedic/ dramatic coin as Loki, the God of mischief, in "Son of the Mask". Cumming recently sat down with blackfilm.com to discuss his work in the picture, his experience working with babies, and the future prospects of his fragrance line, appropriately titled Cumming.
In an interview tonight on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Alan was pretty pumped about his new brand, gushing about a growing product line that includes a body lotion called Cumming All Over. Makes perfect scents.
Posted by
abnu on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 @ 9:13 PM
[ + ]
The Baby Name Wizard has a book, a blog, and a fascinating interactive presentation of America's name choices called NameVoyager.
Start with a "sea" of nearly 5000 names. Type a letter, and you'll zoom in to focus on how that initial has been used over the past century. Then type a few more letters, or a name. Each stripe is a timeline of one name, its width reflecting the name's changing popularity. If a name intrigues you, click on its stripe for a closer look.
Check out the popularity of your name, or the names you picked for your kids.
And, if you are interested in exploring the etymology of some of those names, you might also take a look at this website: Think! Baby Names.
Update: Posh & Becks have a new baby boy, named Cruz, which might be pronounced "Cruth" in Spanish, and could be a girl's name, like Penelope Cruz Sanchez. Anyway, here's another entertaining article about celebrity baby names.
Posted by
abnu on Tuesday, February 15, 2005 @ 8:14 PM
[ + ]
The Aquent | AMA Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals 2005 is "the most comprehensive survey of its kind ever conducted. Drawing upon data sampled from more than 70,000 marketing professionals throughout the United States, it provides the most in-depth look ever at marketers' salaries and responsibilities across a wide range of titles, markets, and industries." The website, at marketingsalaries.com, should be of special interest to headhunters.
Posted by
abnu on Thursday, February 10, 2005 @ 11:52 PM
[ + ]
A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle leads with topical Super Bowl commercials, only to trot out the same old apocryphal tales of ad campaigns that got lost in translation. This one really sucks.
American companies aren't the only ones that have fumbled their ad campaigns on foreign soil. Sometimes the embarrassment is imported to our very own shores. Case in point: Electrolux, the Scandinavian electronics company. Electrolux can make one heck of a refrigerator (Frigidare) and if you need a vacuum cleaner that'll suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, they're your guys. But the company ran into a little trouble trying to persuade the American consumer of that in the early 1970s. When the company took its catchy rhyming phrase "nothing sucks like an Electrolux" and brought it to America from English-speaking markets overseas, they failed to take into consideration the fact that "sucks" had become a derogatory word in the States. The serious language barrier persuaded the firm to turn to a U.S.-based PR firm for future ad campaigns.
But does the slogan really suck? Corporate names and taglines don't exist in a vacuum. I'd like to think that smart advertisers might appreciate the theory of negativity at work in the memorable marketing slogan, "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
Today, all the best vacuums, Fantom, Dyson, Oreck, really suck. But modern vacuum cleaner wars will not be won by suckers. The future belongs to robots named Roomba or Zoomba or something, engaged in effortless hoovering about the house. By the way, isn't anyone just a bit concerned that this Roomba vacuum cleaner is made by a company called iRobot?
Electrolux has its own robotic vacuum cleaner, the Trilobite:
The trilobite was a type of arthropod that vacuumed the ocean beds for small animals and particles about 250-560 million years ago. Its back was hard, and the trilobite is perhaps the best known of the fossils seen in walls, steps and flooring made of stone. This animal has lent its name and its shape to the new Trilobite vacuum cleaner.
The Electrolux Group is now an umbrella brand, inclusive of other great brand names like Frigidaire and Eureka, but it still doesn't make an umbrella.
It's got to be one of the most ironic twists of naming and branding that in England people don't vacuum at all—they hoover, after the American vacuum cleaner manufacturer, Hoover.
One of their most noteworthy innovations was the beater bar, introduced in 1926, which was the basis for one of the most memorable advertising slogans in history: "It beats as it sweeps as it cleans." Here's how it works: As a metal bar gently taps the carpet to loosen deeply embedded dirt, a bristle brush rapidly sweeps the carpet aided by strong suction.
And doesn't that just beat all.
Posted by
abnu on Tuesday, February 08, 2005 @ 10:35 PM
[ + ]
You wouldn't know, by watching Sir Paul McCartney doing his geriatric half-time show for Super Bowl XXXIX, that this senior citizen was once a member of a group of irreverent young musicians that Christian fundamentalists wanted to shut up. John Lennon must be rolling over in his grave—imagine.
The important thing is, the half-time show went off without a hitch; without entertainment, but without controversy. The grandparents are back in charge of the boob tube. All the post-nipplegate Super Bowl Ads, including those officially and unofficially banned from prime-time television this year, can be seen on the Internet—which is more popular than the Bible now.
Posted by
abnu on Sunday, February 06, 2005 @ 7:19 PM
[ + ]
Domain name registrar Go Daddy is now offering a brand monitoring service called Brand Spider™.
Brand Spider covers [crawls] the public nooks and crannies of the Internet, and reports back to you with only the information you need to know.
Brand Spider will not only let you know if someone is infringing on your brand -- it will also let you know who is publicly talking about your brand. You’ll know if it’s good, or it’s bad or inappropriate --- and most importantly you know of opportunities or protective action you need to take.
For just $19.95 a month you can find out whois Yo Daddy, and who might be holding themselves out as yo daddy on the Internet.
Posted by
abnu on Saturday, February 05, 2005 @ 8:25 AM
[ + ]
Animator Chris Harding’s irreverent and damn funny quicktime movie for Hallmark Cards’ Shoebox division includes, as far as we can tell, the coining of the phrase “out-crap.” Also, read an interview with Chris at Cold Hard Flash.
I ganked this from Screenhead. Now, if Nick Denton would just threaten to sue if we don't delete this post, Wordlab might get some attention in the media.
Posted by
abnu on Friday, February 04, 2005 @ 5:40 AM
[ + ]
Mr. Rogers, whose eponymous media conglomerate owns the Toronto Blue Jays and recently purchased the landmark SkyDome, is following a modern tradition of renaming and debranding well-known sports stadiums by naming it the Rogers Center. Oops, make that the Rogers Centre.
Posted by
abnu on Thursday, February 03, 2005 @ 4:20 AM
[ + ]
Punxsutawney Phil says, "Six more weeks of winter." But Wiarton Willie says that Phil doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Spring is just around the corner in the Great White North.
"Well, you've got to pay homage to Phil. He was the first. But he's wrong most of the time. Besides, weather is different around the country, so we need separate opinions," said Rich Hosek of California-based Groundhog Central, which tracks would-be Phils...
Governor Dummer Academy was established in 1763 through a bequest from Massachusetts Bay Lieutenant Governor William Dummer. As the country's first independent boarding school, the academy provided a model for the preparatory school tradition in America, filling a pressing need for an enhanced educational system during Colonial times.
"Today, more than two centuries later, Governor Dummer Academy continues this tradition of innovation through inventive, inspired programs that reflect GDA's pioneering spirit," touts the academy's website. So far so good.
But, after all these years, the board of directors of the academy thinks they're smarter than those who built the academy's brand on the strength of its famous name. Everyone thinks they're an expert in branding these days. They've announced in the press that they have voted to change the name.
In the interest of smarter marketing, the board of directors at Governor Dummer Academy, a private boarding school in Newbury, voted to change its name to something else, something that will probably not include the name of Governor William Dummer of Massachusetts.
''Rightly or wrongly, first impressions make a difference," said headmaster John M. Doggett, who spent the past few days breaking the news to alumni and students. ''Certainly, when you go outside of the Boston region, the first impression sometimes doesn't convey what the school is all about."
While administrators say that most in the Dummer community support the change, others say that abandoning the name is, well, dumb.
''It's a horrible move," said Thomas Driscoll of Swampscott, a 1978 graduate and football co-captain who is now the Essex County Clerk of Courts. ''Governor Dummer has such tradition. That's what troubles me about this...The name is very special."
Obviously, the board of directors of Governor Dummer Academy doesn't have a clue about Igor's Theory of Negativity in naming and branding.
Fortunately, consumers process these negative messages positively. As long as the name maps to one of the positioning points of the brand, consumers never take its meaning literally, and the negative aspects of the name just give it greater depth.
If they're smart, the board of directors of Governor Dummer Academy will get some professional naming advice before deciding on some acronym like GDA, or something dumber.
Posted by
abnu on Tuesday, February 01, 2005 @ 7:06 AM
[ + ]
Note the cool Fine Print: The content found on WordLab
is free to the world. Although we cannot guarantee that any of this
content is not already in use by someone, somewhere, on this planet
who may have seen it on this Web site or created it independently of
our Web site, we have made a reasonable effort to give you what we believe
to be original names and slogans and generally good stuff. Use what
you will of our content since it is here for the taking. However, if
you decide to use one of our names for a commercial activity, and since
we have no assurance that the name may not already be in use by someone
else as a trademark, domain name or otherwise, we strongly suggest that
you take appropriate legal precautions, such as seeing a lawyer. In
short, any necessary due diligence is up to you, but we at least make
no claims on your potential future dream name. We merely ask that if
you do decide to use any of our content, that you please send us an
email ["word at wordlab dot com"] about it for use in our
internal records and eplosive marketing campaigns. Thank you, and enjoy.
