Finger-rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Conseco is changing its name.

Feeling 'Conseco' still conjures up negative reminders of years past, they will soon be known as 'CNO Financial Group' ('CNO' is their stock ticker name.)

How will this affect "Conseco Fieldhouse"? Don't know. But the Conseco brass - check that - the CNO Financial Group brass will be deciding soon. One option would be: "CNO Financial Group Fieldhouse."

For the love of Slick Leonard, let's hope for another option.

I know, the classic stadium names like 'Candlestick Park' are rare. But we need more 'Lambeau Fields' and less 'US Cellular Fields.' Too many capital letters smushed together scare me. I say keep 'Conseco Fieldhouse.' So what if it reminds people of awful financial situations years ago? It can't be as bad as the awful financial situation fans are going through now.

Serendipity? There's an app for that.

A new app is on its way that will automatically and permanently delete your text messages from the sender's phone, the receiver's phone and the server, making it impossible to retrieve.

What would one call this novel feature? Why not TigerTexts.

That's right. Developers at X Sigma Partners insist that their latest creation was named long before Tiger Woods' text message booty calls unraveled his marriage and career. Really? Please go on.

Co-founder Jeffrey Evans points to such inspiration for the name as the app was launched in the Lunar Year of the Tiger. He goes on to say, "Tigers are notoriously difficult animals to track; TigerTexts are difficult to track as well. So if you send a private text message it should stay private."

Well, we're convinced. Oh, what's that? You have more, Mr. Evans.

Furthermore, a series of tiger paw prints are left in place of the deleted message in a conversation thread.

See, albeit a bit suspicious on the user end of things - those paws could give pause - there's no way that piece of code could have been created between the Woods' scandal and the TigerText release.

Sounds more to us like X Sigma is just doing a smart job covering their tracks on a brilliant piece of naming.

Giving WTF a bad name

The Wisconsin Tourism Federation is fed up. It appears the Web has destroyed the innocent meaning of its abbreviation. In fact, the blogosphere has teased the WTF in such a WTF! fashion that last week the organization took action. Henceforth and forthwith, the Badger State will be the home of the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin. The group cited the need to "rearrange the words in our name to provide a sequence that would no longer distract from our long-standing mission." TFS, TFW.

On the other side of the coin, the World Taekwondo Federation is steadfast, seemingly begging people to make fun of them in an effort to keep up on their skills.

In related news, the Lower Montana Area Orchestra, the Hungarian United Youth Association and Forwarding Metropolitan Librarians were all unavailable for comment.

The sexy sedan with the stupid name

I'm always on the lookout for beautiful design. Especially when it's in the shape of a new automobile. So I was thrilled yesterday when I spotted this steel perfection in my rear-view mirror. As it approached, I could hardly wait to catch a glimpse of it. Is it a new Lexus, Acura, BMW? Or has an American car company finally lured me in.

As it passed, I was surprised to see a Ford blue oval. I thought to myself, "I could live with a Ford." It's not owned by our government (yet), and just maybe I can finally rid myself of the guilt of foreign car purchases that has plagued me since my '79 Toyota Celica. Just when I started to feel good about myself, it hit me. Perched on the trunk was the car brand name. A Ford Taurus? A FORD TAURUS! How could the marketing gurus shame this car with a name that was coined in 1986?

Why didn't they just shorten the name and call it a "TS." This would've matched the sportier stance of the new design. Why not follow the lead of other luxury cars and just use initial letters? This would've quickly elevated this car's brand to a new level.

I love the design of this car, but I'm too honked-off about the name to buy it.

When 'Great Depression' was a euphemism

We're working on a naming project right now, and it got us thinking how hard it must be to name an economic time. Before the Crash of 1929, there was no such thing as a depression. When the economy tanked, they chose a more appropriate term: panic. Guess it was decided after the Panic of 1904 that perhaps a shrewder choice of words might be the secret to instill more consumer confidence. And in 1929, Hoover settled on "depression." He did not win re-election.

Even now, we grab at straws to create phrases to sound as though things aren't that bad, like "downturn" or "slowdown" or "market correction" until we have to succumb to the reality that we are in a recession. Try coming up with your own alternate to "recession." You might feel a little less panicked. more >>>

From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

My name is URL

It seems whenever we get a naming project or are asked to create a new web presence for a client, one of the most maddening part of the process is securing a unique and memorable URL. Finding a solid '.com' address is becoming evermore elusive. And do you dare go the .net or .tv route? Or sexier yet: .us or .it? To some clients it doesn't matter. To others, it's dot-com or the superhighway.

Now, creative URLs are nothing new using country codes (like .us or .it). And .tv actually is for the country Tuvalu, not television. But a new opportunity to create virtually any domain name you want is virtually upon us. In what's being heralded as a "massive increase in the real estate of the internet," ICANN - the governing body of URL names - has all but given the green light to broadening the list of acceptable URL suffixes to include pretty much any word or non-word you can think of. It's sort of like resetting the domain-name playing field, except you know now what you wish you had known then.

Of course, no one is sounding the death knell for the tried-and-true '.com'; far from it. But it certainly expands the creative possibilities. The new ICANN regulations (deregulations?) will even accept the recognition of Chinese and Arabic characters for the first time. more >>>

The discussion is still going on (it was actually extended a week until December 15th, but they've yet to officially close it), but by their own forecasts, the wider format will go live sometime in Q3 of 2009.

Will some cybersquatter strike it rich by registering cocacola.soda (cocacola.pop for the other half of the population), nike.shoes or corona.calm?












Will local hospitals and banks work themselves into a frenzy buying things like bestindiana.hospital, wearenewyorks.bank or yourmoneyissafe.here? All we know is that the web is about to get a little more tangled.

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