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TIVO - is it an acronym?
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Posted by: madisn

Been looking for a while....Was "TIVO" ever an acronym?

Posted by: Turtleboy

No, but it's the Spanish verb "To record TV."

Posted by: martinp13

ROFL.... I thought it was Italian for "stomping your VCR tapes like overripe grapes then tasting the sweet nectar of random access viewing" :D

Posted by: foo monkey

quote:
Originally posted by Turtleboy
No, but it's the Spanish verb "To record TV."

Is this you?
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=218

Posted by: bedelman

I always thought it was a comingling of "TV" along with "IO" (for input/output) -- or "IO" for a one and a zero (representing digital/computer stuff)

There was a backdoor code that had a T1V0 (with the one and zero) at one point

Posted by: Thom

Tv Idiot's Videos Ondemand

Posted by: Wojski

quote:
Originally posted by bedelman
I always thought it was a comingling of "TV" along with "IO" (for input/output) -- or "IO" for a one and a zero (representing digital/computer stuff)

That's was my understanding of TiVo too...

it makes sense considering that the T & V are uppercase and the i & o are lowercase.

Posted by: Turtleboy

Seriously though, it doesn't mean or stand for anything -- just a word that they thought sounded cool.

Posted by: phone1

quote:
Originally posted by Turtleboy
Seriously though, it doesn't mean or stand for anything -- just a word that they thought sounded cool.

The FAQ's back this up along with several posts I recall seeing from TiVo employees.

Posted by: TiVoPony

quote:
Originally posted by Turtleboy
Seriously though, it doesn't mean or stand for anything -- just a word that they thought sounded cool.

The word doesn't mean or stand for anything, It's just a word we made up and thought sounded cool.

Renaming and branding the company was one of my projects early on. I led the team, but I can't take credit for the logo or name...I just made sure the process worked. :)

The nice thing about TiVo was it had no previous connotations, so we could pretty much define the word without worrying about other meanings. It was easy enough for people to use in day to day language, and could be substituted for 'TV' in most any sentence. It also made people smile...it's rather hard to say any word that ends in 'o' with a frown ('Bongo' was another name we played with, just to find the right 'type' of name). And in testing it reminded people of either TV (good) or an Italian sports car (also good). :)

TiVo was in the first batch of names we considered. We tried many, many names on for size, but kept coming back to that one. I still have all of the artwork for the various names and logos we tried, including the evolution of the TiVo guy. At one point he had tiny wheels, like a TV cart. Some fun stuff.

In the end, the company was split between a couple of different logos. Some people had reservations about the little guy. It came down to a company-wide vote.

Everyone came into work one morning to find four round stickers on their desk...two green and two red. All of the various logos we had considered were posted in the hallway...everyone could place two votes for what they liked and two votes for anything they didn't.

The TiVo guy won the popular vote. And fortunately he won the electoral vote as well...Mike and Jim were California and Texas, and they really liked the TiVo guy. ;)

And so it was. He grew up a bit before launch, and traded in some of his crayola-sketchiness for more of a smooth Warner Bros' look. There are still a lot of people around here with shirts and hats bearing the original logo.

He's happy, colorful, and fun, and not complicated at all...everything we wanted the company to be. And he's served us well.

Pony

Posted by: RMorris419

wow! Great story Pony!!! Thanks!

R

Posted by: LoadStar

You have that in a file for cutting and pasting for people who ask, don't you? ;)

Seriously, thanks Pony... great story!

Posted by: knuckles

Thank's Pony. That should be a sticky.

Posted by: teknikel

quote:
Originally posted by TiVoPony
The word doesn't mean or stand for anything, It's just a word we made up and thought sounded cool.

Did you ever think that it would become a verb?

kel

Posted by: trainman

quote:
Originally posted by TiVoPony
TI still have all of the artwork for the various names and logos we tried, including the evolution of the TiVo guy.

Yellow star item, please? (You know, as part of the big TiVo fifth anniversary special.) :D

Posted by: GregV

quote:
Originally posted by TiVoPony
...I still have all of the artwork for the various names and logos we tried, including the evolution of the TiVo guy.

Okay, now you have to post some of it. I love little peek-behind-the-curtains type things. TiVo Inc. shouldn't mind, right? I don't see what the harm would be.

Posted by: TiMo Tim

quote:
Originally posted by TiVoPony
Everyone came into work one morning to find four round stickers on their desk...two green and two red. All of the various logos we had considered were posted in the hallway...everyone could place two votes for what they liked and two votes for anything they didn't.

What, no thumbs?

Tim

Posted by: cptodd

I would LOVE to hear some of the names and logos that you guys and gals did not go with! Perhaps like someone else suggested you might do it as some sort of special. 5th or 10th year or 1,000,000 customers etc!

Posted by: Fustanella

I for one am glad they didn't go with "Bongo" now that their service has verbed. It sounds just a little bit too suggestive, especially in the context of "I need to go home and Bongo some, er, adult content." :D

Posted by: Moebius

quote:
Originally posted by Fustanella
I for one am glad they didn't go with "Bongo" now that their service has verbed. It sounds just a little bit too suggestive, especially in the context of "I need to go home and Bongo some, er, adult content." :D

No, but maybe they could have gone with BeDoop. (throwback to an old thread :) )

Posted by: martinp13

Could lead to problems.... "Uh-oh... my Bongo is smoking... quick, unplug it!"

Posted by: rdowty

Here's another point. You can't trade mark acronym's. If they called it the PVR anyone else could use the name however they want. A competitor could market the PVR Plus or something like that.

Posted by: phone1

quote:
Originally posted by knuckles
Thank's Pony. That should be a sticky.

They could at least put a link to the post in FAQ's.

Posted by: trainman

quote:
Originally posted by rdowty
Here's another point. You can't trade mark acronym's. If they called it the PVR anyone else could use the name however they want. A competitor could market the PVR Plus or something like that.

Oh, good, so I can start selling a computer called the IBM Plus, and start a new TV network called NBC Plus? :D

Actually, the problem isn't that you can't trademark an acronym, the problem is that you can't trademark something that's merely a product description (in most cases). Thus, "personal video recorder" is untrademarkable.