Registered: Dec 2002
Location: Astoria, Oregon
Posts: 434

I just saw the TiVo DVD and curious as to what other people think TiVo stands for.

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Registered: May 2002
Location: Alviso, California
Posts: 1190

Asked and answered many times before, no poll required.

It doesn't stand for anything. It's just a fun word we made up.

Pony

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Carson City, Nevada
Posts: 3744

I still think it's a combination of TV and i/o. TV being the source of the material, and i/o being the method in which it is stored. (i.e. i/o is an accronym for input/output stream, which is used to refer to how hard drives store data)

Dan

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All with Lifetime
Note: Two of the above TiVos actually belong to loopey, but I have access to them so I'm counting them

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Registered: May 2002
Location: Alviso, California
Posts: 1190

quote:

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Originally posted by Dan203
I still think it's a combination of TV and i/o. TV being the source of the material, and i/o being the method in which it is stored. (i.e. i/o is an accronym for input/output stream, which is used to refer to how hard drives store data)

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And yet, it doesn't.

I really can't put it into plainer English. I was there. We made it up. The attractive thing about it was that it had no meaning...we could make it mean whatever we wanted.

That, and it reminded the focus groups of television or Italian sports cars. That was definitely a good start.

I've heard the i/o stuff before...trust me, we weren't looking to be that clever or geeky.

Cheers,
Pony

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Carson City, Nevada
Posts: 3744

quote:

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Originally posted by TiVoPony
trust me, we weren't looking to be that clever or geeky.

---

Maybe subconsciously you were?

Dan

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Moderator: TiVo Coffee House, Help Center, HD Powered PVRs, Home Media Option & Happy Hour
4 TiVo branded Series 2 units
1 Pioneer 810H Series 2 unit
All with Lifetime
Note: Two of the above TiVos actually belong to loopey, but I have access to them so I'm counting them

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" - loopey
"Dan's absolutely correct." - TiVoPony (link)
"Dan's absolutely correct." - TiVoOpsMgr (link)

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 1997

I agree with the iO part since my Cablevision is iO, so combining TV with cable gets me TiVo.

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Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Portage, Mi
Posts: 562

Maybe Pony is in denial.....the first step to resolving your denial issues Pony is to admit when you are wrong LOL

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Drexel Hill, PA
Posts: 332

According to RB the other choice was "Bongo", so we should all be happy they decided on TiVo!

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Millers Falls, MA
Posts: 329

This Is Very Odd

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 1124

I love whenever discussions come up about how brands are named, and with an alternative of Bongo, the better name definitely one! Can you imagine the office discussion Thursday morning? "Hey, I bongoed Karen Sisco last night!"

PS - Would it have been bongoed or bongod or bongo'd?

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Registered: May 2002
Location: Alviso, California
Posts: 1190

quote:

---

Originally posted by LifeIsABeach
According to RB the other choice was "Bongo", so we should all be happy they decided on TiVo!

---

Bongo was just a name we played with for a day or two, because it was in the right direction...short, fun, happy. That was early on in the find-a-name process, there were many, many other names we considered. Things like Lasso, Royo, Libre, JetSet...I still have the binder from the project. When we were done we'd worked through over 800 possible names.

Maybe I'll scan a few of the alternate logos/names and post them here one day.

Here's a bit of naming trivia for you...not long after we decided on TiVo as our name and logo, the entire company had an offsite. We went bowling. There weren't that many of us, we only took up about eight or nine lanes.

We split up into teams, and each team had a rejected company name as their moniker. We had shirts for each team, with the team name ('Team Royo', or 'Lasso', etc) embroidered onto the sleeve, and the old version of the TiVo logo on the front. I think there were eight different team shirts in all, each a different color.

Those would be collector's items...it would be pretty tough to come up with them all now.

Oh, and there were trophies. RB, of course, won for silliest bowling style. I came within a whisker of receiving the high score trophy, but it went to Steve, a long-time TiVo engineer.

It was a fun day.

Cheers,
Pony

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 3179

Pony,

WE WANT TO SEE THAT LIST!

I'd love to see the list of other product names rejected. But Tivo is definately a great name, because it doesn't mean anything.

Why are people so insistent on what names mean today? What does Microsoft mean? what does crest mean? Where did kleenex come from? It's just made up.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Lansing, MI
Posts: 5232

Okay, so whose idea was the goofy capitalization (TiVo: capital T small i capital V small o)? The spell checker here flags me whenever I do it wrong (Tivo, or sometimes I type too fast and put TiVO).

I know goofy capitalization was all the rage in the late 90's, but what makes ordinarily rational people (I'm willing to overlook the bowling) who aren't Dilbert-esqe marketing drones DO that?

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Registered: May 2002
Location: Alviso, California
Posts: 1190

quote:

---

Originally posted by JPriller
Okay, so whose idea was the goofy capitalization (TiVo: capital T small i capital V small o)? The spell checker here flags me whenever I do it wrong (Tivo, or sometimes I type too fast and put TiVO).

I know goofy capitalization was all the rage in the late 90's, but what makes ordinarily rational people (I'm willing to overlook the bowling) who aren't Dilbert-esqe marketing drones DO that?

---

Richard was a QA engineer back then, and I remember him taking me to task about the interstitial cap. IIRC, the concern was that people would never get it right, including our partners.

But there was something about those two letters, T and V, that seemed appropriate to emphasize.

Call us crazy, but it's worked out very well.

Sorry if it causes you any typing concerns!

Pony

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location: CA
Posts: 1009

Why do people keep asking what TiVo stands for? How come no one asks what Yahoo stands for? Or Cisco? Or eBay? What makes people think that TiVo has to stand for something?

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Carson City, Nevada
Posts: 3744

quote:

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Originally posted by Frylock
What does Microsoft mean?

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Microsoft is a combination of the words Microcomputer and Software

quote:

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Originally posted by Frylock
Where did kleenex come from?

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from Kleenex.com...

quote:

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How did KLEENEX® Facial Tissue get its name?
To explain how KLEENEX® Facial Tissue got its name, it is necessary to go back to 1920 and the development of our first consumer product, KOTEX® Feminine Napkins. Our KOTEX® trademark was derived from the words "cotton texture" and met our requirements for being short, easy to say, easy to remember and easy to explain. KLEENEX® Tissue was originally designed in 1924 as a cold cream remover; hence, the "Kleen" portion of the word was coined to convey the cleansing purpose. We then added the "ex" from KOTEX® in order to convey what was the beginning of a family of products. In 1930, the name was changed from KLEENEX® Cleansing Tissue to KLEENEX® Facial Tissue.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Frylock
what does crest mean?

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I'm not sure about this one.




Dan

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Moderator: TiVo Coffee House, Help Center, HD Powered PVRs, Home Media Option & Happy Hour
4 TiVo branded Series 2 units
1 Pioneer 810H Series 2 unit
All with Lifetime
Note: Two of the above TiVos actually belong to loopey, but I have access to them so I'm counting them

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" - loopey
"Dan's absolutely correct." - TiVoPony (link)
"Dan's absolutely correct." - TiVoOpsMgr (link)

Last edited by Dan203 on 11-07-2003 at 06:42 PM

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Bridgewater Nj 08807
Posts: 1924

The only way to watch TV.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Nashville, TN
Posts: 1700

Conscious or subconscious it seems clear how the use of the letters TV in the name was a winner.
What about other permutations using the same template?

TaVa TaVe TaVi TaVo TaVu
TeVa TeVe TeVi TeVo TeVu
TiVa TiVe TiVi TiVo TeVu
ToVa ToVe ToVi ToVo ToVu
TuVa TuVe TuVi TuVo TuVu

Did you consider these? What was it that made TiVo win out?

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Carson City, Nevada
Posts: 3744

quote:

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Originally posted by rseligman
How come no one asks what Yahoo stands for?

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Yahoo!
the word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book 'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.

quote:

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Originally posted by rseligman
Or Cisco?

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CISCO
its not an acronymn but the short for San Francisco.

quote:

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Originally posted by rseligman
eBay?

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eBay
The name is shorthand for "Electronic Bay" in reference to the San
Francisco Bay area. eBay's headquarters are in San Jose, Calif., situated at
the bottom of the bay. San Jose is considered the heart of Silicon Valley.

OK I'll stop now

Dan

__________________
Moderator: TiVo Coffee House, Help Center, HD Powered PVRs, Home Media Option & Happy Hour
4 TiVo branded Series 2 units
1 Pioneer 810H Series 2 unit
All with Lifetime
Note: Two of the above TiVos actually belong to loopey, but I have access to them so I'm counting them

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" - loopey
"Dan's absolutely correct." - TiVoPony (link)
"Dan's absolutely correct." - TiVoOpsMgr (link)

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Bridgewater Nj 08807
Posts: 1924

a vote.

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