links for 08/07/2011

• List of company name etymologies – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  37signals – Web development company; named for the 37 radiotelescope signals identified by astronomer Paul Horowitz as potential messages from extraterrestrial intelligence.

  Akamai – from the Hawaiian word akamai meaning smart or clever; the company defines it as “intelligent, clever and cool”.

  Alfa Romeo – the company was originally known as ALFA, an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. When Nicola Romeo bought ALFA in 1915, his surname was appended.
   
  Apache – according to the project’s 1997 FAQ: “The Apache group was formed around a number of people who provided patch files that had been written for NCSA httpd 1.3. The result after combining them was A PAtCHy server.” 

  ASICS – an acronym for Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, which, translated from Latin, means “Healthy soul in a healthy body”. Originally the citation is mens sana in corpore sano, but MSICS does not sound as good.
   
  Atari – named from the board game Go. “Atari” is a Japanese word to describe a position where an opponent’s stones are in danger of being captured. It is similar, though not identical, to “check” in chess. The original games company was American but wanted a Japanese-sounding name. 
   
  Audi – Latin translation of the German name “Horch”. The founder August Horch left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars. Since the original “Horch” company was still there, he called his new company Audi, the Latin form of his last name. In English it is “hark”.

  (…) brilliant! via @minikermit 

  tags: brand brandind company company name etymology interesting

• WireTap Anywhere | Ambrosia Software, Inc.

  WireTap Anywhere is a suite of components that lets you take the audio output from any Mac application or hardware input device and route it into your favorite audio processing application.
  For instance, record both sides of a Skype or iChat conversation directly into Peak for editing… or go the other way, and pipe the audio output of Logic Pro over Skype or iChat for a friend to listen to.
  The real power of WireTap Anywhere becomes apparent when you add a few hardware devices into the mix, and effortlessly map application and hardware audio channels as you see fit.
  With WireTap Anywhere, hardwired is out; softwired is in.

  tags: podcasting audio software skype tools mac

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.