How Businesses Got Their Names

Ever wonder how certain businesses chose their names?
Behind every name there is a story.

Apple Computers
It was the favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months
late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call
his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't
suggest a better name by 5 O'clock.

CISCO
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco.

Compaq
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and
PAQ to denote a small integral object.

Corel
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr.Michael Cowpland.
It stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.

Google
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information
the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally
named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by
1 followed by 100 zeros.After founders - Stanford graduate
students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project
to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google'

Hotmail
Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via
the web from a computer anywhere in the world.
When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan
for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending
in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the
letters "html" - the programming language used to write
web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.

Hewlett Packard
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide
whether the company they founded would be called
Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Intel
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new
company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked
by a hotel chain so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.

Microsoft
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.

Motorola
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his
company started manufacturing radios for cars.
The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.

ORACLE
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting
project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).
The code name for the project was called
Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to
give answers to all questions or something such).
The project was designed to help use the newly written
SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was terminated
but Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and
bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and
created the RDBMS engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.

Sony
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus'
meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by
Americans to refer to a bright youngster.

SUN
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN
is the acronym for Stanford University Network.
Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer;
Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy
to manufacture computers based on it, and
Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer.

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.

Source : www.berro.com

Quote of the Day:

"Success is not counted by how high you have climbed
but by how many you brought with you." - Wil Rose

Scary Emails

I recently came across an email that certainly got my heart rate rising.
Basically, it wanted to extort money from me. How? Simply by stating
they have a "contract" on me and will kill me if I did not send X amount
of dollars to them.

I did some research on this type of email which is called HITMAN .
They apparently have become quite popular over the last while.
Of course, this type of email is a SCAM or bogus.
The perpetrators send thousands of emails out, hoping just one or two
unsuspecting individuals will believe the message.

Recently, the scammers have added a twist - they are requesting personal information
from you to be sent to the FBI in London, England to assist in their investigation.
The scammers want your personal information so they can commit identity theft.

Unfortunately, all of these emails can be very scary, and it
isn't hard to imagine people getting conned.

If you receive one of these emails, please do not send money, financial,
or personal information. If you wish, you can report such emails
to the police. However, the easiest solution is simply reach for the delete button.

Quote of the day:

"Horse sense is what keeps horses from betting on what people will do."

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO !!!

There are a few things that can be done in times of
grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be
a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.
Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST:
The Emergency Number worldwide for
Mobile is 112.If you find yourself out of the coverage
area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency,
dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network
to establish the emergency number for you, and
interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if
the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND:
Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car
have remote key less entry? This may come in handy someday.
Good reason to own a cell phone:
If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys
are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone
from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot(30 cm)
from your car door and have the person at your home
press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone
on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from
having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object.
You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who
has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).
Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!'

THIRD:
Hidden Battery Power. Imagine your cell battery is very low.
To activate, press the keys *3370#.battery power stolen cell phone Your cell will restart with
this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.
This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH:
How to disable a STOLEN cell phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number,
key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # . A 15 digit code
will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset.
Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen,
you can phone your service provider and give them this code.
They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief
changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.
You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know
that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this,
there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And finally....

FIFTH:
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more
for 411 information calls when they don't have to.
Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle,
which makes this situation even more of a problem.
When you need to use the 411 information option, simply
dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring
any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving,
so pass it on to your family and friends.

Quote for the Day:

"Everything changes, nothing remains without change." -- Buddha

Truth is stranger than You would Guess - Part 3

Continuing on ....................

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would
sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead
and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the
kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather
around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running
out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and
would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found
to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they
had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string
on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up
through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have
to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to
listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell
or was considered a ...dead ringer.

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
Educate someone. Please share these facts with a friend.

Quote for the Day:

"Almost anything is easier to get into than out of."

Truth is stranger than You would Guess - Part 2

Continuing with some amazing facts and sayings....

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle
that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and
added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and
did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,
leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and
then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that
had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme,
Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge
in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon.
They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around
and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so,
tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status.
Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Quote for the Day:

“The past makes us who we are. Don’t make it a burden.”

Truth is stranger than You would Guess - Part 1

The next time you are washing your hands and complain
because the water temperature isn't just how you like it,
think about how things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their
yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a
bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom
today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
then all the other sons and men, then the women
and finally the children. Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually
lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the
baby out with the bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all
the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes
the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying .
It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom
where bugs and other droppings could mess up
your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a
sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that
would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw)
on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on,
they added more thresh until, when you opened the door,
it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.
Hence the saying a thresh hold.

Quote for the Day :

"Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lessons afterward."

Baby Boomers Realism

Awhile ago, one of our friends was faced with a realism that most baby boomers will have to face sometime in their life - caregiver to aging parents.
There are some things a person can do to make the "new" role easier.
Perhaps one of the important things is gaining access to personal, medical, legal, and financial information. The following tips can be used as a guideline to relieve some of the stress tthat comes with the territory:

1. Gather personal, medical, legal and financial information and keep it in one location.
2. Give copies to all individuals who may participate as a caregiver.
3. For confidential information, simply write in the contact person and phone number who has the information, such as will/last testament or banking information.
4. Inform your parents how you will safe guard their confidential information to protect them from identity theft.
5. Explain to your aging parent that participation in gathering this vital information while they are healthy is a gift to you (as the adult child) since you will be the one to handle an emergency when it arrives.

If you can begin on some of the things above, sooner rather than later your "new" role will that much easier. Good Luck.

Quote of the Day:

"If you don't look out for others, who's gonna look out for you?"

Whoopi Goldberg

Victim of Idenity Theft

First of all, you should report to the police that you are a victim of identity theft.
Second, take action to undo the damage. Remember to take notes of all you do to clear your name.
Third, remember to cancel all your credit cards. If you wish, you can get new ones as well.
Fourth, if necessary, close all your bank accounts. Your bank manger can assist you at this stage.
Fifth, contact utilities such as your telephone and cable companies that you are a victim of identity theft.
Last, contact your postal service that you are a victim of identity theft.
Hopefully you will never have to do the above. However to be forewarn is to be prepared.
Good luck!

Quote of the Day:

"There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don't respond with encores."--Anonymous

Identity Theft - Part 3

How to Avoid Identity Theft

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have the following suggestions:

1. Be very careful of sharing personal information.
2. When asked about personal information, ask how it will be used,
why it is being collected,and how it will be shared. You will be
surprised at the answers you get in return.
3. Give out no more information than is required and carry minimal ID with you.
4. Be careful of your Social Security Number (SIN) . Companies use this in
their credit reports.
5. Never keep important ID such as PIN numbers, SIN, and passwords for your
computer on your person.
6. Avoid at all cost giving your credit card etc. information over the phone
or computer unless you have initated the communication.
7. Insure your computer is protected when you use the Internet. All computers
should have a Firewall and a virus protector on their computer.
8. Be careful what you throw in the garbage. Shred or burn personal papers
and financial information.
9. As best you can, hide you personal PIN when using terminals.
10. Access your credit report from a credit reporting agency once a year
to ensure it's accurate.

Quote for the Day:

"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped. " --African Proverb

Identity Theft - Part 2

Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC-March, 2007) had the following to say about Identity Theft:

A poll, conducted in 2006 by the Strategic Counsel for the Competition Bureau of Canada, suggests that 17 per cent of Canadians aged 18 or older have either been victimized themselves or had an incident affect someone in their homes.
Even more people have been hit by marketing fraud, according to the survey: 31 per cent or about one in three adults.

Yet Canadians are not likely to complain to the authorities when they are victimized in marketing frauds, according to the survey.
"It remains the case that few people make a significant effort to report or resolve an incident of marketing fraud," the report said, with 43 per cent saying that they "did nothing."

Only eight per cent went to the local police, and even smaller numbers to the Competition Bureau, business groups or the fraud hotline PhoneBusters. For example, PhoneBusters got calls from about 7,800 people complaining of identity theft in 2006, with losses amounting to more than $16 million.

Many respondents said it would be just too much trouble to report the incident, or not worth it.
More often, people took matters into their own hands, contacting the company involved, stopping payment, changing their banking information or trying to get a refund.

Quote of the Day:

"No experiment is ever a complete failure. It can always be used as a bad example."

Identity Theft - Part 1

Identity theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as well as in the rest of the world. It has been estimated that identity theft has hit one out of every six adult Canadians - more than 4.2 million people - either directly or within their immediate households, a survey suggests.
Identity theft involves stealing or misrepresenting the identity of another person or business.
Information such as your name, address, date of birth, social insurance number(social security number in the USA) and mother's maiden name need to be acquired in order to complete the impersonation.
Once the thief has this information, they can open new bank accounts, transfer bank balances, apply for loans, credit cards and other services, purchase vehicles, take vacations .......

"Contrary to popular belief, fraud does not affect only the vulnerable in our society. Everyone is at risk of becoming a victim, regardless of age, education or income," Competition Bureau commissioner Sheridan Scott said.

Quote of the Day:

"Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lessons afterward."

Dialing " 9 "

Better Business Bureaus and police are warning people about a telephone scam where an automated caller promises the recipient a free vacation if they dial "9".

When the resident picks up the phone, a recorded message claims they have won a trip and asks them to dial"9" to claim it or "8" to be removed from the market list. By pressing "9" someone comes on the line and attempts to obtain personal information from them, likely for the use in IDENTITY THEFT.

Even pressing "8", which the recorded message says will remove you from their distribution list, confirms your phone number and that you are susceptible to this type of marketing, resulting in your name being added to other marketing lists.
If the call comes into a business with a commercial switchboard requiring employees to dial "9" to get an outside line, going along with the request would give the caller an outside line they can use to make expensive overseas phone calls.

Calls like this come from outside the country, using an automatic dialer to push out thousands of calls a day.
The simple solution to all this is to HANG UP the phone. Good Luck.

Quote of the Day:

"The fish does not go after the hook, but after the bait." --Czech Proverb