Every day we encounter numerous logos. They are emblazoned on to our food packaging, our laptops, our shopping bags, our appliances and even our clothes. But how did we become a world that is obsessed with putting a logo on everything in sight?

Most modern logos tend to incorporate both an image and tag line. If you look in to the origins of the word “logo” you will find that is an Ancient Greek word that commonly refers to words or speech. It is the Greek word “icon” that actually refers to a picture or an image. However, these two things have now become indistinguishable.

Religious Logos

To find out where the first logos came from, we would need to turn to religion. Many religious followers identify themselves with a certain logo or symbol. Christians would use the ICHTHYS fish to mark meeting places and tombs during their persecution from the Roman Empire. The OM symbol is widely recognised in the Hindu faith and the Khanda is used amongst Sikhs. Many religious symbols have been around for hundreds and even thousands of years and were some of the first logos used as a type of identification.

Coins

Today our money bares the face of our queen, and things were not so different back in ancient civilisations. The Ancient Greeks used symbols on their coins to depict their polis (or state) and the deity’s and patrons that belong to them.

Coat of arms

Coats of arms were originally designed for knights in battle so that they could easily identify allies and enemies. The designs that made up the complete coat were chosen because they were important to the family or town in question. Animals, crowns, keys, stars, and mottos (a bit like a tag line!) can all be found on coats of arms and the style, type and placement of these things would easily identify the wearer. It is the coat of arms that really bought the logo in to general use. By the 13th century, it was not only Knights and royalty that had their own coat, but peasants too.

Trademarks

Trademarks can be dated back to ancient times, with many ancient craftsmen marking their pots with monograms or small symbols. This practice was revived and further popularized by renaissance metal workers, who would watermark their gold, a practice still undertaken today. Trademarks tell us who made the product and therefore what we can expect from it.

The Printing Press

The printing press, invented in 1440 by German inventor Johannes Gutenberg, bought literature to the masses. Previously, all literature had to be hand written and was always on a small scale. The printing press meant that many people could now spread and promote their own ideas, and it opened up a whole new route to market for business owners. Thanks to newspapers and advertisements, they could reach people that previously had never even known of their existence. This is similar to what the internet and social media has done for us today.

Looking back, logos have always been about association. Association with a god, person, location or business. The challenge we face as business owners today is to not only create a logo that attracts our target market but also one that has good associations. The logo is so much more than a nice image that represents a company. It is about causing a sense of recognition, trust and quality in the person that see it.

About the author: This article was written by Erica Jones, who works alongside Stuart Morris, a design company which produces personalised promotional items such as canvas bags and tea towels for businesses, charities and schools.

 Happy Halloween. It is the time of the year that signals the start of a sugar fiesta that lasts till New Year. This year, I decided to go slow on the candy corn; I am going to  attack  the jelly beans and dark  chocolate instead. This came about because I came across the inspirational story of  Taylor LeBarron, who used his love for video games to lose 150 pounds.

With the world’s population set to reach seven billion on October 31, 2011 aka today (check our post about it), it is a good time to take a look at one of the greatest  threats that the tech-savvy population of the world is susceptible to, called obesity, and ask ourselves if there is a way where we can have our cake and eat it too.

For example, apparently you can loose weight using your love for video games. I don’t mean the Wii Fit type. Taylor LeBarron, author of  Cutting Myself in Half:  150 Pounds Lost,  One Byte at a Time  tells the fascinating story of how he lost half his body weight by turning his love for video games into a motivational tool. He created his own game called UFG (Ultimate Fitness Game) with which he kept track of all his activities and food habits.

Taylor  LeBaron has been quoted describing UFG as follows.

“Since I love video games, I approached my weight issue the same way I learn a new game. When I get a new video game, one of the first things I do is check out the opponents to see what I’m up against. When I know the enemies, I can create a plan of attack.”

It has the same aspects of a video game. You have enemies, you have allies, and you have money. You have to play smart; otherwise, you run out of your money. Your score needs to be high at the end of the day.

Here are some of his tips

Tip #1 Keep your weight off by improving your self confidence.

Tip #2 Start your fitness program with the right attitude and follow up by making a serious fitness  plan that lasts for the rest of your life.

Tip #3 Remember that getting fit is what  counts.

Tip #4 Start eating right and  exercising  more often.

Tip #5 Remember that long term is the key. Fitness needs to be part of your routine.

Taylor LeBarron  has his own Website at  http://www.cuttingmyselfinhalf.com/

Did you know that 74,000 years ago, Mankind was nearly wiped out due to the eruption of a super volcano? In fact, Life on the entire planet has been threatened with 5 major extinctions by climactic changes, asteroid falls, volcanic eruptions and gamma ray bursts, yet here we are.

Here’s a cool video showing what happened.

As I mentioned a few days ago, Mankind’s biggest challenges are directly ahead of us. It may all be over in the next few decades if we don’t   get it right.

However, what lies ahead if we do? What is the future going to look like? One set of futurists believe that we are in the 4th epoch of evolution. They believe that the next epoch, the 5th, is a merging of man and machine called the Singularity.

This set of videos from the BBC, outlines the coming of Human 2.0.

Human 2.0 part 1

Also see Human 2.0 part 2 , part 3, part 4 and part 5.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t trust every prediction I see, but it’s becoming obvious that we have a tricky road ahead. I hope we don’t end up on the Information Highway to Hell.

As we start a new year, some of us try to find time to look back over the old year, and try to anticipate the changes coming in the new year.

Some people take the long view. James Martin and a few people at Oxford University, have chosen to think about what’s coming in the next few decades. They’ve put together an hour long video to illustrate the problems and solutions that will be needed for the 21st century. Here’s an 11 minute trailer for the movie.

Follow the link below to see this hour long video.

> The Meaning of the 21st Century

Here’s a quote from the sponsors of it:

We are at an extraordinary crossroads of human history. Our actions, or failure to act, during the next 20 years will determine the fate of the Earth and human civilization for centuries to come. This is a make-or-break century.

There are massive problems in the decades ahead … The good news is that there are solutions.

As we learn to understand this century and play its complex game, we can chart extraordinary futures. We can create civilizations more magnificent than anything yet conceived.

I’ve only watched the trailer at this point, but I’ll take time soon to watch the full movie. I recommend that you make time to watch it as well.

Among the predictions for the new year, I found a video showing the direction of the world’s population growth. I was surprised to learn that in 2011, the 7 billionth person will be born.

Even more surprising, I found out that the world’s population may actually stabilize at around 9 or 10 billion people by 2050. It was surprising, only because I remember Malthusian predictions that this planet was headed for a big train wreck because of the birth rates. It turns out that it was mostly hype, and birth rates are slowing as we move into the future. In addition, improving technology allows us to support more people on fewer resources.

However, don’t consider this prediction to be very accurate. I’m not certain that they’ve completely considered the ideas of technology’s accelerating returns. Several people believe that medical science could allow us to live forever by 2030. If a group of our population actually stops dying, what happens to the future population growth?

I don’t trust long term predictions made by scientists. They prove to be wrong more often than they are right.

1. Oldest Facebook User:

Contrary to what you may think, your grandma isn’t the oldest person on Facebook. It is 103 years old Lillian Lowe. A former hotelier and businesswoman from Pembrokshire (UK) who joined Facebook after her husband passed away this July. Lillian uses Facebook, twice a week to get updates from her family and friends. She has received thousands of  friend  requests from around the world which she thinks is pretty kind of people but says she does not have time to reply to them all.

Following picture, courtesy of BBC, shows Lillian using Facebook from her grandson’s iPad:

2. Facebook Related Disorders:

As of yet, following terms have been coined regarding various Facebook related issues. They have not  necessarily  been endorsed by a medical  institution  or organization but come up too often on various publications:

CFD (Compulsive Facebook Disorder)

OCFD (Obsessive Compulsive Facebook Disorder)

FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder)

FAD (Facebook Anxiety Disorder)

FD (Facebook Depression)

FTAD (Facebook Twitter Addiction Disorder)

FBS (Facebook Syndrome)

FSS (Facebook Status Syndromes)

FSS (Facebook Stress Syndrome)

FWS (Facebook Withdrawal Syndrome)

3. The original Facebook design included an image of Al Pacino.

4. A Facebook hoodie was sold on eBay for over $4,000.

5. Facebook currently has around 5 Million inactive accounts because the users have passed away.

Do share with us via comments what other weird facts you know about Facebook.

Here is a fun fact for the nerd in you. World’s longest email address is 345 characters long and belongs to Peter Craig. The address has actually been put together by appending a ridiculously long sub-domain and using that as par tof the email address. Here is the complete address:

contact-admin-hello-webmaster-info-services-peter-crazy-but-oh-so-ubber-cool-english-alphabet-loverer-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz@please-try-to.send-me-an-email-if-you-can-possibly-begin-to-remember-this-coz.this-is-the-longest-email-address-known-to-man-but-to-be-honest.this-is-such-a-stupidly-long-sub-domain-it-could-go-on-forever.pacraig.com

The address has practically no use, unless we count the effort to get attention for having the longest email address.

On the other hand, when it comes to world’s shortest email address, there are probably many candidates. Any email address associated with domains like in.com or 1.fm can claim to have a 6 character email address.

[Via Gizmodo]

Have you ever wondered how long it would take to read all the information available on the web? It would take one’s whole life or probably more than one life.

In this DYK post, I have a infographic that summarizes all that happens in a day, in the internet. Click the infographic to view larger.

If you are still wondering how much time it would take to read the whole internet, here are some other nice inforgraphics for you! Enjoy, and don’t forget to share your comments here!

[Via]

Hello, DYK Thursdays are themed posts where we post amazing facts and funny things happening in and around the technology world.

Today, I have a collection of some funny videos. In the recent past, there has been a lot of comparision going on between the Apple iPhone 4 and the HTC EVO 4G.

The videos below are funny and stress relieving ones which compare the two phones. Check out!

Warning: These videos are NOT SAFE FOR WORK. It has some profane words. So, you better put on your headphones if you are at work.

What do you think about the two phones? Which one is better? Do let us know through comments! Thanks.

Hello and welcome to the DYK Thursday, a themed post at Techie Buzz, in which we share anything and everything that is interesting in the IT field.

First of all, I sincerely apologize, as I could not write the last two week’s DYK posts due to my busy school schedule. Today, I am going to review a site that’s really useful for all people who work with computer.

101 Free Tech Books is a website that gives out free books every month. All you need to do is, sign up to their website and add your favorite books in your wish list. You will be automatically participating in the giveaway. If you were selected as a winner of giveaway, you can choose the book you want, from your wish list and the book will be shipped to your doorstep for free! I repeat, there is no cost for shipping either! Doesn’t it sound great?

You can increase the odds of winning by referring the site to your friends, (through the referral link they provide once you sign up) through different media like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and so on. You get something called “Raffle ticket” for every person who signs up to the site through your link. Raffle tickets are just like points. The more Raffle tickets you get, more is the chances of winning!

Also regarding books, you can get books on various topics (all related to computers). It is mainly categorized as follows:

• Databases and Data
• Designs and UIs
• Development Tools
• Enterprise
• Gaming
• Internet
• Languages
• Microsoft Tools
• Mobile
• Networking
• Operating Systems

So, that’s it in this post. Do share your comments on how you feel about these type of sites!