Monday, November 08, 2010

Boxee, The Name

Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseThere is just something about the name Boxee that bothers me, has always bothered me. It is that the name is too boxee, it reminds me of a box of some shape, size. And that is not a great image in my mind. The idea should be to get rid of boxes. I might have liked the name boxit, as in box up that TV, bury it in this box, you don't need it. Liberation.

Or boxcutter. Wait, that is too harsh. Boxyipit, maybe? Boxee feels like the founders wanted the name boxit, and realized that was too radical. They did not want the big dogs to come chasing after them. And so they left the final syllable out of the equation. Boxee, the name is Boxee, without the t.

Even the word Boxim is more appealing. There is this fluidity to that sound. Fluid is more webby. The web is an attempt to mirror the human mind itself. I love the web, because I love the human mind, that is why water is my favorite substance. There is that formlessness to water that reminds me of the web, the mind, of music. There is this thing to listening to soundtracks to your favorite movies. You reimagine aspects of the best scenes. You almost make them better. In your mind.

Or even Xim. That is even more fluid of a name. If I were to launch a video startup, I might call it Xim. There is that attempt to sound like the Hindu word Om. Om is a deeply meaningful sound. It is like when you say Om, you just swallowed the entire universe. Om, all that is out there resides inside of me. Om, Eem, Xim.

For now we are left dealing with boxes. Boxee perhaps is an attempt to capture the impatience we feel. We might have liberated text, music, but the video format still sits in cages. Ripe time to slice and dice a few industries.


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