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Ipso Facto Business/Tech Quiz Preliminary Round. 30 questions. No negatives. Top 5 open teams and top 3 college teams qualify for final. Mark clearly ‘ COLLEGE’ in your answer sheet – will not be considered under that category otherwise. * marked - will resolve ties.
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30 questions. No negatives. Top 5 open teams and top 3 college teams qualify for final. Mark clearly ‘COLLEGE’ in your answer sheet – will not be considered under that category otherwise. * marked - will resolve ties.
1. An X is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion bytes – 10 to the power 21 bytes. Absolutely of no interest to the popular world until something brought this figure to the mainstream. X, and what (specific answer)?
2. X was incorporated in Ireland as Shugart (after surname of founder Alan Shugart), but then changed their name because Alan had earlier founded another company Shugart Associates, and X wanted to avoid confusion/legal ramifications. So, I take it that the boffins sat down, gargled Shugart around in their mouths and spat it out sounding as X. X?
5. The Beatles named themselves such (after an insect) having seen a similarly themed name for a band. Which earlier band?
6. French company X wanted to name their new electric car Y (which means ‘life’ in Greek), but had a court case to settle first – YX is a name, and cases were brought by families who had daughters by the name YX. Defence lawyers argued that all of France’s thousands of Ys could be affected, with playground teasing and, as they grow older, comments in bars such as “Can I see your airbags?” or “Can I shine your bumper?” But no, judge threw the case out and said Y is a noun. XY?
8. Wanting it to be as evocative of I <3 NY, this was a branding exercise that lead to much derision, some deeming it more suitable for a nuclear power plant, saying it looked ‘all radiation, no heart’. For what?
9. There are/were two products in the Indian market named after the picture – the event, and the location. Name both, and the manufacturer.
10. This is a logo created in 1985, used to promote a sub-category of the company’s products/merchandise. The logo itself is of _______ _______ doing a ballet move (shown), rather than what one would think was being executed, given person and context etc. Name the logo (has a name – person gets half points).
11. On March 16, 2009, it was announced that TV Channel X would be changing its name as part of a rebranding effort. It was noted that unlike the earlier generic name, the new one could be trademarked and therefore easier to market on other goods or services without fear of confusion. Reaction has been largely negative, with people often pronouncing the name incorrectly to make fun of the name change. Stephen Colbert made fun of it by noting that “the tide is turning in my long fought battle against the insidious ‘soft C’.” The new name took effect on July 7, 2009. Their tagline is ‘Imagine Greater’.
12. Similar to the GAP blue box pixel, this element in the new logo of another fairly famous company hasn’t attracted the same brickbats. Which company?
13. X is a hamburger chain (est. 1921) - first of its kind in the U.S. At that time, Americans were hesitant to eat ground beef after The Jungle. The founders set out to change the public’s perception. Their steadfast refusal to franchise or take on debt resulted in the chain remaining relatively small. (422 outlets, all in the U.S. and specifically in the Midwest and Tennessee, except for a smattering of outlets in the NY region). But the company nonetheless has the industry’s second-highest sales revenues per store. The rest of the world, however, has heard of this chain for a different reason (from 2004). Name the chain, or the reason.
14. X is a high quality durable variety of this product, having a weight greater than 50 g/m2 (115 µm thickness specified in the UK). The name comes from it having originally been made for debt investments. What?
15. An X is one of three things: an arrangement where a third-party receives and disburses money/documents for the transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on performance of the contract by the parties, or an account established by a broker, for the purpose of holding funds on behalf of the broker's principal until the consummation or termination of a transaction, or a trust account held in the borrower’s name to pay obligations such as property taxes and insurance premiums. The word derives from Old French, meaning a scrap of paper or a roll of parchment - this indicated the deed that the third party held until a transaction was completed.
16. Its working title was Project Natal. What is it known as now?
17. If it’s the iPad for Apple Computers, what would it be for RIM?
18. X (derived from Greek – mentioned to avoid multiplicity of answers) is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object’s exterior, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork. The technique may also be called structural skin or stressed skin, amongst other things. Architects sometimes use it in their building projects to allow for interior spaces without columns and load-bearing walls – an example (partially) being the Media Centre at Lord’s. X?
21. Which company, founded by Ottmar Mergenthaler, takes its name from this machine?
22. Erythemaabigne is a skin discolouration often seen due to the use of hot water bottles – is also an occupational hazard for silversmiths, jewellers, chefs and bakers. There may have been a recent uptick in cases due to a particular reason. What?
* 23. The Last Exorcism is a horror film released this year. Their distributor decided to go cheap on publicity caused, and used a viral campaign (which was pretty successful) on the internet – It uses X (a website) as the medium of its viral campaign, involving a girl who pretends to unbutton her top seductively, then stops and turns into a monster. At the end, the URL of the film's official website is flashed on screen. Which website?
* 25. X is a Bangalore based company founded in May 2009 by RohanShravan, an engineering graduate from IIT-KGP with the express purpose of creating the Y, in partnership with nVidia and Pixel Qi. It is expected in a little more than a month – unless the company sinks first. X and Y.
* 26. Martin King (who died around a month ago) and Cliff Kushler founded Tegic Communications in 1995, developing products for people with disabilities, including an eye-tracking communications device. As part of their work for the eye-tracking device, King and Kushler looked at the most efficient input method using only a few eye positions. That research became the groundwork for X. Tegic was sold to AOL in 1999 for $350 million, and Nuance Communications purchased the company in 2007. Some say X is on the decline due to technological developments, but is still in widespread use. X?
* 27. Name this poem – a tech friendly parody of another. Let us go then, you and I,When the evening is spread out against the skyLike a laptop, put in sleep mode on a tableLet us go through certain half-deserted streetsThe blinking-light retreatsOf restless nights in free-wifi cafesAnd public libraries with internetStreets that follow like messageboard argumentof insidious intentTo lead you to an overwhelming blog postOh, do not ask, "What, yaoi?"Let us go and post an entry. In the room the players come and goTalking of their scores on Halo. …
28. Gauntlet: The Third Encounter was an arcade style game released by Atari in 1990. It wasn’t very popular and was replaced in 1991 by a completely different game called Gauntlet III: The Final Quest. It had self-explanatory classes of players like ‘Pirate’, ‘Nerd’, and ‘Punkrocker’, and also ‘X’. It was this X that brought the game back into discussion recently, about whether something else was inspired by X, due to obvious similarities of nomenclature and aesthetics. What?
* 29. What, from 1984 (year, not book), in IBM parlance, would be called a ‘nipple mouse’?
30. Who is the No. 1 camera manufacturer in the world, by sales volume?
Please put down a contact number on your answer sheet. Keep score – our evaluation is outsourced to Bangalore. Answers and results will be announced immediately.
1. An X is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion bytes – 10 to the power 21 bytes. Absolutely of no interest to the popular world until something brought this figure to the mainstream. X, and what (specific answer)?
Zettabyte. Chitti the robot from Endhiran – Speed 1 Terahertz, Memory 1 Zettabyte.
2. X was incorporated in Ireland as Shugart (after surname of founder Alan Shugart), but then changed their name because Alan had earlier founded another company Shugart Associates, and X wanted to avoid confusion/legal ramifications. So, I take it that the boffins sat down, gargled Shugart around in their mouths and spat it out sounding as X. X?
5. The Beatles named themselves such (after an insect) having seen a similarly themed name for a band. Which earlier band?
6. French company X wanted to name their new electric car Y (which means ‘life’ in Greek), but had a court case to settle first – YX is a name, and cases were brought by families who had daughters by the name YX. Defence lawyers argued that all of France’s thousands of Ys could be affected, with playground teasing and, as they grow older, comments in bars such as “Can I see your airbags?” or “Can I shine your bumper?” But no, judge threw the case out and said Y is a noun. XY?
