twizzle, vingle, idolspize

[Landau, James]

Ben Zimmer quoted the following:

"But what about the ultra-hip techsters at Apple, who are trying to
trademark the term "vingle"? On the simplest level, vingles are
downloadable music videos on iTunes (though the trademark application
suggests they have larger, multimedia network world domination plans in
mind). "

I have a suspicion that "vingle" is a derivative of the well-established
computer term "dongle" ("vi" + "-ngle").

A dongle is a hardware device that fits onto a port on the back of a
computer and allows you to use an expensive piece of copyrighted
software.  

What is the origin of "dongle"?  The only evidence I have, and it is
quite suspect, is an advertisement from Rainbow Technologies (9292
Jeronimo Road, Irvine CA 92718  800-852-8569) which appeared on page 149
of the December 1992 issue of Byte magazine.  This ad, which is entitled
"Why do they call it a dongle?" claims that the dongle was invented by,
and named after, a software developer whose name was Don Gall who was
annoyed because everyone was running pirated copies of a software
package he had written.  Not only do I know better than to believe
stories told in advertising copy, but the tone of the story is that of a
tall tale, and if Mr. Gall were a real person Rainbow would undoubtedly
have heard from his lawyer.

    - James A. Landau

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