Desties

I had to rub my eyes. Helium Report has apparently changed its name to Halogen Guides. It's still referred to as Helium Report in several parts of the site and I couldn't find an official explanation for the name change.

Anyone know what happened there?

Kagehitokiri

halogen is what theyre calling their new umbrella/"parent" company

DC4MS

It looks like I will have to change the Forum title.

In 2008, Helium Report launched Halogen Guides, a luxury lifestyle brand with a family of websites. The lead investor is Jim Kohlberg, an active venture capital investor in internet media companies. The first website, Halogen Jets, is set to launch in February 2008. Additional Halogen Guides will roll out in mid-2008. Our network of websites offer consumer reviews, directories, and in-depth Decision Guides that represent hundreds of hours of industry research. We provide both financial analysis and daily news coverage on luxury industries to help consumers filter through the options and simplify the decision process.

Desties

That seems to be the case. But even Helium Report's masthead now reads "Halogen Guides Real Estate - Formerly Helium Report" so it seems that it's all falling under Halogen (with Real Estate, Jets, etc. now just subdomains of HalogenGuides.com).

I just figured that there would be some kind of public rationale for the branding change. I always liked the name Helium Report and figured that Greg Shove had put a lot of effort into building the brand. I'm just surprised that it gets changed overnight without much of an explanation.

Trademark issues? Fear that "helium" would have negative connotations with the wave of Wendy's helium tank ads, etc.? A more upscale name like Halogen resonates more with advertisers?

AmyG

Hello. I'm the Editor at Halogen Guides. We officially rebranded this week and in addition to changing Helium Report to Halogen Guides Real Estate, we've also spun off our coverage of private aviation into a separate website, Halogen Guides Jets (jets.halogenguides.com). There is more in store from Halogen Guides this spring, so stay tuned.

3DH

...dumb question, but I assume the website address is changing from heliumreport.com?

Amy, so you are better recognized by the members here, would you be willing to add your position to your signature or to your profile as club affiliation?

__________________
"Boutique" is better! Another extremely satisfied LUSSO member!

Steamboat Bill

Welcome...we all love the old/new web site, but we occasionally poke fun (in a nice kind of way).

JamieCheng

Hi - I'm Jamie Cheng, the co-founder and chief analyst at Halogen Guides. Greg Shove and I launched the site together in October 2005 as Helium Report.

We changed our name to Halogen Guides this month to better illustrate what we do for readers: shed light on complex high-end purchase decisions. It was difficult to outgrow a brand we've built for more than two years, but we believe the Halogen Guides name will better suit us as we expand into more categories.

We've been covering the destination club industry for more than two years now. Our free Decision Guide to Destination Clubs has been downloaded by thousands of prospective members. And tools like our online directory and Cost-Per-Night Calculator are designed to help consumers compare their options. Last year, Amy Gunderson, the former New York Times vacation homes writer, joined our team as Editor. (She's the one who posted above as AmyG.)

This summer, we're launching a new website with additional topics beyond luxury fractional real estate and private jets. We'll continue to offer what we do best: objective editorial, online tools, and user reviews. Amy and I will drop in to Destination Club Forums from time to time to post and answer questions. We're impressed with the amount of users and topics and look forward to joining in the dialog. Please email us if you have story ideas for Halogen Guides Real Estate.

__________________
Jamie Cheng
Co-Founder and Chief Analyst, Halogen Guides Real Estate

3DH

Welcome to the boards, Jamie... glad to have you here! I think we have all gotten (and contenue to get) great insight from your site -- it certainly helped us when we were looking for a change and ultimately found LUSSO!

__________________
"Boutique" is better! Another extremely satisfied LUSSO member!

DC4MS

Welcome to our little world. Your posts are always welcomed here and we wish you great success in your new venture.

JamieCheng

Thanks for the kind words. Glad to hear we were able to lend some help to 3DH.

I have a hard time keeping up with all the topics (I've been reading when I can find time), so if any hot topic pops up where you'd like us to weigh in, feel free to email me directly and we'll do a post.

__________________
Jamie Cheng
Co-Founder and Chief Analyst, Halogen Guides Real Estate

Steamboat Bill

I was a Chemistry major in college and Helium in a "Noble gas" and this is significant because noble gases are "inert"

Chemically, noble gases are very stable due to having the maximum number of valence electrons their outer shell can hold. Noble gases rarely react with other elements since they are already stable. Under normal conditions, they occur as odorless, colorless, monatomic gases.

Each of them has its melting and boiling point close together, so that only a small temperature range exists for each noble gas in which it is a liquid. Noble gases have numerous important applications in lighting, welding and space technology. The six known noble gases are: helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon.

However, Halogen is highly reactive, and as such can be harmful or lethal to biological organisms in sufficient quantities. This high reactivity is due to the atoms being one electron short of a full outer shell of eight electrons. They can gain this electron by reacting with atoms of other elements.

Fluorine is the most reactive element in existence, attacking otherwise inert materials such as glass, and forming compounds with the heavier noble gases. It is a corrosive and highly toxic gas. The reactivity of fluorine is such that if used or stored in laboratory glassware, it can react with glass in the presence of small amounts of water to form silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4). Thus fluorine must be handled with substances such as Teflon, extremely dry glass, or metals such as copper or steel which form a protective layer of fluoride on their surface.

Both chlorine and bromine are used as disinfectants for drinking water, swimming pools, fresh wounds, dishes, and surfaces. They kill bacteria and other potentially harmful microorganisms through a process known as sterilization. Their reactivity is also put to use in bleaching. Sodium hypochlorite, which is produced from chlorine, is the active ingredient of most fabric bleaches and chlorine-derived bleaches are used in the production of some paper products.

JamieCheng

Thanks for the chemistry lesson, Steamboat Bill! Hm - maybe we should have called ourselves Xenon Guides since they're a type of high-end light bulb as well.

There have been times that I've been accused of being one electron short, but Halogen Guides is definitely not harmful or lethal.

__________________
Jamie Cheng
Co-Founder and Chief Analyst, Halogen Guides Real Estate

Steamboat Bill

I am glad you enjoyed that....remember that my post is all in jest and I think you are doing a great service for the industry with your guides.