Like the Rosetta Stone's ubiquitously marketed computer-based product, TOTALe Online works by means of virtual immersion: Regardless of skill level, you listen in on dialogues, repeat sentences and answer questions entirely in the language you're studying.

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"Even a stone can be an effective symbol when the company makes a great product or offers a great service, " he says.

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Rolling Stone was slow to embrace the Internet and even today has a Web product that is lacking.

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The shape of the stone, likely dating back to the later 16th century, is a product of "diamond-cutting in its infancy, " he says.

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Stone is teaming up with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and former Twitter head of product Jason Goldman to start Obvious.

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