What's new is the use of evolutionary algorithms in programs that laypeople might use to invent things. A simple demonstration on Icosystems' website, for instance, asks a user to select a few initial designs for Mondrianesque wallpaper or bathroom tiles; the designs' evolution can then be directed toward the pattern the user likes best.

This reminds me of KPT Convolver.

The first standalone commercial service based on the Hunch Engine will debut this fall, when Icosystems launches an online company-naming service. Bonabeau says that for $15 or so, the naming engine will let a user recombine random phonemes and filter the resulting names until something pleasing, inoffensive, and non-trademarked emerges.

Until now, software programs like that were the closely guarded trade secrets of advertising agencies. It's nice to see this coming into the open.