Do remember to check uspto.gov > trademarks > (2) Search Marks to ensure something cool you've picked isn't an active/current registered trademark by another for computer / software / online use.
I like to use <a href="http://impossibility.org" rel="nofollow">http://impossibility.org</a> for naming apps. It ensures you can get an <i>available</i> domain that won't be too hard to type/say.
I always like to hit up "Ten Thousand Statistically Grammar-Average Fake Band Names": <a href="http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~bwhitman/10000.html" rel="nofollow">http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~bwhitman/10000.html</a><p>I'll find words I like and fit them together myself, like Rocketboom, or Humanwire, e.g.
I just number them. e.g. "4 thousand billion". <i>Little Billy Sands</i> we call him.<p>But seriously, I have given them descriptive names - inspired by the supplier of meat to MacDonalds in Australia called "The 100% Australian Beef Company". I figured it was good for googling, and informative. Also reminded me of Humpty Dumpty (<i>my name means the shape I am</i>). And it worked.<p>Though I note most people go for clever and/or zany names, with creative spellings (so they be trademarked). An amusing "story" to explain a clever name can operate as a vector for word of mouth: by passing on the story for entertainment value, you also pass on the name. It's kind of like product placement, where the story is the movie. An example is <i>GNU</i>. It can also operate as an in-joke, creating an artificial elite.
I learned of this technique as clustering in a creative writing course: <a href="http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/cluster.html" rel="nofollow">http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/cluster.html</a> And this was the textbook: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Natural-Gabriele-Lusser-Rico/dp/0874771862/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Natural-Gabriele-Lusser-Rico/d...</a>
We used a similar method to get to our name: Bindle. I agree with you on a short, single word names. To add to that, I would suggest attempting to use real words, that have simple spelling.<p>A short naming blogpost can be found here: <a href="http://blog.bindle.me/post/9048657705/name" rel="nofollow">http://blog.bindle.me/post/9048657705/name</a>
I find this technique works too. Come up with general ideas that describe your product, expand into metaphors. Try synonyms for the metaphors. Combine words.<p>In the end, the name doesn't have to be descriptive, but it does have to be unique and pronouncable.