Monthly Archives: December 2007

Mon 31st December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
Assista.com: Brilliant Thinking Goes Live - My Good Friend Sahar Sarid, announced on his blog that the project he and his team have been working on for three years has gone live The Assista search engine is question based and is a very exciting to the internet and the domain community. It’s proof positive that domainers are developers as well. Please check Assista.com out. They are looking for all valuable feedback to improve the engine. We wish Sahar and his team the best of luck and look for this project to be wildly successful A reprint ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
CFO Of Baidu Killed in Accident - According to a report in cnn.com, the chief financial officer of China’s dominant Internet search engine Baidu.com, Shawn Wang, died in an accident On December 27, while on vacation in China. Mr. Wang helped get Baidu listed on the NASDAQ. Baidu.com is down 5 points in early trading today Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
CedarFever.com - Cedar allergies hit Central Texas. My attempts to find remedies using direct navigation are largely fruitless. Anyone who lives in Austin or San Antonio knows about “Cedar Fever”. Cedar Fever affects many people in this region, as pollen from cedar trees (a.k.a. juniper trees) explodes this time of year. Some people swear by natural remedies, such as spicy tortilla soup, but that doesn’t do it for true sufferers. My longtime remedy has been Allegra D combined ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Iran.com May Sell for $735,000 - Domain name Iran.com at auction for $735,000; one suitor so far. The domain Iran.com is up for grabs at Sedo after receiving a $735,000 offer. The auction runs through January 4 and the reserve has been met. If the sale closes this will be a heck of a way to kick off the 2008 year in the domain industry. According to DNJournal, Iran.com sold for $400,000 in June of 2007. Iran is an important country, but it’s not the only geography domain to sell for big money ... read more ...
Sun 30th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
Keep an eye on your domains. - This post was received by Anthony De Rose who requested it be published: I actually owned this domain not long ago. I simply forgot to re-register it and allowed it to slip. Best of luck to you with it, looks like an interesting blog. Lesson learned, stay on top of your domain expirations! Anthony Thanks for the post. We actually did NOT get this domain on the drop, we bought it the last silent T.R.A.F.F.I.C auction held in Miami last October $1,180. We were the only bidder. We bought this domain ... read more ...
Sat 29th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
ITunes Movie Rentals Coming to an IPOD Near You? -   Reports over the last few days say that Apple will ink a deal with FOX to rent movies on its IPOD in a deal expected to be announced at The Macworld Conference on January 14, 2008. The FOX movies would be allowed to play on itunes or your ipod only for a limited amount of time. As we discussed the other day, this would be another indication that the Old Media is not going to be able to survive without the New Media and the further migration of distribution of entertainment to the Net.   Google+Michael ... read more ...
Fri 28th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
Backing out of a Deal–Should we call Your Lawyer?? - My Buddy Elliot yesterday posted a great article on his blog about the ethical and moral implications of Seller’s backing out of deals on domain sales. I thought I would follow up on the post and look at the legal side of the situation. Normal contract law talks about two parties having a meeting of the minds on all material aspects of the deal. This may be in writing, or may be oral, like a deal being struck on the telephone. Of course it is very hard, if not impossible to prove there was a ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
NaturalBeauty.com Nets $64,900 during Name Jet.com - Anyone have an opinion on the domain NaturalBeauty.com selling for $64,900 at NameJet.com Personally think its very high Some other big money domains in the last few days at NameJet.com include: autotags.com for $17,900 newproperties.com for $9,200 Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Google Increases Its Search Share - According to a new study released today by Nielsen Online, Google share of Internet searches increased in November to 57.7% of all US searches, compare to 55% in October 2007. Yahoo came in second with 17.9% of the US search market, down from 18.9% in October. MSN.com came in third with 12%, also down from 13.8% in October. Aol.com came in fourth with 4.5% of the US market. Ask.com rounded out the top 5 with 2.7% Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Reverse Cybersquatting in Las Vegas - Cosmopolitan Resort Casino goes after owner of CosmopolitanResort.com. Las Vegas has always been a high stakes town. A recent lawsuit suggests it’s also high stakes for domain names. In an obvious case of “reverse cybersquatting”, a new resort and casino in Las Vegas is going after the owner of CosmopolitanResort.com. Ryan Gile, a Las Vegas trademark attorney, writes about the saga on his blog. Here are the facts: 1. Tim Griffin, a domain investor, registered ... read more ...
Thu 27th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
Old Media vs New Media, is a competition over?? - According to a Harris Poll released last week , 65% of U.S. adults watched a video on YouTube.com within the last year up from 42% in the previous year (50% increase). In the same Harris Poll 43% of U.S. Adults said they watched a TV show or a video on a TV Network site, and 35% on a Network News site. Not surprisingly, the younger the age group, the more lightly they were to watch their TV shows, videos and movies on the Net.  There is a double wammy for Old Medi, not only are they losing their ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Stocks: Despite Slow Day Big Gains in Tech - Today we a pretty light day in the market, volume was down and the dow pretty much unchanged. However 3 notable  stock developments today Google, part of our Domain Stock Parking Index was up over 10 points to over $700  share Baidu, also part of our Domain Stock Parking Index was up almost 20 points just short of $400 a share. The index itself is also up over 600 when it was as low as 575 last week. Apple Computer also reached a milestone today trading over $200 a share for the first time. Google+Michael ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Your Next Tech Toy: 150″ Flat Screen?? - It was reported today by the Japanese paper Yomiuri, that Panasonic will unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January a 150″ Plasma Television, of course it would be the world’s largest. No Price was announced. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Gmail Hack Leads to Domain Theft - Gmail flaw leads to theft of domain name; GoDaddy steps in to return domain. A “cracker”* used a deficiency in Gmail to steal a domain name this month. The theft was of DavidAirey.com, a popular graphic designer’s personal site that attracts a couple thousand unique visitors a day. So how did it happen, and what can you do to protect yourself? Furthermore, how could a popular domainer site lead to even more lost domains? First, here’s how it happened in ... read more ...
Wed 26th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
Tech Toys: Review of Dell 1530 XPS - I have been in the market for a new laptop for a couples of months. 17″ notebooks are just to heavy and big to carry around, and the 11″-13″ although light and compact, are just to small for these old eyes. So I’ve been on the look out for a cool 15″ model to replace my Sony 15″ I’ve been hooked on Sony’s for quite abut I hate the look of their “FZ” model which is their 15″ version. I saw a commercial in late November for the Dell XPS 1530 which had just been released. I got ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Name News Bytes for Wednesday, Dec 26 - Domain name news from the past few days. Merry Christmas! Domain Name Wire has been missing in action for a couple days thanks to the Christmas holiday. Here are some news stories that slipped through the cracks. Domain heavyweights join forces to start Bido.com. What is it? When will it launch? How will it help domainers? No one other than the founders knows. But the founding team includes DNJournal’s Ron Jackson and Recall Media co-founders Sahir Sarid, ... read more ...
Tue 25th December 2007
Mon 24th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN
Microsoft Sues Domain Name Registrar - Today Microsoft filed suit against a domain registrar, Red Registrar for allegedly registering and profiting from 125 domains “confusingly similar to Microsoft’s Marks”, including windowslivecare.com, msnmesnger.com, and ageofmathology.com   Although the domains are now registered to a Tortola company, Versata Software, they were previously registered to Red Register and Microsoft believes the current registration information is false.   As we discussed on Friday, we believe 2008 is going ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Australia Take a Crack during Regulating a Web - A new law in Australia take effect January 20, 2008, which imposes age verification on publishes either online or mobile content. Here are the rules  Sexually explicit content is prohibited (X18+, and Refused Classification content). R18+ content (non-sexually-explicit, but restricted) must be hidden behind a verification service that checks for ages 18 and up. So-called “Mature audience” (MA15+) content must also be hidden behind a verification service that checks for ages 15 and up. The ... read more ...
Fri 21st December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Biggest Threat to a Domain Industry - A couple of months ago, my buddy, Elliot Silver asked me to do an interview for his blog and asked me what the biggest threat to the Domain Industry was. I answered that government action or over reaction to attempt to deal with trademark infringement issues was the biggest issue we face as an industry. Looking toward 2008 I believe that the trademark issues still are the biggest threat. Here are some domains that are dropping today which already have multiple backorders at namejet.com: bankofamericanonline.com geraldrford.com dienychannel.com directvoffer.com jessicasimpsen.com sprintbill.com verizonaccount.com disenchannel.com diseychannal.com forbsmagazine.com hondarepairs.com nbadunks.com nbarosters.com armaniaexchange.com atvhonda.com briteneyspears.com countrywidemorgtages.com directtvemployment.com customercountrywidebank.com You ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Politicians Getting Savvy About Domain Names - Obama, Clinton use domain names in political battle. Politicans’ ineptness with domain names can be downright hilarious. But apparently presidential candidates are getting a bit more savvy this election season. ABC news and Wired have discovered a number of domain names registered by Obama and Clinton to attack each other. Here’s one example from Wired: Hillary Clinton’s campaign quietly registered VotingPresent.com and VotingPresent.org in early December. ... read more ...
Thu 20th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
PPC Companies Agree to Pay Fine for Gambling Ads - Microsoft, Google and Yahoo agreed to pay a civil fine totaling 31.5 million dollars for carrying PPC ads for gambling, going back to 2000.     Microsoft paid 21 million, Yahoo share was 7.5 million and Google paid 3 million, less than half of its average daily profit of 11 million dollars. All three companies stopped accepting and serving ads for gambling last year. Full Story Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
FTC OK’S Google DoubleClick Deal - The FTC said today that they will NOT block the proposed acquisition of Double Click by Google for 3.1 Billion Dollars saying that the deal is “unlikely to substantially lessen competition”Full Story Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
Wed 19th December 2007
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Auction Calendar for 2008 - After our post yesterday on pricing your domains for auction, we received a lot of feedback and most was regarding the lack of knowledge of when and where major domain auctions going to be held.   So here is the Domain Auction Schedule for 2008:   1. DomainTools.com Auction. The second auction by domaintools.com will be held on January 3, 2008 at 11am PST.   This auction will NOT be in connection with any show but will be an online live bidding auction.   They have no announced the bidding ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How to Read Domain Forums - Reading beyond the headline of a domain sales thread can be challenging. Here’s a helpful guide. Earlier this week I lamented about how 99% of the domains at domain forums aren’t worth anything. If you’re going to sort through the many names at forums in hopes of finding a winner, perhaps I can help you find your way. Below are common sales thread titles at popular domain forums, and what they really mean. Domain Inventory Liquidation Sale Translation: I ... read more ...