Child Online Protection Act Declared Unconstitutional, Again - Yesterday a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia struck down as unconstitutional the “Child Online Protection Act:, a 1998 law intended to protect children from sexual material and other objectionable content on the Internet.
This law has been fought in the courts for over a decade. The fight has already reached the Supreme Court and could be headed back there.
The law, which has never taken effect, would bar Web sites from making “harmful content” available to minors over the ... read more ...
Monthly Archives: July 2008
Wed 23rd July 2008
Moniker.com Announces Top Domains for Affiliate Summit -
st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
Moniker.com Announced the Top Domain Names for the Online Auction for Affiliate Summit 2008 in Boston Today.
The top Premium affiliate domains available at auction include:
Clients.com
AffiliateForum.com
CreditCheck.us
FindALender.com
MortgageBanking.com
PriceComparison.us
SuperSaving.com
RealEstateListed.com
SaleFinder.com
FinancePlan.com
Made-In-The-Usa.com
RealEstateMortgages.com
Warrantied.com
PcBuy.com
WirelessStore.com
AutoRebates.com
SmartPhoneGadgets.com
Trades.net
OnlineDiscounts.com
SellingTips.com
OnlineRegistry.com
QualifyMe.com
SpeakerStore.com
FindBestJobs.com
LongDistanceProvider.com
QuickBusinessCredit.com
OrlandoHotelGuide.com
TicketSavers.com
NewCarPreview.com
SpamClear.com
ThinkAffiliate.com
SearchAffiliate.com
VacationDiscount.com
CareerHelpers.com
TricksToSave.com
GreatRepairs.com
LowDownPayments.com
247Flower.com
TrafficForLease.com
AffiliateForex.com
RestaurantAffiliates.com
SportAffiliates.net
SalesLeadProvider.com
WallStreetAffiliate.com
... read more ...
Moniker.com Silent auctions will now be hold on SnapNames Platform - Moniker.com announced tonight that all future silent auctions of live domain auctions will be held on SnapNames.com platform.
Up to this point all silent auctions were held on moniker’s own auction platform
Here is the complete announcement:
Moniker Extended Auctions Now Hosted on the SnapNames Domain Auction Online Platform
Moniker and SnapNames are combining forces once again to bring you the best in domain auctions technology and service. Moniker’s Extended Online Auctions will now be ... read more ...
Parked Changes Dashboard Graph, Improves Usability -
Domain parking company creates simple yet valuable graph on dashboard.
It’s always nice when companies listen to suggestions.
Earlier this month I made a few usability suggestions to domain name companies. One of these was to change the graph on Parked.com’s dashboard. The graph didn’t make a lot of sense. It doesn’t make sense to have a stacked column graph for RPM, CTR, and RPC. RPC is so small compared to the rest that you can’t see it, and the sum ... read more ...
Company Goes After Fired.com in UDRP -
Here’s a UDRP case that will get domainers “fired” up.
A company that filed for a trademark on the term “fired” in 2004 has filed a UDRP against the owner of Fired.com to try to get the domain name. The case commenced yesterday at National Arbitration Forum.
Domain Name Wire has learned that World2Work Corporation is the complainant in the case brought against Kurt Ruess. World2Work operates the Fired.tv domain. Reuss runs Contractors.com.
World2Work.com ... read more ...
Moniker Sends Silent Auctions to SnapNames -
Move will increase audience for silent auction domains.
Moniker announced that it will now use the SnapNames platform for auctioning domains in its silent auctions. Previously, silent auctions were held on Moniker’s online platform which required a separate login and access code.
By moving to SnapNames, silent auction domains should get more attention and ultimately sell for more. Other benefits include:
-SnapNames customers will no longer have to login to multiple ... read more ...
Tue 22nd July 2008
When it Comes to Taxes US Domainers are during a Huge Disadvantage and It May Get A lot Worse - We all know we live in a global economy.
There maybe few industries that highlight that fact, more than the domain industry.
As Domainers we complete everyday in obtaining new domains, with other Domainers which live all around the world.
Many domainers are US based, but other major domainers are located in tax free countries thereby giving those domainers huge advantages over the US based domainers.
The bad news it the disparity may get much larger after the US presidential election.
US domainers ... read more ...
Bido.com Sells Dickinson for $12,000 -
Bido has sold its most expensive domain to date.
Upstart domain auction house Bido has sold Dickinson.com for $12,000, a record for the site.
Originally billed as a geo-related domain name, Dickinson.com was listed in the “Family names” category on Bido. I don’t think it’s a particularly strong geo domain given the cities in question, so I agree with this move. The final sales price was in line with my expectations.
The auction attracted more attention ... read more ...
Floyd Mayweather Extends Winning Streak to 40-0 -
Welterweight champ extends undefeated record with domain name win.
Former welterweight champion boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., a.k.a. “Money Mayweather”, has won a domain name dispute for MoneyMayweather.com. Mayweather was 39-0 in the ring during his career, and carried his winning ways to arbitration.
The panel found that Mayweather had common law rights to the “Money Mayweather” name, even though he doesn’t have a filed trademark. This is common in cases ... read more ...
Mon 21st July 2008
GoDaddy Allowing Obvious Trademark Domains on Day 1 of .Me Auction - Already the first day of the .ME auction we got trademark issues as there are 5 bidders on Sony.me currently at $105.
In coming days realtor.me
Harley.me
macbook.me
macworld.me
redskins.me
thomascook.me
ducati.me
cocacola.me
We have asked many times before how GoDaddy can allow clear trademark infringing domains be auctioned off on their platform. Now GoDaddy is not only using their own platform, but as the owner of the .me registry they apparently will be getting the proceeds of the auction of ... read more ...
.Me Auction off and Running with Insure.Me Hitting a Five Figures - The first .Me auctions have started and with over 2 days to go Insure.Me is already in the five figures.
Here are the Top 15 domains on my board by high bid:
domain # of bidders Price
insure.me 68 $10,005
brand.me 21 $380
sky.me 2 $305
ride.me 14 $270
thats.me ... read more ...
GoDaddy: .ME launch “Most successful in History” - Go Daddy said in a press release today said it:
“”””registered more than 20,000 .ME names in the first 24 hours, making it the most successful new domain launch in Go Daddy’s history.
During the start of registration requests for .ME came in at such a rapid pace that it caused slowness to the GoDaddy.com Web site. Go Daddy engineers immediately began deploying more servers for its site to withstand the spike in traffic. Within two hours, the site resumed ... read more ...
Yahoo: Now What - Yahoo announced this morning that agreed to expand its board from nine members to 11, adding activist Carl Icahn, to its board as well as two people from Icahn’s list of board candidates, thereby ending the Icahn’s proxy fight.
So the question becomes what happens now?
Icahn had been hoping to replace Yahoo’s management team so he could then negotiate a sale of the company to Microsoft.
The fact that Icahn settled for less than full control of Yahoo may suggest that he’s no longer hell bent ... read more ...
“One Web” Vision Suggests .Mobi is a Short-Term Fix -
An interview with SES speaker Cindy Krum.
Earlier this month Ron Jackson posted about an interesting session at Search Engine Strategies’ San Jose Show, taking place August 18-22. The session, titled “Mobile SEO: Death of the ‘.mobi'”, suggests that web developers shouldn’t create a mobile version of their web sites. Instead, they should make their “one web” site work across traditional and mobile platforms.
So when SES asked me if there was anyone ... read more ...
ICANN Seeks Fix for Registry Failure -
ICANN creating contingency plan for registry failure.
We’ve seen domain registrars, such as RegisterFly, lose their accreditation. But what happens when a domain registry that manages an entire top level domain (TLD) goes out of business?
This isn’t a far-fetched situation. Tralliance, the registry for .travel, almost when kaput last year. And with perhaps hundreds of new registries forming over the coming years as ICANN relaxes its restrictions for new top ... read more ...
Revolution.org Sells for $120,000 -
Sedo sells one of biggest .org domains ever.
Domain brokerage Sedo has sold Revolution.org for a whopping $120,000. According to NameBio.com, the only .org domains to have sold for more are Date.org ($150,349), Sexe.org ($151,400), and Engineering.org ($198,000).
The new whois record for Revolution.org is privacy protected. The seller was a South Korean man.
Sedo closed some other spectacular deals over the past week. It sold Voitures.fr for 50,000 EUR ($79,000 ... read more ...
Sun 20th July 2008
.Me Auctions Begin Tommorow - Just got an e-mail saying that the first .ME domains auctions start tomorrow for those domains which received more than 1 pre-order.
The auctions will last 3 days each and we will of course let you know how they are going.
Here are the domains we have on our radar for the next 2 days:
ride.me
why.me
escort.me
translate.me
hug.me
The last name, Hug.me was the same domain that the “Tech Crunch” article discussed last week.
Apparently that domain was given to at least 8 people and now it looks like ... read more ...
Sat 19th July 2008
Has any Company Ever Handled a Public Negotiation Worse than Yahoo - As we all know Yahoo turned down Microsoft’s offer to buy them for the first time over 2 years ago at $40 a share.
Then in January when Yahoo was floundering at $19 a share, Microsoft came along and offered $31.
Yahoo said there stock was less no less than $37 a share and turned Microsoft down.
Microsoft reportedly raised their offer, informally to $33, Yahoo said no again, they wanted $37.
Carl Icahn took a large position in Yahoo stock and is seeking to replace the board of directors with a ... read more ...
Microsoft Going into Competition with AdSence? - According to reports, Microsoft is ready to start expanding its AdCenter engine to allow at least some publishers to include contextual advertising from Microsoft on their site.
Microsoft is reportedly engaged in a pilot program that allows smaller publishers to use contextual advertising from Microsoft, putting it potentially in competition with Google’s AdSense and Yahoo’s publisher network.
In a statement provided to CNET News on Thursday, Microsoft confirmed the trial.
“Microsoft’s self-serve ... read more ...
Rumor Watch: Google to Restrict Domain Parking -
Here’s an update on Google’s domain parking program.
I usually don’t write about rumors, but Julia Mackenzie of IsItMeOrIsEveryoneElseStupid.com has never floated a rumor without it being true. She’s reporting that a reliable source informed her that Google is going to lay the hammer down on domain parking. Essentially, the company will only serve parking ads to domains it believes have a chance of receiving type-in traffic and conversions:
This new algo ... read more ...
Fri 18th July 2008
ComScore.com: Microsoft & Yahoo Gain on Google (Slightly) - Accroding to a report by ComScore today, Microsoft expanded its share of the U.S. search market in June, while Google Inc. had a small decline.
ComScore’s June search report concluded that of a total of 11.5 billion searches conducted in the U.S. during the month, 61.5 percent were conducted on Google sites, compared with 61.8 percent in May.
The report showed 20.9 percent of U.S. searches were on Yahoo sites, compared with 20.4 percent in May.
Microsoft sites captured 9.2 percent of U.S. searches, ... read more ...
Google Buys Russian ad association ZAO for $140M - Google annouced Friday that it signed an agreement with Rambler Media Ltd. to buy its Russian contextual ad service ZAO Begun for $140 million.
Google said the deal is part of its moves to improve service for users, partners and advertisers in Russia, which has a fast-growing digital advertising market.
The purchase will enable advertisers to advertise on a larger network of sites, and publishers will get more advertisements to run on their sites, Google said. The acquisition will also result in ... read more ...
Lost in Google’s Numbers: Half of the Business Comes From Outside The US - As we reported earlier, Google released its earnings yesterday.
According to the earning report it seems not that International markets now account for more than half Google’s business.
According to Google:
“””Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.80 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 48% in the second quarter of 2007 and 51% in the first quarter of 2008.”””””
Moreover the exchange rates which has moved against ... read more ...
Only on Wall Street is a $2.5 Billion Loss Good News - Citigroup reported its earnings (or lack thereof) today posting a $2.5 billion second-quarter loss.
However the loss was smaller than expected and Citi is up over 10% today on the news
The nation’s biggest banking company by assets lost the equivalent of 54 cents per share in the April-June period. In the same timeframe last year, the bank earned $6.23 billion, or $1.24 per share.
Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
CADNA Continues to Mobilize and Holds a Conference in NY - The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) held “its seventh educational forum on Brand Abuses and Internet Governance” yesterday in New York City.
According to their press release:
Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...