Spam, Malware and Forged Sites, Still on a Rise Despite Arrests - According to a report released today by the Marshal Threat Research and Content Engineering (TRACE) report for the first half of 2008, cyber criminals are using ‘blended attacks’ to distribute malware and links to hacked websites via email on an unprecedented scale.
Unpatched browsers are putting more than 45 percent of Internet users at risk when they visit legitimate Websites infected with malicious code.
Three botnets are responsible for 75 percent of all spam, pumping out billions of messages ... read more ...
Monthly Archives: August 2008
Tue 12th August 2008
.Me Auctions Getting Out of Hand; Brazilian Buys Toyota.me -
Why are .me domain auctions going so high? And why so many trademark domains?
Auctions for .me domain names continue, but we’ve already seen some eye popping sales. Even more peculiar is the number of trademarks going for big dollars.
Toyota.me is the big one you’ve been reading about. It sold for $90,025. The whois record for Toyota.com Toyota.me now shows a Brazilian man Georg Kohler as the owner. I hope he has some sort of connection to the car company ... read more ...
Chicago Olympics in 2016? The Games have Begun Online. -
Chicago Olympics committee wants to get Chicago2016.com.
The Olympic focus right now may be in Beijing for the summer Olympics, but there’s already an Olympic battle in Chicago.
Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics and the Chicago 2016’s
United States Olympic Committee (USOC) uses Chicago2016.org as its web site. It wants to get Chicago2016.com and has filed for arbitration with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to get the domain name.
This ... read more ...
Sedo Completes Website.org Sale for 20,500 EUR -
.Org, .info lead sales at Sedo this week
It’s not often that a domain name sales venue’s top sale is a .org or .info domain name, but that was the case this week at Sedo. The company sold Website.org for 20,500 EUR (roughly $30,000 USD). The company also completed its sale of Printer.info for $21,500. That particular domain was sold at auction a while back but the transaction was just completed.
Its top .com domain sale was LiveWater.com at $17,500 EUR, which ... read more ...
Mon 11th August 2008
Yahoo Gaining on Google?? - A new study from search-marketing firm Covario, shows that customers representing more than 120 technology brands at major tech companies such as Adobe, Lenovo and Intel, spent 14.3% of their search advertising budgets on Yahoo in the second quarter of 2008, up from 10.3% for the prior quarter, but still down from 18% a year ago.
Google’s share of those customers’ search advertising dollars declined to 81.2% down from 85.6% in the first quarter of the year.
Overall Google’s overall search ... read more ...
Apple Making $1M a Day In iPhone Software - In the month since Apple opened an online software clearinghouse called the App Store, users have downloaded more than 60 million programs for the iPhone, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in an interview tody.
While most of those applications were free, Apple sold an average of $1 million a day in applications for a total of about $30 million in sales over the month, Jobs said.
If sales stay at the current pace, Apple stands to reap at least $360 million a year in new revenue from the App Store, Mr. ... read more ...
Moniker.com Announces Top Names For SES Auction -
st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
On August 20 at 5:45 pm PST moniker.com will hold an live online auction at the Search Engine Strategies (SES), from the San Jose Convention Center.
Here is the Premium names selected by Moniker for this event:
Ad.com
CTR.com
Much.com
Fees.com
Rebate.com, Rebates.com (sold at domain round table for $1,000,000 in 2007)
Cart.net
AdWeb.com
InternetAds.com
OnlineSolution.com
FindALender.com
GolfGame.com
SearchMovies.com
TicketSavers.com
FinanceProtection.com
MedicalService.com
ClickSave.com
BankServices.com
RealEstateDirect.com
Searching.com
PaidTraffic.com
RepeatTraffic.com
Brand.net
Discount.org
EngineInfo.com
EngineNews.com
SEO.mobi
SEOBrand.com
SEMBrand.com
SEOProducts.com
TrafficExpert.com
LocalDirectory.com
AmazingSEOTips.com
ProfessionalSEO.com
SearchEngineTool.com
KeywordSelection.com
SearchGalaxy.com
NetGuy.net
TopSEO.us
NoCostSEO.com ... read more ...
Want to Sponsor T.R.A.F.F.I.C? It’s adult for Bidding - According to annoucement by the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. orgainzers all sponsorships for future T.R.A.F.F.I.C shows, not including T.R.A.F.F.I.C. DOWNUNDER are going up for bid.
Here are the prices
BREAKFAST – bidding starts at $2,500
LUNCH – bidding starts at $10,000
COCKTAIL PARTY- bidding starts at $7500
DINNER – bidding starts at $15,000
OVERALL SPONSOR – bidding starts at $25,000 (BIN $50,000)
Guess in the domainer enviroment why not auction off sponships as well?
Looks like Trafficz is out as ... read more ...
What are Milk Duds? Hershey’s Says It’s Chocolate. -
Hershey’s wins MilkDuds.com domain name in National Arbitration Forum decision.
When you hear the word “Milk Duds”, what comes to mind? Most people probably think of the milk chocolate covered caramel candy. The owner of MilkDuds.com tried to argue that it had a line of clothing called Milk Duds, with milk referring to cow designs and duds referring to clothing.
Hershey, the licensee and manufacturer of the tasty candy, prevailed in arbitration and has won ... read more ...
Stupid Press Release of a Week: Blu-RayOutlet.com -
Nothing screams “trademark infringement” like a press release.
Add this one to the bonehead press release of the year department.
“Web publisher” James Moore is auctioning off the trademark domain name Blu-RayOutlet.com and told the world about it in a press release.
Blu-Ray Disc, of course, is a trademark. And I doubt any UDRP panel would let this one slip through.
At the TRAFFIC auction in Orlando, BlueRay.com sold for $30,000. After the sale, an investor ... read more ...
Sun 10th August 2008
Toyota.Me Sell for 90K: Why Shouldn’t a Registry Be Liable for Profiting From a Sale of Trademark Infringing Domains? - The .ME registry just sold toyota.me for the whopping price of $90,025.
Not only is it the highest price ever paid for a .me it is agoing to be a litigation nightmare for the new owner.
We all expect that Toyota.me will draw a federal lawsuit or a WIPO action in the near future.
If Toyota waits say a year and then files a federal lawsuit against the registrant, they will ask for damages including all money the registrant made from use of the domain.
My question is then, why not sue the registry ... read more ...
Google Loses $1 Billion On AOL? - On Friday Google said its 5% stake in Time Warner’s AOL unit may be worth less than the $1 billion they paid for it in 2006.
“We believe our investment in AOL may be impaired,” Google said in its latest quarterly financial filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Google said it would continue to review its investment for impairment, and financial write-downs could be required in the future.
In a deal announced in December 2005 and which closed the following year, Google paid ... read more ...
Sat 9th August 2008
Microsoft: Display Ads More Effective than PPC - Last month Google’s chief economist Hal Varian in discussing Google business model of PPC advertising site “During periods of slow economic growth, the last thing an advertiser wants to cut is its spending on search-based advertising.”
In other words, display advertising will take a bigger hit than paid search as marketers tighten their purse strings.
Microsoft however argues that search ads get too much credit for click throughs while display ads don’t get enough. The company, which is struggling ... read more ...
Yahoo To Allow Browsers to Say No to Targeted Ads - Yahoo will let its Web visitors decline ads targeted to their browsing habits, becoming the latest Internet company to break from a common industry practice as Congress steps up scrutiny of customized advertising and consumer privacy.
Yahoo has been offering that opt-out choice only to ads the company runs on outside, partner sites.
Yahoo said Friday it now would extend that option to ads displayed on its own sites, to boost users’ trust _ and in doing so, perhaps draw visitors from its rivals.
The ... read more ...
.ME Auctions are Lasting Too Long For Even The Registry: Changes Announced - The .ME Registry announced a change that may shorten some of the .ME auctions, some of which have been going on for over two weeks:
Here is the official announcement:
Dear Auction Participant,
This notice is to inform you of an upcoming update in the behavior of the auction platform that will take effect at approximately 16:00 UTC on 11 August 2008.
The update is being made to comply with .ME Registry auction rules regarding Lead Changes, which state that “Any lead changes in the last 24 ... read more ...
Fri 8th August 2008
Adult Auction Nets $580K - Moniker.com adult auction at the Internext show in Hollywood, Florida ended today with total sales of $567,500
The high sale went to BJ.com which sold for a bargain price of $200,000.
Here are all the domains that sold:
bj.com $200,000
anal.net $90,000
shemales.net $60,000
sluts.net $58,000
fuckit.com $19,000
iq.net ... read more ...
Moniker Releases Affiliate Summit Auction List; and the a loooong one - Moniker.com is holding a silent auction (no live auction this time) for the Affiliate Summit conference.
The silent auction runs from Sunday, August 10 to Thursday, August 21
The list is over 8700 domains long.
That’s right not a type 8700 domain in a silent trade auction.
Don’t worry I’m not going to reprint all 8700 names here and no, I’m not going to go through the list to look for the needle in the domain stack.
Looks like they just took all the domains they received for the auction and ... read more ...
Domainer Script Released - TCK Media ( www.tckmedia.com ), a Toronto-based Web development company, has just released version 1.2 of their leading domain marketing tool, Domainer Script.
Domain investors, resellers, developers and domainers can use the tool to promote their domain portfolios for sale, lease or rent.
Domainer Script acording to the developer is a content management system, an inventory management system, and sales marketing tool for professional domainers all rolled into one. With version 1.1, users were able ... read more ...
As .ME Breaks a 40K Range: Now The Auction is Just Getting Silly - There is currently one .me domain that has broken 40K and one right behind it.
Sitting with a high bid of $40,004 is the great domain of oglasi.me
No I don’t know what it means either. Looking at google its has something to do with automobiles, but I have no idea.
Coming in second is one of the first day .ME auction domains, insure.me which is now at $39,035.
A nice generic domain is third in the form of toyota.me at $25,005.
In fourth place is match.me at $15,635
In fifth place there is a truly ... read more ...
ICANN on DNS Flaws - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in a press release today that it is raising awareness of a recently discovered vulnerability in the domain name system (DNS).
ICANN also released an FAQ and an online tool for domain operators to test their domains.
According to ICANN no one organization can implement a fix for this vulnerability. It requires the cooperation of all name server operators and DNS software vendors.
However, ICANN sees an important goal in spreading ... read more ...
BJ.com Sells for $200,000 -
Domain sells at InterNext Auction this afternoon.
Perhaps the adult entertainment industry is seeing an uptick in business as the economy heads the other way.
Moniker’s live adult domain name auction at InterNext in Hollywood Florida is underway and it has already sold more money worth of domains than the company’s last auction through about 2/3 of the domains. BJ.com sold for $200,000, Shemales.net sold for $60,000, [redacted].net $90,000, and Sluts.net $58,000. ... read more ...
Is Your Domain Parking Service Vulnerable to DNS Cache Poisoning? -
Probably not, but here’s a way to check.
You may have heard about recently discovered vulnerabilities in the DNS system that take advantage of recursive DNS to allow DNS cache poisoning. Spare the technical details: basically, if the nameserver your domain is hosted on is vulnerable, cybercriminals could redirect traffic meant for your site to a different web page.
Many domainers don’t own web sites, but they certainly have their domains parked on other people’s ... read more ...
Thu 7th August 2008
Let’s Talk About Sex - Specifically let’s talk about the adult auction to be held tomorrow in Florida.
Over the last few trade auctions I have heard from a lot of you that there were no good name selected for auction.
Certainly no one can complain about this list.
There are some top adult names at auction tomorrow.
Some of the prices at first glance may seem high, but with sex.com and porn.com recording the 2 highest priced domain sales basically in the 8 figures each, (porn.com 9.5M and sex.com with 12.5M) the prices ... read more ...
World Record for Longest Domain - According to the world records academy the worlds longest Domain name is:
llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com/
The 58 letter domain is the name of a small village in Wales.
According to the record keeper to qualify as the longest name it must be “related to something” or “means something”.
Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
State Fund Insurance Nailed for Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
Workers compensation company fails at attempt to steal SFM.com domain name.
[Please note that there is more than one company that goes by the name “State Fund Insurance”. This article refers to the company that provides workers’ compensation insurance in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.]
State Fund Mutual Insurance, a company providing workers’ compensation insurance in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, has been found guilty of reverse domain ... read more ...