Monthly Archives: September 2008

Tue 9th September 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Sells YB.com for $125,000 - Sales from GreatDomains auction, including YB.com, have been completed. Domain name aftermarket and parking company Sedo has completed the sale of YB.com for $125,000. This is just one of a number of domains sold in its GreatDomains auction that have been completed over the past week. Other notable GreatDomains sales include: JazzMusic.com $35,000 Romania.net $10,099 YXL.com $6,700 eqw.com $5,211 wzu.com $5,200 fvz.com $5,100 derriere.com $4,322 The company also ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Rick Schwartz Resigns from ICA - Schwartz says Internet Commerce Association headed in wrong direction. Rick Schwartz, co-founder and Board Member of Internet Commerce Association (ICA), and the face behind TRAFFIC conferences, has resigned from ICA. In a scathing post on his blog, Schwartz wrote: While the ICA has done some good things, it has missed too many opportunities to be more relevant. Too many opportunities to look out for domainers and the best interests of the industry IMHO. Too many ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Some SEOs Understand a Value of Domain Names - Here are a couple of posts on this topic: 26 Kelly Lieberman // Aug 24, 2008 at 9:35 am Yes, but enough about domainers. We are trying to reach non- domainers and the perfect way to reach end users is to start by educating the web developers and strategists they work with… The attendees of the SES show are Search Engine Strategists and Search Engine Marketers who are at the conference attending seminar after seminar looking for creative ways to increase traffic to the websites they ... read more ...
Mon 8th September 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Moniker Releases Tentative List for TRAFFIC Auction - Moniker.com has just released a tentative list for the live and silent auction to be held at TRAFFIC New York. “””””This is a tentative list of all domains to be included in the 2008 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. NYC Live and Online Extended Auctions. The catalog is subject to change!””” You can see the entire list of almost 2,200 domains here: auction_inventory_tnyc08_v1 (excel file) Some of the more interesting domains after a quick look over include: ad.com aidsresearch.com ancientart.com ankle.com answeringservice.com Ask.Me auctions.net backgroundsearches.com barbells.com bilingual.com bulldozers.com Buy.Me cancerresearch.com candlestick.com celibate.com chop.com clarinet.com cleaning.com clinicalpsychology.com codeofethics.com companionship.com condominiums.net conferences.com consumerloans.com creditscores.com dancing.com Date.Me doug.com dreamvacations.com electronicticketing.com elegance.com fashion.org financialaid.com gamedevelopers.com governmentprograms.com graphs.com GroupRates.com gunrange.com healthcoverage.com hometown.com Kiss.Me liedetectors.com Loan.Me Love.Me marblefloor.com Marry.Me men.net men.org microphone.com minimart.com mohamed.com movierentals.com much.com musicstudio.com oildrilling.com pay.com pepperoni.com phoneaccesories.com photodeveloping.com Play.Me plo.com podcasts.net pressconference.com probasketball.com property.net rebates.com reincarnated.com Rent.Me restaurantsupply.com reuniting.com Show.Me sponsored.com sportcoats.com stopsmoking.info technology.net trumpet.com ugly.net upscale.com us.org videodownloads.com warez.com Watch.Me Waterfall.com web.org whiteroses.com yellowroses.com We ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Microsoft: Chances of Buying Yahoo “Negligible” - The Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft, Chirs Liddel told a Citibank conference in New York today that the chances of Microsoft buying Yahoo are “negligible.” “You never say never, I can never say that, but it’s so close to negligible,” he said. Liddell made similar comments in July, when he described Yahoo as a  “declining asset.” Mr. Liddell looks correct. Shares of Yahoo which are currently under $18 a share,  their lowest level since September 2003. Shares of Yahoo have fallen ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arbitrators Define DeepThroat.com - Arbitration panel finds in favor of domain registrant in DeepThroat.com case. “Honey, I’m just doing some homework for a legal case I’m working on.” That’s what the three panelists in a recent UDRP arbitration through National Arbitration Forum must have told their spouses as they decided the fate of DeepThroat.com. The panel found in favor of the domain owner, who was represented by John Berryhill. The complainant, Arrow Productions, owns the rights to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Ricks Files Lawsuit to Retain Control of BME.com - Domain owner files lawsuit against BMEzine.com, LLC. Perhaps filing a UDRP for a three character domain name isn’t as cheap as complainant BMEzine.com, LLC thought it would be. BMEzine.com, LLC won the domain BME.com at a WIPO arbitration, but respondent Gregory Ricks has filed a lawsuit against the company to block the transfer. He is also seeking damages. The lawsuit, which Domain Name Wire obtained and can be viewed here (pdf), states: Plaintiff disputes the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Economist on a Mobile Web - Article discusses importance and challenges of mobile web. An article in the September 6-12th edition of The Economist discusses the mobile web (The meek shall inherit the web, Technology Quarterly supplement, page 3). Rather than analyze the article and face the wrath of people saying I’m biased, I’ve include some quotes from it for you to draw your own conclusions. [FYI, I’m not ignoring .mobi. the article did not mention .mobi.] The article uses a new ... read more ...
Sun 7th September 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Advertising Trade Group Opposes Google-Yahoo Deal - The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), a trade group representing big spending national advertisers said Sunday it sent a letter to the Justice Department asserting an online ad partnership between Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. will stifle competition and likely raise prices. The ANA said on its Web site that the letter to Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, came after a “comprehensive, independent analysis” and meetings ... read more ...
Sat 6th September 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Domain Appraisals For Trademark Domains: What a Hell is Going On? Godaddy Hits A New Low - v:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} We have discussed on numerous occasions, TDNAM (Godaddy) is allowing the sale of trademarked domains on its site. However today they have gone further. They have hit a new low. Not only are they allowing the auction of cnnnews.tv though the TDNAM platform but they have actually issued a “Certified Domain Appraisal” for the domain. They can no longer claim ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
AmeliaIsland.com To Be Sold For $50K - Due to a split between the Amelia Island Tourism Development Council and the  Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach-Yulee Chamber of Commerce,the domain name AmeliaIsland.com is going to be sold for $50,000 The Amelia Island Tourism Development Council, will pay the chamber $50,000 to purchase the domain name www.ameliaisland.com The council already owns, but doesn’t use, the domain name www.ameliaisland.org. Amelia Island lies outside of Jacksonville Florida and is a resort community home to a very ... read more ...
Fri 5th September 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
WSJ: Looks during Domains Used for “Gripe” Sites - The Wall Street Journal discussed gripe sites, sites set up by consumers to complain about big companies, using the name of the company in their domain name. WSJ cited starbucked.com, ihatestarbucks.com, boycottwalmart.org and againstthewal.com. The article went on to say that companies are handling these types of sites differently. Xerox, for example, bought or registered about 20 unflattering domain names, including xeroxstinks.com, xeroxcorporationsucks.com and ihatexerox.net. Other companies, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Happy Birthday Google - On Sunday Google will be 10 years old. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc. on Sept. 7, 1998, with four computers and $100,000 that they received from an investor. Today Google has 20,000 employees and a $150 billion market value. Page and Brin, are now both 35 now and worth nearly $19 billion apiece. A true “Only in America” rags to riches story. And as much as we complain about Google, its must be asked where would you be a domainer if Google never was. Where would the domain industry ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
6 Weeks Later, The .ME Auctions Are Finally Over - The .ME Auctions, which have been going on since late July,  finally ended today, with projects.me selling for $1,410. By my count 2,140 domains were sold between $75 to $90,025. The registry hauled in just about $2.2 million dollars over the auction. These auctions were for any .me domain backordered by more than one person before the landrush. The complete list of .Me domains auctioned are here: me-auctions (excel File) Now comes the real fun. As predicted weeks ago, the first 12 reserved .me ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Online TV Viewership Doubles - According to a recent survey by the Conference Board and TNS Global, online viewership of television broadcasts has almost doubled since 2006 to nearly 20% of Internet families, of which on average  72% watch programs online on a daily basis. The top five categories of programs watched were: News, drama, sitcoms/comedy, reality shows and sports. The most popular destinations for TV on the PC are the channel/network’s homepage,  YouTube, iTunes and Hulu Today Amazon.com announced that its video ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Google-Yahoo Deal: Time For Your Voice To Be Heard - The Department of Justice has been looking at the proposed Google-Yahoo deal for a couple of months. There have been congressional hearings, testimony and lobbying on the issue. Now its your turn. You know what is at stake. Yahoo outsourcing its PPC advertising in large part to  Google. If allowed, Google will have a 90% market share of PPC advertising business Advertisers and publishers will be left with only one provider, and will be at the mercy of that one provider, Google. It would not only ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
It’s Time For a Domainer Meetup in Austin - Get on the list to be notified of an upcoming domainer meetup in Austin. There are a lot of domainers in Texas, and even a strong contingent in the Central Texas area, but we haven’t made the effort to all get together. Heck, one of the domain print publications is even based here. I’ve been talking about organizing an event for about a year but have procrastinated. That’s going to change. Please shoot an email to andrew (at) domainnamewire.com if you’d ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domainer Selling Virtual Real Estate to Buy Physical Real Estate - Chad Wright of WebQuest Inc. is selling premium geo domains to buy foreclosed homes. People draw a lot of comparisons between domain names and real estate. One long time domainer, Chad Wright, is trading in some of his “virtual” real estate in order to buy real estate he can walk on. Wright’s company owns thousands of generic domain names. (One of those domain names — Southpole.com — recently landed in arbitration. See Wicked Fashions Thinks it Owns The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
“Digg for Domains” on Auction during Sedo - DNHour.com web site auction ends September 10. DNhour.com, a Digg.com-like site that only covers domain name stories, is on auction at Sedo. There is currently one bid at $2,500 and the auction ends September 10. The site was launched in beta in June 2007. According to site creator Koay Al Vin, the site has 2,437 registered users and receives 200-300 unique visitors daily. Al Vin says there are more than 10,000 links to the website, 15,700 listings on Google and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Jacks Up Domain Prices — Again - .Net and .Org prices jump to $15.19. Just a few days after we swallowed the news that GoDaddy increased .net and .org prices to 13.19, and a few weeks after the company claimed Yahoo “Jumped the Shark” by raising its domain prices to $35, GoDaddy has hiked prices again. .Net and .Org domain names will now set you back $15.19. It’s not as big of a deal as Yahoo’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) hike to $35, but it seems odd to call out a competitor for drastically raising ... read more ...
Thu 4th September 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
J.P. Morgan Lowers Online Advertising Estimate for 2008/2009 - A JP Morgan analyst lowered his online advertising forecast today citing broad economic weakness impacting the Internet sector. “In the first half of 2008, we have noticed macroeconomic weakness spilling into the internet sector. We feel that this weakness became more pronounced in 3Q and is spreading to international markets,” said analyst Imran Khan in a client note. Khan predicted display advertising will see the most weakness. He cut his estimate for the 2008 U.S. display advertising market ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Editorial: How a Domain Industry Can Clean Itself Up - The domain business is a good business with a bad image. What can be done about it? Earlier today I read DNJournal’s weekly sales recap. There were some good sales, including RoomDividers.com at $75,000 (congratulations, Rick). But all of the good sales were overshadowed by a couple bad sales: Mozzilla.com for $40,000 and wwwMatch.com at $11,100. Neither of these domain names would stand a chance in UDRP challenges. Both of them are typos of famous web sites. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Could Google Chrome Actually Be Good for Domainers? - Was the initial reaction to Google Chrome’s Omnibox wrong? Earlier this week Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) released its browser Chrome, and my initial reaction was that it will hurt direct navigation. Chrome includes a feature called “Omnibox”, which essentially combines the address bar and search box into one. Start typing a domain name and it will suggest alternative web sites to visit. This clearly could divert traffic as someone types, say, DomainNameWire.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
There’s a Lot of B.S. Around BS.com - Domain name at center of lawsuit and WIPO action. The previous owner of BS.com failed to recover the domain in a WIPO arbitration. In a decision dated September 1, the three person panel found that the complainant failed to prove it had a trademark for the term “BS”. But there’s more to the story. The complainant once owned the domain name from 1997 until 2003. In 2003 the domain name was acquired by Hazan Ozdemir. In 2005 the complainant filed a lawsuit ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy’s 60 Day Transfer Lock Closer to Termination - GNSO Council approves changes to domain transfer blocks. One of GoDaddy’s most complained about policies is that it blocks transfers of domain names that have had certain changes to their whois information within the past 60 days. In September 2007 ICANN began working on an advisory that targeted transfer blocks like this. After ICANN finalized its advisory this past April I was happy to report that GoDaddy appeared to be allowing transfers even if changes were ... read more ...