Monthly Archives: October 2008

Wed 22nd October 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Releases Four Updates for New gTLDs - ICANN releases draft “Explanatory Memoranda Papers” for review. Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today published four draft papers about the introduction of new global top level domains (gTLD). (For a primer on these new TLDs, see New Top Level Domain Names: Challenges and Opportunities.) The papers cover: 1. Resolving “string contention” when more the one entity applies for similar TLDs 2. Proposed process for geographic TLD ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Web Designers Holding Domain Names Hostage - Small businesses make a key mistake when selecting web design firms. Here’s a common mistake small businesses make. They know they need a web site, so they contact a couple web design firms in town. The web designers pitch them on a project that includes site design, web hosting, and registering the domain name. The small business signs on the dotted line and everyone is happy. So what’s the problem? The domain is registered in the web design firms’ name. I ... read more ...
Tue 21st October 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Lets.com Sells for $31,500 on NameJet.com - The domain name, Lets.com sold today for $31,500 on NameJet after 209 bids from 152 different bidders. Nice domain. Congrats to the buyer Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Yahoo Reports 51% Drop in Profit; Plans to Cut “At Least 10% Of Work Force” - Yahoo reported earnings after the close of the Stock Market today. Yahoo reported revenue of $1.79 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, an increase of 1% from the $1.77 billion in the same quarter one year ago Yahoo reported net income of $54 million, or 4 cents per share, a decline of 51% from a year ago. Yahoo also announced a restructuring effort that seeks to cut annual expenses by $400 million, including plans to cut “at least” 10% of its work force, or more than 1,500 employees. Yahoo ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
American Air Sues Yahoo for Trademark Infringement - American Airlines is suing Yahoo for trademark infringement, a case similar to one that the nation’s largest airline settled this summer against Google Inc. The airline complains that when computer users enter American’s trademark terms such as AAdvantage, the name of its frequent-flier program, in a search they can be directed to competitors who pay Yahoo for the traffic. American filed its lawsuit last week in U.S. District court in Fort Worth for unspecified damages, legal costs and money ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
ICANN: “Registrar Wharehousing Should Be Addressed” - As you will recall back in July ICANN called for comments on the revision of its contracts with ICANN accredited registrars. We lobbied on this board, that it was an opportunity for domainers to protest the practice whereby registrars hold on to the expired domains of their own customers and keep whatever they want without allowing them to drop to the general public. At the time many said this was not a valid comment in light of the contracts being reviewed since the contract already had a provision ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Fleeing U.S. Registrars? Not so Fast. - Kentucky ruling brings up old debate about switching to offshore registrars. A blog post over at Wall Street Journal today titled “Online Businesses Subject to Local Laws…Everywhere” discusses the Kentucky gambling domain seizure. It mentions that the businesses who have had domains seized don’t have any presence in Kentucky. One commentor wrote “…just time to quit using US-based Registrars” I don’t think this is the solution. It may cause more ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domaining.com Launching Expiring Domain Liquidation Service - Popular site offers way to liquidate domain names you no longer want. Last month I wrote about how I was trimming some unwanted domain names from my portfolio. A couple people emailed to ask which domains so they could buy them from me cheap. That’s great, but also an inefficient process. Popular domain blog aggregation site Domaining.com is launching a new service to solve this problem. Here’s how it works: 1. Submit list of domain names expiring within 15-60 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Top Level Domain Names: Challenges and Opportunities - A look at the coming launch of new top level domain names and what it means for trademark holders, domainers, and the internet community. The overview of the new TLD (top level domain) process below is based on my research and a discussion last week with ICANN’s gTLD Program Director Karla Valente. Opinions are my own and not those of Valente or ICANN. Why new TLDs? There are already many top level domain names — from .com to .org to .info to .mobi. Many of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pay Attention: Domains are Selling for Cheap - Recent sales at Sedo show that you should pay attention as deals abound. If you haven’t been watching domain auctions lately, you might be missing out on some great values. Consider these Sedo/GreatDomains sales completed over the past week: Fifties.com for $5,099 and BananaSplit.com $3,100. Now these aren’t the world’s greatest domain names, but I could see them selling for 2 or 3 times as much just a year ago. And frankly, I could see them selling for ... read more ...
Mon 20th October 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
New Free Cool Tool: How Famous is Your Domain? - We found this new cool free domain ranking tool at DNfame.com With one click you can find out a domains: Pagerank, Alexa Rank, Complete Rank, Quantcast Rank, the number of backlinks in the search engines, and social bookmarking links. So I ran it for this site, thedomains.com and it came back instantly with the following info: Google Pagerank: 6 Alexa Rank: 79,814 Famous Rank: 9/10 * Complete Rank: 121,999 Quantcast Rank: 1,786,596 Technorati Rank: 68,933 Technorati Authority: ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
S&P: Domain Growth To Decline - In a report by Standard Poor’s Internet Software and Service analyst, Scott Kessler cut his rating on VeriSign to Sell from Hold. “VeriSign faces some challenges, in our view, despite strong market positions and pricing stability in its core businesses,” Kessler said “We see notable growth deceleration in domain-name additions and certificate transactions. He reduced his price target on the stock to $24 from $29. Kessler also trimmed estimates for the company: for ‘08, he now sees EPS ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Google’s CEO: We are Not “Completely Immune” to a Economic Downturn - In an interview with the Wall Street journal,  Google’s Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Monday that Google is “is not completely immune” to the U.S. economic downturn. However Schmidt said the shift in advertising towards cheaper, online methods like Google’s search business should intensify during hard times. “If you want to cut costs to make your quarter, you need to advertise online with players like Google,” Last week, Google reported a 26% increase in third-quarter earnings that ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Governor Of Kentucky: “Very Pleased” With Judges Ruling - The Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear, who started the action which lead to the seizure of the 141 domain names in Kentucky posted his response to the judge upholding the seizure order saying: “I am very pleased with Judge Wingate’s ruling. The court validated our concern that there is illegal and unregulated Internet gambling in Kentucky. He has given these parties 30 days to effectively block any access to this illegal activity within the commonwealth of Kentucky or they may be forced to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
10 Ways You Can “Boycott” Kentucky - Don’t get mad. Get even. Here are ten ways to pressure Kentucky to drop its assault on the internet. Kentucky: “We control the internet” Upset that Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear thinks he owns the internet? Mad as hell that he thinks he can strong arm a global community for the benefit of his local industries? Then get even. Here are ten ways you can apply pressure to the governor to get him to drop his crusade against domain names. 1. Block and boycott ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Another Example of Why Mainstream Media Still Exists - Wholly inaccurate article on TechCrunch shows why we still trust the Wall Street Journal more than blogs. A lot of people think the days of print publications are limited. “Blogs are much more cost effective and citizen journalists are just as good as mainstream journalists”, the argument goes. I respectfully disagree. There’s a reason people pay more attention to the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal than the random musings of a blogger or some guy ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Risks Remain for IDN Investors - New IDN TLDs may pose problems for second level IDN holders. For years, domain names were only available in roman characters. Domain names in these characters don’t make a lot of sense to web users who’s primary languages don’t use these characters. But then so-called International Domain Names (IDNs) using non-roman characters became available. Domainers jumped on board and invested heavily. Many of these domains get solid type-in traffic or have been turned ... read more ...
Sun 19th October 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Online Casino Advisory Calls For A Boycott of Kentucky Gambling - The Online Casino Advisory, a leading online gambling news website, has called for a boycott on all gambling in Kentucky until the domain name case is concluded. The Advisory calls for “…a boycott by all gamblers, civil libertarians, and concerned protectors of the Internet of all products of Kentucky, or anything that produces Kentucky tax revenue. Until Beshear lifts his fascist order, every effort must be made to hurt the state’s coffers.” “TwinSpires.com, which does not pay taxes in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Afternic Gets October.com Auction during $16,000 - Auction one of the highest on site for a long time. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write about an exciting auction over at Afternic, but the aftermarket has snagged one with October.com. The domain has a $16,000 bid and an auction has started. It will conclude next Saturday. October.com’s whois record has had privacy protection since 2006. The last public whois record for the domain name showed Acronym Media, Inc. as the owner. Afternic has ... read more ...
Sat 18th October 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Now That The Rays Are Winning, Pepsi Wants Tropicanafield.com?: Why Doesn’t Laches Apply To This One - For the past seven years, Chris Dunne has owned the tropicanafield.com domain name. “I’m a huge Rays fan,” he said. “I bought the name because I thought it was cool to be part of a baseball team, you know?” The website is a business directory for places located close to the stadium. “So if some one’s coming from anywhere and they’re going to Tropicana Field, they can look up hotels, they can look up transportation, they can look up accommodations,” he explained. He put a disclaimer ... read more ...
Fri 17th October 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Kentucky Uphold Domain Seizure, Part 2: Our Take: Who is At Risk: What To Do Now - Thursday afternoon Judge Thomas Wingate issued a ruling that he would not dismiss the case brought against domain owners which included seizure of their names. A forfeiture hearing has been scheduled for November 17th. A copy of the decision can be seen here have read the decision in full. The court found it had jurisdiction over the 141 domains seized by the commonwealth. The court found that Domains names by virtue of of “its scarcity and desirability, domain names have economic value. Domain ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Google Earning Way Above Expectations - Google Inc reported earnings after the close today which surpassed Wall Street quarterly forecasts. Web traffic, searches and revenue growth were strong in all major parts of the world, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said. Net income for the third quarter rose to $1.35 billion, or $4.24 a diluted share, from $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share. Excluding employee stock compensation costs and one-time items, profit rose to $4.92 per diluted share and topped Wall Street’s target of $4.75, according to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICA Issues Statement on Kentucky Court Ruling - Internet Commerce Association blasts court decision. If you haven’t already heard, the case brought by Kentucky against owners of domain names related to gambling will proceed. The judge announced today that he will not throw out the case. Think of the ramifications if the governor of Kentucky ultimately prevails. Will a court in China decide that America.com spreads democracy and file an order to seize the domain name? Here is the official statement from Jeremiah ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainSponsor Gears adult for DOMAINfest Global 2009 - DomainSponsor betting big on DOMAINfest Global conference. DomainSponsor is betting a million dollars on DOMAINfest Global 2009, the domain name parking company’s domain conference. It will take place in Hollywood, California January 28-30. I sat down with Oversee.net (parent company of DomainSponsor) marketing manager Vivian Tran and director of marketing Aaron Kvitek yesterday to discuss what’s in store for next year’s event. After putting on a number of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Overseeing a Domain Name World - A visit with domain giant Oversee.net in its L.A. headquarters shows how the domain world is growing up. View from Oversee.net’s lobby. When you get off the elevator at floor 44 of 515 S. Flower St, you see sweeping views of Los Angeles, trendy furniture, and glass-enclosed conference rooms. You might think you’re in the office of an advertising agency or prestigious consulting company. You certainly wouldn’t think you were at the headquarters of a company ... read more ...