Monthly Archives: November 2008

Sun 30th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Here Comes Another Geo Site: Knoxville.com to Premier Next Week - The Knoxville News Sentinel, announced today that they were finally going to use their long owned domain, Knoxville.com. “”””Starting Friday, Dec. 5, Knoxville.com will become the News Sentinel’s premier online source of information about things to do in the Knoxville.  Major sections of the site will include movies, music, events, nightlife and dining. There also will be a visitor’s guide with information on attractions, hotels, shopping and moving to Knoxville””” “””The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top Domain Name News Stories of Nov 2008 - Porsche.me, Tucows, and .tel headline most read articles of the month. November is coming to a close. As you digest Thanksgiving turkey, here’s a look back at the top 5 domain name news articles of November on Domain Name Wire, ranked by page views. 1. Porsche.me: Money Down the Drain – The “winning” bidder of Porsche.me during the .me launch lost his domain and his money when he lost a recent WIPO domain arbitration. Will he also lose the $90,025 he spent ... read more ...
Sat 29th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
XM Radio: R.I.P - This is off the topic of domains, but I find most domainers are Tech Toy crazy. I did want to acknowledge the passing of one of the original tech toys, XM Radio. About 10 days ago the official merger between XM Radio and Sirius went into effect, with Sirius being the surviving company. As one of those who had XM, almost from the start, I will miss it. Everyone who had XM for a number of years, can tell you their favorite station, which is now gone and replaced with a Sirius look a like. What I loved ... read more ...
Fri 28th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Icahn Buys More Of Yahoo - According to the AP, Carl Icahn, bought 7 million more shares of Yahoo for $67 million. That works out to about $9.92 a share. His stake in Yahoo is now 75.6 million shares, or nearly 5.5 percent of the company Icahn previously bought 70 million shares for about $25 a share and has lost $900 million on that investment. So what do you think is Yahoo a bargain at $10 a share and what is going to happen to the company? Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Enom Renews Agreement on .TV - eNom, announced today the renewal of their Domain Name Services Agreement with VeriSign, under which eNom serves as the registrar for premium .tv domain names. According to VeriSign, .tv domains have experienced annual growth of over 60 percent and a doubling of new .tv domain name registrations. More than 7,000 premium .tv names are currently registered—a 40 percent increase in premium .tv sales this past year. “We are very excited about extending our relationship with VeriSign on .tv. We are ... read more ...
Thu 27th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
TheDomains.com Turkeys Of The Year Award - First I want to wish all of you and your families a great thanksgiving, as we all have so much to be thankful for.  With so many people out of work; losing their homes, companies out of business and retirement plans wiped out, as an industry, we are very, very fortunate. I see many TV shows giving out their “Turkeys of the Year” award. Here are thedomains.com Turkeys of the Year: 1.  The Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear for seizing domain names, he clearly had no jurisdiction over for purely ... read more ...
Wed 26th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
ICANN’s Twomey: “We Are Not Expecting Tens Of Thousands” New Extensions - In an interview with iTWire,  ICANN CEO, Paul Twomey, said that he expects ICANN to start accepting application for the new gTLD”s by mid 2009.” Aside from restrictions in relation to trademarks, intellectual property rights, potentially confusing names like .kom and some character strings that will cause problems for the Internet’s name servers, like .1234, Twomey said names would be allocated on a first come first served basis. Names can be up to 64 roman characters in length, opening up ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
CNET.com: Chrome Market Share 3.6% - According to a report today in CNET.com, Google’s Chrome browser has a 3.6% usage rate. Browser usage according to CNET are split up as follows: Internet Explorer 40.7% Firefox                 37.4% Safari                   18.2% Chrome                3.6% Opera                   1.2% Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Why This Domainer Gives Thanks on Thanksgiving - Cheer up and give thanks. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States. That means a light work week, time with the family, and then a mad dash to the stores on Friday (except that I buy everything online). It’s a time to reflect on the past year and give thanks. Here’s what I’m thankful for: 1. Domains are holding their values. Yes, they’re down. There’s not nearly as much cash chasing domains today as there was a year ago. But compared to my ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
More Bad Domain Names - More examples of poorly chosen company domain names. My wife took over the home office this past weekend to sort through a few hundred business cards that were scattered across her desk. One of the business cards caught my eye. It was for a company called Mingle. Or at least I think that’s how you pronounce it. The company’s domain name is — get ready for this — Minggl.com. Ouch. I decided to look through her cards to find other examples of bad domain ... read more ...
Tue 25th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Google To “Significantly Reduce Contractors” - According to CNET,  Google is going to make a major reduction in the 10,000 contractors they use: “We have 10,000, and we have had a plan in place for awhile to significantly reduce that number, This is something we’ve been thinking about for awhile–six or seven months. It predates the most acute phase of the (present economic) crisis.” In an interview, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company has been concerned about its high contracting expense. Brin said Google augments its workforce ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Media Storm Without Product: Another Example of Why we Don’t Get Corporate America - For the last eight weeks I have been watching an incredible amount of advertising on Television, Print and online for the new Blackberry Storm. The ad campaign was incredibly successful. So successful that by all accounts the Storm was sold out all across America within 48 hours after its release. According to reports somewhere between 100K and 400K phones we sold in the 2 days before running out The question is why does a company like Verizon create demand, for say 2 million phones and then only ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
eMarketer Lowers It Estimates For Online Ad Revenue For The Next 4 Years - eMarketer, a marketing research firm is lowering its outlook for Internet advertising for the next four years. eMarketer, estimates U.S. advertisers will spend $25.7 billion on the Internet next year, about $2.7 billion, or 10 percent less, than a forecast from just three months ago. The more sobering projections extend through 2012 when eMarketer envisions $37 billion being spent on U.S. online ads. That figure represents a drop of $13 billion, or 26 percent, from the 2012 estimates that eMarketer ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Internet.eu Sells for $26,250 - .EU domain headlines Sedo’s sales week. Sedo has completed the sale of Internet.eu for $26,250, landing in the top ten publicly announced .eu domain sales of all time. Sedo has a lock on .eu sales, handling the top 20 sales of all time with the exception of one private sale, according to NameBio. I’m sure the original registrant of Internet.eu expected the domain to sell for much more. But .eu has been a poster child for a bungled domain launch. Almost all ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WhyPark Launches ContentPromote - Service allows you to get distribution for articles. Domain parking alternative WhyPark has launched ContentPromote, a complementary solution to its main web site creation service. Essentially, users submit articles, blog posts, and other content to ContentPromote and then it is syndicated across WhyPark’s network of 50,000 domain names. ContentPromote could be beneficial for improving search engine rankings. The pitch for the service includes: -You get a one-way ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oversee.net Readies for Domaining 2.0 - Domain conglomerate files trademark for “Domaining 2.0″. Domain conglomerate Oversee.net, which owns DomainSponsor, Moniker, and SnapNames, appears to be readying a new marketing campaign around the term “Domaining 2.0″. The company filed for a United States trademark on November 5 for the term “Domaining 2.0″ for use with a laundry list of goods and services. The trademark serial number is 77608409. Few of the goods and services listed give any clues ... read more ...
Mon 24th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Microsoft to ReBrand Live Search As Kumo.com? - According to several reports Microsoft is expected to rebrand and relaunch its Windows Live Search, to Kumo.com early next year. However the report went on to say that very few people in the company are privy to name of the new brand and it could still change. Kumo.com maybe seen as Microsoft venture into search rather than buying Yahoo. Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it hired Yahoo search executive Sean Suchter to be general manager of Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Search Technology Center “working ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BreakingNews.com: a Great Domain Drives a Business - BreakingNews.com is a new news site. But the domain name gives it an instant brand. BreakingNews.com, a news aggregator that will allow users to interact and socialize, launched earlier this month. Thanks to a great domain name, the web site is already a household brand. PV Media Group acquired the domain name BreakingNews.com earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. It has since worked to launch its vision for a next generation news site. James McDonald, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Shareholder Conference Calls for a Domain Industry - Feedback sought for conference calls with industry executives. If you’ve never listened to a public company’s shareholder conference calls, they can be rather interesting. The company gives a canned overview of its latest quarter (or year) and goes through its financials. Then financial analysts are allowed to ask completely unscripted questions of the company’s management. I think we could apply this same model to many domain name service providers to provide ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Registrars Added to RegistrarJudge.com - 7 more registrars added to domain name registrar review site. Six more registrars are available for reviewing at Registrar Judge, Domain Name Wire’s sister site. Domainers can now review ResellerClub, Dynadot, Gandi.net, DomainDiscover, Joker.com, directNIC, and NameCheap. The registrars were added at the request of Registrar Judge users. ResellerClub and Dynadot were added last week and since then ResellerClub has shot to the top of the charts. At Registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Local is a New Black - Marchex thinks “Local is the New Black”. Is it right? 2008 has been a hot year for geo domain names as internet advertising experts push local advertising as the next wave of internet advertising. Call it a coming out party: people have been successful with geo domains for over a decade but are finally getting recognition. Perhaps it’s fitting that local-centric domain name and advertising company Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) filed a trademark for the term “Local ... read more ...
Sat 22nd November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Ok I’ll Ask: Are We Facing Another Great Depression?, Part 2 - Six weeks ago, i asked this question in  a post, Are we facing another Great Depression? Today the Wall Street Journal, asked if market history will repeat itself looking at 2008 and 1931. “””””Over the two weeks ended Nov. 20, 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 16%. Over the two weeks ended Nov. 20, 1931, the Dow fell 16%. If you think that is scary, consider this: In the final five weeks of 1931, the Dow fell 20% further. Then it went on to lose yet another 47% before it finally ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Internet Ad Revenue Continues To Rise - Despite the bad economy, U.S. Internet advertising revenue rose in the third quarter, according to an report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The report released thurday said that online advertising revenue totaled almost $5.9 billion in the third quarter, up 11 percent from the same period last year. It marked a 2 percent rise from the second quarter. About 10 percent of all money spent on advertising in 2008 is going toward online ads, according to U.K.-based ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Reports: NameMedia Lays Off 30 - Unconfirmed reports suggest domain giant has laid off 30 people. [Updated]Xconomy is citing unconfirmed reports that NameMedia, parent company of Afternic and BuyDomains, has laid off 30 employees. Please note that Xconomy has been unable to confirm the layoffs as of yet. I have reached out to multiple employees at NameMedia and will update this post as more information becomes available. As of September 2007 the company had 136 employees according to SEC filings. NameMedia ... read more ...
Fri 21st November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
The Power of a Internet: Obama Raised $500 Million on The Net - According to the Washington Post, Barack Obama raised half a billion dollars online. 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once. Here are some more specific figures from the Post: Obama’s e-mail list contains upwards of 13 million addresses. Over the course of the campaign, aides ... read more ...