Monthly Archives: December 2008

Tue 9th December 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
One More Reason to Attend DOMAINfest Global 2008 - Latest announcement from DomainSponsor puts this conference over the top. When a conference organizer says the conference will include a “Dinner Party at Unbeatable LA Hotspot”, it’s natural to be skeptical. But DomainSponsor has come through for next month’s DOMAINfest Global event in L.A. As DomainNameNews scooped a couple days ago and DomainSponsor confirmed today, the closing night part for the conference will be a charity event at the Playboy Mansion ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
5 Gift Ideas for Domainers - Here are five suggestions for the domainer on your holiday shopping list. I wrote an article last year with gift suggestions for domainers, but here is an updated list. In case you’re wondering what not to get, be sure to check out a list of stocking stuffers I’d prefer not to see Christmas morning. 1. Domain name gift certificates – gift certificates are great because you can get them in any denomination and everyone can use them. I typically give away GoDaddy ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Another Year, Another Useless Yellow Pages - How much longer will yellow pages exist? From the driveway to the trash bin. Sunday morning I took my dog out for her morning walk as usual. I suddenly heard squealing tires down the road and looked up to see a white van speeding down the road, swerving from side to side. As the van swerved, I heard loud “thump” noises. A drunk driver? A drive by? Nah, just the yellow pages delivery van. As I walked up the street, I saw orange bags on each driveway, each containing ... read more ...
Mon 8th December 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Last Chance To Comment To ICANN On Proposed gTLD’s - The comment period for the proposed gTLD’s has been extended until next Monday December 15th. Yesterday in a post entitled “Why Domaining Sucks”, my friend Sahar posted as reason number 3 “We lack influence with ICANN”.  I think this is common complaint. However, as of today there are less than 100 comments posted on any of the six topics you can comment on regarding the new gTLD’s. Certainly, if you do not comment when ICANN asks for it, you have no say. When the last comment period ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Commentary: Why Standard Tactics is a Problem - Analysis of Go Daddy’s Standard Tactics subsidiary.UPDATE 12/17/08: GoDaddy is shutting down Standard Tactics. It’s been five days since Domain Name Wire published its expose on The Go Daddy Group’s subsidiary Standard Tactics LLC. Judging from the over 100 comments, it appears to have struck a nerve in a lot of people. Interestingly, I received some feedback that people “disagreed” with my story. This is interesting because there really aren’t any ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TrafficZ Lightens Up - TrafficZ changes background color, starts integration with DomainTools and LeaseThis. One suggestion I’ve made to TrafficZ is to change its background color in the administrative console from black to a lighter color. I know a lot of other people have made that suggestion, too. TrafficZ has listened to its customers and changed the background color: TrafficZ is lightening the mood. Next time you visit www.TrafficZ.com, you can expect to see a brand new background ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Stupid Domain Name Press Release of a Week - This press release just might top them all. Domain Name Wire readers know I have a special place in my heart from silly press releases about domain names. I especially enjoy press releases touting domain names listed on eBay. In “Anatomy of a Domain Name Press Release“, I wrote about the three steps in these comical releases: 1. Establish demand for your domain 2. Quote top DNJournal sales prices 3. Explain why your domains is worth as much as those DNJournal ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domainers Don’t Care if VeriSign Increases Prices - Do domain name owners care if VeriSign can drastically increase .com prices? Apparently not. ICANN has released new details about its proposed registry agreement and added a line-by-line comparison to previous registry agreements. These agreements dictate the terms that registries such as VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) must follow as they run top level domains. You can see details of the new information on ICANN’s web site. As written before on Domain Name Wire along ... read more ...
Sat 6th December 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Dell Switching From Google To Microsoft’s Live? - Since mid 2006, new PCs from Dell have come pre-installed with a search toolbar from Google, and Microsoft’s IE web browser with google.com preset as the default search engine. ZDnet’s Mary Jo Foley is reporting,  a deal may be in the works between Dell and Microsoft to dump the Google toolbar for Microsoft’s own Live Search toolbar. If the report is true, and it’s a victory for Microsoft, which will win at least some traffic to Windows Live just as new digital head Qi Lu will be revamping ... read more ...
Fri 5th December 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
How GoDaddy Is Making Big Money Off Of Trademaked Domains and Putting a Domain Industry Right in a Hands Of CADNA - I’m sure you have all read the fine journalistic piece written by Andrew Allemann over at DomainNameWire.com, if not stop go read it and come back. I have a slightly different take on this ramifications and effect of what Godaddy.com is doing. Yes they are warehousing domains, in a tricky fashion, which Andrew’s outstanding research discovered. But there activity much more serious in nature, than simply taking domains for their own benefit. Godaddy.com action may wind up negatively effecting ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Microsoft Hires Ex-Yahoo Exec to Lead It’s Online Group - Microsoft hired a Qi Lu, a former Yahoo search executive to as President of  its Online Services Group, responsible for all of the software maker’s Web-based programs and services, including search and online advertising. Lu spent a decade working for Yahoo. He oversaw a high-profile effort, dubbed Project Panama. More than 100 Yahoo executives have left since January 2007. Lu left Yahoo in August, shortly after the company hired Google to show some of the ads next to its search results. The proposed ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Review: ShoeMoney Tools Domain Marketplace - ShoeMoney Tools offers great search engine tools, but I’m not completely sold on the domain tool. If you aren’t familiar with Jeremy Schoemaker, he’s a classic rags to riches story. Broke and out of work, he stumbled upon search engine optimization and hit it big. You’ve probably seen his big check from Google Adsense. He also writes the popular ShoeMoney blog. A couple months ago Schoemaker launched ShoeMoney Tools, a collection of SEO tools for web ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
CheckFree.com Theft Should Lead to Added Registrar Security - CheckFree.com theft is a reminder of how easy it is to divert a domain name’s destination. Visitors to bill pay site CheckFree.com early Tuesday morning were diverted to a Ukraine site that tried to install malware on visitors’ computers. It wasn’t a high tech hack. It turns out someone got a hold of CheckFree.com’s username and password at domain registrar Network Solutions. They logged in and changed the nameservers for the domain name. It was really ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name Auction Sites Need to Go Mobile - Placing a last second bid on a mobile phone is difficult. I’ve been watching the auction of 529.org on Sedo all week. As you may know, I own a web site related to 529 plans, so 529.org would be a great pickup for me. The auction ended at noon central time yesterday. I had a lunch meeting at the same time, so I decided I’d just login on my phone to place the bid. That didn’t work out so well. (I’m not a fan of leaving high proxy bids ahead of time, as ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Marchex Lays Off 10% - Marchex latest domain company to announce layoffs. Domain name and local advertising company Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) has laid off 10% of its workforce, reports The Pugent Sound Business Journal. About 35 people are losing their jobs, although some of those are contract workers. Marchex has made a series of acquisitions, so some of the jobs were redundant. But it’s also working to maintain a strong cash position in the 12-month old recession. Shares of Marchex ... read more ...
Thu 4th December 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Barclays Upgrades a Internet to “Positive” - Barclays Capital upgraded the Internet sector to “positive” from “neutral,” citing strengthening fundamentals despite near-term effects of the slowdown in the economy. The brokerage said increased usage and dependence would leave the sector well-positioned when the macro-economic environment improved. “We recognize that growth is slowing, but we believe the Internet still remains an area of secular growth,” said analyst Douglas Anmuth in a note to clients. Anmuth added that he expects ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Happy Birthday to US!!!!!!!!! - One year ago we launched thedomains.com and published our first post. When i first though about writing a blog, I asked myself the same question everyone who has ever considered writing a blog asks themselves, “What the hell am I going to write about everyday”. Well over 830 posts later,  in a year full of registrar misconduct, the Snowe Bill, Kentucky Seizing domains, ICANN proposing an unlimited number of new extensions, Yahoo and Google, PPC downturn, and all the domain conferences and auctions, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
VeriSign: Domain Industry Report For Third Quarter Released - VeriSign released their quarterly report on domain registrations know as the “The Domain Industry Brief” today. Here are some of the key findings, all are based on the quarter ending September 30, 2008. There were 174 million domains registered across all Top Level Domains (TLD’s) representing 3% growth over second quarter and 19% over the same quarter from 2007. The total of Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD’s) was 68.9 million a five percent from the previous quarter and an increase ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Oversee Announces DomainFest Schedule - Oversee.Net announced the agenda for DOMAINfest Global 2009. The third annual event will take place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California from January 28-30, 2009, with a pre-event Boot Camp on January 27. DOMAINfest Global will conduct a pre-event Boot Camp for beginner or intermediate domain investors on Tuesday, January 27. Expert speakers will explain investment fundamentals in four featured sessions: * Domain Industry Trends – What’s Your Action Plan? * Domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign: Google Slowing Domain Name Registration Growth - Latest VeriSign report blames Google Adsense weakness for slowing domain registration growth rates. New domain name registrations are slowing, and VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) says Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) may be to blame. About 11.5 million new domain names were registered in the third quarter of this year, VeriSign reported in this month’s Domain Name Industry Brief (pdf). That’s a 2% decline from the previous quarter as well as over Q3 of 2007. When you look only ... read more ...
Wed 3rd December 2008
Written by DomainHack.er in IT and tagged
Bouvet: l’isola più sperduta ha un suo ccTLD - Oggi vi parliamo di Bouvet Island. E’ un’isola tremenda, forse il posto più inospitale del mondo, completamente ghiacciata, senza porti nè paesini… niente di niente! Eppure un bel ccTLD ossia un Internet Country Code Top-Level Domain ce l’ha, è il “.bv”! Per i cinefili, la norvegese Bouvet Island è stata una delle protagoniste del film Alien vs. Predator del 2004 oltre a apparire ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Some Registrars Offer NO Expiration Period on Domains - This came to me from a reader who just got this expiration notice from a Snapnames.com registrar: (domain info deleted) “””””You registered the domain ….. on 2008-03-29 18:08:57 UTC and it will expire on 2009-03-29. If you want renew your domain for one year please send us 12 € (EUR) with paypal (www.paypal.com) to our paypal account domainrenew@dns-net.de. Please write your domain name in the subject line from paypal. If you have allways pay the renew fee, please contact us, we will ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Bank of America Cuts Google’s Price Target & Earnings Estimates - Bank of America today slashed its price target for Google by 23 percent and cut its fourth-quarter and 2009 profit estimates for the Internet search giant to reflect an increasingly negative outlook for global advertising. The Bank cited, “recent weakness in online retail and travel sectors, two of the largest categories in search, will likely have a dampening effect on costs-per-click as advertisers decrease their search advertisement spend”. The Bank said. E-commerce in the United States fell ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bank Buys SC.com for $300,000 - Two character domain bought by end user. Sedo has completed the sale of SC.com for $300,000, and it appears the buyer is Standard Chartered Bank. Standard Chartered provides banking services mostly in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The Standard Chartered Group was formed in 1969 through a merger of two banks: The Standard Bank of British South Africa founded in 1863 and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, founded in 1853. SC.com isn’t the only ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Get Ready for a Google Squeeze - Google is facing up to difficult times. Get ready for lower revenue shares. A few years ago I read an article with a quote from a Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) human resources executive. He was commenting on the company’s lavish perks and how they were unique to Google. When the reporter pointed out that many companies have offered similar perks, the executive responded something like, “Yes, but the difference is we won’t cut our perks when times are tough.” I ... read more ...