Monthly Archives: May 2009

Thu 7th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Demand Media to ICANN: Hurry Up - Company one of few to suggest IRT timeline is OK. Demand Media has been transparent about its desire to launch new top level domain names and to move the process along quickly. So it doesn’t come as any surprise that it wants ICANN to push forward through recommendations from the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) in a swift fashion. Most began started their comments to IRT by complaining about a short (about 1 week) comment period for IRT’s drastic ... read more ...
Wed 6th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
News Corp To Charge For Content - The New York Post (owned by News Corp) is reporting that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. are has assembled a team of executives to devise a system to charge for content on the Web. The team is said to be looking at creating a user-friendly device akin to Amazon’s Kindle to deliver content from such News Corp. newspapers,  The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and The New York Post, as well as content from the company’s television and movie units. “The move is also a clear break from the ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo.com Sales Up 6.5% For First Quarter - According to a press release by econsultancy, Sedo  reported an increase in domain sales of  6.5% in the first quarter of 09 compared to the 4Th quarter of 2008. A total of 9,326 domain names sold in the 1st quarter. Key findings from the report include: - .com continues to claim more than 75% of all gTLDs sold, with .info and .org still trailing behind at 7% and .net at 9% - Prices increased by an average of £475 for a .com domain. - ccTLD sales increased in the 1st quarter,  with .de ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Who is Going To Buy Twitter.com? - The talk of the Internet over the last few days is who is going to buy Twitter? Apple, is rumored to be offering $700 Million for Twiiter. Google has also been rumored recently to buy Twitter.com. Or will Yahoo get Twitter.com? One thing for sure, is that we will not be buying Twitter.com, not because we wouldn’t love to have it, but we  just don’t have an extra $700 Million + lying around. How about you? Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
National Arbitration Forum’s Surprise Response to IRT - UDRP arbitration forum makes surprising remarks about Implementation Recommendation Team findings. That National Arbitration Forum would be opposed to Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URSS), a fast-track UDRP-like process, comes as no surprise. After all, it would destroy 90% of NAF’s and World Intellectual Property Organization’s domain dispute business. But NAF went above and beyond in comments to ICANN about URSS, suggesting that perhaps UDRP has gradually ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UPDATED: Marchex Revenue Sinks, Sells $1M in Domain Names - Earnings miss estimates while company sells $1M in non-strategic domain names. Online advertising company Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) missed analysts’ adjusted earnings estimates by 3 cents per share, earning only 2 cents per share in the first quarter of 2009. Analysts had predicted earnings of 5 cents per share. Revenue fell 28% compared to the same quarter last year, coming in at only $26.6 million. During the quarter Marchex sold $1M worth of domain names: In ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
CEOJobs.com Purchase was No-Brainer for Headhunter - Recruiter Harry Joiner just bought CEOJobs.com. Here’s why. Recruiter Harry Joiner bought CEOJobs.com. E-commerce headhunter Harry Joiner just bought the domain name CEOjobs.com for five figures from Jason Davis, a former recruiter who holds one of the world’s best portfolios of jobs related domain names. Why did Joiner plunk down five figures for the domain? “The driver behind the purchase can be summed up in one word: relevance,” said Joiner. In a rapidly ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hyperlocal News Trend Benefits GeoDomainers - As startup local news organizations launch, geo domainers are well positioned. CNN published a story yesterday titled Future of online news may be ‘hyperlocal’. The story discusses the crop of news sites popping up to fill the void not addressed by traditional media and the void left when local newspapers disappear. Geo domain owners are well positioned to take advantage of both the fall of traditional media and “hyperlocalization”. It was one of the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Moniker Silent Auction Needs Fixing - Platform needs major changes to accommodate extended auctions. Over the past couple days I’ve sorted through Moniker’s domain names in its TRAFFIC extended online auction. There are some great domains at relatively low prices. But be forewarned: participating in the auction may result in a migraine. The first problem is there are too many domain names (over 5,000). Many of them are great domains, but there’s a lot of crap in there. Low priced crap, but crap ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Arbitration: A Case of Laziness? - Filta.com case calls into question (lack of) incentives of UDRP arbitrators. I recently read through documents related to Filta.com, a domain name awarded to the complainant in a National Arbitration Forum case on April 23. The case is disturbing on a number of fronts. If you just read the decision, you’d think this was a fairly simple case (although you’d probably wonder how a trademark to the term “Filtafry” gives you rights to the name “Filta”). But ... read more ...
 
Written by The MediaWizard's Blog in EN
Average Joe on Domains -

Saw an engaging video on YouTube featuring Howard Neu (thx Pred) seeking normal bland people about domains.

Take a look:

YouTube Preview Image

Via: mwzd.com

Tue 5th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Sued For Trademark Infrigement Over Android - In 2002 Erich Specht was granted the a trademark on the term Android to use with his firm Android Data. 2004 Mr. Specht’s company went out of business and he lost his domain, androiddata.com. Google applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark on the term Android, but its application was rejected in 2008. Google as we all know, went on to use the term in connection with its open mobile operating system. Mr. Specht, filed a federal lawsuit on April 28, in Chicago, seeking “at ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Toxic.com Sells For $55K during NameJet.com - The domain Toxic.com, which we wrote about while it was still in backorder status, sold today at NameJet.com to bidder “yakuza” for $56,566. There were 285 bidders in the auction. The domain Toxic.net, which also was available for backorder on the same day, sold to a different bidder, “nimbus” for $2,900, keeping the generally accepted principal of .net’s selling for 5% of .com’s value (shown by the sale of sex.com to sex.net and porn.com to porn.net within the same year). Other notable ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
1 and 2 Character .Biz Domain Names Face Delays - NeuStar asks for prompt approval of plan to release one and two character .biz domain names. .Biz registry NeuStar has sent a letter to ICANN expressing its disappointment that the ICANN board delayed approving the release of one and two character .biz domain names (pdf). According to the letter, the ICANN board was supposed to vote on NeuStar’s proposal at its April 23 meeting but time ran out before a vote was held. NeuStar wants to request proposals from parties ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
There’s Something About Cameron Diaz’ Domain Name - Actress files for arbitration to get CameronDiaz.com. Cameron Diaz has joined a slate of celebrities to recently file for arbitration to get domain names. Yesterday a case commenced at National Arbitration Forum for the domain name CameronDiaz.com. The domain name is currently parked at SmartName with links to “Cameron Diaz Actress”, “Entertainment”, and “Celebrity Posters”. The domain name’s whois record shows that it is owned by a Canadian company. Diaz ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GeoDomain Auction Ends Today with during slightest $200k Sales - Extended geo domain name auction ends today starting at noon pacific daylight time. DomainConsultant’s GeoDomain auction ends today, with lots starting to close at 12 pm PDT. Already the auction is shaping up to be a success thanks to some high dollar domains receiving bids ahead of the closing bell. Longhorn.com has a $35,000 bid, Ponce.com has a bid at $21,000, and SantaClarita.com is $30,000. An auction for Reserve.com, which ironically started with no reserve, ... read more ...
Mon 4th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
The EU Wants The US To Give Up Control Of ICANN - The U.S. should give way to an independent global entity when it comes to assigning Internet addresses, according to a top European Union official. Vivian Reding, the EU’s commissioner for information society and media, She went on to say, “the current arrangement, in which the U.S. Commerce Department runs the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), was not defensible.” “I believe that the U.S., so far, has done this in a reasonable manner,” said Reding, of Luxembourg. ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
List Of All The Moniker Silent Auction TRAFFIC Domains With Bids - **Updated** Here are the bids on every domain for the Silent Moniker.com TRAFFIC auction, as of 9am EST on Thursday . The Auction closes TODAY at 3:15pm EST, 12:15pm PST There is over $156k in bids placed already and we have some comments on some of these domains, following the list. Here is a list of all the domains with bids and the current high bid, to join the auction just click on the link: dvdshrink.com ($41,180)oxygentanks.com ($10,000)drillpress.com ($9,420)technologytoday.com ($8,830)graders.com ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Geo Extended Auction: Our Picks & Pans - The Geo Aftermarket.com extended auction starts closing at noon tomorrow PST, Tuesday May 5. We have gone through the 57 domains available for bidding in the extended auction (to see all domains click here) and here are our thoughts: The most attractive domain is reserve.com, because it was offered at no reserve, but presently has a high bid of $12K.  Estibot appraised at $84K.  The domain seems to me to be worth in the 20K range, but it could go higher as there is more than 1 bidder on it already. SantaClarita.com ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
The “Smartest Search Engine” In The World Launches This Month - Wolfram Alpha. If you haven’t heard about this new search engine, your about to. Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, is launching this month as the first search engine that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does. Wolfram Alpha will not only give a straight answer to questions such as “how high is Mount Everest?”, but it will also produce a neat page of related information,  all properly sourced,  such as geographical location ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
dotMobi’s WordPress Mobile Begs a Question - dotMobi releases new WordPress Mobile Pack. Makes you wonder, why do we need the .mobi TLD? dotMobi, the registry behind the .mobi top level domain name, released the WordPress Mobile Pack this past week. It’s a plugin for WordPress users that renders your blog well on mobile screens. There are a number of plugins that do this already (Domain Name Wire uses one), but dotMobi’s has more features. Like similar plugins, this tool will identify that a visitor ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NameDrive NDX Marketplace Tops 100,000 Domain Names - Inventory builds quickly at new domain name aftermarket. Less than a week after launching, NameDrive’s NDX domain name marketplace has over 100,000 domain name listings. About a third of the domain names are .de domain names, followed by .info, .com, .org, and .co.uk. All sales are commission free through the end of May. After that, most domain names will carry a 7% commission or as low as 3% for domains parked at NameDrive. NDX is an extension of NameDrive’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Jay Leno Tries to Tackle Cybersquatting Problem - Comedian files claims for three domain names, but still hasn’t done anything with JayLeno.com Comedian Jay Leno has filed claims with World Intellectual Property Organization to get three domain names: jaylenoshow.com, weeknightswithjayleno.com, and thejaylenoshow.com. Now if only he’d do something with JayLeno.com, which he picked up last year. JayLenoShow.com’s whois record is protected by domain privacy and is parked at HitFarm. Weeknightswithjayleno.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Companies Promote Their New Domains: Auction.com and Advertise.com - Instant brand recognition and credibility come with two generic domain names. This Sunday I took the local newspaper out of its wrapper and saw this sticky note on the front page: It caught my attention. Real Estate Disposition Corporation bought the domain name Auction.com in March for $1.7M. Had the sticky note in the paper read “USHomeAuction.com”, the company’s old domain name, it certainly would have garnered less attention and trust. Another company ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
“They Don’t Get It” and The Emperor’s New Clothes - Domainers must put facts and numbers behind blanket statements. In the domain name industry, many people lambaste companies that don’t buy generic, category-killer domain names and say “they just don’t get it”. Some companies, such as Advertise.com and Real Estate Disposition Corporation clearly analyzed the business case and decided it was worth spending significant money to get a great domain name. But it’s naive to say that companies that don’t have ... read more ...