Monthly Archives: May 2010

Mon 31st May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Domainers Back To The Basics: You Can Only Sell A Domain Once & Yes E-Mails Count - OK domainers it time to go back to the basics. You can only sell a domain once. If you agree to sell a domain and the buyer pays you, you have a done deal. You have to transfer the domain or you can be sued. and Yes e-mail’s count. It Seems obvious to me but, I realized this was not the case with many domainers, when our good friend George Kirikos alerted me to the story that the first buyer of CamRoulette.com was suing the original seller of the domain and sent me the link to the discussion on ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The Miami Herald Covers .Mobi & Concludes: “Names Are Now All But Worthless” - Domain Names are in the news again over at the Miami Herald, which covered them for a second time in a month (They wrote a story on DomainFest as well). This time its the .Mobi extension that get covered by the south Florida publication. Once again the domain king, Rick Schwartz is quoted extensively, this time in regards to his record setting purchase of Flowers.mobi for $200K back in 2006. The newspapers comments on .Mobi, are less than kind: “Schwartz and other Internet tycoons who paid tens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top Domain Name Wire News Stories of May 2010 - May domain name news in review. Memorial Day is coming to a close, and that means May is wrapping up. Here’s a look back at the top five stories on Domain Name Wire in May, ranked according to total views. 1. Breaking: Sedo to Sell Sex.com Domain Name – Sedo had been in talks with some of Escom’s owners to broker Sex.com for a while, but not all of the partners agreed. Now, assuming the bankruptcy court gives its blessing, Sedo will get its chance to broker ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Original Registrant of CamRoulette.com Sued - CamRoulette.com subject to lawsuit. It’s the deal that keeps on giving. The domain name world was shocked when CamRoulette.com sold for $151,000. The original registrant of the domain name was kicking himself for selling it for only $1,400. But now he has bigger problems: another person says he had an agreement to buy the domain name for $700. He’s suing for $150,300, the difference between what he offered to buy the domain for and what it sold for at auction. The ... read more ...
Sat 29th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Are .MX Domains Worth Anything? - Ok so I’m the first to admit when it comes to ccTLD’s, I’m far from an expert and have very few ccTLD domains. However I know what I see. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to watch some Sky TV (equivalent to Directv or Dish in the states) out of Mexico. Sky has some US programming like ESPN, but all the commercials are from Mexico for a Mexican audience (of course they have a ton of spanish programming as well). Here’s what I noticed when it comes to domains and  ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Florida Company Loses Grab of BGT.com, But No Reverse Hijacking? - Panel gets decision right, but misses mark on RDNH. Burn World-Wide, Ltd. d/b/a BGT Partners of Miami, Florida, has lost a UDRP case to get the domain name BGT.com from Banta Global Turnkey Ltd, which is now part of RR Donnelly. The facts of the case are pretty egregious. Banta was founded well before BGT Partners and even registered the domain name before BGT Partners was formed. The three person arbitration panel found that the domain name wasn’t registered ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Beware GoDaddy Whois Update Phishing Scheme - Scam makes its rounds with a new phishing URL. [Updated: Go Daddy has successfully shut down the phishing site. But the offender will surely just set up another. So here are a couple points from Go Daddy: -Official Go Daddy e-mails will always address you by name, unlike those from phishers (who do not know this information). -Customers are also reminded never to provide credentials to an unsecure website. Always make sure the web address starts with “https:” ... read more ...
Fri 28th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Investments.Net To Sell Today For North Of $25K - A nice .net domain Investments.net, (we do not own it) has hit reserve and is going to sell north of $25K today at Sedo.com. The current high bid on this domain is $25,250 and the next bid going to have to be $26,350. Its a great .net and we will let you know how it turns out. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
So Who Own The Oil Spill & Oil CleanUp Domains - Well its been over a month since the what looks like what will go down as the  worst ecological disaster in US History (so far)  started. I thought it would be interesting to see who owns some of the most relevant domain names. You might be surprised that some of the most relevant domains we’re registered long ago. OilSpill.com was registered in 1998 and is currently owned by Frank Donato Co which sells products to clean up the mess.  The traffic has increased somewhat in the last 30 days according ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verizon Gets Back Into UDRP Game - Verizon files four separate UDRP cases in past couple days. For a while it seemed like Verizon had basically given up on filing UDRP cases. Instead, it opted to just file lawsuits against anyone with trademark typos, even small fry. That may be changing. The company has filed four separate UDRP cases at World Intellectual Property Organization within the past two days. One of those cases is for wwwverizon.com – a typo that should have been at the top of Verizon’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Security: Dynadot Offers Two-Factor Authentication - Dynadot secures domains with mobile phone security. In April I wrote a few stories about domain name security tools offered by various registrars. One tool I missed was Dynadot’s SMS security tool. It works like this: Account holder receives a 6-digit code (sent via SMS) on his cellphone and then enters the code in his Dynadot account before he can do the following: – Get a domain’s auth code – Unlock his domains – Change his account information All 6-digit ... read more ...
Thu 27th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
Apple Overtakes Microsoft In Market Cap For The 1st Time - Apple passed Microsoft in terms of market cap for the 1st time yesterday. As of the end of the day on Wednesday, Apple has passed Microsoft in terms of market capitalization, with a value of roughly $222 billion–about $3 billion ahead of Microsoft. Apple’s share price closed at $244.11, down $1.11 (0.45%) for the day. Microsoft, closed at $25.01, down $1.06 (4.07%). Based on those closing prices, Apple’s market capitalization stood at $221.36 billion and Microsoft’s $219.35 Billion. Apple ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Quick Poll: How Much Will E.Co Sell For? - I’m sure you read yesterday, that the .Co registry is going to auction off the domain E.CO through Sedo at Internet Week June 7th – June 10th. Keeping in mind that the auction is being marketed to a wide non-domainer audience  and that the 100% of the proceeds go to charity, what do you think the domain will sell for? E.Biz sold for $66K during the Sedo auction of single character .Biz domains, the highest sale for that auction. Please vote on the poll on the right and place any of your comments ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
DomainFest Prague Announces Agenda & Opens Registration @ $395 - DomainSponsor announced today the agenda for DOMAINfest Europe which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, October 6 and 7, 2010, at the Hotel InterContinental in Prague, Czech Republic. “Our Prague agenda facilitates important discussions around highly relevant topics for European domain investors,” said Oversee.net Senior Vice President Peter Celeste.  “At the same time, it is designed to help attendees build high quality relationships that will pay dividends well beyond the end ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Finally, a UDRP Panel Respects a Scope of a Policy - Panel refuses to find in favor of complainant in case outside scope of policy. UDRP was originally created to handle clear cut cases of cybersquatting. Since its launch panelists have stretched the scope of the policy. But a three person panel has injected a breathe of fresh air in the decision of HRCIstudy.com. The domain owner registered the domain name for his business of providing tutoring courses for Human Resource Certification Institute exams. HRCI argued ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Owner Caught Fabricating Response in UDRP - Respondent says he met actor in 1999 – 28 years after the actor’s death. When I first saw the domain name Texican.com was in dispute, I thought the domain owner would win. After all, there are plenty of companies and entities that use the name “Texican”, so why should one complainant get the domain unless it was clearly targeted (not that that hasn’t happened before). It’s also a generic slang term. But in this case the respondent would have been better ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DOMAINfest Europe to Mix Business and Fun - DOMAINfest sets preliminary agenda for Prague show and opens registration. DOMAINfest has opened registration for its European show taking place Wednesday and Thursday, October 6 and 7, 2010, at the Hotel InterContinental in Prague, Czech Republic. The agenda looks very different from most of the company’s previous events, as the second day is dedicated to fun networking and social events. Wednesday will include a number of session geared to the European audience ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
25 Years of .Com Gala Celebrates Web Innovators - Gala celebrates big companies and players in the dot.com revolution. Last night I had the honor of attending VeriSign’s “25 Years of .Com” gala at city hall in San Francisco. It was a fantastic event with a lot of the companies and people that made the internet what it is today in attendance. After cocktails, comedian Dana Carvey took to the stage to warm up the crowd. “Welcome. How many people have a net worth over $10 million? Don’t think, just raise ... read more ...
Wed 26th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
BiBi.com Hits $12,500 In First Hours of 3 Day SnapNames.com Auction - The domain BiBi.com dropped today and SnapNames.com successful registered it, starting the 3 day auction at $59. Just hours into the three day auction and the domain already has a high bid of $12,500. There are over 250 people in this auction. BiBi is certainly a nice LLLL domain. BiBi.Org is a pretty popular site with a compete estimate of 9K visitors a month. There is a BiBi Magazine, Bibi is what many call the prime minster of Israeli, and its apparently the name of a pretty famous parrot. In ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Godaddy.com Raises Minimum Prices On Domain Auctions 20% - Very quietly, it looks like Godaddy.com increased the starting bid on its expired domain auctions from $10 to $12, an increase of 20%. Although I didn’t get a notice about the change, (even though I buy domains on their platform all the time), I confirmed with my Godaddy rep who told me he didn’t ever get a notice about the price increase. “This is the first I heard of it as well”, he told me. After checking with the powers that be, he confirmed that the minimum starting price on expired ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nelson Brady Comes Clean in Response to SnapNames Lawsuit - Brady acted alone, says he wanted to generate money for long term health care. Nelson Brady has responded to a lawsuit filed by Oversee.net and SnapNames regarding the company’s bidding scandal. Brady admitted to many of Oversee’s allegations. The response does not implicate any other employees in the scheme, indicating that Brady acted alone and other employees did not know about his activities. Brady admitted that he used the Hank Alvarez (halvarez) account ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Epik Acquires Domain Development Company DevRich - Epik adds to development capabilities. Rob Monster’s Epik has acquired domain name development company DevRich. The transaction was an all-equity transaction and the valuation was not disclosed. This is both a talent acquisition and a technology acquisition. Luke Webster, President of DevRich, will become SVP Operations of Epik. He will continue to run DevRich, which will be a division of Epik. I met Webster and his business partner at DOMAINfest this past January, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Neustar Proposes Release of 1 and 2 Character .Us Domain Names - Short .us country code domain names in the works. Neustar, the registry that manages the .us top level domain name, is proposing to release available one and two character .us domain names for registration. In a post on its new .us blog, the company explains that its distribution of one and two character domains will be handled in a matter similar to what it did with .biz domain names: (1) an RFP round that invites interested registrants to propose specific plans ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Live Coverage of VeriSign .Com Gala Tonight - VeriSign celebrates 25 years of .com this evening. I’m off to San Francisco for the 25 Years of .Com Gala this evening. The event will be hosted by one of my favorite comedians, Dana Carvey (Saturday Night Live, Wayne’s World, etc). The evening will celebrate the “.com 25″ honoring “remarkable innovators, entrepreneurs and companies whose inspiring contributions were fundamental in shaping the Internet and, thereby, forever changing the way we think and ... read more ...
Tue 25th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Gold Vs. Google: 9 Month Update: Gold Up 20%, Google Down 6% - Back in late September 2009 Google hit $500 a share and gold hit $1,000 on the same day prompting us to post whether Gold or Google was a better investment. We told you at the time we would keep you updated and its time for the 9 month update. Since our orginal post, Gold has continued its climb and currently sits at just about $1,200 a ounce, or 20% higher Google on the other hand as we sit here today, is around $470 a share, about 6% lower. So if you bought 1,000 of each 9 months ago your gold ... read more ...