Author Archives: DomainNameWire

About DomainNameWire

Domain Name Wire is a blog that deals with the domain name sector. The blog covers a range of domain related topics ranging from issues concerning expiring domains, monetization, domain registries and registrars, ICANN, policy, law etc. The blog began in March, 2005, after Mr. Allemann had dropped out of meetings to become involved in domain portfolio company, iREIT. The project began as a hobby to keep him involved in the domaining business, and then became his full-time business.

Wed 17th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
A Report Every Domain Name Administrator Should Read - A great guide to not screwing up your domain name management. Earlier this month ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee released a report “A Registrant’s Guide to Protecting Domain Name Registration Accounts”. Every domain administrator at small and large businesses, as well as domain portfolio owners, should read (pdf) it. The report basically outlines steps you should consider to avoid losing access to your domain name or having your DNS hijacked ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Smartphone App Hopes to Replace Phone Numbers with Domain Names - Product takes advantage of how domain names are easier to remember than phone numbers. I got a pitch for an interesting product today called Siter.com. The idea is that instead of needing to know a phone number to call someone or business you just need to know their domain name. For example, let’s say you need to call your bank to ask a question. Normally on your smartphone you’d need to go to the banks web page and search for their phone number. With Siter.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Looks Like Google Will Connect Kids to Santa This Holiday Season - Company registers domain names related to calling Santa. Google has done some fun stuff with Santa over the years. With NORAD you could track Santa on Google Earth, for example. But the company may have something else in its sleigh this year. The company just registered a number of domain names related to Santa, including GoogleSanta.com (and the .net and .org versions). What could the company be up to? A few other domain names the company just registered may give ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sex.com Officially in a Record Books during $13 Million - Sex.com officially becomes the largest all cash publicly announced domain sale of all time. The check has cleared. A few weeks after signing documents for a $13 million all cash deal, Escom LLC has officially sold Sex.com with the help of Sedo. Congratulations to Sedo broker Jeff Gabriel who handled the deal. Also congrats to Sedo for its persistence trying to get the name to broker. It filed an affidavit with the court arguing it should be allowed to broker the ... read more ...
Tue 16th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
What in a World Will ICANN Do with $100 Million Cash Next Year? - Can ICANN handle 9 figures of cash? $185,000 per application. Let’s say 550 applications for new to level domain names. That’s $101.75 million in cash coming in ICANN’s door next year. That’s a lot of money. What will it do with the cash that it doesn’t immediately spend on application processing? How much of this will now be considered “cost recovery”? How much will be reserved for resulting lawsuits? Don’t get me wrong, I think it should cost ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
25 Tips for Choosing a Best Domain Name - 25 (mostly) good tips for end users choosing a domain name. It’s always interesting to see a non-domainer’s take on choosing the right domain name. I came across a good article today from a web designer featuring 25 tips for choosing the best domain name. You’ve heard all of these tips before, but rarely have I seen them in one place. Some of the key tips that I see people regret not following are: 3. Can You Say The Domain Without Explanation 4. Never Let ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arbitration Panel Finds in Favor of eRestaurant.com Owner - Domain theft and now a UDRP. Defending a good domain name isn’t easy. A domain name owner who has already gone through the hassle of having his domain name stolen has now succeeded in winning a UDRP to keep the domain name. Altametrics, Inc filed the case against Ryan Sveinsvoll, who owns the eRestaurant.com domain name. The history of the domain name is interesting. Sveinsvoll appears to have purchased the domain name in 2003 and it was then hijacked in 2008. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is ICANN’s 3 Strikes Loophole on Purpose? - ICANN’s three strikes rule is so full of holes that you have to wonder if the holes are on purpose. One of the major changes to the so-called “Proposed Final” applicant guidebook is a definition of what a pattern of “bad faith in regard to domain name registrations” is. Applicants that have shown this bad faith pattern are barred from applying. The new rule slipped into the latest version: if you have three or more UDRP, ACPA, or other equivalent legislation ... read more ...
Mon 15th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Pictures and Highlights from Austin Domainer Weekend - Snapshots from the first ever Austin Domainer Weekend. This past Friday and Saturday we had our first ever Austin Domainer Weekend. My original idea was to have a domainer dinner in Austin. But I got lots of requests to host it on a football weekend, so I obliged. We had about 30 people for Friday night’s activities and a somewhat smaller crowd for Saturday. Most people attended from Austin, with a few other Texans and even some visitors from California and Michigan. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Jobs and .XXX Opponents Should Just Give it Up - Opponents of two top level domain names are fighting a losing battle. As the introduction of new top level domain names looms, two groups are still fighting over TLDs that have been in the funnel for quite some time. First, there’s .jobs. It has been an actual sTLD for some time, but the registry recently decided to liberalize registration rules for the domains. This has the online job board community in a tizzy as many of them worry about new competition as well ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Pro to Auction of Handful of Premium Three Letter Domain Names - A dozen good three letter .pro domain names will be auctioned. Deadline to backorder is today. The dotPro registry is auctioning off a dozen premium three letter .pro domain names. The list is solid: eco.pro, dog.pro, dui.pro, ale.pro, eye.pro, tea.pro, ask.pro, run.pro, sax.pro, ear.pro, hip.pro, ssl.pro In order to participate you need to backorder the domain names by 8 pm PST today. I’ll be interested to see how much these domain names go for. .Pro is one ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
I.co Headed to a Auction Block - Another one letter .co domain name to be auctioned. Moments ago John Battelle, on the main stage of the opening of Web 2.0 Summit, announced that .co will be auctioning off the i.co domain name. The auction will be handled by Oversee.net through its Moniker/SnapNames division. Indeed, it appears details are now up at i.co, although some of the links on the site aren’t yet operating (including registering for the auction) at the time I’m writing this. It will ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
SnapNames Health and Pharma Auction Has Solid Bids - Auction has a couple high bids well in advance of closing. The SnapNames November Showcase Auction has some very strong bids prior to the closing on Tuesday at 12:15 PST. Ufit.com is leading the pack at $23,530 with two bidders and ColdRemedies.com is $12,810 with 2 bidders as well. Both domain names have hit their reserves. Other domains that have met their reserves are ieq.net, 47.org, coldflu.com, 5kr.com, 0vr.com, drsites.com, and Quack.org. Some other domain ... read more ...
Sun 14th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Switches Back to .Com as Default Search Option - .Co now second search option. About 24 hours after promoting .co to the top of its search box, domain name registrar GoDaddy has switched back to .com. But .co remains the second option for people searching for domains at the world’s largest domain name registrar. GoDaddy frequently runs tests, such as changing the prices of domain registration a couple bucks up or down to measure the effects. Moving .co to the top of the list was just such as test, yet it was ... read more ...
Sat 13th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Replaces .Com with .Co, Now Default Choice - A big lift for .co this weekend as world’s largest registrar promotes .co to top of search box. [Update: .com is now back as the default option. This was a test by GoDaddy.] You might be in for a bit of a surprise if you visit GoDaddy today. This is what the search box looks like: That’s right. The default search option is now .co at GoDaddy. This is a huge win for .co since GoDaddy registers about half of all new domain names registered. It seems like ... read more ...
Fri 12th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is Apple Entitled to Appl.com? - Company files complaint over four letter domain name. It’s not the first time. Apple Inc. filed complaints with World Intellectual Property Forum this week over two domain names it feels are typos of Apple.com. One case is against Appl.com and the other is against apple.com aplle.com. On the surface it would appear that Appl.com is a generic four character domain name. Yet the pay-per-click ads on the site mention the electronics maker. Earlier this year Apple ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Let’s Kill a “Killer” Term - I’m tired of hearing about the next [insert a company or product name] killer. It seems that every week another “something killer” product is launched. There have been dozens of supposed “iPhone killers”. And a nice handful of “Google killer” search engines. And today comes word of what’s being referred to internally at Facebook as the “Gmail Killer”. I’m actually amazed that Facebook could release a Google Gmail killer, since I thought that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Confirmed: Facebook Acquires FB.com Domain Name - Facebook acquires FB.com domain name. Ending months of speculation, it’s now confirmed that Facebook has acquired the FB.com domain name. The whois record for the domain name just updated to show Facebook’s name and nameservers for the domain name. George Kirikos first noted back in September that the domain name had sold and speculated Facebook was the buyer. After doing a little digging he also found that Facebook was in a trademark dispute with American ... read more ...
Thu 11th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Afternic Adds Name.com to List of Premium Registrars - Afternic gets another win, and it’s more good news for domainers. Afternic has inked a deal with Name.com that will integrate the domain name registrar into Afternic for domains listed at “premium” distribution. Much like last month’s news of deals with eNom and Moniker, this will be a win for both Name.com customers as well as Afternic sellers listing at the premium level. Existing Name.com customers will now be able to sell their domains in the registration ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Thanks .Co for Strong Quarter of Domain Registrations - Company says .co launch was major contributor to growth on OpenSRS platform. Yesterday Tucows reported record quarterly revenue for the third quarter. It saw strong growth on its OpenSRS domain reseller platform, and credits .co in part for that growth. Here’s Tucows CEO Elliot Noss on the investor conference call last night: Again this quarter, OpenSRS domain service saw strong year-over-year growth in transaction volumes. Total transactions grew 16% compared ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Paris Hilton: “Don’t You Dare Hyphenate My Name!” - Heiress wants the hyphenated version of her (domain) name. Paris Hilton isn’t pleased that someone owns Paris-Hilton.com, and now she’s doing something about it. The heiress filed a complaint this week with World Intellectual Property Forum, asking for an arbitrator to hand the domain name over to her. The current whois record for the domain name shows someone in Indonesia. You get a server error if you try to access the web site right now, but it used to have ... read more ...
Wed 10th November 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
This is Big. ICANN To End Registry-Registrar Separation - Andrew, There is a practical dynamic which is often overlooked in theories of the impact of relaxing VI restrictions. The underlying assumption is based in the .com situation circa 1999 in which, without an agreement with the registry, a registrar would have nothing to sell. What we have now is a situation in which a single registrar has rolled up roughly 40% of the market. GoDaddy’s success is admirable, but it has also had effects similar to the effects that, say, Wal-Mart has had ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Good News: CPC’s Up Across a Board in October - Major vertical CPCs are up according to Efficient Frontier. Efficient Frontier, which manages a significant amount of pay-per-click spending for its clients, has reported that the prices paid per click in major verticals were up in October. The numbers are up compared to both September as well as October of 2009. Has the online advertising market recovered from the doom and gloom of 2009? These numbers suggest so: Vertical | October 2010 | October 2009 Finance | ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
HostGator to Use LogicBoxes for Its Domain Registrar - Large web host to use LogicBoxes for domain name registration. LogicBoxes just picked up a big customer. The company announced today that web hosting company HostGator will use its back end registrar services. HostGator currently has an ICANN accreditation but is registering domains as a reseller. The transition from reseller to registrar will occur in early 2011, and existing customers and resellers should not experience any impact. According to DomainTools, HostGator ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Elliot Silver Launches Domain Q&A Site DomainQuestions.com - New site makes it easy to ask and answer questions about domain names. Elliot Silver of ElliotsBlog.com launched a new site for the domain name industry today — DomainQuestions.com. The site makes it easy for domainers to ask questions and get answers from the community, including Elliot himself. The idea stemmed from a problem Elliot encountered. “Just about every day, I receive at least a couple of emails asking for some insight and advice about domain names ... read more ...