Tag Archives: Minds + Machines

Wed 3rd December 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines pockets another $4.4 million from losing new TLD auctions - Company now has $45 million in cash. New top level domain name applicant Minds + Machines continues to add to its pile of cash by losing new TLD contention set auctions. In a release out this morning, the company said it received $4.4 million for withdrawing applications for .latino, .school and one as-yet-unnamed application. .School was a four way race won by Donuts. Other applicants included Fegistry and Uniregistry. .Latino was a two way race won by Dish. Dish ... read more ...
Mon 10th November 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines nets $8.4 million from auctions, .Cloud and .Book settled - Company wins by losing five auctions. New top level domain name company Minds + Machines has bolstered its bank account by $8.4 million as a result of losing five private auctions for new top level domain names. The losses included a handful of highly contested strings, such as .cloud and .book. That’s not bad for a company that originally said it wouldn’t even participate in private auctions. The company lost auctions for: .book – 9 applicants were in this ... read more ...
Tue 4th November 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines tighten to $4 million in domain registration revenue - Company says it has sold the equivalent of nearly a half million .com domain names. New top level domain name portfolio company Minds + Machines issued a press release this morning touting its results to date after launching 10 new TLDs. According to the release: The Directors are highly satisfied with the overall progress of these launches, particularly from a revenue perspective. When measured on a .com equivalent cost basis, registrations within Minds + Machines ... read more ...
Fri 19th September 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Susan Lawrence joins Minds + Machines - Former Oversee.net and Above employee to work for registry. Ron Jackson’s job placement service has just placed a new candidate. Susan Lawrence, who has worked at several domain name companies, has joined Minds + Machines as Senior Director of Affiliate Marketing. Most people in the domain industry know Lawrence from when she worked at Oversee.net from 2004-2010. She then worked for Above.com before joining Nami Media. Nami Media shut down last month, at which point ... read more ...
Tue 16th September 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines’ new domain names off to delayed start - Demand appears to have been low at launch. Minds + Machines launched its first six owned and operated top level domain names yesterday. The results can only be described as weak, at least based on overnight zone file numbers. Here’s the activity in the zone files: .Vodka 421 to 469 .Cooking 378 to 439 .Fishing 350 to 388 .Horse 287 to 327 .Country 182 to 220 .Rodeo 76 to 107 It’s possible that the zone files, which would have captured the first (busy) hours of ... read more ...
Mon 15th September 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
This is a biggest week nonetheless for new TLDs (16 domains!) - 16 domains hit the market this week. At the end of last month, I wrote about how the next 50 days would be important for new TLDs. Within that 50 days, this week is perhaps the biggest: 16 domain names will enter general availability. Call it Launch Week, and it’s really big for two of the portfolio applicants who launch their first owned-and-operated batches. Let’s get to it. Monday It’s a big day for publicly traded Minds + Machines (LSE: MMX). Last week ... read more ...
Wed 10th September 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
An instance of new TLD channel selling pleasantness of Minds + Machines - Getting registrars excited about promoting new TLDs is key to each registry’s success. I’ve written numerous times about what new TLD companies are doing to promote their domain names to end users. Just as important is marketing them to domain name registrars, which typically act as the channel to get domain names into the hands of end users. This is especially important given the flood of new domain names hitting the market every week. Here’s an example of ... read more ...
Wed 30th July 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.London’s singular “SunPriorityRush” duration ends tomorrow - Tomorrow is a key deadline for .London domain names. The .London domain name is launching, and it’s very different from previous domain name launches. I reached out to Antony Van Couvering with Minds + Machines to learn more about the .London launch. One key thing to note: the London Priority Period, which ends tomorrow, is actually open to everyone. People in London will get priority, but this is your first chance to claim domain names regardless of whether you ... read more ...
Tue 29th July 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Celebrate Broadway celebrates .Broadway win - Contention set for .broadway top level domain name won by trade association. Celebrate Broadway, Inc., a subsidiary of The Broadway League Inc., has won the contention set for the .Broadway top level domain name. Other applicants included Donuts and Key GTLD Holding Inc. One of the larger shareholders in Celebrate Broadway is a subsidiary of the same company that owns Broadway.com. The Broadway League Inc. is a non-profit that bills itself as the national trade association ... read more ...
Mon 28th July 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
A “slow” week for new TLD launches - More Donuts, but not much else. There’s not much on the docket this week for new top level domain name launches. According to the Calzone.org calendar, the only TLDs hitting general availability this week are a handful from Donuts on Wednesday. Four Donuts domain names enter regularly-priced general availability: .reisen (travel in German), .Toys, .University and .Town. A couple potential “gripe” terms enter EAP: .wtf and .fail. Given the relative lack of interest ... read more ...
Fri 18th July 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines nixes Priority Reservation System after registrars complain - Registrars complained to ICANN’s compliance department about program. Minds + Machines has nixed its Priority Reservation System for new top level domain names after registrars questioned aspects of the program. The program allowed customers to reserve domain names ahead of launch. Unlike typical pre-registrations, customers were guaranteed they’d get the domain name after sunrise since it was a program run by the registry, not registrars. Some registrars cried ... read more ...
Thu 3rd July 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines files obvious for “Domain Name Registration and Resale” - Patent describes system similar to AfternicDLS and SedoMLS but at the registry level. Minds + Machines Chairman Fred Krueger has filed a patent application (pdf) for the resale of domain names, titled “Domain Name Registration and Resale”. Here’s part of the description: Internet registries operate in the primary market for domain names and not in the secondary market. A registry has no record of whether a domain name is available for resale and, if so, at what ... read more ...
Tue 17th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Minds + Machines pays dearly for .Fashion tip turn domain name - Company essentially swaps five new TLD applications for .fashion. Minds + Machines has paid a significant sum to win a four way auction for the .fashion top level domain name. Although the company did not disclose the actual price, it disclosed this stunning fact: after considering its payoffs from losing .cricket, .pizza, .restaurant, .coupon and immo and its payment for .fashion, plus the refunds it received in withdrawn applications, it netted just £250,000 in ... read more ...
Wed 30th April 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New TLD auction prices attack highs: Minds + Machines, Uniregistry, Donuts all win some domains - Average purchase prices may be north of $3 million. By all accounts, registries paid much more to settle contention sets during last week’s private auctions than in previous ones. Minds + Machines won auctions for .garden and .yoga. It spent a net $5.97 million for the two domains once the proceeds of losing the .deals and .property private auctions and withdrawing the applications are taken into account. That means it paid much more than $6 million to win auctions ... read more ...
Thu 20th February 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain registrars doubt Minds + Machines’ Priority Reservation System - Registrar Stakeholder Group questions if Minds + Machines is complying with registry and registrar agreements. The separation between registry and registrar is being blurred with the introduction of new TLDs. For the first time, gTLD registries can also own domain name registrars. This uncharted territory is sure to lead to first time issues that need to get ironed out. Here’s the first major one to be raised. The ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG) is questioning ... read more ...
Fri 31st January 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TLDH raises $33.6 million for new tip turn domain name auctions - New TLD applicant building war chest to resolve contention sets. Top Level Domain Holdings, a publicly trade portfolio applicant for new TLDs, has conditionally raised £21 million (approximately US $33.6 million) to help it resolve new TLD contention sets. After the investment, the company will have over $48 million in cash available. This does not include an up to $15 million investment that will be used for resolving the contention set of one domain name it has ... read more ...
Mon 18th November 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TLDH launches “Priority Registration” use for new TLDs, starting during €29.95 - Service makes it easy to get first in line for some new TLDs, although premium pricing does apply. Top Level Domain Holdings has released a system for pre-registering new top level domain names, called Priority Registration. The service is enabled through the company’s Online Priority Enhanced Names database (“OPEN”) at the company’s own domain name registrar, Minds + Machines. It is also open for other domain registrars and registries to link into. It’s ... read more ...