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Reserve Price Ranges For TRAFFIC Domain Name Auction Released

May 22nd, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

The organizers of the TRAFFIC conference which will be held in Las Vegas next week just published the reserve price ranges for the domain names at the TRAFFIC auction.

70% of domain names in the auction have NO RESERVE and will be sold to the highest bidder

One of the domain names that was contributed by Nat Cohen a member of the ICA is being put up at no reserve with 100% of the proceeds going to the ICA

“Lot# 100 Cleanest.com No Reserve! All proceeds going to ICA!!”

Here is the order of the auction and the reserve price range if there is a reserve price, otherwise the domain is being sold with no reserve:
Lot# 101…3DChannel.com (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 102…3DMovie.com (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 103…3Dtraveller.com
Lot# 104…777.me (Reserve under $5K)
Lot# 105…AAAratings.com
Lot# 106…AffiliateAdNetwork.com
Lot# 107…AFQ.com (Reserve under $15K)
Lot# 108…Artist.us and Artists.us
Lot# 109…Bereaved.com
Lot# 110…Bouquet.com
Lot# 111…Breaching.com
Lot# 112…BreastImplantRemoval.com
Lot# 113…BulletProofVest.com (Reserve under $20K)
Lot# 114…CardioMD.com
Lot# 115…CashBusiness.com (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 116…CellularWallets.com
Lot# 117…ChampWrestling.com
Lot# 118…CheapClicks.com
Lot# 119…CheckBuy.com (Reserve under $8K)
Lot# 120…Coater.com
Lot# 121…ConsolidateDebt.org
Lot# 122…CustomNamePlates.com
Lot# 123…CycleClassifieds.com (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 124…DataScanners.com
Lot# 125…DelinquentAccounts.com
Lot# 126…DelinquentTaxProperties.com
Lot# 127…DivorceRate.com
Lot# 128…EuropeanAutos.com (Reserve under $12K)
Lot# 129…FantasyDomain.com
Lot# 130…FreeCityGuide.com
Lot# 131…FreeVehicleRecord.com AND FreeVinHistory.com (As one lot)
Lot# 132…Friending.com
Lot# 133…GameSnaps.com
Lot# 134…Gays.us
Lot# 135…Hindering.com
Lot# 136…illegals.com (Reserve under $5K)
Lot# 137…iloveCali.com and iloveNevada.com and iloveUtah.com (one lot)
Lot# 138…ImportRugs.com
Lot# 139…Jax.net
Lot# 140…JesusChrist.es
Lot# 141…Klaxons.com
Lot# 142…LasVegasReservations.net (Reserve under $5K)
Lot# 143…LasVegasSigns.com, PureSlots.com, VirtualSlotMachines.com (Reserve under $2K)
Lot# 144…LawnMowing.com (Reserve under $25K)
Lot# 145…MenSupplements.com
Lot# 146…MovieTheatre.com AND MovieTheater.com (Reserve under $50K)
Lot# 147…MylarTape.com
Lot# 148…NevadaRooms.com
Lot# 149…NewHomePlans.com AND NewHousePlans.com (As one lot)
Lot# 150…NudeGallery.com
Lot# 151…NYCCam.com
Lot# 152…OfficeDating.com
Lot# 153…OnlineClassrooms.com (Reserve under $5K)
Lot# 154…PetTshirts.com
Lot# 155…ProBoatRace.com and ProBoatRacing.com (1 lot) (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 156…PuppetMaster.com
Lot# 157…ReunionPlanning.com
Lot# 158…RomeRestaurants.com
Lot# 159…Silly.tv
Lot# 160…Slurpy.com
Lot# 161…StrategicWorkforce.com
Lot# 162…Therapeutic.com (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 163…Thriller.com (Reserve under $250k)
Lot# 164…Time.travel (Reserve under $2K)
Lot# 165…Topbrokers.com (Reserve under $10K)
Lot# 166…TransmissionRepairShops.com
Lot# 167…VCguys.com
Lot# 168…VehicleRecord.com
Lot# 169…VisualVoicemails.Com
Lot# 170…WhatTheF.com
Lot# 171…WorkingOvertime.com
Lot# 172…GamblingMadeEasy.com

Article source: http://www.thedomains.com/2013/05/22/reserve-price-ranges-for-traffic-auction-released/comment-page-1/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Over 1000 XBox One domains registered yesterday

May 22nd, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Microsoft’s big product launch followed by a flurry of domain registration activity.

Yesterday Microsoft announced its latest video game console called XBox One.

Immediately, cybersquatters went to work.

Over 1,000 XBox One related domain names were registered in .com alone yesterday. To be sure, some of those registrations were by Microsoft itself. But the vast majority were by other parties hoping to capitalize on the latest video game system in the XBox franchise.

Some will park the domains, others will create fan sites, and of course others will be used for scams.

People registered a number of domains related to the console itself, as well as popular games that will come to the XBox, such as XBox1Halo.com and CallofDutyXBoxOne.com.

The owner of EvilControllers.com, a site that sells modified game controllers, registered 13 domains related to mods including XBox1ModdedController.com, XBoxOneModz.com, and XBox1RapidFire.com.

Where do you want to buy your XBox One? A North Carolina man registered 18 domains in the format of XBoxOne-StoreName, such as XBoxOne-Kmart.com, XBoxOne-Amazon.com, and XBoxOne-BestBuy.com.

One person is even betting the next XBox console will be called XBox Two. That doesn’t make much sense to me, but a New Hampshire man registered 17 domains including XBoxTwoRumors.com and FreeXBoxTwo.com.

When the latest XBox service is inevitably hacked, someone using a whois proxy service is already prepared with XBoxOneHacked.com.

Cybersquatters are a creative bunch.

(Thanks Lean Domain Search for your help.)

Tags: xbox one

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/22/over-1000-xbox-one-domains-registered-yesterday/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Intellectual property lawyer guilty of reverse domain name hijacking

May 22nd, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Los Angeles attorney who practices trademark law found guilty of abusing UDRP proceedings.

A three person World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found an intellectual property lawyer guilty of attempting to engage in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking and bringing a UDRP complaint in bad faith in abuse of the administrative proceeding.

Los Angeles lawyer Frank Michael Weyer filed the case against the owner of iShades.com.

The owner of iShades.com registered the domain four years before Weyer filed an intent-to-use trademark application for iShades, and more than five years before the first use date on the trademark application.

Upon reading the decision, you’ll wonder if Weyer actually read the rules about UDRPs. The panel ruled that he failed to make even a prima facie showing that the respondent lacked rights or legitimate interests in the domain.

Complainant merely includes the conclusory assertion, unsupported by any facts, evidence, or argument, that Respondent lacks legitimate rights in the disputed domain name. The remaining assertions of the Complaint (reproduced in Section 5.A.2 and 5.A.3 above) relate to the element of bad faith—and are equally unsupported.

In contrast, Respondent provided documentary evidence that establishes that it acquired the disputed domain name ishades.com several years before Complainant sought and obtained his trademark registration. Respondent’s documentary evidence is hardly obscure—the date Respondent acquired the disputed domain name ishades.com is found in the WhoIs record and the date that Complainant acquired its trademark rights is found in the U.S. Trademark Office database. Had he not actually known these facts, Complainant could have easily discovered them with minimal due diligence.

The Panel concludes that these facts were in all likelihood known to Complainant at the time he filed the Complaint and that the Complaint itself is frivolous.

The WIPO panel also believed that Meyer “materially mischaracterized” communications between Meyer and the domain owner regarding acquiring the domain name. It also determined:

The allegations of the Complaint were unsupported by documentary evidence, despite the fact that such evidence exists, could have been discovered after a few minutes of Internet research or would have been in Complainant’s possession. This includes such basic evidence as a copy of the trademark registration upon which the Complaint is based and copies of the communications between the parties.

The respondent was represented by John Berryhill.

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/22/intellectual-property-lawyer-guilty-of-reverse-domain-name-hijacking/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Half of Small Business Owners are Dissatisfied With Their Web Presence, According to National Survey

May 22nd, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

With hundreds of millions of websites already online, chances are great
that someone else has already snapped up a small business owner’s first
choice domain name. As a result, many small business owners have settled
for less than perfect alternatives, leading to dissatisfaction, and in
some cases, lost business. A new national survey by Wakefield Research,
commissioned by .CO, found that nearly
half of small business owners are not completely satisfied with their
current domain name.

Wakefield conducted the survey in April 2013 among 500 small business
owners at companies with 100 employees or less. Among other things, the
results show that:

49% of small business owners tried more than one domain name before
settling on their current one
55% believe they have lost business by not having their first choice
domain name
52% would change their current domain name given the opportunity

Beyond dissatisfaction with their current domain names, the survey shows
that the vast majority of small business owners lack the knowledge
necessary to make informed domain name buying decisions. For instance,
when choosing a domain name, 63% of small business owners fail to even
consider the domain name’s “extension” (that is, the letters that come
to the right of the dot, like .org, .com, .co, etc.); and upward of 80%
do not consider the name’s potential impact on critical business
drivers, like social and mobile media.

“It has never been more important for small business owners to
understand and leverage the power of a good domain name,” said Lori Anne
Wardi, co-founder and VP at .CO. “The right web address, built on a
global, credible domain extension, can make it easy for people to find,
remember and refer you customers – and to drive your business forward.”

In the next year, the Internet is expected to change dramatically, with
hundreds of new domain extensions launching, such as .nyc, .green, .app,
.movie, etc. “Small business owners who understand the distinctions
among the different domain extensions, and can make the most informed
choices, will be best positioned to survive and thrive online,” said
Wardi.

Methodological Notes:

The .CO Survey was conducted by Wakefield
Research among 500 small business owners at companies with 100
employees or less, between April 19-29, 2013, using an email invitation
and an online survey. Results of any sample are subject to sampling
variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected
by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing
the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the
chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus,
by more than 4.4 percentage points from the result that would be
obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the
universe represented by the sample.

About .CO

.CO
is the domain name of choice for innovators and entrepreneurs all over
the world. Since launching in 2010, the .CO domain has been registered
by more than 1.5 million people and companies in more than 200
countries. From startups and small businesses to big brands and
multinational corporations, .CO is where big ideas belong on the Web.
For more information about .CO, please visit www.go.co
or follow us on Twitter @dotCO.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/half-small-business-owners-dissatisfied-110000641.html

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Here’s what ICANN’s board decided on Saturday

May 22nd, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Board passes resolution that might delay certain new TLDs and approves a new UDRP provider.

While most of us were hanging with our families or on the golf course this weekend, ICANN’s board was approving a number of resolutions that could have a big affect on some parts of the domain name industry. Here’s what the board decided:

Some new TLDs may be delayed or rejected based on internal name conflicts. ICANN is going to further investigate the potential for security issues related to certain applied-for new TLDs and internally use domains such as .home. I would expect, at minimum, a delay on certain domain names.

There’s a new UDRP provider. Add Arab Center for Dispute Resolution to the list of approved UDRP providers. No, they won’t have to sign a contract, which means they’ll have some flexibility in changing their supplemental rules. Czech Arbitration Court, for example, adjusted its supplemental rules to allow a low cost UDRP option.

Approval of the FY 2014 budget will be late. ICANN’s 2014 fiscal year begins in June, but the budget won’t be approved until the July meeting in Durban. There’s also an open comment period for the fiscal plan right now. As a result, ICANN will go ahead with the proposed budget come June 1, and then approve it later.

Pack your bags for Los Angeles. The third ICANN meeting of 2014 will be October 12-16 in Los Angeles, where ICANN’s headquarters are located. (TRAFFIC organizers should take note when planning their fall conference next year.)

Fadi got his bonus, and something else happened… New ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade will get his second trimester of FY13 at-risk bonus. The board also approved a confidential resolution related to “personnel or employment matters”.

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/22/heres-what-icanns-board-decided-on-saturday/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Small Businesses Lack Education on Domain Name Decisions

May 22nd, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

The majority of small businesses lack critical knowledge necessary to make informed domain name buying decisions.

Nearly half of small-business owners are not completely satisfied with their current domain name, and with hundreds of millions of Websites already online, chances are great that someone else has already snapped up a small-business owner’s first choice domain name, according to a study by Wakefield Research.
The survey, conducted among 500 small-business owners (companies with 100 or fewer employees), indicated that 49 percent of small-business owners tried more than one domain name before settling on their current one, 55 percent believe they have lost business by not having their first choice domain name, and 52 percent would change their current domain name given the opportunity.
“It has never been more important for small business owners to understand and leverage the power of a good domain name,” Lori Anne Wardi, co-founder and vice president at .CO Internet, which manages and markets the .co domain, said in a statement. “The right web address, built on a global, credible domain extension, can make it easy for people to find, remember and refer you customers—and to drive your business forward.”
In the next year, the Internet is expected to change dramatically, with hundreds of new domain extensions launching, such as .nyc, .green, .app and .movie. Small-business owners who understand the distinctions among the different domain extensions, and can make the most informed choices, will be best positioned to survive and thrive online, Wardi said.

Beyond dissatisfaction with their current domain names, the survey shows that the vast majority of small-business owners lack the knowledge necessary to make informed domain name buying decisions. For instance, when choosing a domain name, 63 percent of small-business owners fail to even consider the domain name’s extension (that is, the letters that come to the right of the dot, such as.org, .com and .co), and upward of 80 percent said they do not consider the name’s potential impact on critical business drivers, like social and mobile media.

Although small-business owners recognize the power of social media in engaging customers, most lack the expertise to apply the latest digital marketing tools to their companies, according to a recent survey conducted by office products giant Staples.
More than half (53 percent) of small-business owners said they are either novices or do not consider how social media can help their business, 40 percent of small businesses feel that their social media channel use has helped their business, and 61 percent of small businesses use at least one social media channel.

Article source: http://www.eweek.com/small-business/small-businesses-lack-education-on-domain-name-decisions/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

About.me Goes Premium: $4/Month to Use Your Own Domain

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

More than three months after About.me ‘bought itself back’ from AOL, spinning itself out as an independent company once again, the San Francisco-based startup is now ramping things up a notch by introducing personalized domain names for its online identity platform.

The service constitutes part of its new freemium business model, which sees About.me move away from a completely free offering to a 3-tiered subscription level.

Existing users can continue to use the free About.me incarnation as normal, but there’s now an option to upgrade for $4 a month, which lets them use their own domain name. In real terms, this means you can use, say ‘mydomain.com’, and have your About.me profile appear directly on it.

For those who don’t already own their own domain, About.me is also partnering with NameCheap.com to guide users through the buying and setting-up process. It’s worth adding here that if you use your own domain name, you will of course need to find your own host – this is where NameCheap.com comes in to play.

Upgrading to $4/month also lets you remove the About.me branding from the top of your page, if you choose to remain on the hosted About.me/username domain. Furthermore, you can now gain access to Google Analytics which will let you glean specific data relating to traffic that arrives on your site, which will be open to both hosted and personalized domain-using customers.

An additional $9/month subscription level will be introduced in the next few months, which essentially buys you prominence across the About.me network, including in the Directory and through search. This will be powered by Wefollow’s technology, which About.me acquired earlier this month – Wefollow was founded as a Twitter directory back in 2009, by Jeff Hodsdon and Kevin Rose while they were still at Digg.

The story so far

About.me was co-founded by Ryan Freitas [see customized About.me domain here], Tony Conrad and Tim Young in October 2009, before launching to the public in December the following year. It was swiftly acquired by AOL for what was thought to be tens of millions of dollars.

Then, almost exactly two years later, About.me announced it was becoming a startup again. While full details of the buyout weren’t revealed, Freitas and Conrad said that it was financially backed by the management team and a group of investors “who have backed companies such as WordPress and Google.” AOL retained an 8% stake in About.me.

About.me has launched a slew of new features in recent times, including a WordPress widget to display a user’s profile in their blog’s sidebar, while last month YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud embeds were enabled.

Personal branding

Customized domains have been a long-time coming, and today’s news positions it alongside the likes of Tumblr or WordPress, which offer both fully-hosted, branded blogging services, as well as customized domains.

“At About.me, we’re constantly seeking feedback from our users and customized domain names has been the most requested feature for quite some time,” explains co-founder Conrad.

About.me, of course, is different to the aforementioned blogging platforms, but this latest move hints at the direction it’s heading. As things stand, About.me still serves as a fairly straight-forward online profile portal, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising if we started seeing a far richer offering, with dedicated ‘sections’ for portfolios, videos and so on, though Conrad remained tight-lipped on what, if anything, we can expect to see moving forward. “We’re taking a close look at our product pipeline in order to deliver on the desktop and mobile features that matter most to our users,” he says.

From a free-to-premium conversion perspective, what will About.me classify as ‘successful’? “We have internal targets that are in line with what typically happens in other web services, anything between 2%-5% is reasonable as a starting point,” explains Conrad. “The initial focus on domain-mapping and branding-reduction is just one of many offerings we’ll begin to roll out.”

So, 2013 could be the year About.me evolves beyond recognition. What started life as a simple, hosted one-page profile back in 2010 is now sprouting arms and legs, and it will be interesting to see how the service looks a year from now.

The premium upgrade service will be open to all users shortly.

Feature Image Credit – Thinkstock

Article source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/21/about-me/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

GoDaddy gets two patents for domain appraisal

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Paul Nicks’ inventions related to name spinning and appraisals get patent protection.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office today issued two patents to GoDaddy related to name spinning and appraisal.

U.S. Patent number 8,447,701 is titled “Appraising domain names using comparative data” and 8,447,702 (pdf) is “Domain appraisal algorithm”.

The patents have lots of overlapping material. They cover name spinning to create permutations of domain names as well as multiple aspects of automatically generating a domain name appraisal.

Here’s a summary of some of the aspects of domain valuation that the patent describes:

The appraisal may be accomplished by breaking the valuation of the domain into five logical groupings, possibly including evaluation of “5 P’s” related to the domain name. Evaluation of “precision” may include the number of distinct keywords found, the length of the name and the number of keywords found in the dictionary. Evaluation of “popularity” may include various search engine search result metrics and tracking of words searched per month. Evaluation of “presence” may include the age of the domain, and the rank of the web site according to web ranking services or software. Evaluation of “pattern” may include the number of premium characters, the part of speech (such as noun, plural noun, verb, adjective, etc., possibly considering if the domain is a one word domain), the relationship of vowels and consonants etc. (possibly considering if the domain is a 4-5 character word). Evaluation of Pay-Per-Click, or PPC, may include the maximum number of pay-per-click bids from various advertising tracking services or software, and the number of ads returned within search engine searches. A dynamic multiplier based on registration statistics for each of several top level domains (TLDs) may then be applied to the domain evaluation. This multiplier may be used to give a very accurate measure of domain scarcity to let a user or evaluator know how rare a domain name is.

Paul Nicks, Director of Product Development GoDaddy.com’s Aftermarket, is listed as inventor on both patents.

Tags: domain appraisal, GoDaddy, patents, paul nicks

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/21/godaddy-gets-two-patents-for-domain-appraisal/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

XBoxOne.com domain name was registered in 2002

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

XBoxOne.com, the matching domain for Microsoft’s new video game system, was originally registered more than 10 years ago.

Microsoft today unveiled its new XBox video game system called XBox One.

Microsoft does not own the domain name XBoxOne.com, which currently resolves to a GoDaddy “coming soon” page.

The domain name was registered in 2002 by Xbox Rodents and was used for a site called XBox1. It then expired in 2011 and was registered by someone in London. XBox Rodents also owned XBox1.com and let it expire in 2011 as well.

So the big question: how important is it that Microsoft owns the domain name?

The main web site for all generations of the XBox is XBox.com, so you could argue that XBoxOne.com isn’t that important. On the other hand, XBoxOne.com could be use by someone for nefarious purposes or to “hijack” the sales channel.

I suspect Microsoft will own the domain name soon. I just don’t know which approach they’ll take to acquiring the domain.

Tags: xbox one

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/21/xboxone-com-domain-name-was-registered-in-2002/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Domain Mediaries Announces Its Offering of MyAlgo.com, FundMoi.com, and HologramCelebs.com

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – May 21, 2013) – Domain Mediaries, a domain name brokerage specializing in high-end domain acquisitions and sales for select clients, today announced the availability of the valuable brands MyAlgo.com, HologramCelebs.com, and FundMoi.com. The asking price for MyAlgo.com is $20,000, while HologramCelebs.com and FundMoi.com are listed at $10,000 each.

“Crowdfunding is now experiencing exponential growth and the acquisition of FundMoi.com (’me’ in French) will enable an investor to be on the ground floor of an industry that is only in its infancy,” said Edmund J. Ferdinand, III, president of Domain Mediaries. In 2012, over $2.7 billion was raised via crowdfunding, a total that’s expected to double this year according to Massolution, a research and advisory firm.

MyAlgo.com is a launch ready brand with instant brandability, enabling its purchaser to be a credible player in the multi-billion dollar software industry. Algo trading accounts for two-thirds of all share volume on Wall Street. And with the ever-growing use of and reliance on Internet technologies, social media, and mobile applications this brand provides endless opportunity for monetization.

The Tupac hologram at Coachella was a watershed moment in the world of entertainment, generating over 21 million views on YouTube — and endless buzz. This trend of showcasing celebrities through holograms is expected to accelerate, and is expected to be a major feature at the upcoming Rock the Bells festival. The owner of the HologramCelebs.com brand has to opportunity to harness the insatiable interest in celebrity news, and the inevitable demand in seeing celebrity holograms. “This launch ready brand will have instant mass appeal, and as the hologram industry grows so will the value of this web brand,” said Daniel Lacy, Vice President of Business Affairs for Domain Mediaries.

Domain Mediaries is an exclusive service specializing in the sale of high-caliber website domain names. The company also offers full-service branding and can assist in all facets of strategic development, marketing and monetization of brands. Domain Mediaries’ portfolio of dozens of well-established and high-traffic domains features prominent branding opportunities.

Interested parties should contact Domain Mediaries by email at DanLacy@DomainMediaries.com, by phone at 203-291-9509 or by fax at 203-905-6750. All negotiations will be handled on a confidential basis.

About Domain Mediaries

Successful business partnerships are based on trust, commitment, and results. These are our core values and the foundation of our business. From our perspective, the credibility of each party to a business transaction is absolutely fundamental. As such, we are highly selective in choosing our business partners. Our principal goal is to become the most exclusive brand brokerage house in the United States and worldwide. And we have the people, skills, and connections to succeed.

Much more than a domain name brokerage, Domain Mediaries is a full-service branding organization that can assist in all facets of strategic development, marketing and monetization of brands. To learn more, visit: http://www.DomainMediaries.com

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/domain-mediaries-announces-offering-myalgo-151500756.html

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

You decide: which of these should be Domain Name Wire’s new logo?

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Help pick the next logo for Domain Name Wire.

Click the image to see the full size version.

I ran a logo contest on 99Designs and now need to select which logos go on to the final round.

I’ve learned a lot with this logo contest, and I’ll share some of my insight later.

But for now, I’d like your help. Please take a moment to look at these 13 logo designs and let me know which ones you like best (or hate the most).

“They all suck” isn’t quite as helpful, but I’ll take all feedback.

Keep in mind that I’m in the process of redesigning Domain Name Wire, so you don’t need to worry about how well the logos fit with the current color scheme. Also, if you really like a logo but not one small thing about it, I can still get it tweaked.

Thanks.

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/21/you-decide-which-of-these-should-be-domain-name-wires-new-logo/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Verisign questions ICANN’s letter posting policies

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Company suggests ICANN is only posting letters that “will advance its positions”.

Verisign has sent a letter to ICANN questioning why it isn’t publishing certain correspondence on the ICANN.org web site.

ICANN has a section on its web site where it publishes many letters it receives and sends.

But Verisign says ICANN hasn’t published three prior letters the company sent regarding the proposed new domain registry agreement. The company says it is aware of other letters sent to ICANN regarding the registry contract that have not been published.

Verisign’s latest letter has been “published” because the company submitted it to the comment board about the contract.

The new letter includes three previous letters the company sent to Verisign’s general counsel dated February 20, February 15, and January 30. Verisign did not receive a response to the letters, nor were they published.

The February 20th letter criticizes ICANN for what it says is a lack of transparency and selective disclosure of correspondence related to the new TLD program. Verisign points out that ICANN published the Verisigns’s January 8 letter declining to participate in ICANN’s contractual compliance audit (which was negative for Verisign) but hasn’t published Verisign’s recent letters about the registry agreement.

“Because ICANN has published no criteria on how it decides to make letters public, we are left to conclude that ICANN posts only those letters it believes will advance its positions and withholds those thought to be critical,” the company wrote.

A quick look at the correspondence page shows that ICANN does publish critical letters, but it’s also true that none of Verisign’s letters included in the post have been published.

I have reached out to ICANN for clarification on what its rules are (if any) for publishing correspondence on its web site.

Tags: icann, VeriSign

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/20/verisign-questions-icanns-letter-posting-policies/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

ETM.com bid to over $15000 at Hilco auction

May 21st, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

ETM.com sees early bidding action, but Bargain.com is the headline domain.

ETM.com has attracted three bidders and 12 bids at the Hilco Streambank auction that ends tomorrow. As of now the domain has been bid up to $15,058.

So far the more expensive domain names haven’t received any bids, but I’d expect interested parties to wait until closer to the end of the auction on Wednesday.

The best name in the auction is Bargain.com, which is being sold along with the typo Bargin.com. The minimum bid is $166,000 with no reserve.

The domain has been offered previously by Sedo and Moniker, but with a much higher price tag. Its reserve in a Moniker auction last year was over $750,000.

At $166,000, it’s possible that a buyer will think Bargain.com is a bargain.

The package of domain names from bankrupt electronics company Tweeter, including Tweeter.com and TWTR.com, has an opening bid of $150,000.

Tags: bargain.com, etm.com, hilco

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/21/etm-com-bid-to-over-15000-at-hilco-auction/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

K.im domain name gets $20000 bid at Sedo

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

One letter Isle of Man domain may sell for $20,000 at Sedo.

The domain name K.im has a $20,000 offer at Sedo, and an “auction” for the domain name ends tomorrow.

.IM is the country code top level domain for Isle of Man.

According to DNSalePrice, a handful of .im domain names have sold over the years, with the top reported sale being Mobile.im for $7,000 back in 2008. If that’s the case, then this would be the largest public .im sale of all time.

That assumes it goes through. The current bidder had to complete “Premium Certification” in order to bid, which means sending in a bank statement or utility bill from within the last 60 days and a
government issued photo ID (passport, drivers license, etc). So it’s likely the bidder is legit, although sometimes accidental bids are placed.

Who would want to buy k.im? Perhaps a wealthy person or celebrity, such as Mega founder Kim Dotcom. Or maybe Kim Kardashian learned a thing or two about domain names at Webfest?

Tags: .im domains, isle of man, k.im, sedo

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/20/k-im-domain-name-gets-20000-bid-at-sedo/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

McAuliffe launches Women for Terry, forgets to buy domain name

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

posted at 12:54 pm on May 20, 2013 by Mary Katharine Ham

It was supposed to be a warm, fuzzy women’s coalition site for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, but it’s got no url! What now?

Unfortunately, McAuliffe forgot to buy the domain “WomenForTerry.com.” Instead, someone else bought it and set up a site making light about two incidents McAuliffe writes about in his 1997 book. In one, he skipped out for a Washington Post party while his wife was in labor with his daughter. (Note that despite the meme at right, McAuliffe wrote that he was present for his daughter’s birth.)

In the other incident, on the way home from the hospital from the birth of his son, McAuliffe writes that he left his wife and newborn in the car so that he could run in and make an appearance at a Democratic Party fundraiser.

Enjoy WomenforTerry.com. The goof on the credit-card line is my favorite. He really said this:

“She’s got a great life. Listen, her credit cards are paid and all that. She knows I do very well. But she has no idea. Myself and my accountants are the only people who know.”

Recently in the Green Room:

Video: Time for another “Anchorman 2″ teaser trailer
Gibbs: I don’t read Maureen Dowd. Dowd: Backatcha
State Dept has no position on male-only election in Iran
China’s hackers are back at it
Dan Pfeiffer – Mr. Irrelevant

Article source: http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2013/05/20/mcauliffe-launces-women-for-terry-forgets-to-buy-domain-name/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Build Your Startup On A Vacant Domain Name

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Domain bench, engraved with country domain names such as .uk, .us, .nz, etc., on Cathedral Lawn. (credit: Wikipedia)

This is part two of a two-part series on domain names and startups; part 1 was “Should a Startup Spend VC Funding on a Domain Name?”.

I’ve written in the past about how to identify a great startup opportunity. Let me propose a path few take: find an under-monetized domain name and start a business on it.

The secret of building a business on a Tier-1 domain name is that a great domain name (short, memorable, meaningful, .com, etc.) is worth millions—if and only if a real business can monetize it. ff Venture Capital has numerous companies which have acquired or launched with blue-chip domain names, e.g., Alerts.com, Gobbler.com, Identified.com, Patents.com, Phone.com, and Plated.com. Those domains are valuable because of the companies built on them, not because of the domains alone.

You don’t need a lot (or any) cash to get a great domain name. Buying a domain name is like buying real estate – capital-intensive and risky. The last thing a startup needs is MORE risk. That’s why our portfolio company Plated.com decided to structure a lease option – they offered the prior owner a small monthly lease fee for 1 year, with an option to buy at the end of the year. This way, if the business was thriving and Plated had managed to attract capital, they’d be able to purchase the domain outright. If not, the current owner would earn a healthy rent for his (as of then unused) domain and would still retain ownership. In the end, Plated was able to use the domain to prove out its minimal viable product for a nominal amount of cash, raise capital, and purchase the domain in full.

Ari Rabban, CEO of our portfolio company Phone.com, said, “I saw many great business opportunities in the telecom space fail because of marketing. When I had my idea for a virtual / cloud-based phone system, I could not imagine the ability to work with such a domain, so it was a no-brainer when I had the opportunity to build on the Phone.com domain. It gives us instant credibility, high visibility in the search engines, and significant traffic, even apart from the value of the services we have built on top of it.”

Most startups fail, but building your startup on premium internet real estate can significantly lower your risk. “If failure means liquidating all assets, with investors losing most or all the money they put into the company, then the failure rate for start-ups is 30 to 40 percent.” according to Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. “If failure refers to failing to see the projected return on investment, then the failure rate is 70 to 80 percent.” I’d like to reduce the odds of you falling into the failure bucket.

According to Braden Pollock of Legal Brand Marketing, approximately 50 million names – 20% of all registered domains — are parked. These domainers are waiting for a real business to come along and offer 3-8 figures for their name. Many of them have been holding valuable domain names since the mid-1990s, and still haven’t monetized them. That pressures their asking price down, given they’ve been holding some domains for a high percentage of their total career. The traditional ways they’ve monetized domains – type-in traffic in particular, but also lead generation—are not working as well as they used to.

As an entrepreneur, you can identify un-monetized or under-monetized domain names, and then approach the owner with your startup idea. They’ll very likely be amenable to giving you use of the name, and may also have capital to contribute. Aaron Patzer, for example, knew that Mint.com was a valuable domain name, but couldn’t afford it initially. So he sold the owner some equity in his startup, which was worth a few million dollars when Mint exited. Another route is to approach a lender like Domain Capital that is familiar with the industry and will finance the domain at rates far better than traditional financing. Some lenders can provide loans at around 12% annually, according to Braden Pollock.

To find under-monetized domain names, think of characteristics that give domain names inherent value (usage, memorability, industry-relevance, brand-able etc.) . Look up the domains pertinent to your areas of expertise, and see which are parked or resolve to an underdeveloped mini-site. If you have industry background in patents and see, for example, that patents.com is not monetized as much as you think it should be, then you should start thinking about a business you can build on that real estate.

More generally, look for high quality names that have low traffic. These domains are likely under-monetized. A simple tactic would be to employ an automated process to collect traffic data for domain names corresponding to each of the 100,000 most used English words or search terms. Graph usage against traffic and investigate those names which fall significantly below the line of best fit. If you’ve done this and can share the results, please note in the comments. Google Adwords Keywords Tool is helpful for this exercise.

Another option: look on the sites of such domain name investors as Archeo, Demand Media, GlobalVentures, iREIT (portfolio handled by DomainHoldings), Oversee.net, and World Accelerator. You can also look on the domain name marketplaces, such as Sedo.com (the largest), AfterMarket.com, Afternic.com, BuyDomains.com, DomainMarket.com, or DomainNameSales.com.

Until domain names are developed, domain owners monetize their domains through platforms (e.g., the services provided by DomainSponsor.com, owned by Oversee.net) which manage parked pages. These pages generate related text ads that monetize the traffic visiting the sites, but they are usually low value to end users. Which business has more value?:

1) A website about all things plates: china plates, replacement plates, etc., OR

2) A site that does most of the food prep for you, so you can focus on eating fresh home-cooked food, with the high-credibility name “Plated.com?

Clearly, the real operating business will have more value in the long run…but a high quality team has to build it. I mentioned earlier World Accelerator.com, a unique accelerator program which helps entrepreneurs build value on top of premium domain names. VentureCamp.com is another roughly similar program. Gary Millin, CEO of World Accelerator, said, “We recognize that we have a vast portfolio of underutilized assets in our parked domains and are actively seeking talented teams to partner with for development. Beyond the domain we also strive to provide support to our companies to foster success. Names like calendar.com, fact.com, and teacher.com are among the many names available. We know the right team can leverage these names to accelerate their business and in doing so can create value for themselves and us as partners. Like a VC, we want to see a leadership team with vision and the ability to execute and a strong plan for the brand. If we find the right partner, we can be flexible in deal structures to best align everyone’s interests. We have demonstrated this model can and does work with repeated success. Good examples so far: take a look at Doctor.com which is better connecting patients and doctors, Lawyer.com which is the place people are going to find a lawyer when needed, and USA.com which makes local data on the USA more accessible.”

There is no standard template for a deal with a domain name owner. Each deal is different depending on the domain name brand, your team, your stage and resources, the market opportunity, and personal objectives. Following are some sample terms from Gary Millin that demonstrate the levers that he has used to reach agreements at World Accelerator with its partners:

Upfront: No upfront payment by the team for use of domain to build their business:
1. Domain contributed to the business, and the team has full benefits of access to the brand to leverage with their customers and partners.
Development Term: During the length of the term for developing the company:
1. Low cost quarterly or annual payments made to the domain owner. Payments start lower to allow more capital to be invested in the business, and then can grow over time as the business matures.
2. Potential for agreed-upon minimum milestones to be used to replace or supplement fees as a way to demonstrate the business is being developed.
3. Ownership and upside can be traded for lowering fees.
Exit: Many options for structuring an exit depending on the objectives of the entrepreneur.
1. Fixed price buyout so that the team retains the upside for their hard work and success.
2. Ownership for the domain owner can be offered to provide upside and reduce the fixed cost buyout amounts. Gary said they usually get very excited about the companies they end up working with, and prefer to trade some fixed cost for more upside opportunity.
3. In some cases where a balloon payment might not make sense, there is also the opportunity to provide instead for ongoing fees which level off with just an adjustment for inflation.
Contingencies: If a business fails:
1. The domain owner has an opportunity to reclaim the domain. The business keeps its platform, content and customers.

The objective of the agreement is to give the leadership team the freedom to run and build as big a business as they can, and to let them leverage the domain brand, without taxing them too heavily upfront. If the business can meet its plan, then there is plenty of room for both the team and the domain owner to benefit from the relationship.”

You’ll want to approach the domain investor prior to securing or announcing VC funding. The more you can pay for the domain, the more a savvy investor will want to charge. You may not be able to buy the domain outright, but you’ll probably be able to work out a deal. For obvious reasons, the first step of a domain owner getting an inbound inquiry is to research who the buyer is and why they want the name, which directly impacts pricing.

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidteten/2013/05/20/build-your-startup-on-a-vacant-domain-name/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Three Character Domain Name to Be Auctioned at TRAFFIC Domain Auction in Las Vegas

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is known throughout the world as the must-attended domain conference for serious and successful domain name investors, entrepreneurs and successful business people join for networking,

Besides the fact that there’s instant appeal in short domain names based on rarity, they convey massive authority and are easier to type for mobile users

(New York, NY) (PRWEB) May 20, 2013

SEARCHEN NETWORKS®, an Internet advertising and marketing company has announced it will auction a three (3) character web address, namely Jax.net, in a No-reserve live auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas being held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas from May 29 – June 1.

“Demand is very strong for quality short domain names which are easy to remember,” said John Colascione, author of “Mastering Your Website” and Chief Executive Officer of SEARCHEN NETWORKS®. “Besides the fact that there’s instant appeal in short domain names based on rarity, they convey massive authority and are easier to type for mobile users.”

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is known throughout the world as the must-attended domain conference for serious and successful domain name investors, entrepreneurs and successful business people join for networking, fun and acquiring great deals on domains.

For more information on T.R.A.F.F.I.C., please visit http://targetedtraffic.com.

About SEARCHEN NETWORKS®

SEARCHEN NETWORKS® is a pioneer in search engine marketing. The SEARCHEN® mission is, and has always been, to provide services poised at increasing a company’s overall visibility on the Internet. Providing customers around the world with Internet domain names (web addresses), web hosting, SSL certificates and more, SEARCHEN NETWORKS® services its own network of media properties and provides expert Internet consulting to a select group of clients throughout the United States.

For more information on SEARCHEN NETWORKS®, please visit https://www.searchen.com.

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Article source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/traffic-domain-auction/jax-domain-name/prweb10749078.htm

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Build Your Startup On A Vacant Domain Name

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Domain bench, engraved with country domain names such as .uk, .us, .nz, etc., on Cathedral Lawn. (credit: Wikipedia)

This is part two of a two-part series on domain names and startups; part 1 was “Should a Startup Spend VC Funding on a Domain Name?”.

I’ve written in the past about how to identify a great startup opportunity. Let me propose a path few take: find an under-monetized domain name and start a business on it.

1) A website about all things plates: china plates, replacement plates, etc., OR

2) A site that does most of the food prep for you, so you can focus on eating fresh home-cooked food, with the high-credibility name “Plated.com?

Upfront: No upfront payment by the team for use of domain to build their business:
1. Domain contributed to the business, and the team has full benefits of access to the brand to leverage with their customers and partners.
Development Term: During the length of the term for developing the company:
1. Low cost quarterly or annual payments made to the domain owner. Payments start lower to allow more capital to be invested in the business, and then can grow over time as the business matures.
2. Potential for agreed-upon minimum milestones to be used to replace or supplement fees as a way to demonstrate the business is being developed.
3. Ownership and upside can be traded for lowering fees.
Exit: Many options for structuring an exit depending on the objectives of the entrepreneur.
1. Fixed price buyout so that the team retains the upside for their hard work and success.
2. Ownership for the domain owner can be offered to provide upside and reduce the fixed cost buyout amounts. Gary said they usually get very excited about the companies they end up working with, and prefer to trade some fixed cost for more upside opportunity.
3. In some cases where a balloon payment might not make sense, there is also the opportunity to provide instead for ongoing fees which level off with just an adjustment for inflation.
Contingencies: If a business fails:
1. The domain owner has an opportunity to reclaim the domain. The business keeps its platform, content and customers.

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidteten/2013/05/20/build-your-startup-on-a-vacant-domain-name/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Three Character Domain Name to Be Auctioned at TRAFFIC Domain Auction in …

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is known throughout the world as the must-attended domain conference for serious and successful domain name investors, entrepreneurs and successful business people join for networking,

Besides the fact that there’s instant appeal in short domain names based on rarity, they convey massive authority and are easier to type for mobile users

(New York, NY) (PRWEB) May 20, 2013

For more information on T.R.A.F.F.I.C., please visit http://targetedtraffic.com.

About SEARCHEN NETWORKS®

For more information on SEARCHEN NETWORKS®, please visit https://www.searchen.com.

PDF

Print

Article source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/traffic-domain-auction/jax-domain-name/prweb10749078.htm

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Every restaurant should get one of these websites

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

A mobile friendly website for restaurants that doesn’t have any of my pet peeves.

On Friday I received a press release from GoDaddy about how its website builder had new functionality and specific templates for restaurants.

It was Friday afternoon and I generally don’t care much about small business website builders. The combination of these two led me to click the “delete” button. But then I quickly hit “undo”.

Wait? Did that say specialized websites for restaurants? Did it also mention mobile?

You see, one thing that annoys me to no end is restaurant websites. As a whole, they are horrible.

The key problem is that they aren’t design for mobile. Yet restaurant websites are the one category I primarily browse from a mobile device. You know the experience — you’re out somewhere, want to get something to eat, and start looking for something online. Or you know where you want to eat but would like to call ahead to get your name on the waitlist.

So you search for the restaurant’s website. It comes up.

Then you try to click the phone number on the site to call the restaurant and it doesn’t work. You tap your finger several times before you realize they made the phone number a graphic rather than text, so the phone doesn’t recognize that it’s a phone number. You then have to remember the number, switch to your dialer, and type it in.

Or you find an interesting restaurant in the area and want to see the menu. You click the menu link…and it’s a PDF.

Yes, a PDF. I’d bet 9 our of 10 restaurants have a pdf for their online menu. That’s very annoying when you’re on a mobile device.

OK, now back to the GoDaddy product. I figured I’d check it out and see if it “solved” the problem of restaurant web pages.

The example GoDaddy provided in its press release is Malee’s Thai Bistro in Scottsdale. I visited the site from my Droid, and the screenshot in this post is what I saw.

It was darn near perfect. A button to call. A button to pull up the map. A button to view the menu…and it’s not a PDF. (The menu’s are actually managed by a third party service that let’s restaurants update them easily.)

The site was mobile optimized. A quick scroll and you can see the hours.

The only thing missing was a link to OpenTable to make a reservation, although I don’t know if Malee’s uses OpenTable.

I’m not going to opine on the desktop version. But from a mobile standpoint, I love it.

I’m sure there are other good website builders for restaurants. In fact, if you search for Malee’s you’ll find a website that I assume is an older one they created with another company. It’s not bad, either.

Regardless of which builder a restaurant uses, I wish more would get on the bandwagon.

Tags: mobile website, restaurant website

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/20/every-restaurant-should-get-one-of-these-websites/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

The .lu Domain Name Registry Introduces A Domain Name Freezing Procedure

May 20th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

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Article source: http://www.mondaq.com/x/240022/Trademark/The+lu+domain+name+registry+introduces+a+domain+name+freezing+procedure

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

DMARC email standards help prevent brand abuse in phishing campaigns

May 19th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Network World – When we think of the victim in a phishing attack, we think of the unfortunate email recipient that has fallen for a ruse and
has given away their sensitive information or downloaded malware to their computer. But there’s often another victim in a
phishing attack: the company whose brand has been usurped for the purpose of delivering a convincing message, albeit an illegitimate
one.

Think of the PayPals, the UPSs and the Citibanks of the world — the companies whose reputations suffer every time some cybercriminal
spoofs a message so that it appears to come from them, businesses the recipient knows and trusts. According to the Anti-Phishing
Working Group, an average of 418 companies had their good names besmirched as part of a phishing attempt each month in the
last quarter of 2012. Perhaps your own company was among them.

[ FAQ: Phishing tactics and how attackers get away with it

BACKGROUND: Google, Microsoft and others putting kibosh on phishing emails ]

Now there is a technical specification that builds on other email standards to help reduce the potential for email-based abuse
of a brand. The specification is called DMARC, which stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance.
To explain the purpose of DMARC, we have to go back in time before email authentications standards existed.

Suppose you receive an email message that appears to come from your Local Bank, whose domain is LocalBank.com. With the original
email standards anyone could say they were sending email from LocalBank.com, so someone who knows you have a relationship
with Local Bank could tell you that you need to reset your password and then send you a link to a fraudulent website to capture
your password, account information or other sensitive information.

In this context, the fundamental challenge the messaging industry wanted to solve is message authentication. As the recipient
of the email, you need to have confidence that a message that purports to be from LocalBank.com really was issued by Local
Bank and not by some entity pretending to be the bank.

There are two standards for email authentication. One is SPF, which stands for Sender Policy Framework, and the other is DKIM,
or DomainKeys Identified Mail.

SPF is basically an IP-based path-based authentication mechanism. It allows Local Bank to tell receivers such as Comcast,
Gmail and Yahoo, “These are the IP addresses or the third parties that are allowed to send mail on my behalf and these are
the IP addresses that they are sending from. If you see something that is not coming from any of these IP addresses, then
it doesn’t pass SPF and the mail can be rejected.” The intention is that spoofed email will never get past the ISPs to the
targeted recipient.

DKIM is a signature-based authentication. When a message is sent out, certain parts of that message are signed so when the
ISP receives it, they can validate to ensure the pieces of the message that were signed did not change during the transmission
of the message. This means the person who receives the message can be sure the content of the email is exactly the same as
what was sent.

Linda Musthaler is a principal analyst with Essential Solutions Corporation.

Article source: http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2013/051713bestpractices.html?source=nww_rss

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Africa Domain Name System Forum to be held in Durban, South Africa, 12-13 …

May 19th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

DURBAN, South-Africa, May 13, 2013/ — The Africa Domain Name System (DNS) Forum will be held on 12 – 13 July 2013 in Durban, South Africa. The event aims to establish a platform for the DNS community across Africa and to advance the domain name industry and domain name registrations on the continent.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/internet_society.jpg

Over the years, the Internet Society (http://www.internetsociety.org), AfTLD, and ICANN have supported the continued development and growth of Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) in Africa through capacity building and technical support. Despite the support, the growth and sustainability of African ccTLDs and adoption of new technologies remains very low as compared to other regions of the world. To identify the bottlenecks that are keeping the industry from growing and the actions that can catalyze its growth, the three organizations determined the need for a forum to discuss these regional DNS issues.

The DNS Forum will foster cross-border collaboration between registries, registrars, registrants, DNS experts, Government representatives, and policy makers. Topics covered during the 1 ½ day event include trends, opportunities, and challenges of the DNS industry; strategies for registries and registrars; legal issues with cross-border domain registrations; ways Governments can support domain name growth; and benefits of standardizing accreditation to attract more cross-border registrars and registrations.

“The Internet Society’s African Regional Bureau has been working to strengthen the ccTLDs in Africa by improving sustainability, encouraging the implementation of automation solutions at ccTLDs, and promoting the use of technology such as DNSSEC at registries,” said Dawit Bekele, Internet Society Regional Bureau Director for Africa. “We are pleased to join together with AfTLD and ICANN to host this multi-stakeholder forum where participants can share experiences, gain new insights, and establish new business relationships with organizations from within and outside the continent. Such a forum is important to bring growth in the African domain name industry.”

Pierre S. Dandjinou, ICANN Vice President of Stakeholder Engagement for Africa, commented, “ICANN is partnering with other players in the region to implement its Africa strategy, which was developed in 2012 by the African community. Thus, this DNS Forum in Durban, as a partnership between AfTLD and the Internet Society and as a pre-conference event to the ICANN meeting, is another milestone that builds on the MIGworks event in Addis in March 2013, which sought to pave the way for the development of the DNS industry in Africa and to empower the African community for an increased accreditation of registrars from the continent. I believe the new gTLD program will help grow this industry on a global and regional level, and we hope that African business players can be part of this growing industry as much as they can. ICANN will present in this event several programs to support and incubate new business players in Africa to benefit out of the growing potential in this continent.”

“By working with and building on our partnerships in running the DNS Forum, AfTLD’s objective is to build on our thriving capacity building activities for ccTLDs in Africa so as to improve the DNS in Africa and the sustainability of ccTLDs,” said Dr. Paulos Nyirenda, President of AfTLD. “The DNS Forum will present a great opportunity for players in the domain industry to learn and to foster new and established relationships, including those among ccTLDs, registries, registrars, operators, policy makers and end users.”

For more information and to register for the Africa DNS Forum, visit: http://aftld.org/afdnsforum

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the Internet Society.

About the Internet Society
The Internet Society (http://www.internetsociety.org) is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from around the world. With its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations. Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone. For more information, visit http://www.internetsociety.org

Article source: http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=11&i=10218

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NFL’s ReggieBush.com Official Site’s Domain Name Drops

May 18th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

The domain name ReggieBush.com dropped today and was picked up by NameJet.com where it currently at auction.

The domain name had 61 backorders placed on it, and as usual in the cases where famous entertainer or athletes domains drop, we do not report on it until the backorder time closes.

The domain name was the official site of Reggie Bush according to Screenshots.com as recently as 2010.

If you don’t know who Reggie Bush is he is a former Heisman Trophy winner, who later voluntarily forfeited his Heisman Trophy due to sanctions placed on his college USC by the NCAA, won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints, then played for the Miami Dolphins and now is a member of the Detroit Lions.

The domain name was owned by 691 enterprises, llc. C/O The Agency Sports Management and the administrative contact was Reggie Bush but the email address went to theagencymgmt.com.

Either Reggie ended his relationship with the agency or someone screwed up.

In any event this is another domain in a long line of entertainer/sports figures who have lost their domain for their official site and you can read some other famous people who have lost their domain name here and here and here.

Its also a good lesson for anyone famous or not to hold their domain name in their own name and keep correct and current whois contact info on the domain record.

Of course any buyer needs to be very careful of what they do with the domain name after they acquire it and its always subject to a UDRP claim by Mr. Bush if he wakes up to find his domain gone.

Article source: http://www.thedomains.com/2013/05/18/nfls-reggiebush-com-official-sites-domain-name-drops/comment-page-1/

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The name of the next Xbox may be Xbox Fusion

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

There has been a lot of speculation about the name of the console that will succeed the Xbox 360. We know the code name is “Durango,” but that’s just an internal development name–the Xbox 360 carried the code name “Xenon.” New domain name registrations and redirects now provide convincing evidence that Microsoft will market the new Xbox under the brand name “Xbox Fusion.”

Many have simply called Microsoft’s next console the Xbox 720, because that’s twice 360, right? But of course that wouldn’t be the official name, because it’s sort of dumb. More recently, a convincing mock-up from Reddit user C-Ron had the rumor mill convinced that the name of the next Xbox would be Xbox Infinity. That’s not a bad name at all, but it’s not necessarily real.

Recently, domain name registrations related to the name “Xbox Fusion” sprang up. Microsoft owns the domains for XboxFusion.com, XboxFusion.co.uk, XboxFusion.biz, and several others. Perhaps more important, each of those domains currently redirects to the official Xbox page, which is currently dominated by an ad inviting you to tune in on Tuesday, May 21 at 10am pacific time for the reveal of the next-generation Xbox. Microsoft does not own domains related to Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, or other popular potential Xbox names. The company does own domains like Xbox8.us and XboxLiveTV.com, and has for years, but those seem to be held as a defensive maneuver, not for immediate use. Those domains just direct to Bing searches, not to the official Xbox site.

None of this is an official announcement, nor is it ironclad proof that “Xbox Fusion” is really the name of the next box. It could all be a red herring, or Microsoft covering its bases. But frankly, this is as close to a confirmation of the new name as you’re likely to get before Tuesday. If Xbox Fusion isn’t the name of the next Xbox, it’s almost certainly the name of a major feature or service.

Article source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/559/f/7174/s/2c09efc6/l/0L0Spcadvisor0O0Cnews0Cgame0C34477580Cthe0Ename0Eof0Ethe0Enext0Exbox0Emay0Ebe0Exbox0Efusion0C0Dolo0Frss/story01.htm

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Domain Due Diligence: Previous Marketing – Elliot’s Blog

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Before buying a domain name, it’s a given that you need to do your due diligence for a variety of reasons. The primary issue I want to discuss today is previous marketing attempts for the domain name. In my opinion, there are two reasons you will want to investigate how the domain name was marketed in the past: legal reasons and financial reasons.

Let’s discuss the legal issue first. For the sake of this discussion, I will assume the domain name that is being purchased is a descriptive keyword domain name. With most of these names, even the most commonly used terms, there are trademarks associated with them (think Apple). Although it’s clear that you can use names as long as they don’t violate someone else’s trademark, you want to make sure the previous owner didn’t do anything to put the name at risk.

Some things you might want to be mindful of from a legal perspective:

Did the owner try to sell the name to trademark holders?
Did the owner have anything potentially damaging on the website?
Did any of the marketing materials mention the trademarks?

The last thing you want to have happen after buying a domain name is to get a UDRP notice or a lawsuit notice. If the previous owner (or someone selling the domain name on his behalf) did anything to jeopardize the domain name, you’ll want to assess the risk before buying. I think a domain name lawyer would be better equipped to discuss all of the legal issues, but these are just a few to consider.

The financial issue is somewhat secondary because domain values are dynamic and ever changing, but it’s still important given that the domain purchase is an investment. You obviously want to get a good price, so you need to see where it was marketed before as well as prior sales.

Some things you might want to be mindful of from a financial perspective:

Was it up for auction, what was the reserve price, and were there any bids?
Did a broker try to sell it or list it in a newsletter, and at what price?
When was it last sold and for how much?
Was there a “for sale” landing page or other indicator that it was on the market?

You probably don’t want to invest in a domain name that has been on every single domain broker’s newsletter for several years. You also want to make sure you’re not overpaying on a name that hasn’t met reserve during several live domain auctions.

Due diligence is an important aspect of completing a domain sale. There are many reasons why you need to do your due diligence, and doing it will likely save you money and bring you a higher ROI.

Article source: http://www.elliotsblog.com/due-diligence-previous-domain-marketing-8276

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Google’s Matt Cutts: Domain Clustering To Change Again; Fewer Results From …

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a new video about a new change coming to Google’s search results related to the diversity of the results being displayed.

Matt said that Google is launching “soon” a new change that will make it less likely to see results from the same domain name, if you already have been shown that domain name in previous results three or four times before. Matt explained that once you’ve seen a cluster of about four results from a specific domain name, the subsequent pages are going to be less likely to show you results from that domain name.

To explain this in more detail, Cutts explained the history behind domain diversity in the search results. As Matt explained, the goal is to strike the right balance between offering diverse results but at the same time returning the best and most authoritative search results for the query.

The history for domain clustering within Google is as follows:

There was no restrictions in the number of results per domain name. This turned out to be a bad thing, as Matt explained.
Google added “host clustering,” that prevented more than two results per domain name to be shown in the search results. Webmasters got around this by placing content on subdomains.
Google expanded the clustering to show a max of 3 or 4 results per domain, instead.
Google then changed this to show more diversity on the first page of results but show less diversity on the secondary pages. So you’d likely not see more than two results from the same domain name on the first page, but you can see several results from the same domain on secondary pages.
Launching soon is a change to this to show less from the same domain, even on subsequent pages, after you’ve already seen about four results from the same domain for that query.

Google has frequently changed the diversity of domains in the search results and we expected this change as we reported earlier.

Matt Cutts did explain this most recent change was in response to several complaints, likely including our complaint about the diversity of the search results.

Here is the video:

Google’s Matt Cutts: Domain Clustering To Change Again; Fewer Results From Same Domain

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a new video about a new change coming to Google’s search results related to the diversity of the results being displayed.

The history for domain clustering within Google is as follows:

There was no restrictions in the number of results per domain name. This turned out to be a bad thing, as Matt explained.
Google added “host clustering,” that prevented more than two results per domain name to be shown in the search results. Webmasters got around this by placing content on subdomains.
Google expanded the clustering to show a max of 3 or 4 results per domain, instead.
Google then changed this to show more diversity on the first page of results but show less diversity on the secondary pages. So you’d likely not see more than two results from the same domain name on the first page, but you can see several results from the same domain on secondary pages.
Launching soon is a change to this to show less from the same domain, even on subsequent pages, after you’ve already seen about four results from the same domain for that query.

Google has frequently changed the diversity of domains in the search results and we expected this change as we reported earlier.

Matt Cutts did explain this most recent change was in response to several complaints, likely including our complaint about the diversity of the search results.

Here is the video:

15 end user sales up to $23000

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

iPark.com leads list of Sedo’s end user domain name sales last week.

Sedo sold $1.15 million worth of domain names last week, including some good end user sales.

There’s a lot of money in NYC parking. Imperial Parking Systems, which bills itself as one of New York City’s largest and oldest parking garage operators, bought iPark.com for $23,000. Perhaps it has something to do with this?

PCloud LTD in Bulgaria paid 12,000 EUR for pcloud.com.

Norway company Advantec bought AdvantecGroup.com for $11,500.

A UK company called Assura Management Services bought Assura.co.uk for 895 GBP.

Thomson Reuters paid 810 EUR for the German ccTLD ThomsonReuters.de.

Procter Gamble bought lecoindesfilles.fr for 1,000 EUR. I can’t quite figure this one out, other than that it seems to translate to “Girl Corner”. I’ll let one of my French readers help out here.

A CSC client bought PurpleClover.com for $8,000.

Wine Racks America bought WineCellars.co for $3,299.

Technology company Admira, which uses Admira.co, bought Admira.com for $7,200.

Insurance leads seller The Lead Company, Inc. bought InsureIt.org for $850.

Mindjuice, which owns the Denmark ccTLD Mindjuice.dk, paid $5,100 for Mindjuice.com.

Video game site network Curse.com bought MadPro.com for $1,000.

Clothing company Next Plc bought NextDirect.co.in for $1,500. It’s shoring up its domain strategy and recently bought Next-uk.com for $1,599.

Penn Hotels, which owns hotels in the British Virgin Islands including one called Hodges Creek Hotel Marina, bought HodgesCreek.com for $1,277.

TRADERS media GmbH, publisher of financial magazine TRADERs, bought Trader.info for 3,400 EUR.

Tags: end user, sedo

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/15/15-end-user-sales-up-to-23000/

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ICANN headcount exploding 50% this fiscal year

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Non-profit plans to continue hiring in all departments.

ICANN expects to end FY 2013 this June with nearly 50% more employees than it began the year with.

That’s according to the non-profit’s FY 2014 draft operating plan, which shows an expected 233 employees by the end of June. It ended June 2012 with 158 employees. That’s nearly 50% growth in just one year.

The forecast shows that ICANN expects to hire 47 people in this quarter alone. 19 of those are allocated to the new top level domain program.

The non-profit is planning to grow its headcount to 284 by the end of FY 2014, which concludes in June 2014.

The Global Stakeholder Engagement Group and Operations team will see the biggest headcount growth during FY 2014 under the draft plan, going from 23 to 29 and 11 to 17 projected employees, respectively.

DNS Industry and the technical functions team will both get five new employees under the draft FY 2014 plan.

No “permanent” department plans to shed employees in the coming fiscal year, although headcount dedicated to the new TLD program is expected to decrease from 35 at the beginning of FY 2014 to 21 by the end of the fiscal year. However, only 16 people were allocated to new TLDs as of March, so the number of employees will still be higher at the end of the fiscal year than it was at last count in March.

I expect much of the hiring to occur outside the United States.

Tags: icann, icann employees

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/17/icann-headcount-exploding-50-this-fiscal-year/

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ICANN expects 646 new TLD applications to be withdrawn

May 17th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

ICANN forecasts 646 applications will be withdrawn, mostly after the initial evaluation period.

66 applications for new top level domain names have been withdrawn as of today. For budgeting purposes, ICANN projects that number will explode to 646 before everything is said and done.

The number was disclosed in ICANN’s proposed operating plan and budget for the 2014 financial year, which begins in July 2013. The number is up from a previously budgeted 545 applications withdrawn.

ICANN expects 105 applications will be withdrawn before they pass through the initial evaluation phase. Applicants get a 70% refund of their $185,000 application fee in this case.

A further 390 applications are projected to be withdrawn after initial evaluation but before string contention resolutions, dispute resolution is completed, or extended evaluation. ICANN is betting that many applicants in contention sets will withdraw as applicants strike deals with each other. These applicants will get a 35% refund.

The forecast shows a further 150 applications withdrawn after string contention resolution, dispute resolution, and extended evaluation. These applicants will get 20% of their money back.

This is a reverse of the prior forecast, which predicted most withdraws would come only after final contention resolution. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if more companies settle their contention sets privately before initial evaluation results are posted.

One application was withdrawn within 21 days of getting a GAC Early Warning. That applicant received an 80% refund.

Tags: icann, new tlds

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/17/icann-expects-646-new-tld-applications-to-be-withdrawn/

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Swedish domain admin comes out against Piratebay.se seizure

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Swedish top-level domain administrator .SE has to its surprise become directly involved in the local Prosecution Authority’s court case to seize thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se, but it hopes to explain to the court that forcing domain names off the Internet does not help.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority battle with The Pirate Bay and the people involved with the site has been a long and winding road. Its latest attempt to stop the site is to seize its Swedish domain names.

About two weeks ago .SE received an advance notice that the Prosecution Authority had filed a petition with the Stockholm District Court, requesting the seizure of two domain names, thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se, CEO Danny Aerts wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

The case itself didn’t come as a surprise, but the fact that the domain administrator was one of the defendants did. In the eyes of the prosecutor, .SE has become some form of accomplice to criminal activity, a perspective that is unique in Europe as far as he knows, Aerts said.

At first .SE received only two weeks to respond, but the deadline has now been prolonged until the beginning of June.

The company’s position is that seizing domain names is ineffective and disproportionate. Aerts compares it to removing the sign for a store; it will be harder for customers to locate the store, but the store nevertheless remains in place and customers who manage to get there can still shop there, he wrote.

“We have an educational task ahead of us in explaining to the District Court what a domain name is, what .SE does and the fundamentally incorrect nature behind seizing a domain name forever,” Aerts said.

In anticipation of the seizure of its .se domains, The Pirate Bay has moved on and currently uses .sx, which belongs to Sint Maarten, an island in the Caribbean.

Send news tips and comments to mikael_ricknas@idg.com

Article source: http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/462095/swedish_domain_admin_comes_against_piratebay_se_seizure/?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=taxonomyfeed

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BuyDomains relaunches site

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

NameMedia refreshes end user sales web site.

BuyDomains, the end user domain name sales site owned by NameMedia, relaunched with a completely new look and feel today.

The site places a greater focus than the previous one on explaining why a business should spend money on a domain name. It also emphasizes the ease and safety of buying a domain through BuyDomains and includes a number of testimonials.

Domain searching and filtering has also been improved. You may recall that the old site required you to select multiple filters and then add them to a filter list. The refreshed site has simple dropdown boxes to filter by price, exclude hyphens, and select categories.

Domain name owners can list their domains on BuyDomains by adding them to their Afternic account

Tags: Afternic, buydomains, NameMedia

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/15/buydomains-relaunches-site/

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GoDaddy.com Bowl drops .com for 2014 game

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

In another sign of rebranding, The GoDaddy.com Bowl is now the GoDaddy Bowl.

GoDaddy is in the process of rebranding from GoDaddy.com to simply GoDaddy.

With the change, the football game formerly known as the GoDaddy.com Bowl will be called merely the GoDaddy Bowl next year, reports AL.com.

GoDaddy announced plans to change its brand to a group of new top level domain applicants in March. The company will drop the .com from its branding over the coming year and has applied for a trademark for the new logo sans .com. As of right now the logo on its web site still includes .com. Also as part of the rebrand, I’ve noticed that the company is referring to itself as GoDaddy instead of Go Daddy (with a space).

The domain registrar has sponsored the bowl, played in Mobile, Alabama, since 2011. Prior to GoDaddy’s sponsorship it was known as the GMAC Bowl. The game features teams from the Mid-American and Sun Belt conferences.

Tags: GoDaddy, godaddy bowl

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/16/godaddy-com-bowl-drops-com-for-2014-game/

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How much is a .cm domain worth in 2013?

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

We’ll find out in an auction that ends today.

.Cm, the country code for Cameroon, has been on an interesting ride.

It previously struck a deal with Kevin Ham to wildcard the DNS and monetize the traffic. Then it sold .cm domains to all comers, brazenly marketing the domain as a typo of .com.

That “relaunch”, if you will, was an unmitigated disaster. Bidders on domains that appeared to sell for a lot backed out, and the registry lost a bunch of billing files.

I was a bit confused why Ham didn’t participate in the relaunch auctions, but perhaps it was because he had all the data.

Fast forward to 2013, and Sedo is holding an auction for .cm domain names with good keywords such as toys.cm, songs.cm, and phones.cm.

How much are these domains worth? We’re about to find out, as the auction ends in a couple hours. (The auction pages say the auction ends in 2 hours, but also says 11 EDT. As I write this 2 hours would be 12 EDT, so just check in on the site to make sure you can bid before the actual closing. I suspect closing times didn’t adjust to daylight savings time.)

As of right now 10 of the 265 domains have $99 bids. If you have good data around how much traffic these domains get, it might be worth getting in on the action. $99 isn’t much of a risk.

Update: these domains sold. All were $99 except Phones.cm, which was $150:

soccer.cm
fit.cm
patent.cm
band.cm
audio.cm
vet.cm
songs.cm
toy.cm
phones.cm
test.cm
nutrition.cm

Tags: .cm, cameroon

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/16/how-much-is-a-cm-domain-worth-in-2013/

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Durban’s domain name a step closer to reality

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

COMPANIES and individual computer users could soon have their website addresses ending with “.durban” after a .durban domain name bid passed the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (Icann’s) first evaluation stage.

It is expected that Johannesburg and Cape Town domain names will also become available soon.

In 2011, the internet body (Icann) that oversees domain names, opened the internet top-level domain names beyond .com, .net and .org.

This meant users will be able to set up a website with almost any address. Names such as “food.durban”, or “dance. music” could soon be available.

The .ZA Domain Name Authority (Zadna), which oversees the internet domain names in South Africa, in partnership with the Department of Communications and ZA Central Registry, applied to Icann for the approval of .durban, .joburg and .capetown as top-level domain names.

The authority said in the initial evaluation phase, Icann sought to establish whether the applicant possessed the required financial and technical ability to operate an internet top-level domain.

Zadna chairman Hasmukh Gajjar said the organisation had applied for the three cities because “we saw a firm trend where leading international cities are planning to secure their exclusive name spaces.”

He said the .durban application was ranked ahead of the .capetown and .joburg applications when Icann decided to use a lottery to prioritise the 1,300 top-level domain name applications received last year.

The three top level domain names — .joburg, .durban and .capetown – are intended to complement the .za name space. Zadna said metros would be given priority.

“Expect to see internet web addresses such as police.durban, rates.capetown and pikitup.joburg,” he said. Provincial and national governments would be given an opportunity to reserve their names and those of national heritage sites.

Article source: http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/technology/2013/05/16/durbans-domain-name-a-step-closer-to-reality

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RIPE: Attacks on domain name systems are on the increase

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

30 million open resolvers in the domain name system and a 200 per cent increase in the number of attacks in 2012 – these alarming figures were discussed by administrators at the 66th meeting of the RIPE IP address registry in Dublin this week. A panel discussion revolved around how to motivate the black sheep to implement long overdue security measures before large-scale attacks call the regulators to action.

Recommendations on how to avoid address spoofing – such as asking manufacturers not to factory-set their devices to be available as open resolvers, and various calls for “network hygiene” by RIPE members – are up to a decade old. While attackers regularly employ the latest technologies, the internet on the whole is lagging behind. “They always run the latest code, but we can’t dictate that our customers do the same”, said Thomas Eberman from Infoblox.

Financial pressure and lack of expertise make any measures that don’t directly affect a company’s bottom line appear less attractive – such as filtering out spoofed addresses or major hosting companies reconfiguring any open recursive resolvers at their clients’ end. Some people simply don’t care, said Merike Kaeo. The security expert also expressed her doubts about the statement that only 20 per cent of recursive resolvers are open. In her opinion, the number is higher. Even mobile phones with a tethered internet connection could become open resolvers, she added.

Several registries – including VeriSign, ICANN, and the Dutch SIDN and French AfNIC registries – have admitted that they no longer respond to every request that is sent to their authoritative servers. Many experts consider this to be the largest threat by far – powerful DNS resources being targeted to launch attacks. Even cryptographic DNSSEC domain security measures are being exploited. With the appropriate keys, victims are hit with a number of responses that is several hundred times higher than the number of requests that can be forged via the systems of unsuspecting third parties or cheap cloud servers. So far, existing surplus capacities have usually protected the internet from worst-case scenarios. Now, central infrastructure service operators are among those whose warnings are becoming louder in response to an increasing number of attacks.

Thorsten Dietrich, who represented the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) at the RIPE meeting, thinks that filtering out spoofed addresses is no longer a major problem for German ISPs. “What’s annoying are the open resolvers at large hosting services,” Dietrich said, adding that the BSI plans to place a stronger focus on this issue in the near future. His statement was welcomed by Wilhelm Boeddighaus from Strato, one of the hosting services that could potentially find itself in the BSI’s firing line.

(sno)

Article source: http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/RIPE-Attacks-on-domain-name-systems-are-on-the-increase-1864631.html

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Mexican contact lenses UDRPs don’t add up

May 16th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Complainant had a weak case but panelist determines it’s not reverse domain name hijacking.

WIPO just handed down decisions for two cases involving domains used for selling contact lenses in Mexico.

David Guerra Flores filed the cases against Carlos Perez for pupilentes.com.mx and pupilentes.com. Both cases were resolved by panelist Reynaldo Urtiaga Escobar, who determined that Flores did not prove that Perez lacked rights or legitimate interests in the domain names.

However, the panelist failed to find Flores guilty of reverse domain name hijacking, suggesting that perhaps Flores felt some vindication when he “overturned” a trademark Perez had for Pupilentes.

Maybe that’s how Flores felt, but the facts in this case are rather disturbing.

Flores says he came up with the idea for a contact lens site called Pupilentes way back in 2002, but his plan to use the name was “thwarted” by the respondent when the respondent registered the domains in 2003.

As a result, Flores says he was forced to register alternative domains such as 01800pupilentes.com, mispupilentes.net, and pupilente.com.

OK, first thing — the guy was “thwarted” when the respondent registered the domains and had no idea that Flores was concocting his idea?

Second thing — All of the domains Flores claims he had to register as alternatives weren’t even registered until 2008 or later. Did it take him 6 years to bring his idea to fruition?

All of the alternative domains forward to Pupilentes.mx, which itself wasn’t registered until 2009.

Meanwhile, Perez was using the domains he registered for a contact lens site, according to the decision.

I think panelist Escobar was just a bit gun-shy to find a case of reverse domain name hijacking. Or perhaps his contacts were a little blurry while he was writing his decision.

Tags: udrp, wipo

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/16/mexican-contact-lenses-udrps-dont-add-up/

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Durban’s domain name a step closer to reality

May 15th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

It is expected that Johannesburg and Cape Town domain names will also become available soon.

In 2011, the internet body (Icann) that oversees domain names, opened the internet top-level domain names beyond .com, .net and .org.

This meant users will be able to set up a website with almost any address. Names such as “food.durban”, or “dance. music” could soon be available.

The authority said in the initial evaluation phase, Icann sought to establish whether the applicant possessed the required financial and technical ability to operate an internet top-level domain.

The three top level domain names — .joburg, .durban and .capetown – are intended to complement the .za name space. Zadna said metros would be given priority.

Article source: http://za.news.yahoo.com/durban-domain-name-step-closer-reality-033226889.html

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That's My Idea! How To Deal With Competition As An Entrepreneur

May 15th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

The Unexpected Antidote To Procrastination

Peter Bregman
Contributor

Final Cut: Words to Strike from Your Resume

Daily Muse
Contributor

You have a brilliant idea. It’s a winner—you’re sure of it. You’ve told your friends, purchased the domain name, and written a business plan. But before you can take the next step, you discover that another company is already moving forward with a similar idea. Now what? Should you quit? Complain? Crumble?

Though it’s easy to feel defeated, let’s not to be too hasty. What if Richard Branson had come across British Airways and decided that he’d best not launch an airline? I, for one, would have been very sorry to miss Virgin Airlines come in and change the game.

The reality is, competitors will always exist—no matter what you do. So, rather than approach competition with dread, you should view your competitors as the impetus for innovation and fuel to do things differently (and better!). To help change your mindset, let’s bust some common myths about how to view and handle competition.

Myth #1: Ideas Are Original

Let’s start by clearing up this juicy piece of fiction. Truth be told, there are very few truly original ideas. This may sound depressing at first, but it’s actually very liberating. Once you realize the world is teeming with interesting nuggets of ideas just waiting to be infused with your own twists and insights, you can stop waiting for that cartoon-like light bulb moment—and start creating.

Think about it: Ideas don’t usually pop into your head out of nowhere—they often build on previous strokes of genius (yours or others’) or reinvent an existing idea in a new context. Even Newton’s legendary Law of Gravitation was the result of building on a combination of two of Galileo’s theorems: the Law of Inertia and the Law of Elliptical Path. The point of this is to say: Competition is inevitable—it’s how you deal with it that really counts.

Myth #2: Similarities Matter

With that misconception out of the way, let’s talk about what to do when you inevitably spy a competitor who’s already launched “your” idea. First, stay cool—resist the urge to wail about how unfair it is, and instead, define and sharpen what makes you different. Regardless of your industry, there should be at least one thing your company does with a little more something—more care, more passion, more simplicity, more humor—you decide! Once you find that point of difference, build it up, exaggerate it, and incorporate it into all you do.

For example, when I was writing the business plan for Never Liked It Anyway, I came across ExBoyfriendJewelery.com—a direct competitor. Rather than take that as my cue to give up, I saw it as a mandate to define my point of difference, which I decided was my cheeky and irreverent brand voice. So, I leaned into this attitude, dialed it up, and infused it throughout my business—from the brand name, to the marketing plan, to the site’s content. Everything about my brand had to scream “Sassy, cheeky, and moving on!” in order to set it apart.

When you spot a competitor, remember: Look for the differences—not the similarities.

Myth #3: Keeping Close Watch is a Good Thing

While it’s important to watch your competition and be aware of the tricks they have up their sleeves, make sure you stop short of stalking. I know it’s temping—but myopically focusing on competition is a big innovation killer. When your entire focus is on your competitors, you’ll start to believe that their innovations are the only possibilities for you and your company, too.

Let’s look at the world of instant coffee for a perfect example: Coffee Brand A adds flavor. So, Coffee Brand B follows suit. Then, Brand A launches mini-sachets—and Brand B does the same. This game of innovation ping-pong has everyone’s heads whipping back and forth so fast that both brands miss opportunities for potential new ideas. While Brand B was waiting to see what Brand A was going to do next, Brand C—also known as Nespresso—streaked ahead by inventing an elegant coffee system ready to deliver café-style coffee in your very own kitchen.

Yes, it’s important to keep an eye on the competition—but just one. The other needs to be looking beyond your competition for new insight and ideas.

Myth #4: Direct Competition is Your Only Competition

It’s easy to consider your competition as only companies that offer similar products. But in reality, your competition is much broader than that—it’s everyone and everything that competes for mindshare of your consumer. For example, if Listerine had felt bound by the bathroom cabinet and only seen other toothpastes, mouthwashes, and floss as competition, their innovations would have quickly grown tiresome. Instead, they considered their competition on a broader level—including handbags, breath mints, and candy. Ultimately, this unlocked the idea for Listerine Breath Strips: portable breath fresheners in a candy format.

Considering your competition on a broader level can be a great source of inspiration. Whether it’s a coffee store, app, boutique, or airline, you should be looking with a critical eye for sparks of inspiration. It’s perfectly feasible to imagine that Spotify drew inspiration from Netflix Netflix’s video streaming model and applied the same rationale to music, or that the Bike Shares in London (and now NYC) drew inspiration from Zipcar Zipcar’s “access, not ownership” model. When you approach the idea of competition with an open mind, it suddenly moves from terrifying to exciting.

As entrepreneurs, let’s challenge ourselves to embrace competition and use it as fuel to innovate and move forward. The most successful entrepreneurs and companies make this way of thinking a habit. They frequently look for what’s out there—in a very broad sense—and see how they can take what they find and make it better and more meaningful for their customers. Not only is this a more stimulating and exciting approach to entrepreneurship—it’s also the most effective.

This article was originally published on The Daily Muse. For more on the challenges of entrepreneurship, check out:

Annabel Acton founded the website Never Liked It Anyway in January 2012, after working for 7 years as an innovation and branding consultant in Sydney, London and New York. Naturally entrepreneurial and inspired by ideas, Annabel soaks up the energy of the startup world and enjoys meeting, developing and partnering with other entrepreneurs.

Photo of woman thinking courtesy of Shutterstock.

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2013/05/13/thats-my-idea-how-to-deal-with-competition-as-an-entrepreneur/?ss=forbeswoman

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ICANN publishes 2012 tax return

May 15th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Tax return unveils compensation, legal costs.

ICANN just published its FY 2012 tax return online (pdf). The form tax return covers the year ending June 30, 2012.

Much of the information, including financials, had previously been published by ICANN on its web site, so there’s not much new there.

What may be most interesting is the latest compensation information for ICANN’s high ranking and top paid employees. I count 17 positions earning $200,000 or more in reportable compensation.

ICANN publishes its compensation policy each year, and states:

ICANN’s overall compensation philosophy is to target compensation between the 50th and 75th percentile of the market, to attract and retain the right staff. The driving element of this philosophy is that ICANN’s compensation is market-based.

What has always surprised me about ICANN’s compensation is the generous retirement benefits. ICANN contributes 5% of each employee’s salary to the plan regardless of employee contributions. ICANN also matches employee contributions up to 10% of the employee’s annual salary.

I’m not sure what type of companies they’re benchmarking against that provide such contributions to retirement. I think only the biggest companies are doing any sort of matching contributions these days, and non-matching contributions seem unheard of.

Also disclosed in the report was that ICANN paid law firm Jones Day $1.9 million in FY 2012. I bet that number is higher in FY 2013 — or will be higher in FY 2014.

Tags: icann, icann tax return

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/15/icann-publishes-2012-tax-return/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

ICANN publishes 2012 tax return

May 15th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

Tax return unveils compensation, legal costs.

ICANN just published its FY 2012 tax return online (pdf). The form tax return covers the year ending June 30, 2012.

Much of the information, including financials, had previously been published by ICANN on its web site, so there’s not much new there.

What may be most interesting is the latest compensation information for ICANN’s high ranking and top paid employees. I count 17 positions earning $200,000 or more in reportable compensation.

ICANN publishes its compensation policy each year, and states:

ICANN’s overall compensation philosophy is to target compensation between the 50th and 75th percentile of the market, to attract and retain the right staff. The driving element of this philosophy is that ICANN’s compensation is market-based.

Also disclosed in the report was that ICANN paid law firm Jones Day $1.9 million in FY 2012. I bet that number is higher in FY 2013 — or will be higher in FY 2014.

Tags: icann, icann tax return

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/15/icann-publishes-2012-tax-return/

Tags: coupons, domain name, domain names, domains, law, register, registrar, rules

Some rays of hope at Sedo?

May 15th, 2013 by admin | Posted in domain names | No Comments »

While Sedo’s earnings continue on a downward path, some metrics point to improvements.

In a lot of ways, Sedo Holding’s quarterly financial report (pdf) published yesterday was more of the same.

The company saw its performance at Sedo weaken, while its affiliate business affilinet grew a bit.

But there were also a couple positive metrics for Sedo. The number of domains listed on Sedo increased by 1.7 million and it also increased the number of parked domains on its platform by 300,000.

Overall, though, Sedo’s domain parking business remains in a funk. It is trying to cut costs, but the drop in revenue is outpacing the decrease in costs.

Sedo’s domain business has shed quite a few employees. It ended Q1 with 138 employees, down 15 from the end of the year. At this time last year it had 170 employees.

The domain segment revenue was down 14.1% compared to Q1 2012.

Sedo blames an overall flailing domain parking market and low cost rivals (e.g., domain parking companies that give a higher revenue share to customers) for its challenges.

Tags: sedo, sedo financials

Article source: http://domainnamewire.com/2013/05/15/some-rays-of-hope-at-sedo/