Domain Names 4 Sale 24-7

(2011-09-10) Domain Name Reseller Reports Rapid Growth Exceeding Forecast

2011-09-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

More than 8000 domain names of all sizes and in all categories have been added to the domain name inventory for sale list on KetMo.com since August

KetMo.com a domain name reseller startup with agressive marketing strategies and growth plans reports that company growth has exceeded forecast thus far.

According to Scott Alliy President of KetMo.com and a domain name and Internet marketing industry veteran growth in the number of domain names listed for sale on KetMo.com is an astonishing thirty percent ahead of forecast.

Pending domain name renewal price increases as well as a multitude of expected new domain name extensions are putting pressure on domain name owner to liquidate many of the unused or idle domain names in their portfolio.

This is great news for domain name buyers seeking to get a great price on the domain name or names they want to use for their startup or established internet business.

Using free tools provided at KetMo.com domain name buyers can quickly search over 8000 domain names by category and connect with domain name owners of names they are interested in buying.

The whole process of finding, connecting with owners, negotiating a great price, and completeing the domain name sales transaction can be done quickly and easily and securely using the expertly designed tools offered at http://www.KetMo.com.

Domain name owners who list their domain names for sale on KetMo.com also get a powerful suite of free tools that allow them to list one or thousands of domain names for sale in just minutes with no upfront cost and no impact on their other domain name marketing activities.

In addition to no upfront cost domain>>>

GoDaddy Nears Sale to KKR

2011-06-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

JUNE 25, 2011

By ANUPREETA DAS

Private-equity firms KKR & Co. and Silver Lake Partners, along with a third investor, are nearing a deal to buy GoDaddy Group Inc., a closely-held company that registers Internet domain names, for between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

An announcement of the sale could come as early as next week, although a deal hasn't been signed yet and the people cautioned that an agreement may not be reached.

Private equity and venture capital firm Technology Crossover Ventures is also a minority investor in the proposed deal for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GoDaddy, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in September that the company had hired boutique investment bank Qatalyst Partners to shop the company to potential buyers.

GoDaddy.com, the company's flagship web property, is the world's largest registrar of domain names. The site also sells e-commerce, security and other services to people and businesses looking to manage their online presence. Customers pay GoDaddy monthly fees, which brings the company steady cash flow—an attraction for buyout firms.

Web Addresses Enter New.Era

2011-06-25T02:26:00.000-07:00

JUNE 21, 2011

By SAM HOLMES And CHRISTOPHER RHOADS

The dot-com era is over. Welcome to the dot-anything age.

On Monday, the organization that regulates the world's Internet domain names—yes, there is central coordination—approved changes that could allow anyone to register any name they like in almost any language as a Web address.

The new rules affect what the industry calls top-level domain names, the familiar dot-coms and dot-nets that end every Web address. Now, instead of having to use one of those existing forms, users will be able to end their addresses with the name of their company, such as dot-Ford, or their city, like dot-Berlin.

Greatest Domain Names for Sale: Online Casino Games Seek New Owner

2010-12-03T01:52:00.000-08:00

Posted by Sanjay Rampal

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Media Corp. has decided to put up for sale world biggest gambling domain name. The company has received several offers from online casino groups, but the leadership prefers to finalise the selling through auction, which could rise to a rough figure of $10 million. The competition is harsh, as lots of online gambling companies struggle to purchase the biggest domain name of this kind in the world. Earning the rights for this domain name is supposed to bring massive revenue in owner’s account.

One of the biggest domain names for sale is correlated with Global Gaming Expo’s decision to discuss online casino games’ legal situation. The Congress will supposedly make a series of decisions regarding gambling licensing and regulations. The conference sessions were held last week. GGS’s decisions are very likely to influence the revenue of gambling domain names.

Media Corp.’ representatives stated>>>

US seizes domain names of 82 websites

2010-12-03T01:49:00.000-08:00

By Joseph Menn in San Francisco

Published: November 30 2010 18:57 | Last updated: November 30 2010 18:57

US authorities invoked tough asset-forfeiture laws to seize the domain names of 82 websites accused of aiding the sale of counterfeit goods or assisting with digital piracy, the most sweeping use of the statutes thus far against illicit online activity.

All but five of the confiscated website addresses offered tangible products for sale, mostly made in or shipped from China, officials said Monday. The others were connected with the distribution of copyrighted movies, music or software.

Among the sites shuttered in recent days were louis-vuitton-outlet-store.com, burberryoutletshop.com and realtimberland.com, none of which were affiliated with the real brands cited.

In all of the cases, the Justice Department and the customs division of the Department of Homeland Security relied on forfeiture laws that allow for property seizures when the judge finds that property – in this case the domain names – were probably used to facilitate copyright or trademark infringements.

Forfeiture cases are technically not filed against any individual or business but against the property itself, and the laws have been faulted by civil liberties advocates alarmed by the lack of due process. After a seizure, the burden of proof shifts to the owner of property to show that it was not used for an illegal purpose.

At least one of the sites accused of assisting>>>

New weekly domain sales report at DNJournal.com

2010-12-03T01:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers:

The new weekly domain sales report is out at DNJournal.com. The four-day Thanksgiving weekend gave most Americans a very short work week last week but the domain aftermarket continued full steam ahead, producing two of the year's 30 biggest sales to date – a pair of six-figure blockbusters that totaled over $867,000. .Coms took 12 of the 20 entries on our all extension leader board. The country codes, led by five .ME domains, swept the other 8 places, leaving the non .com gTLDs out in the cold. You can get all of the details here: http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

The DNJournal.com email update service and our free monthly newsletter are made possible through the sponsorship of DomainSponsor.com, Moniker.com and Snapnames.com – Members of the Oversee.net family and pioneers in providing the full range of domain lifecycle services, from registration to traffic monetization to aftermarket sales and service.

Best Wishes,

Ron Jackson

Editor/Publisher

www.DNJournal.com

DN Journal is now on Twitter. You can receive our regular updates on the popular micro-blogging site by going to http://twitter.com/dnjournal and adding us to your follow list.

You may unsubscribe from our monthly newsletter and email update service at any time here.

Sex.com Officially in the Record Books at $13 Million

2010-11-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Sex.com officially becomes the largest all cash publicly announced domain sale of all time.

The check has cleared.

A few weeks after signing documents for a $13 million all cash deal, Escom LLC has officially sold Sex.com with the help of Sedo. Congratulations to Sedo broker Jeff Gabriel who handled the deal. Also congrats to Sedo for its persistence trying to get the name to broker. It filed an affidavit with the court arguing it should be allowed to broker the domain name and said it felt it could sell the domain name for in excess of $6 million.

In the end the company sold the>>>

Start the Bidding: Single Letter i.CO Domain Now for Sale

2010-11-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

About 3 days ago Jennifer Van Grove

Since widespread release in July, .CO domain names have been publicly available for purchase, causing a domain name land grab by parties interested in snatching up short domain names no longer available with the .COM extension. Today, the real gold rush begins.

Coveted single letter domains have not been made available for individual purchase, but that changes today. .CO Internet S.A.S — the official operator of the new top level domain — will begin auctioning them off to the highest bidders, beginning with i.CO at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco today.

Unfortunately, not just anyone can bid on i.CO; the auction will be privately held and only eligible bidders will be allowed to participate. The qualification process will begin today and end on January 21, 2011. Interested parties can register at the i.CO site.

i.CO is just the first of several single-letter private domain name auctions. Additional auctions will follow in early 2011.

More than 600,000 .CO domain names >>>

DNJournal

2010-09-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

A new Cover Story is out at DNJournal.com. Over the past four years a wave of consolidation has swept through the domain industry leaving a handful of corporate powerhouses in its wake. Los Angeles based Oversee.net has been a pivotal player in the roll-up of smaller companies and has emerged as a force to be reckoned with despite having to battle through a debilitating recession as well as deal with a series of unexpected crises that could have easily brought down a company with less skilled leadership. President and CEO Jeff Kupietzky is the man who has had the responsibility for navigating Oversee.net through treacherous straits. Kupietzky also oversees the company's popular home grown series of DOMAINfest conferences and the development of Oversee owned premium domain names like LowFares.com.

So where exactly did this young domain industry dynamo come from? How did he guide Oversee to its current position of prominence and what does he have in store for the many clients and customers of the company's various divisions going forward? You’ll find the answers to those questions here:

Full Steam Ahead: The Man Who Navigated Oversee.net Through Treacherous Straits and Back Into Open Water

Best Wishes,

Ron Jackson

Editor/Publisher

www.DNJournal.com

Sex.com domain name on sale

2010-07-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

(AFP) – Jul 1, 2010

BERLIN — The world's "most valuable" Internet domain name, sex.com, went up for grabs on Thursday having fetched 12 million dollars in 2006, a German firm handling the sale said on Thursday.

"It happens very rarely that an Internet address of this calibre goes on sale," Cologne-based Sedo said. "(The) sale of sex.com offers the new owner a unique opportunity to became market leader."

Sedo, which said it is the world's biggest trading platform for domain names, is selling sex.com on behalf of US firm Escom after creditors filed for insolvency protection, a joint statement said.

Other domain names have also changed hands for huge sums in the past,>>>

Tucker Carlson went to court to win his domain name

2010-07-18T02:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Jul 15, 2010 17:45 ET

Fun fact: Back in 2008, Tucker Carlson went to court to win the rights to the URL TuckerCarlson.com. (Oddly, he didn't then spend a couple bucks to nail down TuckerCarlson.net, but his lack of foresight is our gain.)

TuckerCarlson.com was registered by persons unknown in 2003. They didn't do much with it, though it was up for sale in 2004 for the low, low price of $288.

Celebrities usually win domain-name disputes, especially if their names were registered for commercial purposes. Which means Keith Olbermann would likely prevail if he decided to take the Daily Caller to court.

But in a larger sense, Tucker Carlson>>>

New weekly domain sales report at DNJournal.com

2010-07-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

The new weekly domain sales report is out at DNJournal.com. Since we were away covering T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Vancouver last week (our comprehensive show review article will be out by Monday) the new report is a double-length column covering all of the notable sales reported since our last column two weeks ago. Our all extension leader board expands from 20 to 40 positions this week to make way for the double dose of data. The big news is that just like summertime temperatures, action in the aftermarket appears to be heating up. Leading the chart is a 7-figure blockbuster (the second biggest sale of the year to date) and a quartet of solid six-figure sales (one of those also cracked the YTD Top Ten). The country codes also continued to fare well piling up 13 entries on the expanded Big Board. You can get all of the details here: http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

Have A Few Million Dollars Laying Around? Sex.com Is For Sale

2010-03-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

Posted by Staff on Mar 21st, 2010

Sex.com for sale?

Domain names if desired, and the money is available to buy them, can bring the owner a lot of profit due to website hits. Sex.com was supposed to be auctioned off but there is now a delay. The bidding was to start at about $1 million. The previous owners of this website, with the catchy name of sex.com, Escom, was in foreclosure due to non-payment of their debt. Escom is now in court due to a forced bankruptcy on the part of its creditors, which is holding up the start of bidding.

There are a significant number of individuals who are interested in the domain name, sex.com. The 3 creditors who claim that Escom owes $10 million are Washington Technology Associates, Entertainment Inc., and AccountingMatters .com. Escom paid about $14 million for the website sex.com back in 2006. Even before this, the website has had a history of lawsuits concerning its true owners. With the catchy name and how much money can be earned through the rights to this website, it is no wonder that the courts have been busy deciding who owned this site in the past.

Stay tune to see who or what company ends >>>

Apple iPad domain names for sale on eBay

2010-03-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

By Claudine Beaumont, Technology Editor
Published: 12:38PM GMT 23 Mar 2010

Canny web users have snapped up iPad-related domain names, and are now listed on auction sites, such as eBay, for millions of dollars Photo: Reuters

Online auction sites, such as eBay, have hundreds of listings for iPad-themed domain names. Some web addresses can be snapped up for around $100, while others are listed for considerably more. One domain name, ipaddownloads.com, is on sale for $1 million.

Nik Tyler, the 31-year-old record producer who registered the ipaddownoloads.com domain name, told Fortune that he had received some offers, but "nothing in the price range" of what he hoped to achieve for the web address.

and much more here>>>

Mar 24 GoDaddy to Stop Registering Domains in China

2010-03-25T01:31:00.000-07:00

GoDaddy is reporting today that they will stop the sale of registered domain names in china. This is on the heels of Google’s protests of cyber attacks and censorship from that country.

Christine Jones of GoDaddy states,>>>

End User Perspective: Buying a Premium Domain on GoDaddy

2010-03-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Simplicity helps end user buy domain name.

In October I wrote about GoDaddy’s service that lets you place your domains for sale within the registration path, called Premium Domain Names. Using a “Premium Listing”, your domain shows up in the GoDaddy domain marketplace. But the real value is that they also show up prominently when someone is searching for that exact domain name:

very interesting--read on>>>

IT Management: From the Bubble to the Burst: A Look Back at 25 Years of Dotcom

2010-03-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

In 1985, the domain name ".com" came into existence, helping to define the modern Internet. Within two years of the registration of the first Internet domain name, major tech corporations such as Intel (Intel.com), Xerox (xerox.com), and Apple (apple.com), along with a host of smaller outfits, had all begun to make their mark on the World Wide Web. Their presence helped give birth to everything from search engines (Google, etc.) to social networks (Facebook, etc.) to a wide variety of online services in the commercial, altruistic, and just-plain-weird realms—or sometimes all three at once (we’re looking at you, Craigslist). The following Websites represent some of the biggest successes, along with some of the most spectacular failures, of the past 25 years. For millions of users, some of these Websites will seem like old and long-gone friends; others continue to dominate the Internet to this day.

and much more here>>>

VeriSign to spend more than $300M on tech upgrades

2010-03-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

By JORDAN ROBERTSON (AP) – 1 day ago

SAN FRANCISCO — VeriSign Inc., whose technology is key to allowing Internet users to access Web sites with names ending in ".com" and ".net," plans to spend more than $300 million over the next decade to upgrade its systems.

The upgrades will allow VeriSign's machines to handle up to 4 quadrillion requests per day from computers trying to reach those sites. That's a thousand times more lookups than the 4 trillion per day that the company can currently handle.

Ken Silva, the company's chief technology officer, said Thursday that the latest changes are needed to keep up with ballooning Internet traffic and with spikes in usage caused by major news events and computer attacks.

Traffic volume is expected to soar along with the expansion of technologies such as Internet-connected televisions, navigation systems and video streaming.

VeriSign is in two big businesses that are>>>

Sex.com Domain up for Auction Next Week

2010-03-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

By Liam Eagle, March 12, 2010

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- According to reports issued this week, the domain name Sex.com will be put up for auction next week by its owners, with the bidding set to start at $1 million.

The domain, once considered one of the Internet’s most valuable, is definitely one of its most storied. Acquired by Escom LLC in 2006, the domain is set to be auctioned off March 18 by New York law firm Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP, as part of a foreclosure by lender DOM Partners LLC, which backed the acquisition.

Escom, which, according to a Reuters report, published in the Globe and Mail, has been in default on its loan for more than a year. The article quotes a lawyer for DOM Partners, Scott Matthews, who says the company is foreclosing according to its rights outlined in the loan agreement.

The company acquired the domain in 2006 – for an amount believed to be in the range of $14 million – from then-owner Gary Kremen, who first registered the domain in 1994. Prior to its sale, Sex.com had been the subject of a long legal battle, one that continued until 2007.

In May of 2007, lawyers for Kremen announced that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had issued an order dismissing the most recent appeal of a $65,000,000 judgment against Stephen Michael Cohen, effectively ending the case – at the time, it was considered a landmark decision in Internet law.

The story, in brief, is that Cohen used>>>

Poll: How Long Until New Top Level Domain Names?

2010-03-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Friday, March 12th, 2010

When do you think new TLDs will be available for registration?

Another ICANN meeting has wrapped up. Blows were dealt to many, but some progress was made. With EOI off the table, the focus is on settling the “overarching issues”. The intellectual property constituency, which didn’t show up to Nairobi, was perhaps the biggest winner.

New TLDs are going to happen. It’s a matter of when.>>

From the Domain Name Journal...

2010-03-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Today in The Lowdown: A new online magazine focusing entirely on ccTLDs has launched at ccTLDInvestors.com. Plus, ICANN closes its meeting in Nairobi by announcing a new Trademark Clearinghouse database.

and much more here>>>

'.XXX' Domain Name Being Considered for Porn Sites

2010-03-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

Updated March 10, 2010

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A global Internet oversight agency is reopening discussions about whether to create a ".xxx" domain name. It would be an online red-light district where porn sites can set up shop away from the wandering eyes of children and teenagers.

Parents would be able to use the system to help block access to porn sites. Because its use would be voluntary, though, the ".xxx" suffix wouldn't keep such content entirely away from minors. The proposal has already been rejected three times since 2000.

The Internet Corporation for>>>

Employee Internet Addiction: The Cost To Firms And What To Do About It

2010-02-18T23:59:00.000-08:00

By GARY M. STERN, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILYPosted 02/05/2010 06:30 PM ET

View Enlarged Image

Internet use at work for some employees is bouncing from productive to excessive to just plain out of control.

Some workers check personal e-mails every 10 minutes without realizing it. They send text messages almost unconsciously, then spend time shopping on online sites.

David Greenfield, a psychologist and president of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, based in West Hartford, Conn., says that staff who suffer from Net addiction get less productive. So more companies are finding ways to limit the damage.

Many companies aren't as aware of the problem as they should be. E-mails and text messages sent from PDAs, BlackBerrys and cell phones can keep staff engaged with clients and coworkers. Since most companies depend on such technology, they often ignore the signs of Internet abuse.

A Cycle Of Addiction

Staffers obsessed with the Internet start to resemble "a person at a casino. (The feeling) produces a sense of dissociation. They lose sense of time; time goes by unconsciously," said Greenfield. Trapped in this cycle of Internet frenzy, workers overlook their business tasks and are unable to finish work on time.

Psychologically, Greenfield says the>>>

AT&T's iPhone Mess

2010-02-15T04:56:00.001-08:00

February 3, 2010, 11:00PM EST

The iPhone has swamped AT&T's data network and sparked a consumer rebellion. What can Ma Bell do?

By Roben Farzad

In mid-December, Fake Steve Jobs, the alter ego of widely read journalist and blogger Dan Lyons, posted the following appeal to his fellow members of iPhone Nation: "On Friday, Dec. 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data-intensive app and run that app for one solid hour. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network. …Join us and speak truth to power!" Soon thousands of hooligans—or if you prefer, frustrated customers paying AT&T (T) as much as $150 per month—took to Twitter and Facebook to join up.

Operation Chokehold might have been a landmark consumer uprising had the federal government not stepped in. Two days before the planned protest, Jamie Barnett, the Federal Communications Commission's chief of public safety and homeland security, issued a statement warning that to "purposely try to disrupt or negatively impact a network with ill-intent is irresponsible and presents a significant public safety concern." Doing so could interfere with 911 calls. Fearing a boomerang of negative publicity, the Chokeholders called off the stunt, but the popular backlash against AT&T raged on. On the Dec. 20 broadcast of NBC's Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers noted that Google's new phone might pose a threat to Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and added: "Also a challenge to the iPhone: making phone calls."

AT&T has stumbled into a quagmire. When it secured exclusive rights to support Apple's iPhone on its wireless network in June 2007, investors hailed the deal as a masterstroke. Here was stodgy, safe AT&T positioning itself to gulp profits from a cutting-edge technology. But AT&T and Apple vastly underestimated the iPhone's appeal. At launch, Real Steve Jobs said he'd be happy if the device could grab 1% of the global cell-phone market, or about 10 million units for 2008. Instead, Apple has sold at least 42.4 million—25.1 million in 2009 alone, 14% of the global smartphone market. AT&T, which markets the iPhone in the U.S., simply can't handle the traffic.

Making matters worse is the proliferation of "apps,">>>

The Right Name for Your Business

2010-02-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

January 22, 2010, 12:17PM EST

By Karen E. Klein

I am starting a personal shopping business to do fashion and style makeovers for private clients. I'm looking for a great name for this business that has class, pizzazz, and perhaps a comic touch. Can you help? —A.C., Toronto

Naming a business, brand, or product is a creative process. There are people who are exceptionally talented when it comes to finding the right combination of words and nuance to capture both the essence of your brand and the public's imagination, says Steve Cone, executive vice-president of Epsilon, a direct marketing agency based in Dallas, and author of Powerlines: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans, and Sometimes Change History.

"All the great names in marketing history were created by individuals who are great writers. Sometimes they're professionals and sometimes they are not," Cone says. "Whatever you do, don't use committees or focus groups to find a name. That could kill your company."

With the importance of the Web to your>>>

Cheap Domain Name Shopping

2010-02-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Published: February 02, 2010

By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze

A Cheap Domain Name isn't always on the shopping list for large companies. They don't seem to mind paying exorbitant prices, even though there is no difference whatsoever in the product.

Small businesses, on the other hand, discovered a long time ago that there isn't a lot of difference between a cheap domain name and an expensive domain name.

When you are talking about a dot com domain, it is almost the same thing, whether you pay a little or a lot. Almost the same, that is, as long as the seller is stable and reliable.

Stability
The stability of the underlying company is important. A few years ago, there was a domain seller horror story, when registrar xxx failed.

Cheap Domain Name Benefits
Many small businesses and home businesses own multiple domains. The more domains, the higher the cost when you pay too much.
When a domain is used as a placeholder or a redirect, as is often the case with .net and .org domains, the cheaper the domain name, the lower the holding costs.

Although there are name domain extensions now

Troubleshoot Your DNS

2010-02-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

February 03, 2010 12:40 PM

By Glenn Fleishman, Macworld.com

You use the domain name system (DNS) every time you try to connect your computer to an Internet resource--a Web page, say, or an FTP directory. DNS matches human-readable names like www.macworld.com (which generally stay the same over time) to machine-readable numeric addresses (which would be hard to remember and can change constantly).

The trouble is that DNS lookups (or resolution) can take time--sometimes, a lot of time. Until they're done, the Web page or FTP directory you want can't even begin to load. That delay, known as latency, can make your Net connection feel slow.

(When you're talking about network performance, you have to distinguish latency from throughput. You can think of it in terms of plumbing: Latency is the amount of time it takes for water to go from its source to your tap; throughput is the gallons per minute that spew forth once the water begins to flow.)

Domain lookup services are provided by>>>

The Problem With Having Too Many Domains in an Auction

2010-02-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

15 tweets retweet

For online domain auctions, less is more.

Two “extended” domain name auctions concluded this week. The results were underwhelming.

In the Rick Latona auction, only 9 of 600 domain names sold. The Moniker extended auction sold 79 of about 2,000 domains.

So what’s the problem? Too many domains, and especially too many poorly priced domain names.

I won’t profess to be an expert at picking which domain names will sell. But I assume auction houses apply some mathematics to it. You take the reserve price times the odds it will sell to come up with an expected value. Of course, you also consider that you want a high sell through rate, so you don’t just accept million dollar domains with a 1% chance of selling over $5,000 domains with a 90% chance of selling.

If auction houses are using a similar selection process, it just isn’t working. I think the problem is too many domains in the auctions.

Moniker set the high water mark>>>

Testing Your Internet Speed: Advanced Edition

2010-02-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

February 5, 2010, 4:52 pm

By PETER WAYNER

After reading my article about testing the quality of an Internet connection, several readers wrote with other suggested software. These tools are all a bit less user-friendly than the Web pages described in the article, but they can offer more information and a better understanding of what’s working and not working.

* Ping — Accessible from the command line on Windows, Macs and Unix machines. Type the word “ping” followed by the domain name in question. Your computer will send out test packets to a particular machine and time how long it takes for the distant machine to respond. Lower numbers are better and a large variation in response time can indicate that the link may not be ideal for continuous services like telephony or video streaming. Dropped packets will stand out and aren’t good at all. The Web page pingtest.net automates this process and tests some well-defined machines around the world. The command line version will focus on one machine in a particular part of the world.

* Traceroute — Also accessible from the >>>

Buy a Domain Name With Your Latte

2010-02-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

21 tweets retweet

New gift card lets retail shoppers pick up a domain name on impulse.

You can register domain names through web sites, twitter, and text message. So why not buy one with your latte?

A new gift card from Canadian domain name registrar WebNames.ca lets customers buy a voucher for a .tel domain name at the cash registrer and then redeem it online. The card is apparently being offered (or soon will be) at CanTalk Wireless and Blenz Coffee in Canada.

A number of domain name registrars,>>>

Travel Domain Names...

2010-02-07T05:35:00.000-08:00

Sales of domains Fly.com, Russia.com, America.com and Brazil.com were among the top ten highest valued URLs in 2009 as travel and geography-related sites showed a rise in popularity with buyers.

Data from domain marketplace specialist Sedo shows that the well publicised purchase of Fly.com by Travelzoo just weeks ahead of the metasearch engine’s launch in February 2009 was the biggest transaction of the year at £1.2 million (almost $1.8 million at today’s prices).

Russia.com was also another high-ticket item, going for over £900,000 ($1.4 million).

Sedo says there is a general increase in geographic and travel-related domains changing hands, with Sudan.com (£75,295) and Kiev.com (£54,601) also appearing high in quarterly tables in the later part of 2009.

Sedo business development director Nora Nanayakkara says:

Don’t Give Up a Deal Over Pennies

2010-02-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

It’s always important to get a great deal when trying to buy a domain name to flip, but if you like a name at a rough price range enough to consider buying it, don’t fret over a few percentage points. From experience, I hesitated on a deal that I now regret not making.

I recently tried to buy a domain name for several hundred dollars, and the negotiation came down to the owner wanting $100 more than I wanted to pay. With escrow fees, it would have been less than a couple hundred dollars more, but I thought (and still think) the name is worth between $2-3,000 on a quick flip. I ended up walking away from the deal because I thought the seller would figure that having my cash would be better than keeping the domain name he hasn’t sold in 8+ years of ownership.

It’s needless to say, but I checked the Whois today (several weeks later) and the domain name has changed hands. Perhaps someone else saw that the price was lowered or maybe the owner became motivated to sell it. Whatever the case is, I am sure I couldn’t buy the name today without greatly overpaying. It’s my loss, but an important lesson for people who are privately buying domain names.

If you see value in a domain name,>>>

Apple Doesn't Own A Single iPad Related Domain Name

2010-02-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

Robin Wauters

TechCrunch.com
Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 12:55 PM

Perhaps Apple was just being extremely careful not to draw any attention to the widely speculated name of its new multimedia device prior to this morning's announcement, but one simply cannot overlook the fact that the company doesn't have ownership over any domain names related to 'iPad'.

For now, that is.

Apple does not own iPad.com, as you may have noticed. Others have, in any case, and some even suggest that the person who registered the domain name (one Martine Bejasa) sell it to the Cupertino company to become an instant millionaire. Unlikely to happen, IMHO.

But what else doesn't Apple own? Well, they don't have control over even a single domain name that has iPad followed by a country or generic TLD. Out of Cupertino's hands, at least for the time being: iPad.net, iPad.biz, iPad.info, iPad.fr, iPad.de, iPad.es, iPad.eu, iPad.se, iPad.cn, iPad.be and iPad.jp. To name but a few.

They also don't own iBook.com, iBooks.com>>>

Danica looking good at Daytona

2010-02-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

By Mark McCarter

February 07, 2010, 6:38AM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Turns out, it's not the face and the figure.

It's Danica Patrick's nerves.

Danica Patrick That's the part of her that you don't see in those famously semi-naughty commercials. That's the real money-maker.

That's what, as dusk fell over Daytona on Saturday, kept her going to -- who'd thought this? -- scare the bejeebers out of gray-whiskered gentlemen in the front of the field, even after she went sideways, backwards, through the grass and pretty much just totally catawampus.

In case there was still any doubt about her talent, Patrick's performance erased it on Saturday.

She finished sixth in her stock car>>>

7thSpace Unveils Expired Domain Name Tweets on Twitter

2010-02-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

Today, 7thSpace Interactive unveiled a new service which posts expired, but available domain names to Twitter every five minutes. The service can be accessed at http://twitter.com/DeletedNames and is free.

Expired domain names can be a goldmine for many people, as many names that expire were either not renewed because the previous owner may not had funds available to renew the name, or because the previous owner simply forgot to renew the name.

"We at 7thSpace have decided to go a step forward and post such names directly on Twitter, so people interested in domains are able to grab some of the expired gems." 7thSpace's head developer said.

Expired domain names are>>>

DN Journal

2010-02-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today in The Lowdown: With the ccTLD market booming new dropcatching service Drop.com.au joins the growing competition for expiring Australian domains. They are claiming a high success rate too - landing 82% of the .au domains they have gone after, including gems like Printing.com.au and MotorHomes.com.au.

The State of the Industry January 2010: We Asked 16 Domain Experts If We Hit Bottom in 2009 and Will See a Rebound in the New Year

and much more here>>>

DN Journal

2010-02-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome to DN Journal Newsletter #38! This publication is sent only to subscribers who registered at DNJournal.com to receive our free monthly newsletter and email notifications when new articles are posted on our site. You may unsubscribe at any time by sending a removal request to editor@dnjournal.com.

and much more here>>>

VirnetX's Potential Licensing Revenue in Billions of Dollars, Says Larry Oakley of WallStreetCorner.com Investment Newsletter

2010-01-29T02:47:00.000-08:00

Press Release Source: VirnetX Holding Corporation On Monday January 25, 2010, 7:30 am EST

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Larry Oakley, editor and publisher of the WallStreetCorner.com investment newsletter (www.WallStreetCorner.com), an international investment newsletter published in South Carolina and distributed to investors in 96 countries, in his January 2010 issue stated, "If one looks ahead to VirnetX Holding Corporation's (NYSE Amex: VHC) (www.virnetx.com) potential licensing revenue, based on its number of possible customers & its number of licensing products, I feel that VHC's licensing program can be described as having a potential of many billions of dollars."

VirnetX, a secure real-time communications and>>>

VirnetX Announces Patented Technology Solutions to Internet Fundraising Scams

2010-01-29T02:44:00.000-08:00

Press Release Source: VirnetX Holding Corporation On Tuesday January 19, 2010, 7:30 am EST

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSE Amex: VHC), www.virnetx.com, a California-based secure real-time communications technology company, announced today that its patented technology portfolio, derived from a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) security project, could be used to help stop Internet fundraising scams associated with disasters like the recent earthquake in Haiti or Hurricane Katrina.

"The Internet is wide open to cyberattacks of all kinds," said Kendall Larsen, President and CEO of VirnetX. "In the tragic humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as a number of related web domains go live many are likely being used maliciously, as has been the case with other disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, with opportunists using the domains to set up fake charity sites used for phishing. Cybervandals are also launching malicious 'text-to-donate' scams and promoting fake videos about the disaster, using them to trick individuals into installing malware. Social networks, such as Facebook, are also vulnerable to fundraising breaches."

VirnetX's technology portfolio, in which 23 of its patents and 28 of its patent applications pertain to 4G security standards, locate and securely communicate over the Internet using Secure Domain Names issued by its proprietary Secure Domain Name Registry.

If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It HackMe

2010-01-24T11:01:00.000-08:00

by Ashlee Vance
Friday, January 22, 2010

provided by

Back at the dawn of the Web, the most popular account password was "12345."

Today, it's one digit longer but hardly safer: "123456."

Despite all the reports of Internet security breaches over the years, including the recent attacks on Google's e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug.

According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like "abc123," "iloveyou" or even "password" to protect their data.

"I guess it's just a genetic flaw in humans," said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. "We've been following the same patterns since the 1990s."

and much more here>>>

How Many Years Should You Register Your Domain Name?

2010-01-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

By Matt Kline

There are many questions to be answered having to do with domain names. We will go over a few of the common questions pertaining to domain name registration in order to give you a better idea of the subject.

How do search engines treat the length of time a domain name has been registered? How many years should you renew a domain name for? 1 year, 2 years, 10 years? Your own competition will be a good gauge of this, if you look to see how long your competitors have had their domain names registered you can simply follow along. I would only be looking at the best competitors since they will be ranked close to or ahead of you. In fact, if your competition renews their domain names every year or two, I would think strongly about out doing them by registering your domain name for 5+ years. To be honest, the length of time your domain name renewal period is, will not be that big of a factor in search engine rankings. But every little bit might help, especially in a really competitive niche.

A 5 or 10 year registration might also make the most business sense. Why deal with the renewal process every year if you don't need to? There is a really good chance that if you were to accidentally allow your domain name to expire, someone will swoop in to register that name. I had this happen to me a few years ago. The company that bought it set up a site with nothing but ads, in the hopes that any old traffic would come in directly and click on an ad. Basically, they were trying to get my old traffic that I had built up over time. This obviously works for them, since there are many sites set up just for that reason. They can most likely make up for the cost of the domain name just from the adsense clicks.

These types of companies will also make the domain name available for sale in the hopes that you screwed up and accidentally let it expire. They will jack up the price of the domain and hope you will buy it back from them for 100's of times what it's worth.

Some companies register their domain names for 100 years. I would not personally recommend doing that simply because, how do we know how the way the internet will function even 20 years from now, let alone 100 years. This option costs around $1000. I think that would be throwing money away. Domain names might not even be necessary in the future.

The point of all this is to make sure to not let your domain name expire. You would have to start all of the SEO over again, and we all know how fun that is. Imagine if you had to start back linking, ranking, and getting all your customers back just because you let the domain name expire. It's just not worth the risk, so go and renew your domain name today. http://qualityhostingnow.com

For more information about subjects dealing with websites check out this article. http://qualityhostingnow.com/2009/11/a-beginner's-guide-for-how-to-build-a-website/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Kline

Choosing a Strong Domain Name For Your Website

2010-01-10T03:58:00.000-08:00

By Michelle A Stevens

One of the first steps you need to take when creating your online presence is to choose a domain name for your website.

The domain name you choose will need to be relevant to your hobby or business so it is worth taking some time and doing plenty of research before picking a name for your site.

Below are some tips to help you successfully choose a domain name:

- When you first begin your domain name search, it helps to have a list of terms or phrases in mind that best describe the domain you are seeking.
- Start by brainstorming keywords that are relevant to your site.
- List as many words as you can and make different combinations with those words. Be creative!
- Pick a few of these combinations that you would most like to use for your domain name.
- Be mindful to keep names short & uncomplicated, easy to type and remember, not easily confused or hard to spell and related to the theme of your website.
- Shorter domain names are easier to remember and are less likely to be mistyped or misspelt.
- Consider also hyphenating words. Sometimes this can work as long as it is not overused.
- Try to avoid using plurals, misspelled or hyphenated versions of already existing websites as this can prove confusing for visitors to your site.

Sometimes you may still need a little help and there are some great domain name generators out there such as Nameboy which will help you come up with different variations of names you are interested in.

At this point you should be ready to start checking the availability of the domain name that you would like to register.There are many companies such as GoDaddy that you can use to both check the availability of and register domain names.

If your choice is not available do not be discouraged & move on to the next name or phrase you have written down.

Start building your online presence today with "Create Your First Website By 3.45 This Afternoon" the eBook, specifically written for beginners and newcomers just starting out online. Go to http://www.designyourfirstwebsite.com to find out more and download your FREE copy now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_A_Stevens

Selecting a Good Domain Name is Critical For the Success of Your Website

2010-01-10T03:56:00.000-08:00

By Sara Morgan

If you are starting a new business and need to establish an online presence, the first thing you need to do is select and register a domain name. Do not take this step for granted, because the domain name you choose can make or break your websites success. Also, do not want to wait too long to register a domain name, in case the one you need is already taken.

If you are not sure what a domain name is; it is the thing that makes your website unique. It is what a customer will type into a browser when they need to go to your website. For this reason, the number on rule in selecting a domain name is to pick something that is easy for them to remember.

Think of it like this. If you are at a busy cocktail party, telling people about your business and someone asks what your web site is, you want to be able to tell them a name that they do not have to write down and will still remember in the morning.

To determine what this magical name is, you need input from other people. Tell your potential name to the least technical savvy person you know (like your Grandmother) and see what reaction you get. If they look at you with a blank face and cannot repeat back what you just said, you may want to reconsider your choice. Keep repeating this process until you find a name that is both available and catchy.

You should also strongly consider using a name that explains what your business is and contains a popular search keyword. Take for example a used book seller named Winston's. Rather than trying to register the domain name winstons.com, you should consider winstonsusedbooks.com instead. Sure, the name is longer, but it is not too long to be remembered and is likely to rank higher by the search engines when people do a search for used books.

Finding a good domain name could be the critical factor that determines whether your business succeeds or fails. Take the time to really pick a good one. To find out whether the domain name you want is taken, go to http://www.whois.com and do a domain name search. This domain name registrar will not only tell you if the name has been taken, but it will also suggest alternatives.

Sara Morgan is the author of No Limits: How I escaped the clutches or Corporate America to live the self-employed life of my dreams". As a professional web developer for the past 12 years, she knows a thing or two about web sites. She is currently writing a set of do-it-yourself guides for people wanting to build their own professional looking websites. You can get more information about her and the guides from her company's website at http://www.custsolutions.net.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sara_Morgan

DNJournal

2010-01-10T03:51:00.001-08:00

Dear Readers:

The new weekly domain sales report is out at DNJournal.com. The final week of the 2009 sales season saw the kind of light overall activity you expect over the holidays but it still produced a pair of impressive six-figure sales. Setting the pace was a $350,000 blockbuster handled by NoktaDomains and another solid six-figure sale from Sedo. Three country code domains and a pair of non .com gTLDs joined the usual complement of .coms on our new Top 20 Sales chart. You can get all of the details here: http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

Our final 2009 Top 100 sales chart was also completed this week – you can check it out here: http://www.dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm

Also new at DN Journal this week is a preview

Domain Name Journal

2010-01-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

Today in The Lowdown: On the final day of 2009 a fleeting masterpiece appeared in Ron Jackson's backyard. In describing it see why he wrote "I was struck by how appropriate it was to see this on the last day of another decade - to be reminded that despite recessions and wars and all of the other ills affecting the world - there is always a new day ahead, another chance to try to make today a little better than yesterday was for myself, my family and friends and those around us."

and much more here>>>

China Gets Tough on Porn & Cyber Bad Guys

2010-01-02T04:55:00.000-08:00

Written by Jart Armin 12/31/2009

In recent weeks, Chinese government agencies have introduced a range of measures to crack down on Internet badness, online gaming, and pornographic Websites that use .cn domains.

Netizens outside China may ask, "Why should I care?" The answer is that a significant proportion of Internet cybercriminal activity -- malware, phishing, spam -- has emanated from invariably anonymous .cn domains over the last few years, alongside the phenomenal Internet growth in China.

As I described in an earlier blog, servers such as the one named "AS 4134 - CHINANET" are very high on international lists of hosts serving many forms of badness.

At present, China itself is under assault from a wave of pornographic, gaming, and rogue Websites. A representative from CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) revealed to Chinese media that this special campaign aims to crack down on these Websites and the related domains to fight abuses.

It will now be a requirement of new registrations to prove their authenticity before a purchase can be made. China will only allow registered businesses to purchase new .cn domain names; individuals will be barred from purchasing domains, and anonymity will be removed.

Legitimate domain names will have enhanced protection of their their rights and interests and will "not be rashly closed or canceled." It will be within the jurisdiction of domain name registrars to revoke ownership of domain names that point to badness, gaming, or pornographic Websites. Finally, a "prize money" incentive will be offered to users who directly report abuse.

CNNIC also has coordinated with domain name registrars>>>

Google PageRank Update for the New Year

2010-01-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine emailed me early this afternoon to let me know that Google updated the Page Rank of my website to PR5. Apparently, Google updated the PR for many websites some time in the last 24 hours or so. The meaning and impact of a website’s PageRank is debated, but a PR5 is better than a PR4

Here are how 20 of the Domain Superstar Top 100 Domain Blogs rank in PR:

DomainTools Blog – PR6
ICANN Blog – PR7

and much more here>>>

Google Loses Another Domain Name Dispute

2010-01-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

Jan 01, 2010 11:14 PM PST

By John Levine

For the benefit of trademark owners, ICANN has something called the UDRP (Uniform Dispute Resolution Process) that allows the owner to file a complaint against an allegedly infringing domain name, to be resolved by one of a small set of arbitrators. About 90% of UDRP cases that proceed to a decision are decided in favor of the complainant; opinions differ as to whether that's because of the merit of the complaints or the institutional bias of the arbitrators.

Google files lots of UDRP complaints. One arbitrator is the World International Property Organization in Geneva. In 2009 they decided all of their Google cases in Google's favor: googlemapsargentina.com, googleinstores.com, adsgoogle.net, google4people.net, googblog.com, mygooglemoney.com, and googlehrd.com.

Another arbitrator is the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NAF used to handle a lot of credit card disputes, until July when they stopped rather than defend themselves from charges by the state Attorney General that they colluded with collection agencies and credit card companies. But they still handle a lot of UDRP cases, in 2009 deciding googlegameroom.com, googl.com, googlevideodownload.com, googlewows.com, googleacompanhantes.com, googleventure.com, googleventures.com, youtubeislam.com, pagerankglobal.com, googleprofiles.com, google-milhas.com, googlewebmarketing.com, googlel.com, googlepowersearch.com, googlemark.org, googlemenu.com, googlemarketing101.com, googlesearchserver.net, googledataentry.com, googlebuzz.com, and googleos.org in Google's favor. To nearly everyone's surprise, they decided one case against Google, groovle.com.

Groovle is a small Canadian company that lets you set up a web home page with a Google search box on a background of your choice. You can upload your own picture, or they offer a variety of tasteful pictures for you to use. Google's complaint, as it is in nearly every UDRP case, is that the domain name is "confusingly similar" to Google's and is being used in bad faith. Groovle's search box isn't a problem; that's a standard Google program called Adsense for Search, open to anyone who wants to put a search box on their web site.

Groovle's response is no, it's not similar, this case>>>

The Lowdown

2010-01-02T04:40:00.001-08:00

and much more here>>>

Life in the Fast Lane: Rick Latona Got a Late Start But He's Quickly Closing In on the Competition

2009-12-29T15:31:00.000-08:00

Over the last few years the domain industry has been going through a consolidation stage in which bigger fish swallow up smaller ones, creating industry conglomerates like NameMedia, Demand Media, Oversee.net and Thought Convergence. With venture capitalists pumping tens of millions of dollars into the space, it seemed obvious that the game was over for self-financed entrepreneurs with dreams of grandeur. They couldn't possibly compete against the new domain industry behemoths. Apparently Rick Latona never got that memo.

Even though he didn't go full time in the domain business until 2007 the 37-year-old serial entrepreneur from Atlanta has turned the old order upside down. He has built a conglomerate of his own that ranges from domain financing to direct domain sales to online domain auctions to live auction sales to staging the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conference under a partnership agreement with the show's co-founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu. Whew!

For everyone who may have have wondered>>>

VeriSign To Raise Fees For Internet Registry Domain Names

2009-12-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER 17, 2009, 5:27 P.M. ET

  DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) said it would raise fees for registry domain names, effective July 1, 2010.

Shares jumped 9.3% to $24.25 in after-hours trading. The stock has gained 16% this year.

VeriSign, which keeps the master list of domain names ending in .com and .net, plans to increase its registry fee for .com names 7% to $7.34 and for .net names 9.9% to $4.65.

VeriSign has raised those fees by the same rates in each of the past two years. The 2007 increases were the first for .com and .net names since the fee structure was put in place by the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers in 1999.

Both suffixes also are available to any company, group or individual.

VeriSign's global infrastructure has increased to more>>>

Russians Wary of Push for Cyrillic Web Domains

2009-12-22T06:28:00.000-08:00

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY

Published: December 21, 2009

MOSCOW — The Kremlin has long been irritated by the way the United States dominates the Internet, all the way down to the ban on using Cyrillic for Web addresses — even kremlin.ru has to be demeaningly rendered in English. The Russian government, as a result, is taking the lead in a landmark shift occurring around the world to allow domain names in languages with non-Latin alphabets.

more>>

China issues new rules on Internet domain names

2009-12-22T06:18:00.000-08:00

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

BEIJING — China's Internet watchdog issued a new set of rules on domain name registration this week in a bid to curb pornography and illegal content.

According to Liu Jie, an official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the regulations posted on its website Sunday beef up existing rules on domain name registration.

The measures will cut off Internet services to those websites that have not registered with the ministry, Liu said.

They also aim to improve a "blacklist system" to prevent banned domain name owners from reapplying for a new domain name, he added.

It was not clear if the new rules apply to overseas websites but many such sites are already blocked by China's Internet authorities, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and a host of media and news websites and blogs.

China maintains strict censorship of the Internet, an effort that has become known as the "Great Firewall of China".

In recent weeks, Chinese regulators closed down>>>

Domain Parking Tips: Make More Money W. Parked.com

2009-11-14T03:06:00.000-08:00

Domain Name Sales Machine Make Big Money

2009-11-14T03:04:00.000-08:00

WIPO Rules in Favor of Glenn Beck Parody Site

2009-11-14T02:59:00.000-08:00

11.06.09

by Chloe Albanesius

An intellectual property organization has denied a request by Glenn Beck to take down a Web site with a domain name that the talk show host claimed improperly used his name and defamed his name.

An arbitration panel for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency within the United Nations, found that Isaac Eiland-Hall registered the URL glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com as a political statement and not as a bad faith effort to profit from Beck's name.

Eiland-Hall "appears to the panel to be engaged in a parody of the style or methodology that [Eiland-Hall] appears genuinely to believe is employed by [Beck] in the provision of political commentary, and for that reason [Eiland-Hall] can be said to be making a political statement."

In a Friday letter to Beck, Eiland-Hall said he pursued the case simply as a means to "help preserve the First Amendment" and provided Beck with the username and password to his site so that Beck could remove it at his discretion.

The Web site was still live early Friday afternoon, but as of 4:30pm Eastern time, it appeared to be down.

A spokesman for Beck declined comment.

Eiland-Hall states on his Web site that Beck did not in fact rape and murder a girl in 1990, and that the URL is referencing an Internet meme as a means to poke fun at Beck's style as a talk show host.

Eiland-Hall pointed to Beck's>>>

FreeCreditReport.com Wins 1,017 Domains in Single Arbitration

2009-11-14T02:56:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 13th, 2009

In what may set a record for most domains subject to a single domain name arbitration, the parent company of FreeCreditReport.com has won the transfer of 1,017 domain names registered by California-based NetCorp.

The domain names are mostly typos of the company’s FreeCreditReport.com web site, which is widely advertised as a free credit check service. Examples include fareecreditreport.com, freecmeditreport.com, and freecqeditreport.com.

NetCorp argued that FreeCreditReport.com is merely descriptive, and that the company did not have trademark rights at the time it registered the domain names. The panel didn’t buy it.

This case could be a big win for anti-typosquatting >>>

D&D Consulting will pay $10K for referral of winning bidder in domain name auction

2009-11-14T02:53:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 13, 2009, 2:30pm EST

D&D Consulting Ltd. is offering a $10,000 finder’s fee to anyone who refers the individual who buys the Albany, N.Y., company’s Internet domain, Disaster.com.

The silent auction started Oct. 22 with a minimum asking bid of $850,000. It’s expected to conclude on Nov. 20.

The IT consulting company registered Disaster.com in 1994.

The sale has generated a lot of interest, but attracted a limited number of bidders so far, said Gavin Cooper, D&D’s marketing manager.

“We attribute this to auction buying behavior,” >>>

Weekly Domain Sales Report...

2009-11-14T02:50:00.000-08:00

The new weekly domain sales report is out at DNJournal.com. There were no blockbusters this week but Sedo rang up a bucket load of solid five-figure sales to sweep the first 8 spots on our new Top 20 Chart. They also placed eight ccTLDs on the all extension leader board including a trio that ranked among the five biggest sales. You can get all of the details here: http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

Also new at DN Journal is our comprehensive review of the 2009 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York conference that closed October 29^th. This report includes dozens of previously unreleased photos and conference details that we did not have time to delve into in the daily highlights we posted from New York while the event was underway. This show marked the end of an era as conference co-founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu have now turned the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. reins over to Rick Latona. Read all about it and see photos of all of the 2009 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Industry Awards winners here: http://www.dnjournal.com/events/2009/traffic-newyork-2009-review.htm

Best Wishes,

Ron Jackson

Editor/Publisher

www.DNJournal.com

P.S. DN Journal is now on Twitter. You can receive our regular updates on the popular micro-blogging site by going to http://twitter.com/dnjournal and adding us to your follow list.

Carriers Eye Pay-As-You-Go Internet

2009-10-25T18:15:00.001-07:00

OCTOBER 21, 2009

By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS And NIRAJ SHETH

( See Correction & Amplification below. )

In the early years of the Internet, the more time people spent online, the more they paid a provider like AOL for their connection. But as customers have shifted to always-on broadband services, many Web surfers have enjoyed all-you-can-eat Internet for a flat rate.

Some cable and telecommunications providers are trying to turn back the clock and return to usage-based pricing for Internet connections. Carriers including AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. say they may have to switch amid a surge in Internet traffic as more people go online to watch videos and download movies.

Recent efforts to introduce usage-based, or metered, broadband services have met stiff resistance from consumers. But a new push by the federal government to adopt rules that would force Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally, no matter how much bandwidth they take up, could give ammunition to the broadband providers that want to change how they charge for Web access, Internet experts and consumer advocates say.

"This could come down to carriers saying, 'If you don't allow us to manage our networks the way we see fit, then we will just have to cap everything,' " says Phillip Dampier, a consumer advocate focusing on technology issues in Rochester, N.Y. "They'll make it an either/or thing: give them more control over their network or expect metered broadband."

Mr. Dampier was among those who forced>>>

Bosh’s Win Over Cybersquatter Frees 800 Domain Names

2009-10-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

By HOWARD BECK

Published: October 14, 2009

Chris Bosh went to court to reclaim his online identity, and in the process liberated the Internet domain names of 800 other athletes, celebrities and would-be celebrities.

A federal judge in California has ordered a cybersquatter to surrender chrisbosh .com to Bosh, the Toronto Raptors forward, settling a lawsuit filed last year. But the court went a step further — or several hundred steps.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of United States District Court ordered Luis Zavala and his company, Hoopology .com, to release some 800 illegally registered domain names to Bosh.

“We are notifying the world >>>

Arkansas Company Spills Hot Coffee on Rival’s Domain Name Claims

2009-10-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Respondent in domain dispute successful against rival online coffee retailer.

An Arkansas company has successfully defended a domain arbitration case brought against it by a rival online coffee retailer.

Discount Coffee.com Inc. filed an arbitration case against WCM Investments of Arkansas, which operates Coffee.org. WCM had registered the domain names discount-coffee.net, discountcoffee.net, and discountedcoffee.com to drive traffic to Coffee.org, and DiscountCoffee.com argued that WCM was trading on its goodwill by using the allegedly confusingly similar domain names. But it was unable to convince the arbitrator that the domains were registered in bad faith and that the respondent didn’t have rights or legitimate interests in them.

There’s an important lesson here for companies>>>

AAA Auto Club Gets AAA.net Domain Name…and Porn Names

2009-10-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

AAA gets hands on AAA.net. But it is overstepping its bounds.

American Automobile Association (AAA) has been awarded the domain name AAA.net after filing a lawsuit against its owners. AAA had lost a UDRP arbitration at National Arbitration Forum for the domain name, and then sued the owners of the domain in U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania.

The National Arbitration Forum got it right — but in this case the defendants’ behavior with other domains made it tough to defend in the court system. AAA noted several other domain names that the defendants had to cough up through UDRP, including Polaroid.net, RadissonSeattle.com, and Micorosft.com.

AAA.net is a generic term and appeared to be used that way in this case; but ultimately it seems that the defendants felt it worthwhile to hand over the domain rather than engage in a long lawsuit.

AAA has been on an arbitration domain name land>>>

Kentucky Online Gambling Domain Name Arguments Heard By Supreme Court

2009-10-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

The state of Kentucky held firm to their belief on Thursday that they acted within state law when they seized 141 online gambling domain names. Attorneys for the gambling sites also held their ground.

Attorneys for the two sides made their cases in front of the Kentucky Supreme Court Thursday, and a ruling on which side is right may not come down for weeks, possibly even months. The two sides took turns arguing their points, trying to convince the state's highest court that their position is the correct one.

At issue is whether or not the state had the right to seize the domain names. The state contends that the gambling sites were being used for an illegal activity in Kentucky, online gambling. In their eyes, that gave them the right to seize the domains.

Lawyers for the sites, however,>>>

new weekly domain sales report

2009-10-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

The new weekly domain sales report is out at DNJournal.com. Out latest Top 20 Chart is led by a pair of impressive six-figure sales that rank among the year's highest transactions. The domain at the top is one of the 20 biggest sales thus far in 2009 and the quarter-million dollar runner-up is the year's 2nd biggest ccTLD sale and the highest reported .co.uk sale to this point in 2009. The country codes were really rocking this week, taking 10 of the 20 positions on our all extension leader board (that is even more than the usually dominant .com’s nine). You can get all of the details here: http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

Also new this week is our comprehensive review of this month’s SedoPro Partner Forum conference in Key West, Florida. We posted some daily photos and highlights in our Lowdown section while the event was underway but, with the busy schedule in Key West, had to wait until we got back to put together a full report on everything that went on there. You’ll find many previously unpublished photos and notes in our wire to wire review located here: http://www.dnjournal.com/events/2009/sedopro-keywest-review.htm

We’ll be heading to New York City early next week for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott. As always we will have daily highlights for you in our Lowdown section (http://www.dnjournal.com/lowdown.htm) and a full review soon after we return.

Best Wishes,

Ron Jackson

Editor/Publisher

www.DNJournal.com

DN Journal is now on Twitter. You can receive our regular updates on the popular micro-blogging site by going to http://twitter.com/dnjournal and adding us to your follow list.

Why Email No Longer Rules… …And what that means for the way we communicate

2009-10-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 12, 2009

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over.

In its place, a new generation of services is starting to take hold—services like Twitter and Facebook and countless others vying for a piece of the new world. And just as email did more than a decade ago, this shift promises to profoundly rewrite the way we communicate—in ways we can only begin to imagine.

We all still use email, of course. But email was better suited to the way we used to use the Internet—logging off and on, checking our messages in bursts. Now, we are always connected, whether we are sitting at a desk or on a mobile phone. The always-on connection, in turn, has created a host of new ways to communicate that are much faster than email, and more fun.

Why wait for a response to an email when you get a quicker answer over instant messaging? Thanks to Facebook, some questions can be answered without asking them. You don't need to ask a friend whether she has left work, if she has updated her public "status" on the site telling the world so. Email, stuck in the era of attachments, seems boring compared to services like Google Wave, currently in test phase, which allows users to share photos by dragging and dropping them from a desktop into a Wave, and to enter comments in near real time.

Little wonder that while email continues to grow, other types of communication services are growing far faster. In August 2009, 276.9 million people used email across the U.S., several European countries, Australia and Brazil, according to Nielsen Co., up 21% from 229.2 million in August 2008. But the number of users on social-networking and other community sites jumped 31% to 301.5 million people.

"The whole idea of this email service isn't really quite as significant anymore when you can have many, many different types of messages and files and when you have this all on the same type of networks," says Alex Bochannek, curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.

So, how will these new tools change the way we communicate? Let's start with the most obvious: They make our interactions that much faster.

Into the River>>>

A Windows To Help You Forget

2009-10-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

October 7, 2009
by Walter S. Mossberg

A Windows to Help You Forget

October 7, 2009
by Walter S. Mossberg

Print Share

In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company’s reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users. PC makers will rush to flood physical and online stores with new computers pre-loaded with Windows 7, and to offer the software to Vista owners who wish to upgrade.

With Windows 7, PC users will at last have a strong, modern successor to the sturdy and familiar, but aged, Windows XP, which is still the most popular version of Windows, despite having come out in 2001. In the high-tech world, an eight-year-old operating system is the equivalent of a 20-year-old car. While XP works well for many people, it is relatively weak in areas such as security, networking and other features more important today than when XP was designed around 1999.

After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft (MSFT) has produced. It’s a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers.

Like the new Snow Leopard operating system released in August by Microsoft’s archrival, Apple (AAPL), Windows 7 is much more of an evolutionary than a revolutionary product. Its main goal was to fix the flaws in Vista and to finally give Microsoft customers a reason to move up from XP. But Windows 7 is packed with features and tweaks that make using your computer an easier and more satisfying experience.

The new taskbar shows small previews of many windows and allows for larger previews.

Windows 7 introduces real advances in>>>

Will to Win: Despite Repeated Setbacks Aron Meystedt Never Quit & Now His Persistence is Paying Off

2009-10-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

By Ron Jackson

Young entrepreneur Aron Meystedt, the new owner of the first .com domain name ever registered, suffered a lot of knockdowns in the opening years of his business career, but he refused to throw in the towel. Meystedt's tenaciousness paid off and the Missouri native, the son of a former professional athlete, is now making his mark in the domain world.

The pioneers in this industry have typically been serial entrepreneurs who followed long and winding roads before finding the greatest financial success of their lives in this business. In domains, they saw something that just about everyone else in the world overlooked - unique assets that would one day become the foundation for the greatest communications platform in human history.

Those visionary people were lucky enough to arrive in just the right place at the right time in history. Some believe that opportunity has now passed - that younger people coming into the business today have no chance of enjoying the same kind of success with

Aron Meystedt
XF.com Investments

domains. However, a new generation of young guns, personified by people like 29-year-old Aron Meystedt of XF Investments (XF.com) are already well on their way to proving those "the party is over" pundits wrong.

Meystedt just made news around the world last month when he purchased Symbolics.com, a domain that will forever be part of Internet history as it was the first .com domain ever registered (back in March 1985). His growing portfolio also includes HY.com, Copies.com, March.com, iBlog.com and ImageSharing.com, to name just a few.

The circuitous path that Aron followed to success

An Hour In The Life Of Google — Via Twitter

2009-10-03T02:16:00.001-07:00

By TONY KONTZER, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILYPosted 09/08/2009 06:32 PM ET

Before you dismiss Twitter as a message board for narcissistic blathering, know this: In a very short time, you can accumulate a wide range of knowledge about companies you might want to invest in.

Take Google (GOOG).

We decided to monitor all tweets (Twitter posts — maximum 140 characters — for the uninitiated) related to Google for a random hour. We chose Google because it's actively traded and, well, interesting.

Mind you, there are plenty of Twitter filters out there that will accumulate all Google posts in one site and let you browse at your leisure. But Twitter's real-time nature is one of its attractions.

So, on Wednesday, Aug. 19, I watched nearly 3,000 Google-related tweets roll in across my screen.

Some highlights:

11:30-11:35 a.m.: The first tweet was a crackup: "I wish Google Maps had an 'avoid ghetto' routing option." A practical concern, for sure, but we're looking to get real information, so the next post about AT&T (T) allegedly killing Google Voice is of much more interest. (AT&T denied this was so.) The embedded link takes us to a Wall Street Journal column suggesting Apple's (AAPL) recent decision to reject a proposed Google Voice iPhone application was an indication that AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., is having troubles. That might get an investor's attention, no?

Seconds later, we're alerted that it's the five-year>>>

A Brief History of Blogs

2009-09-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2009, 12:00AM EST

How a form of grassroots communication led to the likes of YouTube and Facebook, and transformed the media landscape

By Stephen Baker

The Good: Gracefully written and well researched, Say Everything captures the drama of blogging's rapid-fire rise.

The Bad: It may be too heavy on technology and history for the casual reader.

The Bottom Line: Rosenberg tells an important story, one that leads to both Facebook and Twitter, emphasizing the pioneers and the power of the medium

and much more here>>>

The Web Knows What You Want

2009-09-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2009, 5:00PM EST

By dissecting behavioral data, e-marketers are creating sites armed with predictive technology

By Stephen Baker

Every once in a while in most Web surfers' lives, a suggestion pops up on the screen that leads them to wonder: How did they know that about me? The moment can seem magical, and a bit creepy.

Consider this one. A shopper at the retail site FigLeaves.com takes a close look at a silky pair of women's slippers. Next a recommendation appears for a man's bathrobe. This could seem terribly wrong—unless, of course, it turns out to be precisely what she wanted. This type of surprising connection will happen more often as e-marketers adopt a new generation of predictive technology. It's fueled by growing rivers of behavioral data, from mouse clicks to search queries—all crunched by ever more powerful computers.

Why the bathrobe? ATG (ARTG), a Cambridge (Mass.) e-commerce software company that crunches data for FigLeaves, has found that certain types of female shoppers at certain times of the week are likely to be shopping for men. Like all Web recommendations, this one will be wrong a good portion of the time. But as marketers scrutinize shoppers in greater detail, they're edging closer to their ultimate goal: teaching computers to blend data smarts with something close to the savvy of a flesh-and-blood>>>

The High End of the Domain Aftermarket Stages a Comeback With Five 6-Figure Transactions

2009-09-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Like other areas of the economy, the domain aftermarket has suffered some setbacks in the current recession, especially at the high end of the market. Sales at the low and middle range started accelerating again last spring and lately we have seen some buyers dipping their toes into the deep end of the pool again. That was especially true this past week when five solid six-figure sales were booked.

Leading the list was AreaRugs.com at an eye-opening $405,000 in a private transaction. An investors group from Iowa with experience in the rug business announced the deal in a press release Tuesday and we were able to verify the amount paid when they provided us with a signed copy of the completed sales agreement. The buyers said a custom built e-commerce store will be launched on the site in the next few months.

In two more huge end user sales, Concord Private Jets bought Jets.com for $375,000 via Sedo.com and, in a deal uncovered by Andrew Allemann at Domain Name Wire, QuamTel acquired 800.com for $250,000.

and much more here>>>

Will to Win: Despite Repeated Setbacks Aron Meystedt Never Quit & Now His Persistence is Paying Off

2009-09-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

By Ron Jackson

Aron Meystedt
XF.com Investments

The circuitous path that Aron followed to success>>>

Could The Feds Seize The Internet?

2009-09-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, September 02, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Security: A Senate bill lets the president "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "nongovernmental" computer networks and do what's needed to respond to the threat. Didn't they just collect our e-mail addresses?

Internet Addicts Get First U.S. Treatment Clinic

2009-08-28T03:44:00.001-07:00

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Hardcore Internet junkies now have their very own version of the Betty Ford clinic.

The Heavensfield Retreat Center, located in Fall City, Wash., claims to be the first U.S in-patient center to treat Internet, video game and texting addictions. Enrollment in the clinic’s 45-day Internet addiction recovery program, called reStart, costs roughly $14,500.

The program is designed to wean patients off the Internet by combining traditional talk therapy with social skills training, such as lessons in conversation techniques and dating. Patients also feed goats, raise chickens and do home-maintenance work as a way of getting reoriented with the offline world.

The clinic's first patient is a 19-year-old>>>

Shocking Facts About Our National Debt

2009-08-03T01:31:00.001-07:00

This is Shocking Information compliments of the Obama Administration.

Click here: U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Thanks to all of our irresponsible Congressional people who pass legislation with reading any of it.

Let's vote them out of office in the next election cycle. Remember, we voted them in and now, lets vote them out.

Tools for Tweets

2009-07-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

JULY 13, 2009

By RAYMUND FLANDEZ

Twitter is changing the way small businesses market themselves. Now a host of software companies are trying to change the way small businesses use Twitter.

These companies are flooding the Web with thousands of tools—many of them free of charge—that simplify a number of common tasks on the microblogging service. Some software, for instance, lets you automatically search for Twitter posts, known as tweets, that mention your company. Other programs let you easily organize the tweets that you follow, or manage how multiple employees use a single Twitter account.

What’s more, Twitter says that by year’s end, it will launch several new features of its own for commercial use, such as a directory of business users.

Of course, companies of any size can use these services. But they can be particularly important for small businesses, which can ill afford to spend lots of time and resources figuring out how to make the most of Twitter. Tools for improved filtering and automation of Twitter tasks are “a particular boon,” says Laura Fitton, co-author of “Twitter for Dummies.”

Before you start leaning too heavily on any Twitter tools, though, “it does make sense to stick with the better-known applications, or to check them out online to see what other people’s experiences are,” says Jeffrey Mann, vice president of research on social software and collaboration for Gartner Inc., a technology research and advisory firm. “You need to take the same care you would with any application you download to your desktop or phone: Check it out first.”

Still, Mr. Mann says, the consequences of using a buggy program aren’t severe. “The worst thing that can happen is that you miss some tweets or have to remove it from your system and try a different one,” he says.

With all that in mind, here’s a look at some of the most intriguing third-party products out there and what you can get out of them.

Track Tweets>>>

False Security: 'Scareware' Spreads

2009-07-11T02:54:00.000-07:00

APRIL 15, 2009

By JOSEPH DE AVILA

While surfing the Web in December, Keren Brophy got a message on her computer screen telling her to update her antivirus software. The pop-up message looked similar to Windows security warnings she'd routinely received. She paid $49.99 for a program called Antivirus 2009 from a company calling itself Meyrocorp and thought she was safe.

A few days after she installed the software, Ms. Brophy's computer wouldn't boot up properly and soon was unusable; she noticed the desktop icon for the software she'd bought had disappeared. She had to wipe her hard drive clean to get the computer working again. Hoping for a refund, she sent email to Meyrocorp but got only automated replies.

"I never got a dime back from them," says Ms. Brophy, a 37-year-old restaurant hostess from North Port, Fla. Meyrocorp couldn't be located for comment.

View Full Image

Microsoft

Web sites selling phony antivirus software can appear legitimate.>>>

Wireless Cybercriminals Target Clueless Vacationers

2009-07-11T01:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 10, 2009
By Steven Kotler

The newest trend in Internet fraud is "vacation hacking," a sinister sort of tourist trap.

Cybercriminals are targeting travelers by creating phony Wi-Fi hot spots in airports, in hotels, and even aboard airliners.

Vacationers on their way to fun in the sun, or already there, think they're using designated Wi-Fi access points. But instead, they're signing on to fraudulent networks and hand-delivering everything on their laptops to the crooks.

"More and more people are traveling with Wi-Fi devices like smartphones and laptops," says Marian Merritt, Internet safety advocate at the computer-security giant Symantec. "Airports and airlines and hotels are responding. They're setting up free Wi-Fi networks to lure in customers. Now they're luring in hackers as well."

In 2008, Silicon Valley-based AirTight Networks, a wireless security company, sent a team of "white-hat" hackers — good guys who try to thwart "black hat" hackers — around the world on an international airport study.

They checked the Wi-Fi networks at 27 airports — 20 in the U.S., five in Asia and two in Europe — and the results were not good.

At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the baggage-handling system was being run on an insecure network. At other airports, ticketing systems were similarly exposed.

And everywhere they looked, they found fake Wi-Fi hot spots set up by hackers phishing for suckers — and there were plenty of suckers to be had.

"We found a lot of people using insecure Wi-Fi,">>>

GoDaddy Wants You to Go Twitter

2009-07-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

July 2nd, 2009 | by Adam Ostrow

Ideally, your brand has the same name across all of the social sites you use, and, it matches your domain name (for example, we’re mashable.com, twitter.com/mashable, and facebook.com/mashable).

Realizing this fact, popular domain registrar GoDaddy has integrated Twitter () registration into its domain manager, allowing you to see if the Twitter username that matches your URL is available, and if so, register it.

The target here is GoDaddy’s small business users. >>>

GoDaddy Files Patent for Method of Selling Equity in Domain Names

2009-07-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Domain registrar files patents for system to sell equity in domain names.

Go Daddy Group Inc. has filed a patent for a method of selling equity in domain names and protecting the domain names in which the equity is issued.

The patent is for a system that will facilitate the sale of shares in a domain name. The patent application explains that a number of institutions are interested in investing in domain names, but there isn’t a simple mechanism to do so. Conversely, many domain owners are interested in selling equity in their domain names, but need a way to connect with investors.

The sale of shares of equity in a>>>

Domain Name Help

2009-07-03T01:01:00.000-07:00

By Henry Gold

Building a presence online has become a simpler thing to do. Whether you're a professional career person, a family hoping to stay up to date with current events or creating a business presence to display your latest products and services, creating a domain name the right way is a significant part of this puzzle.

There a few things to watch out for when registering your new domain name.

Don't get taken to the cleaners.

Domain names have come way down in price within the last five years or so. No longer is it necessary to spend more than $15 to get outfitted for a new web address. Don't believe the hype or fall for this expensive trap.

Buying your domain name from the same place as your hosting company.

Unfortunately, this is a bit more riskier than it sounds. Just like in today's economy we should all spread our financial assets and risks in a variety of places, it's also good idea to do the same when it comes to our business assets too.

Trust me, your domain name will become a business asset at some point in the future.

When it comes to your home on the internet, for safety sake, it's a good idea to not have all of your resources housed in one place.

Giving your credit card information to an unknown entity.

Did you know that anyone can sign up to be a reseller and become a domain registrar? This in and of itself is not a bad thing. I respect any ethical, business person who bootstraps their way and provides a good product. Unfortunately, if there business goes under, it's quite possible retrieving your information may prove to be very difficult to achieve.

Spam is not man's best friend...either online or off.

In the domain registry world, there's something commonly referred to as the blacklist. The blacklist consists of companies who often have spam related business complaints. Both domain registrars and hosting companies are oftentimes measured by this standard.

Don't leave your online reputation in the hands of unknown domain registrar companies.
Brand your projects the safest way possible.
Order a domain name today with one of the internet's top domain registration companies in the nation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Henry_Gold

Domain Name - How Important is a Domain Name For Your Business?

2009-07-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

By Ujwala Bapat

A domain name is the name of your website that you will use for reaching out to the millions in your niche online. Amongst other things like publishing articles or using social marketing websites that create your identity online, a domain name too can help you give your personalized touch on this massive information highway.

Millions of websites currently exist on the internet; each one tries to use the name of their niche. It is therefore, you will find some of the most alluring names already claimed by someone or the other. Therefore, finding a domain name to your liking is a chance of luck.

However, success of your website would not depend on the domain name, though it can be helpful in getting you the rankings with search engine. Some of the most successful and well known website names are not even related to the job they do. One of the best examples is the Google and another one would be Yahoo. Both the websites were created on a concept that filled up the basic requirement on the internet, and today these domain names are the most used.

Almost all SEO professionals would want that the name you finalize for your website should be absolutely in sync with the functions it will do. For example: Keywordcounty.com. This name tells us it has everything to do with finding keywords. This will help anyone coming across this domain name decide whether or not he wants to visit it.

It is a fact that perfectly chosen SEO domain name will help you in gaining high rankings at the search engines. However, it does not depend on the name alone, rather overall SEO of your website will have a lot to consider when gaining top rankings. Therefore, whatever the name, it will all boil down to the perfection in handling the optimization.

Your website is your identity. Some people have chosen lovely names for their websites. Since these are highly colloquial and easy to remember, people find searching and visiting these quite simple. One of the most successful of these is the www.craigslist.com, this is not just a personalization, it also signifies that it is a listing service or a classifieds website. No wonder this smart yet simple concept is gaining more than a million visitors everyday.

Most website naming blunders are done by those who do not have a huge experience in the field of internet. During the trials they end up getting such names that cannot be classified neither do these strike a chord with the users. For these websites to be successful the person could want to revamp. Ideally, the domain name for any website should be

Easy to remember;
Words should be from regular use;
Should be related to the niche of the website.
It should be short.

These are the basic tips. You can go ahead and find names that will come easily to users' minds. These can also be the top ranking keywords. However, if you check out the domain name registration, you will find most top ranking ones have been taken.

Get a great idea, and find a domain name to go with that idea?

There are many who love the internet, but also are quite busy in their own chosen professions. Many of whom would love to start an online business someday. In such a case, if you have an idea of what business you would like to start, you can start by finding a domain name. If you have found the perfect domain name for your business, it is most advisable that you do not waste time. Instead you should try and park it or rather register it so when you find the time to start your website you have it available.

Domain name registration does not cost much. Most hosting companies would do it for you for as low as $10 per year. Is that not a good bargain? There are many who also buy names and sell them for some profit. Whether or not you want to stay with the same hosting company later is your choice. You can easily transfer the domain name to another hosting company for meager charges or at times no charges at all.

Finding a perfect domain name will always help your online business succeed.

Online shopping for all your internet and other needs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ujwala_Bapat

Finding Premium Domain Names

2009-07-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

By Blake Worthington

Finding a premium domain name can be a really tough challenge to most people looking for domain names. The fact is that most premium domain names least in .com have been registered for many years and will be registered for a long time to come. Most of these domains are owned by people holding them for a nice payoff on there investment. There strategy is simple they pay registration fee which is usually $8 a year and hold on to the premium domains until a buyer comes along and pays $xx,xxx amount of money. Now I'm not saying this is a bad practice but I feel It actually rather stops the further progress of the internet by keeping more business from coming online. Most people that you may talk to will tell you that if you want an online presence you must have a .com and that's simply not true.

The old saying is .com is king when it comes to online development and selling of products. Now I agree that over the years people have had it ingrained in there minds that the only extension available is .com and that's just not true. There are literally hundreds of extensions available to register and many have premium domains still available to be registered right this moment. Now you may say well since .com is so common how would I ever be able to compete with the .com version. Well simply speaking most of these same folks holding premium .com domains fault in the fact they don't develop there domain names. Now with search engines content is king and without content being unique and updated routinely search engines give it less and less of a high rank. Now in order for you to compete you must provide content to your visitors and on a very frequent basis. Now there are many extensions that all do very well with proper development and by adding unique content.

Now you can start your journey to finding premium domain names by visiting "Namepros.com" which is actually where I started my journey. Namepros is a domain forum with information that is invaluable to anyone searching for domains or interested in making money online.

Finding premium domain names can be quite easy and to start your journey you should sit down and think about what your website will be providing or selling to the traffic. I mean if your selling golf balls the most obvious domain name would be GolfBalls.com and alas that name is taken. Most people unfamiliar with other extensions move on after checking the .com version. Now is where it gets interesting as you can find other extensions where Golf Balls may be available. Here are some very popular alternatives to .com and this is just a starting point: .Net, .Org, .Info, .Us. These are considered by many to be just as good as .com but many will tell you not to waste your time with anything other then .com as well.

Now if you live in a country outside of America and even If you do live in America finding premium domain names can be quite easily with CCTLDS. Now CCTLDS are a short acronym for Country Code Top Level Domains and what that means is simply domain extensions for countries. For example someone in Australia is likely to choose GolfBalls.au rather then GolfBalls.com and that is why premium domain names are easily found in cctlds. Now we are starting to see that premium domain names are not quite as hard to find as first thought. Now cctlds are becoming a hot market in the domainers world and I would advise people considering premium domain names to search out and find premium domain names in there native country.

Now at this point you may be saying well I'd like to get some premium domain names for other countries but I don't speak their language. Well that's fine Google has a translator that works great and is easy to use and free to all. Now you may want to test the market with premium domain names in other countries before doing any heavy investing in that department.

This article is a series that I plan to write about the next article will discuss and show you how to find premium domain names that are dropping. I will explain what drop lists are and how to narrow down your search and find the truly great domain names. Also I will show you a few drop catching services and how they can work with you or against you. I hope you enjoyed my first article and walk away knowing that securing a premium domain doesn't have to be that hard.

Blake Worthington
http://www.usualcliche.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Blake_Worthington

Why Your Domain Name is Critical to Online Success

2009-06-28T04:14:00.000-07:00

By Shannon Evans

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names…Chinese Proverb

How do you choose a good domain name? Why should you fuss and bother so much over the agonizing process? Is it really that important to “get it right?” Every day I hear business owners pondering this question. Over and over the mantra is “I need a good domain name but all the good ones are taken!”

Choosing a domain name that captures your business brand, is optimized for local search, and is scalable for your growing and rapidly changing business needs can seem overwhelming. Does it have to be that difficult a process for such an important task? NO! As a matter of fact, it is a lot easier than you think if you follow a few common sense tricks and traits and implement a little creativity in the process.

Basically, selecting a domain name requires employing the following critera:

· Must be easy to spell in order to avoid confusion

· Easy to pronounce/read

· Free from .info or .biz tld’s that are difficult to remember

· Uses no hypens, underlines or dots between words and letters

· Short so it is easy to remember

· Does not have words that end with one letter that is also the first letter of the next word (ie: firsttimeecommerce.com)

· Is easily brandable

If you have any friends who are really good at games like Scrabble or Boggle or are champion crossword puzzle solvers, it can be a useful exercise to have them help you with the naming conventions for your site. Keep in mind, when you create your domain name for your website you are creating the one thing that has the single most long-term impact on your eventual site traffic. Choose well! Whatever name you choose will reside not only on the web but on your business cards, letterhead, invoices, and any other PR material you decide to generate. It must be easy to give verbally over the phone and in conversation so make sure it is easy to spell and say intelligibly. Select a domain name that makes sense and is easy to remember.

In the days of strictly brick and mortar businesses naming your company relied heavily on originality. You had to make sure your business’ name was nothing like your competitor’s so your business stood apart. It is not that much different today! Now you want to make sure your domain name communicates who and what you are all about, is ‘brandable,’ and works as a solid email address too. That way you are marketing even when you send out emails.

According to Ries and Trout in their books, “Positioning: The Battle of Your Mind” and “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing,” domain name selection is a form of positioning. It is often the first point of contact that consumers have with you and your marketing messages. It is subliminally critical, according to Ries, to make a positive first contact with your target audience. Your name must convey specific information that is categorized from the consumer perspective. For example, when people look for car repair shops do they look under the word “auto” or “automotive”? Do they look for a “dental” or “dentist”? Think like a consumer and how they will search for your business and how will they remember your name again and again when you select your domain name.

How do you make your name easily located, remembered, and differentiated from the hundreds of thousands of others on the Internet? Differentiation is important but the real goal is to attract the greatest number of potential customers to your site. By incorporating the right balance of keywords, geo-targeting, and branding you can potentially dominate your market with just a little effort.

Keywords are the trigger words that the local search engines use in combination with a few other SEO tricks to assign your site a “position” in web directory listings. Keywords are similar to categories in that they are the words and phrases used by consumers who are seeking information on the Internet. Geo-targeting is a physical location associated with your business. The search engines know where you are located and through the consumer’s IP address he/she is using to search a directory on the internet the internet knows where they are located geographically. Many searches on Google will generate a search result that has a map with local listings followed by “normal” search engine listings related to the search phrases used. The businesses that show in the map list all have geographical relevance to the search. These things all become linked to the naming conventions you employ when creating your domain name. For example, if you have a The Pizza Palace in Seattle and you sell gourmet pizzas you should seriously consider selecting a domain name that incorporates keywords, geo-target and branding elements: GourmetPizzaPalaceSeattle.com or Seattlegourmetpizzapalace.com

The name is somewhat alliterative (Pizza Palace) so it is easy to remember, has a geo-target (Seattle), and keywords (Seattle, gourmet pizza, pizza). It is also not too long and easy to read. It is critical to try and strike a balance when trying to incorporate all three of these elements in selecting a domain name. As long as it is catchy and easy to remember and strikes that balance you can’t help but have a winner on your hands. The right domain name is worth its weight in gold.

Now hurry out there and buy your domain name before someone else does!

Shannon Evans is contributing author and editor of Your Ultimate Sales Force (http://www.yoursalesforcebook.com/) and multiple business ebooks. Her books teach entrepreneurs that they must publish or perish in the internet age where businesses must deliver a consistent and unified message. This is especially critical in this challenging environment of email, Internet, and mobile phones. Leveraging the market today requires new methods for attracting new clients.

Shannon is recognized in the Puget Sound as an expert in how to make your business have a web presence rather than just a web page. Her conversational marketing techniques and practices outlined by Bainbridge Business Press you will see your small business presence on the web increase: http://www.bainbridgebusinesspress.com

She is a consultant for e-marketing campaigns that allow you to organize your marketing and sales efforts in an inexpensive delivery platform that is easy to set up and manage. The ability to send, deliver, and track any installed resource gives you the power to create a marketing program quickly and easily in a scalable format that can grow with your business.

Shannon has a wide and varied background in both the practical and the pragmatic aspects of the business world. As Cofounder of Bainbridge Business Press she loves nothing better than teaching local businesses how to think globally but to be searched locally.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shannon_Evans

How To Get A Free Website Address & Domain

2009-06-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

How to Buy a Domain Name

2009-06-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

Domain Name Bidding War

2009-06-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Look After Your Domain Name

2009-06-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

By Sean R Horton

Domain names are an important and valuable commodity but we still hear of numerous people who forget to renew their domain name and then lose it forever.

In the UK .co.uk domain names are registered for 2 years with renewal being required every 2 years thereafter. The Registrar that holds your domain for you will email you when the domain is getting close to its renewal date. Many Registrars send these emails at 60, 45, 30 and 7 day intervals with an additional final reminder so there are numerous opportunities to pay for the domain renewal. If you do not renew your domain name the Nominet will suspend the name for a further 90 days, during this time the domain is inactive and will not work. After the suspension period Nominet will put the domain back into the market for anyone to register.

If you forget to pay your domain renewal you risk losing the domain forever and this will obviously include the website and emails. Whilst your website files can probably be recovered it would be a huge financial burden to contact all of your customers, suppliers and associates to inform them of the changes not to mention any advertising you have in place and internet links.

If you then set up a new website it could take months before you recover your Google position.

So what can you do?

Well it would seem sensible to make and keep a list of all the domain names you own along with the renewal dates. If you are unsure of the dates then your Registrar control panel will probably have this information or you could search for your domain on the Nominet website. Put these dates in your diary with a reminder one month before the renewal date to give you enough time. Some Registrars will have a system that automatically renews domains you select.

Make sure you are receiving emails from your Registrar and they are not being filtered as spam, the same goes for emails from Nominet. Up until recently, Nominet would post a renewal reminder letter to the registered address but they have now moved over to email. Be aware that some problems can be caused when domain name Registrars go bust or merge. Your account information may not have been transferred correctly or they may have out of date information on file. If this happens, make sure you advise them of your new contact details so there can be no mistake.

If you lose your domain name because you forgot to renew it then you may be able to recover it if your business name and domain are trademarked. This is rarely the case and legal disputes can take many months to resolve, could your business cope with this?

Treat your domain name with care, it is a highly valuable piece of internet real estate that others would only be too willing to take from you if you gave them the opportunity. Make sure you always renew your domains in good time and keep records of the domains close at hand.

Alder Domains are a domain broker offering domains for sale, a domain finding service and website search engine optimisation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Horton

Boost Your Profits by Using Music From the Public Domain

2009-06-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

By Zalee K

At first glance, you may not think you would benefit from using music from the public domain or from any source for your Internet marketing needs but let's explore a few ways you can profit from using this free resource. After all, you became an Internet marketer to make money right? Making a profit from something you get absolutely free is one of the smartest ways there is to make money so read on to discover how you can boost your income from using music you can get absolutely free!

Use Music in Your Videos - Many Internet marketers have learned how valuable it is to include video as part of their overall Internet marketing campaigns. While not every video endeavor will need music to accommodate it, you can choose from a wide variety of free music to accompany many of your videos. For example, you may have a series of pictures you are stringing together to make a video to advertise one of your projects, maybe an e-book or a special report. How much more valuable would that clip be with just the right music added to it? Add the fact that you won't have to pay for the music and you have a winning combination.

Use Public Domain Music for Sound Effects - Did you know you can find sound effect recordings in the public domain that you can freely use? Not everyone realized this and some Internet marketers pay for expensive services to create sound effects they probably could have gotten free had they known where to get them. All you have to do is conduct an Internet search for public domain music and you will be presented with a plethora of websites that will direct you to the right sources for music files. While it is up to you to verify that these files are indeed in the public domain, doing so is relatively easy also.

Free Music May not be in the Public Domain - It's important to realize whether or not the clips, songs, or other music related material you are using is truly from the public domain, which means there are no restrictions whatsoever on how you use the material or if you are using material that has certain licenses you must abide by. For example, you can download free music sound effects and clips from Freesound, but you must cite the source. In addition, since each country has its own laws regarding public domain, you will have to abide by the laws of the country in which the public domain music or clip originated.

Public Domain Sheet Music - There is a wide variety of free public domain sheet music that you can readily find online. Internet marketers with musical talent can profit by taking the free sheet music and coming up with their own compositions, which they can then copyright and sell via digital download, on CD, or both. There is no limit what you can do with public domain material, including music, to further your Internet marketing enterprise.

Everything you want to know about Public Domain Profits.
Public Domain Profits

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zalee_K

How to Choose a Unique Domain Name For Your Website

2009-06-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

By Peter Santos

If you are about to start a website business, one of the first steps you must follow is finding the most appropriate domain name for your website. A domain name is a unique name that will identify your website over the world wide web. It must be relevant to the content of your website. There are several suffix or extensions followed by certain domain names.

These are:

.com - This extension is used for business
.net - This extension is used for Commercial Networks
.org - This extension is used for Non Profit Organizations
.edu - This extension is used for Educational Institutions
.gov - This extension is used for government agencies

Take a look at the Do's and Don'ts when choosing a Domain Name:

Do's
1- Must be memorable
2- Easy to remember
3- Short
4- Hard to misspell
5- Make it Brandable
6- Make it Keyword Rich

Don'ts
1- Don't use trade marks name
2- Don't use "2" for "to", "4" for "For", or "u" for "you"
3- Don't use apostrophes nor ampersand "&"
4- Avoid to register domains containing the digit "0" since it is often confused with letter "O"

Where can you buy domain names? Well there are several "Registrars" companies online. These companies have a "Domain Name Search Tool" that helps you find available domains. The cost per domain name usually starts from $9.99 to over $25.00 per year. In case that the domain name you are interested is taken, then you can see the "whois" to find out who is the owner and try to buy it from him. Usually the cost using this method could reach over $500++.

If you wish more information on where to find Domain Names go to our site http://www.howtofactor.com and read Article "How to choose a Domain Name for your Website"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Santos

Choosing the Right Available Web Addresses Can Generate More Traffic

2009-06-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

By T Westberry

Do you find it difficult to locate available web addresses? Does it seem like all the good domain names are already taken? There are as many web address choices as you can come up with. Sometimes, all it takes is a little creative thinking to land that gem of an available web address. Finding a vendor online to sell you a domain name is the easy part. You should be aware, however, of some of the factors involved when choosing your domain name.

An internet search will give you list of a lot of sites online where you can buy an available web address; domain names. A good number of these places offer the same things. Some just offer domain names, while others also offer web hosting, which is an entirely different ball of wax. Some companies are well established, such as godaddy.com, and you might feel more comfortable using the services of a well established company over one that is lesser known. Nearly all of them, well known and lesser known, offer search capabilities to let you know if your chosen web address is available. Most of them will walk you through an easy process for obtaining your domain name.

With all the different types of web sites available it can be confusing what all those abbreviations after the "dot" mean. Understanding what those abbreviations mean can help guide you to making the best choice for your intended web site. The .com is one of the most popular extensions you will see. These are normally used for commercial websites; websites that sell stuff. The .org is used by organizations, mostly not for profit. A .org is usually a little less expensive than a .com. The .org domain name might look something like, "savethemoss.org". A .net abbreviation is used when you want to design a personal website; a website that is about you, or your recent vacation, etc... The .info extension is for informational websites. A .info is the least expensive of all the main website extension choices. However, it is usually only used for information based sites.

Now that you have an understanding of the different types of website extensions, you will find it much easier to choose the right available web address for your site. There are many other extensions, but the ones listed here are among the common you will see online. The correct extension can make a difference in the type of traffic your web page will generate.

I am a certified graphic and web designer who is sometimes appalled at the high prices other designers charge for simple website design. I have found that most people, with a little know-how, can learn to design web pages without the need for expensive design suites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=T_Westberry

Early Transition to Blog Pro

2009-05-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

MAY 26, 2009

By DENNIS NISHI

When blogs first came to the Internet over a decade ago, nobody believed they would make money. But Mark Frauenfelder, a former engineer and writer, believed otherwise. He quit his job at Wired magazine and turned his popular print zine into boingboing.net. The blog has since become one of the most popular sites, according to Technorati and Comscore. And Mr. Frauenfelder says he earns a six-figure salary doing something he loves.

Courtesy Dennis Nishi

Full name: Mark Frauenfelder
Age: 48
Hometown: Golden, Colorado
First job: Musician
Current position: Professional blogger and founder of boingboing.net
Education: Bachelor of Science, Colorado State University
Years in the industry: 9
How I got here in 10 words or less: I kept looking for what was right for me.

Q: Where did the idea for Boing Boing come from?

A: I had read about how people were using desktop publishing software to create special-interest publications. I decided to report on how computers were increasingly being used for creative purposes in 1988. I called the new zine Boing Boing because it conveyed optimism, energy and bouncing from idea to idea.

Q: How did you end up at Wired?>>>

7 Tips On Using A Domain Name Finder To Find Aged Domains

2009-05-31T04:11:00.000-07:00

Domain Name Whois Registration Privacy

2009-05-31T04:08:00.000-07:00

How to Choose a Good Domain Name

2009-05-31T04:05:00.000-07:00

Dot VN, Inc. Receives Exclusive Rights from Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) to Commercialize Pay-Per-Click Parking Page, Domain Na

2009-05-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

May 28, 2009 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dot VN, Inc., (http://www.dotvn.com) (OTCBB: DTVI), an Internet and Telecommunications Company and the exclusive online global domain name registrar for the Country of Vietnam, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Hi-Tek Multimedia, Inc. has received exclusive rights from the Vietnamese Government’s Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) to immediately implement and commercialize the official pay-per-click (PPC) parking page for the country code Top Level Domain (“ccTLD”) .VN, and create and promote links for domain registrations, domain appraisals and a smart search engine for the .VN ccTLD.

Through this agreement, Dot VN has received final approval from VNNIC to move beyond the testing phase and begin implementation and commercialization of the parking page, which when deployed, will result in immediate increased revenues for Dot VN. Deployment is expected to occur within 30 to 60 days.

“With the exclusive rights granted by VNNIC, Dot VN is the only company in the world that is allowed by the Vietnamese government to commercialize the PPC parking page,” said Dot VN CEO Thomas Johnson. “Considering that Vietnam is the second fastest growing economy in the world with a population of over 86 million people, we expect that the implementation of this parking page program will serve as the catalyst for a new wave of registrations in of ‘.vn’ domain names by simplifying the registration process and lead to strong revenue growth for the Company based on this new product.”

The Dot VN PPC parking page will be the one and only >>>

The other Susan Boyle

2009-05-31T03:56:00.000-07:00

The global success of the Britain's Got Talent star has had an unlikely impact on one unassuming Texas artist. Stuart Jeffries hears how

The other Susan Boyle

The global success of the Britain's Got Talent star has had an unlikely impact on one unassuming Texas artist. Stuart Jeffries hears how

Susan K Boyle Photograph: Public Domain

There is, you might think, room in the world for only one Susan Boyle. But you would be wrong. The American artist, Susan K Boyle, was living her quiet, unassuming life in the pretty hill country of Kerrville, Texas, when a friend sent her an email.

Susan Boyle
Hill Country Arts Foundation,
Ingram, Texas

Starts 6 June
Artist's website

"It was a link to Susan Boyle's YouTube performance a few days after her audition," recalls Susan K. "I thought she was wonderful - what a beautiful voice and what a compelling story. But I thought it was just an interesting coincidence, nothing more."

Except that back in 2002, Susan K Boyle had set up a website, susanboyle.com, to display her artworks. That site had been rusting in cyberspace for a couple of years - until the Britain's Got Talent finalist sudenly came to the global consciousness last month, and something rather strange happened. "A journalist called me and said, 'Do you know your site is getting 1,800 hits per hour?' I had no idea - I hadn't upgraded the site for a couple of years." Yesterday, she calculated the cumulative total of hits to be more than 172,000.

Susan K's website shows her figurative>>>

Hey - wanna buy susanboyle.com from Susan Boyle?

2009-05-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

May 30, 11:19 AM

It's true. susanboyle.com is for sale for $25,000.00. Before the Susan Boyle final performance on Britain's Got Talent, susanboyle.com went up for sale. This is not a case of cybersquatters grabbing the domain, hoping to make a quick buck. Susan Boyle is selling susanboyle.com.

There is, however, another Susan Boyle, different than the one who has become an overnight singing sensation. Susan K. Boyle, a painter who lives in the United States, has owned the domain susanboyle.com long before the singer became famous. Hits on that site have increased tremendously since the singer has become a worldwide celebrity. There has been much confusion for people when they go to the website. And now it is up for sale.

Go to susanboyle.com and you will see two things. Paintings, and an ad at the top of the site advertising the sale of the domain name. If you are interested, go to this site to buy susanboyle.com.

Cybersquatters have been making money selling domain names for a long time. They purchase the rights to a domain name they believe will be valuable (usually for less than $10.00) and then try to sell it. They set up a website that often has no more than an offer to sell the domain name, and hope that an interested party comes along.

The practice is legal, unless you purchase a domain that is a trademark or is linked to a name that is owned by another company. There have been instances where people have had to pay hefty fines for cybersquatting. It was rumored that someone registered names connected to Novell, a Provo, Utah company, and then tried to sell the domains to Novell. That person paid large fines for trademark infringement.

Others have simply "been in the right place at the right time." >>>

The Influence of the Net Generation

2009-05-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

November 26, 2008, 5:00PM EST

Grown Up Digital:
How the Net Generation
Is Changing Your World
By Don Tapscott
McGraw-Hill; 368 pp.; $27.95

On Christmas morning 2006, author Don Tapscott gave his 20-year-old son, Alex, an advance copy of his book Wikinomics. Within hours, Alex had created a community for the volume on social network Facebook. "By the time we were eating turkey on the same evening, he had 130 members in seven countries; seven regional coordinators; a president (Alex); a secretary, and a chief information officer," Tapscott reports.

One user had submitted a correction. "'Exactly how will Mr. Tapscott be contributing to our community?' said another—appearing to be placing demands on me!" Tapscott writes in Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World. As you may be starting to guess, a main theme of the book is that youth have a natural affinity for the Web: "When I was 20, I could have never created a community with 130 people in seven countries," Tapscott says. What's more, he makes a strong case that the Net Generation is using the Internet to become very influential. But Grown Up Digital exists not only to praise the kids but also to offer insights into their habits, which the author says everyone from employers to politicians must study to tap their potential. Two caveats: Reader skepticism is in order as Net Geners have a ways to go to prove themselves. And at times the account gets weighed down by a load of statistical evidence.

Tapscott coined the term Net Generation a decade ago in his best-selling Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation (1998). Even then he was inspired by his kids: In 1993, seven-year-old Alex was already e-mailing Santa Claus. At that time the Web was "a place for outsiders, geeks, radicals or visionaries," Tapscott writes. Net Geners—those born between 1977 and 1997—had little say, as baby boomers and Gen Xers ruled. But fast-forward to now, and Net Geners—81.1 million strong, or 27% of the U.S. population—are starting to put a stamp on education, work, family life, and politics.

Armed with nearly 10,000 Net Gener interviews>>>