Be Interviewed on DomainSherpa
Every Friday, DomainSherpa.com provides you with a hand-selected, editorially-based review of the weekly news. In this summary, you will find the latest articles and videos produced by DomainSherpa staff and contributors. You will also find links to the best news articles in the domain name industry – so you don’t have to spend your time searching for news or reading something that was not worth your time.
This Week’s DomainSherpa Interview
- VIDEO: Why You Can’t Afford to Miss TRAFFIC West May 28-31 With Rick Schwartz, Howard Neu
Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu, the co-founders of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain name industry conference, join Michael Cyger to discuss T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West taking place May 28th through May 31st in Las Vegas, Nevada.Questions answered include:
* What can people expect if they attend the TRAFFIC West conference this year? (e.g., educational content, speed networking, live auction, “gTLD shootout”, “king com”, etc.)
* What is the differentiation of TRAFFIC West from the other domain name related conferences to attendees?
* Who are the “right people” to come to the TRAFFIC event?
* Many conferences include multiple tracks to target different attendee segments. Will you be doing that too? Why or why not?
* Who are the keynote speakers and how will their message impact attendees focused on domain name investing, startups and entrepreneurship?
* TRAFFIC always throws great parties. What can attendees expect this year?
* What do you say to people who are thinking of skipping TRAFFIC West to attend TRAFFIC East?
Additional Resources
- DomainSherpa Discussion: Dot Chinese Launch; LL.TLD Request; Registrar Requirements…
This is the show where we discuss domain name industry news with a panel of veterans and thought leaders.In this DomainSherpa Discussion:
* The Chinese IDNs for dot Chinese online .在线 and dot Chinese website .中文网 were quick out of the gate. Or are our expectations too low?
* Three registries are asking for two-letter domain names to be released by ICANN. Likely?
* Recap of actions taken by DomainNameSales.com and 101domain.com from last week. Are you satisfied?
* What do the Sherpas think of the priorities summarized by DomainNameWire.com’s annual survey with respect to registrar priorities?
* Wal-Mart partners with AutoInsurance.com. Would it have been possible with a brandable?
* Dropping high priced .TVs and buying the equivalent .COMs. Who’s doing it?
* And more! - DomainSherpa Review – Apr 28, 2014: SexText.com, FindEvents.com, Tubeless.com, MostCommonSideEffects.com…
Get into the minds of the Sherpas with the DomainSherpa Review!* An investor’s portfolio is reviewed and appraised: AcidTabs.com, MostCommonSideEffects.com, DegreeRequired.com…
10 domain names going to auction at NameJet are valued: FindEvents.com, JustGraduated.com, SexText.com…
* Adam Dicker takes the crown in this week’s “Name That Price” gameFor each domain name portfolio, the Sherpas answer:
* Which domains are valuable, and in what way?
* What is the market value (both wholesale and retail) of the best domain names?
* Which domains are worthless and should be dropped?
* Which domain names may invite legal issues, such as a UDRP case or cybersquatting lawsuit?
* Which domains do our Sherpas want to make an offer on?We’re joined by three Domain Sherpas: Adam Dicker, Andrew Rosener and Page Howe.
This Week’s News in Review
Dot.CEO Puts Out Some Stats – $170,000 in Retail Revenue – 1023 Registrations – 01-May-14
The people behind Dot.Ceo put out some stats to show how things are going so far. They claim $170,000 in retail revenue. The Stats Over 50 Premium names sold at $500 – $5,000 per year Hot dotCEO Domains Sold Registrations by Registrar Type Day 10 post GA Day 30
Marchex Reports & Archeo Sells $1.9 Million in Domains in 1st Quarter of 2014 – 01-May-14
Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX), today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Shares of Marchex traded up over 5% during regular trading today up $.47 and is up another $.65 in after hours trading to $10.37 Shares of Marchex closed yesterday at $9.25 so its up over $1 today. Q1 2014…
Google Testing a Version of Chrome That Hides The Url – 01-May-14
Venture Beat covered a story today that will peak the interest of domain investors. Do we still need the URL — that gangly collection of slashes and gobbledygook? A new experimental version of the Google Chrome browser says no. Chrome Canary, like the legendary canary lowered into mines to early-detect dangerous gases, is a leading-edge…
Politico: House Appropriations Proposes to Cut NTIA Funding to Prevent ICANN Transition – 01-May-14
According to Politico.com the House Appropriations Committee is proposing to slash NTIA spending by 20% to defund the IANA transition. “The House Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations subcommittee report on its FY15 funding bill unveiled this week expresses wariness about NTIA’s plan to relinquish oversight of ICANN.” “The language won’t be official until the full committee approves it…
Moniker to Switch to Domaindiscount24 Interface – 01-May-14
Moniker’s interface is being retired. A big change is coming for Moniker customers. The registrar will soon switch it user interface to one very similar to DomainDiscount24.com, another registrar within the KeyDrive family of companies. KeyDrive acquired Moniker in 2011 but has barely touched the site design. In fact, Moniker.com’s interface hasn’t been touched in…
.build Starts Building: 1,700 Domains So Far – 01-May-14
.Build domain name lays the foundation. .Build domain names for the construction and building industries hit general availability on Tuesday. Tim Switzer, head of operations and registrar relations for .BUILD, told Domain Name Wire that the company has about 1,700 registrations including sunrise, landrush, and general availability. Switzer said the number is about what the…
Rightside Signs With Architelos for NameSentry Service Used By 44% of All New gTLD’s – 01-May-14
Architelos, Inc., the premier provider of automated domain name abuse detection and mitigation services, announced it has reached 44% market share for its SaaS based NameSentry abuse detection and mitigation service. Architelos has implemented, or is in the process of implementing NameSentry abuse detection and mitigation service for 172 or 44% of the new gTLDs…
Blackberry Files Patent App for Predictive & Dynamic Top Level Domain Key – 01-May-14
Idea is to change from .com to another TLD depending on what you type. Phone maker Blackberry has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a predictive and dynamic top level domain name key. We’ve all used the .com key found on many Android devices and previously on Apple phones…
Wolfram Wins .CEO URS Dispute On Second Try – 01-May-14
This time the case computes. Search and data company Wolfram has won a Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) case for Wolfram.ceo…on the second try. It lost the first case because it filed the case as Wolfram Research, Inc. The panelist noted that the trademarks mentioned in the case were owned by Wolfram Group LLC. So Wolfram…
Donuts’ Claims Plus Service Starts Today – 30-Apr-14
Trademark Claims end, Claims Plus begins. One of the Rights Protections measures in place for new top level domain names is the Trademark Claims service. For 90 days after a new TLD enters general availability, registrars must show a notice if a second level domain name registration matches a mark in the Trademark Clearinghouse. Donuts’…
Glitch Takes Out ICANN’s Zone File Service – 30-Apr-14
A bug which gave elevated privileges to new gTLD registries has taken out ICANN’s Centralized Zone Data Service for the best part of a day. CZDS is the central clearinghouse for zone file data access requests. All new gTLD registries must participate. DI uses the data provided via the service to calculate registration numbers. The…
ThreatConnect Partners With DomainTools & Farsight Security – 30-Apr-14
According to a press release just out, Cyber Squared Inc. which owns ThreatConnect™, a leading threat intelligence platform, entered into a partnership with DomainTools and Farsight Security, Inc. to provide ThreatConnect users with the industry’s most powerful domain and passive DNS intelligence. “We know that the most sophisticated and mature organizations are using our data…
New TLD Auction Prices Hitting Highs: Minds + Machines, Uniregistry, Donuts All Win Some Domains – 30-Apr-14
Average purchase prices may be north of $3 million. By all accounts, registries paid much more to settle contention sets during last week’s private auctions than in previous ones. Minds + Machines won auctions for .garden and .yoga. It spent a net $5.97 million for the two domains once the proceeds of losing the .deals…
Millions Spent On New gTLDs As 11 Auctions Settled – 30-Apr-14
New gTLD portfolio applicants settled at least 11 new gTLD contention sets last week, sharing the spoils of a private auction that looks to have totaled seven figures in sales. Applicant Auction carried out auctions for 13 contested strings last week, which I believe lasted at least three days. I’ve been able to determine that…
Minds + Machines Wins Auctions for .garden & .yoga Loses .deals & .property & Pays $5.97M – 30-Apr-14
The Directors of Minds + Machines Group Limited (AIM:MMX) are delighted to announce that following the private auctions held last week for .deals, .garden, .property and .yoga, the Company has secured the uncontested application rights for .garden and .yoga. The net cost to the Company for securing the sole application status for .garden and .yoga…
101domain Shifts Blame to Google As Premium Buyers Offered 50% Discount – 30-Apr-14
101domain has offered a 50% discount to customers that were sold premium new gTLD domains for a vastly reduced price, and has tried to shift some of the blame to the registry, Google. The offer was made in a letter (pdf) to affected registrants — previously hit with delayed invoices for thousands of dollars for…
GoDaddy Eliminates Email Support in Favor of Phone, Chat – 29-Apr-14
Company says customer satisfaction is higher with phone and chat support. GoDaddy has stopped offering support by email for U.S. customers, instead pushing them to phone and chat support options. Nick Fuller, Communications Manager at GoDaddy.com, told Domain Name Wire that the company made the switch after reviewing customer behavior and satisfaction scores: We’ve seen…
Domainagents’ New System Might Accelerate Your Domain Name Sales – 29-Apr-14
DomainAgents adds system for domain name sellers. Domain sales platform DomainAgents has made a major upgrade with the hopes of helping domain name investors sell more inventory. DomainAgents launched as a “certified offer” service in 2012. Domain buyers would pay to submit an offer on a domain and DomainAgents would track down the owner to…
Uniregstry’s Affiliate Program to Date: 5,367 Clicks No Transactions, No Revenue – 29-Apr-14
We turned on the Uniregisty’s Affiliate program about 10 days ago, that places a banner on the bottom of parked pages marketing new gTLD’s registrations. So far the results have been less than impressive As you can see below we have had almost 5,500 clicks, no transactions and no revenue. Today, Domaininvesting.com, wrote about some…
3 New Domain Registries Ask ICANN for Two Character Domain Names – 29-Apr-14
.Wiki, .globo, and .ceo registries want to offer two character domain names. Three new top level domain name registries have asked ICANN to allow them to register two character domain names under their TLDs. New TLD registries aren’t allowed to offer two character second level domain names per their agreements with ICANN, but I expect…
Villa.com Changes Registrars As Part of Villa Landgrab – 29-Apr-14
Who’s behind this Villa landgrab? Last year I wrote about how someone was buying up lots of country code domain names with villa and villas at the second level. Since then I’ve continued to watch dozens of similar domain names get purchased/registered with Mark Monitor. All of them have Mark Monitor’s version of Whois privacy…
FICEP SPA Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking in Dirty UDRP Case – 29-Apr-14
This case is particularly dirty. Italian machine tool manufacturing company FICEP SPA has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP for FICEP.com. Czech Arbitration Court panelist Jane Seager got the call right as this is a very clear cut case of reverse domain name hijacking. It was a pretty dirty filing…
NetNames Acquires WebIP – 29-Apr-14
NetNames, an online brand protection and corporate domain name management, has acquired WebIP, a leader in corporate domain name management in the Australian market. This acquisition provides access for Australian corporations to NetNames’ online brand protection services, which are used by many global brands to prevent counterfeit sales and other forms of online brand infringement…
Go Daddy Continues Global Expansion – 29-Apr-14
Go Daddy is expanding all around the globe. The company now Supports Localized Product & Support in 37 Countries, 42 Markets, 44 Currencies & 17 Languages. Go Daddy put out a release announcing some of their expansion plans. GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, today announced its continued expansion into international…
Ficep.com Registrant Wins Again and Panelist Declares RDNH – 28-Apr-14
Second time around is no better than the first for Ficep SPA, they filed a second UDRP to try to get the domain FICEP.com. This was not company vs domain investor but rather an Italian company founded in 1930 vs a French company founded in 1978. The panelist did not seem too happy that the…
Oops! TLD Registry Over-reports First-day Figures – 28-Apr-14
TLD Registry’s first hours of Chinese IDN gTLD registrations were not as big as previously reported. We reported earlier today that .在线 (“.online”) and .中�-���’ (“.chinesewebsite”) had made it to 54,011 names and 38,838 names respectively, just one hour after the 1300 UTC general availability. However, a few hours later the company told us it…
10 More New TLDs Hit The Market This Week. 1 Will Be a Big Flop. – 28-Apr-14
Nine more new top level domain names enter general availability this week, including one that is going to have a miserable launch. The week is already off with a bang thanks to the two most successful first day new TLD launches so far. TLD Registry released Dot Chinese Online (.在线) and Dot Chinese Website (.中�-���’)…
Chinese IDNs Rocket in First Day – 28-Apr-14
Two Chinese IDN domain names have 50,000 registrations after first partial day of general availibility. [Note: TLD Registry provided registration numbers this morning that later turned out to include registry reserved domain names. The initial numbers were about twice the updated ones in this story.] The Chinese IDN new TLD .在线, which means “online” in…
USA Today Interviews Web.com CEO – 27-Apr-14
Steve Strauss did an interview with the CEO of WEB.com, David Brown on USA Today. The article did not mention domains specifically but more of a focus on small business. This is now the focus of the some of the bigger companies out there in the space. Since Blake Irving has taken over at Go…
Fashion Television Media Acquires Fashion.tv for $125,000 – 26-Apr-14
Fashion.tv sells for $125,000. First off tip of the hat to Ammar from Legacy Fund who did some research and posted on Namepros that Fashion.tv,Fun.tv and Play.tv have all been sold by Cyber Tavern. Cyber Tavern was a partnership which was headed by the late Igal Lichtman. .TV investors checking the whois over the years,…
After The Meeting On Internet Governance Netmundial Publishes Draft “Outcome Document” – 25-Apr-14
The Global Multistakeholder two day meeting on the Future of Internet Governance Netmundial just concluded in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They report that 1,480 people attended the the meeting from 97 nations. “During the two-day event, the participants from 97 countries had the opportunity to contribute to the revision of the document through the discussion…
Frank Schilling Beats $200 Billion Healthcare Giant Novartis in UDRP – 25-Apr-14
9 year delay in filing UDRP hurts pharma company’s claim of disruption to its business. Frank Schilling has successfully defended the domain name ClearCare.com in a UDRP filed by Novartis AG. Novartis, which has a $200 billion market cap, offers a line of contact lens cleaning solutions under the name Clear Care. Schilling (through attorney…
Verisign Withdraws IDN Application and Explains Drop in .com/.net Growth – 25-Apr-14
Verisign cites a number of headwinds in its existing TLD business while it withdraws one of its IDN applications. Verisign held its quarterly investor conference call yesterday after releasing it first quarter earnings. The company processed 8.6 million new registrations across .com/.net, compared to 8.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. The renewal…
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