DomainWeblog.com

Nokia Contest Gamer Rules Thew0rld.com

Chalk this one up as an original. Nokia has just announced the winner of it's pocket-kingdom online game contest. The prize?.......Ownership rights to the domain name thew0rld.com. (that's a zero, not an o)

"Nokia is pleased to announce the winners of its Pocket Kingdom: Own the World Sneak Peek tournament.  After two weeks of mobile multiplayer 0wnage, the notorious Duck (editor of HardGaming) has won first place on the sneak peek leaderboard and, with it, ownership of thew0rld.com domain......The Pocket Kingdom Sneak Peek, which ran from November 8 - 22, was an
invitation-only tournament between a variety of community leaders, all set
upon each other like rabid attack kittens, fighting to receive ownership of
thew0rld.com."
source: PRNewswire

Could also go down in history as the first url ever registered to a man named after a domesticated swimming bird.....but I could be wrong.

GoDaddy Tackles A Super Bowl Spot

One of the largest domain registrars on the web (GoDaddy), is looking to "hike" some interest with a TV ad campaign that's schedualed for kick off at the 39th Super Bowl.

"...there's even an early candidate for what Chris Wall, co-creative head at WPP's Ogilvy & Mather in New York, called the game's penchant for the "Hail Mary play for brands nobody has ever heard of." GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain-name registrar, is in with one unit. The site-which hasn't even had an ad agency before-will pick between two New York shops working on Super Bowl ideas, Adstore and Cliff Freeman and Partners, for the "huge exposure" the Big Game offers, said a rep for the Scottsdale, Ariz., company."
source: Adweek

It won't come cheap either, the Fox Network price tag for a one 30 second commercial unit is 2.4 million dollars. The GoDaddy ad will air when the big game hits TV screens, February 6th, 2005.

4.9 Million Uniques Put Shine On Apple.com

According to internetretailer.com, Apple Computers Inc has grabbed the top spot in the Neilson rankings for computer manufacturers. Apple.com gained the viewership of 4.9 million unique visitors for the week ending November 14th. The computer giant was followed by Dell Inc. coming in second with 2.7 million visitors during the same period.

Click here for full rankings.

Google Domain Name Keeps Them Guessing

So what's the 20 billion dollar (plus) IPO darling and god of the virtual search engine market Google conjuring up in secrecy? The big G's April 2004 registration of a particular domain name, could hold the key to answering that very question:

"For several months, there's been a lot of buzz around Google's April 2004 registration of the gbrowser.com domain.......The overlap is looking like a Google branded and customized Firefox based browser. To help set it apart from the rest of the browser crowd, they're integrating a lot of their own technologies. Since Firefox does not contain a mail app, they're integrating Gmail for email access, with a built in new-mail notifier. Interestingly, mailto: urls will work with Gmail, allowing peple to click email links in pages and have Gmail open a new mail to that address, as well as IE-like buttons on the toolbar for composing new mail from scratch."
source: MozillaNews

While the mozillanews author contends that much of the gbrowser.com rumours are exactly that........rumours. It hasn't stopped web pros from voicing an opinion on the issue, both inside and outside the spectrum:

".....search engine giant Google, which is flush with cash from its initial public offering and is rapidly expanding into new businesses ......"It makes a ton of sense for them to be looking at a browser," Mozilla marketing chief Bart Decrem told Reuters. "It would be a smart thing for Google to do."
source: USAToday

"........Mozilla President Mitchell Baker denied rumors that the Mountain View, Calif., foundation was working with Google on a browser based on Firefox or its Gecko rendering engine. ....."The code base is open for companies to do what they wish to do, but we're not working with Google on a special browser," Baker said. "We are not working on a Google browser.
source: eWeek

"Judging by Google's history, a Google browser would likely be an elegant Internet appliance that would integrate the best things about Google's products and services, and likely would come up with innovative approaches to surfing the Web, and organizing its information for personal use."
source: The Motley Fool

Google higher ups deny any internal based browser is in the works, but  reports of recent hirings of Microsoft techies by the search juggernaut would lead one to believe something must be in the works. As for the gbrowser domain that started all the commotion...it's registered until April 2006.....look for it to be quite active in late 2005.......but that's just a rumour.

.travel Not Flying With New.net

It appears that New.nets .travel registrants are in for a bitter surprise if ICANN approves the Tralliance sponsored .travel tld currently being overviewed.

"The domain space, if approved by the Internet governing body, will be the seventh sTLD approved to run alongside the popular .com, .net and .org generic TLDs (gTLDs), opening up the congested name space market to new entrants.

However, ICANN's decision is bad news for the approximately 175 million Internet users who use New.net software to resolve domain names on their Web browsers.

While at worst it's a nuisance for surfers, these developments are potentially devastating to some of the many New.net domain name owners who have an established business presence with the New.net service.

Kris DeSylvia is the domain owner of the Web site www.wtpdx.com, as well as the owner of New.net's "germany.travel" domain extension for her travel agency. She said she wasn't aware of the latest developments with Tralliance and ICANN and its ramifications on her Web site. Even more, she didn't know that not everyone surfing the Web could see her Web site, and feels she was misrepresented when she bought the domain. "
source: internetnews.com

While the internetnews.com article gives some excellent insight, much has happened that could make things even worse for New.net registrants hoping for a grounded soloution.
Tralliance, which did hold meetings with New.net in 2003 to co-ordinate a mutual venture, might be under new ownership if the extention gets approved.

"Theglobe.com (OTCBB:TGLO), an Internet communications company, today disclosed a loan and purchase option agreement with Tralliance Corporation. Tralliance Corporation has entered into exclusive technical and commercial negotiations with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to become the registry for the .travel top-level domain. The agreement between the two companies was originally entered into on February 25, 2003 and has since been amended. The Securities and Exchange Commission granted theglobe.com confidentiality treatment with respect to full disclosure of the details of the Agreement pursuant to Rule 406 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Theglobe.com intends to exercise its purchase option for Tralliance upon certain conditions being met, including final approval to be the registry of the .travel top-level domain from ICANN. If and when theglobe.com exercises its purchase option, it will issue 1.5 million shares of its common stock in exchange for all the capital stock of Tralliance."
source: Business Wire

  But even if a takeover doesn't transpire, Tralliance has stated it won't recognise New.net .travel holders as registrants if its tld is green lighted by ICANN.

"What's more unfortunate for New.net customers, and potential Tralliance customers, is the fact that Tralliance officials have no plans to "grandfather" them into the new registry if the registry bid is accepted by ICANN. Grandfathering would allow existing New.net domain owners to migrate their domain name over to Tralliance's registry."
source: internetnews.com

International Domain Trademark Tool Released

A german based on line trademark company has just launched a new domain name web tool. It reportedly checks international trademarks for web addresses in record time.

".......with just one click, 18 important international trademark databases and over 14 million registrations can be checked. The trademark check examines not only registered and applied-for trademarks in the USA (federal and state), Canada and Mexico but also the databases of WIPO International Trademarks, European Community Trademarks and trademarks of European countries like Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and Switzerland.

The Markenbusiness Trademark Check module produces, immediately and free-of-charge, an answer to the question of whether a domain name is already in use as a registered trademark, and how many registrations there are in specific countries."
source: BusinessWire

The new "AvantIQuick" trademark check is a free of charge application that can be found exclusively through markenbusiness.com.

ICANN Slammed In Geneva

Internet governance is the main focus of UN sponsored meetings currently being held in Geneva and the critics there are lashing out at the current internet domain authority ICANN.

"Currently, a key part of the Internet is managed by the Internet Corporation on Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a not-for-profit organisation originally set up in California under contract to the US Department of Commerce.

ICANN says it merely ensures that Internet addresses are registered and that it has nothing to do with what contents is transmitted through these. It adds that since it does the job rather well, it should retain this function. Some critics, however, believe ICANN is not as efficient as it could be ­ particularly as regards making a pro-active contribution to overcoming the digital divide.

More fundamental to opponents of ICANN, who are drawn mainly from developing countries, is that the organisation is still technically only answerable to the government of a single country - the US. There is always an implied threat to the sovereignty of the nation-state if a corporation constituted in another country has control over a critical resource. Critics say that as the Internet is an international asset, it should be controlled by an international body ­ preferably a body within the United Nations framework. One international body already dealing with an area of Internet governance is the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), which regulates cybersquatting. This is when an opportunistic party is first to buy the name of a web address such as "SouthAfrica.com" which should arguably be owned by the country concerned, and a decision has to be made about who is entitled to the domain."
Source: AllAfrica.com

URL Causes Mozilla Controversy

CNET reports that Mozilla has had to reconfigure the german based version of it's Firefox web browser. The developmental backtrack stems from customer privacy concerns regarding a URL found in the browsers eBay search plug-in.

"Mozilla, an open-source group that oversees the development and marketing of the Firefox Web browser and other software, on Monday said it changed an eBay search plug-in that had originally directed queries through a Web address, or URL, owned by a third-party Swiss search company.

The Mozilla Foundation allowed this URL to be implemented not realizing the privacy implications," the foundation said in a statement. "This was an error on our part. When this was brought to our attention, action was immediately taken."
Source: CNET

Mozilla says automatic updates to resolve the plug-in "problem" are currently underway.

100,000 Domains Sold For 164 Million!

In what has to be one of the largest domain portfolio acquisitions ever, Marchex Inc and Name Development LTD (rumoured to be Ultimate Search in virtual disguise) have just firmly placed themselves in domain sales history books:

"SEATTLE, WA - November 23, 2004 - Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHX), a provider of technology-based merchant services that facilitate and drive growth in online transactions, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets of Name Development Ltd., a corporation operating in the direct navigation market, for $164.2 million, including $155.2 million in cash and $9 million in stock (valued based on the 10-day trailing average measured from closing date). The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2005. Details of a planned financing event to provide the cash consideration for the transaction will be announced separately within the next 30 days.

As part of this transaction, Marchex will be acquiring a large base of online user traffic, which Marchex estimates at more than 17 million unique visitors per month in October 2004. This traffic is generated from a portfolio of Web properties, or Internet domains, which are generally reflective of commercially-relevant search terms in many of the Internet's most popular vertical commerce categories, and may include geographically-targeted elements. The total number of Internet domains in the portfolio, including Marchex's existing Internet domains, is more than 100,000. "
source : Marchex.com

Seattlepi.com has some interesting insight into the deal from financial analyst Alan Davis:

"The $164 million deal is unusual given that it involves a relatively unknown offshore entity, said Alan Davis, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen.

"They are being pretty private about it, that is interesting," said Davis. "It is not a traditional business, but it is certainly a growing and cash-flow-positive organization."

Name Development is projected to have more than $19 million in revenues this year, with operating margins expected to top 80 percent. It generates about twice as much cash flow as Marchex, said Davis.

"It is minimal employees and a bunch of domain names, and they are driving revenues off of that," said Davis. "It is highly profitable."
source: Seattlepi.com

Whois-Source Unleashes SnapNames Domain Finder

Whois-Source (whois.sc) has just added a unique expired domain tool that performs searches for SnapNames/Netsol expired domains. The new add on also sorts Snap auctioned domains via date and domain value parameters.