Domain News

Oversee.net has confirmed that the company has let go of 10% of its staff as of Friday. The company blames the downturn in the economy. A spokesperson told SocalTech “the cuts were in response to the general economic weakness and pressures in the industry.” According to the report cuts were made across all divisions including SnapNames, DomainSponsor and Moniker.

Oversee.net is a privately held company that owns and operates major domain name services DomainSponsor.com, SnapNames.com and Moniker.com. Oversee bought SnapNames in May of 2007 and acquired Moniker in January of 2008. The company received an investment of $150 million from Oak Hill Partners at the beginning of 2008.

The news of Oversee executives being canned comes in the wake of other recent disappointing news this month from domain companies. Dark Blue Sea and Tucows both reported less than stellar earnings. DBS pay-per-click revenues were down nearly 50% and Tucows earnings were lower but President Elliot Noss believes that parking revenue may have bottomed out as the company is seeing increases in their domain portfolio pay-per-click earnings.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Share

Original post by Adam Strong

Sussex police have accidentally promoted a parked domain with gay porn links, an embarrassing mistake that has left many residents in shock.

On a leaflet for Operation Beat Sweep, a program to tackle anti-social behavior, the department mistakenly listed the website as SussexPolice.co.uk instead of their homepage at Sussex.police.uk. When people went the incorrect address, they came to a parked domain with links to vulgar content including hard core gay pornography and police strippers - most likely because of the “sex” in Sussex.

A Sussex Police insider contacted the local Daily Star saying they are “looking at ways of preventing this type of thing happening in the future.”

[via PinkNews]

Share

Original post by Chad Kettner

While the power outage was affecting the Vancouver area, DomainNameNews.com researched to see whether domains redirecting to Hitfarm and Name Administration were reachable. Hitfarm.com and sites like Vancouver.com were offline. We also reported that several domains we checked were redirected showing DomainSponosor landers instead of Hitfarm landers. During the outage, we were unable to reach Hitfarm so we made the assumption that this was a “Plan B”. We were wrong.

After speaking to company officials yesterday and working through some issue, the company confirmed that “Hitfarm.com User Interface, Vancouver.com, NameView.com & Reinvent.com sites were down, but Hitfarm monetization platform was unaffected.” Hitfarm domains that DomainNameNews.com found redirecting to DomainSponsor landing pages were not a result of a “plan B” caused by this power outage. Don Ham of Hitfarm stated “All PPC traffic continued to monetize and was unaffected by the power outage. We have servers all over the world so we serve the names as close to 100% as possible.” The domains DNN found going to Domain Sponsor pages were a result of technical change over we were making. I had briefly changed over the DNS server on my computer to use an older DNS server that had not been recently updated. Our techy caught some hell for this one. The domains we had checked were cached in the DNS and reflected old redirects to DomainSponsor. Our apologies to Hitfarm on the confusion.

Name Administration sites were completely offline for what we estimated to be close to 2 hours. We followed up with Frank Schilling of Name Administration who told us that the company also has planned for these type of situations. The company “learned the lesson of diversified hosting after factcheck.com.” Schilling stated that he believed the company sites were down for approximately an hour on Monday.

Share

Original post by Adam Strong

A power outage in Vancouver is taking a huge hit on some in the domain industry today. Domain Name News noticed that Name Administration parking sites were not resolving earlier today at around 1pm CST. The many domains owned by the company such as ceilingfans.com and personalloans.com were still unreachable at the time of this writing.

Hitfarm.com, a company based in Vancouver, also appear to be effected by this outage. Although, it appears that the company has found an alternative source to redirect domains. Hitfarm pages now seem to have switched all off of the companies internally run landing pages and are coming up with a Domain Sponsor landing page. It’s good to see a company proactive about emergency situations like this. Many large scale operations would be hit hard by an extended outage such as this one.

Name Administration and many large sites in the Vancouver area use Internet provider Peer 1. Early today when we noticed the pages down, our technical staff traced back the outage to Peer 1. In checking out the company site and their forums they are reporting the following :

1) The fire started at 9am in an underground vault on Richards Street. BC Hydro would not let VFD in to extinguish the fire for 2 hours as they were hoping it would burn itself out. It did not so VFD sprayed water into the vault to extinguish.

2) The vault is now full of water and they will not be able to even begin repairs for 6 to 8 hours from now.

3) BC Hydro will attempt to put some parts of downtown on alternative transformers. They do now know which parts will be put back online as of yet. The main priority for them is getting traffic lights operational for rush hour.

Picture copyright Flickr user Carol Browne

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Share

Original post by Adam Strong

Image via Wikipedia

NBC Universal, along with private equity firms Bain Capital LLC and Blackstone Group LP, has agreed to a purchase price to buy the Weather Channel, including Weather.com, from Landmark Communications Inc.

The terms have not been disclosed, but a number of media outlets are speculating the price to be around $3.5 billion. Weather.com, created in 1995, was the most highly coveted asset in the transaction.

[via Bloomberg.com]

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Share

Original post by Chad Kettner

Fusu, the world’s first domain stock exchange, launched two new features at the Domainer Meeting 2008: co-buying and auctions.

Fusu Co-Buying is a new service for like-minded domain investors to share the purchase price of a domain. This feature will allow domainers to join together and buy high quality domains they would otherwise be unable to afford. On top of that, Fusu is teaming up with a leading arbitration court to offer online dispute resolutions among co-owners… Just in case.

Their other new feature, Fusu Auctions, enables users to list their domains for sale and gain exposure to the Fusu community. The free auctions will simply use the auction platform without any additional services while the Premium Auctions will include domain ownership verification, escrow services and more for a small 1% fee.

[via Fusu Press Release]

Further Reading:

• Fusu introduces Domain Name Stock Exchange in private beta
• Fusu - The Domain Stock Exchange - Is Now Public

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Domain Convergence, October 6-8, 2008, Niagara Falls

Share

Original post by Chad Kettner

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has announced, with the support of EuroDNS, it will start a sister organization in Europe. The Internet Commerce Association-Europe (ICA-EU) will be located in Luxembourg, providing ICA with a better opportunity to represent its members throughout the region.

Domainers’ investments are being challenged from all directions - whether its a push for new laws surrounding trademark disputes or a new process to resolve these issues. Beyond that, some governments are advocating policies that would threaten the owners of geo-domains and censor online content. ICA and ICA-EU will explain and promote the interests of their members to national governments, the EU, ICANN, and all other policy-making bodies.

“This is a big step for ICA as it reaches out to fulfill its worldwide mission,” said Jeremiah Johnston, ICA President. “EuroDNS has been actively involved with multiple European governments and ccTLD managers effecting legislative and policy issues over the last several years. ICA is happy to have EuroDNS assuming a leadership role in the establishment of ICA-Europe.”

Xavier Buck, EuroDNS CEO added, “EuroDNS is excited to help expand ICA into Europe. We saw what ICA achieved to foster a better legislative climate for domainers in the US and we are delighted to play our part to bring the same to Europe. All of us want to see the Internet remain a place where entrepreneurs can thrive.”

ICA is a non-profit trade association, headquartered in Washington, DC, that promotes the activities of domain name owners and developers. ICA-EU is expected to begin operations by early fall 2008.

The Domain Name Owners Association (DNOA) had recently announced that they are looking to relaunch their services. DNN also knows of recent plans to start an association for holders of .CA domains.

[via ICA Press Release]

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Share

Original post by Chad Kettner

In a recent letter sent to my inbox, NetworkSolutions.com emailed regarding a domain that will be expiring soon, and they encourage me to place a back-order for the domain name at NameJet.com. The domain name they are emailing about is a .net version of a .com domain name that I own. The title of the email reads “DOMAIN.NET Can Be Yours: Find Out How” ( real domain edited out ) and further along in the email it states: “Since you have registered the same domain name with a different extension, we want to inform you that (DOMAIN.NET) may become available soon through our domain auction provider, NameJet™.”

When the two companies were still working together NSI promoted back-order service provider SnapNames in whois searches and on their site. Since dropping that alliance and forming the Namejet partnership, they have continued their promotions, but previous to now I do not recall an email campaign to domain owners in this manner. NSI seems to be making every effort to squeak more profits from their expiring domain inventory and maintain their market-share.

This tactic by NSI of emailing domain owners when a similar extension domain is expiring seems reminiscent of emails that desperate domainers are often found sending out trying to sell the .com owner the .org, .net or .whatever. The pitch probably works some of the time, especially to an uninformed domain owner who doesn’t know .com from .cm

Read on if you want to see the email in it’s entirety.

Dear Network Solutions® Customer,

(DOMAIN.NET) is expiring and may be available for you to register soon.

Since you have registered the same domain name with a different extension, we want to inform you that (DOMAIN.NET) may become available soon through our domain auction provider, NameJet™.

Network Solutions has partnered with NameJet, one of the leading expired domain name auction providers, to help our customers obtain newly available domain names. NameJet has exclusive access to the Network Solutions inventory of expiring domain names, as well as the domain names of other top registrars.

If you are the only one who places a backorder on the domain name, the domain will be yours when it becomes available. If more than one person has a backorder on the domain, you will be entered into an online auction. You can then set the maximum price that you wish to bid for the domain.

If you would like the chance to register (DOMAIN.NET) when it becomes available, please click on the link below to start the backorder process. Simply set up an account with NameJet™, and you can then backorder the domain name.

There is no upfront fee to place a backorder, and you are only charged if the backorder is successful. As an extra bonus, we will add a free year to the domain registration.

To place a backorder request on the domain name listed above visit:
http://www.networksolutions.com/namejet/index.jsp?dom=(DOMAIN.COM)
Sincerely,
Network Solutions® Customer Support

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Domain Convergence, October 6-8, 2008, Niagara Falls

Original post by Adam Strong

Skenzo, a leader in traffic monetization solutions, has appointed Vaibhav Arya as their Chief Technology Officer.

“Mr. Arya’s appointment is in line with our aggressive plans to bring on board the smartest people in the industry”, explained Divyank Turakhia, Co-founder and CEO of Skenzo, “Vaibhav brings the experience and proven technical leadership that would allow Skenzo to continue being at the forefront of innovation. I am certain that he will be an invaluable member of our management team.“

Arya has a rich history in the software industry as the Founder and CEO of Mega E-Services, a company that has built large-scale web applications for various Fortune 100 companies. He is expected to accelerate the pace at which Skenzo releases new products, features, and algorithms to benefit domainers, registrars, and online publishers.

[Skenzo Press Release]

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Domain Convergence, October 6-8, 2008, Niagara Falls

iBeginShare.attachTextLink(’share-tool-1209154992′, {title: ‘Skenzo Appoints New Chief Technology Officer’, link: ‘http://www.domainnamenews.com/news/skenzo-appoints-new-chief-technology-officer/1547′, content: ‘http://www.domainnamenews.com/?ibegin_share_action=get_content&id=1547′});

Original post by Chad Kettner

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA), the business association for domain name registrants and investors, has announced that Philip Reynolds has been elected to the Board of Directors.

Reynolds is very familiar with domain name issues and trends and has advocated for the interests of registrants in the past. He is the general manager of Thought Convergence, a domain management/domain technology provider and parent company of TrafficZ , where he is responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations.

Michael Collins, ICA Executive Director, said there will be a number of direct elections to follow. “It’s important that the ICA represent domain registrants and investors at all levels. Going forward, we’ll ensure diversity on the board with elections by the membership.”

The ICA’s membership represents over 2 million domain names which generate over 100 million unique monthly visitors.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

iBeginShare.attachTextLink(’share-tool-1209154992′, {title: ‘ICA Begins Direct Elections by Naming Reynolds to the Board’, link: ‘http://www.domainnamenews.com/news/ica-begins-direct-elections-by-naming-reynolds-to-the-board/1546′, content: ‘http://www.domainnamenews.com/?ibegin_share_action=get_content&id=1546′});

Original post by Chad Kettner

Marchex’s (MCHX) business review aggregator OpenList has entered a partnership with Cityloans LLC’s AtlantaLoans.com. The site will be using the OpenList business and business review data on this and other domains.

“AtlantaLoans.com allows Atlanta residents, people relocating to Atlanta and others that need to find Atlanta financial service providers quickly and easily” said AJ Martin, the founder of Cityloans LLC network which includes AtlantaLoans.com. “We looked at every potential content partner and found the OpenList platform to be the hands down winner in the local space”. “We are excited to be working with OpenList.com and look forward to rolling out many more cities very soon” added Martin. Those cities will include TampaLoans.com, BostonLoans.com, MiamiLoans.com, LosAngelesLoans.com, ChicagoLoans.com and NewYorkLoans.com.

Some of the other listed sites appear to have already launched as well. The new “OpenList parking” replaces the LenderMatch(tm) system, used to collect leads on these domains before the switch.

AtlantaLoans.com is part of the Cityloans.com network. Based in Atlanta, GA the Cityloans.com network owns and operates over 700 local lending sites that cover the largest 700 cities in the United States. Each site’s web address is simply the combination of a city name with the word “loans” and the .com domain extension.

Marchex had also recently announced new partnerships with Yelp, Avvo, Priceline, Frommer’s, Urbanspoon and others in order to add additional aggregated data to OpenList.

Disclaimer: The author owns shares of Marchex.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

iBeginShare.attachTextLink(’share-tool-1208992915′, {title: ‘Marchex partners with AtlantaLoans.com’, link: ‘http://www.domainnamenews.com/news/marchex-partners-with-atlantaloanscom/1539′, content: ‘http://www.domainnamenews.com/?ibegin_share_action=get_content&id=1539′});

Original post by Frank Michlick

Domain Strategies, a leading domain developer, has announced the appointment of Scott Fasser to President and Chief Operating Officer and Natalie Grinblatt to EVP Corporate Development. The company, which recently teamed up with Salient Properties to develop Wifi.com, has also selected John Maffei for the position of CEO of Wifi.com.

“Our ability to build great companies on category-defining domain names is first and foremost predicated on our ability to assemble the best teams,” said Rob Monster, the Chairman and Founder of Domain Strategies. “The model for rapid value creation is proven and now we aim to accelerate the pace of development across a much larger set of high potential domain properties in verticals that we believe are ripe for innovation. These hires are critical to that objective.”

Domain Strategies has built a number of businesses on premium domain names in the past, including HealthCare.com, Patents.com, Alerts.com, and Wifi.com.

Further Reading:

• Domain Strategies Press Release

Related Articles:

• Salient Properties Teams Up With Domain Strategies to Develop WiFi.com
• Domain Strategies launches new Domain Development model

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

ShareThis

Original post by Chad Kettner

Live Current Media, previously known as Communicate.com, has partnered with the newly created DLF Indian Premier League to build their official website, IPLT20.com. Live Current has agreed to be the cricket league’s exclusive online content provider for the next 10 years, signifying their first cricket-related relationship for the company, who owns the premium domain Cricket.com. Live Current plans to build and launch Cricket.com, as the sport’s global hub, in the future.

“Our team…is set on creating the most interactive environment for cricket fans worldwide to engage in the world of Indian cricket from wherever they live,” said Geoffrey Hampson, CEO and Chairman of Live Current Media. “The relationship is very strategic for us as we build a world class sports media business to serve the immense fan base for cricket.”

IPLT20.com will be the league’s official website dedicated to providing up to the minute content including audio-visual, photographs, live scoreboards and summaries, match results, fantasy games, relevant interviews, player profiles, team schedules, league statistics, ticket information, and more.

Live Current is well known for their large domain portfolio - including Perfume.com, Cricket.com, Call.com, Karate.com, Body.com, Brazil.com, and Canadian.com - and interest in developing their premium names into high quality online destinations.

They recently launched Brazil.com as an online travel destination and are focussed on making Cricket.com an interactive experience for fans of the sport. It wasn’t too long ago that Cricket.com was being monetized as a pay per click site with ads for Cricket brand cell phones.

Live Current is also developing the official site for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The BCCI site will be a destination for 1 billion cricket fans in India to get in-depth information about players and teams.

Further Reading:

• Live Current Press Release

Related Articles:

• Communicate.com Acquires Auctomatic and Changes Name to Live Current Media
• Domain Name News Across The Web
• Communicate.com Launches Brazil.com Beta
• Communicate.com Regains Domain Portfolio

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Domain Convergence, October 6-8, 2008, Niagara Falls

ShareThis

Original post by Chad Kettner

Communicate.com has changed its name to Live Current Media Inc. and made a big-time acquisition, buying Auctomatic (an eBay listing management company) for $5 million in cash and stock. These moves signal a new beginning for the company from Vancouver, Canada.

Live Current/Communicate.com is in the domain name business with over 800 high valued domains including Perfume.com, Cricket.com, Call.com, Karate.com, Body.com, Brazil.com, Canadian.com, and others. The fourteen year old company has developed a multi-million dollar revenue stream by consistently purchasing and developing high quality domains. (more…)

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Develop Your Domains - Partner with Domain Strategies to Take Your Domains to the Next Level. Visit www.DomainStrategies.com for a free portfolio assessment.

cmnn.ob, communicate.com, live current media, perfume.com

Share This

Original post by Chad Kettner

According to a report by PEhub, Demand Media has raised another $35 million USD in series D financing. Richard Rosenblatt’s company has now raised $355 million in total VC funding since its March 2006 founding.

bulkregister, demand media, enom, hotkeys, NameJet, richard rosenblatt

Share This

Original post by Frank Michlick