Dot Org Domains Price Increase Announced by PIR.org

According to Jacqui Cheng of Ars Technica, the Public Interest Registry has announced a .60 cent increase in wholesale prices for the dot org (.org) domain fee. This increase seems negligible to me and, like the cost of postage, seems entirely reasonable to increase. The fact that you can send written or printed communication across the country for less than half a dollar has always been fascinating to me - yet each time the cost goes up a few pennies, people wail about it. Each time a rate increase is announced for anything, people rail against the effect of prices increasing.

Guys, come on, it's sixty cents per year! Yes, it will cost domain squatters a bit more to renew their portfolio of profit-makers. Yes, it will cost true non-profits a few pennies for the domains they hold for true charity work - but just like postage - look at the value received. That name should represent the online identity of an organization. How much more is spent on signage, marketing collateral, branding and visibility for national organizations, press release distribution, PR and marketing, intellectual property protection and on and on. The cost of the domain is, by far and away, the least costly element of an online presence - even at twenty times current levels.

I've always recommended to clients that they consider extending their registration out to the maximum allowable 10 years in any case. Those who do that, including non-profits, not only decrease the likelihood that they'll forget to renew it or that their contact information will go stale and they'll lose it to forgetfulness or just plain negligence. Now I can add this additional reason - you are protected from price increases and lock in your identity for the silly low (wholesale) price of your $6.15 .org domain registration times ten.

And if you own any dot org domains, you still have until November 9th to renew them - you can have a fundraiser to cover that .60 cents. ;-) Just kidding around, but honestly, it's your online identity and worth the tiny cost.

Google Android Mobile Domains vs Squatters

Last November, a site called Android Community posted a dicsussion thread titled "Squatting on Android Domains - Are You Guilty?" and then listed that Google had moved a large collection of Android based domain names to point at Google DNS servers (though none resolve to a destination as of this evening). These domains are all based on the name for Google's mobile phone operating system and "Software Developers Kit" called - what else - Android.

The Android Community owner, an Android enthusiast and apparent iPhone fan and retailer of accessories, Vincent Nguyen, admitted to having reserved a bunch of Android names himself.

So in line with yesterdays post about Google-owned domain names related to Google products being protected by Markmonitor.com for Google. I took a look at the thirteen Android related domain names on the long list of those domains posted by Pingdom.com and discussed here yesterday, then did a bit of standard web searches to find the Android discussion forum post mentioned above in which Nguyen lists the 26 additional dot net and dot org domains reserved by Google and protected by MarkMonitor.com.

Currently this list of domains all fail to resolve to any server.

androidalliance.com androidalliance.net androidalliance.org androiddevice.com androiddevice.net androiddevice.org androiddevices.com androiddevices.net androiddevices.org androidfederation.com androidfederation.net androidfederation.org androidhandset.com androidhandset.net androidhandset.org androidhandsets.com androidhandsets.net androidhandsets.org androidmobile.com androidmobile.net

androidmobile.org androidphone.com androidphone.net androidphone.org androidphones.com androidphones.net androidphones.org androidplatform.com androidplatform.net androidplatform.org androidsdk.com androidsdk.net androidsdk.org androidsoftware.com androidsoftware.net androidsoftware.org androidtechnology.com androidtechnology.net androidtechnology.org

My question for Google and MarkMonitor is why these and not the literally thousands of others that will no doubt be reserved by typo-squatters, enthusiasts and haters of Google, the Android mobile phone operating system, and plain opportunists looking for a few advertising dollars or domain parking income.

What is that determines those domains worth protecting and those that go unprotected and eventually fall to creative and quick domainers? Is this based on Google or MarkMonitor algorithms that suggest the most commonly searched domains? What makes MarkMonitor protect over 125 dot come (probably 375 including the .org and .net tld) domain names related to the Google IPO and only 39 related to the Android SDK? There must be a formula based on the amount of the cost to fight squatters for ownership through their expensive IP and trademark attorneys or in some cases costly court battles.

Who

ICANN's New Generic Top Level Domain Names (gTLD)

A new round of top level domains (TLD's) is being considered by the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and they've posted a gTLD draft proposal evaluation flow chart (PDF) for "Discussion Purposes on the ICANN web site. The flow chart recommends a minimum of 18 steps to gain approval for a new gTLD as seen in the marked up version below:

OK, so new and existing registrars will be allowed to propose new gTLD's (new domain extensions such as .com, .net etc.) and submit them to an approval process which essentially breaks down into the following rules:

1. It should be good and not harmful/offensive
2. It should work for everyone politically and technically
3. Registrars should be able to perform and deliver flawlessly
4. Winning registrar pays the piper and gains approval

First here's the existing list of domain names, plus reference to the 258 two letter country name TLD's.

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Wow! I want to jump in there and offer up a few ideas and proposals of my own. Nevermind that I can't deliver, can't win the auction to sell my proposed names and all that. Wouldn't it be cool if we could just have our first name as a domain? So I'd reserve valentine.mike - You know Valentine (Dot) Mike - hey! Why not? That would really be delivering domain NAMES!

One Million Dot Ca Domains: Canadian Milestone

One of the frustrations of ecommerce entrepreneurs who do business worldwide (especially those of us in the publishing and information business) is the inability to legally register top level domains (TLD's) in those countries we serve outside of our own.

There are search engine visibility advantages to canadian domains for canada.com searches, Google.ca searches and http://ca.yahoo.com/ searches. While those latter two send plenty of US speaking Canadian visitors to .com domains - the added value of a home-grown perception for Canadians in visiting and frequenting those domains in their own .ca TLD can bring significant benefits to a business.

Canada is one example where one must reside in the country or have a legitimate office there to qualify to reserve a dot .ca domain name under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) rules. So until your business expands to have a physical presence in Canada, you must remain content to watch the celebration of a million dot ca domains as an outsider. What follows is the CIRA press release and announcement of the celebratory "One Million Domains dot CA site.

April 15, 2008

CANADA HITS ONE MILLION DOT-CA (.CA) INTERNET ADDRESSES

OTTAWA, Ontario, April 15, 2008 – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) announced today that Canadian Internet users have registered one million dot-ca (.ca) Internet domain names. As one of the world’s most wired nations, Canadians continue to use the Internet for personal and business reasons in ever increasing numbers. Reaching the one million dot-ca domain name milestone demonstrates Canada’s strong Internet presence and the popularity of Canadian websites.

Brent Krause of Calgary, Alberta, registered the one-millionth dot-ca domain name, krauslaw.ca, and is using it for a website to promote his private law practice. “I’ve recommended dot-ca domains in the past and dot-ca was my first choice for my own legal practice,” says Krause who has over 10-years experience in intellectual property law.

The dot-ca domain name was established in 1987 by a group of volunteers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and transferred to CIRA in 2000. In 1988 the first dot-ca domain name, upei.ca, was registered by the University of Prince Edward Island. Since then dot-ca domain name usage has grown at over 20% per year. This growth is remarkable considering that dot-ca domains are reserved exclusively for Canadians. “Dot-ca represents Canada on the Internet. A dot-ca domain name, website, or email address means you can be confident that you are dealing with a Canadian or Canadian business online,” says Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA.

Dot-ca now ranks as the seventeenth largest Internet domain name registry when compared to generic domain names like dot-com and country specific domain names like dot-uk (United Kingdom). “The registration of over one million dot-ca domains is a testament to the great work being done by CIRA. On behalf of the entire ICANN community, congratulations,” said Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the global organization that governs Internet domain names.

To thank Canadians for making a dot-ca their domain name of choice CIRA has launched a celebration website, www.onemilliondomains.ca to highlight dot-ca success stories. Dot-ca domain names are available through a network of over 140 Canadian domain name registrars who also provide a range of Internet solutions including website hosting, email service, and website design.

About CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the not-for-profit, member-driven organization that manages Canada's dot-ca (.ca) domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada's Internet community, and represents the dot-ca registry internationally. CIRA processes over 300 million requests per day to connect Internet users with over one million dot-ca Internet addresses.

For more information or to schedule an interview:

Melisa Durak-Buljubasic
Public Relations and Communications Specialist
Phone: 613-237-5335 (ext. 294)
Cell: 613.219.5328
melisa.db@cira.ca

Money.co.uk Nets $2.4 Million - £.com For Sale

Apparently the domain name Money.co.uk has sold for $2.4 Million in Britain. It's fitting that money is apparently quite expensive and we all know that the pound is richer than the US $ Dollar these days (even though the less classy Pizza.com was auctioned for $2.6 Million last weekend).

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From the company who bought the site on their own "About Us" page they state:

money.co.uk is owned and managed by Dot Zinc Limited. Our address is 16 Borough High Street, London. SE1 9QG. Dot Zinc Limited (reg. no. 4093922) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority to conduct the regulated business of introducing mortgages and insurance products. Dot Zinc Limited is entered in the Financial Services Authority (FSA) register under number 415689. See FSA Register.

money.co.uk is a free, online comparison service allowing customers to compare a range of personal finance products and utilty services. Our objective is to present information in a simple format, enabling initial comparisons to be made 'at a glance' so that customers can make informed financial decisions.

In a related note, the British Pound symbol is now represented in a Domain Name of £.com and backed up by the name poundsymbol.com for those without the character on their keyboards. A press release was posted with the announcement today of a planned June 26th auction for the one character domain:

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For Over 400 Years the British Pound Symbol has Identified the UK's Unit of Currency, the Pound…

Now the pound's online home is for sale. On the afternoon of 26th June 2008, Great Britain's symbol-based "pound domain" will, along with associated property, be offered for sale at public auction.

London, England. April 14 2008 -- Moneyedge Limited wish to announce the sale of it's historic domain name, representing the British pound.

Arguably the pound's "home on the net", this is one of a handful of symbol-based domain names in the world. Richard Haigh, Director of Moneyedge, had this to say about his company's offering:

"This domain name has never been promoted commercially yet has many users curiously typing the name in to their browser on a daily basis. I would say that 99.99% of internet users still do not know that symbol-based domains like this exist. This is understandable, however, as they are extremely rare (only 16 in '.com') and until recently could not be promoted".

"The sale includes other intellectual property, including poundsymbol.com, which will allow our symbol domain to pass the 'radio test' and be promoted in every media. This IP portfolio will probably be acquired by a company looking to create a wholly unique financial services identity on the internet".

This unique web identity makes use of IDN (International Domain Name) technology and to access the domain directly visitors need to have a recent web browser like Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 2 and be in one of the 18 countries that have the British pound symbol on their keyboards.

Further information on the sale may be obtained from our exclusive sales agent Ocean Tomo (www.oceantomo.com), the USA’s leading Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc ® firm.

About Moneyedge Limited

Established in 1999, we are a small UK company specialising in internet investments, particularly those with a strong marketing angle.

To Be or Not To Be: The Domain Question

In 2000, I wrote the following Domain Name soliloquy after a client debated for days on end about whether they should buy this or that domain name. I've never seen such reluctance and hesitation for so simple a business decision. No, it's not simple to choose a great domain name, but it is incredibly inexpensive and very easy to decide to spend seven bucks on a domain to hold it while you make the decision.

Ultimately that client lost his preferred domain name to someone with more decisiveness and I thought, "Wow, what an epic inner battle, over a simple purchase decision! - You'd think they'd die if they didn't make the right decision!" So I sat down and adapted the following Shakespearean soliloquy, spoken by Prince Hamlet while holding the skull of Yorick and ruminating on his own death.

adaptation by Mike Banks Valentine
with apologies to Shakespeare

To be, or not to be: that is Domain question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of slow, free hosting,
Or to take arms against a sea of wannabees,
And by opposing, end them. To search: to seek;
No more; and, by anonymity to say we end
The heartache of a million useless search results
That eBiz is heir to, 'tis a relevancy
Devoutly to be earn'd. To look; to seek;
To find? perchance to link! Ay, there's the URL;
For in search fatigue domain names may come,
When we've shuffl'd off this long URL,
Must give us pause. There's the address
That takes gigabytes for so long a name.
For who would bear the tilde and subdirectory,
The competitor's URL, the name so catchy
The pangs of taken domains, the listing delay,
The insolence of Yahoo, and the spurns
That patient merit of unworthy MySpace,
When he himself might his IPO make
Without Domain name? Who would Google bear,
To grunt through subdirectories and filenames,
But the dread of something after backslash,
The undiscovered Facebook pagefrom whose URL
No surfer returns, puzzles the will
And make us rather bear those URLs we have
Than buy the others that are already taken?
Thus creativity does make cowards of us all;
And thus rush'd to registration of a name
We worry o'er lowly cost of reserving,
And enterprises of great riches and power
With this regard our clients turn away,
And lose the name of action.com

Now when a client asks me about domain name decisions, I simply say, "Go buy them all and don't hesitate - even if they are owned by others seeking to profit from them. I can't bear another Hamlet performance!"