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The domain name Iraq.com is being auctioned off at Sedo, where the bidding has reached 450,000 Euros, or about $632,215 in U.S. dollars. The bidding started last Thursday at 2,000 Euros and has risen steadily, but has not yet reached the reserve price. The auction is scheduled to conclude Thursday at 2 p.m. EST. Sedo's auction process typically begins once an initial offer has been made on a domain placed for sale with the service. That offer then becomes the opening bid. WHOIS records list the owner of Iraq.com as KuwaitNet Internet Services, which registered the name in May 1997. The company offers managed hosting and dedicated servers, and is also an ICANN-accredited registrar. Given the intense debate about the ongoing U.S. war in Iraq, there might be any number of parties with an interest in acquiring the domain. The (apparently) interim Iraqi government web site appears to be at iraqigovernment.org while the U.S. Embassy uses iraq.usembassy.gov. In Aug. 2005 ICANN authorized the fledgling Iraqi government to manage .iq, the top-level domain for the country, which had been in limbo since the previous operators (InfoCom Corp.) were indicted in 2002.
Domain names are essential tools for bloggers. They become your brand, and are a valuable business tool. Managed correctly, domain names can also be invaluable in helping obtain attract traffic from search engines. Investing a small investment of time to learn about domains can pay dividends on many levels. Here are five domain branding tips for bloggers. 1. Register Your Domain For More than One Year: There are several advantages to multi-year domain registrations. Foremost among them is the fact that Google favors domains that are registered beyond the current year. This bias by Google is part of a broader domain weighting system that also favors older domains that have been hosting active web sites for years. Google considers domains with "good age" and multi-year registrations less likely to be search spam or trying to game the system. Beyond the search benefits, multi-year registrations almost always save you money through a discount from your registrar, and make it much less likely that you'll lose control of the domain by forgetting to renew it. This happens, all the time. In February, 2006 the domain Jasmin.com expired and was sold at auction for $310,000. 2. Shop For An Affordable But Credible Domain Registrar: There are millions of domain name owners who continue to pay $30 to $35 each time they purchase or renew a domain. But don't just opt for the cheapest provider or the one with the flashiest ads. The victims of the meltdown at RegisterFly almost certainly wish they'd been more selective in choosing their provider. Opt for a registrar that provides the combination of a good price, corporate stability and accountability. Go Daddy
RegisterFly's web site was offline for much of the day, as documented by Netcraft, with posts at RegisterFlies attributing the downtime to a transfer of the registerfly.com domain to give the new CEO better control over the site. Meanwhile, ICANN has asked a California court to force RegisterFly to turn over its database of domain data and compel an emergency audit of its books and records. ICANN has also reached out to central domain registries to protect domain owners. "Last Friday, ICANN convened a telephone conference among those needed to implement a plan that will help cease unintended deletions," ICANN said on its blog. "This will prevent names from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others." While it has taken steps to prevent domain deletions, ICANN acknowledged that "the options for customers to transfer their names to another registrar at this stage are limited." Additional covergae can be found at Daily Domainer and Frank Schilling.
The ProBlogger.com domain has expired and is up for auction on Go Daddy ProBlogger.com was registered to ProBlogger.com">Matt Winkler from Chatsworth, Calif. The Wayback Machine shows that in ProBlogger.com/">May of 2006 the site featured a placeholder page that described the coming debut of a "new type of blogging community. Offering innovative technology, fully customizeable layouts, image hosting, and many other features, Problogger is sure to breath new life into the blogging community." Earlier searches from 2004 show a blog with Lorem Ipsum text. So who's interested in ProBlogger.com? It would be a natural for Darren Rowse, who has built one of the blogosphere's most successful and respected brands at ProBlogger.net. It might make sense for Darren to re-invest some of his six-figure blogging income to register the .com, if only as a defensive strategy to prevent another blogger from buying the name and diluting the brand equity he has built on the .net domain.
What happens if your domain is expiring and you can't reach the registrar's web site? There have been many stories about connectivity problems in Asia due to the earthquake in Taiwan, which severed underground cables. The China International Network Information Center (CNNIC) is considering extensions for 10,000 domain owners who lost their expiring .com domains when the couldn't reach the registrar's web site to renew them. "Because the domain names are lost due to an act of God, enterprises and individuals involved may be appropriately compensated by the domain name server, but the scheme is still under discussion," the Xinhua new service quoted a source close to the CNNIC.
The practice of "domain" tasting" dates back to 20001, when DotRegistrar and IAregistry began using the five-day add-drop period to test drive domain names for their commercial potential. That's the introduction to The Closing Window: A Historical Analysis of Domain Tasting, an informative article by Frank Schilling at CircleID. Schilling, who prepared the analysis for members of the the ICANN Business Constituency, notes that VeriSign initially resisted domain tasting, and sought to discourage the registrars who were engaging in the practice. His analysis concludes: VeriSign will have to close the window, just as it did in 2002. Only it may be harder this time because they have permitted the practice for so long. The best solution would likely be for VeriSign to send an email to all registrars announcing a restocking fee effective next-week. Even a 2 cent restocking fee (trivial for real errors) would be enough to curb tasting dramatically.
Are we shocked that Britney Spears and her rocket scientist hubby Kevin Federline are not as adept at registering baby domain names as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt? Despite buying a month of secrecy by leaking a fake name after the Sept. 12 birth, Britney and KFed still couldn't manage to secure the tot's domain name. Instead, Leonard Lee of Union City, Calif. is the proud owner of JaydenFederline.com. Lee purchased the name on Oct. 18, shortly after the first news items mentioning the name. The birth certificate didn't become public until today, and JaydenFederline.org was registered in short order. The poor .net top-level domain doesn't cut it anymore, as jaydenfederline.net was still available as of 3:30 pm Eastern time. So who's the sucker who registered SuttonPierceFederline.com? It was a private registration, so we can't know for sure. But we suspect KFed, who isn't getting any smarter getting dropped on his head by those WWE wrestlers.
The Public Interest Registry (PIR), managers of the .ORG registry announced today that 5,000,000 .ORG domains have now been registered worldwide. The growth of .ORG was boosted in July of 2005 by PIR"S decision to offer .ORG registrars discounts targeting developing regions of the world, including South America, Asia, and Africa. The promotions have resulted in a 50 percent increase in .ORG domain registrations in the targeted regions. In India, growth has reached a 93 percent annual increase. "This is a significant milestone for the .ORG registry and we are excited that the number of .ORG registrations worldwide has increased by over 25 percent in less than 1 year," said Edward G. Viltz, President and CEO of PIR. "PIR is especially pleased that the global noncommercial community has an expanding online presence to support their organizational objectives. In addition, commensurate with this growth, the PIR Team is committed to continue expanding our support of the .ORG community on relevant Internet issues and to ensure community interests are represented within the domain name space."
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News and analysis about the business of domain names, domain investing, domain stocks and domain-based advertising. Domain Works is written and edited by veteran technology journalist Rich Miller. Read more about this site and how to contact us
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Posted by RichM 
September 24, 2007 |