Author Archive
Posted November 15th, 2011
The Domain Business is not for the feint of heart. The stress level of certain aspects of the business can be comparable to professional gambling. If you’ve ever been at a horse track screaming at a once spry nag named after a Def Leopard song to “run faster or they will shut off my cable” then you might have an idea of the soul killing lows that come after the career making highs.
This week, Overstock announced that they will be slowing the re-brand of O.Co and instead sticking with trusty Overstock.com. The Company’s early embracing of .Co in part drove a market for the TLD that was truly impressive. The aftermath (if you would like to call it that) is something will be of interest to anyone applying for a new gTLD or re-launching an existing extension.
While .Co won’t be stomping on their race form any time soon, it is a sobering example of how risky the Domain Business can be.
In an article titled “The Real o.co Lesson” DomainNameWire.com explains: “Switching from brand.com to something.brand will be very difficult. Imagine Amazon.com changing its name to SomethingElse.com, but take that challenge times ten.
There are two reasons:
1. The SEO switchover of a new domain name is very, very hard.
2. Right now people don’t understand the right of the dot. The average U.S. internet user knows nothing other than .com; in other countries it’s ccTLD plus perhaps .com.
People won’t understand the right of the dot until hundreds of companies start to promote it. And that will be a long time from now.
Does this mean it will never happen? Of course not. But I think Overstock.com underestimated the challenge it was taking on all by itself.”
Click HERE to read the full story.
Tags: .CO, o.co, Overstock.com
Posted in gTLDS by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 15th, 2011
In a recent press release, the European Commission states: “ The European Commission is pleased that its initiative to improve Internet Governance resulted in the introduction of a number of its suggested changes by the US Government for the post-March 2012 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract.
The Commission welcomes the publication by the US Government of tender documents for the contract to manage the naming and numbering systems that keep the global Internet running smoothly. The new tender will be subject to a competitive bidding process and its specifications will strengthen the transparency, independence and accountability of the next IANA contractor within the Internet’s multi-stakeholder governance ecosystem.
Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda said:
“The new IANA tender is a clear step forward for global internet governance. A more transparent, independent and accountable management of the Internet domain names and other resources will reinforce the Internet’s role as a global resource.”
Click HERE to read more.
Tags: .EU, IANA
Posted in IANA by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 15th, 2011
As posted to CircleId.com by Terry Zink: “ Last month at the Virus Bulletin Conference in Barcelona, I took in one of the sessions on mobile malware. This type of malware is foreign to me because I mostly stay in the email space at work (and even then, I am focusing more on day-to-day issues of running a large mail provider than I am on spam and abuse). What’s mobile malware like? What are the threats? How do users get infected?
The fastest growing segment of mobile malware is on the Google Android platform. While it is still less than J2ME, eventually at the current rates it will overtake it by next year.”
Click HERE to read more.
Tags: Mobile Malware
Posted in cybercrime, Malware by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 12th, 2011
TLDWatch.com has put together an updated timeline for New gTLDs based on the status as of the Dakar ICANN meeting.
Click HERE to view the timeline.
Tags: new gTLDs
Posted in gTLDS by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 11th, 2011
DomainFest 2012 registrations are open. The conference which will be held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, California form January 31 – February 2 features Twitter co-founder Biz Stone as its February 2, keynote speaker.
According to the DomainFest website: “During this 60 minute fireside chat, Biz will share his thoughts on Twitter’s future and the evolving world of social media. For example, how will Twitter compete with Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media options for user traffic and advertiser spend?
Biz will also discuss how he sees user needs changing over time with respect to online and mobile social media. In addition, he’ll speak about the changing needs of advertisers with respect to using social media channels to reach targeted users. Will there be new business models to service those changing user and advertiser needs? Whose business model will win?”
Click HERE to read more or HERE to register for DomainFest 2012.
Tags: Biz Stone, DomainFest 2012, Twitter
Posted in Conferences by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 11th, 2011
As reported by DomainIncite.com: “ The US government has put the IANA contract, which currently gives ICANN its powers to create new top-level domains, up for competitive bidding.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration issued a request for proposals late yesterday, almost a week later than expected.
The Statement Of Work, which defines the IANA contractor’s responsibilities, is over twice at long as the current IANA contract, containing many deliverables and deadlines.
While the contract is open to bidders other than ICANN, ICANN is obviously the likely winner, so it’s fair to read the SOW in that context.
Notably, the section dealing with approving new gTLDs has been changed since the draft language released in June.”
Click HERE to read the full article.
Tags: ICANN. IANA
Posted in IANA, ICANN by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 10th, 2011
Click HERE to read the report.
Posted in Phishing by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 10th, 2011
As posted to Blog.Comcast.com: “Comcast has been conducting IPv6 technical trials in our production network for more than a year, and we’ve been working diligently on IPv6 deployment for over 6 years. After so many years of challenging preparatory work, significant technology investment, internal skills development, and close collaboration with our technology partners, I am incredibly pleased to announce that we’ve achieved another critical milestone in our transition to IPv6 — we have started the pilot market deployment of IPv6 to customers in selected markets!”
Click HERE to read more.
Tags: Comcast, IPv6
Posted in IPv6 by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 10th, 2011
ICANN is revamping ICANN.org and they want your feedback.
As posted to ICANN.org: “A cross-departmental team within ICANN has been working for months to improve the usefulness and the look of ICANN’s main website, ICANN.ORG. The completely redesigned site is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2012.
How will the new site differ from today’s site? What new features can you look forward to? Will rearranging the site break links to content you rely on? For the answers to these and other relevant questions, join us for a live webinar on 21 November, 2011.”
Click HERE for details.
Tags: ICANN
Posted in ICANN by Kelly Hardy
Posted November 8th, 2011
As reported by Spencer Ackerman of Wired.com: “The Pentagon’s far-out research agency and its brand new military command for cyberspace have a confession to make. They don’t really know how to keep U.S. military networks secure. And they want to know: Could you help them out?
Darpa convened a “cyber colloquium” at a swank northern Virginia hotel on Monday for what it called a “frank discussion” about the persistent vulnerabilities within the Defense Department’s data networks. The Pentagon can’t defend those networks on its own, the agency admitted.”
Click HERE to read more.
Tags: Darpa, hackers, Pentagon
Posted in Security by Kelly Hardy
