Google has activated their first New gTLD domain name, which is nic.google. Nic.Google currently redirects to the Google Registry.

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It appears that Facebook acquired Messenger.com recently. Checking the name servers and the whois data for Messenger.com, there was a recent change to the name servers: from lovellsnames.org to facebook.com, and the registrant is now Facebook. [Read more…]

For a few months now, I have had the opportunity to have access to the Google Domains program, where you can buy (and transfer in) domain names. Google has been a domain name registrar for many, many years now, but has only recently opened up their registrar services to the public. Like many Google products, they first go through an “invite only” process. I thought that I’d tell you about my experience with Google Domains so far, and how it’s been going. [Read more…]

A New gTLD Domain Name forum has recently launched. The site, called gTLD.Link, is your everything link to the gTLDs. I’ve recently joined the forum, and so far have made several helpful connections through the site.

As you may know by now if you haven’t been following my blog, I’m a big fan of the new gTLD domain names, and especially the keyword-rich opportunities they provide. For example, I personally think that a domain name like “3Carat.Diamonds” is much “better” than “3CaratDiamonds.com”. The first one is much shorter, easier to remember, and the keywords are split up by the dot in the name. [Read more…]

There appears to be a bug in how GoDaddy is displaying the prices of some New gTLD domain names. At one point, depending on how you search for the domain name, the price will display as one price: but if you search for a .com domain name, then GoDaddy’s site is showing a different price for the same domain name. Here’s an example of this.

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Would you be interested in buying DeadMau5.co and Mau5Trap.co ? I can provide proof of ownership. @deadmau5

— ToodyNoodlez (@McQuakenbake)

There are several reasons that I can come up with right off the top of my head why you shouldn’t try to sell a celebrity a domain name on Twitter. Especially if that domain name is their brand or their name. And especially if you’re a cyber squatter, looking to profit by selling the domain name. If you didn’t know, cybersquatting is illegal in the United States. And you could end up having to pay $1,000 to $100,000 per domain name as a penalty. if you’re found guilty of cybersquatting.

Chad McFatridge, who goes by the Twitter handle @McQuakenbake, posted on Twitter that he owns the domain names deadmau5.co and mau5trap.co. He sent a tweet to the famous celebrity @deadmau5: [Read more…]

New gTLD market share courtesy ntldstats.com

As you may be aware, if you read my blog regularly, you probably know by now that I’ve been a fan of the new gTLD domain names, especially keyword rich ones, since they were first introduced. It seems as though you either really love the new gTLD domain names and see the opportunities they provide, or you don’t like them. I’ve run across quite a few people who just don’t like the new gTLD domain names. Some say that their value is limited, and others have event told me that they will fail. [Read more…]

A while back, I wrote about Apple’s mysterious non-sensical domain names that were hosted on Amazon’s Cloud servers. That post was picked up by Gizmodo. Well, I noticed today, a day before the big Apple event, that may or may not include news about the new Apple iPhone 6, iOS 8, Apple NFC, and the Apple iWatch, those non-sensical domain names are saying this:

Why they’ve been switched from being a simple server default landing page to one that actually includes content (Hello being the content), is kind of interesting. Those sites are still up and running, and I bet they have something to do with Apple’s announcements on September 9th. [Read more…]

Microsoft is getting ready to launch a new site or service called Sway. Right now there’s no word from Microsoft officially about what this new product, service, or website will be. But based on the number of domain names that have been purchased recently by Microsoft and their private acquisition of the Sway.com domain name leads me to believe that Sway is launching soon.

Update: According to a TechCrunch article, and several others, Sway is going to be a Content Delivery Network (CDN) of some type, and I suspect that they are speculating–based on the CDN characters in the domain names that were registered. Venture Beat says it will be a cloud service.

Jamie Zoch, from Dot Weekly reports that Microsoft “used the domain buying service Brand Certified and has acquired the domain name Sway.com. No purchase price has been disclosed but it was likely six figures for the domain. The domain purchase likely took place on or about March 3, 2014 and has been hid behind the Brand Certified name since acquiring the domain name on behalf of Microsoft.” [Read more…]

There is a pretty nasty domain name appraisal scam going around that you need to be aware of if you own domain names. The scammer’s only intent is to make money from a domain name appraisal service, which is fake. Furthermore, the scammer, Roland Gordan, and Authority-ICANN.org, tries to make it look like the real ICANN.org is offering domain name appraisals. This is a scam, and domain name owners should not fall for this online scheme.

Here’s how this domain name scam works. [Read more…]