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

[Read more…]

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.

[Read more…]

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…]

There have been reports that Mozilla, the organization behind the Firefox web browser, is working on a device similar to Google’s Chromecast, a media streaming stick. Brad Linder reported that “Mozilla is working on a small stick that you can plug into a TV to stream internet videos or other content while using the Firefox web browser on your phone or other device as a remote.”

And now we may have the answer to what it may be called. Why? Mozilla Media domain names were just registered by Mozilla. The company just registered: [Read more…]

Well, by now you probably know about how I feel about domains with hyphens in them. If you don’t, then you may want to read my post about a test that was done regarding domain names with hyphens. That certainly opened up my eyes, and now I prefer domains without hyphens in them. So, when I saw today that Microsoft registered two domain names with hyphens in them (multiple hyphens), and they didn’t purchase the domains without hyphens, I cringed. [Read more…]

Sevan Derderian of Domain Name Sales accepts one of his awards at the Domainer’s Choice Awards this evening at the Dana Point Yacht Club.

For more photos of the event, I’ve uploaded them here on Google Plus.

The first annual Domainer’s Choice Awards were presented this evening, June 28, 2014, at the Dana Point Yacht Club, in Dana Point, California. There were three nominees in each category. The official winners were:
[Read more…]

Kevin Allen is helping set up for the 2014 Domainer’s Choice Awards [Read more…]

Google is getting ready to launch Google Domains, where you can get a website, web hosting, and a website editor like Wix.com (which is very SEO-unfriendly, by the way). And, Google is pitching the purchase of a shiny, new gTLD (Top Level Domain). But, instead of calling them what they really are (gTLDs), Google describe them like this: [Read more…]

When it comes to playing by the new rules, Microsoft apparently has thrown in the towel. There apparently aren’t any new rules anymore. And Microsoft has decided, for whatever reason, that they don’t want to play by the new rules anymore. At least when it comes to domain names.

Of the 19 domain names that Microsoft has failed to renew in the past 24 hours, there are three that apparently Microsoft doesn’t want anymore. They haven’t renewed these names, meaning that you soon can “play by the new rules”: [Read more…]

Well, I find this kind of odd, to be honest with you. Facebook, who relies on Facebook promotions and ads for their revenue, failed to renew a domain name that they owned, FacebookPromotion.com.

[Read more…]

There are reports that ICANN is now taking websites offline because of failures to verify ones’ email address. A popular website, JitBit.com, was recently taken offline because they failed to verify the site’s email address as listed in the whois record.

According to Jitbit.com, their website was offline for nearly 30 minutes, and showed the following:

[Read more…]

I’ve written before about how Twitter, Facebook, and even recently how Google’s Gmail were or were not recognizing the new gTLD domain names as real domain names. Now today I have discovered that Apple’s iPhone email does not recognize the new gTLDs, as well. But it’s actually even worse with Apple: they don’t recognize .biz, .info, and .tv as real domain names, either!

IPhone email doesn’t recognize gtlds either. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/H4yivvuAe8

— Bill Hartzer (@bhartzer) May 22, 2014

When I refer to these companies or their apps (or sites) not recognizing the new gTLDs, I am referring to the fact that when one of these domain names (e.g., billhartzer.expert) is listed in a post, a tweet, or in an email, the domain is (or isn’t) turned into a clickable link. I know this is a technicality, but these are real domain names, and if someone is going to buy one of these domain names and use it for their website, you have a right to expect that most apps and websites will recognize them as being “real”, just like .com or .net or .org. [Read more…]