Host Europe has acquired Mesh Digital, which includes the two registrar brands DomainMonster (retail) and Domainbox (wholesale). Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. More info here … [Read more...] about Host Europe Acquires Mesh Digital
Irish Politicians Screw Up With XXX
An article in yesterday's Sunday Times (Irish edition) by Harry Leech covers .xxx and Irish politicians and political parties. It's obvious that they didn't do anything about protecting their "brand" in XXX: Endakenny.xxx and finegael. xxx were both registered in December 2011, as were the addresses sinnfein.xxx and fiannafail.xxx Needless to say the domains were not … [Read more...] about Irish Politicians Screw Up With XXX
Big News Chez GoDaddy
This evening has seen a couple of pretty big stories coming out of GoDaddy. First off GoDaddy CEO told reporters that the company was applying for 3 domain extensions (TLDs) including .godaddy (their .brand). He wouldn't say what the other two strings were, but it's safe to assume that they are more generic. The other big news is that Christine Jones, GoDaddy's general … [Read more...] about Big News Chez GoDaddy
Bob Recstrum Speaks On New TLDs
So while Rod Beckstrom may not have been saying much about the TAS outage his parody alter-ego Bob Recstrum has been having fun (at his expense) Today, following the announcement of a date for TAS re-opening: #Newgtlds update: I am pleased to announce a new Reveal Day. On 30 June, I will reveal what my plans are for the future #latersuckers — Bob Recstrum … [Read more...] about Bob Recstrum Speaks On New TLDs
.Be Registry Offering Registrants Certificates
DNS.be, the organisation that runs the .be registry, recently upgraded their software backend to add some new features. While most upgrades usually only impact registrars, the latest update includes an interesting new feature for registrants - registration certificates. While this isn't a completely novel idea (a number of other ccTLDs offer it) it's a nice little … [Read more...] about .Be Registry Offering Registrants Certificates
New TLD Application System To Come Back Online At End of Month?
ICANN's latest update has set a date of May 22 for the re-opening of the application system. What that means in terms of the "big reveal" is unclear at this juncture, though some skeptics are positing that it won't happen until the public meeting in Prague. I wonder if we can persuade Paddy Power to let us place bets on the reveal date :) Related articles ICANN … [Read more...] about New TLD Application System To Come Back Online At End of Month?
A “Glitch” Does Not Last This Long
ICANN has been consistently referring to the issues with the new TLD application system as a "glitch". That's a serious misnomer. As a native English speaker I'd consider a "glitch" to be something small and inconsequential. When the software and systems that you are using to process millions of dollars of domain applications is forced offline for several weeks the … [Read more...] about A “Glitch” Does Not Last This Long
SIDN Get .Amsterdam Contract
SIDN, the organisation that runs .nl, has been awarded the contract to provide registry backend services for .amsterdam. The company that will be running the .amsterdam registry has already launched a public site where they're accepting pre-registrations. While I'd normally question anyone offering pre-registrations at this stage a .city TLD is a lot less likely to run into … [Read more...] about SIDN Get .Amsterdam Contract
ICANN Reveals A Lot About New TLD Applications
ICANN's latest update on the new TLD application system downtime contains a few interesting titbits of information that have all the domain bloggers speculating about how many new TLDs there will be. According to the latest update ICANN has: 2091 pending new TLD applications 214 additional applications that haven't been paid for yet Pulled in $350 million in … [Read more...] about ICANN Reveals A Lot About New TLD Applications
UK Domain Names Now Available For 1 to 10 Year Registration and Renewal
Nominet turned on multi-year registrations and renewals today, so now UK domain names can be registered or renewed for periods from 1 to 10 years. With this move Nominet brings itself into line with gTLDs and a lot of other ccTLDs, where the 1 to 10 year registration period has been available for some time. As a registrar and registrant I'm delighted by this move. It also … [Read more...] about UK Domain Names Now Available For 1 to 10 Year Registration and Renewal