A Biker's Domain

The Department of Commerce has announced the extended award of the registry contract for the United States Country Code Top Level Domain ( .US ) to Neustar Inc. This action has disappointed some of the largest holders and supporters of the extension who were calling for a takeover by the Alliance Registry created by a partnership pf GoDaddy and Afilias. Many of those with vested interests in the .US ccTLD believe that Neustar has mismanaged the extension and has done almost nothing to promote it's use. They say they have little hope that Neustar will change it's ways going forward.

Finally an audio tribute saluting the true heros of the Internet. Check out the link
Click here

Some of us older folks remember when television was free. Then the powers that be (read rich corporations) brought out "cable" television and sold the idea to everyone on the premise that if you paid a subscription, you wouldn't be bothered with all those stinkin commercials. Sounded fair enough right? So we bot into it. Of course here we sit now paying for cable WITH commercials.

Now comes the attack on the neutrality of the internet. The rich corporations now want to provide high speed content only from those that agree to pay them a special fee. Those not willing to pay the piper, will be stuck in the slow lane, and possibly eliminated if Comcast et al get their way. Heck they think they own the net anyway. Watch the video to get the message, and then go to www.savetheinternet.com and sign the petition.

Just a funny little clip that I think reflects a bit of the current feelings being experienced daily by domainers attempting to expand their domain portfolios into foreign language keywords and/or foreign country code top level domains (ccTLDs)

Many domainers, frustrated in the search for keyword strings in .com, have instead invested in foreign domains in top level extensions (TLDs) and/or country code top level domains (ccTLDs). I do see the future potential for this strategy and have even dipped my own toe in the water sometime back with a couple like Motocicletas.org (spanish for Motorcycles).

The risk of course is messing up on the translations from english to whatever and finding that Bablefish or Google language tools just might not be cutting it. Imagine the horror that these brands experienced upon launching some very expensive advertising campaigns without the necessary translation due diligence.

Here's a few examples where ad campaigns went astray.

The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the Wax Tadpole". General Motors had a fiasco in trying to market the Nova car in Central and South America. "No va" in Spanish means, "It Doesn't Go". Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux." Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick." Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea." Last but not least, when American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

I won't be regging anymore foreign language domains without the review of a professional translator.

I guess I'm not done messing with Parsons at GoDaddy yet. I really think he was trying to be nice by sending me one of those email holiday cards. Problem is that I think GoDaddy took the "spirit" of the season literally and included Zombies walking around and dancing. Then again maybe they were trying to save money by covering both Halloween and Christmas with one effort. Don't you think they should have the music playing from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" instead? Anyway, if you want to experience the "joy" first hand, here's a link to the card.

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/holiday/winter/2006_playmovie.asp?isc=gdh1225&se=%2B

As Bob Parsons GoDaddy CEO

As ex KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko

Rumor has it that ex KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was NOT poisoned as reported widely by the press, and is still alive and kicking as his alter ego Bob Parsons, well known CEO of the registrar GoDaddy.

Attempts to contact Mr. Parsons to inquire as to his health were not immediately returned. A spokesman for GoDaddy claimed the rumors to be false, and replied that "Bob was off some place rolling over rocks with Mad Max". He also replied that they "were sure that the boss came from someplace remote, but that it definately wasn't from Russia. Heck, he doesn't even have an accent".

I've got an theme idea that might be fun for a young webmaster. The planning should start early in 2007 and be ready for some serious marketing during the prime Halloween season.

Started doing some related domain studies to see what was still out there and started cracking up. Some very funny stuff possible.

Hoping I can get my son Cory into it. He's been taking computer classes after school on Tuesdays all on his own. I think he could have fun with this, make a few bucks, and get him involved with the Web. We'll see.

Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?

Scored today with a domain caught using snapnames. Picked up Laconia.info and made it through the private auction. Of course besides being a town in New Hampshire, it's home to the oldest of the original BIG 3 US Bike/Motorcycle Rallys. The other two being Daytona Beach Florida (Bike Week), and Sturgis South Dakota.

I now have ownership of both Sturgis.us, www.Sturgis.info , Laconia.us and now Laconia.info. I'm going to have to work on picking up Daytona Beach even though I do have a few variations.

The great band "QUEEN"

Well, I'm trying a bit of domain news monitoring, checking Overture, Wordtracker movers and shakers, Alexa, etc. Picked up a few that would go into the 4 1/2 day domain tasting project if we had that running. We expect to have it cranked up around the first of the year. Anyway, regged these to test traffic:

www.airplanetreadmill.com www.playthegamelyrics.com by Queen, and last but not least, www.chinesenewyear2008.com lol. I'll let ya know how they do in the stats.