DotEU…. At Cost???!?!?

Just saw a post about blacknight.ie offering .EU domain names at 5 euros per.  Unless I am mistaken, that is at cost.

 This is noteworthy, as we certainly watch pricing trategy like this suceed in the US, so it will be good to see how such a pricing model will drive organic growth and adoption of the .EU namespace.

My co-worker is on “The Next Great American Band” tonight (Fri 10/19) on Fox (8pm)

Hi-

I am jazzed! 

Joe Higgins, who many in the industry know from DomainFest, TRAFFIC, GeoDomainExpo, or Domain Roundtable conferences, is a friend and co-worker.  The exciting news today is that his band “The Likes of You” made the list of ten finalist bands that will participate in a contest of elimination similar to the American Idol show.

I encourage readers of my blog to watch this show, and if you enjoy “The Likes of You”, spread awareness and vote for them.

http://tv.msn.com/tv/pics/band2?photoidx=4

www.myspace.com/likesofyou is their MySpace page.

Good Luck, Joe, and rock the stage!

-J 

.COM.AU, .NET.AU Geographical Names being released

 auDA is releasing a list of reserved geographical names on October 21st.

According to the 2005 ballot, the names registered in the first 5 days will cost $825 (AU$ inc. GST) plus registrar’s registration fee.  After the 5 day period, names will be charged $21.45 (AU$ inc. GST) plus the registrar’s registration fee.

Details on the process, timing, etc.

 The list of reserved names to be released on 10/21.

Single character domain allocation process

ICANN is establishing a forum on allocation methods for single character ([A-Z0-9]) second level registrations in the gTLDs.

There are 16 gTLDs that have single character registrations restricted, of which .COM, .NET, and .ORG have only six registrations within that predated the rule to establish the restriction (q.com – Qwest, x.com – Paypal, z.com – Nissan, i.net – Oxide, q.net – Q Networks, and x.org – X Windows open source).

 The net result of the current process could allow for a thundering herd of registrants clamoring for these domain registrations, or there could be an auction process introduced to accomodate the process, should there be a change from the status quo.

More here at ICANN’s Website