There are two people in the video, and both have differing viewpoints on some issues. But because this wasn’t an interview on Fox, they weren’t debating.
I still don’t see the big uproar over what Calle said. He basically said they don’t want every .co domain to be purchased by domain investors (let alone a cybersquatters), because then .co wouldn’t take off. (See .eu.)
But some people have viewed the video differently than I did.
On the other hand, I’m not a fan of Le Meur’s handling of LeWeb.com. As I wrote about earlier this year, he tried to grab the domain LeWeb.com through a UDRP. LeWeb.com was registered before his business started. That’s not cool.
Calle has responded to the allegations that he’s anti-domainer by pointing out he’s a domainer himself. He doesn’t want cybersquatters on .co. He goes even further by saying he doesn’t want “mass speculators”. That’s smart, whether or not you want to hear it.
(Oh, and by the way…when you get outside the domain bubble, you will find that most people hate us. Le Meur’s attitude, even though it’s wrong, is typical.)
Big European tech conference changes web site to LeWeb.co.
LeWeb, a large European tech conference, has jumped on the .co bandwagon.
The company just changed its web address — and its logo — to LeWeb.co.
The video below features .co founder Juan Deigo Calle discussing the change with LeWeb. (It’s actually rather entertaining.)
LeWeb previously used LeWeb.net as its web address.
Last year LeWeb tried to get LeWeb.com through a UDRP filing at World Intellectual Property Organization. The company cited confusion with people trying to reach its web site. The UDRP panel found against the conference organizers, noting that LeWeb.com was registered prior to the conference’s existence.
The next LeWeb conference takes place in London June 19 and 20.
They may have meaning but are very similar to .com.
A number of country codes, such as .cm and .co, can result in misguided visitors looking for a .com web address.
Will we see some other domains that could be considered typos push their way through the new top level domain process?
I first thought of this when I wrote about .cpm. An online ad company is trying to trademark the term, which stands for “cost per thousand”.
As readers pointed out to me, .cpm is just one key away from .com on the keyboard.
.CMO is another possible domain that could be applied for an could also be a typo. CMO stands for Chief Marketing Officer.
Both .cpm and .cmo score high for similarity to numerous strings based on ICANN’s sword tool.
The most ironic .com typo would be .con. N is just one letter off from M on the keyboard. But it legitimately could be applied for with the idea of it standing for “conference”.
I suspect there are a lot more examples in non Latin scripts.
Registrars have many options when it comes to which top level domains to promote to customers. Sometimes this is based purely on demand calculations. In other instances domain registries strike deals with domain registrars to give them premium shelf space or promotion on their home pages.
I just checked the top 10 domain registrars. These results are for either the drop down box in their domain search function or the results page when you search. Excluded are reseller-only registrars that don’t have a consumer facing site. I’ve also excluded MelbourneIT because they seem to be having web site problems right now.
GoDaddy
.com
.co
.info
.net
.org
(notably, .me, which is backed by GoDaddy is #6)
eNom
.co
.com
.net
.org
.info
Tucows (Hover)
.com
.net
.info
.co
Then usually shows another variant of .com
Network Solutions
.com
.net
.co
.org
.biz
1 and 1
.com
.co
.net
.org
.us (I suspect this varies depending on your location)
Gala celebrates big companies and players in the dot.com revolution.
Last night I had the honor of attending VeriSign’s “25 Years of .Com” gala at city hall in San Francisco. It was a fantastic event with a lot of the companies and people that made the internet what it is today in attendance.
After cocktails, comedian Dana Carvey took to the stage to warm up the crowd.
“Welcome. How many people have a net worth over $10 million? Don’t think, just raise your hand,” joked Carvey. He then pointed to another audience member. “Are you worth a billion dollars? You look like you’re thirteen.”
Carvey then introduced Scott McNealy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, who provided a list of 10 reasons we shouldn’t be celebrating 25 years of .com. One of his reasons: “I’m still waiting on my new Nigerian friend to send me that twenty-five thousand dollars.” (Note to self: never follow an emmy-award winning comedian on the stage and try to be funny.)
The gala included a video celebrating the “.com 25″, including eBay, eTrade, and Craigslist (the latter of which is actually on a .org domain). VeriSign also welcomed the “Domain Pioneers” consisting of some of the biggest domain name registrars. Among those accepting the honor on behalf of their companies were Warren Adelman of Go Daddy, Elliot Noss of Tucows, Bhavin Turakhia of Directi, and Jeff Kupietzky of Oversee.net
But the most entertaining moment of the evening was Carvey’s improvised introduction of ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush. I know the video below is of low quality (hey, I had a Flip in the back of the room), but you’ll get a kick out of it.
VeriSign celebrates 25 years of .com this evening.
I’m off to San Francisco for the 25 Years of .Com Gala this evening. The event will be hosted by one of my favorite comedians, Dana Carvey (Saturday Night Live, Wayne’s World, etc).
The evening will celebrate the “.com 25″ honoring “remarkable innovators, entrepreneurs and companies whose inspiring contributions were fundamental in shaping the Internet and, thereby, forever changing the way we think and act as individuals and as a society.”
Possible honorees to the .com 25 include Al Gore, Amazon.com, Google, Napster, Vint Cerf, and eBay.
I’ll try my best to cover the event live via Twitter, assuming there’s good cell phone coverage at the gala. You can follow me on Twitter at @DomainNameWire.
Politicians and instrumental web companies nominated for awards.
As part of a year long celebration of the 25th anniversary of .com, domain registry VeriSign today announced nominees for its “.com 25″. There are 75 nominees; a panel of judges will whittle it down to the “.com 25″. The public is invited to show support for nominees to help the judges.
Winners will be announced at a gala in San Francisco this May, hosted by comedian Dana Carvey.
Among the nominees are Al Gore, who was instrumental in the commercialization of the web (no joke), Vint Cerf (of ICANN and later Google), Steve Jobs, and James Gosling (creator of Java).
In addition to people, there are a number of companies nominated. Web 2.0 favorites include Digg and Flickr. E-commerce nominees include Amazon.com, Zappos, and Overstock.com. Of course, the web has also transformed dating. So it’s only fitting that Match.com and eHarmony are nominated. Blogs on the list include the Gawker network and celebrity site TMZ. Representing social networks are Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn.
You can read more about each nominee and rate them at 25YearsOf.com.
VeriSign launches campaign to celebrate 25 years of .com.
.Com registry VeriSign has launched a new campaign to celebrate 25 years of dot com domain names and the emergence of the web. The campaign — found online at 25YearsOf.com — will celebrate a number of the milestones and important individuals that have made .com what it is today.
As part of the program, VeriSign will sponsor a Policy Impact Forum in Washington D.C. on March 16. This forum will examine the disconnect between policy and technology, and how the former fails to keep pace with innovation in the latter.
On May 26, VeriSign will host a “25 Years of .Com” gala in San Francisco. The .Com 25 Awards, recognizing the people and companies who have made the most notable impact in shaping the internet, will be announced at the gala.
As the registry for .com, VeriSign earns $6.86 per .com domain name per year, or about nearly $600 million. This price will increase to $7.34 in July 2010.
LeWeb, a large European tech conference, has jumped on the .co bandwagon.
I’m off to San Francisco for the 25 Years of .Com Gala this evening. The event will be hosted by one of my favorite comedians, Dana Carvey (Saturday Night Live, Wayne’s World, etc). 
.Com registry VeriSign has launched a new campaign to celebrate 25 years of dot com domain names and the emergence of the web. The campaign — found online at