Two members of the team from the .ME Registry visited the Denver offices of Name.com, and of course they made a video. What else would you expect from Name.com? I really hope they’re able to keep their company culture.
Go Daddy Offering Ten $10,000 College Scholarships
Go Daddy is offering ten college scholarships valued at $10,000 each as part of its Go Daddy .ME Scholarship program. I am not sure if the Dot ME Registry is participating this year, but it would seem so based on the name.
Here’s how eligible people may apply:
Applicants submit a 500-word essay describing how the Internet or technology has helped them and how they envision benefiting from it in the future. Essays are judged on quality, creativity and originality.
The application process began today, and applications will be accepted until March 30, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. (PT). The ten winners will be announced on April 25, 2013 (or around then). You can look on the website for full details about the scholarship and application process, as there are some eligibility requirements.
Domain investor Brian Diener won a scholarship a couple of years ago, and he is now attending Emory University in Atlanta. I am sure there are plenty of domain investors who are attending college or have plans to attend college, and it would be great to see someone in this business win a $10,000 college scholarship from GoDaddy.
Barack Obama Using Boliva ccTLD, Mitt Romney Using Trinidad & Tobago ccTLD
If you follow US politics and the upcoming presidential election, you likely follow President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney on Twitter. To make the most use of the limited space on Twitter, most people use url shorteners, the Twitter default being T.CO.
One of the most popular url shorteners is Bitly, which is found at Bit.LY, with .LY being the ccTLD for the country of Libya. Both President Obama and Governor Romney previously used Bitly to shorten their urls. It appears that both candidates have come to the same conclusion with respect to using Libya’s ccTLD for their shortening, and they are both using unique ccTLD shorteners.
President Obama appears to prefer to use OFA.BO for his shortening, and Governor Romney appears to prefer Mi.TT. The .BO domain name is a ccTLD for the country of Bolivia, and the .TT domain name is the ccTLD for the country of Trinidad & Tobago.
Mi.TT appears to be registered to someone from Targeted Victory, a interactive advertising agency that appears to support Governor Romney’s presidential campaign. OFA.BO appears to be registered to the Democratic Party.
It’s neat to see the candidates using these ccTLD domain names so prominently.
Wrestler Mister Saint Laurent (MSL) Acquires M.SL from Sierra Leone
I don’t usually publish press releases, but this one is pretty unique. Congratulations to professional wrestler Mister Saint Laurent, who was able to acquire the one letter M.SL domain name. .SL is the ccTLD operated by the county of Sierra Leone.
Here’s the press release I received:
ORLANDO, FL, August 28, 2012 — Professional wrestler Mister Saint Laurent (MSL) has announced his acquisition of M.SL, the world’s first one character .SL domain name. The .SL extension, which is controlled by the West African nation of Sierra Leone, has never before allowed a one character registration. However, they have made an exception for the AWA World Tag Team Champion and allowed the purchase of the M.SL domain.
Not only is Mister Saint Laurent known around the world for his wrestling prowess, but he’s also the great grandson of former Prime Minister of Canada Louis St. Laurent. Experienced in international relations, Mister Saint Laurent was able to eventually secure the domain after an intense eight month negotiation. With many registrars not allowing one character domains and others having sold their one character domains for thousands and sometimes millions of dollars, there were many times MSL almost gave up on his quest to register M.SL.
“Winning the world championship was an unbelievable experience, but having the world’s only one letter .SL domain name means more to me than anything,” said Mister Saint Laurent. “The fans on mistersaintlaurent.com have been so loyal to me and I’m happy that accessing my site will now be easier than ever.”
The exact amount of the four figure purchase price has not been disclosed.
Video: Great Marketing from Under.ME
This viral video is making the rounds on the Internet today, and it’s a great attention grabbing campaign for a company that operates on a .ME domain name. Embedded below for your enjoyment is a video from a company called Under.ME featuring super model Bar Rafaeli swimming underwater in her underwear.
In case you are interested, Under.ME was considered a premium .ME Registry-owned domain name, and the current owner appears to have acquired it directly from the Registry.
Enjoy!
TMZ Video: MakeItRain.TV
TMZ shared an article and accompanying video (embedded) about rapper and hip hop producer Daz Dillinger who “made it rain” for some homeless people in Venice Beach, California. For those who don’t know, “make it rain” is a phrase that means tossing dollar bills in the air where they float to the ground like rain.
According to TMZ, “The video was shot for a charity called MakeItRain.TV — founded by radio host Tattoo from 93.5 KDAY.”
Some more exposure for .TV domain names.