Delicious Now Using D.ME Shortener

Elliot Silver
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6

A press release was just published by the .ME Registry announcing that  Delicious.com is now using D.ME as a url shortener. People who use Delicious can also use the D.ME domain name as a shortener to reach internal pages within the Delicious.com website.

I don’t see the company promoting the D.ME domain name within the website yet, although that could be done on internal pages.

Delicious was one of the first and most well-known companies to use a ccTLD for a domain hack. When the company first started, they operated on  del.icio.us, which is the .US ccLTD. The company later acquired Delicious.com, which seemed to be an example of consumer confusion with the original branding.

Here’s today’s press release announcing the news:

Delicious.com, which helps people discover and collect the Web, is now easier to access and use thanks to their new .ME domain name, d.me.

The shortened .ME Web address makes saving links easier and streamlines profile sharing, for example d.me/username. Delicious also added a way for people to save links by emailing the URL to a personalized @d.me address – particularly useful when saving from a mobile device.

“We are thrilled to be working with Delicious to further develop the popular Web service,” said Predrag Lesic, CEO of the .ME Registry. “Having the shortest domain name possible will be an asset to Delicious and its users.”

Delicious lets people save and stack their favorite links to make them accessible from any Web-enabled device. The website was purchased earlier this year by YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who then re-built Delicious from the ground up and re-launched it in September.

“We understand the power of an easy and memorable domain name,” said Chad Hurley, CEO of Delicious. “Simplification and personalization are important to our vision for Delicious, and working with dot-ME helped us on both fronts.”

“Since the launch of dot-ME, we have been very passionate about the ways a dot-ME domain name can enhance end user experience,” said Lesic. “It is exciting for us to have this kind of synergy with a company who gets what we are doing and understands how a dot-ME domain name can enhance a great product.”

If you think your project has what it takes to use a .ME premium domain name like d.me, WP.Me (WordPress) or FB.Me (Facebook), contact the .ME Registry’s development program .

For registry news visit www.domain.me/news for other examples and articles about the many clever uses of .ME, visit www.domain.me/blog.

To learn more about the .ME Registry, developing a .ME business idea through non-auction allocation of a .ME domain name, or to find out how to register a .ME domain name, go to www.Domain.Me.

About the .ME Registry:
.ME Registry (the d.b.a. of doMEn, d.o.o.) was chosen by the government of Montenegro to operate the new .ME domain name extension. .ME Registry partners include ME-net, GoDaddy.com and Afilias Limited. Me-Net is a Montenegrin registrar and its founders are leaders of the ICT sector in Montenegro, who among other things participated in a successful privatization of Montenegrin largest ISP. GoDaddy.com is the largest worldwide mass-market hosting provider by annual revenue according to Tier1 Research (Mass-Market Hosting Report-Winter 2011) and is the world’s No. 1 domain name registrar. Afilias Limited is headquartered in Ireland and is a leading registry services provider, supporting more than 15 million domains worldwide.

Contacts

.ME Registry
Natasa Djukanovic
382-20-269-740
1-866-941-5341 (fax)
Info@domain.me

Could Syria .SY ccTLD Become Popular?

Elliot Silver
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5

If you like and/or collect fine art, you probably already know about Art Basel in Miami. It’s considered the most prestigious annual art show in the United States, and there are many serious collectors and artists who head to Miami each December for Art Basel.

I am moderately into art, so I’ve been reading up a bit on Art Basel, and a new website called Art.sy has been mentioned in a few articles I’ve read. According to its home page, “Art.sy is a new way to discover art you’ll love, featuring work from leading galleries, museums and private collections around the world.” TechCrunch covered the company a year ago and just last month as well.

As you can see, Art.sy uses a ccTLD domain hack, with .SY being the ccTLD for Syria.

It does not appear that a company needs to be associated with Syria to own a .SY domain name, although it was difficult for me to find domain registrars to purchase a .SY domain name. According to Marcaria.com, the cost of registering a .SY domain name is $400/year.

It seems that the biggest stumbling blocks for .SY to follow in the footsteps of the popular .LY ccTLD are the cost and lack of ease in registering .SY domain names since few registrars seem to offer them. Should either of these stumbling blocks be removed, I suppose it could potentially become a popular domain hack.

Of course, political stability may present an issue, although the same could be said about Libya and people still buy .LY domain names irrespective of that. You can learn more about the .SY ccTLD here:  http://tld.sy

I am sure you are wondering about the matching .com. Although the Whois information for Artsy.com is private, it does not appear that Art.sy owns Artsy.com, especially since it’s currently parked.

Sedo Hosting Large .ME Auction Beginning Today and Ending November 3

Elliot Silver
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5

Sedo will be holding an auction of premium .ME domain names, beginning today and running through November 2. The full list of domain names can be found at Sedo.com/ME, and you can see the reserve price ranges by clicking on the individual domain names.

One of the primary reasons the .ME Registry selected Sedo to hold this auction was because of the company’s proficiency at selling .ME domain names. The company has closed a reported 1,000 sales totaling nearly $1.5 million.

Some of the top names being auctioned include:

  • VIP.me
  • Cam.me
  • Job.me
  • 888.me
  • 777.me
  • 800.me
  • Wealth.me
  • Computers.me
  • RealEstate.me
  • Celeb.me
  • Camera.me
  • Flowers.me
  • Golf.me
  • America.me
  • LosAngeles.me
  • Bargain.me
  • First.me
There are 178 total .ME domain names up for auction during this event.

Using .CO & .ME Locally

Elliot Silver
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12

I saw this newspaper dispenser in Portland, Maine this morning and thought of you so I snapped a photo and want to share it. A number of companies in Maine (state abbreviation is ME) are using .ME as if it were its own local ccTLD.

This afternoon, I saw the Name.com video I embedded below, and it makes a similar point, but with a focus on Colorado (state abbreviation is CO).

Because Google allows domain owners who own .CO and .ME domain names to target visitors in the US, it makes sense to some companies in Maine and Colorado to use their states’ respective abbreviations. I won’t be surprised to see New York City businesses using .NYC in the near future.

BTW, one of the things I like about Name.com is their videos. It’s a small company and their weekly videos are great for building the brand and allowing customers to get to know the company. I feel like I know many of the people, even though I haven’t met all of them.

Guest Post with Ned O’Meara: Aussie Domain Market News

Elliot Silver
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4

Firstly, thank you to Elliot for inviting me to do a guest article. I was delighted to be asked.

I’m pleased to say that little by little the Aussie market is opening up at last. For those of you that thought there were just too many rules and regulations, it may well be time to have another look. Perhaps even consider putting a few eggs in other baskets?

The biggest and best change has just been officially announced in the last 24 hours by our regulator auDA. The 6 month prohibition on selling new domain names (or domains bought on the drop auctions) is being abolished come the 10th November. All I and other domainers can say is “hallelujah”! Official announcement here: http://www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-06102011/

Yes, we do have a few other rules and a bit of red tape, but compared to a few years back it is paradise. For those that make the effort now to become registered to buy Aussie domains, then I believe this will pay off big time in the future. Imho!

Our ccTLD is .com.au / .net.au etc. Currently there are just over 2,230,000 domains registered. So we’re still a baby compared to other markets. And therein lies the opportunity imo.

The beauty of our fledgling market (compared to .com) is that there are some absolute bargains to be picked up on both the drops and the secondary market. But the other exciting factor – particularly for domainers – are that there are some excellent “enduser” sales starting to happen as well.

The most recent blockbuster sale was investmentproperty.com.au. It cracked $125,001 on the drop auctions at Netfleet.com.au (plus had a similar bid at Drop.com.au)! This was way above what even seasoned domainers thought it would be worth! Have a read about it here in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Two other worthy sales this year were Poker.com.au and Deals.com.au – both went for $100,000. Top Aussie sales this year are listed here on DN Trade. I’m a partner in this forum, and would invite anyone keen on learning a bit more about Aussie domains to please join up. Adam Dicker of DNForum.com was very kind to give us an introduction on DNF as well.

If I can help anyone with information on how to easily set up an Aussie account, or if you have any further questions on the Aussie market, please email me.

Best wishes, Ned

Ned O’Meara is a full-time domainer who lives in Queensland, Australia. Aussie domains are his passion – and he also is the administrator at DN Trade – a domain forum for Aussie domain owners. He was also a panel member on the recent auDA Secondary Market Working Group (that recommended the abolishment of the 6 month rule). He can be contacted at ned at dntrade dot com.au (don’t forget the.au!)

Report: InvestmentProperty.com.au Sold for $125,000

Elliot Silver
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10

According to an article today in the Sydney Morning Herald, the domain name InvestmentProperty.com.au was sold in an expired domain name auction for $125,000 (around $129,000USD). The auction was held on NetFleet, a domain name aftermarket and sales venue.

The report states that the buyer is an Australian property developer, and apparently the previous registrant did not realize the domain name had expired.

The sale of InvestmentProperty.com.au is reportedly the highest publicly reported .com.au price achieved, significantly higher than the previous high of $33,000 for Hardware.com.au. The article does cite other private sales that may have been higher, including Poker.com.au, Flowers.com.au, and CreditCards.com.au.

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