Google Announces Calico but Oracle Owns Calico.com

Elliot Silver
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According to a blog post from Google today, “Google today announced Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases.” Google CEO Larry Page also announced the new company on his Google Plus page.

To me, the most interesting aspect of this news is that the exact match domain name for this company, Calico.com, is owned by technology giant Oracle. I did some research and here’s how it appears Oracle came to own Calico.com:

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Thanks to Vin of Vin’s Domains!

Elliot Silver
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photo1One of the nicest things about having a blog in the domain investment space is that I get to meet many people who are also domain investors. Earlier this Summer, I helped organize a meet up at a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, and that gave me the opportunity to meet Vincent Jacques of VinsDomains.com. Vin has commented on my blog and we’ve exchanged emails in the past, but we had never spoken prior to the meet up.

At the Red Sox game, Vin and I talked about domain investing and also about the New England Patriots. Vin’s had tickets for a while, and he promised that at some point we would go to my first Pats game at Gillette Stadium. True to his word, a couple of months later, Vin emailed me offering tickets to the home opener against the Jets.

Vin, his friend Mike (also a domain investor), my brother, and I met up for a great tailgate a couple of hours before the game, and we

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Why I Like Writing About Go Daddy

Elliot Silver
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I like writing about Go Daddy, especially when the company is in the news. The new Jean Claude Van Damme advertising campaign  made the NY Times, Wall St. Journal, and many other news outlets. In addition, anyone watching the football game last Thursday saw the new tv spot. Because of the way the company has been marketed in the past, Go Daddy advertising changes make the news and are followed by the mainstream press in addition to advertising and industry publications.

When I write about the company as it’s being discussed by the public, it drives traffic to my blog, and oftentimes, it’s

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Blog Traffic Insight

Elliot Silver
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I thought I would take some time to share a bit of insight about my blog traffic. The information below is a mix of analytics from Google Analytics and Stat Counter. This is insight from the past 30 days.

Visit Information:

Pages per visit: 1.43
Average time on site: 24:16
Bounce rate: 8.66%

Operating System:

Windows – 59.25%
Mac – 17.4%
iOS – 13.29%
Android – 5.74%

% of Visits by Country:

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Nat Cohen’s Company Did Not Raise “$5 Million to Develop Google Glass Rival”

Elliot Silver
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I was reading through my Twitter feed this evening when the tweet above from journalist Paul Sloan caught my eye. According to an article on CNet, a company called Telepathy raised “$5 million to develop Google Glass rival.” The tweet got my attention because Nat Cohen’s domain investment and monetization company is called Telepathy.

After clicking through to the article, I could immediately tell that it had nothing to do with Nat’s Telepathy, but it was about another company that is also called Telepathy. Unfortunately for this startup, they are using the sub-optimal Tele-pathy.org domain name for its website. Interestingly, Telepathy.org is registered to a different company, but that domain name does not yet resolve.

Telepathy is a generic term, so there may not be trademark issues with this company using the Telepathy brand name in that particular vertical (I am not an IP expert). However, if their funding leads them to develop a popular smart glasses type of product and they market it under their brand name, there will surely be confusion when potential buyers visit Nat’s (long) developed website. If and when that happens, they will either have to buy Nat’s brand name for a lot of money (if he’d even consider selling it) or risk confusing consumers.

It’s an interesting brand decision from this startup.

HomeAway CEO: VacationRentals.com Domain Name Bought for $35 Million

Elliot Silver
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I read a report on The Next Web this morining, and it listed the sale of VacationRentals.com as the most expensive domain name sale of all time. I don’t recall hearing about the sale anywhere, but the embedded video confirms the sale price.

In the video, HomeAway Founder and CEO Brian Sharples mentions that the company primarily bought VacationRentals.com to keep it away from a competitor. From the looks of it, VacationRentals.com had been a very active website before the acquisition, although Mr. Sharples sounds like the purchase was a defensive measure primarily for the domain name: “The only reason we bought it was so Expedia couldn’t have that url.” (Start the video at about the 15 minute mark to hear it).

I am sure most people won’t update their list of the most expensive domain sales / purchases of all time, but it certainly is a big sale that should be noted.

Interestingly, TNW did not include the $35.6 million sale of Insurance.com or the $16 million sale of Insure.com. From my perspective, both of these domain sales are similar in nature to the sale of VacationRentals.com since they were active websites and weren’t exclusively domain sales.

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