Home Blog Page 1222

Zaarly Getting Buzz at SXSW, Hopefully It Will Get Zarly or Change Its Brand Name

Elliot Silver
-
13

ZaarlyI read an article on TechCrunch about a neat new start up that is getting considerable buzz at South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin. Zaarly is operational only in Austin at the moment, and it lets people posts what they want/need along with a price, and others can agree to provide it for them at that price. For instance, I can post that I want a coffee from Starbucks and I am willing to pay someone $10 for it.

I can see this becoming a popular service if they’re able to work out potentially seedy issues that I could foresee coming up (ie prostitution, drugs…etc).

Seeing that the Zaarly.com domain name was just registered back in  February, I would bet the company name was fairly hastily chosen. It’s a unique name, and sounds like a cool new brand, but the problem the company will encounter is that as people spread the word, they will be helping to build traffic to Zarly.com, a domain name not owned by the company (registered in 2005).

While it doesn’t appear that Zarly.com is being used, the company needs to take some of its funding to buy it. It doesn’t need to change its name, but it should make sure it owns the obvious typo to forward that traffic back to the intended website.

Zarly.com looks like it will expire on March 31, 2011, although the owner could obviously renew it.  If the company hopes to get the name on a drop rather than trying to buy it from the owner above registration fee, company directors should be cautious. It’s likely domain investors would back order this domain name thinking about what I am discussing, and the cost would likely increase exponentially.

My advice to Zaarly is to go after Zarly.com ASAP.

Winning.com: Bandwagon Jumping on #WINNING Twitter Hashtag or Charlie Sheen Partnership?

Elliot Silver
-
8

charlie sheenI visited Winning.com today to see what was happening on the site, and I was a bit surprised to see a Charlie Sheen  caricature and an announcement that something would be launching tomorrow (Monday, March 14, 2011).

To be precise, the Charlie Sheen-esque message on the site says, “Launching Monday 14th 3pm (LA Time…duh) Watch out Trolls!”

Winning.com appears to have been  owned by World Media Group, LLC up until it went private today. World Media Group is a  company that owns domain names like World.com, Paris.com, London.com, Asia.com, Doctor.com, and many other descriptive domain names.

I am wondering whether the domain owner is jumping on the #WINNING Twitter hashtag popularized in the last week or so by Charlie Sheen, or if the company is partnering with Sheen on a new venture.

As mentioned by Sheen on Friday, he and his legal team were able to acquire CharlieSheen.com “after years of being at the mercy of a decaying troll.” Perhaps they were able to buy (or lease) Winning.com. It’s also possible that the World Media Group is going to set up something to follow the #WINNING hashtag posts on Twitter.

I suppose we’ll see in just over 24 hours.

***********

Please help me raise funds for the  Ronald McDonald House

Guest Post: Brad Larson Discusses Both Ends Burning

Elliot Silver
-
1

Brad Larson has been my executive account manager at Go Daddy for a number of years. Whenever I’ve needed anything related to my account, Brad has been there to get things done for me ASAP. I learned about Both Ends Burning from Brad, and I asked him to provide details about the organization and why he supports it so fervently.

Two and a half years ago I met Jed at an orphanage in Haiti.    He was 18 months old and had a smile that lit up the room.      Of all the kids there, Jed and I connected.    His story was painful. Born with no legs, he was a burden on his family and they were too poor to give him the care he needed. Jed was brought to the orphanage where he lived his two short years on this earth.

When I learned of Jed’s passing, it literally wrecked my heart. This little boy was born without a family and died without a family.    And the shocking reality was that he was just one of 163 million orphans in the world.        163 million children without families.        In my mind, now each one of those kids had a face, Jed’s face.

My journey with Jed started me on the path and ignited a passion for international adoption.    It was then that my paths crossed with Craig Juntunen and Both Ends Burning.

Craig is an advocate not just for adoption, but for the millions of families, who like me discovered that international adoption is a broken system.    It is ridiculously expensive, takes far too long- and excludes millions of willing families from being united with children who so desperately need to find a home.    Without a family, it is almost certain, their stories will end much like Jed’s.

Both End’s Burning is championing change to the system of international adoption.    It is a cause worthy of my time, my energy and my money.    I am all in, and you can be too.      The task of reforming the current system for international adoption is huge, but the need is great, and the kids are worth it. Sign this  petition(link to petition) and help us spread the word.    Watch this moving speech that Craig delivered at last weeks’ 8th  Annual Adoption Policy Conference.

For the millions of Jed’s out there, I ask you to join forces with  BothEndsBurning.org

Connecticut.com and Redmond.com for Sale

Elliot Silver
-
19

HuntingMoon.comDomain brokerage, Hunting Moon, just announced that it is the exclusive broker for two stellar geodomain names: Connecticut.com and Redmond.com. As far as I can tell, this is the first time these two private domain names have been on the market for sale.

Although the state of Connecticut is small, the real estate values in many areas of the state are quite high. Connecticut is home to two casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, and there are quite a large number of hedge funds that call the state home (as well as hedge fund managers). The asking price on Connecticut.com is $650,000.

Redmond is a city of just over 50,000 residents in the state of Washington. The city may be best known for its largest corporate inhabitant, Microsoft. The state has a fairly high household income level, and it is a growing city. The asking price on Redmond.com is $150,000.

For more information about these two geodomain names, please contact Hunting Moon CEO Evan Horowitz via email:  info@huntingmoon.com or on the phone:  415-750-2570.

Just recently, Telepathy hired Sedo to broker the sale of Massachusetts.com, and I believe that domain name is still currently on the market.

***********

Please help me raise funds for the  Ronald McDonald House

Wills.CA Up for Auction on Pool

Elliot Silver
-
3

I just received an email from Pool announcing the auction of a pretty good legal domain name – Wills.CA. From the email I received:

“Get the domain that’s all about planning ahead. Wills.ca is now available until March 24, 2011.

With an increasingly aging population and an eye to planning, now is the time to secure this valuable domain name. Visit the Wills.ca auction page to make your bid.”

The starting bid on this domain name appears to be $20,000. The auction will conclude on March 24, 2011. I believe you’ll need to have a Canadian presence to own this domain name, although I believe you can have a proxy in Canada as well.

***********

Please help me raise funds for the  Ronald McDonald House

Can You Spare a Domain Registration?

Elliot Silver
-
19

RMDHI don’t like asking for favors, and I hate asking people for money, but  I am happy to do it to help the Ronald McDonald House.  I know that donating money is difficult when times are tough, but this is an organization that helps kids going through very difficult situations.

It’s with great happiness that I can tell you Karen and I are more than half way to reaching our goal of raising $5,000 for the Ronald McDonald House. However, half way there just means that we have to double the amount we’ve currently raised. It will be a tough task no doubt, but I think we can get there with your help.

Today I am asking you to donate $8.00 to the Ronald McDonald House, roughly the cost of one .com domain registration. It might not seem like a lot of money, but I can tell you that if everyone who visits my blog today would donate $8.00 each, I would raise much more than the $5,000 goal today alone! I know not everyone can or will, but I would really appreciate it, and here’s why:

The Ronald McDonald House  helps kids who are fighting cancer. Instead of having to worry about  hotels, food, and other important considerations while undergoing  cancer treatments in New York City, the Ronald McDonald House provides  an inexpensive home away from home for these kids and their families.

RMDH also provides fun activities, coordinates school enrollments, and  makes it easy for kids to focus on one thing – beating cancer. Let’s say, heaven forbid, you live in New Jersey and your child is diagnosed with cancer. The doctor would likely send you to NYC, where you could see some of the top cancer docs at hospitals like Sloan Kettering or Weil Cornell.

Think about where you might stay if you had to be in New York City for a week or a month. A very inexpensive hotel would likely cost you close to $200 a night, and food would probably set you back quite a bit, too. If you have to do this several times a year, you could literally go broke paying for hotels and transportation… what a horrible thing to think about.

The Ronald McDonald House offers pediatric cancer fighters a place to stay for very little money, and it’s located just up the street from some of New York’s best hospitals. Families are encouraged to use the kitchen and  refrigerator  to cook as if they were in the comfort of their own home. RMDH staffers and volunteers help organize fun activities, study time, school enrollments, and counseling services to ease the burden of fighting cancer. They make it easy for kids to focus on one thing – beating cancer.

So I am asking you to help support this great organization with an $8.00 donation. Don’t buy that long tail, hyphenated, brandable .com domain name today, and please help us help them 🙂

I don’t ask you for much (if anything) other than common courtesy when reading my blog and commenting. It would really mean a lot to me if you’re able to help an organization I support with just an $8.00 donation today.

Karen and I are half way there, but the second half is always the most difficult. Please help us help this great organization today. I can’t do it without your help. If you can’t donate $8.00, please think about posting a link to this request on Facebook or Twitter to help spread the word.

THANK YOU!

1...1,2211,2221,223...1,573Page 1,222 of 1,573