domain names

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Man Sues France for Swiping France.com

Jean-Noël Frydman bought the domain in 1994

(Newser) - For 24 years, Jean-Noël Frydman owned a tres formidable web domain: France.com. Now he's suing to get it back. The French-born American shares his saga with Ars Technica , which reports that after buying the domain in 1994, Frydman built a site catering to US-based French speakers. In...

Guess What Single Letter Is on Elon Musk's New Mystery Site

We'll give you a hint: The site is X.com

(Newser) - With his fascination of all things AI and outer space , Elon Musk is used to trafficking in the mysterious, much like someone obsessed with the X-Files would do. And, in fact, the name of his cryptic new website sounds strikingly similar to the cult TV show: X.com, which Gizmodo...

Guy Buys Google.com for $12
 Guy Buys 
 Google.com for $12 

Guy Buys Google.com for $12

Sanmay Ved saw it was available late one night

(Newser) - A student in Massachusetts managed to buy the domain name Google.com and hold onto it—for roughly 60 seconds, the BBC reports. Sanmay Ved, an MBA student at Babson College, noticed the domain was available on Sept. 29 and bought it for all of $12. Suddenly he began receiving...

Google Just Bought the Alphabet
Google Just Bought
the Alphabet

Google Just Bought the Alphabet

More specifically, the abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com domain name

(Newser) - Guess Google execs are serious about that whole reorg under the Alphabet parent-company thing. Just days after Alphabet officially became Google's holding company , it scooped up a brand-new domain name: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com, which has been around since 1999 and was purchased for an unspecified amount, NBC News reports. The...

Swift Fights the Good Fight Against Taylor Swift Porn

Snaps up 2 adult-themed URLs

(Newser) - Come June, .porn and .adult Web URLs will be available to the general public, just like .xxx sites went live in 2011 . But certain people and companies with trademarks were allowed to snap up .porn or .adult domain names early, and Taylor Swift registered both taylorswift.porn and taylorswift.adult....

US Ceding Internet Control Will End Online Freedom*

*Or it may make things better, depending on your perspective

(Newser) - The US announced last week that it will soon relinquish its control over the Internet—specifically its oversight of ICANN, the agency that assigns domain names and Web addresses. Dumb move or one long overdue? Take your pick:
  • Bad move: The US oversaw ICANN to ensure a free Internet. With
...

You Need to Register Your Own Domain Name

It's important to retain control over your identity: Dan Gillmor

(Newser) - Stop what you're doing and go register your own domain name, Dan Gillmor suggests in the Guardian today. But, you say, you're already on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr? That's fine, but "remember who's in charge at those social media sites," Gillmor warns....

Publishers Howl as Amazon Seeks .Book Domain

Firm wants to snap up dozens of new names

(Newser) - A big expansion of Internet domain name suffixes is on the way and publishing industry groups are alarmed by Amazon.com's plans to get in on the action, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company is seeking to snap up names including ".book," ".author" and "...

Ron Paul Supporter Hawking RomneyRyan.com

'This site, much like Mitt Romney himself, is for sale to the highest bidder'

(Newser) - Surf over to RomneyRyan.com , and you'll pretty quickly realize that it's not a Romney campaign site. It features a link to Romney's tax returns, a link to a list of his top contributors, and the message, "This site, much like Mitt Romney himself, is for...

The Wildest Domain Names Grabbed by Obama, Romney

Guess who owns agingrockstar2012.com?

(Newser) - Yet another sign this is definitely a 21st-century campaign: Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have been snatching up dozens of web addresses to use as potential microsites that take a swing at some aspect of their opponent, each spending about $30,000 on domain-name purchases. And while these catchy, often...

Coming Soon to an Internet Near You: .Pizza

ICANN today reveals 1,409 new proposed Internet suffixes

(Newser) - ICANN today revealed the 1,409 suffixes that companies are clamoring to add to our Internet lexicon, and they run the gamut from .porn to .pizza to .paris, reports NPR . A number of companies got in on the action, with who-cares-about-brevity proposals including .lamborghini, .pamperedchef, and .bananarepublic. The 1,930...

Google to Fork Over $10M for Domain Names

More than 50 applications sent to body overseeing web expansion

(Newser) - Google.lol? Google has applied to become master of dozens of top-level Internet domains, including .lol, .docs, and .youtube. The total number of domains it has applied for—at $185,000 a pop—comes to more than 50, sources tell Advertising Age . The applications were made to the Internet Corporation...

Internet Protectors Brace for Anonymous Attack

Today's the day, though the betting is nothing will happen

(Newser) - If the Internet today reverts back to speeds of the dial-up days, there might be an explanation: Last month, Anonymous threatened to go after its backbone, the Domain Name System, on March 31, reports the New York Times . It's probably a safe bet that nothing much will happen, but...

Hackers Hit Internet Giant VeriSign

Firm is responsible for delivering people to more than half of all websites

(Newser) - Hackers managed to break into the servers of a crucial web company responsible for delivering users to more than half the websites in the world. VeriSign doesn't believe the attackers infiltrated its Domain Name System network—which is responsible for directing traffic to .com, .net, and .gov addresses on...

Coming This Week: Dot-Anything

Domain name possibilities to explode on Thursday

(Newser) - The Internet is getting a makeover. Starting Thursday, the web will make a big step in moving way beyond dot-com , dot-net, and the like. For the first time since 2000, ICANN, the administrator of Internet addresses, will begin taking applications for a huge range of new top-level domain names. Now,...

What Boycott? GoDaddy Gained Users Yesterday

But that doesn't mean 'Dump GoDaddy Day' was a lost cause

(Newser) - An impending boycott may have pushed GoDaddy to change position on SOPA, but the boycott itself didn't hurt the company much. Yesterday, the official day of the movement, GoDaddy actually saw a net increase of 20,748 domains, TechDirt reports. Indeed, GoDaddy saw almost twice as many transfers into...

Democrats Prank Gingrich With Website

NewtGingrich.com provides links to negative stories

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich's campaign would like you to know, we're sure, that his official campaign website is Newt.org . If you happen across NewtGingrich.com , however, it's a whole different story. The site provides links to negative or embarrassing stories about Gingrich, including references to his Freddie Mac...

The Year's Priciest Domain Names

Top honors went to Social.com, which sold for $2.6M

(Newser) - This year was a cheap one for buying domain names—relatively speaking. Sex.com sold for a wild $13 million last year, but 2011's top honors went to a domain name that cost the lucky buyer just $2.6 million. What was it? Social.com (which currently returns a...

Colleges Snatch Up .XXX Sites
 Colleges Snatch Up .XXX Sites 

Colleges Snatch Up .XXX Sites

Domain name makes Web debut at 11am today

(Newser) - Today is the day that .com starts to sound even tamer: The much more risque .xxx domain goes live at 11am ET today. Some 100,000 websites are expected to make their very adult debut at that time, and CNN reports on some of the upsides and downsides to the...

Tea Party (the Band) Could Get Rich Over Domain Name

Rockers' website name may fetch $1M—if they decide to sell it

(Newser) - An obscure group of Canadian rockers made an unintentionally savvy business decision in 1990: It picked the name Tea Party and created a website. Which is why if you go to TeaParty.com , you'll find no small-government rants, just band information, explains BusinessWeek . The domain name would probably fetch...

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