GDI domains hosting affiliate program

Britney Spears' Peeper Defends Her Snooping

2009-04-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

As Britney Spears continues her Circus tour throughout California this week, Spears' alleged trespasser Miranda Tozier-Robbins spoke exclusively to E! News about why she snuck onto the pop star's property and the reason she believes things have been blown out of proportion.
Tozier-Robbins, 26, is a former American Idol hopeful who says she has been in Los Angeles for about a month and a half and is actively pursing an entertainment industry career in numerous fields, one being paparazzi-like documentary filmmaking.
According to Tozier-Robbins, Britney's house was simply chosen because of its convenient location and perfect timing—she knew Spears would be in L.A. for her tour this week and apparently her address is available online.
"The documentary is more or less just, [me] on the way to Britney's house, going on the bicycle ride, the camping out in the woods," says Tozier-Robbins.
While she confesses to being a fan of Spears, Tozier-Robbins claims that she is in no way a stalker. "There's no obsession with Britney. Somebody else can go ahead and claim the title of Britney's stalker, because I sure as heck don't want it, you know!"
Once on the property, Tozier-Robbins was immediately caught by a Spears security guard and arrested for trespassing. She received a citation and was released.
But Tozier-Robbins tells E! that she would do something like this again in the future—minus the trespassing।
"I learned my lesson," she says. "What I was doing was paparazzi work preparation. I'd like to do some paparazzi gigs—it's a start."
Unfortunately for Tozier-Robbins, the type of work she claims to want to do—music, movies, TV—is not easily achieved through this kind of start in the biz.
Tozier-Robbins appears to be changing her tune about the motivation behind her misadventure. Speaking to Access Hollywood on Friday, she claimed that it was all a joke in the beginning, one that "everyone knew about."
For now, Tozier-Robbins says she's just awaiting her day in court (her next hearing is June 16) so she can reclaim her confiscated "documentary" footage.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Britney Spears Pregnant? Not So, Despite Seacrest's Claim

2009-04-23T22:20:00.001-07:00

Britney Spears’ camp is squashing the latest round of rumors that the star is pregnant - ones circulated by Ryan Seacrest of all people on his radio show.
Seacrest posted a message (on Twitter, natch) earlier in the day saying, “I heard a rumor about Brit that I want to investigate before I give more deets!!”
Of course, he then quoted a “reliable source” on the air as saying Britney Spears is pregnant. Brit spokesman Adam Leber released a statement denying it.
“She’s absolutely not pregnant,” Leber said.
“I have no idea where this ridiculous rumor came from ... Ryan Seacrest has communication with our camp and could have checked this before saying it।”
With the amount of sex Britney Spears supposedly has according to celebrity gossip magazines - Chase Benz, K-Fed, etc. - it's only a matter of time before she ends up carrying baby #3. However, these stories may be a tad erroneous.
After all, since she's not allowed to say a word under the conservatorship, and doesn't know where she is half the time anyway, scheduling in sessions of unrequited boning with sundry characters may pose logistical difficulties.
Anyway, in other Britney Spears gossip (that's actually true), she will not be required to appear in court as part of her conservatorship’s attempt to gain permanent restraining orders against Sam Lutfi and Jon Eardley, E! reports.
Eardley and Lutfi sought to make her testify on their behalf - they claim she wanted their help in making her dad's conservatorship implode for good.
But, an L.A. Superior Court judge stated, “There was a finding of a judge of the Superior Court that she lacks the capacity to testify,” after a hearing.
Score another one for Team Britney - and rack up another $60,000 for the lawyers. Click to enlarge some sexy Britney Spears photos of her on tour ...

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Review: Britney Spears, 'Circus' come to town

2009-04-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Most cultures bury their dead, but here, we lavish them with hordes of backup dancers, expensive stylists and the best Swedish pop hits money can buy just to prop them up on a stage and watch them entertain us। So it goes with Britney Spears, who, despite all outward signs of being unable to count to 11, much less headline a big-budget revue, has been getting dragged around the country for the past two months to promote her sixth album, "Circus."
Then again, whoever is in charge of Spears' affairs these days has gone to great lengths to make sure people actually pay very little attention to Spears.
At her sold-out concert at Oakland's Oracle Arena on Wednesday, the beleaguered 27-year-old tabloid pet was the least interesting part of the show - a wobbly figure making very little effort to lip-sync along to the mediocre songs from her most recent releases while all around her acrobats, clowns, contortionists and magicians offered a dramatic re-enactment of a real big-top spectacular।
Spears never fully recovered from the upheavals that sidelined her career a few years ago - from stealing backup dancer Kevin Federline from his then-pregnant wife and shedding tears on cue for Matt Lauer, to her pantyless late-night Hollywood excursions, head shaving, the use of one of her kids as a steering wheel, and on and on. She may have made a decent album, but on Wednesday, it was hard not to look past the gleaming blond extensions and meticulous dance routines to see the same broken, bald-headed girl that just two years ago was smashing car windows with an umbrella.
Part of the reason people shelled out the big bucks for the concert probably had to do with wanting something to go wrong, like in Vancouver, where Spears inexplicably walked off the stage after only three songs, or in San Jose, where the star welcomed the audience with, "What's up, Sacramento?"
But Spears notwithstanding, the tour itself is almost flawless, with a great sound system and dazzling video effects. The set list, however, which leaned heavily on tracks from "Circus" and its predecessor, "Blackout," offered just a few musical highlights, such as latter-day hits "If U Seek Amy," "Womanizer" and "Toxic."
The only glance back at Spears' glory years was served up in a remixed version of her first hit, "... Baby One More Time." Even that was a extravagance, considering that during the 90-minute set, Spears spent nearly as much time off the stage as she did on it, letting the circus acts carry most of the show.
The capacity crowd - the female to male ratio was roughly 100 to one - didn't seem to care, cheering wilding every time a backup dancer did a flip or a metal shop worker made sparks fly - don't ask. They even applauded the awkward mid-concert advertisement for a mobile phone carrier.
So there's the upside. While Spears may have lost her children, sanity and personal freedom - her father, Jamie Spears, was granted legal conservatorship over her last year - she still has a thriving career.
But as much as you want to join the masses and root her on for the bad lip-synching, it's hard to put aside the feeling that Spears shouldn't be paraded around like this just to make everyone involved a tidy profit, that maybe she would be better off at home with her two boys, eating a bowl of cereal and watching "The Princess Diaries."

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Failed Australian idol contestant stalks Britney Spears

2009-04-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

Failed Australian idol contestant stalks Britney Spears
Miranda Tozier-Robbins arrested for stalking
Caught peering through Britney's window
Wearing camouflage, carrying, video camera
POLICE in California have arrested a former failed American Idol contestant caught peering through Britney Spears' windows.
Miranda Tozier-Robbins was allegedly carrying a video camera when security guards spotted her on Spears' Californian estate in broad daylight.
When confronted, she refused to leave, forcing the guards to drag her off the property.
It's not known exactly where Spears, or sons Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden James, 2, were at the time.
Fanatic Tozier-Robbins was dressed in camouflage gear and was carrying a video camera when she was confronted.
Officers say the 26-year-old was booked for trespassing and disorderly conduct and released on bail set at $US5000.
She is due to appear in court in Malibu on June 16.
Four years ago, the aspiring singer auditioned for American Idol in Boston but failed to impress the judges with her version of Everytime by Spears.
Judge Simon Cowell said she sounded "too childish" while fellow judge Paula Abdul said she felt like she was in a "a schoolyard".
The stalking incident happened just a few hours before Spears was scheduled to perform the first of two shows this week in Los Angeles.
Security around the superstars has now been stepped up.
This is not the first time Spears has been stalked.
In 2002, she obtained a restraining order against a Japanese businessman, saying he tried to contact her at home.
Spears is currently on a 44-date tour of the US, Canada and UK.
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Free Reseller Web Hosting from Daily.co.uk

2008-12-18T05:50:00.000-08:00

London, United Kingdom, November 28, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Daily.co.uk (http://www.daily.co.uk), UK’s fastest growing domain name and web hosting provider, is delighted to announce that it’s giving away a year’s free Reseller Web Hosting.The Reseller v2 Starter yearly account will be free of charge for a full year for all customers who purchase it before 31st December 2008. The v2 Starter account, normally £199.90 for the year, includes hosting accounts and Instant Website accounts to resell, plus extras such as SEO tools and SSL certificates can also be resold.The free reseller hosting account has no minimum contract length nor cancellation fee, and includes the usual great quality Daily.co.uk Reseller features such as a white label control panel and built-in ticket system to make customer communication a breeze.Daily.co.uk (http://www.daily.co.uk) MD Abby Hardoon said: “At Daily.co.uk we understand that starting a business while the phrase ‘credit crunch’ dominates the headlines must be challenging, so we’ve developed a seasonal offer that aims to help customers start their own web hosting business with no investment risk whatsoever. There’s no limit to the number of customer accounts that can be added, so this represents a fantastic opportunity for Daily Internet customers to develop a strong web hosting businesses.”

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

World´s Best Internet Marketing Tools are Cleverly Disguised

2008-12-18T05:48:00.000-08:00

Most of the world´s best are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The best motorcycle stunt ever performed, the best circus trick that will make your eye drop, and other best performances executed by extra-ordinary individuals. But there is another "world´s best" that is not listed on Guinness Book of World Records. And that is the world´s best Internet marketing tools. Just like other existing industries, Internet marketing has its own set of the best marketing tools. If you are not new to the world of Internet marketing, many of these marketing tools are quite familiar to you—search engine optimization special software, content management services, affiliate marketing programs, auto responders, and others. And the list continues to expand as the industry grows over the years. However, Internet marketing possesses other non-traditional and effective marketing tools that you should know to maximize your potentials as Internet marketers. Some of these marketing tools are said to be "cleverly disguised", yet these are the world´s best online marketing tools that you can integrate to your online business system. Here is the quick rundown of the world´s best Internet marketing tools and some pointers in using it with your preferred system. DOMAIN NAME- you will not easily notice it, but domain name is the first best Internet marketing tool that you must remember. Picking the right domain name will gear your way towards success yet getting it wrong will tell you that your game is over. What are the things that you should consider when picking up your own domain name? First, you should pick a short, memorable, and keyword-relevant domain name. Picking a domain name that is relevant to your main keyword/s will help you in getting high search engine page ranking of your website. Moreover, it can be an ideal promotional tool, giving a hint to your potential clients what your website is exactly all about. Internet marketing experts suggests that you set up a particular server for your domain. One server will only carry one domain. Web hosting companies typically have your domain name co-hosting hundreds of domains on a single server. Since all domains are under the same server, this may result to adverse consequences especially if one of the domains is allegedly spamming or behaving unscrupulously. Thus, it is wise that you have a separate IP address for each domain name.

KEYWORDS- it is what Internet researchers type into search engines to locate the information or things that they are looking for. These are one of the most important elements on any online-based marketing venture. Thus, you need to pick the right keywords and you are on your way towards success. How you will find useful keywords for your Internet marketing business? You must have special keyword research tool or online keyword generator that will help you pick the right keywords. Such tools will supply useful information such as number of searches made monthly, the degree of competition, and the websites that targeting such keywords. Make this as your guide to get targeted traffic to your site that will patronize your products and/or services. ARTICLES- marketing your website largely depends on organic SEO strategies. One simple strategy is to write and submit keyword-relevant articles to article directories and Internet publishers. As articles directories and Internet publishers displays your articles, you will be able to gain valuable links back to your website. Search engines follow these links and rank your website according to the keywords incorporated on these articles. Maximize the potential of your articles and bring the targeted traffic to your website. LIST- any Internet marketing system is supported by list. This is a huge database of contacts or individuals who have given you permission to communicate with them through email or newsletter. Most Internet marketers are keeping various databases for each product that they are targeting. Aside from emails and newsletters, you must also set up a list of affiliates that can help you promote and sell your products to your clients. Once you have acquired a huge list of loyal subscribers and affiliates, the door of opportunities will now follow. Utilize the world´s best Internet marketing tools and see a bright future ahead of your online business career.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Cbeyond Launches Comprehensive Web Hosting and SEO Tools

2008-12-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

based managed services provider, today announced a new Enhanced Web Hosting service for small businesses. The service package includes a design- it-yourself tool, marketing capabilities and an e- commerce solution.
Cbeyond's Enhanced Web Hosting service allows small businesses to quickly and easily manage their online assets to effectively market their company, promote their products and services, and acquire new customers. Small businesses can purchase Enhanced Web Hosting as a base package with the option of adding Enhanced Marketing and Enhanced E-commerce packages as needed.
"Consumers research purchases in a variety of ways, and an attractive, easy-to-use website is an integral part of a company's brand, not just a 'nice-to-have' feature," said Geoff Cummings, product manager for Web Hosting at Cbeyond. "Small businesses need a professional online presence to effectively market their company and sell their products and services. With Cbeyond's Enhanced Web Hosting application, small businesses can establish, promote and manage their online presence, as well as provide customers with 24 hour access to their products and services via a dynamic website."
Cbeyond's Enhanced Web Hosting package offers small businesses the essential tools to launch and manage their online Web presence. With this package, Cbeyond can host a company's website, configure their domain or transfer an existing domain to the company's Cbeyond account. Further, the design-it-yourself Web application available with this package enables small businesses to build and customize their own website by choosing from more than 200 pre-configured, easily customizable templates. The package supports flash and video files to create a rich user experience.
By adding the Enhanced Marketing package as an upgrade, Cbeyond customers can effectively target their prospects, communicate with their existing customers and drive traffic to their website. With this package, customers have the ability to quickly and easily build banner ads, register with search engines and achieve search engine optimization. Cbeyond also offers eMarketing guides to provide small businesses with best practices for managing their web site.
Cbeyond's Enhanced E-commerce package is an upgrade which allows customers to easily promote products and services online. With this package, small businesses can build an online store that accepts payment, tax and shipping information. Customers also receive all of the Enhanced Web Hosting and Enhanced Marketing applications when they purchase this package.
With enhanced applications and customer-friendly tools, Cbeyond Web Hosting is an effective and easy- to-use method for small businesses to market their company and sell their products. For more information about Cbeyond Enhanced Web Hosting and to hold an interactive demo of the Design-It-Yourself Web site Creator.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Penguin Guide to Investing in Domains and Domaining

2008-12-18T05:41:00.000-08:00

Penguins have a way of making it through even the most adverse conditions. Think the North Pole… not an easy place to survive.
The World of Domaining can also be a tough place to thrive. That’s why this guide is called the Penguin Guide to Domaining. Because, just like the Penguins, we are going to learn to survive and thrive in this world.
Warning: This is a No-BS Guide to Domaining. After reading this, you are going to have all of the info you need to start making money in the world of domaining. However, about 75% of you are going to keep reading, and reading, and subscribing to feeds, and reading, and you’ll never make a dime because you’ll never actually buy a domain. This is a guide for the 25% of you who want all the info- right now- so you can get down to making money and get back to your life.
Introduction: Why to become a Domainer
Right now is the best time to become a domainer. Seriously. Domains (especially dot coms) are getting eaten up. Good ones are hard to come by. Everyday, domains are being valued at higher and higher prices.And, I am a firm believer in the fact that you should INVEST in markets that you understand. If you already dabble in the internet than you would be wise to invest in something you know a bit about.You’ll be doubly smart to get into domaining if you know anything about SEO.More about that up next…
Why Domain + SEO = Smart
SEO is not a new thing anymore. Almost anyone who does Internet Marketing knows a bit about SEO. Smart SEO’s are starting to realize that a domain holds a large part of the Algorithm that gets your site to show up on the SERPS.Here are a Few Reasons why Domains plus SEO is smart…
1. Age is a key factor
2. So is keyword density in the domain name
3. And, if you are looking for long-term success, you need a domain with some good branding.
So, SEO and Domains mix and make up a stellar combination.Alright… so you are all geared up and now you need to know how to find some domains to buy and get down to business.
Finding Domains
One of the keys (not the only key though!) is getting a good domain to start with. But, don’t just spout off and get any old domain and hope it’s going to sell. I just saw a guy the other say trying to sell a domain for lots of money simply because it had 4 characters. No, it wasn’t cars.com or even hats.com. It was ec3h.com. It is worth about $7, or whats known as a Reg Fee. (That’s short for Registration Fee).My favorite place to look for domains is Instant Domain Search. Like the name says, it’s instant. Once you use this, you’ll never go back.Some of the other factors to consider when getting your domain portfolio going (and more pictures of Danny Devito and Penguins) are below:
Finding Domains: Register New or Old?
You can go both ways. Buying a domain that has no age is worth it if you come across a domain that is worth something standing on its own two legs. For example…1. The domain of a new sports team (or sport, or celeb, or drug, or type of land bird)2. The domain of a new prescription medicine or a variation on it3. Something you know about in your own industry that the rest of us don’t know about. (Personally, I think this one is best, or at least most likely to actually occur.)
Otherwise, I think it’s smart to buy older domains. That’s where the real SEO part comes in because an old domain is really going to ratchet up the value of whatever content you put up on the website.
You won’t find too many people out there telling you to buy old domains. They are just dumb or behind the times. If you are out there buying domains that have been registered since 2002 or before, you are going to be able to flip that thing for MUCH more than something you registered recently.
Finding Domains: Marketplaces
There are so many marketplaces out there for domains. The best one, by far and away is Sedo. It is a NO-BS marketplace that is a bit more expensive, but actually has some good domains for sale and will provide you some stats on it’s traffic and such.
I also have heard good reports about buying domains from people on Digital Point. Digital Point is a great forum for all things website’s and internet marketing. If you are ever there, you’ll recognize me by my pen name RawWebDesign. Say hello.Finding Domains: How to Find AWESOME Domains
Everyone has to find their own method of getting good domains. For me, I use a patented method that involves a stuffed penguin, boxer briefs, and some deck glue. It’s a closely guarded secret that I’m not about to share here (sorry), but I will give you an idea of how you can begin to get your own method and style going.
For one- and I mentioned this already- but a great place to start buying domains is in the area that you know best. If you are a pest control person during the day, start digging around in that niche and see if you can come up with something that is popular in that niche but isn’t taken already.
My day job is a Penguin Trainer. As a Penguin Trainer, I have specific knowledge of lots of Penguin Training techniques that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I bought up a lot of domains that should have been a lot more.
So my main advice would be to look around on the instant domain search and key in some of the main terms in your hobby, industry, or local area.
Finding Domains: Branding Vs. Keywords
I might disagree with a lot of domainers on this point. Truthfully, I think a lot of “goo” domains are worthless. Are you ever going to remember or key in this domain:?
http://www.Domains-Are-Great-4-You.com
http://www.Penguins-and-Penguin-Stuff.com
You should get the point now. Dashs and hyphens are OUT. Nobody uses them. Nobody types them.
Some people think that it helps the Search Engines to “get” the keywords. But trust me, the Search Engine understands that volleyballbook.com is volleyball book. They are pretty good at that type of thing.
Ok, so now you know what NOT to do, how about what you should do.
The best thing to do in domaining right now is to buy some domains that can be branded- even if they are a few words long. Think more along the lines of
oneandonly.com or
thisandthat.com or
twistandshout.com or
thiswayandthat.com
Three and Four word domains are wide open territory. And you can bet your penguin suitcase that twistandshout is going to sell for more than twist-shout-site.com or whatever bullshit the hyphen salesman are trying to sell you.
Finding Domains: Extensions
This is pretty simple. If you are buying a domain to ultimately park-n-flip that SOB, it needs to be a dot com. Simple. Sad, but true.
Soothesayers will come along and tell you that .mobi is going to be huge, or that .xxx is the next new wave. Don’t believe them. When it comes to type-in traffic, you just don’t see anybody typing in hotbabes.org.
On the other hand, if you are buying a site to BUILD OUT and capitalize on the SEO of a keyword-laden domain or an aged domain, then by all means get a .org or .net. I’d say .org because it’s more classy, but that’s just opinion.
A good dot org will get the same Pagerank juice as an old and good dot com but will cost one tenth the price. So, if you are going to build that sucker out and sell the site later because it gets mad traffic since you built it out with your slammin SEO skills then by all means get a .org.Finding Domains: Expiring Domains
You can also find expiring domains. This never really interested me since when domains expire they lose their age, and if the domain name itself is halfway decent then the registrar is going to go “yoink” and steal the domain from the dumb-ass owner who let it slip out of their keyboard weary palms. Us little guys are just a step or so behind the godaddys of the world.
Ordering Domains
When you find a good domain name and want to pull the trigger, you need to actually order the thing. It’s a pretty simple procedure except for the two main choices you can make at this junction which I’ll describe in a minute below.The best place to buy domains is 1&1. They are a great host, their dashboard makes sense, and they are way better than GoDaddy (which happens to be the only other host I’ve ever dealt with.)Ordering Domains: Private vs Public RegistrationYou can register the domain publicly (IE, anyone doing a WHOIS search on the domain now has access to your address, name, and naked pictures of your 18th birthday party) or you can register the name privately.Private registration will just have your registrar’s info on hand and if someone needs to get a hold of you, your registrar SHOULD forward you the message.Even if a private registration costs a shade more, it’s a good move on your part.
Ordering Domains: How many years?
If you don’t mind renewing a domain every year I would just register the thing for one year.
Rumor Alert: I’ve heard through the grapevine that if Google sees you register your domain name for 5 years then it shows commitment and you’ll get more link love.
Just make sure to check your email so you know when to renew.
Making Money From Domains
One of the ways that online real estate is similar to “real” real estate is that you can make money from it while you are holding onto this investment. Much in the same way that you can charge rent to others while using your apartment, there are an (almost) infinite number of ways that you could make some ($) while your website waits to sell or grows in value.
Making Money From Domains: Parking
This is easy. You hand over your portfolio of domains to a parking site and they manage it all for you. The parking company is going to put up ads and take a chunk. Yup, and not a small chunk either.
Making Money From Domains: Adsense Site
Install Wordpress on your site and steal content (tongue firmly planted in cheek) or write your own and get some natural traffic. Then put up some adsense ads and make the loose change that will come in over time. It’s not much, but it *should* pay for hosting.
I will say, however, some people make insane amounts of money doing this, but chances are you and I won’t be one of them. Unless, of course you know something I don’t. If so, but all means write me ASAP.
Making Money From Domains: Build a Blog
This is what I primarily do. As you can see since you are reading this, I try to make blogs that are worthwhile, interesting, and give you value. How I am doing?
While I’m on this subject, if this article is helping you out, PLEASE link to me. It’ll keep the message going and eventually put a few more lattes in my stomach. So, I’d be very grateful to each and every one of you who could post this somewhere on their blog or website or whatever…
Back to the article- After you build a decent blog, you can sell your site based on income, traffic, or pagerank. I once built a hookah website, wrote a bunch of content over the course of a year, and flipped it to a hookah company since it got about 100 hits of organic traffic a day. I made like $650, which isn’t a ton, but if you had done that with 15 websites a year ago, you’d be looking at a damn good income.Making Money From Domains: Hold it For Years and Sell As Aged
This can be a PLAN B for all of your website plans. Even if all your Blogs, Parking, and Adsense goes flat, you can always sell a website with a few years on it for some decent money.Making Money From Domains: Do something blackhat
Once again, it’s important to realize that BlackHat is the only way to ensure long-term success in the world of Internet Marketing.
Making Money From Domains: Flip It
Buy a domain from someone who doesn’t know what they were doing, or someone that just needs to sell, and use your SEO skills to make their site worth more.
Just like flipping a house, but without the Asbestos Suit.
A very tasteful interview with a Domain Flipping Guru is here for your reading pleasure.Making Money From Domains: Sell Links
You can build a decent site and sell links. To do this, you’ve really got to to have a decent site built with a decent PageRank.
Should you decide to buy or sell text links, you could use Text Link Ads. They are a great company that makes link buying and selling more accessable to non-nerd.
Making Money From Domains: Create a Wiki
This absolutely isn’t going to work, but I wanted to give you an idea of some of the silly stuff that people will think is going to work to make a website valuable. No one is going to create your content for you.Making Money From Domains: Start a Social Network
See: “Create a Wiki” above.
Making Money From Domains: Make Your Own Way By Learning
Spend a few hours a week (at least) going over Digital Point Forums, Sitepoint Forums, and making contact with other Internet Marketers to learn the ropes.
Why not write me, right now, and see if we can’t work together on something. Go ahead and write me RIGHT NOW. My email is rawwebdesign at gmail dot com. So go ahead and write. NOW.
Keeping Domains
To eventually cash in on your domain investing, you are going to need to keep hold of those suckers somehow. Yup, this part can be a bit tricky.The good part is, your competitors have to deal with the same tricky issues, so let the difficulty work in your advantage by weeding out competitors for you.
Keeping Domains: Autorenew
Yeah, a lot of people swear by the autorenew. Personally, I don’t use autorenew for the same reason that I don’t use automatic bill pay… I like to know when my checking account is being touched. But for those of you who aren’t as anal about their funds being moved, Autorenew is a safe way to keep hold of your little treasures.
Keeping Domains: Order for lots of years
I covered this a bit earlier, but if you can afford the initial investment of buying a few more years at the onset of your registration, you are going to need to worry a lot less about renewing the registration.
However, if you buy a 5 year Reg and sell the domain after 2 years, you bought three extra years for the buyer than you really needed to. It’s just something to consider.
Keeping Domains: Don’t Go Broke
Plan and budget and don’t spend too much or you’ll have to sell before your domains “ripen”.
Keeping Domains: Don’t Quit
You aren’t going to see a HUGE return immediately. Heck, it might look like you are LOSING money for the first few years. But investing can be like that. So don’t fret.
If you plan correctly, you need to stick to the plan and don’t quit.
Keeping Domains: Don’t Buy Too Many
Make sure you have a reason for each one you buy. Most domains are not worth the registration fee- and the Reg fee is something you can never get back.
Fees are not investments, Fees are Fees.
Keeping Domains: Don’t Buy Too Few
It *usually* take a large portfolio to make you some money unless you own some great domains or plan on building a dozen domains out into thriving websites.
Unless either of the above is true, you are going to need to start a decent sized portfolio and keep it growing to really make some money.
Just hit the forums and marketplaces and wait for good, undervalued domains to come along.
Selling Domains
This is the last main section of this wholly informative and (might I add without tooting my horn) awesome little domaining ditty.
Story: I was once reading a book about Warren Buffett, the greatest modern Investor. Warren Buffett said: “Think about a burning theater. The only way to leave your seat in a burning financial market is to find someone to take your seat, which isn’t easy.” Sonow you take that idea and reverse it, and you want to sell your domain while the play is just getting good… that’s when you’ll get the most for your domain (and seat in the metaphor).Selling Domains: Have a For Sale Link
OK, so like a lot of people, you could just place a “This site for sale” link in a visible place. I know it sounds simple, but this can really work. Plus, if someone types in your domain to see if it’s taken, they can get in touch with you more easily.
Selling Domains: Write people in that industry
Sickly Hot Tip Alert: Honestly, I shouldn’t be sharing this. It’s so simple, but geez does it work.
The amount someone can pay for your site is a function of how much they can make from the site. Therefor, your best idea is to find someone that stands to MAKE the most money from your site. That’s why when I decided to sell my hookah blog, I emailed a bunch of hookah sites that sold hookahs and who could stand to benefit the most from the traffic. I got a buyer in days and for more than you would expect if it sold to a general buyer.
Moral of the story: Sell to the person or group who could make the most from the domain and you’ll get paid more.Selling Domains: Put in Marketplaces
List your domains for sale all over the net. I would use Digital Point Website Marketplace forum or Sitepoint. But hey, maybe you know a better place yourself too.Selling Domains: Make it Good Enough That People Want to Buy
It all comes down to this. You can’t trick everyone. You really really need to have a site that deserves to be sold, has value, and can make people money to get ahead in this business. The point of this industry is to find ways to make websites good enough that people want to buy enough of the time that you can make money.
Conclusion
I’m not exactly sure how to conclude this. It depends how you use the knowledge I’ve just given you. I think I’m going to refer to what was written at the start of this whole article.
After reading this, you are going to have all of the info you need to start making money in the world of domaining. However, about 75% of you are going to keep reading, and reading, and subscribing to feeds, and reading, and you’ll never make a dime because you’ll never actually buy a domain. This is a guide for the 25% of you who want all the info- right now- so you can get down to making money and get back to your life.
But before you dive into finding a domain, do me a favor. You read this, and hopefully learned something or at least enjoyed yourself. If so, please help me spread this article around and make the few days I spent on this worthwhile. Please digg this, or link to it, or tell someone about it, or do whatever you can do to spread the word.
Also- make sure to sign up for the email updates to our domaining news. You can sign up right at the bottom of this page.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Future Hosting Rebrands from ‘.Biz’ to ‘.Com’ After Acquisition of Domain Name

2008-12-06T05:48:00.000-08:00

Future Hosting, an Internet Solutions provider serving SMBs and enterprises internationally and the developer of Server Doctor™, announced today it has acquired FutureHosting.com, and will begin immediately rebranding its online presence under that name. The company previously operated as FutureHosting.biz.
In acquiring the new domain name, the Future Hosting has settled a dispute with the previous domain holder. Further details of the settlement are unavailable due to a Non Disclosure Agreement signed by both parties.
“The acquisition of the FutureHosting.com domain name is an important step forward to sustaining the long-term growth of our company. Although we have generated tremendous growth under the ‘.biz’ top level domain, we recognize there are a variety of key advantages associated with a ‘.com’ online presence. It is our belief that ‘.com’ will allow us to attract even more support from small businesses looking to get online for the first time,” said Vik Patel, Future Hosting president and CEO.
In its effort to rebrand, the company will update links and graphics on its internal and external marketing operations. It has also notified vendors to update advertisements and promotional literature to send traffic to the new domain name.
Future Hosting will remain accessible from FutureHosting.biz indefinitely.
Developed by Future Hosting, Server Doctor™ is a revolutionary system that provides a proactive approach to maintaining Virtual Private Servers-automating everything from account provisioning to weekly security scans.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Web Hosting Domain Twitter Promo, by NameCheap.com

2008-12-06T05:45:00.000-08:00

Web hosting services will be given away on Twitter, by domain name provider, NameCheap.com, to the tune of over $17,000 worth of offerings. Up to three domain names, hosting packages or transfers will be given away each hour 24 hours a day from December 1st through December 25th.In order to win a free domain name, hosting package or domain transfer, Twitter users simply have to answer a trivia question pertaining to the holiday season. The first users to answer correctly win. Like every domain or transfer at NameCheap.com, winners will also get free WhoisGuard Protection to keep their identity safe and a free Comodo PositiveSSL for more secured transactions online. The questions will start off easy and will progressively become more difficult. The Twitter user who answers the most questions correctly will also win an iPod Nano. Richard Kirkendall, CEO at NameCheap remarked, ''NameCheap has always relied on word of mouth for marketing. We've always put our focus on creating an easy to use interface as well as partnering with other companies to make our offerings more attractive. Rather than launching huge SuperBowl ads, we'd rather use means like Twitter and Facebook to better interact personally with our new and existing clients. We're confident that once people see our user control panel as well as get a free WhoisGuard subscription and SSL with us, they will make NameCheap.com their domain registrar of choice.'' Michelle Greer, marketing consultant at NameCheap added, ''I didn't hear about NameCheap from an ad. I first heard about them in a web professionals' Google Group. A company like NameCheap who relies on word of mouth marketing is a perfect candidate for social media. I'm glad Richard and his staff embraced the idea so freely. This contest was actually Richard's idea and I think it's a wonderful way to interact with and reward their clients.'' NameCheap is an ICANN accredited domain registrar founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall in Los Angeles, California. Millions of domains are registered, transferred and renewed at the site each year, making it one of the leading registrars in the world. Customer support is available 24/7 via LiveChat, Twitter, or the NameCheap HelpDesk.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Johnson and Johnson to Buy Omrix for $438 Million Cash

2008-11-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Johnson & Johnson will buy Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc. for $438 million, gaining protein-based products that stanch bleeding during surgery.
J&J will pay $25 a share for New York-based Omrix, the companies said in a statement today. That’s 18 percent higher than the Nov. 21 closing price of $21.16.
Omrix makes two bleeding-control products, Evithrom and Evicel, distributed by J&J, that are based on the clotting proteins thrombin and fibrin. Omrix is testing a patch that uses fibrin to form an instant clot. Omrix is based in New York and most research and manufacturing takes place in Israel. The company also makes products that bolster the immune system.
Omrix will remain a stand-alone company and report to J&J’s Ethicon Inc. subsidiary, which specializes in surgical tools and related products. J&J, the world’s largest health-care company, expects a write-off of $120 million if the deal closes as planned next month, according to the statement. The New Brunswick, New Jersey, company said the agreement won’t help earnings next year, and could be a slight drag then.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Oil climbs on Citigroup

2008-11-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

Crude prices advance as investors welcome the government's support of ailing financial heavyweight.

The price of oil rose Monday as investors cheered the federal government's massive rescue package for banking giant Citigroup.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery was up $1.04 at $50.97 a barrel in premarket electronic trading. The contract fell 51 cents Friday to settle at $49.93 a barrel.
The advance comes after the U.S. government announced plans Sunday to inject another $20 billion into Citigroup and guarantee losses on more than $300 billion in bank's troubled assets.(Full story)
Sunday's news lifted European stock markets and U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher opening for stocks in New York.
The oil market has closely followed world stock markets as a barometer of economic activity and future energy demand. As a result, oil prices tend to rise and fall in tandem with stock prices.
Investors also welcomed news that President-elect Barack Obama has finalized decisions on key members of his administration's economic team. (Full story)
Still, oil traders remain wary of the global economic slowdown and the grim outlook for future energy demand. Concerns about waning demand have driven oil prices down more than 60% from July's all-time high above $114 a barrel.
"While we have no reason to turn fundamentally bullish on oil prices this week, the market is oversold and could potentially rebound," said Tom Pawlicki, oil industry analyst at MF Global in Chicago.
Retail gasoline prices fell another 2.1 cents overnight to a national average of $1.929 a gallon, according to the motorist group AAA. Gas prices slid below $2 a gallon Friday, the first time in more than three years below that mark, and is down more than 50% from July's all-time high of $4.11 a gallon.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

King to buy Alpharma for $1.6 billion

2008-11-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

King Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Monday said Alpharma Inc. has accepted its revised offer to be acquired in an all-cash deal valued at $1.6 billion.

Bristol, Tenn.-based King (KG:
king pharmaceuticals inc com
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 9.08+0.47+5.46%9:56am 11/24/2008Delayed quote data
Add to portfolio Analyst Create alert
Insider Discuss Financials
Sponsored by:
KG 9.08, +0.47, +5.5%) offered to pay $33 a share when it publicly unveiled its proposal in August, but it later upped the price to $37 a share after Alpharma rejected its original bid as too low.
King later made a tender offer to shareholders of Alpharma, prompting the board of the target company to adopt a plan to make a hostile takeovers more costly. As of last Friday, owners of 73% of the common stock issued by Alpharma accepted the tender offer.
King is a diverse pharmaceutical firm that focused on specialty products. The company generated $2.1 billion in sales in 2007 and has a market value of $2.1 billion, the
Bridgewater, N.J.-based Alpharma (ALO:
ALPHARMA Inc
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 35.50+2.00+5.97%9:56am 11/24/2008Delayed quote data
Add to portfolio Analyst Create alert
Insider Discuss Financials
Sponsored by:
ALO 35.50, +2.00, +6.0%) makes drugs related to animal health and as well as humans. The company posted $722 million in revenue last year and has a market value of $1.4 billion, part of which reflects the rise in value since King announced its offer.

The smaller firm has several promising products in its pipeline, including Remoxy and Embeda, painkillers that have been designed to make it harder for patients to abuse or misuse them.
Embeda, for example, is used as a treatment for pain associated with osteoarthritis. Alpharma's application for approval was given priority-review status by regulators in early September. The Food and Drug Administration could make its final decision before the end of the year.
King said it's aiming to complete the acquisition by the end of 2008.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Obama’s Troika May Push for Deeper Role in Economy

2008-11-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama will today unveil an economic team steeped in fighting crises and likely to push for an unprecedented government role in reviving growth and stabilizing the financial system.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner is set to be nominated as Treasury secretary, former Treasury chief Lawrence Summers will be White House economic director and Peter Orszag, head of the Congressional Budget Office, will be in charge of assembling President-elect Obama’s budget, aides said. Christina Romer, a University of California, Berkeley, professor, will head the Council of Economic Advisers, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“Obama has picked a very strong troika to pull the sled,” said Peter Wallison, a Treasury general counsel in the 1980s and now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
They’re going to need all their skills, and coordination, to get ahead of a financial market meltdown that has confounded outgoing President George W. Bush’s policy makers. First up: putting together and passing a stimulus package that may run to $700 billion or more, in an attempt to head off millions of job losses as the credit crunch freezes the economy.
Focus on Jobs
“It will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jump-start job creation,” Obama said two days ago. The president-elect is due to hold a press conference in Chicago at noon New York time.
Obama’s program will be far larger than the $175 billion package of tax cuts and stepped-up government spending he proposed just a month ago. Some of his advisers, and Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York, have suggested a figure of $700 billion. Bush’s February stimulus was just $168 billion.
The incoming administration may also enlarge the $700 billion financial-rescue fund enacted last month. It may surge to perhaps $1.2 trillion, said Martin Baily, who served as White House chief economist under Clinton and is now at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson already plans a new program to aid consumer-finance companies, signaling he may request from Congress the remaining half of the funds.
Summers, in a Bloomberg Television interview last month, urged “extraordinary steps” to ensure the flow of credit and address the cycle of mortgage foreclosures. He will take on a wide-ranging portfolio at the White House, coordinating economic policy across the administration.
Summers, 53, will also be positioned to take the helm of the Federal Reserve in 2010 when Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s term ends. Geithner may stay on at the New York Fed until Obama takes office Jan. 20.
Shift at Fed
For Bernanke, today’s designations mean a shift in his ties with Geithner, who until now has been his top lieutenant on Wall Street. Any perception that Obama wants him replaced could also undermine his authority.
Still, any decision on the Fed chairman post is likely a year away, leaving time for Bernanke to build on his increasing outreach to Democratic positions -- and for any opposition to Summers to emerge. Summers, now a Harvard University professor, has repeatedly stirred controversy that has affected his career; he was forced out as Harvard president in 2006 after clashes with the faculty.
Obama has shifted gears as the economic crisis mushroomed. Initially inclined to steer clear of influencing policy while Bush was president, Obama indicated Nov. 22 that his team might start working with Congress on a stimulus program now. That would make it more likely it could be signed soon after he takes office Jan. 20.
Down Payment
The stimulus package will act as a down payment on Obama’s longer-term proposals to cut taxes for the middle class, improve the country’s infrastructure and lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil, according to his radio address Nov. 22.
“We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children and building wind farms and solar panels,” Obama said.
Investors gave the Geithner pick a vote of confidence, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index up 6.3 percent from its lowest level in 11 years.
Obama’s team will need to avoid the type of internal squabbling that characterized the early years of the Bush administration and which could delay speedy action to counter the economic travails facing the country. Both Geithner, 47, and Summers had been in the running for Treasury secretary, people close to the Obama camp said earlier this month.
No Nirvana
“It’s certainly not going to be Nirvana, but policy making never is,” said Michael Barr, who worked with Geithner and Summers at the Treasury in the 1990s and is now at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor. At the same time, “a strong president is best served by a strong series of team members and that’s what Obama is getting.”
Bush’s team began the crisis seeking to avoid government intervention, then oversaw an intrusion into the financial system unprecedented since the Great Depression. Yet even after seizing mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taking over insurer American International Group Inc. and creating the $700 billion financial-rescue fund, the financial turbulence has morphed into a global recession.
Since the Nov. 4 election, reports have shown the jobless rate climbed to 6.5 percent in October, the highest level since 1994, with retail sales and consumer prices plunging the most on record. Fed policy makers now anticipate the economy will contract through the middle of 2009, with private analysts forecasting the worst recession in at least a quarter century.
Tax Cuts
David Axelrod, who will be a senior adviser to the president, left open the possibility that Obama will refrain from repealing tax cuts for the wealthy right away -- as he suggested he would do during the campaign. Instead, he may allow them to lapse at the end of 2010 when they are scheduled to expire under current law.
“The main thing right now is to get this economic recovery package on the road, to get money in the pockets of the middle class, to get these projects going, to get America working again,” Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist during the campaign, said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday” yesterday. “That’s where we’re going to be focused in January.”
Champion of Stimulus
Summers has already advocated a massive stimulus package, saying it needs to be “speedy, substantial and sustained” to counter the forces buffeting the economy. He’s also played down concerns about what’s shaping up to be a record federal budget deficit, arguing that demand for Treasury securities currently far outstrips supply.
The stimulus program won’t be the only thing swelling the deficit. Obama has said he wants to do more to help homeowners who are facing foreclosure and the loss of their houses. The big three automakers -- General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC -- are seeking assistance from the government.
Geithner and his onetime mentor Summers were top advisers to former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin when the Clinton administration tapped a government fund to rescue Mexico from default in 1993-94. Later, they corralled banks into extending financing to South Korea, and worked with the International Monetary Fund to prop up emerging markets during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
“There were two people who could make fun of Larry: Bob Rubin and Tim -- one from above, the other from below,” said Jeffrey Shafer, who served with Geithner and Summers at the Treasury from 1993 to 1997 and who is now vice chairman of global banking for Citigroup Inc. in New York.
Bear, Lehman, AIG
Geithner has, along with Paulson and Bernanke, been one of the top decision-makers in handling the current crisis. He helped lead the rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. in March, the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to prevent a Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapse in September, and the subsequent takeover of AIG.
A collapse in Citigroup shares this month may leave what was once the nation’s biggest bank next on the list of casualties.
It will be up to Geithner in his role as Treasury secretary to try to make sure that the flood of securities coming from the U.S. government doesn’t spook America’s foreign creditors, including those in China and the Middle East, who may be already worried about what they see as an unprecedented borrowing binge.
That’s a part for which the former Treasury undersecretary for international affairs is well suited. Geithner has studied Japanese and Chinese and has lived in East Africa, India, Thailand, China and Japan.
‘Savvy Negotiator’
“He is a substantive and savvy negotiator on the international scene, understands the substance and nuances well, and knows the key players,” said Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief executive officer of Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co, which runs the world’s biggest bond fund.
At the New York Fed, Geithner’s departure will leave a gap at the central bank’s main link with Wall Street. Among potential leading candidates to succeed him is Kevin Warsh, a Fed governor who previously worked at the White House and as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley.
To contact the reporters on this story: Rich Miller in Washington at rmiller28@bloomberg.net; Robert Schmidt in Washington at rschmidt5@bloomberg.net

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Hundreds wait at Verizon stores for BlackBerry Storm

2008-11-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of people lined up at some Verizon Wireless stores on Friday to buy the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen phone from Research In Motion that aims to compete with Apple's iPhone.
More than 200 people had waited at a Verizon store in mid-town Manhattan early in the morning, many of whom were turned away after it ran out of the new phones less than an hour after opening at 8 a.m. The angry customers caused a ruckus and police came to restore order.
Verizon said hundreds of others were in lines outside its stores up and down the U.S. east coast, but added that it had "plenty of phones" and would keep getting more shipments. It declined to give specifics on inventory levels.
Anthony Lewis, who was at a Verizon store near New York's Bryant Park, at first tried to get the Storm at electronics stores nearby. But he was disappointed, despite putting his name on a list ahead of the Friday debut.
"I had two pre-orders at Best Buy and Circuit City. Now I'm here and I'm hearing it's sold out," said Lewis, 28, of Brooklyn, New York. "I guess 8 a.m. in the morning is too late."
A Verizon employee at the store told customers that if they ordered the phone online or in the store, they would get the gadget in five to seven days.
Vodafone Group Plc, part owner of Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone, had said on Thursday that it was struggling to meet demand for the Storm, which it launched on November 14.
Vodafone, which is giving away the phone to UK customers who sign a contract, had said it had thousands of pre-orders.
STORM OR BRIGHT SPOT?
After briefly rising as much as 5 percent Verizon shares were up 40 cents, or 1.5 percent, at $26.90 in afternoon trade on New York Stock Exchange where rival AT&T Inc shares were down 3 percent at $23.76. Both stocks have been volatile in recent months due to the weakening economic situation.
But analysts said the Storm launch was likely the cause of the share moves on Friday.
"We've heard nothing but good things about it. It's a small bright spot in a really bleak world.," said Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder referring to the Storm. He said that he had even "heard from some competitors who thought it was pretty impressive."
Verizon Wireless is making a big bet on the Storm for the crucial holiday season. The No. 2 U.S. mobile service heavily promoted four different phones last holiday season, but its focus this year is on the first touch-screen BlackBerry.
Both the Storm and iPhone cost $200 for customers who agree to a two-year service contract and both come with a built-in camera, and music and video players.
Verizon said it was getting reports of queues elsewhere in the country, with more than 100 people lining up outside a store in Bridgewater, New Jersey and another on L Street in Washington, DC. Spokeswoman Brenda Raney said it was too soon to say if stores were selling out.
"If a store has already run out, it's evidence of pent up demand," she said. "We don't normally have people line up."

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

BCS chase still a scramble with two weeks left in season

2008-11-24T06:50:00.000-08:00

Clarity in college football's national title race must wait two more weeks:
•For Oklahoma's Sooner Schooner to complete its last circling of the wagon against Oklahoma State and perhaps a Sooners Big 12 title game vs. Missouri.
•For Alabama's final Roll Tide roll call in the Iron Bowl against Auburn and 'Bama's Southeastern Conference championship game vs. Florida.
•For Florida's concluding Gator chomps against Florida State and Alabama.
•For Texas' closing Hook 'em Horns argument vs. Texas A&M and perhaps the Big 12 title game.
Those final two weeks got more interesting Sunday with the release of the latest Bowl Championship Series standings. Oklahoma moved up two spots to No. 3 after dismantling former No. 2 Texas Tech 65-21 on Saturday. Alabama, which had a bye, remained No. 1. Texas, which beat the Sooners last month and also was off Saturday, moved up one slot to No. 2. Florida remained No. 4 after trouncing The Citadel, which has a losing record, 70-19.
BCS RANKINGS: Texas, Oklahoma 2-3 behind Alabama
COACHES' POLL: Oklahoma takes No. 2 spot
Next weekend, the Sooners meet BCS No. 12 Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The nickname of the rivalry game is fitting: Bedlam. There is an unprecedented three-way tie at the top of the Big 12 South among Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech, which all have one loss.
"Now we're in the mix with everybody," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said.
FIND MORE STORIES IN:
The Red Raiders, who dropped to No. 7 in the BCS standings, could win the Big 12 South title if Oklahoma State upsets Oklahoma by virtue of its head-to-head win vs. Texas. However, that seems unlikely given the ease with which the Sooners dispatched Tech, which defeated Oklahoma State 56-20 on Nov. 8.
If Oklahoma wins, Texas beats A&M and Texas Tech beats Baylor, the Big 12 South winner will be the highest team in the BCS standings next Sunday. This matters a great deal since the Big 12 South champ (if it beats Missouri, the North winner, on Dec. 6) will probably advance to the BCS title game. The SEC title game Dec. 6 also is expected to send its winner to the BCS title game.
The top two teams in the final BCS standings Dec. 7 will meet in the BCS championship game Jan. 8 in Miami. The BCS standings are composed of the USA TODAY Coaches' Poll, the Harris Interactive Poll and the average of six computer rankings. Schedule strength is included in the computer formulas.
Considering what's at stake, expect plenty of lobbying to follow from the coaches involved. It started Saturday morning when Texas coach Mack Brown stated his team's case on the popular ESPN Gameday show. It followed in the aftermath of the Sooner stomp.
Stoops argued that voters who rank the Sooners behind Texas because they lost to the Longhorns last month should in turn vote Texas behind Texas Tech since the Red Raiders beat the Longhorns. He took his Sooners stump a step further to include Florida, which lost to Mississippi in September.
"If you forgive a team for losing to an unranked team because they're playing well right now, well, we're playing pretty well, too," Stoops said. "Again, if it's logical for someone else, that same logic ought to work for us."
The Sooners were No. 2 in Sunday's coaches' poll, No. 3 in the Harris Poll and No. 3 in the computers. Expect their computer rank to rise given the strength of their upcoming opponent, Oklahoma State. Such a lift could vault them over the Longhorns in next week's BCS standings. Texas isn't expected to be helped significantly by a win against 4-7 Texas A&M on Thanksgiving Day.
To 'politick' or not to 'politick'
Florida coach Urban Meyer declined to lobby for his team — at least this week — but he might change his approach if the Gators beat their next two opponents and are in a tight race for one of the top two BCS spots. The day after the Gators' win against The Citadel, Meyer said, "You will certainly not hear any politicking from this camp. We have our hands full with playing a very talented team (Florida State in Tallahassee).
"There will be no discussion about national titles and there will be no discussions about Alabama," Meyer said. "Our focus is real clear."
Two years ago before winning the SEC title, Meyer argued that the Gators should be in the national title game and not Michigan. A Michigan-Ohio State title game would have been a rematch of that regular-season rivalry.
"If that does happen," declared Meyer in November 2006, "all the presidents need to get together immediately and put together a playoff system." Florida advanced to the BCS title game, where it crushed Ohio State 41-14.
Coincidentally, if both Florida and Alabama lose or even if Florida wins unimpressively in the final two weeks, there's the possibility of an Oklahoma-Texas rematch in the national title game.
Another outside possibility is Utah, which is No. 6 in the BCS standings and finished undefeated with a win against Brigham Young. To sneak into the national title race, the Utes would need four teams above them to lose, including No. 5 Southern California, and poll voters to put them ahead of other one-loss teams currently behind them, such as Texas Tech and Penn State. Both are from more-highly regarded conferences.
Though the top four teams each can make strong arguments for why they belong in the title game, Oklahoma made the most emphatic point Saturday.
Oklahoma defense rises up
When Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford took a victory lap, it seemed like a coronation, as he giddily slapped hands with fans. Bradford threw for 304 yards and four TDs and put himself among the leading contenders, including Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, for the Heisman Trophy. "I can't remember a game where I even had near as much fun," he said.
Tech quarterback Graham Harrell came to Norman as the Heisman favorite but probably left as a runner-up.
The Sooners defense, maligned of late for giving up at least 28 points in the five prior games, was the difference. It attacked with abandon, sacking Harrell four times. Before Saturday, Tech's offensive line had given up five sacks on 499 pass attempts, second nationally.
"We just rushed physical," Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. "We made him uncomfortable. We should have had more than four sacks."
Tech had the No. 1 third-down offense but managed to convert on one of 13 attempts as the Sooners held the Red Raiders to 27 points below their average. Receiver Michael Crabtree, probably out of Heisman contention, finished with 62 yards and no TDs for the first time.
"Disciplined, very precise, very violent" is how defensive coordinator Brent Venables described his unit's play. And certainly not fancy. "It was Football 101. That was an extreme simple plan that guys just executed really well."
Afterward, the Sooners left most of the BCS politicking to their head coach. They felt their dominating performance was statement enough. "I think we sent a message to whoever was watching," McCoy said. "Whether it was the computers, an alien, whatever it is."
Whoever, whatever, was watching left impressed.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Teen's dad, expert: Viewers of webcast suicide played role

2008-11-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

When Abraham Biggs broadcast the last moments of his life on the Internet, he joined a small fraternity of troubled young people who gained notoriety through death.
Biggs, 19, broadcast live from a bedroom in his Hollywood, Fla., home Wednesday as he talked of suicide, took pills and lay down to die. Some viewers egged him on, then discussed whether what they had seen was real.
MYSPACE: Jury selection continues in Internet suicide case
The Broward County Medical Examiner confirmed Sunday it was. Biggs, a student at Broward College, died of a combination of benzodiazepines, which he was prescribed for bipolar disorder, and opiates.
Police found him dead in his father's bed 12 hours after he declared on a bodybuilding website that he planned to take his life.
FIND MORE STORIES IN:
Keith Whitworth, a professor of sociology at Texas Christian University who studies Internet fraud and social networking sites, said Biggs' act is similar to suicide pacts in Japan and school shootings in the USA that end with suicide: All are well planned by people seeking fame.
"It ends with a suicide, but knowing that afterward it will be widely disseminated," he said.
Biggs' father, Abraham Biggs Sr., said those who watched, and the website operators, share some blame in his son's death. "I think they are all equally wrong," he said. "As a human being, you don't watch someone in trouble and sit back and just watch."
Some viewers contacted the website to notify police, but the police did not arrive in time.
Whitworth said the anonymity of the Internet may cause some users to behave in ways they wouldn't in person.
"Those individuals who were egging Mr. Biggs on in essence were able to depersonalize," he said. "They would not do it face to face, but in the computer medium they were able to absolve themselves of any personal responsibility for their actions."
They are "absolutely not" absolved, he said, but they also cannot be held accountable.
Biggs' audience may have had reason to be confused about what was going on. Pembroke Pines police investigators said some users told them they did not take Biggs seriously because he had threatened suicide on the site before. Whitworth said it was not clear to viewers whether Biggs had done what he said or whether it was a ploy to get attention.
"You're viewing it live, but is it real?" Whitworth said. "Technology blurs the lines between reality and that which is not real."
He said there has been at least one other Internet suicide: Kevin Whitrick, 42, hanged himself in front of his webcam while others watched in 2007 in Britain.
Whitworth worries others will follow. "If they see that this is one way of getting national and international attention," he said, "there is the fear that there will be copycat incidents."

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

'Twilight:' A Cult Phenomenon

2008-11-24T06:46:00.001-08:00

These bibliophiles are armed with antecedent knowledge of the storyline, courtesy of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling 2005 novel. It was the first of a tetralogy, which has been translated into 37 languages and collectively sold 25 million copies worldwide.
Excited fan girls queued up for sold out Thursday midnight showings, generating a $7 million gross. Made on a modest budget of $37 million, Twilight swept into the number one box office spot for the weekend, playing on 6,000 screens and pulling in $70 million.
17-year old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is acclimated to her sun-drenched life in Phoenix. However, when her mother remarries a minor league baseball player, Bella moves in with her dad (Billie Burke), the police chief of provincial Forks, Washington. There, over her initial protestations, the reclusive Bella is welcomed into a clique, consisting of the editor of the school newspaper, his distaff reporter and another pair of upbeat classmates.
Bella and her newfound friends are lollygagging in the cafeteria, when the Cullen clan shows up in dramatic fashion. These five foster children of the town physician, Dr. Cullen (Peter Facinelli), all have topaz colored eyes and Kabuki-white complexions. They’re not biologically related (is this just some strange coincidence?). Analogous to Bella’s group, they consist of two couples and an unattached fifth member, Edward (Robert Pattinson). The respective configurations seemingly portend a romance between Bella and Edward. After all, Bella is already our point of identification and the tall, handsome Edward is a dreamboat.
By happenstance, Bella is assigned to sit next to Edward in biology class. Alas, Bella triggers a reaction in Edward that is emetogenic (he appears to be struggling to choke back his vomit). We subsequently learn that the Cullens are vampires. Edward’s physiological reaction to Bella was precipitated by his impulse to devour her. Something about Bella’s scent makes her irresistible to him, both as a repast and an object of adoration. Can Edward overcome his gustatory predilections and enable a romance to blossom between these star-crossed lovers?
Working from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, director Catherine Hardwicke seems like the ideal candidate to helm this vehicle. Hardwicke’s entire body of work, “Thirteen,” “Lords of Dogtown,” and “The Nativity Story,” all limn adolescence angst. Here, she deftly takes the elements of Gothic vampire romance and superimposes them into the template of a post-modern coming of age film.
In the lead roles, Kristen Stewart (“Panic Room”, “Into the Wild”) and Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in the “Harry Potter” series) are well cast. Both underplay their roles with laudable restraint. Stewart nicely captures her character’s confusion over how to navigate her first relationship and the additional complications, arising from the fact that her prospective paramour is a vampire. Pattinson offers an appealing take on the leading man paradigm. He’s hunky, sensitive and perpetually struggling to sublimate his predatory instincts.
The cinematography by Elliot Davis turns the verdant fauna and the rainy weather of the Pacific Northwest into a full-fledged character. The visual text is well complemented by the atmospheric music by Cater Burwell along with an amalgam of classical and contemporary tunes. The editing by Nancy Richardson deals well with the narrative segues and enhances the pacing of the film.
Twilight has been carefully marketed to reach its tween girl audience. However, those outside the target demographic, who give this film a chance, will be pleasantly surprised by an enjoyable study of the intersection between alienation and romance.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

AP IMPACT: Govt pays for deadly, unapproved drugs

2008-11-24T06:44:00.000-08:00

Dozens of deaths have been linked to medications that have never been reviewed by the government for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found.
Taxpayers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs, and millions of private patients are taking them as well.
The AP analysis found that Medicaid paid nearly $198 million from 2004 to 2007 for more than 100 unapproved drugs, mostly for common conditions such as colds and pain. Data for 2008 were not available but unapproved drugs still are being sold. The AP checked the medications against FDA databases, using agency guidelines to determine if they were unapproved. The FDA says there may be thousands of such drugs on the market.
The medications date back decades, before the Food and Drug Administration tightened its review of drugs in the early 1960s. The FDA says it is trying to squeeze them from the market, but conflicting federal laws allow the Medicaid health program for low-income people to pay for them.
Medicaid officials acknowledge the problem, but say they need help from Congress to fix it. The FDA and Medicaid are part of the Health and Human Services Department, but the FDA has yet to compile a master list of unapproved drugs, and Medicaid — which may be the biggest purchaser — keeps paying.
"I think this is something we ought to look at very hard, and we ought to fix it," said Medicaid chief Herb Kuhn. "It raises a whole set of questions, not only in terms of safety, but in the efficiency of the program — to make sure we are getting the right set of services for beneficiaries."
At a time when families, businesses and government are struggling with health care costs and 46 million people are uninsured, payments for questionable medications amount to an unplugged leak in the system.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked the HHS inspector general to investigate.
That unapproved prescription drugs can be sold in the United States surprises even doctors and pharmacists. But the FDA estimates they account for 2 percent of all prescriptions filled by U.S. pharmacies, about 72 million scripts a year. Private insurance plans also cover them.
The roots of the problem go back in time, tangled in layers of legalese.
It wasn't until 1962 that Congress ordered the FDA to review all new medications for effectiveness. Thousands of drugs already on the market were also supposed to be evaluated. But some manufacturers claimed their medications were grandfathered under earlier laws, and even under the 1962 bill.
Then, in the early 1980s, a safety scandal erupted over one of those medications. E-Ferol, a high potency vitamin E injection, was linked to serious reactions in some 100 premature babies, 40 of whom died.
In response, the FDA started a program to weed out drugs it had never reviewed scientifically. Yet some medications continued to escape scrutiny.
Sometimes, the medications do not help patients. In other cases, the FDA says, they have made people sicker, maybe even killed them. This year, for example, the FDA banned injectable versions of a gout drug called colchicine after receiving reports of 23 deaths. Investigators found the unapproved drug had a very narrow margin of safety, and patients easily could receive a toxic dose leading to complications such as organ failure.
Critics say the FDA's case-by-case enforcement approach is not working.
"The FDA does not appear to have a systematic mechanism to report these drugs out," said Jon Glaudemans, senior vice president of Avalere Health, a health care industry information company, "and there doesn't seem to be a systematic process by which health insurance programs can validate their status. And everyone is pointing the finger at someone else as to why we can't get there."
In most cases, doctors, pharmacists and patients are not aware the drugs are unapproved.
"Over the years, they have become fully entrenched in the system," said Patti Manolakis, a Charlotte, N.C., pharmacist who has studied the issue. Only a few unapproved drugs are truly essential and should remain on the market, she added.
Tackling the problem is made harder by confusing — and sometimes conflicting — laws, regulations and responsibilities that pertain to different government agencies.
Medicaid officials said their program, which serves the poor and disabled, is allowed to pay for unapproved drugs until the FDA orders a specific medication off the market. But that can take years.
Compare that with Medicare, the health care program for older people.
Medicare's prescription program is not supposed to cover unapproved drugs. Medicare has purged hundreds of such medications from its coverage lists, but continues to find others.
It might be easier to sort things out if the FDA compiled a master list of unapproved drugs, but the agency hasn't. FDA officials say that would be difficult because many manufacturers do not list unapproved products with the agency. Yet, the AP found many that were listed — a possible starting point for a list.
Among the drugs the AP's research identified were Carbofed, for colds and flu; Hylira, a dry skin ointment; Andehist, a decongestant, and ICAR Prenatal, a vitamin tablet. Medicaid data show the program paid $7.3 million for Carbofed products from 2004 to 2007; $146,000 for Hylira; $4.8 million for Andehist products, and $900,000 for ICAR.
Grassley said the system is failing taxpayers and consumers.
"The problem I see is bureaucrats don't want to make a decision," Grassley said. "There is no reason why this should be such a house of mirrors when so much public money is being spent." Grassley is considering introducing legislation to ensure that consumers are told when a medication is unapproved.
FDA officials say they tell Medicaid and Medicare when the agency moves to ban an unapproved drug, so the programs can stop paying.
"The situation is complicated by the fact that Medicaid and Medicare have a different regulatory regime than FDA does," said FDA compliance lawyer Michael Levy. "There are products that we may consider to be illegally marketed that could be legally reimbursed under their law."
The FDA began its latest crackdown on unapproved drugs two years ago and has taken action against nine types of medications and dozens of companies. Typically, the agency orders manufacturers to stop making and shipping drugs, and it also has seized millions of dollars' worth of medications. But federal law does not provide fines for selling unapproved drugs, and criminal prosecutions are rare.
Some manufacturers of unapproved drugs say their products predate FDA regulation and are "grandfathered in."
"These are drugs that don't require an FDA approval," said Bill Peters, chief financial officer of Hi-Tech Pharmacal in Amityville, N.Y. "These are products with active ingredients that have been on the market for a long time." The company is moving away from older products, Peters said, and its new market offerings are FDA-approved.
Levy said the FDA is skeptical that any drugs now being sold are entitled to "grandfather" status. To qualify, they would have to be identical to medications sold decades ago in formulation and other important aspects.
The agency is targeting drugs linked to fraud, ones that do not work and, above all, those with safety risks. While the crackdown has helped, it does not appear to have solved the problem.
The gout drug banned by the FDA this February is not the only recent case involving safety problems.
Last year, the FDA banned unapproved cough medicines containing hydrocodone, a potent narcotic. Some had directions for medicating children as young as age 2, although no hydrocodone cough products have been shown to be safe and effective for children under 6.
In a 2006 case, the agency received 21 reports of children younger than 2 who died after taking unapproved cold and allergy medications containing carbinoxamine, an allergy drug that also acts as a powerful sedative. Regulators banned all products that contained carbinoxamine in combination with other cold medicines.
"We as Americans have a belief that all the prescription drugs that are available to us have been reviewed and approved by the FDA," said Manolakis, the pharmacist. "I think the presence of these drugs shows we have a false sense of security."

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

2008 American Music Awards: The Best and Worst

2008-11-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

Kudos to this year's American Medley Music Awards for showcasing as diverse a field of artists as possible within the inevitable limits arising whenever anything is controlled largely by the voting public/record sales, and putting everyone's best foot forward in the process! The winners of the actual super-stabby crystal trophies of death can be found after the jump, but in my opinion tonight's real victor was the music business itself, as singer after singer took the mic and, with a couple glaring exceptions, proved themselves worthy of the airtime.
I'm more than a bit of a naysayer when it comes to the chart-topperz of the day, and when they said this was to be the youngest AMAs in history, I must admit I shuddered with dread. But the evening flowed smoothly -- in part thanks to the complacent consistency of host and noted Kanye West enthusiast Jimmy Kimmel, in part just thanks to the breakneck pace they had to maintain to get everyone on stage -- and if there was embarrassment to be had, it was mostly claimed by the 30-and-older set. (Note to Jamie Foxx, Scott Weiland, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Aerosmith: don't forget to tip your servers.)
We didn't get a song from newly anointed Artist of the Year Chris Brown (pictured), although I can think of at least one act out of the 19 that did appear who could have been excised to make room for him. Still, there's less than I thought there would be to complain about, and my only overriding quibble is with the fact that no one took the time to thank their choreographer. Keep reading for my three bests and three worsts of the night, "three" being an arbitrary number chosen by my editors to keep me from nattering on like I did after the CMAs. It's really just as well.
addCredit("Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic ")
BEST
1. Blond Ladies How I'd love to go back to 1999 and put money down on Christina Aguilera to kick Britney's ass. The mistress of melisma is pushing a greatest hits collection at the moment, giving her the night's best excuse for performing a medley and underscoring just how rare it is that any artist survives an ass-less chaps phase with dignity intact. Even though I couldn't help but think Dude, that's somebody's MOM in the middle of "Dirrty," she was a hell of a way to kick off the show, and her platinum sisters followed suit: Pink was introduced by Weiland as "one of the great artists of our time," and I got my pen out to write something snarky but then realized I kind of agreed with him and sat back to watch her demonstrate the proper way to both pull off a purple ballgown and bounce back from heartache with new single "Sober"; she also made Sarah McLachlan more interesting than she's been in 10 years by joining her on "Angel" and throwing a little grit on all the treacle. Natasha Bedingfield started classic and clean, bringing welcome vocal simplicity on "Unwritten" before everything got all clogged up by those unnecessary breakdancers during "Pocketful of Sunshine." My arch-nemesis Taylor Swift put in her best broadcast television appearance yet, once she got off the couch and actually started to sing "White Horse," and I'll let up on her if she promises to strive for that level of visible human emotion every time she performs. But the biggest blond bombshell of all was, hands down, Ms. Annie Lennox, winner of a special merit award and the best advertisement for living past 50 I've seen in years. One wonders if all these (surely Simon Fuller-sponsored) TV appearances Annie's been making of late are translating into any record sales amongst the Swift set -- but if they aren't, at least those of us old enough to already have all her records are getting the benefit of ferociously gorgeous performances like "Why" along the way. The look in her eyes on the line "This boat is sinking" basically decimated me.
2. Ne-Yo The classy gentleman stepped out with a Bond-infused, bowler-capped two-fer of "Miss Independent" and "Closer," using dapper dance moves, a crackerjack horn section, and his bold tenor to turn the Nokia into his own personal gin joint. If the point of this show is to move the merchandise, consider me a satisfied new Ne-Yo customer.
3. Beyoncé I almost gave Miley Cyrus this slot because it's her 16th birthday and she overcame many of her pop-robot tendencies (and some seriously creepy backup dancers) to hold my attention through an entire song for the first time ever -- but 16 is still too young to be writhing about in public, so my general discomfort disqualified her. Likewise, I ruled out Mariah Carey for relying entirely too much on her fan to make a dull song float, Coldplay for doing the same thing if you substitute "confetti" for "fan," and Rihanna for a performance of "Rehab" featuring scaffolding, fire, and an eye patch that was very nearly as much of a hot mess as its video. Thus have I turned to the highly satisfying "Single Ladies" dance party, even though it was almost the exact same "Single Ladies" dance party we got on SNL a week ago. Whatever. It's still a killer song. Although: Should I be concerned that all us single ladies are now adopting a group hand gesture? Might I abstain?
WORST
1. Boy Bands Ugh. Slaughter me if you must in the comments, Jonas Bros. fans, but your breakthrough boys kind of sounded like crap last night, and were certainly not helped by whoever cranked their nasally, out-of-key vocals way too loud in the mix. (Doesn't anyone rehearse with their people in the truck anymore?) Technical issues aside, there was something generally unfocused and unbelievable about the confluence of puppy angst and kitten-soft falsetto on "Tonight," and I think Jimmy Eat World wants their mixtape back. Meanwhile, over in Stonehenge, that sloppy New Kids on the Block medley would have struggled to make the grade at Hershey Park on a Tuesday afternoon, and at least two of those guys now look like dentists. Chris Brown has sneezed better.
2. Kanye West Dude. Kanye. I will write this in all caps in hopes of speaking your language: YOU ARE A GAZILLIONAIRE. CHEER THE HELL UP. You want the awards, you don't want the awards, you have an increasingly awkward relationship with women, you boldly challenge your peers but then say ridiculous things like "I want to be Elvis," you are collapsing into self-parody...and was that a dead raccoon in your pocket?
3. The Big Finale It pains me to do it, and I place no blame on Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, or Kathleen Battle as individuals for their closing performance of "Superwoman." But the song could not support their combined weight, nor did it -- in light of the fact that half the audience was probably still making that "Single Ladies" hand gesture -- inspire me to hoist my uterus up the flagpole in the way it was probably meant to. It was just kind of random. And really: Kathleen Battle? I suppose one way to keep the assortment of divas in check at this sort of thing is to bring in a bigger diva to frighten them into submission, but she was more out of place than a copy of Chinese Democracy in Slash's CD player. This year's AMAs were indeed all about excellence in vocal performance, but that was awkward overkill at the very moment things should have reached divine transcendence. Also, Alicia? Have you no one in your life with whom you can leave your handbag when it's time to accept an award?
Okey-doke, I'm done. Your turn to weigh in, PopWatchers: Who delivered your favorite performances? Which one of Rihanna's outfits pained you more? Is it okay that I decided not to comment on the Pussycat Dolls because I refuse to acknowledge their existence in a world created by a beneficent God? Did anyone care about The Fray's Very Special Episode Of Grey's Anatomy? And if it's not Chris Brown, who's your Artist of the Year, bearing in mind that said "year" includes the latter half of 2007, not 2008?
2008 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARD WINNERS
POP/ROCK MUSICFavorite Male Artist: Chris BrownFavorite Female Artist: RihannaFavorite Band, Duo, or Group: DaughtryFavorite Album: Alicia Keys, As I Am
COUNTRY MUSICFavorite Male Artist: Brad PaisleyFavorite Female Artist: Taylor SwiftFavorite Band, Duo, or Group: Rascal FlattsFavorite Album: Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride
RAP/HIP-HOP MUSICFavorite Male Artist: Kanye WestFavorite Band, Duo, or Group: Three 6 MafiaFavorite Album: Kanye West, Graduation
SOUL/RHYTHM & BLUESFavorite Male Artist: Chris BrownFavorite Female Artist: Mary J BligeFavorite Album: Alicia Keys, As I Am
T-MOBILE BREAKTHROUGH ARTISTJonas Brothers
INSPIRATIONALFavorite Artist: Third Day
ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSICFavorite Artist: Linkin Park
ADULT CONTEMPORARY MUSICFavorite Artist: Jordin Sparks
SOUNDTRACKSFavorite Album: Alvin & The Chipmunks
LATIN MUSICFavorite Artist: Enrique Iglesias
ARTIST OF THE YEARArtist of the Year: Chris Brown

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Judge Orders Ballmer to Testify in 'Vista Capable' Case

2008-11-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

A federal judge in Seattle has ordered Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to testify in a class action lawsuit against Microsoft that alleges the company misled consumers in a marketing campaign for its Windows Vista operating system in which computers sold with an older Microsoft OS were labeled 'Vista Capable' when in fact they could only run a basic version of Vista.
Ballmer has unique personal knowledge of facts surrounding the case, therefore he must face questioning, Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle ruled, according to court documents released late Friday.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs will have no more than three hours to take a deposition from Ballmer at the time and place of his convenience, the documents said. The deposition must take place within 30 days of the order.
The case against Microsoft was launched early last year. The plaintiffs allege that most computers labeled 'Vista Capable' in the marketing campaign, which began in early 2006, cannot run or run poorly Vista Premium, the version of Vista with the most popular features.
Microsoft had sought to exclude Ballmer from questioning, saying he was not involved in operational discussions around the 'Vista Capable' program, the court documents say. Microsoft had offered up then co-president Jim Allchin and then-senior vice president Will Poole instead of Ballmer, saying the two had superior knowledge of the program.
The plaintiffs won the argument to question Ballmer by pointing out conversations between Ballmer and Intel CEO Paul Otellini in which the two discussed possible changes in the Vista Capable requirements.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Ahead of the Bell: Slow impact seen in stimulus

2008-11-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

JPMorgan analyst says Obama stimulus plan will have slow impact on manufacturing sector

An economic stimulus package that President-elect Barack Obama is expected to announce Monday will not likely have a major impact on manufacturing until the end of 2009 or later, an analyst said Monday.
Obama is rolling out a plan that will require congressional cooperation even before he is inaugurated Jan. 20. His plan is likely to exceed the $175 billion he proposed during the campaign and would include an infusion of money for infrastructure projects, new environmental technologies and tax cuts for low- and middle-income taxpayers. It will not call for tax hikes for the wealthy.
Analyst Ann Duignan of JPMorgan said in a note to investors that machinery companies such as Caterpillar Inc., CNH Global, Deere & Co. and other manufacturers would not begin to feel an impact from federal spending until 2010.
"With a stimulus package we would expect demand for larger infrastructure-related equipment to drive a recovery in demand and in this scenario equipment demand would revert to trend by 2011," she said.
Duignan said she expects a decline in the North American construction equipment industry next year and the start of a recovery in 2010 and into 2011. However, she said the industry will remain "below trend" even in 2011.
She said she doesn't expect a stimulus package that would likely be approved until mid-2009 with spending increases starting sometime in fiscal 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009. As a result, spending increases would not start until sometime in 2010 with a significant impact on machinery expected shortly afterward, Duignan said.
Aides to Obama on Sunday called on the new Congress to pass by the Jan. 20 inauguration legislation that meets Obama's two-year goal of saving or creating 2.5 million jobs. Democratic congressional leaders said they would get to work when Congress convenes Jan. 6.

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Obama May Forego Tax Hikes For Now

2008-11-24T06:35:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend the Obama transition team signaled its intent to take a lead role on economic matters starting today, announcing its key economic players and outlining a stimulus package which, according to the New York Times, "might be extraordinarily large." The Times adds "a member of the Obama economic advisory team, William M. Daley, acknowledged that because of the gravity of the situation, Mr. Obama was leaning toward letting a Bush tax cut for the wealthy expire on schedule in 2011 rather than repealing it sooner." The Wall Street Journal reports President-elect Barack Obama's "new economic stimulus plan" is expected to contain "more than $500 billion in federal spending and tax cuts." The Washington Post, meanwhile, says the "massive fiscal stimulus program...could total as much as $700 billion over the next two years," and U.S. News and World Report estimates the plan's cost at $300 billion.
The Financial Times, in a story titled "Hint Of Hold On Taxes As Obama Plans Stimulus," reports "David Axelrod, Mr Obama's chief political adviser," offered "an olive branch to Republicans" as he "floated the possibility that the president-elect might wait for the Bush tax cuts to expire in 2010 rather than acting sooner to raise rates for high earners." The AP also says that there are "no plans to balance the tax cuts" in an upcoming stimulus plan "with an immediate tax increase on the wealthy," as Obama had proposed "during the campaign."
Referring to Obama's overall economic plan, the CBS Evening News reported last night, "Broadly outlined in a weekend address by Mr. Obama, the goal is to create 2.5 million jobs by putting Americans to work building roads and bridges and refurbishing schools, so-called green jobs will be created in alternative energy projects and the development of fuel-efficient vehicles." The Financial Times reports, "Uncharacteristically for a politician who often trod a cautious path during the presidential campaign, Mr Obama has taken a risk by setting a firm target and deadline for his jobs plan. But as with his timeline for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, he left plenty of ambiguity in how the 2.5m jobs would be defined." Adds the Times, "Not all of them must be new jobs. Any that would arguably have been lost but for the recovery plan would also count." McClatchy and Roll Call also report on Obama's plan
Obama Aide: "Era Of Dithering" Almost Over McClatchy reports "a senior Obama adviser...accused the Bush administration of doing little to help" the economy, "vowing that things will change once Obama is sworn in. 'The era of dithering is going to end,' said Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee." The AP, meanwhile, quotes "top Obama aide" Goolsbee saying, "We're out with the dithering, we're in with a bang."

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

CORRECTED - TOPWRAP 2-President-elect Obama moves to reassure mkts

2008-11-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

Obama picks Geithner, Summers to lead financial fight
* Pacific nations say trade deals will help
* Britain's Brown to cut taxes, boost public spending

By Caren Bohan and Terry Wade
WASHINGTON/LIMA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama moved to reassure an anxious world over the weekend even before he takes office, picking two respected policymakers to lead the fight against the global financial crisis and setting out his battle plan.
Obama, who will inherit the worst economic mess since the Great Depression when he takes over from President George W. Bush on Jan. 20, plans to nominate Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, as Treasury secretary, a transition official said.
Geithner, 47, will lead the United States' $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry.
Lawrence Summers, 53, who was Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, will help shape policy as director of the White House National Economic Council, the official said.
The appointments should bring some cheer to the furrowed brows in world markets. U.S. stock prices, pummelled for most of last week, rallied more than 6 percent on Friday after word first leaked out that Geithner might take the helm at Treasury.
On Saturday, Obama laid out plans for a two-year economic stimulus package involving the creation of 2.5 million jobs.
He may also consider delaying a roll back in tax cuts on high-income Americans -- an election promise -- as part of his economic recovery strategy, aides said on Sunday.
"The main thing right now is to get this economic recovery package on the road, to get money in the pockets of the middle class, to get these projects going, to get America working again, and that's where we're going to be focused in January," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod told Fox news channel.
In the latest international huddle to tackle the crisis, Asian and American leaders meeting in Lima, Peru pledged to push for a so-far elusive global free trade deal which they said would help keep the world from sliding into a deep recession.

Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, or APEC, said they would refrain from raising trade barriers over the next 12 months.
They also supported overhauls of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank at a time when more countries need emergency bailouts to avert economic devastation.
"The current situation highlights the importance of ongoing financial sector reforms in our economies," the leaders said in a statement.
They committed to try to reach a breakthrough in the stalled Doha round of trade talks before the end of this year.
China's Hu said leaders must pay attention to the impact of the crisis on the developing world and provide it with support.
Japan was expected to reiterate an offer to give $100 billion to the IMF to prod other countries to chip in funds.

BLAME IT ON THE U.S.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon blamed the United States for starting the crisis and called for better banking regulations.
In other developments, Britain prepared plans to inject billions of pounds into the economy to stave off recession amid slumping house prices, rising unemployment, and shrinking manufacturing output.
Finance Minister Alistair Darling will unveil the package of tax cuts and extra public spending expected to total up to 20 billion pounds ($30 billion) on Monday, newspapers said.
A cut in the so-called value added tax or VAT, is aimed at giving a pre-Christmas boost to consumers' spending power.
"Doing nothing is not an option," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a speech he will give to businessmen on Monday. "We need timely action now to prevent permanent damage."

ASIA LEARNS TO FLINCH
China also planned more ways to support its economy, now showing signs of being infected by the crisis after years of extraordinary growth.

State television said provincial governments have made plans to invest a total of more than 10 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) over the next several years. It was unclear whether that would be on top of a 4 trillion yuan stimulus package announced by the central government earlier this month.
South Korean officials said they had further policy options to combat the global downturn, putting pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
"We need financial support for small companies and exporters," Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said.
In the Gulf, also feeling the crisis despite its oil riches, Saudi Arabia's central bank slashed its benchmark lending rate from 4 percent to 3 percent, the second reduction in a month to keep credit markets moving and boost liquidity.
In Cairo, President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt's already-wide budget deficit would increase as it spends more to avert economic slowdown. He called for cheaper credit to boost the economy. (Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Matthew Jones; World Desk London 0207 542 7917))

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Rain and cooler temperatures heading for Houston

2008-11-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

Two pockets of scattered showers are blowing this way, but the Houston area probably won't get much rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Both lines of showers were expected to arrive this morning, said Charles Roeseler, a meteorologist based in League City.
They were expected to produce only about a quarter-inch or less of precipitation, and skies should be clear by noon, he said.
The rains are coming in ahead of a cold front that is expected to drop the low temperatures tonight by as much as 20 degrees below this morning's temperatures, which were in the 60s, Roeseler said.
It'll be colder in rural areas and a bit warmer inside Loop 610.
"There will probably be no discernible temperature change behind the front this afternoon," he said. "You really won't start feeling the cold air invection until overnight."

GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for English
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for French
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for German
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI domain hosting Affiliate Program for Spanish

Citi rescue set to boost stocks

2008-11-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

U.S. stocks were poised for a higher start Monday after the federal government agreed to a massive rescue package for financial giant Citigroup.
At 8:13 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average, Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq composite futures were all significantly higher.
Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance and offer an indication of how Wall Street will open when trading begins in New York.
The markets could use a break after last week, when the S&P 500 plunged to an 11-1/2 year low. But the Dow bounced back 494 points on Friday, its fifth-biggest one-day point increase ever.
"Obviously the news out of Citi is welcoming," said Peter Cardillo, analyst for Avalon Partners. "We might be in for another day of gains today, and if that's the case, then we'll have two days of gains."
Given the market's volatility, it isn't easy to project activity from day to day, said Cardillo. But he said the markets have discounted so much "bad ugly news" that they might be ripe for a recovery.
"Maybe this week we'll see a little bit of daylight," said Cardillo. "Maybe the market will divorce itself from the overly pessimistic sentiment."
Citi rescue: On Sunday, the U.S. federal government announced it would guarantee losses on more than $300 billion of Citi's troubled assets. The government also said it will make a fresh $20 billion investment in the bank.
The moves are the latest by the government to shore up the financial sector. Last week, fears about a Citigroup collapse sent shares of the firm into a tailspin. By the close of U.S. trading on Friday, Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) were down 87% for the year.
In Frankfurt on Monday, Citi shares surged 40%.
Transition to power: President-elect Barack Obama will hold a press conference later Monday to announce key members of his administration's economic team.
Stocked rallied Friday on talk that Obama is expected to nominate New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner for Treasury Secretary.
Harvard economist Lawrence Summers is expected to be nominated to head the National Economic Council, which would make him Obama's top economic adviser in the White House.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to be tapped for Commerce Secretary.
Housing: On the economic front, a report on October existing home sales is due out at 10 a.m. ET.
The National Association of Realtors is expected to announce that existing home sales dropped to an annual rate of 5.05 million in October, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. This would be down from a rate of 5.18 million in the prior month.
This is just one of many economic reports scheduled for this week. Reports on consumer confidence and the gross domestic product are expected on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, economic reports will focus on unemployment claims, personal income, new home sales and durable goods.
After Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, investors will be watching the retail sector Friday in the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

3PAR debuts 'virtual domains'

2007-12-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

3PAR recently announced Virtual Domains software for its InServ Storage Server platforms that lets administrators slice and dice physical arrays for secure, shared access to up to 2,000 virtual arrays per system.

The software logically separates users or groups of users, hosts, and storage resources to set up administrative segregation within a tiered storage system, and distributes application workloads across systems resources, including ports, processors, cache, loops, and drives.

3PAR's premise is that disparate user groups, departments, and external customers are barred from sharing storage resources due to concerns surrounding privacy, control, and compliance requirements, which results in the proliferation of disparate physical storage systems.

"One barrier that IT runs into when trying to consolidate across the data center is the secure management of application resources as they relate to storage," says Craig Nunes, 3PAR's director of marketing. "Virtual Domains solves for storage what hypervisors like VMware or Xen solve for servers by providing secure application segregation on shared resources while increasing utilization."

Virtual Domains gives users the ability to define autonomous, secure, and policy-based virtual arrays, or "domains," within a single physical array. A master administrator creates a domain and then assigns logically defined entities to it, including logical host definitions, provisioning policies defining storage tiers and associated capacity, and privilege-specified administrators. Depending on the level of access, users are able to create, export, and copy standard or thin-provisioned volumes.

Users can independently administer and monitor the system without exposing themselves to the actions or visibility of other users and domains because they only have access to those domains to which they have been assigned.

Some analysts are classifying the capabilities in Virtual Domains as a next step in storage virtualization.

"Storage has traditionally been in its own vertical management silo. Virtual Domains software is a step along the path toward solving that problem," says Nik Simpson, an analyst at Burton Group. "It allows different organizations full control over their piece of the array without being able to impact other parts of it."

Steve Norall, an analyst with the Taneja Group, also believes 3PAR is moving up the evolutionary ladder in terms of storage virtualization technology. "Companies are collapsing more and more workloads onto single, large boxes. Traditionally, if you wanted to get physical isolation you created partitions, but partitions can tank your utilization," says Norall. "Virtual Domains provides the isolation, but does it across all of the resources of the box."

Triple.com Offers $5.55 Domains

2007-12-09T09:26:00.000-08:00

Domain registrar and Web hosting provider Triple.com (triple.com) announced this week it is offering discounted registration prices for the next couple weeks. Domain names, including .com, .net and .org, are priced at $5.55 until December 6.

The company is also offering a referral promotion, enabling customers to receive credit for inviting their friends to register an account through a shared link to the domain name promotion.

Customers will receive an additional $5.55 in credit for every three friends who register for accounts on the Triple.com website.

Study Looks at Mistyped Domains & Typosquatters

2007-12-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

A new study by a major internet security company is taking aim at typosquatting, the practice of buying a misspelled domain name in the hopes that someone will mistype the name and land on that site.

If someone then clicks on an text ad on the site the domain owner and the parking company will make money.

While the internet security company is trying to point out the problem of typosquatting, a problem that I do not necessarily agree with, they seem to be implying that the domain parking companies are part of the problem.

This new study, done by McAfee, an internet security company that gives you, the PC user, tools to combat viruses and protect your PC from malicious stuff on the internet, has done a study on domain names.

McAfee, in their study, highlights the iPhone example with this sample ad:

McAfee claims that one of the most valuable domain is iphone.com, and when they announced the new iPhone Apple didn’t own the domain name. They also say that a bunch of typos came up right after the announcement.

The most valuable – iphone.com – is owned by Apple itself, but when Steve Jobs announced the product early in 2007, Apple didn’t own the iphone domain yet. One expert estimates that Apple paid at least $1 million to buy that piece of valuable Web real estate.

McAfee collected a list of domains based on the most popular and common sites visited by “typical consumers”. They don’t define what they call a “typical consumer”, but I would bet that you and I don’t fall into that category. Anyhow, a total of 2,771 target websites were collected from “a variety of different sources”, including:

– Hitwise

– Yahoo! Buzz

– Nielsen

– Billboard

– Google Zeitgeist

– McAfee’s own site popularity data

– Suggestions from McAfee’s world wide staff

They then generated many permutations (different misspellings) of those 2771 domain names. They used eight methods to generate the permutations:

– Swapped Characters – Swap characters one at a time. Example: yuotube.com.

– Replaced Characters – Replace characters one at a time. Example: wschovia.com.

– Inserted Characters – Insert one character. Example: Newgroounds.com.

– Deleted Character – Remove one character at a time. Example: cartonnetwork.com.

– Missing dot – Remove the dot between the “www” and the domain. Example: wwwmicrosoft.com.

They then “surfed” to each of these 1,920,256 permutations. How is it that I think that they surfed these sites but most likely did it in an automated fashion? If the permutation resolved to a live site they marked the site as “live” and then tested the site’s content for the presence of a parking company.

McAfee Takes Aim at the TrafficZ Domain Parking Company

TrafficZ.com is what is called a “domain parking company”. If you own an internet domain name you can “park” the domain name temporarily (or permanently if you wish) and make money. TrafficZ is a popular domain name parking company that will pay you for the traffic (website visitors) that visit your domain name and click on an ad related to the domain name. Domain parking companies take a cut of the revenue generated by clicks on the website. In this latest study and subsequent report, McAfee takes aim specifically at a typo-squatter that’s making money from people who mistype the McAfee domain name:

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year! How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for French GDI Affiliate Program for German GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese GDI Affiliate Program for Korean GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Devalued Domains At Online Gambling Group

2007-12-09T09:24:00.001-08:00

Published: Thursday, November 22, 2007 Online-Casinos.com

DEVALUED DOMAINS AT ONLINE GAMBLING GROUP

Bodog owner claims confiscated domains have lost value

The owner of the Bodog online gambling group fired another broadside at patent litigation opponent First Technologies this week on his blog Calvin Ayre Life.com, taunting 1st Tech's CEO Dr. Scott Lewis on an alleged decline in the Bodog domains he holds by court order.

The two companies are still locked in litigation over 1st Technologies claim that Bodog infringed patents on Internet technology, which led to Nevada and Washington judges awarding a $49 million default judgement against Bodog, and delivered the Bodog domains into the hands of 1st Technologies. Reacting fast, Bodog launched the new brand Bodog Life.com and continued its online gambling and entertainment facilities with minimal interruption.

Since then, Bodog founder Calvin Ayre has used his blog to repeatedly attack Scott Lewis and his company, describing it as a "patent troll." This has clearly irritated Lewis, who has asked Ayre to desist with the name calling. Judging by Ayre's latest posts that is not going to happen.

This week, Ayre claims that unnamed "domain evaluation experts" have advised him that the old Internet domains held by Lewis have declined in value, whilst the new domains have flourished.

"Although the value of Bodog's old domains has taken a huge hit since Patent Troll Scott Lewis and 1st Technologies launched a patent infringement case against [Bodog], the new Bodoglife.com domain is now worth over $1 million," Ayre writes. In contrast, he reveals that the domains held by Lewis have declined, quoting the following valuations:

Bodog.com domain value Jan. 17, 2007: $692,580
Bodog.com domain value as of Nov. 14, 2007: $264,930

"Well well well… if this ain't a kick in the pants then I don't know what is," Ayre crows: "After 2.5 months of having all of Bodog's old domains black holed by the Patent Trolls over at 1st Technologies, domain evaluation experts say Bodog's original domains have lost over 75% of their value, while the new Bodoglife domain is now worth over $1 million dollars and climbing."

The Bodog founder goes on to explain that several factors establish a domain's value, such as traffic (number of daily unique visitors), brandability (presence, relationship with customers, cultural relevance, emotional connection, easy to remember), search engine compatibility (listed in all major search engines, search engine friendly content), page rank (number of relevant websites that link to your site), domain extensions (.com), and linguistics (easy to pronounce) for starters.

"But one of the main determining factors—especially in the case of Bodog.com—is domain parking revenue," Ayre claims. "Why? It's simple: Revenue is a measurable factor and comparisons can be made for revenue to sale price of other domains."

"In our case we still maintain US and international trademarks on Bodog for the areas of entertainment (i.e. we are in many international domains such as Bodog.eu)," Ayre explains. "This means Bodog cannot be trademarked by anyone else. So this—combined with its having lost all of its search ranking, along with Bodoglife.com now being the top-ranked site for Bodog search—makes Bodog.com nearly valueless to anyone but us. Anyone who bought Bodog.com, as an example, would immediately be in court with us fighting a trademark case and thus making it difficult to sell for any high amount.

"Scott Lewis and the rest of the Patent Trolls over at 1st Tech really did not understand the Internet or branding when they shut those domains off…it was a pretty stupid conclusion to a fairly sophisticated legal mugging…they got so greedy at the last moment that their hormones started making decisions…and instead of quietly telling us they could shut them off and allow us to quietly send them a face-saving payment they went ahead and did it and then sent in that now famous extortion email that we ignored," the Bodog chief taunts, although that last sentence perhaps indicates a solution that might have been.

Ayre ends his current attack with a reminder that Bodog is not in this [1st Technologies] lawsuit, reiterating that the company is "...an assetless ex-supplier that shut down its operations in Sept. 2006 and was doing domain management for us that got sued."

Indicating that the legal battle has some time yet to run, he adds: "This is only a domain rights law issue to Bodog; it's not a patent case from our perspective. There is no winning outcome in this case left for the Patent Trolls over at 1st Tech. Even if they are finally able to sell the domains they stole from us, this will not cover their legal bills to date…and I predict their bills have only just begun with some of the fun I see coming their way."

It appears that 1st Technologies is maintaining the low profile approach to the issue that has characterised its claims to date - no further statements have been issued.

ICANN to fast-track internationalized domain names

2007-12-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will speed development of country-coded top-level domains and local-language scripting, the group announced Wednesday at the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro.

ICANN, the worldwide nonprofit organization that regulates the Internet's domain name system, or DNS, has launched its campaign to provide internationalized country code top-level domains, or ccTLDs--those that don't use Latin characters--as soon as possible with the help of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization, an ICANN policy development body for ccTLD issues.

"A lot of hard work has been done on IDNs (internationalized domain names) and there is a technical evaluation of their impact...going on as we speak," ccNSO Chairman Chris Disspain said in a statement.

"The next step is to develop the policies that will see the creation of new top-level domains in characters from the languages of the world," Disspain said.

ICANN's board approved the establishment of an IDN working group at a meeting in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Now on News.com

CAD software is the new black Photos: Cracking open a lightsaber Dell--not the PC maker you used to know Extra: Freedom of speech online

"The goal behind the fast-track process is to find a way to represent territory identifications in their local languages in operation as ccTLDs as quickly as possible," said Disspain.

Disspain went on to say that the immediate goal in the process is to establish ccTLDs in the "areas of highest need" first, and to avoid any unnecessary impositions on the long-term plans for the full implementation of IDNs.

"This fast-track process will really be driven by those who want to take part and get their name in their language on their Internet in their country," Disspain said.

The announcement comes less than a month after ICANN elected New Zealand lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush as its new chairman, replacing Internet pioneer Vint Cerf.

Marcus Browne of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.

Google Shuffles Lots Of Domains

2007-12-09T09:21:00.002-08:00

Google Shuffles Lots Of Domains

The DNS admins had plenty to do at Google this week, with a lot of domain names being moved to Google's servers.

What do techicage, logiquate, and macroslash all have in common, besides a .com suffix? They are all Google domains, entered nice and neatly on their name servers, according to Resource Shelf.

Industry observers tracking Google's moves in the mobile phone space, particularly with regards to its Android software, will find so many Android domains that it looks like a Star Trek convention hacked Google's DNS boxes.

Owners of asian domains may register asia-domains in Sunrise Period

2007-12-09T09:21:00.001-08:00

Sunrise Period 2b,2c and 3 of asia-domains has started at November 13th.The sunrise period of asia-domains ends 2008/1/15.

SR2b: General Marks Sunrise for newer trademarks (applied for before December 6, 2006) or marks that have not yet been actively used

SR2c: Extended Protection for trademark owners to protect their brands beyond the term itself but also domain names that are relevant to their lines of businesses: e.g. XYZ.Asia and XYZcomputers.Asia.

These possibilities have been extended:

- Consideration for Registered Marks without Nice Classification
- Combination of 2 or more Registered Marks as an Acceptable Extension

Acceptable Extensions have been broadened to include words and phrases used in the described goods and services for a Registered Mark, especially where a mark is registered with a trademark office that does not implement the Nice Classification system. Acceptable Extensions will also include combination of two (2) or more Registered Marks in their entirety (Exact Match and Acceptable Match).

SR3: Sunrise 3 (SR3) of asia-domains allows companies in the region to protect and use their name with the asia-domain.

The following addendum was introduced to Sunrise 3 (SR3):
- Considerations for commonly used short forms and omission of locality indications
- Acceptance of standard Romanization and Transliterations for Company Names
- Acceptance of standard Romanization and Transliterations for Trademarks
- Registered Marks Containing an Existing TLD as a Suffix
- Domain names that were subject of proceedings under the UDRP

The Acceptable Match considerations are enhanced to allow for initials and short forms of an Entity Name, as well as the omission of locality indications (e.g. the city, prefecture, province or country identifiers included in an Registered Entity Name). SR3 is also expanded for standard Romanized form of Entity Names and Registered Marks.
Finally, SR3 will also accept Domain Names Applied For based on an exact match to a domain name that was subject of a UDRP proceeding decision.

You can also register an asia-domain, if your trade mark has a suffix of a top level domain. Roger.asia can be registered, if your trade mark protects roger.com.

Readers can explore more details at www.registry.asia/draft/DotAsia-Sunrise-Addendum--FINALDRAFT-2007-10-12.pdf

Registered Name Holders of certain ccTLD extensions in Asia may apply for the same asia-domain during SR3. No further documentary evidence needs to be submitted unless requested by the .ASIA Registry.
- The Applicant must declare the particular ccTLD extension the SR3 application is based on.
- The WHOIS information obtained at the ccTLD registry should correspond with the Registrant Contact information submitted.
- The Domain Name Applied for must correspond to the Entity Name.

Applicable ccTLDs include .com.au, .co.jp, .co.kr, .com.hk, .com.my and others. A list of the applicable ccTLD extensions is included in Appendix A of the Special Advisory.

Interested readers can see more details there:
www.registry.asia/draft/DotAsia-SR3-Advisory--2007-11-09.pdf

Hans-Peter Oswald

www.domainregistry.de/asia.html

You may re-publish this article without any fees, but you should mention the author and the URL at the end of the article

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year! How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for French GDI Affiliate Program for German GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese GDI Affiliate Program for Korean GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Lapsed Domains Snapped up in Seconds

2007-12-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

Lapsed Domains Snapped up in Seconds

Website owners have been warned to keep their registration up to date because lapsed domain names are being snapped up within 10 seconds of becoming available.

Re-registration, which has to be done every two years, can cost as little as £5 but you can pay ten times as much to get an address back - and sometimes far more. Names are regularly sold for more than £100,000, and some for as much as £1m.

Registrants are warned by email to renew, but many do inform registrars that their addresses have changed. There is a 60-day grace period after the expiry date, which the name will no longer work but can still be renewed; but then the name is up for grabs.

A report from Nominet, the not-for-profit company that controls .co.uk registration, says there is a growing secondary market in domain names with some organizations hoarding large numbers of them.

Ownership is often split across a number of companies, so figures are hard to come by, but analysis has shown that around 50 individuals or organizations each own more than 3,000 domain names - between them accounting for five per cent of the .co.uk total.

Trading in domain names is one of two ways "domain warehousers" make money.

The other, often done in parallel, is to attach the name to a rudimentary site with commercial links that can earn click-through revenues. Such sites get hits either by clever search-engine optimization of by having names close to those of legitimate sites.

Phil Kingsland, marketing director of Nominet, said most lapsed names stem from people who have either ceased trading or never really used the addresses.

"There is a grey area around using names that people or organizations believe they have a right to," he said.

Nominet has a dispute resolution system for companies who feel their brand is being 'abused' in a web address, though cases do sometimes reach the courts.

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year! How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for French GDI Affiliate Program for German GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese GDI Affiliate Program for Korean GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

More on domain dropcatching...

2007-12-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Edwin Hayward of MemorableDomains.co.uk really doesn’t like me comparing domainers with ticket touts. “Until you can take a step back and acknowledge the total legitimacy of the domain resale business on a par with any other line of business, the rest of the discussion is fruitless,” he says. “If you're willing to recast the debate as being purely about the current domain deletion/drop/re-registration system, then that's another matter.”

I’ll happily do exactly as Hayward asks. Let me state very clearly that domaining is totally above board. Nominet thinks so. And I happen to have a few domains for sale myself. So yes, it’s the current cancellation and re-registration process that I believe needs attention, not the business of trading domains in general.

However, I’m not going to step back from the comparison with ticket touts.

“All you had to do to have a reasonable chance - as much as most other people - at a given [suspended] domain was to book it with a drop catcher,” Hayward explains “There are anywhere between half a dozen and a dozen public-facing drop catchers.”

Or in other words, if I’d paid a tout I might have got a ticket.

“What you have to realise,” Hayward adds, “is that beyond the folks who may be exploiting a loophole in the Nominet system (a very selective bit of quoting, in your follow-up post) there are many who play for high stakes totally legitimately, and have invested five figures or more to develop and constantly refine their own drop-catching software, host at the fastest possible servers with the least number of network hops to Nominet, etc. Of course they're going to do better than the average person, just like in any other undertaking where someone is approaching it from scratch and trying to compete against others who do it full-time for a living (competitive sports are a great example).”

Ticket touts, who profit from the arbitrage on a scarce resource just like domainers, also often apply a dedicated, hard-work ethic to their endeavour. As a result they often secure tickets ahead of ordinary punters and proceed to sell them on at whatever the market will bear. So I can't really see where the analogy breaks down. Other than the fact that Nominet’s rules don’t forbid it, whereas most ticket-issuing venues insist that their tickets aren’t transferable. And while ticket touting is widely hated (much like domaining), it’s not illegal.

“Getting back to the thrust of the issue,” Hayward says, thankfully, “what Nominet really needs to do is to devote a few more resources into ironing out any loopholes in the current system. If there were no back doors, no ways to ‘cheat’ the system ... then it's one possible fair system - amateurs (non-domain specialists such as small business owners and individuals) get some names at little cost or effort (through the drop catchers) and those willing to invest massive resources and funds (the pros - the near-fulltime drop catchers and domain investors) get more, because they put in more... and that's how it should be. It's called capitalism!”

This is quite a persuasive argument, putting the ball firmly in Nominet’s court. In the document I quoted yesterday, Nominet’s Emily Taylor said: “Nominet is expending significant resources in dealing with dropcatching, which is disproportionate to the percentage of our registrars who are engaged in this activity. We would prefer to focus resources on programmes which will benefit the majority of registrars.”

But given that Nominet is asking what it should do with its cash reserves, I don’t see why anyone should feel that funds allocated to enforcing the rules on dropcatching would not be money well spent. If Nominet can afford to close the loopholes, and it can, it has a duty to do so.

Finally, Hayward argues against a sealed bid system for suspended domains: “It means that the amateurs will get nothing since all the good names will be scooped up by those with the deepest pockets. This may be ‘fairer’ - and that is arguable - but I am positive it will be perceived externally as being even less fair than the current situation.”

I’m not as positive about this as Hayward. As he observes, the most successful dropcatchers are currently those who spend the most on their software and hardware and then sell caught domains on at market rates to those that can afford them. That's two sets of deep pockets standing between punters and lapsed domains.

It may be that there is no fair system, but I’m pleased that Nominet is at least looking for one.

Domain name - online casino. Online Gambling Domain Names. Domains

2007-12-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Finding a quality domain name is very hard, and specially when you don't know where to look. Good Gambling domain names are very rare. When you visit GamblingNames.com and e21.com you will see the very best portfolio of high quality domain names for the gambling industry.

/24-7PressRelease/ - DELAWARE, November 14, 2007 - Finding a quality domain name is very hard, and specially when you don't know where to look. Good Gambling domain names are very rare.
When you visit GamblingNames.com and e21.com you will see the very best portfolio of high quality domain names for the gambling industry.

Paul Wilson the manager and domain name expert explains: "There are millions of domain names offered for sale, but it's amazing to see that so few are high quality. Gambling is a multi billion dollar very profitable booming industry, both online and land-based, and to be competitive, you can't afford not to have a quality domain name. We keep on buying domain names, and can easily go through entire lists to find nothing that meets our high standards for quality."

"It truly pays to invest in quality, and we are the only true specialist of quality domain names for the gambling industry. You will notice the high quality right away, with one domain name better than the next"

Here are some examples, but there are so many more:

Luckily.com
Bettors.com
Punter.com
MacauCasino.com
CasinoWorld.com
EuropeanPoker.com
GamblingWorld.com
GoldClub.com
MacaoCasino.com
CasinoPoker.com
LondonCasino.com
ParadiseCasino.com
GamingMagazine.com
PokerJackpot.com
EuropeanCasino.com
BestCasinos.com
GoldCasino.com
AsianCasino.com
JackpotCasino.com
CanadianCasino.com

The portfolio you see at http://GamblingNames.com and http://e21.com is widely recognized as the best in the world, and it's easy to see why when you visit the sites.

At http://GamblingNames.com and http://e21.com you deal directly with the owners, so why pay more, when you can negotiate directly with the owners? We also offer easy finance or leasing instantly available from the owners with no formality, and with 0% interest.

GamblingNames.com specializes in high quality generic Gambling Domain Names that will generate great profits, and are also excellent investments and appreciating assets.

You can find additional details at these pages:
http://domains.e21.com/Best-Gambling-Domains
http://domains.e21.com

Paul Wilson
Domain name expert
http://GamblingNames.com
http://e21.com

For more information please use our contact form:
http://e21.com/contactform.html

We have been actively involved with domain names since early 1997 and our associated companies also developed over 450 web sites. We currently have over 50 new sites under development.

# # #

Email article to a friend

Press Release Keywords:

betting, casino, casinos, domain, european, gambling, land-based, las, macao, macau, marketing, name, names, online, poker, sportsbook, vegas

Read more Press Releases from Paul Wilson:

Other Similar Press Release Topics:

Sunrise Period of my-domains

2007-12-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

The registry of my-domains is introducing 2nd level my-domains. The sunrise period will last till 2007/12/31.

Existing third level my-domains owner will qualify to register the equivalent second level my-domain name during the Priority Entry period.

All third level my-domains registered up to 5pm, 26th October 2007 which are active at the point of application of second level my-domain are eligible for the Priority Entry period.

In cases where there are multiple applications for the same second level my-domain priority will be given to the registrant with the earliest registered third level domain name.

In the landrush period everybody can register free my-domains.

ICANN Registrar Secura permits pre-registration for sunrise period and

landrush period of my-domais.

Hans-Peter Oswald

http://www.domainregistry.de/my-domain.html

Abdruck und Veroeffentlichung honorarfrei!Der Text

kann veraendert werden.

ICANN-Registrar Secura GmbH

Hans Peter Oswald

Am Alten Posthof 4-6

Koeln, NRW 50667

Germany

Phone: +49 221 2571213

Fax: +49 221 9252272

secura@web.de

http://www.domainregistry.de;http://www.com-domain.com

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year! How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for French GDI Affiliate Program for German GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese GDI Affiliate Program for Korean GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Idea Brokerz has for sale travel related domains

2007-12-09T09:15:00.001-08:00

Los Angeles, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Idea Brokerz, Corp. (IdeaBrokerz.com), a broker and appraiser of top tier intellectual property primarily trading in domain names, toll free vanity numbers, patents, trademarks, and copyrights has received funding to acquire under priced intellectual property from private parties or distressed companies.

Idea Brokerz is seeking top tier IP in primarily English speaking countries such as the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia. The company will accept proposals via email only. Please email all proposals to Info@IdeaBrokerz.com.

The company currently has the following assets available for sale:
90210.travel, BeverlyHills90210.travel, LosAngelesCalifornia.travel, MiamiFlorida.travel, SanDiegoCalifornia.travel, NexTag.travel, PriceRunner.travel, Kayak.travel, SHOP.travel, LOCAL.travel 1-800-FOR SALE 1-800-CELL PHONE 1-800-MARKETING 1-800-MESSAGE

All interested parties are instructed to contact the company directly.

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year! How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese GDI Affiliate Program for English GDI Affiliate Program for French GDI Affiliate Program for German GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese GDI Affiliate Program for Korean GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

VeriSign Slims Down, Focusing On Security, Domains

2007-12-09T09:14:00.001-08:00

Ed Sutherland - AHN Editor

Mountain View, CA (AHN) - VeriSign will sell off several of its businesses, in a move meant to refocus on the company's security and Internet domain services.

The financial diet comes as investors charge VeriSign has gained too much weight. Selling its communications businesses allows the company to retain units responsible for about 60 percent of its revenue.

Between 2004 and 2006, VeriSign acquired 15 technology businesses.

VeriSign is already discussing with cell phone carriers and venture capital firms interested in buying the units, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing unnamed company executives.

If no buyers are found, VeriSign will close the divested businesses.

AdventNet Adds Support for Windows Workgroups and Multi-Domains to Its Desktop Management Suite

2007-12-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

AdventNet Inc., the leading provider of affordable network management software, today announced the release of Desktop Central, its leading Desktop Management Software. The new release supports managing Windows Workgroup-based network in addition to Active Directory-based Domain setup and multiple Domains.

Key features of Desktop Central include:

--  Windows Configuration
--  Patch and Service Pack Management
--  Software Deployment
--  Inventory Management
--  Remote Control and Windows Tools
--  User Logon Reports
--  Active Directory Reports

"We have met patch management and secured controls required for Federal Compliance by implementing ManageEngine Desktop Central. Our workstations are now more organized, manageable, and secure than we could have ever imagined possible," says Steven Deines of Bank of Holden, a satisfied customer.

"Adding support for Windows workgroups is a significant enhancement as it has opened the door to many small and medium enterprises that do not have an Active Directory setup in their network," says Mathivanan, Director -- Product Development at AdventNet. "With more and more customers looking for an integrated solution to cater to all their enterprise desktop management needs, we believe Desktop Central is a viable option as it is affordable and easy to use," he added.

Availability and Pricing

The latest release of Desktop Central can be downloaded directly from our website (www.desktopcentral.com). Desktop Central offers a 30-day evaluation license of the Professional Edition. A permanent Free Edition is also available for small businesses. The annual subscription price for the Professional Edition starts at $545 for 50 systems.

About AdventNet

Enabling Management Your Way™

Founded in 1996, AdventNet is a software company with a broad portfolio of elegantly designed, affordable products and web services. AdventNet offerings span a spectrum of vertical areas, including network & systems management (ManageEngine.com), security (SecureCentral.com), collaboration, CRM & office productivity applications (Zoho.com), database search and migration (SQLOne.com), and test automation tools (QEngine.com).

AdventNet and its global network of partners provide solutions to multiple market segments including: OEMs, global enterprises, government, education, small and medium-sized businesses and to a growing base of management service providers. www.adventnet.com, www.zoho.com

Internationalized Country Code Top-Level Domains

2007-12-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Internationalized Country Code Top-Level Domains

RIO DE JANEIRO - Getting country-code Top Level Domains up and running in scripts from local languages through a fast-track process will be explained at an information session being held at the Internet Governance Forum on November 14, 2007 in Rio, a press release by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) stated.

The session, put on by ICANN and the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), will provide interested governments and Internet communities with information on the work being done to get internationalized ccTLDs — the part of the domain name after the dot — up and running as quickly as possible.

"A lot of hard work has been done on IDNs — and there is a technical evaluation of their impact on the root zone going on as we speak," ccNSO Chair Chris Disspain said.

"The next step is to develop the policies that will see the creation of new top-level domains in characters from the languages of the world," he added.

"The goal behind the fast-track process is to find a way to represent territory identifications in their local languages in operation as ccTLDs as quickly as possible in the areas of highest need, without impacting the long term policy process for the full implementation of IDNs across the globe," Disspain continued.

The idea of an Internationalized Domain Names (IDNC) working group was put forward by the ccNSO council and approved by ICANN’s board at the Los Angeles meeting that wrapped up earlier this month.

"This fast-track process will really be driven by those who want to take part and get their name in their language on their Internet in their country," Disspain concluded.

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet.

Nominet examines .uk domain dropcatching

2007-12-09T09:11:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I began looking at the registration of recently expired .uk domains, prompted by this month’s Nominet report on the state of the domain name system. The report shows that a significant minority of expired domains (about one in 14) is registered within 10 seconds of becoming available for new ownership.

Dropcatching - grabbing expiring domains - is perfectly legal under Nominet’s rules. After all, the old owners only have themselves to blame if they lose ownership inadvertently. However, as I wrote yesterday, it’s unclear why Nominet has not made the resale process fairer - particularly given that some domains are worth very large sums of money.

It turns out that Nominet addressed this topic at the 7 November meeting of its Policy Advisory Body (PAB). Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet, wrote a paper on domain re-registration specifically for that meeting.

Taylor told me this afternoon that there is often “a gap between what people expect, and what is actually happening”, but that Nominet is wary of introducing changes that might make matters worse. As she puts it, “Is there a problem, and if so what is a proportionate and effective response?”

Yesterday I suggested a sealed bid system might be appropriate, and indeed Taylor says Nominet has discussed “a wide spectrum” of responses: “If people think there should be a more even playing field, there’s a lot that can be done,” she said. Indeed, the agenda for the 7 November meeting lists the re-registration topic under “Wait list, auctions and lotteries”.

It seems clear to me that change is needed. As Taylor explained, some naive domain owners have even assumed that the easiest way to switch registrar is to let the domain lapse and re-register with a different firm. As Taylor’s paper explains, this tends not to work: “We are routinely asked how best to acquire a domain name if it is not renewed. The honest answer is ‘you won’t’... The technical resources and ability of dropcatchers make it highly unlikely that ‘ordinary registrants’ will be able to register a domain name on cancellation.”

As the report explains, even legitimate registrars would be lucky to successfully dropcatch a valuable domain:

“• Significant advantage is gained by a minority of registrars who circumvent our current systems (e.g. through creating fictitious memberships, and thus doubling access limits). We actively look for these and have implemented additional checks, but the practice continues.
• We are concerned that our current systems and processes may favour a very small subset of our stakeholders, to the detriment of the majority. Whilst fair competition between registrars is beneficial to the wider community, we are becoming increasingly concerned that advantage for a few is being gained through unfair means.”

Despite these findings, Taylor says change is not imminent. “It’s really early days and it’s hard to tell you the timescales - it could be months - it takes time to consult and to get [our response] right,” she said. “The PAB gives advice, but we also do wider consultations very regularly. It may well be appropriate to go wider in this case.”

Nominet is clearly interested in feedback on this issue, so if you have a view - either in favour of the status quo or urging for change, you should not hesitate to let Nominet know.

To check the other side of the coin, I contacted some of the people who took issue with my post yesterday, who I assumed to be domain traders set up as registrars.

Tony, who said he is not a registrar affiliated with Nominet, said, “I do not have any objections to a sealed bid system in principle ... [but it] would not work, however, because although you highlight that it would ‘make more money for Nominet’ (a mere profit shifting exercise at best), Nominet cannot be seen to make a profit - and I believe its articles of association would prevent it from doing this.”

Tony is right - any sealed bid system or other mechanism would have to be done at arm’s length, through third-party registrars, because Nominet is a not-for-profit organisation. And as Tony pointed out, Nominet already brings in more revenue than it knows what to do with. “I would much rather the company revised the charges it makes, but it is clear that Nominet UK would rather continue to amass this level of reserves, and frankly distribute them in a way which was not really intended when the company was established,” Tony said. “I rather think that Nominet UK is an iceberg, in that there is significantly more to it than most people can see.”

Tony added: “It may surprise you to know that in a fair number of cases, [domain traders] are just as critical of Nominet UK as you appear to be. Maybe for different reasons, I acknowledge, but it stems from the underlying problem of [Nominet’s] monopoly position ... and the fact that it is a private company.”

There are clearly two sides to this debate, but ordinary businesses and end users are unarguably caught in the middle.

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Windows Live Custom Domains renamed to Admin Center - New features added

2007-12-09T09:10:00.001-08:00

Windows Live Custom Domains has today undergone its Wave 2 update that sees it renamed as Windows Live Admin Center, though the old url of domains.live.com still works. This name change reflects the wider array of features now offered by the service, which has transitioned from a hosted email service into a more complete Windows Live package. The update now allows those who manage a domain to redirect a subdomain to a Windows Live Space, a Windows Live Map of a location you specifiy, a Live Search page complete with custom macros or even a customised live.com page. To see what this means, check out the urls we've redirected:

http://spaces.liveside.net/
http://maps.liveside.net/
http://mail.liveside.net

The new Windows Live Admin Center now allows co-branding of Windows Live sites. Users who manage a domain through Windows Live have the ability to add their own logo to the Windows Live Header, which is the same experience as that provided by Windows Live partners such as Verizon and Qwest.

Additionally this update extends the Windows Live @ Edu scheme to two new markets.

Windows Live @ Net enables IT managers to host their services
Windows Live Community builder allows communities to host their services

Although a basic service, Windows Live Admin Center does the job well and with the minimum of fuss. We've been using it as our mail service for over a year, as it allows you to use both Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Mail to manage your inboxes. What would be great to see is statistics for the redirected subdomains, showing just how many people are using your Windows Live pages. Maybe a redirect for your personal SkyDrive folder too. Any other improvement suggestions?

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

CrossFrame - Safe, Cross Domain Widget Coordination for Mashups

2007-12-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Julien Lecomte, a member of Yahoo!'s DHTML Evangelist Team, has announced the release of "CrossFrame, a Safe Communication Mechanism Across Documents and Across Domains". The "hack", as Julien puts it, allows intra page communication between IFrames from different domains hosted in a web page. Traditionally, this has been difficult due to the browser's "Same Origin Policy" which prevents communication with resources from separate domains as a security precaution. CrossFrame builds on the URL fragment identifier approach, addressing two significant issues:

Unnecessarily consuming CPU cycles by requiring the receiver to poll.
Creating "fake" history entries on Safari and Opera.

CrossFrame works by ensuring that cross domain sites have shared knowledge of variables used in the hosting page. The process works in two steps:

In order to communicate with the mashup hosted in domain Y, the page, hosted in domain X, dynamically creates a hidden IFrame and points it to a special proxy file hosted in domain Y, using the URL fragment identifier to convey the message (step 1) When the special proxy file is loaded in the hidden IFrame, it reads its URL fragment identifier and passes it to a globally accessible function defined in the IFrame hosting the mashup (step 2) using parent.frames['mashup'] to get to it.

Using CrossFrame is simply a matter installing the proxy file, importing the required javascript libraries and using javascript to send and receive:

To receive messages, subscribe to the onMessage event:

YAHOO.util.CrossFrame.onMessageEvent.subscribe(
    function (type, args, obj) {
        var message = args[0];
        var domain = args[1];
        // Do something with the incoming message...
    }
);

To send a message, call YAHOO.util.CrossFrame.send():

YAHOO.util.CrossFrame.send("http://www.y.com/proxy.html",
                           "frames['mashup']",
                           "message");

To get a feel of how this works in a browser, a demonstration has been set up here.

Facebook have also used the idea of using IFrames for communication in their Beacon tool. In his blog post "Deconstructing Facebook Beacon Javascript", Jay Goldman characterizes its use as:

a neat side-step of the Cross-site Scripting security features in modern browsers

Indeed, at the end of his article, Julien warns of the dangers of using CrossFrame:

There is a danger associated with this kind of “hack”. First of all, browser vendors may decide to change their security policies and mimic Opera’s behavior for example.

continuing with

Furthermore, I do not recommend using hacks because they slow down the rate of innovation on the web

and concluding

Therefore, as paradoxical as it may seem, I do not recommend using CrossFrame (or any of those ugly hacks for that matter)

Unfortunately, developers today have very few options when it comes to a sanctioned intra-widget communication technique. While proposals have been made to address this issue, it will be some time before browsers have implemented a standardized approach to solving this problem. In the mean time, the CrossFrame hack is a viable alternative for developers that absolutely need something that works in today's browsers.

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

ICANN to fast track internationalised domain names

2007-12-09T09:07:00.002-08:00

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced its plans to fast track the development of country-coded top level domains (ccTLDs) and local language scripting at the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.

ICANN, the worldwide not-for-profit organisation that regulates the internet's domain name system (DNS) has launched its campaign to provide internationalised ccTLDs — those that don't use Latin characters — as soon as possible with the help of the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO).

"A lot of hard work has been done on IDNs [internationalised domain names] — and there is a technical evaluation of their impact on the root zone going on as we speak," said ccNSO chairman Chris Disspain in a statement.

"The next step is to develop the policies that will see the creation of new top-level domains in characters from the languages of the world," Disspain said.

ICANN's board approved the establishment of an IDN working group at a meeting in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Read this

Fast: 'Ban them from any internet use'

John Lovelock, the head of the Federation Against Software Theft, explains why ISPs should ban those accused of illegal file-sharing

"The goal behind the fast-track process is to find a way to represent territory identifications in their local languages in operation as ccTLDs as quickly as possible," said Disspain.

"This fast-track process will really be driven by those who want to take part and get their name in their language on their internet in their country," Disspain said.

The announcement comes less than a month after ICANN elected New Zealand lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush as its new chairman, replacing internet pioneer Vint Cerf.

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Latino groups seek .LAT domain to transcend political boundaries

2007-12-09T09:07:00.001-08:00

The Latino community may soon have its own top-level domain, .LAT, if a proposal by two organizations goes through. eCOM-LAC, an organization that works to ensure regional representation of Latin America, and NIC Mexico, the entity that manages the top-level domain of .MX for Mexico, announced the new extension earlier this month as an effort to "identify, differentiate, and add value to Internet resources related with Latinos."

Because Latin American culture extends far beyond the geographical boundaries of any one (or several) countries, the organizations feel that .LAT will help identify culturally-targeted sites to the community and the rest of the world. The domain extension has not yet been approved by ICANN, but the definition of .LAT will get the ball rolling while eCOM-LAC and NIC Mexico complete the application to have it approved as a new top-level domain.

ICANN's Jason Keenan told us that there is still currently no process to apply for new TLDs, however—the process for approving new domains is still in development. Therefore, any talk of applying for new domains is just "batting around ideas" in advance of ICANN's next round of applications, which is expected to open in mid-2008. Depending on the complexity of the application and how much contention there is over the same string, some applications will gain approval quickly while others will take quite a bit longer.

If approved, .LAT will become one of the first TLDs based on an ethnic group instead of being limited by country. The first, according to Keenan, was .CAT for Catalonians (for those not familiar, Catalonia is an autonomous community within Spain). With a new TLD approval process coming in 2008, .LAT and .CAT could be just the beginning of a bigger wave of domains focused around culture and lifestyle. We may one day see TLDs like .GLBT or .BIKE for the gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans and cycling communities, for example. The question is: who plans to beat me to applying for .NERD?

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Attackers abusing trusted domain names

2007-12-09T09:03:00.001-08:00

Researchers from Finjan Inc.'s Malicious Code Research Center (MCRC) say hackers are using a loophole in the domain name registration process to circumvent Web site blockers and prolong the duration of their attacks.

Hackers are buying domain names made to look as though they belong to legitimate companies but contain hard-to-notice spelling errors. Users who miss the misspellings could find themselves on a Web page designed to infect their machines with malware, Finjan CTO Yuval Ben-Itzhak said in an interview Thursday. The MCRC came across the trick in October when searching for popular services with a slight change of the top-level domain.

Such spoofing tactics are popular among phishers, and the increased abuse of domain names lead to the creation of an organization to fight it earlier this year.

In one case, the researchers found a site taking advantage of a domain name similar to a legitimate popular service, laced with malicious code designed to download and execute a Trojan on the victim's machine. The malicious code itself is located on the abused domain name, Ben-Itzhak noted. The malicious site was still active as of Oct. 28, he said.

"IT departments are blocking specific domain names for whatever reason and hackers realize that if they keep putting malware on low-reputation sites the chances are greater that they will be blocked," he said. "As a result, they're stepping up efforts to go after respected and trusted servers, domains and IP addresses."

Since registering a domain name is not a process that is being adequately policed and scrutinized, he said, attackers have the potential to create a malicious Web site using any domain name they like, provided it isn't already taken. Finjan's research indicates that criminals have taken advantage of the so-called loophole to create "copycat" sites intended to host Web-based attacks.

He noted that when using URL classification or reputation as a security method, requests to URLs or domains known to be malicious can be blocked regardless of the content on the page. But the effectiveness of such blocking requests relies on maintaining an up-to-date list of sites. Because of the rapid growth and volume of malware hosted online, gathering sufficient data as quickly as malicious domains appear (and disappear) on the Web is almost impossible.

"As web site content is becoming more volatile and domain names can be set up for brief periods of time, keeping track of malicious content on the Web is becoming ever more difficult, and when attacks involve a domain name that is strikingly similar in spelling to the domains of legitimate sites and hosted on trusted IP addresses, this enables the bad guys to go unnoticed by most Webmasters," Ben-Itzhak added.

To protect users from such tactics, he urged businesses to adopt real-time inspection tools that analyze each piece of Web content regardless of its URL or IP address.

"If you base security on white and black lists you will fail," he said. "You need a layer that in real-time can spot sinister activity -- real-time scanning of Web content about to enter your enterprise."

While Finjan has identified a new variation of domain name abuse, the tactic is not necessarily new. Spoofing trusted brands and Web sites has long been a staple in phishing attacks. In fact, a new organization called the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) was formed earlier this year partly in response to the threat.

CADNA members, some of whom have fallen victim to domain name fraud, include American International Group, Inc, Bacardi & Company Limited, Dell Inc., Hilton Hotels Corp., Marriott International, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and Yahoo! Inc.

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Web Host Nexx Online Inc. Cuts Domain Name Prices

2007-12-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

Price of .com, .net, .org, .info and .biz domain names reduced to $7.95 per year.

Nexx Online Inc., a Buffalo, New York-based Web host, has reduced the price of its domain names.

Its .com, .net, .org, .info and .biz domains now cost $7.95 (USD) per year. The domains include a basic Webpage with 25MB of disk space and an e-mail account featuring a calendar, address book and spam filtering. Other features include domain WHOIS privacy to keep the site owner’s personal information secure from identity theft and spam attacks plus full DNS management with the user-friendly Nexx control panel.

“ICANN and Verisign administration fees have spiked and as a result, registrars have been pushing their costs on to consumers by raising domain prices,� Jason Matheson, Nexx旧 Product manager, said in a statement issued by the company. 巣e, on the other hand, have cut our price to $7.95 per year - even at renewal.”

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish

Moniker Geo-Domain Auction Ends Today

2007-12-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Moniker Geo-Domain Auction Ends Today

Silent auction ends starting at 3PM EST today.

The silent auction portion of Moniker’s first-ever geo domains auction ends today. Auctions will start concluding at approximately 3PM EST, but many will last into the evening.

A quick review shows limited bidding thus far, which may mean great buying opportunities. Anyone who has ever bid or registered in a previous auction can participate at no charge at silentauction.moniker.com. Prices start at $240.

Also mixed into the silent auction are domains from the Casino Affiliate Convention Macau.

Most of the geo domains include a city or state name and topic, such as:

SeattleEmployers.com $1,200
BoiseBailBonds.com $360
VirginiaShops.com $2,360
MissouriTuxedos.com $360
SacramentoBlog.com $1,180
VermontAttractions.com $3,760

Domains that didn’t sell in the live auction are also up for grabs. Bidding starts at the reseve. Two of my domains, SanFrancisco.us and KansasCity.us are available for bidding. After looking at the reserves for Memphis.us ($500k) and Denver.us ($1M), I’m wondering if my reserve on SanFrancisco.us is a bit low

[Update: As of 4:20 PM CST, the following domains have received bids:

PasadenaNews.com $3,530
VisitCapecod.net $360
BerkeleyNews.com $360
BritishColumbiaNews.com $1,180
MexicoCityBlog.com $1,180
NewJerseyCabs.com $360
NewYorkBoxOffice.com $530
WorcesterNews.com $1,180
AlaskaTravelGuide.net $360
AlaskaTravelGuide.org $360
AmazonPreserve.com $360
HamptonNews.com $1,180
UKCondos.com $240

How An Ex-Felon Banked 77 Million In A Single Year!

How Vince James Banked 100 Million in 23 Months Without The Internet

GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for Chinese
GDI Affiliate Program for English
GDI Affiliate Program for French
GDI Affiliate Program for German
GDI Affiliate Program for Japanese
GDI Affiliate Program for Korean
GDI Affiliate Program for Portuguese
GDI Affiliate Program for Spanish