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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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Ex-ICANN
Chairman Jumps to New gTLD Job, Google Adopts .CO &
Doors Open in Domainsville
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Peter
Dengate Thrush,
who
was ICANN's
Chairman of the Board until stepping down
from that position after last month's ICANN
international meeting in Singapore, has
already stepped into a new position, one
that will keep him closely tied to the domain
industry.
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Top
Level Domain Holdings Limited, the
only publicly traded company focused exclusively
on acquiring and operating new generic top-level
domains, today announced that Thrush has joined
the company as its Executive Chairman,
effective immediately. Thurush
is joining a company that, through its wholly
owned subsidiary Minds+Machines,is
working on plans to operate a variety of new
gTLDs, including .nyc, .eco and .radio.
At
the ICANN meeting in Singapore, Thrush led the
ICANN Board to approve the organization's
controversial roll out of an unlimited number of
new gTLDs. His shift, less than a month later,
to a leadership position in a new business that
ICANN created and has regulatory control over,
is already drawing criticism from those who view
it as a conflict of interest. None the less,
there are no regulations in place that bar such
a move and Thrush's expertise and connections in
the area of new TLDs obviously make him a very
valuable addition to any company operating
in that space.
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Peter
Dengate Thrush
Executive Chairman
Top Level Domain Holdings
Photo source: ICANNPhotos |
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TLDH
CEO Antony Van Couvering acknowleded
that, noting, “Peter will be an outstanding
asset to TLDH. Peter and I have worked together
as ICANN participants since its inception, and I
am very pleased to welcome him as our Executive
Chairman. Peter championed successfully the
approval of the new gTLD programme at the
highest levels and with Peter on board I have
every confidence we will achieve the same
success at TLDH. I can’t think of a better
addition to our team - Peter is a superstar
in our field, and we are delighted to have him
at the helm.”
Thrush
added, “I am delighted to be welcomed to this
first-class team, which has had an extensive and
productive involvement with the new gTLD
programme and which has stood out as innovative,
bold, and effective. New gTLDs represent a major
opportunity for the Company and its investors,
for TLD applicants and for the Internet
community, and I welcome the chance to make a
contribution.”
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Elsewhere
today, yet another internet giant - Google
this time - has bought a one-letter
.CO domain, G.CO (for an
undisclosed price), to use
as a URL shortener (following in the
footsteps of Amazon, GoDaddy
and Twitter among others). The
official announcement
came from .CO registry operator .CO
Internet S.A.S. this afternoon. |
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The
registry's CEO, Juan
Diego Calle, said, “We are
thrilled to have Google join the select
group of premium Internet brands that
are using the .CO domain to innovate
online. By featuring G.CO in its product
and service marketing efforts worldwide,
we are confident that Google will help
to drive massive awareness and
adoption of the .CO domain extension
in the years ahead.”
.CO
Internet S.A.S. has certainly scored
an unparalleled string of marketing
coups in a roll out that has made it the
gold standard when it comes to launching
a new TLD (in this case, actually
re-launching an existing TLD, Colombia's
country code, as a global
extension). |
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One other
note - a new domain information
portal just opened
its doors today at Domainsville.com.
The free site is the brainchild of Abdu
Tarabichi, a long time domainer who
is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Among the
site's many features are a home
page headline
feed from various
industry |
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blogs and
news services (as well as a direct
connection to Domainsville's own blog),
another section on the home page that
gives you currently active promo
codes that can be used to get
discounts from registrars and other
service providers, as well as a directory
of companies and individuals that
provide professional products and
services.
There is
also a calendar of events on the
home page that will help you keep track
of domain conferences, meet-ups,
webinars, and live auctions. Users who
are signed in can also customize,
edit, or remove information widgets
as they desire. For example, if you do
business with select domain registrars,
you can eliminate the clutter by hiding
promo codes from all other
companies.
The site,
still listed as being Beta, looks to be
off to an excellent start with a ton of
useful features all under one roof. |
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(Posted July
18, 2011)
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all current Lowdown posts - Go
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Lowdown, so please email [email protected]
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