Web hosting conference kicks off in Austin, Texas.

The annual HostingCon conference kicked off in Austin this morning, with organizers expecting 1,500 or more attendees. I count over 115 vendors who will be showing their wares on Tuesday and Wednesday. A number of exhibitors are domain name companies who want to get hosting companies to sell their products including domain name registrations. Among the domain name companies are:

Afilias
DotMobi (which is running the official HostingCon mobile site at hostingcon.mobi)
eNom
ResellerClub and Logic Boxes
VeriSign
Yexa (new product from Dark Blue Sea)
OpenSRS/Tucows

Of course there are bunch more domain companies here that aren’t exhibiting, including DomainSponsor.

There are a number of parallels between a web hosting conference and a domain name conference. It’s primarily men and primarily tech geeks.

You can follow the conference at #hostingcon.

ICANN Ombudsman tries to get name taken out of public record in air travel dispute.

Earlier this year DNW wrote about ICANN Ombudsman Frank Fowlie and a complaint he filed against Air Canada. A Canadian Transportation Panel found that Fowlie “engaged in abusive and offensive behaviour” on the flight. Needless to say, the complaint made Fowlie look bad. After granting an interview to the Ottawa Citizen and the media attention that ensued, Fowlie tried to get his name removed from the complaint.

Fowlie filed an application for non‑publication of his name in the decision, citing a number of reasons, according to the recently handed down decision denying his request:

-the publication of the decision has had an adverse impact on his livelihood and that since the publication of the decision and the reporting of it in online journals relating to his profession, he has become a target of media scrutiny.

-that a non-publication order is necessary to prevent a serious risk to an important interest which in this case is Dr. Fowlie’s employment as an ombudsman that carries an emphasis on public perception of impartiality and neutrality.

-the ruling has a direct and highly detrimental impact on that perception that goes beyond the scope of mere embarrassment and undermines public confidence in the Office of the Ombudsman. He alleges that this impact directly interferes with his ability to perform his job.

-the scope and nature of his employment is uniquely sensitive to matters such as the present case, and the threat to that employment posed by publication is real.

The review panel denied Fowlie’s request, citing a handful of reasons, such as Fowlie’s failure to submit evidence backing his claims.

(Hat tip George K)

Good keyword domains still available in .co.

Now that the .co landrush has ended, I have compiled a list of 265 .co domain names that weren’t picked up in the period. That means they will be available on July 20. But many of these keyword domains will be in demand, meaning you need to pre-register them. For a list of registrars and pricing for pre-registering domains, see this guide.

Please note that I haven’t checked any of these domains against trademarks, but none of them pop out to me as being an issue. You should double check yourself if you have any questions.

account.co
airways.co
Albania.co
algebra.co
alphabet.co
americanflag.co
americanhistory.co
amour.co
anchorman.co
animale.co
animales.co
animali.co
annonces.co
application.co
arabmusic.co
article.co
artlover.co
Assistent.co
asteroidi.co
authority.co
autograph.co
autopsy.co
autumn.co
avast.co
barb.co
barbara.co
Barbers.co
beachparty.co
beagle.co
beagles.co
because.co
becker.co
been.co
before.co
begin.co
behind.co
belinda.co
belong.co
below.co
beltbuckles.co
beside.co
bibliography.co
biosensors.co
birthdaycake.co
bite.co
blade.co
blocket.co
bodyart.co
bodylanguage.co
bookreviews.co
brackets.co
brainteasers.co
brass.co
brick.co
bridge.co
brisbane.co
bubblegum.co
bubbles.co
bucket.co
bunny.co
buses.co
button.co
cakedecorating.co
calcutta.co
calendario.co
caller.co
calorie.co
campbell.co
candida.co
CapeVerde.co
capricho.co
caracas.co
carpaltunnel.co
carrera.co
castration.co
caught.co
celebritygossip.co
Chad.co
chameleon.co
charges.co
cheer.co
chili.co
chosen.co
cityindex.co
civilwar.co
clara.co
cloth.co
cloths.co
coffehouse.co
collect.co
comic.co
comp.co
condition.co
Conditioners.co
cord.co
corset.co
cough.co
counter.co
courtney.co
courts.co
coverletter.co
crime.co
crimeblogs.co
crimemob.co
cure.co
cursor.co
curve.co
cushion.co
dailyhoroscope.co
dancemusic.co
dancer.co
DanceSchools.co
darts.co
decide.co
decision.co
deliveryman.co
democracy.co
destroy.co
dirtycartoons.co
dirtyjokes.co
discuss.co
discussion.co
diva.co
diversity.co
division.co
draw.co
drawing.co
dvdrecorder.co
earning.co
earthquake.co
easter.co
eatingdisorders.co
eclipse.co
editor.co
error.co
eyedoctor.co
fact.co
fairy.co
fasting.co
file.co
findajob.co
fireplace.co
flat.co
flatrate.co
flats.co
fold.co
foot.co
forest.co
forever.co
form.co
fraternity.co
from.co
funnies.co
futon.co
fux.co
gallbladder.co
Gambia.co
gather.co
geld.co
goodbye.co
goodies.co
grammar.co
greatdane.co
grupos.co
guitarcenter.co
gumtree.co
hairless.co
handle.co
haus.co
hindi.co
hochiminhcity.co
idioms.co
iguana.co
infinite.co
internetads.co
interviewquestions.co
interviewtips.co
join.co
joins.co
jointventure.co
knock.co
letter.co
libra.co
licenseplates.co
limit.co
lobbyist.co
localdirectory.co
lollipop.co
Malawi.co
mamma.co
manatee.co
mash.co
melissa.co
member.co
membership.co
metric.co
midget.co
mighty.co
mine.co
mockingbird.co
monterrey.co
mother.co
motion.co
mpeg.co
mueller.co
musicas.co
musli.co
myself.co
newlyweds.co
newmovie.co
none.co
oath.co
opticalillusion.co
ozone.co
pair.co
palmreading.co
pancreas.co
pendant.co
petfinder.co
pottery.co
poverty.co
priest.co
programas.co
proshop.co
pumps.co
rabbit.co
railway.co
railways.co
randy.co
range.co
reason.co
receipt.co
scary.co
schedule.co
sciencefair.co
seductive.co
seethrough.co
shadow.co
slingshot.co
slipknot.co
somewhere.co
soundeffects.co
soup.co
spareroom.co
spawn.co
squid.co
stern.co
stocking.co
suicide.co
supernatural.co
supernova.co
symbol.co
takeout.co
tender.co
theme.co
tournaments.co
traintimes.co
trunks.co
utahhomes.co
vest.co
voyance.co
wagner.co
waterfall.co
whip.co
woodpellets.co

.Co registrar creates innovative way to increase odds of getting your .co domain on July 20.

I’ve written about how various registrars are handling pre-registrations for .co domain names, which will become generally available July 20. None of the registrars has been explicit about how they’ll decide which domains to send to the registry first when registration becomes available.

But one registrar has come up with a nifty idea to guarantee you a spot near the top of the line when they ping the registry on July 20. At 300.com.co, run by accredited .co registrar mi.com.co, you can pay-to-play, effectively buying a specific spot in its order on July 20. For $300, you can guarantee yourself to have the first domain that mi.com.co sends to the registry on July 20. Of course, mi.com.co will be fighting with 9 other registrars, but that’s still a good position to be in.

At the time of writing it looks like the best spot available at 300.com.co is #5, which will also cost you $300. The price decreases as you move down the list, with slots 201-300 costing just $130.

Education site worried about effect of corresponding .org domain name.

This morning I came across a story about an education web site at NewsBowl.com that is worried that a marijuana site is at NewsBowl.org. The owner is worried that students will type .org after NewsBowl instead of .com and find themselves at a site about drugs.

First, it’s kind of ironic that the owner of a .com would worry about what’s on the .org equivalent, since mostly it’s the other way around. But in this case I suppose there could be some confusion because some education sites are on .org. Then again, maybe the owner of the marijuana site should be concerned, too, since some of his stoners might stumble upon the education site and learn something.

Going back in time, NewsBowl.com should have registered alternate extensions. But since it can’t, here’s my advice:

1. Realize that having a trademark to “News Bowl” for “entertainment services in the nature of a current event quiz contest” doesn’t necessarily give you rights to all uses of the term “bowl”, including the drug term.

2. Going to the press about your issue is likely to drive more traffic to the marijuana site than keeping quiet about it. It’s not like public shaming will cause the .org owner to close his site.

3. You’ve tried to contact the owner but can’t get past Domains By Proxy. I assume you’ve tried emailing the owner using the whois email address? It should be forwarded to the owner. Then again, I’m sure it’s getting you some traffic as well.

4. If you really want to find out who’s behind the site, you can proceed with a UDRP. Since Domains By Proxy is a proxy service, this will unmask the registrant. (You’ll probably lose the UDRP, though, since the registrant is using the domain for a real web site unrelated to your trademark.)

5. Your NewsBowl.com site appears to get very little traffic, so the spillover to the .org site must be minimal, too. In fact, compete.com shows no traffic for the .org.