RSVP today for next month’s domainer weekend in Austin, Texas.

It’s time to make your plans to join us in Austin for the Austin Domainer Weekend, November 12-13. You can view the invite and RSVP here.

Here’s a rough schedule of events:

Friday, November 12

8 pm to 10 pm – Dinner at Iron Cactus Mexican Grill and Margarita Bar

10 pm to ? – Night out on world famous 6th Street

Saturday, November 13

2 hours before kickoff – tailgate or pre-game party at Austin sports bar

Texas vs. Oklahoma State football game – game time has not yet been set, but is tentatively 1 PM

I’d like to thank these sponsors for contributing to the event. More details about their sponsorship will be made public soon:

Aftermarket.com
BigJumbo
Moniker/SnapNames
Traverse Legal

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to RSVP?
A: Yes, please! We need an accurate account of attendees as soon as possible in order to make sure we order the right food, reserve the right amount of space, etc.

Q: Who may attend?
A: Anyone connected to domains is welcome to come. This is a domainer meetup, Texas-style.

Q: Can I bring my spouse/kid/brother/significant other?
A: Yes, it’s encouraged. They won’t be bored by panel discussions about domains. This is a fun event. All activities (other than after dinner on Friday) are open to all ages.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: Thanks to our great sponsors, there is no cost to register for the event. We haven’t yet worked out the football ticket situation, and you might be on your own for that part. But stay tuned.

Q: Who is organizing this event?
A: Andrew Allemann of Domain Name Wire with the gracious help of fellow Austinite Lisa Box of Moniker/SnapNames.

Q: I don’t live near Austin. Is it worth attending?
A: Yes! There’s no better time to come to Austin than the fall. The weather is usually around 70 degrees, there are leaves still on the trees, and live music can be found just about everywhere. And even though the Texas Longhorns aren’t playing well this year, you need to experience the football vibe on game day.

Q: I can only make it for part of the event.
A: No problem, come for what you can. Please just give us a heads up when you RSVP so we know which events you plan to attend.

Q: I’m coming in from out of town. Where should I stay?
A: Here’s a list of hotels, but you can also find others. I recommend staying somewhere near downtown.

Court approves deal, holds back some of proceeds.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central California has handed down an order (pdf) approving the sale of Sex.com to Clover Holdings Limited for $13 million.

Upon completion of the sale, Sex.com owner Escom will pay creditor Washington Technology Associates $6,312,593 and creditor DOM Partners $3,772,545. That comes out to $10,085,138. Domain broker Sedo also gets its cut of the pie, which presumably is somewhere shy of 10%. (The company typically charges 10%, yet the court sealed the agreement between Sedo and Escom. My guess is they conceded a bit on commission. Still, it’s probably around $1 million).

That leaves a couple million that will be held onto until an objection filed by Nuthin’ But Net is resolved.

This is just the latest chapter in the Sex.com saga. But I suspect most of the parties are content with the results given where things were just a few months ago. Congratulations to everyone involved, including Sedo.

Company moves to JavaScript for domain parking.

Sedo is changing its domain name parking platform over to JavaScript, which is says should lead to higher earnings per click and RPM.

By switching to JavaScript, non-human traffic such as bots and scripts will no longer be counted in statistics. This means most Sedo customers will see reported visitor counts drop, which will thereby push up RPM (revenue per thousand) assuming valid clicks. But the company says that the switch will also enable it to better target advertisements and improve optimization. This could result in higher RPC and RPMs across the board.

Google has long been rumored to be pushing JavaScript as a best practice for domain name parking, but Sedo appears to be making this move ahead of any required changes.

The change will be made by November 1.

I’ll be at the ad:tech conference next week.

One of the reasons I chose to work with Directi’s media businesses was that it would allow me to further expand my horizon beyond domain names. Case in point: next week I’ll be at ad:tech in New York City.

I’m fairly versed in web advertising, having been involved in some way or another over the past decade. But I’ve yet to attend ad:tech, and look forward to learning more and seeing the latest in online advertising. The domain industry sometimes seems out-of-sync with other aspects of online marketing at times, and it’s important to learn from these other sectors.

If you’ll be at ad:tech next week and would like to meet up, please drop me a line. I’m happy to talk about our new contextual advertising platform, domain names, etc.

Over $600,000 in prizes awarded for TV commercials, plus Super Bowl plans

GoDaddy has selected a winner in its second user-submitted TV commercial contest. Separately, it announced today that it will run two commercials in the next SuperBowl.

The $250,000 top prize goes to Wayside Creations, which created a spot called “Russell’s Notebook“. It features a high school nerd who keeps giving his class notes to bullies. Then he gets the idea that he should create his own web site and sell the class notes. Next thing you know everyone likes him and he’s rolling in the dough. It’s a good commercial that shows that anyone can use the web to start a business.

The $100,000 second place winner features a mime who has trouble communicating on dates. He sets up a web site at MimeDating.com and finds another mime to date. The $75,000 third place winner is a rap video.