Bored of traditional domain registration? There’s a new service on the market called Tweetname that lets customers buy domains using Twitter. Simply sign up and tweet the name you want to register. You will then get a message back stating whether or not the registration was successful.

Is the service a good idea? It’s definitely innovative, but nothing more than a novelty in my opinion. The biggest downside is the price- $11.95 (£7.46) per domain. That is 33% more the price of many competitors. So I think I’ll stay with my current registrar, thanks.

Photo | Flickr

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For most companies, it is cheaper to rent data center space rather than build a server room themselves. Not for Facebook, however. The social networking site has reached the size where it is cheaper to build its own data center rather than rent space. It is expected to announce the building of a new facility soon.

Facebook spokesperson Kathleen Loughlin stated:

Facebook is always looking at ways to scale our infrastructure and better serve our users. It should come as no surprise that, at some point, building a customized data center will be the most efficient and cost effective way to to do this. However, we have nothing further to announce at this time.

While the location(s) of the data center(s) is unknown, one rumoured city is Prineville, Oregon, where a 117,000-square-foot facility has been built for an unidentified client. Whatever the location, expect Facebook’s data centers to be very efficient. They will use the latest in technology, including a recent innovation that forgoes UPS power backup for a physical battery inside every server.

Source | Data Center Knowledge
Photo | Flickr

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America’s Federal Trade Commission will hold a roundtable discussion later this month on the privacy and security of cloud computing. Social networking and mobile computing will also be covered.

David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated in a letter to the government agency:

…the ability of cloud computing services to collect and centrally store increasing amounts of consumer data, combined with the ease with which such centrally stored data may be shared with others, create a risk that larger amounts of data may be used by entities in ways not originally intended or understood by consumers.

The discussion is slated for January 28. The security and reliability of cloud computing have been under consumer scrutiny for some time. The FTC is also concerned about the wide amount of data social networking sites have access to and how it might pose a threat to consumer privacy.

Source | Data Center Knowledge

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Poken manufacturer DoYouPoken.com has bought the domain Poken.com for £45,135 ($75,000 USD). It will serve as the new home for the social gadget site.

Pokens are devices used to share social networking data and contact information. They allow two people to wirelessly beam these details to one another in a manner similar to exchanging business cards.

Other recent sales:

dmg.com- $64,000
it.de- €36,100
onlinebingo.fr- €36,000
d.de- €35,000
clubbeats.com- $25,000
miel.com- $15,000 (Spanish for “honey”)
inkpixie.com- $11,200
winzer.com- €10,000 (German for “grape picker”)

Source | Domain Name Wire
Photo | Flickr

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Wordpress is best known as the world’s most popular blogging platform. Now it’s the owner WP.me, the only two-letter .me domain in the world.

The name will be used for a free URL redirection service for bloggers hosting on the Wordpress site, similar to Bit.ly on Twitter. Wordpress not only makes a great CMS, but also provides free subdomain hosting for blogs.

Wordpress was able to obtain the name through a special agreement with the .ME registry. Most domain operators do not allow the sale of names under three letters.

WP.me seems to have been given as a gift, which was probably a good PR move for .ME. Wordpress’s use of the domain will likely give the extension some much-needed attention.

Source | The Domains

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There are all sorts of tools out there for checking domain availability, but what about social networking usernames? Namechk is a free tool that will check the availability of any username on 130 websites.

Why is this relevant to domainers? Website marketing these days is all about social networking. Before registering a domain for a new site, it might be beneficial to make sure the name is also available on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Flickr, Blogger, and StumbleUpon.

Developing a successful site goes beyond owning a good domain. It is also important to manage your brand. You don’t want your website name to already be a username on social networking sites, especially if it is going to be an authority in your niche.

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I read an interesting piece today about Sarah Palin’s use of social media and her problems with cybersquatting. She not only failed to obtain her name on Twitter, but will need to find a new handle now that she is no longer Governor of Alaska.

Thinking only in the short term, either Palin or one of her staff members (most likely the latter) registered @AKGovSarahPalin as her handle some time ago. More than 63,000 followers and one resignation later, her username no longer fits and she will need to find a new one once she leaves office a month from now.

Palin’s best move would have been to register @SarahPalin as her handle. Even if the Alaskan governor didn’t foresee her resignation when she joined Twitter, what about her next job? I honestly doubt Palin expected to remain governor forever. She should have gone through the legal ropes to get @SarahPalin and saved herself the hassle later.

Continue reading: What Sarah Palin and Twitter can teach us about domain names

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With the Iranian government blocking most contact with the outside world in the midst of the election crisis, Twitter has become an important line of communication for activists and protesters.

A network upgrade at Twitter’s data center was originally scheduled to take place Monday evening, but now the company has decided to postpone in order to keep the site active and available to Iranians.

Twitter’s data center has had to deal with an unprecedented load because of a traffic increase over the last several months. The upgrade is only expected to take half an hour.

There is speculation that it was not Twitter that made the decision, but pressure from the U.S. State Department. Twitter’s cofounder Biz Stone denied this:

The State Dept does not have access to our decision making process. When we worked with our network provider to reschedule the planned maintenance, we did so because events in Iran were tied directly to the growing significance of Twitter as an important communication and information network. We decided to move the date. It made sense fo [sic] Twitter and [our host] to keep sercie [sic] active during this highly visible global event.

Source: Data Center Dynamics

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Later today, Facebook will begin allowing users to register their own vanity URLS, such as http://www.facebook.com/danielfoster. While many users are eagerly awaiting this opportunity, trademark holders are concerned this might be an opportunity for cybersquatting to occur.

Trademark lawyers are urging their clients to get on Facebook as soon as possible and register their trademarks. Otherwise, they claim the intellectual property could be registered by cybersquatters and exploited, just like in the domain industry.

This is really a way for someone who has a distinct or famous trademark to let Facebook know that others should not be allowed to register that page. They can just say, ‘Please don’t let anyone use my registered trademark,’” said Brian Fergemann, a partner and intellectual property attorney at Winston & Strawn.

Earlier this month, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa filed a lawsuit against Twitter over cybersquatting, claiming another user registered his name and used it to defame him.

Registration for the new URLS will begin at 12:01 Eastern Time. Facebook is not turning a blind eye to the issue and has set up a form where trademarks can be registered ahead of time.

Source: Law.com

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According to two reports released by the security company Symantec, phishers and spammers are coming up with new ways to attack their victims. In the past they almost exclusively relied on forged emails and web sites. Now, social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can be added to their lists of targets.

“It is important that end users are educated and it is important that IT managers take measures against attacks,” said Dermot Harnett, Symantec’s senior director of anti-spam engineering and a co-author of the State of Spam and State of Phishing monthly reports.

“There are products — not just Symantec’s — that managers can use. It is important that we as a community protect ourselves,” Harnett told InternetNews.com.

The attackers often use forged emails to initially gain access to an unsuspecting user’s Facebook account, but once they are in the door, they can rely solely on Facebook to spread their spam or phishing scheme. They try to acquire private information until they have enough to get what they are really after: money. Their ultimate goal is still to get bank account information and credit card numbers. Phishers also target free web hosting services where they can quickly setup sites anonymously.

Source: Internetnews.com
Photo: Flickr

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