TechCrunch

What Does the Slow-Down Mean for Gadget Lovers?
John Biggs Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:52:18 -0000
With news of doom and gloom coming at us from every side I would like to take a moment to look at the market as it stands and asses what a slow-down/recession will mean for us, the gadget obsessed. To recap, we are in this mess because of what amounts to a credit freeze. Companies that once could request "cash" to cover overnight expenses - we're talking millions and billions of dollars worth of cash - are now told they can only withdraw a significant percentage less than they were previously allowed to access. This, in turn, reduces capital expenditures and slows hiring - if you can't get a quick loan you can't cover a new factory or a make a bigger payroll. This, in turn, slows large purchases and raises unemployment which, in turn, makes us all freak out.
Apple Met Goal of 10 million iPhones Sold in 2008
John Biggs Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:51:01 -0000
By using some fairly interesting IMEI collection, the folks at Mac Observer have found that Apple sold 10 million iPhones in 2008, reaching and potentially surpassing Steve's original stated goal. By looking at phones sold over the last few months, Mac Observer's "Apple Finance Board" found that the phone has gone through nine 1 million unit runs. Adding this to the known sales they found the total number was far above analyst expectations.
Meet Mark Zuckerberg In Munich, Tomorrow
Erick Schonfeld Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:44:09 -0000
Attention all TechCrunch readers in Munich: here's your chance to meet Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. (Hmm, I wonder if he'll be making some sort of announcement). He will be giving a speech at a closed, invite-only event on Tuesday evening, October 7 at Amiando headquarters. Amiando CEO Felix Haas is offering to give admission to one lucky TechCrunch reader. (That's right, only one). Explains Haas in an e-mail: Mark will give a speech to the selected guests about Facebook’s plans for Europe and Germany. After the speeches and an extensive Q&A session with Mark Zuckerberg there will be plenty of time to get-together with Mark at dinner & drink. I want to offer admission for one of your readers. All you have to do to apply is explain why you want to meet Zuckerberg in comments. The person with the best reason gets a ticket. (Put in your real e-mail address so Felix can contact you in case you win).
SimplyBox: Drag-And-Drop Clips Of The Web For Research, Sharing
Jason Kincaid Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:25:48 -0000
Web bookmarks are badly in need of an overhaul. Sure, they're fine for jumping to the dozen or so sites you visit on a daily basis, but they quickly become unwieldy whenever they're used for research purposes. Folders of bookmarked job listings or apartment openings on Craigslists become practically useless as you frequently need to revisit them to remind yourself why you bookmarked them in the first place. Tonight sees the launch of SimplyBox, a San Francisco-based startup that allows users to clip portions of websites in a visual way, overcoming some of the shortcomings of traditional bookmarks. SimplyBox is currently available as plugins for Internet Explorer and Firefox, with a Safari version on the way. The site will go live at 6 PM PST tonight. To use SimplyBox, you hit the "Box and Save" button in the browser toolbar, which turns your mouse arrow into a targeting cursor and displays a series of "boxes" at the bottom of the screen. After highlighting the portion of the page you'd like to save for later, you drag it into the box you'd like to store it in. The whole process is very intuitive and only takes a few seconds.
GameFly Goes Mobile
Greg Kumparak Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:14:59 -0000
GameFly, which is perhaps most easily explained as the NetFlix of the gaming world, today launched a new version of their site specifically optimized for mobile handsets. Through the magic of user agent detection, getting to the mobile site is a one step process: just type the standard GameFly.com address into the browser of any mobile handset. Once there, users can search through the GameFly library, order games, switch up their "GameQ" queue, read reviews, and manage their account.
Granting Credit On The Fly. Is Bill Me Later Part Of the Problem Or Part Of The Solution?
Erick Schonfeld Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:56:58 -0000
On the same day the public markets are tanking because of the spreading credit crisis, we see one of the biggest M&A exits of the year with eBay acquiring Bill Me Later for $945 million ($820 million in cash, plus an extra $125 million in options). The only other tech exits of this size in 2008 were Sun buying MYSQL for $1 billion (which involved less cash and more options), AOL buying Bebo for $850 million. This is for a company that lets consumers defer payment when they buy things online. Remember, loose credit is part of the reason we are in the current economic mess. So is Bill Me Later part of the problem or part of the solution? I put that question to Michael Kwatinetz, the former Wall Street tech analyst who is now a partner at Azure Capital, the biggest shareholder in Bill Me Later. He explained to me how Bill Me Later works, and how it actually has more stringent credit controls than most credit cards: The problem is people who can’t afford to pay for things are financing things. If you have the proper controls, you don’t allow that to happen. We don’t grant credit limits. We grant credit on a transaction basis. If you are somebody who is not paying us, or running up your bills in other places, we don’t grant credit. Traditional credit cards, in contrast, let you run up your bill up to a pre-determined credit limit. With each transaction, BillMeLater check your credit score, credit outsanding, status with credit agencies, and a few other criteria. And it either approves your credit or it doesn't for each purchase in less than three seconds. Kwatinetz says that the company tightened its lending policies about a year ago, and claims that the nonpayment rate is "probably the lowest of anyone on the Web."

InternetNews Realtime News for IT Managers

Stocks Battered as Financial Crisis Spreads to Europe
European bank troubles and a warning from SAP sent stocks tumbling once again on Monday.
Cox Cleared in Verizon VoIP Patent Suit
Unlike its earlier case against Vonage, Verizon's claim of patent infringement on Internet telephony against Cox hits the skids.
Yahoo, Google Delay Ad Deal
As antitrust concerns persist, companies agree to postpone controversial search-advertising partnership.

 

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Chilling Effects Clearinghouse: Domain Names and Trademarks - FAQs and advice on how to defend against claims of domain name trademark infringement and other legal scare tactics, compiled by students at the Berkman Center for Internet Society at Harvard Law School.
Meta Description: [ Speaker or cybersquatter? Consumer advocate or source of consumer confusion? Those who speak online are tagged with these labels -- and threatened with lawsuits -- based on the domain names they use to draw traffic to their site. Commercial entities, meanwhile, spend huge amounts of money to d... ]

CNet: Judge approves domain name penalty on eReferee - In one of the broadest crackdowns ever issued against a domain name holder, a federal judge orders eReferee.com to stop using the word referee in all of its domain names. By Lisa M. Bowman.
Meta Description: [ Judge approves domain name penalty on eReferee | In one of the broadest crackdowns ever issued against a domain name holder, a federal judge orders eReferee.com to stop using the word referee in all of its domain names. | February 16, 2001, 4:00 AM PT | Lisa M. Bowman ]

CNN: New Group Formed to Resolve Domain Conflicts - A group of Internet top-level domain (TLD) holders have formed a nonprofit association to prevent what they fear will become a splintered Internet domain naming system.
Meta Description: [ A new association that's not affiliated with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has been created to bring together Internet top-level domain holders, in an effort to prevent conflicting TLDs and bottlenecks online. , Although the feds aren't talking publicly about a three-ye... ]

Cybersquatters Against Hate - Organization promoting the registration of domain names similar to ones used by well-known hate groups.

DL2MCD.de - German radio station sues for journalist's .org domain.

Domain Dispute Resource - Information on how to deal with domain name dispute issues (UDRP).

DomainBattles - Domain name dispute news. Links to news articles and full text of WIPO, NAF, and eResolution decisions.
Meta Description: [ domainbattles.com ]

Easy Protest II - Collection of legal advice, and general resources, for people involved in domain name disputes. Provides information and documentation from the webmaster's own dispute.

EFF Wins Partial Victory in Ford Case - Press release on dismissal of trademark claims against jaguarcenter.com, jaguarentusiastsclub.com, vintagevolvo.com, and others, and denying in rem jurisdiction.
Meta Description: [ Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory: EFF Wins a Partial Victory in Ford Case On December 20, 2001, the Eastern District of Michigan Court handed down several rulings in Ford v. Great Domains, et al. In that case, EFF, along with pro bono counsel Eric Grimm and David Lowenshuss, repr... ]

In Fights Over .Com Names, Trademark Owners Usually Win - Researchers analyzing an arbitration system set up to resolve disputes over Internet addresses have found that decisions made through the system have substantially broadened the rights of trademark holders in cyberspace. [NY Times]

kuro5hin: New York State Is Taking Away My Domain Name - New York State Fair disputes Scott Brady's NYSFair.com.

kuro5hin: Using of a Nickname and Websites Sued Because of Three Matching Letters - A boy in Belgium, Europe with the nick zkboi has been sued at June, 11, 2001 by Zurcher Kantonal Bank (ZKB) to pay up to 2000US$ and 250US$/day for using his nickname on the Internet.

Large-Scale Registration of Domains with Typographical Errors - A case study documenting over 5000 registrations by notorious cybersquatter John Zuccarini. Most are typographic variations on well-known names, most provide sexually-explicit content and popups, and some are variants on sites typically used by children.
Meta Description: [ Documentation of 'typosquatting' domains by John Zuccarini. Many domains show unexpected sexually-explicit content and prevent a user from easily exiting. ]

NAF Decision: Referee Enterprises Inc vs. Planet Ref. Inc - Text of decision to transfer eReferee.com, .org, and .net from Planet Ref, Inc. to Referee magazine.

National Arbitration Forum: Domain Dispute - Instructions on filing complaints or responses, details of specific dispute resolution services, and an archive of past decisions.
Meta Description: [ Since 1986, the National Arbitration Forum has been a leading neutral administrator of arbitration, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) worldwide. An unbiased administrator of ADR services, the Forum's only mission is to provide superior dispute resolution services t... ]

NewsBytes: WIPO Sends Message To AOL In ICQ Domain-Name Dispute - Petter Rindforth, an arbitrator assigned by WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center to handle the ICQPlus.org dispute, ruled this month that Russian programmer Vadim Eremeev of St. Petersburg can keep the domain because he doesn't charge for the popular software he promotes on a Web site at that address. By Steven Bonisteel.

Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer - nissan.com and nissan.net domain dispute between Nissan Motor and Nissan Computer
Meta Description: [ Nissan Computer Corporation & Nissan Motor Co. LTD domain name dispute over domain names nissan.com and nissan.net ]

Register: Choc giant heavies 'kinder' charity - Ferrero wants to protect its brand in cyberspace, as Austrian kids' charity kinder.at recently discovered. Concerned that the organisation has taken the little-known German word kinder (children) as its domain name, Ferrero has run whining to WIPO. By Lester Haines.

Register: Kevin Spacey Loses Pivotal Cybersquatting Court Case - Movie actor Kevin Spacey has lost a landmark court battle over ownership of www.kevinspacey.com. By Kieren McCarthy.

Register: Reuters Cybersquats on Man's Domain - Article about Reuters' refusal to relinquish reters.com to Mr. Stanley Reters. By Kieren McCarthy.

500 Savin Sucks - Documents related to UDRP proceeding Savin Corp. v. savinsucks.com.

Shame On The AFMA - Documents the failed attempt by the American Film Marketing Association to seize the domain name afm.com (American Flea Market).
Meta Description: [ The AFMA, The American Film Marketing Association is attempting to steal a domain name......AFM.COM, domain name rights. ]

Slashdot: AOL Threatens Peng, Demands Domain Handover - News of America Online demanding the pengaol.org domain name and reader comments.
Meta Description: [ AOL Threatens Peng, Demands Domain Handover -- article related to America Online and Your Rights Online. ]

The Domain Name Rights Coalition - DNRC - A group of individuals and small business seeking to help persons involved in disputes, and educate others about Internet freedom issues. Includes forums and archived documents.
Meta Description: [ Psycho ]

Trademark Protection on the Internet in for Non Top-Level Domains Used as Top-level Domains - Overview of trademark protection for country code domain names marketed as alternatives to top level domains.
Meta Description: [ Information about the tradmark process ]

Typosquatters Turn Flubs Into Cash - An article on typosquatting - capitalizing on mistyped names.
Meta Description: [ Mistyping a name takes you to the wrong site and possibly a hidden banner click that typosquatters will cash in. ]

Washington Post: Clear Sailing For PortOfHelsinki.com In Domain Dispute - Six months after ruling that the Internet domain name Barcelona.com should be taken away from its current owners and handed to the Spanish city with the similar name, the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has taken a different stand in a dispute over an Internet address referring to the Port of Helsinki. By Steven Bonisteel.

Who Owns Fandom - An article discussing the fate of fandom.tv.

World Domain Rights - Information about Leonardo and etoy disputes, links to resources to fight unfriendly take-overs.
Meta Description: [ WDR - World Domain Rights: Who owns what in Cyberspace? See examples of big companies, trying totake over domains and learn what you can do against it. ]

World Intellectual Piracy Organization - ICANN and WIPO - Important Warning
Meta Description: [ ICANN and WIPO - Important Warning ]