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News Technology

KindleMother.com? Amazon secretly registers family member domain names

KindleMother.com

KindleChild.com, KindleFather.com, KindleMother.com, KindlePreteen.com – those are just a handful of the names that Amazon privately registered this week through the registrar Go Daddy.

All of the names were registered to Domains By Proxy, Go Daddy’s private registration service, but with a little sleuthing it was quite easy to reveal the company owner behind the domains as Amazon.

Dozens of domain names centered on “family” were registered, but the company is remaining hush-hush on its plans for them.

The names could point to new content for the Kindle devices, as they were all registered a day after Amazon’s General Counsel took control of KindlePublications.com (Whois).

Revealing Amazon as the owner was simple.  By typing the domain and e-mail address “[email protected]” into Go Daddy’s online account retrieval system, you can quickly confirm Amazon as the owner, since Go Daddy shows a message stating, “An email with the requested information has been sent”, when you fill in all the fields correctly.

Go Daddy Account Assistance

It’s the same technique I used to see that Amazon bought KindleFireHD.com.

In many cases, Amazon registered the Spanish and English versions of the same name, such as KindleMadre.com and KindleMother.com.

Below is a bigger list of the names privately registered by Amazon.  It includes many, but not all of the names, which appear to have been registered on October 12, 2012, according to Whois records.

http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlebambini.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlebambino.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlechild.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindledad.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindledads.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleenfant.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlefamilies.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlefather.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlefathers.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleinfant.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleinfants.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemadre.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemadres.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemommies.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemommy.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemother.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemothers.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemum.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemums.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlenino.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleninos.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepadre.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepadres.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepapa.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepreteen.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepreteens.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleteen.com

At the time of this story, all of the names direct users to a Go Daddy parked page.

(Image of Kindle Fire via Amazon.com)

Categories
News Technology

Amazon acquired KindleFireHD.com domain right before announcement

Kindle Fire HD

  • Unknown if Amazon shelled out big bucks or threatened legal action

  • Domain first registered on Sept 28, ’11, same day Kindle Fire announced

  • Amazon revealed as owner even though name anonymously registered

  • Has better domain record than Apple, which still doesn’t own iPad.com

In a smart move by Amazon, shortly before announcing the new Kindle Fire HD family of products to the world on September 6, 2012, the company acquired the domain name KindleFireHD.com.  According to Whois records, the name switched hands from its previous owner “Nathaniel Sawbo” to Amazon.

What is known (after some sleuthing) is that Amazon now owns the domain, but what isn’t known is if Amazon had to pay some money to the name’s original owner or whether the company threatened legal action.

On the very same day Amazon unveiled the first generation Kindle Fire in 2011, the company registered well over 500 domain names related to the Kindle Fire and Silk browser products, through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.  While Amazon managed to secure the rights to names like KindleFireScreen.com and KindleFireDisplay.com, it failed to obtain KindleFireHD.com.

Today, KindleFireHD.com is a blank web page and is registered anonymously through Go Daddy’s Domains By Proxy service, but it takes only a few simple steps using Go Daddy’s public account retrieval system to figure out who is behind the domain.

It’s what some might call a “slight flaw” in Go Daddy’s account retrieval system which allows you to figure out the owner of a privately registered domain as long as you know the e-mail address of the registrant.

On my first and only try, I used [email protected], and was able to quickly confirm Amazon as the owner.

First, I went to Go Daddy’s Account Assistance page.

Go Daddy Account Assistance

Next, I clicked on Retrieve my Customer #, then entered kindlefirehd.com for the domain name and [email protected] for the e-mail address.  After entering the security code, I clicked Submit, as shown in the screenshot below.

Go Daddy Retrieve my Customer number

If everything is a successful match, and it was, a message stating, “An email with the requested information has been sent.”

Unlike Apple, one of its biggest competitors with a reputation for announcing products before owning the domains, Amazon has a much better track record.

Amazon owned KindleFire.com when it unveiled the tablet.

The company owns Kindle.com and other product names like KindleDX.com.

To this day, Apple doesn’t even own iPad.com.

Amazon may even have a shot at owning FireHD.com, which has surprisingly expired according to Whois.  If you browse Amazon’s website, you’ll notice the company uses “Fire HD” (minus Kindle) quite a bit, so it may be in the company’s interest.  The domain name will be available to the public on October 3, 2012, if the owner doesn’t renew the name in time.

I’ve reached out to Nathaniel Sawbo, KindleFireHD.com’s original owner for more information on the transaction and will update this post if I hear back.

(Image of Kindle Fire HD via Amazon.com)

Categories
News Video Games

Looks like THQ has registered some “Stick of Truth” domain names

THQ

THQ squashed rumors of its demise last month.  Now, the game publisher has apparently registered a handful of domain names related to something called “The Stick of Truth”.

On February 7, 2012, the domain names Stickoftruth.com (Whois), TheStickoftruth.com (Whois) and TruthStick.com (Whois), were registered with Go Daddy.

Of course, saying that THQ is definitely behind the registrations is speculation at this point.

All three domains were registered privately using Go Daddy’s WHOIS privacy service – Domains by Proxy.

But what leads me to believe that THQ is the owner, is the domain servers listed in the Whois records (NS1.THQ.COM, NS2.THQ.COM and NS3.THQ.COM) all belong to THQ. 

At the time of this story, none of the domain names resolve to a web page.

Discussion: GameSpot

Categories
News Video Games

Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

Black Ops 2

A sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the best-selling games of all-time, may seem more likely as it appears Activision has secretly acquired the domain name blackops2.com.

First registered in May 2010 shortly after Black Ops was announced, the domain remained under Whois privacy up until this week using Go Daddy’s Domains by Proxy service.

Now, the domain blackops2.com (Whois) has switched from Domains by Proxy to the privacy service provided by internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, who caters to over half the Fortune 100, of which Activision is a client.

In August, I reported that Activision went through MarkMonitor to buy up a slew of Black Ops domains, all the way up to BlackOps6.com. 

Missing from the list was blackops2.com. 

A deal has now apparently been struck.

Treyarch, the development studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, hasn’t officially gone on record to say it is creating a sequel.  But with all these domain acquisitions, signs point to a Black Ops 2 being a very strong possibility in 2012.

If a cash amount was paid, the sale price of the domain will likely remain unknown, as the previous owner’s identity and contact information were hidden through Go Daddy’s privacy service.

As of today, BlackOps2.com does not resolve a web page.

[Update 1 on February 17, 2012: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been outed by Amazon reports GameSpy.]

Discussion: Joystiq, Game Informer, IGN, N4G, Side Mission, PC Gamer Magazine, Cinema Blend, Forbes, Shacknews, This Is Xbox, VG247, Xbox 360 Achievements, Onlinewelten, elotrolado.net, Digital Trends, MMOMFG, RipTen, Just Push Start, Gameranx, Yahoo! News, GameDynamo, GamersHell.com, JVN.com, RevogamersWe Got This Covered, Product Reviews4Gamer.netCo-Optimus, Connected Consoles, Eurogamer.se, iNSIDE, Power Unlimited, games.co.il, GamingSackGamefly and GamesRadar

Categories
News Video Games

Zynga goes on domain buying spree for new Scramble with Friends app

Scramble with Friends

On Thursday, Zynga announced the launch of the mobile social game Scramble With Friends, saying, “Scramble with Friends is a fast-paced, fun-packed game that combines the brain bending experience of Zynga’s original Scramble.” 

On the same day the social gaming company announced the game on its blog, it also registered several domain names through the brand protection company MarkMonitor, like scramblewithfriends2.com and playscramblewithfriends.com.

Zynga doesn’t own scramble.com, and it’s hard to say whether the company officially owns ScramblewithFriends.com.  The web address, which was first registered back in January 2011 according to WHOIS records, points to a Go Daddy parked page.  The owner is currently hidden using Go Daddy’s privacy service Domains by Proxy. 

Here’s the full list of domains that were registered on January 5 through MarkMonitor.

playscramblewithfriends.com
scramblewithfriends2.com
scramblewithfriends3.com
scramblewithfriendsandroid.com
scramblewithfriendsapp.com
scramblewithfriendsfacebook.com
scramblewithfriendsgame.com
scramblewithfriendshd.com
scramblewithfriendsipad.com
scramblewithfriendsiphone.com
scramblewithfriendslive.com
scramblewithfriendsmobile.com
scramblewithfriendsplus.com
wwwscramblewithfriends.com

Scramble with Friends is available for download on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch and will be coming soon for Android.