Categories
News Video Games

Microsoft looking to future, secretly acquires Halo5.com, Halo9.com

Halo 5

Remember last year when Microsoft acquired Halo4.com for an undisclosed amount from its previous owner?  

Well, it looks like Microsoft is at it again, this time with the domains Halo5.com and Halo9.com.

According to Whois records, Microsoft has secretly acquired Halo5.com (Whois) and Halo9.com (Whois) from their previous owners using brand Corporation Service Company’s shell company Name Rally.  Name Rally is the same intermediary Microsoft used to acquire AnswerDesk.com.

Of course, these acquisitions may be nothing more than Microsoft defending its intellectual property, but it’s also possible the company is looking far ahead to the eventual releases of Halo 5 and even Halo 9.

So, what’s Microsoft’s current report card on Halo domains up through Halo 10, as of today? 

Here’s a look.

Halo.com – registered and active website owned by HALO Brand Solutions, not Microsoft.
Halo1.com – registered and active website owned by HALO ONE, not Microsoft.
Halo2.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.
Halo3.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.
Halo4.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.
Halo6.com – Parked at Network Solutions by Colby Thiesen, not owned by Microsoft.
Halo7.com – privately registered and active website, not owned by Microsoft.
Halo8.com –  registered and active website owned by Halo 8 Productions, not Microsoft.
Halo10.com – owned by Microsoft Corporation.

I’ve reached out to the previous owner of Halo9.com to learn more about the transaction and will update this post if I hear back.

Discussion: This is Xbox and Redmond Pie

Categories
News Technology

Could the Google-branded tablet be called the Google Play? [UPDATED]

Google Play

Google Play

[Update 1 on March 6, 2012:. Google Play isn’t the name of Google’s upcoming tablet.  The company announced that starting today, Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore will become part of Google Play.]

Original story on March 2, 2012:. Rumors have been swirling since late February that Google may launch a Google-branded 7-inch tablet later this year.  So, what might it be called?  How about the ‘Google Play’?

I like to speculate on new domain name registrations and this past week it appears Google registered a slew of domain names like Googleplayapps.com, Googleplaygames.com and Googleplaybooks.com, hinting at a new product or device that sure sounds a lot like a Google-tablet. 

On February 29, well over a dozen domain names were registered through the brand protection company MarkMonitor. 

The full list of names includes:

appsonplay.com
booksonplay.com
gamesonplay.com
googleplayapps.com
googleplaybooks.com
googleplaydownloads.com
googleplaygames.com
googleplaymagazines.com
googleplaymovies.com
googleplaymusic.com
googleplaynewspapers.com
googleplaynewsstand.com
googleplaytv.com
googleplayvideos.com
magazinesonplay.com
moviesonplay.com
newspapersonplay.com
tvonplay.com

Of course, Google hasn’t officially been confirmed as the buyer of the Google Play domains since the registrant is hidden behind Whois privacy, but Google regularly uses MarkMonitor to acquire domain names.  Its own Google.com (Whois) is registered with MarkMonitor.

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

This is all speculation at this point, but with the tablet expected to arrive in April, I’m guessing whatever the name is, we’ll see more news soon.

As of today, Google does not own GoogleTablet.com or GooglePlay.com.

Discussion: The Next Web, Neowin.net, Geek, RootzWiki, androidandme.com, Tom’s Guide, Ubergizmo, WebProNews, phoneArena.com, MobileSyrup.com, Pocket Gamer, Electronista, Phones Review, Geeky Gadgets, Games.com, Marketing Land, Tablet Community, WinFuture, AndroidOS.in, TechCrunch and SlashGear

(Image of Google tablet concept via Chromium)

Categories
News

What is Google’s RoboHornet?

RoboHornet.com Whois record

It may be nothing, it may be something.  But what is known is that Google privately registered the domain names RoboHornet.com and RoboHornet.org on February 17, 2012, then removed the Whois privacy and transferred the domains to its own name servers a week later.

RoboHornet.com (Whois) and RoboHornet.org (Whois) were both registered through internet brand protection company MarkMonitor. 

According to Whois historical records, Google chose to keep the registrant information private.  That is, until the record was updated on February 24, revealing Google Inc. as the owner.

So, what is RoboHornet?

I won’t bother speculating at this point, because Google buys new domain names all the time for a variety of reasons, including future projects that may never see the light of day.

However, after a brief internet search, I did come across a small piece of information.  On May 4, 2011, it appears a Google developer created a project called RoboHornet on Google Project Hosting, a free collaborative development environment for open source projects.  

As of today though, the RoboHornet project home page returns a 403 error.

Neither RoboHornet.com nor RoboHornet.org resolve to a web page.

Discussion: Marketing Land

Categories
News Technology Trademarks

Motorola files MOTOSMART, MOTOGO! trademarks for mobile and smartphones

Motorola smartphone

With the Mobile World Congress (MWC) set to begin shortly in Barcelona, Motorola has filed two new trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for MOTOSMART and MOTOGO!.

The goods and services in the MOTOSMART trademark filing (Serial Number: 85548438) cover, “Mobile phones and accessories therefor, namely battery chargers and power adaptors.” 

The MOTOGO! filing (Serial Number: 85548421) is slightly different and covers, “Mobile phones, smartphones, and accessories therefor, namely battery chargers and power adaptors.”

Both applications were filed on February 21, 2012 by Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC.

At the time of this story being published, Motorola has yet to announce the MOTOSMART or MOTOGO! devices.

Discussion: MobileSyrup.com

Categories
News

Google Inc. registers more GoogleWeb, ChromeWeb, and Screenwise domains

Chromewebworks.com Whois

Search Engine Land’s Matt McGee reported earlier this month that Google had registered a number of Labs, Screenwise and Adwords domains. 

Among the list of fourteen names were domains like GoogleWebLab.com, ChromeWebLab.com, and ScreenwiseMedia.com.

Now Google has registered more variations of GoogleWeb, ChromeWeb and Screenwise.

On February 23, Google picked up ChromeWebDev.com, ChromeWebWorks.com, GoogleWebDev.com, GoogleWebWorks.com, and ScreenwiseSelect.com.

It also appears Google privately registered ScreenwiseSelectPanel.com (Whois) and ScreenwiseTrendsPanel.com (Whois) through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

The Screenwise domains supplement Google’s Screenwise (screenwisepanel.com), a panel of a few thousand people who are paid to gather data.  As noted by Search Engine Land, the domains hint that Google is serious about becoming a consumer data gatherer and source.

While the purpose of obtaining the Screenwise domains is pretty obvious, less is known about the GoogleWeb and ChromeWeb names.

At the time of this story, none of the new domains resolve to a web page.

Discussion: Marketing Land