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Movies News

Top 10 Stories of 2011: #9 Sony confirms next James Bond title will be Skyfall

SKYFALL

Number 9 in this year’s Top 10 stories is the story of the upcoming James Bond film Skyfall, which will land in theaters in November 2012.

On October 3, more than a dozen domain names having to do with Skyfall were registered. 

Though privately registered initially using DNStination Inc., what made these names special was that they were all registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, which is used by more than half the Fortune 100. 

The list of registrations, which today now show Sony Pictures as the owner in WHOIS records, included names like jamesbond-skyfall.com and skyfallthefilm.com. 

Simply referred to as ‘Bond 23’ at the time, shortly after I published my story speculating the next Bond film would be called Skyfall, well over a dozen news sites mentioned my article including Access Hollywood, IGN, The Hollywood Reporter, and X17, to name a few.

On November 3, Sony officially confirmed the title as Skyfall.

Here’s a look at the full press conference, marking the start of the production.

 

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News Video Games

Top 10 Stories of 2011: #10 Rainbow 6 Patriots revealed by domain registrations

Rainbow 6: Patriots

Several of this year’s Top 10 stories here on Fusible have to do with video gaming. 

So it’s no surprise that the story of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots is number ten on the list. 

After noticing that Ubisoft registered eight different domain names on October 27, like assassinscreedrecollection.com and horsehaventhegame.com, also among the names were two that stood out because there was no information or news on them at the time — rainbow6patriots.com and rainbowsixpatriots.com.

I speculated that the next title in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series would be Rainbow 6: Patriots.

Well, as it turned out, my speculation was soon confirmed by -BLITZ-, a member of the popular NeoGAF forum.  -BLITZ- had seen the logos, arts, covers and rendered game screens for Rainbow 6: Patriots.

The story got a lot of play online, with some of the biggest video gaming sites like Kotaku, Game Informer, Joystiq, Gamespy.com, and more than a dozen more news sites, citing the story.

Days after my story went online, Ubisoft officially confirmed the title on November 3.

Here’s a look at the reveal trailer by Ubisoft.

 

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News

Amazon acquires KindleTutor.com

Kindle Tutor

Amazon is overflowing with all sorts of Kindle products from the all-new Kindle Fire tablet to the Kindle e-reader.

So what’s in store next for the Kindle family? 

Well, according to a recent domain name acquisition by Amazon.com Holdings, it’s possible an online tutoring service or app is on the way.

On December 27, Amazon acquired the domain name KindleTutor.com, as shown in its WHOIS record.

While this is only speculation, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Amazon launch a “Kindle Tutor” app, particularly for its Kindle Fire.  Earlier this month, Amazon released an OTA update to address performance and touchscreen issues.

At the time of this story going online, KindleTutor.com does not resolve to a website.

Discussion: Phandroid

(Image of Kinde Fire via Amazon.com)

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News

Why did Airbnb register the domain name WhoisAirbnb.com?

Who is Airbnb

When a company that doesn’t own many domains goes out and registers some odd names, it’s usually safe to say it’s up to something. 

That’s what Airbnb did.  The web service that connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay, went out and registered two new domain names this week: WhoisAirbnb.com and Who-is-Airbnb.com.

Airbnb has had its share of controversy this year, after one of its customers’ homes was ransacked. 

Despite the PR crisis that followed, Airbnb has managed to bounce back and since its launch in 2008, has booked more than 2 million nights.  Some speculate the company will file for an initial public offering next year.

Just what will WhoisAirbnb.com be used for?

Will it be a new service?  Will the company launch a separate site to help tell its story and build more trust?  We’ll keep an eye out.

Today, the domain WhoisAirbnb.com forwards to the company’s website. 

Both domain names were registered with the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor on December 27.

Here’s a look at the Whois record (no pun intended) for WhoisAirbnb.com.

Whois WhoisAirbnb.com

Categories
News

Is eBay planning something more with its advertising? Registers eBay ads domains

eBay ads

On December 23, eBay Inc. registered three domain names: eBay-ads.com, eBay-ads.net, and eBayads.net.

The domains, all purchased this week, hint at the possibility of eBay doing something more with ads that it displays on its websites, such as eBay.com.

In 2009, eBay replaced its Yahoo text ads with Google‘s ads. 

Though it’s fun to speculate, the domain registrations may be nothing more than part of the company’s IP strategy to keep others from using the names.  

As of today, eBay does not own eBayads.com.  The name, according to Whois records, is currently in Redemption Period, after its owner in China let the name expire.  

Redemption period usually means the name has about 30 days before its released by the registrar and either available for public registration or sent to one of the drop-catching services.