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News

A&E Television Networks acquires hundreds of pro- and anti-domain names

Turf Wars

A&E Television Networks has gone on a buying spree and made hundreds of defensive domain purchases ranging from WeHateAandE.com to iLoveLifetime.com.

Days ago A&E posted a job listing that is still online for an IP Attorney to be part of the company’s legal team. 

Among the responsibilities, the person would be working with and supporting the company’s IT and Digital departments to acquire domain names and fonts; and for issuing DMCA take-down notices and other related enforcement actions against IP infringers and others.

Here’s a look at the partial of domain names registered this week through the brand protection company Corporation Service Company.

h2dispute.com  
h2sucks.com  
history-channelcablevisiondispute.com  
history-channeldispute.com  
history-channelsucks.com  
historycablevisiondispute.com  
historychannelcablevisiondispute.com  
historychanneldispute.com  
historychannelsucks.com  
historydispute.com  
ihateaande.com  
ihateaandenetworks.com  
ihateaandetv.com  
ihateae.com  
ihateaenetworks.com  
ihateaetv.com  
ihateanenetworks.com  
ihatebio-channel.com  
ihatebio.com  
ihatebiochannel.com  
ihatebiography-channel.com  
ihatebiography.com  
ihatebiographychannel.com  
ihateci.com  
ihatecinetwork.com  
ihatecrimeandinvestigation.com  
ihatecrimeandinvestigationnetwork.com  
ihateh2.com  
ihatehistory-channel.com  
ihatehistorychannel.com  
ihatelifetime.com  
ihatelifetimemovienetwork.com  
ihatelmn.com  
iloveaande.com  
iloveaandenetworks.com  
iloveaandetv.com  
iloveae.com  
iloveaenetworks.com  
iloveaetv.com  
iloveanenetworks.com  
ilovebio-channel.com  
ilovebiochannel.com  
ilovebiography-channel.com  
ilovebiography.com  
ilovebiographychannel.com  
iloveci.com  
ilovecinetwork.com  
ilovecrimeandinvestigation.com  
ilovecrimeandinvestigationnetwork.com  
iloveh2.com  
ilovehistory-channel.com  
ilovehistorychannel.com  
ilovelifetime.com 

You can see many more of the domain names here, well over 200.

Categories
News

WorldWondersProject.com: Google buys domain for secret new site [UPDATED]

Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx

In September I wrote about Google acquiring the domain name OneWorldManyStories.com after the domain name had expired.

Then, in early October, Google unveiled the ‘One World Many Stories’ website that showcases stories of how people use Google Earth to discover more about the world.  The site was launched in celebration of Google Earth being downloaded 1 billion times.

Now it appears Google has another secretive project underway called the “World Wonders Project”, that if I had to guess, I’d say has something to do with Google Earth and the Wonders of the World.

Google registered the domain names WorldWondersProject.com and WorldWondersProject.net on October 12 through MarkMonitor.

Here’s a look at the Whois record.

Registrant:
DNS Admin
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US

Domain Name: worldwondersproject.com

Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com

Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US

Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US

Created on…………..: 2011-10-12.
Expires on…………..: 2013-10-12.
Record last updated on..: 2011-10-12.

Domain servers in listed order:

ns1.google.com
ns3.google.com
ns4.google.com
ns2.google.com

[Update 2, May 31, 2012:. Google is today releasing a new online project that will give users the ability to virtually explore historical sites, including Stonehenge and Kew Gardens, The Telegraph reports.]

[Update 1, Oct. 28, 2012:.  It now appears Google has acquired the domain WorldWonders.org [WHOIS] from BuyDomains using the same well-known internet brand protection company MarkMonitor as the intermediary.  The name transferred from BuyDomains to MarkMonitor this week.  According to web cache, the purchase price was only $2,088.]

(Photo of The Sphinx and the Khafre’s Pyramid in Giza by Ian Sewell)

Categories
News

Amazon has plans to launch “Flow”

WHOIS Amazon domain

Domain name registrations are often a good indication of future plans by companies.

So based on recent domain names purchased by Amazon I would say that the company has plans to unveil something new called Flow.

On October 26, Amazon registered several names through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor that centered around the word ‘flow’ like amazonflowapp.com, flowappbyamazon.com, flowbyamazon.com, and flowpoweredbyamazon.com.

After a little domain sleuthing, I also discovered that Amazon registered the domain name Amazonflow.com back in early June. 

Although the domain amazonflow.com is registered at Go Daddy and hidden behind its privacy service Domains by Proxy, as I’ve pointed out in the past when I predicted the next Kindle would be named after an element, it’s simple to reveal Amazon as the owner by using Go Daddy’s public Account Retrieval System.

Flow is obviously a reference to a river flowing like the Amazon, but in this case ‘Amazon Flow’ will end up being a service or product.  In recent months, Amazon’s legal department has registered a number of names related to nature that go well with its name.

Amazonflow.com and the other newly registered domain names, are either parked at Go Daddy or do not resolve to a web page at the time of this story.

This week, Amazon also acquired amazon-z.com, amazonchina-z.com and amazonchinaz.com.

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Movies News

Del Toro’s monster movie will be called ‘Still Seas’, according to domain names

Guillermo del Toro

Director Guillermo del Toro will begin shooting his monsters versus mechas movie for Warner Bros at the end of this month at the Pinewood Toronto Studios.

Excepted to be titled either “Pacific Rim” or “Still Seas”, it looks like an official name may have finally been decided: Still Seas.

On October 25, it appears Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. has registered three domain names for the movie including Still-Seas-movie.com, StillSeasmovie.com, and StillSeasthemovie.com.  

Although the owner’s name is hidden, the names are registered to DNstination Inc., the Whois privacy service provided by well-known internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, where the domain WarnerBros.com itself is registered.

Warner Bros. did register Pacific Rim domain names earlier in March like PacificRimmovie.com and PacificRimthemovie.com, also with MarkMonitor, however neither domain resolves to a web page.

It’s possible the StillSeas domains are nothing more than defensive registrations, but considering the purchases coincide with the shooting of the film, an official announcement may be released any day now.

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record for StillSeasMovie.com.

StillSeasMovie.com WHOIS record

Discussion: WhatCulture! and Movieline

Image: Gage Skidmore /Flickr

Categories
News

MusicGifter.com: Sony Music getting ready to launch music gift giving service

MusicGifter

Sony Music Entertainment is getting ready to launch a music gift giving service called MusicGifter.

The company launched a teaser page late yesterday on the web address MusicGifter.com, which  I had written about in late September after Sony first registered the domain name. 

While details are still lacking and the company hasn’t announced anything official, here’s what Sony Music Entertainment has to say about the service on its teaser page:

“MusicGifter is the ultimate destination for unique music gifts this holiday season. MusicGifter is putting the finishing touches on our website. We are almost ready, we hope you are prepared to experience the best in music gift giving. Until then, please leave us your email address and we will let you know as soon as we launch. From AC/DC to Yo-Yo Ma, you won’t want to miss it.”

You can sign up on the home page to be notified when the service launches.