Tag: Kindle Fire

KindleMother.com? Amazon secretly registers family member domain names

Post author By J.B.
Post date October 14, 2012

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.

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.

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)

Tags amazon, Domains by Proxy, Go Daddy, Kindle, Kindle Child, Kindle Families, Kindle Father, Kindle Fire, Kindle Infant, Kindle Mother

News Technology

Amazon acquired KindleFireHD.com domain right before announcement

Post author By J.B.
Post date September 8, 2012
4 Comments on Amazon acquired KindleFireHD.com domain right before announcement

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.

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.

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)

Tags amazon, Amazon Domains, Domains by Proxy, Fire HD, FireHD.com, Go Daddy, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, KindleFireHD.com, MarkMonitor, WHOIS privacy

News Technology

Amazon acquires KindleVoice.com, Siri-like functionality closer to release?

Post author By J.B.
Post date May 5, 2012

Amazon buys domain names on a regular basis, so it’s no surprise to see the company acquiring the domain name kindlevoice.com.

The name recently expired and Amazon’s legal department scooped it up. While it may be nothing more than a defensive move, it may also signal that Amazon could be closer to releasing its own version of Apple’s Siri.

Last November, Amazon purchased the Charlotte voice-to-text startup called Yap, which created a lot of buzz among tech sites that speculated Amazon would eventually release voice recognition technology for its Kindle devices.

Apple’s Siri still isn’t fully available on its iPad tablets. The new iPad was the first tablet to officially have limited Siri technology, but only the voice dictation software.

(Image of Kindle Fire via Amazon.com)

Tags Amazon Domain names, Amazon Domains, Apple Siri, Kindle Fire, Kindle Voice, Siri, voice dictation, voice recognition

News

Amazon acquires KindleTutor.com

Post author By J.B.
Post date December 29, 2011

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)

Tags amazon, Amazon Domains, Amazon.com, featured, Kindle domains, Kindle Family, Kindle Fire, Kindle Tutor, Kindle Tutor service, KindleTutor.com

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