Tag: MarkMonitor

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Movies News

Insidious 2 is in the works according to domain registrations by Sony Pictures

Insidious 2 movie

Insidious 2 movie

A sequel appears to be in the works for the best cost-to-gross ratio movie of the year “Insidious”. 

Horror movie fans may have something to look forward to in 2012 after Sony Pictures hinted that “Insidious 2” is in production, after the company registered a handful of domains like Insidious2movie.com, Insidious2.net, and Insidious2-movie.net.

All three domain names were registered on November 28, 2011, through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

“Insidious” cost $1.5 million to produce and worldwide grossed $97,009,150.

Last May, rumors of a sequel began swirling around the internet, but nothing definite was ever announced.

At the time of this posting, Sony Pictures has not said anything official, nor do any of the domains resolve to a web page.

[Update 1 on February 2, 2012: Insidious 2 has been announced and is scheduled to be released in 2013, reports Variety.]

Discussion:  Bleeding Cool News, Dark Horizons, /Film, Dread Central, ShockTillYouDrop.com, Bloody Disgusting, WorstPreviews.com, Splattercontainer.com and Blairwitch.de

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Movies News

New Pinocchio film? Domains secretly registered by brand protection company

Pinocchio film

It’s only speculation, but according to several new domain registrations made through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, it appears a new Pinocchio film could be in the works.

On November 22, pinocchio-the-movie.com, pinocchiofilm.com, pinocchiothefilm.com, and thepinocchiomovie.com, were all privately registered to DNstination Inc, the WHOIS privacy service provided by MarkMonitor.

Currently, none of the domain names resolve to a web page.

While the company behind the names is not officially known, MarkMonitor is well-known for providing brand protection services to more than half the Fortune 100 companies in the world.  And considering Disney Enterprises, Inc. owns several “Pinocchio” trademarks, it’s nearly certain that Disney is the registrant.

Though nothing has been officially announced by Disney, the new domain registrations hint at a new movie in the making.

At the same time the Pinocchio domains were registered, another batch of names were privately registered with MarkMonitor, alluding to another film called “The Gold Mist”.  Here’s a look at those domain registrations:

gold-mist-movie.com
goldmist-movie.com
goldmist-themovie.com
goldmistfilm.com
goldmistmovie.com
goldmistthemovie.com
thegoldmistmovie.com

(Photo of of Pinocchio from the trailer for the film Pinocchio – 1940 via Disney)

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News Video Games

Amazon to launch a Santa app in time for the 2011 holiday season [UPDATED]

Amazon Santa Claus app

Updated December 1, 2011 at 5:37am EST:  As expected, Amazon announced the launch of its Santa App for the Kindle Fire and iPad.  The press release was issued yesterday on November 30.  A day before the announcement, Amazon added a bunch of related domains to its portfolio including: amazonsantabooks.com, amazonsantacatalog.com, amazonsantafire.com,  amazonsantagames.com,  amazonsantagifts.com, amazonsantaholiday.com, amazonsantakids.com, amazonsantakindle.com, amazonsantamovies.com, amazonsantamusic.com, amazonsantatablet.com, amazonsantatoys.com, amazonsantavideo.com, amazonsantawishlist.com and amazonsboot.com.

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Amazon is hinting at the launch of a Santa Claus app with several new domain registrations this week that include names like AmazonSantapp.com, AmazonSantaforFire.com and AmazonSantaforiPad.com.

On November 21, Amazon’s legal department registered a bunch of domains through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.  The names indicate the Amazon Santa app could be available on a number of different tablet devices, not just the Kindle Fire. 

The new domain registrations include:

amazon-santa-app.com
amazonsantaapp.com
amazonsantaclausapp.com
amazonsantaclausmobileapp.com
amazonsantaforfire.com
amazonsantaforipad.com
amazonsantaforkindlefire.com
amazonsantafortablets.com
amazonsantamobileapp.com
amazonsantapp.com

At the time of this story going online this morning at 5am EST, Amazon has not made any official announcements on its Press Releases site nor do any of the domain names above resolve to a web page. 

Santa Claus apps and websites have been popular during the holiday season, particularly Santa-tracking apps. 

NORAD’s Santa Tracker is one of the most highly trafficked websites each year.  According to a rough estimate by Compete, NORADSanta.org (which opens in December) had over 4 million visitors in December 2010.

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News

T-Mobile registers 4G Turbo domains

TMobile4GTurbo.com WHOIS record

On November 17, T-Mobile registered a slew of ‘4G Turbo’ domain names through the interent brand protection company MarkMonitor.

The domains ranged from .com to .biz and included domains like 4gturbo.org and Tmobile4GTurbo.com.

As is often the practice by large companies that use MarkMonitor, the names were registered to DNstination Inc., the WHOIS privacy service provided by MarkMonitor.  Given MarkMonitor’s purpose to provide brand protection services to more than half the Fortune 100 companies, it’s safe to say these names belong to T-Mobile.

Here’s a look at several of the names that were registered.

4gturbo.biz
4gturbo.org
4gturbo.us
t-mobile4gturbo.com
t-mobile4gturbo.net
t-mobile4gturbo.biz
t-mobile4gturbo.org
t-mobile4gturbo.us
tmobile4gturbo.com
tmobile4gturbo.net
tmobile4gturbo.biz
tmobile4gturbo.org
tmobile4gturbo.us

T-Mobile launched their 4G Mobile HotSpot device last April and also recently introduced the T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot. 

It’s unknown whether the T-Mobile 4G Turbo will be a new hotspot device or a separate add-on for its existing devices.

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News

Bingcubator.com: Is Microsoft creating a new incubator for ideas on search?

bingcubator

Microsoft is always trying to gain more of the search market share, and with competitors like Google and Yahoo!, it may be turning to a broader audience to find new technologies to incorporate into its own search engine.

So is Microsoft planning to launch an incubator focused on Bing like it has done with its DevLabs?

It appears Microsoft has tried to quietly register the domain names Bingcubator.com and Bingcubator.net through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Although the actual owner’s name is hidden, both domain names were registered on November 15th to DNstination Inc., the WHOIS privacy service provided by MarkMonitor.  But you can guarantee the names are owned by Microsoft, as Microsoft is a client of MarkMonitor and its own Bing.com is registered with the company. 

While it’s speculation, an incubator that connects Microsoft with developers who want to see their ideas integrated with the search engine, seems like a very good possibility.

In mid October, Microsoft launched Bing Booster, aimed at helping startups.  Now it looks like the program could be expanding with Bingcubator.

It’s also possible that Bingcubator could be an entirely separate program, that sends a clear message to its competition that it wants any and all developers (not just startups) to help the company innovate its search engine technology.

At the time of this story, neither Bingcubator.com nor Bingcubator.net resolve to a web page.