Bunch of Domaining Projects

Soooo Busy lately... lots of domaining projects going on.

I'm really excited about the Southern California Domainers meetup tonight in Laguna beach. I'm stoked because it's only about 15 minutes from my house, and should be a lot of fun.

The Domains For Sale iPhone App is starting to get a little traction. I added SnapNames support this week. And I've started to get at least a few new domain listing requests every day. Plus, I am reaching out to a few more domain after-markets and newsletters to try to beef up the listings just a little more -- hopefully have some progress on that by next week. And this week, I also updated the app which fixed a bunch of bugs. Additionally, I have a ton of new features (especially the slow loading time) almost ready to deploy to the app store, so then the app should be really solid.

One of my other projects, AskAboutDomains.com, is also starting to do a bit better. This site is a question & answer site for domainers, with a twist: Your answers get rated, and the best answers move to the top. We've made a bunch of changes on the site to make it easier for new users to become part of the community.

And, not to forget HotNameList: I'm programming a couple new good features: (1) I've made improvements on the name picking algortithm, so names should be getting better. (2) Some secret, members only, features are coming up. So, if you're not a registered user, now is a good time.

Things are going pretty well with HotNameList, by the way. For the month of February, it looks like we'll be finishing up at just over 500 domains registered for the month.

And, this week I did my "monthly duty" as the DMOZ.org editor for the Domain/Resources category. Submit your domain-related websites to that category! I update it at least once per month.

Finally I have a few domains for sale this week:

• Cheltzie.com ($1000) - First name.
  
  
• Otemoto.com ($950) - This is the Japanese word for Chopsticks.
  
  
• PhiladelphiaRoll.com ($2100) - Sushi.

Happy Domain Hunting!
Jorge

GoDaddy Accessed Hosted Sites Without Asking Permission

The big techblog HackerNews was aflame with this article today about a GoDaddy customer who detected that GoDaddy accessesed his VPS hosted server without his permission.

Here are the facts, in hopefully less technical jargon:

1. This particular user was using VPS hosting (Virtual Private Hosting), which gives him significant control over his hosting. He is able to install software, because VPS simulates him having his own Linux server.
   
   
2. This user was savvy enough to change the security configuration, so that he could detect if anyone tried to access his VPS.
   
   
3. Someone did try to access his VPS. They had his correct old passwords and latest password, but could not login successfully because of his security configuration.
   
   
4. The user later received an email from GoDaddy that they had tried unsuccessfully to access his server, because they suspected a malware problem. The user later communicated with GoDaddy by phone and got the same info.

To "security professionals" this is all a big deal because:

1. GoDaddy personnel have access to your passwords and can poke around in your (their?) server before telling you about it.
   
   
2. The most secure storage of passwords is a system where you can change your password, but there is no way to actually retrieve it (called a Hash). GoDaddy was not doing this.
   
   
3. GoDaddy contacted the customer AFTER they tried to break into his (their?) VPS server.
   

Later, there was a posted response from the CSO (Chief Security Officer) of GoDaddy explaining what happened, and what changes they are going to make.

The big takeway from the response is that GoDaddy "should have contacted [the customer] before accessing the box, warning [the customer] of the possible malware, and that they will do that from now on (good to know)."

GoDaddy also claimed to have a company process for who/how passwords can be accessed. So not just anyone at Godaddy can access a hosted site.

As a techie geek, I must say that Godaddy's response sounds pretty good. I'm also glad there are extremely technical users like this guy who keep the big registrars on their toes for us.

Just keep in mind that you take some risk with your hosting company. So choosing a reputable company is important.

Happy Domain Hunting!
Jorge

Great Looking Testimonials

I build a lot of mini-sites and sales websites for the domains I register. So, I'm always looking for ways to save time. And increase sales/traffic at the same time.

You probably know that testimonials are one of the best ways to improve sales on a website.

So, if you're looking for a quick-and-easy way to create compelling testimonials for your mini-sites and sales websites, you should check out PlusPanda.

Using your data, PlusPanda creates javascript/html that you can plugin to your existing site. They have several very nice looking templates.

There are several major benefits:

• Save time
• Great looking, professional templates.
• Keep your testimonials up-to-date by simply updating entries on the PlusPanda website.
• Easy to use. The javascript is simple to plug-in to an existing mini-site. It's a lot like pasting in Google analytics.
  

Some sample testimonials:NOTE: Free accounts for beta users. So take advantage of it.

Happy Domain Hunting!
Jorge

What does Jason Calacanis think of SEX.COM?

Check out "This Week In Startups" for 19-FEB-2010.

Basically, Internet Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis (WebLogs Inc, Mahalo) said he would not buy it.

Not sure of the timestamp, but real time was 15:29:00 PST (so you can subtract from show start time).

Happy Domain Hunting!
Jorge

Your Support Is Needed...

My AskAboutDomains knowledge exchange is up to about 100 questions! I must admit that I've asked or answered quite a few myself, but it is starting to rack up some page views.

AskAboutDomains has some compelling features:

• It's like a mix of FAQ and WIKI that's totally focused on domaining.
• The "best" answers get voted to the top. It's not a forum.
  
• You get badges and reputation score by answering questions.
• No need to create and account to view or answer questions.

I do have one humble request for readers of this blog: Next time someone (a friend, a co-worker, a domain buyer, etc) ask you a question about domaining, please consider entering the question on the AskAboutDomains. That way the answer and the question are preserved for everyone on the web (and you get to score some "rep" points).

Happy Domain Hunting!
Jorge