.Realtor Top Level Domains Will Be Available to Realtor® Associations and Brokerages Starting May 7,2015

According to a press release sent out today, the new top level domain name .Realtor will be available to Realtor® associations and brokerages in the United States and Canada,Starting May 7,2015.

You can read the press release after the jump :

“The National Association of Realtors® top-level domain .REALTOR will be available to local and state Realtor® associations as well as brokerages in the U.S. and Canada starting May 7.

NAR was one of the first associations approved to offer a top-level domain and among the first in the real estate industry to commit to this new technology. Since the .REALTOR top-level domain became available to NAR members in October 2014, more than 95,000 domains have been claimed.

Now boards, associations and brokerages will have the opportunity to register for the domain, which lets consumers instantly know that they are working within the Realtor® community, the most trusted source for real estate information and with agents who subscribe to NAR’s strict Code of Ethics. As the Internet begins to evolve and divide into industry-specific categories, NAR believes it’s important for the Realtor® community to lead the industry and create an exclusive namespace for itself that consumers instantly recognize.

“Early adoption of new technology is a vital part of how Realtors® conduct business, and NAR is committed to staying on the forefront of the latest online tools,” said NAR President Chris Polychron, executive broker with 1st Choice Realty in Hot Springs, Ark. “We hope associations and brokerages can take advantage of the .REALTOR domain to create an online space where home buyers, sellers and investors, as well as Realtors®, can go to find the most trustworthy, reliable real estate services and resources.”

NAR has also entered into an exclusive marketing partnership with the Canadian Real Estate Association, the exclusive licensors of the Realtor® mark in Canada. CREA associations and boards will also be able to use the domain to provide consumers in Canadawith the same advantages.

NAR made an early commitment to adopt this technology and began applying for the .REALTOR top-level domain eight years ago through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization that coordinates domains and Internet Protocol addresses around the world. Throughout the entire process, NAR worked closely with Second Generation subsidiary Real Estate Domains, LLC, an investment firm and registry operator for the top-level domain .JOBS.

For more information on claiming the .REALTOR domain, which is available to associations and brokerages starting May 7 at 10 a.m. CDT, visit www.about.REALTOR.

The Canadian Real Estate Association is one of Canada’s largest single-industry trade associations, representing more than 111,000 Realtors® working through some 90 real estate boards and associations.

Second Generation Ltd (“Second Gen”), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is an Embrescia family investment firm that actively works with talented management teams to develop businesses that have potential for significant growth and long-term value. For over three decades, Second Gen and its affiliates have owned and operated FCC licensed radio and television properties super serving markets throughout the United States as well as investing in manufacturing, real estate and medical innovations. Among its diverse investments, Second Gen is the owner of the .JOBS top-level domain on the Internet sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.”

AFNIC : New gTLDs Accounted for 21% of the net growth of the domain name market in 2014

Afnic, the company behind .FR extension , has just released the April 2015 edition of the Afnic Industry Repor on Domain Names.

You can read the report after the jump :

“The April 2015 edition of the Afnic Industry Report on Domain Names provides an overview of the domain name market in 2014: figures, review and trends.

The Industry Report on Domain Names published by Afnic provides the key figures and trends related to the global domain name market.

The April 2015 edition reviews the international domain name market in 2014: global growth, market shares by domains (generic Top Level Domains, new Top Level Domains, etc.)

This study relies for a major part on a methodology for measuring the performance of TLDs developed by the The Afnic Market Research Team, a methodology that starts making reference in an european level.

Check out the results of this study in the April 2015 issue of the Afnic French Domain Name Industry Report here.

ICANN WEBINAR: Cross Community Working Group (CWG) On IANA Naming Related Functions: Briefing on 2nd Draft Proposal for Public Comment

Why this matters: Following the request of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ( NTIA ), an agency of the U.S Department of Commerce, for ICANN to “convene a multistakeholder process to develop a plan to transition the U.S. government stewardship role” with regard to the IANA Functions and related root zone management, a Cross Community Working Group (CWG-Stewardship) was formed with the purpose of developing a consolidated transition proposal for the elements of the IANA Functions relating to domain names.

The CWG-Stewardship held briefing webinars on the first draft proposal on 3-4 December 2014, and subsequently received nearly 60 public comments. Following the close of the public comment period, the CWG-Stewardship reviewed the comments and continued to work at an intense pace to prepare its transition proposal, through more than 30 teleconferences, a working session at ICANN 52 in Singapore in February, a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul in March and, most recently, during a two-day meeting block with over 12 hours of conferences to converge on the 2^nd draft proposal.

With the aim to submit its final proposal to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group ( ICG ) by the close of ICANN 53 in June, the CWG-Stewardship highlights the importance of broader community input of their draft, for which the group has received independent legal counsel for structural considerations and external expertise to bolster operational sections.

The CWG-Stewardship will hold two identical webinars at different times to facilitate participation across time zones. The webinars will take place on:

24 April from 06:00 – 07:30 UTC (time zone converter here)
24 April from 14:00 – 15:30 UTC (time zone converter here)

Webinar Details & How to Attend

The webinars will be run in an Adobe Connect room. If you are interested in attending the webinar and would like to receive dial-in details, please send an email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
and indicate which time you would like to attend the webinar. Please note that the webinar will be conducted in English and will be recorded and transcribed. Subsequently the transcripts will be translated in the 5 UN languages and posted on the CWG-Stewardship Wiki here.

Further information

For further information about the CWG-Stewardship’s work, please see https://community.icann.org/x/37fhAg.

For further information about the ICG and the IANA Stewardship Transition, please see https://www.icann.org/stewardship.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2015-04-16-en

posted by David Goldstein

ICANN: Update to BCG Study – Country Clusters Analysis Now Available

Why this matters: Reducing e-friction – or a country’s obstacles to full participation in the global digital economy – can deliver benefits to national economies and business, particularly in developing markets. BCG findings show a potential 2.5% increase in GDP and 7% increase in SME revenues as e-friction scores improve.

Click here to download the update [PDF, 241 KB]

Click here to view the update on the BCG Perspectives website

Which Wheels to Grease? Reducing Friction in the Internet Economy is an update to the 2014 report Greasing the Wheels of the Internet Economy by the Boston Consulting Group commissioned by ICANN . This update expands on the analysis of “e-friction” by looking at its major causes and by defining clusters of countries that face similar challenges and can work together towards similar solutions.

Click here to read the full release on BCG’s website

Reducing e-Friction Delivers Economic Benefits and Speeds Growth

Update to 2014 BCG Study Reveals Five Causes of e-Friction and Suggests Solutions

Addressing the five main causes of “e-friction” can help countries realize greater economic and social benefits from the digital economy and spur growth, according to an analysis by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Which Wheels to Grease? Reducing e-Friction in the Internet Economy updates BCG’s 2014 study of e-friction in 65 economies that encompass more than 80 percent of the world’s population and more than 90 percent of the world’s economic activity. That report introduced the BCG e-Friction Index, which identified 55 individual e-friction indicators in four categories: infrastructure, industry, individuals, and information.

Low e-friction correlates closely with high Internet penetration and strong digital economies. Top-ranking e-friction countries have Internet penetration rates of more than 80 percent, while many low-ranking nations have penetration rates of 50 percent or less.

The five major causes of e-friction identified in the 2015 update are wealth, population density, the urban-rural population mix, literacy, and English-language skills. Wealth is an important factor, but it does not explain e-friction on its own. The common causes of friction suggest high-potential solutions.

“Digital trade enriches nations,” said Paul Zwillenberg, a BCG partner and coauthor of both the 2014 report and the update. “But not all nations engage equally in the exchange of goods, services, ideas, and information, as e-friction gets in the way. Some of the causes of e-friction can be influenced by policy initiatives; others require more creative approaches.”

Analyzing economies by their e-friction scores and their per capita GDP results in eight clusters, split into three groups by income levels. Those looking to reduce e-friction should start by prioritizing the relative significance of each cause, then developing a strategy for each. Those in the same cluster face common challenges and are likely in some, but by no means all, instances to pursue similar solutions.

Developing rural nations face multiple issues of basic infrastructure. A number of emerging markets are experimenting with several funding and operating models. The optimal technology depends on local conditions, with a combination of mobile and fixed wireless generally the most cost effective for rural areas and satellite typically the best bet for truly remote areas.

Middle-income nations may benefit substantially from efforts to demonstrate to their populations the value of the Internet and bring more people online. There are good models to follow in four key areas: furthering local content development, building digital literacy, simplifying access and use, and bringing down cost.

Even countries with relatively low e-friction face thorny digital issues, such privacy and data security, which clumsily handled or left unresolved can throw sand in the gears. Some have more sources of friction to address, such as those related to outdated regulation, excessive bureaucracy, and impediments to investment; they need to focus their interventions with care.

“The digital economy is expected to grow at an annual rate of 10 percent globally over the next several years and at 15 to 25 percent in developing markets,” said Fadi Chehade, president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ), which commissioned the 2014 report and the update. “National competitiveness will increasingly depend on how well countries address e-friction. The digital economy is one place almost any nation can look to for increasing business revenues and jobs.”

About The Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with 81 offices in 45 countries. For more information, please visit bcg.com.

About bcgperspectives.com

Bcgperspectives.com features the latest thinking from BCG experts as well as from CEOs, academics, and other leaders. It covers issues at the top of senior management’s agenda. It also provides unprecedented access to BCG’s extensive archive of thought leadership stretching back 50 years to the days of Bruce Henderson, the firm’s founder and one of the architects of modern management consulting. All of our content—including videos, podcasts, commentaries, and reports—can be accessed by PC, mobile, iPad, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-04-16-en

posted by David Goldstein

Daily Domain Sales 04-15-2015 lead by Lights.co.uk at $36,886 on Sedo

Lights.co.uk sold for $36,886 on Sedo.

Top Domain Sales on April 15, 2015 are :

Lights.co.uk – $36,886

Pompeii.com – $19,999

Stil.com – $15,100

Gehälter.de – $10,624

Dacsan.com – $7,050

FansBook.com – $5,000

Maome.com – $3,636

Graduations.org – $3,000

EntertainmentDesign.com – $3,000

LocalAct.com – $2,766

U5.net – $2,600

Segmentx.com – $2,592

PropertyMarketPlace.com – $2,500

DynamicImports.com – $2,420

Abcon.com – $2,207

NationalDefense.org – $2,111

NanTucketProperties.com – $2,088

ItsYourLife.com – $2,011

Oceda.com – $2,000

Q4.net – $2,000

CitiVoice.com – $2,000

HandDyedFabrics.com – $2,000

BeverageManagement.com – $2,000

IncredibleInnovations.com – $1,950

Cagy.com – $1,950

LocalFinder.com – $1,923

HareOfTheDog.com – $1,888

LuckyBones.com – $1,888

GodForce.com – $1,800

Sign-Up.net – $1,800

ThirdHandSmoke.com – $1,700

DreamsMatter.com – $1,699

CleanMachine.com – $1,588

BlogHints.com – $1,560

BabyBucket.com – $1,500

TeachingExpress.com – $1,500

Prome.com – $1,412

Slayers.com – $1,410

No1Designs.com – $1,250

TheIceHouse.com – $1,225

E-1.com – $1,214

AstuteVentures.com – $1,200

ATMAdvantage.com – $1,200

JJDW.com – $1,125

MarketingKit.com – $1,100

QuickSEO.com – $1,100

OrlandoElectricians.com – $1,050

Vrware.com – $1,033

971971.com – $1,005

Hundred.net – $999

Cabs.net – $950

FantasticPools.com – $910

CYApp.com – $900

BigNoses.com – $900

Vnsylc.com – $890

Bahiamar.com – $888

LLDM.com – $870

ClassTag.com – $850

Gosch.com – $812

TheKitchenTable.com – $810

PrivateCatering.com – $757

Guitare.net – $751

MoldSpecialists.com – $730

MedicineMarket.com – $677

MYKY.com – $651

UpwardMobility.com – $607

EMedia.biz – $600

USImports.com – $565

OurBigEarth.com – $565

GigaHosting.com – $540

MeatPackaging.com – $508

AtlantaAirPortTaxi.com – $501

WatchLiveCricket.com – $485

ProficientDrivingAcademy.com – $407

WLFY.com – $400

Marketplace-wise Sales

Sedo