This month’s Sedo GreatDomains auction ends in two days,on August 23,2012 .The auction started last week and features 176 domain names,among which there are some premium domains,such as Shout.com and Bidets.com .

48 out of 176 domain names included in the auction already received bids.However,only eight of the 48 domains met its reserve .

Shout.com received 12 bids so far,with the highest bid of $9,999 .However,Shout.com it’s unlikely to sell considering it has a reserve range of $500,000 – $999,999 and only two days left until the auction will close.

Other interesting domain names included in the auction are:

Relation.com

Leash.com

ZNE.com

eDomains.com

Clever.co.uk

FarmForSale.com

F.biz

Licks.com

Pussie.com

ITClasses.com

Pendler.de

ForbiddenLove.com

WeddingConsultants.com

TripOrganizer.com

Dieting.net

WorkJackets.com

SimKarten.com

You can see the entire inventory and place your bids here .

ICANN is immediately seeking expressions of interest for the 2012-2013 Nominating Committee (NomCom) Chair.

In accordance with ICANN’s Bylaws, “[i]t is anticipated that upon the conclusion of the term of the Chair-Elect, the Chair-Elect will be appointed by the Board to the position of Chair.” See Article VII, section 3.4.

But, the current NomCom Chair-Elect chose after the Prague meeting to not stand for NomCom Chair. That is why ICANN is now calling for those interested in serving as Chair of the 2012-2013 Nominating Committee to submit a statement of interest. All individuals who have expressed interest in serving as the Chair-Elect will be directly notified about being considered for Chair. Accordingly, if you have already submitted your statement of interest for Chair-Elect, you need not do so again for the Chair position.

For more information about the NomCom see: http://nomcom.icann.org/

Position Description – Nominating Committee Chair

This position blends time management and negotiation skills with the practical aspects of conducting a world-wide search for individuals to fill various ICANN leadership positions. The NomCom Chair will be called on to schedule, organize and lead numerous in-person and telephonic meetings with a large committee of community members. The NomCom Chair is also responsible for managing the candidate identification and statement of interest process, with other committee members, and for managing the due diligence to be performed on nominated candidates, in cooperation with ICANN’s General Counsel and any retained outside firm(s). Throughout all NomCom activities, the Chair is responsible for ensuring that all NomCom operating rules and procedures are followed, and that all required documentation and reports are prepared in a timely fashion and provided to the proper parties as necessary.

Skills and Experience

To properly serve as the NomCom Chair, the selected individual must have:

(i) adequate time available to undertake the role;

(ii) excellent communication and negotiation skills to manage a committee of 20-21 members;

(iii) a clear understanding of the duties and responsibilities of each position for which the NomCom is selecting candidates;

(iv) experience on or with a Board of Directors of organizations with similar scale, scope and diversity as ICANN;

(v) strong organization and leadership skills;

(vi) ability to remain unbiased;

(vii) no conflicts of interest, and

(viii) a thorough understanding of, and satisfy, all criteria set forth in ICANN Bylaws relating to the NomCom (see http://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws#VII).

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Plans and schedules NomCom meetings as required, including ensuring posting schedules for public review. Please see attached for a Listing of the NomCom activities.

Appoints non-voting Associate Chair if so desired.

Reports to ICANN Board and the community on status of the NomCom.

Prepares and publishes the NomCom report.

Ensures that NomCom operating rules and procedures are followed.

Manages NomCom Selection Process, including:

(a) Approves outreach/advertising methods for attracting candidates.

(b) Conducts outreach with ICANN Constituencies, ACs and SOs (with Chairs of those groups), ICANN Board, and others.

(c) With other committee members, reviews and evaluates candidate Statements of Interest (SOIs) and references submitted during NomCom process

(d) Coordinates due diligence on nominated candidates in cooperation with ICANN’s General Counsel and any outside firm(s) retained to perform due diligence activities.

Approves posting of NomCom announcements and schedules on ICANN website.

Ensures NomCom records are properly established, maintained and archived.

Eligibility Exclusion

No person who is an employee of or is a paid consultant to ICANN (including the Ombudsman) shall simultaneously serve as a member of the NomCom, including the post of Chair or Chair-Elect.

Expenses

All reasonable travel expenses and administrative costs incurred as a result of performing the duties as NomCom Chair or Chair-Elect in accordance with ICANN’s policies will be reimbursed by ICANN upon the Chair or Chair-Elect’s submission to ICANN of valid receipts and invoices.

This announcement was sourced from :

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-20aug12-en.htm

On 16 July, ICANN published a request for proposals for an expert consultant to assist ICANN with the development of a DNS Risk Management Framework. The announcement indicated that questions on the RFP could be submitted between 1-16 August 23:59 UTC. The period to submit questions on the RFP is now closed. ICANN is providing the questions received and responses in this update so all parties interested in responding to the call for proposals may have the same information.

The deadline for responses to the call for proposals is 31 August 2012, 23:59 UTC. Responses should be sent to drmf-rfi@icann.org to the attention of Patrick Jones in the ICANN Security team.

Questions

Proposal Submission

We would like to know if you will accept proposals for this assignment from a consortium (two consulting firms) or if you are looking for a single consultant.

Response – Proposals from a consortium would be welcomed. The proposal should include a description of how the parties in the consortium would work together and interact with ICANN.

Timing

What is the anticipated time span of the project, in terms of ICANN meetings elapsed, given the the required times for internal and public comment?

Response – Ideally, ICANN would be able to retain a consultant to begin work on this project in late September, and participate in an open community panel at the ICANN meeting in October in Toronto, Ontario. Specific timing deliverables will be set once the consultant is retained, but it the expectation from the Board-level working group that a draft DNS Risk Management Framework be available for discussion in early December 2012, and following relevant public comment periods for the ICANN Board at the ICANN meeting in Beijing, China in April 2013.

What is the anticipated duration of the transition plan to complete the launch in terms of ICANN staff availability?

Response – ICANN staff will be available and following the work of the consultant throughout the project. This should reduce any delays between the start of the project and the implementation phase to operational risk management at ICANN.

What is the anticipated start date to execute on the RFP activities?

Response – The consultant should be available to begin as soon as possible after the completion of the contracting process. Ideally this work should commence in late September so that there is sufficient time to start in advance of the ICANN meeting in Toronto. The Board-level working group will have a open community session at the ICANN meeting on Thursday 18 October, participation from the consultant in this session would be expected in order to use this time to interact with the community.

When will ICANN state its decision on the winning bidder?

Response – ICANN intends to make its decision quickly, based on the quality of the responses received and the internal selection process. ICANN is aiming for early September to make this decision.

Staff Support

What is the anticipated size of ICANN’s internal team to implement the methodology and geographical location and diversity of designated staff?

Response – Implementation of the DNS Risk Management Framework will be led by ICANN’s Security team but will involve expertise from staff in other departments, including Legal, DNS Operations, IT, Finance, IANA, among others. ICANN’s staff are globally distributed, although the Security team is currently split between the East Coast and West Coast US.

What is the makeup of the ICANN staff dedicated to executing risk management activities (number of staff, hierarchy, etc.)?

Response – ICANN’s Security team provides staff support to the Board Risk Committee and Board-level DNS Risk Management Framework Working Group. There are ICANN staff from the Legal team providing both Board support and Executive team participation by ICANN’s General Counsel. The Executive team follows risk management activities, and individual department staff track department risks.

What is the commitment of FTEs in regards to ICANN’s availability to contribute to the project efforts?

Response – The ICANN Security team will provide staff support to engage with the consultant on this project.

Preparation of Materials

The RFP indicates that the expert consultant will deliver a report to the Board DNS Risk Management Framework Working Group and the ICANN community. Will the deliverables that the expert consultant produces be shared verbatim with the community as public documents, or will ICANN or the expert consultant prepare summaries to be shared publically?

Response – The consultant should assume that the deliverables produced for the this project will be shared verbatim with the community as public documents. The consultant should also provide executive summaries where appropriate to support community comprehension of the risk framework once it is developed.

This announcement was sourced from :

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-20aug12-en.htm

EuroDNS,one of the largest registrars,is now offering a special limited time promotion on .RU domain names.You can register your .RU domain name at an exclusive price of just €10.99,using the promo code PBRU12A,valid until September 30,2012 .

There are now over 3.9 million .RU domain names,according to statistics on the Coordination Center for TLD RU..As of today there are 3,945,202 .RU domain names registered and the number is increasignly rapidly .The number places .RU 5th in the global ranking of ccTLDs. Approximately 1500 new domain names are registered per day.

“We strive to keep our customers informed about the domain industry, along with delivering the best possible deals. Russia’s Internet audience is a fast expanding market, so we offer this promotion as a first step to joining this growing online population,” said Daniel Eisenhut,Chief Sales Officer at EuroDNS.

To register .RU domain name at this special price, visit EuroDNS website.

Check out the offers page on EuroDNS website to find out about great promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS.