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2017-03-31

Ripcord Disrupting Paper Scanning & Records Storage Industry (video)

Disrupting the Paper Cut Industry

Video above published by Bloomberg on Mar 24, 2017: A Silicon Valley startup called Ripcord has unveiled a machine that takes stacks of paper, pulls out the staples, rapidly scans the paper and send the scans to the cloud. That seemingly inane task of digitization is done at breakneck speed. 

Domain: ripcord.com



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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-30

Amazon.com $AMZN Acquires Middle East Online Retailer Souq.com

Amazon Bets on Middle East With Souq.com Acquisition

March 28, 2017: Amazon.com Inc., has agreed to buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com, betting that e-commerce in the Middle East is poised to take off. Bloomberg's Selina Wang reports on "Bloomberg Technology."

See also: The Retail Death Spiral Continues | SeekingAlpha.com: "Today, I do almost all of my shopping at Amazon (AMZN). It saves me immense amounts of time, while expanding my choices exponentially. And I don't have to fight traffic, engage in the parking space wars, or wait in line to pay."




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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-29

Brexit Reality: What To Expect After Article 50 Letter on March 29 (video)

Brexit graphic ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Brexit graphic ©2017 DomainMondo.com
UPDATE March 29, 2017:

Leaving the EU negotiating objectives | PlanforBritain.gov.uk: "The Government has set out 12 negotiating objectives ahead of the UK leaving the EU."
1. Providing certainty and clarity
2. Taking control of our own laws
3. Strengthening the Union
4. Protecting our strong and historic ties with Ireland and maintaining the Common Travel Area
5. Controlling immigration: We will have control over the number of EU nationals coming to the UK.
6. Securing rights for EU nationals in the UK, and UK nationals in the EU
7. Protecting workers’ rights
8. Ensuring free trade with European markets
9. Securing new trade agreements with other countries
10. Ensuring the UK remains the best place for science and innovation
11. Cooperating in the fight against crime and terrorism
12. Delivering a smooth, orderly exit from the EU

Information about leaving the EU | planforbritain.gov.uk: "We have ruled out being a member of the single market, as the PM said in the Lancaster House speech. EU leaders have made clear their view that members of the single market must sign up to the ‘four freedoms’ that underpin it — including the free movement of people – and be subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice ... Instead, we want a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the EU. This will enable free-flowing trade in both goods and services, and ensure the freedom for UK companies to trade with and operate within European markets. We also intend to leave the Common Commercial Policy and for the UK not to be bound by the EU’s Common External Tariff so that we can pursue our own independent trade policy, securing trade deals with new partners. The Prime Minister created the Department for International Trade for this purpose."

"Will there be a second referendum or an alternative to leaving the EU? No. The country voted to leave the EU and it is the duty of the Government and Parliament to make sure we do just that."

A fairer society | PlanforBritain.gov.uk: "We will build a fairer society where success is based on merit, not privilege. We have started to rebalance our society in favour of ordinary working people, but now need to do more to turn Britain into a union where success is defined by work and talent, not birth or circumstance. The Government’s Plan for Britain seeks to
  • provide access to a good school place for every child – one that gives them the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the future
  • ensure there is control of immigration so that it serves the national interest and is fair to everyone who lives and works in this country
  • deliver one million new homes, so that more people have the chance to own or rent an affordable home of their own
  • continue to invest in the NHS to help people at every stage of their life and support a vital national institution
  • help people who can work get back into work so that our welfare system is fair to those who need it and fair to those who pay for it
  • tackle historic injustices, like racial and gender discrimination, that hold too many people back.
Prime Minister's Commons statement on triggering Article 50 | GOV.UK

Prime Minister’s letter to Donald Tusk triggering Article 50 | GOV.UK (embed below):


EU Taskforce on Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom | European Commission | ec.europa.eu See also: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/notification-article-50-teu-united-kingdom_en

--original post--
Brexit: ahead of UK Prime Minister Theresa May triggering Article 50 by delivery of a letter to the EU's European Council President Donald Tusk, on March 29, 2017, which will start negotiations between UK and the EU, both benchmark indexes of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, closed up on Tuesday, March 28:
FTSE 100 up 22.75% since June 27, 2016
FTSE 250 up 26.63% since June 27, 2016
What to expect after Article 50 | FT.com Opinion

Video above published Mar 21, 2017, by FT.com.

Theresa May may need to read Trump's "Art of the Deal"--
UK Should Prepare To Walk Away--“Paying Any Exit Fee is absurd”--"... The primary problem in these negotiations is the EU nannycrat fools believe they can force the UK to pay ridiculous exit charges on top of other demands. The ideal approach for the UK is to simply walk away. What can the EU possibly do that does not hurt the EU even more than it does the UK? The sooner Theresa May sets the appropriate tone for negotiations the better off everyone will be. I wrote about this long ago in Brexit Stacked Deck? Which Way? Don’t Negotiate, Just Leave! Serious negotiations can only begin once Theresa May sets the proper tone. The proper tone is the UK is prepared to walk away and pay the EU nothing."--MishTalk.com

EU Needs To Fill Gap In Budget Once Brexit Becomes Official:

Mar 27, 2017: UK says it will not pay a 60 billion euro bill to leave the EU.

See also:
Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist


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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-28

Cyber Attacks: Phishing Emails & Ransomware; Security & Privacy (video)

How to Spot a Phishing Email:

Published on Mar 16, 2017: Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence, and John Podesta are among victims of these cleverly disguised messages. 

See also: If Your iPhone is Stolen, These Guys May Try to iPhish You | KrebsOnSecurity.com

Video playlist:

Video playlist:
  1. How to Protect Yourself From Cyber Attacks Involving Ransomware I Fortune 2:10
  2. How To Use Two-Factor Authentication to Keep Hackers Away I Fortune 1:32
  3. The Bright Side of the Dark Web I Fortune 2:29
  4. Use These Secure Apps to Protect Your Privacy I Fortune 1:50

More info: National Cyber Security Alliance | StaySafeOnline.org

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-03-27

Digital Winners: Nike, Experticity; & Losers: ESPN, Social Media Influencers

Scott Galloway: Nike's Billion-Dollar Bargain

Video above published Mar 23, 2017 by L2inc.com: Scott Galloway on last week's digital "winners and losers"--
  • Loser: ESPN, as subscribers flock to streaming platforms and ad revenue declines.
  • Winner or Loser? Nike, for its $1 billion deal with Cristiano Ronaldo.
  • Winner: Salespeople. With influencers losing trust, brands are now recruiting "expert" salespeople to rep their products.
  • Winner: Students turning to GoFundMe to cover the cost of their college educations.
Domains referenced:
ESPN.com
Nike.com
Experticity.com
GoFundMe.com

Sources:
(0:06) L2 Analysis of Business Insider Data. http://read.bi/2ldrPbO
(0:10) “NFL Signs TV Rights Deals with Fox, NBC, and CBS,” Los Angeles Times, December 2011. http://lat.ms/1mZMeM2
(0:10) “Sports Finance,” Gil Fried, Timothy D. DeSchriver, Michael Mondello. http://amzn.to/2mYomL3
(0:15) "ESPN Is Going to Lay Off a Lot of Familiar Faces," New York Post, March 2017. http://nyp.st/2mbgfLj
(0:15) "Source: Looming ESPN Layoffs Have Sparked ‘Panic of Biblical Proportions’ Among Talent," Sporting News, March 2017. http://bit.ly/2nrW7HI
(0:21) “Mobile ESPN to Launch Nationwide in Best Buy Stores,” ESPN, October 2005. http://es.pn/2o98oh6
(0:36) “Cristiano Ronaldo Generated $500 Million In Value For Nike In 2016,” Forbes, February 2017. http://bit.ly/2mUQ62c
(0:42) “Whether LeBron Has A $1B Deal Or Not, Michael Jordan Is Still The King Of Nike,” Forbes, May 2016. http://bit.ly/2nrWEJm
(0:50) “Ronaldo Beats Messi By 800% When It Comes To Return On Social Media For Their Brands,” Forbes, February 2017. http://bit.ly/2mUT8nb
(1:07) TRACKALYTICS, March 2017. http://bit.ly/2nbC9yA
(1:22) “This Company Makes Influencers Out of Everyday People,” Mashable, February 2017. http://on.mash.to/2nrNZqA
(1:27) crunchbase, March 2017. http://bit.ly/2nVJLoJ
(1:39) “This Company Makes Influencers Out of Everyday People,” Mashable, February 2017. http://on.mash.to/2nrNZqA
(1:56) “Do You Hear That? It Might Be the Growing Sounds of Pocketbooks Snapping Shut and the Chickens Coming Home,” AEIdeas, August 2016. http://bit.ly/2nHvdfr
(2:01) Irrational Exuberance, Robert Shiller. http://amzn.to/2o98DZE
(2:04) “GoFundMe for College,” Brittany Gofundme, February 2017. http://bit.ly/2o9bfXm

 YouTube.com auto-generated transcript:
0:02  Loser: ESPN.
0:03  The triple whammy of the loss of 12 million subscribers in the past six years,
0:07  escalating costs for the rights to broadcast live sporting events,
0:10  and declining ad revenue
0:13  led ESPN to announce layoffs last week.
0:16  Consumers are not consuming less content.
0:18  They're consuming it in a different way.
0:20  ESPN made early forays into digital
0:22  but never figured out how to move away from expensive on-air talent contracts
0:27  or its dependency on the outdated business model of squeezing premiums from cable providers.
0:32  Winner or loser? Nike,
0:34  who signed a billion-dollar lifetime endorsement deal
0:36  with the Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo in December.
0:40  Ronaldo joins LeBron James and Michael Jordan as the only athletes to reach this milestone.
0:46  This might actually be a bargain for Nike.
0:50  Ronaldo generated half that fee, or $500 million, in value for the brand
0:54  from his social media channels in 2016.
0:57  Ronaldo published 347 posts that mentioned Nike,
1:01  garnering almost half a billion interactions.
1:04  His 120 million fans on Facebook make him the most popular person on the platform.
1:11  A winner: salespeople.
1:12  With social media influencers facing declining trust,
1:15  companies are investing in the credibility garnered from retail salespeople.
1:18  Experticity - what a stupid name - which operates an exclusive social network of more than a million retail experts
1:26  has raised $30 million in venture capital.
1:28  Buy some common sense with that money. Experticity?
1:32  In exchange for listening to brand pitches, salespeople get discounts and exclusive access to products.
1:37  750 brands have signed on,
1:39  including The North Face, Adidas, Nickelodeon, and most recently Reebok
1:44  which is using Experticity to promote a new shoe to serious runners.
1:48  A winner: students.
1:50  Yeah, beer, unprotected sex and football games.
1:52  Tell me something I don't know.
1:54  With tuition rising faster than inflation
1:56  and the average college student facing $37,000 in debt,
2:00  students are turning to online fundraising site GoFundMe to help cover the cost.
2:05  Over the past three years,
2:06  more than 130,000 GoFundMe campaigns for college tuition expenses
2:12  have raised $60 million from 850,000 donations.
2:16  Some notable campaigns: E-Jayy's Compton to Harvard campaign raised $21,000
2:21  and Baltimore native Khalil Bridges' campaign to attend community college

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-03-26

News Review: 1) .AFRICA Case Update; 2) ICANN Dysfunction Alive & Well

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

 Features • 1) .AFRICA Case Update, 2) Tweet of the Week: ICANN Dysfunction Alive & Well, 3) ICANN Board Report, 4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Google & googlee, 5) ICANN's Remit & Human Rights, 6) New gTLD .FEEDBACK, 7)ICYMI, 8) Neustar $NSR merger, 9) ICANN Public Comment Periods, 10) Most Popular.

1) New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation Case Update: "It ain't over till it's over"--Yogi Berra
Excerpt from Court's Order of March 21, 2017
For more: DotConnectAfrica Trust v. ICANN (Trial Court Proceeding) | ICANN.org: Order Approving Stipulation Staying Discovery and Continuing the Trial Date [PDF, 681 KB] 21 March 2017.

2) Tweet of the Week: ICANN Dysfunction Alive & Well (transcript of ICANN58 interaction):
Background: News Review: ICANN Secretly Colludes With New gTLD Registry Operators 17 Jul 2016

3) ICANN Board Report March 2017 (pdf)
Excerpt: As of the end of January 2017, ICANN org has 367 people, which is 19 people less than the FY17 year end budget projection of 386. Over the last three months, 13 joined and another 8 left. ICANN Organization by Locations: As of January 31 2016 [sic], North America Offices & Remote consists of 218 people (79%) in Los Angeles office, 29 in Washington DC office, 28 work remotely in US, 1 works remotely in Canada, totaling 275 (75% of the total organization).
source: ICANN.org
4) Names, Domains & Trademarks:
•  Google's 'googlee' infringement case | barandbench.com:
“Is a “Googlee” a “wrong one”? A cricket enthusiast will say, “Yes of course.” In the virtual world too, the answer is well, yes, as the Petitioner, Mr. Gulshan Khatri found to his consternation, when he used it as a domain name: ‘googlee.in’.”--Delhi High Court’s Justice S Muralidhar in his domain name infringement decision in favor of Google.
•  Rebranding Your Law Firm: How a 150-Year-Old Firm Gave Itself a Makeover | JDSupra.com: "To have a successful website, we felt we must first have the appropriate domain ... We were successful in acquiring www.bradley.com even though it was originally registered with a foreign corporation."
•  End of the road for UDRP for copyright? | Lexology.com
•  China's Chery files trademark complaint against Mercedes over green car brand | Reuters.com--Mercedes-Benz is using the "EQ" name for a line of green-energy vehicles while Chery has used the name "eQ" for its two-door battery electric car for two years. Editor's Note: EQ.com is registered via GoDaddy to an individual in China but does not resolve.
•   Amazon Chime team responds to trademark suit, claims it wasn't aware of competing Chime service | GeekWire.com: "An Amazon Web Services employee claims the company had never heard of CafeX Communications and its competing Chime service when it decided to christen its new set of conferencing and collaboration tools Amazon Chime." Editor's note: neither Amazon nor CafeX are the registrant of chime.com (Chime Interactive).
•  That Taylor Swift Spotify-Rival Rumor, Explained by a Trademark Lawyer | VanityFair.com: "But if the filing that you may or may not use is likely to go public and possibly get misconstrued, why trademark at all?
“She needs that [trademark] registration for enhanced policing,” explained Schwimmer. “And there’s another thing, which is: you need registrations to get intermediaries to pay attention to you. So if you go to Amazon and want to take down stuff; you go to a domain name company or eBay, and you want them to take down the infringing stuff, [the companies] don't want to have to evaluate whether you are the real whatever. The easiest thing is to say, ‘Here is my trademark registration.’ ”" (emphasis added)

 5) ICANN's Remit & Human Rights:
"... ICANN’s remit is limited to coordinating the allocation and assignment of Domain names, Internet Protocol(IP) addresses, Autonomous System (AS) numbers, and protocol port and parameter numbers. [See ICANN Bylaws] The SSAC believes that assessments based on content accessed through these unique identifiers should not be in scope for discussions regarding Human Rights for the ICANN organization. This may be different from the interests or remits of some stakeholder groups and their members. The SSAC believes strongly that any binding language that holds ICANN accountable to Human Rights values should fall within the scope of ICANN’s limited remit, and implemented via a Human Rights Impact Assessment followed by the development of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy for ICANN. This CSR policy should cover the processes governing ICANN community participation, as well as the ICANN corporation itself ..."--ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committtee--SAC092: SSAC Input to the Cross Community Working Group onAccountability Work Stream 2, Human Rights (pdf) (emphasis added)

7)  ICYMI Internet Domain News Quick Takes--
8) Neustar $NSR merger: Stockholders of Neustar, a domain registry and technology services company, voted to approve the previously announced definitive merger agreement, dated as of December 14, 2016, by the terms of which a private investment group led by Golden Gate Capital will acquire Neustar. At the special meeting held on March 14, 2017, approximately 82% of Neustar shares outstanding and entitled to vote at the meeting were voted in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Neustar’s stockholders will be entitled to receive $33.50 per share upon the closing of the proposed merger. The merger is expected to close no later than the end of the third quarter of 2017, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions.--Neustar.biz

9) ICANN Public Comment Periods that close 30 Mar - 1 May 2017 (subject to change):

10)  Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: News Review: New gTLDs Failing, ICANN58 Ends, ICANN in La La Land

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-25

TechReview | The Billionaire Whose Brands Stung Apple in China Last Year

Domain Mondo's weekly review of technology news:

Feature •  Duan Yongping, The Billionaire Whose Brands Stung Apple in China Last Year:

The Billionaire Who Stung Apple in China Last Year

Video above published Mar 21, 2017: Duan Yongping is the reclusive billionaire who founded Oppo (oppo.com) and Vivo (vivo.com), the twin smartphone brands that dealt Apple a stinging defeat in China last year. Bloomberg's Edwin Chan reports on "Bloomberg Markets."

See also:

Other Tech News:

•  Encryption & Spies: "As far as is publicly known, the encryption is strong. Even if it is somewhat weak, modern cryptosystems don't fall in an instant; it takes a fair amount of computation to crack each instance. The CIA is hacking [the endpoints] because that's what's left ... .to get around encryption ..."--Steven Bellovin, Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University.

•  Google | Project Shield | Free DDoS protection | projectshield.withgoogle.com: "Project Shield is a free service that uses Google technology to protect news sites and free expression from DDoS attacks on the web."

 •  FCC launches crackdown on fraudulent robocalls | TheHill.com: "FCC voted unanimously to move forward with, would allow telecom providers to block calls from numbers that are not assigned to phones and that are no longer in use."

•  Digital Divide: Could New York State’s Plan to Erase Its Digital Divide Work for America? | TechnologyReview.com: New York’s initiative requires a 100-megabit-per-second connection be made available for $60 a month--New York has huge rural areas, but aims to bring broadband Internet to all its residents by next year.

 •  Apple's iPad Non-Event | SeekingAlpha.com: "Google's Android doesn't shrink from convergence; it assumes it. In my view, Android is well on its way to becoming the universal personal computing operating system that Windows aspires to be and that iOS declines to be. Android is by far the most forward looking and innovative personal computing OS available today, even if not always the most stable and reliable."

•  Alibaba to Expand Mobile Game Distribution Globally | TheStreet.com:  Alibaba (BABA) is planning to expand its mobile gaming platform, investing 1 billion yuan into partnerships with a few gaming firms to distribute mobile games between China and other parts of the world. China is the world's largest online gaming market.

ICYMI Tech News--15 Quick Takes:
  1. Europe at 60: Can Europe be saved? | Economist.com
  2. Apple: The Massive Gamble On AirPods | SeekingAlpha.com
  3. China: Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands in 2017 |ChinaInternetWatch.com
  4. Scam artist: A Lithuanian phisher tricked two big US tech companies into wiring him $100 million | TheVerge.com
  5. Google takes Symantec to the woodshed for mis-issuing 30,000 HTTPS certs [updated] | ArsTechnica.com
  6. Cloud computing: Are these the hurdles that trip you up? | ZDNet.com
  7. China's Tencent fourth-quarter profit jumps 47 percent on payment, cloud revenue surge | Reuters.com and Tencent Platforms  (WeChat, QQ, Qzone, Video, Browser, etc) Performance in 2016 | ChinaInternetWatch.com
  8. IBM and Wanda form China cloud computing partnership | Reuters.com
  9. O-MG, the Developer Preview of Android O is here! | android-developers.googleblog.com
  10. Amazon could hammer the final nail into the iPad's coffin | ZDNet.com
  11. Uber president Jeff Jones "leaving after apparently deciding the current controversies are too much to handle"--Recode.net.
  12. Techmeme.com Meet The Man Whose Site Mark Zuckerberg Reads Every Day | BuzzFeed.com
  13. Five Creepy Things Your ISP Could Do if Congress Repeals the FCC’s Privacy Protections | EFF.org
  14. Crossing the Border? Here’s How to Safeguard Your Data From Searches | NYTimes.com and Digital Privacy at the U.S Border: A New How-To Guide from EFF | EFF.org
  15. Where’s Citizenship for Sale? Huddled Masses Need Not Apply | WolfStreet.com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-24

India: Internet Freedom vs Internet Shutdowns; A Global #NetGov Issue

Graphic courtesy of keepusonline.in
Keep Us Online! | keepusonline.in: "India had more Internet shutdowns in 2016 than any other country. State governments love to shut off the Internet, supposedly to thwart a range of evil-doers — from protesters to exam cheats. Millions of people are routinely cut off on some official's whim, with zero rules or oversight. This is unacceptable. Even for stopping riots — the official justification for most shutdowns — there is evidence that blackouts do more harm than good. Cutting off Internet access prevents innocent people from using the Internet to learn about trouble spots to stay away from, from reaching out for help and from making sure that loved ones are safe ..."

Internet Freedom Foundation | internetfreedom.in: Internet Freedom Foundation defends online freedom, privacy and innovation in India. Born out of the SaveTheInternet.in movement for net neutrality, IFF works on a range of issues including net neutrality, free expression, privacy and innovation.


Internet Shutdowns are a Global Internet Governance Issue:


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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-23

CeBIT Keynote: Androids, Robots, and Our Future Life (video)

CeBIT Keynote "Androids, Robots, and Our Future Life"

Video above published Mar 21, 2017: CeBIT [domain: cebit.de] Global Conferences 21 March 2017: Keynote "Androids, Robots, and Our Future Life" by Hiroshi Ishiguro, Professor at Osaka University and Visiting Director, ATR Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories.

Excerpts from the video:



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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-22

Edward Snowden, CeBIT Keynote Video: Datasecurity, Privacy, Surveillance

Edward Snowden "Datasecurity and Privacy in the Age of Surveillance"

CeBIT Global Conference - 21 March 2017: "Datasecurity and Privacy in the Age of Surveillance"--Edward Snowden, World-Famous Whistleblower


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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-21

Digital Winners (Nike, Adidas, Pizza brands) & Loser (Google)

Digital Winners & Losers

Video above published Mar 16, 2017, by L2inc.com: NYU Stern marketing professor Scott Galloway on digital winners & losers:

Winners: Nike and Adidas, whose sneaker apps indicate that they've mastered the art of creating scarcity in a digital age.

Winners: Pizza brands, which are - believe it or not - at the forefront of digital innovation.

Loser: Google, whose convenient Featured Snippets tool provides some disquieting answers.

Dominos stock $DPZ vs Google (Alphabet) stock $GOOG $GOOGL (source: video above)
Domains: Nike.com; Adidas.com; Dominos.com; Google.com

Sources:
(0:30) AppAnnie, March 2017. http://bit.ly/2n3ztVS
(0:39) “Reservations For Black Yeezy Boost 350s Close In 22 Minutes,” Footwear News, February 2016. http://bit.ly/2nwpK8m
(0:53) “Introducing Pizza Hut PIE TOPS,” YouTube, March 2017. http://bit.ly/2myOmyZ
(1:14) L2 Analysis of Google Finance.
(1:25) “Google SERP Feature Graph,” Moz, March 2017. http://bit.ly/1NTIu9f

YouTube.com auto-generated transcript:
0:02  Winners: Nike and Adidas, which have mastered the art of manufacturing scarcity in a digital age.
0:07  Both brands use their apps to release sneakers in limited batches, generating hype
0:12  as sneaker fans compete to press the Buy button.
0:15  Scarcity is key to irrational decisions and inflated prices.
0:19  There's a reason that Hermès limits the production of Birkin bags
0:23  and does not distribute them through Walmart.
0:26  When Nike released a new model of Air Jordans last month,
0:28  the SNKRS app jumped to the tenth most popular shopping app in the App Store.
0:33  Adidas sold out of the original black Yeezy Boost in just 22 minutes.
0:38  The results of these scarcity tactics:
0:40  search returns include hack, jig and bot
0:44  and YouTube videos on how to game the apps.
0:47  What category is at the forefront of digital innovation?
0:50  Pizza.
0:51  Pizza Hut just launched smart sneakers that sync with your phone via Bluetooth
0:55  and automatically order a large two-topping pizza
0:58  every time you press a button on the tongue of the shoe.
1:02  And Domino's now offers a wedding registry.
1:04  My guess is the same couple has ammo on the registry.
1:08  We previously discussed pizza brands
1:09  being the agents of digital disruption
1:11  and that continues to hold true.
1:13  Domino's stock is outperforming Google's.
1:16  A loser: Featured Snippets.
1:18  The answers Google returns at the top of the search results page
1:21  account for 15% of queries on Google.
1:25  The snippet algorithm uses third-party sources to generate its answers
1:29  and in recent weeks those sources have been off-color,
1:32  and more importantly, total bullshit.
1:35  We stated in a previous Winners and Losers that every time someone typed a query into Google,
1:39  it got three-billionths of a percentage better.
1:42  What is Google?
1:44  Google is not a search engine. Google is an atheist's god.
1:47  By the way, I'm an atheist, which means
1:48  I believe in one less god than most of you.
1:51  Where do we pray? Where do we send information,
1:54  hope that there's divine intervention
1:55  and get a better answer back?
1:57  Our new god, Google.
1:59  Voice-based technologies are taking over the world.
2:03  Alexa, who is Scott Galloway?
2:09  Scott Robert Galloway is an Australian professional football player
2:12  who plays as a fullback for Central Coast Mariners
2:15  in the A-league.
2:17  Really? I hope he blows a knee.
2:21  We'll see you next week.

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DISCLAIMER

2017-03-20

Google X Founder Says Udacity Is Reinventing Universities (video)

Google X Founder Says Udacity Is Reinventing Universities

Video above published on Mar 8, 2017: Sebastian Thrun, Udacity co-founder and the first head of the Google car project, discusses Udacity's new hiring partners and President Trump's policies with Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde on "Bloomberg Technology."

 Domains:


feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-03-19

News Review: New gTLDs Failing, ICANN58 Ends, ICANN in La La Land

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

 Features •  1. New gTLDs Failing, 2. ICANN58 ends, 3. Important Skills for ICANN Board Members, 4. ICANN CEO Goran Marby re: ICANN data, 5. More ICANN Dysfunction & Incompetence,  6. New gTLDs .CORP, .HOME and .MAIL, 7. LAC DNS Marketplace Study, 8. Amazon.com in Spanish, 9. ICANN in La La Land, 10. Internet Domain News Quick Takes, 11. Three most popular posts, 12. One Last Thing.

1. New gTLDs Failing (new generic top-level domains)--nTLD extensions are already failing | reddit.com--one comment out of many: "nTLD extensions are already failing ... Everyone said the new TLDs were nothing but a money grabbing scheme by the ICANN ... It seems now, some nTLDs seem to be already failing with less than 5,000 active domains and dropping, barely to keep the costs active and they are increasing renewal prices to keep the boat afloat"--For background see last week's 4. Uniregistry plans to hike prices up to 3000% for some new gTLDs.

ICANN's "Grand" Millstone
Graphic: Uniregistry plans to hike prices up to 3000% for some new gTLDs
Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.--Mike Tyson
Follow-up:
Excerpt from 2008 Letter from U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division
See also: News Review: ICANN Used 'Junk Science' Firm to Justify New gTLDs
One thing is now clear, all of the problems related to, or caused by new gTLDs, are increasingly consuming ICANN's time and resources--from policy-making and reviews, to disputes, IRPs, and litigation, to a myriad of other issues that ICANN failed to "think through" before rolling out its ill-conceived and misbegotten new gTLDs program--and most stakeholders who had objections or serious reservations about the new gTLDs program all along, have since left ICANN, including its "ICANN community," leaving mostly just a gaggle of special interest lawyers and lobbyists, domain name industry "professionals" and a cadre of professional "volunteers"--ICANN pays airfare, hotel, and per diem expenses for an unbelievable number of people to show up at ICANN junkets a/k/a "meetings" (example: ICANN57 (pdf) "travel support"=$918,292.60)  to fill seats, and make it look like ICANN multistakeholderism "works." From appearances at any ICANN gathering, one might think the domain name industry supports new gTLDs unreservedly, the reality is very, very different: There’s no way to sugar-coat it, today we are an industry divided | MorganLinton.com. It's just that ICANN has muffled and driven away the dissenting voices. That's the way "ICANN consensus" in reality works. For those of us "observing" ICANN, it's like watching a slow-motion train wreck. Tip to the wise: watch China's moves between now and the 2018 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference.

2. ICANN58--something is rotten in the state of Denmark--ended Thursday in Copenhagen:

 ICANN58 highlights:

 a. The failing new gTLD Registry Operators are now seeking financial support from ICANN in the form of reduced fees, and a marketing "awareness" program (which would likely violate ICANN's 501(c)(3) status and other legal prohibitions)--"only 63 new gTLDs have registered in excess of 50,000 names ... literally many hundreds with fewer than 10,000 registrations" (highlighting added):

b. ICANN Dysfunction is Alive and Well: ICANN CEO Goran Marby and ICANN GDD President Akram Atallah blow off ICANN stakeholder Denise Michel's comments and questions about dysfunctional processes of ICANN's Global Domains Division (GDD), ICANN staff ignoring and bypassing ICANN Community and others' objections to amendments to the new gTLD base Registry Agreement:
Source of above: ICANN Copenhagen GNSO Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) Meeting Tuesday, 14 March 2017 at 9:00 CET transcript (pdf) pp,18-20.

c. New gTLD .WEB:
d. GAC:  CENTR Report on ICANN58 (updated pdf download at link)(excerpt below):
CENTR Report on ICANN58 p. 4
The ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has 171 members, and 35 observers but only 59 GAC members (35% participation rate with half or more of those receiving ICANN "travel support" (airfare, hotel, per diem stipend) based on ICANN57 data) and only 9 observers (26% participation rate) attended ICANN58--source: GAC Communique (pdf). Accordingly, it appears most governments are not actively participating in the GAC, and, not surprisingly, the GAC secretariat lacks sufficient financial funding. Wither ICANN?

e. Best Quote of ICANN58: ICANN is a prison--
More ICANN58 info, including the GAC Communique, here.

3.  Important Skills for ICANN Board Members--guidance from the ICANN Board to the Nominating Committee (highlighting added)--apparently past and present ICANN Board members lack some or all of these skills. Surprised?

4. Letter from ICANN CEO Goran Marby re: ICANN data (highlighting added):

5.  More ICANN Dysfunction & Incompetence: 

6.  New gTLDs .CORP, .HOME and .MAIL--comment excerpt on circleid.com: I don't see why marking those domains as "toxic, reserved forever" isn't a valid response. Dumping the contaminated material into a shipping container and tossing it down a black hole's an efficient way of cleaning up the [new gTLDs] mess (emphasis added).--Background: 6 March 2017 Letter to the New gTLD Applicants for .HOME, .CORP, and .MAIL  from Akram Atallah, President, Global Domains Division ICANN re: new gTLD applications for .HOME, .CORP, and .MAIL, in response to Letter from .HOME Registry Inc. et al. to the ICANN Board [Published 26 August 2016].

 7.  Publication of the LAC (Latin America & Caribbean) DNS Marketplace Study | ICANN.org: A consortium led by Oxford Information Labs, LACTLD, EURid and InterConnect Communications conducted the final "LAC DNS Study" (pdf, 3.9 MB), study for ICANN. The report identifies seven key drivers of domain name growth for the region:
  • Defining and refining the sales channel and reversing the trend of falling numbers of ICANN accredited registrars since 2013;
  • Building user awareness of domain names;
  • Making registration policies open and simple;
  • Providing online payment facilities;
  • Ensuring fast activation of new registrations;
  • Reasonable and competitive fees; and
  • Promotions, marketing, and campaigns.
Unfortunately, this "hit and miss" list just skims the surface, and is misleading because it fails to address some core problems in the region.

 8. Amazon.com adding Spanish--the first new language on Amazon.com since the website's creation over 20 years ago--"Customers will be able to shop, browse and search for millions of products, view their shopping cart, and place orders in Spanish on Amazon.com and through the Amazon Mobile Shopping app," an Amazon.com Inc. spokeswoman told CNET.com. The U.S. now has more than 40 million native Spanish speakers and over 10 million bilingual Spanish speakers, making it the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Amazon, the world's largest e-retailer, is seeking to not only attract the growing Spanish-speaking population in the U.S., but also Mexico, where Amazon recently launched its Prime subscription service for about $46 a year.

9. If you're returning to, or visiting, ‘La La Land’ a/k/a ICANN headquarters anytime soon--
La La Land: gold marker pin shows ICANN headquarters location (click on map or link for larger map)
Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Santa Monica, offers “Escape to La La Land” package thru March 31, which includes accommodations in a bungalow, a picnic lunch and a dinner for two, a map of Los Angeles marked with locations where the movie is set and two tickets to a show at the popular jazz club Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill & Jazz. From $1,900 a night.--NYTimes.com

10.  Other Internet Domain News Quick Takes:

11.  Three most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
  1. News Review: 1. Trademark Squatters; 2. ICANN "Highly Political, Toxic"
  2. TechReview | WikiLeaks Takes A Big Dump On The CIA (video)
  3. LIVE Video Replay: March 15 Federal Reserve FOMC Press Conference
12. One last thing:
"The changing face of the Internet is no longer a matter of public communications, but a matter of public services. And with this observation, we are back to a more basic theme. The essential topic of the conversation is how to strike a sustainable balance between a rapacious private sector that has amassed overarching control of the digital service and content space, and the needs of the larger society in which we all would like some equity of opportunity to thrive and benefit from the outcomes of this new digital age."--Geoff Huston, Chief Scientist at APNIC (emphasis added)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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