Tucows is a proud sponsor of this evening’s CaseCamp Toronto 7. Hundreds of folks from Toronto’s digital marketing, social media, and communications community have signed up (on the wiki and/or the Facebook group) to attend. Tonight, our very own Bill Sweetman will be on stage to talk about the Tucows domain name portfolio to this group of digital gurus.

The action for this free communications and social media unconference gets started at 6:00 p.m. The event starts with networking and interactive art in the bar, followed by four 15 minute case-study presentations from the good people at TD Canada Trust, RedFlagDeals.com, Story2Oh!, and the Hospital for Sick Children.

Tucows plans to report its first quarter fiscal 2008 financial results via news release on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at approximately 4:00 p.m. (ET). Company management will host a conference call the same day at 5:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the results and the outlook for the company.

More details and the full news release can be found at our media site.

After much deliberation and consultation (in other words, in true Canadian fashion), the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has announced that WHOIS Privacy will go into effect on .ca domain names beginning June 10th, 2008.

The CIRA approach to WHOIS privacy is quite interesting and demonstrates a clear desire to protect the privacy of Registrants. There is full information on the new policies at the CIRA website.

In his Law Bytes column in today’s Toronto Star, Michael Geist calls the new policy “a model for domain name registries around the world.”

Geist goes on to suggest that CIRA is now in a global leadership position on the issue of registrant privacy. Geist writes, “With more than a million Canadian domain name registrations, the resolution of the whois issue ensures that the Canadian domain name space is set for continued growth as it now features a “privacy advantage” over other domains struggling to strike a similar compromise.”

What makes the CIRA policy different is that WHOIS privacy is enabled by default for individual domain owners. Registrants have to specifically opt-out with CIRA to have their information displayed. In contrast, the registration information for corporate domain holders is shown by default, however, they can opt-out and hide the information in what CIRA calls special circumstances.

As you would expect, we’ll be fully complying with the new policies. We’ll have more on how things will work from both a Registrar and from the Reseller perspective soon.

Starbucks has a new deal where if you pay for purchases with a registered Starbucks card, you can take advantage of a bunch of different rewards. The perks range from free flavour shots in espresso drinks to unlimited refills of coffee as long as you stay in the store.

At first blush, it would seem that the net result of this reward program would be a decrease in sales, and a decrease in revenue. So why would Starbucks do it?

I realized exactly why today as I bought my morning coffee.

One of the nicest perks is the free drink with the purchase of one pound of ground coffee. We needed coffee at home, so I decided to buy a pound of coffee and score a free drink. I don’t often buy coffee from the Starbucks store because we can buy it at the local grocery store instead. So today, Starbucks took in $14 in revenue from me instead of $3.50. That’s a nice increase and all they had to do was give me a free coffee.

The unlimited refills deal works the same way. If I sit in Starbucks for a half an hour and drink a cup of coffee, I’ll have left $1.55 behind. But if they refill that coffee twice, chances are I’ll probably buy one of their new (and very yummy) donuts to go with that coffee. Net result, I’ll leave behind $3.50 instead and they take in double the revenue for the meagre expense of refilling my cup twice.

Coffee is a commodity product. Starbucks used to be able to charge more for that cup because it offered a premium coffee, and a unique experience. But now a good cup of coffee can be found in a multitude of places (including McDonald’s) and the experience is no longer unique. Starbucks has to think different to win in a crowded and competitive marketplace.

On the Internet, the story is similar. Hosting, email and online services are regularly offered for free, or nearly free. The quality of the experience is similar regardless of the price the consumer pays and so the consumer quickly looks to low price as a determining factor when choosing a service provider.

Like Starbucks, providers of Internet services have to explore new and different ways to stand out and offer alternatives that will act as a catalyst to increase revenues.

Offer free web services and users will look at your revenue generating ads. Offer a free domain name and users will pay for hosting. Offer a free blog and users will pay for a Personal Names domain that points to it. Offer hosting extras in exchange for a yearly prepayment or a long-term contract. Offer unlimited domains on a single hosting package and users will buy more domains. Offer a starter package for free and users will graduate into a paid plan.

Some creative thinking can easily translate into increased revenues and better, more loyal customers. Think about it next time you order that tall bold.

What happens to the ccTLD extension when a country ceases to be? Apparently, the answer is “it’s complicated.” When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the ccTLD .su should have gone with it. But more than 15 years later, .su domains continue to be sold despite ICANN’s efforts to shut the domain down.

In other cases where a country has split, like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia to name two examples, the ccTLD domain extension has been eliminated. But for whatever reason, .su continues to live on, with the registry accepting new registrations despite ICANN’s wishes.

At issue is how to handle the elimination of the .su extension in a fair manner. Owners of .su domains continue to hold and use them, many refusing to switch to the new .ru domain. As of early this year, there were about 45,000 .su registrations. That’s up 45% this year alone. Compare that with the over 1.37 million .ru domains registered as of April 21st, 2008.

RU Center, the Registry operator for .su and .ru domains is actively promoting the extension of late. A price reduction has brought the cost of a .su domain in line with .ru (at 600 Rubles). And on April 15th, 2008, they began taking orders for IDN .su domains.

Contrast that with the website of IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. It lists the .su ccTLD as “being phased out.”

Meanwhile, cybersquatting is rampant with names like apple.su and ford.su being registered by individuals not associated with the trademark holders.

ISPCON Spring 2008 is less than a month away. That means there’s only a few days left to take advantage of free exhibits and events passes.

If you are planning to attend ISPCON, head over to their website to sign up today. The free exhibits and events pass offer only lasts through April 18th. Also of note, the price for conference and one-day passes also goes up after April 18th as well.

Tucows will be at ISPCON again this spring. Elliot Noss, Tucows CEO and President will offer up his thoughts in a keynote address on Wednesday, May 14th. Elliot will explain “Why YOU and lowfat lattes are Google’s Worst Nightmare.”

In addition, Rohan Jayasekera, Director, Tucows Email Service, will be participating in a panel discussion. That session, “Who Should Be Running Your Email,” is scheduled for the Wednesday, May 14th, but check the ISPCON conference schedule for the official word on times and for information about the other sessions.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Because I am fascinated with the world of domain names, I truly believe I have the coolest job in the world as the General Manager of the Tucows Domain Portfolio.

Now I have the pleasure of adding a new person to my existing team. That’s right, I’m looking to hire someone in the role of Associate Domainer. Maybe that someone is you or someone you know?

Here are some more details about this special role:

Associate Domainer at Tucows

Tucows is currently seeking a unique individual to join our Domain Portfolio team as an Associate Domainer. As a key member of this exciting and rapidly evolving business area, you will report directly to the General Manager, Domain Portfolio. (That would be me.)

Tucows has one of the largest domain name portfolios in the world, and these domain names are currently monetized through domain parking and domain sales.

In this full-time position, located in our office in Toronto’s Liberty Village, you will assist in reviewing and selecting domain names from daily lists for possible acquisition by Tucows. You will also grade and price domain names, manage, restore, renew and transfer names, and optimize the landing pages of parked domains. You will generate daily, weekly and monthly reports on data trends and patterns as well as respond to internal and external email and phone sales and support inquires about domain names in our portfolio. Your ability to work in a fast-paced environment will contribute to the growth of this evolving business area and the ongoing success of Tucows.

The ideal candidate will have kick-ass Internet research skills and excellent verbal and written communication skills. Proficiency in Word, Excel is a must, while database experience (MS Access/SQL) would be a nice bonus. Previous experience in and/or passion for the domain name industry, domaining, or PPC advertising would be very useful.

If you can multi-task, are detail-oriented and have the ability to manage your time effectively under minimal supervision, then this is the job for you.

Head over to the Careers site for more information and to apply.

I have to say that this is an amazing opportunity for someone who wants to break into the booming but still relatively unknown industry of domaining (domain name investing). Here’s a fascinating and seminal article on the topic of domaining that got a lot of people buzzing about domaining and domainers (those folks that practice domaining) when it was first published a year ago. It provides a rare ‘behind-the-scenes’ perspective on this fascinating industry and some of its key players. With any luck it will also inspire a few people to apply for the Associate Domainer position at Tucows.

Seth Godin has an interesting post over at his blog today in which he debates the question, “Drop the dot?” as in, can we get rid of the dot com when talking about websites.

Godin says no, because saying dot com is easy to say - just four letters, two syllables - and pretty much leaves it at that. But let’s weigh the possibilities:

Yes, drop it

On the “Yes, forget the dot com” side, there’s the Google angle. Type the brand into Google, and it will find it for you. There have been a couple of stories floating around the Internet of late that talk about companies in Japan doing just that, and displaying their brand in a search box instead of showing a URL.

No, it’s not that simple

On the “No way, you need the dot com” side, there’s the Google angle as well. Relying on Google keywords puts a lot of power into the hands of Google (or Microsoft or Yahoo, depending on which search engine you choose). What if your brand isn’t number one?

It turns out that Google is pretty much perfect when it comes to brand searches. I tried dozens and the first result was always what I expected it to be.

Next argument: what about all the other domain suffixes? The American Cancer Society uses cancer.org for its website and doesn’t own cancer.com. Whitehouse.gov is another classic example — whitehouse.com is a political news website (and famously, it used to be a porn site).

The American Cancer Society is the number one Google result when you search for cancer. And a search for whitehouse returns whitehouse.gov first.

To some, Google is the Internet

I think the question really comes down to how people are using the Internet. Do people pay attention to domain names at all, or is it assumed that a company can be found at [brandname] plus dot com? Or are users now skipping the address bar and directly typing names into Google?

Recently pizza.com sold at auction for $2.6 million. It was suggested that Pizza Hut, Papa John’s or Dominos should buy the name. But when users want pizza, and they go to the Internet and type pizza into the search bar, what do they see? PizzaHut.com, followed by PapaJohns.com, followed by Dominos.com. Just what is that $2.6 million buying you and do you need it?

Maybe the dot com is superfluous after all. Thoughts?

Flickr, the popular photo sharing web service added video yesterday. They’ve taken an interesting approach and only allow video clips of up to 150MB in size and under 90 seconds in length. Think the kind of little clips that you might shoot with your digital camera on the movie mode.

“But what’s the Tucows connection?” you’re thinking.

Last time we looked, there were about 565 photos on Flickr of our delightful and fun squishycows. We’ve handed out thousands of cows over the last couple of years and many of those who received them joined in the fun and contributed their own squishy pics.

With the addition of video to Flickr, the fun can expand considerably. Squishycow is no longer confined to a mere instant in time. She’s now free to explore a full 90 seconds of whatever adventures she might find.

Here’s some inspiration for all you closet Spielbergs:

After a long wait, ICANN has issued a much needed clarification describing how it interprets its domain name portability policy.

Tucows has been an advocate of strong domain name portability policy since the early days of ICANN. We believe that consumer choice is a fundamental element of a healthy market. Without strong domain name portability policies the domain market will never be as strong as it should be.

The debate dates back to the early days of ICANN. Network Solutions, still owned by Verisign, had 100% market share. They were also the only registrar. By the end of the first full year of domain name competition, their market share was almost cut in half, falling to just 52.9% market share. At this time, fewer than 1 in 5 customers were choosing to do business with Network Solutions.

The former monopoly had serious problems to address.

The primary driver of this massive loss of market share was the substantial drop in domain name prices that Tucows introduced into the market in January, 2000. At the time domain, the early competitive registrars and Network Solutions, were selling domain names for $30-$35 each. We sold our first name as an accredited registrar on January 16, 2000 for $10 making us the first competitive registrar to seriously compete with NSI for real market share. NSI has since reduced their prices to closer match the market but they are still viewed by many as a high-price provider.

When faced with these prospects, most business owners react with a competitive response - new pricing, special promotions, enhancing features, etc. Network Solutions reacted by making it as difficult as possible for domain registrants to transfer their business to one of the newly created registrars. Instead of working harder to keep their customers, they were going to make it impossible for their customers to leave.

Tucows advocacy resulted in ICANN adopting a set of domain name portability policies entitled “Inter-Registrar Domain Name Transfer Policy”. In its earliest form, draft versions of this policy proposal were actually modeled on Tucows transfer practices which continued to be viewed as a benchmark for the industry. While the new portability policy had widespread support amongst the community, Network Solutions, Go Daddy and Register.com strongly opposed its adoption.

Network Solutions and GoDaddy reacted by implementing more obstacles for customers who wanted to leave and try a new provider. They claimed these restrictions would enhance “consumer protection” and “security” but the net result was simply that it became a lot harder for registrants to transfer their domain names away to new providers.

These customer hostile policy abuses continue into the present day.

This is why Tucows especially welcomes this clarification from ICANN. This advisory specifically addresses many of these policy abuses and provides greater recourse for our staff to help our customers in resolving domain transfer related issues. Provided that ICANN backs up this advisory with clear enforcement against those ignoring its advice, it should become easier for duly authorized registrants to safely and securely transfer their service to a new provider.