Running out of Internet Addresses: We Were Right
G'day punters, entrepreneurs, gambling and casino tycoons, journalists, tech heads, rocket scientists and geeks... one and all. Today we once again explore the world of internet domain names, I.P addresses, and get ready for this... an internet Armageddon that is tipped to be only weeks away. Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com and Gambling911 with this hellfire and brimstone report to help keep the wolf from your door (or internet account). Oh, and we hate to tell you this, but we told you so...
The world is quickly running out Internet addresses and all could be gone "within weeks", according to one of the founding fathers of the web. Vint Cerf, who helped build the web by connecting computers using Internet Protocol (I.P) addresses, advised it was his "fault" that the 4.3 billion addresses created were running out. "I thought it was an experiment and I thought that 4.3 billion would be enough to do an experiment," Cerf, who is Google's VP and Chief Internet Evangelist, was quoted as saying in an interview. "Who the hell knew how much address space we needed?" In 1977, Cerf created the web protocol known as IPv4, which connects computers globally, as part of an experiment while working with the US Department of Defense. He said he never expected his experiment "wouldn't end". "It doesn't mean the network stops, it just means you can't build it very well," Cerf said. IP addresses are the unique sequence of numbers assigned to each computer, website or other internet-connected devices. They are not the same as website domain names. The overwhelming number of devices now accessing the internet means the addresses are running out fast. To help fix the crisis situation upon us, an updated protocol for the Internet, IPv6, currently being planned by the industry, is tipped to create trillions of addresses. As Google vice president Cerf, who was down under in Oz to speak at a conference, said he thought the new chief executive of the California-based giant, Larry Page, was ready to lead the company well into the future. In quite a shocking turn of events, Google announced on Thursday that co-founder Page would replace Eric Schmidt as chief executive in April. Schmidt, 55, a former chief executive of Novell, will remain with Google as executive chairman, focusing on deals, partnerships, customers and government outreach, Google said. He will also act as an adviser to Page, 37, who served as CEO previously, from 1998 to 2001. Cerf said Schmidt had been chief executive for 10 years..."a nice round number"...and Page was ready to lead the company into the future. "Larry and Sergey are 10 years older than they were when they thoughtfully hired Eric to be the CEO... so everybody's growing up," Cerf said. Google has grown over the past decade from a start-up battling other Internet search engines into a technology giant with nearly 25,000 employees and annual revenue of nearly $30 billion. The company meanwhile reported its fourth-quarter net profit increased to $2.54 billion from $1.97 billion a year ago, while revenue rose 26 percent to $8.44 billion. Google is the preferred search engine for most of the world and the top pick of Media Man, Casino News Media and Gambling911, and in fact most of the world's top media and new media companies.
Google vs. Facebook (Cause We Know Your Interested)...
In a cool example of its popularity, Facebook was crowned the top-visited site in 2010, toppling Google, according to Experian Hitwise. Facebook accounted for 8.93 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November, while Google ranked second with 7.19 percent of visits. Yahoo Mail, Yahoo and YouTube rounded out the top five. Facebook was also the most-searched term. Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian was the top personality searched, Lady Gaga the top artist, "Star Wars" the top movie and "Dancing With the Stars" the top television show that people searched for. "Gambling", "Casino", "Poker" and "Sports Betting" frequently rate in most countries top 50 list, sometimes cracking the top ten.
Loyal Readers, for your convenience and for a background to coverage on the domain name and I.P address situation, we have re published some of our stories to help give you a holistic type overview. As you will discover, Media Man and Gambling911 did in fact forecast some future events, so we give ourselves the 'Nostradamus Couldn't Have Done Better Award'. Ok, not really, but you get the idea. Readers will recall some folks said we were talking "junk science" and didn't really know what we were talking about, but now it appears the history books will have us been been very close to being right on the money. That's our 2 cents, and now with the background...
Media Man Head Talks Domain Names...
All of this fuss about internet domain names. Well, your reading about it on either Gambling911 or Media Man Int, two very strong domain names and companies, if there ever was. The week or so everyone's been buzzing about domain names Gambling.com and now Poker.com.au So, just how good are the names, how much is hype, speculative, and how much is of substance and lets call it "real big business", and will deliver profits and return on investment.
Media Man Int http://www.mediamanint.com Says Gambling.com Is High Risk; Name Already Lost Money In Past!...
The internet domain name Gambling.com, owned by a Pommie casino group, is up for auction and it don't come cheap. Introducing Media Corporation, which would you believe paid a massive $US20 million ($19.8 million) for the domain in May of 2005 and earned a cool $US5.5 million from advertising on the website a year later, hopes to fetch more than $US10 million for the name. The domain name's depreciation in value is largely due to a ban on internet gambling in the United States in October 2006. In some other counties such as Australia and New Zealand, some legal eagles talk of "grey areas" (which are legally untested). It's worth pointing out that for the record our Media Man Int is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. We cover over a dozen different vertical markets including news, political, travel, lifestyle, technology, community, property, entertainment, a wee tad of adult (and games... both land based, video games and online). As well informed readers might have picked up on, many industries are intertwined. Many brands such as Marvel Entertainment, Sony, News Corporation and yes, Media Man, have a number of business arms. Marvel has books, comics, lunch boxes and super hero costumes. They are pump out DVDs and even new release blockbuster movies. And, who has not heard of Marvel slot games, which can be found across the Media Man website network. Companies such as PartyGaming, Virgin, Playtech and Centrebet feature the branded Marvel games. The games from Marvel are often featured on website portals. See how it gets complicated. Back to matters at hand, no, Marvel.com is not for sale, not is Marvel - they are owned by Disney. Yes, the company famous for Mickey Mouse and friends.
Gambling, sex and the internet go head in hand, pardon the pun.
The porn friendly nation of Germany is home of tech giant and domain name firm, Sedo. It was Sedo in fact that arranged for the sale of sex.com for a record $US13 million last November and its now having a crack and flogging gambling.com, pushed along with a big of media buzz by Media Man and Gambling911 we might add! An ambitious reserve price of $US9 million has been set, but how many genuine takers are out there in a financial climate which is pretty depressed, or as they say in Australia, up the shit. The actual word "gambling" is ranked No. 1 by out friends at Google via searches and the gambling.com site gets more than 300,000 hits each month which is pretty impressive. Gambling.com yes, a great name, but what's it worth? The market will decide and your can bet your bottom dollar that the Media Man Network Gambling911 newshounds will be following up in hot pursuit.
Australian Poker Domain Name Sells For $100,000; Good Or Bad Value Compared To CasinoNewsMedia.com MediaMan.com.au...
The attractive Poker.com.au domain sold for $100,000 less that 24 hours ago, but experts are saying the price tag was reduced thanks to complex online gambling laws down under in Australia. The Aussie domain name market has continued to heat up with Poker.com.au selling for $US100,000. However some industry experts reckon the names value may have been reduced because of Australia's restrictions on online gambling. Legislation released a decade or so ago "restricts" the advertising of interactive gambling services in Australia. David Nye, who runs domain name auction house NetFleet, says the laws means Poker.com.au has sold for considerably less than it would have otherwise.
"There is a Canadian equivalent, Poker.ca, that sold for $400,000 last year. Now, Canada has one-and-a-half times the population of Australia and that site commanded a price much, much higher. One of the aspects involved in all of this is the legislation, and the legislation specifically prohibits the advertising of online interactive gambling. In theory, you cannot have an Australian website advertising these interactive gaming services, and the fines are large."
The current laws also state that it is illegal for any online gambling site to offer services to Australians located in the country...but the current law does not make it a criminal act for Australians to engage in these services. The Australian Government has even restated last year that it would not lift the restrictions, despite a Productivity Commission report recommending the restrictions should cease. Nye says that if interactive gambling advertising were allowed in Australia, "you might see prices that were worth 10 times the amount... the legislation has obviously deflated the price". The poker domain name has been purchased by sports gambling company 888, which operates various gambling - (poker, casino and sports betting) websites internationally and sports Shane Warne as an ambassador. So far, the company hasn't used Poker.com.au for any new service but the website states that "a seriously exciting new poker revolution" is "coming soon". Nye points out that online gambling is one of the most lucrative practices on the internet, and that continued government opposition to liberalised gambling laws will keep prices down. "There is huge money in online poker. Some of these poker rooms are bringing many thousands of dollars," he said on the record. But the Government hasn't budged from its position, with communications senator Stephen Conroy saying last year that the online aspects of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 wouldn't be changed, in fact going against the Productivity Commission's recommendations. "The Australian Government does not agree with the Productivity Commission recommendation that the Australian Government amend the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 to allow for a liberalisation of online gambling, starting with allowing the provision of online poker games to Australians. The existing rules will continue to apply," the senator went on record with last year.
A Media Man spokesperson said "The Australian government needs to get up to speed with the rest of the world. It reminds me a bit like the Wikileaks saga of which Prime Minister Julia Gillard said was illegal, which is complete B.S. The Australian punters and business folks alike are sick of all the B.S and spin coming from the government. The internet is a global industry. Most domain names are dot coms. Most companies in this space have a global presence, global marketing, business and media plan. The world is their audience, whether the founder or director of a companies is a Canadian, American, Australian, South African, Indian or New Zealand resident. It shouldn't matter. The internet is global period, as so is online casino, poker and sports betting. We even have a Casino Legal section on our websites which cover off on some of the legal and technical stuff, but its all pretty complex, and the United States seems to head up much of the confusion, followed by Europe. Someone needs to help the Australian government get with the 21st century".
Now, get this...some have even called for even stricter regulations on the industry. Australia's Independent senator Nick Xenophon said in a submission to the Productivity Commission that the recent arrival of sites such as Betfair, which "allows for an expansion of gambling by virtue of the product that is offered", highlights the need for a more "comprehensive regulatory approach". Senator Xenophon is currently not returning the calls of Media Man. Our switched on friend Nye advised the issue is timely given the domain name industry is heating up and approaching red hot, if not white hot levels. Onto other industry sectors, given Media Man covers basically all of them, it was just last month that retain giant Woolworths (also involved in gambling) purchased Hardware.com.au for $33,000, and Nye expects Electricity.com.au...which just came back on the market – to sell for around $50,000! "The theory of relaxing these laws is that you're allowing access to poker rooms, you're getting tax revenue which could be in the realms of hundreds of millions per year, and you can regulate the industry. This is one of the most lucrative areas on the internet... but the legislation means the price is lower than it would have been overseas."
For the record, Media Man International is not currently looking to sell any of their domain names in a portfolio which spans of 25 names, many of which are gold and listed on very high ranking website portals and measuring sticks like Hitwise. Media Man has done media coverage and b2b for firms such as Messages On Hold, PartyGaming, Virgin, James Packer's Betfair, Crown Casino, and also Centrebet and Betezy, DGM Affiliates, and more! Oh, readers, if you have what you think is a very attractive offer you can let us know, but don't loose any sleep if we don't get back to you overnight. Still, you have to be in it to win it, so let us know what's on your mind.
Media Man International Profile On Australia
http://www.mediamanint.com/profiles/australia.html
Gambling Execs Encouraged to Invest in Domains...
The world is considered a pretty small place these days, largely thanks to the internet aka WWW, and of course airlines and Lear Jets, operated by our "partners in crime", Crown Casino king James Packer and Virgin king of the world, Sir Richard Branson.
Media Man and Gambling911, both considered world leading internet new media powerhouses of sorts, probe the beast that is the World Wide Web, casting out net far and wide...hauling in whales, dolphins, tuna, algae, and likely, a few sharks! Sharks... another reason to shore up your business enterprise with a few more domain names... read on...
In the internet (and news media, gaming and sports betting business) sector, there's only so much room at the top, and just like prime real estate in Sydney, Gold Coast, New York and Florida, there's only so many prime sports available... the same holds true for personalized number plates also, like HIGH ROLLER, BALLER, CASINO KING, VIRGIN KING, POKER WSOP and you get the idea.
Given the current state of the internet, gaming and publishing world, Media Man is delighted (and relieved) that we made the decision to buy up big on media, sporting, gaming and casino related domain names a few years ago.
Having a considerable portfolio of owned domain names (some with website portals attached, some not), serves a number of purposes.
a. Domain names help brand your business
b. Owning numerous domain names and websites help one dominate the important top 10 Google, Yahoo and Bing search engine and news results
c. Domains help keep competitors out so you can "own" a business sector
d. Added copyright protection to stop cyber squatters, cyber criminals and the like
e. Help control the information that appears for your business and personal profile
f. Helps drive extra online traffic
g. Serves a solid investment in the event that you may like to sell off some names and / or websites when you can get the price you want
h. Peace of mind
i. And more
Friend, the amount of decent, prime and gold domain names is drying up... not sure? Just do a search for some domain name addresses you would like to own, and there's a good chance someone else already owns them! One may argue that the great real estate rush on internet domain names has come and gone, and now most of the best names are already owned.
The lack of good .com domain names has boosted the popularity of .net .org. .com.au and even .asia and .tv by default.
Even good blog, YouTube and Twitter names are getting harder to find.
Let's look at some of the technical reasons good domain names are becoming harder to secure...
Internet protocol addresses are running out rapidly.. too many humans, not enough unique addresses
An IP address uses 4 numbers from 0 to 255 to distinguish one computer from another.
Limited Combinations
There are more than 4 billion combinations... however, the amount of networked devices means that soon won't be enough.
Readers, perhaps you can recall a decade or 2 ago when you have to change your phone number... maybe a digit or two got added... this happened to free up more available names and combos etc... well, it won't work exactly that with the the WWW, but there will be some similarities (and considerable more chaos).
Internet and comms geeks at the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, Geoff Huston sheds some light on the matter...
"Unlike the telephone system, it's not easy to just add more digits,".
Although every telephone number in Australia was successfully altered, the phones themselves didn't change. Humans simply dialled an extra number and folks everywhere still answered.
But every web server, every iPhone, every router and everything else - possibly billions of devices - will need to be reconfigured or upgraded. "The idea that every last one has to go back into the doctor for a new transplant does sound a bit frightening," Huston says. "It's almost like having to teach every device a new language."
New language: IPv6
Fortunately, a new language exists.
Computers now use IP version 4 and have since the 1980s. Its replacement is version 6, known as IPv6. For humans, little will change. The traditional way we visit a website, by typing google.com or facebook.com, won't be any different and personal computers will automatically use IPv4 or IPv6 as required.
Technically, it's not all that difficult to enable IPv6. Logistically, it's a horrendous challenge.
Background To Original Internet
Experts say punters won't be prepared to pay more (but whales and big corporates, cashed up casino entrepreneurs and the like might be).
It's even possible that large numbers of people will no longer be able to see everything on the internet.
So far, the dwindling storehouse of IP addresses has been managed with trickery that translates one IP address to another.
But by about late September next year, the key body that distributes IP addresses will run out of them. Three months after that, every drop in the pipeline will dry up and the only way to get an IPv4 address will be to buy one from someone else.
Lacking that, consumers whose computers are not configured to use IPv6 won't see new websites. Likewise, iPhones, which don't understand IPv6, will be limited to the "old" internet. For businesses that are not prepared, this could spell Big Trouble In Little China.
Unless web servers and mobile phone services are configured to send information via IPv4 as well as IPv6, companies could be left with a fraction of their current customers.
Some good news is that once IPv6 is in place, it should satisfy demand as far as a computer can calculate. "If every single address was one grain of sand", web geek genius Huston says, "in IPv6 you could build 300 million planets the size of Earth."
So punters, media and gaming entrepreneurs and everyone else.
Media Man and Gambling911 have given you the heads up... might be an idea to invest in some more domain names before every single one is gone under the current system.
Be wary to some casino affiliate programs running domain name auctions and the like. The hype associated with these, especially if conducted at a live event, is only going to increase the chances of the domain names prices being inflated ..jacked up! Casino Jack.
Bonus Article!
McDonald's New Zealand Pisses Off Gay Customers With Wi-Fi Censorship...
McDonald's is feeling the hate and the heat of the gay community after denying access to gay-related websites on a new free Wi-Fi service at its restaurants. The service, installed in branches nationwide in December, saw McDonald's claim it was now the largest free internet provider in New Zealand. But limited access to gay and lesbian-related sites, such as GayNZ, Rainbow Youth and Agender, has sparked anger from a community who feel McDonald's are imposing a "censorship of gay-themed sites". GayNZ is a news and information site for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. It was a finalist in the "investigative journalism" section of the Qantas Media Awards last year, and was ranked the most popular Lifestyle-Gay and Lesbian site by Hitwise in its most recent survey. However, McDonald's said the sites were blocked because the service had to be family friendly, meaning no access to sexually explicit content and images. GayNZ today reported complaints pouring in from people unable to access certain sites, including the NZ Aids foundation site, Bro Online and the Family Planning web page. It quoted Wellingtonian Julz Darroch as saying the blocks "shocked" her. "Just when we think we can get used to being treated as equals in society, and in the main centres at least, something like this comes along," Darroch said. "Our being lesbian or gay, or wanting to be in contact with our friends and communities, should not be an issue for the likes of McDonald's." A check revealed a number of other gay-related sites such as graygay.com, lesbian.co.nz and daily.gay.com did not work. However, Avert.org, a site for young gay people, and a number of sites with articles containing sex advice could be accessed. A Wikipedia article on the Karma Sutra could not, and neither did the men's magazine site Askmen.com (a Media Man favorite). A McDonald's New Zealand spokesperson said because the restaurants were for families, the Wi-Fi policy was that viewed content must be suitable for children to view. Access to a number of websites was blocked, including access to gaynz.com, gambling, tobacco and adult mature content websites. "We stress that all the content of allowable sites must meet family friendly criteria," the spokesperson said. "By this we mean a child cannot access a website where they can click on any content, link or third party advertisement and access sexually explicit content and images." However, she said the service was new and it was happy to review access to sites such as GayNZ and NZ Aids on a case-by-case basis, "if our customers believe that sites have been unjustifiably blocked". "You will ... appreciate that there are inevitably teething problems with the introduction of a new service and getting our filtering process right is one such issue."
*Greg Tingle is a special contributor for Gambling911
*Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. Gaming is just one of a dozen industry sectors covered
*The Media Man group own and operate approximately 20 website portals and domains
Take the time to research and learn games before placing down money
Media Man http://www.mediamannint.com Casino News Media and Gambling911 are website portals. Not casinos as such, however are recognised as world leading websites that cover the sector and act as central points to games, news, reviews and more. Media Man's Casino News Media covers casino news, reviews, games, multimedia and more.
Know the odds, set limits and have fun.
*Greg Tingle is a special contributor for Gambling911
*Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. Gaming is just one of a dozen sectors covered
