Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Domain investor, Abdu Tarabichi, made an interesting post at his blog, regarding bidders that inflate prices at domain auctions.

According to information relayed to Abdu, certain participants of those auctions engage in the ‘noble sport’ of bidding up auctions they cannot otherwise afford, just to spite those that can.

In my opinion, this argument does not hold much water, and I will explain why.

First of all, a responsible bidder – that is, one that intends to pay for the domain – risks their money: if they bid higher than the top bidder, they would have to come up with the cash.

At NameJet, where identities are easily disclosed by following several auctions and a few days later seeing who owns the domain, competition is tough.

Just yesterday, I lost a virtual ‘boxing match’ with some of the ‘usual suspects’ – catchname, domainbank, homer, and others. I bid as high as my budget allowed, occupying the top spot of these auctions temporarily. These folks eventually exchanged punches among themselves, as there can only be one winner.

The notion that someone plays a game of cat and mouse with the other auction participants in order to cost them more money, is absurd; despite the bidding patterns of some domain investors, there is no warranty that a particular bidder will enter a high reserve, for example. Every bid placed comes with the obligation to pay for the domain should it be won, or risk being banned.

Bidding at auctions means just that: it’s a live competition about who will get the domain at a price they can afford. So far, I have not witnessed any complaints from those that consistently win domains at auctions such as NameJet.

An old friend turned 30 years old today, and while he has no home anymore, he carries within some of my early computing memories.

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum, with its 48 kb RAM, 16 colors, 256 x 192 pixel display and monophonic sound, was officially launched on April 23, 1982.

A couple of friends bought one during that time, and mine was acquired on Christmas eve of 1985. The 8-bit ZX Spectrum sported a “chicklet” keyboard and an expansion port. One had to connect it to a television as a display, and software loaded from audio tape; a tape recorder was not included.

And yet, somehow, through that early introduction to BASIC – the primary programming language of the ZX Spectrum – a generation of youth around the world, experienced their first steps on an affordable computer.

It wasn’t all about programming and education; computer games were the driving force and soon enough, software houses in the UK, Europe and in the Americas churned out software coded in Zilog Z80 “machine code“. The Zilog CPU was clocked at 3.5 Mhz, a tiny nano-midget compared to today’s Intel monster CPU clocks of 1,000 times more.

“Uncle” Clive Sinclair, the progressive British entrepreneur behind Sinclair Research, was knighted eventually by Queen Elizabeth of England. His contribution to spreading affordable computing to thousands turned him into a legend; thousands of kids, teenagers and adults alike aspired to become programmers and entrepreneurs.

Having produced a published series of software games and applications in the late 80′s and very early 90′s, I’m grateful that ZX Spectrum ever existed, as it carved a path for me, my career and that of thousands of others – back in the day that the Internet was pure science fiction.

Happy 30th birthday, Speccy!

As a developer of computer games, software applications and web sites, I often wonder why certain functions of software are hidden.

I learned to provide access to features of my creations by making things clean, clear and crisp. While many profess to be web designers, most lack the skills for intuitive user interface design. Things don’t need to be complex or complicated.

I’ll get to the point right away: Mozilla Firefox is my primary browser. Its password management system is efficient. There are plug-ins to export and import the passwords one stores for various web sites.

Except, there is no obvious way to copy a password in Firefox’s password manager. There is no button or option that says “Copy”.

So until today, if I needed to take down a password stored in Firefox, I’d type it by hand to another file or browser instance.

Yesterday, I was feeling adventurous and right-clicked on the entry. Lo and behold, a context menu popped up that said “Copy password”.

I’m not sure how long this option existed and from now on I will use it, obviously. It amazes me when the obvious is hidden, and the hidden isn’t documented. In a world that demands speed of execution and ease of access, this approach is a design flaw.

Frank Schilling‘s active involvement in the domain aftermarket auctions has been covered many times by DomainGang.

Fun and games aside, many domainers are curious about how the Canadian late-comer managed to build a successful empire, first registering and then acquiring thousands of top quality domain names; finally building a domain sales platform for himself and for others.

Frank’s active bidding on NameJet is not a secret, and I’ve followed his bids closely at times – outbidding him once for a dictionary .net. I’m not sure if this is a feat to be proud of, but I respect Frank’s involvement in quality domain auctions, as a participant or as an observer.

Today I had a strange thought: Should I be concerned if Frank Schilling isn’t bidding on two auctions I follow as a NameJet bidder? Is that an indication that the domains aren’t really of great potential?

After having a second cup of coffee, I decided that it’s simply a matter of being selective; unlike stamps or sports cards, with domains you can’t have them all. One needs to pick and choose, regardless of how nice a domain might seem to be.

Still, it’d be great to bid against Frank once again, knowing that he’s a sensible bidder and not someone who places crazy amounts of money on the auction table.

After all, gambling is best suited for the Las Vegas casinos.

I dislike Fridays.

Friday is that day of the week when things slow down, for no real reason.

In a global economy, things move fast, 24/7 and there is little reason to curb one’s momentum.

Fridays in the US are the days that predate the weekend. Quite naturally, work is done sloppily, carelessly and in a rush in order to make it to the corporate ‘happy hour.’

Right.

While people need physical and mental breaks from work, Fridays lead to a downhill slip of production. Domain inquiries don’t get answered, decisions are postponed ‘for next week’; come Monday, the rush to undo what was broken and to do what wasn’t done on Friday creates plenty of chaos.

So get things done, regardless of the day of the week. Especially, on a Friday.

TGIF?