Filed under: Internet, Web services

Jealous of folks who have managed to snag international domain names consisting of nothing but their names? Engadget founder Peter Rojas has roj.as. And WordPress founder Matt Mullenwag has ma.tt. But unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of domain naming conventions, you might have a hard time coming up with a domain name for your name.

DomainFinder can help. Just enter your name or any other phrase you like, and the web site will spit out possible domain names. You can’t currently register your name through the site, or even figure out what country has the rights to a domain. But once you’ve found the domain name of your dreams, figuring out how to buy it shouldn’t be too hard. Unless someone else has already registered downlo.ad.

[via Digital Inspiration]

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Filed under: World wide web, News, Web services, Social Software, Search, web 2.0

There must be something in the water this week. While the biggest new media acquisition story of the day has to be CBS buying CNET for $1.8 billion, large companies are swallowing up smaller ones left and right. Media company Comcast is buying social networking site Plaxo for something like $150 million, while Ask.com is shelling out an undisclosed sum for Lexico, the company that runs Dictionary.com.

While there’s been a lot of speculation recently that someone was going to purchase Plaxo, Comcast wasn’t the first company that sprung to mind. We figured a company that already has ties to the social networking space like Google or Facebook would have made more sense. In a blog post on the subject, Plaxo CEO Ben Golub says Comcast has plans to “bring the social media experience to mainstream consumers.” That means using Plaxo’s technology to connect with your contacts across multiple devices. And since Comcast is already in the TV, phone, and ISP business, it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Perhaps your TV viewing habits will automatically be added to your social networking profile? Yeah, we hope not.

The Ask.com/Lexico deal seems like a more natural fit. We doubt Lexico’s popular web sites like Dictionary.com will disappear. Rather, Ask will be able to increase its overall web traffic by bringing the new sites into the fold.

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Jay Maynard writes “The judge in Capitol Records v. Thomas said this day he’s thinking about granting a new trial because he might have committed a ‘manifest error of law’ in his jury instructions. He says that his instruction that simply uploading music to a P2P network without any proof that anyone actually downloaded it may conflict with a case in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that stated ‘infringement of [the distribution right] requires an actual dissemination.’ Briefs are due by May 29, with oral argument July 1. The judge invited friend of the court briefs by Might 29, as well.” NewYorkCountryLawyer links to the Judge’s order itself (PDF), in which the Judge notes that he might (in NYCL’s words) “have overlooked controlling Eighth Circuit authority, the case of National Automobile Rental v. Personal Associates, which held that you can’t have a violation of the ‘distribution right’ without an ‘actual dissemination of copies or phonorecords.’” Update: 05/15 18:54 GMT by T : Note that while the linked story as well as Jay Maynard’s summary use the term “upload,” Thomas wasn’t uploading the files themselves, only making them available.

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Nethemas the Great points out a piece from Bruce Schneier running in the UK’s Guardian newspaper with some tips for international travelers on securing notebook computers for border crossings. A taste of the brief article: “Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They have the ability to take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. … Encrypting your entire hard drive, something you should certainly do for security in case your personal is lost or stolen, won’t work here. The border agent is apt to start this whole process with a ‘please type in your password.’ Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day.”

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CowTipperGore writes “The AP reports (via Yahoo!) that Nintendo of America Inc. has been ordered to pay a small East Texas gaming company $21 million for infringing on a patent while designing controllers for its popular Wii and GameCube systems. No stranger to lawsuits over controller designs, a Nintendo spokesman stated the company will seek an appeal. The suit was originally filed in 2006 and included Microsoft. Microsoft’s aggressive legal push back apparently helped as they reached a (confidential) settlement agreement before the case went to trial.”

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I Don’t Believe in Imaginary Property writes “Why would UMG, one of the four major RIAA members, consider an infringement award ‘grossly excessive’? Naturally, because they were the ones ordered to pay it. While they had no trouble with Jammie Thomas being ordered to pay $222k, some 13,214 times the actual costs, they thought that being ordered to pay ten times the actual damages in Bridgeport v. Justin Combs was just too much. Then again, maybe that’s why they didn’t complain back when the increased statutory damages section was cut from the PRO-IP Act? Now if they could just cut the rest of the act.”

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I Don’t Believe in Imaginary Property writes “NBC activated the ‘broadcast flag’ on a number of shows this week, ranging from American Gladiator to Medium, which prevented compliant programs like Windows Media Center from recording them. The matter is being ‘looked into,’ but that doesn’t tell us whether it was an accident or a ploy to see how outraged viewers would be at being stripped of the time-shifting rights they’ve enjoyed ever since Sony v. Universal. Just in case it’s the latter, it wouldn’t injured to let them know what you think.”

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Starky writes “Many moons ago, I cobbled together a 1U rack mount from parts which has since been diligently serving up my homepage and web sites for family and friends. It’s a truly “Mom and Pop Shop” setup, running on a rack secluded in a closet at home over a DSL line. At the time, I was able to piggyback my order on a large order put by a company for which I was working, allowing me to get a substantial discount. Now, the time has come to take into account a replacement. However, I no longer work at a company that orders chassis and chips by the dozen. I would like to get a rack-mountable chassis, but don’t know where to go as a lowly individual consumer looking for a box with minimal specifications (1 processor, dual drives, and 1G RAM is about all I need) at a reasonable price. Any suggestion from Slashdotters who maintain their own rigs?”

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Nethemas the Great points out a piece from Bruce Schneier running in the UK’s Guardian newspaper with some tips for international travelers on securing notebook personal for border crossings. A taste of the brief article: “Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They have the ability to take your personal and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. … Encrypting your entire hard drive, something you should certainly do for security in case your personal is lost or stolen, won’t work here. The border agent is apt to begin this whole process with a ‘please type in your password.’ Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day.”

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bsk_cw writes “Brian Nadel got a opportunity to try to destroy three ‘fully rugged’ notebooks and get paid for it — Computerworld had him drop, spray, drown, bake, shake, and freeze notebooks from General Dynamics Itronix, Getac and Panasonic. All three suffered some damage, but only the Getac M230 actually died as a result. Brian made videos of the tests (which were apparently done in his home, including his kitchen).”

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