Europe and Japan have just announced six Internet architecture research projects aiming at increasing the efficiency of networks in carrying data. One project the STRAUSS Project aims to build networks 5000 times faster than today’s average European broadband speed (100Gbps compared to 19.7Mbps).

MiWEBA will handle capacity by making better use of existing radio frequencies in order to boost ultra-high speed and mobile connections.

NECOMA will explore new ways to enhance personal data security in sensitive environments such as medical history records by developing new metrics to evaluate threats and potential impact of cyber attacks.

GreenICN will examine the efficient use of energy in information networks. It will test network reliability in post-disaster situations such as earthquakes and hurricanes when energy resources are compromised or scarce and network performance is vital.

ClouT will investigate real-time control of sensors enabling smart city operations such as energy use, traffic flow or emergencies. To achieve this target, the project will integrate Cloud Computing and Internet of Things features.

FELIX will set up joint EU-Japan experimental platforms to help universities and research centres test new network technologies, improving the researchers’ use of their experimental facilities.

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CENTR has just released their latest DomainWire Domain Name Stat Report which contains basic domain name statistics with a focus on European ccTLDs.

From the report the current top 20 ccTLDs are listed by size.  
(millions of domain name registrations)

  1. 16.7    Tokelau  (.tk)
  2. 15.4    Germany  (.de)
  3. 10.5    United Kingdom  (.uk)
  4.   7.5    China  (.cn)
  5.   5.2    Netherlands  (.nl)
  6.   4.5    Russian Federation  (.ru) 
  7.   3.7    European Union  (.eu)
  8.   3.2    Brazil  (.br)
  9.   2.9    Argentina  (.ar)
  10.   2.6    Australia  (.au)
  11.   2.6    France  (.fr)
  12.   2.5    Italy  (.it)
  13.   2.4    Poland  (.pl)
  14.   2.1    Canada  (.ca)
  15.   1.8    United States  (.us)
  16.   1.8    Switzerland  (.ch)
  17.   1.7    India  (.in)
  18.   1.6    Spain  (.es)
  19.   1.5    Colombia  (.co)
  20.   1.4    Belgium  (.be)

Afilias is holding it’s third auction of  .info names,  domain names it reclaimed from the initial .info sunrise period.  The auction is generating a lot of interest, with already over 200 bidders registering to bid on the domain with most interest. There are over 3 days remaining before registrations for bidding close and private auctions begin for the first batch of names.

The auction runs from May 3rd to May 10th on the NamJet Auction platform.  The starting bid on any name was $69 but bidders have already pushed the opening bids as high as $2,501 for some names. Bidders who wish to place bids above $2,500 need to become verified before placing any bids.

This is the first time Afilias has used NameJet for it’s auctions, for the first and second auctions it used GoDaddy. The highest bids in the first auction were cancer.info $16,005 and gambling.info also $16,005. In the second auction, the highest bids were for onlinecasino.info $30,005 and flowers.info $22,005. (If you’re wondering why there is an extra $5 on each bid it’s a quirk of the GoDaddy auction platform.)

At the moment the names generating the most interest from the 79 premium domains in the coming  third auction are gold.info, auto.info, jobs.info, hosting.info and games.info.

A fifteen year old in high school has developed a paper sensor that can detect pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer in five minutes for as little as 3 cents.

Imagine what it will be like when 7 billion minds are connected.

GoDaddy has just auctioned 106 names on behalf of the .info registry Afilias in a low $100 reserve auction and 103 of the names sold. These names were originally registered during the Sunrise process for the launch of .info and were reclaimed by the registry when the registrants were unable to demonstrate the necessary supporting trademark rights.

cancer.info  –  $16,005.00
gambling.info  –  $16,005.00
loans.info  –  $12,205.00
medical.info  –  $10,005.00
property.info  –  $10,005.00
treatment.info  –  $10,005.00

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Marchex, Inc. has released an in-depth study on mobile display advertising, finding that advertisers who spend on mobile banner ads to attract new customers receive an exceedingly poor return on investment.

According to the study:

•  It can take an average of nearly 500,000 impressions to generate a quality phone call.

•  Mobile display advertising is significantly overpriced.

•  Clicks are not indicative of customer intent.
This means there can be high rates of accidental clicks on mobile display ads.

•   Mobile display advertising performance varies wildly.
In one case, a campaign that got 1.4 million impressions did not result in one quality phone call.

Nominet has just announced a consultation to allow businesses who are or want to, get online with a new shorter domain the option of registering business.uk instead of business.co.uk.

The aim is to provide a new secure area for UK businsess, using registrant verification, a UK based rule for all registrants, malwear scanning of all sites in the zone and DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions).

Wholesale pricing to registrars is expected to be under £20, registrars will be free to set their own customer pricing.

Comments on the consulation document for the new .uk domain space should be emailed to Direct@nominet.org.uk before the 7th January, 2013.

DisplaySearch is reporting in the first quarter of 2012 approximately 27% of TVs shipped worldwide had internet connectivity. The highest shipments of smart TVs was to Japan where 46% of TVs had network connectivity, followed by Western Europe with 36% and closely behind China with 32%.

“Connected TV is largely driven by content,” said Paul Gray, Director of TV Electronics Research for NPD DisplaySearch. “Where there are compelling things to watch, the internet becomes a major source of entertainment. We are now seeing a second stage of evolution as internet video relocates from a PC screen onto the TV screen. In particular, Chinese consumers have found plenty to watch on the internet, so internet connectivity follows.”

The report can be found here and the news release here

Escrow.com recently launched a broker tool to allow brokers to participate in Escrowed transactions. The process overview can be found here at Escrow.com

The IAB has just released it’s 2011 Internet Advertising Revenues report. Ad revenues reached an all time high in 2011 of $31 billion,  an increase of 22% on 2010 record breaking $26 billion.

  • Fastest percentage growth was in the mobile sector up 149% from $0.6 billion in 2010 to $1.6 billion in 2011
     
  • Digital video advertising was up 29% to $1.8 billion from $1.4 billion in 2010
     
  • Revenues from search were up almost 27% to $14.8 billion from $11.7 billion in 2010
     
  • Display advertising was up 15% to $11.1 billion from $9.6 billion in 2010

Full report can be downloaded here (.pdf)