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Finding dropped .ca domain names
Dropping a domain name is akin to recycling.
Where one domainers lets a .ca domain name go back to the CIRA, to be made available again, for someone else, that other person is likely to grab an excellent domain name which, with a little imagination, can be put to good use, perhaps in a very different context than what was originally thought.
Reusing previously owned .ca domain names is a good idea since some of them still have quality links pointing to them and between those and never registered names, chances are those that have previously been taken are either generic or of higher value, in one way or another.
As such, if you’d like to browse a huge database comprising hundreds of thousands of dropped .ca domain names, it’s now possible at MBNX, in its “dotca” subdirectory.
The names date all the way back to mid-October of 2006 and basically contain cleaned up versions of CIRA’s “To Be Released” domain name listings. To make searches more natural, the database has isolated the domain key in a field all by itself so a name like “domain.on.ca” has been archived as “domain”, “on” and “ca”, in three separated fields.
As such, finding a particular domain name with the “ca” keyword (probably meaning the short version of “canada”) is now possible. Previously, such a search would’ve “found” all the domain names because they all contain the “.ca” key.
So the very architecture of the database behind this free web service makes for an enjoyable dropped domain name browsing experience. Of course, this service is only offered for the .ca namespace so if you know about similar free services for other domain suffixes, please be sure to add them in the comments.
To get you started, you can check out the dropped .ca domain names for these particular keywords…
From this point on, you can search for any keyword you like. No censorship has been applied regarding these dropped domains so if it’s been dropped, in the last few years, it’s likely to be there.
Have fun finding domains you can’t resist registering, again!
Tags: domain names, .ca, dot ca, dropped domain names, dropped .ca, cira, tbr, to be released, good domain names, available domain names, search dropped domains, domainers, canada, canadian domains, mbnx
Will Oracle’s Fusion Suite be released soon?
Without providing a specific timetable, Oracle has been busy pulling its many software acquisitions into its in-development Fusion applications.
Now, Oracle executives are indicate that an early version of this suite is nearing completion. Legions of Oracle coders are expecting it and many of them can actually get their hands on the thing…
- 450 customers are participating in the Fusion Suite development and providing feedback to Oracle; and
- 130 customers are taking part in an early-adopter program.
Oracle plans to begin beta-testing this year although nobody seems to know for sure when the suite will be released.
Customers with existing maintenance contracts can transition to Fusion at no extra charge so customers are likely to adopt this new suite rather than pass the opportunity to get a suite comprising business intelligence (BI) from Oracle’s Hyperion integration. Expect Retek and ProfitLogic acquisitions to add even more muscle to the suite.
In a nutshell, Fusion provides modern apps natively built in Java for modern business IT and as such, customers will be able to customize applications in exciting new way because, as Charles Philipps said, the design of each app, from the ground up, is to allow changeability after it ships.
As a final note, customers should know that the transitions to Fusion should be painless since its data models will be a superset of those in Ocale’s current applications.
Tags: oracle, fusion suite, java, information technology, it, business intelligence, bi, hyperion, retek, profitlogic, upgrades, oracle apps, charles philipps, modern business it, fusion development, fusion apps, fusion code, fusion beta, middleware
How to deal with social networks at the office
Given the abundance of social networks such as LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Orkut and Ning, a growing crowd of companies have adopted “reasonable internet use” policies.
Such policies generally award personal time to surf the web, along with the strickly professional tasks. This clears the air about the occasional use of information systems use for stuff which is important to the employee while not being directly linked to his work directives, per se.
Within this mix of “personal vs business” use of the internet, at the office, lies the social networking grey zone, of sorts.
While networking with mostly personal contacts may not directly ring in new sales or realize specific business objectives, it remains, nonetheless, another path towards business growth, if used strategically. This aspect should never be underplayed by managers as it’s a reflection of a rising trend to look online for counsel, help and information on just about all matters.
For instance, if a machining shop’s employees are offered financial incentives to help find qualified new employees for the company, the recruitment process’ cost can be slashed from thousands to mere hundreds of dollars, not to mention the much shorter delays before qualified profiles arrive on the HR manager’s desk.
Another example. Company image. Having employees provide free help (within reasonable limits) to a highly visible cause (or Facebook group) will likely establish the brand in a new light for those who find it there. Think of all those Facebook groups with millions of active members where a company employee could provide a much needed “answer” accompanied with a free consultation offer for all those who require it — the outcome can be downright spectacular… and wildly lucrative.
Yet another scenario would be one where an employee finds a stream of information of low values to just about everybody else but inversely, of very high value to him because it helps within his line of work. For example, if a company sells winter shelters, it would be awesome to have live temperature feeds alongside historical temperatures for the markets they serve. That way, the sales periods (and marketing campaigns) can be precisely aligned with “on the ground” needs, as they arise (or are about to).
We could go on for quite a while regarding the many ways in which social networking activities can provide added value to just about any company but as in anything, employees need to find a viable balance between their tasks, while making sure they keep up with their work responsibilities.
From the bosses’ perspective, if someone is doing what’s expected and doing it reasonably well, there’s no basis for further investigation or complaint.
Pointing out the obvious, making sure people aren’t engaging in gross negligence or addictive, risky and unethical behavior in using social networks —or any other popular web site or service— is probably the bosses’ most important task because that’s where “the problems” are likely to arise from.
Terrorizing all employees with some drastic (lawyer formulated) net use policy is supremely counter-productive and might end up costing the company dearly in lower employee morale, abysmal productivity and a sense of general resentment against such a radical cutoff with the way business is carried about, elsewhere.
As social networks grow up to become all sorts of things to all sorts of people, including business-minded people, companies where acceptance, within a “reasonable use” comfort zone, trumps over internet monitoring paranoia (by the bosses) are likely to reap substantial benefits from their progressive stance on the web’s latest and greatest offerings.
Tags: social networks, social networking, working, at the office, networking with people, meeting, e-meeting, meeting up with new people, business leads, business contacts, companies, internet monitoring, business opportunities, reasonable internet use, lawyers, policies, net usage policy, popular web sites
Social networking opportunities in the workplace
When the web emerged as a much faster alternative to find information than, say, paper-based archives, employers had no other choice than to provide their employees with access to this vast information network.
Spin doctored by the accountants and other flavors of bean counting nuts, employees started metering the time spent by employees online. That led to the enforcement of ridiculous “web access policies” which severely limited an employee’s options, when searching for information, online.
As such, while employers saw a drop in web access within the workforce, that was accompanied by waves of frustration, protest and a nasty combination of lower productivity and morale.
Once again, the bean counters had destroyed a model which wasn’t perfect but which had proved its merit.
Over time, smart bosses evolved from the backward thinking accounting logic to a progressive marketing logic where more windows to the world, if used to their full potential, mean many more opportunities for growth.
This is where social networking comes in.
Networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Orkut (to name only those) have changed the way people keep in touch.
Forget that afterhour lunch with the local chamber of commerce. In most cases, such gatherings now represent the epitome in unproductive use of one’s time. Hanging out at these meetings, luncheons and conferences serves little to no purpose, other than to blabber useless sales lines to generally untargeted “contacts” who, more often than not, simply throw away their stack of “acquired” business cards, after the event.
In other words, the world of human networking has changed and the companies which fail to look online for new leads risk missing out on all sorts of opportunities.
Employers who understand that finding motivated customers online is both faster and cheaper than in any other “traditional” way have unlocked all web access, including the much discussed social networks.
In the end, if companies focus on managing outcomes and goals rather than attempting to manage people’s time, everything feels more “natural” and the business can grow out of the severely limiting accounting rules which are designed to stiffle anything which thrives, instead of encouraging it.
Bosses with limited insight on how business happens will continue to downplay the importance of the web but these proverbial dinosaurs are being phased out and replaced with people who know one paying customer a day is better than ten “leads” which take forever to “convert” — if ever.
Tags: social networking, web access, online searches, e-business, e-commerce, doing business online, finding new customers online, networks of business people, chambers of commerce, meetings, e-meetings, social mixers, business cards
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