iblog

Steve Robinson: The domain asset management provider Moniker.com held an auction yesterday for some of its domain names. On offer? Hell.com - offered for a cool Million Dollars. It is the latest chapter in the ongoing madness that is domain name trading, of which Moniker.com - a division of marketing firm Seevast Corp - have made millions. Recent sales include Sex.com which went for an astounding $12 million earlier this year, and Cameras.com, which sold for $1.5 million. So why the astonishing pricetags? Well, since Google Inc and Yahoo Inc begun Internet advertising a few years ago, clear and catchy domain names are under heavy demand, and companies are willing to go to extraordinary lengths - and costs - to acquire them. Hell.com may well be the latest web-based money-spinner, but it has not been sold yet. The domain has now been placed in a silent auction by the company, and the website itself is not accessible by standard Web browsers. "The world is alive and well," Seevast Chief Exectuive Lance Podell told news firm Reuters. "Nobody is going to hell right now."

Steve Robinson: The rumoured collaboration between Jobs’ music playing icon and Bono’s (PRODUCT)RED has finally seen the light of day. The charity fundraising venture, announced by U2’s frontman in January 2006, has seen the release of red clothes from GAP, red wrap-around sunglasses from Giorgio Armani , and most notably the red editions of Motorola’s SLVR and RAZR mobile phones. The idea is that a percentage of the profits made from the sale of these limited edition items is given to Bono’s Global Fund initive, which helps to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, and the red iPod Nano follows suit as Apple offer to donate $10 for every one sold (RRP $199). The release of the red iPod – with 4GB for 1,000 songs at the same price as an existing iPod Nanos - promises the most famous exposure for the Product Red campaign, and raise awareness amongst music-lovers who might have otherwise been unaware of its efforts.

Steve Robinson:

Every Saturday I take a look at the strangest gadget from the past week. This week, it’s a rather bizarre new way of lighting your living room…

"Why Is That Rubik’s Cube Glowing?…" Bored by bulbs? Tired of strip-lights that hurt your eyes. Well, good for you. Because, thanks to tireless inventors in Japan (where else), there is a new way to light your living room, illuminate your lounge or dazzle your Daewoo – the humble Rubick’s cube. The Seventies boredom-beater has returned with both light and audio capabilities, albeit without the actual ability to play with it. Plug it into the mains and you get a Lava-Lamp effect of varying colours; plug it into your MP3 player or stereo, and you can bathe in ‘glorious’ 125nW sound. Finally retro geeks can relax, knowing they can be suitably lit and aurally amused with their favourite antiquated pastime by their side – on a trendy little stand, no less. Of course, for the rest of us, we take one look at Megahouse’s creation and stifle a laugh. A glowing Rubik’s Cube whining away on it’s pitiful 0.125W speaker is more likely to give me nightmares than it would make me reach for my wallet. Equally bemused would be my Dad when he thinks a Rubik’s Cube is singing to him. Though it does create an enticing idea for a prank, by recording a high-pitch voice claiming to be the ‘Cube itself to my iPod, then playing it back through the ornament’s speakers as my Dad walks past… Megahouse’s Rubix Cube-style Light/Sound Ornament is due for release soon in Japan, price TBC. Expect a European release by Christmas (maybe).

Lottie: I can't believe that science and the arts can ever happily co-exhist. They seem to get along initially and to respect each other, but at some point one will always trip the other up. For instance, take this breaking story, that geologists are conducting investigations and proposing a new site for the island of Ithaca, home to the mythical latecomer Odysseus. "We can't prove the story of the Odyssey is true, but we can test whether Homer got his geography right," says Professor John Underhill, who is supervising the drilling operation in Kefalonia, the newly nominated site. I wonder whether Homer cared that much about the Geography, probably about as much as he cared about the 'facts' of his own story. Mythology is powerful for it's symbolism not it's actuality and while Homer's tale of patience and strength and this story of scientific endeavour are both highly impressive in their own right, they don't form a happy union. If anything, their juxtaposition only serves to highlight how little the two understand each other.

Lottie: Well, if Jack Straw intended to open up debate over a Muslim woman's choice to wear her veil, he certainly got his wish. Unfortunately, when a story goes ballistic, as this one has, everyone wants to jump on the band wagon, and this includes tired, out of shape, badly in need of some good press competitors such as John Prescott. Prescott leapt to the defence of Muslim women, declaring that he would never ask a woman to remove her veil. However, he also tactfully praised Straw for prompting a "proper debate" of the subject. Prescott has somewhat retreated into the shadows since his recent array of scandals. I can't help feeling though, that he's now picking an easy story to give himself a leg up back into the zone of political credibility. Whilst the comments Prescott made were considered and diplomatic, they also smacked of publicity; an exercise to defend both his own values and the stance of the Labour Party in one fellish swoop. Thus, this 'proper debate' suddenly becomes reductive and self serving. Whether it began as a serious political issue, a media stunt or simply someone's ill expressed personal views, it transforms, as always, into another soap box for all our favourite characters to twist and shout upon.

Lottie: These were David Cameron's words, not mine, although i do follow his sentiment. Boris Johnson is a politician whose ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place and with the wrong wrong hairstyle is unsurpassed. However, as the BBC astutely pointed out yesterday, he somehow remains stubbornly rooted to the Tory front bench. The BBC suggests that it is his unrivalled celebrity status outside the party, which allows him to be recognised simply by his first name, that keeps him in the Tories good books and that he is capable of "entertaining us by simply being himself" . Proof of that came on Newsnight two days ago when, devoid of any proper stories at the Tory Party conference, all the journalists assembled decided to simply follow Boris around all day after he made yet another mild yet stupid remark, this time about a fellow 'celebrity', Jamie Oliver. Johnson's comment, on October 3rd, that Oliver's school dinner revolution was just "too much", was ignorant and overlooked the alarming growth in childhood obesity in the UK. Obviously Johnson realised he'd picked on the wrong guy and hastily backtracked with a superb piece of overstatement, proclaiming now that Oliver was in fact the 'Messiah'. I'm sensing a Judas complex lurking somewhere. Perhaps, rather than appearing like a man incapable of doing or saying anything in moderation, Johnson was simply jealous of his saviour's celebrity and is just waiting for the right moment to betray him and then take the culinary world by storm. Very clever B, very clever...

Lottie: I've spent alot of my free time recently, far too much of my free time in fact, looking for cheap last minute flights to New York on the net. I won't go into detail, let's just say that city has something of mine that i want back or would at least like to visit... Anyhow, bad allusions aside, the site that i found consistently unbeatable for prices was www.opodo.co.uk. I seriously wouldn't bother visiting any other site. If you do, just beware of 'great deals' that neglect to include the airport tax in their advertised prices, as this can sometimes double the eventual cost. It's a shame that the price of the same airticket can vary so much just depending on where you buy it from. Even search engines that search millions of flights for the best deal for you, can finish miles apart in terms of value. I've had an identical experience looking at the same hotel in three different websites and ended up with three very different options. It would be wonderful to see an end to  his price ranging, but while inflation persists, it's up to the internet user and sites like Opodo to put some effort into finding the best deals.