iWantMyName Domain Blog New Zealand

Yahoo! It's Time For Hosted WebMail

2012-05-18T01:00:00Z

Xtra continues to cling stoically to its partnership with Yahoo, despite the fact that there are so many other better webmail offerings around these days. Xtra's latest email failure simply underlines why we all need to take control of our virtual letterboxes.

Much has been written about the unfortunate decline of Yahoo and it's no secret that the company has been dogged by technological challenges and management unrest recently. All the more reason why Xtra customers should be concerned about being locked into a single service provider. Telecom cynically flicked off its half of YahooXtra to Yahoo7 around a year ago, leaving Xtra customers in the lurch somewhat. Customer support around Yahoo mail has reportedly been patchy ever since.

All of this strengthens the case for greater self-managment of your mail service. Rather then accepting a generic email address from your ISP, why not host your email on your own entirely portable domain? Fortunately there are a number of other excellent hosted email solutions that are fully domain customisable with a single click of a button from within your iWantMyName dashboard. Here's more information about setting up email on your domain. Get cracking and register a personal domain today.

WDCNZ Boldly Goes Forth

2012-04-23T21:30:00Z

If Wellington is the centre of the digital creative universe, then WDCNZ must surely be the natural focus point for the New Zealand web software developer community. And since iWantMyName is simply the coolest domain management service in the galaxy (and also based in the Capital) then it follows we'd "jump at light speed" for the chance to get involved, right? You bet!

WDCNZ explodes onto your screens again this August and will be even bigger and better then before. Being all about the real nuts and bolts technical knowledge that keeps the web humming, we're really chuffed to be a leading sponsor. Web Dev Con has some pretty amazing speakers lined up this year too, including local luminaries Vaughan Rowsell of VendHQ fame, Aaron Morton and Silverstripe CTO Hamish Friedlander plus a very sharp looking contingent from offshore.

We reckon tickets will fly out the door, so don't muck around. You'd be "warped" not to be there. Oh yes...keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates on special offers and meetups related to this event.

Codemaniacs Of The World Unite

2012-03-30T09:00:00Z

Codemania was very likely the coolest tech conference to hit Auckland in a long time, so it was a pleasure to be able to host an iWantMyName drinks meet-up for delegates the evening before the main event. Judging by the contented faces, the hospitality was well received, especially by those who (like the iWantMyName team) were coming from out of town.

It didn't seem to matter if you were a Sharepoint fan or an open source advocate, we all agreed that good beer tastes even better when imbibed over a conversation with a fellow start-up techie or software developer. Platform agnosticism aside, Codemania put on a wonderfully diverse show by all accounts and we are guessing that a bigger venue may well be on the cards for next year.

Participating in the software community both here and abroad is part of our underlying philosophy, mostly because we love hearing your thoughts about how we can improve and grow. iWantMyName is a global domain management service with a predominantly offshore customer base and hence we are doing our small part to take Kiwi technology to the world.

Special thanks to head honchos Ben Gracewood and Ian Randall for organising Codemania and for letting delegates know about the meet-up and also Dan Khan for sharing with the Tech Startups followers in Auckland. Cheers to the friendly crew at The Bluestone Room for taking good care of and us keeping the cervezas flowing. We certainly hope to put on a repeat performance next year.

Bubble And Squeak Kids Fashion Fry-Up

2012-03-16T01:00:00Z

Growing a little tired of cookie cutter, mass produced clothing lines for kids? Our domain of the month might have the answer for you. Bubble and Squeak offers online retailing for fun and funky childrenswear at affordable price points.

My kid has moved on to a school uniform now, but I can still remember what a drag it was trying to find fashionable and individual styles to bundle him in when he was an active toddler. These days clothing manufacturers' colour pallette seems to be limited to pastel shades of blue and pink. Bubble and Squeak in-house designs have a lot more imagination than that and they limit each production run to 50 stock items in each size range. So you won't run into a kiddie clone on your next outing to the mall.

Bubble and Squeak's e-tailing site is also a great example of how to set up a domain customised Shopify store front on the web. Shopify walks you through building your online marketplace, but you can also engage a friendly developer/designer to give it that extra special flavour. Bubble and Squeak has the highly sought after web development team at Uprise to thank for tailoring their website to best promote these smart sartorial offerings to busy Mums and Dads online.

Hola! Codemania Meetup

2012-03-08T02:00:00Z

Hay Carramba! Codemania is storming into town and guess who's riding shotgun with the unofficial official pre-event party at 5pm on Thursday 29th March?

The Nacho Libre themed, platform agnostic software conference for developers opens the following day with a huge range of expert speakers and tech talks programmed. If you plan to arrive in town the evening before, feel free to head along to our welcome drinks being held in conjunction with Auckland Tech Startups Meetup.

We've also got one or two of the Codemania guest speakers plus the iWantMyName team showing up to take the bull by the horns, so come along and chat to them in a relaxed setting.

This Meetup is open to any web or software developers generally and of course all the hard working tech start-up folks from around the City of Sails. Naturally, we'll be shouting a round of Cervezas and Margaritas to warm things up.

You can sign up on the Auckland Tech Startups Meetup group site or on this Twtvite page.

For updates follow us on Twitter.

WordPress Developers Get Your Blogs On

2012-02-23T22:00:00Z

After almost a decade of development, WordPress has steadily evolved from being a slightly clunky system for blogging enthusiasts into a mature, widely used content management system deployed with well over 70 million sites globally.

Word Camps are leading the charge in championing the product around the world and New Zealand is no exception. Plans are well underway for the next local event. WordCamp NZ just keeps getting better each year and the aim is to bring Kiwi WordPress fans together for some inspiring talks and updates on where the platform is heading. The conference has a cool new downtown Auckland venue this year and will be held on Saturday, 21st April, so mark your diaries now and standby for registrations to open.

We currently recommend WP Engine for professionally managed WordPress hosting services and you can easily domain customise your WordPress site with a one-click set-up from within the iWantMyName customer dashboard. If you are keen to keep informed about WordPress or related events, the latest WordCamp NZ newsletter update is jam packed with inspirational stories, use cases and handy tips.

Christchurch Startup Weekend Warm Up

2012-02-08T23:00:00Z

Excitement is mounting as Christchurch Startup Weekend draws closer. Once again we are looking forward to supporting the event, which kicks off on Friday, February 24th.

The host city is about to embark on a rebirth of sorts after suffering an unprecedented series of devastating earthquakes that left the business district and many suburbs shattered and residents in shock. Building personal networks and cultivating a sense of hope through new entrepreneurship are two great ways to boost economic opportunities in the city - and Startup Weekend delivers admirably on both fronts.

We've had loads of fun at previous Startup Weekends around New Zealand and through these events have been providing mentorship and start-up advice to young tech entrepreneurs as well as giving away free domain registrations to all the teams involved. Some of our crew members will be in Christchurch, so look out for the iWantMyName banner or let the organisers know if you need a domain for your brilliant Christchurch Startup Weekend project. We also recommend a bunch of cool domain customisable developer apps that are great for getting you started.

Apart from enjoying ourselves immensely, engaging with events like Startup Weekend is part of our drive to get closer to our customers in the developer community. Good start-ups learn lessons from their users, so we love getting feedback (good or bad) as we evolve iWantMyName to meet your needs better. It's not too late to grab a ticket for this southern Startup Weekend. Hope to see you there!

Digesting An Eventful Month

2012-01-31T01:00:00Z

February is shaping up as an inspiring month on the start-up, technology and innovation event calendar throughout New Zealand, illustrating that our tech scene is alive and well and continuing to grow. Here's a quick summary of what's on the menu.

The busy month kicks off with the Game Developers Meetup in Auckland organised by Playmaker the proactive community for independent games developers. Main topic of conversation will involve finding out about all the cool games built during Global Game Jam. Rails Camp weekend is underway from 10th February with Ruby on Rails fans heading up to Mt. Cheeseman in Canterbury for their annual bush bash. The week of 13-17th Feb is reserved for Webstock so the iWantMyName crew will definitely be wandering over to the Wellington Town Hall to see who's rocking the world of web design and usability.

The following week the tables will be turned and it will be us in the limelight. We're shouting a few beers at Unlimited Potential's Tech Founder Blast Talks and our CTO will also be speaking. Blast Talks looks like a big night out with some of Wellington's leading developers and tech company founders on hand. We are also getting right behind Christchurch Startup Weekend, which launches on the weekend of 24th February. One or two of us will be on hand to provide some free domain names and offer coaching to help project teams get off to a good start. It's a small contribution we can make towards encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit to rise once again in the city.

If you want to keep in touch with these events and many others, subscribe to the New Zealand edition of Startup Digest.

iWantMyName Applauds Startup Alley Finalists

2012-01-26T02:30:00Z

Webstock is a world class web usability and design conference being held right here in our own back yard. This year Kiwi web companies attending the event are getting a leg up through an initiative called Startup Alley which is generously offering return flights to San Francisco and a short residency at Kiwi Landing Pad.

Last week's announcement of the six tech company finalists underlined what we already suspected. Pretty much all the coolest emerging tech companies around are switching on to iWantMyName for easy and secure domain and DNS management services. That's a testament to our own commitment to supporting the web start-up community in New Zealand and an acknowledgement that we are delivering a refreshing service offering.

Congratulations to the finalists, best of luck for the Startup Alley pitching session at Webstock and we look forward to seeing you there!

Dot Kiwi Domain Takes Flight

2012-01-17T23:00:00Z

Vancouver based ex-pat New Zealander Tim Johnson wanted to do something to help out his quake damaged hometown of Christchurch, so he set up a company called Dot Kiwi to create and administer a new domain name. Appropriately, a portion of the profit from sales of the proposed .kiwi domain will be earmarked for the Christchurch recovery.

The .kiwi domain proposal has been made possible by last year's policy changes within Internet governance body ICANN that cleared the way for the development of more Internet real estate in the form of new generic top level domains (gTLDs). Dot Kiwi is well positioned to address the technical and legal challenges involved, having KEA World Class New Zealander and immediate past Chairman of ICANN, Peter Dengate-Thrush on board as a director.

Mr Johnson, who has a background in software development and technology business management, was at the forefront of efforts to rally Canada-based New Zealanders in the wake of the Christchurch quake disaster. In his role as CEO of Dot Kiwi, Johnson sees a bright future for the new domain, which he expects to complete initial regulatory hurdles around early 2013. With over a million Kiwi ex-pats abroad the .kiwi domain obviously lends itself to individuals or businesses who want to create a unique online profile for themselves. "We also think .kiwi will redefine the domain name market in New Zealand and lead to a wave of innovation in new services and applications", he says.

Want to be notified just as soon as .kiwi becomes available? Leave your contact email here with us and we will keep you informed of developments.

A Year For The People

2011-12-31T01:00:00Z

It has been a remarkable year in many respects with a continuing catalogue of financial, political and environmental upheavals that affected both New Zealand and many other nations across the planet. However, it has been both inspiring and satisfying to witness the extent to which the Internet played a significant role in the human responses to such challenges.

For example, as Kiwis were sitting down for Christmas dinner a wave of consumer activism was spreading around the world in response to the proposed SOPA bill in the United States which proposes far reaching reforms in an effort to counter intellectual property piracy. The much criticised bill seeks to protect digital rights for artists, but ironically imposes a burden on all Internet companies that enable the creation, sharing and hosting of online content. That's a situation which New Zealanders already have some familiarity with when we think about the impact of the so-called "Three Strikes" legislation enacted here this year.

The global Internet community was stunned to learn the names of some of the large technology corporations that were backing the bill, including the world's largest domain registrar, and a rallying cry went out to support a consumer boycott. For many it was the last straw as dissatisfaction with that company had been growing for some time. Consequently we've set up a service to make domain transfers easy over the holiday season.

Despite some commentators questioning whether or not a protest would be meaningful, the boycott appears to have made some major tech businesses sit up and take notice. With Sony, EA and Nintendo reportedly back-peddling on supporting SOPA in its current form it seems like the business world has been forced to think more seriously about the wider implications in terms of how the bill affects Internet freedom.

Of course there were far more dramatic cases of Internet activism in 2011, with corrupt regimes dropping like dead flies as social media fueled protest drew thousands of disaffected citizens onto the streets. 2012 will no doubt continue to illustrate why we need a free and open Internet unfettered by governments and corporations.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2012

A Christmas Mission

2011-12-22T10:00:00Z

Well it's that time of year once again when both credit card limits and shoppers' good humour are stretched to breaking point. Are you dreading your next excursion to the overcrowded shopping mall? No fear.

The growing trend towards online shopping helps avoid long checkout queues and gives you better control over budgets, from the comfort of your lounge settee. In fact this year we've even recommended some cool Kiwi online games companies to our United States customers in search of unique gifts for their kids. Have you thought about giving a domain name as a pressie? We recently had a customer build and domain customise a Weebly website to give away as a clever Christmas gift.

But let's not forget what the true spirit of Christmas is all about. After a very busy and eventful 2011 we should all take time to reflect on our blessings and spare a thought for others who are less fortunate. The Wellington City Mission is an iconic and much loved institution that assists many people in need, especially at this time of year. From food banks to mission for elderly programmes, the City Mission does a power of good across society working with lonely, hungry or displaced people that need a helping hand. It's very easy to get caught up in the commercial hoop-la associated with Christmastime. But for a meaningful gift, why not donate to the City Mission or another caring charity in your area?

Have a Safe and Enjoyable Festive Holiday Everyone!

Flipboard Fan File

2011-12-08T01:00:00Z

There's been a lot of buzz around this week about the new Flipboard offering.The technology editor at UK's Daily Telegraph calls it "one of the essential iPad Apps". So with the iPhone version now launched, its quite likely to gather a huge following. But does Flipboard have universal appeal?

Flipboard is a "social magazine" iOS app that aggregates leading website and social media content. There's no denying that Flipboard has a gorgeous look and feel on the iPad. But personally I find Flipboard's magazine style layout a little random, making it less interesting for me. Maybe it's just how my brain works, but I tend to follow specific verticals rather than put my faith in variety. If I was on a long flight, I'd read Wired and Nat. Geo. from cover to cover, because that's what interests me. If I'm playing online, I want to thoroughly check out my Twitter feed and the latest Read Write Web articles directly without the temptation to well...flip.

There's no question that content based apps are now leading the charge in the media wars and hosted apps for business continue to gain traction globally as well. That's why more and more media organisations are pushing their own apps out into the wild. It's also why we launched our domain registrar iPhone App very early on. Do we need a single point of reference for all this content? Clearly, some think so, but I guess it's no coincidence that many of the news organisations that have been raving about Flipboard are also signed up as content partners. Flipboard was not the first magazine app of course, there have been others. But Flipboard has certainly had the most success in building out its partner relationships.

I think Flipboard will probably grow on me over time the more I experiment with it. Have you downloaded the Flipboard iPhone App yet? What has your experience been like?

Rails Camp On Track

2011-11-30T10:00:00Z

With Ruby going from strength to strength as a web development environment, it's encouraging to see plans for Rails Camp 2012 are already in full swing. The camp is an "unconference" style event that convenes Ruby On Rails hackers for a weekend of talking, coding and drinking.

The 2011 event held in the bush just up the road near Kaitoke was reportedly lots of fun. But next year the New Zealand meetup is heading down south to scenic Mt Cheeseman in the Craigieburn Range, Canterbury. The lodge there normally caters for skiiers, but being February, we doubt that snow will be too much of an issue. Rails Camps are deliberately held in remote locations away from earthly distractions such as TV, phone and Internet. It probably ensures only pure code is created (is there any other kind?) and temporarily eliminates annoyances such as ex-partners, kids and talkback hosts.

Wonderful to see Heroku getting involved and local heroes Trineo also backing the event. We think these are both exciting companies worth watching. Heroku provides everything you need to securely deploy and scale applications and it has been pretty cool to see a steady stream of Rails developers domain customising Heroku set-ups with us. For those coming from far afield, Rails Camp also dovetails nicely with Webstock, the primo web design and development event for all the gifted and beautiful people, hosted right here in Wellington each year. Enjoy!

Image courtesy of Carla Appel at the South Pole. Check out her amazing blog.

Vote iWantMyName

2011-11-25T01:00:00Z

It's Election 2011 weekend in New Zealand and almost anything could happen. Until the "tea-pot tapes" debacle, many pundits were resoundingly predicting no change of government. But as they say, "a week is a long time in politics". Last minute resurgences by the minor parties have thrown the cat amongst the pigeons, with political blogs running hot with commentary.

Kiwis have been using a mixed member proportional voting system (MMP) since 1996, but the current government agreed to deliver a referendum this year to allow voters an opportunity to express their satisfaction (or otherwise) with the current system. MMP is very similar to the way our friends in the domain of Germany vote and, whilst not without its faults, has provided relatively stable coalition style governments that build consensus with input from a diversity of political viewpoints. Even if there is a vote for change, it will be 2017 before a different voting system would be implemented.

Saturday evening should be entertaining as the results are announced. In particular we will be hoping to see good returns for those parties that prioritise environmental issues and are promoting more investment in research, science and technology as an economic growth platform. But whatever your political hue, as a community-minded company, we think the most important thing is to get out there and exercise your democratic right on the day. Remember there are many less fortunate societies that do not provide such an option to their people.