Cashing in on the .Co domain names

“The opportunity for us is to become the platform of choice for entrepreneurs around the world,” said Juan Diego Calle, chief executive of .CO Internet, a company based in Miami that operates the “.co” registry under license from the Colombian government. “To do that, we want to build massive awareness.”
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For financially struggling governments, the sale of country code domain names is a boon. Colombia, for example, gets 25 percent of the revenue from sales of the “.co” name under its deal with .CO Internet. Last year, the company generated a total of $20 million from the sale of “.co” domains; this year, that is expected to rise to more than $30 million, Mr. Calle said.

More than 600,000 “.co” addresses have been sold, in more than 200 countries, he said. Only about 20,000 of those are actually from Colombia, with the most interest coming from the United States and Europe.

The company predicts that the total number of “.co” registrations will rise to five million within five years. Mr. Calle was hoping for a surge of interest after a prominent marketing pitch over the weekend. During the Super Bowl, the world’s largest domain name registrar, Go Daddy, highlighted “.co” in an advertisement. The spot, as is typical of the company’s TV ads, featured the “Go Daddy girls” in tight T-shirts and hot pants. But this time, Joan Rivers was one of them. Before the game, Go Daddy said it planned to introduce a new member of the team, a “ ‘.co’ girl.”

While some country codes have had a hard time attracting anything other than niche interest, analysts say the Colombian suffix may have a better chance to rival “.com” because the letters “co” are recognized in many languages as an abbreviation for “company” and are not merely seen as an abbreviation for the country’s name.

“As long as it doesn’t become well known that it’s just a bastardization of the country code for Colombia, it could take off,” said Josh Bourne, managing partner of FairWinds Partners, which advises firms on the use of domain names.” – NYT

Banacol multinational invades Chocó communities

“Since early December, hundreds of private contractors of a multinational banana corporation have illegally invaded and occupied Afro-Colombian peace communities in the Curvaradó river basin with the intent to clear the land and actualize banana production for Banacol Inc. Their actions have been supported and assisted by local paramilitaries, army soldiers and municipal governments.

The peace communities’ collective territory is protected under the Colombia Constitution and protective measures under the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

According to documents released by the Colombian human rights organization, Intereclesial Comisión de Justicia y Paz (Justicia y Paz), Banacol Inc. is paying vulnerable people to displace equally vulnerable Afro-Colombian peace communities and grow bananas for them. Enabling Banacol Inc. to usurp protected, ancestral, sovereign territory and exploit its rich soil for profit; under the justification of nonlocal vulnerable Colombians needing residence and work.” – Colombia Reports (more here)

Colombia Gold – Sunday Times

Via Marcela’s Colombia Travel Blog, I heard about an article positively speaking of Cartagena and upon a search, I couldn’t locate a direct link, but I did find a PDF, which I’ll both upload (in case it disappears) and link to. What follows are the first three paragraphs…

“When I was 10, I worshipped Sir Francis Drake: buccaneer, explorer, scourge of the Spanish Armada — a man who could dance the pavane in a ruff and a codpiece without blushing. He seemed to have it all.

In the taxi in Cartagena, on the way to The Greatest Spanish Fortress in the New World, I made the mistake of mentioning Sir Francis to the driver. We almost drove into a ditch. According to Pedro, El Draque was a man of dubious parentage whose true calling was something in the septic-tank line.

“I will show you a hero,” Pedro said. “I will show you Blas de Lezo. Drake wasn’t worthy to be his cabin boy.” The fortress, the 17th-century Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, was the pride of the Spanish Main. It was said to be impregnable. It sits above the old walled city of Cartagena like a turtle shell, its slopes offering little to the cannon sights of approaching ships. Pedro was breathless about the cost — 254 tons of gold he kept repeating, swivelling in his seat to check that I was taking this in, as two children skipped out of danger a few yards ahead of us.” – Sunday Times (by Stanley Stewart)

Wall of the Museo del Caribe

Just a picture I found, apparently this is one of the walls of the Museo del Caribe in Barranquilla. It’d make a nice shirt, I think.

Oma – Colombia’s Other Coffee Shop

As one of Colombia’s two main coffee shops, Oma is a nice place to go to get out of the heat (assuming you’re on the coast) or as a ‘third place’ to go after home and work. Just like the Juan Valdez shops, they offer coffee+liquor drinks, too. For additional information, see the facts below or visit their site!

• Started in 1970, OMA owns shops selling all the usual hot and cold coffee drinks, and snacks.
• The shops also feature books and music.
• In addition, OMA owns a restaurant chain and a manufacturing facility for OMA Coffee Roasters.
• The name OMA is derived from German. OMA is an endearing word for “grandmother.”

More Info

Oma – Official Site

Cool Medellín Graffiti

While browsing the web, I found this nice graffiti with a caption that only gave its general location, nothing more. Not sure who the guy is but I’m guessing this was his trip to Colombia.

Santa Marta – Natural Beauty, Gritty Charm – NYT

IT’S not called the Parque de Los Novios — Park of the Newlyweds — for nothing. Young couples lock arms as they stroll past rows of freshly planted flowers. A Sinatra love ballad sung in Spanish echoes from a corner dive bar. Aside from a few mustachioed, sombrero-clad men playing a board game, it seemed as if everyone on this breezy August evening was on a romantic sabbatical.

Yet this square in the center of Santa Marta, a port city along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, was not always a streetlamp-lighted refuge of romance. Just a few years back, the park was a tumbledown area trafficked mostly by prostitutes and petty criminals.

Wedged between the sea and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta peaks, the city may be Colombia’s oldest, but it has always been seen as the grittier and more industrial counterpart to nearby Cartagena — at best, a stopover point for visitors looking to trek through Tayrona National Park or hike to the Lost City, a well-known archaeological site nearby.

“Until five years ago nobody would come here because of the guerrillas,” said Michael McMurdo, a New York City-trained chef who recently opened a Mexican restaurant, Agave Azul, in Santa Marta. “While there is still some sketchy stuff going on, I like it here because it still feels real and Colombian.” – Source (more here)

Life Behind Bars – The Gangster Parrot

“Police in Colombia have detained a parrot which they believe was used by drug-dealers to act as a look out. They say Lorenzo was trained to squawk as soon the dealers were in danger of being caught. Now, he’s no longer free as a bird as Lisa Knights explains.”

From Caffeine to Computers

“Two new tablets, one an Android avatar and the other a Windows 7, are due to be launched , not by an electronics company from South East Asia but from Colombia. Engadget reported that two Bogota-based companies are due to launch two 10-inch tablets. Compumax is targeting an Android-based tablet sporting a Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz Cotex A9 microprocessor with 32GB in internal memory and 512MB RAM.

Another company Smart PC is aiming at a Windows 7 based slate that runs on Atom N450 processor. The tablet will have 320GB hard drive and 2GB RAM. It will also have a DVD writer. Both the companies claim that the tablets have been indigenously built in Colombia sourcing parts from other countries.

The Android tablet will be christened Hyper Android and will cost about $387 while the Windows tablet will be called Smart Touch and will cost $608. Both the machines are due to be released in Peru in October. After India joined the tablet bandwagon with its $35 tablet, it seems Colombia, which is known for coffee exports, has found an unlikely complementary product in tablets.” – Source

More Info

Colombia Tops Internet Usage List