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Attention All Startups and Small Businesses!

May 17th, 2013

Are you a startup company or small business in the United States?

Hover’s pairing up with mobile phone service Ting and ecommerce platform Shopify for the ultimate startup giveaway. We’ll give you all you need so you can focus more on growing your business, be it an app, an online store or even a physical store – all businesses are welcome! Simply fill out the form below by May 31st, 2013 to enter!

The Grand Prize:

- Smartphones and service credits from Ting for your entire team (worth $2000)
- Free .CO domain name + business mail package (worth $179)
- Hover swag for your entire team (worth $500)
- Shopify unlimited package for your business for 6 months (worth $1074)
Total prize worth $3753

Secondary Prizes:

Share this post (publicly) or tweet us with hashtag #letsstartsomething and you’ll be entered to win one of the following prizes!
(1) Individual or company will receieve $500 in Ting service credit
(1) Individual or company will receive $250 in Hover credit

Could your business benefit from mobile that makes sense? Want to learn more about Ting? Head over to ting.com/business to see how Ting can save your company money on its monthly phone bill.

Shopify is an e-commerce solution and a long-time partner of Hover! Head on over to Shopify.com to learn how you can make your customers’ online shopping experience the best they’ve ever seen.

With .CO, you can get the web address that you really want, and not just what’s left over. Get your .CO domain from Hover, and then head over to go.co to sign up for membership perks and benefits!

Rules/Regulations

1. This promotion is only available to entrants in the United States, thus the company must have an American address.
2. You must submit your form by May 31st at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be randomly drawn from all entries as of May 31st.
3. You must be currently employed by or own the company you enter in order to submit a form on it’s behalf.
4. The total amount of the prize is worth $3753 and is not redeemable for cash. Ting will award the winning company $500 in service credits and $1500 to spend on any currently available devices from ting.com/devices.
5. Secondary prizes are exclusive to those who share on Facebook. Entrants to the grand prize giveaway may also enter the secondary prize giveaway but are not automatically entered through submitting the grand prize form.
6. Winner of the grand prize will be contacted via email on June 3. Secondary prize winners will be announced on Facebook on June 3.

The (physical) evolution of
Hover customer service

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By Andrew Moore-Crispin

April 26th, 2013

Over the past several weeks and weekends, the customer service team’s space has been overhauled at Hover HQ. Where previously cubicle walls and offices boxed much of the team in, the new floor plan is entirely open… with some spiffy new desks and chairs as part of the deal.

Because it was a pretty momentous change and update to the space, we ran a time-lapse camera on a laptop over the course of several weekends. If we’re being completely honest, it was a bit of a comedy of errors: First, we neglected to plug in the laptop and when the battery died, so did our recording. Then we ran out of disk space. A few other little snafus crept up. In the end, it doesn’t matter. We got some great footage (just perhaps not quite as much as we might have liked) and put this little video together.

App of the Week: Mailbox

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By Sarah Georges

April 12th, 2013

Mailbox is a new type of mail app. Created by the makers of Orchestra, a productivity management app, Mailbox claims to put traditional email in it’s place.

And that it does.

Think of the hundreds, if not thousands of emails that get lost in your inbox during a busy day at work (or normal day, if you’re important like that). You have to make a mental note to go back to them or flag them as important in order to follow up. Think of all the emails that simply aren’t important that clutter your inbox needlessly and distract you from getting your work done. Mailbox tackles these problems in an intuitive, clean and fast way. Here’s why the team at Hover loves Mailbox:

Swipe messages to archive or trash ‘em

Mailbox allows you to treat incoming emails in one of three ways: The one’s you’d like to keep in your inbox, those you’d like to save for later, and those you’d like to simply get rid of. Mailbox is all about simple gestures, so with one swipe, classify any email as one of the above.

Keep only what matters

You can choose to keep only the emails that are of most importance at that given time. For the rest, simply swipe to have them appear later (whether it be in ten minutes, a day or someday) or swipe to delete them altogether.

Reaching inbox zero… and keeping it there.

With Mailbox, only the things I need to address now are in my inbox. And I love the sense of accomplishment of getting my inbox to zero. Apart from feeling like I’ve gotten things done, my mailbox feels lighter and I have peace of mind in knowing that I can access any of my archived messages from the dock.

The Downsides

#1 There’s currently a queue to actually get the app. I waited approximately two weeks in ‘line’ (started at around 700,000th place), but the pace quickened as time went on. A couple of my coworkers were one of the ‘chosen ones’ picked at random to skip the line, though. So cross your fingers and hope for the best.

#2 For now, Mailbox will only support Gmail and Google Apps accounts. Other clients will be added as the app grows. Hover has a great tutorial on how to use your Hover mail with Gmail.

So if you don’t mind waiting in line and you primarily use Gmail for your email, this is a great app. Download it for the iPhone here.

Have you used Mailbox? Are you currently waiting in line? Let us know in the comments what you think of the app!

And the winners are…

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By Sarah Georges

April 5th, 2013

We had a great response to our Vacay Giveaway promotion last month with almost 6,000 entries in total across Facebook, Twitter and through the use of the promo code. As it turns out, people really like free vacations!

Who knew?

We’re announcing the winners of the vacation plus all secondary prizes. If you’ve won, sit tight for an email from us. We’ll be notifying all winners directly.

The Grand prize winner of a trip for two to their choice of San Francisco, NYC or Vancouver is….

Andrew D. from Toronto, Canada! Congrats Andrew, we hope you enjoy your vacation :)

Congrats to the following secondary prize winners…

2nd Prize ($250 Amazon gift card) – Samuel K.
3rd Prize ($100 in Hover credit) -Steve A.
4th Prize ($25 in Hover credit) – Bibiana P.
5th Prize (Hover swag) - Michael T, Myles C, Odd N, Chris C, Franklin B, Mitchel G, Serge J, Charles M, Kellyanne R, and Shakir P.

Thank you to everyone who entered the Vacay Giveaway. Make sure to like us on Facebook to be the first to know about future giveaways!

DAA – Domain Addicts Anonymous

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By Sarah Georges

March 13th, 2013

Do you find yourself with 50+ active domain names in your possession at any given time? Have you registered the firstlastname.com domain for your second cousin Jerry? Does your cat have a .COM? Do you register a domain for every new idea that pops into your head?

Does this sound familiar? If you’ve said yes to any or all of the above, you are likely suffering from DNA, or Domain Name Addiction.

We don’t blame you. Hover makes it easy to register the perfect domain name in under five minutes (and about 30 seconds per domain after that). With many of the most popular TLDs to choose from, registering a .CO, .NET or .CA is literally just a click away. What’s more, managing all your domains is simple with our bulk editting tools. It’s as easy to manage 50 domain names as it is two. Yeah, we acknowledge we’re a part of the problem. But honestly, we’re okay with that :)

What’s your domain addiction story? How many domains do you currently own? Let us know in the comments.

Remember, the first step is admitting you have a problem ;)

Hover’s Vacay Giveaway!

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By Sarah Georges

March 1st, 2013

It’s quite chilly over here at the Hover offices. This got us thinking… whether you’re buried under two feet of snow or lucky enough to live in a milder climate, everyone could use a vacay! So, during the month of March, we’re giving you the opportunity to win a trip for two to either San Francisco, NYC or Vancouver. We had to get a Canadian destination in the mix. ;)

Grand Prize: A trip for two to the destination of your choice: San Francisco, New York City or Vancouver. Trip includes round-trip airfare and four nights hotel accommodations for two.

And we’re not stopping there. By entering the giveaway, you’ll also be entered to win the following prizes:

2nd Prize: $250 Amazon Gift Card
3rd Prize: $100 Hover credit
4th Prize: $25 Hover credit
5th Prize: 10 winners will receive Hover swag!

Ways to Enter:

1. Register, renew or transfer a domain using the promo code: vacaygiveaway. You’ll score five entries into our giveaway per domain, and for each year you register/renew.

2. Share. Share this post (publicly) on your Facebook wall and you’ll get one entry. Retweet us and you’ll get an additional entry!

3. Get creative. Show us how you creatively promote the hashtag #vacaygiveaway (online or otherwise) and you’ll get three additional entries. Post your entry on our Facebook wall.

The Fine Print:

1. For your purchase to qualify, you must have made the transaction or shared within the contest window – between March 1st and April 1st at 12:01pm ET.
2. You must use the promo code for your transaction to count. We cannot honor transactions that fail to use the code ‘vacaygiveaway’ at checkout.
3. Each registered domain registration, renewal or transfer that uses the promo code ‘vacaygiveaway’ is worth five entries per year registered/renewed.
4. If you choose to enter via social a Twitter or Facebook share, you must share publicly or else we won’t be able to count your entry. If we can’t see it, we won’t be able to count it!
5. Limit of one Facebook share entry and one Twitter retweet entry per person.
6. There’s no limit on entries for purchasing/transferring/renewing domains.
7. Winners will be announced on April 5th, 2013.
8. Grand prize winner must book their trip before December 31st, 2013.
9. Prizes are not transferable, exchangeable or redeemable for cash.
10. While this giveaway is international, if the grand prize winner is residing outside North America, a travel voucher in the equivalent amount will be rewarded ($2,500 CDN).
11. Each entrant can win only one prize.
12. We reserve the right to change any aspect of the giveaway at any time.

FAQ’s

When does the contest close?
Can I see how many entries I have so far?
How many entries will I get?
What happens if I forget to enter the promo code?
Can I enter without a Hover account?
NYC is too big, San Fran is too cool and Vancouver is too cold, can I pick another destination?
What type of flight/accommodations will the winner get?
Does the code count towards a purchase of a premium domain name?
How will the winner be chosen?
Can I still enter even though my domains are set to auto-renew?

When does the contest close?
April 1st at 12:01pm (Noon).

Can I see how many entries I have so far?
Unfortunately we are not able to provide you with a tally of your entries. Please refer to the ‘Ways to Enter’ for how much each different entry is worth.

How many entries will I get?
Renewing, transferring or registering a domain name will get you 5 entries per domain name, regardless of amount of time registered.
A creative entry is worth 3 entries.
Sharing on Facebook or Twitter is worth one entry each.

What happens if I forget to enter the promo code?
We cannot honor any transactions that don’t use the promo code in this contest. Please make sure you use the promo code when renewing, registering or transferring your domain name!

Can I enter without a Hover account?
Yes! By sharing on Facebook/Twitter. We’ll be linking your Facebook/Twitter entry to the respective account, not your Hover account. This means anyone can enter, not just those with Hover accounts. If your Twitter/Facebook entry has won, we’ll contact you via the appropriate channel.

Can I pick another destination?
Sorry, no.

What type of flight/accommodations will the winner get?
The winner of the grand prize will receive two economy class round trip tickets on a national airline to their destination of choice from the three offered. Hotel accommodations will are subject to availability and will be a minimum of 3 stars.

Does the code count towards a purchase of a premium domain name?
Yes.

How will the winner be chosen?
The winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries.

Can I still enter even though my domains are set to auto-renew?
Yes. To do this you must manually renew your domain name and enter the code at checkout.

Tucows Behind the Scenes!

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By Sarah Georges

February 27th, 2013

We love showing you what it’s like behind the scenes at Tucows, Hover’s parent company. That’s why we made this video featuring a bunch of our awesome staff talking about what makes this such a great place to work. Have a look and feel free to let us know what you think! :)

If you want to get in on the action, head over to our careers page for the latest opportunities at the best company on the internet!

Inside Hover: Compliance Department

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By Sarah Georges

February 20th, 2013

As you may know, Hover is a part of Tucows, an international domain name registrar. Like Hover, there are thousands of other domain name registrars around the world. The compliance department here at Tucows is responsible for making sure all comply with all the rules and regulations set out by ICANN. I sat down with Sara Scruton of the compliance department to learn more about what it’s like to work in the Compliance department at Tucows. :)

What is your job title/department?
My Job title is Compliance Officer and I work in the Compliance department.

What does your department do here at Tucows?
We ensure our resellers stay compliant with our reseller agreement, and ICANN rules and regulations. ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Essentially, ICANN coordinates and regulates domain names. We deal mainly legal issues surrounding domains names as opposed to technical issues.

What are some of these ‘issues’ you see come up?
We work with registrars and registries dealing with issues of fraud, whois issues and transfer issues, we assist various security organizations with domains that might be phishing or spamming, or involved in fraudulent activity.

FOA Requests: When a registrant feels their domain was transferred into Tucows from another registrar incorrectly, they can contact the previous registrar and ask for an FOA (form of authorization).

A recurring issue we have is people that register domain names and do not register the domain in their own name. It is very important when a domain is registered the registrant is listed in the whois, so it will prevent ownership issues in the future.

What are your daily activities in the Compliance Department?

Our daily activities include:

Ensuring resellers comply with our reseller agreement, and ICANN rules and regulations.

Receiving international court orders, subpoenas, cease and desist letters and communicating with law enforcement agencies about various issues.

Another major function of our department is responding to complaints from ICANN

We also receive many emails on a daily basis to our general compliance queue compliance@opensrs.net . Issues we receive include assisting registrants that may have issues with support from their reseller, and may not know who their reseller is, expired domains, redemption process, retrieval of user name and passwords, transferring domains and general help and guidance on how domain names work.

What is one thing people don’t know about domain policy?

It is very important that when a domain is registered that the registrant enters accurate whois information into their domain.

What makes your job interesting?

The internet is always evolving from changes in legislation to policy and procedures being updated. There is always something new to be learned.

How does your department & decisions made affect Hover?
Hover, a reseller of Opensrs, like any of our resellers is affected by any new policy changes implemented by ICANN. The Compliance department assists, informs and enforces any new changes that have been made.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
Explaining to people what it is we do!

Introducing Squarespace Commerce

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By Sarah Georges

February 19th, 2013

The rumours are true! Squarespace, the ultimate tool for creating an awesome website, has launched a new ecommerce platform. We’ve been waiting for this, and are really excited about this launch.

Features:

Commerce will work on every template. It’s fully integrated with the rest of their content block system.

Squarespace won’t charge you per transaction. Commerce is essentially free with a Business Plan. Stripe, the integrated payment processor, charges a simple and transparent fee of $0.30 + 2.9% for every transaction made.

There are no limits on the amount of inventory (SKUs) you carry in your store, but the platform is ideal for smaller stores

Create coupons for your store. You can create coupons that apply to all orders, orders that meet a certain minimum, or for specific products

Express checkout mode

integrated MailChimp to let customers sign up for email communications from your store at checkout

Social integration

The order management interface lets you easily track outstanding orders, resend customer update emails and print packing slips from a single interface

Want multiple admins? The permissions system allows you to add admins that can only access your store, not your entire website

We think Hover customers will love this new commerce integration. The essence of Squarespace is simplicity and elegance, and their ecommerce platform fits perfectly into that mantra. Head on over to Squarespace to get started. If you already have an online store, easily transfer your inventory (including info and pictures) over from platforms such as Big Cartel and Shopify.

Use the code ‘HOVER’ at checkout and they’ll take 10% off your entire purchase!

Want to learn more? Squarespace is holding two live workshops to help you get started.

.CO Domains – Now Only $15!

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By Sarah Georges

February 14th, 2013

From now until March 31st, 2013 get a .CO domain name from Hover for one year for only $15.

.CO is a domain name growing in popularity, especially with the startup community. This popular domain name is a great alternative to the traditional .COM or .NET extensions.

Why do we like .CO?

You get the domain name you want. Unlike .COM, there are still tons of .CO’s available for registration. Grab a .CO and get the domain you really want!

An awesome community. .CO is the up and coming domain for startups, entrepreneurs and innovators. If you get a .CO, you’ll join the ranks of Twitter (t.co), Google (g.co), Forex (forex.co) and Overstock (o.co) to name a few.

It’s SEO friendly. Google has declared that, like .COM, it will treat .CO as a global (generic) TLD in its search results! That means you can feel secure in knowing your SEO ranking wont be compromised with a .CO domain name.

Head on over to Hover.com and find your perfect .CO domain for just $15! The offer is valid only on first year of registration, and only for new registrations.

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