SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.----The Go Daddy portfolio surpassed 40 million domain names today. This marks an important Internet milestone and also demonstrates the significant role the Web plays in the 'new economy.'

It’s a sadly familiar story from the high-flying market of the past few years: Speculator thinks values will continue to go up, up, up. Overbids for a hot property. Can’t keep up with the payments. Lender is forced to foreclose. Only this isn’t about real estate — it’s about the most expensive domain name in the history of the internet: sex.com.

It’s a sadly familiar story from the high-flying market of the past few years: Speculator thinks values will continue to go up, up, up. Overbids for a hot property. Can’t keep up with the ...

Monday will see the 25th anniversary of the registration of the domain name Symbolics.com. Granted, it's not particularly catchy, and to this day it's renowned for nothing other than being the first. But it unwittingly became the eldest brother of a phenomenon that profoundly changed the world.