There are places like Namejet you can use to know when "good" names are expiring also. Personally, I think that people give too much merit to the short domain

There are places like Namejet you can use to know when "good" names are expiring also. Personally, I think that people give too much merit to the short domain names. There is some value to a 4-6 letter domain name, but it's not the be-all/end-all.