Our Tweets
Written by PollackPRMktg on March 25, 2010.
First to register in 1985, was Symbolics, Inc. By 1997, there were 1,000,000 .coms. Still widely used, its speedy early adoption ushered in an era of instant global communications, catapulting the Information Age.
Written by PollackPRMktg on March 25, 2010.
Introduction of this technology seemed to be a watershed moment. Mosaic was the first to apply HTML and create a hyper-linked format to online information.
Written by Noemi Pollack on October 1, 2009.
Just when we got comfortable with Internet addresses that end in .com, .net, .org, or .edu, along comes an agreement between the US government and the Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, the body in charge of assigning Internet addresses), that will allow for Internet addresses to end in .anythinggoes or .somethingorother.
The new agreement, which is to take effect next year, will surely unleash a mad dash to gather up names to better brand a company or product, as in Pepsi.cola, Taco.bell, Fat.burger, Ivory.soap and Apple.mac.
Ok, we can get used to that. It will just seep more memory from our already extended brains…
There really would be no end to the “fun” that could ensue, if it were not for the price tag — a major downer. With a fee of more than $100,000 for applications, you better believe it that it won’t be Mom.mommy or Joe.plumber that will be first in line to grab that one customized and ownable word that best defines a brand. Sadly small- to medium-sized businesses will also be hard pressed to come up with the six figures needed to pay for the opportunity to differentiate.
Still, there is much good to be said about this move which paves the way for a new and more open web. ICANN, operating under the aegis of the US Commerce Department, had always caused concerns for some, most notably the European Union that had lobbied for ICANN to be delinked from the U.S. government. The concern was that with ICANN as the only decider on what names can be added to the Internet’s top level domains (TLDs) such as .com as well as country designations, the Internet did not really belong to a wider global constituency.
According to a Reuters news article, “this agreement, which allows ICANN to become a “private sector led organization,” will now subject ICANN to periodic reviews by a panel that includes a U.S. representative and independent experts, essentially allowing the organization to no longer report solely to the United States.” ICANN will now be a nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States and has promised that it will address various issues, including consumer protection and trademark matters, before implementing new domain names.
Apparently, in a survey conducted by the Future Laboratory earlier this year, two-thirds of businesses were unaware they will be able to use their own name in place of today’s domain extensions.
Wait until they find out. Can’t wait for the creative juices to flow and the scramble for domain words to begin…
