Country code wallpaper for your iPhone
I realize I’m a bit obsessed with country codes. It’s a sickness, I know. After I created the Country Codes of the World map, I began looking at other platforms for the design. And since I own an iPhone, I …
Country Codes
In Canada, .ca is replacing .com
I spent a few days in Canada recently and was struck but how many billboards, newspapers, and web sites prominently displayed .ca instead of .com. I started writing down every localized domain I encountered and here’s what I ended up …
The world’s most dangerous country codes
If you want to know the world’s most dangersous ccTLDs, ask an anti-virus software company. McAfee has released its list of most dangerous country codes. Here are the top five: Cameroon (.cm) PR of China (.cn) Samoa (.ws) Philippines (.ph) …
Most British web users prefer .uk (says UK registrar)
Nominet, the UK registrar, published the results of a poll that found: More than three-quarters (77%) of British consumers prefer to use a .uk rather than a .com when searching for information on the Internet. Clearly, you have to hold …
Country Codes of the European Union
I’m pleased to announce a new country codes map, this one devoted to the 27 members of the European Union. The ccTLDs are sized according to population and to the side is a list of the top 17 ccTLDs by …
A fantast.ic new country code
Last week I wrote about the coming of IDNs (internationalized domain names). But IDNs aren’t the only new country codes to keep your eyes on. There is also the occasional new Latin-based ccTLD. Like .IC. The Canary Islands is looking …
Meet the next generation of country codes
So now that the media hype over internationalized domain names (IDNs) has died down, let’s focus on the messy details of what this all means. First of all, we’re not about to see the non-Latin equivalent of .com anytime soon. …
Strange Maps: The Book
If you like maps and you haven’t yet discovered the Strange Map blog, I recommend checking it out. It’s oddly addictive. Now there’s a print version — Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities. Included within the book is our …
.YU we hardly knew you
It’s funny how top-level domain names (TLDs) outlast the countries they represent. In 2007 I wrote about the end of .YU (Yugoslavia), though it didn’t exactly go away back then. Stephane Gelder writes that the TLD for Yugoslavia expires officially …
Bit.ly is leaving Libya for the islands
So Bit.ly has launched an even shorter URL: J.mp. You can’t get any shorter than this, at least not until we see single-digital TLDs. I can’t help but wonder if this new URL is a sign that Bit.ly is planning …
The Chinese domain name bubble bursts
Nearly one year ago, I asked Will .CN become the next .COM? And perhaps I was right in more ways than one. Because now it appears that .CN is experiencing its very own .COM bust. Just a year ago Chinese …
The Branding of Country Codes: A list of “countryless” ccTLDs
A country code top-level-domains (ccTLD) has traditionally been used to signify a country-specific web site or resource, or simply to tell users where a given organization is located. For example, Russia’s leading search engine, Yandex, is hosted at www.yandex.ru and …
Per capita, Netherlands is the world’s ccTLD leader
The Netherlands, a country with just 16 million people, accounts for more than 3 million ccTLDs. That’s an impressive ratio of people to domains — one ccTLD per 5.3 people — and it the highest ratio of any country with …
Is .NYC the next 212? Or is it the next .LA?
So it’s looking like .NYC may indeed come to fruition. It certainly has its proponents. Paris and Berlin are also pursuing their own domains. But the reason I see .NYC gaining traction is that the proposed registrar dotNYC is promising …
.EU: Three years and three million registrations
It’s been nearly three years since .EU went live. Stephane reports that the domain reached 3 million registrations today. Not too bad, considering that .US is still well under two million. So who’s using this domain? Amazon is using it …