GoDaddy is marketing the new top-level domain INTERNATIONAL. This is one TLD that I can’t imagine recommending to anyone. For starters, you don’t need this domain to go global. Every TLD is inherently global in reach. And if you really want to…
This screen is from a website advertising two new top level domains in Cyrillic. Here are the two domains and what they represent: .САЙТ (Website) .ОНЛАЙН (Online) Two other domains that were recently approved by ICANN were in Arabic and…
The French domain name registry AFNIC has published a PDF explaining why it will soon support internationalized domain names (IDNs). According to AFNIC: As of July 3, 2012, it will be possible for anyone to register domain names under the…
Here’s a new article I’ve written for UX Magazine on the emergence of internationalized domain names (IDNs). I view IDNs as an inevitable (albeit awkward) evolution of the Internet. And here are the previous two articles I’ve written for UX Magazine: Select Country;…
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…
In January of this year, ICANN announced that four fast-track IDNs had made it through linguistic approval — effectively clearing the way for commercialization. Oddly missing from that list was China’s IDN. One of the reasons ICANN initiated a fast-track…
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)…
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…
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…
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…
Another day, another URL shortener. Only this one I think will be around a lot longer than many that are out there. That’s because it’s supported by WordPress. It’s also the world’s first two-letter Montenegro (.me) domain. Even though I…
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…
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…
Bit.ly, the URL shortener now used by Twitter, is not the first company to craft its name out of a county code top-level domain (ccTLD). But Bit.ly does appear to be the first company to do so with the Libyan…
The European Commission has announced that it will begin supporting domain registration in Greek and Cyrillic characters. This will allow for support of all 23 official EU languages. The EC hasn’t announced when registrations will be possible. I took a…