Web 2.0.11562 beta

Yeah as much as I hate to be a lemming, I registered my name in this TLD today. The underlying idea is slick - keeping more domain-specific information within the DNS system itself. DNS has proven to be the most important and robust protocol powering the Internet since TCP/IP. We really could not function in our day to day activities without the ability to resolve domain names. Think about it - no email, no websites, and yes … no twitter!

Selling people vanity domain names is old hat of course. The .NAME TLD came out years ago and people (including yours truly) bought their names in this TLD. Now this one is different in that the contact info for the registrant is provided directly by the nameservers. Whether this idea is going to gain the critical mass needed remains to be seen.

Apparently the .im TLD has been opened up for second-level registrations as of the beginning of July. Their pricing is unusual - £40 for normal registrations, £495.00 for “Premium domains with two character names”, and £995.00 for “Premium domains with one character names”. That would explain why “wh.im” is still available.

Still, in the spirit of the numerous http://del.icio.us copycat domains, clever wordsmiths can come up with some good domain names. Similarly I think .ag (Anguilla) still offers plenty of semantic opportunities. Some clever folks will think of many more .in (India) names than the two I mentioned, but I think it’s reasonable to assume far fewer names have been registered in these extensions.