Google Apps domain registration has gone global

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2012 |  Posted by Hugues Vincent, Google Apps team 

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) such as .com.es or .jp helps companies build a local footprint on the web, and ccTLD support is one of the most-requested features for Google Apps. We’re delighted to announce that today – thanks to a partnership withdomaindiscount24.com – that we now offer 30 top-level domain (TLD) options, including 22 ccTLDs, with prices starting at $8 per year. 

Now, businesses that wish to sign up for Google Apps but don’t yet have a domain name have plenty of local options to choose from during sign-up. Your new domain comes configured with all Google Apps services, including Gmail for your custom email addresses (@yourcompany.com). Your domain will be registered with domaindiscount24.com. 

Here is the full list of TLDs now available when you sign up for Google Apps: 

Global	Asia-Pacific	Latin America	Europe
.com	.in	.co	.be
.info	.co.in	.com.co	.ch
.org	.org.in	.com.mx	.cz
.net	.net.in	.mx	.de
.mobi	.co.nz		.es
.biz	.com.tw		.com.es
.name	.jp		.me
.cc			.nl
.tv			.pl

We hope this gives new Google Apps customers more flexibility in their domain registration to help boost their local presence on the web. 

Editors note: domaindiscount24.com is a member of the KeyDrive Group. All registrars of the KeyDrive Group manage together more than 6 million domains for more than 300,000 customers worldwide.

Original post : 

What's in a (domain) name?

The internet is for porn?

LOS ANGELES — Comments on the proposed .adult, .sex and .porn top-level domains keep piling up on ICANN’s gTLD forum.

At post time, about 13 percent (776 of 6,151) of the comments on the ICANN Application Comments forum are directed at the three proposed gTLDs. ICANN started up the forum in early July and could green light some gTLDs as early as June 2013.

ICM Registry, which operates .XXX, has applied for .adult, .sex and .porn; Internet Marketing Solutions Ltd., meanwhile, has only applied for .sex. [...]

ICANN Comments Pour In for Porn-Related gTLD Proposals – XBIZ.com, By Rhett Pardon, Aug 13, 2012

Original Article :

New rules spark rush for web domain names.

Published on Jun 14, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish : In one of the biggest changes to the internet since its inception, web domains can now be registered in any language and script.

That is, if you can afford the hefty fees, which can reach an estimated $25,000 per year.So far, internet giant Google has put in requests for dozens of names, but social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have yet to make a move.

Apple, Google, Amazon: Give us our own domains

ICANN reveals who's going after new top-level-domains in a move that could shake up how we enter Web addresses. Nominees range from .book and .music to .lol and .wow.

June 13, 2012 | Get ready to be a bit more confused about Web site addresses.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers today revealed which generic top-level-domains that companies and organizations have applied for, a major step in the six-year-long process to expand the domain name system to create more competition in a world dominated by dot-com names. For consumers, it means a new way of typing in URL, moving beyond the standard .com or .url addresses.

"It's a historic day for the Internet," said ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom. "The internet is about to change forever."

For the first time, brands can have their own TLDs, also known as "strings." And many are. Among the brands that have secured their domain extensions are .Google, which we know about, but also Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and Dell. Others include Sony, Nokia, Netflix, Oracle, Cisco, Yahoo, and AOL.

Others are gunning not for their own names, but to land the contract to run and manage the .TLD, the way that Verisign runs .com.

Google was particularly aggressive in applying for TLDs. In addition to .Google, it applied to nab .android, .chrome, .cloud, .lol, .vip, and .wow. Amazon likewise had multiple applications beyond its own name, including .book, .fire., .music, and .free. Microsoft has applied to cover several of its brands, including .azure, .hotmail, .skydrive, and .skype. Symantec also applied for .cloud, alongside .protection and .antivirus.

Domains such as .home, .free, and .movie were among the names with multiple applicants. ICANN officials said they encourage different parties to work together and partner on domain names, saying it would give priority to community-based TLD applications.

A couple of eyebrow-raising TLDs include .sex, .porn, and .sucks. ICANN said it has taken measures to protect companies and brands from being exploited under these domains. The group added that it has the right to take back TLDs if a party has shown it is abusing the domain.

Tech companies aren't the only ones getting in on the TLD action. Consumer brands include American Express, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, and AllState, which have all applied for multiple domains.

Here's the full list.

Original article here : 

Internationalized Domain Names

Because the Internet originated in the Western hemisphere, naming protocols for web domains and email addresses historically did not work with any characters except those in the Latin alphabet. More than half of all Internet users do not read English or other Roman scripts such as Spanish. For these millions of Internet users – and a billion more to come -- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) represent their first chance to navigate the web using familiar, local languages and scripts. Today, with the new gTLD program, almost any word in any language can be a TLD. This video, shot at the ICANN meeting in Seoul, October 2009, honors the years of effort invested in leading up to the milestone date of November 16, 2009, when ICANN began accepting requests from around the world for domain name extensions made up of non-Roman characters.

original report:

ICANN: Domain Delay Not a Hack

ICANN's chief security officer said Friday that the issue that forced the organization to shut down its generic TLD application process was a bug, but not a hack.

In a staged video interview between Brad White, ICANN's director of global media affairs, and ICANN chief security officer Jeff Moss, Moss said there was no evidence of any malicious activity.

After analyzing all of the logs and looking for other indicators of malicious activity, "we didn't find anything," Moss said, that indicated it was a hack.

"We're very confident we understand what caused the issue, and we've corrected the issue," Moss said. Now, ICANN is poring through its logs, trying to identify who might have been affected, who might have viewed the information, and when.

Every applicant will be notified of their status, whether they were affected or not, Moss said.

On April 12, a glitch with the application system for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) prompted the Internet's governing body to delay the deadline for gTLD submissions from April 12 to April 20.

On April 18, ICANN said that the issue arose when an applicant file was deleted. In certain cases, that allowed the file name of another uploaded by a different user to be exposed. "Certain data was being revealed to users, who were not seeking the data - it would just show up on their screen," Moss said Friday.

The number of file names or users affected is known, but it's "definitely a minority," Moss said. ICANN won't reveal the number at this time. Although the glitch was spotted on March 19, there was no way of knowing that it was a bug at that time, he said.

At issue is ICANN's plan to open up new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). At this point, there are 22 gTLDs, including .com, .org, and .net. In June, however, ICANN approved a plan that would allow people to apply for new gTLDs, like .pcmag, for example.

ICANN has been accepting gTLD applications via its TLD Application System (TAS) since Jan. 12 and was scheduled to close up shop on April 12, but the glitch prompted a temporary shutdown.

Why did ICANN take the system offline? It was the safest thing to do, Moss said.

"So without knowing if it was a security incident, without knowing if it was a data corruption problem, the safest thing to do was to take it offline," Moss explained. "The problems, had we kept it running only to find out it was a bigger problem down the road, would have been catastrophic."

ORIGINAL REPORT