Never get a country extension wrong again with the VisiBone Country Chart

A company by the name of VisiBone has released a rather unique world map. Besides listing the obvious– major cities, oceans, and mountain ranges– it also displays each country’s ccTLD next to its name. On the sides of the map is a chart listing the same information as well as telephone prefixes in alphabetical order by country.

While most people probably don’t need this map, it would be a great way to explain the different extensions to a new or less knowledgeable Internet user. Given the diverse nature of the Internet, we are coming into more contact with foreign countries now than ever before.

The map itself starts at $25 USD, but a large readable version suitable for use as a desktop wallpaper is available here.

Domain sales up by 15%

While economic activity in most industries is stagnant, the domain market continues to show growth. A report recently released by a large domain auction house shows a 15% increase in its sales.

Other auction sites don’t always report their growth, so it’s hard to tell if this increase has occurred across the board. Given that the registration base of most TLDs and ccTLDs is increasing, I think its fair to say that there has been universal growth in sales.

The average name sale price has jumped 37%, too– from £1,031.17 to £1,412. This heavy market growth is the result of increased speculation among investors.

Photo | svilen001

Canary Islands might seek .ic ccTLD

The Canary Islands parliament will meet tomorrow to discuss whether or not to petition ICANN for the .ic ccTLD. Currently, the extension is an exceptionally reserved code element and unavailable for general use. The island will have to convince the IANA to permit its use.

The government claims .ic will help the country promote itself and benefits its large tourist industry. It currently uses Spain’s .es ccTLD.

As far as I’m concerned, if the extension isn’t being used, why not let the Canary Islands have it? With a population of more than 2 million, the country has more than enough people to justify its own ccTLD.

Source | Domain News

Singapore to introduce Chinese IDNs

The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), operator of the .sg ccTLD, has announced the availability of Chinese-character domains starting November 23.

Unfortunately, only government applications for the new names will be accepted at that time. The .sg registry will use the following schedule for IDN adoption:

• Phase 1: Government Applications 23 Nov 2009 – 31 Dec 2009
• Phase 2: Trademark Owner Applications 7 Jan 2010 – 18 Feb 2010
• Sunrise Period: 25 Mar 2010 – 6 May 2010
• General Launch: 10 June 2010 onwards.

Singapore adopted IDNs to increase registration numbers and also aid firms conducting business with China. They will be available at any level of the .sg extension, including .sg, .com.sg, .org.sg, .net.sg, .edu.sg, .gov.sg, and .per.sg.

It is important to note that Chinese is only one of Singapore’s four official languages. The other three are English, Malay, and Tamil. It will be interesting to see whether or not the 4.9-million strong nation adopts Malay and Tamil IDNs as well.

PokerBonus.com sells for $85,000

The slow sales trend of last week seems to be continuing on into this week. Topping all other recent sales is PokerBonus.com, which just sold at auction for £51,851.

A number of ccTLDs have also sold as of late:

blackcard.es- €9,000
europalace.eu- €7,000
direkt-versicherung.de- €7,000
auberges.fr- €6,000
zazzle.com.ar- $5,500
ftp.co.uk- £2,050

One big surprise here is the sale of ftp.co.uk for only £2,050. Personally, I think the name is worth 10x the auction price. Not only is it just a three-letter domain, but FTP is a common Internet term. Millions of people use FTP to upload data to the web each day. A number of develops make big bucks selling FTP clients as well.

New Zealand creates .health.nz extension

In a move reminiscent of Argentina’s creation of .banco.ar for banks, New Zealand’s Minister of Health Tony Ryall has created the .health.nz domain extension.

The second-level name can only be used by hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and the like. Part of the reason for launching the extension is likely to prevent fraud. If New Zealanders know only legitimate health sites use the extension, they are much less likely to be scammed. As Ryall put it:

The .health.nz domain will improve confidence in the credibility of web-based health information and will enable members of the sector to be easily identified in online communications

The only downside I see to this is the length of the extension. Why couldn’t the country have settled for something shorter like .med.nz?

Source | Domain News

African ccTLD operators careful to avoid ICANN

Most domain extension operators around the world, especially American TLDs, work with ICANN on some level, but a recent InfoWorld article shows that most African ccTLDs do not wish to work with the California organization, opting not to join its Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO).

Many of these domain registries are afraid to do so because of ICANN’s ties with the United States government. Many also misunderstand the requirements for joining. According to Vika Mpisane, head of the Africa Top Level Domain Organization (AfTLD):

Some African ccTLDs have kept away from the ccNSO because of the whole controversy of the ICANN Joint Partnership Agreement with the U.S. government. I get a sense there’s a slowly growing discomfort amongst some African governments with the continuing U.S. oversight over ICANN.

Compared to the rest of the world, Africa’s domain registration system is far behind. Most of its ccTLDs do not have an automated registration process, and may be subject to intervention from government officials. As more and more people from this region connect to the web, however, things are sure to change.

Photo | unseenob

Malaysia's .my registry seeks to increase registrations

According to the Mynic, the administrator of Malaysia’s .my domain, most of the country’s businesses operate websites online. Less than half use a .my domain, however, preferring other extensions like .com instead.

Faced with this reality, Mynic is now pushing companies to get on the .my bandwagon. To help lure them in, it will only allow available business names to be registered by the legitimate corresponding businesses. This measure will also help reduce cybersquatting, perhaps making the .my domain the safest against squatters.

So far this year, 85,000 new .my names have been registered. At a recent media briefing, director Shariya Haniz Zulkifli stated there was a general lack of awareness about .my, and that it was common for businesses to register both .coms and .my names.

Source | Business Times

Photo | Flickr

Germany's .de gains position of top ccTLD

Germany is not only the most populous country in Europe, but is now the operator of the Internet’s most popular ccTLD with more than 13 million registrations on its .de domain.

For years Germany held the number one spot, but recently lost its position to China’s .cn extension, which experienced a huge spike in registrations after the government discounted its price to only 1 yuan per year.

Now the discount program has been discontinued, and .cn registrations are dipping– from 14,082,553 in February to 12,545,589 at the end of July. This decrease mainly consists of domainers who took advantage of the low cost a year ago, but chose not to renew their names at the higher rate this year.

Source | Domain News

Guatemala to open up .gt domain

Like many countries, Guatemala does not allow registrations on its .gt domain. Instead, registrants can choose between .com.gt, .net,gt, and other second-level names. The country has decided to change the rules, however, and will start accepting top-level registrations on the .gt domain.

The new registration option will be available by the end of the year. There will be a sunrise period for .com.gt owners to get their hands on the equivalent .gt domain. Meanwhile, the necessary software for the change is being developed.

I’ve never quite understood why a registry would not allow top-level registrations, but many ccTLDs only make second-level names available. Guatemala’s decision is a good one. Hopefully other countries will follow.

Source | Domain News

Photo | bohemiojb