icann

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers, or ICANN, said it accidentally published the addresses of top-level domain applicants, but has since taken them down.

ICANN posted a notice yesterday indicating that it temporarily disabled viewing of the application details to remove the postal addresses of some primary and secondary contacts for top-level domain, or TLD applications. The addresses appeared as responses to questions on the application. The viewing was restored on the same day sans the personal information.

"We temporarily disabled viewing of the application details. We removed the unintended information and restored this functionality," ICANN'… Read more

When the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided to expand the domain landscape -- letting brands and anyone else with the money apply for the rights to own and run .anything -- it did so to create competition in a world of expanding demand.

And competition is what it's getting. That's clear now that ICANN has revealed who's going after what domain extensions and where there are competing applications.

The basics, according to ICANN and some data crunching from Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services:

Today we're putting dots on everything!

Expect to see tons of new domain extensions crop up, like .app or .baby. Hundreds of companies, including Google, Amazon and Apple, have applied to oversee new domains. If there's more than one application for a word (Google and Johnson & Johnson are battling for .baby), then the two companies will have to duke it out or it'll go to an auction. There are also some controversial ones, like .sucks. You can really see how .sucks can, well, suck for brands. Hard to see a useful purpose for that domain aside … Read more

Earlier today in London, ICANN released a list of thousands of applications for new generic top-level domains. The applications include plenty of brand protection moves like .google and .bentley, as well as some more generic speculation plays like .beer or the very popular .app, which received several applications.

There was also plenty of weirdness buried in the list of suffixes, applicants, and primary contacts.

For example, it looks as though Google might be interested in giving the Cheezburger network a run for its money with oddball applications for domains .lol, .wow, and .fun.… Read more

Among the thousands of applications for new generic top-level domains that ICANN released today are three to run new .army, .navy and .airforce domains. The applicant isn't the U.S. Department of Defense -- or any other government entity for that matter -- it's those masters of cheap, spammy content, Demand Media.

The military suffixes are three of 26 applications that list United TLD Holdco Ltd. as the applicant -- United TLD is a Cayman Islands-based subsidiary of Demand Media, which runs eHow.com and other sites. The company was part of the inspiration behind tweaks to Google's search algorithm last year that resulted in giving less weight to so-called "content farms" -- like Demand Media.… Read more

In a sea of popular words, who would have guessed .app would be the most sought after domains?

"App" garnered 13 applications for a top-level-domain, also known as a string. The full details on the applications were revealed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers today. The introduction of new TLDs change the way consumers will type in URLs and open up new possibilities for Web addresses.

It's telling that .app was the most popular domain name, an illustration of the importance of having a solid app ecosystem, particularly in the mobile world. Among the … Read more

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 … Read more

Frank Schilling made his fortune in the aftermath of the dot-com bust, buying up thousands of domain names others didn't want. He kept at it, aggressively building a portfolio of more than 320,000 domains that, through a combination of ads and outright sales, have made Schilling a decamillionaire many times over.

Now the 43-year-old domainer is going after what he sees as a far bigger opportunity. He's put up $60 million of his own money to stake his claim on a giant, emerging piece of the Internet -- the opening up of so-called generic top-level domains, or … Read more

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers will hold a press conference next week to unveil the generic top-level domains that companies and organizations have applied for.

According to ICANN's announcement today, the agency received over 1,900 applications before it closed registration on May 30. Major companies and organization, as well as startups and even geographical regions, applied for their own top-level domains, the organization said.

With the advent of GTLDs, Web users can expect to many more Web addresses to crop up beyond the common .com and .org. Last week, Google evangelist Vint Cerf said that … Read more