DNS.be, the organisation that runs the .be registry, recently upgraded their software backend to add some new features. While most upgrades usually only impact registrars, the latest update includes an interesting new feature for registrants - registration certificates. While this isn't a completely novel idea (a number of other ccTLDs offer it) it's a nice little … [Read more...] about .Be Registry Offering Registrants Certificates
New TLD Application System To Come Back Online At End of Month?
ICANN's latest update has set a date of May 22 for the re-opening of the application system. What that means in terms of the "big reveal" is unclear at this juncture, though some skeptics are positing that it won't happen until the public meeting in Prague. I wonder if we can persuade Paddy Power to let us place bets on the reveal date :) Related articles ICANN … [Read more...] about New TLD Application System To Come Back Online At End of Month?
A “Glitch” Does Not Last This Long
ICANN has been consistently referring to the issues with the new TLD application system as a "glitch". That's a serious misnomer. As a native English speaker I'd consider a "glitch" to be something small and inconsequential. When the software and systems that you are using to process millions of dollars of domain applications is forced offline for several weeks the … [Read more...] about A “Glitch” Does Not Last This Long
SIDN Get .Amsterdam Contract
SIDN, the organisation that runs .nl, has been awarded the contract to provide registry backend services for .amsterdam. The company that will be running the .amsterdam registry has already launched a public site where they're accepting pre-registrations. While I'd normally question anyone offering pre-registrations at this stage a .city TLD is a lot less likely to run into … [Read more...] about SIDN Get .Amsterdam Contract
ICANN Reveals A Lot About New TLD Applications
ICANN's latest update on the new TLD application system downtime contains a few interesting titbits of information that have all the domain bloggers speculating about how many new TLDs there will be. According to the latest update ICANN has: 2091 pending new TLD applications 214 additional applications that haven't been paid for yet Pulled in $350 million in … [Read more...] about ICANN Reveals A Lot About New TLD Applications
UK Domain Names Now Available For 1 to 10 Year Registration and Renewal
Nominet turned on multi-year registrations and renewals today, so now UK domain names can be registered or renewed for periods from 1 to 10 years. With this move Nominet brings itself into line with gTLDs and a lot of other ccTLDs, where the 1 to 10 year registration period has been available for some time. As a registrar and registrant I'm delighted by this move. It also … [Read more...] about UK Domain Names Now Available For 1 to 10 Year Registration and Renewal
ICANN Shortens Public Meetings
At the last ICANN public meeting in Costa Rica the traditional Friday board meeting was incredibly short. For many people sitting in the room there were looks of surprise at how quickly the board was able to get through its agenda. Now ICANN has made it clear officially that Costa Rica was a precursor of things to come, with an announcement today that Friday is being removed … [Read more...] about ICANN Shortens Public Meetings
Nic MX Rebrands Registrar Division
The .mx registry, Nic MX, has rebranded its registrar division as "Akky" and sports a new logo and corporate image. They've adopted the hare as their new image stating that it symbolises agility, speed and warmth (or maybe I messed up the translation!) The new site doesn't have any additional information on what exactly they're doing, and currently is just a Flash … [Read more...] about Nic MX Rebrands Registrar Division
ICANN TAS Outage Parody
I guess it was inevitable that someone would do this at some point, so here it is. … [Read more...] about ICANN TAS Outage Parody
TLD Timeline Knock On Effects?
Today is April 28th. At this stage ICANN should have already announced the new TLD applicants or been in a position to do so within a couple of days. Unfortunately they aren't going to be able to make any announcement and when they'll be able to do so is still unclear. The new TLD application system is still offline. The most recent update on the TAS outage is not … [Read more...] about TLD Timeline Knock On Effects?