Internet addresses ending in “.asia” will be open to governments and trademark owners starting in October, with general registrations coming in 2008.
The initial round, which starts Oct. 9, is limited to governments desiring geographical names such as “china.asia” and those with trademarks applied before March 16, 2004, and actively in use. Registrations for other trademarks and for company names begin Nov. 13.
The Internet’s key oversight agency for domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, approved the “.asia” domain in October.
DotAsia Organization Ltd., an organization made up of groups that run domain names for China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries, will operate “.asia,” which it sought as a way to unify businesses and other users in the Asia-Pacific region.
The organization has said it plans to restrict registrations to those in the region, which includes Australia.
Applications for the older, active trademarks will close on Oct. 30, and all other applications in the so-called “sunrise” period will be accepted until Jan. 15. General registrations will come after that, though DotAsia did not specify when.
To discourage automated tools aimed at flooding the system on opening day, DotAsia will scrap the first-come, first-served model during the early registration period. Rather, all applications in a given round will be treated equally, with an auction held when two or more qualified applicants seek the same name.
DotAsia did not say when winning applications could start using the names.
Fees are likely to vary depending on which registration company an applicant chooses to process the name on DotAsia’s behalf.
The “.asia” name joins “.eu” for the European Union and “.cat” for the Catalan language as regional domains, and there have been calls for additional geographic names like “.berlin,” “.nyc” and “.paris.” Normally domain names are assigned globally, such as “.com” for commercial sites, or for a specific country or territory, like as “.fr” for France.”
Demand for the new names has generally been low, compared with old-timers like “.com,” but many foreign businesses consider “.com” primarily a U.S. domain, and latecomers to the Internet have found the best names already taken.
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People with free time and entrepreneurial spirit are posting ads on Craigslist offering to wait to buy iPhones for other people — charging as much as the cost of the iPhone itself.
Craigslist is running ads from people offering to either hold a place in line for iPhone customers, or to buy the phones outright.
Why do they do it? “Money, pure and simple,” said Kim Foster, of Chicago, Ill. “Just bought my first home and money is very tight, as you could imagine. I’ve heard of people doing this for other items, Xbox, etc., and thought it was a very smart idea. So I thought I’d give it a go.”
Line-standers include Brandon Phenix, of Wrigleyville, Chicago. “I’m a fourth-grade teacher and I have nothing to do this week, and I thought this would be good way to earn money,” he said. He made sure to include his profession in the ad, which, he said, makes the ad stand out. “The keywords make people think I’m trustworthy — which I am,” he said.
He said Wednesday he’s gotten five calls in response to his Craigslist posting, and bidding for his services has gone up to $350. He expects to charge $500 when the bidding war is done.
Phenix’s biggest concern: People cutting in line. “I’m specifically looking for a place where there’s less people, and less likelihood of that happening,” Phenix said. He said he called around to see if local stores were planning extra security or giving out numbers to waiting customers, but found they weren’t.
One Las Vegas line-stander has a plan for cutters. “We’re aggressive when it comes to line cutters,” says the ad. “(We will cap any mother** that tries to cut in line ).” Yikes.
Line-standing is a grueling business, requiring specialized skills and equipment and (according to that Las Vegas ad) a killer instinct. Many line-sitters are planning on bringing, appropriately enough, iPods to keep themselves entertained.
Foster quips that she has “top secret” waiting techniques, and may bring her dog.
“Bring a chair, bring lots of food, a book, just make sure you’re comfortable,” said Joshua Palmer, 16, who lives on the east side of San Francisco Bay.
Palmer is charging $400 to hold a place in line for a man who wants to buy the iPhone as a gift for his son’s birthday. Palmer works part-time at Moonstruck, a cafe that sells high-end chocolate. He also has experience buying past high-demand electronic products like the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3, and selling them at a markup on eBay. That’s not possible with the iPhone, because he’s too young to sign up for the service plan, he said.
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Webcasters turned off the music today in a protest against the royalty rate increase by the Copyright Royalty Rate Board.
More than 14,000 webcasters took part in the protest according to the SaveNetRadio Coalition’s spokesman. Many shut off access to the music streams while many others replaced the music with long strectches of noting but silence in a protect that was called “Day of Silence.”
Coalition spokesman Jake Ward stated that “Webcasters of every size and from every corner of the country will stand united…to protest a very real and fast approaching threat to their livelihood…time is running out.”
Webcasters are asking listeners to contact their congressional representatives and tell them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act. The Day of Silence is just a preview of what internet radio may be after July 15th if the new royalty rates go into effect.
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