There’s a wide range of domain name extensions to choose from, more recently .xxx being available for purchase and quite a few people buying them. ICANN, the company that controls and releases new domain name extensions, announced today that applications are open for companies to get their very own custom extension.

For example, Google could have .google or Walmart could have .walmart to give you an idea. As far as mainstream acceptance of these new custom extensions goes, only time will tell. Most people when thinking of a domain name think “.com” or “.net” for example.

Via Tom’s Guide:

“On Thursday, ICANN opened up the doors for companies to step up and apply for a domain that replaces the typical .com, .org, .info, .gov or other extension with their actual company name. ICANN expects to see up to 2000 applications within the small three-month window it’s currently permitting, and will likely not take additional .yournamehere domain applications for years to come.”

Your traditional .com domain name can cost upwards of $15 per year depending on the registrar. These custom extensions are much more pricey however and something that very few companies will even be willing to pay for.

“According to Reuters, an application for the new domain isn’t cheap, costing $185,000 per entry. The estimated start-up costs will be around $500,000 and annual costs will be around $100,000.”

That’s a lot of money, but as the article also stated, it’s chump change for multi Billion dollar companies. If you could buy a custom domain name extension, what would it be and why?

Custom Domain Name Extensions Coming Soon, Applications Now Open is a post from: The Inquisitr

In 2010 the domain name Sex.com sold for a crazy $13 million and while 2011 hasn’t witnessed that type of domain name sale movement there has still been some big winners in the domain purchase game.

The biggest winner of 2011 was the domain Social.com which sold for a hefty $2.6 million, not bad for a page that currently shows the message “server not found.”

DN Journal rounds out the top 5 most expensive domain names of 2011:

• DomainName.com: A cool $1 million for a domain registrar company.
• Aktien.de: This is the German word for Stocks. The sale price? $725,000.
• VU.com: Currently the homepage for Canadian Tech company Universe Corporate the domain sold for $700,000.
• Runningshoes.com: Tied for fourth place with Vu.com this site managed to grab $700,000 price

Another notable first occurred with the list this year when Gay.xxx took in bix money for the new XXX domain system, fetching a cool $500,000.

Are you surprised by the big money paid for the domain names listed above?

Top 5 Most Expensive Domain Name Sales Of 2011 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Today at 11 a.m., the internet will be introduced to .xxx domains. More than 100,000 sites will go live today with the new .xxx domain. But they aren’t all porn sites. Small businesses, non-profit organizations, and universities have also purchased the adult URL.

CNN reports that several universities are trying to protect their good names against people who might try to capitalize off of a college.xxx domain name. Penn State, for example, which is currently embroiled in a child sex scandal, has purchased PennState.xxx, PSU.xxx, Nittanylions.xxx and Pennstateuniversity.xxx.

Michael Drucker, vice president and associate counsel for The Collegiate Licensing Company, told Penn State’s student newspaper:

“These domains are obviously going to be used with adult entertainment. Schools as well as other trademark owners have done so much to protect and promote their brand… They don’t want that brand to be associated with the adult entertainment business.”

PETA also purchased an .xxx domain. But PETA isn’t trying to protect its good name, PETA is trying to draw more attention to animal rights with their own porn site, peta.xxx. 

The .XXX domain was approved as a “top-level domain” last year by ICANN. A statement on the ICANN website reads:

“The Internet is home to a wealth of content, suitable for a wide range of ages and values. The adult entertainment industry has, and always will, account for a large amount of this content and while it is enjoyed by some, it is not suitable, or of interest, to all Internet users… Regardless of your views on adult content, it’s here to stay, so let’s be adult about it.”

The .XXX domain was created to specifically designate a “red-light district” on the internet. CNN reports that the new domain will alert people about the type of site they are about to visit by the URL alone. The .XXX domain could also make computer’s safer, as they will be scanned daily for viruses. ICM Registry says that the .XXX domains will be among the safest destinations on the web.

Still, there are many people opposed to the new domain.

Patrick Trueman, CEO of Morality in Media and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, said:

“The establishment of a .xxx domain would increase, not decrease, the spread of pornography on the Internet, causing even more harm to children, families and communities.”

What do you think about the .xxx domains? Will they make the web a safer place? Or is pornography slowly taking over the world?

.XXX Domains Go Live Today; Universities Buy Up Porn URLs is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s bad enough that we have Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seizing domains, including legal foreign domains, just because they think the sites are doing something illegal but now it seems that the Obama administration wants to go even further and make it so you have to get government approval for that new domain.

Yes, as hard as it might to believe, Declan McCullagh over at CNET has a report that:

The Obama administration is quietly seeking the power for it and other governments to veto future top-level domain names, a move that raises questions about free expression, national sovereignty, and the role of states in shaping the future of the Internet.

This is coming about as a new wave of domain suffixes are being applied for to extend the list of top level domains that already exist: .com, .org, and .net. The Obama administration is glossing over the affair as they say in a statement to CNET:

“has merit as it diminishes the potential for blocking of top level domain strings considered objectionable by governments. This type of blocking harms the architecture of the DNS and undermines the goal of universal resolvability (i.e., a single global Internet that facilitates the free flow of goods and services and freedom of expression).”

However Declan points out that what the government is looking for is veto rights over any new domain suffix being created.

The Obama administration is proposing (PDF) that domain approval procedures be changed to include a mandatory “review” by an ICANN advisory panel comprised of representatives of roughly 100 nations. The process is open-ended, saying that any government “may raise an objection to a proposed (suffix) for any reason.” Unless at least one other nation disagrees, the proposed new domain name “shall” be rejected.

This would create an explicit governmental veto over new top-level domains. Under the procedures previously used in the creation of .biz, .name, and .info, among others, governments could offer advice, but the members of the ICANN board had the final decision.

Okay so Obama isn’t really looking have a say over what you want to call your new domain but that doesn’t mean that having a veto over whether a new domain suffix is added isn’t good either.

Obama wants you to clear that new domain name with the government is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you’ve been tagged with a ticket going through what completely looks like a yellow light on that stupid printout they will eventually send you, you totally understand how frustrating red light camera and speed camera tickets can be.

So you might appreciate what Brian McCrary, a “computer network designer” from Tennessee, did after he was ticketed and fined $90 by Bluff City, Tennessee’s Police Department for speeding. McCrary, who lives in nearby Gray, Tennessee, used his superior internet skills to punk the Bluff City Police, buying their domain out from under them when he learned it was going to expire in late May. McCrary then replaced the existing Bluff City PD site with anti-speed camera links. Burn!

McCrary commented on the pwnage to USA Today:

“It’s kind of surprising that they’d just let it lapse like that,” says Brian McCrary of Gray, Tenn., who grabbed the domain name http://www.bluffcitypd.com after going to the site and noticing that it was to expire in late May.

He uses the website to post links about speed cameras — and people who don’t like them.

Bluff City Police say that the person who was in charge of the site’s renewal was out of the office, leading to its eventual expiration:

Bluff City Police Chief David Nelson tells the newspaper that he doesn’t know much about computers and left the site in the hands of a officer who has been out on medical leave.

That officer apparently didn’t see the e-mails from the hosting company warning that the domain name was expiring.

Nelson says the city is working on a new website with a different hosting company. He says the site’s expiration was kind of his fault:

“It just slipped my mind,” Nelson said, adding that he knows little about computers and the more technical aspects of running a website. “If you open up a website and let it go down, somebody can buy it – I did not know that.”

Man tagged by speed camera buys police department’s expiring domain is a post from: The Inquisitr

Toys ‘R’ Us and National A-1 Advertising were the two primary bidders, according to a live blog of the auction by DirectNavigation.com.

The domain, interestingly, had just been sold at auction about a month ago. It had previously been owned by The Parent Company (the owner of eToys), which filed for bankruptcy last December. In the initial auction, toys.com went to a company called Faculty Lounge for the price of $1.25 million.

That sale, however, was reportedly “halted” by a bankruptcy court–which is why the new auction took place. As for why the price jumped up nearly five times the second go-round, that’s anyone’s guess. Even more perplexing, Toys ‘R’ Us is said to have participated in the first auction (which ended at just over $1 million). Guess someone decided to up their budget between then and now.

Toys ‘R’ Us to Pay $5.1 Million For Toys.com is a post from: The Inquisitr

Snagging a new name won’t be a simple procedure, however: ICANN will first require proof of a “business plan and technical capacity,” meaning you have to have thousands of dollars of server and router-type equipment to get through. A thorough review process will then make sure the suffix is not offensive and does not infringe on anyone’s intellectual property. The names are also expected to cost a minimum of $100,000 and as much as half a million, so the rush may not be as widespread as some have feared.

The change will go into effect next year, with registration opening in April and the first new names going live toward the end of the year. Once approved, nearly anything could be possible — .microsoft, .mcdonalds, .tech — you name it.

The ruling comes right as current domain registration is hitting a new landmark. Go Daddy has just reached an Internet growth record, becoming the first registrar with 30 million domain names under its belt.

The registration of RulesOfSaving.com pushed the company over the line today. It’s a milestone in a strong year for domain registrations: Go Daddy alone says it’s now registering, renewing, or transferring about one domain name per second, with a whopping 72 percent predicted increase in sales this year compared to last. The trend, its execs say, represents positive news for the entire web-based business industry.

“These numbers really demonstrate how the Internet is alive and well, even in these rough financial times,” Bob Parsons, Go Daddy CEO and founder, commented.

One can only assume the introduction of custom top-level domains will lead to even more growth in 2009 — even if the added activity is limited to big business.

Get Ready for Limitless Domain Names is a post from: The Inquisitr