Leefe rates the world... » Domains

I want a Japanese .テスト domain

Leefe — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:19:43 +0000

Browsing the IANA – Root Zone Database I notices there are a few root level domains that exist for testing purposes.

Scroll right to the bottom of the page and you will find .テスト (TeSuTo for those that can’t read Katakana). I think it would be quite fun to have one of these.

Pity they are only there for testing.

Where is your Australian Passport advice?

Leefe — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:55:03 +0000

Looking up information about Australian passports the other day I noticed the following sponsored link.

The URL listed looked wrong to me. Australia doesn’t allow domains straight on the ‘.au’, only as second level domains. There is no www.AustralianPassportAdvice.au. But I wonder how many people realise this?

So, is is ethical to advertise a URL that is not the same as the one that the viewer is directed to? And is it also the responsibility of the group serving the advertisement (Google in this case) to check this?

The actual site is a ‘.com’ domain. It promises to help Australian citizens with all things related to passport registration. Just call the 1902 number and be charged $5.50 a minute. I think I’ll give it a miss.

If you make it to the bottom of the page, small print in a colour very close to the background colour, says:

“This service is not connected with, or endorsed by, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. APA has no professional qualifications or experience related to the subject matter and we recommend that you contact DFAT for any information relating to passports.“

The official Australian Passport site can be found at: www.passports.gov.au

(Which doesn’t work if you leave off the ‘www’ or if you use the singular ‘passport’)

Google gobble and domains are flushed down utube

Leefe — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:37:55 +0000

Articles of interest about Google buying YouTube. The lawsuits expected. And the problems it has caused the holder of a similar domain, utube.com.

Articles:

Google hedges against YouTube lawsuits (SMH, 16 Nov 2006)
Policeman’s YouTube email goes to utube (SMH, 6 Nov 2006)
Google gobbles up YouTube (SMH, 10 Oct 2006)
Boom: Google buys YouTube for $2.2b (SMH, 11 Oct 2006)
Google lawyers fend off the YouTube lawsuits (SMH, 6 Nov 2006)
YouTube is ‘toast’ (SMH, 29 Sep 2006)
Will ads in YouTube spoil the fun? (SMH, 18 Oct 2006)
YouTube to make life even busier for Google lawyers (SMH, 24 Oct 2006)
YouTube founders now superstars (SMH, 11 Oct 2006)
Google mulls YouTube takeover (SMH, 7 Oct 2006)

74000 Suspended .EU domains

Leefe — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 05:35:46 +0000

The non proffit organisation that manages .EU domains, EUEid, has suspended 74000 of them. EURid beleives that 3 companies “are acting as a front for a number of registrars“. And that the registrars are warehousing the domains in breach of contract.

EURid suspends 74 000 .eu domain names due to breach of contract