New gTLDs: Custom app URLs in "Google Apps domain"

Extract: Web address mapping: have your Google Sites appear under custom URLs for all of your domains, such as hr.yourdomain.consulting, hr.yourdomain.international or hr.yourdomain.club.

Source: http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.fr/2015/03/feature-parity-for-multi-domain-google.html.

Register your .CLUB domain name with Google Domains.

3 Sunrise Periods have started

Sunrise Periods:

.SCHOOL

• SUNRISE PERIOD START: Tuesday, 24 March, 2015
• SUNRISE PERIOD END: Saturday, 23 May, 2015

.FOOTBALL

• SUNRISE PERIOD START: Tuesday, 24 March, 2015
• SUNRISE PERIOD END: Saturday, 23 May, 2015

.CASINO

• SUNRISE PERIOD START: Tuesday, 24 March, 2015
• SUNRISE PERIOD END: Saturday, 23 May, 2015

More information here: http://trademark-clearinghouse.com/gtld-calendar.

Innovation: the .UNO solution to increase registration volumes

Today, innovation in new gTLDs seems to work hand in hand with sales results and if it has been difficult to finance while the ICANN and the GAC were spending applicants' time and money to (try to) solve problems, it is possible that this innovation has now become the key to reach financial expectations and develop new domain names adoption.

Read my complete article on gTLD.club.

Reminder: you can register your .CLUB domain name with Uniregistry.

New gTLDs innovation and registration volumes: the .UNO solution

New gTLD innovation
Hasn't it been a little disappointing to see absolutely no (or very few) innovation coming with new domain names?
One would have expected a .EMAIL new gTLD to come with a little plus something related to fighting spam or a .HELP coming with a dedicated platform to offer help on demand (is this what Google will offer with its .HOW?), a .DIRECTORY already set-up to login and create a directory, or a .INTERNATIONAL with a special partnership with a multilingual CMS?

I heard good ideas from Mind + Machines years ago but so many delays in launching the ICANN new gTLD program seem to have killed innovation.

Today, innovation in new gTLDs seems to work hand in hand with sales results and if it has been difficult to finance while the ICANN and the GAC were spending applicants' time and money to (try to) solve problems, it is possible that this innovation has now become the key to reach financial expectations and develop new domain names adoption.

The .UNO initiative
The .UNO Registry (".UNO has universal recognition for being number one, first, unique and the best") is about to have sold 10.000 new domain names and giving domain names away seems to be a new way to "deliver" names on the market.
If some Registries like the .XYZ, .BERLIN and .SCIENCE are giving domain names, the .UNO Registry is bringing innovation to this new trend giving the domain name for free with the Hello.uno new social platform.

Hello.uno
Hello.uno is a free service not owned by the .UNO Registry but which allows anyone to create a complete webpage on which the Registrant can show his LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and many other social networks feeds. All this in just a few clicks.

The increasing number of subscribers is a demonstration of success. I wanted to go through the process and created a jeanguillon.uno. It took me less than five minutes for a complete page. I also received the email which confirmed the domain name registration:

I checked a little later to find my webpage online. It is basic and I will probably dig a little more into it to see what more can be done with it.

Of course, "free is rarely free" so I checked the WHOIS database to see if the domain had been registered in my name and it had. As a result, a newcomer to this platform gets everything the Google Blogger platform offers but with a super clean design and a free domain name. Blogger - which I already find very cool - will charge you for the domain name and Wordpress will charge you even more.

In the case of this platform, "free" seems to be definition I have of this word, not the one which comes with adds. If someone finds the trick here, I am interested in a feed-back.

Registration volumes
A lot has been told about poor domain names renewal (read here too) but...is this so true and...does it really matter?

From where I stand at Jovenet Consulting, one of my weekly tasks is to check domain name renewals and what I see is not negative at all. If results are not the one expected, renewals are there: there are less domain names on the market than expected by Registries but Registrants (those to register domain names) are renewing their domain(s).
One year (more or less) after launching its first TLDs, the last report from the largest multiple Registry Donuts tells us one truth about renewals.

So regarding registration volumes, the repetitive and negative speech I often read from Domainers and "pro .COMs" is ... just wrong :-)

What about increasing new domain names registration volumes? If I now have very small doubts about the renewal rate from a Registry who is giving domain names away, I have even smaller ones about one giving a little something with its domains for two reasons:

1. When you start to use a service like Hello.uno, chances are high that you will keep using it:
1. Choices of designs offered are:
1. Really nice;
2. Free.
2. The domain name is Free and registered in your name: you normally pay for this.
2. A platform like Hello.com can become addictive: you get everything in one single place: no need multiple logins and passwords... Internet users also like it when it is simple.

In the case of the Hello.uno platform, the thinking seems to be done a different way: the message sent to me is more a: "use our platform and we will give you a personalized address with it" rather than a: "register this domain for free then decide what to do with it".

No matter if the IATA failed...

...the future for online tickets is in front of us.

As part of the International Air Transport Association simplifying the business initiative, the association instituted a program to switch the industry to 100% electronic ticketing. The program concluded on June 1, 2008, with the association saying that the resulting industry savings were approximately US$3 billion. In 2004, IATA Board of Governors set the end of 2007 as the deadline for airlines to make the transition to 100% electronic ticketing for tickets processed through the IATA billing and settlement plan.

As of June 1, 2008 paper tickets can no longer be issued on neutral stock by agencies reporting to their local Billing and Settlement Plan.

The industry was unable to comply with the IATA mandate and paper tickets remain in circulation as of February 2009 (source Wikipedia).

Tickets.club is for sale: http://startup.club/product-category/generic/page/4/.

4,5 Sunrise periods are starting today

4,5 Sunrise Periods are starting:

1. .IRISH
2. .APARTMENTS
3. .COLLEGE
4. .NGO & .ONG (for non gov organizations).

Source: http://www.trademark-clearinghouse.com/content/irish.

Register your .IRISH domain name with ComLaude and learn more about the Registry here.

New gTLDs: The Lions and Rotary International Clubs

Extract: "Both are institutions to me and I have known these names forever. I dug a little and went to search for these two groups on LinkedIn, wondering if there would be an interest in either using a new domain name extension or changing to a ".club" new domain name".

Read my complete article on gTLD.club.

Register your .CLUB domain name with Uniregistry.

4 Sunrise Periods starting today

Four new gTLDs have their Sunrise Period to start today:

1. .TENNIS;
2. .CHAT;
3. .BINGO;
4. .STYLE

SUNRISE PERIODS START: Tuesday, 10 March, 2015 - 16:00;

SUNRISE PERIODS END: Saturday, 9 May, 2015 - 16:00.
Source: http://trademark-clearinghouse.com/gtld-calendar.

Register one of these new domain names with a Corporate Registrar.