Do you have a long URL that may be difficult for people to remember? Maybe it is time to check out a service like TinyURL. TInyURL allows you to take your long URLs and create a small URL which will be easy to remember.

TinyURL is also good if you are redirecting people to an affiliate link. With a TinyURL, only you will know it is an affiliate link. The only URLs the visitors will see is the TInyURL and the end URL. And you will still get the affiliate credit!

You can use TInyURL to redirect to any page in your site. Use the service when sending a link through email to avoid long links from breaking.

the best part of TinyURL is the cost- the service is FREE! Of course, you are always welcome to make a donation to keep the service for free, but that is entirely up to you.

Sedo, which is a marketplace for buying and selling Internet domain names, has been set as the overseer for the sale of rss.com by Torex.

RSS(Really Simple Syndication) is a form of automated news feed delivery over the Internet. Since it has been introduced, the availability of news and information in a quick, easy format has risen dramatically.

Torex hopes to sell the domain name for such a high price because they feel that with about 4,350,000,000 pages on Google any business could use the name to attract customers and boost their search engine rankings.

The auction for the domain name will be held on www.greatdomains.com. If you think that you might be interested you should contact Sedo or visit their website and search for rss.com

It was said that in 2009 there would be new top level domains (TLDs) released. ICANN plans to group top level domains. Country Code top level domains will be for a specific country or dependent territory (.us for United States). Sponsored top level domains are for things such as .jobs for human resource managers. ICANN is working on creating top level domains over different languages.

User’s browsing the net on Google’s Chrome will drive massive volumes of traffic to the owners of top level domains. In the Chrome browser, the multi-purpose explorer field is also used as the search field. When a user types the word ‘jobs’ into the search field to perform a Google search, the browser will automatically redirect to .jobs.

Whether Google plans to adjust the search/explore field to accommodate top level domains remains to be seen when the domains are launched and Chrome is launched out of Beta.

Excerpted from here.

According to Nominet, .uk now has over 7 million registered.

ICANN is an international private-public partnership founded in 1998. ICANN is a non-profit. They manage the internet’s Domain Name System (DNS), including both generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain names and the numeric address infrastructure. There are seven original gTLDs (.com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, .org) and in 2001 and 2002 more were added including four unsponsored (.biz, .info, .name, .pro) and three sponsored (.aero, .coop, .museum).

Sponsored sTLDs are limited to narrow communities for which the sponsor sets the rules generally. Since then several more were added (.asia, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .travel). Each TLD has its own registry maintained by the registry operator.

As a user you will buy your domain name from a registrar who then send the information to the registry.

ICANN will be expanding the internet Domain Name System (DNS). At their recent annual meeting in Paris they decided to expand the languages and character sets for internationalized domain names. There will be a final version of the plan approved but not until first quarter 2009 and approved recommendations could take place as early as the second quarter 2009.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers was hacked.  Their domain names both ICANN.com and IANA.com were stolen and transferred to another party. Apparently someone wanted to make a point.

Dotster announced Dotster ConnectSM which is a social networking service “in a box”.

Dotster Connect provides a package including: a domain name, hosting, website design, and social and community features.

The service provides forums, polls, events, profiles, awards, commenting, articles, media sharing, groups, newsletters, and more, Dotster Connect promotes revenue, reduces costs, and engages visitors. You can quickly and easily create communities of purpose where customers, vendors, employees, partners, event attendees, developers – anyone – can meet, build relationships and learn from one another.

Take a look at Dotster here.

A newcomer on the block is Bido who auctions domain names. However they only auction 1 per day, therefore at most 365 per year will be auctioned through Bido.

If you are looking to have your domain auctioned by Bido they take an 8% commission rate. Each bid starts at $1 and they guarantee a minimum price for the seller. They allow individuals to make comments regarding the domain to be auctioned, Bido calls them experts.

Due to the low volume of auctions they also provide domain name portfolio management.

Take a look at Bido.

A father bought narnia.mobi for his son who is a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Now the estate of CS Lewis has decided they want it. CS Lewis never registered the domain, therefore they never owned it but now would like to have it.

Apparently Baker & McKenzie, lawyers for the CS Lewis estate, filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).