The International Olympics Committee is now touring the candidate cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and their first stop was Chicago a few weeks ago. Everywhere you looked throughout the Windy City, there were signs promoting the games coming here in 7 years. There were also a few signs against it, but that’s a topic for another time.

The signage was branded with the Chicago 2016 logo and imagery, as shown in the accompanying picture, which is at the corner of State and Madison Streets. It also features the recently changed tag line, “Let Friendship Shine,” which replaced the former one, “Stir The Soul.” Apparently the old tag line did not translate well into other languages. As someone who thinks about domain names as much as I do, I wondered if the Chicago Olympics Committee registered the domain names for the new tag line. From the looks of the registration data and registered domain names, it is not 100% clear if they did or not.

Searches of the WHOIS database using DomainTools show registrations for letfriendshipshine.com, .net, .org and .us. There was no registration for the other “primary” TLDs of .biz and .info. I did not extend the search beyond these TLDs. Looking at the registrants of these domain names, the .com and .org have private registration on them, which is a service to mask the true owner of the domain name. The .net is registered to a company in Chicago, and the .us is registered to an individual in Chicago. All 4 domain names point to parked pages which display advertising.

I then looked up the registration of the main Chicago Olympics Committee domain name, chicago2016.org, and its registrant was also masked by private registration, and the same one as letfriendshipshine.com and .org. It can be inferred these 2 domain names are owned by the Committee. I did not contact them to ask. As for the others, it can be inferred they are not.

Part of the reason for being inquisitive surrounds the registration of chicago2016.com, which was registered prior to the .org by an individual in Chicago. It is tied to a Web site offering a fair and balanced economic discussion about the Olympics coming to Chicago. The Chicago Olympics Committee filed a case to win back the name, but lost. Perhaps they did their diligence this time and got the domain names before the new tag line was announced.

If they do own the domain names, 2 questions come to mind. Why not register all available TLDs? In the grand scheme of things, domain names are cheap! Also, why not use them? A quick Google search found zero results for the official Chicago Olympics Web site for “let friendship shine.” Where getting the name to protect the brand is smart, actually using it can return great results in your investment.

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Business • Domain Names • (1) Comments • Permalink

The decluttering continues! On the heels of selling my XO laptop, I have decided to go analog for my next item, and sell my Canon ELPH 370Z APS Film camera.

This camera was a wedding gift and we used it for about 2 years until we got a digital camera. It has just sat there in its protective case now for several years. It is in good working order and has no noticeable marks. It’s just that it is a film camera, taking the APS/Advantix film cartridges, which allows you to take wide panorama pictures, which I think is the best feature of the APS film.

The bidding starts at one penny. It makes a great gift for that friend or relative who just won’t go digital.

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Diversions • Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink

I will finally be heading west to the next Silicon Prairie Social, which will be held this Tuesday, April 28 at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton, IL.

For someone who works and lives in Chicago, I rarely get out to the ‘burbs, unless I am looking to do some shopping to pay less sales tax! There are, however, quality business and tech networking events outside of the city which easily rival those within the city limits, and this is one of them. And I know I will not be alone, as many others will be trekking west as well as some event sponsors that are from Chicago. Plus I promised Tim Courtney of XNet, who organizes the event, I would make it out there one day, and now I am.

Will I see you there?

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Business • Technology • (2) Comments • Permalink

Happy Belated Earth Day 2009! You either scrambled to do something “green” or wondered what more you can do, as it seems you are living about as green of a life as possible. I took a few moments to think about my day-to-day actions and how they impact the big picture of the world, and one word came to mind – innovation.

The Usual Suspects

As I have previously stated here on The Hot Iron I try to be as aware as possible as to my environmental impact. I wrote what I do in a draft environmental statement for my consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC though I never got any feedback and it still has not reached Dunkirk’s Web site. I also carry a Reisenthel bag with me everywhere I go. Based on these, I feel I am doing as much as I have control over to do.

Other than these actions, making a greater impact takes more work, and that’s where I feel innovation comes into play. When thinking about it more, another thing came to mind – QR codes.

What are QR Codes and Why Should I Care

QR stands for “quick response” and a QR code is a 2-dimensional barcode in the form of a cube. With 2 dimensions, it can store a larger amount of information than a traditional 1-dimensional barcode (e.g. UPC code on a product). As a result, you can store whole sentences of information, Web site URLs, email addresses and even entire contact information records. For example, the accompanying QR code in this post reads, “Happy Earth Day 2009 from The Hot Iron @ thehotiron.com !”

So how would you know that? QR codes are read by a scanner, and the most common form of scanner is a camera on a mobile device with accompanying software. Most Nokia models come preinstalled with a reader, otherwise you can get one from i-nigma among other vendors. Many devices are supported with a notable exception in Palm OS devices.

When the QR code is scanned, the information stored in the QR code is transferred to the mobile device, and you can then process it. If it displays text, you can read and save it. If it’s a URL, you can then browse to it. If an email address, you can send a message to it. If it’s contact information, you can add it to your contacts. This is basic usage of it. With more advanced software, you can do almost anything.

The following is a popular YouTube video from Japan showing how you can get nutritional information for McDonald’s menu items if you can’t see it you can view it here.

Tying The Message Together

As you may guess, QR codes are popular in Asia and in Europe but are still emerging in the US. I see QR codes as an innovative way to effectively communicate and reduce waste and costs at the same time. QR codes only require energy when they are scanned, and by the scanner themselves. They are also more eco-friendly than an RFID tag that require special manufacturing as well as are more cost effective. Here are a few examples of "green" uses that come to mind.

• Subway ads feature a QR code, eliminating the need to have tear-off postcard pads attached to them, or the need to write down information and hard-to-remember URLs.
• For that matter, all advertising should have a QR code with whatever desired call to action the advertiser desires.
• At networking events or conferences, people can wear name badges sporting QR codes with their contact information. This eliminates the need to print and carry business cards, and reduces the time to process information from those cards.
• At the Lollapalooza festival this year in Chicago, replace giving out cards on lanyards with people scanning QR codes to get free songs from iTunes, and they could be downloaded right to your device bypassing the iTunes computer software (with a more robust scanner software).

Where Earth Day continues to be popular, for many it is a day to make symbolic gestures. New, fresh and innovative ideas are needed to reinvigorate it, and QR codes fit the bill. What say you?

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Mobile Technology • QR Codes • Technology • (5) Comments • Permalink

There’s no shortage of information or advice on the use of Twitter. Allow me to add something I have not seen elsewhere – make sure the URL for your Web site in your Twitter profile has your own domain name in it.

When people customize their profile and backgrounds in Twitter, they can add a link under “more info URL” to any Web site, blog, service, etc. Some also suggest you link to a unique Twitter landing page. Whatever you link to is your choice, and this is not something I am choosing to discuss here. My recommendation is the actual URL be to a domain name you own – not to another service, but to a domain name registered by you. For my own Twitter profile, it points to my blog, The Hot Iron.

Why own your own domain name? I have talked about this at length before and the beauty of it is you can use that domain name in any number of ways. It can redirect to another URL, such as your Twitter page or LinkedIn profile. You can also customize your hosted blog at WordPress to use your own domain name. You can also customize Gmail to use it instead of gmail.com. Even more beautiful is the fact that you can switch Web hosts, blog services or even email to another provider all while keeping your same URL and email address! If you have ever moved and did not have postal mail forwarded, think of it as a permanent address.

Your own domain name further brands you. What you choose for a domain name is up to you and is a topic for another time. Just as long as you have the domain name itself, people will be able to identify and reach you with ease.

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Domain Names • (2) Comments • Permalink