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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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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What is a TLD and why should you care? If you have anything to do with the Internet or are a businessperson, you should know what it is.

TLD stands for “top-level domain” and is the last part of a domain name. For example, in the domain name thehotiron.com, the TLD is “com.” Where those who register and manage domain names use the acronym frequently, many others do not. As I plan on using it in many future blog posts on domain names, I wanted to define it ahead of time.

The acronym is sometimes used by itself or it can be prefixed by other letters to further quality a type of TLD. A gTLD is a “generic” top-level domain, and generic means anyone can register a domain name with a gTLD. Examples are .com, .net and .org. A ccTLD is a “country-code” TLD, and are ideally for entities which reside in a specific country. Examples are .us, .au (for Australia) and .dk (for Denmark). An sTLD is a “sponsored” TLD and they are only available to certain groups or classifications. Examples are .aero (for the air transport industry), .coop (for cooperative associations) and .museum (for museums). For a complete list of TLDs, view the list from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for all global TLDs.

Knowing about other TLDs is helpful in choosing domain names to register or in analysis of a URL with a TLD you may not be familiar with. Each TLD is managed by an organization which sets the rules for registrations. For example, some ccTLDs require the registrant to be based in that country, and others do not. If you are a business and have operations or sales in a country, it may be of interest to register the name of your business or brand with a specific ccTLD or sTLD as appropriate.

TLDs of all forms are approved and assigned by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). There have been cases where a TLD was requested but not approved, and a notable example is .xxx and .sex. Some TLDs have been retired, such as .cs (for Czechoslovakia), which were replaced by .cz (for Czech Republic) and .sk (for Slovak Republic).

Of interest to many is a move by ICANN to open the floodgates on any gTLD. For example, .pizza, .beer or .gum. This has been met with much controversy, as it would require an effort for a company to register its name and brands with all new gTLDs, and the opportunity for violation of trademarks by entities who may register domain names with their brand for some random gTLD. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is a staunch defender of its brand for the word “Olympics” globally, has already contacted ICANN with its concern over open gTLDs and to “take action” as required. My guess is the IOC would have an issue with a name like olympics.beer?

In the future, I will reference this document on TLDs in other posts here at The Hot Iron as well as follow-up on news and activities surrounding TLDs, especially the opening of gTLDs.

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Business • Domain Names • Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink

The next likemind will be Friday, April 17, 2009 in dozens of cities around the world.

In Chicago, it will be at Argo Tea, 140 S Dearborn St. at the corner of Dearborn & Adams in the Loop at 8:00 am. Note this is a new location! The previous location, The Spa Cafe, closed and rebranded itself as a sandwich shop opening at 10 am, thus we needed to find a new place.

I call likemind a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines including Internet, advertising, art, social media, et. al. For more information on likemind, you can read this great article on likemind from the New York Times.

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I love coffee. There’s nothing like starting the day with a cup of fresh hot coffee cut with a little milk. Ok, make it several cups and don’t limit it to the morning. And sure, the caffeine is more than an added bonus. But I enjoy the flavors from a cup of coffee derived from freshly ground beans in concert with filtered water.

This wasn’t always the case. I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was out of college and at my first job. Coca-Cola was my chosen caffeine delivery vehicle before that time. It was the free coffee at my first job as a COBOL programmer computer consultant in the Berkshires that converted me. At first I didn’t own a coffee maker, so my first coffee at home was instant coffee from a red can with Folgers on the side. Yes, instant. That didn’t last long, as I learn to appreciate – and brew – my own coffee and I never looked back.

I thought about this as I prepared to taste my sample of Starbucks Via, the coffeehouse chain’s newly released instant coffee, which has been launched in 3 cities including Chicago. Like many people, I asked why? But as I tried it, it started to come clear to me.

The sample I had was of their Via Columbia blend. There is also an Italian Roast, and other blends are supposed to be forthcoming. It comes in a short, slender sealed poly tube, and one tube is good for exactly an 8-ounch cup of coffee. I emphasize exactly 8-ounces as I was told this specifically by the barista who gave me the sample.

So I heated a cup of exactly 8-ounces of water in one of few remaining Dunkirk Systems, LLC coffee mugs, added the coffee and stirred. It had a slight (for lack of a better word) "film" on top which reminded me of the Folgers I drank long ago. I then added some skim milk and took a sip. It had a good robust taste, which was not too far from what I would expect from a brewed cup of coffee with freshly ground beans. As I finished the cup, it kept its taste and was a fulfilling taste of coffee.

So would I buy this? Yes, but not all the time. As I have stated here on The Hot Iron before, I tend to buy coffee in large quantities. The packaging is too wasteful for typical day-to-day coffee consumption. I will buy it for when I travel, as many of the friends I visit are not coffee drinkers, plus hotels never have enough coffee in-room. Well, not enough for my liking.

I will bring Starbucks Via on my next journey and will experiment with their other blends. Apparently this has been in the works for over 20 years, which interestingly is around the time I discovered coffee. I doubt this is a coincidence!

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