Think before you speak…
Here are six reasons why you should think before you speak – the last one is great!
Have you ever spoken and wished that you could immediately take the words back…
Here are the testimonials of a few people who did….

FIRST TESTIMONY:
I walked into a hair salon with my husband and
three kids in tow and asked loudly,
“How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?”
I turned around and walked back out and never went back.
My husband didn’t say a word…he knew better.

SECOND TESTIMONY:
I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls.
I was unhappy with the women’s type I had been using.
After browsing for several minutes, I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen
who works at the store. He asked if he could help me.
Without thinking, I looked at him and said, “I think I like playing with men’s balls.”

THIRD TESTIMONY:
My sister and I were at the mall and passed by a store that sold a
variety of candy and nuts. As we were looking at the display case,
the boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help.
I replied, “No, I’m just looking at your nuts.”
My sister started to laugh hysterically.
The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away.
To this day, my sister has never let me forget.

FOURTH TESTIMONY :
While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release
som
e pent-up energy and ran amok. I was finally able to grab hold of
her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons.
I told her that if she did not start behaving “right now” she would be punished.
To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening,
“If you don’t let me go right now, I will tell Grandma that I saw you
kissing Daddy’s pee-pee last night!” The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing.
I mustered up the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow.
The last thing I heard as the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter.

FIFTH TESTIMONY:
Have you ever asked your child a question too many times?
My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training
and I was on him constantly.
One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch
in between errands. It was very busy, with a full dining room.
While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny,
so of course I checked my seven-month-old daughter,
and she was clean. Then I realized that Danny had not asked to go potty in a while.
I asked him if he needed to go, and he said “No”.
I kept thinking “Oh Lord, that child has had an accident,
and I don’t have any clean clothes with me.”
Then I said, “Danny, are you SURE you didn’t have an accident?”
“No,” he replied. I just KNEW that he must have had an accident,
because the smell was getting worse.
So, I asked one more time, “Danny, did you have an accident?”
This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants,
bent over, spread his cheeks and yelled “SEE MOM, IT’S JUST FARTS!!”
While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing,
he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down.
An older couple made me feel better, thanking me for the best laugh they’d ever had!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST TESTIMONY:
This one had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow, but don’t get any?
We had a female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn’t, turned to the weatherman and asked: “So Bob, where’s that 8 inches you promised me last night?” Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, they were laughing so hard!
Now, didn’t that feel good?
Pass it on to someone you know who needs a laugh, and remember…we all say things we don’t really mean, so think before you speak.

– Post From My iPhone

Think before you speak originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 24, 2009.

---

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$595 Regular, $395 limited time
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Why Small Business Owners Need a Mac originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 19, 2009.

If you thought that Geek Squad employees were kind of dumb, well, you may be right. At least, that’s the impression I get by looking at the absolutely stupid multiple-choice answers in their CompTIA A+ preparation test:

According to our anonymous tipster:

I collected some pictures from a GS Test new Agents take while they are in the process of becoming CompTIA A+ Certified [a industry standard certification for computer support technicians]. The pictures show some funny questions with even funnier answer choices.

Well, yes, they are funny. The wrong kind of funny, completely unchallenging, and plain down dumb. What’s the purpose of a test that doesn’t test anything? Oh wait, never mind.

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Geek Squad Certification Test Is Absolutely Stupid [Geek Squad] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 12, 2009.

What if you had a nickle for every time you heard: "I have the perfect idea for a great application!"? It’s the buzz on the street. The iPhone has created unprecedented excitement and innovation from people both inside and outside the software development community. Still for those outside the development world, the process is a bit of a mystery.

This how-to guide is supposed to walk you through the steps to make your idea for an iPhone app a reality. This post presents various ideas, techniques, tips, and resources that may come in handy if you are planning on creating your first iPhone application.

1. Have an idea – a Good Idea

How do you know if your idea is a good one? The first step is to even care if your idea is solid; and the second step is to answer the question does it have at least one of the indicators of success?

	Does your app solve a unique problem? Before the light bulb was invented, somebody had to shout out “Man, reading by candlelight sucks!” Figure out what sucks, and how your app can make the life of its user more comfortable.
	Does the app serve a specific niche? Though there aren’t any stats on the App Store search, the usage of applications is certainly growing with the explosion of App Store inventory. Find a niche with ardent fans (pet lovers, for example) and create an app that caters to a specific audience.
	Does it make people laugh? This is a no-brainer. If you can come up with something funny, you are definitely on the right track and your idea may be the golden one. Heck, I hit a red “do not press” button for 5 minutes yesterday.
	Are you building a better wheel? Are there existing successful apps that lack significant feature enhancements? Don’t be satisfied with just a wine list, give sommeliers a way to talk to their fans!
	Will the app be highly interactive? Let’s face it, most of us have the attention span of a flea. Successful games and utilities engage the user by requiring action!

Action: Does your app fall in to one of these categories? If yes, it’s just about time to prepare the necessary tools.

2. Tools Checklist

Below is a list of items you’ll need (*starred items are required, the rest are nice-to-have’s):

• join the Apple iPhone Developer Program ($99) *
• get iPhone or iPod Touch *
• get an Intel-based Mac computer with Mac OS X 10.5.5,
• prepare a Non-Disclosure Agreement (here’s a sample) *
• download and install the latest version of the iPhone SDK if you don’t already have it.
• a spiral bound notebook*

Action: Load up on your required supplies.

3. What Are You Really Good At?

What skills do you bring to the table? Are you a designer whose brain objects to Objective C? A developer who can’t design their way out of a paper sack? Or maybe you are neither, but an individual with an idea you’d like to take to the market? Designing a successful iPhone application is a lot like starting a small business. You play the role of Researcher, Project Manager, Accountant, Information Architect, Designer, Developer, Marketer and Advertiser – all rolled into one.

Remember what all good entrepreneurs know – it takes a team to make a product successful. Don’t get me wrong, you certainly can do it all. But you can also waste a lot of time, energy and sanity in the process. Don’t go crazy, reference the checklist below and ask yourself: What roles are the best fit for you to lead? Then find other talented people to fill in the gaps. The infusion of additional ideas can only enrich the product!

Skills Checklist

• Ability to Discern what works/doesn’t work in existing iPhone Apps
• Market research
• Outlining App Functionality (Sitemap Creation)
• Sketching
• GUI Design
• Programming (Objective C, Cocoa) (we assume here that we are creating a native application)
• App Promotion and Marketing

Remember to have contractors sign your non-disclosure agreement. Having a contract in place tells your contractor "I’m a professional that takes my business and this project seriously. Now don’t go runnin’ off with this idea."

Action: Select skills that are a good fit for you to lead. For those roles where you cannot lead, hire professionals.

4. Do Your Homework: Market Research

Market research is a fancy way of saying "Look at what other people are doing and don’t make the same mistakes." Learn from the good, bad and ugly in the App Store. Coming up with creative solutions in the app concept development and design starts with analyzing other (maybe similar) applications. Even if you encounter a lot of poorly designed apps, your mind will reference these examples of what not to do.

Action: Answer these questions:

• What problem does your app solve?
• What products have you seen that perform a similar task?
• How do successful apps present information to users?
• How can you build on what works and make it unique?
• What value does your app bring to your audience?

5. Know the iPhone/iPod Touch UI

If you want to create an iPhone app, you need to understand the capabilities of the iPhone and its interface. Can you shoot a .45 caliber bullet out of your iPhone? No. Can you shoot videos? Yes!

The good news is that you don’t have to memorize the encyclopedic Apple User Interface Guidelines to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t in iPhone Apps. Download and play with as many apps as you can, and think about what functionality you want to include in your product.

Take note of:

• How do well-designed apps navigate from screen to screen?
• How do they organize information?
• How MUCH information do they present to the user?
• How do they take advantage of the iPhone’s unique characteristics: the accelerometer, swiping features, pinch, expand and rotate functions?

Action: Download the Top 10 apps in every category and play with all of them. Review the Apple Guidelines for UI design and list at least 5 features you’d like to incorporate into your app.

6. Determine "Who will use your app?"

We assume here that you’ve already determined that your app will bring value and that you will have a raging audience for your app. Well, fine, they are raging fans, but who are they really? What actions will they take to achieve their goals within the app?

If it’s a game, maybe they want to beat their high score. Or perhaps they are a first time player – how will their experience differ from someone who is getting a nice case of brain-rot playing your game all day?

If it’s a utility app, and your audience wants to find a coffee shop quickly, what actions will they take within the app to find that coffee shop? Where are they when they’re looking for coffee? Usually in the car! Do present an interface that requires multiple taps, reading and referencing a lot? Probably not! This is how thinking about how real-life intersects design.

Action: Line item out the different types of people who will use your app. You can even name them if you want to make the scenarios you draw out as real as possible.

7. Sketch Out Your Idea

And by "sketch" I mean literally sketch. Line out a 9-rectangle grid on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and get to sketching!

Ask yourself:

• What information does each screen need to present?
• How can we take the user from point A to point B to point C?
• How should elements on the screen be proportioned or sized in relation to each other (i.e. is this thing even tap-able?)

Image credit: Cultured Code

Thumbnailing your ideas on paper can push your creativity far beyond where your imagination might stagnate working in an sketching application! You can also buy the iPhone Stencil Kit to quickly sketch out iPhone UI prototypes on paper.

Action: Create at least one thumbnail page of your application per screen. Experiment with various navigational schemes, the text you put on buttons, and how screens connect. If you want to transfer your sketches into digital format, iPlotz is a good tool to check out.

8. Time for Design

If you are a designer, download the iPhone GUI Photoshop template or our iPhone PSD Vector Kit. Both are collections of iPhone GUI elements that will save you a lot of time in getting started. If you’ve solidified your layout during sketching, drawing up the screens will be less of a layout exercise and more about the actual design of the app.

If you are not a designer, hire one! It’s like hiring an electrician to do electrical work. You can go to Home Depot and buy tools to try it yourself, but who wants to risk getting zapped? If you’ve followed steps 1–3, you’ll have everything you need for a designer to get started.

When looking for a designer, try to find someone who has experience designing for mobile devices. They may have some good feedback and suggested improvements for your sketches. A few places to look for designers: Coroflot, Crowdspring, eLance. When posting your job offer, be very specific about your requirements, and also be ready to review a lot of portfolios.

Action: If you are a designer, get started in Photoshop. If you are not a designer, start interviewing designers for your job.

9. Programming

Even though this how-to is sequential, it’s a good idea to get a developer on board at the same time when you line up design resources. Talking with a developer sooner than later will help you scope out a project that is technically feasible and within your budget.

If you are a Objective C/Cocoa developer crack, open Xcode and get started! A few forums to join if you haven’t already:

• Apple Dev Forum
• iPhoneSDK (moderated by Erica Sadun)
• iPhoneSDKForum
• iPhoneDev Forums
• iPhoneSB

If you are not a developer, you know what to do – find one! Specify the type of app you want to produce – whether it is a game, utility or anything else. Each type usually requires a different coding skill set. A few places to look for developers: Odesk, iPhoneFreelancer, eLance and any of the forums listed above.

10. Submit your application to Apple Store

OK, so how do you submit your application to Apple Store now? The process of compiling your application and publishing the binary for iTunes Connect can be difficult for anyone unfamiliar with XCode. If you are working with a developer, ask them to help you:

• Create your Certificates
• Define your App ID’s
• Create your Distribution Provisioning Profile
• Compile the application
• Upload to iTunes Connect

Action: If you are a developer, map out a development timeline and get started. If you are not a developer, start interviewing devs for your job.

11. Promote Your App

If a tree falls in the middle of the woods and nobody was around to hear it does it make a sound? Apps can sit in the store unnoticed very easily. Don’t let this happen to you. Be ready with a plan to market your app. In fact, be ready with many plans to market your app. Be ready to experiment, some ideas will work, others won’t.

Strategies for maintaining/boosting app sales:

• Incorporating social media. If your users make the high score on his or her favorite game, it is a good idea to make it easy for the user to post it to Facebook or Twitter. Think about how your app can incorporate social media and build that functionality into your app. At a minimum, set up a fan page for your app on Facebook and Twitter and use them as platforms to communicate with your users and get feedback on your app.
• Pre-launch promotion. Start building buzz about your app before it has launched. E-mail people who write about things that relate to your app and see if they will talk up the upcoming release of your app.
• Plan for multiple releases. Don’t pack your app with every single feature you want to offer in the very first release. Make your dream list for the app and make sure that the app is designed to incorporate all of the features at some time in the future. Then periodically drop new versions of the app to boost app store sales.

Action: Make a list of 20 promotional strategies that target the audience for your app. Take action on them yourself or hire someone who can!

11. Stay Focused and Don’t Give Up!

It’s easy when you are working on your first app to get all AppHappy, dreaming up a zillion new app-ideas. Dream, but don’t get sidetracked by new ideas. Your first app needs to make a big splash and getting involved in too many projects at once can dilute your passion for making your first application a success.

Action: Get out there and go kick some app!

About the Author

Jen Gordon is the owner of Atlanta-based iPhone app design studio Clever Twist. She specializes in usable interfaces, beautiful design and straight talk. She loves her family, the iPhone and periodically dreams that she’s close friends with Dolly Parton. Follow her on Twitter or drop her a line to say hi!

© Jen Gordon for Smashing Magazine, 2009. |
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How to Create Your First iPhone Application originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 11, 2009.

Choosing a domain name for a new client is a difficult task. Domain names are the crux of a website’s existence. A bad name can create a negative impact on branding and the ability to strengthen the domain value. A good domain name is essentially priceless (tacky but true) in name, branding, ease of understanding, and catchiness.

This article piggybacks on another Smashing article but it stops short of domain extensions. Here, we are going to discuss generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), country top level domains (ccTLDs), new and exciting domain extensions for 2009, domain hacks, and internationalized domains.

Learning this will make you even more of an awesome designer or developer for clients. You need to think of a variety of domains and possibilities for new sites, as well as uniquely branding corporate websites with domain extensions. Domain names are not a lackluster industry, it is a hidden industry that is vital to the success and maintenance of the Internet.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

• The Effective Strategy For Choosing Right Domain Names
• How To Improve Your Branding With Your Content
• Domain Names: Tools, Articles and Resources

1. Boring Stuff First: Short Background Information

The birth of Domains

In 1983 the Domain Name System (DNS) was invented so people did not have to remember a long string of funny numbers. DNS inherits its structure from an even older systems but it was with the birth of the DNS that we are able to type in letters instead of numbers.

When domain names become fashionable, domains owners needed to control the rights of their domain names, and an administrative authority was necessary. Fifteen years later ICANN saw the day of light and its governing purpose is to coordinate all the unique domain names on the web today.

Current use of domain extensions

Today there are a few groups of domain extensions: gTLDs, ccTLDs, and the personal domains. The most well-known generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) is the .com, an international extension for everyone from large corporations to small personal websites. Being the most popular extension in the world, it is increasingly difficult to find a .com domain name. It has led to new and creative ways of setting up domain names. The .com will always be in demand but it is not as sought after than in the earlier years.

Other domain extensions that are frequently used on the web today are: .net, .org, .co.uk, .de, .fr and .it. As you can see, there is a healthy mix of both generic top-level domains (gTDL) and country code top-level domains (ccTLD) among many of the websites of today.

Registering a Domain Name

There are two alternatives to register a domain name: 1) via a web hosting provider, or 2) through a legitimate domain registrar. A registrar has the ability to manage gTLDs but not all ccTLDs. Each country decides which registrars that are allowed to sell its ccTLD; check the country’s domain website where country domains may be bought.

Fun facts about domain names:

1. All 3 letter possibilities are gone on .com
2. All 4 letter words are depleted on .com
3. The most popular registered domain name length is 11 characters
4. There are 255,000+ domain names that are 32 characters or longer
5. All of the top 10,000 family names are registered as a domain name
6. The most common letter to start a domain with is S
7. More than 270,000 domains contain the sequence SEX

2. gTLDs: Generic Top Level Domains

Generic TLDs are divided into three sets: unrestricted, sponsored and geographic. Unrestricted gTLDs can be registered by anyone who wants one. The core group consists of .com, .info, .net and .org. Sponsored gTLDs have been underwritten by an organization or private agency; .aero is an example for the air-transport industry. Geographic gTLDS are not common, only .cat and .asia exist today, but they are to be used in connection with a geographical, ethnic or cultural group.

List of gTLDs

The domains are marked as restricted or unrestricted. Registricted domain registers must meet certain conditions to receive such a domain; unrestricted is okay for anyone. For example, If you have clients that fall into hospitality or museum industries, you can help them obtain a restricted domain.

• .aero - air transportion; restricted
• .arpa - reserved by the Internet Architecture Board; restricted
• .asia - Asia-Pacific region; restricted
• .biz - business and commerical use
• .cat - Catalan language and culture
• .com - commerical, personal, or any use; unrestricted
• .coop - cooperatives; restricted to Co-Op organizations
• .edu - post-secondary educational institutions; United States only; restricted
• .gov - United States government orgs at the federal, state, and local levels; restricted
• .info - informational use; unrestricted
• .int - international organizations established by treaty; restricted
• .jobs - employment-related; restricted
• .mil - US military; restricted
• .mobi - mobile device based; restricted
• .museum – museums; restricted
• .name - individuals; unrestricted
• .net - originally for network infrastructures; today unrestricted
• .org - originally for organizations; today unrestricted
• .pro - professions; restricted
• .tel - services between telecom and the Internet; restricted
• .travel - travel agencies, airlines, hotels, tourism bureaus; restricted

Most major companies register a .com domain. But is it really necessary for your website? Well, a ccTLD does just fine if your target audience is in a specific country, otherwise it is advisable trying to find a .com domain. .com’s are also the most easy to understand for users and therefore good for branding purposes.

Pros of gTLDs:

• Suitable for an international market.
• There is a familiarity with .com which you will not find with any other extension.

Cons of gTLDs:

• Can be difficult to find a good and available gTLD.
• Will not rank as high as ccTLD’s when it come to regional searches. In Sweden, .se domains are more valued and trusted than a generic TLD.

3. ccTLDs: Country Top Level Domains

Depending on your site and its potential clientèle you might have thought about whether you should get a ccTLD or whether you should look elsewhere when seeking for a domain name. There is no set rule for how one should when it comes to ccTLD’s. One of the most influential countries in the world, the United States, hardly even uses its ccTLD .us.

Europe Union member countries also use the .com for sites mainly in English and country’s ccTLD for sites written in native languages. For example, if you have an Italian website with an Italian target audience, then the .it extension better choice. If the audience is international, a .com extension is preferred. Not all ccTLD’s are open for international registration, so investigate before you make a decision.

Pros of ccTLDs:

• There is more trust in ccTLDs
• The website will most likely rank better in that specific country (regional targeting)
• There will be more available domain names to choose between

Cons of ccTLDs:

• You may get lower search engine results in the United States and Anglophone markets. But this also depends on the location of the hosting server, geographic nature of inbound links, and if the content is in English.
• Some ccTLDs have restrictions regarding DNS providers.
• In extremely small markets, e.g. TT, the benefits are limiting. Unless its for domainhacking, a .com is better.
• Annual registration prices are usually higher with ccTLDs. A few countries offer free domains like .tk and .cx but it is not common.
• Commercial sites face more scrutiny that they comply with local laws.
• It is hard to manage a portfolio if you have domains with many providers.
• Payments for registration and renewals may be difficult; some DNS providers only accept wire transfers or Paypal. Incorporate those costs into domain renewals for your clients.

A Quick Look: The Top ccTLD Registries During the First Quarter of 2009

By the end of the first quarter of 2009 we had roughly 74 million ccTLD registrations which is an 18% increase compared to the same quarter in 2008. At the moment there are over 240 ccTLD extensions on the global market.

However, out of these 240 ccTLDs, the ten biggest (presented above) represent 64% of the total number of registrations. The .us domain grew fastest with a 12% increase quarter over quarter. Special promotions drove sales, especially in China. The Chinese ccTLD experienced its slowest growth in twelve quarters, with a four percent growth (can be attributed to both sales and recession). Overall, the 25 largest ccTLD’s experienced a substantial amount of growth from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009.

4. 2009 Domain Extensions Registrations

We are running out of good .coms (if you do not want to spend a fortune at auction, that is), which is the reason to look at alternative domain extensions. Many ccTLDs are now open for business internationally and more and more countries are looking to open their extension for international registration as well. It generates more revenues for the countries. Mexico will open theirextension to the public in fall 2009. Is “domain hacking” is the way of the future?

Mexico opens up to the public (.mx)

For the last 20 years it has been reserved for Mexican citizens only but people that like to invest in ccTLD might want to keep their eyes open after this summer. The current schedule known as sunrise and sunset periods:

Pre-Sunrise: Before March 1st, 2009: To participate in pre-registration phase of top-level .mxdomain names, you must already be registered under one of the other classifications (org.mx, com.mx, net.mx, edu.mx and gob.mx)

Sunrise: May 1st to July 31st, 2009: People already owning a domain name in any of the five sub-extensions will be allowed to register the same name under .mx. If two people have the same domain name, the one with proof of having the longest will get to keep it.

Waiting Period: August 1st to 31st 2009: Domain registers will go through everyone’s applications.

Landrush: September 1 – October 31, 2009: Anyone can register an available .mx domain during this period.

Cameroon Opens Registrations (.cm)

Not too many exciting things are happening with the Cameroon extension since few words end in ‘cm.’ Apart from being an abbreviation of centimeter, ‘cm’ may not the be best option for new hacks.

Sunrise period: June 15th to July 14th, 2009

Landrush Period: July 15th to 31st, 2009

Go Live period: August 1st , 2009

The Netherlands meets us half-way (.co.nl)

The Netherlands does not open up their .nl extension but the .co.nl extension just recently was opened up for international registries. It is not intended to replace the .nl extension but the “.co” could be attractive for people already using a ”.co.xx” address which means that it could be successfully used to attract business and visitors from for example the United Kingdom and India. The opening of the .co.nl was divided into three phases:

Grandfather: November 18th 2008 – 15th of January 2009: People holding an .nl domain were allowed to register the same domain with the new extension.

Sunrise: February 10th, 2009 – 10th of March 2009: Trademark holders had the opportunity apply for a domain on afirst come first served.

Landrush: March 17t to 31st, 2009 – open to all, priority will be based on lottery.Go Live: April 15th , 2009 onwards: .co.nl domains are open for everyone to register.

5. Domain Hacking: Get Really Creative

There’s a whole world of domain extensions you probably didn’t know about. Now, how do you use these extensions to your advantage?

Go domain hacking. No it’s not actually hacking someone’s domain name and stealing it. It’s the process of using real words but part of the word sits in the domain extension. One famous example is DesignM.ag. See the .ag? Their website is registered in Antigua and Barbuda.

Domain hacks find their extensions from the rainbow variety of ccTLDs. Again, you will need to check on the country registrar for information on how to register the domain and where it can be hosted.

Steps to take:

1. Create a name
   This is your chance to shine with a client if they are insistent on something extremely unique and interesting. Most ccTLDs allow for two letter domains (.com, .net, .org do not). The best example is ma.tt, the man behind Automattic/WordPress. You can try Xona, a popular domain hacking tool. I tried it out with WebHostingSearch and got some fun results; the best being the .ch extension.
2. Register with approved DNS providers
3. Brand like hell
   Because people most commonly understand .com and .net, getting people to remember a new domain extension and your domain name will be tricky. Part of using a domain hack is for branding, make sure that is stressed in all aspects of the new site.

Common list of domain extensions:

.ag – Antigua and Barbuda. Good for words ending in ‘ag.’

Examples: Designm.ag, Namet.ag

.me – Montenegro. Used for vanity sites or great with ‘me’ phrases.

Examples: Move.me, Search.me, Fa.me, David.me

.us – United States. Great ending for ‘ous’ ending words or using the word ‘us’ itself

Examples: Del.icio.us, Call.us, Email.us

.fm – Federated States of Micronesia. Used for FM radio stations. No words end in ‘fm’ so it’s domain extension really strong for online radios than anything else.

Examples: Last.fm

.gs – South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands. Works with words ending in ‘gs.’

Examples: blo.gs, rankin.gs

.at – Austria. Popular as a ccTLD; used in phrases ending in ‘at’ or words with ‘at’ in it.

Examples: Losef.at, Bureaucr.at, IM.at

.it – Italy. Heavily used for Italian sites; used in phrases ending in ‘it’ or words with ‘it.’ Not very popular as an extension representing ‘information technology.’

Examples: Beat.it, Forget.it

.be – Belgium. Another popular country extension for local sites; works with phrases with ‘be’ ending; words that end with ‘be’

Examples: Tu.be, Ado.be, Bee.be

.to – Tonga. For phrases ending in ‘to’ or using the two letter word.

Examples: Go.to., Pin.to

Pros of Domain Hacks:

• Fun, creative way to express a domain name
• Opens up for a plethora of options compared to .com or .net names
• Becoming more popular; acceptance within the community is growing

Cons of Domain Hacks:

• Must be well branded.
• Needs to be promoted for people to understand a new name.
• International, English based sites may have harder time ranking in search results.
• Has SEO disadvantages. Search engines do not care about domain extensions. With Ma.tt, the SEO value is in “Ma” not “Matt.” You may lose traction when it comes to extremely competitive keywords if the phrase is domain hacked. For example if we turned WebHostingSearch.com into WebHostingSear.ch, we lose the value of “search.” Our domain will also be registered in Switzerland and can pose issues as mentioned above.

6. Internationalized Domain Name (IDN): Special Characters in Domains

Since we are covering everything related to domain names, the last type of example to show are the internationalized domain names, known as IDN. IDNs utilitze non ASCII characters in the domain name. Considering non English words use ä, ö, å, é, è and non-Latin scripted languages are entirely non ASCII, IDN is a way to create usable domain names. Here is an example of a Swedish website.

Swedish spelling: Västerås.se – This is how a native will spell the word.

IDN spelling: xn--vsters-buam.se – This is the ASCII translation the characters Ä and Å for those that use special characters.

Standard spelling: Vasteras.se – This would be the standard spelling if we were to remove the special characters Ä and Å and call them both A.

Notice how all three domains lead you to the same website. As Västerås is a large city in Sweden, it was a good idea to get both domain names in case people were not sure how to replace the Ä and Å into English.

Pros of IDNs:

• Having the IDN allows you to keep control of your brand/corporate identity.
• Easy to type in for native speakers.

Cons of IDNs:

• Not all email boxes or web browsers support non ASCII characters.
• Security issues: homograph spoofing. It is easy to take a real domain and create a spoof with different Unicode letters that are seemingly the same. For example the letter ‘a’ can be U+0061 (Latin ‘a’) or U+0430 (Cyrillic ‘a’). A visitor would never see the different in these letters while typing, thus creating a major security problem for websites.
• Most keyboards do not have special characters, so it can confuse visitors.

We hope this article enlightens your knowledge of the plethora of domains available today. Remember a great web designer deserves a great website name.

Further Resources

• List of TLD domains

Related posts

You may be interested in the following related posts:

• The Effective Strategy For Choosing Right Domain Names
• How To Improve Your Branding With Your Content
• Domain Names: Tools, Articles and Resources

About the authors

Written by Preeti Pradhan and David Walsh of Web Hosting Search. WHS is a web hosting review site chock full of reviews and articles to help you make informed decisions about hosting and creating websites. You can also follow them on Twitter.

© Preeti Pradhan for Smashing Magazine, 2009. |
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Post tags: domains

Go to Source

Get Creative With Your Domain Name originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 26, 2009.

Filed under: Audio, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source, Beta

I really wish the folks behind open source, cross-platform audio editing utility Audacity would take the beta label off the Audacity 1.3 branch. It’s so much better than the last stable release, Audacity 1.2.6 it’s not even funny. But it’s still considered beta software because it’s still under construction and doesn’t come with complete documentation or translation into languages besides English.

This week the team released Audacity 1.3.8 beta. Some of the new features include faster equalization and noise removal tools. There’s also a new “mixer board” view with per-track volume meters. And mute, solo, gain, and track height information is now saved when you save a project. You can find more changes in the release notes.

Audacity 1.3.8 Beta: Open source audio editor now faster than ever originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Go to Source

Audacity 1.3.8 Beta: Open source audio editor now faster than ever originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 20, 2009.

The caption says: “Our intern starts today. We figured we’d start her off with a little prank.” I don’t see how this is funny. It looks like our interns’ cubicles. [Flickr—Thanks Alice]

Go to Source

Probably the Smallest Cubicle In the World [Office Pranks] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on June 22, 2009.

via Veronica Belmont

via Cali Lewis » Blog Archive » This is How Auto-Tune Should Be Used!.

How Auto-Tune Should Be Used! originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on June 19, 2009.

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.

Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

VIA AutoPatcher

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on May 26, 2009.