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New Internet domain extensions keep increasing. Registering for one is pricey, but most businesses can't afford not to.

For a long time, only 22 generic top level domains (gTLDs), such as .com, .org, and .edu, were available for businesses looking to set up shop online. But since opening up applications for new gTLDs in 2011, ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has approved applications for approximately 700 new gTLDs to expand the number of available namespaces on the Internet and provide more options to businesses of all sizes.

Applying for a new gTLD costs a company $185,000, plus a yearly fee of $25,000 if it's approved.

As the expansion rapidly continues over the next few months, it’s likely the Internet will look like a different place, and businesses shouldn’t wait until then to prepare. Consider the following steps for navigating the complex industry of top level domains.

Understand the issue at hand
It's difficult to talk about how the domain expansion might unfold without making the distinction between generic top level domains (gTLDs) and branded top level domains.

[New generic top-level domains rolled out earlier this year, with hundreds more coming. Read New Domain Names For Sale: 4 Facts.]

Many of today's top brands have been quick to apply for and secure their own branded top level domains, even if they're not sure what they're going to do with them. Canon for example owns .canon, Bank of America owns .bofa, and Oracle Corporation owns .oracle. However, for companies that did not get involved in the costly process of securing a branded domain name during the first round of applications, the best option is to take advantage of generic TLDs.

Extensions like .app, .club, .trade, or .vacations that are or will be made available to the public are just some of the over 400 generic terms that most businesses should be researching further. Many web suffixes have already been made available, but the most sought-after extensions are still yet to come.

In the coming months, ICANN will be making decisions on the most applied-for and hotly contested TLDs. Currently available TLDs are of great interest to many industries, but some of the most highly-anticipated extensions like .blog and .art  have yet to be released due to multiple applicants vying for ownership.

ICANN will continue to adjudicate ownership as more domains join the ranks of the ones already available. Companies should identify the relevant, available domain names and the ones being made available so they can intelligently discuss the potential each one has on impacting the business.

Are new gTLDs right for the business?
The assumption by ICANN is that new gTLDs are right for a business. However, some businesses are going to be just fine using the traditional .com domain name. If the brand is unique or well-known, customers or users are going to find you either way. However, a brand like weather.com, for example, might decide that because its name is such a generic term that new TLDs can provide an additional way to strengthen its brand online. It could benefit from promoting its apps at weather.app, host its radar screens at weather.maps, or even create an educational site at weather.wiki.

In fact, we know this is something of value to weather.com because it has actually registered its trademark so that it gets an early opportunity to secure the extensions it wants before public availability. Remember, if you don't get the name when it's available, there is no guarantee it will still be there when you want it. If the answer is "yes these could work," make sure you get them before it's too late.

Stay educated on domain name availability
Once you've identified the domains that are relevant and beneficial to your business, it's critical to stay educated on their availability. As mentioned earlier, many new gTLDs are available and ready for purchase. However, there are several stages of domain availability that need to be considered. Registrars will offer a sunrise period for trademark holders to register first, sometimes followed by a limited land rush period, and then finally general availability.

Signing up for newsletters and ICANN alerts for domains that have been identified will ensure a business doesn't miss out. ICANNWiki is another great source to see which domains have gone live, which ones are still to come, and to track any progress on the decisions ICANN is making that might affect domain availability.

Register like it's 1995
The next logical step is to preregister as soon as possible for all the domains that will work for your business, much like when the Internet was in its infancy and the most popular domain names were picked up quickly by those thinking ahead.

While there are significantly more extensions this time around, the same rule applies and once the domain is gone, it's gone. The only way to get it back might come with a hefty price tag down the line, and it's worth making the minimal investment now to avoid fighting for it later. This is especially important for brands with generic names like Hotels.com that are at risk for trademark infringement.

While extensions like .design and .menu intuitively make sense, the fact is most people are not accustomed to seeing new domain extensions on the Internet when searching for information. Yet as more and more domains are used by the brands consumers interact with, this is bound to change quickly. Companies should get on board now so that in a few months they can avoid the crush of domain-seeking companies that didn't act sooner.

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We put a ton of trust in technology everyday, but are you confident enough in two-factor authentication to give out any of your passwords? Christopher Mims of The Wall Street Journal is. In a post on the site proclaiming that passwords are "finally dying," Mims extolls the virtues of the secure login method immediately after giving out his Twitter password. He says that he's confident he won't be hacked because, among other reasons, the second authentication step (a text message containing a numerical code that's sent to the user's cellphone, or an app that generates a code should you be outside of cellular data range) is apparently difficult to intrude upon. As Forbes has spotted though, Mims' Twitter account has since been slammed with people trying to login to it, his phone blew up with authentication codes as a result, forcing him to associate a different phone number with the microblogging service.

The lesson here? If you're willing to put your online identity up for grabs, prepare for the consequences. It could've been a lot worse for for Mims, though -- it's not like he gave out his Social Security Number or anything.

View the original article here

Anticipate and embrace the changes the Internet of things will bring or it will do more harm than good.

The concept of the Internet of things (IoT) dates back to the early '80s when the first appliance, a Coke machine at Carnegie Melon University, was connected to the Internet to check its inventory to determine how many drinks were available. But IoT wouldn't become practical until IPv6's huge increase in IP address space allowed us to assign an IP address to every "thing."

The emerging IoT market we see now is all about a new way of connecting people with products and how products will connect with each other. Before long there will be more "things" on the Internet than people, according to Gartner, with over 26 billion connected devices by 2020. Investors are taking note – pouring $1.1B in financing across 153 deals across the IoT ecosystem in 2013, a rise of 11% year-over-year.

While much opportunity and innovation will result from IoT, there's a dark side that should be addressed early on in the adoption cycle.

The dark side: privacy and security
The increase in the number of smart nodes brought on by IoT, as well as the amount of data the nodes will generate, will only increase concerns around data privacy, data sovereignty, and data security. Additional challenges will include understanding how devices will effectively and securely transmit and store these huge amounts of data. New messaging protocols like MQTT (messaging queuing telemetry transport) will become available to transmit the data securely.

[IoT scenarios that appear disposable hold broad business opportunities. Read The Internet Of Small Things Spurs Big Business]

If it's online, it's vulnerable. With IoT, we're entering an age where hackers can not only break into government agencies and corporations and routinely perform identify theft, but also target connected houses and cars. It's one thing when your PC or phone acts up, but what do you do when you can't turn on your lights, open your door, or turn on the heat?

Security for IoT has been a concern since the arrival of RFID technology so addressing security early on in the implementation stage will be key to safe and practical IoT adoption. When the US State Department first distributed US passports with RFID tags, passport data could be read from 30 feet away using equipment available on eBay for $250. This required changes to secure the RIFD tags. But security and data privacy risks associated with IoT will still remain. If everything is connected to the Internet, in theory anyone can see what's going on anytime they want? What if your connected car is detected at the golf course on a day you called in sick to work?

While some may argue that smartphones have already taken us there, at least you can turn your phone off. Contextual data, like location tracking, can fundamentally undermine privacy if not managed correctly. To do that requires a combination of policy and technology.

Really, really big data
If you thought you had big data prior to IoT, you ain't seen nothing yet. The enormous number of devices, coupled with the sheer volume, velocity, and structure of IoT data, will create challenges in storing, processing and analyzing the data. For enterprises to get the bountiful insights into customer activity that IoT promises, all the data needs to be stored and analyzed somewhere.

Companies should consider using one of the database as a service (DBaaS) offerings to facilitate data ingestion and management. The quicker enterprises can start analyzing their data the more business value they can derive.

Technology is great if you know how to use it
Does anyone worry that a world where everything has a sensor connected to the Internet may be a world that's too complex for its own good? If we couldn't figure out how to operate our VCR or wireless router, how can we figure out how to debug error messages when our cars, refrigerators, and sneakers are wired to the Internet? Is it possible we are on the path to create a world where many of the things we have won't work and a majority of the population won't know how to fix them?

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