Since the release of .Tel last year, many people have asked "what can I do with my .Tel name"? There are many great ways you can use it, but here's a new development that got me excited.

Telnic recently released a string of code to easily integrate .Tel on your website using iFrames.

An iFrame tag (eg. <iframe> ) defines an inline frame that contains another document.

The code is EXTREMELY easy to incorporate and took me less than 2 minutes to setup (no joke) on my personal website which uses a modified WordPress blog template. 

Take a look: http://ramifilms.com/contact

By integrating your .Tel name into your website you can effectively change your contact information simply by updating your .TEL. Once it is setup, you just login to your .TEL interface and make changes to your contact information and you are done.

Picture a company with 100 employees who each use a .Tel name. By integrating all their Tel names on one website, you can easily build an online directory that is independently updated by a 100 different individuals.

Can't picture it? Here's an example of a small .Tel directory embedded into a Webnames.ca WebBuilder site.

To embed your .TEL into your website, just follow Telnic's easy integration instructions:http://telnic.org/tools-website-integration.html.
 

An Illustrated Guide to Setting up AdSense for your .TEL

If like many of us, you invested in a few .TEL names that you hope to sell one day, you might have been interested in Telnic's announcement that from the beginning of April, they would be supporting Google AdSense.

Google AdSense is the program that pays you to put mini-ads on your web site. While AdSense has several models, AdSense for Content examines the content of your web site (or .TEL) and matches applicable ads to the content.

For our trial, we took one of our .TEL names, soccer.tel and hooked in AdSense for Content in three easy steps:

• Create an AdSense account
• Create an "AdSense for Content" ad unit
• Setup the .TEL to display the ads

I'm going to skip over the creating an AdSense account section as it's a simple process of visiting www.google.com/adsense and following the sign up process. Instead, I'm going to insert a small but important step, which is getting your .TEL content-ready.

AdSense for Content works on the content of your .TEL, so you need to ensure there's some content there. Fortunately my son and his friend are avid soccer fans and agreed to take over the management and population of content for the .TEL.

Over the past few days they've put together a great resource, tying in: 

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/SoccerDotTel
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/soccer.tel
• A blog: http://soccerdottel.blogspot.com/

All are promoting soccer.tel and are driving traffic to it.

So with some content in our .TEL and an AdSense account created, we're ready to create some ads.

Create an AdSense for Content Ad Unit

Login to your AdSense Account and with the AdSense Setup tab selected, click AdSense for content to start the wizard.

For the first ad, leave the default Ad Type set to "Ad unit: Text and image ads (default)". Click the Continue button.

 
The 'Choose Ad Format and Colors' step requires a change. In the Format section, select 250x250 Square from the drop down. The Colors, Fonts, Corner Styles and More options sections can be left as default. Click the Continue button.

 
The 'Choose Ad Channels' step can be skipped over by clicking the Continue button. Channels allow more detailed tracking of your ad performance but this is an advanced topic and not required to get up and running.

On the 'Save and Get Ad Code' you can name your AdSense unit name. You can leave the default name and click the Submit and Get Code button to create your ad. 

The final screen of the wizard confirms creation of the AdSense unit. A notice advices that Changes may not appear for up to 10 minutes. The screen also provides an area that contains a code snippet, but this is not needed when you are going to use AdSense with a .TEL. Click the Manage Ads link below the AdSense Setup tab.

 
The Manage Ads screen displays a list of active AdSense units. You can use this screen to edit the ad but for the moment we are interested in two references; the Ad Code and Publisher ID.

• The Ad Code is the grey text number in parenthesis immediately below the AdSense unit name in the list of ad units.
• The Publisher ID can always be found in the top right of the screen below your login details.
  

 
Copy these two numbers or open a new web browser window for TelHosting, so that you can easily copy the codes from AdSense to TelHosting. 

Setup a .TEL to Display AdSense Ads

Waiting a few moments before you start setting up the .TEL is a good idea to give Google the 10 minutes it needs to process the ad. If the ad isn't set up by the time you add it to the .TEL, you will see a Page Cannot be Displayed error in the space where you would expect to see the ad. You don't need to do anything, and the ad will start to be displayed once its ready.

Log into your TelHosting account where you manage your .TEL name. If you have more than one .TEL name, remember to select the correct one from the dropdown list in the top right corner.

Click the "Settings" link at the top of the TelHosting screen and then select "Google AdSense Setup" from the left hand menu. If the AdSense link isn't visible in the Edit Settings popup you will need to contact your provider to activate it.

Copy and paste the Publisher ID and Avert ID - 1 into the appropriate boxes and click the Save button.
 
That's it. You have now added an AdSense ad to your .TEL name. Enter the .TEL name in a browser to see the results. As an example, see http://soccer.tel. If the ad doesn't show up immediately, don't worry. Remember it can take a few minutes for your .TEL to update and Google AdSense needs up to 10 minutes to process the ad request.

Depending on the content of your .TEL, you should notice that the ads are closely matched. Sometimes the ads don't appear to be directly related to the nature of your content, but if you examine the words in your content, you should be able to determine why an ad is showing up. The more unambiguous your content, the more closely the ads will match your .TEL. AdSense also takes into account your browsing history and the ads it has served to you on other sites, so this can be a factor too.

Once you've added your first ad you can go back and create a second AdSense for Content unit. http://soccer.tel has two units. The first is a "Text and images ads" like the one created above. The second is an "Images ads" unit which only displays image ads. No matter what type you choose, you must always select the size 250x250, otherwise the content will not fit properly on your .TEL.

Try refreshing the page at http://soccer.tel a few times. You'll notice that sometimes it displays a set of text ads together with an image ad and sometimes it displays two image ads. Clicking an AdSense ad opens the destination site in the same window, so visitors will navigate away from your site, but you make a few cents every time someone clicks an ad.

You can test out your .TEL ad, but don't be expect to make money every time you click. Google monitors and tracks where the clicks are coming from to determine what is a real clickthough and what isn't.

Note that depending on how much information you provided when you created your AdSense account, you may be required to provide additional information, including tax details before Google can release payment for your account.

We were delighted to see that within the first hour of setting up the ad we were already starting to make money and in the hours that followed, the Total Estimated Earnings continued to rise.

If you've registered a .TEL name, whatever you do, don't just let it sit there. AdSense is a great way to pay for the renewal and make a little profit or pay for a few more .TEL names for your portfolio. Developing the .TEL and submitting it to the search engines, gets you on the path to better page ranking and traffic. Over the past year, we've continually seen .TEL names make the first page of the major search engines and in a number of cases, the Google Pagerank of .TEL names out performs their .COM and .CA counterparts.  

Remember to tie your .TEL into Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, as well as your blog and web site. It can be a valuable and integral part of your social media and search engine marketing strategies, driving traffic, providing a mobile presence and improving your overall online visibility.

P.S. As a quick postscript to this article, I'd like to extend my gratitude and tip my hat to the editors of soccer.tel. What started off as a weekend exercise to illustrate AdSense for .TEL has for them turned into a labour of love and what can only be described as a remarkable resource for anyone interested in the game of soccer (and yes, that means football). Billy Walker-Lane and Ashley Perry, two lifelong Chelsea supporters with a passion for the game have continued to build out soccer.tel and will be continuing to develop it in the months and possibly years ahead. If you'd like to give them some feedback or have suggestions for soccer.tel, you can reach them at billywalkerlane.tel and ashleyperry.tel.

Happy 1st birthday .TEL!  It has been quite a year.

One year ago today (March 24, 2009) .TEL general registration launched to the world and today there are about 275,000 .TEL names registered globally.

Webnames.ca has experienced quite a ride over the last year. Beyond just selling .TEL, "the digital business card that never goes out of date", a lot has been accomplished based on the .TEL platform.

.TEL App for the BlackBerry - Webnames.ca got into mobile application development for the first time in 2009. Hornet is a free .TEL address book application that allows you to look up, store and use .TEL names quickly and easily from your Blackberry Smartphone. Enter a .tel name like webnames.tel and instantly download all of a contact's information to your Blackberry. Any updates or changes will be updated as soon as you refresh the entry, so you'll never lose touch or need to update contact information again. More information is available at HornetHub.com; Hornet can also be downloaded at http://hornet.tel

 .TEL Meetup - with 137 entrepreneurial members and six meetups already held, we have developed a great global network of .TEL enthusiasts who meet monthly to talk about the new and exciting developments in .TEL. Speakers have been Skyped in from London and even Beruit and the last meetup was live streamed over the internet. Learn more about, or join the .TEL Meetup group.

.TEL Gift Cards - the first-ever domain retail card has been created so that .TEL names can be sold by brick and mortar retailers across North America. The new retail card lets customers purchase .TEL names, which act as a 'live' digital business card, from stores and shops. The cards can then be activated online at a later date using unique codes printed on the back of the card, making them ideal for retail. CanTalk Wireless Solutions, Blenz Coffee and other retail locations have recently started to offer these cards. Learn more about .TEL gift cards and the .TEL retail card program. 

.TEL Reseller Program - Webnames.ca's .TEL Reseller Program helps resellers earn referral income on .TEL domain name sales. The program provides resellers a branded gateway for selling the popular new .TEL domain at great price-points while earning commissions. Resellers can choose between a one time payment of $5.00 per domain per year registered or $1.75 per domain per year for the lifetime of the registration. To learn more about Webnames.ca's .TEL Reseller Program. 

.TEL Videos - We had a lot of fun shooting our own .TEL videos.

 
Watch some of our other .TEL videos, for example, "Need a Locksmith?" and ".TEL for Realtors Interview" on YouTube. 

One Vancouver - We built an initiative based on a community of partners and projects in Vancouver around .TEL and provided a forum to feature the local .TEL of the day. More info at One-Vancouver.com. 

One San Francisco - Based on the model of One Vancouver, other cities are jumping on board to take advantage of building local communities around .TEL. More info at One-SanFrancisco.com.  

.TEL Radio - Blog Talk Radio Host Marilyn Anderson features .TEL experts and early adopters through her internet radio program. Click here to listen to the .TEL program.  

Dot Tel Central - Dot Tel Central was launched to provide a place on the internet where everything .Tel could be found. It includes a directory of .TEL's, featured links, and even a dot tel awards. To submit your .TEL http://www.dottelcentral.com/

.TEL Blog Posts - Webnames.ca posted 68 .TEL related blog posts. Read our comprehensive selection of .TEL articles under the .TEL section of this blog. 

.TEL Cartoons - Illustrator Scot Ritchie of "The New Yorker" fame drew some .TEL cartoons for Webnames.ca. Check out Scot's terrific cartoon.  

MaelleRicker.tel - Webnames.ca sponsored Canadian Snowboard Cross Olympic Gold Medalist Maëlle Ricker and we are thrilled she won Gold at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Congratulations Maëlle! See her .TEL http://maellericker.tel

Most of all because of .TEL, we have built long-lasting relationships with numerous people who have become close friends and strategic partners in a number of projects and initiatives.

Happy 1st birthday .TEL...and many more!

Here's a quick summary of some of the new features in .TEL:

1. Logo/Picture - you can now upload a logo or picture by referencing the website location (URL) of the image you want to use.

The easiest way I found to achieve this is by referencing my twitter avatar. (right click on your Twitter avatar, click on properties and copy the URL). Paste it into your .TEL where it asks for the "URL".

You can do this with any image on the internet including your logo on your website.

Other way is to click on the option to set up a Gravatar and you put your image of choice up associated with your email and it will automatically be associated with your email on any future blog sites, etc.

Give these a try and any problems, feel free to call the Webnames.ca team at 1-866-221-7878 or locally at 604-633-1142.

2. Better Looking Icons - you will notice that the icons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are now showing up rather than in the past, they all showed as "web". This makes for a much nicer look and feel to the page.

3. Colour Themes - You can go and change the colours on your .TEL page. Changing the colours isn't as intuitive as picking a template but experiment a little bit and have some fun to make a more customized look and feel for your .TEL!

4. V-Card - the mapping seems to be improved and seems to be working well.

5. Search Function - at the top right hand corner of every .TEL you can do a search within the specific .tel you are looking for or across all .TEL's in the world. Put in a search term like "webnames" for instance and you will get all the .TEL's with references to "webnames"

6. Print - there is now a quick print button so you can print out the digital business card if you want to kill more trees ;)

For those who think green is in, don't forget to download Hornet.tel for Blackberry or "Superbook" for iPhone if you want to take .TEL names with you and be fully mobile. I have tested Hornet and all works fine with the new changes. iPhone should be working well too.

Hope this helps! Come join us at our next local Dot-TEL Meetup: http://meetup.com/dottel

Telnic, the organization behind the award-winning .tel domain, today announced that Google AdSense will be supported in .tel names by the end of March 2010.

Google AdSense is a free program that enables website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads and earn additional revenue. Because .tel names store information directly in the DNS and therefore are not hosted like traditional websites, Telnic is enabling .tel name owners with AdSense accounts to integrate their account credentials using the free control panel provided as part of the .tel service. The ads will then be pulled from Google's ad network and displayed on the .tel web interface every time it is visited from a computer browser.

Google AdSense will complement, not replace, the existing TelAds functionality, which enables .tel owners and service providers to populate .tel names with their own sponsored advertising or rich content. Once Google AdSense has been successfully integrated, Telnic will consult its community to see whether other advertising networks should be supported.

Since March 24th 2009, over 275,000 .tel names have been registered by individuals and businesses, providing a new publishing platform to reach potential customers.

Read the press release Telnic Announces Google AdSense for .tel

Read the article in .Telegraph, the Telnic newsletter

For more information about .tel names, or to register your own .tel digital business card visit http://webnames.ca/tel/

Below is a preview of the coming social media and AdSense integration into .tel:

Webnames.ca has collaborated with Telnic, the organization behind the award-winning .TEL name, to create the first-ever domain retail card so that .TEL names can be sold by brick and mortar retailers across North America.

The new retail card lets customers purchase .TEL names, which act as a 'live' digital business card, from stores and shops. The cards can then be activated online at a later date using unique codes printed on the back of the card, making them ideal retails.

The .TEL retail card is a first for the domain industry. A perfect add-on to a mobile phone or accessory purchase, the first batch of cards can be purchased from CanTalk Wireless stores now.

Nick Ellery, General Manager at CanTalk Wireless Solutions, said: "These retail cards make it easier than ever to promote .tel.  The card and packaging are very appealing and do a great job at expressing the .TEL concept and value to shoppers. Our sales people find it easier to explain and promote .TEL by having the cards available in-store and the registration system provided to retail card users appears to be very easy to follow."

"The .TEL retail card is not only a natural fit for wireless and technology retailers," said Smith, "it also makes sense for retail outlets that offer products to small businesses or business people."

A .TEL name directs people to targeted information such as phone numbers, email addresses, websites, social media profiles and more. It keeps people and businesses connected when their contact details change and it simplifies referrals by allowing its owner to share only one point of contact, for example "you can reach me at SteveSmith.tel".

The program is ramping up with more retailers, including locations of the national coffee franchise Blenz Coffee.

To learn more about Webnames.ca's .TEL retail card program, contact:

Matt Lane, Webnames.ca
http://lane.tel 

Lisa Wills, Webnames.ca
http://lisaw.tel

Read Telnic's .TEL Names Hit Main Street press release.

Never ones to let the grass grow under their feet, Telnic have once again improved the Telhosting interface. 

On Thursday October 22nd they are releasing two new great features: Backup/Import and 255 character labels.

I did a test of the Backup and Import and it worked really well.  The backup file gets exported as an .xml file.  I made some changes and saved them and then I imported the backed up file.  It replaced all of my new data and set it back to my old data.The descriptions for things like a web address and a phone number are now 255 characters.  I entered a whole paragraph!

Login to your .TEL hosting tomorrow and try it for yourself.

We loved our dot tel 411 and Locksmith videos and now we have 3 more videos to love.

Telregistrations.com is laying down the dot tel video gauntlet with these fantastic, animated advertisements. The videos illustrate the usefulness of a dot tel for everyone.  The music is great as is the "Charlie Brown's teacher" voiceovers. A co-worker liked the "Pear" logo on the phone.  Very cute and clever indeed.

Go telregistration.com, go!

Instant Website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww6i-ZTkEgY
How to be cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKoLO_mKSlI
Dial your name http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYGgGvo4KoE

The amazing illustrator Scot Ritchie  gave us a fantastic cartoon to use to advertise .tel to realtors.  It shows one realtor with lots of information on his lawn sign and one realtor just using her .tel name on her sign.

We are looking for clever captions to use in the advert and are hoping that our regular blog readers will be up to the task of coming up with some great lines. For those of you who have been off the grid since spring, .TEL is a service that stores all of your contact information under one easy to remember name - yourname.tel.

Submit your line today to marketing@webnames.ca and if we like it you will get a free .tel name of your choice, the cartoon with your line published for two weeks in Realty Link Magazine, gushing blog posts and tweets about how great you are.

You can submit more than one caption - if we like them we'll use them and you get more free .tels, and more gushing blogs and tweets.

Be sure to check out more of Scot Ritchie's work at www.scotritchie.com, his illustrations will be the highlight of your day.
 

As of last week, .TEL reached 200,000 registrations. This milestone was achieved less than two months after general registration started on March 26. For a TLD that isn't particularly easy to explain, or easy to grasp, .TEL is doing phenomenally well. The concept and potential utility of  .TEL resonates with businesses and individuals more than other recently released domain extensions because it provides a simple, lifelong point of connection. 

With 200,000 .TEL names registered, it's probably safe to assume that:

• Most common dictionary words and place names are gone
• All 3 letter combinations are registered
• Numbers have been snapped up
• Trademarks are safeguarded

So what does that leave?  Lot's of great names apparently!

Popular phrases and word combinations come to mind. Family names.  And surprisingly, lot's of good, single dictionary words are also still available. This leads me to believe that tonnes of great word combinations must be left too.

With 171,476 words currently in use according to the Oxford English Dictionary, we decided to do a little expiriment to see what was still available in the land of .TEL. A colleague and I rambled off 25 words each in rapid succession, then entered them into a .TEL domain search.

Here are our results (as of 2:21 pm PST on Friday, May 22nd):

Crows.tel  Available   
Punch.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Cardboard.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Fixate.tel  Available
Impressive.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Rationale.tel  Available   
Vitality.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Operational.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Glamorous.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Impossibility.tel  Available   
Fabricate.tel  Available   
Sleuth.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Sneakers.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Ciao.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Arriba.tel  Available   
Bonbons.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Folksong.tel  Available
Immediacy.tel  Available   
Cuddles.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Template.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Tackle.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Wandering.tel  Available   
Stinger.tel  Available   
Reaction.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Swollen.tel  Available   
Irritant.tel  Available   
Refreshing.tel  Whois | Make Offer
Breezy.tel  Available   
Tender.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Touching.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Engaging.tel  Available   
Decisive.tel  Available
Burnt.tel  Available   
Limerick.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Siamese.tel  Available   
Ocean.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Trapeze.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Parachute.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Olivertwist.tel  Available   
Artisan.tel  Taken   Whois | Make Offer
Ample.tel  Available
Taxonomy.tel Available

We thought the results were pretty encouraging. Now go search for your .TEL name (fingers crossed it's still available!).   

.TEL is at an exciting stage with new enhancements, applications and compatible services becoming available to end users.

This week saw the launch of a .TEL specific search engine, applications for both BlackBerry and iPhone, as well as domain based email.

Here's a summary of what's new in .TEL-land:

.TEL Search Engines

Jepaa - Delivering Contact Information Fast

A .TEL search engine launched this week. It's called Jepaa and it's TEL specific, searching only .TEL sites. When somebody searches for contact information on Google they typically have to (A) sort through pages of search results that don't relate to what they are looking for; or (B) dig through multiple pages to find contact information. Jepaa simplifies things by delivering you contact information in the form of .TEL sites. Jepaa's other cool features include mobile compatibility, support of multiple languages and the ability to provide results that take both keywords and locations into consideration. Another nice-to-have:  it's compatible with Adsense.

Read more about Jepaa, or test it out.  

Dot TEL Finder - A Gateway to .TEL Information

The DotTelFinder search engine is a new gateway to .TEL names and related information. The search engine returns .TEL domains  and .TEL related information from carefully hand-picked websites (BETA).

Try a search using Dot TEL Finder

.TEL Blackberry Application

Telnic announced yesterday that the final release of its free BlackBerry(TM) plug-in is available for download. The application enables BlackBerry users to do the following things:

• Lookup a .TEL domain inside the address book, including private information from friends
• Search for a .TEL domain inside the address book
• Add any .TEL domain as a new contact or associate it with an existing contact
• Send 'friending' requests and accept or decline them depending on your TelFriends status
• Quickly change your .TEL profile to make sure your contacts reach you the way you want

Navigating by BlackBerry, the app is available at http://telnic.org/community-applications.html or http://bb.apps.telnic.tel

My.tel - New .TEL App for iPhone 

Telnic just announced the availability of My.tel ealier today. The free, open source iPhone application allows .TEL owners to manage .TEL domains off of their iPhone. The app allows iPhone users to do the following while remaining mobile:

• Publish a location through an embedded map linked with the iPhone's GPS
• Update their statususing profiles to show how they want to be contacted at a given time
• Add new, remove, hide or show items of contact information
• Manage, add or remove folders and profiles which group contact information together
• Manage privacy settings for friends and colleagues
• Add or remove keywords that help people searching for .TEL  owners contact information.

My.tel can be downloaded for free from the App Store or via the iPhone using the App Store application. More info about the application can be found at http://telnic.org/community-applications.html.  

Now what are you waiting for, start playing and let us know what you think!

 Congrats - you are a pioneer.  It's going to be a little lonely in the wilderness for the first few weeks but as the old saying goes "if you build it, they will come".

First, you need to put some data in your profile - phone number, web address, facebook link etc.

Secondly, start giving it to people.  When you drop the cat off at the vet for a teeth cleaning and they ask how they can reach you, don't give them your cell and work numbers, just say smith.tel.

This gives you a chance to use it, tell others about it and show off your cutting edginess.

For business, this is an excellent time to update your marketing material.  No longer does your delivery van need to have the 800, the address, the web URL with the hyphen and sad .biz on the end - now it can have the one-stop-shopping imports.tel.

Use it.  That's what you do with it.

Now that the .TEL Landrush period is drawing to a close, we are looking ahead to tomorrow's opening of General Registration at 7:00am PST.

Prebooking for General Registration has been fast and furious today. Still there are many good names still available, especially personal or business names. Prebooking now will ensure a first crack at securing your .TEL.

In other .TEL news, Telnic, the .TEL registry has developed a free, open source iPhone application for .TEL names that has been submitted to the Apple App Store and should be available in the near future.

Many of you have already registered or pre-booked your .TEL domains. Others have heard by now that .TEL is different but are not sure their business needs another domain name. With .TEL General Registration on the horizon, we thought it was important to recap how .TEL is not your average domain.

.TEL is not for hosting a website and is more than another extension you'll forward to your primary website or blog to funnel traffic. .TEL was designed to facilitate rapid connection. It stores your business's contact data directly in the DNS instead of returning an IP address. Because .TEL does not map you to another location on the Internet, it is incredibly fast at pulling information. Think of it as the ultimate business card.

When TelHosting launches on March 6th, yourbusiness.tel will function as a live, interactive communications hub where you can publish all your means of communication, for example: phone, mobile, fax, VoIP, IM handles, email addresses, critical links and more. TEL's ability to store structured information will give your customers more options for getting in touch and will connect them quickly to the right area of your company.

Some Key .TEL Business Benefits include:

- Makes your company easier to find, to reach and to remember
- Routes online customers directly to specific departments or branches
- Features click-to-connect functionality for phone, mobile, email, chat, etc
- Drives traffic to your web site without hosting or coding
- Can be updated or accessed from any internet enabled device
- Increase online discoverability in different markets through multi-lingual keywords

For those having a hard time picturing how .TEL will work, try entering your business name in the .TEL  Simulator or watch our short video for business users.

General Registration - $19.99 US for 1 year. .TEL pre-booking will take place until aprox. 7:00 AM PST March 24, 2008 when 'Go Live' kicks off.

Most of us have, at one time or another, dreamed of escaping it all and disappearing to a Caribbean island or a log cabin in the mountains for some peace and tranquility. While this particular dream will elude most of us (and would probably get a little dull after a couple of weeks), those who value their privacy may want to look to the new dot TEL name to provide it.
 
If you yearn for a world without SPAM; a world without telemarketing calls; a world where you control who can contact you and who cannot, then dot TEL is definitely worth a look.

Normally when people talk about the dot TEL, it's in the context of 'connecting for life' or being 'easier to find'. This is true. A dot TEL allows you to attach all of your contact information to a single name like JohnSmith.tel, so you have one simple name to give to people, from which they can get all your contact information, whether though a web page, cell phone or other internet enabled device. Anytime you update your contact information, the updates are automatically propagated to anyone you've given your dot TEL name to, so you never lose contact.

At the same time, you can decide exactly who sees what information, so friends and family may be able to see more personal information than business connections or acquaintances.

Setting the Stage: Depreciation of the Phone Number (and other Contact Details)

When was the last time you visited http://74.125.19.103/? Chances are it was less than 10 minutes ago.  It's the IP address associated with Google.com (one of many, as Google is so popular).  In the late 80's and early 90's it was quite normal to enter IP addresses instead of domain names, especially in academic circles, when people were starting play with the web and put up their own sites.

The DNS (Domain Name System) maps easy to remember names like Google.com to IP addresses like 74.125.19.103; but, ultimately it's the IP address that identifies the specific host computer to connect to. It's hard to believe that it took more than two and a half years to register the first 100 .COM names, but now that we're there, who'd want to go back to remembering numbers?

Just like IP addresses, telephone numbers are the mechanism by which we connect to other parties and just like IP addresses, it's a good system - but it doesn't make them easy to remember.

Personally, I don't care what Google's IP address is. It's a detail that doesn't help me accomplish my goal. Similarly, I don't care what my daughter's cell phone number is - I just want to be able to reach her easily. One of the reasons I like the cell phone so much is I can simply "Call Grace Mobile" and I'm done. I'm happy if the underlying mechanism that enables me to achieve my goal stays hidden from me -  whether it be a number, an e-mail address, an Instant Messaging ID, profile URL for a social site or any other mechanism that allows me to connect.

"Call Grace", "E-mail Grace", "Message Grace", "Map Grace" - it makes a lot more sense.

Execution: Escaping the Grid

Chances are that if you've had your number or e-mail address for a while, you receive SPAM and marketing calls, despite best efforts of legislation and initiatives like the Do Not Call Registry . Enter dot TEL and all of that could be a thing of the past.

Here's the plan:

I have lane.tel. It's easy to remember and I can attach all of my contact information - both business and personal. It's on my business card for convenience and I can give it to someone in a conversation. My hope is eventually to have it as the only listed item in the White Pages and other directories.

If you were to lookup lane.tel (after February 25th, when .TEL names go live) on your smart phone or browser, you'll see only the public information I elect to share with everyone - my name, title, business name, business phone (switchboard only) and corporate web site (I don't want to be completely off the grid).

Anyone wanting more information would need to send me a friending request. This can be done directly off the web page or through the smart phone.  I am notified by e-mail of all requests and can evaluate each one and assign it to a privacy group I've set up that determines what information you'll be able to see. If I receive a request from a business connection, they'll be able to see my work e-mail, my direct dial number, business profiles (LinkedIn) and additional business information. For friends and family, the information will include my home number, mobile, social media profiles, etc.

All non-public information is protected by 1024 bit encryption. To put this in context, there are teams of security experts out there with the expressed goal of cracking this encryption. According to the security team at Kaspersky, it would take 15 million modern computers, running for about a year to crack. I like to think of this as some hacker with a laptop waiting 15 million years to discover my e-mail address.

So my friends, family and business connections now have my .TEL. They can "Call Matt", "E-mail Matt", etc and if I ever move, change my e-mail, lose my cell phone, the specific contact details change, but since they're automatically propagated, my contacts can simply "Call Matt" and "E-mail Matt" and probably wouldn't know or care that my numbers have changed.

And that's the plan. Get a .TEL, attach my contact details, distribute my .TEL and then change any numbers, e-mail accounts, etc that I don't want known in the public domain. It doesn't preclude me being contacted and I remain visible through the presence of my .TEL name - but only people I authorise know my details.

I know it's not a perfect plan. It's a hassle to change contact details and since my contacts can see my details, it's relatively easy for the information to get back into the public domain. Spamming and telemarketing also include random and sequential mechanisms that 'guess' at addresses and numbers,   but still, it's a step in the right direction and gives me back control of my own information.

.TEL launched this week and is continuing to build momentum. Landrush presents the first chance for the public to register .TEL domain names in real time.

Tens of thousands of pre-booked names were submitted by over 100 registrars worldwide at 7:00 AM PST on Tuesday, February 3rd. Landrush registration fees range between $375 to $500 USD for a three year term (Webnames.ca's price is $375 USD).

Landrush is the public's best chance to secure premium .TEL names.

Individuals and businesses who are unwilling or unable to register at Landrush prices can also be pre-book names for .TEL General Registration which will open on March 24th. Pre-booked names not registered in Landrush will be submitted the second General Registration opens and a one year registration will cost you $19.99 USD at Webnames.ca.

Early trends in .TEL registrations include:

Individual and Family Names
First names and surnames names are getting snapped-up. Smith.tel, James.tel, Sanchez.tel, Mohammed.tel, Julie.tel, Robert.tel, Miller.tel, Jensen.tel, Andrew.tel, Murphy.tel, Garcia.tel and Patel.tel are all taken!

Still Available (as of this post):
Jane.tel, Andre.tel, Jose.tel, Sean.tel, Morin.tel, Andrews.tel, Victor.tel, Jessie.tel, Leblanc.tel, Rudy.tel, Castro.tel, Helen.tel ...

Directory Relevant Words:
Movies.tel, Hotels.tel, Restaurants.tel, Spas.tel, Scores.tel, Taxis.tel, Trains.tel, Pubs.tel are all taken!

Still available (as of this post):
Boutiques.tel, Candy.tel, Schedules.tel, FlowerShops.tel, Dancers.tel, Marinas.tel, ChineseFood.tel, OffSales.tel ...

City, Country and Place Names:
Vancouver.tel, Britain.tel, Chicago.tel, Sydney.tel SanFrancisco.tel, Milan.tel, Kiev.tel, Toronto.tel, Bankok.tel are all taken!

Still available (as of this post):
Manila.tel, Warsaw.tel, Palermo.tel, Zagreb.tel, Reykjavik.tel, Lima.tel, Baghdad.tel, Kabul.tel, Caracas.tel, Bogotá.tel ...

Other categories with good investment potential include:
Professions, government agencies, universities/museums/institutions, television shows, celebrities, etc.

To search, register or pre-book .TEL domains, go to www.webnames.ca/tel.

Webnames.ca will notify you by email before March 24th if a domain name you have pre-booked for General Registration has been registered during Landrush.

Telnic recently deployed updates to the demo VIP program to include privacy settings and friending requests. While still technically a demo, the new features give a better indication of the power and potential of the technology.

The new functionality is intuitive and easy to use, with the exception of the initial friending request. To initiate a friending request through the demo Telhosting interface, login to your account at http://demo.vip.tel, click the new Friends tab and click "Send" on the Messages panel to launch the Friend Request window.

If you don't know anyone with a VIP account, you can send a Friend Request to webnames.vip.tel or mattlane.vip.tel to see how it works. (If you don't have a VIP account, go to http://telnic.org/vip/ or contact Webnames.ca customer support at 1-866-221-7878).

Once your friend request is accepted, you'll be able to see the information your friend has marked as Private. The exact information you can see depends on the privacy group you've been added to. Using the Blackberry application, you can login once and see Private information for any friend with whom you have a friending relationship. If you look up your friend in a web browser, you'll need to log in on the web page before the private information is displayed.

Reciprocally, you may also receive friending requests which will show up under the Friends tab. You will also receive an e-mail alert to tell you that you've received a friending request.

Once you've accepted the request, you can either leave them in the "All Friends" group under the Privacy tab, add them to another group, or create a new group.

Groups link private information to people, so after you create a group, you select the contacts to add to the group and also define the information you want them to see. For example, I might add my Work E-mail and Cell Phone number to a group called Business Contacts, as well as adding half a dozen selected contacts. Adding information to a privacy group automatically makes the information private, but you can also define information as Private or Public from the Dashboard, when adding or editing the information.

Please note that in the current version, data in folders (sub-domains) cannot be made private.

It's an all European match and it's still up in the air as to who will come out the victor.

There are two contenders from the UK, two from the Netherlands and one from Germany. 

If it wasn't for the "first come first served" policy that is in place, I think the book makers would have had a field day with this one.

And who knew you could trademark the word sex?  It looks like prudish North America gets left out in the cold on this one.

All of you reading this have many inappropriate thoughts as to what the winner will do with sex.tel.  Please get your minds out of the gutter.

I feel certain that the UK owner will be using it to promote the native soil by offering Sus.sex.tel, Es.sex.tel and Wes.sex.tel.

There is no question in my mind that should the German applicant be successful that he too will feel the community spirit and donate it to the municipality of Sembach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, whose Airport code is SEX.

Register and/or Pre-book your .TEL domains with Webnames.ca registrar today!  

.TEL domain names won't be going live until February 3, 2009, but anyone that wants to get a better idea of how .TEL works can get a free trial name through Telnic's VIP program.  

Through the program, people can create a name in the format [yourName].vip.tel and manage contact information using a beta release of the TelHosting software. 

The VIP names are working .TEL names and can be used up until February 3, 2009, when they will be deleted. They can be viewed through a web browser on PCs and mobile devices and will also work with the sample applications for the Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Outlook.

It's important to note the TelHosting interface and the sample applications are early releases, so they're rough around the edges, but they give a good sense of how .TEL will work once applications and .TEL are fully released next year. 

The TelHosting beta does not include the "Friending" engine or the built in privacy, which will feature 1024 bit encryption of private data. This means that any contact information entered will be publicly visible. In our tests, we've tended to use sample data for personal information, while being less restrictive with company information. 

One small "gotcha" a number of people noticed in the beta TelHosting is the required format of telephone numbers. You must use a full international number such as +16041231234. The error message doesn't clarify this and it can be somewhat infuriating, until you work it out.

To get your free .TEL VIP name, simply contact Webnames.ca at support@webnames.ca or 1-866-221-7878 and we will request one on your behalf.

Learn more about .TEL, or pre-book a .TEL name risk free today. 

The Register.co.uk published an article last week about how dot-tel will be unattractive to cybersquatters because it does not host websites, only contact information that will be sent to Internet-enabled devices.

Cyberquatters make money by placing pay-per-click advertisements on web pages that are set up on domain names which visitors assume belong to a legitimate organization. For example, look at the advertisements set up on http://www.costcowholesale.ca/. Seeing the domain name, it's safe to say a visitor would assume this domain belonged to Costco Wholesale Canada and that an official website for this company could be found at this URL.

Because a dot-tel can only contain contact information and keywords, cybersquatting activity of this type will not work. While this is positive in some respects, it does not mean abuse cannot occur because not all cybersquatting hinges on creating a revenue stream from advertising.

Another type of cybersquatting activity is when an individual registers domain names related to well known companies, brands or products. Typically they hold on to these domains hoping the legitimate namesake will cough up some cash rather than undergo a time consuming domain dispute resolution process. 

When you think about it, dot-tel's unique qualities make it a highly important piece of internet real estate to secure. Dot-tel would enable a cybersquatter to input information of their own choosing in the contact fields, and redirect a visitor to whatever website, phone number or email address they wish. There is serious potential for a company's brand and good name to be compromised and their customers diverted to competing interests with dot-tel. With this in mind, it is critical that companies with registered marks register their dot-tel names during the Sunrise registration period that is restricted to trademark holders.

Read the Register article - New no-advertising domain will deter some cybersquatters.
Click here for more information on dot-tel.

Timeline
Sunrise Registration (registered trademark required) - Dec 03, 2008 - Feb 02, 2009
Landrush Registration - Feb 03 - Mar 23, 2009
General Registration - Opens Mar 23, 2009