You asked and we listened! By popular demand, Webnames.ca has extended its "Deep Discounts on Multi-Year Domains" promotion until January 31, 2010.

Save up to 65% off multi-year domain registrations and renewals:

5 years - $99 (less than $20/year)
10 years - $129 (less than $13/year)

REGISTER --- or ---  RENEW today!

The longer the term ... the more you SAVE.

Now is the perfect time to register new domain names for:

• For business use, including marketing campaigns, products, & events
• For personal use, including your name, family name or children's names
• For projects, including your blog, hobby, charity, etc.
• To protect your brand by capturing other available extensions
• To drive more traffic to your website

  This promotion is valid for both new domain registrations and renewals of the following extensions:

.CA (2-10 years)
.COM, .ORG, .NET, .INFO, .BIZ, .CN, .ASIA (2-10 years)
.MOBI  (2- 5 years only)

Promotion Terms & Conditions: .TEL and .US are not included in the promotion. Corporate, Managed Service, Partner, Charity, Resellers and Special Pricing accounts are not eligible for the promotion pricing.

There are so many things I want to accomplish life, and sometimes it can seem too big to get my head around.  We experience information overload on a daily basis; sometimes it can feel like too much chaos to sort through.  There are some helpful tools out there that can help you create a clearer picture of where you want to go and how you want to develop yourself.

Mind Maps

A mind map is helps develop ideas I might have; you can create a mind map on paper or via software. Mind maps begin with a central thought that branches into other ideas to provide a picture of the whole.  Writing lists is very linear; mind maps are more visual, which can be helpful tomany people.  When I make a mind map on paper the process is fluid, whereas software allows me to edit my mind map more easily.  I sometimes start on paper and then move it into software.  This is also known as clustering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ

Dream Board

A Dream Board is a board, physical or digital, where you put all the ideas you want to aspire to.  If I want to be a success, what would that look like?  So I design a scene, like a collage of images and text of me in a successful scenario, with the tools and support I need.  There are images, of me, of places of objects, and text where I use the word 'I', to make sure I feel engaged.

http://digitaldreamboard.com/home

43 Things

This website asks people to make a list of 43 things they dream of doing, real or fantasy, it doesn't matter.  At first I could only think of 12. As time passed I thought of more, until my list was full.  By writing them down, I realized a lot of the list items were possible and then I actually started doing them. I have since removed things and reprioritized my list.  I was feeling bored for a time in my life and 43things.com me to feel more engaged.  I can make different lists, one for my personal life, one for work, one for art, ect.

http://www.43things.com/

Trying some of these tools and tactics might just help you make 2010 a year to remember!

I am extremely honoured to have been appointed to the Government of BC's Small Business Roundtable.
 
Since forming in 2005, the roundtable has held over 35 consultations with more than 600 small business owners. The 24 members of the Roundtable represent small business organizations from every region of B.C.
 
The Roundtable presented its 4th Annual Report to Minister Iain Black at the Vancouver Board of Trade event on Friday October 16th. The report presents recommendations to government and the small business community on ways to improve B.C.'s business sector.
 
Below are Highlights of the Small Business Roundtable 4th Annual Report.
 
Recommendations to the small business community include:
 
* Strive to leverage government resources
* Take creative approaches to retaining staff
* Become involved in the local community
* Develop worker skills, and learn how to participate in the green economy
 
Recommendations to government include:
 
* Continue support for training and labour development
* Continue to reduce regulatory burdens on small business
* Continue to reduce tax complexity
* Continue to build on the success of B.C.'s international trade outreach to expand trade
 
The roundtable report acknowledges government's support for small
business, including:
 
* Accelerating a reduction in the small business corporate income tax rate
from 4.5 to 2.5 per cent, saving small businesses an estimated $401
million over three years

* Increasing the small business tax threshold from $400,000 to $500,000 in
January 2010, saving small businesses $20 million per year

* Eliminating over 152,000 regulations since 2001 - a red tape reduction
of over 42 per cent

* Spearheading efforts to create a new private-sector pension plan for
British Columbians without a retirement savings plan

* Breaking down barriers to doing business, including developing on-line
tools such as BizPaL and providing greater flexibility through the Mobile
Business Licence

* Supporting labour market planning through $100 million per year on
trades training since 2001; $3 million towards youth entrepreneurship
education; $16 million over three years to help B.C.'s immigrant
workforce; and $17 million in Labour Market Agreement projects helping
businesses develop and deliver training suited to their needs

For a copy of the report, please visit: www.smallbusinessroundtable.ca/publications/Pages/default.aspx
 

Cybele Negris, Webnames.ca COO, has been appointed by Iain Black, Britsh Columbia's Minster of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development, to the BC Small Business Roundtable.

With the most optimistic small business sector in the country, British Columbia continues to produce more new small businesses and the fastest pace of small business job growth in Canada.

The Small Business Roundtable is committed to making British Columbia the most small-business-friendly jurisdiction in Canada by cutting red tape and making it easier and less expensive to do business in our province.

The Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development along with roundtable members will be touring small businesses throughout the province in 2009, enabling small business owners to express views and ideas first hand in a casual setting as well as provide the Minister and roundtable members an opportunity to visit small business owners in their environment.

 Read how the Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development is recognizing small business month and celebrating the 30th anniversary of small business week in BC.   

Press Release

October 1, 2009 - SMALL BUSINESS CELEBRATION MARKS 30 YEARS - Victoria - October is officially proclaimed Small Business Month in British Columbia, marking 30 years the Province has celebrated the sector, announced Iain Black, Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development
 

When starting a new business or launching a new product one must consider the registration, and use of trademarks, service marks, copyrights and patents as part of the process, yet there is often much confusion as to what one needs and how to use them correctly.* 

 The International Trademark Association (INTA) [http://www.inta.org] is a not-for-profit membership association "dedicated to the advancement and observation of trademark rights."  Their website is a great place to start searching for information regarding Trademarks and their usage.We have compiled for you a brief overview of the "INTA" FAQ covering some of the more common questions people have regarding Trademarks and their use.

What is a Trademark?

A trademark is any word (Poison), name (Giorgio Armani), symbol or device (the Pillsbury Doughboy), slogan (Got Milk?), package design (Coca-Cola bottle) or combination of these that serves to identify and distinguishes a specific product from others in the market place or in trade. Even a sound (NBC chimes), color combination, smell or hologram can be a trademark under some circumstances. The term trademark is often used interchangeably to identify a trademark or service mark.**

What do the Symbols ®, ™, and SM mean?

A ™ is usually used to indicate an unregistered trademark. It is an informal notification that there is a public claim as a trademark. 

A SM represents a service mark, which is normally used on the advertising of a service.  It is used in this way because, unlike trademarks, there is normally no packaging to put the mark on. 

The ® (commonly pronounced "R-in-a-circle" or "Circle-R") is a warning notice to advise the public that the mark is registered and their use provides legal benefits. This notice can be used only with registered marks. Use of a ® with any unregistered trademark may result in claims of fraud. Several other countries also use the ® symbol to indicate that a trademark or service mark is registered in their respective systems.**

How Do I Use Trademarks Online Properly?

The guidelines for the use of trademarks online are generally the same as those for using trademarks in print.**

Should I register the domain names that match my Trademarks?

As a Trademark owner there are certain obligations to protect your Trademark against unauthorized use.  By registering the domain names that match your Trademarks you are protecting your Trademark and preventing the potential loss of profits and damage to your brand. 

There are many rules and regulations surrounding Trademarks and they are different from country to country, so it is important to be educated and to select a Trademark agent, Lawyer and domain registrar like Webnames.ca to ensure you have the best coverage and protection for your brands, products and services.  For more information on Trademarks visit the inta.org website. 

* Information taken from INTA: www.inta.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=37&getcontent=4

** Information taken from INTA FAQ: www.inta.org/index.php?option=com_simplefaq&task=display&Itemid=0&catid=284&page=1&getcontent=5#FAQ67

You will have to excuse this moment of vapidity, but the moment was just too great not to comment on.  I don't normally watch the cultural black hole that is Dancing With the Stars, but when I heard that Steve Wozniak, AKA The Woz was going to be on, I had to tune in to watch that.

For those of you who don't know who The Woz is, he is co-founder of Apple computers with Steve Jobs, hacker extraordinaire, computer genius, creator and inventor of the Apple II, and multi billionaire.  With all that on his resume, you'd sort of expect him to be the kind of individual who has zero personality, but I found the opposite to be true, he giggled like a schoolgirl and grinned like a Cheshire cat throughout his entire performance, with a few off colour jokes to thrown in for good measure.  Unfortunately his dancing wasn't as good as his stage presence, causing one judge to remark "It was like watching a Teletubby going mad in a gay pride parade".  Ouch. 

I can't say that I'll be a loyal viewer of this show in the future, but if I'm aimlessly flipping channels on a Monday evening with nothing better to watch, I may tune in for a while, or at least until The Woz gets voted out.  At least he won't need to worry about finding a new job if his dancing career doesn't take off.

Check out the magic yourself!  Watch the clip, the real dancing starts at around 1:45.

With the creation of the internet as a means of communication, it should have been common knowledge that somewhere, at some point, it was going to be turned in to so much more. 

When it comes to finding new and novel ways to use things like they weren't originally intended to be used, human ingenuity rules.  Think that's just an ordinary mouldy old piece of bread?  Think again Captain Obvious, it's used to treat bacterial infections!  When is a drink not just a drink?  When it's left outside overnight with a twig in it and becomes a popsicle!  So it's almost like it's been written in the stars, that as soon as the internet was created, we'd start thinking of new and unintended ways of using it.

One of the original purposes of the internet was as a means of communication between far flung university campuses.  One of the great and inadvertent side effects was that after a while it seemed to make the world a smaller place to live in.  If you think about it, it may be difficult to find a local chapter of the Fraternity of Swordfighting Dwarves, but if you search worldwide, you may find several, and get a job on a movie set in the process.

The world is increasingly becoming a global village, for me, I don't think I truly understood that concept until I was sitting at home one dreary winter evening chatting with a friend in Australia via instant messenger.  Not only was everything in real time, but as I was complaining about the cold and snow, he was complaining about how hot and uncomfortable it was there.  Fifteen years ago, we would either be communicating over a crackly phone connection or in a letter that you had to write on pen and paper that took three weeks to get there.  I know, I can hardly believe it either.  It's like when my parents talk to me about walking uphill to school both ways in six feet of snow, I just can't bring myself to accept it as the gospel truth. 

One of the other wonderous payoffs of the internet is online shopping.  Where else can you buy a set of gently used Ginsu knives, the entire Disney Princess movie collection (on VHS) and a potato chip that looks like Elvis?  Why the internet of course!  And the best part is you can do this all in the comfort of your own home at 2am in your fuzzy duckie slippers and your jammies.  I'm not sure which company embraced the spirit of online shopping first, but eBay is one of the best known.  For those that are smart and willing to put the effort into it, eBay can be a legitimate way of making quite a lot of money on the side. 

There are a million and one things that the internet wasn't meant to do, that it is doing today.  It's potential seems only limited by our imagination and ability to make our ideas work in the real world.  I think that much like the Industrial Revolution, this is an amazing time to marvel at the innovations and advancements that the human race is capable of.

It's easy to make changes at home when it comes to helping out the environment, but it's a little different at the office.  I think that this is because when you're at home, you can track how much you spend on the water bill, heat or hydro.  At the office it's a bit different since you normally don't see the monthly expenses when they come it, so it may be a bit more difficult to track your useage from month to month.

Some things you can do are pretty obvious, turn the lights out, put on a sweater and fix dripping taps.  It's not so easy to convert your roof to sod and install a pack of goats if you're working on the tenth floor of a thirty story building. 

Here are a few things that you can do that you may not have thought of:

• Set up a Reuse Area for supplies you no longer need.
• Use your shredding for shipping/packing material
• Donate office equipment to charity
• Buy milk/cream in bulk and share instead of using individual creamers
• Encourage people to bike to work.  Companies like Google and Yahoo offer incentives that range from free movie tickets to bike tune ups
• Take the time to set up your computer's energy saver functions
• Print double sided, or don't even print at all
• Turn off the lights and use natural sunlight where possible.  Replace inefficient lights with LED lights

If you have been avoiding the green shift because you thought it was going to be too costly, here is your chance to re-evaluate.  The smallest changes don't really cost a thing and what you'll find is that when you make small changes gradually, eventually the opportunity to make bigger changes and to really create an impact will come along.

Although not all of the sites that list the top 100 visited websites agree on the list of 100 they do when taken collectively give a pretty clear image of what people are looking for online.  By reviewing the top 100 website lists at some of the following sites www.Alexa.com, www.Quantcast.com, www.web100.com,  and www.Compete.com, one can gain a clearer picture of what the websites making up the top 100 are about and what we can all learn from them when it comes to internet success.

One only needs look at the lists to see that the top ranking sites fall into the top 10 categories of  E-Commerce, Reference, News, software, Search Engines, Banking, Adult, Blogging, Social Networking, and Image Hosting. 

Knowing what the top sites are and what they are doing to stay in the top 100 is helpful to any internet business as clear trends can be seen among them.  Surprisingly with all of the technology and new internet fads out there the majority of the top 100 sites still rely on relatively old school means to stay on top.  Over 90% of the domains in the top 100 websites are .COM names, even as less and less .COM's are available everyday.  It is also interesting to note that over 80% of the content on the top 100 websites is text based with images coming in second place, leaving video and audio with the smallest amount of content.  What does this all mean?  The internet for all of its variety and people looking for their 15 minutes of fame is still primarily being used for business and as a resource for finding useful information. 

So what can a startup or existing business learn from the top 100?  Firstly you don't need a real world store front to succeed.   More and more businesses are using the internet to reach a broader customer base with a good majority of them having only an online presence and no real world store front.  This means lower over head costs at the same time as a larger potential customer base equaling higher profits for the companies that take the time to find out who their customers are, what their needs are and how to best serve them in the online market.  Register the best domain name for your website that you can as a .COM as well as other extensions and use free tools like Webnames.ca domain forwarding (included with every domain name purchase) to forward multiple domains to your main website, to drive the most possible traffic to your site.  Thirdly make your site clean, clear and easy to follow, although images and video can be fun and trendy add-ons to a site your, meat and potatoes should still be text based, using tools like Webnames.ca Web Builder to get your site up and running even if you don't have a lot of website design experience.   Get your site listed on search engines and aim for the highest rankings you can so people can find you easily.  And most importantly don't forget that great customer service, reputation, and ease of use will go a long way in keeping your customers coming back once you are up and running.  Webnames.ca can get you up and running with your domain name, hosting, Web Builder, SSL and domain management needs, who knows with a little research, hard work and focus you could be on next years list of top 100 websites.

So this is what you've all been waiting for, the superfun fantastic happy edition of Webnames Favourite Websites.  If you're looking to waste some time or just need a good chuckle you'll be sure to find it here.

These two sites can either be looked at as reference or as fun depending on how you use them.  They're both very similar, so it really depends on your own personal preference.  YouTube and vimeo both have thousands of videos posted on them, you can see everything from quacking dogs to university lectures.  It constantly amazes me just what sort of thing you can find online these days.  I am Bored is also a good site to check out to get a look at the really stupid things people video themselves doing.

If you're looking for your daily fix of news and headlines, you'll want to check out either Digg or fark.  They're both essentially the same, according to Farkers their site is like Digg, only better and if you ask the Diggers their site is like fark, only smarter.  Either site should get you your fill of interesting and bizarre headlines currently circulating on the interwebs.

If you're looking for funny and cute, we have to mention Lolcats.  They brought you such internet meme's as the lolrus and hovercat.  Not far behind would be FailBlog, which is a site devoted to videos and pictures of epic fail, such as this one.

Last but not least I think would be StumbleUpon, which is actually more of a program than a site itself.  You just tell it what sort of things you are interested in, click on a button and it will serve you up another website that suits your interests.  Many a night I've stayed up mindlessley clicking and saying to myself "just one more stumble...".

Interesting Dutch animation

Japanese shopping site

Elf Yourself

popular baby names

xkcd, a popular webcomic

Photography

Fancy Tech goodies

Kongregate.com has tons of awesome free web games, with achievements like Xbox 360 games. Plus the achievements are persistent to your account, so you can compete against friends

Post Secret I love this site, people send in anonymous secrets on postcards which are then posted onto the internet.  They range from funny and bizarre to really life shattering events such as abuse and suicide.

I polled the office and everybody mentioned a site or two that they like above all others.  Now there were too many sites to have listed in one post, so I'll break them down.  In the battle of the fun stuff vs. the boring stuff, the boring stuff won the first round.

Here are our top picks for sites to go to if you're looking for resources or information

This site is a repository for unofficial programming language documentation.  If you're having a problem with a pesky line of code or two, you can come here and search for the answer, and if you can't find it, post your question in their forums.  If you want some official documentations, check this site out.

One of my favourite sites is Wikipedia.  It's a gigantic online encyclopedia that has the answers to pretty much any question you can think to ask.  I've often found myself bleary eyed at 2am reading an article about Monarch Butterfly migration when I originally started out looking for a postal code at 10pm.  I sort of compare it to going to Costco to buy some dog food, and coming out with $300 of things you had no clue you needed in the first place.

If you're looking for news and weather, there are several places you can check out.  CBC is always a good place to start, and Google News is another.  If you're looking for the weather, the Weather Office or the Weather Network

If you're looking for some utilities to make your life easier, why not try yousendit to help you send large email attachments, or PrimoPDF to convert word documents to PDF format without having to purchase a costly PDF writer.

If you're looking to buy or sell anything locally, Craigslist is for you.  You can advertise things as diverse as a moving sale to trying to hire voice talent for the animated feature you're working on in the basement in your spare time.

If you're looking to network, then LinkedIn is for you.  The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.  A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second degree connections) and also the connections of second degree connections (termed third degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone you wish to know through a mutual, trusted contact. (definitions from Wikipedia)

Last but not least we have the Canadian Government.  You can get all sorts of useful information here, from passports and travel advisories to income tax and benefits information.  A very comprehensive resource.

That is the rundown of useful informational sites that we here at Webnames have to offer.  Stay tuned for the next edition of Webnames Favourite Things - The Fun Edition.

Most of us have computers at home these days and we seem to take for granted the fact that we turn it on, click on the fancy little button for internet and find ourselves up to no good in less than 30 seconds.  Computers are sort of like cars to most of us, we turn them on and they go.  We don't really care how, we just care that they do.

The internet and modern computing as we know it, has been shaped by a surprisingly few individuals.  Here's a short look at one of them - Steve Jobs.  He co-founded Apple Computers in 1976 with Stephen Wozniak.  They sold Jobs' Volkswagen van and Wozniak's scientific calculator (I wish I was making this up) to raise the capital to start the company.  They managed to raise about $1300 and subsequently created several prototypes for a personal computer all while working out of Jobs' garage.

Steve was ousted from Apple in 1985 after a power struggle with the board of directors, he was stripped of all operational responsibilities by Apple's then CEO, John Sculley.  Down but definitely not out, he founded NeXT Computer in 1985 which was originally set up to sell PC workstations.  The computer was technically advanced, however it was also quite expensive and was out of reach for most people, individuals and businesses alike.   The hardware division of NeXT Computer was shut down for good in 1993, and development shifted towards software applications. 

It's interesting to note that in 1986 he bought the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd from George Lucas, which he turned around and rebranded as Pixar Animation Studios.  The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 with an all stock transaction worth $7.4 billion dollars.  Not a bad return on investment seeing that Jobs had originally paid $10 million dollars for the company.  The bargain basement sale was reportedly because George Lucas needed to finance his divorce without giving up any control or stock from the Star Wars franchise.

Fast forward to 1994, and several CEO's later, Apple decides to acquire NeXT Computer for $429 million, bringing Steve Jobs back onto the scene in an advisory capacity.  Soon after and much like in 1985, the board had lost confidence with it's current CEO, Gil Amelio and in 1998 made Jobs the interim CEO, a job title which Jobs made permanent in 2000. 

Under Jobs direction, Apple has branched out more and more into digital media, with the introduction of the iPod, iTunes, and who can forget the iPhone.  It's this branding that has really cemented Apple's place in technology as we know it today.  You don't see many people on the bus without an iPod, and the huddled masses are lining up around the block to get their grubby little mitts on an iPhone. 

It will be interesting to see where Jobs leads Apple to in the future, especially considering the concerns with regards to his health.  He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, but with surgical intervention and alternative therapies he seems to be doing well, and there is reportedly no evidence of cancer four years after surgery.  Bloomberg however mistakenly published his obituary in August of 2008.  In typical Jobs fashion, he responded by quoting Mark Twain, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Random Facts About Steve Jobs

● He is Disney's largest shareholder, owning about 7% of the company's stock.  (Compared to former CEO Michael Eisner's paltry holdings of a 1.7% share in the company, and Roy Disney's share of just over 1%)

● Earned a listing in the Guinness World Records as the "Lowest Paid Chief Executive Officer" because of his yearly salary of $1 (done mostly to avoid taxes)

● Steve Jobs refuses to put a license plate on his car. There are a number of rumours as to why, one of the more amusing being that he likes to 'keep highway patrol on their toes'.

● Steve Jobs is a college dropout

Favourite Steve Jobs quote -  "I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going is that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. "

In the fast paced digital media frenzied world of today, it's nice to see a little old school every once in a while.  We're used to seeing ads on TV's in elevators, transit hubs, waiting areas and even bathrooms.  How do you make an impact on people and get your point across in today's digital age, where people pay about as much attention to what the media is throwing at them as to an errant car alarm at 6pm?

If you want to look at the success of guerilla marketing, it's pretty much a requirement that you look up Banksy.  Banksy is a graffiti artist from England that started becoming well known around 2003.  He shows up in the middle of the night, installs a piece of art, then disappears again.  Much of his art is done with stencils, which allows for an easy install and a fast getaway.

To listen to some talk of him, he is a nuisance, a criminal, a desecrator of property.  To others he is a renowned and revered artist.  Some pieces of his work sell upwards of $200 000 CDN, and others have been labeled as vandalism and unceremoniously removed with little fanfare or acknowledgement of talent.  One of his best known images, Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction shown holding bananas instead of guns was removed by a graffiti cleanup crew.

So why do people sit up and take notice when he has something to say?  It's much easier to look at a picture and see it in front of you than it is to read some bloated self serving essay in the Sunday op-ed pages.  He gets his point across, simply and usually in a way that makes you stop in your tracks and stare while digging furiously around in your bag for your digital camera so you can capture the moment. 

I think the success of the images comes from the fact that they are funny and well done, but if you look a little deeper, you will see that the works take on some serious social issues such as war, poverty and violence. 

The point I'm trying to make, is if you're having some problems getting your ideas and arguments noticed and feel like you're lost in the endless ocean of websites and products that are exactly like yours, you need to think outside the box.  You may create more buzz than you ever thought possible. 

ICANN Posts Draft 2008-2009 Budget - ICANN has posted its draft operating plan and budget for 2008-2009. Total expenses are budgeted to be $US 58.5 million, a 37% increase over the current fiscal year's budget of $42.6 million.

• The Domain Game, a book by David Kesmodel.
• An article on domain entrepreneur Kevin Ham, from dnjournal.com.
• "Most Spam Sites Tied to a Handful of Registrars", from washingtonpost.com.
• The .biz registry fee is not increasing this year, in contrast to some other gTLDs.
• DotAsia responds to allegations concerning .asia sunrise and landrush auctions.
• ICANN sends a notice of breach to ICANN-accredited registrar Red Register, Inc.
• A NIST algorithm checks for visual similarity of TLD names.

• Wed, May 21: last day for comments on GNSO anti-tasting motion
• Sat, May 24: last day for comments on DNSSEC proposal for .org
• Thu, May 29: last day for applications to CIRA's Nomination Committee
• Sun, Jun 1: new .au transfers policy takes effect
• Tue, Jun 10: implementation date for new WHOIS policy for .ca
• Sun, Jun 22 - Thu, Jun 26: ICANN meetings in Paris, France
• Thu, Jul 17: last day for comments on proposed IDN plan for .nz
• Wed, Sep 10: CIRA Annual General Meeting in Vancouver
• Thu, Sep 18 - Thu, Sep 25: voting period for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Wed, Oct 1: .com and .net registry fees increase
• Sun, Nov 2 - Fri, Nov 7: ICANN meetings in Cairo, Egypt
• Sun, Nov 9: .org registry fees increase

CIRA Issues Operations Update in Advance of WHOIS Changes - The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has issued an operations update effective June 10. Many of the changes are amendments to legal documents related to the WHOIS service. Under the new policy, public availability of individual registrants' personal information will no longer be required.

.ORG Registry Fees To Increase - Public Interest Registry (PIR), registry operator for the .org domain, has announced that as of November 9 the registry fee for .org domain names will increase to US$6.75 per year. This an increase of approximately 10%, up from $6.15.

.PRO Changes Approved - RegistryPro, registry operator of the .pro domain, has announced that the ICANN Board has approved RegistryPro's application to make changes to its registry operator agreement. The changes include increasing the number of professions allowed to register under .pro, increasing the ability to make secdond-level registrations, and adding a Terms of Use to the registry agreement.

dotMobi Purchases Content Adaptation Engine - DotMobi, the registry operator for the .mobi domain, has announced that it has purchased the IP assets of Mowser, a content adaptation engine. The software is to be used to help owners of existing sites create .mobi-compliant sites.

Picks To Click

• Poland's .pl domain surpasses one million registrations.
• "VeriSign get patent for DNS redirect it can't use itself", in ars technica.
• ICANN formalizes its relationship with the manager of Iceland's .is domain.
• "Vint Cerf: Internet pioneer, coffee drinker", in seattlepi.com.

• Wed, May 21: last day for comments on GNSO anti-tasting motion
• Sat, May 24: last day for comments on DNSSEC proposal for .org
• Thu, May 29: last day for applications to CIRA's Nomination Committee
• Sun, Jun 1: new .au transfers policy takes effect
• Tue, Jun 10: implementation date for new WHOIS policy for .ca
• Sun, Jun 22 - Thu, Jun 26: ICANN meetings in Paris, France
• Thu, Jul 17: last day for comments on proposed IDN plan for .nz
• Wed, Sep 10: CIRA Annual General Meeting in Vancouver
• Thu, Sep 18 - Thu, Sep 25: voting period for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Wed, Oct 1: .com and .net registry fees increase
• Sun, Nov 2 - Fri, Nov 7: ICANN meetings in Cairo, Egypt
• Sun, Nov 9: .org registry fees increase