Register 100 .BERLIN domains for free

For the very first time in the history of Internet. Domain names are being offered for free. The guys at .Berlin domains, a newly launched gtld have set their eyes to be the number one domain in the brand gtld business.

To be pretty honest with you, I also took the advantage of this offer and registered the top limit of 100 domains per person. There are some extremly good ones and then there are some domain which makes sense. Whatever, be the reason. Get your free 100 .BERLIN  domains and make a site or post it to parking pages(upto you).

It is the best thing that has happened to the Internet community that some individuals who have limited skills will be able to register a domain, get hosting and template website. All for free. This is a great change in this ever changing Internet.

Got the smiling picture. Now, it's time for the real deal. If this promotion is a success. Be ready to shell out about $50 for the renewals. If you are smart enough. You will find a free hosting service and a free website creation tool as well but the domain has to be renewed which comes with a price tag.

This marketing strategy will surely propell the .BERLIN registry to the top of new gtld domains in terms of numbers but for a brief period of time. What happens after 1 year will actually define the future of .BERLIN.

Finally .TH domain can be registered.

Everyone in the ccTLD world has once desired the registration of a .TH domain to own a catchy domain hack. The wait is over now. For the very first time, .TH domains are coming out on sale. THNIC has announced that the domain are offered for registration for a very limited time(till 30th June). Since, they are launched for such a short period of time. The extension will not have a General Availability phase. Yes, they are not sure that there will be a General Availability for these domains.

There are certain requirements though:
Applicant must have local presence in Thailand and able to present legitimate proof of organization registration/establishment or Thai identification card upon submission of the application.

The category of Applications are divided into three categories as follows:
Category 1: .th domain names already registered as traditional domain names prior to 1 June 2014, excluding of all names under in.th category.
Category 2: copyright holders of trademarks registered with department of intellectual property, ministry of commerce of Thailand.
Category 3: other names: 
3.1 names of organizations, corporations, companies, educational institutions, government with registration certificate issued by relevant local authority of Thailand
3.2 individual names, first name or family name of Thai citizen. 
3.3 names of events or projects hosted by private organizations or governmental organizations. A confirmation letter of the event/project with its brief detail certified by top management of the organization is required.

Every .TH will also include a complementary ไทย (dot thai) domain name at no additional charge for 1 year. The .ไทย shall refer to English domain name registered under .TH. If the domain name applied for registration has already been occupied by another domain holder in .ไทย, the applicant shall select another domain name.

Now, coming to the business end. There is a premium price for this special domains.

Registration starts at $6,000 per year with a non-refundable signup fee of $599 or a lifetime registration fee of $50,000. 

The price is on the higher side. A realistic number as I would forecast is under 500 for this ccTLD.

Curious case of .UK domains.

Ever since the Nominet announced the release of .UK domain for public use. There was an unprecedented rush to claim these domains. Some were trying to protect their existing brand name and the others were trying to lay hand on anything and everything they can register.

The biggest problem though is that no one really knows how the registration works for this ccTLD. Domains were expected to be released on 10th June 2014. However, alot of the domains are still waiting to be registered. There is another catch. Domain owners who have already registered a .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk or .plc.uk. They have the right to claim the equivalent .UK domain by 10th June ..... 2019. Yes, that's correct. It is 2019.

There is one more thing. If a domain is registered by a company and later they fail to renew it. The domain can be registered by anyone. I don't understand why would Nominet keep the domain from being registered for 5 years and allow the domain to be publicly available if there is an unsuccessful renewal.

Don't really understand the point of all that.