On February 16, 2016, .cloud entered the GoLive phase, which makes this February 16, .cloud's first birthday. To celebrate, we whipped up this special offer: buy a new .cloud domain between February 1 and February 28 and get the chance to get a free limited-edition t-shirt.

Currently, .cloud domains are on sale for the low, low price of $9.00 per year*, so we're adding this limited-edition t-shirt deal as the light and fluffy icing on the proverbial cake.

The offer is limited to one t-shirt per person, regardless of the number of .cloud domains registered, and only the first 200 buyers can get one.

Eight days after buying your .cloud domain, you'll receive a coupon you can use to get your t-shirt for free (including shipping) from our shop. The coupon will also be available on the Promos page of your account.

If you are lucky enough to receive a coupon as one of the first 200 registrants, don't let this offer float away. Order your shirt now and get it just in time for spring.

Get a .cloud?

*prices in USD. See .cloud page for local pricing.

Consider this your reminder to step away from your computer for a at least a few minutes today and do something spontaneous, unexpected, and purposeless.

Neuroscience tells us that we need a little novelty in our lives to keep our amygdalae pumping out dopamine. Otherwise, you might end up like the proverbial Jack after all work and no play.

All of that is to say: isn't it about time you had some .fun?

And now you don't even have to get up from your computer. You can order your .fun today. For instant gratification, you have to have a trademark registered with TMCH. If you do, you can have your .fun between today, January 23 at 4:00 pm UTC (8:00 AM PST) and April 2, 2017 when this TLD is in the the Sunrise phase. Domains in this phase are available for for $565.20 per year*.

If not, order some .fun for the Landrush phase, which will take place between April 2, 2017 and April 5, 2017. Domains bought in the Landrush phase are available for $164.80 per year*.

Finally, if you'd rather have .fun at regular prices, you can wait until April 5, when .fun enters the GoLive phase, though you can order in this phase now. Domains in the GoLive phase will be available for $28.87 at A rates*.

But to make things a bit more entertaining, .fun domains in the GoLive phase will be on sale from now and until June, 5. Meaning: you can pre-order your .fun now and have  get yours on promo for just $12.99 per year*.

Having .fun yet?

*Prices listed in USD. See .fun page for local pricing. 

There's nothing better thanˇ to start off the new year (or, really in the case of these TLDs, end last year) with a group of strings recently delegated to the root zone by ICANN which contain some expected outcomes and some surprises.

.hair — December 2

While two .hair applications were received, ultimately ICANN allowed the delegation of .hair to L'Oréal despite objections by the GAC.

.hospital — December 9

The .hospital TLD sheds light on one of the more controversial categories of applied-for strings, namely, those pertaining to the medical field. Along with other medical-related strings, ICANN's appointed Independent Objector filed an objection for the .hospital string, especially given the potential for abuse.

For its part, the applicant, Donuts, maintained that .hospital is general enough that it has a legitimate commercial use outside of the realm of actual hospitals, and that no such confusion would occur.

While the American Hospital Association filed a community complaint (and it would be hard to object to the categorization of the AHA as a legitimate representative of the community covered), no such community organization stepped forward with enough capital to cover the application costs.

It should also be considered that the higher than average likelihood of denial of an application for such a string puts the risk of investing in such an application by a third-party. This would seem to almost guarantee that a large portfolio registry would be more likely to apply than a smaller registry and Donuts was indeed the sole applicant.

.data — December 20

It's also not surprising that multiple registries would apply for a string like .data, which you'd be hard-pressed to find a community with a clear claim over (much to our chagrin).

It's somewhat surprising that there were only three applicants, given the evident potential of a .data TLD: Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd., Donuts, and Dish DBS Corporation (i.e. Dish Network).

And despite a warning from the GAC, who worried about monopolization concerns, .data was delegated to Dish DBS.

.phone, .mobile — December 20

Similarly, it's surprising that .phone and .mobile only received two applications each (Amazon dropped their .mobile application) one from Donuts, the other from Dish. In this case, just as with .data, the GAC objected to Dish's applications for the same reasons, however Dish was in the end delegated this TLD with the back end provided by Afilias for each.

.fun — December 21

While .fun would have been a, well, fun generic TLD, Oriental Trading Company, who were ultimately awarded with the delegation of this string planned to use it as a brand TLD or a "closed TLD." As it turns out, though, the fun twist ending to the story is that Oriental Trading Company wound up auctioning off the rights to .fun to Radix Registry in October, just in time for it to be delegated last month.

Well, though it may not have been gripping, edge-of-your-seat drama, there were some twists and turns this month. Come back next month to see what surprises await ...

Remember, though, that while we try to gain accreditation for as many TLDs as possible, just because you see these on our list here doesn't mean we'll be able to offer any of these soon (though in some cases we can and will be).

A hospital is a kind of sacred place. It's where people go to get better. And now, with a .hospital domain, whether you're helping people or animals or anything for which good health is a priority, you can create the online space for them to get better too.

The .hospital TLD is entering the Sunrise phase today, January 10, meaning it can now be purchased at Sunrise pricing for TMCH holders at $162.79*. If you want to take advantage of this period, you have until March 11, 2017 to do so.

Or, if you don't have a trademark registered with TMCH, you can still register now for the Landrush phase for priority registration, which launches March 13, 2017. During this phase, .hospital domains will be available for $182.81*. You have until March 15, 2017 to take advantage of this phase.

Finally, on March 22, 2017, .hospital opens its doors to the general public when it enters the GoLive phase. You can register for this phase, which is the final release phase, now.  Domains will be available for $63.11 per year* at A rates in the GoLive phase.

Register your .hospital?

*Prices in USD. See  .hospital for local prices

What's the difference between a cam and a camera anyway? They both take photos and videos, but a cam is enhanced by the internet.

Sure, on the one hand, that means selfies and doggy daycare cams. And who doesn't love selfies and doggy cams?

But also with a webcam, families separated by continents and oceans can talk face-to-face, news can be streamed live online as it happens, someone unable to speak can relay a message to someone else unable to see or read signs. Or a window can be opened from your desktop to another place.

There's nothing wrong with photos, but with the power of the web, a camera becomes so much more powerful (just remember to cover yours up when you're not using it).

That power is also behind the new TLD .cam.

On Wednesday, December 14, .cam will be entering the GoLive phase. That means .cam domains will be open to everyone, first come, first served, for $40.25 per year at A rates*.

If you've got a vision to share, get your .cam now.

Get a .cam?

*Prices in USD. See .cam page for local pricing.

TLDs delegated by ICANN this month are all a little strange, each in their own way and, as always, they all represent a slightly different take on the intersection between TLD and community.

.free — November 8

Perhaps the most contentious of the TLDs delegated to the root zone this past month, the .free TLD was among the 58 applications the European Commission flagged as potentially incompatible with "existing policy positions and objectives of the European Union."

At issue is a letter sent to applicants for 58 TLDs by the European Commission in 2012 in which they specifically noted that in doing so they were side-stepping ICANN's mitigation process.

The heart of the issue lies in the European Commission's disagreements with ICANN, specifically regarding adopting their copyright and trademark policy, which is a long-standing conflict going back years. Suffice it to say the European Commission leadership doesn't feel empowered enough by ICANN's multi-stakeholder model.

In the end, Amazon won the contract to manage .free in their TLD portfolio.

.food — November 10

When the new TLD program began, Minds+Machines and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck teamed up to secure and promote the .food TLD. The idea evidently was that Minds+Machines would apply for and manage .food while Puck would be used to promote it.

Minds+Machines says that when Wolfgang's wife got involved the couple demanded involvement in non-.food TLDs Minds+Machines was working on while the Pucks claim Minds+Machines reneged on their deal.

In the end, .food went to Lifestyle Domains Holding Company with Verisign serving as the technical backend. It doesn't seem like any celebrity chefs are as-yet on board.

.box — November 11

Initially in the application process, ICANN flagged .box as a potential source of name collision issues, but not long afterwards (a matter of weeks, really) ICANN removed the block on the .box application (among others) and allowed it to proceed as normal.

It was delegated to NS1 Limited, a Hong Kong based company, who beat out Amazon for this TLD. Backend services will be provided by Neustar.

.cruise — November 12

The .cruise application was one of the TLD applications that got a warning from ICANN's GAC (Government Advisory Committee) because both applicants — Cruise Lines International Association Inc. and Viking River Cruises Ltd. were single companies within the cruise line industry seeking to register the TLD for their entire sector.

As has been the case for other applications the GAC gave such warnings for (most prominently Amazon's .book application), the ICANN board approved the delegation of .cruise to Viking River Cruises Ltd. (with Afilias acting as the backend provider).

.boston — November 29

For some reason geoTLDs were much more popular when ICANN opened applications for new gTLDS for Europe much more than in the US. While there are now nearly thirty delegated new European gTLDs, .boston joins .nyc and .miami as one of a much smaller number of US cohort (.quebec is Canada's only new geoTLD so far, Africa has just three, Asia has 13, Oceania two and just .rio for South America).

Backed up by a letter of support from the City of Boston, the Boston Globe newspaper applied for and was delegated this TLD and got it totally uncontroversially.
Which makes it somewhat of an ideal new gTLD. The community served, being geographic rather than conceptual, is clearly delineated, the applicant has a clear stake in that community and has the full support of the clear, entitled representatives of the community.

.catholic, .天主教, .كاثوليك, .католик

These three TLDs are more like a BrandTLD, but worth mentioning. As you may have guessed, the Roman Catholic church applied for .catholic. The .天主教, .كاثوليك, and .католик TLDs (Chinese, Arabic and Cyrillic, respectively) are all just alternate script transliterations of the same. And that makes intuitive sense, even if this is the only application so far for a TLD on the part of a world religion.

However, the Roman Catholic Church isn't the only Christian religion to use this label and it was the Saudi Arabian government (because ... who else?) who raised this point in objecting to these three TLDs (among others).

While the Vatican has previously issued statements disparaging some of the kinds of content that has become widespread with the advent of the internet, applying for these new TLDs also shows a willingness to participate in the internet as well.

As we've seen in months past, making sure the communities represented by a particular TLD are given their say in the process was one of the key goals of ICANN's new gTLD program. This month's crop of newly-delegated TLDs is full of odd balls that nonetheless show interesting ways in which communities react to the creation of new TLDs, whether related or not.

What makes a work of art? A century ago, experts might have measured art by its technical skill, a mastery of composition and form, or the even the inspiration of some kind of pathos on the part of the observer. But then artists and their appreciators spent decades jackhammering these sacred cows of artistic value, constantly re-sculpting and remolding the definition of art itself.

But we're not here to solve the unresolved tensions of art theory. Suffice it to say that art has value. At least to some. When some new expression of the artistic zeitgeist comes along, if you're the type of person or organization that can't miss out, then we have some important news for you.

On December 7, 2016 .art, the only TLD oriented specifically to the art world, is entering the Sunrise phase. That means if you're in that world and you have a trademark registered with Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), you can register your .art domain for $300.62 for first year registration*, ahead of anyone else, until February 7, 2017.

Art-related non-profits, museums, institutions, galleries, and artists without a TMCH-registered trademark won't miss out entirely, though.

From February 8, 2017, until May 9, 2017, such established members of the art world can register their .art domains at Landrush pricing  per year**.

Finally, .art domains can also now be purchased in the GoLive phase, which begins May 10, 2017. Domains purchased in this phase are available for $17.44 per year at A rates* and are open to anyone with a creative spirit and an interest in art. However you want to define it.

Register your .art?

*Prices in USD. For local pricing, see .art page.

**Landrush pricing for .art has yet to be finalized. We will let you know what those prices are when they become available.

We're celebrating Cyber Monday all this week and into the next with this 80% off sale on appropriately wintery TLD .ski, organic non-GMO TLD .bio and brutalist TLD .archi.

Starting Monday November 28 and going until November 30, 2016 at 3:59 PM PST,  .ski and  .bio domains will be available for just $10.00 per year* and .archi will be available for just $16.00 per year*.

Register a domain under one of these TLDs?:

*Prices in USD. See .ski, .bio and .archi pages for local prices.

Blogs are so ubiquitous these days, we've started to take them for granted. But when blogs first came out they were a big deal. Blogs made it possible to publish things online without having to write out the HTML (or other code) and upload directly to a server using FTP.

With a blog you can sign in, type right into your web browser, and publish with a single click. It didn't just make the web easier, it opened up a whole world to the technically inexperienced masses.

And that's why it's a big deal that as for today, .blog, the blog-oriented new TLD, is open to the masses too: it has now entered the GoLive phase. You can now get your .blog for just $38.35 per year at A rates*.

Because the blogs make the internet easy, we're making blogging easy with one-click Wordpress installation on our Simple Hosting instances.

You're already entitled to a ten-day free trial on Simple Hosting, and when you register your .blog domain at Gandi, we'll give you a promo code for 50% off a one-year subscription.

Start a .blog?

*Prices in USD. See .blog for local pricing details.

Want this look?

First, start off with the brows. We're using a repeating black and gray textured image.

Next, for our foundation we're using a grey with just a slight hint of yellow in it, with some bright white concealer. No blending.

And then, of course, we do some contouring with a big bright GoLive phase. And now, as of November 8, 2016, top off this look or any other with a .makeup domain. L'Oréal's .makeup TLD is now in the GoLive phase and as such is open to all and available for $250.61 per year at A rates*.

Get this look? Register your .makeup:

*Prices in USD. See .makeup pricing page for local prices.