Internet testing regional flavour with Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)

An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains a language-specific script or alphabet, such as Hindi, Chinese, Russian or the Latin-based languages with diacritics, such as French. These writing systems are encoded by computers in multi-byte Unicode. Few domain registrar companies worldwide have started offering IDN registration. Recently I purchased (read Registered) my own IDN अजय.com from one such registrar.  Now, the question comes is that how IDNs can be hosted or accessed? How do one type the internationalized domain name in browser window if (s)he doesn’t has the tools to type in that particular language. Enters Punycode.

Punycode is intended for the encoding of language specific component of the Internationalized Domain Names, such that these domain names may be represented in the ASCII character set allowed in the Domain Name System of the Internet (The encoding syntax is defined in IETF document RFC 3492). This procedure is known as ToASCII and ToUnicode. For example अजय.com in punycode becomes xn--l1b0cxc.com. To host an IDN (domain name containing international (non-English) characters), you need to convert the domain name into “punycode” before entering it into the DNS server. The domain registrar with which you will register the IDN shall provide you punycode equivalent of that IDN. However, you can find one such tool at network tools website.

In my opinion IDNs will take some time to pickup the pace. Moreover, it will add more confusion to already confused common user of internet.

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Upgrade to WordPress 2.8 Now!

The latest version of WordPress, version 2.8 “Baker” (named in honor of noted trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker), has been released on Wednesday, 10 June, 2009 as scheduled. It has several improvements to themes, widgets, taxonomies, and overall speed along with over 790 bugs fixed.

Visually 2.8 doesn’t look much different from 2.7, however once you start digging dip, you’ll notice and begin to appreciate the changes.

Many more domain name extensions pricing takes a nose diving

Seems economic recession has affected Domain registration business too. And, to attract more customers, more and more domain name extensions pricing is being discounted. Recent addition to the list are .TV, .ORG, .MOBI and .US domain names. For a update on promotion pricing for all these domain extensions,

Pricing for all New .IN domain names goes under knife once again

updated: Starting 24th March, Anubhooti Internet is offering all new .IN registrations at Rs. 250/= (US$ 5) per year including .co.in, .net.in, .org.in etc.

After a promotional price cut in 2007 for all .IN registrations, today once again many registrars announced a dip in pricing for all second and third level .IN domain names. As the .IN promotion goes on, pricing for any new .IN domain name has come down to Rs. 500/= (plus / minus Rs. 50 depending on the Registrar). Earlier second level .IN domain names were being sold at Rs. 800/=. Pricing for new third level .IN domain names have come down to Rs. 375/= in comparison to earlier selling rate of Rs. 450/=.

.TEL General Availability Starts Today

Starting 2100 Hrs IST, Today, .TEL will be available for registration to all on first come first served basis. Sunrise period for .TEL started on 03.December.2008 and landrush period started from 03.February.09. Now, anyone can register this tld through ICANN accredited registrars. General Availability registrations will carry a one-year minimum term and are subjected to the standard registration conditions depicted by the regisrar company. For more on .TEL check out detailed .TEL FAQs.

Anubhooti Internet (registrar and host of this blog), in association with DirectI, will make .TEL available for registration at an attractive price of Rs. 600/= (US$ 12) per annum.

PCLZIP_ERR_BAD_FORMAT – WordPress Upgradation Problem

Recently I was asked by a client of mine to upgrade her self-hosted WordPress blog to 2.71. from 2.6. I though it to be a smooth task as this was a pretty new installation without any plugins or themes and I had upgraded at least 10 other self hosted WordPress blogs (far bigger than this one) few days back without any problem. I logged on to the blog’s dashboard and upgrade warning from WordPress was flashing on the screen. I gladly clicked on upgrade button and thought the task is taken care of. But what the hell!!!!

Version 3.0.3 of phpBB (Open Source Forums Software) Released

phpBB Group relesead version 3.0.3 of it’s widely used Open Source Forums solution phpBB. This release addresses numerous stability fixes, performance tweaks and general bugs fixed. Apart from some tiny new features, this version also introduces two major new features: template inheritance and a post-based queue. The new version can be downloaded from http://www.phpbb.com/downloads/.

Verisign Increases Price of Domain Names

Come October 1st, and after an increase in domain name prices in 2007, Verisign is again exercising its contractual right to raise prices. The base registration fees for .com domain names will be hiked to $6.86 from existing $6.42 per .com domain for all registrars. Currently, registrars pay VeriSign $6.42 per .com domain name. This price hike is within maximum 7 percent increase allowable under VeriSign’s contract (which runs through 2012) with ICANN.

Stay out of Trouble with your Adsense a/c using these Tips

Google has very clear guidelines outlined for placement of Adsense ads on any publisher’s website. As per google, “It’s important to consider how your ad implementations affect not only your click-through rate, but your users’ and advertisers’ experience as well”.

Rock bottom prices for .US domain names

After .Net, .In, .Info and .Mobi, now Domain Registrar companies are luring customers to .US domain names by dropping prices sharply. Along with .Info and .Mobi promotions running for quite some time, many registrars, including Anubhooti Internet have announced a dip in pricing of .US domain names.

As per the promotion, pricing for any new .US domain name for an End User has come down to Rs.