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AP Photo/Tim Hales

Internet domain names are going to end a little differently from now on

More than 1,000 new domain names such as .box, .day and .now will now be appearing online, alongside traditional domain names like .com and .org.

WEB ADDRESSES ENDING with suffixes like .gallery, .pizza and .science will soon be appearing as the first new domain names are rolled out.

Starting today, more than 1,000 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) names, which will consist of endings such as .box, .day and .now, will go live over the next few weeks.

Up until now, there were only 22 gTLDs in existance such as .com, .net, and .org as well as country-specific domains like .ie.

The new change is to help free up space in a system that’s become too crowded – .com has more than 111 million registrations alone – but critics of the new format have said it will add extra costs and will only be used as a land grab by some of the biggest online companies.

The organisation responsible for this, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) received 1,930 applications for 1,410 unique domain names from 1,000 different groups. Those domain names which received more than one bid will be auctioned off later.

The California-based organisation said that the huge expansion of the internet – with some two billion users around the world, half of them in Asia – means new names are essential.

“This is an historic milestone for ICANN’s New gTLD Program and the Internet as a whole,” said Christine Willett, vice president of gTLD operations. “The year ahead will be defined by new opportunities in a vastly expanding online landscape.”

The new changes also allows those countries who don’t use the latin alphabet to create domain names in their own language.

So far, the first Arabic websites ending in شبكة. (Arabic for “web/network”) went live a day ahead of schedule while other domain names like онлайн (Russian for “online”) and 游戏 (Chinese for “game”) are expected to follow suit.

Also, an internet domain name registery called Donuts has announced it will be adding seven new domain names every week. The first batch released today include .camera, equipment, .estate, .gallery, .graphics, .lighting and .photography.

(Additional reporting from AFP)

Read: Pope Francis says the internet is a gift from God >

Read: The Govt’s new internet safety group met for the first time today >

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Sep 17th 2023, 7:40 AM

    1% of people own 50% of the worlds wealth 10 % owns another 40 % and 89% of us own the last 10 % . How did we allow this to happen and what are we going to do about it

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    Mute WQRu4GUn
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    Sep 17th 2023, 8:18 AM

    @Robert Halvey: capitalism my friend, the only way

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    Mute Gregory Daniel
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    Sep 17th 2023, 8:56 AM

    @Robert Halvey: 20% of people in Ireland pay 80% of annual income tax. How did we let that happen?

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    Mute WQRu4GUn
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    Sep 17th 2023, 9:22 AM

    @: educate me please, I don’t seem to be able to find it!!

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    Mute Lydia Mcloughlin
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    Sep 17th 2023, 11:33 AM

    @Robert Halvey: Insider trading! These people know whats coming down the line and whats a good investment to make at any given time, out govt cronies too! Hell they likely can even influence a lot as well. They invest and they get richer. How can this be stopped – at this point it can’t.

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Sep 17th 2023, 1:00 PM

    @Robert Halvey: they sell crap and you keep buying.

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    Mute DBdTl1WB
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    Sep 17th 2023, 1:19 PM

    @Robert Halvey: they got out their took personal financial risks , succeeded (and several failures) while the rest sat back and expecting the world to do everything for them

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    Mute Donal Ronan
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    Sep 17th 2023, 8:54 AM

    ‘These include tax incentives’
    The Irish Stock Exchange has been dying for years. The brokers milked it for all they could and now that it’s on its last legs, they want a bailout.
    Let the proper part of capitalism take its course and let it sink or swim.
    Stop looking to the taxpayer.

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    Mute Wombleman
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    Sep 17th 2023, 7:42 AM

    The main reason for the switch to US listing for these companies is the surge in indexation in recent years. If a company is listed on a major stock index like the S&P500, for example, any fund tracking that index has to hold your shares.

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    Mute Paul
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    Sep 17th 2023, 8:48 AM

    The ISM is a joke, a bu ch of wanna be Gordon Geckos playing in the paddling pool

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    Mute Tom Newell
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    Sep 17th 2023, 9:28 AM

    Cowboys Ted utter Cowboys….

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    Mute bruce banner
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    Sep 17th 2023, 11:13 AM

    Nothing irish left jeez even the journal is owned by US media corp.

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    Mute Emma Marchand
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    Sep 17th 2023, 1:18 PM

    The Smurfits came from England and created a lot of employment, like the Guinness family I don’t understand what anyone has against them, other than self hatred.

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    Mute BRENDAN O'CONNELL
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    Sep 17th 2023, 2:19 PM

    I have bought Irish stock on nyse as can’t buy on Irish stock exchange as living in US , they have been very well performing over the last 10 years.

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    Mute Mick Hanna
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    Sep 17th 2023, 12:50 PM

    IS profit before people fair Capitalism???

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Sep 17th 2023, 1:06 PM

    @Mick Hanna: fare is fair

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