Domai.nr attempts to solve one of web development's most pressing creative problems: finding a domain name. The search tool, launched Saturday, offers suggestions for alternative spellings and variations of your keyword, announces its availability and points you in the direction to a domain registrar. The method is in contrast to the previous way to search for a web identity -- a trial-and-error search domain by domain.
Domai.nr takes advantage of the trend by offering a search box with Ajax magic to automatically scour web registries for domains that fit your bill. Domai.nr was built by former Googlers as the first outing for their new start-up, nb.io, a play on the computer science term "non-blocking input/output."
Domain shopping can be a formidable task. Ever since profiteers found selling popular top-level domains can be very lucrative, finding a domain containing practically any word in the dictionary has become almost impossible. In fact, according to site webmaster.info, which claims to know a lot about these things, over 102 million top level domains are currently registered. In comparison, the second edition of the Oxford dictionary has 170 thousand words in it. Your best odds are to hope someone's registration expires and you can swoop in and grab it before someone else does. This is more or less the internet lottery, as some domains have been known to sell for millions.
The latest trend is going beyond the typical ".com" domains and utilizing other top level domains intended for countries, groups and organizations. Del.icio.us (now delicious.com) was early to make this popular. Other sites, like Chi.mp and Drop.io, pop up here and there to make those old .com sites look almost silly. Or is it the other way around?
See Also:
