Domain Names
In the most recent COM180 class, professor Matt Jackson talked to the class about various internet related issues. The most interesting of the topics covered, in my Communications student opinion, was the concept of domain names for websites. Domain names help identify websites much easier than listing out the IP address linked to the page.
Domain names are run through a DNS system (Domain Name System) that helps translates the domain names into the corresponding IP address for the page. The DNS is a fast moving system as website addresses and locations are added every single day. ICANN oversees the process of the DNS and which companies receive and use the various domain names. With so many companies and websites, there have to be enough top level domains for everyone to use. Some of those include: .com, .org, .gov, .net, .edu and much more.
The thing that caught my interest most about the discussion in class - was the fact that these companies are allowed one unique domain name. For example iTunes.com is what a user has to type into his URL bar in order to get to that website. So what if there is a typo? The user and the company still need reassurance that they will end up at the correct website. The irony of my curiosity was that a story had recently been released about Apple buying domain names that consisted of incorrect spellings of the word iTunes.
The above photo shows some of the various misspelled websites that Apple bought to help direct people to their correct iTunes website. MacRumors.com says that, "All 16 of the misspellings relate to "fat finger" errors, with each containing an extra letter appearing somewhere in the URL and those extra letters falling adjacent to a neighboring correct letter on the keyboard." The idea of a unique domain name and location is scary, because there is the real chance a consumer types the wrong name and never ends up at the desired site. With the steep prices of domain names, Apple is rather fortunate they have enough money in order to help fix this problem.
