GeekLimit

Do you URL?

Posted by taoski | Filed under Web

I have been searching now for a few weeks for my own personal .com domain name so i can overthrow Geeklimit start my own coding and web development. All the good names like taoski.com have already gone and therefore I am stuck searching for something catchy, “web 2.0″ and unique sounding.

However. Do domain names really matter any more?

I can’t think of the last time I passed on a URL to someone in a manual way eg. by mouth. I usually advise them to “check my blog” or “check my del.icio.us links” or something similar. I have even asked people to search Google for “Taoski” to find my blog. Its much easier than reciting “http:// … etc etc”.

All of my important information is now kept online, somewhere. Bank information, credit card details, passwords, addresses, my calendar, my email and even my family tree.

In a world where a person can be defined by an online nickname or avatar and mobile phone numbers are programmed into handsets once and then accessed by the persons nickname or phonebook entry, how important is it to keep information simple for others to interpret? It is no longer a case of making your website name “catchy” or “sticky” you just have to make it easy for people to find you on Google and also easy for them to keep a copy of the website name or URL. Online services such as Del.icio.us and Bloglines allow you to copy and subscribe to the information you find and then it is available anywhere! The use of social linking sites and RSS feeds have overtaken the web recently – and I think they are great!

I foresee an age where all of our personal information could be accessed by some sort of online ID. Our phone numbers, website URLs, addresses and inside leg measurements could be stored centrally and read back by anyone at any time. Not a great thing for those privacy activists out there – but this would probably be an optional service to use.

I remember when personal information services such as Bigfoot were available dierctly through windows (and probably still are). This was one of the first options to sign up to a centralised database of “internet users” so you could find your friends email address. It’s a shame it never took off properly, but with people swapping ISPs every few months and online laws changing all over the world, it’s no suprise that it was not taken up more.

You’ll see. “Google Me” – the “people search engine” will be the next big thing. Remember, you read it here first.

Comments (4) | June 12th, 2006

4 Responses to “Do you URL?”

1. AtariBoy Says:
   June 12, 2006 at 10:40 am

   http://claimid.com

   have you tried this service out? it has only been around a little while but it helps with google page ranking and when people are looking for you.

   my profile: http://claimid.com/atariboy
2. E@zyVG Says:
   June 12, 2006 at 1:14 pm

   Tao, you say that you are now already keeping most of your information, including the ones which are personal and contain some elements of privacy, in online form and that too most probably with 3rd party companies. I am very security paranoid person, and hence I do not practice this.

   The only thing and company I think that has access to my personal stuff, e-mail, is Google. Google few days ago released a firefox extension for syncing all your browser settings, including passwords for sites and cookies, accross your computers, which also implements online service. Guess what, even though this is very convinient, I am not going to be using it. It’s easier for me to have all that on USB stick which is right next to me, hopefully the safest place.

   The idea about Person/People Search Engine indeed sounds very cool.
3. taoski Says:
   June 12, 2006 at 2:59 pm

   Although my info is “Online” it is stored in a random way such that anyone getting into the site/page would not realise what it was.
4. Marion Says:
   June 12, 2010 at 5:45 am

   I really like this blog, keep posting.