This is just a really quick article to let you know that there has literally just been a Google PageRank update!
Despite being less than three months old, Technology Bloggers has manged to achieve a PageRank of 2! This is truly amazing and wonderful news for everyone in the community!
Check out your site(s) and see if you have had any changes. If so, let us know!
For more information on PageRank, please check out these resources:
I hope the update has been good to you too 🙂
In the last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) have decided to vote in favor of increasing the number of domain name suffixes available.
This is one of the biggest changes to the structure of the internet ever seen. Very soon domain names (the URL/web address) will be able to end in almost any word from any language. For example, in the future, Technology Bloggers could move from TechnologyBloggers.org to TechnologyBloggers.tb (for technology bloggers) or TechnologyBloggers.tech, or . almost anything!
Next year ICANN will begin taking applications from all sorts of different organisations for their preferences over what new domain name suffixes are to be created.
So what are the benefits and drawbacks of this decision to increase the availability of domain names?
Many domain names may become cheaper to buy, as if there are many more domain names available, simple supply and demand brings the price down, as there is a more diverse supply of domain names, therefore the price should in theory come down.
It could be easier for people to get hold of a domain name they want, as if .com and .org are taken, (for example) then they may be able to have .site (for example) instead.
Furthermore, people will be able to be able to choose much more topic specific URL’s for their website. This could help improve URL description. For example, if the domain suffix .blog was opened up, you would no longer need to have the domain ‘pastablog.com’ as the .blog domain would give away the fact that the site is a blog, so this particular domain name could be shortened to ‘pasta.blog’ a much simpler and easier to remember system.
If we get loads of new domain names suffixes it could be a nightmare trying to remember URL’s. Currently there is a relatively small (around 20-25 excluding regional variations) finite amount of suffixes it could be, however this may not be the case in future.
To add to this, the availability of many more domain names is likely to dramatically increase the amount of internet spam and potential fraud, as it would be much easier to fool users into giving details to a bogus site, it there were no universally recognised ‘quality’ suffixes i.e. .com and .org.
To apply for a new suffix costs over £100,000, so it looks like it will be a very costly process if such a fund is needed to perform the transition. If it does cost this much, it is likely that the current global internet giants are likely to ‘mop up’ any new domain names that are relating to their company before others even get chance. This would mean that despite the increase in suffixes, the choice that people have is still relatively small.
What’s your opinion? Is this going to be a massive leap forward for a web, or will the idea fall flat on it’s face?
Want to do your bit for your country? Join the forces and fight for your freedom? Many people do.
However, wouldn’t it be so much better if you could do it from a comfy chair, in a climate controlled building, with tea and biscuits on hand?
When you think of the front line, you usually think of solders in action, often in hostile, dangerous conditions. However in our new ‘cyber’ world, the front line is more the back offices. More and more, the threats to our security are not physical, but cyber.
This is why the UK government have set up Cyber Security Challenge UK. Cyber Security Challenge UK is a project that hopes to encourage individuals into the security industry.
In the future it is likely that our wars are not going to be as defined as country versus country, but rather hackers versus data owners. This means that anti-virus firms, and the military will need to work very hard to keep our country safe.
Imagine what would happen if the banking system got hacked. Everyone’s theoretical money could potentially be wiped, and we would have no clue who owned what. Imagine a leading brand had a virus infect their entire internal network.
Cyber threats are becoming more and more real, and more and more scary.
If you think that you could be up to the challenge to become a ‘security champion’ head over to cybersecuritychallenge.org.uk and have a go at their challenges.
The challenges are a series of online games and competitions to test your cyber security abilities, to see if you could train to become a defender of computers.
If you are successful, you may be offered a job or funded through training, so it’s worth a try – you never know, you may discover some hidden potential!
Could you work for an anti-virus firm or the government to protect people against cyber crime/attacks?