Google hopes to inherit the Earth — or at least .earth. And Amazon wants to bring you .joy. It's probably no surprise that they both want .you.
Those were among the 1,930 applications for new generic top-level domain names, replacing the ubiquitous .com that we see on most commercial websites in an online land-grab that could be the largest expansion of the Internet's domain-name system — administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
Two companies in particular have a significant number of applications, and several that overlap. Amazon and Google went after .game, .movie, .wow for example.
Amazon seemed to focus on its core with .author, .book, .read and .buy.
Google selected some very interesting plays for specific career areas - .cpa, .esq, .phd and .prof among them. It's also making a play for the family with .baby, .kids, .mom, .dad and .pet. It also went for .day but not .night, apparently.
Google is interested in the .here, and Amazon wants the .now. Amazon wants .zero and Google wants .zip.
Of the more curious ones Google applied for are .lol, .are, .boo, .foo and .rsvp. This may give some insight into what future forays it may have in mind.
Area foreclosure activity declines
Home foreclosure activity in the seven-county Pittsburgh region took a breather in May compared to April and prior months of 2012, said a report from RealtyTrac Inc.,
The Irvine, Calif. industry tracker said the number of filings -- from default notices to sheriff's sales -- dropped to 638 last month. That's a 31 percent drop from April's 924, and about 11 percent below 718 in May 2011.
Foreclosure filings in Western Pennsylvania in the January-March quarter jumped 49 percent from the October-December quarter, and about 26 percent from first-quarter 2011. Mortgage experts said the spike came from lenders and loan servicers resuming foreclosures after settling legal claims they had improperly conducted them.
Nationally, foreclosure filings increased about 9 percent in May over April, and dipped 4 percent from May 2011, said RealtyTrac. Pennsylvania filings were flat in May over April, but 44 percent higher than the year earlier.
JetBlue passengers sue airline over pilot scare
Ten passengers filed a lawsuit Wednesday against JetBlue Airways, claiming they feared for their lives when a pilot had to be physically restrained after running through the cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaida during a New York-to-Las Vegas flight in March.
The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Queens, claims the airline was "grossly negligent" in allowing Capt. Clayton Osbon to fly.
A flight attendant's ribs were bruised as passengers tried to restrain Osbon, but no one on board was seriously hurt. The March 27 flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas.
Osbon faces a hearing Friday in Amarillo to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial. He faces federal charges of interfering with a flight crew. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Social-design site Quirky launches product
Quirky.com, a website that lets users collaborate on designing household products, introduced its first U.S.-manufactured item, a take on the traditional milk crate, on Wednesday.
The storage crates will be sold on the design website Fab.com for the next seven days. Starting on July 1, they will be available at 400 Target stores around the country.
Quirky is one of a growing number of startups based in New York as the city vies to rival Silicon Valley in becoming a technology hub.
Quirky lets people submit inventions that range from kitchen tools to cord organizers to bathroom accessories. The company's designers then work with Quirky's online members to develop their favorite products at a rate of two a week. Quirky keeps the rights to the products and the inventors and Quirky members who gave input on the design get royalties as long as the product is sold.
"We fully manufacture, distribute and take all the financial risk on behalf of the inventor," said CEO Ben Kaufman.
