INTERNET

Wolfgang Puck Grabs ".food"

Chef wants to control top level domain name.

Chef and frozen-food magnate Wolfgang Puck announced this week that he will be applying for the top level domain name (TLD) ".food". If Puck's application is approved, all of his online ventures will end in .food and he will have control over determining which sites other than his own may use the .food TLD—which means that should any other sites want to use the .food url-ending they'll have to pay Puck for the privilege. “That really sounds like the future of the dot business,” Puck said. “I believe in the future, .com and .org won't be as big anymore. I think .com is going to be overloaded.” According to the Wall Street Journal, there are only 21 TLDs in use (.com, .org, .net, .edu, etc.), plus 234 url-endings based on country names, such as .us or .uk. But the non-profit organization that manages Web addresses, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will begin accepting applications for 500 new TLDs in April 2010. Thinking about .icanhascheezburger? Think again: the application fee is $185,000 and all applicants must submit a business plan and proof that they can properly manage the TLD.