Plans are moving ahead to radically alter the way web addresses are structured in the coming years. Starting as early as 2012, the importance of .com might begin to wane as Generic Top Level Domains (GTLD) begin to show up. Instead of going to a .com address, the domain could be the name of the company. For example support.microsoft might exist as a legitimate address.

It's going to be a different world. Companies that use GTLDs would not just buy  domain from a registrar. They would have to apply to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) directly. It's going to cost some serious change to apply. The application fee is nearly $200,000. But you better believe people will pay it to get very common words, like .search or .hotel as their own personal domain. 

Unlike the wild west of domain names now, ICANN will be working to ensure branded names, like IBM, McDonald's,  or Google, aren't bought up by third parties. There is a trademark dispute system in place for thise times when two entities have legitimate claim to the same name. Do you think .com will go away, or are GTLDs going to just be a sort of shorthand?

As we barrel headlong into a future of HTML5 video online, many have wondered aloud if the closed H.264 video codec is the way to go. The company that manages the patent pool for the video compression standard, MPEG LA, has made an announcement today aimed at quelling those fears. According to MPEG LA, they will never charge for the use of the codec in free video streams.

The open source Firefox browser has refused to include the closed H.264 codec this far. Google itself has been developing an open alternative called WebM. HTML5 is not tied to H.264, and could theoretically use any codec, but H.264 has the early lead. More than likely, any HTML5 video you've ever seen has been H.264.

The announcement from MPEG LA is certainly good, but it leaves a lot of wiggle-room. Paid streams might still need to pay licensing fees down the road. Companies using H.264 encoders/decoders would also have to pay up. MPEG LA has also made noise about assembling a patent pool to go after anyone using WebM. So even that standard may not end up royalty free. What do you think should be the format of the future?

Intel hasn't had much to say about their Light Peak technology since it was first shown off at last year's Intel Developer's Forum. But now they've produced a demo laptop with the new data interconnect standard built in. In the demo, Intel fitted a standard USB cable with the Light Peak optical cables, and ran 2 HD video streams through it. The technology uses a 12mm chip at each end of the connection that converts light into computer bits.

Intel hopes that Light Peak will eventually replace USB, DisplayPort, DVI, eSATA,  and HDMI. The first generation of the technology should be capable of 10Gb/sec bidirectional data transfers. The current USB 3.0 standard is capable of only 4.8Gb/sec. "We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You'll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection." said Intel's Justin Rattner.

Intel has delayed the integration of USB 3.0 technology in their chipsets until sometime next year, and many feel this is a ploy to weaken USB, making Light Peak a stronger competitor. According to Intel, Light Peak will be available to manufacturers by the end of the year. Would you be ready to jump to Light Peak for your devices?

Image via PC Pro