At one minute past midnight (UTC) on Thursday, 12 January, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began accepting applications for new generic Top-Level Domains, marking one of the biggest changes in the Internet's evolution.

The new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program will greatly expand the current number of 22 Top-Level Domains (i.e., .com, .gov, .net, etc.) to include almost any word or name. It also allows, for the first time, non-Latin language scripts, such as Arabic, Chinese and Cyrillic to be used in a gTLD.

The new program was approved by ICANN's Board of Directors in June at the 41st public meeting in Singapore, after six years of careful study, discussion and debate. The program's formation was framed by 45 comment periods encompassing more than 2,400 comments and analyses. There were 55 explanatory memoranda or independent reports and 7 drafts of the gTLD Applicant Guidebook.

The first application window for new gTLDs will close on April 12 and soon afterwards ICANN will post on its web site what domain names have been applied for, and by whom.

(Source: ICANN Website)