A top-level domain is the partof an Internet address after the dot.The most common of what are calledgeneric top-level domainsare dot-com, dot-net and dot-org.There are twenty-two generic top-leveldomain names currently available.But get ready for many, many more.The international organizationthat controls these nameswill begin accepting applicationsfor new ones in January.This will open the doorto dot-just-about-anything.Brad White is with ICANN,the International Corporationfor Assigned Names and Numbers.BRAD WHITE: "What we're talking about doingwith the new generic top-level domain programis blowing the lid off that ceiling of twenty two.The interest is there to expand that.We no longer have to keep this to twenty-two.It can be almost any word combination.It can be in non-Latin characters,which is extremely importantif you happen to speak Russianbecause of the Cyrillic alphabet,or Arabic, or Chinese."ICANN officials met last month in Dakar, Senegal.Brad White says they discussed the new programfor what are known as gTLDs.BRAD WHITE: "This marks one of the biggest changesin the Internet's domain name system,the addressing system of the Internet,that has ever occurred.We want to make sure that the process of getting these gTLDsinto the Internet's root is methodical, careful and thoughtful."Anyone can apply, including businesses,governments and individuals.The cost of a new name:one hundred eighty-five thousand dollars.BRAD WHITE: "That's the cost that we've determinedthat is necessary to make sure that the applicanthas the technical savvy to run an Internet registry,that there is no intellectual propertyor trademark problems, so on and so forth.But that hundred and eighty-five thousandis miniscule compared to the cost of actuallyoperating an Internet registry."In Dakar, ICANN passed a resolution to considercreating a support system to help rising economieswith limited financial resources.For example, ICANN says Africa represented less thantwelve percent of Internet growth worldwide in the last ten years.Mister White says that is slowly beginning to change.BRAD WHITE: "It is a continent with many nationsthat are just now discovering the Internet,and what it brings to bear in terms of information flow.And we didn't want the advent of new gTLDSto in any way block that sort of entree into the Internet,and if anything to see how they might be usedto facilitate those who are interested.It's another way to increase Internet penetrationaround the world."ICANN will accept applicationsfrom January twelfth to April twelfth.Officials plan to publish a listof all of the proposed new names in May.Mr. White says the approval process that followswill take several months, and it could take up to a yearfor new names to become active.ICANN says it will approve no more thanone thousand new generic top-level domains each year.And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report,online at 51voa.com-- or maybe we should think of something new.