ICANN names new CEO as gTLD director resigns

By Andrew Couts June 22, 2012

ICANN names new CEO — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit that oversees the Internet domain address system, named Fadi Chehade its new chief executive today following the expected resignation of its current CEO, Rod Beckstrom, a former U.S. cybersecurity chief whose three-year contract with the organization ends on July 1.

Chehade, a 50-year-old Egyptian and American businessman with experience “building consensus” at companies like IBM, according to the Associated Press, but without a solid background in ICANN’s primary operations, will begin his tenure on October 1.

ICANN Chief Operations Office Akram Atallah will serve as acting CEO until Chehade assumes his position this fall.

In addition to its new CEO, ICANN also announced that the leader of its generic top-level domain (gTLD) program, Michael Salazar, has resigned. Kurt Pritz will take over as interim gTLD Program Director. ICANN has not yet announced a permanent replacement to Salazar.

The ICANN leadership shakeup comes amidst the largest domain name expansion in the history of the Internet. Soon, familiar top-level domains, like addresses ending in .com, .net, .co, or .org, will be joined by hundreds of new suffixes, including endings like ..google, .news, .app, .love, .wtf and .blog.

Currently, there are 208 country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), but only 22 gTLDs. But that number is about to explode into the hundreds. ICANN has received more than 1,900 applications for a total of 1,409 new domain suffixes — a process that has been riddled with controversy. Many organizations and companies feared that the gTDL expansion would lead to an endless amount of domain name squatting, with rivals or other entities snagging domains linked to specific brands, like .coke or .apple. (ICANN has reassured that its application approval process will stop such actions.) And earlier this month, a software glitch exposed sensitive details about the new gTDL applicants.

Needless to say, Chehade has his work cut out for him.

To view the full list of new gTLDs, click here.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…

Computing

How to change your Gmail password

pilot testing drivers licenses internet rolls two us states password

Changing your Gmail password is incredibly important for your online security. If you're anything like the average user, your Gmail account is linked to dozens of other organizations and programs – and if your account gets hacked, there's no telling what sort of damage can be done.

Because of this, it's crucial to change your Gmail password at regular intervals. Google makes this a rather painless process, and it should take no more than a few seconds from start to finish.

Computing

Best Buy deals: Save on laptops, TVs, appliances, and more

best buy shuts down insignia line smart home products store 2 768x768

Best Buy is always a great retailer to turn to if you’re looking for some savings. There are almost always Best Buy deals taking place on TVs, appliances, and devices we use to navigate the digital world. In fact, right now at Best Buy you can find some of the best TV deals, best laptop deals, and best phone deals that can be shopped, and we haven’t even mentioned the deals on tablets and home audio equipment currently taking place at Best Buy. We’ve rounded up all of the best Best Buy deals you can shop right now and categorized them for your convenience below, so read onward for some great opportunities to save.
Best Buy TV deals

There may be no better place to purchase one of the best TVs than Best Buy. There is almost always some huge savings to find on TVs at Best Buy, and that’s certainly the case right now. You’ll find deals top TV brands like Sony, Samsung, and LG, and more budget-friendly brands like TCL and Hisense are in play, too.

Computing

What is an RSS feed? Here’s why you should still use one

A person using a HP ENVY x360 2-in-1 15.6-inch Touch-Screen Laptop sitting on a bed.

It can be tough to keep up with what's happening online. You might even try several different ways, including visiting specific websites every day, doing Google searches, or relying on social media timelines and news feeds to keep yourself informed. But another solution that sometimes gets overlooked is an old-school one: The RSS feed.

What is an RSS feed? It's a technology that has influenced many modern internet tools you're familiar with, and its streamlined, algorithm-free format could make it your next great tool for reading what you want online.
What is RSS?
What RSS stands for depends on who you ask. The main consensus is that it stands for "Really Simple Syndication." But you may also hear that it stands for "Rich Site Summary." At its heart though, RSS essentially refers to simple text files with necessary, updated information -- news pieces, articles, that sort of thing. That stripped-down content gets plugged into a feed reader, an interface that quickly converts the RSS text files into a stream of the latest updates from around the web.