

.io domains with 3 letters remaining - mike_tan
http://pastebin.com/wzWcy253

======
russellbeattie
I wrote this simple python script w/ dictionary file to check free .io domains
based on ~18,000 basic words: <https://gist.github.com/russellbeattie/4982393>
It uses the fact that nic.io's whois response is fast and simple.

~~~
nodesocket
Here is the output as of 05/10/13 1:07 AM (Pacific).

<https://gist.github.com/nodesocket/5553079>

How hard would it be to make your python script spawn multiple whois lookups?
Waiting on a single takes forever.

~~~
nodesocket
Amazed how many good names are still available. Looking to do a real-estate
startup? How about:

    
    
        crib.io (available)

~~~
mtowle
Pokemon startup?

    
    
        mew.io (available)

------
josteink
I hate to be that guy who posts this sort of comment. Especially on HN. But
still: Someone has to say it.

Pointless hipster-TLD is pointless. Utterly pointless.

~~~
rdl
Very short names _are_ useful for link shortening. There are good reasons to
pick names out of the "gTLDified" ccTLDs for that. IO isn't even a real
country, so it's a better choice for ccTLD abuse than something totally stupid
like LY.

~~~
josteink
So it's less stupid than something utterly stupid. Great.

And then people choose to base the _core identity_ of their company/service on
that. Needless to say, I wish them greatness.

~~~
rdl
I think it's totally responsible to have a shortener in a gccTLD as an adjunct
to your main brand. e.g. quora.com has qr.ae as a link shortener.

I'm sort of against the whole concept of link shorteners, too, but if they're
run by the site themselves, long-lived, and otherwise don't break the
expectations of URLs/URIs, then they might make sense for mobile and type-in
use.

------
skcin7
Could somebody explain to me the imporance of .io domains in today's market?
It seems they are very hot right now, especially in the startup world and I
think they could even become as popular as .com.

~~~
rallison
The main reason that this TLD has recently gained traction is due to google
adding .io to their generic country code top level domain (gccTLD) list:

[https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en...](https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1347922)

~~~
josteink
Not entirely accurate.

That all happened _after_ hipsters squatting these domains cried Google a
whaaambulance over not getting the search-rank they felt they "deserved".

Something else made these utterly pointless domains popular before that, but
what that was, I don't know.

~~~
kybernetyk
> Something else made these utterly pointless domains popular before that, but
> what that was, I don't know.

Possibly 'io' being short for input/output. The first .io domains I remember
were some programmer blogs/personal sites. Now they are just over used.

------
rallison
Sidenote: I am enjoying all of the current interest in the .io domain
(speaking as someone who owns a few .io domains). As a recent addition to
google's gccTLD list, it still has a ton of great names available. Part of
this is no doubt due to the higher registration costs. Part, however, is
likely due to the fact that .io was only recently upgraded to gccTLD status.

Also, the most reasonable .io registrar I've found is gandi at $40. Out of
curiosity, has anybody found anything less expensive from a reliable
registrar?

~~~
NKCSS
Lol, I paid €84 :P I guess it pays to shop around a bit first :)

------
FramesPerSushi
Nice, lots of cool stuff in there. I also made a tool that searches for all
available 2 letter .io domains at any given time.
<http://framespersushi.com/lab/two-letter-io/>

~~~
berendhh
So, are there any left?

~~~
rallison
The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is, yes, but no two letter
domains remain. Can you register something like d3.io? Yes. Can you register
something like dx.io? No.

~~~
FramesPerSushi
Last time I checked, there were some left without numbers. However they all
had the letter Q in them, which people seem to hate.

~~~
rallison
Nope, not any more. Assuming your tool is correct (which, from checking other
sources, it appears to be), all two letter io domains are taken, even those
starting with q. There are still a decent number of letter + number domains
[1], along with a ton of three letter domains.

[1] I posted a list of letter + number .io domains recently:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5672237> \- most are still available,
but some were immediately taken due to the post and due to FramesPerSushi's
tool (which I found rather useful).

------
dreen
Can anyone recommend a good registrar for buying these?

~~~
rallison
gandi.net. $40/year (not cheap, but cheaper than most).

~~~
wcfields
Biggest hurdle for .io for novelty use.

------
msvan
Stop whining about .io being a "hipster" TLD. Hipster is just a slanderous
term for someone whose interests aren't exactly aligned with yours. Live with
it.

.io is great because it has not been polluted by squatters and excessive usage
over the past 20 years. The price of .io hopefully discourages wasteful
registration, and it's a TLD used mostly by the tech savvy community, so it
won't get polluted too soon. If you're in the tech community and you want a
nice domain name, go for .io.

------
shitlord
I can't believe nobody took vag.io. Then again, there's not much you can do
with it due to the ridiculous rules on .IO domains.

~~~
jaredstenquist
or tit.io, but I just decided to buy it.

~~~
rallison
Given the rules on the domain, do you have any specific plans for your shiny
new domain?

~~~
claudius
A tit fan page, of course, with subdomains for the blue tit, coal tit etc.

------
wwweston
Not available:

ruf.io (would have been great for Dante Basco) sud.io (would have been great
for Phil Collins)

------
mmieszek
I have a spare domain pin.io. If anyone has good usage for it please let me
know at marcin.mieszek@gmail.com.

~~~
ElbertF
I have <http://readwrite.io> and a few others. Click through for my email
address.

------
JosephRedfern
I don't think that this list is exhaustive. jmr.io (my initials) isn't on that
list, but it's available.

