Arabic on the Net

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Just so you know: according to ICANN, today was “the most significant day” since the launch of the internet. Why? Because for the first time ever, you can type in a full URL, including the top level domain name, in a non-Latin alphabet. Namely, Arabic:

One of the first websites with a full Arabic address is the Egyptian Ministry of Communications. Egypt’s communication and information technology minister Tarek Kamal told the Associated Press that three Egyptian companies were the first to receive registrar licences for the ‘.masr’ domain, written in Arabic.

Other countries will get top level domains in Arabic shortly, and further non-Latin alphabets are in the works. So now you know.