.ly domain name registration final.ly open

I'm not exactly sure how fresh this news is, but apparently the company that was supposed to be handling registration for Libya's .ly top-level domain name but had utterly failed to do so since April 2004 has been given the boot. As of October 14 of this year, .ly registration is in the more capable hands of GPTC, Libya's General Post and Telecommunications Company. Why is this news? Because now .ly domain name registration is open to everybody, everywhere, at LibyanSpider.com, and there are a ton of great names still available, especially if you're a fan of "domain hacks" a la del.icio.us and peter.roj.as. Over at his blog Duane Johnson lists a bunch that are still available, like emi.ly, bare.ly, real.ly, gnar.ly, simp.ly, superb.ly, and unfortunate.ly. And if that's not enough, here's 10 freebies from me: pear.ly, whee.ly, wry.ly, queer.ly, tragical.ly, magical.ly, fol.ly, mol.ly, sole.ly, and gol.ly.

So, what's the catch? Well, whether you'd consider it a catch depends on how much cash you have: a .ly domain name will cost you $150 per year. So if you're just looking for a vanity domain, you might consider looking elsewhere. However, if you're looking for a memorable domain name for your new Web 2.0 start-up, $150 might be a steal.

Tags: .ly, domain hacks, domain name, DomainHacks, DomainName, gptc, libya, ly, registrar