Get an ".eu" root domain if you or your company has any connection with the European Union ? or suffer regrets later for not having what I believe will be a key Internet geographical name.

The country code top-level domain (ccTLD), which is used as a suffix in an Internet address, became live on December 7. The new root code is restricted to individuals, businesses and other rights holders who are resident or living in the bloc.

Which leaves most people out, except if you have a postal address in one of the 25 countries of the EU, or a registered office, which is the case with a good slice of Bermuda's companies. CcTLDs designate geographical areas, allowing you to create specific Internet domain names for them.

The ".bm" ccTLD for Bermuda is one example.

Many international businesses get multiple domain names with the ccTLDs of the places they operate. EurID, the European registry in charge of the ccTLD, has divided the roll out of ".eu" into two phases. The sunrise period for registration ends on April 7.

Registration during this period is open only to holders of certain "prior rights", such as those with trademarks, or protected names.

Individuals who want to apply for a domain with their family name, or are a prior rights holder to distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works, can do so from February 7.

The land rush, as EurID calls it, begins on April 7 and is open to all who cannot back up their claim to a domain name with documentary evidence.

You buy your .eu domain name through a number of licensed registrars online. A list and set of links to them is available at EurID here: www.eurid.eu.

You can check if the domain address is available at www.whois.eu.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is the validation agent for all ".eu" applications, meaning all your documentation will have to pass through them.

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China overtook the US in 2004 to become the world's leading exporter of information and communications technology (ICT) goods such as mobile phones, laptop computers and digital cameras, according to the OECD.

China exported $180 billion worth of ICT goods in 2004, compared with US exports in the same category valued at $149 billion.

Why is this important? Look at the falling prices for many of such goods around you, then you'll understand.

Wikipedia, the online collaborative encyclopaedia that is a work in progress, has taken some heat in recent weeks over the inaccuracies and plain misinformation being posted by contributers.

The encyclopaedia had to tighten its submission rules this month after people accused of dastardly acts within its pages threatened legal action unless the offending statements were removed.

This is the start of professionalising Wikipedia, which has relied on the honesty of its contributors and the error or dispute resolution system. Users corrected each other, working collaboratively to build up information on topics.

Entries over which there was a dispute were marked as disputed. Previously this worked well to keep the work credible. But the site has grown past its original small beginnings to become a sprawling work in which it is increasing impossible to correct wrong or malicious entries as they appear.

Look what happened to US journalist John Seigenthaler, who found that an entry in Wikipedia implicated him in the Kennedy assassinations. On phoning Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, Seigenthaler was told there was no way to find out who had libelled him. Wikipedia has since removed the entry. The encyclopaedia now requires users to register before they can create articles.

This will not prevent people from posting wrong information, but it should make it a few steps harder for them to do so. For the record Seigenthaler was Robert Kennedy's administrative assistant in the early 1960s.

In an article for USA Today, Seigenthaler called Wikipedia a "flawed and irresponsible research tool".

I would not go so far as to write off Wikipedia. I often use it as a quick reference point when writing articles about stuff I don't know too much about (which is more often than I care to admit).

But I would never trust what it says given how it is being built. Instead I will get confirmation from a more credible site or directly from an expert.

The good thing is that Wikipedia entries often include the links back to the original sources. As an aside, I note that the author of the false Seigenthaler entry has confessed, claiming that he only made the false claim as a "joke".

Brian Chase, an employee of a Nashville delivery company, said he inserted the false online biography as a prank on a co-worker. He has since been fired from his job. To his credit Seigenthaler has asked the company to rehire him.