Link:
http://dot-tel-domain.tel/
Enjoy!
Monday, 30 August 2010
Why dottel?: Reach me, the exact me you were looking for!
If I had a nickel for every time I've missed an opportunity to get to know a good looking woman on a train because my email is hard to spell or my phone number is too long and random to remember, like the situation in this video, I'd be only slightly richer at this point in my life. In all seriousness though, there is real value in controlling your online identity and providing one easy to remember/shortened mechanism for people to interact with the data that you want them to interact with online. This is the entire premise behind the .tel top-level-domain (TLD) available to everyone via Telnic. A little background as to why this is significant for me. You see the unfortunate thing is this; I have a doppelgänger that lives in South Dakota. I'm quite positive he's not my evil twin however when it comes to sorting out our identities on the Internet things get a little confusing. The "other" Brent Kastner looks similar, likes technology, is a photographer, and loves to waterski. All similar activities that one could mistake for my activities. He also owns brentkastner.com; how that happened I'll never know. This is precisely what I like about .tel. With .tel I can assemble all of the stuff that is "mine" into one page about me along with my picture, bio, interests, and contact info. This in turn will get picked up and indexed by search engines; hopefully above his. Check and Mate other Brent Kastner; we meet again!
Some details about my experience with it:
In the span of about an hour yesterday I set up http://brentk.tel for my personal contact information and ramblings and http://brentkastner.tel for my professional contact information and business affiliations. I registered my domains with name.com and used the .tel profile management tool to add relevant information about me into each domain. Just like creating a regular domain on the Internet I did still need to wait about 24 hours before the DNS changes propagated to DNS servers in my area, but as of this morning it's all up and running fine.
The above is cool, no question about it. What really blew my hair back about this though was the seamless integration of my brentk.tel domain with google apps! In about another 30 minutes I have mail, chat, voice, docs, and calendaring (to name a few apps) for me and up to 50 people that want a@brentk.tel address... For FREE! For me, this takes the capabilities of the .tel concept to the next level of cool. Now I can confidently use a google voice phone number (that isn't my actual cell phone number) as my "global" contact me phone number. I can screen calls, emails, chats, etc all through my .tel email account hosted on google without fear of exposing myself to unwanted spam, cold calls, etc.
Now, the next time I'm on a train I can confidently give brentk.tel for my contact info. She'll be totally impressed! I think I'll order some business cards, plain white, with just brentk.tel on it. Think of this for a moment. Introductions can now be part intro, part research project :).
My wishlist for additional capabilities:
1.) I think it would be great to have a twitter widget that links with my account on my .tel page subject to the same privacy profiling that .tel does so well now. I'd like to show in real-time whats happening in my world as I update it.
2.) It would be awesome if friending features could be integrated with friending in say LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning networks, etc? I'd really appreciate an integrated friends management approach vs. having to maintain a new separate list of friends.
3.) I'd like people without .tel accounts to request to see my information. See point 2, even telfriends is a bit weak in this regard.
4.) I'd like to be able to hang a blog off of blog.brentk.tel, create html content, or do other basic website related stuff here. Envision a day when I don't need any personal site at all, just the stuff contained here.
5.) I'd like to be able to "share" articles, websites, documents, anything available on the web via ShareThis, AddThis, or other sharing platforms directly to my .tel page
--
~Brent Kastner
.
Business cards with Dot Tel name:
Latest business cards with dot tel name arrived from http://goodprint.co.uk. Nice quality and service, as usual.
-------------
.
Some details about my experience with it:
In the span of about an hour yesterday I set up http://brentk.tel for my personal contact information and ramblings and http://brentkastner.tel for my professional contact information and business affiliations. I registered my domains with name.com and used the .tel profile management tool to add relevant information about me into each domain. Just like creating a regular domain on the Internet I did still need to wait about 24 hours before the DNS changes propagated to DNS servers in my area, but as of this morning it's all up and running fine.
The above is cool, no question about it. What really blew my hair back about this though was the seamless integration of my brentk.tel domain with google apps! In about another 30 minutes I have mail, chat, voice, docs, and calendaring (to name a few apps) for me and up to 50 people that want a
Now, the next time I'm on a train I can confidently give brentk.tel for my contact info. She'll be totally impressed! I think I'll order some business cards, plain white, with just brentk.tel on it. Think of this for a moment. Introductions can now be part intro, part research project :).
My wishlist for additional capabilities:
1.) I think it would be great to have a twitter widget that links with my account on my .tel page subject to the same privacy profiling that .tel does so well now. I'd like to show in real-time whats happening in my world as I update it.
2.) It would be awesome if friending features could be integrated with friending in say LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning networks, etc? I'd really appreciate an integrated friends management approach vs. having to maintain a new separate list of friends.
3.) I'd like people without .tel accounts to request to see my information. See point 2, even telfriends is a bit weak in this regard.
4.) I'd like to be able to hang a blog off of blog.brentk.tel, create html content, or do other basic website related stuff here. Envision a day when I don't need any personal site at all, just the stuff contained here.
5.) I'd like to be able to "share" articles, websites, documents, anything available on the web via ShareThis, AddThis, or other sharing platforms directly to my .tel page
--
~Brent Kastner
.
Business cards with Dot Tel name:
Latest business cards with dot tel name arrived from http://goodprint.co.uk. Nice quality and service, as usual.
-------------
.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
How to spice up your Dot Tel domain:
Here are the available templates, from which you can select:
How to set colours for the header and background for Dot Tel domains, using the .tel control panel:
When you are at your controll panel, respectively, dashboard, you go top left and click on the card "Design", and go from there. It is self explaining...
Which brings you up this controll panel:
Select a colour space number (1, 2 or 3):
The colour customising mini panel, that will pop up, looks like this:
In the vertical colour bar, you select a basic colour, for aditional fine tuning:
Then (within the left window) you place the cross on the ring, and move the ring to the right area, that brings up the colour you wish to have. Your selected colour then shows in one of the two small windows, top right within the small controll panel. --> Save your colour choice, with the "save" button, bottom, right side.
To add a logo, you must go back to the main control panel.
However, there are two tutorials. One in french, and another one in German (which will be continued):
1.) http://www.toutpointtel.fr/index.php...mode-d-emploi/
2.)
http://www.tel-blog.de/domaingestalt...reigeschaltet/
.
.
And this is what is possible to create, within the limits...:
We are all aware of the major design shortcomings of Dot Tel Domains. I, for example, will not use anything but the single colour Retro template. However, this Dot Tel Domain organictea.tel, is an excellent example of what can be achieved. It's the best one I have seen yet. Click on the image to see it full size. I like the attention to detail, the rouge on the girls face is the same colour as part of the template. 10/10!
And the following example is shown, if you prefer the "classic" template:
How to set colours for the header and background for Dot Tel domains, using the .tel control panel:
When you are at your controll panel, respectively, dashboard, you go top left and click on the card "Design", and go from there. It is self explaining...
Which brings you up this controll panel:
Select a colour space number (1, 2 or 3):
The colour customising mini panel, that will pop up, looks like this:
In the vertical colour bar, you select a basic colour, for aditional fine tuning:
Then (within the left window) you place the cross on the ring, and move the ring to the right area, that brings up the colour you wish to have. Your selected colour then shows in one of the two small windows, top right within the small controll panel. --> Save your colour choice, with the "save" button, bottom, right side.
To add a logo, you must go back to the main control panel.
However, there are two tutorials. One in french, and another one in German (which will be continued):
1.) http://www.toutpointtel.fr/index.php...mode-d-emploi/
2.)
http://www.tel-blog.de/domaingestalt...reigeschaltet/
.
.
And this is what is possible to create, within the limits...:
An Example of a Beautifully Designed Dot Tel Domain
We are all aware of the major design shortcomings of Dot Tel Domains. I, for example, will not use anything but the single colour Retro template. However, this Dot Tel Domain organictea.tel, is an excellent example of what can be achieved. It's the best one I have seen yet. Click on the image to see it full size. I like the attention to detail, the rouge on the girls face is the same colour as part of the template. 10/10!
And the following example is shown, if you prefer the "classic" template:
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
The Love Train
Adding to the Dot Tel launch hoopla was the infamous Ben.tel video depicting two hormone-laden Brits fighting for the attention of an uptown blonde – all while riding an intercity train. The one who scribbled “Ben.tel” on the window with his opponent’s latte won the girl.
Preselecting phone numbers: Calling from a mobile website integrated .Tel sub domain, via a main .Tel domain. Prior to calling, watch a slide show.
The basic idea:
Viewing a related slide show, prior to making a phone call. Something like this (App.: "Ting!"):
Going from the "Ting!" concept, I suggest the following idea, for a preselect phone dialing:
1.) A Dot Tel domain.
2.) A mobile website.
On that mobile website you have the following:
3.) A slide show, about yourself or your company.
4.) A integrated Dot Tel sub domain which only displays your phone number and email:
(This would better be a sub domain, for economic reasons, as you will want have more contact information on your main Dot Tel domain.)
Conclusion:
Before dialing a number, the potential contact person, can learn a bit more about your company ("mycompany").
Basically, you only provide your phone numbers, on such mobile websites, with a slide show, each, and don't only publish a single phone number on a .Tel.
Because you have a integrated Dot Tel page, in a website, you can do "click to call", from that website.
So, instead of providing a phone link, you would be providing a web link ("Go To my phone number") to a mobile website, that has a mini slide show, providing some specific info about the owner of the phone number, which you might want to contact. This info, will make your decision, weather to call, or not, a hole lot easier.
Can you see, where I am going?...
The smartest thing, would be, to create a mobile website with contact info, as well as a integrated short slide show about you or your company, and have a link going to it, from your Dot Tel domain, instead of providing single phone number links on a Dot Tel domain.
On that mobile website, you would integrate a sub domain of that Dot Tel domain.
Does it sound complicated?:
Well, here is a mind map:
Link to mind map:
http://bubbl.us/view.php?sid=701414&pw=ya5GnofBhbpYAMjJlWUw4Wm0zWHpWbw
www.mycompany.com/mobile
includes:
www.subdomain.mycompany.tel
(from where you can "click to call"),
as well as a
mini slideshow about "mycompany" (which you look at, before you decide to make a call).
The call, is two clicks away, as you click on the link to the (other) mobile website, and from there, you click on the phone number, which is a link on the displayed .Tel sub domain of the .Tel domain, from where you started navigating.
.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Add-ons for Firefox: .tel Info 0.8.1
Add-ons for Firefox:
.tel Info 0.8.1
Works with Firefox: 2.0 – 3.6.
This extension will find any .tel addresses on a webpage and if any are found it will display a purple icon in the status bar and tool bar which can be clicked on to display the .tel information. If the tool bar icon doesn't display it can be added by going to View > Toolbars > Customise and selecting the .tel icon from the list.
Arthur Guy has basically created a simple way for people who are browsing websites to quickly pull .tel contact information from .tel names linked to the site. The first is for Google Chrome and the second is for FireFox. Both plug-ins are easy and quick to install (with Firefox requiring a re-start). Both have an icon that shows that .tel name information is available (Google’s indicator is in the browser bar, whereas FireFox’s is down in the bottom right-hand side of the browser window) and both list all of the .tel names available having automagically verified that they are indeed real by doing a DNS lookup. Both of these plug-ins make it really easy for people to find and utilize contact information from .tel if website owners have linked their websites to this contact information, providing a really easy display of a live ‘contact us’ page integrated with a website but without the user having to navigate to another page to find the information. We’re really pleased that developers are starting to take an interest in .tel and really getting the idea of simple-to-pull contact information being useful to end users.
Download source page:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/107869
Info source (main text):
http://www.telnic.org/blog/2010/03/23/saving-customers-time/
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