Coming Soon: Non-Latin Character URLs

Since its inception, the World Wide Web has been dominated by
English. Even websites that use a different language still
use the Latin-character "www" format, with a URL spelled out
with the English alphabet. Well, that domination will soon
come to an end, as Icann, the committee that regulates the
Internet, has begun finalizing steps towards approving web
addresses in non-Latin characters.

Icann plans for the first of the URLs to go up by the middle
of next year, with many more to follow after that. According
to the committee, the shift is natural, as over half of
current Internet users speak a language that does not use the
Latin alphabet.

The plans for the switch first started in 2008, but Icann
officials said testing began much earlier. Currently, Icann
runs the Domain Name System program that converts URLs into
the numerical IP addresses that computers need to actually
speak with one another. Icann began designing software that
can translate Mandarin or Hindi text into IP addresses years
ago, and plan to deploy it within a year.

Right now, China and Thailand already provide services that
translate English alphabet URLs into the local language, but
those services remain unofficial and outside the jurisdiction
of Icann.

So that leaves me about about eight months to learn how to
spell "poker room" in Mandarin. Ni hao, suckers.