It's great to have the new site up and running. There are still a few minor tweaks to make and features to add, but you'll see all of that happening throughout the spring.

If you've seen the latest issue, you may have noticed that I'm the writer of our new last-page column, The Outside Track. While I'm a domain owner (3 or 4 dozen names), my major experience is in media, cultivated with myriad roles in print and web publication. With The Outside Track, my aim is to bring a jack-of-all-trades perspective to issues that have an impact on the web development and domain industries.

The first edition of the column, Digitally Inflicted Sinophobia, touches on the effect of the rift between Google and China. At the time of printing it was probable, but not yet certain, that Google would cease doing business there. If Google.cn did shut down, I asked how the aftershocks would affect other foreign companies doing business there.

Since that time, GoDaddy and Network Solutions have both stopped selling .cn names, mostly owing to new regulations handed down by the Chinese Government requiring that the identities of .cn name owners be meticulously documented. Will it make a difference? Mostly for their PR, but not so much for China. After all, the ouster is a win for Baidu.cn, the top Chinese search engine. While retaining massive market leadership when Google was in town, their departure means that any market share clawed away by the foreign giant will most likely return to Baidu.cn.

But enough of my armchair economics...time to get off the blog and back to working on the next issue!