In this photo taken Friday, June 8, 2012, a domain name poster is displayed at the offices of Artemis Internet, an NCC Group Company in San Francisco. Some 2,000 proposals have been submitted as part... (Associated Press) 
 
 Proposals for Internet addresses ending in ".pizza," `'.space" and ".auto" are among the nearly 2,000 submitted as part of the largest expansion in the online address system. 
 
 Apple Inc., Sony Corp. and American Express Co. are among companies seeking names with their brands. The expansion will allow suffixes that represent hobbies, ethnic groups, corporate brand names and more. 
 
 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced the proposals for Internet suffixes _ the ".com" part of an Internet address _ in London on Wednesday. Among the 1,930 proposals for 1,409 different suffixes, the bulk came from North America and Europe. 
 
 If approved, the new suffixes would rival ".com" and about 300 others now in use. Companies would be able to create separate websites and separate addresses for each of their products and brands, even as they keep their existing ".com" name. Businesses that joined the Internet late and found desirable ".com" names taken would have alternatives. 
 
 From a technical standpoint, the names let Internet-connected computers know where to send email and locate websites. But they've come to mean much more. For Amazon.com Inc., for instance, the domain name is the heart of the company, not just an address. 
 
 Nearly half of the proposals _ 911 _ were from North America and another 675 came from Europe. Only 17 proposals came from Africa and 24 came from Latin America and the Caribbean _ areas where Internet use is relatively low. 
 
 One surprise came from the Asia-Pacific region, which had 303 proposals, or 16 percent of the total. The expansion will lift current restrictions on non-English characters and permit suffixes in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. China has the world's largest Internet population, and there was talk of creating the Chinese equivalent of ".com" and other popular suffixes. 
 
 There were 116 proposals, or 6 percent, for suffixes using characters beyond the 26 English letters. 
 
 Many proposals were duplicates. Suffixes in contention are likely to include ".bank," `'.secure" and ".web." ICANN is encouraging competing bidders to work out an agreement. The organization will hold an auction if the parties fail to reach a compromise. Of the 1,930 proposals, 751 were for 230 different suffixes, while the remaining 1,179 were unique. 
 
 The public can now comment on the proposals. Someone can claim a trademark violation or argue that a proposed suffix is offensive. 
 
 It'll take at least a year or two for ICANN to approve the first of these new suffixes. ICANN will review each proposal to make sure that its financial plan is sound and that contingencies exist in case a company goes out of business. Bidders also must pass criminal background checks. 
 
 Companies and groups had to pay $185,000 per proposal. Suffixes could potentially generate millions of dollars a year for winning bidders as they sell names ending in some of the approved names. Critics of the expansion include a coalition of business groups worried about protecting their brands in newly created names. ||||| By Andrea Swalec 
 
 Technology 
 
 BRUSSELS June 24 (Reuters) - The company that oversees Web addresses is expected to give the go-ahead on Friday for the creation of a .xxx suffix for websites with pornographic content, company officials indicated on Thursday. 
 
 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the Internet on behalf of the U.S. government, has in the past resisted creating a .xxx generic domain name system akin to those for .com and .net. 
 
 It has in recent years repeatedly rejected a request by U.S. company ICM Registry Inc. to sign off on the .xxx domain. 
 
 But members of ICANN's board have argued that in order to maintain neutrality in dealing with domain name assignations, it should create .xxx and allow websites with sexually explicit content to start using the suffix on a voluntary basis. 
 
 "If expedited due diligence results are successful, then staff will proceed into contract negotiations with ICM (over .xxx)," ICANN's general counsel John Jeffrey told delegates at a week-long ICANN meeting in Brussels on Thursday. 
 
 Online pornography is a vast industry. Figures collated by Internet Pornography Statistics suggest more than $3,000 is spent on Internet pornography every second, with "sex" the number one search term in the world, accounting for 25 percent of all Internet searches. 
 
 With an estimated 370 million pornographic websites on the Internet, .xxx could become one of the largest domain name repositories, as big if not bigger than .com. 
 
 But some members of the adult entertainment industry oppose .xxx, saying it will invite censorship and harm their business. Members of the American religious right also oppose its creation on moral grounds. 
 
 ICANN is expected to make a formal announcement on its decision on Friday. (Reporting by Andrea Swalec; Editing by David Holmes) ||||| Economy 
 
 'Pets,' 'Pizza' & 'Porn' Among New Internet Domain Names Sought 
 
 The much-anticipated list of Internet domain names that might soon join such familiar suffixes as .com, .edu and .gov is now online. 
 
 As expected, the nearly 2,000 suffixes that have been requested include some from companies who think they can help brand themselves with web addresses that end with things such as: 
 
 — .apple 
 
 — .bananarepublic 
 
 — .chevy 
 
 — .google 
 
 — .lamborghini 
 
 Also as expected, there are those that entrepreneurs hope will be cash cows, including: 
 
 — .porn 
 
 — .pets 
 
 — .pizza 
 
 And, of course: .sex. 
 
 As we've previously reported, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is looking to expand the list of domain names so that just about any word in any language could become part of web addresses. 
 
 But, it's aiming to do it in an orderly fashion. The Associated Press writes that:
– ICANN today revealed the 1,409 suffixes that companies are clamoring to add to our Internet lexicon, and they run the gamut from .porn to .pizza to .paris, reports NPR. A number of companies got in on the action, with who-cares-about-brevity proposals including .lamborghini, .pamperedchef, and .bananarepublic. The 1,930 proposals, which cost $185,000 a pop, include some duplicates (no big surprise that more than one entity wants to lay claim to .bank). ICANN hopes competing bidders can resolve their claim amongst themselves; if not, ICANN will auction off the in-demand suffix. The public is also allowed to weigh in and blow the whistle on a trademark violation or protest any suffix they find in poor taste. The AP expects it will take as long as two years for ICANN to OK the suffixes. Click to see all the proposed suffixes; our favorite: .mrmuscle.