Write your name in the stars (not really) (nameplanet.com)

Member Name: campb3ll

Product:	nameplanet.com
Date:	18/07/01 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Catchy email/URL, 5 Mb email storage space, Snazzy voice mail attachments

Disadvantages: No mac support for voice mail, Unusual domain endings

Now I can plaster my name across the internet in all its mundane glory. How can I do this? Well, Nameplanet offers free email and URL forwarding in the form <first name>@<last name>.<weird ending> and http://www.<first name>.<last name>.<weird ending>.

So what the heck is <weird ending> supposed to be? In the course of surfing the net, you'll have noticed that most domain names end with .com, .co.uk or .net. Less commonly known are endings like .to which is widely used in free URL forwarding services and is making a small fortune for the island of Tonga as we speak. This means you too can jump and down with glee at bagging joe@bloggs.as or john@doe.vg.

Signing up is a simple affair. On the home page, you gingerly tap in your first and last names and check to see what's available. This should prove fruitful unless your name is fairly common like John/Jane Smith. (No offence to Ms Smith.) Accept what is offered, or customise it a bit, and fill in the usual demographic data.

Now you're into the good stuff. You can use your painfully simple web based email account with address book (gosh) and folders (wow) as it is and luxuriate in a competitive 5 Mb of storage space. Or you can switch to forwarding to the address of your choice. You can also set up your URL forwarding service - punch in your URL and you're away! On top of this, there are a couple of extras. You can send e-cards, albeit from a limited selection of 6 designs. You can also add a voice message to your emails and send your friends into hysterics at the sound of your tinny electronic voice.

Of course, there are a few drawbacks to Nameplanet. The first one is the insidious advertising that creeps into all free services. There are the usual ad banners on the site pages, a discrete tag at the bottom of your outgoing emails and a small horizontal frame splashed across your web pages whenever you use the URL forwarding service. Speaking of t
he URL forwarding service, you can only use it for personal home pages. Any small businesses hoping to dive in will find their accounts terminated without warning. My final gripe about Nameplanet involves the snazzy voice mail feature. Yes you can, using the web email account, attach a message up to 5 minutes long and store it for your aural pleasure for up to 30 days (accessing it up to 10 times) ... However, I have no idea if it works as you need Windows 95/NT4 or higher to use it. As I am currently writing this on my gorgeous strawberry pink iMac, I obviously don't fall into the Windows based p.c. pigeonhole. On the plus side, though, as long as you do have Windows 95/98/ME/NT4 and a microphone, you are all set to do your infamous Mr Ed the Talking Horse impression. Nameplanet doesn't use any irksome proprietary sofware that requires downloading and the destruction of your immaculate hard drive. No indeed! Instead, a little window will pop up, ready and waiting, for your subsequent embarassment.

Overall, Nameplanet works well as a catchy forwarding service for your email and website. There are better email providers if you're after a web based email account, so forwarding is the only way to go. The e-cards and voice mail aren't the most useful of features but as they are intended as fun extras, I can't really complain. So come on and grab your name before some cybersquatter does ... hang on, what did Nameplanet do? :)

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