NEW YORK - New Internet addresses for general use could start appearing in the summer of 2008 under a timeline the Internet's key oversight agency announced Thursday.

Domain names are key for helping computers find Web sites and route e-mail. There are currently about 250 domain name suffixes, most of them for specific countries such as ".fr" for France. General-use names include ".com" and ".net."

ICANN solicited additional applications in 2004 and has approved six regional or industry-specific names, such as ".travel" and ".asia," while rejecting ".xxx" for the adult entertainment industry.