Did you get in on the ground floor of those great .nu addresses? (You know, like whats.nu. How about the .tv domain? (Perfect for every broadcaster.)

Well, those are places. The .nu is the Pacific Island nation of Niue. And .tv is the Pacific Island nation of Tuvulu.

And they're in trouble. Big trouble.

The trouble comes from typhoons. You may know 'em as hurricanes. Niue was hit last month by Typhoon Heta, as premier Young Vivian was in New Zealand arranging his wife's funeral. (Breaks your heart. The scene to the right is from the BBC coverage of the devastation.)

Today warnings have been issued again for Niue, along with Tuvulu and other island states in the region, against Typhoon Olaf.

Olaf is a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the biggest they got. (Makes what Florida got last summer look like a mild squall.) And there's a chance it might combine with another storm, named Nancy (which is now off the Cook Islands) to form a super-storm.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled tech blog.