Hacker News Reader

Google is not just a registrar, but a registry, with 19 TLDs that they will operate: https://www.google.com/registry/

They're in the domain business now, and I don't think they're going to drop out any time soon.

I see the first popular attempt to register if .NEWS is available is hacker.news.

> This does seem entirely like a whimsical side project for Google. If you want a reliable domain registrar, find one that doesn't do anything else.

Seems pretty logical to me considering they have a very popular email and cloud business that requires you to have a domain.

Google closing down the radio & tv ads business (c. 2009) was a function more of an acquisition that went badly and an industry that was loathe to change - so imho don't think there's a great corollary here.