Tag: BIT.LY

Rejoice ye programmers! You can now access Google's URL shortener via a simple API. It can either be accessed in a brute-force "gimme a short link now" way; or you can make authenticated requests, which puts shortened URLs into your Goo.gl dashboard, allowing clickthroughs to be analyzed. In the announcement, Google also points to Royal Pingdom's research into the fastest and most reliable URL ...

Bit.ly recently released link bundles -- a feature that lets you share multiple URLs using the same shortened bit.ly link -- but it's not the easiest feature to use. The Tab Bundles extension for Chrome makes copy-pasting links into bit.ly a thing of the past, by allowing you to bundle all your currently-open tabs with one click. Tab Bundles works with both bit.ly and j.mp (a bit.ly-owned even ...

There's a big crop new extensions showing up which take advantage of Google Chrome's new context menu API, and that's great news for those of you who can't live without your right-click menu. You can see a pair of newer extensions in my screenshot -- and while I'm not certain I'll be using the tab switcher, Copy Short URL is probably here to stay. Just right-click a link and left-click and ...

Fur.ly is a slick looking service that takes multiple URLs and spits back one short URL (I got http://fur.ly/1b3b when I tried it). When someone clicks your URL, they are directed to the first site, and they will see a Digg-like bar at the top of the screen. The bar shows that you're currently viewing site "1 of 4," and it gives you Next/Previous buttons that you can click to switch to the next ...

Download Squad readers haven't been shy about voicing their general distaste for the bazillion different short URL services out there. As if you needed another reason, a new report shows -- in USA Today style graphical goodness -- just how much they suck. Over at WatchMouse, you'll find a rundown comparing 14 popular options including goo.gl, tr.im, bit.ly, and the other usual suspects. The ...

There are dozens of URL shortener available on the web like tr.im, bit.ly, and goo.gl, to name just a few. They all take long URLs and squeeze them into fewer characters to make a link that is easier to share, tweet, or email to friends. It's about using the smallest space possible: On Twitter or instant message status even a 60 character long URL can be too long. For example the URL ...

We've written before on Download Squad about Bit.ly's plans to offer a premium service, including custom URL shorteners like the ones they provide for sites like The New York Times. Well, Bit.ly Pro has entered a public beta phase now, and you don't have to be the New York Times to get your own free, custom shortURL. All you have to do is sign up for a Bit.ly account and find a way to register ...

Bit.ly is the reigning champion of URL shorteners, largely thanks to its position as the default shortURL provider for Twitter. Twitter isn't the only bigtime site that will be relying on Bit.ly now, though. A new Pro version of the service, currently in beta, provides custom URL shorteners for web publishers, and it's starting with The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and ...

I'm a fan of just about anything which helps make the web a little safer for my friends, family, and customers. So I was excited to read that Twitter's favorite link shortening service, bit.ly, is working to check every URL they process for malicious code. With about 40,000,000 links in their database and a firmly-established position as the top short link provider on Twitter, this is great ...

For quite some time we all wondered when developers would start rolling out Google Chrome extensions. It was pretty slow going at first, but things have started picking up lately -- possibly due to the imminent launch of the official Google Chrome Extensions Gallery. Gallery or not, I'm happy to keep checking out what's new at ChromeExtensions.Org. Today's find is ChromeMUSE, which adds ...

Bit.ly has added a handy new feature this morning. While it's being reported elsewhere as "file uploading," a more accurate description is media sharing. The added kung fu is provided by yFrog -- which will no doubt get the rumor mill buzzing about Twitter taking their new funding and snatching up Imageshack, who own yFrog. Submit a supported file - jpg, png, gif, bmp, tiff, swf, flv, pdf, ...

Still concerned about whether or not your favorite URL shortening service is going to go belly-up and leave you with a pile of broken links? Hedge your bets with MURLS. The tiny, portable application is plugged in to 28 different services including popular ones like bit.ly, tr.im, is.gd, and tinyurl. Each shortener is selectable in the MURLS options screen, so you can create as few or as many ...

Bit.ly dominates the URL shortener market due to its position as the default URL shortener on Twitter, but its features also measure up well against competitors. One area where Bit.ly loses out, though, is in the length of its base URL. Bit.ly is one more character than tr.im or ow.ly and two more than u.nu. Bit.ly is addressing that (relatively small) weakness by introducing j.mp, which is just ...

The drama around URL shorteners doesn't appear to be ending any time soon. Here's a quick recap, for those who haven't been following: Tr.im, the fourth most popular URL shortening service, shut down because of the insurmountable advantage its competitor, Bit.ly, gets as a result of being the default URL shrinker on Twitter. A couple of days later, Tr.im was back, still angry about the ...

In the aftermath of the quick shutdown and restart of popular URL shortening service Tr.im, several important players in the short URL market have joined an effort to archive short links in case other services shut down. The coalition is called 301works, and it will be run by Gnip. Other participants include Adjix, awe.sm, betaworks, Cligs, URLizer, and urlShort, and the most popular service ...