You probably know TinyURL, which takes nasty long URLs like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=edale,+derbyshire&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.25371,60.46875&ie=UTF8&ll=53.360285,-1.816006&spn=0.065462,0.118103&t=h&z=13&iwloc=addr

and gives you a nice shorthand version like this:

http://tinyurl.com/67laca

which does the same thing, and is much easier to put in emails, or read over the phone.

Well, a new service has just launched called Bit.ly (no doubt starting a new craze in Libyan domain names) which does much the same kind of thing, and a whole lot more. Bit.ly links look much the same:

http://bit.ly/1pXdd2

but for more information about why it's different, see this post. It looks good.

But TinyURL has been around for ever and has proved very reliable; it'll be interesting to see if this new pretender can usurp it...