TinyURL started it all — the idea that a URL shortener was handy for retarded email clients that line-wrapped long URLs (like Apple’s Mail app) or IM apps that didn’t know what to do with them and would only hot-link half of the URL someone was sending you.
Then Twitter happened…
Oh god, and then everything anyone had to say was limited to 140 chars and the idea that you could track what people were clicking for advertising logistics was priceless. Then the world was inundated with URL shorteners. Every one had to have one.
Standalone services like Bit.ly or integrated ones like tcrn.ch for TechCrunch were a dime a dozen… there are literally probably 50 decent URL shorteners out there and over a 100 un-decent ones.
But now it’s time for change — enter ShadyURL.
Have you ever wanted to add some hilarity to your URLs when sent to your friends that have real email or IM clients? Then ShadyURL is for you.
ShadyURL takes a perfectly good URL and turns it into a suspicious mess. For example:
I was introduced to this service via an Apache Wicket lead developer, Igor Vaynberg, who sent out this link to the user’s mailing list when someone asked about dynamic scrolling lists:
My first thought was “damn, this guys likes his obscure internet porn” then my second thought was “I wonder if he was kidding or if this is a real URL” — after no more than 8 secs of cautious thought, I clicked the link, figuring I would just deny the download in Chrome if it came down. Much to my surprise the horrific URL redirected to a Wicket tutorial on using Ajax with dynamic lists.
Part of me was still curious what worm.exe did but I got a kick out the URL service, so I figured I’d pass it along.
Use your new powers wisely! Try and scare your friends that click things before reading them!
