TinyUrl and Bit.ly are becoming some of the staple services that we use today to exchange long URL addresses on the fly. They’re easier to type and to remember, and they’re friendly to use on services like Twitter that limit the amount of characters you can input in one tweet. So far, it has been quite a challenge to use Bit.ly on your phone, but not anymore. MD-Soft, a talented German developer company, have in Beta a nice Python-based application called Shorten.
Shorten requires you to first input your bit.ly login and API key (which you can find by going here) from the Settings, it doesn’t need your password, but it uses that API key to help you track the click-through rate of all URLs you shorten from the Bit.ly site. After that, all you need to do is input the long URL address, click on Short Url and get your link ready to be copied and pasted wherever you want. It’s as simple as that.
In order to get Shorten, head over to MD-Soft’s page, and click through the Beta Area link under Download and Versions. You’ll have to go through a few hoops of pages, until you end up in the files directory that includes Python 1.4.5 which is required and the Shorten.sis file. Shorten is also donationware so if you like what you see, why not drop the developers a few bucks? Also do share with us how you like to see Shorten improved and what other functions you would love to see added to it.
