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Work
Long URL Please Replaces Shortened Links With The Real Thing
4:00AM The How-To Geek | Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Long URL Please changes almost all shortened links in a page back to the real URL—so you can easily see where a link is really taking you. More »
Work
Bit.ly Provides Shorter URLs with Advanced Traffic Tracking
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Link-shortening services like TinyURL have become nearly ubiquitous in space-restricted places like email, Twitter, and mobile sites—which is why it’s odd it’s taken so long for a similar service to offer traffic tracking, thumbnail caching, or other advanced services. Free URL shrinker Bit.ly jumps into that void with a slick set of features. The site remembers the last 15 links you shortened on your landing site, and it stores a thumbnail graphic of each link on its own space. Obsessive traffic-watchers can see how many have clicked through their links, where they found them, and compile all that data from simple XML or JSON feeds. There’s a handy bookmarklet for quick Bit.ly conversion, and the developers are working on geo-locating features for the near future. All in all, a viable link-snipping service for web workers and info geeks. Bit.ly [via ReadWriteWeb] More »
Get Complete Help Files for Any Google Service
5:30AM Kevin Purdy | It can take awhile to figure out all the shortcuts and features in the ever-growing list of Google web applications. The Google Operating System blog unearths a quick URL hack to display a Google app’s entire help file—normally split up on cross-linked pages—in easily-saved and printable HTML. Head to the app’s “support center,” usually found at, for example, mail.google.com/support/, and add ?fulldump=1 to the end of the URL. Hit the Google Operating System link for direct, download-able links to the most popular apps’ full help files. Download Google’s Help Files [Google Operating System via Web Worker Daily] More »
Bypass YouTube Restrictions with a URL Hack
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Find yourself on the wrong side of the ocean (or border) from a US-only YouTube video? Don’t want to log in to glimpse a clip that might have content that’s “inappropriate for some users”? Both are fairly easy to get around by slightly altering the video’s URL, according to the Google Operating System Blog. Most YouTube URLs take the form of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID Note the 11-character code at the end, and place it like so: http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEOID The swift move brings up the widget normally used to play embedded videos—a bit over-sized, sometimes, but nicely distraction-free as well. Watch restricted YouTube Videos [Google Operating System] More »
Make Text Links Click-able with Linkrr
12:30AM Kevin Purdy | Whether you’re a frequent user of large file-sharing sites like RapidShare or frequently get emails with messed-up formatting, you’ve likely had to spend time copying, pasting and trimming URLs to actually work. Linkrr, a free web utility, has a single purpose and fix for the problem. Type or paste in one or more URLs, and the site creates a page of click-able links, along with a button that can launch them all (assuming it can play nice with your pop-up blocker). Might be worth a bookmark for the next time Aunt Gertie sends along all those links to AOL photo galleries. Linkrr.com [via MakeUseOf.com] More »
