While TinyURL has been around for a long time a lot of Irish users opt for url.ie, but in recent months there seems to have been a lot more added.
While competition is generally a good thing there’s only so much you can do with a URL shortening service.
Custom aliases, 301 redirects and a lot more besides have all been done. At this stage the main difference between most of the services would seem to be the actual domain they’re based off.
Hover, however, is a little different.
To start with it’s not 100% free, which is a pity, but it comes with some very different ideas (if someone else has done it already I haven’t seen it yet – sorry!).
On signup you can choose your own subdomain, so I’m using mneylon.hover.com (I know! So original!)
So if you want to get to my hosting recommendation, for example, you can go to mneylon.hover.com/hosting, while my blog can be reached via /blog
The service gets a lot more interesting if you look at the premium service ($25 / year) which allows you to use your own domain, though as it’s a Tucows service they expect you to register the domain through them.
The interface is still in need of some work, but it’s an interesting new take on the entire url shortening services and I’ll be interested to see if they can capture any attention with it.
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