Press Information

Regular internet users are familiar with tools to shorten URLs, but the field has been ripe for improvement - now there's a new player offering a more sophisticated and useful range of tools than ever before, and all for free: qurl.com

Like some other URL services, qurl offers:

• shorter URLs to make them more manageable (even more so with qurl's own very short name)
• a way to stop long web links breaking in emails
• a way to hide your affiliate code for links to Amazon and other merchants
• a URL preview option so you can see where the qurl link takes you
• a browser bookmarklet/toolbar for creating qurls on the fly

Unlike other services, qurl also offers:

• integration with del.icio.us tags
• a short-URL picture hosting service
• statistics on how often your qurls are tracked
• a qurl API for automating qurls into your own emails etc
• reporting and security features, including password protection
• updating the destination URL

Qurl is developing even more facilities for the site - check in regularly at qurl.com. As a sneak preview of the forthcoming choose-your-qurl function, here's an example: http://qurl.com/read

See below for more detail on these features. Qurl.com is the brainchild of creative consultancy Thoughtplay, the people behind sites such as www.whatshouldireadnext.com and www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com, and Blue Compass Blue Compass, specialists and innovators in recruitment and social networking software.

Technology:
Qurl.com uses PHP and MYSQL, run entirely on the amazon ec2 and s3 cloud services.

For more information contact:
Chris Timms, Blue Compass, 020 7700 4994, chris@blue-compass.com
Andrew Chapman, Thoughtplay, 01865 374186, mail@thoughtplay.com

DEL.ICIO.US INTEGRATION
When they create a new qurl (either by visiting qurl.com or using the browser toolbar to qurl a page you're visiting), registered users can also add del.icio.us tags on the spot, automatically adding the site they've qurled to their del.icio.us bookmarks (del.icio.us is a 'social bookmarking' site that allows you to record web links you like and associate descriptive keywords or 'tags' with them)

PICTURE HOSTING
With qurl you can share images with your friends without having to send out massive emails, and display images in your blog and on your website without having to use FTP. As well as creating short and snappy qurl links to images, qurl will even host the pictures themselves for you.

STATISTICS
For general interest qurl.com displays the most recent qurls created on the site (unless they are private to registered users). Registered users get much more: a specific breakdown of visits to every qurl they've created. This means you can use qurl in an email newsletter, for example, and then see exactly how many people have followed it up by clicking the link.

QURL API
The qurl Application Programming Interface enables anyone with a working knowledge of PHP scripting to integrate qurl functionality into their own programs. A business, for example, could use the qurl API to turn all URLs used in their weekly newsletter into qurls automatically, saving time, making the URLs easier to use, and with all the data reporting benefits described above that qurl offers.

SECURITY & REPORTING
Registered users can make qurls for private use only (and therefore not appearing in public statistics). You can also choose to be emailed every time your qurl is used - and you can even apply a password to an individual qurl, so that you can share it only with selected people. As a precaution against this facility being abused, qurl has extensive anti-spam and anti-porn functions built in to alert the team behind the site.

UPDATING DESTINATIONS
Registered users can also change the URLs their qurls point to at any time and as often as they like: qurls stay the same, but many web links don't. This way your qurl always stays fresh and relevant.

register now

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