A marriage in mobile cyberspace: URL redirection utility meets dotcom wordnumber

A URL redirection utility startup, Shortify, stands out in the very crowded field of TinyURL clones and look-alikes. Shortify attempts to make it easier to shorten URLs both on a PC and a mobile device for use by those two types of computing devices.

The folks at Shortify registered their dotcom wordnumber, 74678439.com, which resolves to shortify.com, which is dual-optimized for PCs and mobile phones. The slightly spelling-challenged website allows users - via mobile or PC - to enter any URL to be shortened to a numeric ID (the site, however, requires a full http:// prefix to accept URLs). Users who have recorded in some way or another that ID, also called a Shortify URL, can retrieve websites via their mobile device by visiting 74678439.com and entering the Shortify URL in the search box and clicking enter/return, or by plugging in 74678439.com/[ShortifyURL] into their mobile browser. We created a Shortify URL of 6124 that resolves to DigitURL.com when accessed like this 74678439.com/6124. Unlike some URL redirection services, Shortify's 'tiny' URLs are permanent.

Shortify is the first URL redirection service that we know of that employs the wordnumber concept. Shortify differs in this way from an earlier entrant into the mobile URL redirection market, DigitURL. It differs from DigitURL also in another way: its numeric Shortify URLs are generated sequentially - the very first code assigned was 1000 and subsequent codes were 1001, 1002, etc... (There is a user-oriented flaw with this shortURL generation method; can you guess what it is?) DigitURL, on the other hand, assigns a random 11 number array (11 numbers provide a built-in capacity for 100 billion potential URLs) as the 'DigitURL' which can be utilized 3 ways including attaching that 11 digit code as a suffix to the domain digiturl.com (i.e., digiturl.com/12345678901).

If you visit Shortify's website, you'll notice that the site generates not only a numeric Shortify URL but also a duplicate alphanumeric one similar to the type you find at TinyURL.com. You'll also notice that if you try to 'Shortify' a URL, like Google.com, that someone 'Shortified' previously, the website takes you to a page that says 'http://www.google.com' has already been shortified' and reveals the Shortify URL, in this case the very first code assigned: 1000.

You can visit Jamptap by remembering the Shortify URL of 6125, or visiting 74678439.com/6125.