I have been interested in URL shorteners for a while - a good URL shortener helps a tiny bit in squeezing as much thought as possible into 140 character tweets on Twitter.
I have taken a liking to a Swedish shortener x.se (not only because it spells sex). Sadly, the Swedes are making a huge mistake - their canonical urls require a www, adding four unnecessary characters to the URL.
Recently, I spotted a URL in my Twitter stream with a single-character domain name and two-character TLD. I went ahead and searched around for other shorteners of the same length. Surprisingly, several of the most prominent lists of URL shorteners (hongkiat's "ultimate" list, 6uold's long list or the list of 90+ services at mashable) missed the three I am about to present, although these are probably the most effective shorteners around.
So here is Andrej's list of the world's shortest URL shortening services:
1. 3.LY - THE WINNER
3.LY, the three-letter URL service says it is the SHORTEST in the world. It generated a URL with ONLY TWO LETTERS after the / - a total length of seven characters. Obviously, they can't keep up the URL length for long but three letters come next and that's still pretty awesome. The creator can be found on Twitter (@threely) and the service apparently only launched on May 24, 2009.
2. Z.PE - THE RUNNER-UP
Z.PE bills itself as the shortest URL shortener, seems like they are wrong, though. They generated a URL for me with three characters after the /, making the complete URL a total of eight characters. Still pretty neat!
3. U.NU - SECOND RUNNER-UP
U.NU is the third and final URL shortener with a three-character (or four if you count the dot) URL. "the shortest urls. period." is what u.nu says. The URL it generated for me had four characters after the /, so it is longer than the previous two (quite possibly simply because it is more popular). Of the three, I like the sound of u.nu best. I find it neat as the URL reads like words with meaning (you knew), sort of like is.gd, another neat-sounding URL shortener.
Of course, I haven't explored the shorteners' tracking capabilities and other advanced features. 3.ly promises tracking is coming soon, there are limited capabilities at u.nu (you can find out the number of times the link has been used by appending a ? at the end of URL) and none at z.pe.
What do you think? Know of any other three-character shorteners? Or would you like to be the first to start the URL shortening metaservice?
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Tatra Banka: Beating a Dead Horse
The creative folks at Tatrabanka are back, this time with a new card reader device. They have listened to the multitude of user complaints (so far even heeded my warning about single-sided moves). So they have introduced a key-ring card reader (called a minicitacka) as an alternative to the calculator-size reader (without calculator functionality).
Well, guess what, Tatrabanka: people hated your heavy handed tactics in introducing increased security with massively increased hassle and judging by the discussion with the eTrend article (in Slovak) announcing the new device, adding a key ring isn't enough to make things OK.
The images published by Tatrabanka are limited, but from the instructions it appears this little wonder is controlled by the combination of a dialing wheel and a button. Must be fun to dial and button in a 12-digit account number followed by say four digits for the amount to transfer...
If your sentimentometer tells you I am too harsh on Tatra Banka, check out what this poor American thinks about using the calculator.
My pledge holds: if you make me sign in using this ugly little device (or its dysfunctional larger twin), I will close my accounts with you (all six).
And a side note, just to get this off my chest: in mid-February I came to a Tatra Banka branch to deposit a cheque from the USA. We receive checks from our US partner at BratislavaHotels.com every month and Tatra Banka has happily charged us 400 crowns (approx. EUR 13.30) for depositing each for five years.
Suddenly, the teller announced that as of February 1 they no longer allow depositing checks in accounts. What should I do with the check, I asked. "Mmmm, do you have an account at another bank?" No, I don't (but soon I likely will). Well, then I don't know.
A brief lesson in customer service, dear Tatrabanka: if you want to discontinue a service that some of your long-term clients use (even if the service itself is loss-making, since I imagine that is the reason to discontinue it), notify them in advance. Someone at Tatrabanka should have pulled up a list of customers who deposited a check in the last say 24 months. Someone should have taken the time to contact them (phone, email, internet banking) and give them an advance warning of say a month or two, so that they can talk to their correspondents and arrange for alternative means of payment. It's not so hard to do and all it takes is a bit of customer-centric thinking. Sadly, the one-time leader in banking innovation in Slovakia has little capacity for that.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Things I noticed giving up the Crown for the Euro
On January 1, 2009 the Euro became the official currency here in Slovakia replacing the Slovak crown.
1. Before the switch
There was nervousness long before the D date about price increases. The government and media kept telling people how worried they are about businesses "abusing" the switch to enact "unwarranted" price increases.
One of the key economic news topics in December was what was not going to work after the switch. The banks had arrangements in place to shut down some services (internet banking for a few days) and ATM machines for a few hours.
Oh, and Google screwed Slovak Adwords advertisers (while Moneybookers didn't (in Slovak).
2. The giddy Day One
I shopped at my local Tesco on January 2 (January 1 is a holiday). I paid in crowns but received my change in euros. In this way within two days all the crowns in my wallet were gone and I was 'switched'.
The cashiers asked everyone whether they would be paying crowns or euros. Some people said Euros with a proud smirk. It was a funny feeling, yet another important marker on our way to become 'first class' Europeans.
ATM machines here supposedly usually have slots for four notes. The banks reportedly fed the euros in two slots a few days before the New Year, minimising the downtime required to switch. For a few days you were only able to get EUR 50s and 10s in some machines or 20s and 10s.
3. Nominal schnominal?
I am trained as an economist and I know there is no money illusion and nominal does not matter to a rational person. Nominal of course does matter (and there are loads of evidence in behavioural economics literature).
We tipped by rounding up in crowns before. E.g. you'd leave 100 on an 82-95 crown bill. Traditionally people would simply round up to the nearest 10 and in recent years in classier establishments to nearest 20, 50 or even 100.
With euros, even rounding up to the nearest euro sounds cheap to our ear yet a euro is 30.126 crowns. So people first did not tip at all, I believe out of fear of under or overtipping. I tipped a taxi driver who delivered sushi a little over a euro towards the end of the first euro-week. He told me this was his first tip in the New Year and other taxi drivers confirmed people had ceased up tipping.
With the government sponsored price abuse hysteria, many businesses are keeping weird an uneven euro prices to avoid any semblance of the derided 'machinations during switch from crown to euro'. This is inefficient and annoying but sooner or later I am sure this will stop.
There are some data probably interesting for economists on what portion of currency in circulation was withdrawn within the first fifteen days through retail shops. There is other data on people bringing in cash to the bank days before the switch to have it converted seamlessly and legends of dodgy cash buyers of expensive apartments helping fuel our real estate bubble.
We have made the switch now complaint of the day seems to be that we have to now carry too many coins and they don't fit in a normal wallet (I would add the bills don't fit in the beautiful and RFID-fraud safe Flipside Wallet (TM)).
Crown to Euro Brings Along Fines for Abusers
The Slovak Commerce Inspection will issue the first fine to a company that abused the currency switch from Slovak Crown to the Euro to unjustifiedly increase prices. The Inspection "proved" there was a 50% increase by a children's game machines operator in the Trnava region.
Euro became Slovakia's official currency on January 1, 2009 when the country became the 16th member of the Eurozone. For 15 days the currencies circulated in parallel but now crowns can only be exchanged in banks.
The Inspection reportedly (in Slovak) received 460 complaints from citizens, 260 concerning price increases (the rest probably on issues such as not posting prices in both currencies as required).
There is a Price Board/Council in place, led by an older guy from old-school employer association, to monitor prices. The Council identifies sensitive areas. They have now promised to take a close look at changes in taxi prices, hairdressers, restaurants and school dorms.
I did tell you they were crazy!
P.S. I am required by law to disclose to you here that the official conversion rate is 30,1260 crowns to the Euro.
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Five Bs I loved in Istanbul
I just spent five days in Istanbul with my family (I am doing another post on the travel details since I have a few useful Istanbul tips). We loved Istanbul, even if it was a challenge with an eight-month old. So here is a quick rundown of the things I really appreciated there:
1. Baby-Friendly
Istanbul is definitely not baby friendly in any conventional way. The streets are steep, pedestrian sidewalks narrow at best (but often non-existent). In the hilly neighbourhoods (all of Istanbul we saw) there are often uneven steps on the pavements, forcing the stroller onto the road. There, cars and motorcycles speed by, honking horns.
But Istanbulians love babies. Everywhere we went with the baby the people were unimagineably warm. When I walk around Bratislava with the stroller (and especially with the baby sling) I get a lot of smiles and some friendly comments but few people would engage with the baby. In Istanbul the BABY was the centre of attention. Everybody everywhere smiled, made sounds (in the photo the guard at Hagia Sophia baby talks the baby in the sling), people would come up to pat him on the head, sometimes kiss his hand. Waiter and shop assistant would pick him up and carry him around, entertaining him. Every parent (unless, of course, you are particularly worried about communicable diseases) knows how gratifying it is when people show love for their child.
What struck us was that this was most often men (in Bratislava it will usually be women) although the explanation may simply be that most people out were men. Our baby loved the attention but also this made our job of keeping him happy throughout the day a lot easier.
2. Beyoğlu
Whether luck or my obsessively extensive, professionally biassed travel research, we picked the right neighbourhood in Istanbul. We stayed in Cihangir, a part of the Beyoglu district between the well known Taksim Square and Kabataş.
Beyoglu was once the seat of Greeks, Jews, Levantines and Armenians but aparently declined after all of these people left Turkey. But it is now a vibrant mixture of gentrified and run down, residential and commercial, Turkish and Cosmopolitan.
We loved it from the amazing Art Nouveau architecture, through stunning Bosphorus views through neighbouthood shops, bakeries, restaurants. There was such a healthy mix of modern and authentic. People out late into the night and just a good vibe.
We simply enjoyed walking around the neighbourhood and that's what we did the most in our five days in Istanbul. We briefly ventured into the glorified Sultanahmet across the river but felt much more at home in Beyoglu.
3. Bidets
The Turks are so civilised. In our hotel but also at the Airport, in restaurants and at the Grand Bazaar there was always a bidet built in to the toilet (or a separate water outlet for the same purpose in the so-called Turkish toilets).
A bidet is used for intimate personal hygiene - it is a stream of water directed at your behind, which lets you wash rather than just wipe after using the toilet. I am embarrassed to say I had never used one prior to this visit to Istanbul but now I am determined to have one installed as soon as we get a chance.
Having seen their ubiquity in Turkey I am sure Turkish people must look funny at the rest of us when travelling abroad. Of course, the above assumes that people actually use the facilities but then, if they didn't use them I think they probably would not spend the extra to install them everywhere?
In the photo from our hotel the bidet attachment is running (the stream of water in the middle of the bowl). You operate it using the valve on the left.
4. Bad Driving
Especially on our first day I was always worried for our safety - you have to be constantly on the look out because Istanbul taxi drivers drive fast, as do other locals. There is no courtesy in traffic - you see an opening, you move. If you wait everybody starts passing you by.
Cars will make U-turns in the most unlikely places. There will be cars parked on pavements or so close behind each other that you cannot cross the road in between.
Yet in this aparent chaos there seems to be order. Perhaps the lack of rules keeps people on their toes but everyody we saw driving did really well. Cars would squeeze through narrow constrictions and drivers skillfully maneouvred their way through traffic.
My theory (which I first explored in Holland where as a pedestrian you had to be constantly on the lookout for bikes) is that the heavy traffic helps preserve people's faculties into their old age. After getting into the every man for himself mentality I actually liked dealing with the traffic - I felt every road crossing made me a stronger man.
5. Baklava
I am a fan of cakes, which are less sweet. I like my chocolate dark and my bananas green. I constantly harass the baking (read older female) part of my family to cut the amount of sugar in their cakes (usually, using half the sugar in the magazine recipe works just right). This would, of course, make me an unlikely candidate to enjoy the ultimate in sweet cakes - Turkish baklava.
Thin layers of filo dough, chopped pistachios and other nuts and rich sugary syrup. Sometimes chocolate, sometimes (I am not sure about this one) condensed milk? Amazing stuff. The Turks really have this down.
On about day two of our Istanbul stay I bought two pieces of baklava and was hooked. Every subsequent day the number of pieces of baklava I ate grew exponentially. I tried baklava from a large commercialised bakery, from numerous smaller vendors and ended up liking the locally made fress Cihangir Bakery baklava best.
We bought about three boxes to take home as gifts and for our own use the night before departure, then felt this was not enough and bought another few boxes on the day of departure. In duty free, we bought two more just in case.
Come see me, I will show you what I'm talking about.
1. Baby-Friendly
Istanbul is definitely not baby friendly in any conventional way. The streets are steep, pedestrian sidewalks narrow at best (but often non-existent). In the hilly neighbourhoods (all of Istanbul we saw) there are often uneven steps on the pavements, forcing the stroller onto the road. There, cars and motorcycles speed by, honking horns.
But Istanbulians love babies. Everywhere we went with the baby the people were unimagineably warm. When I walk around Bratislava with the stroller (and especially with the baby sling) I get a lot of smiles and some friendly comments but few people would engage with the baby. In Istanbul the BABY was the centre of attention. Everybody everywhere smiled, made sounds (in the photo the guard at Hagia Sophia baby talks the baby in the sling), people would come up to pat him on the head, sometimes kiss his hand. Waiter and shop assistant would pick him up and carry him around, entertaining him. Every parent (unless, of course, you are particularly worried about communicable diseases) knows how gratifying it is when people show love for their child.What struck us was that this was most often men (in Bratislava it will usually be women) although the explanation may simply be that most people out were men. Our baby loved the attention but also this made our job of keeping him happy throughout the day a lot easier.
2. Beyoğlu
Whether luck or my obsessively extensive, professionally biassed travel research, we picked the right neighbourhood in Istanbul. We stayed in Cihangir, a part of the Beyoglu district between the well known Taksim Square and Kabataş.
Beyoglu was once the seat of Greeks, Jews, Levantines and Armenians but aparently declined after all of these people left Turkey. But it is now a vibrant mixture of gentrified and run down, residential and commercial, Turkish and Cosmopolitan.
We loved it from the amazing Art Nouveau architecture, through stunning Bosphorus views through neighbouthood shops, bakeries, restaurants. There was such a healthy mix of modern and authentic. People out late into the night and just a good vibe.
We simply enjoyed walking around the neighbourhood and that's what we did the most in our five days in Istanbul. We briefly ventured into the glorified Sultanahmet across the river but felt much more at home in Beyoglu.
3. Bidets
The Turks are so civilised. In our hotel but also at the Airport, in restaurants and at the Grand Bazaar there was always a bidet built in to the toilet (or a separate water outlet for the same purpose in the so-called Turkish toilets).A bidet is used for intimate personal hygiene - it is a stream of water directed at your behind, which lets you wash rather than just wipe after using the toilet. I am embarrassed to say I had never used one prior to this visit to Istanbul but now I am determined to have one installed as soon as we get a chance.
Having seen their ubiquity in Turkey I am sure Turkish people must look funny at the rest of us when travelling abroad. Of course, the above assumes that people actually use the facilities but then, if they didn't use them I think they probably would not spend the extra to install them everywhere?
In the photo from our hotel the bidet attachment is running (the stream of water in the middle of the bowl). You operate it using the valve on the left.
4. Bad Driving
Especially on our first day I was always worried for our safety - you have to be constantly on the look out because Istanbul taxi drivers drive fast, as do other locals. There is no courtesy in traffic - you see an opening, you move. If you wait everybody starts passing you by.
Cars will make U-turns in the most unlikely places. There will be cars parked on pavements or so close behind each other that you cannot cross the road in between.
Yet in this aparent chaos there seems to be order. Perhaps the lack of rules keeps people on their toes but everyody we saw driving did really well. Cars would squeeze through narrow constrictions and drivers skillfully maneouvred their way through traffic.
My theory (which I first explored in Holland where as a pedestrian you had to be constantly on the lookout for bikes) is that the heavy traffic helps preserve people's faculties into their old age. After getting into the every man for himself mentality I actually liked dealing with the traffic - I felt every road crossing made me a stronger man.
5. Baklava
I am a fan of cakes, which are less sweet. I like my chocolate dark and my bananas green. I constantly harass the baking (read older female) part of my family to cut the amount of sugar in their cakes (usually, using half the sugar in the magazine recipe works just right). This would, of course, make me an unlikely candidate to enjoy the ultimate in sweet cakes - Turkish baklava.
Thin layers of filo dough, chopped pistachios and other nuts and rich sugary syrup. Sometimes chocolate, sometimes (I am not sure about this one) condensed milk? Amazing stuff. The Turks really have this down.
On about day two of our Istanbul stay I bought two pieces of baklava and was hooked. Every subsequent day the number of pieces of baklava I ate grew exponentially. I tried baklava from a large commercialised bakery, from numerous smaller vendors and ended up liking the locally made fress Cihangir Bakery baklava best.
We bought about three boxes to take home as gifts and for our own use the night before departure, then felt this was not enough and bought another few boxes on the day of departure. In duty free, we bought two more just in case.
Come see me, I will show you what I'm talking about.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Countdown to 2008 Elfyourself
This year the elves will be back - only three days to go! On November 17 you can again upload face shots of family and friends to ElfYourself.com and turn them into dancing elves.
The problem with ElfYourself last year was that it was unclear how this massively successful viral campaign benefited its financiers (an office supply chain I still prefer not to name here). Simply said very few of the people who liked the campaign actually remembered the office chain - many in fact thought it was the other (better known) office chain that was behind the campaign.
I can't wait to see whether and how the makers of ElfYourself have taken the criticism on board this year.
The problem with ElfYourself last year was that it was unclear how this massively successful viral campaign benefited its financiers (an office supply chain I still prefer not to name here). Simply said very few of the people who liked the campaign actually remembered the office chain - many in fact thought it was the other (better known) office chain that was behind the campaign.
I can't wait to see whether and how the makers of ElfYourself have taken the criticism on board this year.
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
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