Tech tip: How to shorten too-long Web addresses

Take it from our resident scientist: Long, unwieldy website addresses are a pain to embed in e-mail and in story comments. They look terrible. Plus, readers don't always capture all the code when they paste those URLs into browsers, making the links useless. That's why I like  the free and easy-to-use website, TinyURL.com. Just copy your long-ass address into a form on the site's home page, click one button and, voila! You've now got a shorter address to copy and paste.

For example, moments ago, I was able to turn this:

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/appleton-tells-old-story-with-new.html

into this:

http://tinyurl.com/5bprqq

Try it now
I've embedded TinyURL's form, below, so you can take it for a spin, right from the comfort of Gannett Blog:

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

Esteemed Gannett Blog resident scientist John Frink asks: Got a tech tip to recommend? Leave a note in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, use this link from a non-work computer; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.