TinyURL.com vs. Tiny.cc

I've used TinyURL.com for a while now. I've never paid much attention to Tiny.cc, but TinyURL.com could learn a couple things from them.

For example, Tiny.cc's user interface aesthetically looks closer to the Web design of 2005+ vs. tinyurl.com's 1998-esque, Windows-based interface. Tiny.cc includes an AddThis button on the top to make it easy to bookmark the site using social bookmarking. And the final blow to TinyURL is the ability to "create personal or unique addresses using a keyword." So, instead of some gobbledygook that TinyURL.com spits out, you can have a very clean URL like http://tiny.cc/mckinsey_award.

I will concede that TinyURL.com does have 2 nice features.

1. A Firefox Add on
2. The ability to create a "preview" URL where one is directed to TinyURL.com's site. Once the user arrives at TinyURL.com's site, one can see exactly where they will be directed. This is especially nice if you don't necessarily trust the site you're at

However, Tiny.cc has a Firefox add on, and Tiny.cc uses preview pages (this is one of the ways they make there money through ad revenues).

So, Tiny.cc wins.

Aristotle 1300-2010

I was reading over Sherman Clarke's blog, and he mentioned WorldCat Identities. An interesting feature is the graphic that represents the publishing activity by or about a particular luminary. Above is the publication timeline for Aristotle. It would be interesting to see if there are direct correlations between the thinking of the particular period and the publishing activity. Of course, one would also have to take into consideration the accuracy of WorldCat's records, duplications, etc.