Tr.im returns to the web

Only days after Tr.im closed down, citing its inability to make money, it is back online by popular demand. Nambu, the company behind Tr.im, a service which shortens URLs, insisted it was not a publicity stunt but that the decision to resurrect Tr.im came from the "countless public and private appeals" to continue to the service. On the Tr.im blog users are assured that Nambu will keep Tr.im operating indefinitely, but added that they are still looking at options in regards to Tr.im's future. URL-shortners have been around for several years but have become a lot more popular with the arrival of micro-blogging networks such as Twitter. Indeed Tr.im blamed Twitter for its initial demise saying that the micro-blogging network has "stacked the URL shortening business opportunity overwhelmingly in [rival] Bit.ly’s favour". "This is not whining, as some have suggested, but a simple reality. If we post a link to this blog article by its title, Twitter switches our Tr.im URL to a Bit.ly URL." One commenter on the Tr.im blog urged the company to add a PayPal tip jar "so that those of us who prefer your service can donate". Tell us what you think of the new Web User beta website!