Currently, the ShareBar is the one-stop shop for viewing the statistical results from that particular BurnURL link.  We tried creating a few shortened links to see if there was a stat page a la bit.ly that was accessible, but there isn't yet.  Also, we found a bug when we clicked on a link within the page with the ShareBar on it.  When we tried to subsequently close the ShareBar, it caused some odd behavior. However, owing to the newness of this tool, we are willing to overlook this.

We think that BurnURL shows a lot of promise. It's convenient to see some quick sharing data associated with the shared URL near the top of the page, and it appears that it is already gaining traction on Twitter.

However, we will caution you (just as we did with TinyURL), that any service like this can become a risk if the site doing the redirecting isn't reliable.

Using Sqworl to shorten links does two things: first, it helps you organize a series of links under one short URL, and second, it provides a series of site thumbnails - a lightbox of sorts - so recipients can see what they're getting before they click. (As an example, here are Twitter accounts for ReadWriteWeb writers.)

While Sqworl works as advertised, there are a few minor drawbacks. The Sqworl URL isn't the shortest URL you're going to find and there aren't any click tracking features. (Admittedly, you could solve either of those issues by running the Sqworl URL through a URL shortener that provides tracking.) And if you're adding new sites to a collection - which is likely what you're doing - the thumbnails take a few minutes to generate, so sharing them too soon will defeat the purpose.

Even if you don't want to share the links with anyone else, Sqworl is worth trying. With some ingenuity, you could make your personal link management or social bookmarking more visual. Using the combination of Sqworl's collections and thumbnails, you may soon be scanning for links based on visual clues - much like the icons on your desktop.

If saving URLs with a visual reminder sounds helpful to you, take Sqworl for a spin and start squirreling your URLs away.

What makes Krunchd special is how many URLs it allows you to shorten at once. You see, with Krunchd, you're not just shortening one URL, you're crunching (pun intended) an entire list of URLs into one short URL. It's a concept similar to Agglom. Only instead of using browser tabs, it brings the recipient to a list of URLs you'd like to share.

Example? Let's say I want to share the Twitter accounts for the RWW writers. Usually, I'd have to send a bunch of separate links, but with Krunchd, it just takes this one URL.

Granted, this isn't technological rocket surgery, but conceptually, it's an interesting take on the problem of sharing URLs with your peers. What's more, it's taking into consideration the way many of us share URLs today. We're not always sharing multiple resources, but when we are, this approach makes a great deal of sense.

As an added bonus - given that the service is new - early users also gain the benefit of getting a really short URL. The service is currently auto-generating URLs that only add 2 additional characters to the Krunchd URL.

While the idea is thoughtful, there is one obvious drawback to Krunchd. And it's something that will likely prevent me from using it: they require you to provide an email address to use the service. There is no privacy policy posted, so I've no idea what they're doing with this information. Even more importantly, I've no idea why they think they need it.

That said, the next time you have a bunch of URLs that you have to share, it may be worth giving Krunchd a try - if the email address thing doesn't bug you.

[UPDATE] Krunchd has removed the email requirement, indicating that it is only necessary if you're interested in modifying your list of URLs in the future. They have also added a privacy statement.