We've written before on Download Squad about Bit.ly's plans to offer a premium service, including custom URL shorteners like the ones they provide for sites like The New York Times. Well, Bit.ly Pro has entered a public beta phase now, and you don't have to be the New York Times to get your own free, custom shortURL.

All you have to do is sign up for a Bit.ly account and find a way to register the domain you want to use for your link shortener. Point your domain to the IP address Bit.ly gives you, and bada-bing-bada-boom, Bit.ly does the rest. You also get all of the analytics services you've come to expect from Bit.ly's non-pro package. The cutoff for a free URL shortener is 10,000 URLs shortened per day. If you're expecting more traffic than that, you'll have to contact Bit.ly for a commercial account.

[via The Next Web]

With the Mobile World Congress now just around the corner on February 15th, details of Windows Mobile 7 have started to leak -- and judging by the comments over at PPCG, it doesn't look like good news. It seems like, for all intents and purposes, we're going to be getting a Microsoft Zune Phone.

The following technical details aren't official, so they could just be a mix of guesswork and rumor -- take them with a pinch of salt!

So, here we go: at the unveiling on the 15th, in Barcelona, it's likely that we'll only see the user interface, with actual functionality/developer stuff left until a later date. The UI will apparently be very similar to the Zune HD interface, but with a revamp to the 'start' screen. There will also be full Zune integration (including desktop sync).

Software-wise, there'll be a marketplace with 'try before you buy' (hooray!), full Xbox integration (why?), support for social networking (via apps, I presume) and... wait for it... no multitasking!

It's the last one that makes me wonder if these specifications are real, or just the work of a jealous and vicious Apple fanboy. After the whole 'OMG NO MULTITASKING ON MY IPHONE???' furore, would Microsoft really not include it in Windows Mobile 7?

We'll see next week!

Boom! 178 million US Internet users watched online videos in December. That's 87% of the total potential audience -- very nearly total penetration. I wonder what percentage of Internet users write email -- less than 87%? Anyway, of those 33 billion videos, 40% (13 billion) of them were watched at YouTube. But guess who's next? Hulu -- 3%! You TV-horny Americans watched 1 billion videos on Hulu in just one month!

There's more though -- here's some breakdown: those 13 billion YouTube videos were watched by 136 million viewers, or 97 videos per user. By comparison, Hulu viewers only watched 23 videos each in December. It goes steeply downhill from there -- next are Yahoo and Fox, pulling only 9 video views per user.

If you were as surprised as I am about Hulu, get this: Hulu only has 44 million unique users, but still broadcasts twice as many videos as the next site.

I think Europe's ready for a similar TV-on-demand service... y'hear me, American media outlets?

I know, it's the story that never ends -- and really, don't expect it to end any time soon -- but here's another angle: what about Chinese hardware?

We now know that either the Chinese government, or a very large privately-funded clandestine operation from Asia, has been hacking Western governments, intelligence agencies, and businesses for a decade. What if the hardware they produce also has secret backdoors or comes pre-infested with trojan viruses?

The story on IT World lays down some pretty chilling precedents: did you know that Chinese intelligence agents approach business men at trade fairs in the UK and offer 'gifts' of digital cameras that come with viruses on them? What if the Chinese government has gotten to hardware manufacturers -- what if your Xbox 360 comes with a backdoor in it that lets them snoop on your home network? How about a chip on your motherboard or graphics card that phones home?

It's an interesting idea, made all the more scary because it's believable. For now, as far as we know, it's just espionage, an attack on governments and businesses -- but when will be the targets?

A vast amount of technology originates from China and Taiwan, and that's not going to stop soon -- if China's grasp is inescapable, why bother worrying?

And even then, is there even a way we can combat it?