LinkBunch on TechCrunch^H^H^H...

First Download Squad, then LifeHacker, and now TechCrunch? Well, almost. Around four hours ago, TechCrunch's Duncan Riley wrote about LinkBunch, but pulled it off shortly after. Why? No one knows.

Fortunately, @preshit (who was also the one to point it out in the first place!) grabbed a screen from his NNW and put it up on his Skitch:

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Here's a transcript of the post:

URL shortening services have grown in popularity as services such as Twitter have driven demand for shorter URLs (although the idea has been around for a long time).

For those not familiar with the concept, you add a URL to one of these services, and it provides you with a shortened URL you can share with friends. Some also come with bookmarklets for one click shortening.

LinkBun.ch takes the idea of shortening URLs to multiple sites. Users simply add the URL's they want a LinkBun.ch URL for, and they get a short URL in return. For example, http://linkbun.ch/0hl offers a page with links to both TechCrunch and CrunchGear on it, that can be shared on Twitter or similar services with friends.

LinkBun.ch isn't going to win any awards for being amazing, but none of the services in this thriving sector would. Ultimately it's a case of simplicity combined with functionality and LinkBun.ch meets that criteria.

I know it's difficult to get Arrington to link to your site, but at least I can say I was almost there. :)