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When it comes to compressing a URL (for Twitter, Facebook, etc.) bit.ly has always been a very popular choice.

So today, when I typed-in bit-dot-ly I was greeted by a Website with a new look, a new address (www.bitly.com) but retained all of my previously shortened URLs.

Luckily, when you type in bit.ly you're automatically taken to the new site. But, newly shortened URL's still use bit.ly addresses.

There are a bunch of new features that come with the new design/address. Now you can:

• Easily save, share and discover links — they’re called bitmarks, like bookmarks.
• Instantly search your saved bitmarks.
• Curate groups of bitmarks into bundles and collaborate on bundles with friends.
• Make any bitmark or bundle private or public.
• See what friends are sharing across multiple social networks, all in one place.
• Save and share links from anywhere with our new bitmarklet, Chrome extension and iPhone app.

The newly designed site also boasts that it's “handmade in nyc.”

Today's bitly blog entry doesn't say why it no longer uses the ".ly" suffix for its own site. That suffix was actually created for Websites in Libya but the Internet has been sparsely used there.

For the record, since it started all the way back in 2008, bitly has handled more than 25 billion links.