Whilst Twitter has made moves to fill this data hole by using its own t.co URL wrapper, that has only addressed that part of the problem.

FORBES: Filling In The 'Direct Visits' Data Hole

The initiative Twitter began back in June to make t.co the default URL shortener for all its users will be completed by the end of this year, said the company in an email it sent out to its entire user base on Wednesday night.

FORBES: Twitter To Roll Out URL Shortener To All By End Of Year

In a bow to the importance of branding, sites can also opt to have a URL that doesn't include the "Ning" name--for a modest fee, of course.

FORBES: The Social Web

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of this event CERN has recreated the first ever website, complete with its original URL. The preservation doesn't stop at copying over some old files, either, with CERN also looking to preserve the first servers used, restoring as much as possible to its original state.

ENGADGET: CERN celebrates 20 years of a free, open web by restoring world's first website

We've been trying to murder a (UK-based) GS III here at Engadget, but with no luck as yet -- we can cause the malicious digits to appear in the dialer, but we can't force the stock browser to visit them as a URL, even when trying a bit of URL forwarding and QR code trickery.

ENGADGET: 'Dirty USSD' code could automatically wipe your Samsung TouchWiz device (updated)

Despite the rise in URL prices, in many cases you don't have to be Donald Trump to get into this so-called parking game.

FORBES: Magazine Article