diff --git a/lib/unirest.rb b/lib/unirest.rb
index ce5e8e2..d6ac7df 100644
--- a/lib/unirest.rb
+++ b/lib/unirest.rb
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ def self.request(method, url, headers, body, auth, timeout, &callback)
     def self.internal_request(http_request, timeout)
       # Set the user agent
       http_request.add_header("user-agent", Unirest.user_agent)
-      http_request.add_header("accept-encoding", "gzip")
 
       http_response = nil
 
@@ -119,4 +118,4 @@ def self.patch(url, headers: {}, parameters: nil, auth:nil, &callback)
     HttpClient.request(:patch, url, headers.merge(@@default_headers), parameters, auth, @@timeout, &callback)
   end
   
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/lib/unirest/http_request.rb b/lib/unirest/http_request.rb
index e217e44..3e2acac 100644
--- a/lib/unirest/http_request.rb
+++ b/lib/unirest/http_request.rb
@@ -57,11 +57,13 @@ def initialize(method, url, headers = {}, body = nil, auth = nil)
          @body = body
       end
 
-      unless url =~ URI.regexp
+      begin
+        Addressable::URI.parse url
+      rescue Addressable::URI::InvalidURIError
         raise "Invalid URL: #{url}"
       end
       
-      @url = url.gsub /\s+/, '%20'
+      @url = url.gsub(/\s+/, '%20')
       
       @headers = {}
 
diff --git a/unirest.gemspec b/unirest.gemspec
index 974206e..569cc67 100644
--- a/unirest.gemspec
+++ b/unirest.gemspec
@@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.homepage    = 'https://github.com/Mashape/unirest-ruby'
   s.license     = 'MIT'
 
-	s.add_dependency('rest-client', '~> 1.8.0')
-	s.add_dependency('json', '~> 1.8.1')
-	s.add_dependency('addressable', '~> 2.3.5')
+	s.add_dependency('rest-client', '~> 1.8')
+	s.add_dependency('json', '~> 1.8')
+	s.add_dependency('addressable', '~> 2.3')
 
-	s.add_development_dependency('shoulda', '~> 3.5.0')
+	s.add_development_dependency('shoulda', '~> 3.5')
 	s.add_development_dependency('test-unit')
 	s.add_development_dependency('rake')