October 31, 2008 by sharky
Researchers at the Ohio State University have implemented and released a new BitTorrent client software written in Python, called Top-BT. Different from previously released BT clients, Top-BT actively discovers Internet topology, and uses this intelligence to always choose close peers to download file pieces. Their study shows that, compared to other native BT clients, Top-BT can accelerate downloading up to twice, but save up to 40% induced Internet traffic. So, naturally, what did we do? We put Top-BT head-to-head in a speedtest with µTorrent using public trackers.
NOTE: TopBT has withdrawn from LH-ABC, and is now built onto Vuze. Read our updated article here:
TopBT on Vuze - A Topology-Aware BitTorrent Client
Archived by FSFmirror
One good thing about µTorrent is its upgradability to a newer (hopefully improved) version, and that this is set to "ON" by default (with user confirmation) in the client. The bad thing about uTorrent …well, ironically it’s the same thing. After a much-anticipated release of version 1.8.0 stable, everything started to go wrong: from ongoing ZoneAlarm firewall and NOD32 antivirus conflicts, Vista problems, connectability issues and a bounty of other mishaps in the last month or so. µTorrent developers have repeatedly scrambled to put out quick betas/builds until finally settling on the latest stable v1.8.1 - a version even the dev team couldn’t have contemplated having to come up with in such short notice. All this for a tiny 263 KB application.
The audacious 
You’ve probably seen this before - your private tracker has announced a "freeleech" coming up in the near future, giving you a great head’s up notice of when it’s going down. If you want to use the opportunity to buffer the account ratio or finally be able to download what you’ve always wanted, µTorrent comes loaded with a couple of handy features that are tailor-made for home seeding. With ‘Labels’ you’ll be able to categorize a select group of torrents, download them beforehand, and start them all at once - at the click of a button. In the event that you’re not at your home PC when the freeleech begins, or have no access to a computer (no WebUI), the ’scheduler’ feature will launch the torrents at a predetermined time.
For What.cd members who are aspiring for 
Around here, we’re no strangers to seedboxes. If you’ve ever been privy to one, you’ll probably find it hard going back to regular home torrenting once you get accustomed to the download speed and seeding power. Well, that’s exactly what we’ll be facing next week when our 
Those of you who’ve been anxiously awaiting the public opening of 
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