uTorrent Users: Update to Latest Stable v1.8.1 - For Now

October 15, 2008 by sharky

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.

New Shareaza v2.4.0 - 9 Months After With 900 Changes

October 13, 2008 by sharky

The audacious Shareaza fiasco that saw their domain rudely hijacked and the popular file sharing client replaced with a fake ‘pay’ (aka. "legal") Shareaza v4 is likely still fresh in many of our minds. Fortunately, the original developers did not cease work on the GNU-licensed real Shareaza, as they introduce a much-improved new version v2.4.0.0 this month. After more than 9 months of dedication, the team is proud to announce the first major upgrade to Shareaza since the debacle. This latest Shareaza comes loaded with 900 very impressive cumulative updates & changes, including Vista support, integrated IRC chat, TorrentWizard, new skins, and even a TCP/UDP connection test.

Canadians, Vote NDP on October 14th for Net-Neutrality

October 11, 2008 by sharky

Fellow Canadians, if you put any stock in ‘net-neutrality, freedom of speech, and P2P filesharing, you’ll want to vote NDP in the upcoming election on Tuesday, October 14th. I simply and strongly cannot sit idly by and write about P2P topics when everything I believe in stands in such jeopardization. It is not only my duty as an avid proponent for BitTorrent, P2P and Internet neutrality, but also as a patriotic Canadian. Nobody’s asking for absurd copyright laws that diminish the rights of copyright holders and protect the infringers, but some middle ground must be found. It won’t happen if C-61 is reintroduced. Bored? Read no further.

UPDATE (Oct. 15): While NPD didn’t win, the election still proved to be a success. Again, a minority Canadian Government has been established, keeping the status quo.

uTorrent Freeleech Tips Using ‘Labels’ and ‘Scheduler’

October 11, 2008 by sharky

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.

Share Private Torrents With uTorrent’s Embedded Tracker

October 08, 2008 by sharky

Making your own torrents from files and folders in µTorrent is easy - use the ‘Create New Torrent’ feature, browse to a folder or file, throw in a public tracker URL in the Tracker list and upload it to your favourite public torrent site for all to use. But what if you only want to share your torrents with a friend or small group of users, and not the rest of the world? µTorrent incorporates a cool feature called Embedded Tracker that allows you to create and seed your torrents privately.

The Winners And Losers of P2P - What’s Hot / What’s Not

October 07, 2008 by sharky

BitTorrent has pretty much solidified itself as the undisputed king of P2P — like it or not, the reality is there’s not much to debate about. But what about those other P2P filesharing protocols? Have they become forgotten pioneers of a bygone era, cast aside by a next-gen world of crazed torrenters? Or are they equally thriving in their own right, albeit somewhat displaced? We’ll try to answer that by digging around in some of the alternative P2P methods to see what’s hot, and what’s not.

PassThePopcorn.org - The Innovative Movie Tracker

October 06, 2008 by sharky

The Gazelle codebase works exquisitely for music trackers (What.cd & Libble) because of the advantageous categorical grouping and tagging characteristics. PassThePopcorn.org has proven that Gazelle functions equally as well when the same principles are applied to a movie tracker. Films, too, are easily grouped and require multiple tagging criteria (genre, year, language, codec) in which Gazelle once again earns merit as the superior tracker codebase.

25 Tips & Tricks To Maximize a WHAT.CD Freeleech

October 05, 2008 by sharky

For What.cd members who are aspiring for Power User status, freeleech promotions offer the best way to get there. Freeleech offers members a golden opportunity to upload tens, even hundreds of GBs in just a short few days - let alone the ability to finally download everything you ever wanted. Whether you’re using a seedbox, home BitTorrent client, or both - here’s a collection of solutions and tips to get you on track to a great What.cd ratio.

High-Speed BitTorrent - A Look Inside the 1Gbps Seedbox

October 03, 2008 by sharky

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 TorrentSwift 1Gbps seedbox account expires. Alas, we’ll be downgrading back to our slow-as-molasses 100Mbps (mbit) seedbox where bandwidth is capped at a meager 12,500 KB/s (in a best-case scenario). But it sure was a fun ride while it lasted.

Pirate City - Kicks Things Off With 800+ Streaming Movies

October 01, 2008 by sharky

Those of you who’ve been anxiously awaiting the public opening of The Pirate City, today is that day. There’s been a huge buzz over this, and as beta testing winds down paving the way to open access, expect TPC to become a monster hit among online video streaming enthusiasts.

The Pirate City comes not without controversy. If rumours are true that The Pirate Bay is indeed behind this new video streaming site, it gives all the more reason for the MPAA to abhor them even further - something of which TPB is already accustomed to.