Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » BitTorrent

Evidence Suggests BitTorrent Re-Branding Under The Name Gyre

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:41:30 +0000

After the latest alpha version of uTorrent was released earlier this week, some people noticed that the ownership of the product was attributed to an unknown company called Gyre Inc. instead of BitTorrent Inc. The uTorrent team quickly fixed this and called it a “coding mistake.” BitTorrent did not confirm or deny the existence of a rebranding, but they said that they “regularly test new brand and product names internally.”

Gyre Inc. was registered in January of this year and BitTorrent Inc. CEO Eric Klinker is listed as the service agent. The company’s address is also similar to the BitTorrent address in San Francisco.

BitTorrent Inc. also copied all of their BitTorrent trademarks for the term Gyre. The three Gyre trademarks cover devices, software, and licensing. All of these are identical to the existing BitTorrent trademarks.

“Gyre” has also appeared in the “Terms of Use” for the “Share” app released by BitTorrent Inc. a few months ago. BitTorrent developers have been referencing Gyre in their code such as plugin.btapp.js. This will be part of a released product where web browsers will be able to talk to uTorrent through a plugin.

Torrent Website BTjunkie Shuts Down Voluntarily

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:07:27 +0000

BTjunkie is one of the largest BitTorrent search engine websites. The website has shut down voluntarily today due to a combination of legal actions against other file-sharing websites and time-consuming projects. BTjunkie was founded in June 2005 and has been one of the top BitTorrent websites since then.

BTjunkie themselves have never been subject to legal action. BTjunkie founder said that the legal actions against MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay played an important role in the shut-down. BTjunkie was actually censored by Google on their search recommendations too.

Below is a message on the homepage of the website currently.

“This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!”

Louis C.K. Made Over $200,000 After Asking For A Torrent Video Payment Of His Show

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:14:36 +0000

Louis C.K. is one of the best known comedians today. Recently he decided to experiment with video distribution. He is distributing his performance from the Live at the Beacon Theater through torrent websites and is asking for $5 payment for it.

He has recently revealed the numbers he is seeing for the $5 payments through the torrent websites now. The performance costed about $250,000 and he was able to pay for all of that and making a profit of $200,000 so far. Not bad, Mr. C.K. If you want to buy it, you can use PayPal or pay with a credit card. There is no DRM restrictions and there isn’t any special preventative measures.

This is what Louis C.K. wrote about on his website:

I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can’t stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way.

[TNW]

Paramount To Distribute The Tunnel Movie Through BitTorrent

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:03:47 +0000

Paramount PIctures is planning to distribute the movie The Tunnel using the BitTorrent protocol simultaneously to the physical DVD release launch. The movie is based on the real-life set of abandoned tunnels under Sydney, Australia. The real-life network of tunnels in Sydney were originally meant for a rail network, but the construction was discontinued. U.S. General Macarthur ended up using the tunnels during World War II as a base. The movie will be available on BitTorrent starting May 19th. Check out the trailer below:

Khan Academy Builds BitTorrent App To Spread Education

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:18:24 +0000

The Khan Academy was started by an entrepreneur named Salman Khan. The Khan Academy was initially known for uploading simple math lessons through over 2,000 videos on YouTube. The Khan Academy received $2 million from Google as a donation this past September. Students can earn virtual badges as they progress with lessons. Teachers at the Khan Academy will even intervene when a student is stuck.

Now Khan Academy has built a BitTorrent application to spread education. This is a huge win for BitTorrent since they have a reputation for distributing entertainment content. For the millions of people that use BitTorrent, they now have free access to educational content. You can download and install the application from the BitTorrent App Studio: http://www.utorrent.com/apps.

[TorrentFreak]

BitTorrent Hits 400,000 Downloads Per Day

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:06:19 +0000

BitTorrent has achieved some major milestones. On top of hitting about 400,000 downloads of their client per day, the company is reporting 100 million active monthly users. These numbers also include BitTorrent client subsidiary µTorrent. BitTorrent is a protocol where users generally share large sized files with each other in a P2P form. [TechCrunch]

VLC Media Player Integrated Into uTorrent

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:00:01 +0000

The BitTorrent team has integrated the VLC Media Player within the uTorrent application. That means now you can play media files from within the client directly. Last month BitTorrent released uTorrent 2.2 with the BitTorrent App Studio. Using the VLC app in uTorrent, users will now have a shortcut to play media files without having to open folders. [TorrentFreak]

How To Increase BitTorrent Download Speeds and Privacy

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:16:13 +0000

Every now and then I find myself in a discussion about BitTorrent. BitTorrent is one of the best existing file-sharing clients available since the demise of LimeWire, KaZaa, and Napster. But how do you get the most out of it while maintaining privacy?

Remember To Randomize and Forward Router Ports

If you are using a router, then it is likely that your ports are closed. This means that your download speeds are generally slower. You will need to specify with your router which ports you want open for BitTorrent traffic. This is known as port forwarding. Go to Options -> Network -> and click Randomize Port During Launch or Randomize Port Each Start.

If you have the option to Enable UPnP port mapping, Enable NAT-PMP port mapping, and Add Windows Firewall exception if those options are available. I would also click Automatically map port if that is an option too.

Encrypting BitTorrent Traffic

Another option you have when using BitTorrent is the ability to encrypt your connection. This may not necessarily work with every type of torrent downloading software, but uTorrent has the option. When using uTorrent, go to Preferences -> BitTorrent and then select “Enable” on the Outgoing Encryption. If you do not see a faster connection, you can also try using “Force.”

If you have a specific torrent that not a lot of people are seeding, I would recommend clicking the Allow Incoming Legacy Connections checkbox. This way any peers you connect to will use an encryption and your ISP will not throttle you as much.

If you are using the Transmission torrent downloading software, go to the Peers pane in the application preferences and open up the Encryption section. Click the “Prefer Encrypted Peers” box and the “Ignore Unencrypted Peers” box. If you notice that there are not a lot of seeds connecting to the torrent, then uncheck it again to see if it helps with the speeds.

Set Your BitTorrent Client Speeds

Many people are not aware that you can control the bandwidth of your upload speeds and download speeds. Uploading high speeds will slow down the Internet for everyone else on your network, especially if you are sharing popular files. You can control your upload/download speeds in the Network section of Preferences.

Enable A Scheduler Of BitTorrent Downloads

uTorrent and Transmission have simple Scheduler features that lets you set a time for when you want to upload or download files. Some people to prefer letting stuff limit download speeds during the day and then speed up substantially overnight.

In uTorrent, go to Options, Preferences, and find Scheduler. Checkmark the Enable Scheduler box and click on the corresponding boxes. I have seen this feature on uTorrent for Windows, but not on the Mac.

Block Peers That Are Snooping On You

Sometimes you do not want hackers snooping on you. Hackers sometime post fake torrents to track those who are downloading. Transmission users have a blacklist feature built-in. Below is list of steps on setting it up:

Mac
-Open Transmission’s preferences and head to the Peers pane.
- Check the box that says “Prevent Known Bad Peers from Connecting” under the Blocklist section
- Hit the “Update” button to make update the list of bad peers and check-mark the Automatically Update Weekly box to kit it up to date.

Windows:
- Download PeerBlock and set it up
- Peerblock lets you block P2P, advertising and data tracker servers, malicious spyware, educational institutions, or import/create lists.

Transmission 2.0 Has Increased Speed and Stability

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:58:55 +0000

Transmission 2.0, the BitTorrent client made for Mac and Linux recently launched the an updated version. Transmission 2.0 has a faster startup time, can handle 404 tracker errors better, comes with local peer discovery, optimize download requests, and is more stable. Transmission 2.0 is available as a free download for for Mac and Linux.

List Of Over 35 Torrent Download and Search Tools

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:44:31 +0000

There’s a lot happening in the news lately about the BitTorrent client. Most recently hosting company of the torrent search engine The Pirate Bay was sent an injunction by the recording industry. ISOHunt.com is also subject to an injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Just in case you are a torrent newbie, here is a list of over 35 torrent resources, download tools, and search engines.

1. uTorrent – uTorrent is a torrent downloading tool that is one of the most commonly used.

2. ABC Client – ABC is an improved Bittorrent peer-to-peer distribution software. ABC is based on BitTornado.

3. Acquisition P2P – Acquisition P2P is a BitTorrent client that is similar to the uTorrent for the Mac.

4. Arctic Torrent – Arctic Torrent is a minimal BitTorrent client that focuses on low memory and CPU usage. The software was written in C++. Currently only supported on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, or Vista.

5. BitComet – BitComet is a free C++ BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP download client that is multitrack capable.

6. BitLord – BitLord is a torrent download client that allows you to search, find, and download torrent files. There is also an RSS downloader, scheduler, and comments system.

7. BitPump – BitPump is a BitTorrent client developed by AnalogX and only works on Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP

8. BitSpirit – BitSpirit has trackerless and multi-tracker support. It has UPnP, NAT Traversal support and protocol encryption.?9.

9. BitTornado – BitTornado is an experimental BitTorrent client with encryption available.

10. BitTorrent – BitTorrent is the global standard to access rich media over the Internet.

11. BitTorrent (Wikipedia) – Information about BitTorrent on Wikipedia.

12. BitTyrant – A BitTorrent client modified based on the Azureus 2.5 code base. The client works on Windows, OS X, and Linux.

13. Bits On Wheels – A native Mac BitTorrent client with a live 3D view of your swarm. It is completely written in Objective-C and Cocoa.

14. Brian’s BitTorrent FAQ – This website helps answers questions you may have about torrents.

15. Bt.etree.org – Bt.etree.org is a community for sharing live concert recordings of trade friendly artists.

16. Burst! – Burst! is a BitTorrent client that uses a modified version of the original Python client. It currently only works on Windows.

17. ClearBits.net – ClearBits distributes high quality and open-license digital media. The company is based in San Francisco and is self-funded. Content is distributed with permission from rights holders through BitTorrent.

18. Deluge – Deluge is an open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client. It has full encryption and a plugin system. It works on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

19. Enhanced cTorrent – Enhanced CTorrent works on Linux, Solaris, Cygwin, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD.

20. FlashGet – FlashGet automatically splits files into sections and downloads each split at the same time.

21. Frostwire – FrostWire is a file sharing p2p (peer-to-peer) program for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

22. Gnome BitTorrent – GNOME BitTorrent (GnomeTorrent) is a BitTorrent client that is designed to be easy to use. However it lacks queueing features and it does not display a lot of details about what you are downloading.

23. Halite – Halit is a C++ BitTorrent client that is based on the libtorrent library from Rasterbar Software.

24. LegitTorrents.info – LegitTorrents is a website that lets you download free music, movies, games, and software. Legit Torrents is the biggest legal torrent tracker.

25. Opera – Opera has a built-in BitTorrent client that can be downloaded from the Opera website.

26. qBittorrent – qBittorrent is a project that was started in March 2006 and is the closest open source that is similar to utorrent. It has UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding support and is available in about 25 languages.

27. QTorrent – QTorrent is a BitTorrent client that uses the Qt widget-set.

28. rTorrent and libTorrent – LibTorrent is a BitTorrent library that is written in C++. It works on Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux, etc.

29. Revision3.com – Revision3 is an independent free online video service that has popular shows such as Diggnation, Film Riot, etc. The video service uses the BitTorrent client to serve the video content.

30. sharktorrent – sharktorrent is a BitTorrent client that works on Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS X. It was written in C++ and it uses QT, libtorrent, and boost.

31. Tomato Torrent – Tomato Torrent is an open source Mac BitTorrent client.

32. TorrentFreak.com – TorrentFreak.com is a blog that focuses on the latest news about BitTorrent and everything related to the protocol.

33. Torrent Swapper – Torrent Swapper is a social BitTorrent client. It basically has Amazon-like recommendations from peers to find interesting files.

34. TorrentVolve – TorrentVolve is a cross-platform PHP and web-based BitTorrent client. It has a user management system, a torrent file manager, and a configurable torrent downloader.

35. Transmission – Transmission is a BitTorrent client that works as a native Mac, GTK+, and Qt GUI client.

36. Vuze – Vuze is a BitTorrent client that has meta-search with login support for private trackers. It works with the iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PS 3, PSP, and TiVo.

37. Wikipedia’s BitTorrent Client Comparison – Wikipedia has a detailed list of BitTorrent clients. It also compares them based on the features that are included.