rizzn-scratchpad

E currency post images

2009-09-02T15:12:00.001-07:00

discussion icon….

2009-08-25T15:06:00.001-07:00

Today’s stats.

2009-08-07T17:42:00.001-07:00

You see where pageviews started climing at 5 PM our time?

That’s when Twitter started working again.

how long will the comment last?

2009-07-23T13:30:00.001-07:00

3:30 PM CST

nice icons

2009-07-23T01:59:00.001-07:00

stickynote

2009-07-14T20:15:00.001-07:00

isn

2009-07-05T14:25:00.001-07:00

stuff for wcamp

2009-06-27T01:40:00.001-07:00

archived rizzn.coms

2009-06-23T20:35:00.001-07:00

2009-06-23T20:05:00.001-07:00

Test Post

2009-06-18T12:45:00.001-07:00

Show Me the ADS!

Bittorrent Series: #1 - utorrent

2009-06-16T02:10:00.001-07:00

Although peer-to-peer file sharing has a somewhat checkered reputation, it’s likely that even if you keep to the straight and narrow in your downloading habits, you’ll find yourself in need of grabbing something from a site requiring a BitTorrent downloader. Finding that client can be a minefield, though. Given that the protocol is open source, there have been a good number of clients issued that are packaged with all manner of spyware and things generally not healthy to have on your PC.

That’s actually how I came to use µTorrent as my BitTorrent client. µTorrent is what I’d consider to be the most powerful and efficient of all the BitTorrent clients I auditioned in my search. Previously, I’d been using TorrentStorm as my client of choice, another super-lightweight torrent client, but it was recently discontinued, and the developer wound up no longer supporting it. One new computer, many P2P client installs and several AdAware scans later, I came across µTorrent, which is nothing if not a solid and stable client designed to handle your BitTorrent downloads transparently and efficiently in terms of your system resource usage.

The Basic Featureset
Unlike other BitTorrent clients I tested, it does not tend suck down system resources. The program generally keeps its footprint under 6MB of memory and is only 268kB in filesize. Somehow, despite it’s size and unimposing appearance, it boasts one of the most well-rounded set of basic features. Chances are, once you install and start your downloads, you’ll often forget they’re even running in the background. I generally had to start about five or six downloads simultaneous to a couple of video streams before my machine starts to hiccup while browsing.

µTorrent has a reputation for compatibility with all version of Windows. I, myself, have it running on an old Windows XP machine with 512 megs of ram and a sub 1 GHz processor, and it runs as smoothly there as it does on my top of the line Vaio laptop. I’ve read reports of it even running on “everything from 486 PCs running Windows 95 and the Winsock2 update up through Windows Vista beta,” though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that user experience in this day and age – with or without BitTorrent!

µTorrent is second only to Vuze in richness of features. Right-clicking on a torrent file in the main window brings up most of the main features you’ll use in the program, including accessing the file after download (“Open Containing Folder”), getting rid of the files and the torrent when you’re done (“Remove” and “Remove And…”), and for the stats junkies, the properties window. For those that simply aren’t happy with default and ‘good enough,’ there’s also the ability to alter the bandwidth you have allocated for that particular download from the right-click menu.

By default, these are set to “unlimited” download and upload bandwidth allocations, but the main instance where playing with bandwidth allocation comes in handy are when you may have more than a few downloads going at once. In the same right-click sub-menu, there is a way to assign priority to different downloads, so if you want to speed up the last bit of a file, you simply assign it a higher priority.

On certain lower end machines I’ve tested uTorrent out on, like my old Windows XP system, the default settings for “unlimited bandwidth” downloads, the drag on the machine was noticeable, but not debilitating, and seemed limited to other programs that also interacted with the Internet, like web browsers. Most of the time, the easiest and most effective fix was to simply limit the bandwidth to a particular download while the machine was in use.

Many of these features I’ve detailed, though, are basic features when it comes to a torrent client. Almost every client out there may have them, but uTorrent is unique in making the features relatively easy to find.

A Little About the Interface

The interface is Spartan, and can be daunting to first time users, particularly if you’re trying to delve into the advanced settings. Unlike other clients, there isn’t a themed or skinned UI, as the program will adopt your system’s default visual styles. To that end, Spartan is a characteristic I’ve come to enjoy in a BitTorrent client, though, because without a heavy graphical overhead, usage of the computer while a download is in progress is still an option.

Fortunately, the default settings are more than sufficient for almost all practical applications, and the development on the program is mature enough to allow for drag-and-drop functionality, where applicable.

Within the program is built-in search capabilities that index many popular torrent sites, although it’s effectiveness in actually finding a torrent is pretty hit or miss. It seems to alternate between pointing to popular torrent search engines and pointing to a branded version of Google search. As Google regularly seems to change it’s mind on showing search results with .torrent files in them, I find it’s better to search on my other site’s I’m familiar with and trust.

At any rate, though search is an available feature within uTorrent, discovery is definitely not the focus of the product. It’s more or less assumed that if you’re using uTorrent, you have a decent handle on what BitTorrent is and where to find a torrent file, since very few hints on that are given from either help files or context in the program itself.

Some of the advanced features

The main Settings folder offers global bandwidth control and the ability to randomize the port used by µTorrent on every start. (If you have a UPnP-compatible router, you can use the UPnP port mapping option to forward ports automatically.) The built-in scheduler can control bandwidth across different times of day.

There’s also a web interface that’s built into this program, which if configured with your router properly will allow you to control the program while you’re away from the computer from anywhere on the web.

It’s theoretically a great feature to have; if you are a heavy downloader, for instance, when you’re away from the machine for extended periods of time, queuing new downloads using the interface might be a necessity (or at least a convenience). I’ve generally not needed to have my downloads managed so intensely, though, so I’ve never gotten around to configuring it myself. Friends of mine who use have cause to use the feature swear by it.

Some of the more advanced features that show up in µTorrent are that it has a scheduler so that you can schedule when it should start and stop downloading, and it can automatically load torrents from a directory (which could be combined with an RSS reader, for podcasts like Slashdot Review and GeekBrief.TV that us torrents on their feeds).

All in all, it’s a solid program, with no extra frills. It’s my torrent client of choice, and one I reccomend to torrenting user who are familiar with the download landscape or are looking to equip a secondary machine for workhorse torrenting activity. Those who don’t knwo where to start in the land of BitTorrent should probably begin with a client like Vuze, which comes with a great deal more discovery options built in.

bittorrent series: #2 Vuze

2009-06-16T01:55:00.000-07:00

The world of the BitTorrent protocols, search engines, and clients can be pretty confusing. Most Internet users don’t understand it or even use it, yet peer-to-peer traffic constitutes a majority of all data that’s transferred on the Internet. That’s mostly due to the fact that while the userbase for the protocol may be small, the files are large and the fans are dedicated (obsessive?).

It’s also due to, in part, the rise of much more user friendly clients like Vuze gaining recognition and popularity. For the just-the-facts, ma’am contingent, there’s always lean and effective BitTorrent clients like uTorrent. For those that are just looking to watch super-high quality online entertainment, there’s Vuze.

Where uTorrent weighed in at under half a megabyte, the Vuze client itself is over ten megabytes, not to mention the Java Virtual Machine required to run the program, which can be thirty megabytes or more. But for the footprint, the software gives a completely managed and much more user friendly experience, aiding in the search and discovery process for just about any video type and genre you could want – most of it legal!

Compatible with the Mac or PC, you can find a wide variety of independent content that hasn’t quite made it to the popularity level to be included in popular web video destination portals like Hulu or Joost. Of course, the quality of the video depends on what the producer makes available to the public, but most of the videos featured in their directory are near-HD and near-DVD quality, and certainly good enough to make for an enjoyable experience.

Vuze isn’t just an open platform where anybody can publish their content. The company has signed licensing deals with several mainstream producers like the BBC, A&E, and Showtime, who are offering paid content.

Installation is fairly simple and straightforward, but much like most torrent clients, you will be asked to install two toolbars for your web browser. One is the Vuze toolbar, which in my opinion doesn’t provide any added convenience for me as a user to make up for the real-estate it’ll grab from every page I view on the net. The other toolbar is the Ask search bar, which of course is a sponsored insertion that helps pay the expenses of the Vuze team. Neither one is essential to use the program, and even though the installation makes it look as if the Vuze tool bar installation is essential to accepting the terms of service for general installation, it isn’t. You can skip both as long as you select the “custom installation” option on the initial screen, and uncheck the option to install the toolbars on the last screen.

After installation, you’ll When you install the program, you're presented with a layout that should conjure déjà vu for iTunes users. Within that layout, the content and discovery is distributed amongst four four main section tabs on the left: My Library, Vuze HD Network, Notifications and Subscriptions. The “Vuze HD Network” content library functions mostly like the iTunes library does, with category trees full of video content.

The notifications tab is mainly for showing what’s new about the program and other new features that may have been added, in lieu of a company feature blog. The subscriptions area is most interesting, with the ability to create notifications of new content based on keyword searches and series from the content network they maintain, which can function as a sort of real-time monitor of new content based on your interests or just a way of keeping up with your favorite series.

The “My Library” section is just what it sounds like – your library of downloaded files, whether it’s software, movies, music or images. All are displayed cleanly with icons along side size, quality and rating details.

There are also many of the advanced features that show up in clients like uTorrent when it comes to managing bandwidth and file clean-up, IP filters, and firewall tests. The download and upload statistics aren’t as detailed and intensive as what you’ll find on uTorrent, but it’s sufficient for what this client aims to be, which is a portal for high-quality video content.

When compared to other video portals, Vuze is a hands down winner, particularly if your broadband connection and computer specifications are better than average. While download speeds are in no way guaranteed, the userbase of Vuze is large enough so that almost everything listed in the content directory seems to be very well seeded, and your download speeds seem to be mostly limited by the size of your broadband contract. I have a 10 Mbps downstream on my broadband, and on average the videos downloaded were running at 90% of that.

When I tested it on my slightly older and less than top of the line machines however, the memory footprint and overhead of the Java Virtual Machine started to become very obvious, just from the GUI itself, not from the activity of downloading, necessarily. The downloads, as a result, were much slower on these older machines that they were with uTorrent, though on the higher end machines I tested, the downloads ran somewhat quicker than they did with the more lightweight client.

Vuze also doubles as a media viewer as well, although it has to rate as one of the least enjoyable media viewers I’ve ever had the chance to use. Even on my fastest machine, before a video will load, there’s about a seven second delay, which is immediately followed by a thirty second video.

Slightly less annoying is the unique video encoding method that seems to be used by all the videos showcased is one that was previously unfamiliar to me, something called the “Matroska Media File,” which you must go out and find the proper codec for before you’ll be able to view anything you download. The download site is a little odd – and seems to be intentionally reminiscent of the Soviet red and yellow (the download is called “The Combined Community Codec Pack” or CCCP, and is emblazoned with a hammer and sickle insignia). The hunt for the proper driver might be out of reach for the entry-level user, and if they’re able to find the proper site, they’ll likely be put off by the communist motif.

If you can get past all that, though, the codec seems to be one of the better quality ones I’ve seen lately, and provides nearly flawless video, with very little artifacting or other picture imperfections.

All in all, the interface is what shapes the recommendation of this product. When it comes down to it, Vuze has exactly the same feature set as every other BitTorrent client in existence, but with a much more top-heavy interface. Vuze has search, and so does most of the other BitTorrent clients out there. Vuze has download management, and a number of ways to optimize file downloading, and all the other standard and advanced features.

Where Vuze stands above others is not in performing the core functionality, but in the endeavor to aid in discovery of new content in the world of torrenting, and doing so in a way that doesn’t showcase entirely pirated materials. As a torrent client, it’s only average. As a discovery tool, it’s truly unique, making it a near-perfect choice for those really wanting to delve into the world of torrenting while not becoming copyright violators.

I’ll

2009-06-11T01:06:00.001-07:00

photo for WCdallas

is this what I think it is?

2009-05-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

test thing

2009-05-08T02:09:00.001-07:00

test

2009-05-06T12:52:00.001-07:00

test