Recent Articles
Video Demonstration of Downloading Torrents to the Media Center using the Iphone
Jan 23, 2010 Information 1 Comment
Here is a quick video demonstrating what was covered in a previous article
How To Use Your Iphone to Download Torrents Remotely
I hope this video makes the article that it refers to clearer.
More on DynDns and Utorrent
Jan 23, 2010 Information, iphone Leave a comment
A lot of my readers are asking what dyndns is and what is it for. Well let me devote an entire post to that and clear things up.
DynDns is a free service offered to those that have a dynamic IP address that changes often.
See if you visit http://www.ipchicken.com right now it will show you your ip address. This is your address on the internet. Its like your home address only its in a digital world.
DynDns.com gives you a free sub-domain that points to that number so that you don’t have to remember it and especially remember it each time it may change.
In a previous article I wrote about downloading torrents remotely, I discussed how I use dyndns.com along with my router to keep my IP address pointing to the name thebatchfile.homeip.net which I got for free from dyndns.com. This way I could always access Utorrent while away from home using my iphone without the worry of remembering an IP address that could possibly change on me from time to time since I do not pay for a static IP address with my internet provider.
In order for dyndns.com to work for you, you will need to first visit their site and sign up for a free account. Then you will need to either use one of their free IP address update applications to run on your computer to keep your IP address changes synchronized with their database OR you may can set it up in your router if you have one.
I think its safe to say that almost all routers have a configuration page you can access from your web browser. To be able to access your routers web configuration you need to know its address internal to you network.
To figure out the address of your router do this. If you are on a windows computer click START then RUN and type the letters CMD and press enter. This will bring up a command prompt window. Now type in ipconfig /all in the window and press enter. Read More..
Why Foursquare is Lame
Jan 23, 2010 Information, Rants 1 Comment
I was recently reading an article on Twitter and Foursquare, and let me just tell you that the recent foursquare pollution on twitter is getting on my last nerve. The article I was reading was called:
Where You Are and Why It Matters: Twitter and Local Trending
from http://thenextweb.com/ by Kristin Marshall
For those of you that don’t already know, here are the definition of each.
Twitter is without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now.
Foursquare on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things.
Now here are MY definition of each.
Twitter = Very cool way to tell all that follow you what your are doing without wasting time on the phone with hellos and whats ups. You simply want to tell them all at once WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I mean really that’s what everyone always asks right? What are you doing?
Foursquare = Lame.
When I first started with Twitter, I loved the fact that it was so simple. It was just your friends, what they were doing, pics, and links to pictures or websites they were reading. That’s it.
In this article Kristin Marshall tries to explain what the “big picture” is by writing:
“Where we are, our location, plays a key role in determining what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. “
I call bullsnap on this one. I don’t need to know the location of the Circle K that this tweet is referring too “@snoballz is making a beer run to the Circle K http://4sq.com/7l4RDM”
She goes on to write ” Twitter has given us another way to turn down the noise, and really get to the nitty gritty of what matters to us”
Oh Really? How is that so? Are you referring to the new twitter lists? I cant filter out the friends that I want to follow that are lame enough to use foursquare and tweet every single location…. that defeats the purpose.
“Twitter’s geolocation feature has not seen a great deal of uptake with only 0.23% of tweets with geolocation enabled”
If foursquare and its geolocations is already polluting my twitter streams at 0.23% I fear what will happen if others jump on the band wagon of this horsespit and make the jump to 5%.
This is what happens when Twitter releases their API to other lame applications. You get stream pollution!
There is always a silver lining in almost any situation if you look deep enough, and I may have found it. Imagine where someone might hand off a phone to someone and have that person tweet from Steak and Shake when they are out committing some heinous crime.
Could that be the future of the Perfect alibi???
How To Use Your Iphone to Download Torrents Remotely
Jan 21, 2010 Information, Services, Software 1 Comment
Utorrent is great for downloading torrents. It has this wonderful web interface that allows you to paste in urls to torrents and have them download. You can use your browser to do this or even your iphone.
This is convenient if your work forbids you from downloading torrents. I was once with some friends having dinner and one asks have I seen The Uninvited. I says no. Then I thought hey I can download that right now before I forget, so I broke out my iphone, opened safari, went to the bookmark I had set for thepiratebay.org, looked for the movie, copied the link, then opened a new page in safari and clicked on the bookmark I had set for my utorrent on my personal machine at home, then logged into it, pasted the url to the torrent in there and clicked go. It began to download. Everyone was amazed. About 25 minutes later as we were getting in the car, my phone churped and it was an email notifying me that the download was complete and ready to watch ( I still have not watched it yet).
Now I am going to show you how you can do exactly the same thing.
First we need to setup a http://www.dyndns.com/ account to turn your ip address into a name.
Your ip address is a number that your internet service provider or ISP for short assigns you to allow you internet access. Sometimes this number changes and it would be hard to remember so we need to turn this number into a name.
Here is a how to article from their website.
https://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/howto.html
Register for a free account at http://www.dyndns.com/. Agree to the site’s terms, and use a legitimate email address to complete registration. Once in awhile, DynDNS will email you at that address asking you to confirm that it continue your service.
Log into your new account. Go to the “My Services” area on the left side. Under “Host Services” click “Add New HostName.” There, fill in the name you want to use. DynDNS will autofill your IP address (if you’re doing this from your home computer). Choose a domain and type in a custom subdomain, which can be anything from lifehacker.kicks-ass.org or john.is-a-geek.com or something, like below:
WARNING: Facebook Photo Comments
Jan 21, 2010 Hacks, Information Leave a comment
Recently while on Facebook I have been getting lots of notifications about someone “tagging” me in a photo, and its often from people that I would surely think do not have a photo of me to even tag.
Lets say you just recently added a person that you really have never met, but you add them anyway. Later they tag you in a photo. How is that even possible?!?!?!
When have you ever had to add an app to see a comment on a photo? Never and you never will either. This is complete nonsense, and Facebook should really monitor the publication of apps better.
I have come to realize that this application looks official until you add it to your account. Once you add it, it should become clear that is it a false application created to get information out of your account. It is simply a trick to get your data! If you do click it you will take you to an application confirmation screen, and want you to click to add it, when doing so I am sure through some sorta of technical magic that it is doing something mischievous.
DO NOT FALL FOR THIS
At the bottom of any Facebook page you should see an Applications button. Click it then click on Edit Applications.
Click the “x” next to the application named “Photo Comments” and then as well to any other application that you might have no use for that are just taking up space or you are not using anymore.
Tell all your friends about this or forward them this website. If you are on twitter, retweet this. If you are on Facebook, share it.
Would you pay $5 to watch a YouTube video?
Jan 20, 2010 Information Leave a comment
YouTube this week begins a test to see if folks will pay to watch movies on its site. The Web’s most popular video sharing site Friday will offer five films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festival for a fee around $5 . It’s a way, YouTube says, to bring more exposure to independent films. But it’s also a test to see if viewers will pay for content, YouTube says. YouTube product manager Sara Pollack says the program is a response to the problems facing independent filmmakers. Too many movies are getting produced, with few places to exhibit them. For instance, she says of the 9,000 films shown at Sundance last year, only 53 found some form of distribution. “The online audience is getting bigger and bigger, but the ad-supported model doesn’t always fit the needs of filmmakers,” she says The videos will cost in the $5 range to watch — but Pollack says the exact price will be set by the filmmaker. YouTube will split revenues, but will give the lion’s share to the filmmaker, she says. The Sundance Festival opens Friday in Park City, Utah, where YouTube execs will be visiting and networking with filmmakers. The five Sundance films: By Jefferson Graham – USA Today
How To Make Media Center Download Torrents Automatically
Jan 20, 2010 Hacks, Information 1 Comment
I have been asked about my Windows Media Center setup and how I have it setup to automatically download tv shows and email me a message when they are complete for quite some time now. Well the time has now come, long awaited I know. I have been meaning to get around to this for well over 3 months now. Sorry about that but finally here it is.
First I think it would help if you read these articles first.
How to Install and Configure uTorrent
http://www.userbytes.com/how-to-install-and-configure-utorrent/
How to Install and Configure Peer Guardian
http://www.userbytes.com/how-to-install-and-configure-peer-guardian/
How to Spot the Best Torrents for Fast Downloads
http://www.userbytes.com/how-to-spot-the-best-torrents-for-fast-downloads/
Ok so like I was saying, simply put, I have a computer tucked away in our tv armoire that is connected to our 42 inch HDTV, and it monitors RSS feeds for television shows that I tell it to look for, and it downloads them when they are available. When the download is complete, the computer sends an email notification that it is indeed finished and ready for viewing.
My Setup
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
2.8 GHZ Intel Pentium D CPU x2
1.5 GiG Ram
500 Gig Harddrive
2 Video Capture Cards – Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150 with remote
I know its old but it has worked best for me for a long time now, since October 2006 I believe. Media Center is Microsoft’s Digital Video Recorder, or DVR as most call it. You can pause and record live tv, schedule shows and movies to record for later viewing too. Read More..
How to Spot the Best Torrents for Fast Downloads
Jan 19, 2010 Information, Software 3 Comments
Ok so in a previous article you learned how to download and install utorrent a bittorrent downloading application. I also provided you with sites in which to download torrents.
On of my favorites is http://www.thepiratebay.org. We will use that site today and I will show you how to download an episode of The Office and how to choose the best one for faster downloads.
Open your browser and navigate to http://www.thepiratebay.org
I did a search for The Office and check the box that says Video.
This was my result.
On most search sites you will see Seeds and Leechers. SEeds are the people sharing this file, while LEechers are the people downloading the files.
You will want it to be equal or better to have more seeds than leechers.
What I do is organize it by clicking on the SE to put the most seeders at the top
See how I now have one and it has a lot of seeders and very little leachers. This will guarantee me a fast download.
I will click on the first one in the list.
After clicking on the first one in the list I was presented with this page where I can view comments on this file from other viewers and download the torrent.
Since I use FireFox, this is the save dialogue box I got when I clicked on the link to download the torrent.
I just clicked ok since it was set to open my default torrent client utorrent.
UTorrent is asking me where to save the file too. I am fine with the default of My DocumentsDownloads
You can barely see it cause I had to resize the image, but I was right, a very fast download indeed.
I will have this show in 5 minutes and it will be commercial free.
Once the download is complete I will navigate to where it downloaded and watch it on my computer or media center setup.
How to Install and Configure uTorrent
Jan 18, 2010 Information, Software 2 Comments
Ok now that you know how to protect your internet activities with Peer Guardian, lets proceed in teaching you what you need to use to download tv shows, music and possibly movies from the internet. If you want to do it and do it fast you will want to know all about torrents and the best program to use is µTorrent.
Utorrent is the worlds most popular bittorrent client. Most of the features present in other BitTorrent clients are present in µTorrent, including bandwidth prioritization, scheduling, RSS auto-downloading and Mainline DHT (compatible with BitComet). Additionally, µTorrent supports the Protocol Encryption joint specification.
For more information on what a torrent is, and how it all works check out The Lowdown on BitTorrent or this Wiki page.
But to sum it up real fast, think of the file you want to download. Usually you would use something like LimeWire or BearShare or something, do a search, and download from a single individual that was sharing it on their computer. With Torrents, you download a piece of the file you want from many sources that are sharing it across the internet. This way you get it super fast. You are not limited to a single persons computer speed they are sharing from.
Ok lets move on and set this program up! Read More..
How to Install and Configure Peer Guardian
Jan 17, 2010 Information, Software 4 Comments
PeerGuardian is an open source IP filter that is designed to block the IP addresses of certain organizations and corporations that may wish to invade a users privacy while using the Internet and peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The following tutorial shows how to set up PeerGuardian 2 for use p2p file sharing software like Utorrent and limewire.
You need this program if you do a lot of downloading of music, tv shows, movies, etc using torrents or other peer to peer programs to aquire such files.
Your internet provider and other government task forces monitor for such traffic and can prosecute if they catch you downloading illegal files.
First download the application and save it to somewhere like your desktop for easy access. Once installed you can delete the download package.
Begin by double clicking on the PeerGuardian Install Icon (the file you downloaded)
Begin the installation process by clicking “Next”.
