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Dummies Guide at using Torrents.

My friend Aman has written an excellent guide of how to download stuff using the latest in P2P i.e. torrents. Here are some of the important parts of the guide. The link to the article is at the end of the post.




Basics:
Firstly get a good client such as µtorrent or Azureus(Java), BitComet(C++) .Other Clients are not recommended!

The torrent file is not the file you aim to download, but a small file containing information where the bits of files are are located and information of trackers. Bittorrent isn’t linear though, it randomly sends and receives pieces from random users connected via the same torrent file.

Terminology:

  • Leecher: That’s the guys that don’t have the complete file.
  • Seeder: Those that now have the entire file, 100%, and therefore only function to upload to those that haven’t got the whole thing yet.
  • Peers: All users connected to the same torrent. The more peers, the greater the speeds, providing there are enough seeders.
  • Tracker: The centre when you start up the torrent. In short – it connects you to other users and is also the thing that sends you messages to your client.

Complete list of terminologies.

How to download:
Head over to your favourite Bit torrent website which mind you don’t host files but simply host the .torrent file.When you find a torrent file online, you download it to your computer. Its recommended to keep the actual .torrent-file on your hard disk, in case you need to restart it. Now open the .torrent file in your bit torrent client, and tell it the place you want to store it. It starts download the minute the tracker has picked up on you being amongst the peers. Most tracker needs AT LEAST a few minutes to pick up, so leave it alone for a while.

The stuff I have is very little and it would help you greatly if you read the complete guide: http://www.fudge.co.in/2007/06/01/torrenting-for-dummies/

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Gmail Chat NOW in Opera (without masking)

For the last few days, I was not getting through to Gmail in Standard mode, so decided to clear my cache and cookies. And walla, the standard view was back. But there was a difference, it had Google Chat in with it, and I had not masked it to identiy Opera as Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Google Chat now in Opera (without masking)Chatting via Google Chat using Opera

I have not been able to find an official confirmation, but I think they were working on it, which resulted in Gmail being unavailabe a little while yesterday

Gmail DOWN

P.S: GChat has been ON/OFF on me and I have had too clear my cache and cookies again and again, to get it back, whereas my friend Aman, or even my hosted account (mail id for the blog) have had no such problem.

Digg IT

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Offline Messages in Google Talk


Yes folks it’s true. Google Talk now finally supports Offline Messaging (Official Blog Entry). Let’s just hope that the uber cool Google Chat emoticons are also ported into GTalk.

If you send somebody an Offline Message via Google Talk, the message will be received when they sign into Google Talk/Gmail. In Google Talk it appears as a normal message from a friend, whereas in Gmail it appears as a new Message.

OH yes there’s a catch. You only get this feature when you use Google Talk with a Gmail Account and that too with Save Chat History Enabled. Also if you were chatting off the record before your friend went offline, you’ll need to select Stop chatting off the record before sending offline messages.a href=”http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/11/offline-messages.html”

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Get the Yahoo! Mail Beta

Yahoo! Mail BetaYesterday, something went in my mind. I have all Gmail, Windows Live Mail Beta, I didn’t have Yahoo! Mail Beta. So I wanted it by hook or by crook! And so the hunt began and I found this very neat trick.

The whole things just worked perfectly for me, and I am in love with it. Its so good, so much better. The only major flaw is that it does not support Opera 9. The other drawback is that it take quite a long time to load, slightly longer than Gmail but much lesser than Windows Live Mail. And one more thing I might add is the labeling feature from Gmail.

So here’s the trick to get the “Invite for Yahoo! Mail Beta“. (Please use IE or Firefox)
Continue reading “Get the Yahoo! Mail Beta”

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Google Talk turns One

Google Talk Easter Egg

It’s a year old! Yes, Google Talk is celebrating its 1st Birthday today, and may I call it in some “Traditional Google” fashion. By that I mean a changed logo for the day, Google Talk is sporting a new Birthday Dress (logo).

Happy Birthday Google Talk!!!

To the Google Talk team (Hope they are reading this): Please give us Emoticons & Rich Text Editing, I am tired of using _ for italics and * for bold.

To everyone else: Please fill up this form, and tell the Google Talk team what you want https://services.google.com/inquiry/talk_suggest