What Is It?

BitTorrent is a fast, distributed file sharing peer-to-peer system. BitTorrent is not a file sharing program, rather its a protocol used by numerous programs (clients) to download from and share files with other BitTorrent users. BitTorrent works by breaking up files into a large number of very small pieces. These pieces can be shared quickly with other users and allow users who are still in the process of downloading a file, to share the pieces they do have.

How Do I Use It?

BitTorrent files (.torrent) contain the information that links you to other users sharing the same target file… so all you really need is a program (client) to handle BitTorrent files. I recommend the following for each operating system:

• utorrent (Windows)
• Azureas (Linux / Mac / Windows)

Once you install your client, you need to search for some good torrents. I recommend the following:

• isoHunt.com
• The Pirate Bay
• Mininova

Each of these sites will feature a search box. Type some search terms in and scan through the results. Most torrent files names are plain English and give some information about the torrent. What you really need to look for is the number of Seeders and Peers.

Seeders are people who have completed the download and are sharing a full copy of the file. Peers are people, like you, who are in the process of downloading the file and are sharing a partial copy. The more Seeders there are, the faster, generally speaking, your download will be. It is also possible, though rare, to have a large group of Peers who, collectively, have a complete copy of the file.

So now that you’ve searched for a file you want, and found a torrent with a lot of Seeders, download the file. Your browser will probably ask you what to do with a “.torrent” file. Tell it to open the file using the new BitTorrent client you’ve just installed. Your BitTorrent client will start and (possibly) ask you where to save the target file (or files) and… Presto!

Many clients allow you to set default download locations and many other bandwidth specific details in the program’s options. (In utorrent: Options – Preferences )

One of the beautiful aspects of the BitTorrent system is the ability to share complete directories (folders) with a single torrent file. A user may share a folder that contains a large archive of podcasts. Say you were only interested in the last two months worth of podcast episodes… Both the programs I have recommended allow you to choose only the files you want and disregard the rest.

From the site:

There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies — when the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, they’ll refund you the difference. But there’s a catch… it’s up to you to watch prices. Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases and get your money back. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s free and easy money. How often do you get that offer?

The service currently boasts 46 online retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco, Future Shop, Sears and Staples.

By taking the hassle out of searching for price drops, PriceProtectr makes it much easier to focus on what really matters… like that new shiny 16BG iPod Touch.

What services do you use for a better shopping experience?

DodgeIt.com – DodgeIt is a great service. Just put any email name in front of “@dodgeit.com” and you’ve got an instant, read-only email address. For instance, simppletechblog@dodgeit.com. Then go to dodgeit.com and enter your email name into the field to check for any emails sent to that account.

PookMail.com – Pookmail works exactly the same as dodgeit. Think of an email name, put iit n front of “@pookmail.com” and check for mail in that account at the PookMail.com website.

These services can be great for registering at unknown websites, forums, blogs, or any untrusted place you need to post an email address.

By using the FCC approved, industry standard, disconnected number tone sequence (those three tones you hear when you get a bad number) at the beginning of your voice mail or answering machine message, you can trick the auto-dialer computers into thinking they’ve got a bad number and putting you on THEIR “do not call” list. Andy even provides you with a download of the three tones.

Get the full scoop and the download here.

Of course, if you don’t want to change your message, you can always use the Anti-Telemarketing “Counterscript”.

For broadband internet users, a basic NAT router is one of the best first lines of defense you can have in the battle to keep your computer secure. Even if you only have one computer in your home, I still, highly recommend purchasing a simple 4-port NAT router.

NAT routers create a LAN (Local Area Network) of multiple computers all sharing the same Public (External) IP address. The router provides each computer in the LAN with an Private (Internal) IP address that it uses to identify one computer from the next.

Every time you request something on the internet, like a web page, the NAT router makes a note of what it was and who requested it. So when that data comes back, the router knows who to send it to. When the router receives data that it can’t match to a request from its LAN, it simply discards it. NAT routers inherently provide firewall protection because they don’t let any data into the LAN that hasn’t specifically been asked for by one of the network’s computers. So all the unsolicited junk, spam, worms, viruses and other background noise gets thwarted at the router before it even reaches your computer.

For more in depth information on NAT Routers and how they keep you safe, I recommend listening to Security Now! episode #3 (NAT routers).

For Dial-Up users, a software firewall is still one of the best options. I recommend Kerio Personal Firewall as an excellent (and free) software firewall.

Vixy.net is a web service that allows you to convert and download Flash Video (YouTube, etc.) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP). Submit a URL and Vixy.net will download the video file and convert it to your format of choice for you to download. Vixy.net converts Flash Video files to AVI and MOV for desktop viewing, MP4 for video iPods and 3GP for mobile phones. Vixy will also strip out the video and send you the audio only as a MP3 file.

Vixy.net is free and donation supported.

With Windows XP and up, Microsoft have enabled ‘Drag and Drop’ font installation. This means you can drag a font file into the Fonts folder and it will install automatically.

To make that easy process even easier, put a shortcut to the Fonts folder (Default: C:\WINDOWS\Fonts) in your account’s SendTo folder.

You’ll need to have Hidden Files visible in order to to see the SendTo folder. Turn these on by going to the Tools Menu and choosing ‘Folder Options’. In the “View” tab, under ‘Advanced Settings’ select Show hidden files and folders and click OK. (Note: You can turn this back off once you’re done)

You should now see some opaque folders, one of them should be called SendTo. Open this folder, right-click and choose ‘Paste Shortcut.’

Now when you download a new font, just right click on the font file and click “Send To” then choose “Fonts” …

… and Windows will automatically install the font for you.

Most weather sites display lots of excess information like radars, traffic reports and tips for planning your next ski trip, which is great, if you’re actually planning your next ski trip. But for those of us who just want to check the weather, most sites are overkill with long page load times. New weather site SimpleWeather.com cuts out all that clutter and just simply does its job. Input your zip code once (stored in a cookie) and SimpleWeather will do its thing.

SimpleWeather.com

Here’s a real handy way to help your lost USB drive find its way home.

Daily Cup of Tech gives us some simple files to put on your USB drives to encourage people to return it.

Download this ZIP file and unzip it to the root of your USB drive. Edit readme.txt with a nice note encouraging the finder to return the drive to you. Unplug the drive and plug it back in.

You (and everyone else) will get this Auto Play menu.

Clicking OK or double clicking the drive in My Computer will result in the Help.exe program displaying your text from readme.txt, thanks to the autorun.inf file.(Note: If your drive already has an AutoRun.inf file, compare the two and add what is needed.)

What other steps can someone take to ensure the safe return of their portable drives? Let us know in the comments.

Twitter has become one of the fastest growing web services of the year. And with so many uses, its easy to see why. Twitter focuses on a single question, “What are you doing?” You update your profile via the Web Interface, Text Message or Instant Message and it gets sent to your friends and, if you choose so, anyone who wants to follow you.

With Twitter, you can set up an account for everyone in your family and instantly share what you’re doing throughout the day (“Meeting’s over, anyone for lunch? – Dad”), organize the evening’s dinner (“I say mac & cheese – Alex” , “We’ll need milk – Mom” , “I’ll get some on my way home – Sam”), or for flat-out EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW cases (“It’s a boy! – Dad”). There are several real world uses for a service like this. Twitter is the fastest growing at the moment but there are a few others starting to take off (Jaiku for instance).

Twitter’s open API has given rise to a number of add-on type services like Twittervision, Twittersearch, and the Twitter Weather Forecast (Add Forecast as a friend and send ‘d forecast (zip or city, state abbrev)’ — such as ‘d forecast 14202′ or ‘d forecast buffalo, ny’). And more are sure to follow.

If you have any other great uses for Twitter or know of other add-on services, let us know in the comments.

Sharing fun images and photos with friends on forums and social sites is cool and … well … fun. Using the content creator’s bandwidth every time that photo gets displayed is not so cool though. So far, the fix has been to download the photo and re-upload it to a photo-sharing site or your own web host and linking to it from there. This can become a real hassle though.

ImgRed is here to save you that hassle by doing the work for you. Append an image’s URL with “http://imgred.com/” and ImgRed will download the image once and serve it from their servers from then on.

So http://christophersisk.com/img/kitty.jpg

Becomes: http://imgred.com/http://christophersisk.com/img/kitty.jpg

Hooray! We can all look forward to more ceiling cats now!

Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-4664-411) and follow the voice prompts. There it is, short and simple. Just the way we like it at TechBlog.

Are there any other 411 services or ones you think are better? Let us know in the comments.

If you’re like me, you’re probably getting tired of all those “Snap” previews so many blogs are using… Snap.com offers two easy ways to disable them on a “per browser” basis. This means you’ll need to disable Snap previews on each browser you don’t want them to show up in. For most people, this shouldn’t be a problem.

So how is it done? Easy. Head over to Snap’s FAQ and use their “Disabling Cookie” which will disable all Snap previews in your browser. Or, the next time you see a snap preview, click the “disable” link in the top right-hand corner of the preview window.

Note: Disabling Snap Previews uses cookies, so if you delete your cookies, Snap Previews will be re-activated for all sites.

Personally, I’d like to see a nice Greasemonkey script do the same thing.

Know of a better way to disable them? Let us know in the comments.

If you have a Google account (… and who doesn’t?) and you’re not using Google’s Browser Sync extension for Firefox, then you’re missing out on a whole world of easy-ness.

From Google:
Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.

With the Browser Sync extension installed and logged in on both work and home computers, you can close Firefox at work, go home and continue browsing right where you left off. The extension even allows you to resume browser sessions by storing encrypted copies of site-specific cookies. So if you’re logged in to a site at one location, you’re logged in at all locations. The Browser Sync extension also saves your bookmarks, though I recommend web-based services for that.

Had good or bad experiences with the Google Browser Sync extension? Let me know in the comments.