If you’ve ever read or heard about ordinary people being sued for downloading files from torrent or other p2p networks, and worried about your own downloading activities, this program is for you. Typically, agencies that are out to detect people’s downloading activity will actually take part in providing the file for download, then attempt to find out as much information about the computers that connect to them as possible.

How it works:

What PeerBlock does is it taps into publicly available lists that classify IP addresses in order to simply avoid "bad" IP addresses. It utilizes the collective wisdom of communities and sites that classify IP addresses (go here for more on where these lists come from). It works much in the same way as a virus killer program in that it is constantly updating the lists of known "bad" IP addresses, even as more of these come into existence.

What kind of protection to expect:

In keeping with the virus killer analogy above, PeerBlock will not necessarily protect you from the latest unknown threat or bad IP, but it will greatly decrease your chances of being detected. Moreover (and this is where the viruskiller analogy ends), PeerBlock will make you harder to detect compared to others on the network; the PeerBlock documentation cites the so-called "bear principle: "when running away from an angry bear you don’t need to be faster than that bear … you only need to be faster than the guy next to you". The Peerblock site also states that "the only way to be safe with P2P downloading is to not share copyrighted content!".

Ease of Use:

What I really like about PeerBlock is that it is very easy to use; all you need to do is run it and specify what kinds of "lists" you would like to be protected from (P2P, Spyware, Advertising, or Education/Universities) and that’s it. It now runs in the background, preventing your computer from connecting to known bad sources, not just for torrent or p2p networks but for (optionally) for general web usage as well. It will also periodically auto-update the lists that it needs to do its job.

Program options:

You can enable or disable PeerBlock at will. You can also set up your own lists if you are so inclined as well as use PeerBlock to block custom IP ranges that you set up (such as the IP range of entire countries). You can allow or disallow IP filtering for HTTP access as well (i.e. regular browsing).

PeerBlock vs. PeerGuardian:

PeerBlock is based on the code from PeerGuardian (v. PG2 RC1 Test3). I would recommend using PeerBlock because it (a) is under development; (b) does not suffer from the kind of bugs that PeerGuardian had, (c) most importantly, runs on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 without hitch. You cannot run both simultaneously.

The verdict:

Convenient, easy to use, and might just save your bacon. Download it and be safe.

Version Tested: 1.0 r181

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 800K).

Vertor

The concept for this website is so simple I am surprised it hasn’t been done before: check torrents listings for malware, and check that torrents are not fakes. This is the kind of torrent site that you can confidently recommend to friends and family without worrying about them downloading harmful things, being exposed to scams that mis-represent the content being offered, and indeed without them being assaulted with popups and porn ads.

Some observations.

• Previews: displays thumbnails from video torrents and 20-second sound snippets from audio files (that can serve the dual purpose of demonstrating that the torrent is real, on the one hand, and providing a preview of the music before you download on the other).
• No 100% guarantee: Vertor checks for malware using some sort of virus scanning engine, and although they do not suggest 100% verified and virus free torrents, they are working on it and ask for user feedback. I’ve downloaded a number of things off the site (just to test, you see) and all were good.
• New listings: seem to be somewhat delayed compared to other sites. I am assuming that this is because of the need to check them out and verify them? I know this because on Saturday mornings I am usually able to find and download the torrent for a show that airs the previous night at 8 EST. However, my torrent did NOT get listed on Vertor for a good 24 hours after it showed up elsewhere.

The verdict: I love it. Keeping my fingers crossed that these guys succeed (and stick around).

Visit Vertor.

This is an extremely useful and impressive tool that can make the process of finding and downloading your favorite shows very easy; TED brings an easy to use iTunes-store like interface to the world of torrent TV shows.

This program is particularly suited for average users who (a) do not want to wade through torrent search sites and get bombarded with dubious ads and popups, (b) do not have the time or inclination to be searching for torrent sources needed for downloading, and (c) would like a reliable and easy way to find just the episodes that they want to watch. Here are more notes on this program:

• Shows in the database: you can choose from dozens of shows that are listed (I counted 191, and more shows are being added continuously). For each entry TED will download information from the net about the show including an overall rating, etc. (see first screenshot above). A search box is provided that makes it very easy to filter the list by keyword and quickly find what you’re looking for. Despite the expansive list I was struck with the number of shows I could think of that were NOT there (although these can be added by the user – see "adding to the list" below).
• Episode selection: you can choose whether you would like (a) a specific (custom) episode that you are looking for, (b) the last aired show, or (c) to put in a request for TED to look out for the upcoming show. The program will display a list of available episodes as well as a gauge that indicates the "availability" (i.e. likelihood and/or speed of downloading).
• Torrent client: you will need a torrent client to download; TED will NOT download anything without one. I recommend uTorrent.
• Adding to the list: if you do not find the show you want listed you can easily add it yourself. All you need to do is simply type in the name of the show and (optionally) choose the season and episode number you want, if any, and TED will generate a list of feed sources for you. I successfully added "Clone Wars 2008" and "Man vs. Wild" (as an experiment for research purposes of couse; I didn’t actually download ).
• Filtering: you can filter the files that TED will list by size of the found file, no. of seeders, or keywords (for example "xvid","2008", or"ipod" in the torrent).
• Scheduling: imagine coming home from work to find that TED had initiated the download of the latest episode of the show(s) on your list. By default TED uses an online resource (EPguides) to determine when an episode will air and therefore when to start looking for it (the period it will wait between lookups is user defined). Or you can use a rules-based scheduler to tell TED exactly when to go out and search for new episodes (e.g. if you know the show will air on a certain day you might set TED to go out and look for it on or after that day). Scheduling assumes that the program will be running in the background, which is a good segue for the next point.
• Resource consumption: approx 35 megs in memory, which is more than I would have thought, and would certainly give me second thoughts about having it run in the background while I’m using the computer.
• Sources: part of the genius of this program is that it circumvents the need for finding torrents on the internet by the user (after investigating I found that TED seems to be looking for torrents using the RSS feeds from four torrent sites: btjunkie, tvrss.net, mininova, and xtvi). In the off-case that you would want to add custom source(s) for a show on your list you can do that easily (in the form of a URL that contains a keyword query of the new site’s RSS feed).
• Is it legal?: downloading these shows is mostly probably not legal. Freewaregenius does not condone any illegal use of this program

Wish list (or how this program can be even better):

• Simplifying the user interface: for example adding "select from available episodes" to the right click menu on the user’s list of shows. It didn’t seem quite intuitive to have to go inside each entry using "edit" in order to find previous episodes that can be downloaded.

The verdict: if you are serious about finding and downloading your favorite TV shows TED may just be exactly what you’ve been looking for. This program is well suited for recurring downloads rather than a one-time deal, and has the potential to be very useful, especially, for example, on a machine that sits mostly idle where the scheduler can find and download new episodes of your favorite TV shows on its own.

The other added benefit, of course, is not having to deal with Torrent sites and search engines (TED is the sort of program you can recommend to your technology-challenged sister who lives abroad and wants to keep abreast with the latest episodes of her favorite TV shows). There is also an element of discovery while browsing the dozens of available shows that is very gratifying.

Version Tested: 0.95

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, or Linux with Java5+ and a Torrent client.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 1.32 megs).

Yet another foray into freeware VPN/screen sharing/file sharing apps (e.g. Mikogo, gBridge, TeamViewer, and Crossloop). I recently had an email exchange with one of the members of the team behind Remobo where I asked him what makes Remobo noteworthy, and would like to paraphrase the reasons he cited as follows:

• Instant: connect easily and instantly without the complex configuration that is needed with traditional VPN software. If you have internet access you will be able to connect.
• Secure: all traffic is secured using “industry standard encryption”. Any files/folders are shared using encrypted private bittorents (even your ISP cannot see what is being shared).
• P2P: Remobo uses a unique architecture built on P2P technology rather than a client/server model, which makes it (a) easy to install/launch, and (b) promises better performance.
• Share your entire music collection: the Remobo team provides a tutorial on how to use the open source Opentape in conjunction with Remobo to do this (note that you will need to install PHP/MySQL). Note that I did not try this personally.

Here are some observations on Remobo having installed and used it:

• The user interface: is simple and straightforward and is by far one of the best for an application of this kind (see image to the right).
• Ease of use: simply install and run (see “Instant” above). You will need to create an online Remobo account, though. Once installed, you will find it easy enough to figure out how to use the app on your own (see “the user interface” above).
• Performance: the Remobo site makes reference to their P2P technology as helping attain better performance. My experience is that it is generally quite good; it felt to me that Remobo remote PC control worked slightly better than others I have tried, although this is purely subjective. I will mention that when initially starting it took a while before the visual representation of the remote desktop kicked into gear – it was pixellated at first the displayed color quality was wrong.
• Private torrents: you can open these in your regular torrent client (I use Deluge). You will be able to share files and folders. For the latter it is possible to download selected, specific contents of shared folders using your BitTorrent client; however, note that any additions to the shared folder that happen after the torrent is created (when it is first shared) will, obviously, not appear in the shared torrent.
• Windows file sharing: aside from private torrents, you can use Remobo to access folders shared using Windows shared folders (which is be the better way to go if the folders you are sharing for frequently-changing folders).
• Third party applications: you can easily connect your apps on top of Remobo. All you need to do is add that application in the Remobo interface (on both computers) and away you go (allows for gaming over LAN,
• Notes on installation: the default Remobo install will add BitTorrent 5.2.0 to your computer, so if you already have a Torrent client make sure to uncheck that box during installation.
• Control: Remobo will allow you to specify exactly which files to share with which of your contacts and

Wish list (or how this program can be even better):

• Access without requiring Remobo on both ends: I’ve received word that the developers of this software are working on an option to access a PC running Remobo without requiring that the app be installed on both ends. Keeping my fingers crossed
• Beta software: despite being in beta this is remarkably stable software (from what I have read in various places it seems that it has recently made strides in that aspect). However, there are still some kinks to iron out: e.g. once I logged in as user A and told it to remember me, I could not for the life of me find a way to log in as user B. I also experienced a Remobo crash in the remote computer I was trying to access while testing this app at one point.

The verdict: considering the many freeware programs that provide similar functions to this (some of which mentioned above) we are certainly spoilt for choice; I think Remobo is solid app that for me personally is one of my favorites. I really like Remobo for several reasons (a) it is easy to setup and get connected pretty much anywhere without hassle, (b) has a simple, intuitive interface, (c) I like the idea of private BitTorrent sharing, (d) I like the ease of which you can access folders shared in Windows remotely, (e) I am giving the developers the benefit of the doubt that their P2P technology provides better performance than other similar apps, and (f) Remobo is multiplatform Windows and Mac.

Version Tested: 0.13.0

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista; Mac OSX.

Go to the Remobo home page to download the latest version (approx 12.2 megs).

There has been a proliferation of free tools and protocols that aim to provide various remote connection services (e.g. Crossloop, Mikogo to name but two). These services will require the installation of some sort of desktop client locally and many will require the creation of user accounts in order to access a centralized network used for the connection. With the various protocols that these tools use, it may or may not be possible to connect in different settings depending on whether the different computers are behind firewalls, behind routers (whether or they have a public IP), and whether the tool/service offers a centralized network on their own servers. What is noteworthy about Gbridge is that it will try multiple ways to connect based on what will result in the best performance, but the lowest common denominator (if you will) will be connecting through the Gtalk network (a Gtalk/Gmail account is a requirement to use the service). Here are more notes on this software:

• You WILL be able to connect: Gbride will automatically figure out the best way to connect the various computers to provide maximum throughput and privacy; it will attempt to create a tunnel through NAT or firewall or if that is not possible it will connect through the Gtalk network. The user does not have to worry about complex technical configurations and the likelihood that you will achieve connectivity is high no matter what context your PC lives in; Gbridge, to quote their site “solves the real world naming and connectivity issues for almost all networks”.
• VPN for non-experts: see point above. Gbridge will allow any user to install, logon, and be on their way.
• Highly versatile: you can control which folders to share with which of your contacts and which users to require password authentication to access your shared folders, etc. You can also share an unlimited number of files, folders, and – interestingly – unlimited file size (I read somewhere about successfully sharing a 5 gig file).
• Wide range of services: will try to keep up with the terminology here. Share a file or folder with yourself or others (Secureshare), synchronize folders automatically across computers (AutoSync), backup files across computers (EasyBackup), view the screen and/or access remote computers (DesktopShare), chat with friends (Chat). Gbridge automatically generates thumbnails for media files, and allows for media streaming of shared media files without downloading first (LiveBrowse); also offers the ability to run 3rd party applications (e.g. FTP) over the VPN.
• Performance: is generally very good, but will vary depending on the different settings that the computers live in and how they are connected, except there is the underlying promise that Gbridge will find the best possible connection where performance is concerned. I experienced the same lag when controlling a remote desktop that I saw with other free tools, but overall Gbridge was very competent and delivered what it promised. MP3 streaming worked exceptionally well.
• Security: Gbridge is not a Google product. The Gbridge app will request your Gtalk/Gmail account info, but Gbridge claims that it is never sent to the Gbridge server but sent in encrypted form to the Google Gtalk server; they also suggest to create a new Gmail account for use with Gbridge if you still have security concerns. See “Security” section below for more info. All data exchanges are purported to be AES encrypted.
• The user interface: this is one area that could be a bit more intuitive, as I found it at times difficult to figure out what I needed to do to get access some of the functions. On the other hand browsing shared files/folders through the browser is cool because, as mentioned above, Gbridge offers media thumbnails and media streaming (see image to the right). Folder/file sharing can be set up using drag and drop, which is cool.
• Connecting two of your own computers: log into Gbridge using the same account on multiple computers and you will be able to access them from either end. This will circumvent some of the complexities of having to set up shared files/folders or grant desktopshare access, etc. (Note: this is not the same as being logged into your Gmail account).

Wish list (or how this software can be even better)

• Better UI design: with all the great functions they have managed to offer they really should aim for better usability. You will figure out how to do what you need to do after a bit of tinkering around, but it could be better streamlined and more intuitivie.
• Better two-way folder synchronization: while synching one way seems to work just fine, two way synching is not does not seem to be on offer, and requires some user intervention (note: this is an issue that I came across while researching this app and did not see it personally).

The verdict: I really like this for some good reasons, I think. (a) because it will probably connect reliably where other similar free services might not, (b) because it is designed to be easy to use, and (c) because it offers a complete, wide set of functions that are on average more than the other free tools have to offer (in fact the only function I can think of which it doesn’t offer is VOIP, and I’m not sure I would want that on top of all the other functions anyway). I also think that (d) it offers good performance overall, which may be the most important aspect of a program like this. Overall I recommend it highly.

Version Tested: 1.0.0.1111

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, or Vista(x32), and a Gmail account.

Go to Gbridge home page to download the latest version (approx 2 megs).

I am not sure why, but I’ve been always looking for a good alternative to Azureus or µTorrent, admittedly the two most powerful Torrent clients. I have been using the Azureus-based BitTyrant (more on that one here), but have also had my eye out for some time on the open-source Deluge. And although I have previously tried multiple releases of the Windows version, they have always been somewhat unreliable and buggy; until this one: from the purely subjective experience of a single user I can report that this release (v.0.5.8.9) seems to be a very good, solid torrent client.

It is worth mentioning that as of the 0.5 release, Deluge was completely re-written from the earlier code and supports more features and better stability. Here are more notes on this program:

• The user experience: the interesting thing about this program is that it is very simple and “clean” looking, perfect for regular users who do not want to deal with a lot of complexity.
• Features: as of the 0.5 release Deluge supports encryption, peer exchange, binary prefix and UPnP, and a web UI that works on Firefox (didn’t try it – sorry). Other features include global as well as individual torrent upload/download limits, moving incomplete torrents on the local drive, enabling safe “blocklists” (Safepeer, Peerguadian, Emule), peer exchange, local peer discovery, private torrents, password protection, RSS, minimizing to tray, and other features which I either do not care to mention or do not understand.
• Technical comparison: for a technical features comparison with Azureus and µTorrent, click the thumbnail to the right (table adapted from Wikipedia’s torrent comparison article).
• Plugin architecture: makes this program (a) adaptable and easy to work with, and (b) quite powerful. Note that many of the features mentioned above might require activating the relevant plugins. At the time of this writing, all Deluge plugins were included in the installation package.
• Memory consumption: a mere 15 megs in memory. This is important given that Torrent clients typically reside in the background doing their thing while you work on other applications.
• Installation: you will be asked to determine a number of options on first use (download/upload limits, ports to scan, etc.) If you do no know what these are go with the default value.

The verdict: I really like this program; I like that its simple yet powerful and does not consume a lot of resources, and that I can recommend it both to the torrent novice as well as seasoned torrent users as a legitimate alternative to Azureus or µTorrent.

Version Tested: 0.5.8.9

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista. MacOS X, Linux.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 9.1 megs).

Here’s news for you: relatively speaking, your IM sessions are not secure. In an office environment your instant messages are probably fairly easily attainable by your network admin if they really wanted to see them, and there’s even software offered out there that does exactly this. The good news is that if you use Pidgin you can install this simple plugin for instant encryption of your chats. One caveat, though, is that both yourself and the person you are chatting with have to have this plugin installed (and by implication both need to be using Pidgin).

How it works:

• Download and install “Pidgin-Encryption”
• Launch Pidgin, go to Tools > Plugins from the main console and then check the box next to the “Pidgin Encryption” plugin to install it.
• Once installed, you should be able to see 2 visible changes in Pidgin as follows (a) an “enable encryption” command in the within the chat session window, and (b) a “turn autoencryption on” context menu entry for each buddy on your list (see screenshot above). Note that these options only work when the person you are chatting with also has the plugin installed.
• To invoke encrypted chat, either click on the “enable encryption” button in the chat window or turn on the autoencryption for your buddy. What’s cool is that the program will automatically detect someone who has the plugin and transmit your key to them (they will be prompted to accept). It will also save the keys for known users and warn you if the keys change.

More info on this program:

• Encryption protocol: uses the RSA protocol, which is supposed to be one of the slower types of encryption, but you don’t really notice any difference in messaging speed whatsoever. The plugin is open source and in theory can be used as a wrapper for different types of encryption.
• How secure is this?: this is one question that is tough to answer in a review such as this one, as there was no hacker on hand to attempt to compromise our chat when we tested it (where’s one when you need one!). If you want more info on this check out the FAQ from the plugin’s site that discusses this issue.
• Encryption will work on all chat protocols that Pidgin supports (AIM, MSN, etc.) I am not sure if it will work with group chats (guessing that it won’t).

The verdict: if you use Pidgin and need encryption you should really check this plugin out. Its painless and easy and so unobtrusive you will likely forget that its there most of the time.

Version Tested: 3.0

Compatibility: WinAll. Requires Pidgin to be installed; you might need to upgrade to the latest version.

Go to the Pidgin-Encryption page to download the latest version (you need the Win32 self-extracting binary; approx 605K).

Rating

Version tested: 1.0.0

Torrent Swapper, dubbed the ’social bittorent client’, is an open source torrent client that aims to use and manage the interconnected networks which underlie P2P torrent downloads in two distinct ways (1) by using these as a recommendation engine, and (2) by making it possible for users to designate other peers as ’friends’ and to use each other’s unused upload capacity. Other features include the ability to view what others are downloading and their city-level location.

By now everyone is familiar with the concept popularized by Amazon.com whereby an item of interest is connected to other items through the "customers who bought this also bought" recommendation engine. Torrent Swapper is a bittorrent client that has taken that concept and implemented it on torrent downloads (i.e. people who downloaded this also downloaded). Here are more notes on this program:

The pros:

• The user interface: is nice, clean and straightforward.
• The recommendation engine: works fairly well. However, I am not sure about the extent of value-added that the recommendation engines provide (see ’cons’ section below).
• Torrent Search: pressing a ’search’ button on the main interface opens a torrent search ’portal’ which can be used to search Google, Torrent Spy, Torrentz.com, BT Bot, and ISO Hunt. Simple but handy, I thought, especially for Torrent novices.
• Adding friends: is done easily (click a button on the main interface to start the process). It promises up to 100% speed increases, but I have not tested it successfully myself (I’m not much of a torrent user, I’m afraid). Personally I’m a bit skeptical.
• Low resource utilization: around 10 megs in memory only.

The cons:

• It is impossible to mask your IP address as you may be able to do in other torrent clients. This is because doing so would defeat the community purpose of this program (not necessarily a ’con’, but something to consider).
• Although the recommendations work well, I am not sure of their added value. There are many other more sophisticated recommendation engines out there, such as Amazon itself. For music, there are dozens that will invariably deliver better results (w.g. Last.FM, Slacker, Pandora). There is also no guarantee that the recommendations as gleamed from the behavior of others will not include fake torrents.Torrent Swapper will, however, confirm what you already know, that people download a lot of porn.
• The program can be a bit slow and or unresponsive at times, but I suspect these are issues that will become apparent and dealt with in subsequent versions. Program seems to take a long time for download onset.

The verdict: an interesting and original program that can potentially be developed and tweaked in the long run to possibly become indispensable. It is also a very good choice as a simple, user friendly and free torrent client, especially for new users who might like its ’search’ option and straightforward simplicity. To compare Torrent Swapper versus other torrent clients see this torrent comparison table on Wikipedia.

Compatibility: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista.

Go to the program page to get the latest version (approx 4.8 megs).

Rating

Version tested: beta release 8

Civil Netizen is a P2P file sharing platform that can be used to share large files up to 4 Gigabytes in size privately with friends. It does not host your file or upload it on your server, but allows you to share files straight from your hard drive using your and your friends’ bandwidth for upload and download.

Want to share large files with your friends? While there are dozens of free file sharing/hosting websites that have sprung up all over the place, very few of those allow for the uploading of really large files (e.g. 700 megs+). Civil Netizen, on the other hand, offers a very nice maximum file size of 4 gigs.

How it works: download the Civil Netizen local client from the website, then use it to upload your file. Upon completion you will be prompted to download a “receipt”, which is a file that contains a code that your friends/recipients that will need to be able to download. Any recipient(s) have to download the Civil Netizen client and use the receipt (or code) you provide them in order to download (you can email it to them, IM it, or use whatever means you like). You have to have Civil Netizen running on your internet-connected machine to have file transfer enabled.

Here’s what I like about this app:

• Pause/Resume: Local client provides ability to pause/resume downloads (which, you might imagine, is simply a necessity for large gigabyte-sized files).
• Firewalls: Will automatically circumvent restrictive routers/firewalls, which be a problem in some situations such as work settings. Although some situations may be so restrictive as to prevent Civil Netizen for function, I can say that for me personally my work setting is usually a headache but Civil Netizen worked instantly and without intervention around my work firewall, even as it gave me a warning message that “for this beta release, pickup and send may not work reliably for you”.
• Encrypted transfers: all transfers is, to quote “secured end-to-end between senders and recipients using 128-bit AES encryption”.
• Ads free: unlike, say, Pando, which does the same thing.
• Interface: Nice client interface, drag and drop.
• Crorss platform: Windows, Macs, and Linux versions available.

How this app could be even better:

• Creates a parcel on the hard drive that is a duplicate file: for example, if you share a 700 meg file, this program will create another 700 meg “parcel” file in ”C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Netizen\Shared Parcels\”. It would have been so much better if the parcel file somehow referred to the original rather than needlessly taking up valuable space on the hard drive (especially if the file is large).
• Parcel expiration: a parcel, once setup, will expire after 356 days (I think) have lapsed. And although it is possible to renew it I am not sure why it is designed to expire at all given that the file is hosted locally on users machines. This is quite a needless variable thrown into the mix if you ask me.

I tried this app on a 700 megs movie file and both myself and my recipient were very happy with the download and upload performance (although I might add that we both had really good connections). Aside from the generous 4 gig maximum file size, there are 2 reasons why I really like it (a) no need to mess with firewalls and routers in most cases, and (b) encrypted transfers, meaning you can share whatever you like without worry.

Compatibility: Windows (2000/XP), Linux, Mac.

Go to the program home page to get the latest version (approx 4.2 megs for the Windows version).

Rating

Version tested: 1.3.0.2

Quickeo provides a simple and easy way to share your media files (images, audio, or video) with multiple people by email or on a website/blog. It consists of a local client that you can use to upload files of any size to your account up to a maximum of 1 gig of total storage capacity. Quickeo will then provide you a link that it can email to your intended audience. Shared media is streamed/viewed in the browser and without needing to download files locally (although that is also possible). Quickeo also provides the option to record audio or video straight into the local client using a microphone or webcam.

The idea behind Quickeo is to have a single place where you can upload your music/video/image files of any and simply send a link to friends if you want to share these with them. hat’s cool about Quickeo is that it enables you to share your media files with others in such that they can view these straight from their browser without having to download a whole bunch of files onto their computers first (as would be the case, for example, with a hosting service like Rapidshare). Here are some notes on this service:

• Available Storage: Quickeo offers 1 gig of storage space on their servers. They recently removed upload file size restrictions, so in theory you should be able to upload any size up that you can fit in your account’s available storage space.
• Encoding Media: Quickeo uses flash video (FLV) format to display your videos and your audio. When uploading, Quickeo seems to use your computer resources to re-encode your media files into FLV on the fly, resulting in a much slower upload process. The re-encoding process means that your files, once uploaded, will differ in size and quality from the files on your desktop. I uploaded a 2 hour long audio book that took 150 megs of space on my hard drive only to find that it was 100 megs larger once uploaded into my Quickeo account.
• The Quickeo local Client: this has a nice look-and-feel and rather resembles an email client. Once uploaded, you can drag and drop any uploaded file(s) into any albums. You can mix-and-match different types of media . The client includes a media player that you can use to view your media if you need to. You can add tags and descriptions to your files when uploading. The Quickeo client actually includes a search box to help you find what you’re looking for (and that can search filenames, tags, and descriptions).
• Videos display size: is resized to 320×240 in the browser no matter what the size of the original uploaded video.
• Downloading: in theory, you can allow/disallow the downloading of your shared files from within the Quickeo client; however, this feature did not seem to be working in the version I tested, and downloading was disallowed by default. What would be interesting to know is whether you can download files in their original format or if you would be stuck with the flash FLV format.
• Links: The local client can provide 4 kind of links to your media “albums”: regular links, popup links, embedded links for websites, and embedded links for blogs (not sure what the difference is between the last two).
• Ads: note that the displayed web-pages that actually display/play your media files contain Google ads.
• Differences between free and paid versions: the only documented difference is the absence of ads on the paid version.

Wish list:

• Storage space limitations: in this world of increasingly larger file hosting options 1 gig will simply not work, and this should be raised to a minimum of 10 gigs in my opinion. This is because users are simply spoiled for options: for example SendThisFile offers file hosting with no limit on size or number of files, and Civil Netizen, a file sharing platform, has a 4 gig max file size limit. Mp3tunes, a personal music locker-type service which is in some ways similar to Quickeo used to have storage restrictions but then started offering unlimited storage.
• Video display size: although I understand why videos have to be standardized and streamlined for browser playback, 320×240 seems to me to be awfully small. They should at least move up to the YouTube standard size 450×340.
• Downloading: to be made possible in the original format and not FLV.
• Encoding: it would be cool if encoding happened remotely on their servers rather than locally on the user’s machine, although I can live with the current setup if the other points are addressed.

The verdict: Quickeo has a lot to recommend it, especially (a) the idea of a centralized place where you can upload and manage media to share with friends (or use yourself as a locker), and (b) the ability to share media within the browser without downloading; this is a good idea because not having to download large files means that people will be more inclined to view or listen casually and move on. The storage size restriction, however, might well be a deal breakers, especially when other platforms already offer much larger storage capacities.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP; no info on VISTA.

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 6.36 megs). Also visit the program home page.

BitTyrant: this one is a torrent client based on Azureus. Dubbed a “strategic BitTorrent Client that improves performance”, BitTyrant promises an average of 70% faster downloads based on testing on “more than 100 real BitTorrent swarms”, and in some instances has achieved a threefold increase in download speeds. It does this by being picky over which peers to interact with; it gives more of your finite uploading capacity to those users provide more bandwidth. Note that BitTyrant does not change how much data is uploaded, just which
users receive the data. I’ve been testing it for a while now and while I’m certainly happy with its performance, its far from clear whether/how much its performance is better than my previous client (Azureus).

You might have sensed a Darwinian “survival of the fittest” aspect to BitTyrant that threatens to leave users with low bandwidth in the dust, which is something to think about when using this program. The makers of BitTyrant content that it is merely fair (”if a user is downloading at 30 Kbps, they should upload at 30 Kbps”), and that by rewarding more efficient users the entire community achieves faster downloads.

BitTyrant was developed as a University research project. Its developers have written a research paper the subject of maximizing performance and conserving upload contribution, and its effects on the community of users that is downloadable here: pdf.

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BitLet: this is a web-based Torrent client that can download a Torrent file for you if you provide it with the Torrent URL. The obvious benefits of doing this are:

• If you are using a computer that doesn’t have a Torrent client installed
• You can point Torrent-challenged friends who can never figure out how to download torrents to this web service and it just may be the solution to their rare Torrent-downloading needs
• You can use it to download torrents in places (work, school) where p2p and/or Torrent clients are blocked.

Bitlet requires that your browsers has the JAVA VM plugin installed.

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ShareControl Classic: this program checks a download directory for a file or file type and, once found, immediately moves it to another directory. Although I haven’t actually tested this I can think of two uses for this program:

• Let’s say you are downloading something you shouldn’t (say the latest Hollywood blockbuster) and want to limit your participation in downloading/uploading it to the smallest window of time possible, you can use ShareControl to monitor the download directory, and once your .AVI file fully materializes ShareControl can immediately move it into another, safe directory.
• If you are concerned that whatever you are downloading might contain malware, and do not want to actively share/propagate it until you have a chance to check it out, you can use ShareControl to move it for you until such a time as you can get it checked.

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I2P: is an “anonymous network layer” that allows anonymous data transfers over the Internet. There are a number of Torrent client options that work with I2P to provide anonymous Torrent filesharing; I2P itself comes with I2PSnark included, while other options include I2PRufus, and Azureus with the I2P plugin installed. For instructions on how to set up anonymous Torrent clients check out these GotRoof and Ghacks articles.

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Tribler: I mentioned this one in my recent Free video resources article, but will quickly mention it again. Tribler will search YouTube, Liveleak, and the torrent network for video files and will act as a recommendation engine for available video files that it thinks you might like based on your viewing habits.

Version tested: 0.55.1

AllPeers allows you to share files of any size with your friends individually or collectively. It employs a peer-to-peer technology very similar to bitorrent and currently comes as a Firefox extension, with an Internet Explorer extension in the pipeline.

Ever wanted to share files of any kind (pictures, videos, etc.) with a group of your friends. AllPeers allows you to do just that. What it does is essentially create a private torrent which you can share with your network of peers. Here’s how it works:

• Everyone in your network must download and install the Allpeers Firefox extension. There is an IE version planned if you do not want to use Firefox (if you want to download Firefox you can find a link at the bottom of this post).
• Clicking on the Allpeers icon in the toolbar will display the Allpeers sidebar. This is where you can see a list of your all people in your network. You can add files to share simply by dragging and dropping these files onto the sidebar.
• You can only share files with the people you know who are on your list. You can check the names of all the people whom you want to share with in order to do so all at once.
• Your files are not broadcast globally in the same way that torrent files usually are.
• Allpeers also features a real-time chat function. It is somewhat rudimentary compared to some IM messaging clients out there, but promises to be secure.
• Security: Allpeers is supposed to be secure for both file transfers and chats. To quote the Allpeers website “all communications are encrypted using industry standard SSL”.
• Downloads and uploads display a progress bar that you can use to keep track of these (when online).
• You can view/play shared files (videos, pics, music) straight from Firefox by clicking on them after they download.
• Both you and your recipient(s) have to be online in order for the file transfer to occur. If you need a file-transferring service that does not require this, you can use a program like Pando to email files (via a centralized server), or you can upload your files to an online service such as Mediafire or Divshare.

Here are some observations on my experience with this program:

• Firewalls: happily, I was able to share files even behind a stringent company firewall straight off the bat; no tweaking and or other interventions necessary.
• Reliability: while generally reliable, there were a number of instances where a friend of mine whom I was testing this with would share files that would not appear for downloading on my end. In another instance, a large file that had been downloading for hours disappeared entirely after a restart on both uploading/downloading ends. We were not entirely sure whether these glitches were caused by our connections or whether it was a glitch in the technology.
• Despite Allpeers’ nice clean interface, I found myself on more than one occasion clicking away aimlessly trying to figure out where I needed to be. Which is not to say that the UI is badly designed; rather, the browser integration takes a little bit of getting used to. I caught myself on several occasions wishing that this was a standalone program instead. I noticed that this suggestion was made by another person on the Allpeers forums (there was also something on the Allpeers site about designing this as a browser extension to provide an integrated browsing experience or somesuch; oh well).

Allpeers works well, provides secure transfers, and is free to boot. It is still in its early stages and I am guessing that any glitches will be ironed out in future releases. If you’ve been looking for a fast and easy way to share files securely with friends then you have found it.

Compatibility: WinAll, Linux, Mac.

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 7.5 megs). Also visit the program home page.

Version tested: 1.0

Collanos Workplace is a free online collaboration software for teams with members working from different locations. It offers a suite of streamlined online tools, including virtual workspaces, file sharing, online group discussions, messaging, and a handful of virtual objects such as notes, shared URLs, and tasks.

Here’s what you need to know about this program:

• Virtual workspaces: these are simply tabs that each user creates within the program that belong to the user. You can create a workspace for each project, for example, if that makes sense to you. These workspaces contain all other objects and employ a simple, explorer-like virtual folder structure.
• File sharing: once you grant someone permission to share any one of your workspaces, you can drag and drop any file to the folders within it and these will be available to the other person.
• Discussions: once you create a discussion within a workspace, all members who can access that workspace can participate (read or write). Discussions are essentially multi-way chats that are logged (with dates) and stored as an object. They can be deleted or kept for reference or as an ongoing conversation.
• Security: Collanos states that all data transfers are encrypted using “256-Bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)”. This program employs P2P technology and no data is ever stored on central servers. The makers state that they may introduce features in the future that may require some centralized data storage, but that they will ask for explicit permissions to do so, and they will guarantee its safety.
• Setup: this program works instantly through firewalls. Create an account and password, share your account name with your friends, and you’re up and running. Unlike other programs I have tested, I did not have to do any complicated router setup / port forwarding, or messing with IP addresses. Having said that I should also point out that the documentation states that “TCP ports 9700-9800 and 80 need to be opened to the outside to allow Collanos Workplace to operate behind firewalls”.
• IM: this allows you to send a message to any known user. It is somewhat rudimentary but that’s probably on purpose so as not to duplicate the ’discussions’ function.
• Tasks: any user can create these in their own workspaces or those belonging to other users. These have a specific structure comprising the following: subject, assigned to, priority, status, progress (%), start date, due date, and owner.
• Notes: (self explanatory). Can be created anywhere within the folder structure.
• URLs: clickable bookmarks, essentially. These reside in your workspace just like any other object.
• Offline activity: you can work offline within your own workspace. Any changes you make will be made available to other team members when you logon.
• “Conflict bins”: this feature is not available in the version I tested but was promised in the documentation. What it is is a space where older versions of files that are overwritten by other users are stored in a bin in order to enable future auditing, if need be.

I tested this software with a good friend and am happy to report that it works as advertised. I had the sense that it held a great deal of potential to be an invaluable tool as a virtual space for a team of collaborators. Here are some issues/notes on how it could be made even better:

• No ’search’ function. In a world dominated by Google this is a curious omission, methinks.
• Performance: in my estimation (based my impressions from using similar software, not hard data) this software delivered average or slightly above average performance, in terms responsiveness and making all the objects available to different users in a prompt manner.
• Reliability: the first file that I added to my workspace for file sharing disappeared shortly afterwards and was not visible to myself or my colleague. This did not happen again for any of the numerous other files we shared, though.

In conclusion I will say that I am very impressed with what this tool has to offer, and even more impressed that it is free. The ease with-which I was able to connect, circumventing company firewalls and without any tweaking and port forwarding impressed me very much as well. I definitely recommend this.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Mac OSX, Linux. Min Reqs: 500+ Mhz processor, 256mb RAM, internet connection; broadband recommended.

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 45.4 Megs). Also visit the program home page.

Version tested: 1.0.3.1 beta

LiberTV is a local client software that can download or stream films, videos, and podcasts from online sources. It promises quality “high definition” videos updated daily that you can browse through by category using a well designed user interface.

I am going to use a question/answer format for this review:

Q: What is this program about? Is it another one of those ’streaming TV’ programs that promise access to hundreds of TV stations from all around the world?
A: This program seems to be a sort of video uploading/downloading service similar to YouTube, but one that uses a local client. LiberTV can stream content from online TV stations if you provide the URLs (which you can easily do with your browser). Its main function is giving access to its own library of videos and films. It is similar to the Democracy Player, but is also different in many ways.

Q: Why would I use this instead of YouTube?
A: There are 2 reasons that I can think of: The first is that, unlike your standard YouTube video, the quality of the videos on LiberTV is quite high. The second reason is the nature of content that is on offer; I got the sense that there was some careful selection involved in the repertoire of videos available. Click here, here and here for examples of some of the films that are on offer, just to get an idea of the kinds of films you can find.

Q: Where does the content come from? Is it legal?
A: My guess is that it is not legal. LiberTV apparently allows users to create an account and upload content. To quote their website “LiberTV Player aggregates it’s content from various online sources, user uploads and podcasts”. When you do upload you also have to provide substantial information on the video you are uploading. The main question I wonder about is how they guarantee the promised high video quality if everyone is uploading random content. Do they have some sort of screening process, perhaps? I’m not sure what the process may be but I will say that the content submission feels like its deliberate and centralized.

Q: If I am going to be downloading/viewing copyrighted content anyway, why not use a torrent client or some other P2P service in order to get the titles I am looking for?
A: For the same reasons above as to why you might use this over YouTube. With LiberTV you know pretty much what it is you are downloading and the quality of the video. I will also add that, unlike torrent, LiberTV provides a nice ’browsing’ experience where you can browse and learn about new content that you might find interesting. It also provides a lot of information on every title, as well as user comments and ratings, although these seem to be few and far between at the moment.

Q: How user friendly is this? Is it well designed?
A: LiberTV is a good looking program and the user interface is really good. The main ’channel guide’ section is very well laid out and offers filters and tags. There is a search functionality which works extremely well. There is a lot of information on every video you will find, including IMDB links in many instances. The content is categories into intuitive ’channels’, which include ’Movie Trailers’, ’Documentaries’, ’News’, ’Movies’, ’Comedy’, ’Animation’, ’Music’, as well as 4 or 5 others.

Q: How does it compare to Democracy?
A: While I haven’t used Democracy extensively, I can list some differences. The most important is LiberTV’s focus on high quality “high definition” videos, which I do not believe is necessarily a focus for Democracy. Democracy has much more content but you do get the impression that LiberTV manages to do more with less (you get the sense that there is much less random content on LiberTV, which could be both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on your perspective). I would say that LiberTV somehow manages to provide a more enjoyable browsing experience. Unlike Democracy, it does not connect to YouTube and cannot be used as a torrent download client. Oh, I also think they did a good job finding a name that stands up to Democracy’s winsome title.

Q: How stable is this and what kind of technology does it employ?
A: Although still in beta, I found it to be remarkably stable and reliable. Some minor issues still remain, as when it displays a “you are not connectible” message even when I am obviously able to browse, download, and view content. Some videos would not stream even when they would download locally. I found a forum posting somewhere that stated that LiberTV uses the torrent file transfer protocol. It seems to use its own internal codecs for playback.

One thing I do want to say is, given that LiberTV minimizes to the system tray when you exit (presumably to finish all those downloading jobs that you asked for in the background), it wasn’t clear to me if it is also constantly using my computer and internet connection as a P2P node all the time. Whatever the situation is, they really need to proactively make it very clear. In the meanwhile I will simply exit from the system tray whenever I am not actively using the program.

Q: Can you play the downloaded video files separately using another media player?
A: I think for most downloads you can, although there were some that were in a format that I hadn’t seen before and was not able to play independently.

Q: Do you recommend this software?
A: Yes, for a number of reasons. I really like the selection and range of available videos. Browsing videos with LiberTV is a very pleasant, satisfying experience, and you really get a sense that its possible to find good content that is high quality. One of the most valuable things that this program offers is lengthy descriptions for most of the titles available, and I really hope that they are able to maintain that as the platform grows bigger and more people start adding content. If they are doing behind the scene editorializing to keep up the level of the content, it is working. If this platform is able to maintain the sense of ’quality rather than quantity’ it will definitely be successful. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Compatibility: WinXp (no info on Vista); 500mhz processor, 128megs RAM, broadband internet connection

Go to the program home page to get the latest version.

Version tested: 1.0.0

ExoSee is a decentralized, community-based filesharing program that allows for both public file sharing with the community and private file sharing with specific members only. It also supports its own XOC protocol that allows users to post links on the web for direct downloading.

This program will allow you to select up to four ExoSee “communities” to participate in at any one time. These communities typically have a theme, such as music, ebooks, or general filesharing.The ExoSee protocol allows you to both share a specific folder/folders with the members of your selected communities, as well as download any files that these users are sharing. I spent time inside some of these, browsing what people had on offer. It was mildly interesting but not much more; the value of these communities really depends on what the members are sharing, and whether or not ExoSee will ever achieve the “critical mass” that makes networks like Torrent or Gnutella successful remains to be seen.

If I had to I would guess that ExoSee communities will never take off in any significant way. If I am looking for a file I am a hundred times more likely to look for it (and find it) through Torrent or Gnutella P2P. Which is not to say that ExoSee isn’t potentially a great product; however, it is private sharing that I find way more exciting than the communities.

Private sharing: Picture this; your’re working on a project with a team of 4 people that is spread over 3 continents. You would like to share a number of large files that are constantly updated. Instead of uploading to online storage services like Divshare, or emailing files using services such as Pando, you could use ExoSee to privately share specific folders with all members. You also get the benefit of not having any limits on your file sizes, which is something that many filesharing services impose.

ExoSee works really well with excellent download speeds (compared to, say, something like Purplenova, which is frustratingly slow in my experience). The technology seems very robust and the client is pretty slick; try it and see if you like it.

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the download pageto download the latest version (Note that you have to create an account using a real email address). The program home page.

Version tested:  0.9.3.0

Description:  Pando is a file-sharing platform that enables users to easily share large files over the internet. It connects sender to recipient by sending a tiny file from the former to the latter over email or IM.

Let’s say you would like to send a 100 meg video file to a friend. Emailing such a file is out of the question, since its too big and will clog most email inboxes. With Pando, however, you can get the file sent as follows:

• Sender and recipient both download and install Pando
• Sender uploads file to the Pando servers, provides email address of recipient
• Recipient receives tiny (4k) attachement by email (or IM or even an RSS feed)
• Once downloaded, recipient can click the pando attachement, which will proceed to download the file through the Pando software at a high download speed (my test download was >120k).

Pando also provides an option where it can be a vehicle to publish large media files on a website; it will provide you with the code to embed in your site that will connect to the files on their servers. They also provide free content (free videos) that you can download, although I can’t see the usefulness of this in a world of Youtube and Google Video.

This is not your typical P2P client; it’s is a really practical program that provides a really needed service, and does what it does really well.

Note: Pando seems to be Adware. Having said that, however, I will also add that the ads, mostly advertising Pando itself or downloadable content, really do not interfere with the user experience. 

Go to download page for latest version. The program home page.