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11 Great P2P Sharing Clients for 2011

March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Screenshot of Amule

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Like most computer functions, P2P is accomplished through the use of downloadable software programs. And, of course, like most computer programs, there are some very popular ones that seem to work the best and provide the most service. Eleven of them are listed below with a description of some of their features and capabilities.

  1. Ares 2.1.7

Ares is a free P2P program that comes in an open source format. Digital files can be shared, including those containing pictures, audio, video, and regular documents.

  1. Zultrax

Zultrax is a file sharing program that incorporates some security measures into its network, including encryption, denial of spyware, and privacy protection features. In addition, the program does not allow adware. It’s also free and is said to be very user-friendly.

  1. FrostWire

This program is primarily devoted to music downloads. It is an open source program that is free to users, and has many features, including iTunes compatibility. FrostWire is also Mac-compatible, as are many of the P2P programs, such as BitTorrent and aMule.

  1. BitComet

The files that are shared and downloaded via P2P programs are known as torrents. According to some P2P software program designers, some P2P programs, such as BitComet, are better at downloading torrents than others, particularly when the files are large.

  1. Tribler

Tribler is a program that has anti-spam measures as part of its features, and is the only one from this article that mentions that specific feature. The anti-spam capabilities are accomplished through the use of channels.

  1. Kazaa

Kazaa is a P2P program that has recently been updated, with many new features that make it easier to operate and that enhance music listening quality. Some of the newer features include unlimited music streaming and access to playlists.

  1. aMule

aMule is the original “mule” version of P2P programs. It has some great features, like the ability to access the source code through HTTP methods, and binaries for other systems. This P2P program is Mac-compatible, making it more versatile for more users.

  1. eMule

eMule is a P2P program that has some great new features. One of the best is its ability to allow clients to use several networks to create one network.

  1. BitTorrent

The manufacturers of this Mac-compatible program say that BitTorrent is one of the fastest and most widely-used P2P programs. Its capability to be used on a Mac is certainly an asset.

10.  Gnucleus

This is another Mac-compatible P2P program. In addition, Gnucleus was built for use on the Windows platform, which makes it attractive to Windows users.

11.  Sigster

Sigster is actually a search engine designed to help you find hash quicklinks on the web. Finding these links means you can download files from different P2P sites. The manufacturers claim that the files found on Sigster have already been checked for viruses to ensure that they are real files.

Ultimately, there are a large variety of P2P programs that allow users to safely download software programs for both PCs or Mac computers. The programs listed above are just some of the most popular ones; however, there are countless others that offer safe downloads as well.

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Cloud Computing Basics for Eager Learners

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

So, you want to learn about cloud computing. You can certainly do that, but you’ll probably find that the definitions of what it actually is differ depending on who you ask. There’s really nothing wrong with that, since it’s important to get different opinions, and you’ll ultimately have to decide for yourself what cloud computing means to you.

Some people say it’s the entire Internet and anything that you do on it, which could be done on your own computer or servers. Others think that cloud computing is much more specific to things like business applications, and that personal use online doesn’t really count for much. Here are some basics to get you started, so you can decide whether you want to join the cloud.

  1. Whether “the Internet” and “the cloud” are the same thing is debatable. People argue the issue either way, and it’s going to be up to you to choose for yourself and form your own opinion. Because there’s no official, clear-cut definition of what makes up the cloud, making that determination can be a bit fuzzy. If you can do it at your business, but you decide not to buy the equipment and you do it online instead (through someone else’s equipment), it’s probably in the cloud.
  2. Cloud computing is still very new. That’s part of the reason that there’s no good definition for it. It will continue to evolve, and there will be a lot more that you can do with it in the future. If you get involved with it now, it won’t seem so confusing and complex as opposed to getting involved with it later.
  3. If you use an app that you get through the Internet and that isn’t something you purchased specifically for your computer alone (like a piece of software), you’re already in the cloud. You probably didn’t notice, or didn’t think of it that way, but that’s how it works.
  4. There is more you can do with the cloud than you probably realize, but the term ‘cloud computing’ is so foreign to a lot of people that they don’t understand they are already using it or can get started very easily. Don’t allow cloud computing to intimidate you. The chances are high that you’re using some of it already. If you’re not, it’s easy to get started. You don’t have to be a guru of the Internet to use the services of the cloud and get the benefits, so take a deep breath and jump in. You’ll be glad you did.

There you have it. Now you can make a better, more informed choice about cloud computing and whether you want to get involved. You might find that it’s not for you, or you may realize that you’re actually already using a lot of it. Most people fall somewhere in between. They aren’t using it much yet, but they see that there are ways in which they could use more of it and get the benefits that they’ve been looking for.

Image: http://scoop.be/uploads/img/2010_09_06/security-issues-in-cloud-computing.jpg

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Can Facebook and Google Bring Prosperity Back?

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Facebook profile shown in 2007

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The internet revolution brought enormous success to technology and engineering companies around theworld. From 1993 to 2005 technology development and mass appeal of high speed internet and various communication technologies such as video conferencing, voice over internet, online marketing and sales saw a quantum leap. Both hardware and software developers fostered creativity and millions of jobs were created around the world.

The internet and communications sector is now mature in almost the entire Western World, large parts of East Asia and will reach maturity in South Asia in next 10-15 years as several hundred million people move out of poverty to lower middle class status.

However the job situation in America is grim. The official jobless rate in America is 9.9% and the unofficial real unemployment counting those who have given up looking for jobs is more than 22% according to many experts and think tanks.

Over the last 5 years the job losses have been in the millions whereas new hires in the technology sector in giant internet companies such as google and Facebook have been in the thousands, more than a thousand fold difference. A new plan by Federal government will purportedly spend billions of dollars on adding new high speed broadband across the length and breadth of the country and it is debatable if these new spending measures will create permanent jobs.

One way to raise hiring in America is if rules and regulations are simplified and tax structure is lowered for production of computer and technology equipment and is balanced by taxes on consumption. Higher production of computer parts and equipment will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing and this might create more natural instead of artificial demand for broadband usage and internet portals like google and Facebook.

A combination of simplified tax structure and regulatory procedures which incentivize production in America will lay the foundation for further growth at Google and Facebook, not the other way around.

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What is the future of Petroleum Engineering?

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There has been a lot of discussion lately on the size and speed of Asia’s emergence as an economic powerhouse and how the demand for oil and gas has become so enormous that humans might soon run out of petroleum leading to decline and death of petroleum industry.

However, it is not clear if this assertion is backed by anytruth. There are several reasons why petroleum refining corporations will rely on petroleum engineering for much of the first half of 21st century to maintain their global presence and share of the energy market as they have today.

Petroleum Engineering is key to discovering new deposits around the world and help add to the global energy reserves well into the future. Petroleum Engineering is also the key to producing cleaner and safer fuels for home heating, transportation and air travel. By developing ultra-pure sulfur free diesel, Pteroleum Engineers have opened new possibilities of converting a large portion of American and Asian vehicles from Gasoline to Diesel thereby providing the possibility of improving American and Asian vehicle fuel efficiency by as much as 30-35%.

These and other advances in creating fuel blends for cleaner burning fuel and higher efficiency while driving down production costs have made sure that petroleum products will be available to all mankind if Asia and Africa can successfully implement the one child policy and manage the growth in consumption over the next 50 years.

Apart from discovering new deposits of energy and producing newer and cleaner burning fuel blends, petroleum engineering can also help evolve the eco-fuel industry by sharing with them advanced technologies for extraction and distillation of various blends of oil. For example many german companies such as Daimler and Bosch are collaborating with Petroleum and Agriculture Industry in India to generate large scale demand for Jatropha plant based fuel.

Petroleum Engineering and Petroleum Industry have a bright future well into the 21st Century and they can confidently lead the global marketplace for energy.

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Will a Chinese manufacturer upstage Amazon’s kindle in US market?

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Chinese economy is growing at three times the rate of American economy and China’s population base is 5 times as large as United States. For the last half a century, US has been the leader in almost all major technological breakthroughs and has been a leader in introducing the most advanced gadgets in the consumer market thereby setting the standards in consumer acceptance and tastes.

But China is fast catching up to US in introducing latest technologies and one such example is the color E-reader. For last several years Amazon’s kindle has been in the lead in introducing black and white E-readers to the market and has successfully sold tens of millions Kindles to its customers. Other manufacturers such as Sony, Barnes and Noble have introduced their own versions and captured some share of the market to stay in the game.

However no Chinese brand with a Made in China product has yet waded successfully into the US market but that might be changing in near future. The Chinese designed Hanvon E-Reader licenses E-Ink technology from the same company that Amazon uses to build its Kindle, but it has gone one step further in introducing the first all color version of an E-Reader in the market.

According to many marketing intelligence organizations, the Chinese E-Reader market could be anywhere from 100 million to 400 million and since the Chinese middle-class is still rapidly expanding, it provides exciting opportunities for Chinese manufacturers such as Hanvon to first introduce their color E-Reader in the domestic Chinese market, gauge the reception and then flood it into the US market to snatch away market share from Amazon and other vendors.

As the globalization of technology continues and more Chinese E-reader manufacturers make a direct entry into the US market, they can utilize their economies of scale, access to advanced technology, and cheap labor to completely take over the market share from Amazon and other manufacturers and become successful.

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PC Tools Registry Software Review

January 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Looking for a way to speed up your computer and take care of your registry problems? Featuring a number of useful functions that will help your computer’s overall performance, PC Tools Registry Software could be your ticket to a much healthier system.

Registry errors can be caused in a number of ways. For instance, all of those freeware programs that you install and uninstall can leave tracks in your registry. As a result, your system can significantly slow down and feel the effects of a cluttered registry. Thus, registry software has come on the scene as another useful and necessary application (just like your anti-virus software) for users to keep their system in top shape.

PC Tools Registry Software fits the bill very well. The basic function as a registry cleaner is found effectively, as the software cleans and repairs your registry. You will be surprised, most likely, when PCT Tools Registry Software reports the errors in your registry. The software works by eliminating unwanted files and documents, clearing up space on your computer’s registry.

Additionally, PC Tools Registry Software will protect your computer in the future. Similar to how your anti-virus software monitors future threats, so too does PC Tools Registry Software protect your computer. You don’t have to worry about your system’s registry getting clogged again.

The result of these functions is a much quicker computer. These and other processes from PC Tools Registry Software will allow your system to boot faster and allow it to work more effectively. It will help your computer perform basic processes without getting clogged, alleviating memory on your system.

Give PC Tools Registry Software a try. You will no doubt find your system’s registry problem solved, both now and in the future. The software gives you a wealth of tools to help keep your system in prime performance.

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Cable Modems Aren’t Perfect

January 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you have ever checked out the different forms of Internet connection which are available to you, you have no doubt thought about getting a cable modem and getting onto the fastest widely available type of Internet connection.  While a T-3 would obviously be faster, it is a little bit like your car.  The overwhelming likelihood is that a ferrari would be faster than the car that you are currently driving- but the price tag puts it well outside of the reach of us mere mortals.  But unfortunately for those of us who love really fast Internet, there is one problem with a cable modem.  Because of the way that the bandwidth is distributed, if there is a serious glut on the network, you are going to see some slowdowns.

Of course, most of the time, cable Internet is unbelievably fast.  You can sometimes download at speeds of up to ten to twenty megabytes per second, which is faster than most people need for anything that it less intensive than downloading or streaming HD movies.  This kind of speed is a luxury that you would do well not to get too accustomed to having available to you.  Since a lot of people do not have this kind of speed, anything less is going to feel very debilitating.  It would almost feel as if you had no Internet at all.

Of course, there is that whole disadvantage that you have to think about.  If there are a lot of people who are sharing the network, your speeds can be taken down into the “less than awesome” category that more frequently fits ISDN lines, and all of the other silly excuses for “fast” Internet connections.  While the slight possibility that the popularity of the service might occasionally compromise your blazingly fast speeds is probably not a big turn off to you, you just need to be aware that cable modems (and the Internet they supply) aren’t perfect.

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Cable Modems: Lovely Things

January 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you have ever gotten really bored with TV, and how absolutely non-interactive it is, you might want to try to use that cable connection for a more constructive purpose.  While the Internet is not quite as great as going outside for a long brisk run, it is definitely a more active option than just sitting there watching characters go about their lives while yours wastes away.  And considering that the coaxial cable that runs cable TV makes it possible to run a whole lot faster than the other forms of Internet access, you can do a lot if you go with a cable modem.  Even if all you like to do is check out goofy YouTube videos (and you know you do sometimes).

A cable modem has the potential to transmit data at a rate of up to 20 megabytes per second.  By contrast, a standard ADSL connection can only transmit that same data at a maximum speed of nine megabytes per second.  While most of us are not going to do that level of uploading and downloading that would really require that level of speed, it is always nice to have more of something than you really need.  Abundance tends to breed good feelings, after all.  Especially when you can download just about anything that you might possibly want.

A cable modem obviously has the advantage that it is never going to mess with your phone line (assuming that you still have a land line telephone in the first place), and that it uses a coaxial cable with the potential to transmit larger amounts of data at once than a phone line ever could.  It is just a thicker wire, after all.  We are comparing the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, here.  And the Mississippi can bring you all of the programs, all of the games, and all of the streaming movies that you might ever want to watch.  It’s so lovely.

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The ADSLs

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There are two types of digital subscriber lines which are commonly used in North America- ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) and ADSL +2.  These two types of Internet connection both use a two wire phone line connection, and are both always on via the use of a specialized DSL modem.  The most major difference between these two types of connection is that they are of different speeds.  ADSL +2 is a far faster method of getting information from one part of the world to another part.  Unfortunately for a lot of people, only major metropolitan areas tend to have this kind of Internet service, which can make it irritating if you have gotten used to it, but then have to go somewhere in which it is not available.

It has been said that there is no going back.  While they might have been talking about something with a slightly deeper spiritual and emotional meaning than one’s Internet connection, that works as well.  If you have been living in a big city, you have most likely gotten hooked on the great speeds (sometimes twice as fast or more) that ADSL +2 offers you.  Its major downside is that its speed is contingent on your geographic proximity from the central office of its provider.  Needless to say, its speeds are all but nonexistent out in the boondocks.

However, the standard “vanilla” ADSL is far more reliable, perhaps due to its simplicity.  One of the less known differences between the two types of connections is that ADSL +2 involves a splitting of the wires.  While the technicalities are difficult to pin down, any additional changes (and additional wires) both serve to add complexity and reduce reliability.  With a simple double wire system, it is pretty hard to mess it up.  So if you are going to be living somewhere that is outside of a major city, you might want to get something besides DSL Internet service over there.

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The Physical Security of a Data Center

January 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Data centers have got to be secure against hackers, if they are going to earn the business of the people who need them the most.  After all, who would trust a place to handle their data, if it was likely to be getting hacked right that second, and potentially expose billions of dollars worth of intellectual property to who knows whom?  But while digital security is a pretty obvious need that every data center has got to honor, it does not compare to the need for physical security.  After all, without adequate physical security, a data center is just going to be a sitting target, waiting for some kind of wannabe Johnny Mneumonic to come in and steal the place right out from under the folks working there.

First off, the place has got to be structurally sound and inaccessible.  The best data centers are surrounded and protected like vaults.  After all, in a very important way that is what they are.  Barbed wire fences, security guards and key card access are all vital components of keeping the place secure.  Nobody should ever get into or out of the place without having a very good, completely legitimate reason for doing so.  And nobody should ever just “slip” inside of the place, even if they have the creeping skills of a ninja or the infiltrating skills of a terminator.

But there is more than just limiting people’s access to it that can make a data center truly physically secure.  Another component that is often not talked about is the fact that the best data centers are located in the middle of nowhere (at least relatively speaking).  Often, when you look at a data center, you might not even notice what it is from the outside.  Keeping a low profile is great.  After all, the best defense is to remain undetected, so as to not even draw the interest of potential thieves.  Being hidden is a start.

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