Want to download torrents without downloading a .torrent file first? You can do it with Magnet links, which are supported in a bunch of major torrent clients, including uTorrent and Vuze (formerly known as Azureus). Instead of using a .torrent file, the magnet protocol uses DHT and the torrent's hash, so you've essentially got a torrentless torrent. Magnet links can be tricky to find, but a new Firefox add-on called Magnetiser lets you pull them from Torrentz or isoHunt.

With Magnetiser installed, go to any torrent detail page and click the "magnetise" button in your toolbar. You should be prompted to pick a torrent client that supports magnet links, and then your download will start. As TorrentFreak points out, this is pretty cool when a .torrent file has been removed, but Torrentz or isoHunt still have the hash data. You can add trackers to Magnetise manually, but it comes preloaded with the most commonly-used trackers, so it should work right out of the box.

Magnetise isn't up on the Mozilla add-on index yet, but TorrentFreak has linked to the .xpi file, which you can download and drag to Firefox to install.


[via TorrentFreak]

You probably all know what BitTorrent is: it's the technology that powers almost every peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing tool currently in existence. Whether for nefarious, dubious downloads, or for grabbing the latest distribution of Ubuntu, BitTorrent comes to our swift rescue on its mighty steed of share-and-share-alike virtuosity.

What you probably didn't know is that BitTorrent Inc., the company created by the technology's inventor Bram Cohen, spends most of its time extolling the virtues of its tech and campaigning all over the world for the relaxing of P2P restrictions by ISPs. The thing is, while BitTorrent really, really rocks for its users, it tends to clog up networks really quickly. It also costs the ISP -- such as Verizon or Comcast -- a lot more than 'normal' Internet usage.

But it's this disparity between what the ISPs consider to be 'normal' Internet usage and what we the users consider 'normal' that has driven the development of 'BitTorrent 2.0' or uTP. (uTorrent Protocol? I'm not sure.) BitTorrent Inc. firmly believes that P2P is part of our every-day Internet lives. It is our right to download and distribute files via BitTorrent.

And if ISPs won't let us, insisting on limitations and traffic-shaping the bandwidth that we use, then they're going to develop a new protocol that meets them at least half way. uTP now automatically limits its own bandwidth use when it detects congestion on the network -- uTP limits itself so that the ISP doesn't have to.

Genius, pure, simple genius -- if it works. It's already being tested by thousands of users of the new version of uTorrent 2.0 -- which you should probably go and download! (Direct download link is available on that page.)

[via TorrentFreak]

A few days ago Swedish authorities shut down popular BitTorent tracker The Pirate Bay. It wasn't long before the site was up and running again in true Pirate fashion. But it's not just The Pirate Bay that's in trouble these days.

A site called BTArena popped up recently, offering a complete copy of TPB's index. But it looks like Romanian authorities are threatening that site's operator.

And now a Dutch judge has ordered rival Bittorrent site Mininova to remove every last torrent that links to copyrighted materials. The site has 3 months to comply. If it doesn't meet the deadline, Mininova's operators will face a penalty of up to 5 million Euros, or about $7.1 million.

Mininova has reportedly begun removing some torrents. But it's ridiculously difficult to keep people from uploading copyrighted content to peer to peer networks. And if the site does succeed in ridding itself of illegally uploaded content, the question remains: will anyone use it anymore?

If you woke up this morning hoping to download last night's episode of Mad Men (of course, I totally wouldn't know anything about that) you'll have to look somewhere other than The Pirate Bay. The popular, controversial torrent site was taken down by the Swedish government earlier today, and is still unreachable as of this posting. Authorities got to the Bay by threatening the site's hosting service with hefty fines, according to TorrentFreak.

TorrentFreak also reported that The Pirate Bay is back online after changing hosting companies, but I've been unable to connect to the site all day. The Pirate Bay is currently in the middle of a civil case brought against it by several large media companies, and is also the target of a faltering acquisition attempt by games company Global Gaming Factory. This sort of thing hasn't killed The Pirate Bay before, so I expect we'll see it back up again shortly.

In the meantime, remember how one user posted a complete backup of the site's index last week? Yeah, someone has already posted a TPB clone at BTarena.net. The servers appear to be getting hammered right now and the site is pretty slow. But it's better than nothing.

We all had a good little chuckle when Firefox took Antarctica by storm, capturing 100% of the web browser market share. Today the news is not so rosy for bittorrent and peer-to-peer supporters.

The U.S. Antarctic Program has banned their use. From the official communique from the USAP's director of IT and communications:

There are many different Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications: BitTorrent, LimeWire, Gnutella, and KaZaa to name a few more popular ones. Some are used to download legitimate software and media, some illegitimate. None of them are permitted on the USAP enterprise network for both bandwidth and security concerns. P2P applications have the potential to overwhelm the internet connections on the Ice and inadvertently bring malicious software and traffic into the network.

An unhappy USAP employee wrote FreakBits "The gist I got from it was 'because you are all too dumb to use a computer correctly.' At least the plans for my secret uranium mine won't leak out while I'm down here freezing my ass off."

We went poking around the icy continent to see what other Antarcticans thought about the policy.

One penguin speaking on the condition of anonymity told us, "Hey, there are plenty of legitimate uses for bittorrent. It's going to take forever for our Linux group to download new distros now." He added, "We're not all trying to download episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County like Professor Opposable Thumbs over there."

And he's right. He stinks like greasy fish, but he's right. Bittorrent and peer-to-peer apps aren't the problem. It's inappropriate use and carelessness that's the problem.

The penguins plan on staging a protest later this month, though they refused to announce any details at this point. "We don't want to jeopardize the operation," said our source.

[via FreakBits]

The Pirate Bay is probably one of the best known BitTorrent trackers on the internet. And in a few days, ownership of the site is set to change hands. If you're the paranoid type, you might be worried that things will change, and you won't be able to access some of the 873,671 torrents listed on the site anymore. Fortunately, one user has posted a backup of all the data stored on the site as a single torrent which is available for download... from the Pirate Bay.

Of course, it might take you a few days to download the whole thing. The backup weighs in at 21.3GB. And that's just for the tracking information. The actual files you download from your BitTorrent client of choice aren't actually hosted on The Pirate Bay, of course.

[via TorrentFreak]

The latest stable version of the popular Bittorrent client µTorrent is version 1.83. But the developers decided that the next major release packed in too much to simply call it µTorrent 1.9, so the next version will be called version 2.0. And µTorrent 2.0 beta is already available for download.

The update brings:

• Support for UDP trackers, a new protocol for BitTorrent trackers that uses less CPU power on the tracker end
• Improved setup dialog with built-in speed test
• Transfer Cap options that help you track and control how much data you transfer (which helps if your ISP caps your data transfer rates)

The beta is only available for Windows at the moment. The latest version of µTorrent for OS X is 0.9.1.2.

[via Lifehacker]

iPhone users have been told we aren't allowed to play with a nasty little application like Drivetrain, which remotely controls transmission downloads. We might be using it to control illegal download on another machine, after all, and Apple doesn't want us getting into trouble.

Android users, however, are free to install Transdroid - a handy little app that interfaces with Transmission, uTorrent, Deluge, and rTorrent. In addition to pausing, resuming, and removing torrents, Transdroid can also add new torrents via an IsoHunt powered search (or by providing a URL).

There's also a handy dashboard widget so you can monitor activity without launching the app itself.

Want to see Transdroid in action? Check the Vimeo clip after the break!

[via Android Freeware]

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Today's cat: starting torrent downloads on your computer from a remote location!

The first two options require 1) your home machine's address and 2) a forwarded port on your router. If you're on a dynamic IP connection like me, a DDNS updating service like Dyndns.org makes finding your machine much easier - it gives you an easy-to-remember, permanent address likemycomputerathome.dyndns.org. Not too sure how to set up port forwarding on your router? Check out PortForward.com for help with just about any brand or model.

If you'd rather not mess around with port forwarding and dynamic dns, you might want to try setting up Hamachi or Comodo Easy VPN on your machines. Either one will provide you LAN-like access to your main computer with minimal fuss (apart from installing and configuring a new program).

Or you could skip the zero-config VPN software and check out the last two options after the break - neither of which require you to know your home system's address or change any router settings.

Now let's get started!

Using Your Client's WebUI (pictured above)

uTorrent, Transmission, and Deluge all offer a web-based control panel for their clients. Getting remote access is as simple as opening the appropriate port on your router and then opening the right address in your web browser.

For uTorrent, you may need to download the webui.zip from their forums and save it to your %appdata%\utorrent folder.

In the aftermath of their trial in Sweden, leading torrent site The Pirate Bay is getting a bit cheeky. Lee already told you how they've concocted a new VPN called IPREDATOR, that will make Pirate Bay traffic harder for authorities to track, but now they've set their sites on one of the Internet's sacred cows. Yep, it's Facebook.

Now each individual torrent page on the Pirate Bay has a "share on Facebook" link, making it a cinch to sneak (mostly) illegal downloads into a space where all your friends can have easy access to them, too. The torrent links that will show up on your profile will start the downloading in your default torrent client immediately, without ever setting foot on the Pirate Bay's website. The Pirate Bay never asked Facebook about this new feature, but so far they've received no complaints -- either from Facebook or from copyright holders.

[via TorrentFreak]

You're probably using a bittorrent client to download the occasional movie or episode of The Office by now. If you're looking to make the process of going from torrents to remote viewing a little more hassle-free, you might want to take a look at the newest version of Vuze. After conducting a user poll, it was clear that Vuze users wanted easier access to their downloads on devices like the iPod Touch, PS3, and Xbox 360.

The development team has delivered, with beta support for those devices. Turn on device support, and adding a file to iTunes requires only a simple click-and-drag - Vuze takes care of conversion. PS3 and Xbox users, your content is automatically ready to stream from your desktop to your console.

CEO Gilles BianRosa states in the official blog post that "Vuze has always supported open platforms and technologies, and we've designed our device support to embrace as many of the devices you asked for, as possible. Expect more to follow soon." Based on the results of the poll, Wii users should be next in line.

Device support makes Vuze a very compelling option for media-heavy torrent downloaders, especially less technically savvy types that don't want to be bothered with having to convert files after downloading.

To try it out, grab the new version from Vuze's download page.

[via TorrentFreak]

Now that torrent technology has become one of the most popular ways to distribute large files, it's important to find the right Bittorrent client. If you're on a Mac, that's Transmission. I used to be a fan of Azureus (now called Vuze), but I switched to Transmission because it's less cluttered and takes up a lot less screen real-estate.

Transmission's not bare-bones in terms of features -- you can fine-tune your upload and download speeds, change ports, and check your ratio -- but its design is minimal and not too distracting. I don't want a busy-looking torrent app, I want one that I can set up quickly and leave alone until my downloads finish. Transmission provides that, while still letting advanced users get under the hood where they need to. It's also free and open source! That's why it's one of my favorite Mac apps.

There are several options out now for users that want to search several engines at once for torrrent downloads. My current favorite is still uSniff, but I'm always on the lookout for something newer and better.

Thanks to a persistent commenter, I found out about TorrentFly this morning and decided to check it out.

TorrentFly will search up to twelve sites at once (Sumotorrent, Mininova, PirateBay, Monova, NewTorrents, SeedPeer, Fenopy, TorrentZ, MyBitTorrent, BtJunkie, TorrentHound, Idealtorrent) and you can select which engines you'd like to search.

You're also able to set your preferred column to sort and number of results per page. Clicking any column heading will re-sort your results by health, name, size, seeds, peers, or engine.

So, it's torrent booty ye be after? Well, matey, I'll be happy to share a list of me favorite places to find forbidden treasures.

Millions of torrents, thousands of places to look for them...What's a wayfarin' buccaneer to do? Why, search a whole pile of places at the same time, of course. After all, you're more likely to find gold with seven maps to the same pot than you are with just one.

Enough of the played-out pirate jargon already, on to the sites!

Simultaneous Searching

NowTorrents. Searches up to twelve sites at once. I like the file type tabs and health indicator, and they offer a Firefox and IE compatible search plugin.

uSniff. I wrote about uSniff before, and I use it quite often. I don't really search a lot of different sites, usually just Pirate Bay and IsoHunt, and they're both supported (along with six others). The interface is clean and responds quickly - the search box throws some people off, though. I don't understand why, it's giant, orange, and says "search" on it. They also have a search plugin for IE and Firefox.