Lately, some ISPs have been using BitTorrent throttling techniques to prevent BitTorrent programs from working properly. It is understandable that ISPs need to manage their networks in order to ensure that every customer gets a fair share of the bandwidth pie, but as individuals, traffic throttling techniques take away from the service we were promised when signing up.

If you choose to share the data collected via the Network Status Monitor, the Azureus team may analyze and compare it with the data collected from other users in order to develop ways of circumventing BitTorrent throttling. The plug-in only works on Windows machines for now, but Mac support is coming.

Comcast has agreed to stop throttling BitTorrent traffic. Well, kind of. What Comcast is really promising is to develop a "capacity management technique that is protocol agnostic." In other words, Comcast still reserves the right to limit your downloads, but hopes to develop a method that will do this whether you're using a web browser, FTP client, or BitTorrent software. Gee, that makes us feel better.

Another interesting note is that BitTorrent is both a protocol and the name of a particular company. Comcast has been in discussions with BitTorrent Inc, but we honestly don't know that many folks who actually use BitTorent Inc's software. So while the company has pledged to develop BitTorrent client software optimized for "a new broadband network architecture," the agreement won't matter much unless other popular BitTorrent clients like Azureus and µTorrent also adopt the technology.

In case you're wondering what led to Comcast's change of heart (if that's what it is), we're going to go out on a limb and assume it might have had something to do with an FCC investigation that may or may not have eventually cost the company billions, or even trillions of dollars.

[via GigaOm]

Azureus is opening up its Vuze online video platform to third party video producers. Or rather, the company is expanding its already-open platform, making it easier for pretty much anyone to upload a video and make money off of it. Up until now, you've been able to add videos, but you couldn't insert ads or charge for downloads unless you signed a content deal with Vuze.

Azureus launched Vuze in January, and Gilles BianRosa tells us that since then, the video client has been downloaded and installed 10 million times. Vuze has also partnered with between 60 and 70 major content companies to distribute content. Those companies include CBS, Showtime, and the BBC.

We recently had the chance to ask BianRosa a few questions about Vuze, online video distribution, and the company's new open monetization platform.

Download Squad: Tell us a little more about Vuze.

Gilles BianRosa: Our users are in five countries, mostly Northern America and Western Europe. We use Azureus' backbone to distribute music, movies, and games.

You have a lot of companies that are launching new services, but not many of them have an actual user base that's engaged. We've had 2 million new installations of the client in September alone. And everything's growing. We are seeing our users engaging significantly around Sci Fi, anime, sports, music videos, so we are learning a lot from that.

We are seeing a lot of media companies looking for new ways to reach this audience, and it's an audience that we've known for a long time because they were using Azureus. And we think that it's creating a company where large companies as well as small companies from the media space can engage directly and learn from the way this generation is about to consume long form and short form entertainment.

Azureus has renamed its Zudeo BitTorrent client Vuze, and the new program includes some new features, and more importantly, new high definition content from networks including Showtime and the BBC. Limited content was already available form A&E Networks, G4 TV, National Geographic, and Starz Media.

While most users probably think of BitTorrent clients as software for downloading TV shows and movies illegally, Vuze is all about partnering with networks and independent video producers to sell content.

And while there's not much premium content available right now, Azureus has snagged the right to distribute some interesting programming, including Showtime's Weeds, Dexter, and The L Word. Vuze will also distribute the BBC series Sorted, which is otherwise unavailable in the United States. This should come as good news to anyone hoping that other BBC content such as Life on Mars, or the original version of The IT Crowd might one day be distributed via Vuze or BBC's own online video service.

Azureus has also updated the program's search engine and navigation system.

[via Ars Technica]

I love the idea of YouTube. The democratization of content creation, everyone having a shot at their own 15 minutes, the very real and ephemeral feeling that a dynamic community nurtures. What I don't like are 15 year old kids whining about their lives on webcams or replying to someone else's creative work with derogatory juvenile comments. Call me a curmudgeon but, my idea of entertainment isn't colored by an attention span which shares its depth and breadth with that of a teetsy fly. There are some excellent things on YouTube, but they're buried in a pile of useless drivel.

Dovetail is like rethinking YouTube with an eye on quality of video and of content. There are no webcam replies, no commentary flame wars, just good film produced by independents with an eye for visually aided storytelling. It's the kind of service that, fed with enough constantly new content, could make you think seriously about giving up your TV. Dovetail does require you to install a simple application that lets you to tag videos to download and watch in full quality after viewing short flash quality webclips. It's well worth the install, based on the open source Azureus Bittorrent client and is relatively simple to use.

End to end Dovetail works very well, with its only drawback being a limited quantity of content. There are a few hundred short to full length titles in the Dovetail library at current, but with the number of sharp young filmmakers, and a pleathora of comparatively inexpensive equipment available these days I could certainly forsee a time when Dovetail, or a service quite like it, retires the current concept of a TV channel to the dustbin of history.

Azureus, makers of the open source, cross-platform BitTorrent client of the same name, have launched Zudeo, a new video sharing site in the YouTube mold, but based on BitTorrent technology. That fact could either be its success or its downfall. Its downfall because BitTorrent does not lend itself to streaming, so a video must be downloaded in its entirety before being viewed. Its success because it allows them to serve videos of much higher quality without spending a fortune on bandwidth. Unlike most video-sharing sites, when you click on a video download link in Zudeo, you're prompted to install a special Zudeo version of the Azureus client, and then whenever you want to watch a video on Zudeo, the link will open in the client and begin downloading. Within the client you can browse and search the entire site as well as upload your own videos.

In its current form, Zudeo is not awe-inspiring. The interface is slick and polished, far moreso than I expected, but having to install a desktop client, though made supremely easy, is still a bit jarring. And even though all of my downloaded videos are conveniently kept in my Library, it still launches an external video player whenever I want to watch one of them. Downloads are blazing fast, however, and for those looking to share videos with a little more resolution might be attracted to Zudeo. According to TechCrunch, Azureus has signed deals with "20 major TV and film studios" to provide free programming, and the company also just got $12 million in funding from Redpoint Ventures and BV Capital, which TechCrunch's Natali Del Conte points out is more than it took to originally finance YouTube.

Though I hate to admit it, my "poor man's TiVo" solution consists of me checking CAT every morning to see what's new and then hitting the BitTorrent trackers to start my downloads. I know there are better ways to go about it, but what can I say, I'm a creature of habit. But speaking of better ways, Lifehacker's Adam Pash has written a brand new guide to automatically downloading your favorite TV shows using the free Windows app Ted and the BitTorrent client of your choosing. He steps you through setting up Ted and configuring it for your favorite shows, making it work with Azureus and uTorrent, and setting up custom feeds.

I'm a huge fan of uTorrent for its speed and low profile, but many prefer Azureus for BitTorrent downloads because it's open source, cross-platform, and a little more featureful. One other thing Azureus has going for is its powerful plugin API, which brings us to a great article at ZeroPaid called Top Azureus Plugins Revealed, which is an overview of nine of the best Azureus plugins available. The Speed Scheduler plugin, for example, lets you throttle your downloads during the day while letting them go at full speed over night, and Auto Speed monitors your network latency and automatically optimizes your download speeds. Hit ZeroPaid for the full article with lots of screenshots and instructions.

According to Slyck News, popular BitTorrent client will soon be getting a "content layer" to help users "share, discuss and interact with media." The article is a bit vague on exactly what that will entail, but it says "anybody will be able to post content to the new platform and promote it within social or interest groups," which suggests something like Digg or Newsvine but for torrents and integrated with the open source, cross-platform Azureus. Azureus' developers hope to solve the "Ok, I installed the thing, where do I find some good content for it?" problem, and though initially there will be no payment system, they hope eventually to offer paid content, but "No DRM if we can get away without it." The new content layer will be open source and "will not affect the functionality of the BitTorrent layer." The new Azureus will be previewed at the OnHollywood conference this week, followed quickly by public testing and a full release sometime this summer.

I saw this earlier today and now I see it's jumped to the top of the digg heap: a how-to on grabbing missed TV shows off Azureus and Bittorrent. The author says "missed" because we all know the law protects time shifting, not copying something you didn't pay for. In fact, the author begins with, "I'll start by saying that I am a paying cable subscriber." Dang skippy! Unfortunately, just because you're paying for cable won't indemnify you from legal action thanks to the DMCA. I don't know what the difference would be between an old-skool VHS deck and an encoded file in binary format (like those you'd find whizzing around the interwebs), but I suppose that's what all the brouhaha is all about. Right? I mean, there's an inherent evil to those bits, yes? That's why the government is protecting us from ourselves, correct?

Anyway, this is a great overview of the process, including a lot of commentary from the author on his own proclivities. Makes sense that he doesn't need soap operas in HD. What this boils down to is something we used to call (way back in 2004) "broadcatching," or grabbing stuff using RSS and Bittorrent. Only here's some added info with Azureus and a cool web automation technique. For you Linux cats, there's the TV RSS app.