file sharing posts

New version of BitTorrent heralds a new age of uncongested file sharing

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 1st 2009

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]

Tags: bittorrent, file sharing, FileSharing, utorrent, utp

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Web services, Freeware, Windows x64

SkyDrive Explorer adds 25gb of free cloud storage to Windows Explorer

by Lee Mathews Oct 30th 2009

A lot of people overlook Microsoft's SkyDrive for free, web-based file storage and sharing. Still, it's tough to argue with 25gb of free space for your digital goodies that you can access from anywhere. SkyDrive Explorer is a free shell enhancement for Windows that makes it even better.

Once you install SkyDrive Explorer, you'll see a new icon in My Computer (under "Other"). Double click it to open your drive, and a Live login window will appear. Sign in and you've got full-on access to SkyDrive right from Windows Explorer. Add files and folders, move things around, delete old junk - all as if they were stored on your local hard drive.

I'd like to see the app allow access to SkyDrive from open and save dialogs, but it's a great addition to Windows even without that functionality.

SkyDrive Explorer runs on both 32 and 64-bit Windows.

[via gHacks]

Tags: cloud storage, CloudStorage, file sharing, FileSharing, live skydrive, LiveSkydrive, skydrive, web storage, WebStorage

Filed under: Web services, P2P

s4ve.as offers simple 24-hour file hosting

by Lee Mathews Aug 28th 2009

There are plenty of places that will host your files for free. Many of them, however, have bandwidth limits or size restrictions, or are just too darn complicated to bother with. s4ve.as offers the basics I want from a free host and is dead simple to use.

As Jay mentioned to me, it's kind of like a beefed-up Senduit. While Senduit offers customizable time-before-self-destruct, it's got a 100Mb limit. That's just not enough in a lot of cases. s4ve.as does away with size limitations, so you're free to upload whatever the heck you want.

Simplicity is key here - browser for any file, and click upload. When the transfer is complete, integrated bit.ly support gives you an automatic short url to paste into sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Just make sure you tell your pals to grab it within 24 hours. After that, it's gone, daddy, gone.

Thanks for the tip, Scott!

Tags: disposable, false, file sharing, FileSharing, hosting, p2p, send-large-files, senduit

Filed under: Internet, Web services, P2P, web 2.0

Upload, Share, and Mirror in One Step With Rapidspread

by Lee Mathews Aug 4th 2008

There are plenty of great places to upload and share files, so why not use a bunch of them all at once?

Rapidspread is a a simple file upload site that automatically forwards your files to as many as 10 filesharing sites. From the upload page, simply browse for your file(s), agree to the terms of service, and click share. Once the upload is complete, RapidSpread displays a URL to send to your friends as well as direct links to your file on the supported hosts it's been transferred to.

My test rar file successfully uploaded to eight of the ten possible hosts - not too shabby. When I chose to upload several images, RapidSpread was even smart enough to limit mirroring to the media-sharing services (ImageShack, Badongo, ZShare, and ZippyShare).

Anyone that uploads files on a regular basis will appreciate the simplicity and power of RapidSpread. If the developers would just intergrate a short URL service like bit.ly, this would be a truly killer service. Give it a shot, and see how it stacks up against your favorite service.

Thanks for the tip, Eran!

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing, media sharing, MediaSharing, p2p, peer, rapidshare, uploading

Filed under: Audio, Fun, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Fed up with trying to send music? SoundCloud it instead.

by Jay Hathaway Jun 6th 2008

A lot of web apps seem to be targeted at problems that nobody actually has. SoundCloud is smarter than that, focusing on a problem we have at least once a week: what's the best way to send a song to a friend? E-mail is a pain, you might not have ready access to an FTP server, and those weird Rapidshare-style upload sites can be more trouble than they're worth.

SoundCloud basically does two things: it sends music, and it receives music. It's the ideal setup for sending around demo copies of that new album you just finished mastering, or sharing the latest hit single (that you would never pirate because you're a law-abiding Internet citizen). There's great control over email notifications for new tracks sent to you and new comments on your songs, and you can play a song right from your SoundCloud account before you download it.

In terms of comments, the SoundCloud system is awesome. You can drop in a note at a specific point in a track -- Viddler users might be familiar with this feature for videos -- and follow your stats to see how many people are listening to your stuff. This just scratches the surface of SoundCloud's features, so be sure to check it out and apply for an invitation if it sounds interesting to you.

Tags: beta, file sharing, FileSharing, mp3, music, SoundCloud, web2.0

Filed under: Utilities, Web services, web 2.0

File Dropper: Hosts your files up to 5 GB for free

by Simon Kerbel Apr 15th 2008

If it turns out that the Internet collapses under the weight of all our uploaded files, we will blame it all on the incredible, and seemingly unstoppable, growth of file upload services like File Dropper.

File Dropper is yet another file upload service that will host your files up to 5 GB. As far as file sharing services go, it couldn't be easier to use:

On the main File Dropper page, you click the upload button, browse to the file you wish to upload, and the file is automatically uploaded to the File Dropper servers. After the upload is complete, you will be taken to a page with a link to send to your friends or co-workers. All they have to do is follow the link and hit the download button, and the file is theirs.

As a free service, File Dropper meets the basic needs of file sharing: upload, share, and download. If you want more enhanced features, such as the ability to protect your files with a password, or the inclusion of a handy file manager, you'll have to pony up the dough, with plans starting at $0.99 a month.

When File Dropper first saw the light of day a few weeks ago, its Achilles heel was quickly discovered: the uploads and downloads were terminally slow. Some time has passed since its initial release, so we figured that we'd test it out again:

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing

Filed under: Audio, Internet, P2P

Lime Wire to launch digital music store

by Brad Linder Aug 14th 2007

Before BitTorrent was all the rage in peer to peer file sharing, you may remember that the easiest way to illegally obtain music, movies, and other files was through file sharing programs like Lime Wire, BearShare, Morpheus. You know, the children of Napster.

Of course, now Napster's gone legit and sells music. It looks like Lime Wire is looking to follow suit. The company has announced plans to open a music download store.

The store will be web-based, although you'll be able to access the site from links in Lime Wire's file-sharing software. So far the company has signed up IRIS Distribution and Nettwerk Productions. Content will be available as MP3s, and customers will be able to buy individual songs and albums or pay a monthly fee for subscription plans.

[via coolfer]

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing, lime wire, limewire, music

Filed under: Internet, News, P2P

RIAA's big fat bill for Capitol v. Foster: $68,685.23

by Dolores Parker Jul 17th 2007

Debbie Foster who recently went head to head with RIAA and then subsequently won a dismissal with prejudice in Capitol Records v. Foster is also getting the last laugh since her attorney's fees of $68,685.23 must be paid by RIAA.

The saga began in November 2004 when Foster was sued by RIAA for copyright infringement. Rather than bowing down and taking it, Foster denied the allegations and began a legal fight with the music industry which just ended with her award for the attorney's fees.

The $68,685.23 award represents Foster's attorney's fees, and does not include the nice, big, fat attorney fees of RIAA's own counsel. You can make a fair assumption those fees are at least that of Ms. Foster's, if not more.

Let's see. Two years, hundreds of thousands of dollars, bad press, huge loss in court - not pretty. There's an old saying "He who laughs last, laughs best." As RIAA licks its wounds and hopefully figures out a new paradigm, we're laughing with Ms. Foster today.

[via ars technica]

Tags: Capitol vs. Foster, CapitolVs.Foster, copyright infringement, CopyrightInfringement, Debbie Foster, DebbieFoster, file sharing, FileSharing, law, RIAA

Filed under: Audio, Design, Fun, Internet, Text, Video, Blogging, E-mail, Web services

OneDump, another free file storage site

by Chris Gilmer Jul 4th 2007

With lots of competition in the market for online storage of images, text, audio, video, OneDump enters and tries to sneak in with a simplistic approach.

OneDump offers free unlimited storage for all types of files, from audio, images, and text, but what makes them different is their straightforward approach that makes it easier to upload and share files. OneDump not only lets users host files but it also lets you link to them to use on social networks, websites and blogs. The OneDump Quicksend method open to registered users allows them to directly upload images, audio and text files by sending them as email attachments, this also includes files sent from mobile devices.

Service drawbacks, you can only upload 10 files at once, with a 5MB cap on each. With a lot of competition out there, look at other image storing sites look to DivShare, PirateBay, AllYouCanUpload, Flickr, or this link that contains a list of 50 other services that host files from 10mb to 20mb, with no registration, no file size limit, and no download limit or file life.

Gallery: OneDump

Tags: audio, file sharing, files, FileSharing, hosting, image hosting, ImageHosting, images, onedump, storage, text, web2

Filed under: Internet, Photo, E-mail, Web services, P2P

Compress and share with friends using Swapper

by Chris Gilmer Jul 4th 2007

How often have you come across a situation where you have had to compress images or digital files or burn cds to send content to friends?

Swapper is a tool that lets users share photos, videos and files with family and friends that might normally be too large in file size to send via email or IM. Swapper allows users to privately share files by dragging and dropping them onto a Start button in the application. From there you select who the recipients are, and they will be instantly notified with an email and instructions how to get the files.

Through its easy to use and well designed interface swapper claims to be 100 times faster on photo and video transfers. It is available for XP and Vista users as Freeware.

Tags: file sharing, files, FileSharing, photos, swapper, video

Filed under: Internet, Photo, Social Software

Tubes - new accounts will be 1GB instead of 2GB soon

by Dolores Parker May 24th 2007

We covered Tubes before - it's a free PC+web application designed to let you instantly share photos, music, video and documents with everyone you know and have them share their stuff with you through the same tube. It has online backup and automatic syncing capabilities, and is getting some great reviews.

If you are interested in trying Tubes out, you may want to get a leg on, as they will be cutting back data storage from the current 2 GB size to 1GB sometime soon.

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing, social network, SocialNetwork, software, tech, Tubes

Filed under: Audio, Design, Developer, Internet, Security, Text, Utilities, Video, Web services

101 free applications, 2007 edition

by Chris Gilmer Mar 29th 2007

Once again PC World publishes an article that is packed with tons of great freebies found all across the internet. We covered it last year, and the gang is back at it. From System Utilities, Communications, File Sharing, File Management, Productivity, Music, Photos, and Video its all here.

The 101 freebie list also includes a great People's Choice winners list that is an awesome place to check out what applications come highly rated by actual everyday users. Winners in this category include Ad-Aware SE, Google Gmail, Windows Live Messenger, Nullsoft Winamp, Google Desktop, YouTube and Picasa.

If you are in need of a free application, take a look here first to check out what the top rated ones are.

Tags: 101, communications, file sharing, FileSharing, free, managements, music, pc world, PcWorld, photos, productivity, software, utilities, video

Filed under: Business, Internet, Windows, Office, Productivity, VoIP

Use Tubes to share files

by Emily Price Mar 1st 2007

If you find yourself emailing large files frequently then you can save yourself tons of time with Tubes.

Tubes is a application designed to simply file sharing on the web that works similar to an IM program for your files. In order to share content with a friend or coworker you merely need to invite them to have access to your tube and drop the files you want to share in. Once you grant tube access to a particular person then an image of your Tube shows up on their desktop and files dropped from your desktop into the Tube are instantly be accessible to others who have Tube access.

This is awesome for those of that have work with others on projects and have to trade files constantly giving everyone an easy place to put the files where everyone else working on a project can have access to them. Tubes is a PC only application and can be downloaded for free from the Tube's website.

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing, music sharing, MusicSharing, transferring files, TransferringFiles, tubes, video sharing, VideoSharing

Filed under: Audio, Fun, Internet, Photo, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, E-mail, Productivity, Web services, Freeware

MediaFire - Free unlimited file hosting

by Jason Clarke Nov 4th 2006

There are a host of companies on the interwebs providing file hosting services, and MediaFire is one of them. (A "host" of hosting companies... har!) Okay, anyway, all kidding aside, MediaFire is interesting in that they offer unlimited file sizes, unlimited file uploads, and all with no signup required. They will also allow you to upload multiple files at once, and the service can be used like many other large file emailing services - simply email a pointer to the file from within their interface, and the file has been shared.

In fact, once a file has been uploaded, MediaFire offers multiple ways to share the file; in addition to the email feature, they give you a straight download link to use as you please, HTML link code that can be copied and pasted into a blog or MySpace page (for people that don't know HTML), and even forum link code formatted for phpBB or vBulletin forums.

So how can they afford to provide unlimited uploads with unlimited file sizes? Well, they're using ads to support the service. And apparently it's lucrative enough to allow the service to continue, which is good news for those of us that need to share large files.

Tags: email large file, EmailLargeFile, file hosting, file sharing, FileHosting, FileSharing, large file, LargeFile, MediaFire

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Utilities, Video, E-mail, Productivity, Web services, P2P

Pando announces a new way to publicly post personal media

by Chris Gilmer Oct 27th 2006

Pando was once known as an application that just let users email large video, photos and desktop files, and Instant Message high res image links. Thursday they introduced a web component. Users of the new free Pando application will be able to post HD video, high resolution photos, and podcasts to a website, or blog for download, or RSS subscriptions. All with the ability to password protect for download control. Pando is available for PC or Mac, and still not supported for Linux. If you feel the need to send full length videos, or a folder containing 500MB of photos to your relatives, fear not, Pando has you covered.

Tags: download, email, file sharing, FileSharing, hd video, HdVideo, high resolution, HighResolution, im, pando, podcasts, rss, web, web component, WebComponent, website

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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