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Filed under: Internet, P2P

Littleshoot updates browser plugin, now supports torrents

Back in December 2008, Brad wrote about Littleshoot, a browser-based peer-to-peer application created by the developers of Limewire. A little over two months later, and the .90 beta release has seen several updates and the addition of one major feature: the ability to download .torrent files.

Install the Littleshoot plugin, visit any torrent site, and click on a torrent file and a new tab like the one pictured above will open in your browser. While savvy p2p-ers probably won't prefer Littleshoot to their current torrent manager, it's an excellent option for less experienced users (like the ones you provide with free troubleshooting).

Littleshoot also makes it easy to share what you're downloading on social sites, with quick links to popular ones like Twitter, Facebook, and Digg.

And don't forget, Littleshoot is also a great way to search Flickr and YouTube - you know, in case you want to check out some interesting photos or videos while your downloads finish.

The memory footprint has been reduced, at least on the Littleshoot plugin itself - it's currently using about 60mb on my Vista x64 machine, which isn't out of line with other combination Gnutella/torrent applications. Firefox, however, seems to be having some trouble coping: its ram usage is up to about 430mb.

[via TorrentFreak]

Filed under: Internet, Security, P2P

How not to configure your new Limewire install

After reading a news item on p2p data breaches today, something struck me: the average user simply doesn't understand how important it is to pay attention to the messages during a software install.

Why does it matter? For one thing, it could lead to a massive amount of private information leaking onto a file sharing network like Gnutella. Here are some examples:
  • An executive at a Manhattan production company accidentally leaked over 2,700 documents including the names, birth dates, and social security numbers of contractors, as well as scripts of episodes currently in pre-production
  • A paralegal/transcription service leaked more than 5,000 documents including medical records and confidential attorney/client information
  • A bookkeeper at a food service company leaked thousands of files including scanned driver's licenses, social security, and insurance cards
How do you avoid this? It's pretty simple, actually.

Read more →

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Freeware, Open Source, P2P, Beta

Limewire 5 beta released

Last month I took you on a visual tour of the alpha version of the upcoming Limewire v5. As announced on Limewire forums yesterday, the peer to peer app has now hit beta and is taking shape rather nicely.

The interface has been totally rebuilt from scratch, and jabber support has been added. Results from your friends will now appear above those from other P2P users. Of note for developers, the open source API has also been retooled and the wiki is being updated with new tutorials on working with it.

You can download the Limewire 5 beta version for all platforms from this page.

Filed under: Internet, Commercial, Freeware, Open Source, P2P, Social Software, Beta

Limewire 5 Alpha screenshot tour


Limewire is one of the oldest filesharing programs around, and it's by far the most popular. The Limewire development team continues to work hard on version 5, which promises to bring some very big changes to the application. After taking a look at Wired's write up of the Alpha version, I decided to download it and see what all the fuss was about.

Remember, the gallery images and download I'm linking to are pre-beta. If you're not an early adopter or interested in testing potentially buggy software, don't download this version.

Let's take a look, shall we?

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Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, P2P

Cabos is Limewire for Minimalists


We've tried plenty of Gnutella clients that just aren't any good, and usually end up back with Frostwire or Limewire by default. Thankfully, Cabos has an excellent alternative for Windows and Mac users.

Cabos doesn't support torrents, and it doesn't have a built in media player, but who needs that anyway? Most of us have favorite apps for handling those files anyways, and Limewire probably isn't either of them. It simply searches the Gnutella network, displays your results, lets you filter and sort them six ways from Sunday, and downloads them quickly. It even offers basic iTunes integration.

There's no lime green splashed around the UI, just a tranquil, muted gray, and 21 languages are supported. It's totally ad-free and there are no nags - Cabos just does what you want it to and doesn't get in the way.

Filed under: P2P

RIAA sues Limewire

RIAA sues LimewireLime Group LLC, the company behind peer to peer application LimeWire, sued today in federal court by the RIAA for damages including $150,000 per occurance of copyright infringing files. The complaint seeks damages on the grounds that LimeWire, and thus Lime Group LLC, facillitated the trade of copywritten music between users and profited as a result of LimeWire's failure to "block" copyright protected material.

Lime Group LLC has so far refused comment.

Lime Group was threatened last September, along with a host of other P2P application developers, with legal action if the company failed to comply with RIAA demands to either shut down, successfully filter all copyright protected material or drop the open peer to peer topology for a licensed content model approved by the RIAA.

KaZaa recently settled a similar case for $115 million, others such as WinMX and Bearshare have shut down. Qtrax, another less known but veteran name in peer to peer is preparing to offer a licensed peer to peer model that would comply with the RIAA's demands.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: Internet

BearShare bites the dust, settles with RIAA for $30 million

BearShareFree Peers, Inc., the company which produces popular file sharing software BearShare, has reached a $30 million settlement with RIAA and bowed out of the P2P business. The company will be selling all of its BearShare-related intellectual property, including source code, user information, and over 100 domain names, to iMesh, the P2P company that agreed to go "legit" after reached its own $4.1 million settlement with the RIAA two years ago. iMesh will continue to distribute BearShare on BearShare.com (though what changes are in store remain to be seen), and since it works with the Gnutella network, old versions of the software will continue to operate as they always have.

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