Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on April 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

It has now been several months since BitTorrent, Inc acquired uTorrent, but it looks like there is still some hope for uTorrent after all. Right now uTorrent 1.7 Beta is available (Download Mirror) and is the first version to incorporate new features since the acquisition took place. To my surprise they kept the BitTorrent client rather simple which all uTorrent users will definitely like.

Besides for Vista support, here is what new features uTorrent 1.7 Beta brings to the table:

• Outgoing port range, via advanced settings (net.outgoing_max_port)
• List number of pieces we have in General tab (as part of Pieces:)
• Mark unavailable pieces as red in the Files tab (like in the general tab)
• Auto uplink throttling (beta)
• List web seeds in General tab
• Web seed support for single-file torrents
• NAT-PMP support
• Local Peer Discovery
• Option to configure whether rate limits apply to local peers (bt.limit_local_peers)
• Support for HTTPS links in RSS feeds
• Next Piece display
• Remembering the last selected tab in the main view
• Remembering the last selected tab in the preferences view
• Vista font scaling support (DPI aware)
• Secondary column sorting should now be supported by all list viewsNew treeview-based add torrent dialog
• Added Reboot and Quit on Finished options
• Tracker “warning message” support

I’m not sure how many of you have stopped using uTorrent because of the acquisition by BitTorrent, but I’m still using it to download and manage my Torrents. If the software ever becomes bloated then I am sure I’ll be switching to another client, but for the time being they are still keeping it pretty slim and fast.

So what’s everybody using when it comes to a BitTorrent client right now?

Download uTorrent 1.7 Beta (Download Mirror)

Source: gHacks

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• uTorrent 1.4 Has Been Released For Download
• uTorrent 1.7 Now in a Stable Form
• Download The New uTorrent 1.6
• uTorrent 1.8: Better Vista Support, IPv6, and More
• uTorrent Now on your Mobile Device

This article was written on December 28, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Every time you try to use a file in a program it always seems like it needs some obscure file format that you have never even heard about. Or maybe you are trying to post a video to your website but you want a file format that works well in all browsers. There are all kinds of file conversion websites and applications that you can use for free…and they put the power at your fingertips.

Here I will cover 3 online solutions and 2 applications that are all completely free for you to use. All of them support conversions into multiple formats meaning you’ll probably be able to find a lot of use for them.

Remember: With online solutions you will have to upload the file first which can take a considerable amount of time if the file needing to be converted is large.

–Online: Zamzar–

This is probably one of the most popular online conversion services that is on the Internet. It can input a file from a list of supported filetypes and have it converted to another format much like you would expect. The list of filetypes is simply astounding and you can even convert things like PowerPoint presentations to an OpenDocument presentation format (compatible with OpenOffice.org).

You’ll also need to enter in an email address after you select the file and conversion format. This is so that Zamzar can email you the link to download the file. There is a 100MB filesize restriction and the link in the email will remain active for a 24-hour period. The 100MB limit can either be for a single file or up to 5 files. If you “bulk” upload files to the service for conversion (which is limited to 5 at a time) they will email you a download link with all of the converted files zipped into a single file.

–Online: Media Convert–

Media Convert is another online conversion solution that is sure to wow you with the different filetypes they have available. It is slightly different than Zamzar with the more unique feature being that you can provide a URL for the input file. This means that you can provide a URL to an image file, for example, and have that image converted to another image format. There are even some “advanced” options depending on the file type you are inputting, and when the file is an image you can have it resized as well.

The fun doesn’t stop there either. You should take full advantage of being able to enter in URL’s because Media Convert will offer the option to save a website as an image file, which also serves the purpose of creating a screenshot. I have had it shoot back some errors while trying to do this but it works fine most of the time . If you really want to go out on a limb maybe you should try and convert some text to Morse Code.

The other great thing about Media Convert is that the downloads are available within minutes whereas Zamzar has taken up to an 30-minutes to email me my resulting file. There is, however, a small countdown timer that you will have to wait out before being able to actually download your file.

–Online: PDF Online–

This online site doesn’t offer much that makes it unique since its only purpose is to create PDF files. The reason that I do like it, however, is that it seems to do a better job of creating PDF files. The resulting PDF looks a lot more like it should compared to the other two services who sometimes mess up the layout of the document that I am trying to convert.

Here is a list of filetypes that can be converted to PDF’s:

• Documents: DOC, RTF, PPT, PPS, PUB, XLS, MHT, TXT
• Images: JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, WMF, EMF, GIF

After selecting the file to be uploaded you are required to enter in a valid email address (like Zamzar) for them to send the PDF to. Yes, this does seem like some blatant attempt for them acquire a database of email addresses to sell, but rest assured that their privacy policy does say that the email addresses will not be given to a 3rd party.

Now if only they would allow users to upload files larger than 2MB.

–Application: Super–

Now onto the applications that you can install on your PC…starting with the ever popular Super! Personally I prefer to use software that I have installed on my own PC to convert files because the process is tremendously quicker. After you jump through the hoops that the online services require you have to sit there and wait for them to convert your file, and there is really no telling how long that can be. Of course, the worst part about the online services is probably the length of time that it takes for you to upload the file…which is completely bypassed when using your own computer for the conversion.

The list of files that Super converts is essentially unmatched compared to any other application and online service. Now I haven’t sat there and counted the number of file formats it can actually convert but lets just say that it leaves me speechless.

Super doesn’t just do a conversion, instead, it lets you customize the whole conversion process allowing you to tweak things like the bitrate and number of frames per second. These are all things that advanced users love to have control over but it might look a little intimidating for anyone unfamiliar with the lingo.

This free software also has an option to save Internet Media Streams (such as mms://, rtsp://, and http://) so that you can listen to them whenever you feel like it. Maybe that doesn’t sound too useful right now but I have had several instances where I have wanted to save a Media Stream, but at the time I did not know about this great tool.

–Application: MediaCoder–

Lastly, the open source MediaCoder application. Its claim-to-fame is being able to transcode audio and video files into a wide range of formats. Here is a list of the various filetypes that are supported:

• MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, AAC+, AAC+V2, MusePack, WMA, RealAudio
• FLAC, WavPack, Monkey’s Audio, OptimFrog, AAC Lossless, WMA Lossless, WAV
• H.264, Xvid, DivX, MPEG 1/2/4, H.263, Flash Video, 3ivx*, RealVideo*, Windows Media
• AVI, MPEG/VOB, Matroska, MP4, RealMedia*, ASF/WMV*, Quicktime*, OGM*
• CD, VCD, DVD, CUE Sheet

* supported as input only

You can use MediaCoder for all sorts of things related to audio/video files. If you really want you can extract audio files from a video file or even rip an audio/video disc. This can all be done without needing to have a media player installed since it has the necessary codecs built-in.

–Overview–

This post was inspired by everyone who emailed me with tips regarding online conversion utilities. Lewis pointed out Media Convert and Josh pointed out MediaCoder, both of which are excellent conversion tools. I thought it was time to share these recommendations with everyone, but if you know of a better solution feel free to let us know in the comments below. Thanks again for the tips!

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• CyberNotes: Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
• Hey! Watch – Online Video Converter
• CyberNotes: Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
• Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
• CyberNotes: Free RapidShare Premium Accounts

This article was written on July 23, 2008 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

The new Firefox 3 address bar is one of those things that you either love or hate, and it’s quite amazing how much buzz such a simple aspect of the browser can cause. The new address bar is often referred to as the AwesomeBar because of how useful it can be, but more officially it is considered the Smart Location Bar.

Why does the Smart Location Bar get so much attention? In most browsers the address bar only looks at the sites you’ve previously typed directly into the bar, but in Firefox 3 it also includes results from both your history and bookmarks. This kind of behavior definitely takes some getting used to, and it wasn’t until I had been using it for a few weeks that I really began to love it.

We’ve got a bunch of different things in store for you to today. To get the ball rolling we’re going to briefly explain how Firefox 3 calculates what results should be at the top of the address bar when you’re typing, and what should be at the bottom. Then we’ve got a bunch of tips on how you can tweak and alter various aspects of the location bar until it’s exactly what you want it to be.

–The Algorithm: Frecency–

Firefox 3 assigns a rank to every site that you visit, and it uses multiple criteria to do so. The two main things that factor into how a URL’s value is calculated are how often you visit that site in conjunction with when the site was visited. This value is often called the Frecency: frequency combined with recency.

That sounds simple enough, but as Mozilla’s documentation demonstrates there is a lot more to it. Bonuses are given to sites that you manually type into the address bar, bookmarks that you visit, and more. Plus more weight is given depending on whether you visited the URL in the last 4 days, 14 days, 31 days, or 90 days. All of this plays into what appears in the address bar when you start typing.

The good news is that you can essentially customize each aspect of the algorithm using about:config in the browser. If you pull up about:config and type frecency into the filter list you’ll find all of the different values associated with the algorithm. It’s helpful to know the formula used in the calculation because it will help explain what each of the different entries represent:

Visit Value = Bucket Weight * (Visit Bonus / 100)

The bucket weight values appear in in the about:config as firstBucketWeight, secondBucketWeight, and so on. These “buckets” correspond to the recency of your visit (4 days, 14 days, etc…) which can be adjusted with the firstBucketCutoff, secondBucketCutoff, etc… settings.

Visit bonuses are given to various URL’s depending on a variety of factors, including whether a site is bookmarked, whether it was visited by clicking a link, or whether it was visited by entering the address into the location bar. All of these values can be adjusted as well, and of them have the word “Bonus” on the end of them in the about:config frecency section.

–Deleting Entries & Resetting Stats–

Although the system seems overly complicated it’s pretty easy to mange what items appear. For example, I’ve read stories by several people saying that they don’t want results from their history showing up in the address bar because of questionable sites that they visit. Well, the results that are available are only those that are in your history, which means clearing out your history will wipe out those “questionable sites.”

You can do this in a variety of ways. If you want to wipe out your entire history (and therefore reset the stats) you can go to Tools -> Clear Private Data, and from there you can erase your browsing history among other things. Alternatively you can go to History -> Show All History where you can manage individual items, and you can also search through your entire history. Just select the items you want to remove and press the Delete key.

If you want a really fast way to remove items from your history you can use the… address bar! That’s right. Select an item from the address bar using the keyboard arrows, and then press the Delete key (Shift+Delete on a Mac) to see it get removed immediately.

–Removing History & Bookmarks–

If you don’t want the address bar searching both your history and bookmarks there is actually a quick fix. Open up the about:config, navigate to browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped, and change the value to true. Now the address bar will behave just like it did in Firefox 2 where it only searches those addresses you’ve typed into it.

–Removing Bookmarks–

Believe it or not you can prevent your bookmarks from showing up in the results without giving up the history results. Just open up the about:config and set places.frecency.unvisitedBookmarkBonus and places.frecency.bookmarkVisitBonus both to 0 (that’s the number zero). The next thing you’ll want to do is restart Firefox and clear your history. This is because Firefox has the frecency values stored, and without clearing the history your bookmarks will likely still show up.

Tip: If you want bookmarks appearing that you have visited only set the “unvisited” option to zero. That way your visited bookmarks will continue to show up as normal.

–Hide Unvisited Extension–

The Hide Unvisited add-on is similar to the method I described above for removing your bookmarks from the results, but it eliminates some of the hassle. What it does is set the following values in the about:config to zero:

• places.frecency.unvisitedTypedBonus
• places.frecency.unvisitedBookmarkBonus

After those have been set to zero it will erase the frecency values for the bookmarks that you haven’t visited before. This prevents you from having to wipe out your browser’s history in order to see the new values take effect.

This doesn’t, however, prevent your bookmarks from being displayed all together. This only affects those bookmarks that you haven’t visited since the last time you cleared your browser’s cache.

–Alter the Appearance–

The OldBar add-on for Firefox 3 won’t touch the address bar’s algorithm, but it will change the appearance to make the results look like they did in Firefox 2.

–Displaying Google Results–

We’ve supercharged the Firefox 3 address bar with our own homegrown CyberSearch extension. In a nutshell it lets you search Google and see the results right there in the address bar. It’s highly customizable and can make you a lot more productive.

–Distinguishing the Types of Results–

If you want it to be easier to recognize the different types of results in the address bar you may have to look no further than this style designed for the Stylish extension.If you don’t mind diving into the CSS code you can (of course) customize the color scheme, too. With it results from tags will be highlighted in light yellow, bookmarks in light blue, and history items in light green. Similarly our CyberSearch extension has a built-in customization option so that you can pick what background color its results use, and so this works well with it.

Thanks for the tip Mark! [via Ghacks]

–Overview–

Hopefully this article has helped you understand exactly how the Firefox 3 address bar functions, and how you can make it work for you. Be sure to checkout our other Firefox 3 tips, and let us know in the comments how you’ve gone about customizing the address bar.

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
• Tweaking Firefox To Load Pages Faster
• Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
• Update For Tweaking The Session Restore In Firefox 2
• Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

This article was written on October 31, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

One thing that the Firefox developers have stayed clear of thus far is implementing a full RSS feed reader into the browser. Firefox does have a built in system called Live Bookmarks that are supposed to compensate for needing a feed reader in the browser, but as many of you know it falls short.

When it comes to browsers having an integrated feed reader many of them leave users wanting more. Almost all of them lack the power, design, and usability that I love so much, except for one of them. Hands down Flock has the best built-in feed reader, and it far surpasses what any other browser has. You can quickly customize how you’re viewing the feeds, organize them with the intuitive sidebar, and much more.

Today we want to demonstrate the best feed readers for Firefox that don’t require any online services. Some of them are simple, and some of them are rather impressive. What it really boils down to, however, is how usable they are.

The first three listed below are more of the full featured readers, while the last three are toolbar marquees and scrollers. With each extension we provide a screenshot so that you can see what it looks like while being used, and you can click on the thumbnails for a full-size view.

Note: At the end I’ll announce the “winners”

–Beatnik (Homepage)–

Overview: If you’re looking for something that you can configure this is not your feed reader. It is a light weight feed reader that requires absolutely no additional work if you’re already using the built-in Firefox Live Bookmarks.

The Good:

• The feed reader itself does not utilize the browser’s sidebar, which means you can still have your bookmarks sidebar open while viewing feeds
• Automatically pulls in feeds from your Live Bookmarks making it an easy upgrade for all Live Bookmark users
• Sidebar is resizable
• Expandable/contractible feed items

The Bad:

• Has absolutely no options to configure
• Can’t organize feeds into folders
• The only way to add feeds is by making a Live Bookmark
• Can’t import feeds form an OPML file

–Wizz RSS Reader (Homepage)–

Overview: A slightly more extravagant feed reader that has many advanced management features. It doesn’t let you read the entire feed item from the reader though.

The Good:

• Can import feeds from Live Bookmarks and OPML file
• The reader can be put in the sidebar or popped out into a new window
• Save items for quick access later on
• Setup an email template for sending items to your friends

The Bad:

• Does not let you preview the entire article, and instead takes you to the article’s website to read it
• Can’t customize the interval at which the feeds are updated
• Can be a bit cramped trying to do all your reading in the sidebar

–Sage (Homepage)–

Overview: Sage is nice because it displays the contents of feeds in a clean and intuitive manner. If you have hundreds of feeds to read this is the Firefox feed reader for you.

The Good:

• You can manually have it refresh all of the feeds
• Customizable stylesheets let you change how the contents of feeds are displayed
• The feed subscriber shows you the last time a feed was updated
• Two column reading of the news
• Scales images to fit the width of the content area
• Import feeds from OPML file
• Search your feeds
• Can organize the feeds into folders

The Bad:

• Would be nice to switch between full feed views and short descriptions
• Can’t customize the interval at which the feeds are updated

–infoRSS (Homepage)–

Overview: This extension puts a scrolling marquee in the Status Bar that shuffles through the news. It is extremely customizable, but there are so many different options that it can be overwhelming.

The Good:

• Extremely customizable
• Filter headlines for keywords
• Create groups of feeds so that you can quickly switch between different types of news
• Specify the update interval on a per-feed basis or change the default value
• Report feature shows you how many items haven’t been read in each feed, last time the feed was updated, and more
• Synchronize with FTP
• The marquee can be moved from the Status Bar to a toolbar at the top

The Bad:

• The number of options can be overwhelming for some people, and they aren’t very well organized
• The marquee animation can be a bit choppy at times, so you might want to change it to a different type of animation

–RSS Ticker (Homepage)–

Overview: A superb marquee feed reader that has all the right options.

The Good:

• Smooth marquee animation
• Elegant article summary popup
• Grabs all of your Live Bookmarks right away without any additional configuration
• Customize the update interval
• Choose the placement (below the Status Bar or below the Bookmarks Bar)
• Feed enabling and disabling
• Makes good use of the room

The Bad:

• All feeds have to be Live bookmarks, although you can disable them on an individual basis
• It always has to have its own toolbar to display feeds, which can occupy precious screen space

–Simple RSS Reader (Homepage)–

Overview: This is just a toolbar that cycles through the feeds that you specify. The configuration options are a little limited.

The Good:

• Nice manager for adding/removing feeds
• The toolbar is a nice condensed way to keep up with the news
• Control buttons to move on to the next item, next feed, or restart the cycle

The Bad:

• Takes awhile to go through a lot of feeds
• Can’t import feeds
• Can’t customize the interval at which the feeds are updated
• Only shows one item at a time

–The Winners–

I’m a little disappointed by the quality of the feed reading options available for Firefox, but some were clearly better than others. For the more full featured feed readers (the first three in this article) I would have to say that Sage is the best. It has the right amount of features, and definitely feels like a feed reader. To my surprise, however, Beatnik comes in a very close second place. There is something about it’s simplicity that I really like.

When it comes to the marquee style feed readers (the latter three in the article) I would put RSS Ticker up on a pedestal above the others. It has smooth animations, an elegant interface, and a sufficient number of options. However, if your heart lies with customizability I would jump on the infoRSS bandwagon, because it is sure to make you drool!

Copyright © 2008 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
• Firefox Live Bookmarks in the Sidebar
• Pluck Throws In The Towel On Their RSS Reader
• Sage 1.3.8 Now Compatible With Firefox 2
• We’ve Moved To Completely Full Feeds Now

This article was written on January 17, 2007 by CyberNet.

Ubuntu, and nearly all versions of Linux are fairly easy to install aside from some terminology that Windows users may not be familiar with during the installation process. Of course, that is with a fresh install on a new hard drive…if you want to run Ubuntu on the same hard drive as your Windows installation there is always the possibility that you may mess up your existing Windows partition. A member in our forum, Chris, recently wanted to install Ubuntu but didn’t want to completely erase Windows from his hard drive.

He ended up using the Ubuntu Live CD to do the partitioning of his drive which fortunately worked well for him, but there is always the possibility that it could wreak havoc on your hard drive if it is not done correctly. Now it has been two-weeks since Chris successfully setup the dual-booting of Windows and Ubuntu…and I’m sure he wishes that this new solution was released a little sooner. Just last night he pointed out in the forum that it is now possible to complete the Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu installation in Windows!

I think it is pretty obvious why such a project (which appears to be named “install.exe?”) exists, but here is a quick summary that the homepage for the project provides:

The installation of ubuntu is a major barrier to its spread and use. This project aims to solve this problem by allowing installation from within Windows using an install.exe file, and eliminating the need to partition the hard drive or burn a CD to install. It will allow a faster and more user-friendly installation for Windows users, the ability to install without the risk of data loss through repartitioning, and the ability to install on ultra-portable laptops without CD drives.

…

Approximately 90% of desktop computers in the world, the target audience of ubuntu, run Microsoft Windows. Most Windows users are familiar with install.exe programs, and know how to use them. Few, however, know how to burn a CD from a .iso file, boot from a CD, shrink partitions, and install ubuntu. By providing Windows users with an installer they are more familiar with, we can ease their learning curve, and open ubuntu to the vast market of casual computer users.

The elimination of the need for partitioning, and thus the chance of data loss, will help ubuntu gain acceptance in the corporate world.

The elimination of the need for an installation CD will allow users without CD burners or spare CDs to try ubuntu, ease burdens on ShipIt, and allow installation on ultra-portable laptops with no CD drives.

There are also a ton of great screenshots available here.

With Ubuntu being this easy to install there is no doubt that it will continue to become more and more popular. According to the forum post on the new installer it currently offers these features:

• Simple and fast installation 
• No-risk installation
• No repartitioning the hard disk
• No changing the Windows boot loader
• Easy uninstallation
• Doesn’t use a virtual machine
• Doesn’t significantly reduce performance of the resulting installation
• Resulting installation supports everything a normal install does.

However, it does still have it’s limitations at this point. Right now you can’t customize the various aspects of the installation (it’s pretty much restricted to basic stuff like choosing a username) and it doesn’t allow you to perform the installation on a secondary hard drive. For most people who will be using the installer this isn’t a big concern, but they will hopefully continue to develop it into something that both beginners and advanced users will want to use.

On a little bit of a sidenote, if you’re running an old machine that doesn’t meet the requirements of most operating systems you should checkout UbuntuLite. I came across it the other day when looking at OS’s that support legacy computer systems and it was one of the results. It’s nothing very extravagant because it focuses on providing a “lite” operating system that doesn’t include all of the “bloat” that will typically slow down your system and require more resources. Here are very reasonable requirements:

• CPU – Pentium or equivalent, 150 MHz or higher
• RAM – 32MB of RAM
• HDD – 2GB
• Display – VGA or higher

Now it is time to get ready for Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) which is just a few months away!

Copyright © 2008 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• Wubi: Making it easy for Windows Users to Install Ubuntu
• Install Linux In Windows Using Instlux
• Ubuntu 7.10 Review & Screenshots (Beta)
• Ubuntu Video Tutorials For People Just Starting Out
• Microsoft Allows Users To Download Windows Updates In ISO Format