file-sharing

If you're done playing around with Google Earth for the iPhone, you might be interested in checking out something with some everyday utility. Last week Box.net dropped its iPhone application on the App Store. Just like the mobile Safari-friendly version of yore, this lets you access your cloud-stored files on the go, including documents, music, and movies.

The big difference is that this new version takes advantage of your phone's hardware, letting you upload snapped photos and keep an eye on any updates.

In the future, once Apple flips the switch on its live notification service this … Read more

The magazine-sharing Web site Mygazines.com has shut down, just weeks after it was compelled by a lawsuit to remove the free digital copies of the popular copyrighted magazines it offered users.

The site, which was launched in July, provided users with free, uploadable copies of many popular magazines like People, Esquire, and Allure. Users of the site could comment on the magazines or articles, leave ratings, and use articles to create their own "custom" magazines.

Mygazines quickly drew the ire of publishers, and a group including Time Inc., Hearst, and Newsweek, filed suit in a New York … Read more

Just months after its launch, the magazine-sharing Web site Mygazines.com is largely cutting back on the free content it offers, after reaching a settlement agreement in a suit filed by a group of magazine publishers.

Launched in late July, Mygazines allows users to upload and share magazines and originally offered clear, complete digital copies of popular magazines such as People, Esquire, and Allure. A number of publishers, including Time Inc., Hearst, and Newsweek, filed suit in a New York district court on August 21, asking the site to be shut down in the U.S.

A settlement was reached … Read more

Part community and mostly file sharing, DC++ occupies an unusual niche in the P2P game. Unlike torrents, which are direct peer connections, or centralized networks like LimeWire, DC++ manages connections to hubs. Most hubs are built around an interest, such as science fiction or movies. From there, you can chat and share files with other peers who are connected to the same hub.

However, many hubs place restrictions on connections to ensure that users are devoting their attention to the hub. The number of hubs you can connect to depends on how many Upload share slots you give, and you … Read more

The recording industry appears to have won a closely watched copyright infringement case over charges of evidence tampering.

Judge Neil Wake ruled on Monday that Jeffery Howell, a defendant in Atlantic v. Howell, had willfully and intentionally destroyed evidence related to his peer-to-peer activities after being notified of pending legal action by the RIAA, according to a Tuesday report by Ars Technica. Furthermore, since it was done in bad faith, it "therefore warrants appropriate sanctions," the site reported.

The RIAA sued Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for copyright infringement in 2006, claiming that the husband and wife had used … Read more

With its tagline, "upload. share. archive.", it may have been inevitable that the magazine-sharing Web site Mygazines.com would face allegations of copyright infringement.

Mygazines, which announced its launch in late July, allows users to upload and share magazines. Digital copies of the magazines on the site are easy to read, and users can comment on them, leave ratings, and use articles to create their own "custom" magazines.

The site is free to join, and there are no advertisements, but that hasn't allayed concerns of magazine publishers.

Dawn Bridges, a spokeswoman for Time Warner's … Read more

Things aren't going so good over at file-sharing wunderkind, BitTorrent.

According to a report on Valleywag Wednesday, BitTorrent is laying off its entire sales and marketing department, 12 people out of the company's entire staff of 55.

"The immediate cause of the layoffs," according to Valleywag, is "a failure to sell the Torrent Entertainment Network, BitTorrent's attempt at an online media store, to Best Buy for a rumored $15 million."

The story goes on to state that a source told Valleywag that the Torrent Entertainment Network sale fell apart due to the FCC … Read more

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released an open-source, cross-platform program designed to track your packets and determine if your ISP is throttling your connection to torrents, VoIP, and other legal, high-bandwidth consuming communications. Called "Switzerland" and licensed under the GPL, it's very much in an alpha state and is only a command-line tool at the moment. Also, you're going to have to compile it yourself--that's not the most challenging task, but this isn't a simple self-extracting app.

According to the EFF, Switzerland works by spotting IP packets that have been forged or modified between … Read more

Newly reauthorized legislation will ask U.S. universities to deter students from illegal file-sharing, a controversial provision that has drawn concern from educators and praise from copyright holders.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives and the Senate overwhelmingly voted to pass the Higher Education Act 2008 (H.R. 4137), a law first established in 1965 to govern the nation's universities. Despite its five-year reauthorization schedule, the law hadn't been reapproved by Congress for 10 years, or about the same time it's taken the Internet to pervade college campuses nationwide. President Bush is expected to sign the legislation … Read more