torrents

A BitTorrent file-sharing case could soon have more than 23,000 defendants.

Back in March, Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allowed Nu Image, a production company and the plaintiff in the case against "Does 1 to 6,500," to start seeking out contact information, including full name and address, related to IP addresses it had already collected.

Those IP addresses, Nu Image said at the time, were "Doe Defendants" who had allegedly pirated copies of last year's "The Expendables" using the BitTorrent protocol. Sylvester … Read more

Transmission is one of the very best choices for a BitTorrent client on the Mac, being both extremely lightweight (some users even manage to run the Ubuntu version on their cell phones!) and fairly feature-packed. Transmission's interface is easy to use--and easy on the eyes--and this open-source app provides a whole host of clever features and flexible settings, especially when it comes to managing your bandwidth.

Transmission lets you queue downloads, set "Speed Limits" for certain times of day, stop seeding when you've met a specified ratio, and more--all with live download stats viewable directly in … Read more

uTorrent 3.0 (download) graduated to beta yesterday, combining some impressive new features with initiatives from parent company BitTorrent to encourage legal torrent usage.

The new beta can stream videos and music while the files are still downloading, using progressive and sequential download technology. The streaming feature can also be used to preview a file before committing to a full download. The preview feature can lend itself to the new basic socialization features in uTorrent, which serve as a passive reminder while downloading that you can interact with other people also seeding or leeching the torrent.

You can now rate … Read more

We all have habits to overcome, and we all know that Wilson's weakness is text messaging and abusing social networks, but what about me and Jeff? On today's show, you'll learn how Jeff overcame his filthy nail-biting and why I almost went bald at age 8.

It's challenging to differentiate between a habit and an addiction, but it's safe to say that an addiction is a behavioral pattern that escalates in frequency and advertises a lack of control. Smoking is one of the most pervasive examples of addiction in our society, but according to our first story of the day, text messaging may be the key to cessation!

According to new research at the University of Oregon, it may be possible to inhibit an individual's response to cravings brought on by addiction through reminders delivered via media like text messages.

"Research participants were prompted by eight text messages per day for three weeks to document their ongoing cravings, mood, and cigarette use" during the quitting process, the university said, and these messages may have helped some people curb their desire to smoke. Now if we can only find a way to help Wilson with his Facebooking...

A new book called "Cancel Cable: How Internet Pirates Get Free Stuff" by Chris Fehily serves as an instruction manual… Read more

Torrents are source of much legal controversy, which is a shame because the format is a great way to distribute all kinds of content. BitTorrent is working on raising awareness of torrents that share content legally with its Vodo network, and the company has now provided an Android companion app.

uTorrent Remote works with the next generation of the uTorrent client to find and manage torrents on your computer from your phone or tablet. The killer feature? uTorrent Remote's playback. Watch this episode of Tap That App to see what it can do.

Bandwidth caps are only part of the reason that torrenting has yet to hit mobile devices in a big way, but that hasn't stopped them from trickling into the portable world. Today BitTorrent, Inc. announced remote control app uTorrent Remote that lets you manage your desktop's torrents from your Android device, and stream completed audio and video torrents back to your device. Originally mentioned last month at CES, uTorrent Remote will only work with the next generation version of uTorrent, currently available only as a rough alpha.

The Android app adds basic torrent remote controls to your phone. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The grandpappy of the torrenting world, BitTorrent, announced yesterday at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show that it will bolster its torrent-managing software later this year with search and playback features. Similar to competitors such as Vuze and Miro, the ecosystem comes as part of the development of Project Chrysalis, an effort to give BitTorrent a more robust feature set and give consumers a seamless workflow from finding content to playing it back. BitTorrent recently announced that it had reached more than 100 million active monthly users.

The new version of BitTorrent is due in a public beta near the … Read more

Retriever, or more properly the Retriever Download Manager, is HalogenWare's free Java-based application for managing large FTP and HTTP downloads and BitTorrent file transfers. Retriever handles segmented downloads, proxies, Metalinks, server authentication, download mirrors, and more. It can schedule, pause, and resume downloads, and even switch servers automatically when traffic is heavy. Since Retriever is Java-based, it's made up of modular components that offer lots of customization options. Retriever works in Windows or any operating system with Java Runtime Environment 1.5 or higher; we tested it in Vista and Windows 7.

When we installed Retriever in Windows … Read more

The four largest recording companies claim in court papers that Lime Wire, the company behind the LimeWire file-sharing service, has thumbed its nose at a court injunction that requires the peer-to-peer network be shut down, CNET has learned.

"Defendants have demonstrated in no uncertain terms that they either will not or cannot do what the injunction commands," wrote lawyers working for the Recording Industry Association of America.

The RIAA, the trade group for the major labels, asked the court yesterday in a 20-page document to appoint a "receiver" to ensure that Lime Wire complies with the … Read more