Monday, September 3, 2007
Tribler 4.1 – P2P file sharing client
12:18PM Sarah Stokely | TorrentFreak reports the lastest version of the Harvard Uni-developed P2P file sharing client, Tribler V4.1 is out. It supports BitTorrent, but they’re trying to create a next gen P2P client by building in currency and sharer rankings to encourage uploads.
“The latest version of Tribler enhances the standard tit-for-tat BitTorrent algorithms with something they call the give-to-get algorithm. This new algorithm allows their users to benefit from a good ratio without using a central server like private BitTorrent trackers do.”
It’s fascinating stuff. TorrentFreak notes that down the road Tribler plans to move to a decentralised trust system and allow users to add tags to content.
Harvard Develops P2P Client that uses Bandwidth as “Currency†[TorrentFreak]
And finally – just a reminder that we’re running a competition all this week to celebrate the release of Pixar’s latest movie, Ratatouille. See this post for details on how to win a hardcover, limited edition “Art of Ratatouille” book and more. More » 
The struggling musicians toolkit
12:04PM Sarah Stokely | Readwriteweb has a roundup of muso tools and websites which it’s named the struggling musician’s toolkit.
“Despite grumbling from big-name artists and record labels around rampant P2P ‘piracy’, there’s never been a better time to make money from creating music tracks of your own. There are dozens of useful websites – some completely free to use – that serve budding musicians and seasoned tourers alike. In this post we cherry-pick the best online tools at your disposal to make music, find an audience for it, and then make money from your efforts.”
There are tips on websites to help you if you’re a “Johnny No-Bandmates” or want to use the web to jam with someone online. It also offers up some free web tools including an alternative to Apple’s GarageBand. Once you’ve created your masterpiece, it offers up some music networking and promotion sites to try to help you find an audience.
For the musos out there – I’d be really interested to find out more about tools or websites which you find useful – especially if they’re local or have a decent Australian user base (contributors or listeners). Leave ‘em in comments please!
Struggling musician’s toolkit [readwriteweb] More » FileZilla 3 – now providing FTP for Linux
11:45AM Sarah Stokely | FileZilla 3 – FTP client for Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, and Windows.
Linux.com reports that FileZilla 3 is a ground-up rewrite of this FTP client software which brings it to Linux for the first time. Nathan Willis’ article talks you through how it works as well as providing a roundup of how he thought it performs compared to some other open source FTP alternatives.
Several Digg-sters point out that Mozilla’s had the FireFTP Firefox addon out for some time.
FileZilla 3 brings Windows FTP goodness to Linux More » 
Help improve Firefox 3
11:10AM Sarah Stokely | Ryan Paul blogged at ars technica about a relatively simple way in which people who’d like to help improve Firefox 3 can get involved in testing the software.
“To participate in a test day, download the latest Firefox 3 nightly build from the Mozilla FTP server, join the #testday IRC channel on irc.mozilla.org, and use Mozilla’s Litmus quality assurance tool to run test cases.”
Mozilla’s quality assurance community site has announced a series of test days for specific sets of features.
September 7: Extension manager and content handling
September 14: Bookmarks and history
September 21: OS integration and site-specific preferences
There’s more information available on how to get involved with Mozilla here.
Becoming a part of the Firefox quality assurance process [ars technica] More » Protect against telephone identity theft
9:45AM Sarah Stokely | Most online businesses are stringent in educating customers about how to transact securely, but it seems many companies are letting their customers down in the way they handle plain old telephone interactions.
Recently I received a phone call from someone claiming to be from my credit card company, who asked me to provide security information about myself before the call could proceed. I repeat – a stranger called me, asking for information which could be used to access my credit card account. I declined to proceed with the phone call.
I’ve heard from a few different people lately that all sorts of companies who should know better – including banks, credit card companies and ISPs – are using the same methods to contact and “verify” their customers as a scammer would use to try to steal their information.
I contacted the ACCC to get their advice, and they helped out with some tips for protecting against telephone identity theft. Follow the link for the details. More » Install any Linux distro directly from hard disk
8:53AM Sarah Stokely | The blog instant fundas offers a guide to installing any Linux distro directly from hard disk – saving you from using CD/DVD media. Obviously this will only work if you’re running a Windows/Linux dual booting system (something I’m seriously considering after I wasted my Sunday trying unsuccessfully to get my Vista box onto my wireless network).
I liked this tip because I hate wasting CDs/DVDs – both because it’s a waste of money, and because it’s adding to landfill. (That reminds me, I should stock up on some rewritable disks). :)
Install any Linux distro directly from hard disk without burning any DVD [instant fundas] More » 
Ten Ways to Access Banned Sites
7:00AM Wendy Boswell | If you’re (for whatever reason) blocked from viewing a particular web site, tech site WebStuffScan has posted a list of ten different strategies you can use to access the forbidden. A lot of this is familiar ground: convert the IP address, anonymous proxies, etc. However, this one was new to me: Get web pages via email – This is useful if you need a single Web page. Obviously accessing large files is not possible. This is a good list, but if you see something missing, please share in the comments. How to access blocked websites [WebStuffScan] More »
Choose the Right Case for Your Computer
6:00AM Wendy Boswell | If you’ve walked down the aisles of your local computing super store lately, you know that computer cases have come a long way, baby. If you’re not sure on what’s the right pick, newbie tech site Build a Computer Guide has a quick and dirty introductory tutorial. Sure, it might be tempting to go straight for the shiny, but if you can’t fit your stuff in there, it becomes useless quick. If you’ve had to replace a case lately, share in the comments what advice you would give to those who might be in the market. Guide to choosing a computer case [Build a Computer Guide] More »
Getting Up Early Made Easy
5:00AM Wendy Boswell | Most of us are not early risers by nature. However, there are many ways we can change that, if we really are willing to dedicate some time and change our habits. Self-improvement site LifeRemix has come up with 24 strategies for getting up earlier; my favorite was this one: Write down why you’re getting up. What will you be doing when you wake up? If you write down the actions that you’ll be doing the next morning with your extra time, you’re giving yourself incentive to wake up. I know it’s so simple, but simply having that written reminder of WHY I’m getting up at 5 AM has been very helpful for me. How did you change your sleep habits? Thoughts in the comments. 24 Tips To Becoming An Early Riser [LifeRemix] More »
