I have been a frequent lurker in the various torrent communities from the past couple of years. And one thing that sets these communities apart from the regular torrent sites is the fact that the torrent files are free from any kind of virus, and they are genuine.

As usual, to download the contents from the torrent files, one has to use a program. One of the most popular and resilient BitTorrent client is uTorrent, which most of you might have already used/seen. uTorrent has been free for years, but the company has a new game plan to monetize their userbase.

According to the recent post on the BitTorrent blog, the folks behind the hugely popular uTorrent program are working on the premium version of uTorrent. And the first version of the program is set to roll out later this fall, although there is no mention of the price of this premium app.

Will You Buy uTorrent Plus?

Dubbed ‘uTorrent Plus’, this upgraded (and paid!) version of BitTorrent client has premium features available for both Windows and Mac OS users. But the question of whether the free members are willing to convert into paid users remains to be seen.

Right now, the details on what uTorrent Plus has in store for the paid users are scarce and there is no concrete information available for us to find out if we get our money’s worth with this app. However, the paid client, unlike the free version, will have the ability to convert videos and transfer the files to an external device. Perhaps that’s what going to give uTorrent Plus an edge over the free version.

Also, the uTorrent community stocks nearly 100 million active users, and even if a small percentage of users converting into uTorrent Plus members can lead to huge profit. So it’ll be interesting to see how uTorrent Plus pans out when its out this fall.

What’s pushing me to think harder is whether one can download the paid uTorrent Plus using the free uTorrent client? I mean, imagine if we could torrent for uTorrent Plus and download the cracked version? Funny, but if this happens then the company will suffer in its own game. Oh, we are going deep!

You can read the original blog post here Will You Buy The uTorrent Plus Paid Client?.

We regret with a heavy heart when our portable device stocking all our information is lost — just like that! Needless to say, we are frustrated over losing our laptop(s).While it may not be possible to find out who exactly scuttled away with the laptop, but there are certain measures one can stitch in time to avoid similar consequences.

One of the free software that will help you to track your lost/ stolen laptop is Prey. Prey is an open source tool that uses the on-board GPS chip and the nearby WiFi network to track your stolen machine. Available for the Windows, Mac, and Linux Operating System, Prey is totally free to download.

How Prey Works?

Prey can be activated on stolen laptops in two ways. Firstly, you can specify a URL which when verified by Prey will generate a report of your device location. Another way to track your laptop is to license Prey to send a report to your email every time it runs — of course you should have an valid email address, and you should be able to tweak the SMTP to receive reports. To avoid losing your Macbook pro, Air, iMac (Yea, talk about pulling out all the stops) Mac users can use firmware password utility on the Mac OS installation DVD.

To help you in recovering your stolen laptop, Prey will also take a picture of the thief using the webcam. The control panel of Prey allows you to perform a handful of actions such as deleting saved passwords from your browser, hiding the email, setting an alarm and warning the thief verbally.

So, basically you install a tiny program called Prey and it will silently keep track of your Windows laptops, Macbook Pro and Desktop PCs – all this for free. Prey Pro is available too, but the free version does a great job in tracking lost laptops and supports up to 3 devices.

Download Prey and hunt the hunters!

Note: Prey doesn’t track laptops after it is stolen. In order to track the location of your laptop, you must install prey beforehand. To be on the safer side: add a BIOS password to your laptop and also disable booting from removable devices. This will give a hard time for the thief if he is trying to format the hard disk.

You can read the original blog post here Download Prey to Track Lost Macbook Pro, Windows Laptops, Desktop PCs, etc..

As you may know, Veoh.com is a popular site where people can share, watch videos and create a community around these videos by joining public groups. So, here is a quick post on downloading the Veoh web player to watch videos of any length.

While YouTube does offer full-length movies, Veoh allows any users — which YouTube doesn’t — to upload surplus amount of movies, music and miscellaneous videos of any length. However, to watch these videos, one should download Veoh Web player.

Download Veoh Player For Windows

If you are using the Windows OS and if you have Adobe flash installed on your PC, then go ahead and download the Veoh web player from this link. This is a free player with no strings attached; however, I have noticed some of the people are complaining that the Veoh Web player bundles spyware and virus, which is not true.

I’d always recommend you to go with the custom installation to avoid installing Veoh toolbar (if you don’t really need it). Before we move ahead, you should know that only the Windows XP and Windows Vista users can enjoy watching full-length videos on Veoh.com. Unfortunately, Mac OS X and Windows 7 users have to find alternative way around on their own.

Veoh Web Player Setup

Launch the downloaded .exe file of Veoh Web player and follow the instructions:

If you don’t want to tangle your browser with toolbars, then choose the custom installation and uncheck both the Veoh toolbar and Veoh search engine.

In the next process, check “Do not install TuneUp for iTunes,” as I believe TuneUp is a paid plugin for iTunes.

The Veoh Web player is successfully installed! That’s it — No more 5min video previews anymore. Launch the program and enjoy watching full-length videos on Veoh!

You can read the original blog post here Download Veoh Player For Windows — Free Veoh Web Player to Watch Full-length Videos.

The built-in Search feature on Windows Operating System indexes files and folders to deliver a comprehensive result, but you have to admit, it is slow. In fact, sometimes the Search—activated by CTRL+S—takes several minutes to fetch the results on my Windows XP. I’ll cut to the chase and introduce you to a software called “Everything,” a better search alternative for Windows OS.

Everything, as the name implies, is an search engine program capable of searching everything on Windows OS. Folders and files are indexed in real-time, while you can also refine your search by extension, file type and path name. Likewise, jumping to the files and folders from the indexed result is just a click away.

Searching through the Everything search engine program is fairly simple. Download Everything, launch the program and enter the search filter to view the indexed results instantly. The software also promises to index 1,000,000 files in under a minute, which is very impressive.

You can also share files with others through the ETP server, although I haven’t delved too deeply into this.

All this and much more is available with the Everything tool and the best part is the program is completely free to download. However, Everything supports only the Windows OS and works on the Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 and Windows 7 machine.

Click here to download Everything.

You can read the original blog post here Search Windows Files and Folders With Everything Search Engine.

Someone is having access to your WiFi network will send chills down your spine, because, as you know, there are possibilities of your WiFi network manipulated in a blink of an eye — even if you have password-protected the WiFi connection.

The consequences of losing your WiFi network to others are obscure. Firstly, these WiFi intruders can steal your internet bandwidth and slow down your internet connection. But the gruesome part is where these intruders can have license to access your PC and fete upon your privacy.

Needless to say, you can evade these intruders by blocking access with the advanced router settings. However, if you are not sure if someone is actually stealing the internet from your WiFi network, then here is a freeware tool to help you out.

Zamzom wireless network tool scans the wireless range and shows the number of devices connected within the WiFi network. You can perform fast scan or deep scan to see the number of IP and MAC addresses of every computer that is connected to the WiFi.

The tool can be upgraded to paid (pro) version to access additional functionality, but I believe the free version should be enough to find out who is accessing your WiFi network and does a pretty good job in finding the WiFi intruders.

So, next time if your high speed internet connection is bogged down, or if you are suspicious if someone is accessing your WiFi network, then use the Zamzom wireless network tool to dig out the truth.

Download Zamzom wireless network tool (Only for Windows OS).

You can read the original blog post here How to Find Out Who Is Accessing Your WiFi Network? [Software].

Like Kies for Mac, whenever you buy MP3 devices like Philips Gogear, Raga, etc. you’ve to download a media player, which goes by the name Philips Songbird.

It was not so long ago when Songbird, one of the popular MP3 player for Windows and Mac OS, struck a deal with Philips and the outcome was a free music player that can be used to seamlessly synchronize your music and media files.

If you haven’t tried Songbird yet, then give it a shot and see for yourself on how easy it is to use. And the best part is of course the freedom to download add-ons — check out the best and my favorite Songbird add-ons. The add-on gallery, which is built within the media player, let’s you add panels ranging from lyric search to music discovery.

Download Songbird for Philips Media Player

Although Philips have their own version of Songbird pre-installed on the Gogear Muse, Raga, ViBE, Ariaz,etc. But another easy way out is to head over to the Songbird website and download the setup file.

Also check out the Philips website for a quick live support through the chat if you are facing issues with your Philips player. These guys were humble and quick to respond.

You can read the original blog post here Download Philips Songbird.

In the world of  open source, there are a slew of media players available online these days. Most of them run on Windows and play from basic to advanced file formats.

Here’s looking at the five best media players that play a variety of files, run on all recent versions of Windows (XP, Vista and Seven), are virus and spyware free and most importantly, are free!

Best Media Player For Windows

1) Media Player Classic – This is the kind of media player that isn’t a resource hog, plays any kind of file format that you throw at it and runs on almost any hardware without any hassles. It’s quite a favorite with people coz of its easy installation and running. Features subtitles support and even lets you record and play television if a supporting TV tuner card is installed.

More about Media Player Classic. The only possible downside of this could be that it looks like it’s from the pre XP era so those of you who like flashy, glossy interfaces on their media players can give this one a miss.

2) KM Player – This is one of the most powerful free video players available these days. It features a vast array of audio and video playing options along with skins so those of you who gave the Media Player Classic a miss coz of its Neanderthal looks can give this a try.

KM Player plays any and all file formats that it’s presented with and allows you to stream TV and HDTV as well. The downside is that it doesn’t come with a help file and new users might take some time figuring this s/w out.

3) VLC Player – Media Player Classic’s rival in terms of versatility, VLC is one of the most popular media players out there. The reason is a regular updating, fast loading s/w that plays all file formats.

VLC Player supports multiple subtitle and alternate language files an also lets you record an instream from either your desktop or webcam. It can play .RAM files, fix avi videos, and has built-in codecs to do everything. The looks are simple and plain so don’t expect much in that department. Full marks in all others areas. You can download VLC player for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

4) GOM Player – Unlike DOM Player, Gom player is a free universal media player that not only is a good performer, but looks good as well.

The most impressive thing about this player are the customizable settings on the control panel which let you tinker about with the playing video’s brightness, hue, saturation, etc. The weakness of the player like KM Player lies in the absence of proper help documentation.

5) Windows Media Player 12 – Since this player comes bundled with the recent version of Windows it’s technically free. Also unlike earlier Windows Media player versions it now plays a lot more file formats with ease.

It is also the most professional media player of the lot. So even though it might surprise many of you, Windows Media Player 12 finds a place in the top media players out there.

Hope this helped you guys in choosing a media player for your needs. Go ahead, download and see for yourself which one caters to your needs.

You can read the original blog post here Best Free Media Players For Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

One of my major goals is to write a full-length novel. I’ve made small inroads into this over the last year, using Apple’s Pages for the word processing and a copious amount of handwritten notes in my Moleskine notebook and numerous scrawled pages all piled together in a plastic folder.

It’s a nightmare to manage. Writing a novel means dealing with a gargantuan amount of text and having to organize that can be tough.

That’s when I discovered Scrivener – a popular Mac-only application that allows aspiring (and accomplished) writers the ability to organize their writing efficiently.

The heart of Scrivener is its Binder; this allows you to work on small pieces of text that make up the entire novel (i.e. chapters or parts), and through an intuitive interface allows you to move sections around. It has an iPhoto-like corkboard for arranging summaries of chapters, and cool features like the Project Targets allow writers to set word-count goals that can be achievable in writing sessions. This allows for a more productive time and ensures that a novel or other piece of text gets finished on-time.

The built-in efficient filing system provided by the Binder allows one to organize Research notes by simply dragging and dropping web pages, PDFs and a myriad number of other file formats into the folder. Very neat.

There’s a whole load of features that Scrivener has, and a version 2.0 is on its way for the Mac in October, just in time for NaNoWriMo – the National November Writing Month, an online competition that encourages aspiring writers to write a novel of 50 000 words during the month of November. Having Scrivener as part of your writer’s toolkit will surly mean you’re one step closer to achieving that difficult goal.

But Scrivener has only been available for Mac OS X in the past six years since its release. And now, finally, the developers, Literature & Latte (cool name, eh?) have announced this week the imminent release of Scrivener for Windows (click link to see videos of the new app).

Scrivener for Windows is set to release in early 2011, and a beta programme will begin in around October. According to the developers, Mac users needn’t worry that they’re being sidelined with this announcement; the Windows version is being developed by a second team in Australia led by writer and developer Lee Powell. Also, the Windows version will be playing catch-up to Scrivener for Mac, and will include all the features of v1.0 of Scrivener for Mac, plus the user interface improvements of v2.0, but will not include any of the new features coming to Scrivener for Mac 2.0.

This is exciting news for writers everywhere – especially aspiring novelists – as, in my opinion, Scrivener is one of the best-written apps out there at the moment. And it is extremely affordable too, given its immense feature set: only $45.

To learn more about Scrivener, visit the official website here.

You can read the original blog post here Scrivener for Windows Coming 2011; Beta in October.

I’ve been using Ubuntu for quite a while now. I really love the safe, secure and easy-to-use environment in Ubuntu. But one of the major issues while switching from Windows to Ubuntu was finding replacements for the software’s that I was using on Windows.

Ubuntu did provide me with lots of alternatives for my Windows software’s; GIMP was a really great replacement for Photoshop, Aptana Studio for Dreamweaver, OpenOffice.org for Microsoft Office. But finding a good RSS reader for Ubuntu was quite a difficult task.

After meddling around with different softwares, I’ve compiled a list of my personal favorite feed readers for Ubuntu. Hope you like them too.

Best RSS Readers for Ubuntu [Free]

1. Liferea – Linux Feed Reader abbreviated as Liferea is a simple and easy-to-use feed reader for Linux. Call it a clone of FeedReader, but this software is designed specifically to suit the needs of Linux users. It currently supports RSS/RDF, CDF, Atom, OCS and OPML feed formats.

2. Akregator – Akregator is a fast, lightweight and intuitive RSS feed reader specially designed for KDE. It enables you to easily follow your favorite blogs, news sites, and other RSS enabled sites. Some of it’s amazing features include feed notifications, system tray integration, powerful internal browser and much more.

3. Blam! – Blam! is a simple to use GTK  feed reader. It is loaded with a minimal set of features that include adding & deleting feeds as well as import & export of OPML feed lists. One of the major drawbacks of Blam! is that it does not cache the feeds that are fetched.

4. RSSOwl – RSSOwl is a very powerful RSS feed reader for Ubuntu. It allows you to easily gather, organize as well as search your feeds in a convenient and easy-to-use interface.

You can view various news feeds side by side in multiple tabs and also use the embedded browser to view the original post. It also provides you additional features such as newspaper view, news bins, grouping mode, news filters, labels and much more.

5. Straw – Straw is yet another simple RSS feed reader designed specifically for the GNOME desktop. It supports only RSS and Atom feeds. Some of it’s features include import & export OPML feed lists, support for grouping and offline reading. It has a traditional three-pane interface which makes it very simple and easy-to-use.

Have any other Ubuntu RSS readers to recommend? Share it here

You can read the original blog post here Top RSS Feed Readers For Ubuntu.

Adobe has just announced an update to its popular vector graphics editing tool- the Adobe Illustrator. This update will help you easily transfer designs into HTML5 and CSS3 content. With the dynamics of web design changing rapidly, this is actually a very important update for Adobe as well as its customers.

Since HTML5 and CSS3 standards have yet to evolve fully in terms of implementation in web pages, it is understandable that the update will provide what the company call ‘initial support’ to these standards. Adobe has also provided some insight into why this feature was not incorporated when Illustrator CS5 was initially launched.

During the planning and development phase of the CS5, HTML5 and CSS3 were even more obscure than they are now, and so, the need for incorporating these in CS5 was not felt at that point of time. Now that some browsers are using HTML5 elements, there is actually a need for CS5 to be compatible.

If you are into web-design, you can easily try the free update which can be downloaded from the Adobe website by clicking here. You can install it with both the full and trial version of Illustrator and in case you have any queries, go straight to the Illustrator CS5 HTML5 Pack forum to get your answer.

HTML5 is certainly the future of browsers and web pages. So, this Adobe update is just an indication of how the allied areas such as design and web architecture will change as newer standards are adopted.

Adobe has also released a similar update for its Dreamweaver software, which is essentially a design and development tool. This goes to show that Adobe is all primed and ready for HTML5, even though there is a probably a conflict of interest with its own Flash, the direct competitor of HTML5 standards. Probably monetizing both is the idea here!

You can read the original blog post here Adobe illustrator CS5 HTML5 Pack: Transfer Designs to HTML5 and CSS3 Content [Free Download].