Actually, your browser knows a lot about you. Some scientists believe that from your browsing habits they can recognize fairly precisely if you’re a man or a woman.

Using your browser URL history to estimate gender

Be patient, it may be long.

According to it, I am a man…

I thought about this when I saw that in the US, CableVision was offering 100Mbps at 99$ per month (and AT&T offers 18Mbps for 80$ per month).

Competition is king for driving broadband (ADSL or cable) prices down.

As with many a BitTorrent client, µTorrent or uTorrent tends to have a relatively complex configuration. Many options, some of them utterly cryptic, a lot of them with a possible impact on performance. After months of tweaking, I think that I have obtained a configuration that is clearly optimized to download several giga-byte-sized packages (videos/movies, Linux distributions, full databases, etc.) on a fast ADSL connection (20Mbit/s, here).

So I was suggested to share it with all the ones who want to try and get quickly a BitTorrent connection working as fast as possible.

All the options

I don’t need to explain the choice of language (µTorrent has one great advantage of having such a large choice for localization).

I did not install IPv6 support (my ISP does not support it), but it is a very critical item to check because -as soon as it becomes readily available- it will bring a significant layer of compression and obfuscation to avoid your ISP throttling down your P2P traffic (as some US and Canada ISPs currently do; Shame on them!).

I don’t care receiving the beta upgrades (I’m all for the stability of software) and I favor browsing as anonymously as reasonably possible.

Since I am working at home, there is no need for the anti-boss key.

Download: I prefer to immediately pre-allocate file size (rather than seeing the software program stop later because it has been eating up all disk space), and I don’t want to the PC to shut itslef down while downloading. While it is generally good to reduce electricity consumption, stopping in mid-transfer is not good for the efficiency of the whole process.

We have to admit that display options are mostly a matter of taste. You can see mine, but feel free to choose others to your liking. These should not affect performance except if you decide to not start the downloads automatically (you still can start them manually, though).

If you download a lot of BitTorrent files, it may be worth organizing your downloads. I put everything in a common directory (C:\Download from Internet\ as you can see) and avoid moving them around (even when finished). However, I prefer to store the torrents themselves in a separate sub-directory (C:\Download from Internet\Torrents) for an easier management.

In order to make things easy, torrents that are downloaded in the download directory (C:\Download from Internet\) are first detected, then started, then moved into their own sub-directory (C:\Download from Internet\Torrents). This means that even if µTorrent is not started, I can download torrent files in the normal download directory, as anything else, but as soon as uTorrent starts, it will recognize the request.

One added little advantage is that if I put any torrent file in this directory (even from a remote machine) P2P download will start automatically. It is easy to setup a script in your email program to drop torrent files from email and thus to have your PC remotely starting downloads. Even from your iPhone, for example. This becomes Remote BitTorrent for iPhone.

The connexion port is allocated randomly in order to avoid issues with your ISP. Just make sure that this port is open in the firewall of your router. For your own computer, using UPnP and NAT-PMP to ensure that you optimize going through your local network and router.

Do not allow changing port at each startup. It would really mess with your router and other firewalls.

If possible, do not use any proxy (it would eat a significant performance and P2P-over-Proxy may not be acceptable by your ISP – read your contract).

This page is certainly the most important one (performance-wise). You may want to allow the automatic speed throttling, but I found that it was good to set it up manually. First, limit the upload to 80-90% of your upload stream capacity (check with your ISP). The little margin allows to have some capacity to do something else (like browsing Roumazeilles.net).

I admit that I limit a little more when I have no download to do, but this is not important here.

The number of connections should be high. Since I have 2GB (and now 4GB) of central memory on WinXP, there is no strict reason to limit myself, other than the fact that going over 1000 connections means that the computer spends more time handling connections than downloading. The ratio of 5:1 or 6:1 between connections and clients helps favor very efficient peers (those bringing most of the download rate).

On the other hand, I don’t want to spend all my bandwidth serving too many P2P clients. 6 is OK. If a couple of them are slow, it’s still possible to speed up on 4. That way, my computer sends data as fast as possible but does not negotiate a lot with others (essentially, it’s “let’s queue them rather than serving them all”).

DHT: You want DHT! This is one great way to find more clients, to keep them if the server is down, to grow the swarm for maximum speed.

Local search may be usable if there are other local users on your LAN (are you in a company? in a University?). It’s not critical for my own home LAN, though.

As far as possible, I want to encrypt my communications. It does not add a lot of invisibility, but it reduces the chances of seeing my ISP filter my traffic.

Here don’t let uTorrent add too many torrents at the same time. Downloading 3, 4, 5, 6 torrents is OK. This tends to max up the connection if they are active, but don’t set it up for more. I prefer to have my torrents arriving one after the other day after day, rather than all after a week of download.

Default values for sharing are OK, I guess.

I do not use planification. Let’s go fast. That’s all.
I do not use the WebUI.
The only Advanced features worth messing are:

Basic parameters for the cache are just that: Basic.

But the advanced parameters could be a little more important.

Growing the read cache size automatically could be an issue if you are near the disk space limit. So, I prefer not to allow this feature (which is only useful in extreme conditions, anyway).

While the Windows write cache seems useless or not efficient, the Windows read cache is important for some disk drives (especially if you are using external USB disk drives).

Main advantage: When my PC stops working perfectly, I can easily recognize what changed. Usually, I (like everybody else) say that I did not touch anaything before it stopped working. Bit when I check, I can find wat I did.

It also works for the configuration of a Local Area Network… even in a company. But beware of not writing down passwords that would then be left in an open paper book…

This is why, while the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) was preparing a night without IPv4 to reach the largest possible public, Google launched a version of its search engine reserved to IPv6: ipv6.google.com (If you are like almost everybody, you will not see anything at the end of the link).

Now, we all have to switch as soon as possible.

• noc.uncu.edu.ar
• gopher.broggio.com.ar
• www-proxy.tecan.co.at
• proxy.co.rmit.edu.au
• bdcssc.dchs.tas.gov.au
• proxy.cybertelecom.com.br
• plattys.com.br
• proxy.cslouis-hemon.qc.ca
• ecarh29c.nortel.ca
• pcsoft.szptt.net.cn
• proxy.iprolink.ch
• isoe.isoe.ch
• caiquen.concep.reuna.cl
• proxy.multiphone.net.co
• webcache.ms.mff.cuni.cz
• proxy.logix.cz
• proxye1-atm.maine.rr.com
• proxy.magusnet.com
• proxy2.lsil.com
• infosun-fd.rus.uni-stuttgart.de
• www-cache.mppmu.mpg.de
• proxy.internord.dk
• transend3.CS.Berkeley.EDU
• Brahma.CC.PurdueNC.Edu
• linux.softec.es
• carpanta.lsi.upc.es
• proxy.inet.fi
• www-cache.tpu.fi
• indigo2.arhitekt.hr
• jumper.itb.hu
• proxy1.lyit.ie
• krr.irst.itc.it
• falco.procom.it
• kpcu.kumamoto-pct.ac.jp
• kaigan.civil.tohoku.ac.jp
• cvs2.kyunghee.ac.kr
• magicall2.dacom.co.kr
• proxy.ang.af.mil
• onion-router.nrl.navy.mil
• proxy1.jaring.my
• tenaga.tnb.com.my
• cacheflow1.deltacom.net
• proxy.coqui.net
• ns.siteways.nl
• homepages.harbinger.nl
• bob.rcac.org
• proxy.pomfretschool.org
• moyca.emc.com.ph
• sunsite.icm.edu.pl
• ultra.cto.us.edu.pl
• leonardo.isec.pt
• ns1.infonet.com.py
• proxy.qatar.net.qa
• hanna.lysator.liu.se
• proxy2.turnet.net.tr
• c1.h202052106.is.net.tw
• easthost.eastnet.net.tw
• softy.poptel.org.uk
• aladdin.esu10.k12.ne.us
• webserver.slco.lib.ut.us
• proxyfs1.und.ac.za
• cache.global.co.za
• proxy.cybergate.co.zw
• proxy.africaonline.co.zw

Good luck trying them all.

I looked into the P2P networks heavily protected by a strong encryption and supposed to guarantee the anonymity of their uses (often named darknets). this claim seems to be well defended, but the available contents are limited and strongly influenced by the fight for liberties (and sometimes against the most paranoid conspirations) and very marginal behaviours (pedophily is really more present there than in the more common Internet you and me use everyday).

But I was also directed toward the Usenet newsgroups. It is clear that a large number of users are living a free life far from the preening eyes of most external observers. As a matter of fact, if you download from your ISP’s news server, the data flow is only visible by yor ISP and yourself. Nothing goes into the open Internet. Of course, some ISP decided to limit access to some of the newsgroups, but choice is still quite large and your tranquility is much more preserved than on a P2P network (and less than on a fully anonymous darknet).

What tools do you need to browse the newsgroups? A little more technical attention than on the simplest P2P networks, for sure. But the tools are relatively easy to find:

• A Usenet reader able to correctly read the posts containing attached file. You have to remember that more of these files are actually cut in parts, attached one by one to different posts and encoded using standard but very specific protocols. The most convincing free tool -for me- was Grabit for Windows that seems able to decode nearly anything, grabbing parts from different messages and sticking them together in files or directories. Most important, it understands how to work with *.NZB files that describe all the parts, all their locations, etc. for one attached file set.
• A software tool able to work with *.PAR2 files that allow to run around the transmission errors (with the help of one sophisticated encoding, they can compensate for missing data or corrupted data, etc.) Here, I prefered QuickPar for Windows, one more free tool.

Note: Normally, Grabit doe sit all, but QuickPar for Windows still comes handy in case of failure.

The most impressive part of my tests has been download performance. 13 Mbit/s, I did not see this for a long time. The more because it was sustained for days (it goes down a little because of minor trafic jams at my ISP in the evening).

But you have to notice that if you look for a specific data content, newsgroups are not helping you. The way they are organized is favoring a lot the exploitation of very young content. If newsgroup search engines exist (Grabit has one that is partially submitted to subscriptions), the Usenet system will only host young data or data recently published.

With subjects like:

• Why a Wireless Bridge?
• How a Wireless Bridge Works
• Setting Up the Wireless Bridge (a Buffalo airstation)

I noticed two important announcements for airline passengers. Things will be changing in terms of accepting new technologies useful for most international frequent flyers:

• GSM mobile phones will be accepted in planes by Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority. But prices may be hard on your wallet, of course. [1]
• American Airlines to start WiFi broadband service in planes as soon as 2008. Same risk on prices… [2]

Surprising? Not really. We know for a long that there is no technical problem, just nobody was willing to try (in the airline companies and the public authorities).

I have been looking quickly at some of the possible solutions to protect your privacy while exchanging files over the Internet. I found the following ideas:

• Omemo is a recent Spanish development. I tried it and it is very obvious that the program is still in beta. Essentially, I was unable to download a file if it was not very small in size or to upload any. Let’s wait until it works.
• GigaTribe seems a good solution if you are willing to pay for the Premium package. It builds a closed network with your friends, but the standard (free) software is not able to grab files from multiple computers at the same time. So performance is very limited for the free version. GigaTribe3 is said to correct a number of issues some time later in 2008.
• Freenet is rather difficult to use at first, but if you run Thaw, one of the applications provided at installation, you will get a large choice of file downloads and performance while limited is not ridiculous: A few days for 2GB of video, it could be much worse. However, some may be troubled by the kind of data found there: While the common P2P data can be observed, you will also find conspiracy-related information and a quite significant load of pornography and child pornography (normally not found on the more open Internet).

I don’t know where the future of P2P lies, but it is certainly around some of these darknets (networks that are protected from external Peeping Toms). Freenet is supposed to be the best and most secured one, even if it is not perfect (it seems clear that some powerful agencies have setup some Freenet nodes in order to be able to spy the traffic).

• A computer with Wi-Fi capable of creating an ad-hoc computer-to-computer connection (yours is)
• A jailbroken iPhone (If you don’t know how to jailbreak your iPhone, the easiest way is to make sure you’re running 1.1.1 firmware and then start here.
• The OpenSSH iPhone application
• An SSH client on the computer you’re using. If you’re on a Mac or *nix machine, you should be fine. Windows users should check out how to install OpenSHH with Cygwin.

Source: LifeHacker “Use Your iPhone’s Internet Connection On Your Laptop [Feature]“.

For this, thanks to CyberNetNews explanations, you can map a networked drive.

There is a long list of file suffixes that cannot be shared on a network (even a local one) on this type of hard disc drive.

In my opinion, a WD My Book World Edition disc is defintely worthless. You cannot usefully put on it an MP3 file, and AVI file, a TMP file, a QuickTime video or a Windows Media video. Western Digital seems worried that you may not have the licensing rights for these. So they don’t want you to use them. Leave those Western Digital discs at he irresponsible stores which are selling them or bring them back.

• How To: Control Ubuntu from Windows
• How To: Build a BitTorrent box
• Run Linux apps on Windows.. kinda (X-Windows system on MS-Windows)

Take your storage online

• 0 : en.Wikipedia.org (Google search)
• 1 : en.Wikipedia.org (Google search)
• 2 : w3.org (Google search)
• 3 : 3.co.uk UK telephone operator (Google search)
• 4 : channel4.org TV channel (Google search)
• 5 : five.tv TV channel (Google search)
• 6 : en.Wikipedia.org (Google search)
• 7 : au.tv.yahoo.com TV guide (Google search)
• 8 : en.Wikipedia.org (Google search)
• 9 : NineMsn.com.au Microsoft + TV channel (Google search)

Wikipedia collects it when nobody wants them, but TV channels are hoarding the numbers.

Now, Iomega is proposing a solution for an external RAID at a bargain price (It’s available in a 500 GB model with street pricing as low as $240). Tom’s Hardware’s SmallNetBuilder is giving it a run and tells us all about it: Tiny Terabyte RAID: Iomega 1 TB StorCenter Network Hard Drive Review.

First, the Internet users start to find again -in Europe- some protection since a decision from the European Justice Court: the ISPs will not be obligated to deliver the name of Internet users associated to an IP address when merely requested by copyright owners like we see in the US of A (the case was opened when Telefonica denied this right to deliver the name and address of some of its subscribers accused by a Spanish copyright owner of using Kazaa to exchange MP3 files). It means that the legal actions to attack indelicate Internet users copying songs, music or videos will be limited far below the level reached in North America where tens of thousands of such actions have been started. There will be the need to open not only a civil case, but a criminal action.

Furthermore, BitTorrent, the most easily recognized software program running on the BitTorrent network, will no longer be free. This is most probably a consequence of the intent of its developers to entter a new phase where they want to reap benefits from more commercial activities (including less risks of legal actions, too). Nothing new under the sun, since many Internet users already prefered BitComet, Azureus or uTorrent.

You may also remember that AllOfMp3, a Russian web site distributing MP3 files without any trace of DRM protection, had to stop its activities a few months ago after police action and the beginnning of legal procedure. It appears that Denis Kvasov, founder of AllOfMp3, has been cleared by the Russian justice (he was insisting on the fact that his sales were including author’s right compensation even if some Euopean and American companies were after him for selling at low prices and without DRM).

Add to it that PirateBay (BitTorrent files search site) have been authorized a few months ago by the Sweedish justice to restart their activity and that they now want to give a new life to the SuperNova web site that closed a couple of years ago, I would try to say that the pendulum is swinging back toward the side most favorable to the Internet users. During months, it seemed that the media producers would be able to force anything they wanted into our throats under the pretense of protecting artists rights. Now, they start experimenting with low-cost without-DRM legal alternatives for music download (even in always-easily-scared France, Neuf-Cegetel intends to start an ISP offer including that kind of possibility: unlimited music and triple-play (Internet+TV+telephone) for 29.90€). Even better, the development of Video on Demand should help film producers and distributors to think in a parallel line.

There is only to find a way to balance the ease of use (requested by Internet users) and artist earnings (naturally expected by the authors). We should find this middle way for the best of consumers and artists, even if it measn suffering for some producers and distributors.