Wednesday 5 June 2013
The Definitive Guide to Using BitTorrent on Your Nexus 7 Tablet
BitTorrent—corporations hate it with a passion, but the people love it. The notorious file-sharing protocol was responsible for 36.8% of all upstream Internet traffic last year, as well as 10.3% of all traffic.
Unfortunately, BitTorrent has gotten a bad rap with its role in piracy several times before, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of legal uses for it. I personally use it to quickly download large Linux disc images that are a few gigs a piece, while indie artists use the protocol to get their content out to thousands of people without the costs of hosting it themselves.
Today, I'll show you how to setup and use BitTorrent on your Nexus 7 tablet, then manage your torrents downloading on your computer straight from your tablet. Let’s jump right in and get started!
How It Works
BitTorrent is peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. While I may be downloading a file from a torrent, I'm also simultaneously uploading the file to another user. Everyone is doing this constantly for every bit that’s transferred, with the goal being to get the file to everyone as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Here’s some helpful terminology used with BitTorrent that you'll want to know:
- Torrent: File or link used to connect to the file; large torrent index sites host these.
- Magnet link: Works the same way as a torrent, except no torrent file needs to be downloaded.
- Client: A program used to download files from torrents; both client and program can be used interchangeably.
- Tracker: A server that manages users' connections.
- Seeders: Users who are actively uploading.
- Leechers: Users who are actively downloading; sometimes used to describe users who only download and not upload (like a leech).
BitTorrent Clients and Android
There are only one or two good BitTorrent clients for Android. I recommenduTorrent Beta (pronounced mew-torrent) as it's the most widely used both on Android and on desktop computers (for both PC + Mac). Its quick and easy setup makes this a favorite among users.
Using uTorrent Beta
Go ahead and download and install uTorrent Beta from Google Play on your Nexus 7.
Using uTorrent Beta on Android is a breeze. Just find a torrent for a file you want to download and have uTorrent launch when prompted.
Choose a download location. By default, files go into the Android Download folder.
It's working!
The UI is self-explanatory. Buttons for pause, add a new torrent, and closing uTorrent are at the upper right.
Below are buttons for viewing your active torrents, searching for torrents on the web, featured torrents, and settings.
For most users, the default settings in the app don't need to be changed.
Managing Torrents Running on Your Computer (PC + Mac)
Begin by enabling remote functionality in the uTorrent desktop program settings by checking the box for "Enable uTorrent Remote Access". This will be the same for both Windows and Mac. Give your computer a name and a secure password.
Now, head back to your Nexus 7 tablet and download uTorrent Remote. This app will act as a remote to the uTorrent desktop program on your computer.
Now, whenever you have a torrent running on your computer, you can start, stop, or delete the torrent from wherever you are right from your Nexus 7 tablet. No need to hop on your computer!
Closing Thoughts...
BitTorrent is a great way to grab large files off the web. It was made for this. As long as you have seeders uploading the file, downloads will be quick and painless. Users who are not familiar to torrents may have a slow time adjusting to how the downloads work, but it's well worth it!
Be sure to use BitTorrent for legal purposes. I in no way endorse piracy. Thanks and start downloading in a new way!
Resident Evil: Revelations HD Review
Resident Evil: Revelations HD is the best thing that could have possibly happened for the struggling series. Capcom is currently in damage control for its biggest franchise after taking a huge blow from the critical flop of Resident Evil 6 and scouring much of the remaining reputation on pointless sub-entries.
What Capcom needed was a game that simply works. A game fans could rally behind and hold aloft as a proud entry in the series. A game that could distract everyone while they make absolute sure Resident Evil 7 is up to snuff and does not cause further irreparable harm to the series.
That’s just what Resident Evil: Revelations is. It’s not huge or flashy, and it doesn’t make any big statements about where the series is going. It doesn’t affect the canon or introduce any brilliant new ideas to the formula. It has no silly gimmicks. It simply works, and at this point, that is just fine.
Of course, the game was already a critical success last year, taking some impressive scores for a portable Resident Evil game and walking away as the best reviewed game since Resident Evil 5.
Giving the HD treatment to an already popular title is a low risk means of spreading the game’s good word to the larger console market, reaffirming to everyone that Resident Evil is here to stay.
Shakespeare This Ain’t
Resident Evil: Revelations follows series mainstay Jill Valentine and her new partner in crime, Parker. Rumors of Chris Redfield’s kidnapping following a massive biological terrorist attack on a floating city lead the duo to an abandoned ship where, no surprise to anyone, zombies run rampant! Conspiracies unfold, characters remain flat as cardboard, and another virus must be stopped.
It’s an inconsequential story in one of gaming’s most ridiculous canons, if what Resident Evil has can even be called a canon anymore. Jill and Chris are nothing more than two beautiful people shooting zombies on a boat, empty shells of characters with less depth than a child’s inflatable pool. The throw-away supporting cast is no better, either lacking in personality or simply having too much.
The only standout of the crowd is Parker, and that’s just because it’s rare to find a chubby character in a Japanese video game is that is to be taken seriously.
Nothing holds any weight in this simple story, either. “It will be Raccoon City all over again,” one character proclaims, but what does that even mean anymore? So much has happened in this universe that Raccoon City barely registers as a blip on the grand scheme of it all.
Tension, Relief, Tension, Relief
For what it lacks in narrative prowess, it more than makes up for in scares. And I don’t just mean the cheap BOO scares the series has devolved into over the years. Resident Evil: Revelations HD is able to pull some nice camera tricks and lighting effects during the game’s more tense moments.
Not to mention that ammunition finally matters again, so making sure none of that goes to waste adds a whole new layer of stress.
There is a real sense of claustrophobia and dread on this floating fortress, and Jill and Parker’s short mission could have been one for the ages had Capcom decided to not ruin it for the multiplayer.
Between their important chapters, the narrative often jumps through time and space, into the European Alps or back in the time to the floating city during the terrorist attack. As soon as these missions initiate, the tension in Jill’s story vanishes. The boat is gone, the crashing waves are gone. It’s just all gone.
Resident Evil 4 works so well because one character finds himself stuck in the worst of situations. Here, there is always relief at the chapter change as Jill’s narrative takes a coffee break for exposition which could have been told in a cutscene.
Buddy System
While supposedly pushing the story forward through interactive flashbacks, the true purpose of these pointless chapters is to create more maps and character models to unlock in the game’s ever important multiplayer mode.
Enjoyment of the narrative comes in terms of how well you can divorce yourself from knowing you are playing a game designed by and large for online co-op and quick bursts of fun. I often had trouble looking at the large picture, and seeing I was playing mutliplayer maps randomly stitched together in chronological fashion.
For that, I hope the mutliplayer was worth it.
And boy is it ever. Once Resident Evil: Revelations HD seven hour campaign wraps itself up, there are still hours of fun to be had playing online with friends. Goals are simple, kill everything and traverse the carved paths laid in the maps provided in the campaign.
Unlock loot with the money raised in between missions, and repeat.
Weapons are randomized like in an MMO, so there are always options like finding a shotgun with faster reloading speed or a pistol which does more damage the longer the range. More value could have been added if the missions had been randomized as well, but remember that this started as a portable game afterall. The 3DS couldn’t handle that.
As for the gameplay, Capcom generously allows both “shooter” and “classic” controls based on preference. Combat boils down into the most basic shooting and knifing found in Resident Evil 4 and 5. Aim at weakened body parts, shoot, run away to get better position, and repeat. Granted, Revelations allows Jill to move while she shoots, so there is no need to stress about the perfect positioning.
Convincing yourself that this is a portable game by nature might be a little tough. The simplicity of it all begs to be played in short bursts with an excellent “one more mission” attitude driving to complete the next level or unlock the next power-up. The reward system is phenomenal, making it one of the better games in the series for quick bursts of action.
How to Convert Any HTC One to a Google Edition HTC One
During last week's D11 event, Sundar Pichai, head of Google's Android division, announced that a Google Edition of the HTC One would be available for sale on June 26th in the Google Play store.
Just like the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition, the new HTC One will run stock Android with only minimal additions by HTC, such as Beats Audio. Already seen by many as the best Android phone in terms of hardware, this answers one of the HTC One's few criticisms.
But you don't have to wait to get a Google Edition of the HTC One to get a stock Android experience. If you already own an HTC One, you're not going to want to buy a new one anyway.
So, in this guide, I'll be showing you how to get a stock-like experience—without rooting. Since we're doing this without root, your settings and status bar will still have that Sense look to them, but it's close enough.
Step 1: Install a New Launcher
I'll be using Nova Launcher, but Apex Launcher is also good.
Install Nova Launcher, then press Home and you'll be prompted to select a launcher. Select Nova Launcher and then Always.
Tapping and holding on the home screen lets you change your wallpaper, access Nova Launcher's settings, and add widgets, shortcuts, or Nova Actions.
Nova Actions are just functions of the launcher like opening your app drawer or viewing your recent apps.
Nova Settings lets you choose the number of home screens, how many icons you can fit on each screen, the transition animations, rotation settings, and much more.
Step 2: Install a New Lockscreen
You can pay for more features with an app like WidgetLocker, but Holo Locker has the basic features most users want.
First you'll have to disable the Sense lock screen. Open your phone'sSettings, then go into Personalize and finally Lock Screen Style. Select the last option, which is No Lock Screen, and tap Apply.*
Install Holo Locker. The default settings are fine, but you can change the shortcuts on the lock screen or change rotation and status bar settings if you open Holo Locker from your app drawer.
Step 3: Add Notification Bar Quick Settings
For AOSP-style quick settings, download and install Power Toggles. Open the app, tap Enable, and customize your settings.
Step 4: Add Customizations
This is the fun part. If you miss some of the Sense widgets, there are similar alternatives in the Play Store. You'll find that while Sense is pretty good out of the box, launchers like Nova are much more powerful with support for gestures and more. This isn't the complete stock experience like some custom ROMs are, but it's pretty close, doesn't require root, and will make your phone feel faster.
10 Important Things To Consider When Buying A Franchise
1 – How much capital is required?
The purchase price of a franchise can vary widely, but also make sure you are clear on whether this figure also covers other capital expenses, such as real estate, vehicle purchase and shop fit-out. Sometimes the initial fee only covers buying the right to trade under the brand – with everything else an added cost.
2 – What are the financing options?
Many banks offer attractive franchise lending packages worth up to 70% or more of the franchise cost, easing pressure to finance against home equity and other personal assets. However, you should make sure you closely evaluate all options as the wrong decision could cost you dearly.
3 – Is there market demand?
Is there strong consumer demand for the franchise product or service, and is that demand set to continue? As part of this, you should also evaluate competitors, and measure the quality of their product against that of the franchise you are interested in.
4 – What’s the franchise’s track record?
A little digging online can tell you a lot about the franchise’s reputation and business record. It can also reveal whether there are any past or present legal judgments against them. Also, speak with an existing franchisee if possible.
5 – What legal agreements are required?
Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you’ve run the agreement by a legal professional with franchise experience. And you shouldn’t feel pressured to sign – if that’s the case, you should probably walk the other way.
6 – Does the franchisor have a good marketing program?
See if you can take a close look at the methods the franchisor uses to research new and existing markets. As a franchisee, will you be privy to marketing information, and get training that is specific both to the industry and your business.
7 – What support do they offer beyond initial training?
A good franchisor won’t abandon you after the initial week of orientation. They should be genuinely interested in your ongoing success, and help you develop a business plan.
8 – What is their selection criteria?
Do they have a selection criteria, and how stringent are they really? What are the education and/or training requirements, and is there an “ideal” franchisee they have in mind?
9 – What’s the success rate?
In other words, how many of the franchisees are still in business – and importantly, still happy – after the first two years?
10 – How are conflicts resolved?
If a procedure or policy rubs you the wrong way, what guidelines and mediation processes do they have? Is there any room for original ideas or innovation?
10 ways to make your passwords secure
Weak passwords are a huge security risk to a business, as the only thing there to prevent hackers accessing many online services. To minimise the chances of hackers accessing your online accounts it's vital to choose a strong password - particularly if the accounts contain confidential information.
As a rule of thumb, a weak password is short and uses eight or fewer lower case letters. A strong password is at least eleven characters long, and contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters like * or &.
To get an idea of the difference in security, let's assume a hacker gang with a fast computer can make 100 billion attempts per second to guess your password. Here's how long it might take:
- A short password made up of six random lower case letters - a fraction of a second
- A long password made up of 11 random lower case letters - 11 hours
- A long password made up of 11 random lower and upper case letters - two and a half years
- A long password made up of 11 random lower and upper case letters, numbers and special characters - 500 years
Best methods
Bearing that in mind, here are 10 tips for choosing and using secure passwords.
1. Don't use personal information as a password. Many people use the name of a pet or child, but if a hacker knows you - or can find out this information from a source like Facebook - it will likely be their first guess.
2. Don't use common passwords - security company Sophos provides a listof 50 popular ones that hackers are bound to try. The most common ones include "123456", "password", and "qwerty".
3. Don't use any single word or pair of words that appear in the dictionary. That's because hackers can use software that can test every word in a dictionary in very short amount of time . And don't be fooled that common substitutions, such as a "5" for an "s" (e.g. pa55word), make a difference - hackers and their software are wise to this.
4. Do use a long password. 11 or 12 characters is probably sufficient, although the SANS Institute, a security research organisation, recommends at least 15.
5. Use a password drawn from a pool of as many characters as possible to protect the most sensitive accounts. That means using at least one upper case letter, lower case letter, digit and special character (although not all websites allow special characters.)
6. One way to create a long password that's easy to remember is to use a whole phrase as a password - something like "WhoDaresWins". Another is to use the first letters of the words in a longer phrase - perhaps capitalising every other letter. For example "God save our gracious queen long live our noble queen" would produce " GsOgQlLoNq ".
7. The longer and more complex your passwords, all else being equal, the better. So you can make them more secure by choosing a simple sequence of three or four characters, like "B52" or "M&S" and adding them to the end of all your passwords, e.g. WhoDaresWinsB52 and GsOgQlLoNqB52.
8. Changing passwords regularly can make them difficult to remember but it's sensible to change them occasionally. An easy way to do this is to add the year to the beginning or end of your passwords - e.g. WhoDaresWinsB522013 and GsOgQlLoNqB522013 - and update them annually. This has the advantage of adding length and complexity, and it's also easy to remember how old the password is.
9. If you have too many passwords to remember them all easily, consider using a password manager program such as LastPass or RoboForm. These encrypt and store your passwords securely, and enter them automatically when you supply one master password - which you still have to remember.
10. To get an idea of how much security a given password provides, check it at Gibson Research's tester. But remember, if your computer is infected with a keylogger then a hacker could still get hold of any password you type in, no matter how secure. For that reason it is important to use different passwords for different sites.
Hacker approach
To understand why these tips are effective, it's worth looking at how hackers actually break in to online accounts.
The first way is simply by going online and attempting to log in to your account by guessing your password. This is actually quite hard, because most sites will lock your account if the wrong password is entered more than a handful of times.
It's also quite slow: even when using hacking software that enters different user names and passwords automatically it's unlikely that a hacker can try more than 100 passwords every second.
The second way is for a hacker to break in to a web service's computer systems and download a copy of the password file. If it actually contains a list of usernames and corresponding passwords it's effectively "game over" - no matter what password you had chosen, the hacker would have it.
Fortunately most (but not all) website administrators are smarter than that. Instead of storing the passwords themselves, they transform each one by passing it through a mathematical feature called a hashing function. What comes out is an apparently random sequence of characters, called a password hash, and it's these that are stored.
Hashing function
A hashing function is a one-way function, which means that once a password has been transformed into a hash, there is no going the other way: turning the hash back into the original password is impossible. When you enter your password it is turned into a hash that is compared with the one stored in the password file. If they are the same then you must have entered the right password, and your logon will be successful.
So if a hacker manages to steal the password file, all they generally get are a list of usernames and password hashes, but they have no easy way of turning those hashes into usable passwords.
That means they have to guess a possible username's corresponding password, turn that into a hash, and then see if it matches the one stored in the password file. This is known as an offline attack, and using software such as John the Ripper it's possible to make guesses very quickly indeed.
The first passwords that hackers are likely to try are commonly used, such as "password", "123456" and "qwerty". They will then likely launch a dictionary attack - trying every word in the dictionary, and even pairs of words.
Finally they'll try a "brute force" attack, using every combination of one, two, three and so on lower case letters, or lower and upper case letters or even lower and upper case letters and numbers and special characters like @ or & or '. The deeper into this they go the longer the process takes, hopefully to the point that it is a deterrent in itself.
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