Bag's Rants

New fangled technology. Just like the old stuff really..

I've been looking for a document for some time now in bookstores and on the web but no joy. On Friday I found a link to a PDF copy on BitTorrent. I knew roughly what BitTorrent was but no as much on the details so off I went to have a look and see what was there.

It's one of these P2P systems that seem to be used for all the latest pirated software packages. Looking at what is available there is a lot of pirated movies, CDs and software. And, of course, the biggest use seems to be porn. Ah well. It's what the Internet is there for.

Now I remember in the good old days linked to Usenet. Watching the percentages climb on that picture that you wanted of whatever celebrity had their kit off at the time. In those days via a 14K modem it was not much fun particularly when there was a segment missing. Funny porn was the most popular use then as well. Happily all that is available on web pages now. Although for class totty try Theo Spark's excellent site.

Now of course you have the dubious pleasure of watching something download, albeit at a much faster rate, yet still stopping with only a few blocks to go. I've downloaded over 4Gb of files so far but, of course, the file I wanted I have about 5% of and it is only 1Mb.

There were some interesting documents on VideoBlogging and PodCasting as well as a massive selection of these short videos that are making the rounds.

The only difference from the good old days is that the files are not on a central server but spread around individuals PCs and you need to declare an interest in the files you want so you can start the transfers and also help provide the storage space and bandwidth. A good idea and an example of what can happen when the right people look at a problem.

The other thing that seems to be consistent is that everyone seems to use obscure bloody codecs for the video files . Which mean half of them don't run until you find the right codec. Why they don't stick to the tried and tested and think it is worthwhile just to save a few Kb is beyond me. Guys, think of the KISS principle.

posted by Bag @ 8:25 pm