New service put.io is a commercial service which has allows you to download torrents using their servers, store the files and then later download them to your computer, or stream them to your iPhone, without a trace.

Obviously you must agree to the terms and conditions, which probably have some sort of ass-covering legalities such as the DMCA.

The service is extremely fast. Collecting an 8gb torrent took only about 10mins. Then downloading it took me about 2 hours. The service also has some sort of realtime transcoding going on too. It can convert most types of video/audio to suite streaming.

The servers are based in The Netherlands, security and privacy is pretty tip top. On their website they state:

Your files are your business. We do not log your location, isp or ip address.

SSL can be configured in the users account panel.

Prices start at $US4.90 for 10gb storage and 10gb bandwidth.

And… There’s a Boxee plugin too.

Amazon. Love them or hate them, they have a great system. Browse, add to cart/wish list, buy, deliver. I’ve only had slight problems with amazon and that was when Royal Mail was on strike.

Their wish list system is a great tool to use for ideas of friends and loved ones birthdays. You can either search for their username or email address and it will display a list of items in their wish list.

They’ve even added the functionality to scour *any* website and add items using their bookmarklet or Safari extension.

Because they’re laden with so many features you will never use.

Just look at this motherboard for a PC. It has:
1 x 7.1 Audio I/O [perhaps, but i prefer my external soundcard]
1 x D-Sub [no]
1 x Line In [no]
1 x Line Out [no - why with the 7.1 then]
1 x Mic In [no]
1 x Parallel (LPT) [hell no]
1 x PS/2 Keyboard [yawn no]
1 x PS/2 Mouse [no]
1 x Serial (COM) [no]
1 x 10/100/1000 (LAN) [okay useful]
4 x USB 2.0 [you got me, yes]

Why do PC users always want this crap?

Stupid SanDisk make it so difficult to remove their on board software which comes preloaded on the Cruzer range.

I bought a 16gb Cruzer and have had big issues trying to format the disk in NTFS/FAT32. Each time Windows would only allow me 200mb.

Download the removal software (Windows only) to get rid of this nasty software, once and for all!

Apple’s iPhone 4 goes on pre-order tomorrow so if you’re wanting to get one, you’ll need to order early as these will sell out fast.

www.apple.com/uk/iphone

I pay a service to Lovefilm. £13 per month for 2 rental movies at a time. I can usually get about a maximum of 10 DVDs per month. This is good value. However, their website is increasing with the amount of stupid adverts.

i’m not just talking about the small Google adverts. I’m am talking about the huge Flash overlays which prevent you from viewing your content. This following screenshot prevented me from seeing what movies i had at home. The close button also didn’t work, then crashed Safari:

So I’ve created some sort of hack (specifically from Lovefilm.com) which can be used in most browsers. It’s a custom stylesheet which forces the adverts not to display.

Updated: Download it here: custom-stylesheet-lovefilm.com.css

It’s obvious that pirating music is the cheapest way to obtain music. Pirating because you’re interested in the band or just don’t want to pay the money. Buying an album usually costs around £8 for a digital download (in my latest experience of harddrive crashes I’m rejecting these unless they’re pirated), £9 for new CD or… £3 for a second hand CD.

I want to know, what does the record industry think of second hand sales, and how do they equate these sales into the ‘falling CD sales’ profit losses.

We often hear the music industry is in dire problems and losing money because of illegal downloading. But how much of these lost sales are going to second hand sales. These second hand sales don’t pay any further royalties to the music industry so i guess the music industry would consider this to be in the same category as an illegal digital download.

I gather this because:

Some guy buys the album for £9, then realises it’s not his cup of tea. He can’t sell/swap it from the shop he bought it so his only option is to re-sell it. He puts it on Amazon where many others have done the same. To compete with the other second hand sales, he has to drop his price to well over half what he bought it for, £3. Someone else buys it, sells it again. And so on and so on. Music industry only sees the initial sale of £9.

Now, same goes for the pirate. Some guy buys a copy of the album for £9. Uploads it to thepiratebay. Users x 10 download it for free. Music industry still on sees £9.

To me I see no problem of either downloading illegally or buying second hand. People would tend to think it’s more moral to buy the second hand copy – however the music industry doesn’t see a penny more from either. If you like your artist, support them by buy tickets to see their gig – buy limited edition tee’s or records that come with DVDs etc..

Check out all the second hand copies on Amazon or steal you some music today. Same thing really…

Now that the UK has forced its nation into a 1984 type of guilty until proven innocent, we need to keep ourselves safe. I understand that copying music/movies/software hurts people who create them. I also understand that dogs don’t eat where they poo. Most of the time the movies/tv I watch are disposable and i wouldn’t recommend them. Sometimes there’s a good one.

I’m not saying i pirate all the time. I’m a subscriber to LoveFilm. I buy music/movies/software from artists I am a fan of. For me, anything else is advertising to get me to become a fan. I attend my favourite artists concerts when they come to town.

Example, I once dislike Marilyn Manson. I thought his music was all about killing, witchcraft and weirdo stuff. I then saw Come White on MTV, heard the lyrics and understood the character. So i downloaded all his albums, illegally on bittorrent. After listening to them and becoming a fan, i bought each of his albums, his book, and a dvd.

Same goes for Pink Floyd. I have all their stuff now. Having listened to records of my dad’s, listening to cassettes (probably recorded off a mate!)…

This is turning into one of those rants.

Anyways, here’s how you can shield a bit of your identity. Use magnetised torrents. If you don’t know about them, they’re pretty much a link which contains has information allowing you to connect to a swarm of seeders – rather than asking a server for details.

This keeps the initial prying eyes of the govt off your bits. So to speak.

Seriously, these guys rock.

I bought some Q Acoustics 1000ST speaker stands from the dicks at Superfi to suit my Q Acoustics 1020i bookshelf speakers. The package arrived by a friendly man from DPD Couriers but was missing screws, spikes and rubbers for one of the stands.

I rang Superfi hours later, to be treated with “NO, you have to email us at because that’s not my responsibility”. So I emailed them. No reply. Two days later, I email again. Still no reply.

I understand that we are all busy at the moment. We’re all excited about the Olympics in 2012 and things need to be done before the Queen visits us all and separates the wheat from the chaff.

I Google and quickly find the contact details for Q Acoustics (which is a product line made by parent Armour Home Electronics) email them with my receipt and explaination. I follow this up with a phone call, a very helpful man answers and does his best to help but suggests I call his colleague as it was her department.

A nice old lady answers, and knows everything about the speakers and products. “Ah yes, the 1000ST to suit the bookshelf 1020i’s”. Brilliant, thats 5 points right there. She then takes my number to call back when she’s found some. Another 5 points. At this stage, I’m happy that i’ve gotten this far, thinking she’ll probably call back in a week or two. An HOUR later, calls back and says she’s found a set of screws etc and will send them to me, free of charge (bonus 20 points + 10 points KO bonus).

It’s very rare that you find this customer service in England, so this is why I’m writing about it. Armour Home Electronics should be commended for customer service. I’ll even write a letter back to them with a link to this article expressing my gratitude.

So hopefully by Thursday I will have my surround sound speakers nicely placed and not just lying there on the floor.

Thank you nice old lady from Armour Home Electronics. You made my day

Update: The Jiffy bag arrived the next day..

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