RSS Feed
Twitter
9:04 AM
gtventic
1. CCleaner 4.19.4
Probably the most popular freeware cleaner globally with over 1 billion download
2. Avast Free Antivirus 10.0.2208
Avast! Free Antivirus is an efficient and comprehensive antivirus program. It is one of the most popular antivirus programs available, thanks to the reliable and trustworthy brand that Avast have created. The key features that continue to make Avast! Free Antivirus so popular are the easy UI, optimized scanning options and continuously updated database of virus definitions.
3. Recuva 1.15.106
Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted from your iPod, or by bugs, crashes and viruses!
4. DAEMON Tools 4.49.1
With DAEMON Tools you can back up your physical CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray discs into "virtual discs" or so called "disc image" files, which run directly on your hard drive. You can also work with images created by other burning programs! DAEMON Tools supports variety of image types. Use CD/DVD image converter to have one format images in your Image Catalog!
2. Avast Free Antivirus 10.0.2208
Avast! Free Antivirus is an efficient and comprehensive antivirus program. It is one of the most popular antivirus programs available, thanks to the reliable and trustworthy brand that Avast have created. The key features that continue to make Avast! Free Antivirus so popular are the easy UI, optimized scanning options and continuously updated database of virus definitions.
3. Recuva 1.15.106
Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted from your iPod, or by bugs, crashes and viruses!
4. DAEMON Tools 4.49.1
With DAEMON Tools you can back up your physical CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray discs into "virtual discs" or so called "disc image" files, which run directly on your hard drive. You can also work with images created by other burning programs! DAEMON Tools supports variety of image types. Use CD/DVD image converter to have one format images in your Image Catalog!
10:45 PM
gtventic
At this point it’s unlikely that readers will be unaware that Taylor Swift has removed her music from Spotify, complaining that the service fails to “fairly compensate” artists, writers and producers.
“We were both young when we first saw you, but now there’s more than 40 million of us who want you to stay, stay, stay,” Spotify said in a response. “It’s a love story, baby. Just say yes.”
Swift did not, despite claims from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek that the artist was on track to pull in $6 million from Spotify this year if she’d left her content online. Presumably she’ll still get few million dollars from the streaming service, but in a statement yesterday Ek said that reduced availability for fans will mean more turn to illegal services such as the world most notorious torrent site.
“And sure enough, if you looked at the top spot on The Pirate Bay last week, there was 1989,” he said.
While that revelation wasn’t too much of a surprise, nor the highlighting of YouTube as a potential magnet for fans who don’t want to pay, the decision by Ek to flag up a competitor as a pirate holdout has poured yet more fuel onto the Swift fire.
“[Swift's] songs are all over services and sites like YouTube and Soundcloud, where people can listen all they want for free,” said Ek. “To say nothing of the fans who will just turn back to pirate services like Grooveshark.”
The gibe drew an instant rebuttal from James A. Pearson, EVP Corporate Communications at Grooveshark.
“We would normally never comment on a competitive service and their dust-up with one of the world’s most popular artists. But as Spotify’s CEO — who it’s worth mentioning is the recent CEO of uTorrent — an app used by over 100M people, which had similar perception issues — called Grooveshark ‘a pirate service’ in his blog response to Taylor Swift today, we had to comment on that element,” Pearson said.
On the history, Pearson is correct. In the early days of uTorrent Ek worked with uTorrent creator Ludvig ‘Ludde’ Strigeus before the pair sold up to BitTorrent Inc. in late 2006 and disappeared into the moonlight to create Spotify. Strigeus is a Spotify developer to this very day.
Of course, mentioning uTorrent in retaliation to “pirate service” remarks doesn’t really help calm things down and only drags other third parties into the controversy. However, when looking at the spat from Ek’s perspective it’s not difficult to see why he’s irritated by Grooveshark.
Search Spotify today for Taylor Swift’s 1989 and the only results returned are for cover versions by former cruise ship musician Robert W. Weber, aka Molotov Cocktail Piano. Search Grooveshark for the same and it’s an entirely different story.
The odd situation here is that while Swift put her own music on Spotify and will get millions back this year as a result, she has now stopped that revenue stream by removing it entirely. On the other hand she didn’t put her music on Grooveshark but it’s there for anyone to stream, until she has someone pull it down with a DMCA complaint of course.
Why the Spotify retraction came before the Grooveshark deletion is anyone’s guess. In a 2013 interview, Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino reported that in 2009-2011 his service had 35 million users. Today Spotify has an estimated 50 million so calling the services ‘competitors’ is probably fairly accurate, despite the differences in their business models.
Spotify say they have paid $2 billion to artists while Grooveshark claims that licensing deals in place with thousands of artists has resulted in “million” in payments. However, up to now neither the company nor Swift have mentioned a specific licensing deal for the singer’s music. Until they do, Daniel Ek is unlikely to withdraw his statement.
source: Torrentfreak
2:50 PM
gtventic
After the final guilty verdicts were handed down in the historic Pirate Bay trial, Fredrik Neij decided that life in a Swedish prison wasn’t for him.
Instead, Neij flew to the Asian country of Laos where he has been enjoying family life with this wife and three children. He made no secret of his whereabouts, with Facebook updates appearing to show a relaxed man enjoying life in the capital Vientiane, a city situated on the Mekong near the border with Thailand.
Vientiane’s location appears to have played a big part in both Neij’s life and his eventual downfall. Laos is somewhat lacking in facilities so being right on the border with Thailand was convenient when Neij’s family required things such as healthcare.
However, according to Thai authorities he crossed that border 27 times in recent years and Monday was to be his unlucky day. Neij was already the subject of Swedish and Interpol warrants so when he was spotted wearing the same shirt as he was wearing in his ‘wanted’ photo, Thai border police arrested him.
After being held in custody during Monday and Tuesday, Neij is now on his way to Bangkok pending his almost certain return to Sweden. While it is being reported that Neij will be extradited, Sweden and Thailand have signed no extradition treaty. That being said, removing him is not expected to be an issue.
Local media is reporting that Thai authorities have revoked Neij’s visa, meaning that he can now be deported. Most people being removed from the country are taken to Bangkok and Neij is now confirmed as being en route to the Thai capital.
“Three Thai policemen will escort him on the flight to Bangkok and Swedish police will help us whisk him to the immigration bureau before he is handed over to Swedish authorities,” Police Colonel Panlop Suriyakul na Ayutthaya told AFP.
That Swedish authorities are in Thailand ready for Neij was confirmed by his lawyer Jonas Nilsson.
“As I understood it, staff from the Swedish embassy are on their way to where he is. [Fredrik has] also been informed that he will be transported to Sweden,” Neij’s lawyer, Jonas Nilsson told SR.
The deportation procedure is relatively straightforward and an initial investigation could be completed within 48 hours but extended for seven days and beyond if necessary. [Update: Thai authorities say Neij will be sent to Sweden "within the next month"]
If earlier plans for Neij’s incarceration in Sweden play out, on his return he will be processed and taken to Kirseberg prison in Malmö. The prison first came into operation during 1914 and has a capacity of 131 inmates and around 170 staff. According to the decision of the court, Neij is set to spend a total of 10 months inside.
In addition to his prison sentence, Neij is required to pay his share of roughly $6.78m in damages owed to copyright holders.
Previous investigations by Swedish authorities turned up no assets in his name but yesterday Thai authorities revealed that the Swede has a house on the island of Phuket and five million baht ($153,000) in a local bank account. Whether this is within reach of copyright holders remains to be seen.
Source: Torrentfreak
2:47 PM
gtventic
With 2013 now behind us, which torrent sites are pulling in the most visitors at the start of 2014?
Traditionally, BitTorrent users are very loyal, which is reflected in the top 10 where most sites have had a consistent listing for more than half a decade. But in common with every year, 2014 sees a few movers and shakers, as well as several newcomers.
The top three slots remain intact compared to last year, with The Pirate Bay in the lead despite several domain name changes.
The most notable absentee this year is isoHunt. The site has been featured in the top 10 since 2006, but went offline in 2013 after it settled its legal dispute with the MPAA for $110 million.
Last year’s newcomer H33t also fell out of the top 10 after it lost its domain name. The site relaunched after two months downtime at H33t.to but has lost most of its traffic.
The first newcomer in the top 10 this year is YIFY-Torrents, which is also one of the youngest torrent sites after being founded in 2011. The site has grown tremendously over recent months, and by focusing on popular movie releases YIFY has evolved intoHollywood’s new nemesis.
Isohunt clone/replacement isoHunt.to is the second newcomer, which is quite an achievement since the site only launched two months ago. RARBG is the last ‘new’ name, the site has been around for many years but is listed in the top 10 for the first time.
Below is the full list of the top 10 most-visited torrent sites at the start of the new year. Only public and English language content sites are included. The list is based on various traffic reports and we display the Alexa and U.S. Compete rank for each. In addition, we include last year’s ranking for each of the 10 sites.
Did we miss anything? Feel free to join the discussion below. People who want to increase their privacy may wants to use a proxy or VPN service.
1. THE PIRATE BAY
To many people The Pirate Bay is synonymous with BitTorrent. The site was founded more than a decade ago and is still expanding, despite various legal troubles, domain hops and ISP blockades. The Pirate Bay currently has well over a billion page views a month.
ALEXA RANK: 79 (EST) / COMPETE RANK: NA / LAST YEAR #1
2. KICKASSTORRENTS
KickassTorrents was founded in 2009 and has quickly moved up in our top 10, settling into 2nd position this year. Responding to a looming domain seizure the site movedfrom its kat.ph domain to Kickass.to last August. Despite domain troubles and blockades by Internet providers in the UK and Italy, the site continues to grow.
ALEXA RANK: 103 / COMPETE RANK: 452 / LAST YEAR #2
3. TORRENTZ
Torrentz has been the leading BitTorrent meta-search engine for many years. Unlike the other sites featured in the list Torrentz does not host any torrent files, it merely redirects visitors to other places on the web. The site uses several domain names with .eu being the most popular.
ALEXA RANK: 153 / COMPETE RANK: 1.377 / LAST YEAR #3
4. EXTRATORRENT
ExtraTorrent continues to gain more traffic and has moved up again in the top 10, now placed as the 4th most-visited torrent site. This success didn’t go unnoticed by rightsholders groups such as the MPAA who recently called out ExtraTorrent as one of the top pirate sites. The site was forced to trade in its .com domain for .cc this year, after it was suspended by its domain registrar.
ALEXA RANK: 363 / COMPETE RANK: 2,286 / LAST YEAR #5
5. YIFY-TORRENTS
Roughly three years ago nobody had ever heard of YIFY but today the movie release group is one of the most recognizable movie piracy brands on the Internet. This reputation resulted in a court-ordered ISP blockade in the UK last year.
ALEXA RANK: 809 / COMPETE RANK: 6,245 / LAST YEAR #NA
6. EZTV
Unlike the other sites in the top 10, TV-torrent distribution group EZTV is a niche site specializing in TV content only. Because of its focus, EZTV’s traffic varies in line with the TV seasons.
ALEXA RANK: 1,050 / COMPETE RANK: 10,790 / LAST YEAR #7
7. 1337X
1337x focuses more on the community aspect than some competitors. The site’s owners say they launched 1337x to “fill an apparent void where it seemed there was a lack of quality conscience ad free torrent sites with public trackers.” In common with most other sites in the top 10, 1337x.org is currently blocked by the larger UK Internet providers.
ALEXA RANK: 1,382 / COMPETE RANK: 11,445 / LAST YEAR #6
8. ISOHUNT.TO
Isohunt.to was launched last October, less than two weeks after isoHunt.com shut down. The site is not affiliated with the old isoHunt crew but copied the site’s design. This has not been without success, as the site now has millions of pageviews a day.
ALEXA RANK: 1,550 / COMPETE RANK: NA / LAST YEAR #NA
9. BITSNOOP
BitSnoop is one of the largest BitTorrent indexes, claiming to index a massive 21,437,061 torrent files at the time of writing. The site’s torrents list continues to grow steadily, as do the number of DMCA notices that it receives.
ALEXA RANK: 1,714 / COMPETE RANK: 5,633 / LAST YEAR #8
10. RARBG
RARBG, which started out as a Bulgarian tracker several years ago, is the third newcomer in the top 10. Together with isoHunt.to it is the only website in the list that hasn’t been blocked in the UK, which may in part explain its popularity.
ALEXA RANK: 1,867 / COMPETE RANK: 13,238 / LAST YEAR #NA
Source :Torrentfreak
2:40 PM
gtventic
Following the reports of a concerted effort to steal passwords and other sensitive information from people using iCloud in China, Apple has recently issued a new security warning for users of its popular online storage service.
Apple posted an announcement a few days ago on its support website, saying that the company is aware of intermittent organized network attacks that uses insecure certificates to obtain user data. Apple specialists claim to take it very seriously and assure that Apple’s own servers had not been compromised. In the meantime, this particular announcement didn’t mention China or give any details on the recent attacks. At the same time, the reports were that some Chinese Internet users saw warnings saying they had been diverted to an unauthorized website when they tried to sign into their own iCloud accounts.
Such attack, normally referred to as a “man in the middle”, may enable a 3rd party to copy and steal the passwords entered by the users when they believe they are signing into Apple’s service. The intruders could then use the data received to steal other information from the users’ accounts.
In respond, Chinese activists blamed the attacks on that country’s government. Local media reports suggested the campaign was spurred by the fact that the tech giant recently began selling its newest iPhone models in China, which have software with enhanced encryption features to protect users’ information.
According to security specialists, the attacks hadn’t affected those users who signed into iCloud from their iPhones or iPads, or on Mac computers while using the latest Mac OS and Safari browser. However, Apple suggested that users should make sure they were connecting to a legitimate iCloud server. This can be done using the security features built into Safari and other browsers like Firefox and Chrome. Those browsers will display a message warning people they are connecting to the website lacking a digital certificate that verifies that it is authentic. In other words, if users visit www.icloud.com and get an invalid certificate warning in their browser, they are recommended to pay attention to the warning and not proceed.
Apple also pointed out that the attacks appear unrelated to a September incident, where hackers stole nude photos of a number of American female celebrities from the iCloud accounts. At the time, the company claimed that the hackers had obtained the users’ passwords via so-called “phishing attacks” or by guessing at the answers to security questions which allowed access. Apple maintained that its servers were not breached in that case.
Source: Extratorrent
Source: Extratorrent
10:35 AM
gtventic
The file-storage service has denied claims that 7 million usernames and passwords have been stolen by the hackers, who were then threatening to leak them online. The hackers posted a few hundred usernames and passwords on the text-sharing site Pastebin. The cyber attackers claimed that it was just a small portion of the 7 million logins stolen directly from the Dropbox servers. The Bitcoin “donations” were demanded from the netizens to release the rest of the stolen data.
However, the Dropbox’s security team pointed out that the usernames and passwords posted online were stolen from unrelated services and used to log in to various websites across the web, including Dropbox. The company employs measures to detect suspicious login activity and automatically resets passwords when such is detected. Moreover, the security experts found out that subsequent lists of usernames and passwords were not connected with Dropbox accounts.
Apparently, it was due to password reuse that some of the leaked details appeared seemingly coincidentally valid for Dropbox. It is unclear how many of them worked, but the service has since revoked any that were valid. Password reuse remains a common phenomenon, so there will always be a chance they could appear valid on unrelated services.
The security experts explain that other password leaks have been used by the hackers in a similar manner in the hopes to sell the data on. For example, the Russian hacking scare a few months ago, where security researchers claimed hackers obtained 1.2bn usernames and passwords, was questioned as a similar situation, i.e. a collation of previous leaks combined with other data. In some cases people looked for Bitcoin donations where the data didn’t exist at all, in others the data wasn’t for the services claimed and didn’t origin from the sources claimed.
Dropbox and other services recommend users to adopt two-factor authentication. In other words, to use another device like a number generator mobile app or USB key as a secondary login factor. Although this way might add an inconvenient step in the use of apps and services, it can prevent others from logging into the service from an unknown device or a suspicious location. Such method is used by Dropbox, Google, Facebook and other major services.
Source: Extratorrent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
