Video Download-a-pa-looza

Nice collection of websites and applications to find and download videos off websites such as youtube. I personally use tubedownload to download flash videos (.flv format) and do no conversion as I use VLC to view them on the computer which suits my needs. I have not used the newest version of tubedownload so I cannot comment on the conversion capabilities of the program, nor have I used the video player that is presented on the site.

If you download some videos that you would now like to burn to dvd for playback I would suggest Dvdflick . Again, it is the program I use but your mileage may vary.

Video sites and applications page

What should I read next?

Simply enter book title or author you read last and receive suggestions for next book you should try. There are beta searches for music and film as well.

What Should I Read Next

Richard Wright R.I.P. 1943-2008

Rory Gallagher - Off The Handle

nice.

A "GOOD" site

This site has a very nice mix of interesting and entertaining articles. The layout is nicely done and the content very professionally presented. The main page is :

GOOD

However the article which first introduced me to the site is :

Wanderlust which traces journeys that people have taken throughout history and the routes they have taken and things they have seen or experienced. It is a very interesting piece and, as I said, the presentation is top notch.

Using the search feature on the page will, undoubtedly, give you more to read and learn.

Long time, no see

I have not posted anything in quite some time. This was due to a move and general lack of time to find anything new and noteworthy. So I will post about something that maybe well known to some but a little sketchy for others - bittorrents. I told a friend about mininova .

This site hosts torrent files which you can download and then use to download files which are being hosted by many people online. The general idea is that many people have the same file and the torrents allow people to retrieve parts of the file from different users until they have the entire file. This makes it easier on individual bandwidth and ensures that, if one individual goes offline, your download can still proceed due to the number of users offering the same file. It's a simple explanation but I am a simple guy.

So, how do you download these files using these "torrents"? You need a client program. I use utorrent which is very light on resources and is a small download to boot. It is not complicated and works. After you download and install utorrent, visit mininova and peruse their selection. The list shows you recent information regarding each torrent file. It is best to chose files that have a high number of "seeders" and less "leechers". Seeders are people who have the entire file and continue to allow others to download from them to lighten the overall load. Leechers are, like the name implies, simply there to suck bandwidth.

Please note that sites which list torrents do not actually host the files and, therefore, have no ability to verify the usability and quality of the files. Please be smart and scan any files you download with an upto date virus scanner.