A Beginner's Guide to BitTorrent

What is BitTorrent?

BitTorrent (often abbreviated to 'BT') is a protocol (a set of rules and description of how to do things) allowing you to download files quickly by allowing people downloading the file to upload (distribute) parts of it at the same time. BitTorrent is often used for distribution of very large files, very popular files and files available for free, as it is a lot cheaper, faster and more efficient to distribute files using BitTorrent than a regular download.

What is a torrent?

A torrent is a file that is used by a program called a bittorrent client, which then uses the file to download the actual file you want. Basically, it's the middleman of the download process. You don't really need him, but still he remains.

Bhuvan Online Earth Mapping service

ISRO has launched Bhuvan the Indian Earth Observation Visualisation tool on the Internet. Here are some basic steps to download and install Bhuvan in your computer.

Bhuvan is the free web based 3D mapping image portal by ISRO. It displays satellite images of various historical, tourism, and other important places all over India in 3D format.

How to install Bhuvan - Get Started

1. Visit the Bhuvan website at http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/

2. Register by filling up the registration form found at the website for free.

3. Download BHUVAN plugin. This is a 10.7 MB setup executable file(exe) which requires 1-2 minutes to download in an 1Mbps broadband connection

4. You can select Run to install the plugin to your computer

5. After successful installation go to http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/ and login with your username and password

6. You will be directed to the Bhuvan Indian Earth Observation Visualisation home page

Note:

1. Bhuvan is available at the link http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in and not www.bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in

2. Bhuvan is a heavy graphical application like Google earth and may require a high speed internet connection with a high RAM / Processor powered PC for maximum performance.

3. Bhuvan installs a Skyline TerraExplorer application in your system. You can directly visit the http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/ for launching the application

4. Bhuvan is best viewed in IE 6.0 or higher with an ideal resolution of 1280 x 1024

5. You need Windows OS and Microsoft DirectX8 or higher version to view the application.

6. You will have an online internet connection to access Bhuvan.

Shutdown Windows Remotely with Twitter- TweetMyPC

We have seen many simple free application to shutdown Windows, now here is another simple tool which can shutdown/logoff/restart your PC remotely with a tweet. TweetMyPC is a free utility that lets you shutdown/restart/LogOff your windows PC remotely. The usage is really simple and the application checks for new tweets every one min. So you can Tweet either shutdown, restart or logoff with your account and this application will detect it automatically.

How to use this application;

1. Create a new Twitter account for your PC and this can be used only for the purpose or shutdown or restart.

2. Download the application and install it on your Windows.

3. Log in with the newly created twitter ID and password.

4. Now whenever you want to restart/shutdown the PC, update your Twitter account with the keyword. The keywords are- shutdown, restart, logoff.
Click for More Command.

The application runs from the Windows system tray and checks for any new tweets for the keyword

Microsoft is ready with Windows 7

Microsoft (MSFT) said yesterday that the code for the next version of its immensely successful operating system is done. Windows 7 will replace Vista as the company’s flagship operating system when it goes on sale in PCs at the end of October.

Windows 7 may be more important to the future of the world’s largest software company than anything it has released in years.

Vista was a very limited success. A number of customers, both individuals and businesses, elected to stay with Windows XP, an earlier version of the operating system. Vista did not work well on older PCs. It was different enough from XP that many people found it hard to adapt to new futures. It was expensive. Customers could stay with XP and save the cost of upgrades.

Windows 7 is supposed to be such an important improvement over Vista that current Microsoft customers will want to get the new OS. Microsoft has dropped its pricing below what it charged for Vista. It has worked with the global software development community to assure, as much as it can, that the product will be well accepted. Early reviews of Windows 7 have been positive.

A great deal of the recent media coverage about Microsoft has been about the success of its new search engine, Bing. Microsoft’s search business is tiny compared to its software franchise. Microsoft’s online efforts also lose money while its software business has tremendous margins. Bing may be exciting, but from an earnings standpoint it is a sideshow.

Google (GOOG) has launched a number of products meant to compete with Windows, but they have a very limited number of features. A successful launch of Windows 7 would set Google’s plans back, perhaps for years.

Bing can take Microsoft’s share of the search market in the US from 9% to 20%. It can even move ahead of Yahoo! as the No.2 search company. None of that will matter much if Windows 7 is a flop.