Technodorm » Web 2.0

Download Spam and Virus-free Torrents using Vertor

Fahad — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:55:43 +0000

There are lots of potential threats distributed through bittorrent networks and since filesharing has become extremely popular nowadays, one needs to be protected from these threats. The new site VerTor (http://vertor.com), which is short for Verified Torrents, offers a service that provides users with torrent files that made it through an anti-virus scan and some more tests. Every torrent file is downloaded and checked for viruses and passworded archives.

The system also extracts small samples of audio files so that users can be sure they download the right stuff. For the torrent that contains several audio files there are 4 randomly chosen files that are processed and for each a 20-second sample is made. For videos the engine makes screenshots and puts them with the file. This way visitors can see the quality of the video and make sure the content matches the title. If the video is encrypted or password protected then screenshots will be blank. Such torrents are moderated so it is hard to bump into those. Text information and archive filelists are also extracted and shown. Usually .nfo files are attached to the content with its description and it is quite handy to be able to read this description right from the site.

Another great feature that vertor has is being able to check the authencity of a torrent even if the user has downloaded the torrent from another site, although this is only for torrents that have been downloaded and added on the vertor site. For now the site has a little over 140,000 torrents and there are several thousands verified a day. If the torrent hasn’t been checked then users can upload it and it would be downloaded and verified by the system. The upload feature is now limited to 2 GB files.

Another nice feature that can be very useful for newbies is the option of downloading from the web. It launches the BitLet online torrent client and users don’t have to download torrent files and load them into various torrent clients on their computers. Last thing worth mentioning is that the site is completely ad-free. It is planned to be so as long as possible so that’s good news.

The overall concept that is implemented by VerTor is unique and has great potential! It contains torrents that are scanned for viruses, checked for protection and text/audio/graphic information is extracted. It is user-friendly as well. Vertor is probably the safest place to download torrents with ease of mind that it will work! Head on over to vertor to try their service out!

Convert your images into ASCII Code

Fahad — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:29:17 +0000

While reading other technology blogs today, I stumbled across a nice post on TechPavan. It tells us how to convert any image into ASCII Code easily using asciiconvert.com, an online tool. This tool can come in very handy for users that use facebook, orkut, etc. You can use these ASCII codes to send in a message to your friends. You can also think of many other places where you might be able to use it. Lets look at a sample image.

I will be converting the above image into ASCII code. The following are my results:

I enabled the “Convert to Grayscale” for the second result. There are several options you can choose to change how your image looks so you can have various different sets of ASCII Codes for just one image. One of the more handy settings is the “Characters to use in width” which basically changes the size of the ASCII Code that you want. Have fun!

Four Best Web 2.0 Logo Generators

Fahad — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:09:08 +0000

Hi all, I am really sorry for not posting anything the past week. I was really busy with watching anime and playing counter strike. I had been watching an anime series since the past two months and I was really close to the end so I was too hooked into watching that rather then posting here.

Anyways, today I will be sharing with you a couple of nice web 2.0 logo generators. So if you are looking for a new web 2.0 logo for your site then look no further. These tools will really save you a lot of time.

LogoCreator probably has the most options to tweak and optimize your logo to your liking. It also has 5 pre-made templates that you can choose from to make your own web 2.0 logo. You can choose from a variety of different options to change the look of your logo such as font size, font face, mirror space and effect, transparency, and many more options. It probably is the most versatile logo generator out of the four. I highly recommend it.

SimWebSol Logo Generator also offers a wide range of options for you to customize the look of your logo. A couple of nice tweaks include the reflection proximity and the “Add Symbol” option. Basically you canchoose from a number of different symbols that include the beta text as well as many other little graphic symbols. I really liked this symbol feature and no other web 2.0 logo generator has this feature.

Web 2.0 STYLr is a nice logo generator as well. It has a couple of nice tweaks as well to make an impressive web 2.0 logo generator. There is also a nice feature that lets you add an icon to the left of the text. So in the end you will have your icon to the left and your generated text to the right. You should try this feature out as well.

Web2.0V2Logo Creatr is a nice little and probably the most easiest logo generator to use. You only need to type in your text and change a total of two options. Their is only one effect that you can do with this logo generator but its good so it is kinda useful. Your logo will look similar to the logo above.

Check System Requirements of Games Easily

Fahad — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:08:38 +0000

In this article, I will be talking about a nice service that allows you to easily check the system requirements of games. Recently I bought a couple of games and I tried installing them on my computer system but with no success. I was thinking that my computer system wasn’t fast enough or my graphics card wasn’t good enough to support the games. Anyways, while I was searching the net for the games’ system requirements, I stumbled across a nice site that actually compares all your system specs with the games requirements and then tells you which piece of hardware is not up to standards.

The sites name is System Requirements Lab and you may have already used it before as it is an excellent hassle-free utility that quickly tells you the information that you need. You will need to give your permission to download an ActiveX/Java browser component that does all the analysis of your hardware. Currently the service supports Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Media Center and Vista.

Some of the more notable games that you can check to see if your computer system will play them are BioShock, Call of Duty 4, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars, Crysis, Gears of War, NBA Live 08, Need for Speed Pro Street, NHL 08, SimCity Societies, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. So if you are planning to buy any of these games, I would suggest that you first check to see if your computer system is able to play them or else you will be utterly disappointed in the end, like me.

Comment posted by SecundaCasus
at 1/29/2008 8:19:15 AM

This sounds interesting, how many times have you scoped a game at the store, taken a look at the req’s on the box, only to install it and find out that you cannot run it. I wonder however if it actually informs you of anything you already did not know, because most of the time, my hardware has simply not been compatible for some reason or another. Only way to know is to try it out I suppose.

Entrecard Helps Young Blogs to Gain Traffic

Fahad — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:04:57 +0000

Entrecard is the new buzz around the blogosphere nowadays. Its growing very fast and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon. Its already beaten Blogrush. I had also used blogrush on my blog in the start but it did not even bring me a single visitor. On the other hand, its only been about 2 days since I joined entrecard and I have already gotten 40 visits from it. The system through which entrecard works is really interesting. The more time the webmasters spend on entrecard, the more they will benefit from it. If you don’t have entrecard yet on your blog, then I suggest you sign up right away. It really works. Click here to read the guide. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to contact me via a comment or through the contact form page.

The first thing that you would do though when you sign up with entrecard is to make your own card. That may be somewhat difficult as not every blogger is a good designer, like me. Now, if you are one of those people then it may be hard for you to attract visitors to your site through the dull cards on entrecard. You really need to get your own unique card to benefit from entrecard. Digital Lounge is the name of the site. Technodorm’s card was also made by them. You can click here to see the card of this site. You can judge yourself, the quality of the designer.

Now lets talk about the traffic received from entrecard. It may be that the traffic that I am getting from entrecard may only come here to drop their card so that they earn 1 credit. Even if that may be the case, the ads displayed by us on other blogs bring in quality traffic. Nonetheless the people who just come here to drop their cards are helping me bring in quality traffic by raising my credits earned from the ads shown on my blog and in the end, these credits are used to advertise on other sites which bring quality traffic. The whole system of entrecard is based around this logic and it works wonders for small blogs like ours. Entrecard is only going to grow in the coming future and I hope it continues to help the new blogs to gain some quality traffic.

Comment posted by RichBeaver
at 1/8/2008 4:06:59 PM

Hey.. You’ve wrote a nice article on EntreCard !
I also checked your blog and got some nice infos !Keep up the good work he he!
The RichBeaver

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/9/2008 1:38:20 AM

Thanks buddy. I will be writing another article soon about how to really make entrecard work for you. For example how to maximize its potential and its many advantages. Do check it out, next week!

Comment posted by Davinder
at 1/10/2008 1:20:04 AM

Yeah, EntreCard is really good in sending rush of traffic… Blogrush just did not send any rush

Its been 2 days EntreCard is already working for me. Got more visitors in 2 days than I got in one month from BlogRush!!!

Comment posted by Shari Thomas
at 1/10/2008 11:22:49 AM

Nice article. No, even when we’re chain dropping, or Entrecarding (that’s returning drops), it’s possible that we’ll take time out for comments.

I know personally, I’ve found more awesome blogs here than anyplace else. The ONLY reason I’ve found them is because I must visit in order to build traffic… what a concept!

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/10/2008 11:58:13 AM

@Davinder
Yeah, blogrush really didn’t send any traffic at all. Entrecard is much much better in that regard.

@Shari
Yea, I myself sometimes find a good blog to read. But still many people will just drop and go to the next blog. That is why the bounce rate from entrecard visitors is above 85%. The concept of Entrecard however, is very creative and addictive. And rewarding for your hard work. If you put in more work on entrecard, you will see more results.

Comment posted by Deimos Tel`Arin
at 1/12/2008 9:10:30 PM

Good write up, mate.

Blogrush, ah, it only lasted for like two days on my site before I de-widgetized it. :p

Total failure, I reckon.

Entrecard is booming, I hope it thrives on and does not dies off halfway.

But, even if it does dies off, I am confident that other Entrecard wannabes would appear.

In fact, I believe within the next few months or so, blog networking systems similar to Entrecard would appear.

Either that, or existing blog networking systems would adopt Entrecard’s “You help me, I help you” mutual beneficiary system.

Welcome to the family, fellow Entrecarder.

Cheers, mate.

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/13/2008 10:51:33 AM

Yeah, blogrush just didn’t bring much visitors. I also had it installed on this blog, but took it off after a week. As per your comment on other entrecard wannabes appearing. I have already seen one, although I don’t remember the url. But I hope this original entrecard continues to grow.

Online FLV Converter

Fahad — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:46:16 +0000

If you are one of the many people who surf youtube a lot then you probably have downloaded some videos to your computer as well. But those videos are always in flv format which makes it incompatible with some of your favorite media players. And instead, you will need to download a flv player or vlc media player to view the videos. I too am a keen watcher on youtube and this type problem is very frustrating. But fortunately for us, we can convert the videos before we even download them. Thanks to ConvertTube.

I have tried many other online flv converters as well but this one really takes the cake. Its service is fast and of good quality. The only downside to it is that you can only convert one file every 15 minutes. And you can get rid of that wait by subscribing on a monthly basis which costs 4.99 us/month. You can download videos directly from youtube in your favorite format. You have the option of to download from mpg, 3gp, mov, flv, mp3, mp4. So you can easily use the site to download videos directly to your iPod, PSP, iPhone or mobile. The site is considerably fast as well when you compare it with other online flv converters. Do give it a try if you want to directly download videos from youtube in your own favorite format.

Check the speed of your site for free

Fahad — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:28:01 +0000

I recently stumbled upon this nice little tool that enables you to check the speed of your site. It basically downloads your site and the download size is mentioned there. This website is approximately 55kB for each page. It then displays the time taken to load the website. After that it will show you the average time taken per kB, which is really the main focus of the tool. So the lower it is the better for you and for your visitors! You can see the results for this site by clicking the image above. Not too bad, eh? Click here to go to the website to check the speed of your website. Do comment below and post the speed of your websites.

Comment posted by Fahad
at 1/9/2008 1:24:44 AM

Well, its a nice and quick way of knowing your sites speed. From personal experience however, if a script on your blog loads slowly or an image from external site is loading slowly, it waits for them to finish and then displays the final time. This sometimes makes it misleading.

Comment posted by Nirmal
at 1/8/2008 11:24:54 PM

Nice tool, but not sure how accurate is it and what all factors does it take into consideration.

Comment posted by Fahad
at 12/23/2007 12:14:21 PM

@iCalvyn
You should probably check it again. I really doubt it will be that high. If it is, then your site is as slow as a snail….
But more then likely you got the wrong result. You should check again.

Comment posted by iCalvyn
at 12/21/2007 7:25:28 AM

my average speed is 6.43 seconds, i not sure does it consider fast or not

Comment posted by Fahad
at 12/18/2007 11:16:26 AM

0.04 isn’t bad. You should compare it with other sites that are similar to yours. Then you will see the true use of this tool, as the faster a site is the more visitors will tend to return.

Comment posted by Keshav Khera
at 12/17/2007 12:14:44 PM

mine average speed is 0.04 seconds, i need to improve eh?

Comment posted by Keshav Khera
at 12/17/2007 12:11:43 PM

nice tool, thanks fahad

Comment posted by modifoo
at 2/1/2008 2:35:33 PM

I’m a bit confused as to their calculation of a site’s size. For example I tested one website with many pictures (abitofmagic.no/video), but this tool reports this site at only 20 kb small.

As such it just isn’t useful at all. Does it only take the raw html code into account?