Now its rare that I ever need to use one of these sort of sites but I must admit there have been a few occasions recently at work where I’ve needed to do a quick file conversion, especially before Windows fixed the comparability between 2003 and 2007 documents.

In addition to the Standard conversion options you the site also offers the facility to download videos in various file formats from major video sharing sites such as youtube.com always a nice bonus

Heres a great list of 10 video downloading sites that allow you to download and save videos from youtube etc in various formats check out the articles for a more in depth review of the sites.

Recently I was passed a link to aboutmyplace.co.uk which utilizes Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Software to show yet another innovation a 45 degree birds eye view from 4 directions north, east, south, and west. aboutmyplace was established to help home buyers in the uk view potential properties without leaving the house but the potential is endless and for a more global use you can visit Microsoft LiveSearch Maps.

Map Resources and Links:

www.aboutmyplace.co.uk

Microsoft Live Search Maps

Google Maps

Google Earth

Bit torrents is an alternative to the p2p or Peer to Peer way to share files over the internet. Instead of downloading a client which you use to search for share files then queue to download them with bit torrent you need an application (see below for a list) that will allow you to open .torrent files (small files which contain the information of who has what pieces of a file and where it is being tracked).

1. So let’s get started download one of the following applications:

· µTorrent (http://www.utorrent.com) – windows 95 to Vista recommended

· Azureus (http://azureus.sourceforge.net/) Windows/Mac Compatible

· BitComet (http://www.bitcomet.com/)

· Transmission (http://www.transmissionbt.com/) Mac Client

· Tomato Torrent (http://sarwat.net/bittorrent/) – Mac Client

There are no doubt hundreds more clients but I find these to be among the most commonly used an easy to set up. You can find installation instructions and quick set up guides on each of the sites

2. Once you have a client installed you need to the torrent files. There are thousands of sites out there which allow users to share torrent files. Some of the commonly know public trackers include:

· Demonoid – recently closed down due to legal issues.

· Mininova – Still going strong currently the largest public tracker.

· ThePirateBay – Another large public tracker.

· BTJunkie – Bit torrent search engine

· Torrentz – Another bit torrent search engine

These sites should get you started with what you’re looking to download but try and find yourself a couple of private tracker sites which are much more reliable in terms of download speeds and new releases. Although these public trackers boast the largest number of torrents and active users you may often come across slower download speeds and sometimes finding yourself stuck with an incomplete download.

The above sites have search facilities that allow you to find torrents based on their title and or description. Once you have found the torrent file you are looking for there are a couple of things worth checking. First are there any seeds (people with complete files sharing them)? Second read the comments if there are any about the file you can often find out how good the quality of the download is here or any problems with the files other users may have had.

3. Ok you have picked the torrent you want to download. Download the file by either clicking the link to the torrent file or right click ‘save as’ however you want to do it just make sure you end up with a .torrent file on your PC.

4. Next all you need to do is open that torrent file by double clicking it and it should open in your client of choice. This will start the connection with other users and begin the download.

5. If you have any difficulties with the connection not starting once the torrent is open in your client then this is likely to be issues with either a software firewall or hardware firewall on your router. To remedy this you need to allow access to user defined ports on your firewall allowing access for the program (see instructions on your firewall for how to do this.)

Other Useful Resources:

µTorrent a beginners guide

Mooter’s BitTorrent Guide

TorrentFreak - Bit Torrent News

10 Most popular torrent sites 2007

BugMeNot - Find and share logins for websites that force you to register.

RetailMeNot – RetailMeNot.com is an easy way to find online coupon codes. Enter these codes at the checkout page of participating merchants for instant discounts. Also available as a firefox Add-on.

InviteShare – InviteShare allows registered users to trade invites to the increasing number of beta testing sites and invite only internet tools.

Last.fm – A music social networking site which though a free download program monitors your listening habits and recommends you new music and artist.

Digg – Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users.

Docstoc – Docstoc is a user generated community where you can find and share professional documents. Find free legal documents and free business documents. Upload your documents for all the world to share.

Sputtr – Nice little search engine hack. from a single page search all sorts of sites from the google groups, web, images, video, news, blogs to lots of other sites like last.fm, stumbleupon, Digg, Yahoo, Youtube… I could go on forever just check it out.

Spock – The people search engine. Find people!

Listible – The quick way to get resources. Lisible has thousands of lists created by its users. Create your own list or add to an already existing one.

Pownce – Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. Pownce has recently added a mobile version of the site and is also available as a desktop download.

StumbleUpon – Channel surf the internet with the StumbleUpon toolbar to find great websites, videos, photos and more based on your interests. StumbleUpon learns what you like and makes better recommendations. Highly addictive!

SpeedTest – Speedtest.net measures the performance of your broadband connection. At the end of each test, you are presented with the download and upload bandwidth speeds.

Del.icio.us – del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website — the primary use of del.icio.us is to store your bookmarks online, which allows you to access the same bookmarks from any computer and add bookmarks from anywhere, too.

BugMeNot Disposable Email Address – When forced to register for a site often you’ll need to provide an email address to receive a ‘verification’ link. BugMNot allow you to make a disposable address which lasts 24 hours. Enjoy spam free emails.

10 Minute Mail – Same as above but lasts only 10 minutes.

SpamBox.US – Another temporary email address this time you can specify how long you want the mail box to las. The site boasts up to a year for free mail boxes.

YouConvertIt – Free! Convert any media file format (Documents, Images, Audio, Video & Archives) without buying or installing anything on your PC.

Wakoopa – Wakoopa tracks what kind of software or games you use, and lets you create your own software profile. Great for discovering new software.

System Requirements:

* PC running Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista
* 128 MB RAM (256 recommended)
* 10 MB free disc space
* Internet connection (broadband recommended)

A useful freeware application that I would recommend.

• upload blackmail material or publish lies
• get the latest gossip from your enemies and friends
• post photos and videos on your hate profile
• tag your friends
• get hate points from disturbing people who live, study, or work around you
• take over the world

I dont know how long this will last or if it will take off at all but you must admit it the concept was funny. Without the open source platform and the funding of other giant social networking websites hatebook is unlikely to make any waves.

www.hatebook.org

A great site for finding free mp3 files to listen to, the site has many features once you create and account for free you can search for songs and videos which are hosted on the net so that you can listen to them for free as well as making your own playlists which you have the option to save for playback anytime your logged in. You can generate an embed code so that you can post songs or playlists on the your own sites or forums.

If simply listening to the songs online when ever or where ever you have an internet connection isn’t enough this next site, audioraider.com might be more up your street.

This site takes advantage of google’s customer search API and allows you to search for open index’s which hold mp3 files simply by typing the name of the artist or song then download them for free. No registration no way to trace it 100% safe free mp3 downloads without having to remember the customer google search. enjoy.