| Upgrade and bug fixes | Posted by IH on Mar. 27
A note that we are testing a new database server with potentially unstable Linux kernel and libraries (although we already stress tested it for a week and hasn't managed to break it). Potentially unstable yet also added much scalability improvements, this thing is definitely a screamer.
With the new database, it should smooth out any site slow down for some time to come. Although Bill Gates did say 640K ought to be enough for anybody, so who knows.
With it also came some code changes that inadvertently introduced some new bugs. The main one being you couldn't post new torrents under our
Releases
for the last 12 hours. This is now fixed, so please re-post any torrents you wanted to post that sent you an error.
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| CBC To Release Program DRM-Free Via BitTorrent | Posted by IH on Mar. 20
From
Michael Geist's blog:
| Quote: |
Sources indicate that the CBC is set to become the first major North American broadcaster to freely release one of its programs without DRM using BitTorrent. This Sunday, CBC will air Canada Next Great Prime Minister. The following day, it plans to freely release a high-resolution version via peer-to-peer networks without any DRM restrictions. This development is important not only because it shows that Canada's public broadcaster is increasingly willing to experiment with alternative forms of distribution, but also because it may help crystallize the net neutrality issue in Canada.
The CBC's mandate, as provided in the Broadcasting Act, requires it to make its programming "available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means." Using BitTorrent allows the CBC to meet its statutory mandate, yet with ISPs such as Rogers engaging in non-transparent traffic shaping, millions of Canadians may be unable to fully access programming funded by tax dollars. If the CBC experiment is successful, look for more broadcasters to do the same and for the CRTC to face mounting pressure to address net neutrality concerns. |
Having
interviewed with CBC
before, a major broadcaster in Canada, I'm glad they are now experimenting with this. I had opportunity talking to the reporter at CBC and elsewhere, there seems to be much good will towards P2P technologies like BitTorrent, with the perception that it together with the internet can be the next generation channel (not in the analog sense) of media distribution. And CBC's mandate to make materials "available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means" is an interesting one. The media (especially mass broadcast media) should serve the public good first and foremost, and with the UK's BBC already using
BitTorrent
and their own
iPlayer,
perhaps government funded media (partially or fully) is what will spark mainstream media adoption of P2P distribution.
And strengthening the case against illegitimate traffic shaping and net neutrality issues while at it, turning the tables around the perception of illegitimacy over BitTorrent... irony at its finest.
Also, the positive comments on
CBC's announcement of using BitTorrent
is interesting too. To fellow Canadians,
tune in to CBC this Sunday
(assuming you have a TV of course). For otherwise would-be pirates everywhere, tune in to the torrent swarm after (which should be promptly picked up on isoHunt's index). Lets show CBC that when they do the right thing, We The People will respond with popular enthusiasm.
UPDATE:
CBC's torrents are up
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| isoHunt.com blocked in Dubai? | Posted by IH on Mar. 11
I received an email that isohunt.com is inaccessible from Dubai, but verified-p2p-links.com works (alternate domain for isohunt.com). Can anyone else confirm?
We've also had issues with ISP's in different countries, either have problem accessing isohunt.com entirely or have extremely slow DNS in resolving isohunt.com (60s+). I'm not sure if there's some government sanctioned filtering in place (like in Dubai), but any report of network problems to isohunt.com is appreciated so we can see if we can find workarounds. Reply under this topic on verified-p2p-links.com, or post on our
Wikipedia article
(assuming you can access Wikipedia).
This is another case in point of why we need
Network Neutrality.
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| 1M torrents on isoHunt! | Posted by IH on Mar. 3
It has been a long time coming, but with steady growth of active torrents from around the Web (which I'll call the Torrentsphere from now on if you don't mind), isoHunt's index reached the 1 million torrents milestone 2 hours ago. Here's an updated graph of the torrents count over time:
(It says 990k for current count in graph, but it hit 1M. The daily graph just hasn't refreshed yet. Also
link to previous graphs
for comparison)
We had more server issues the past 2 weeks than usual, partly due to the popularity of the
new comments
, partly continued growth of everything, and partly Mysql 5 (and oh, I do hate Mysql more than ever - word of advice to mysql database admins, if you value your own sanity and that of table-locking MyISAM, stick with Mysql 4). Anyways, we've got it under control now, and we will be installing a new database server soon (more on that later, if tests prove interesting or any extended downtime is needed).
There have been some
conspiracy theories
going on about my attempt at wit on our server error page. I assure you, when you see a "isoHunt is Sick" message, that's what it means: some technical glitch prevented the servers serving your beloved isoHunt.com. It'll be back to normal soon enough, and you should seldom see them now that we got most congestion issues solved.
And while we celebrate our new benchmark, 1M torrents containing some 22M files spanning 743 TB (all filenames searchable and metadata sortable by columns in search results), quality of search results I've always regarded with the highest importance. In addition to passive anti-spam analysis, with help of
new comments and flags
you contribute to corresponding torrents, you can be sure torrents found here are mostly spam and malware-free. If not: what are you waiting for, report them!
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| Comments, Tags, Ratings! | Posted by IH on Feb. 19
From the Whoa-Crap-what-have-you-done-BIG department, I bring you the much requested comments system for torrents. Check it out by
searching for gentoo
for example (our favorite server OS). You can see direct links to comments with the orange talk bubbles now under all torrents search results, with a new tabbed interface for torrent details. To post comments you have to
register first
if you haven't. The commenting comes in full AJAX glory, so posting comments is never easier.
We have not considered comments under torrents to be priority in the past for isoHunt, as its focus was and is Search, and you can find various comments from
all the sites we index.
But you requested and we listened, and now you have no more excuse to _not_ use isoHunt "because there's no comments", a sentiment I've heard many times. And I want to stress that we continue to maintain the largest and most quality torrents search index available. The new comments and flagging (below) will certainly improve that quality.
Besides comments themselves, you can now also place flags on each torrent, marking them as Spam, etc. With increasing popularity and sheer volume of files and users using BitTorrent, spam is increasingly becoming a big problem, as is malware and other nasties in files. So help your fellow isohunters out and flag/comment as appropriate!
Ratings of torrents (star counts on torrent search results) also come as bonus to the flagging. Each flag equals a -1 vote, while clicking on "Just say Thanks" found under the comment submission box constitute a +1 vote. Both ratings (when available) and comments are shown on torrents search results, as we recognize the need to involve the community to easily identify bad torrents, as well as adding a new way to form discussions surrounding shared files. As such, discussions on specific files and topics directly related to files should no longer be posted in the
Forum
but directly under comments of torrents.
In order to make room for the comments page, you should have noticed since we pushed a preliminary update on Sunday of various interface changes we did to torrent search results. Clicking on rows now bring you to a new page of the torrent details' summary, while new toggles on left of rows of search results retain the old behavior of showing you torrents' summary in an expanding table below each result (an rather unique interface for search that many of you said you've come to love isoHunt for). You now also get standard hyperlinks to torrent details and comments instead of requiring Javascript in your browser as previously, which should be a boon for mobile users and those without Javascript in your browser for whatever reason. There are also other minor improvements across the board, for example you now get torrents you clicked on grayed out in its name in search results.
I want to thank the isoHunt team in for the 2 months we have spent in making this happen. Comments have been on my todo list for a long time but I never found the time to implement it myself until now. I believe this to be one of the most important update in the
5 years history
of isoHunt, and the new community oriented features represent a departure from our original mission of simply making a kickass search for any and all files on the P2P internet, to becoming more "social". After all, the internet is social, and particularly so with sharing files. Now share your thought concerning the files.
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