To talk about the history of the bit torrent protocol and P2P file sharing, you cannot just simply start off with the P2P protocol, but rather like many stories, you have to start at the beginning.

1972 marked the birth of the file sharing revolution. This first form of peer file sharing was aptly known as Sneakerner due to the lack of interne access at the time. Sneakernet was exactly as it sounds, one would place a file on a floppy and deliver it in person or via mail.

It would be 6 years latter at the birth of the internet era that the first BBS would become available in 1978. Although back then the sharing of actual files was harder than it is today, the concept was there. It would not be until 2 years later that the BBS would evolve into the Usenet thanks to the development by Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott at Duke University.

1985 however, marked an important year to the file sharing idea. It was this same year that the File Transfer Protocol or FTP would be developed allowing people to share files via a centralized server.

Three years later the Internet Relay Chat was developed and replaced the MultiUser Talk protocol allowing for faster communications with others, starting the need for faster communications, this eventually led to the development of what is known as the World Wide Web today as it was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990.

The next big thing in the file sharing arena was not PC, but it was Mac. Hotline was the file sharing network as it was introduced at the MacWorld Expo in 1997 and became the number one file sharing vehicle for the various Mac users around the world.

1998 marked the birth of MP3.COM as well as the release of the world’s first MP3 player which led MP3 Newswire to become the first digital media sharing website. It was with the birth of the MP3 and the need to convert music tracks to MP3 that would lead to the birth of the digital copyright infringement.

A year latter, Napster was to take the central stage as a completely illegal website that allowed someone to make a MP3 file of their favorite song and share it with others, this led to not just lawsuits, but several teenagers now have criminal records due to their downloading habits.

It was not until 2000 when the first decentralized file sharing network was developed. This decentralized network was the Gnutella-network and led to the birth of a new idealism in file sharing around the world.

Two years later, the bit torrent protocol would be debut to the world, and eventually take a choke-hold on the file sharing technology around the world.

Popularity: 79% [?]

Believe it or not, the bit torrent protocol is not old, not even in the standards of computer where you processor is out dated the minute you buy it. The protocol itself was originally conceptualized in the earl 2000’s and was released in the first working bit torrent client application in 2005.

Of course the first bit torrent client was the one that shares the name with the protocol itself. BitTorrent is the owner of the bit torrent protocol that can be seen almost anywhere and in virtually every possible programming language. There are some exceptions to this of course. Firstly, JavaScript cannot in any way shape or form be used to build a bit torrent client, it just cannot happen due to the rules of the programming language itself. HTTP cannot be used to make a bit torrent client neither since the client needs the ability to read and write. When discussing the possibilities of programming languages that can be used, the first thing that comes to mind are the web based programs. Since the protocol requires access to read and write, the only web based languages that can be used, are the ones that can access and write to databases. These include PHP and ASP as well as many other, but in no way can you use Java or JavaScript.

On the other hand, bit torrent clients for use on your computer is even more broad as virtually any program running on your computer can also read and write to directories on your computer.

Although the history of the bit torrent protocol is fairly short, it is in no way empty as there have been a number of important advancements in the development of the bit torrent protocol since its inception.

From simple to complete overhauls, the bit torrent protocol has come a long way in a short time period. New advancements in encryption capabilities as well as new languages to build the code on. Needless to say, as long as there is a want for file sharing, the bit torrent protocol will continue to be developed and advanced well into this century and hopefully then some.

To discuss the entire history of the bit torrent protocol, one would need a lot more space to do it in, but most of it can be found at the designer’s website. The BitTorrent program is the original bit torrent client and therefore almost all parts of the bit torrent history can be traced to various updates and releases of this particular bit torrent client application.

The bit torrent protocol as well as the many number of bit torrent client applications is vast and will continue to advance as new problems arise. Every time there is an attempt to stop the bit torrent protocol, it is redeveloped. ISPs want to stop bit torrent traffic so they attempt to throttle it, in response, new encryptions are made. This is the story of the bit torrent protocol, and as time goes by, it will continue to adapt to its surroundings and the needs of the network’s users.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The Palm Centro is one of the newest smartphones available on the market today. Very few people know about the Palm Centro because it’s release was greatly overshadowed by the new Apple iPhone. The Centro is much smaller than previous Palm smartphones, weighing in at only 4.2 ounces. As with nearly all Palm smartphones, the Centro operates on Palm OS making it easy to download and install countless third party applications. Compared to the iPhone the 64 MB of internal memory on the Centro seems small, but with microSD cards that memory can be expanded up to 4 GB. The reason Palm decided not to go with more internal memory was the lack of necessity. The Centro is meant to be a phone and a PDA, neither of these require extremely large amounts of memory though they did keep expansion slots available for those who wish to use the Centro as a media player. The Centro has been designed to work with common applications such as Google Maps, AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and others. Along side these official applications is an endless selection of user-created and third party applications which can achieve nearly anything on a Palm device. Some of the leading features of the Centro are the touchscreen, 1.3 megapixel camera, a full QWERTY keyboard, and even a powerful and fast web browser which is capable of much more than the average cell phone browser. Depending on the plan you purchase from Sprint, it is even possible to watch live TV on the Centro.

Currently the Centro is only available from Sprint or directly from Palm, and as a result the phones are locked on the Sprint wireless network. There are currently no plans for the Centro to become universally available, so it is likely that it will remain a Sprint only phone. Because the Centro is made by Palm, there is a strong history of excellence behind the Centro. Prior to the Centro release Palm’s leading line of Treo smartphones had dominated the smartphone market. Perhaps one of the best aspects of the Palm Centro is its price. For a qualified buyer who signs a wireless plan with Sprint the Centro is available for as little as $99.99, even without a plan the Centro is available for as little as $399.99. Both of these prices are very competitive in the market, and for what the Centro can do these prices are very good. If you are looking for a touchscreen phone, which can compete with the iPhone the Palm Centro might be a good phone to checkout. With nearly all the same features as an iPhone, as long as you don’t plan to listen to music on your phone for hours the Palm Centro will provide exactly what you need both as a phone and a PDA.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Over the course of their short history, but this bit torrent tracker sites have been the target of various rates as well as shutdowns that are due to misinformed copyright authorities. The major copyright authorities which are also known as RIAA and MPAA, have gone out of their way to attempt to shut down the various bit torrent tracker websites due to their belief that they are in copyright infringement. This is, not true at all.

The bit torrent files that are in question, are just small metadata files that keep track of information that is not in copyright infringement. This does not stop the various companies from attempting to shut down the websites that are indexing the bit torrents. The actual torrent files, which may or may not contain copyrighted data are maintained on people’s private computers and not on the index site’s server.

Various bit torrent sites have been closed over time, depending on location and due to local laws. Such indexing websites like Finereactor and Supernova, and that the actual owners of the indexing sites lie in court.

Today one of the biggest, bit torrent indexing websites is the Pirate Bay. This website is located in Sweden, where the law specifically states that the torrent files can pay no copyright infringed data and therefore cannot face legal proceedings in any court of law. Matter of fact, this website has gone as far as even posting the various e-mails from the different copyright authorities who have asked them to remove the links from their website. However due to current Swedish law, they are not required to and therefore can maintain their service to the general public.

One of the biggest cases was back in 2005, when a bit torrent tracker indexing website known as EliteTorrents, was shut down by the FBI and various immigration and customs enforcement agencies. Then utilizing a form of entrapment, which is illegal under US law, the FBI and immigrations authorities took over the website as a means to track those who are trying to download copyrighted data through their index.

That have been many companies including a major motion picture authorities, as well as television channels such as HBO that has attempted to shut down the various torrent indexing websites. While some sites have been shut down due to locations such as those who have servers based in the US and other countries, there are those who get looted and shut down for a return to the general public within hours, due to the fact that the indexing websites are not sharing copyrighted data, they are sharing an individual hash by a which is created based on the content within the particular file.

That have also been reports in several countries, where the owners of copyrighted data have utilized in order to press charges against those who download their copyrighted data. But as stated before, these indexing websites do not contain any of the copyrighted data. If there is any data that has been copyrighted such as the release movies, this data and files are kept on private computers instead of the server. When you connect with bit torrent programs, you receive a small file from the indexing websites that tell the program how to connect and who to contact to in order to download that particular file from another private computer.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Almost everyone who accidentally loses a file or data in the computer will swear of a sickly feeling right from the stomach. A life’s work is lost and no matter what you do it seems that you can never get it back. You tried to press the back button to return to your last file but all you get is a message flashing on the screen that your file or data is unreadable, is unformatted or worse, is nowhere to be found.

Recover with Undo Function

Remember that when writing on a document the Undo function of the document can bring you at least a few steps back through the actions you made. If ever you accidentally lost important information that you have recently typed on the document, do not panic. Try the Undo function and you may retrieve the important information back. A word of caution, though, most notepad applications have an Undo function that brings you back a single step. This trap is very frustrating because you tend to undo and redo the same action you did on a file until you have realized that the information is already gone.

Use the Search Function

If the whole file is lost, the first thing to do is to be sure that you can never recover it. Before trying out any recovery softwares, try to look for the file first with the Search function. You can invoke the Search function from the Start bar or from the View tab. Remember to select “All files and folders” as well as all the hard drives connected to the computer. For Windows Vista, you can invoke the Search function from the Start and by clicking the dropdown arrow beside the Advanced Search option, you can look for recently modified files by selecting the “Date Modified.”

Use File Recovery Applications

If the file seems lost, you have another chance. It is a good thing that data and files leave digital imprints that specialized software or applications can recover. There are undelete utilities available from the Internet that can help you recover your data. The free sharewares PC Inspector File Recovery and FreeUndelete can help you recover files from your PC while the Data Doctor Recovery can help you recover files from your USB driver. Unfortunately, teh Data Doctor Recovery costs about US$ 49 but it has a free-trial evaluation period.

Use Data Recovery Tools

Accidentally clicking “Yes” when asked if you want to reformat your drive may be a long shot for recovery but it can be done but with a price. For recovering data from reformatted drives, you need a data recovery utility with a higher horsepower. There is the File Scavenger from QueTek worth US$ 49. For more serious data recovery, Easy Recovery Professional from Kroll Ontrack will assist you with a high-powered recovery of data as well as repair tools. Unfortunately, this software packs about US$ 500.

Get Professional Help

Recovering files from a dead or worned-out drive is almost near-impossible. A burnt-up hard drive will definitely crash along with its saved files. To prevent your files from going history, immediately retrieve the files and transfer them to another storage device. For damaged files, you can recover them by asking for professional help, for example from DriveSavers.

Back-Up to be Sure

For those lucky ones who have never experienced losing data, the first thing to do to prevent future accidents and face this dilemma is to avoid losing data and observe the rule of back-up. Backing-up data and files is a sure way to avoid the frustration and disappointment when losing important documents in the PC. Always store an important file or document to at least two storage device.

Popularity: 2% [?]