Bittorrent is considered by many to be the best way for downloading large files to the pc and mac because it breaks it up into smaller pieces, which are then shared amongst seeders (people who have the whole file) and leechers (people who are downloading) who upload the pieces they have to other users while downloading from other users in the swarm the pieces they need until they have the whole thing.  Bittorrent isn’t just limited to the desktop or can be crontrolled remotely via the Android.

A variety of the apps below do similar things, so try the different ones to see which you like.  All of the apps below can be reached on androlib and can be easily installed by using Barcode Scanner to scan the QR code on the page.

• BarTor – A companion tool to barcode scan, product hookup, isoHunt search and integration with uTorrent, Vuze, and KTorrent web interfaces.
• Bit Torrent – A remote app to control Transmission, uTorrent, Bittorrent, Deluge, Vuze and rTorrent on your PC or server.
• aBTC BitTorrent Client – aBTC is a full featured BitTorrent client to download files direct to your Droid, Droid X or other Android device.
• FluxIt – If TorrentFlux is your Bittorrent client of choice, you can control your TorrentFlux via your Droid.
• MiTorTV – Keep track of what television shows you’ve watched and find torrents and direct downloads of your television shows.
• Swarm Torrent Client – A lightweight client that supports multiple simultaneous downloads via app and background service.
• Torrent Droid – Search for and Download .torrents files to android from public/private trackers, then upload them to a remote computer.
• Torrent Funnel – Monitor torrent RSS feeds, receive alerts and download the torrent file to pass to a Bittorrent client to download the file.
• Torrent-fu – A remote for uTorrent and Transmission on the desktop. One of the cool features is the ability to scan a barcode to start downloading a torrent.
• Transdroid – A remote torrent client manager for uTorrent, Transmission, rTorrent, Vuze, Deluge, KTorrent, Tf-b4rt, etc.  In addition to controlling your torrent clients via application, also includes a widget to place on your home screen.
• TV Show Tracker – Find out when your favorite tv shows are released to bittorrent sites.

BitTorrent has become a popular way to download files, applications, games, movies, television and other forms of data.  By using torrents, it is an efficient way to download larger files to your home, phone or other device.

Related posts:

1. Twitter Apps for the Droid and Droid X
2. Must Have Apps for the Droid and Droid X
3. Remote Control Apps For Droid

As often as people complain that they can’t find a developer for their startup, they complain just as much that they cannot talk to a developer once they have found one.  It has come up time and again in panels that programmers speak a foreign language to them and that they have trouble getting through and letting the hackers know what needs to be coded.  Why is this a repetitive problem and how can it be fixed?

The first thing to understand is the hacker mentality. They don’t think the same way you do and have diverging interests from the mainstream.  They are more likely to be wearing a shirt from Think Geek rather than any sports team and are more likely to be talking about the latest science fiction film than the latest romantic comedy. Take the time to understand geek interests and what makes them tick.

The best real representation of an IT professional is in the BBC program The IT Crowd, whose main characters are the IT department of a major corporation, and the dichotomy of Roy and Moss with people like their manager Jen.  The show is a look at corporate culture from the basement up, while seeing what real IT is like through a fun house mirror.  The show also has a lot of inside geek jokes and taking the time to get these small references, which appear in both the dialog and the background of the IT office, will take you a long way to understanding the hacker.

As an entrepreneur with a startup or company that is working with a developer, do you have any grasp on technology beyond being able to bring up your e-mail on your Blackberry or iPhone?  You know your startup needs a website and maybe an iPhone app, but do you know the basics of what is involved in it?  Have you done research about the type of things you need done for the site?  In most companies I’ve worked for, the CEO understands design and how the website works, but doesn’t understand what goes into the backend.  The CEO of an online company once told me she wished that she could save money by getting rid of the entire IT department.  An online magazine with no developers, IT support or anyone to handle anything beyond design or editorial.  A ridiculous concept for a company whose entire existence is on the Internet, but one she firmly believed in.

So how can the potential employer understand and communicate with the developer?  The best thing you can do is educate yourself.  There are blogs out there that will educate you on current technology, like Engadget and Gizmodo, but the best thing you can do is educate yourself about programming.  Pick up a basic programming book or take a short course so you get the basics and know what you are looking for.  For beginners, I recommend books like PHP for the World Wide Web or PHP & MySQL For Dummies (my language of choice is PHP, so I’m partial to it, but I find Peach Pit Press or the For Dummies series to be good beginner’s resources).  Knowledge is the strongest weapon in your arsenal for dealing with people, so why wouldn’t you extend that to developers as well?

The world of the developer can be daunting for the uninitiated.  Not all programmers are anti-social diginauts, like Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but nor are they the basement dwelling Twinkee eaters, like Kevin Smith in Live Free or Die Hard. They are a community with their own lexicon and standards that may be incomprehensible to the outside world, and the best way to understand it is to try and crack the code.  Sit down with a developer and actually talk to them, understand their universe and navigate the labyrinth.

Related posts:

1. Why Hackers Don’t Want To Join Your Startup
2. Why Don’t Developers Network?

With all the social media integration of smart phones, it’s important to have proper access to your social networks.  Since the two most popular social networks are Facebook and Twitter, it’s important to have the proper apps to access both.  The only app for Facebook is the mediocre Facebook app, but there are a myriad of choices to access Twitter with.

Each of the apps below have access to similar features, but everyone has their favorite. Since all of the ones below are free (even though some do have paid versions), install different ones and see which one suits your needs.  All of the apps below can be reached on androlib and can be easily installed by using Barcode Scanner to scan the QR code on the page.

• AndroTweet – A slim, small client to access Twitter with
• Is Twitter Down – Like IsTwitterDown.com but in app form so you can always know whether Twitter is up or down
• Seesmic – My client of choice due to its clean interface and customizability. The ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts also makes it highly useful
• Touiteur – This clean, slick and customizable Twitter client is the latest in Twitter apps and has quickly grown in popularity due to its high quality
• Tweetcaster – A full featured Twitter client that they claim is filled with “the coolest features”
• Twidroyd – Twidroyd is considered the default Twitter client for most Android users, being one of the first and having a very clean, simple interface to access Twitter with
• Twitter – The Official client from Twitter themselves will cover all the features and let you use them the way Twitter wants you, but many advanced Twitter users find it too bloated for their needs
• YapYap! – Although they don’t list much information on androlib or their website, this seems like a well laid out app.

There are other Twitter clients out there for the Droid, Droid X and other Android phones, but these are the most popular and most liked.  If you use other ones that you like better, share them below and let me know.

Related posts:

1. Bittorrent for the Droid and Droid X
2. Must Have Apps for the Droid and Droid X
3. Apps By Google for the Droid

I do a lot of work on my Macbook Pro.  I also use it to manage a lot of media.  With the more movies and music I store on my laptop, the less free space I have, which ultimately reaches a critical mass and the free space on my hard drive.  I picked up a Western Digital My Book World Edition Network enabled 1 TB hard drive to store my music, movies, pictures and other assorted media on.

Once the hard drive was placed on my network and set up to be read by all the different computers in my home, the next step was to move the media, which was a second process unto itself.  Since I wanted to keep all the iTunes and iPhoto data, I need to do it from within the programs.  Below is how I did each.

iTunes

1. Go to the iTunes menu and select Preferences
2. Click Advanced and make sure “Keep iTunes Media Folder organized and click OK
   This will be what copies and organizes the files on your new hard drive
3. Select Preferences from the iTunes menu again and select Advanced
4. Click “Change…” to select a new iTunes Media folder. Navigate to the new hard drive and click the New Folder button to create a new folder to place the files in the click OK
5. Now that you have created the new location, the next step is to copy the files. Select File > Library > Consolidate Library from the top menus and click Consolidate.

My library has taken almost two days to transfer, but was able to free up about half my hard drive.

iPhoto

1. Go to where your iPhoto Library is located in the Finder (usually from your home directory in the Pictures folder) and open a second window to the new hard drive.  If you want to put it in a folder on the new hard drive, create that folder and go into it.
2. Drag the iPhoto Library from your hard drive to the new location to copy it.
3. If iPhoto is open, quit it then hold down option and click iPhoto in the dock
4. From the list, select the new library from the list. If it does not appear, click “Other Library…” and select the copy of the library  on the new hard drive. Then click Choose.
5. iPhoto will now open with the new library.

Although you don’t need your old copies of iPhoto Library or iTunes media, make sure that all the files are copied properly and that they work before deleting them.  Once you are sure, you can drag them to the trash and Empty Trash to free up your disk space and work from your external hard drive, or in my case, net work hard drive.

Related posts:

1. How to Install Comic Books (And Other Files) on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch

With the introduction of the new Droid X this week, I thought it was time to revisit all the apps that have been reviewed on JustJon.Net so far and see what apps were must have for the new phone.  These are the apps that I find to be the most used, must have apps to use for the Droid that should be as necessary to the Droid X.

All of the apps below can be reached on androlib and can be easily installed by using Barcode Scanner to scan the QR code on the page.  Most of the apps I use are free , so no cost is incurred downloading most of these applications.

• Advanced Task Killer (ATK) –  ATK is a great way to kill apps when not in use to free memory and save battery life.
• Astro File Manager – An easy way to view the file and directory contents of the Droid
• Barcode Scanner – When you come across a UPC or QR code and want to look it up, this is the best app for scanning and reading them.
• Bump – A fun way to share contact information with people by bumping your phones together.  The future of business cards.
• Connectbot – SSH client to connect to remote servers
• DroidLight – For those times when you really need a flashlight, instead of using the screen to illuminate, use this app to turn on the LED flash on the back of the Droid.
• Gesture Search – Search your contacts, apps and other items on your phone by launching this app and drawing letters on the screen.  I find it to be a quick, easy way to look up contacts and prefer to use it over the Contacts app.
• Google Goggles – A cool app that lets you take a picture and then scans the picture and runs searches based on it.
• Google Sky Map – The app I always use to demo the phone. Run the app and point your phone at the sky to get an Augmented Reality view of the constellations overhead.
• Key Ring – This great app scans the barcodes on your rewards cards (or any card with a barcode, like a gym membership), so you don’t have to carry the cards.  When checking out, just hand the phone to the cashier and let her scan the UPC from the phone.
• Last.fm – Streaming music app that creates radio stations based on what I regularly listen to thru iTunes or based on a band or song.
• Layar Reality Browser – A variety of information can be seen by activating layers in this browser to gain all types of information around you.
• Mother TED – Mother TED gives streaming access to every TED Talk released online, sorted by name, category, etc. and streams them to the phone in very clear audio and video.
• Pandora Radio – A streaming music app, like Last.fm, that allows me to listen to radio stations based on a band or song I like.
• Seesmic – A nice looking Twitter client that allows the monitoring and posting of tweets from multiple accounts.
• Shazam – When I am listening to the radio or in a store and wonder what song I am hearing, I let Shazam give it a listen and it comes back and tells me who I hear.
• Shop Savvy – When you are shopping and want to compare prices, scan the UPC barcode with this app and get prices from around the web and local brick and mortar stores to see where you can find it cheaper.
• SPB TV ($10) and SPB TV Lite (Free) – A streaming video app that allows you to watch news, movies and video from around the world.  Includes streams from local and national US tv news channels, music channels and older films.  Lite version limits you to 6 channels, but the paid version has over 100 to choose from.
• TV.com – Streaming access to clips to CBS and Showtime shows are how the app is promoted, but the real lure is the classic TV shows you can watch. MacGuyver, Beverly Hills 90210 (classic), Twin Peaks,  Family Ties, and others to select from make this a worthy app to install.
• UStream Viewer – Although the app says it is in beta when it starts (at this time), you can watch your favorite UStream feeds directly and clearly on your phone, so you can watch all the puppy cams you want.  This app does not send video, but there is UStream Broadcaster for that.

This is just a small sampling of the apps available for the Droid. With the HDMI output of the Droid X, I’d love to recommend a Hulu or Netflix app, but neither are available yet.  If you have any other must have apps for Android, add them below.  Everyone uses their Droid differently and finds different apps indispensable.

Related posts:

1. My Droid Apps
2. Video, Movie and TV Apps on the Droid
3. Music, Audio and Radio Apps on the Droid

In my continuing desire to keep running and to run with my friends, I have signed up to run through Yankee Stadium for the Damon Runyon 5K.  This unique opportunity helps raise money for cancer research and gives an unusual tour of Yankee Stadium that I couldn’t pass up, since it is an intersection of my interests of the New York Yankees, running and working with charities.

As stated on the Runyon 5K website, the course traverses “the concourses and ramps, climb stairs between levels, and follow in the footsteps of the 27 time World Champion New York Yankees by taking your own victory laps around the warning track that circles the field!” Although different than my usual running course of streets or tracks, I think it’s an opportunity to see Yankee Stadium from a new perspective.  I don’t normally involve ramps or stairs in my training, I will have to improvise over the course of the next month to be able to handle the Yankee Stadium terrain.

Like the Bronx Zoo 5K, this is also for a worthy cause.  Raising money for cancer research is important, and I’m proud to be supporting a worthy cause.  The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has existed for 64 years and donates money to cancer researchers, include 11 Nobel laureates.

The Damon Runyon 5K is August 15, 2010. If you’d like to join me and my friends in running, you can register here and be sure to join team GFY so you run with us.  If you want to support my run, you can donate here and know that you are giving money that will go directly to help support research to eradicate cancer.  And if you want to come out to cheer on myself and team GFY, let me know and I’ll get you the spectator details.

Related posts:

1. I Am Running the Bronx Zoo Run for the Wild 5K
2. Bronx Zoo Run for the Wild 5K and April Detox Results
3. The Power of Baked Goods – Cupcakes4Charity

Ever since the initial February challenge, I’ve been running. I not only used Couch to 5K to prepare for the Bronx Zoo Run For the Wild, but I kept running even after that race.  Wanting to take my training even further, I began using the Couch to 10k program in order to increase my distance and stamina.

When deciding to start Couch to 10K, I asked the iPhone app’s developer, Lucius Kwok, where I should begin.  He felt that a good place to start would be “week 4 or 5,” and I decided to follow his advice and begin at week 4 so that I would have a little more relaxed time acclimating to the new training regiment.

Like Couch to 5K, the program begins with alternating walks and runs, but the number of repetitions is increased from the beginning.  Even from the first day of the program, I was moving for about an hour and covered over 5 miles.  This was longer and further than I had ever reached with Couch to 5K and bode well for the future.  The training progressed with the same consistency I had experienced previously.  Not only did I have to continue using the elongated path I ran at tend of Couch to 5K, but I had to find even more directions to run to continue to continue my runs.

The problems for me with Couch to 10K came with the onset of summer.  As the temperatures increased, I had more trouble running. This doesn’t reflect on the Couch to 10K program per se, but it made it harder to do the longer runs.  The best run I had was in week 12, where the temperatures cooled and I ran at night over 8 miles.  The cooler temperatures made it easier to run around the track and lessened my dehydration to the point where I didn’t feel the need to slow down or stop for a drink.

The other problem I experienced with Couch to 10K was the final week.  Week 13 consisted of 2 days, the first was a 50 minute run and the second was a 40 minute run.  The problem for me is that even at my best, I tend to run an 8 minute mile, and I can’t do that for an entire 10k.  According to Nike+, even my 8.1 mile run was at 9:33 per mile, so if I were to average 10 minutes per mile, I would not have completed a 10K in the 40 minutes that the program says I can run a 10K after completing.  According to Nike+, my best time for a 10K is 58:14.  Coming from being unable to run a 10K when I started in April, I feel like I make good time.

Running has become a great hobby for me, and Couch to 10K has pushed my running even further.  I plan to attempt to run a 10K in September, when the weather becomes cooler, but I would not have been able to do it without Couch to 10K.  Not only do I plan to keep running with this training behind me, but I want to keep pushing myself further.  I wonder if there’s a Couch to Half Marathon…

Related posts:

1. Review: Couch to 5K
2. I Am Running the Bronx Zoo Run for the Wild 5K
3. Bronx Zoo Run for the Wild 5K and April Detox Results

On this festive July 4 holiday weekend, my friend Missy told me a story of rock music and social media that I felt was worth sharing (with her permission).  A tale that shows how a musician can show they care by connecting with fans and helping them connect.

When 90′s rock band Faith No More reunited and announced they would be touring, my friend Missy wanted to see them. Unfortunately, tickets had sold out before she had the chance to purchase any and she lamented the fact that she would be unable to see them perform live.  As it turned out, Faith No More’s keyboardist Roddy Bottum heard her pleas and responded.  Not only did he respond, but he did so in such a way that all of his followers would see it as well.

Not only did a fellow fan see it, but she reached out to Missy. A woman in Vancouver, Canada had planned to visit New York and see the show, but would not be making the trip.  As such, she sold Missy her tickets at cost and made a fellow fan happy to be able to see the band live.

A musician who cared enough about his band’s fans and took the time to interact with them helped connect them. This lesson can apply to people of all scales.  From the Lady Gagas and Ozzy Osbournes to the guys starting a band out of their garage, it’s not just important to connect with your fans, but you can build connections between the fans themselves.  You don’t have to be a musician for this to apply either.  Charlie O’Donnell has started what he calls Awesome Intro Monday, where he gets people to connect two people with a common interest.

Have you introduced people on Twitter lately?

Related posts:

1. You Are the Social Media Rockstar
2. The Front Man and the Guitarist With Mystique in Social Media
3. Ender’s Game for Business and Social Media: Battle School

On July 1, 2009, I wrote how Your Medium is Your Message in response to something that was said at a panel that marginalized the role of technology in Social Media. From there, I wanted to continue my point and began weekly blogging and a year later, I continue to write, bringing us to this anniversary.

I had written a few bits before, since creating the blog in April 2008, but when I read what the person had said, I wrote about how the social media message is as important as how it is delivered, and began weekly blogging about technology and social media. Once I began, I decided to post once a week.  After almost 2 months, I decided to expand the blog beyond social media and technology and expanded it to include personal experiences starting with my Brickfair 2009 recap, which in turn led to my inclusion of Lego starting with Touristbot.

For me, the most evident power of the blog came when I had problems with Sears Automotive.  They had damaged my car and I decided to attempt to handle it in the public forum.  By blogging about it, and pushing it at them on Twitter and Facebook, I was able to find satisfaction and wrote about that too.  It was an interesting experience that proved that social media can dictate the way a corporation acts in order to keep a good public face.

When I got my Droid phone in November, I wrote a review and followed it up a couple weeks later with a post about the apps I kept on my phone, since the Android Marketplace is notoriously hard to find applications in.  Seeing the response in my traffic in relation, I began making it a regular feature on the site, citing different types of applications, leading to the most popular article on my site on Video, Movie and TV apps.  When I combined the Lego and Droid posts to build the Lego Android, it was featured by Motorola on Twitter, raising my traffic to a whole new level.

When 2010 started, I decided I wanted to create more content and began posting twice a week. Starting my introducing some of my Lego sprites, I continued to start the week with smaller, more personal posts, like about running a 5K, and the more commentary oriented ones for later in the week.  After six months, it’s been a great practice, even if I don’t necessarily get them all done on time, I do get myself to write twice a week.

My biggest disappointment to date is not being to tell certain stories that I have wanted to since I started writing in July.  A series of tales that I still can’t tell due to certain quagmires involved in the extended story that continue to this day. I can’t put them online yet, but I may have told some of these stories in person or would be willing to if you ever ask me in person.

It’s been a wild year, and I look forward to the second year to see where this website and like take me.  It can only lead to bigger and better, and all the highlights will be written twice a week.

No related posts.

After last week’s article about Comic Book Readers, my friend Stugots thought it was interesting that there were these different apps that would allow him to read comic books on his iPod Touch, but until now had only used the Marvel Comics app.  He wanted to know if it was possible to upload comics to his iPod Touch to read in addition to that app, so I told him I would write out directions for him.

Since the only CBR/CBZ reader I found that worked on the iPhone and iPod Touch was Stanza, I’ll be using that for this example on my iPhone, even though this method will work for any files installed through iTunes, even though Stanza will allow uploads through Dropbox and some other apps, like CloudReaders, allow direct upload via wifi. The three things you will need for this walkthru is a CBR file, Stanza installed on your device, and iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone.

A CBR file is the common comic book format for downloading and reading comics online. Many of the sites of less than questionable legality use this format to distribute their comic books, and I won’t be covering how to find and/or download them here. If you’d like to create a CBR file for demonstrative purposes, put some JPGs in a folder and compress the file into the .rar format then rename the file by replacing the .rar with .cbr.  The CBZ format is similar but requires you to compress to a .zip format and rename to .cbz.  For the steps below, I’ll be using a copy of Death: the high cost of living.

1) Connect the iPhone to the computer and click the Apps tab

The first step is obviously to connect the iPhone to the computer with the USB cable so that it can be accessed and can sync. There are a series of tabs along the top of the screen that allow you to access different features for the iPhone. The apps tab allows you to control what apps are installed on the iPhone and what files you upload to it. Scroll down the page to the bottom and click on Stanza to access the files installed on Stanza. If you don’t have any books added yet, this area will be blank.

2) Click Add… and navigate to the CBR file

Below the Stanza documents is a button marked Add… (also seen in screen shot above). Click it and navigate to the folder with the CBR file. Click the file name and click Choose to select the file.  The file will then sync to the iPhone.  The file will be listed in the Stanza Documents list and when opening Stanza the next time, it will process the file for reading.

File is uploading to iPhone

File is in Stanza library

3) Read Comic Book

And with that, the file is installed on the iPhone and ready for reading.

File is being processed on the iPhone in Stanza

Comic Book is added to Stanza library

Comic Book is ready to be read.

It’s a fairly simple process to upload files to the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with iOS4.  With these simple steps, you will be reading comics quickly and easily.  These steps will also work just as easily for Cloudreaders, GoodReader, Keynote or any other apps that will allow you to upload files to your device of choice.

Related posts:

1. Comic Book Apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Droid
2. Review: iPad
3. iPad First Impressions