Art and geekery: two sides of the same coin. A fact wonderfully demonstrated by this spiffy spreadheet-based music sequencer. Live-coder and all-round music hacker Patrick -- aka cappel:nord -- spotted the LibreOffice spreadsheet's sonic potential and decided to work his magic. The result is demonstrated in the video below. Sure, it's a little bit senza functionally, but it does appear to have velocity control, based on the cell's number value, as well as effects. Not bad for what the creator claims was "a three hour hack". Sadly there's sparse detail on how exactly the task was accomplished, but if you know your quavers from your variables, grab the source code by tapping the via after the jump.

Continue reading A spreadsheet based music tracker: get ready to rock your accounts (video)

A spreadsheet based music tracker: get ready to rock your accounts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With WordPress pretty much anyone can set up a personal blog or small website in a few minutes, and thanks to the new WP-Trader plugin it becomes just as easy to start a fully operational torrent site.

The levels of work and expertise required to run a large torrent site shouldn’t be underestimated of course, but there are also hundreds of hobbyists out there who have the desire to set up a small torrent site of their own. WP-Trader is aimed at the latter, and it has a wide range of features that support the needs of every self-aspiring torrent site admin.

WP-Trader developer Andrew Walker told TorrentFreak that he saw the need for an ultra-simple torrent script through his half-decade long involvement in the forums of the popular Torrent Trader script.

“All of the torrent tracker source codes out there are unique or good in their own ways, but I saw a lack in one click install and setup for torrent sites since only a couple of sources offer that function. On a daily basis I saw people coming into the forums having problems with install and setup of their sites,” Walker told TorrentFreak.

“I do have a strong belief that if you do not know how to install or mod your own torrent site then you should not be running a torrent site but something like WP-Trader can benefit artists who have little to no knowledge about how to set up a site,” Walker adds.

Torrent listing

So the idea for WP-Trader was born, and little over a month ago the first version was released via the WordPress plugin repository. Since then, Walker and his co-developer Lee Howarth have added new updates every week, and they’re dedicated to improving it further during the coming months.

“At the moment the plugin is still in beta and does lack a lot of features but new things are being added weekly. The plugin was built around Torrent Trader V2.07 and some things you see in Torrent Trader will stay, we were are trying to use a lot of the built-in functions of WordPress,” Walker adds.

The current release already comes with a wide range of options and a fully functioning tracker. Users can choose to make all uploads public and allow external trackers for example, but it’s also possible to run a completely private tracker with ratio requirements and wait times for lower user classes.

In addition, WP-Trader comes with several widgets, to show off the latest uploads and most active torrents for example. The full list of features is too long to list here, but you can get a glimpse of the options below.

A selection of the many WP-trader options

While WP-Trader already has all the features a basic torrent site needs, there is still a lot of work to be done. Aside from ironing out the bugs and implementing new features such as support for anonymous uploads, the developers will also work on a more seamless integration with WordPress.

“We plan on fully integrating it as closely as possible with WordPress because WordPress has plenty of features or plugins to handle certain things which we feel that should not be added to the plugin,” Walker says.

The WP-Trader team hopes that a lot of people will take the plugin for a spin, and provide feedback where needed. WP-Trader is available for download in the official WordPress repository, which also hosts a FAQ section and some pointers on how to get a torrent site up and running in no time.

Source: Turn Any WordPress Site Into A BitTorrent Tracker

Let’s start off by saying that running a reliable tracker with tens of thousands of peers is not something everyone is capable of. It requires the right skills and expertise to keep everything running smoothly. Also, larger trackers such as PublicBitTorrent require a 1 Gbps connection, something not everyone has access to.

That said, there are also thousands of smaller trackers that are used for only a handful of torrents. Some people have their own tracker to share ‘private’ files and others just run one as a hobby project. With Bitstorm, everyone can now run their very own BitTorrent tracker with relative ease, and with a minimum of technical knowledge.

Everyone who has access to a PHP-enabled hosting account can setup a tracker in less time than it takes to read this post. The GPL licensed software literally consists of just a single PHP file with just a few lines of code. Upload the file to your server, and a new tracker is born.

Developer Peter Caprioli explains that he coded Bitstorm when his search for a simple, no-nonsense BitTorrent tracker failed.

“I found myself in the need of sharing a couple of big files a while back with about 20 people. BitTorrent was the preferred protocol because it is fast and I do not have to upload the same content 20 times over. I started searching for a tracker that I could install on my server.”

“After some research, none of the trackers I tried worked the way I wanted them to work. They came with all types of bloat that I didn’t need, I just needed a basic tracker that does nothing else but keep track of peers. After reading this awesome article, Bitstorm was born,” Caprioli adds.

As far as installation goes Bitstorm can’t get much easier. On most Linux-powered web servers it works out of the box, no configuration needed. For other operating systems one has to open the PHP file with a text editor and change the path to the peer database, all other parameters are optional.

Bitstorm is by far the simplest, most dummy-proof standalone BitTorrent tracker we’ve ever seen. It’s certainly not as efficient or feature rich as the excellent Opentracker software, but for hobbyists it’s certainly good enough.

For those getting excited, the Bitstorm source code is available here and more info can be found at the project page. Feel free to mention your own public tracker below in the comments, Bitstorm or not.

Source: Bitstorm: The World’s Most Simple BitTorrent Tracker

Before you and your pooches head out to hunt innocent ducks this year, you might wanna check out Garmin's new Astro 320 dog tracker -- a handheld GPS device designed to help hunters keep even closer tabs on their four-legged sentries. The latest addition to the Astro family can simultaneously track up to ten hunting dogs per receiver, with a revamped antenna and three-axis electronic compass covering up to nine miles of flat terrain. Boasting a 20-hour battery life, the 1.7GB handheld can also tell hunters whether their canines are running or pointing, while its mapping capabilities provide their precise coordinates relative to powerlines, buildings, and individual trees. All this information is displayed on a 2.6-inch display, where users will be able to access 100k or 24k topographic and satellite maps. A keypad lock function, meanwhile, will make sure you don't accidentally press any buttons while you're in the thick of a hound-led hunt. The handheld will be available in July for $500, with the full system (including a DC 40 tracking collar) priced at $650. You can flip through the gallery below for images of some antenna-toting doggies, or head past the break for a more testosterone-laced pic and the full PR.

Continue reading Garmin's Astro 320 GPS handheld offers nine-mile coverage, keeps your hunting dogs in line

Garmin's Astro 320 GPS handheld offers nine-mile coverage, keeps your hunting dogs in line originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RFID tags are already used to trace everything from poker chips to hotel towels, but what if these little pellets were embedded directly within your lunch, providing everything you'd ever wanna know about that ham sandwich you're about to beast? That's the idea behind NutriSmart -- a food tracking system that revolves around edible RFID tags. Developed by Hannes Harms, a design engineering student at the Royal College of Art in London, these little markers would allow consumers to trace the entire supply chain behind every item in their cupboard, while feeding valuable nutritional information to dieters or people with particularly dangerous food allergies. Kodak, as you may recall, came up with a similar idea a few years ago, though Harms' prototype extends beyond the realm of medical monitoring. Properly equipped refrigerators, for example, would be able to alert users whenever their stock's about to expire, simply by scanning the tags. The NutriSmart concept also calls for a smart plate, which Harms describes as an "invisible diet management system." Just put your meal on the plate and an embedded reader will analyze your grub, tell you how many miles it traveled before arriving at your kitchen and transmit all of its history and caloric data to your phone, via Bluetooth. No word yet on what would happen to these tags post-digestion, though our inner 13-year-olds are giggling at the possibilities. Video after the break.

Continue reading NutriSmart prototype embeds RFID tags directly within food, traces your lunch from start to finish (video)

NutriSmart prototype embeds RFID tags directly within food, traces your lunch from start to finish (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 06:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This year has seen the evil doings of many powerful natural disasters around the world, and while the capable organisations are doing their best to provide relief, many lives could've been saved if the stranded victims were able to provide their precise positions for quicker rescue. Having seen the number of recent floods and cyclones in Queensland, Australia, Ergon Energy started trialing a new emergency tracking system earlier this year, which utilises pole-mounted mobile GPS stations to pinpoint cellphones equipped with special but cheap location-based chips -- Samsung and Nokia are said to be participants in this project. Over the next 12 to 18 months, said energy firm will be deploying 1,000 of these stations to cover 95 percent of the state, in order to let emergency services track down calling victims within centimeters -- that's a huge leap from conventional GPS devices' 10 to 20 meters, though an updated land database with matching accuracy is still required before the system reaches its full potential. Regardless, here's hoping that this brilliant project will be brought over to many more disaster-prone areas sooner rather than later.

[Thanks, Justin]

Australia trialing new emergency finder system with centimeter accuracy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 09:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft's own OneVision Video Recognizer may be novel, but if the folks in Redmond are seriously looking to take things next-level, they should probably cast their gaze across the pond. Zdenek Kalal, a researcher at the University of Surrey, has just created what may be the most sophisticated vision system known to the civilian world. In essence, it takes the mundane task of tracking objects to an entirely new platform, enabling users to select an object on the fly and have the algorithm immediately start tracking something new. Within seconds, it's able to maintain a lock even if your object twists, turns, or leaves / returns. Furthermore, these "objects" could be used as air mice if you force it to track your digits, and if you teach it what your staff looks like, you'll have a fully automated security scanner that can recognize faces and grant / deny access based on its database of white-listed individuals. Frankly, we'd rather you see it for yourself than listen to us extolling its virtues -- vid's after the break, per usual.

Continue reading Zdenek Kalal's object tracking algorithm learns on the fly, likely to make next 007 flick (video)

Zdenek Kalal's object tracking algorithm learns on the fly, likely to make next 007 flick (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With more than 10 million peers and 1,614,356 active torrents, Denis.Stalker ended up in third place in our ranking of the largest public BitTorrent trackers last summer. Running on the Opentracker software, the tracker has been a household name in the BitTorrent community for years.

A few months ago, however, the tracker suddenly went offline for no apparent reason. The official blog went silent and calls from the public to the once popular tracker remained unanswered.

Even today the old denis.stalker.h3q.com is still unresponsive, but the people behind the project did revive it under a new name a few days ago. The denis.stalker tracker has moved to a new home at tracker.ccc.de.

One of the reasons for the change in domain name is the recent rounds of seizures where several file-sharing related domains were pulled offline. Although the standalone tracker is not the first target that would come to mind, a non-US controlled domain is simply the safest option nowadays.

The tracker is now hosted on the main domain of the influential hacker organization Chaos Computer Club (CCC), which is one of the best spots to be in. The German based CCC has more than 4000 members and hosts Europe’s largest hacker congress December each year.

One of the main motives of CCC is to strive for “freedom of information,” with fits well with the operation of one of the largest BitTorrent trackers on the Internet.

The new tracker address responds on port 6969, just like the old one. This means that people who know how to edit their hosts file can update it to allow torrents with the old domain-name to work.

http://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce => http://tracker.ccc.de/announce
udp://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce => udp://tracker.ccc.de:80/announce

To help the adoption of the new tracker address The Pirate Bay is adding it to all new torrents that are uploaded to the site. At the time of writing, the new domain has been in use for just a few days, but it is already tracking 58,787 torrents and over 500,000 peers.

So, although the denis.stalker.h3q.com name is not coming back, the service it provided has been reinstated. That, plus an army of hackers to defend it in case outside forces try to silence it. Not a bad change at all.

TorrentFreak

Demonoid is one of the biggest torrent sites around. Now fairly peacefully hosted to the west of Russia in Ukraine, the site has previously received unwanted attention from both music and movie companies. So when the site goes offline a lot of people start to think of the worst, especially if there is little or no warning.

During the next few days, maybe hours, Demonoid may go down due to some serious-sounding technical issues. They have already caused some damage to the site so the operators want to limit further damage.

“We are experiencing power outages that have caused some ram and hard drive issues. We might have to shut down everything to fix and prevent further damage,” they say in a statement.

The downtime could be extended, “…days maybe, until we can change the power circuit,” they add.

Several Demonoid users already report connection issues, but the site is still accessible to most people at the time of writing. The blackout won’t mean much to millions of Russian and Ukrainian BitTorrent users though, since they are already blocked from the site.

Over the years Demonoid has had its fair share of downtime. In June 2007 Demonoid was pressured to leave their host in the Netherlands, mainly because of legal threats from the Dutch anti-piracy outfit, BREIN. The site then relocated to Canada, but after threats from the CRIA, it decided to shut down there as well.

In 2008 the site eventually reappeared in full glory after being offline for six months. This time the downtime shouldn’t last that long. Any Demonoid users stuck for ideas on alternatives if the site goes down, can check here.