Archive for January, 2011

‘Beyond the Game’ – Warcraft III Documentary Distributes Direct with BitTorrent + VODO + Cinema Purgatorio

by BitTorrent on January 31, 2011 in Other with 2 Comments

If you are a avid gamer, today is an excellent day.

Beyond the Game, the celebrated Warcraft III documentary about gaming legends in the throes of a competition of a lifetime, is now available for download free via BitTorrent!

More about the film may be found here: or check out the trailer:

We’re proud to partner with our friends at VODO and the team at Cinema Purgatorio, a leading film distribution company bringing films to movie theaters, discs, and downloads, to release the film. Beyond the Game is a festival-acclaimed but otherwise hard-to-find film from award winning Dutch documentary filmmaker Jos de Putter, which tracks a historic competition between cross-cultural gamers leading up to the 2008 Games in Seattle, WA.

As always, we encourage you to support BitTorrent artists.  These vanguard filmmakers are embracing the value of torrent technology and our community (that’s you!) to enable new, easy and open distribution models on the Internet. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Three easy ways to help:

  • - Donate! Need we say more? Even a little means a lot.
  • - Connect: Connect with filmmakers on Facebook and Twitter pages…if you liked Beyond the Game, you’ll love what’s coming soon.
  • - Share: Tell your friends, shout it from the rooftops. Email, IM, social networks…spread the word and help our partner artists get the recognition they deserve.

And if you haven’t already, check out our other Artist Spotlight film and album releases from the past few months! Download the torrents from our partners at VODO, or access the files directly in the App Studio found in your BiTorrent Mainline and uTorrent clients.

Enjoy Beyond the Game, and stay tuned…more Artist Spotlight releases coming soon. Check back often!

BitTorren…

by BitTorrent on January 28, 2011 in Other with No comments

Google recently disabled Autocomplete and Instant search features for our trademarked company and product names, including BitTorrent, µTorrent, and torrent.

We’ve heard a lot of speculation about this move and we feel it’s important for us to provide some perspective and clarity on this situation.

BitTorrent is a technology company that builds software and standards focused on doing good. We understand that some people may use some of our technologies in ways that represent a risk to certain copyright holders, but certainly no more so than other technologies such as web browsers, DVD/CD burning software, video/audio/image codecs, ISP’s, and more. Like all of these – BitTorrent technologies have fundamentally transformed the Internet and user behavior and they are widely used for perfectly legitimate purposes.

We must also point out that, in spite of historically being a large licensee of premium content, we do not currently operate any content sites, reflector sites or content servers of any kind.  We are a technology company – not a media company or web property.

Finally, it’s important to note that many of our technologies have created material improvements for ISP’s, content creators, and large corporations.

For example:

  • Apps: our new Apps platform enables independent content creators to publish their works and reach over 100 million global users for no cost whatsoever.
  • Artist Spotlight: our artist spotlight program has helped several artists gain exposure, distribution and revenue through channels never before available to them.
  • uTP: we created the micro-transfer protocol to mitigate traffic congestion on last mile, home and corporate networks.  This technology has been adopted by numerous companies building or using BitTorrent clients
  • DNA: our DNA offering is used as a CDN overlay to dramatically reduce bandwidth costs for numerous publishers.
  • BitTorrent Protocol: our native protocol was not only open-sourced by our founder, Bram Cohen, but is now used by numerous corporations around the world to efficiently distribute data for operating system upgrades, software and firmware updates, gaming environments, and more.

We respect Google, both in their right to operate their business as they see fit and as a company that has dealt with scrutiny for their success and technology innovations. While we don’t agree with Google’s current approach to omit our company and product names from their advanced search features, we do understand that they have a complex set of issues to navigate and it’s not an easy road.

However, rather than seeing them continue along their current trajectory, we would prefer to work with Google and other innovators to build technologies that help content creators and enable novel models for legitimate online content distribution.

We need Google and others to understand that BitTorrent is part of the solution – not a symptom of the problem.

Please send me your comments – the BitTorrent team and I value your feedback.

Thanks – Sha

Shahi Ghanem, Chief Strategist at BitTorrent Inc.

BitTorrent + ITRI = Devices Made Just for You

by BitTorrent on January 6, 2011 in Announcements with 5 Comments

This morning from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we are delighted to announce a formal partnership with Taiwan’s renowned Information Technology Research Institute (ITRI) (link to ITRI), one of the world’s leading high-tech research and development institutes, to define and deploy new standards for consumer electronics device manufacturers.

Together with ITRI, we will develop new specifications to standardize file playback – ensuring that your stuff will easily play on devices beyond your PC. Devices like your TV, DVD players, tablets, smartphones and more. Details on the ITRI partnership may be found in our press release.

What does this mean for you? We expect BitTorrent devices to be on the shelves in 2011!

In fall 2010 at NewTeeVee in San Francisco, we began sharing more about our vision for a complete technology ecosystem designed to simplify your digital lifestyle. The main elements are software, devices, apps and content. We’re currently designing and innovating in all areas to modernize your BitTorrent experience.

Beyond the device standards initiative announced today, changes include:

  • In software, we are focused on Project Chrysalis, a metamorphosis of features and style, with all the power of the BitTorrent you know and love.
  • In content, we’re working with artists to connect with our enthusiastic audience.

Stay tuned for many more announcements to come! Special thanks to our partners at ITRI, we’re looking forward to a fruitful 2011.

Shahi Ghanem, Chief Strategist

PS – If you’re a device manufacturer or member of the media and you would like a sneak peek of the new BitTorrent experience, please email rsvp@bittorrent.com and we’ll get back to you ASAP. Thanks!

Project Chrysalis Update

by smorris on January 6, 2011 in Announcements with 2 Comments

Last month, we announced Project Chrysalis, hinting at major changes to come with your BitTorrent Mainline client. At the time, all we were able to tell you was that it would be a metamorphosis of features and style, with all the power of the BitTorrent you know and love.

Today, I’m excited to share a few more details about what you can expect in the coming months, and even better, first screenshots!

First and most obviously, BitTorrent Mainline version 8 will feature a radically overhauled user interface, designed to simplify your experience and make BitTorrent easier than ever.

But this isn’t merely an aesthetic redesign. We’ve been listening closely to all of your feedback about how you use BitTorrent, and the features that you believe will enhance your experience.

For example, content you can download will be easily available through channels which will appear along the top of your client, making it especially fast to find new things to download. 

In the following preview screenshots, you’ll notice a few new capabilities. One is a series of stars next to each torrent. This means you’ll be able to easily rate torrents and comment on their file quality, thereby participating in the larger BitTorrent community.

Another new feature, is the ability to shift your content to other devices. With the ability to transcode files and burn to external media, you’ll be able to transfer downloaded content to TVs, tablets, smartphones, media players, DVDs, and USB drives etc.

Today we are also announcing a partnership with ITRI to define device standards. These new standards will make it easy for you to find devices that will make shifting content even easier.

We expect to release a beta build by the end of March, and will keep you informed along the way. Please leave feedback in the comments…we definitely want to know what you think…

Simon

100 Million and Growing!

by eklinker on January 3, 2011 in Announcements with 4 Comments

Today, we are excited to share a significant milestone for the BitTorrent team: 100 million active monthly users.

This number represents a combined total of all BitTorrent Mainline and µTorrent software clients, from people like you all around the world. On behalf of the BT team, thank you for being a part of our astounding growth!

Additional Statistics:

  • Average daily active users: Over 20 million
  • Average daily client downloads: Over 400,000
  • 52 languages (including English)
  • Clients checking in from over 220 countries every day

A complete press release is here.

This milestone is especially notable as we get ready to head to Las Vegas later this week for CES. In a private suite at the show, we will be previewing the new BitTorrent technology ecosystem, an orchestra of software, devices and content designed to simplify the digital lifestyle and connect content creators with our massive audience. If you are interested in dropping by, please email rsvp@bittorrent.com.

Stay tuned for more details, and thank you again. Happy New Year!