BitTorrent is an content distribution protocol that allows distribution through the internet of software and peer-to-peer sharing of large files like shows and movies. It does this by enabling users to serve as network redistribution points. The holder of the content sends it to one user who sends it to other users and they share the pieces of the download until everyone completes it. Because of this, the original server can serve many requests without using immense bandwidth. This is very efficient because it saves time; a full-length movie can arrive within a few hours and sound files within minutes.

We’ve covered SPAM here, a few posts back. Now we’re going to talk about the (anti) spam cocktail! It’s actually the use of many varying programs and technologies. By combining these components, it is then easier to identify and eliminate spam as an individual anti-spam program may be able to skip a certain spam. But with combine effort, it becomes more effective. It’s also the e-mail administrator who determine and create rules on how messages are to be handled.

Discussion boards, which can be called by many other names (good for it) such as discussion discussion forums, discussion groups, online forums, and message boards (whew), refers to online bulletin boards. It’s like a virtual cork board that millions of users (often sharing the same interests) can post announcements and opinions and get replies both negative and positive. One doesn’t have to post and just “lurk” or read the posts (unless stated otherwise in the forum rules) Or you can just read the board. Anyone can make a discussion board by availing of online forum services. There are various forum software available depending on the programming language used.

IBM announced today said that it had created code to secure mashups for businesses. Analysts say the technology will help companies merge data from websites or corporate systems to create rich Internet applications (RIAs) without the risk of exposing proprietary information.

“We’ve been working for quite a few years around Web 2.0 and mashups,” Rod Smith, a vice president with IBM, told CIO. “This technology will allow people to create a mashup without worrying that it will go phishing for personal data or financial information.”

At Microsoft’s Mix08 conference for web designers and developers earlier in March, the firm showed off its developments and coming attractions, including a new focus on standards in Internet Explorer and an update to its Silverlight platform for browser-based applications.

“The internet is reshaping and transforming Microsoft’s existing products and services,” said Microsoft’s chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, speaking at the conference. However, this is nothing new; Microsoft founder Bill Gates expressed similar sentiments in 1995, in a now-famous memo titled The Internet Tidal Wave.

More than a decade later, making sense of the web remains Microsoft’s biggest challenge. Ozzie’s keynote was too vague to be truly compelling, but Mix08 was nevertheless the launch platform for some significant new elements in Microsoft’s internet efforts.

Bullying not only occurs in playgrounds and schools but also in the internet as well. Cyberbullying is the use of information technology such as e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms to harass someone. This is rampant because a bully can hide his or her true identity and thus makes it difficult for someone to trace and reprimand them. This can include acts like threatening, insulting, racial and ethnic teasing, gay bashing, infecting user’s computers with viruses and flooding an email inbox with spam. You could deal this by limiting the times you are online, not opening e-mails from someone you don’t know, not responding to threats, changing email addresses and Internet Service Providers and tracing the source. You could also report it to the police if necessary.

A directory harvest attack is an action that involves seeking the valid e-mail addresses that are connected to an e-mail server and adding them to a spam database. Harvesting e-mail addresses can be done either by sending messages to different possible usernames which are generated by randomly combining letters and numbers. Another method is sending messages to likely usernames like initials followed by common surnames. If the e-mail account is invalid, the server will reply ‘not found’. However if a valid e-mail account receives the message, the message doesn’t return thus the DHA program retains the e-mail address for future spamming. Spam filters are internet applications that could counteract this; consider downloading them into your computer.

Curl began as a research project at MIT in the late 90s and was commercialized by Curl Incorporation that was then released by 2000. The latest version released is 6.0 which is available for Windows, Linux and Mac Clients. Any server can be used so there is no need for server side component. Curl has a simply accessible system that allows users with a variety of backgrounds to work at different levels of complexity as it provides varieties of features. The cree Curl plugin is in 10 MB in size but can be quickly installed by broadband users. Curl is available and free to use for non-commercial purposes and some of commercial uses. There is also a Pro version which offers extra enterprise class abilities. It supports software engineering of large and complex applications and it very efficient when it comes to amount of code needed in writing applications.

With 18 percent market share to 74 for IE by Net Application stats, Mozilla is surely a blast. And now, major websites just have to support FireFox. Apple’s safari which is available now in Windows too is third in rank with 6 percent share. Next contender is Opera saying that the browser is the single most significant piece of software made nowadays which badly needs innovation if you intend to extend the reach of the web. Having a lot of competitors and a richer web is surfacing, Microsoft knows the stakes are indeed high. And FireFox is becoming fiercer as it heightens its profile. There will be a Gran Paradiso, a 24-hour download record with FireFoz 3 set by Mozilla.