In Depth: Best torrent client: 8 we recommend

In Depth: Best torrent client: 8 we recommend

It may only be 12 years old, but BitTorrent has already become a hugely popular technology, an efficient peer-to-peer file sharing protocol which makes it quick and easy to distribute files across the internet.

There's been considerable controversy along the way. Torrents are often used to share copyrighted material, for instance, while others see them as a great way to spread viruses.

The technology has many legitimate applications, though. You might use torrents to, say, fetch a massive Linux distribution, grab a file from Amazon's S3 storage, or access more than a million files at the Internet Archive, faster and more reliably than with a conventional HTTP download.

There's only one problem: most browsers won't download torrents native ly, so you'll need a specialist torrent client to help. Which one? Keep reading for eight of the best torrent clients around.

1. uTorrent

Despite being compact and extremely lightweight, uTorrent still comes packed with support for all the standards you'll need (DHT, SSL, SSL, UDP, protocol encryption, UPnP and more), along with plenty of extras (RSS feed reading, and a Boss key to hide the program quickly).

None of this power gets in your way, though. Various tweaks and advanced options are on offer if you need them, but if you prefer a simple life then the default settings are generally fine, and simply clicking a torrent link is usually enough to download it.

While this mix of power and simplicity has helped to make uTorrent the most popular torrent tool around, ads and bundled adware have also earned it plenty of criticism. The program makes multiple attempts to install toolbars and other unnecessary extras during setup, for instance: pay close attention during installation if you want to avoid this.

2. qBittorrent

QBittorrent is a capable tool which aims to provide a free, open source alternative to uTorrent. For the most part it does very well, too, and provides builds which can run on Windows, Linux, Mac and more.

The program is relatively lightweight and straightforward, a well-designed interface making it easy to find your way around. The built-in search engine helps find you what you need, a click or two will start the download, and a few minutes of exploring the program tabs and right- clicking various items will get you up to speed with the basics.

You don't always get the extras available elsewhere; there's no mass of scrolling graphs to highlight current download performance, for instance. QBittorrent delivers the core functionality you need, though, and more (DHT, PeX, encryption, UPnP, RSS reading, IP filtering, torrent creation), and it's a great choice for more experienced torrent users.

3. MediaGet

There's a lot of jargon surrounding torrents, but if the regular clients seem a little intimidating then you do have alternatives. MediaGet, for instance, focuses so much on its integrated search engine that initially at least you may not realise it's a torrent client at all: it's all very simple and straightforward.

This can't last for long, of cour se, and once you're downloading the program presents a more familiar screen, with tracker details, peer lists, your file status and more. You can access a few more advanced features, too, setting upload and download speed limits or creating new torrents of your own.

MediaGet is really about ease of use, though, so even its "detailed" screen can be hidden, if you'd prefer. All you'll then see is the basic download status, no more complex than a browser, before you get to view or play the file once it's arrived.

On balance you'll probably be better off taking a few minutes to learn a more advanced client, but if you're simply not interested then MediaGet could be a very acceptable alternative.

4. BitTorrent Free

Should BitTorrent Free be in this list? It's certainly a capable torrent client, lightweight, fast, easy to use, with convenient features like the ability to play media files bef ore they're fully downloaded.

It's hard to get too excited about any of this, though, because essentially it's just a rebranded version of uTorrent. The same code, from the same team, just with a different colour scheme.

If you're trying out torrent clients, then, make sure you choose one or the other, rather than both. And again, pay close attention during the installation process, because by default this will install plenty of software which you don't really need.

5. Vuze

While most torrent clients concentrate simply on finding and downloading files just as quickly as they can, Vuze (the program formerly known as Azureus) is a little more ambitious.

You can play HD video, for instance, and integrate the program with iTunes. A host of plugins allow you to add all kinds of advanced features, from scheduling tools to RSS feed readers and generators, all kinds of remote control options, even a Sudoku game. Pay £19.90 a year for Vuze Plus and you can even get antivirus and DVD burning (as well as the removal of all ads).

This does help to make Vuze one of the more heavyweight torrent clients, of course, even if you do manage to avoid the unnecessary software it wants to install during setup. But if you like the extensibility its plugin system provides than Vuze could be very appealing.

6. Opera

If you'll only download torrents very occasionally, then you may not have to install a specialist torrent client at all. The Opera browser has built-in torrent support, and treats the files just like any other download: click a link, choose an o ption or two, and you can watch its progress in the Downloads manager.

This won't necessarily be the best solution. You may still have to navigate some technical terms (the first Preferences dialog lets you choose the "Incoming listen port", for instance). And you won't get the advanced features and optimisations available in specialist torrent clients, which means your files may take a lot longer to arrive.

If you're interested in performance, then, or want to make use of torrents on a regular basis, then we'd look elsewhere. But if you value simplicity above all else then Opera is ideal.

7. Transmission-Qt Win

As an open source torrent client, you can be sure that Transmission won't inflict toolbars, ads or other irritations on you. The program does hav e plenty of advanced features - magnet links, DHT, encryption, UPnP port forwarding and a whole lot more - but it still manages to be one of the most lightweight and efficient torrent tools around.

PC users will quickly notice one rather significant problem, though: the developers have focused on Mac and Linux builds, and there isn't a standard Windows version available.

Of course the other advantage of open source projects is anyone can take the code and reuse it, and fortunately that's happened here.

The core Transmission code has been rebuilt for Windows under the name Transmission-Qt Win, and while the interface is a little basic when compared with some of the competition, if you're familiar with torrent technology then you should have no real problems at all.

8. Tixati

If you're tired of the adware so often bundled with other torrent clients, then Tixati will come as a refreshing change. Installation is fast and easy, no unwanted extras or endless "Decline" buttons to hit: it's just all very straightforward, more about helping you than making money for its developers.

The program itself is smartly designed. There are plenty of advanced features - PEX, DHT and Magnet Link support, RC4 encryption, scheduling, RSS - but it's not overly complex.

Pop-up alerts explain how and why to set up items like bandwidth throttling, for instance, system resource use is minimal, and clean and clear displays keep you in touch with all your downloads.

Factor in its excellent performance, too, and Tixati a great choice for torrent beginners and old hands alike.

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In Depth: The future of AMD: consoles, tablets and hybrids

In Depth: The future of AMD: consoles, tablets and hybrids

The traditional PC market is shifting. You've only got to look at the huge growth in Android devices to see that. The huge rise in ARM-powered computing devices has certainly been a shock to the system for processor giant Intel and even more so for its traditional x86 competitor AMD.

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Kevin Lensing, AMD's head of mobility, was fairly honest in his assessment of the market at a recent AMD event attended by TechRadar. "Going back to 2000, you could look at the chart and point to 15% growth in the marketplace [every year]. It was always there and we put new products in the market that were better every year," he says.

Getting left behind

AMD's success story "levelled off" in 2010 and then, as Lensing says, "we really started to decline. There was a lot of head-scratching." Predictably, he blames tablets for the decline rather than AMD's own issues, such as performance problems and Intel's giant share of the laptop market.

"It's not particularly difficult to understand when you [factor in] iOS and Android. The tablet space really has taken over the innovation pipeline.

"That 15% growth is still there, but it's [about other devices] now. So the question is what the PC ecosystem is going to do about it. I think there's an opportunity and AMD is in a unique position to change this direction."

Lensing says that the old ecosystem was about big screens, x86 performance and getting things done while newer, tablet-based ecosystems are focused on smaller screens and interactivity. The new way is about experiences and how things look and feel. And communication, once a small facet of what a PC can do, is at the heart of most devices now.

Lensing feels that AMD - along with the traditional PC industry as a whole - needs to move on, knuckle down and get a share of the market: "We need better screens and software that doesn't slow you down," he says, also making the point that low power tablets can't always provide the performance that people want.

The potential for AMD

Interestingly, Lensing says that tablets have "lost their ability" to innovate in graphics - though it's questionable if tablets ever had that ability in the first place. And then there's compute p ower. "They're coming up from the bottom [in terms of performance per watt] as Windows devices are coming down the power curve. The interesting thing is they're about to meet in the middle. And that's where the real opportunity is for us."

Lensing believes that while the app models are there for iOS and Android, the hardware still has a long way to go to be able to compete with the PC at the top level. And that leaves the door open for power efficient but performance-centric x86 silicon in tablet form factors.

The changing market

While Lensing is keen for AMD move on, it's Dr Lisa Su's job to make it happen. She is head of AMD's global business units and argues convincingly that the organisation is evolving. "We're reshaping the company," she says.

"You always knew AMD as a CPU company and that's what we were. But look at how the world is changing, PC market is changing, how the applications are changing, how OEMs are changing. We've really looked at what we want to be in five years."

Su says that AMD wants to build on the success of its tailored solutions division - in essence it wants to take advantage of the opportunity presented by consoles, not least its involvement in both the Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. "We really want to be the leading designer and integrator of tailored solutions," she says.

"We really believe [custom solutions are] a huge growth market for us in the future. Why is that? Because every OEM is looking for a way to differentiate. Using standard components it's hard to differentiate. The PlayStation 4 uses AMD's APU with eight Jaguar cores, over 1.8 TFLOPS of next-gen Radeon graphics - bringing together the PC ecosystem and the gaming e cosystem."

A key part of AMD's strategy is that APUs are the future. "This is something that's very clear," says Su. "We've been talking about the APU for a couple of years, but it's still very new and it's an important architecture, the bringing together of the CPU and GPU. This is our third generation, Llano, Trinity and now Richland. If you look at where the competition is going, they have taken some of our concepts, but our commitment to the integration of processor and graphics is number one in the industry."

Su is honest when she says not everyone shares AMD's optimism over consoles: "I would say that I love this business for a couple of reasons. First, high volume, over 100 million units - t hat's a very nice market. Second, it's absolutely playing into our sweet spot - we've said APUs are the centre of our universe.

"This is an application that's taken an APU architecture and tailored it for this application. A third point is that it really allows us to bring applications to a different level. Before we had developers developing for the PC ecosystem and the gaming ecosystem.

"They were architecturally different, so EA or any other developer had to split their resources over both ecosystems."

AMD says that by bringing those architectures closer together - although they're not the same, they are similar - it enables the company to develop the next generation of its Radeon graphics.

Lensing was obviously keen to promote AMD's now-released ultra-low power quad-core platfo rm for tablets and small touchscreen Windows 8 laptops named Temash. The dual and quad-core chips are designed to slot in above Intel's Clover Trail Atom platform in performance terms. AMD is aiming them squarely at Windows 8 tablet and hybrid devices where they'll be branded as the AMD A4 and AMD A6.

But AMD's problem, as ever, is getting manufacturers to take its hardware given the golden handcuff agreements many manufactur ers have with Intel. Yet Lensing is bullish. "We've sold over 50 million [previous generation] Brazos chips. We're very confident we're going to be doing the same with Kabini. We took a product that people thought would compete with Atom, but we took it up against the low end of the mainstream market."

Growth segments

Su does sound a note that the old AMD hasn't gone away. "The PC business does have high-growth segments and [the market is] still shipping over 300 million units a year," she says.

"It's a good business, but it's facing some challenges. In graphics we have undiputed graphics leadership and it goes through all our [products] - it's very key for us to have that. We see a lot of growth in the server market and AMD is in a unique position to offer both x86 and ARM serve r form factors."

But Su is certain that AMD's reliance on traditional computing will decline. "Traditional computing is always going to be a part of AMD's business, but our technology can go further. And that's really where we're focusing on AMD over the next couple of years. Today more than 80% of our business is the PC business but by the end of 2013 embedded and semi-custom will be 20% of our business."

Adobe to sell single apps from Creative Cloud

Adobe to sell single apps from Creative Cloud

Adobe has made single applications available from its Creative Cloud under a new plan with a less expensive monthly membership.

From August 15 software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver can now be accessed on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis at a suggested retail price of £14.29 per user per month, although it is available only through resellers that may have their own pricing plans.

With the price for the whole package, which includes 14 applications, at £22.23 per user per month, the deal will only be attractive for users wanting just one from the basket, but this could appeal to those who have previously installed the software on their PCs.

Storage and showcase

The single app package also incl udes 20GB of storage and the ability to showcase work on Adobe's Behance platform. Customers will also receive updates to the apps.

Adobe has shifting the emphasis to selling its software as a range of cloud services. In May it announced that it was dropping further development of its on-premise Creative Suite in favour of Creative Cloud â€" a move that created plenty of controversy â€" and in June it added new features to the latter.

Handels shows off PC 'thinner than a book'

Handels shows off PC 'thinner than a book'

German computer maker Handels has launched a PC measuring 39mm thick aimed at professional users who control industrial equipment and applications.

The Shuttle DS47 measures 20 x 16.5 x 3.95cm (DWH) - described by the company as "thinner than a book" - and packs in a motherboard with a soldered 1.10GHz dual core Intel Celeron 847 processor, 2.5-inch HDD or SSD with SATA 6 Gbit, up to 16GB DDR3 memory and a full-size mini PCI card. At the front of the machine is an SD card reader.

Connectivity options include 802.11n Wi-Fi and two Gigabit Ethernet connections. Additionally, the fanless model has no moving parts, sports HDMI, DVI-out with a dual display function, two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, integrated HD graphics and internal audio.

Th e model, which can be laid down flat, stood vertical with a stand or wall mounted, has holes that can be used with a Kensington lock to secure the machine.

Handels is also pointing to the DS47's energy efficiency traits, consuming around 10 Watts in idle mode and 22 Watts under load, which is powered by an external 65 Watts power supply.

The Shuttled DS47 is available now for €184 (around £160).

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Hands-on review: Panasonic GX7

Hands-on review: Panasonic GX7

The Panasonic Lumix GX1 was announced back in November 2011, so an upgrade seems well overdue. But according to Barney Sykes, Panasonic UK's product manager, the company wanted to give users a significant step up, and consequently we've had to wait until now for the Panasonic Lumix GX7.

Although the Panasonic GX7 has the same pixel count as the GX1 and Panasonic's other recent compact system cameras, the 16MP sensor is new and not the same as the one in the Panasonic G6, Panasonic GF6 or Panasonic GH3.

Although it's not back-illuminated, we are told that there's less circuitry on the sensor, which means that there's more space available for the photodiodes and micro lenses, so they're bigger than before. Bigger micro lenses and diodes enable more light to be captured, and this means that the Panasonic GX7's sensor produces a stronger image signal and wider dynamic range images with less noise than previous models.

Panasonic also claims that there's less noise produced by the signal transistors and in the signal transfer process. In addition, the Panasonic GX7 has a new Venus Engine image processor, which enables multi-process noise reduction.

All these facto rs combine to give the Panasonic Lumix GX7 a 1/2-2/3stop improvement in noise performance in comparison with the G6. Panasonic also claims that video detail resolution is improved.

The Panasonic GX7 body-only price is £819 (around US$ 1,255 / AU$ 1,365), while it will cost £899 with the standard 14-42mm lens included. A kit with a 20mm f/1.7 lens will also be available for £999 (around US$ 1,530 / AU$ 1,665).

Features

Although the new sensor should improve image quality, the Panasonic GX7 makes a couple of upgrades to the Panasonic GX1 that may outshine it for some users. The most significant of these for many photographers is likely to be the addition of an electronic viewfinder.

This 2.76 million dot device is built into the new camera, but it can be tilted up through 180 degrees to enable you to view scenes more easily from above when shooting at low angles. According to Panasonic this EVF's colour reproduction is a close match for the Adobe RGB colour space.

Panasonic has also upgraded the main LCD screen to a 1,040,000-dot unit mounted on a tilting bracket. As before, this is a touch-sensitive device, but it's the more responsive electrostatic type.

Helpfully, a sensor next to the viewfinder detects when the camera is held to the eye and switches off the main screen automatically while activating the EVF. When Eye Sensor AF is activated, the camera starts auto focusing when you look into the finder.

Panasonic has put a lot of effort into improving the autofocus performance of its CSCs, an d the Panasonic GX7 reaps the full reward of this with an AF system that is claimed to operate in -4EV (what Panasonic refers to as star light) and has a response time of 0.06 seconds.

As before, there are five AF options; Face Detection, AF Tracking, 23-Area, 1-Area and Pinpoint. However, in Pinpoint mode the Panasonic GX7 shows the enlarged view (from 3x to 10x magnification is available) as a picture-in-picture so you can still see the whole scene, as well as a magnified view of the area around the focus point for easier composition. There's also a picture-in-picture magnification option in manual focus mode for the same reason.

Focus Peaking display is also available on the GX7 and this shows the location of the peak of focus in MF and AF+MF mode. The detection level can be set to 'High' or 'Low' and the colour can be selected to stand out from the shooting environment. In 'High' light blue, yellow or green are available and in 'Low' blue, orange or white ca n be selected.

Thanks to the new processing engine, the Panasonic GX7 can shoot continuously at up to 4.2fps in continuous AF mode. There's also a top shutter speed of 1/8000sec (like the Olympus E-P5), which should prove useful when using lenses such as Panasonic's Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 II ASPH wide open.

In a break from the norm for Panasonic, the GX7 has in-camera stabilisation. This will activate automatically when non-stabilised optics such as Leica's M lenses are used - which can be mounted via an adaptor - but it's deactivated when Panasonic's OIS lenses are mounted.

To ensure the correct level of correction is applied the photographer can enter a non-stabilised lens's focal length from 8mm to 1000mm.

As we have come to expect, the Pan asonic GX7 has a collection of Creative Control filter effects available. Although these can be used when shooting raw and JPEG images, it's not possible to retain control over aperture and shutter speed.

Yellow, brown, red and green filter effects can be used to manipulate contrast when shooting with the Monochrome option, and the image tone can be adjusted across the blue-yellow axis. There's also a Rough Monochrome option that adds granular noise, and a Silky Monochrome option that softens the image.

Like Panasonic's other recent CSCs, the Panasonic GX7 has Creative Panorama mode, which enables panoramic images to be captured while using the Creative Control filter effects.

Interestingly, there's a new option to adjust image contrast prior to capture by manipulating a contrast curve. This can be done by dragging the curve with a finger on-screen or using the physical controls, or by using a preset curve.

Like the Panasonic GF6 and Panasonic G6, th e Panasonic GX7 has Clear Retouch feature, which enables objects to be cloned out of images in-camera. There's also a stop motion animation mode for creating short movies from a sequence of stills.

Time Lapse Shot and Stop Motion Animation mode are also available.

While Panasonic has improved the GX7's video capability with the addition of a 50p option and focus peaking (also available for stills), there's no external mic port.

In keeping with Panasonic's other recent compact system cameras, the Panasonic GX7 has Wi-Fi communication and NFC (Near Field Communication) connectivity built-in. NFC enables the camera to connect quickly w ith other NFC-enabled devices such as Android smartphones and tablets, while the Wi-Fi communication makes wireless control of the camera and image transfer possible via an app.

Build quality and handling

Although it has a tilting electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a tilting LCD, the Panasonic GX7 is only a little bigger than the Panasonic GX1 that it replaces. It still has the same flat top and rectangular shape, but the EVF sticks out a little from the back of the camera, making it marginally less pocketable.

The camera has a magnesium alloy body, which gives it a solid, high-quality feel. There's also a decent-sized grip that provides a comfortable hold.

Despite the presence of a touchscreen, the Panasonic GX7 has the full complement of physical buttons and controls. These feel well made and responsive. Having a mode dial on the top-plate makes it possible to switch quickly between shooting modes, which include all the enthusiasts' favourites (apert ure priority, shutter priority and manual) as well as a collection of scene modes and Creative Control options.

The touchscreen also responds quickly to a light touch, but we will need to use the camera outside in bright conditions before we can pass judgement upon its performance.

We have only used a pre-production sample of the Panasonic GX7 for a relatively short time, but the electronic viewfinder seems impressive, providing a nice clear image with plenty of detail and good colour. It should be especially useful when shooting in bright light or trying to follow a moving subject.

Performance

So far we have only been able to use a pre-production sample of the Panasonic GX7, but the early signs are very good. The sample photos that we have seen indic ate that it can capture an impressive level of detail, and we are looking forward to shooting with a full production sample to investigate Panasonic's claims for image quality.

Panasonic's recent AF system found in the GF6 and G6 has impressed us with its speed and accuracy, so we have high hopes for the Panasonic GX7's ability to shoot moving subjects. We will need to use the camera in a wide range of conditions before we can draw any firm conclusions, but the Panasonic GX7's AF system appears to function well even in very low light that would challenge the average DSLR.

We have found the metering and white balance systems in Panasonic's compact system cameras to be very capable, and we have no reason to doubt that the Panasonic GX7 will prove just as capable, but we will test it fully to be sure.

Early verdict

Our initial impression of the Panasonic GX7 is very good. It seems like a very nicely constructed camera that should meet the needs of experienced photographers looking for a small camera that accepts interchangeable lenses and enables plenty of control.

The changes that Panasonic has made to the 16MP sensor are also very promising, but naturally we need to put the Panasonic GX7 through our full suite of lab and real world tests before we can give a definitive verdict on its capability.

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