The license agreement is the part that most people ignore during an installation, but I tend to read them on principle.

Then I saw this.

Following last night’s post about the soon-to-be-released-in-a-few-hours Google Chrome browser, we’ve found screenshots of this exciting new software.

Here are some screenshots of Google’s own web browser software: Chrome, which is speculated to be released for Microsoft Windows XP/Vista today at 14:00 EST.

Google Chrome Screenshots [Google Blogoscoped]
A fresh take on the browser [Official Google Blog]
Google Chrome Comic Book [Google Books]
Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project [Google Blogoscoped]

When Firefox is blocked, it is an inconvenience. However, when Internet Explorer and all other major Web Browsers are blocked, it is a nightmare. Sometimes, public terminals and computers are designed to do just that, even with an Internet connection. Luckily, there is still a way to surf the web without using any major web browsers with a rather sly method: using the Microsoft Windows Help Menu. Here’s how to access the Internet without an actual web browser.

• First, open any common application such as notepad or calculator. These simple programs are most likely not blocked.
• Once opened, press F1 (Default Windows Help Shortcut) or Help -> Help Topics. Here, you will see the basic help menu.
• Afterwards, right click on the title bar and choose “Jump to URL…” from the drop-down menu.
• Finally, a Jump to This URL window will come up, allowing you to type in any URL to go to.

Firefox 3, code named Gran Paradiso, has now released its first BETA, not ALPHA versions. This testing browser is available cross-platform for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. New features include:

• Plug-in manager for applications such as web based flash and media players
• Places Organizer updates the Bookmark
• Better Phishing alerts
• Stars to help you determine and organize websites, similar to Googl-like stars
• The Bookmarks are directly in sync with the Stars
• Better, tweaked Notification
• Customize the default action of certain application links
• Saved Places allows quick views of recent events

And etcetera etc…

However, remember, this is a BETA version. Although it is a bit more stable than the previous ALPHA versions of Firefox 3 Gran Paradiso, it still tends to be cranky. Therefore, don’t be surprised if Gran Paradiso is unstable or randomly crashes/freezes.

Download Page: Firefox All-BETA [Mozilla Firefox]

There are plenty of great BitTorrent directory sites and search engines. Among theme are the popular Mininova, Demonoid, Pirate Bay, TorrentSpy (once great but now sucks because it doesn’t allow U.S. based searches anymore), and plenty of other websites. However, non matches ScrapeTorrent, a torrent search engine that searches on all the directories of the most popular BitTorrent websites.
Quote from ScrapeTorrent.com:

ScrapeTorrent combines torrent search results from the top bittorrent index sites into a single page of results. You can sort search results by name, date, seed count, category, and file size.

ScrapeTorrent inherently removes the need to move from one torrent site to another while searching for a specific file. It is a great BitTorrent search optimizer. In addition, it allows for personal preferences, filters and organization of results.

These are the current Torrent sites covered by ScrapeTorrent: TorrentSpy, IsoHunt, PirateBay, TorrentReactor, SeedPeer, MiniNova, Demonoid, TorrentPortal, BTJunkie, and FullDls. It is most likely that the number of included sites will increase in the future.

Link: ScrapeTorrent.com [ScrapeTorrent]