BitTorrent: Project Chrysalis Beta with New Social Feature

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 16 May 2011

A couple of months back BitTorrent, the company that develops and maintains the BitTorrent protocol as well as the BitTorrent and the uTorrent software applications, announced that it is working on a very user-friendly BitTorrent client codenamed Project Chrysalis and that an early BitTorrent 8.0 Alpha build is available for download.

BitTorrent said at the time that the goal with Project Chrysalis is to come up with a client that makes "downloading torrents easier, intuitive and more streamlined, while retaining all of the power and sophistication you currently enjoy at the core."

A few days ago BitTorrent announced that Project Chrysalis has moved from alpha to Beta; the first Beta version of BitTorrent 8.0 codename Project Chrysalis has been released and is available for download here. Before you go get the Beta, I have to issue the mandatory Beta warnings: the client may crash, may not work properly, may ruin your day; get it only if you know what Beta testing is all about.

If you do get it, you will be able to test a new social feature BitTorrent 8.0 Beta has to offer – personal content channels. Thanks to this new social feature you can easily send large files to friends and family, from within the BitTorrent client.

“Until recently, most of your personal files were small enough to email or post to social networks. Now, it’s really easy to shoot HD video with your smartphone or snap high-res photos from a digital SLR. What happens to these giant files? They sit orphaned on your computer, or over-edited to make them small enough to share,” said Eric Klinker, chief executive officer at BitTorrent. “BitTorrent removes the size barrier and makes it simple for you to openly share your creations.”

After creating a social channel by clicking the arrow link in the upper right corner of the top carousel bar, you can add the files you want to share to that channel. The BitTorrent client will automatically create a customizable channel and display an editable channel icon in the top bar of the user interface. You can then invite others to join that channel and download the files you want to share. You can invite them via email, via Twitter or Facebook, or you can generate a short link others can click to join the channel.

As mentioned above, the channel is customizable. You can for example create a graphic icon that will appear in your channel bar, or you can post comments for channel members to see and reply to.

“BitTorrent’s distributed technology was built to accelerate the transfer of large files,” said protocol inventor and BitTorrent Chief Scientist Bram Cohen. “Personal content channels are an ideal use case given the asymmetric nature of bandwidth and the costs of file hosting. The more friends you add to a channel, the faster your files will download. This is an emerging market and we’re excited to see the technology solve modern Internet challenges.”

If you have any problems using personal content channels, BitTorrent has put together a nice FAQ here.
Additional info on Project Chrysalis is availalble here .

BitTorrent 8.0 Beta comes with a few other changes: advanced torrent management capabilities, a redesigned and simplified user interface, and an App Studio that features artist-endorsed spotlight films and music.


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