Author: Swadesh Parasher

Top 10 most fascinating Mass Effect Characters

The Gaming era has witnessed new gameplay when Mass effect was initially released back in 2007. It is the game with new concept and visuals, which changed the posibilities guidelines in the field.

Millions of gamers just love mass effects and how it is knitted along with the plot on which it has been released in series. Now that we are about to experience the ME3 very soon and most of us have white washed our gears to play the best of it, let us re-list the characters which actually facinates us.

Mass Effect 3 was released March 6, 2012 in North America, and will be released on March 8, 2012 in Australia and Switzerland, and March 9, 2012 in Europe.

Here are the list of top 10 Mass Effect Characters, which fascinates us (click on image to enlarge):

1. The Illusive Man:

The Illusive Man claims that everything he does is for the benefit of humanity. However, his rocky past consisting of kidnapping, torturing, and unethically experimenting on humans seems to refute his great intentions. Behind each of The Illusive Man’s operations, there is a bigger picture that nobody but him can see. He always has an ace up his sleeve, which inevitably leads to another conspiracy. The Illusive Man is one of the more perplexing characters in the Mass Effect universe and we can’t wait to find out more about him in the final chapter of the trilogy.

2. Thane Krios:

Thane is a deeply religious Drell and this strongly contrasts with his career choice as a professional hitman. Thane has tried to convince himself that living life as an assassin is not a sin, because he believes the body and the soul are two separate entities. However, the Drell species’ ability to relive memories in perfect detail constantly reminds Thane of his acts of violence causing him to sort through much hardship. Thane also contradicts himself when he learns his son is following in his footsteps. Thane is completely against this, hinting that the Drell father is ashamed of his work as well. Thane is a wonderfully interesting character, earning him the No. 2 spot on our list.

3. Grunt:

Grunt is a particularly interesting character, because of all the ethical dilemmas surrounding his creation. Grunt essentially shares the same creation story as Miranda, since both characters were born as genetically engineered elite members of the species. Grunt is different though, as he was created to be a natural warrior and constantly has the driving force to kill something. Grunt struggles with calming this drive to kill, because he knows it is wrong and he knows it is unnatural. At the same time, Grunt also deals with identity issues.

4. Commander Shepard:

Nothing is more exciting than making a decision, while assuming the role of Commander Shepard. Sure, shooting your way through a space station is awesome, and nothing takes away from using biotics to lift and throw your enemies. But when it comes down to it, making a story-altering decision with unknown consequences is the reason why we love being Commander Shepard. Would Shepard kill the Rachni Queen? Would Shepard save the Collector base? Would Shepard save the Council? That depends on who the player behind the Shepard is, and that is what makes the Commander such a great character.

5. Shadow Broker:

Seated at the top of the biggest organized crime racket, the Shadow Broker is a natural and unbiased capitalist, selling information to the highest bidder. The Shadow Broker doesn’t care who his buyer is, nor does he care about what he is selling them or what the consequences might be for doing so. During the “Lair of the Shadow Broker” DLC, the Shadow Broker’s identity is revealed. The Shadow Broker was a member of the Yahg race, a species deemed too dangerous and power-hungry by the Citadel Council. Once an agent for the previous Shadow Broker, this Yahg killed him and resumed the role for another six decades.

6. Jack: Jack has the most depressing back-story of anybody in the Mass Effect universe. Kidnapped by Cerberus at age 4, the human terrorist organization experimented on her daily. Jack was locked in a cell and made to believe that the only world outside of her cell was what she could see from a small window. Unbeknownst to Jack, this window was actually a one-way mirror used to observe her. Commander Shepard recruited Jack, although any true emotional connection seems to be impossible. There has been too much deceit and pain in her life to trust somebody ever again.

7. Captain Kirrahe:

Captain Kirrahe had, without a doubt, the single best speech in the original Mass Effect script. For some reason, the writers of Mass Effect decided to ignore the main cast of characters and give this amazing monologue to a character the player had only just briefly met. Regardless, what a great first impression. Kirrahe’s speech to a less-than-confident squad on Virmire is enough to raise the hair on your arms. “Our influence stopped the Rachni, but before that we held the line! Our influence stopped the Krogan, but before that we held the line! Our influence will stop Saren. In battle today, we will hold the line!”

8. Mordin:

Mordin is a great character because of his interesting set of morals alongside a unique way of communicating. Salarians only have an average lifespan of 40 years, so everything they say is fast and everything they say has a purpose. The Salarians are also very interested in technology and the advancement of their species, which explains why Mordin’s philosophy is logic and statistics and less about emotions and feelings. “ Mordin and his fellow Salarian scientists decided to create the Genophage, because they felt the Krogan Rebellions put the galaxy in jeopardy. They decided in order to preserve the natural balance of things, the Krogans must be eliminated, which lead to the Genophage.

9. Wrex:

Wrex, an infamous Krogan Battlemaster, leaves a trail of destruction where ever he goes. Wrex is a beloved character because no matter the person, he’ll always find a flaw that justifies killing them. In this way, he is as blackly humorous as he is interesting. His first solution to every problem seems to be focused around violence and given everybody else’s diplomatic attitudes in the first Mass Effect, this was sorely needed. It was also great to see him calm down in Mass Effect 2 and begin preparations to save his species. A focus on breeding is emphasized in his community in order to combat the Genophage and restore the Krogan population. That is, if you didn’t shoot him.

10. Captain David Anderson: The David Palmer of the Mass Effect universe, Captain David Anderson is the voice of reason in the face of dire circumstances. Not afraid to state his opinion, Anderson argues for the continued investigation of the Reapers, while always presenting his case for the equal treatment of humanity. Captain Anderson is respected by everybody and his commitment to saving human lives surpasses his own need to survive. It is these admirable traits that earned Captain Anderson a spot on our list.

[viaplanetxbox360]

March 10, 2012
[How to] Enable “Do Not Track” on Mozilla Firefox

The moment you connect to the Internet, your information is no more in safe hands. Everything you do on internet is being tracked via multiple websites and third party apps.

There is nothing much you can do to stop such events to occur and stop other websites to track your behaviour over the Internet.

Mozilla Firefox is the first web browser, which allows it’s users to enable a “Do not Track” Feature back in March 2011, which minimizes the occurrences of users identity tracking. Many other web browsers joined Mozilla, and now provides the option to enable do not track feature for it’s users.

Google announced recently that they will support “Do Not Track” on their native browser “Google Chrome”.

Here are the simple steps which can help you to enable it in Mozilla Firefox:

Instructions:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox

2. click on Firefox on the top left corner of the window and then click on options.

3. Click on Privacy button and then Click on checkbox which reads “Tell browsers I do not want to be tracked”

4. Click OK

Requirements:

1. Ability to follow simple instructions

2. Mozilla Firefox should be installed on your computer.

Watch this video if you still have doubts:

February 25, 2012
[How to] Wipe Google Search activity history from your account
Google’s new Privacy Policy, allows them to collect the information from your account with your legal consent. Your search results lets Google bots determine your interests and serve the contents accordingly, which includes and not limited to all the services provided by Google. Google’s privacy Policy is somewhat controversial and there is less privacy.

It is found that even if you delete the “web history” from your Google account, Google doesn’t stop storing information collected by it’s bots for internal usage and to improve users experience. So no matter what you do, you cannot stop Google from determining who you are, what you like, where do you live, your sexual orientation, religion and other sensitive information about you.

We don’t know whether the steps mentioned below will help you delete all the information collected by google prior to the new Google’s Privacy Policy, but you can have a shot, Just follow the steps:

Instructions:
1. Sign into your Google Account
1. Go to https://www.google.com/history
1. Click on 3 dots on the top-right side of the page to reveal the options > Select “delete options” from the drop down list.
1. In the pop-up window, select radio button next to the “advanced” option > select “All time” when asked to select date, and click on “delete”.
Requirements :
- Internet Connection
- A Google Account
- Ability to follow simple instructions
Note: Disabling Web History in your Google account will not prevent Google from collecting and storing this information and using it for internal purposes. It also does not change the fact that any information collected and stored by Google could be sought by law enforcement.

With Web History enabled, Google will keep these records indefinitely; with it disabled, they will be partially anonymized after 18 months, and certain kinds of uses, including sending you customized search results, will be prevented.
February 23, 2012
[How to] Some common pratices to Keep your Laptop healthy
You love your Gadgets and so does your gadgets in return, by providing the best platform they can. Every Gadget you use does their job, what they are best at and it is your responsibility to keep them healthy.

Laptops are more delicate objects which performs jobs which are impossible without them. You get most of your work done by it and it never complains, except in some situation where you are the only one “guilty”. You have to take care of it at all situations and not to act lazy.

Here are some common pratices you can adapt to take care of your Laptop (or any other similar Gadget):
- Keep it clean: When you get your new gadget you keep it as if it’s a “King of the world” and after few months it’s your “servant”? You have to change this attitude. Your gadget is your property and it is your responsibility to keep it clean. Always clean your gadgets twice a month for longer life span, cleaner you keep it longer it will be available for you and do your dirty jobs done. Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.
- Do not use improper sanitation: ok, i am getting little into vacubular disaster, but you have to understand how delicate your gadgets are. They seem tough from outside but are never from inside. Never use manufactured detergents or any other similar household cleaner which contains acetone, ammonia, or alcohol, it can ruin the beautiful coating on your laptop or any other gadget.
- React to the accidents immediately: You dropped your laptop, spilled water on it, bumped it on the desk or it is just banged against the wall, always react to such situations immediately. When you bump your laptop on the floor or spilled water on it, immediately remove the battery and check if anything damaged from the outside or clean the water immediately and make it dry (using your hair dryer or just the natural sunlight will do). Never act lazy. Some people suggests that you can place your laptop in a bag of rice, which helps soaking the water.
- Never leave your laptop unattended for longer: You don’t use your laptop at regular intervals, well that could be the problem, specially when you live at someplace where climate is not stable (sudden temprature drops or environment change). Never leave your laptop in too cold or too hot situation, it might crash your harddisk. Yes you heard it right. Your hard drive can expand and fail in the heat and freeze in the cold if left unattended. Just like liquid, heat, cold, and your laptop are not good bedfellows. Not only do hot and freezing temps suck the life out of your battery, but they also cause damage to your internal components.
- Always use Shutdown button: Some people just put their laptop on hibernation or standby mode. Well these options can come handy at some situations when you are in a hurry, but making it a habbit isn’t a good step for your laptop. Always use proper “Shut Down” process after work, which can help protect your internal delicate components.
- Use Anti-Virus: Some people thinks if they are not using the internet or are just so careful they won’t need an Anti-virus to protect their laptop or computers. Well, this assumption is totally wrong. You must have a gatekeeper to protect your castle, it is not like your home where you live. Your computer stores sensitive data and some personal stuffs which you won’t like the world to see. For such purpose their must be a proper Anti-virus installed on your computer or laptop (DigitFreak suggests “Kaspersky Internet security 2012”). Some virus or malwares are capable of destroying your hard disk or other internal componetns, so better protect it.
- Defrag regularly: The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery. Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.
- Dim your screen: Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen. Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.
- Protect your investment: If you’re going to be lugging a laptop around, make sure it’s protected in a padded case.
- Cut down external devices: USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery. Remove or shut them down when not in use. It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.
February 16, 2012
How to make a bootable Windows USB anytime! [windows and ubuntu platforms]

The only way to do was through a bootable pen drive carrying windows. I thought that I knew the method to do that but when I tried it all failed. I even looked for the method online but all I could find were complicated ones and required a software or two. Another trouble added to the heap was that they were all from windows point of view but as a user of ubuntu I was stuck there.

Through this tutorial you can make a windows bootable pen drive anywhere anytime. It is so simple that now I think that I already knew it. yeah actually this was the method I kept forgetting and now when I remember it I can share it with you all.

steps you need to follow :-

1. Get a USB drive first but the drive must have space for the setup of windows you are intrested in making a bootable version of. For example if you wish to make a bootable USB for windows 7 then the USB must be of 4GB or above capacity as the setup size of windows 7 is about 3GB.

2. Format the particular USB drive into NTFS partition.If you don’t know how to do that the following steps will lead you to it in windows platform:-
– Go to “My Computer” and select the USB drive you have connected in the system.
– Right click on the USB drive and select “Format”.
– A window opens up where you can select the type of partition you wanna format that pen drive into. Select “NTFS” from the file system option.

– Click on “Format” and you are done.

If you are an ubuntu user then you need to follow the following steps:-
– Open your “disk utility” by searching it through the ubuntu dashboard.
– There select your USB drive from the left-hand side panel.
– Now in the right pane click on “Unmount Volume”
– Next click on the “format volume” button. A new window will come up where select the partition type as NTFS and format your drive through the wizard. If your formatting is done then you are also good to go to the next step.

Now your USB drive is formatted in NTFS partition type we can move towards the third and final step.

3. For the last and final step of this tutorial you need to have the setup of the respective windows version, or you can even have the disc of that version. Just copy the whole setup of the operating system from that folder or CD and paste it into the USB drive. Don’t put the setup inside any folder inside the USB stick, just it paste it openly into the drive.

If you wish to use the left over space in the drive for carrying something then you can make any folder inside the drive and put the content there.
So it is as simple as that. Your bootable pen drive for windows is ready. Just restart your pc and boot from the drive using boot menu and you can now install windows on that pc without any worries. And also for your information i would like to add that this method is not limited to those who don’t have DVD drives but should be used by everyone as the installation process speeds up and your disk is also not scratched much.

requirements:-

1. A USB drive that has enough capacity to hold the setup files of windows.

2. The installation disc or copied files of the same disc of windows.

Hope this tutorial solves all your troubles, as it clearly solved all of mine. If not then you can ask for any other help from us freaks here as Digitfreak is always here to help you out when you are in a digital puddle. Feel free to write your views below.

February 15, 2012
Tribler, a new method to keep bitTorrent alive forever

BitTorrent or P2P protocols are the best means to transfer large files over the distance, without contributing much load on any centralized environment. Millions of People use p2p protocols to transmit files of their needs.

BitTorrent is branded as a peer-to-peer technology, but despite this label the downloading process still relies heavily on central servers. In the first place, there are the BitTorrent search engines and indexes such as The Pirate Bay and isoHunt. These are needed to search for content and to grab the .torrent file one needs to download a file.

Besides these torrent sites, most BitTorrent downloads are still managed by so-called trackers. These servers coordinate the download process and make sure that people can find others who are sharing the files they want to download. To a certain degree, trackers are no longer needed with ‘trackerless’ technology such as DHT, but even DHT often uses a central server to get a torrent started.

Finally, central servers are used by moderators to help hunt spam and malware. All file sharing programs without such central checking have become practically useless over time.

In the last year these ‘central server’ vulnerabilities have caused a number of minor inconveniences for torrent users. When trackers go offline, downloads usually slow down or may stop entirely, and when a torrent search engine such as The Pirate Bay has technical issues, users have to search for alternatives.

While the file-sharing ecosystem is currently filled with uncertainty and doubt, researchers at Delft University of Technology continue to work on their decentralized BitTorrent network. Their Tribler client doesn’t require torrent sites to find or download content, as it is based on pure peer-to-peer communication.

“The only way to take it down is to take the Internet down,” the lead researcher says.

Introduction

Tribler is an open source peer-to-peer client with various features for watching videos online. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use, instead of including features. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. Due to this overlay network Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content. Tribler features include: video-only searching, experimental video streaming, and an integrated video player. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
The name Tribler stems from the word Tribe, referring to the usage of social networks in this P2P client. The first version of Tribler was a small enhancement on the ABC (Yet Another BitTorrent Client)

Features
Tribler adds keyword search ability to the BitTorrent file download protocol using a gossip protocol, somewhat similar to the eXeem network which was shut down in 2005. The software includes the ability to recommend content. After a dozen downloads the Tribler software can roughly estimate the download taste of the user and recommends content. This feature is based on collaborative filtering, also featured on websites such as Last.fm and Amazon.com. Another feature of Tribler is a limited form of social networking and donation of upload capacity. Tribler includes the ability to mark specific users as online friends. Such friends can be used to increase the download speed of files by using their upload capacity. Due to these features Tribler differs from other popular BitTorrent clients such as Vuze and µTorrent.

The tribler offers some basic and advanced features which you can’t find on your current torrent client. Ofcourse it could be the future file transfer protocol adopted by the current p2p users.

Settings window

The “settings” windows offers very basic and useful option which could be helpful while using the client. It is the place where you can add your user profile and enjoy online identity.

Search listing & downloads

Tribler offers search listing of your queries which works on different mechanism of other torrent websites. It doesn’t relies on the centralized server to perform its queries, rather it can retrieve the data and .torrent files from other peers connected to your client. To get the most relevant and most relevant result you must keep your client running for at least 5 minutes before performing the search query, as the client connects to other peers and maintains an index while it is running, which can further help you get the most relevant search results of your desired destination.

The download process if very easy and is performed on the fly, downloading a torrent file was never so easy. You just need to click on the name of the file you want to download in your search results and information related to the file will slide in right below the name, where you can find all the relevant information about the file right inside your client. You’ll find download button after each filename, clicking on which download starts automatically and tribler will download .torrent meta file from other peer on the network and start your download.

Channels

This is the features, which makes me happy. It is not much of the useful thing atm, but soon, when other users will start listing the torrent files which they find useful for them on their own profile, it will be the best thing on the client or any other p2p software out there.

Users can list down the torrents they like or think they should recommend to others to their channels and people on the network using tribler can view or download the files from it.

For example you can look for eztv channel and can crawl to the torrents listed by them at one place. just go to the channel and click on the download button right beside the torrent name you can want to download.

SwarmPlayer
The SwarmPlayer is a Python based BitTorrent Internet TV viewer. It allows you to watch BitTorrent-hosted peer-to-peer digital media distribution of video on-demand and plays live Tribler streaming media. It is based on the same core as the Tribler TV application.
The core software is free and open-source software based on the Tribler platform, licensed under the LGPL 2.1.

Development
Tribler was created by university researchers trying to improve peer-to-peer technology. Tribler is designed to enhance BitTorrent by removing the need for central elements such as the websites for finding content. The aim is to increase performance, reliability, and scalability.

The Tribler BitTorrent client is no newcomer to the BitTorrent scene. It has been in development for more than 5 years and has delivered many innovative features, which have mostly been ignored by the masses.

What is it all about?
Today, however, Tribler is more relevant than ever before.

Developed by a team of researchers at Delft University of Technology, the main goal is to come up with a robust implementation of BitTorrent that doesn’t rely on central servers. Instead, Tribler is designed to keep BitTorrent alive, even when all torrent search engines, indexes and trackers are pulled offline.

“Our key scientific quest is facilitating unbounded information sharing,” Tribler leader Dr. Pouwelse tells TorrentFreak.

“We simply don’t like unreliable servers. With Tribler we have achieved zero-seconds downtime over the past six years, all because we don’t rely on shaky foundations such as DNS, web servers or search portals.”

So how does it work?

Like many other BitTorrent clients, Tribler has a search box at the top of the application. However, the search results that appear when users type in a keyword don’t come from a central index. Instead, they come directly from other peers.

Downloading a torrent is also totally decentralized. When a user clicks on one of the search results, the meta-data is pulled in from another peer and the download starts immediately. Tribler is based on the standard BitTorrent protocol and uses regular BitTorrent trackers to communicate with other peers. But, it can also continue downloading when a central tracker goes down.

The same is true for spam control. Where most torrent sites have a team of moderators to delete viruses, malware and fake files, Tribler uses crowd-sourcing to keep the network clean. Content is verified by user-generated “channels”, which can be “liked” by others. When more people like a channel, the associated torrents get a boost in the search results.

The latest addition to Tribler is a Wikipedia-style editing system dubbed “Open2Edit,” where users have the option to edit names and descriptions of torrents in public channels. All without a central server, totally decentralized.

According to Dr. Pouwelse, Tribler is fully capable of resisting any pressure from outside, and it will still work when all torrent sites and trackers are gone. It simply can’t be shut down, blocked or censored, whatever laws politicians may come up with.

One thing that could theoretically cause issues, is the capability for starting users to find new peers. To be on the safe side the Tribler team is still looking for people who want to act as so-called bootstrap Tribler peers. These users will act as super peers, who distribute lists of active downloaders.

“Together with software bugs and a code cleanup, that is now our last known weakness,” says Pouwelse.

While the Tribler client only has a few thousand users at the moment, for avid file-sharers it must be a relief to know that it’s out there. No matter what crazy laws may pass in the future, people will always be able to share.

Those who want to give it a spin are welcome download Tribler here. It’s completely Open Source and with a version for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Update: After an article on TorrentFreak and DigitFreak in February 2012 mentioned Tribler’s decentralization and the fact that its index is impossible to take down, the website became hugely popular, causing it to be reduced to just the download page to comply with demand.

Download: Tibler for cross OS

Source: TorrentFreak, Havard Internet TV, Wikipedia, other sources.

February 12, 2012