It occurred to me after reading the last post I wrote about TV Shack and I referenced a few torrent sites that some of you may not know what torrents are.  Everyone knows who Napster was (especially anyone who was in college in the late 90′s/early 2000′s) and maybe a few other similar peer-to-peer sites that were around like Kazaa, Bearshare, and WinMX.  With those sites/applications, you were downloading files from a shared server that users would upload their files to.  With torrents, you are actually downloading files from other users directly in a true peer-to-peer.  Usually you are not downloading/sharing from/to just one user at a time.  What happens with torrents is you are grabbing small bits of the file from many users who all have the same file that they are sharing.  Sites like Mininova and ThePirateBay are not hosting files.  They are merely hosting the torrent (a small file) that points you to the files.

In order to download/share files, you need to install a torrent client.   BitTornado and BitTorrent are a few examples.  So what happens when you go to a torrent site, you search the file you are looking for, download the torrent and then using your client, you can then download/share the file.  Your download rate depends on whether you are seeding (also sharing) or just leeching.  Of course, be sure to read the comments on each of the files to make sure they are legitimate (meaning, they’re not fakes or do not contain viruses).  Definitely make sure you have anti-virus software installed on your computer if you are downloading files from strangers.

Hulu and Fancast are great sites to catch up on your favorite shows should you miss an episode and don’t have DVR (surprisingly I have not gotten one yet).  But what about shows like Entourage?  Well, here you go.  TV Shack (www.tvshack.net) not only lets you stream episodes of Entourage and other popular tv shows but they also have streams of many movies that are still out in theaters.  The quality of the streams are hit or miss.  Especially for the new movies, you might be watching someone’s camcorder version that they were able to sneak into the theater and you’ll see the occasional shadow figure of a person who is getting up to go to the bathroom.  Obviously, sites like this are meant to curb the risk of downloading bootleg files from torrent sites like mininova and the pirate bay since they’re streams.  There is a limit though for people who are not registered to I think like 120 minutes.  Meaning, you can watch 120 minutes straight and then it’s going to stop you and make you wait like 45 minutes before you can resume the rest of the video.  If you’re watching a stream less than that, then it doesn’t matter.

Sometimes I am delusional and think that if I stay in my apartment, it will save me from spending on all sorts of random things I desire.  Yeah… that never works considering you can purchase pretty much anything online these days.  Thankfully my complex has changed their packages process making it more convenient for me to pick all of them up at the office (they don’t let deliveries to be dropped off at your door), even though generally I don’t find out until at least a day and a half after they arrive unless I check the tracking.  The older process had me leaving work early on weekdays, except for Wednesday’s when the office was open until 7 pm,  to be home in time to pick them up or shipping them directly to my office.

Anyways, these are a couple sites that I use in order to save on all my online purchases:

RetailMeNot

I’ve been using this site for a couple years now and it’s been pretty great to find coupon codes for many different online retailers.  All you have to do is type in the domain name.   Unlike some other coupon sites and forums, you can see the success percentage and generally how long the offer is for.

Ben’s Bargains

I’ve found this site especially good for electronic/computer related stuff.   What I like to check out is the discussion thread on each of the items.  You’ll find out if it’s really a good deal or not based on others’ opinions and sometimes, someone will put up a link to a better offer.

Coupon Cabin

I can’t say that I’ve actually Coupon Cabin much, but I have to give it a shout out since I know the designer who did their site.  They do seem like they have coupon codes that were directly given just for this site.

I thought this site was hilarious since everyone has a friend or two that shares a little more information than you would like, even for their closest friends.  There are just some things you should keep to yourself.

http://www.oversharers.com/