ResearchBuzz

With the inclusion of .torrent support in the latest version of Opera, BitTorrent seems to be getting more popular. I’m seeing more Torrent tools popping up on my radar. One of the ones I’ve seen lately is called ScrapeTorrent, available at http://www.scrapetorrent.com/index.php. It’s free to use but donators get a few extras like additional sites to search and the ads pulled from the result pages.

ScrapeTorrent is a meta-search; your query will go to four Torrent search sites (including IsoHunt and TorrentSpy; one is currently down due to server errors but will apparently be back up tomorrow.). You have the option to sort by the number of seeds, the date, or the name of the Torrent. You also have the option to filter out zero-seed results. Results (in dark blue text on black background — ARGH, please, have mercy on my old-lady eyes) are additionally sorted by source. For querying four sites search results were incredibly zippy.

In addition to a straight Torrent meta-search, ScrapeTorrent also offers a Firefox extension and a limited set of preferences (like a porn filter and an ability to reset the font size, which helps the blue on black problem a bit.) Very fast, would be better if it were easier to read.

Wondering what music Google Talk users are listening to? Me neither, frankly, but if I DO, I can find out at Google Music Trends at http://www.google.com/trends/music.

There are a whole series of popularity charts here, allowing you to break down popularity of music both by genre and country. Glancing at Heavy Metal in the US, I see that it’s topped by Ozzy Osbourne and dominated by the likes of Tool and Metallica. Moving out of the country, though, I see that Heavy Metal charts in the UK also have Ozzy but also offer up artists like Rob Zombie and… Creed?

Creed is heavy metal? I must have missed the memo. Anyway, the charts include artist name, song title, and the position on the trends chart over time (most of the ones I looked at were marked “new!”) Clicking on the artist name or title takes you to Google’s musical information offerings.

The first thing I wondered when I saw this is “How many people are contributing to the creation of these charts?” I know it’s Google Talk users, but how many? I still don’t know, but there’s an overview of the service at http://www.google.com/trends/music?where=help. That page also shows how you can participate in Google Music Trends when using Google Talk.

Interesting information. I just wish I knew how many people it covered.

You might like a cup of coffee now and again, but maybe you want to try something different for once besides the usual Starbucks and Peet’s. In that case check out indie coffee shops at http://www.indiecoffeeshops.com/, a national database of, as you might expect, of coffee shops around the US.

Google Map on the right, search form on the left that allows you to search by zip code and address, as well as filter by characteristic (offering non-smoking, wifi, outdoor seating, food, etc.) You can also browse the map if you like. Tags underneath indicate places that already have coffee shops listed — Washington DC and Milwaukee seem to have the most.

I searched for coffee shops within 10015, and got a refreshed maps with two cute little coffee cup icons. Clicking on them gave the essential details of the shop, including name and address. Clicking on Details gave popup window with yes/no information about the wifi, outdoor seating, non-smoking, etc. There are also comments (”espresso from Dallis Coffee, pastries from Zabar’s”) and a link for you to add your own comments.

The east coast seems to be the most populated, but I was surprised at the number of listings already here. Worth a look.