Hulu, Pandora, Netflix, just to name a few, will simply refuse to work for you — no matter how much you’re willing to pay. In fact, it is extremely frustrating to know that such companies are forced by copyright vultures to refuse access to international customers, and ultimately lose income. It’s a matter of origin: these services see what country your IP address belongs to, and decide whether to let you in or not.

If you can appear to be online from the US, they will often happily accept international credit cards: after all, if it were for them, there would be no silly geographical restriction in the first place. How do you pretend you’re coming from the US? You use a VPN.

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Virtual Private Networks

A VPN, short for Virtual Private Network, is exactly what the name implies: it’s a system that allows an external user to access an internal network. In many cases, VPN are used by (big) companies to allow their employees to log into the corporate network from outside the office. From the point of view of the network itself, the user appears to be locally connected. It’s an entirely transparent process.

What does this have to do with accessing restricted content? Well, one of the pleasant side effects of connecting to a VPN means that the external user will access the outside network from within the VPN itself. Remember, it’s as if you were actually inside that network. Therefore, if the VPN’s outside IP address is in the US, you will be appearing to come from the US.

Let me provide a handy, high-resolution graphic representation of this concept, in order to clarify the matter. Let’s assume you are in Italy. Normally, this is what would happen:

YOU (foreign IP) Hulu/Netflix/Pandora (not happy)

YOU (foreign IP) VPN server (US IP) Hulu/Netflix/Pandora (alright!)

As you can see, the service’s servers see that the connection comes from the US, and all’s right.

Neat! How do I get one? How much is it?

There are several commercial VPN providers out there. Let me focus on one that I’m particularly fond of, both for its ease of use and its capabilities. It’s called IPVanish (ain’t that cute?) and it currently sports over 2500 IP addresses from 38 different locations in 15 countries, with more being added all the time. One of the greatest things about IPVanish is that you are not forced, unlike some of its competitors, to choose a server upon registration and stick with it. When you create an account, you are granted access to its whole network, and changing the output endpoint is as simple as disconnecting from the VPN, changing a setting, and reconnecting. It’s that simple. Also, again unlike many competitors, there is absolutely no limit on bandwidth and traffic. No limit whatsoever, really. It almost sounds too good to be true, but IPVanish is clearly targeted at circumventing stupid regional restrictions, and if you had a traffic limit you wouldn’t be able to use it to access traffic intensive services such as Hulu or Netflix.

The price for an IPVanish account is a flat $10 per month, with a 7-day money back guarantee. At that price, it’s a steal.

I’m in the US, why would I need a VPN?

VPNs, by definition, are encrypted. Even if you are located in the United States and do not strictly need a VPN to access said services, you may still want to attain higher privacy. By tunneling your internet traffic through a VPN, you effectively hide your original location by acting like you’re online from the Netherlands, or from the UK, or from Japan. Once connected to a VPN, all your traffic passes through it; in a way, it’s like wearing a mask or teleporting.

While this may sound like an extra risk (what if they give you away? that’s a reasonable question), IPVanish does not log any of your traffic. The only thing they know is if you’re using the VPN or not, which is really inevitable since they’re offering the service. In other words, it’s like your power company: it doesn’t know if you’re using a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner, it only knows that you are using some power.

Also, by going through a VPN, you might be able to circumvent some firewall restriction in the workplace. (I’m not liable if you attempt it, it works, and you’re subsequently caught and fired. Don’t be stupid.)

Many servers? Why would I need that?

Being able to choose which server to use is more important than it may seem. If you are stuck with one server, and that server is overloaded, your performance will be greatly affected. By being able to choose the endpoint upon each and every connection, you have the possibility of always finding the least clogged of them and enjoy the service the way it should be.

IPVanish actually shows a list of servers and their current, up-to-date capacity usage. During my tests, only one of them had a peak of 3% usage, with the others being at either 0% or 1%. That basically means full speed.

Speaking of speed, does this make my connection slower?

One thing is very important to remember here: you are tunneling all your traffic through a place that may be geographically very distant from you. If you are in Germany and use a VPN endpoint in Japan to connect to a host in South Africa, it will inevitably take somewhat longer not only to send your requests to the host, but also to get its replies back.

How much will the latency be affected? It depends. Let’s say that playing real time games is not something you will want to do.

With video streaming, however, speed is more important than latency (that’s what buffering is for!) and in my tests I was able to stream through full length movies on Hulu with no hiccups whatsoever. Remember, this something that without a VPN with a US endpoint I would not be able to do at all, since I’m in Italy.

Ok, but how do I use it?

This varies depending on your operating system. On Windows, you can download a stand-alone program that handles it for you, similar to the NewsHosting Usenet client. On Linux, you can download configuration files for OpenVPN (a standard, open source software for accessing VPNs).

On Mac, which is what I use, you have many different choices: you can download the same configuration files for OpenVPN, or you can download network connection profiles that will create a new network interface in System Preferences, and all you have to do is choose the server you want to use from the drop-down menu and type in your password. That’s it. The choice between L2TP and PPTP is pretty much irrelevant, though you may want to go with PPTP because it’s slightly simpler (there is no “challenge key” to type in.)

Once done, whereas before you used to see things like these…

…you will now see things like these:

What if I have more than one computer or device?

You can use IPVanish with as many devices as you want, though only one of them can be connected at any time. Of course, if you are savvy enough, you could set up a machine as a gateway and will route all the internal traffic through IPVanish, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.)

And if you are wondering, it’s a breeze to set your iPhone or iPad to use IPVanish. Just go to Settings, General, Network, VPN and set up a PPTP connection typing in your username, your password and the server of your choice. It’s that simple.

After that, you will find a handy VPN switch in the very first view of Settings, so you don’t ever have to dig that deep again. And yes, it works over 3G too.

In conclusion…

I have used VPN providers in the past, and I even set up my own VPN endpoint on a VPS (Virtual Private Server) using PPTP. With no restrictions on usage and traffic, an incredible amount of endpoints to choose from and with an incredible ease of use, I can say that no other service comes close to IPVanish. I encourage you to give it a try, whether you’re outside the US and want to enjoy US-only services, or in the US but frequently travel abroad or just want some extra privacy. It’s a service well worth it.

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(Are you looking for Usenet access to download binaries? Check out my review of NewsHosting!)

While Usenet usage is unfortunately declining for text, heavily supplanted by web-based forums and, in more recent times, social networks, it’s being more and more used to carry binary contents. There are many groups (whose name normally include “binary” or “binaries”) dedicated to the exchange of video files, audio files and, essentially, all sorts of material. In this arena, since very few ISPs still run a newsserver at all, and those few that do will just not carry binary groups, several commercial Usenet providers fill the gap. I am currently a customer of UsenetServer, but I may just switch to NewsHosting.

I want to make it clear that it is not my intention to advocate or promote piracy in any way. This post is solely dedicated to highlighting the differences between Usenet binaries and the more widely known BitTorrent system, and showing how NewsHosting got it just perfectly right. Let’s start from the beginning, but if you want, you can jump to the review by clicking here.

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Usenet vs. BitTorrent

Unlike BitTorrent, which essentially works as an independent peer-to-peer network (the “swarm”) for each torrent, Usenet is a well define client-server architecture. The client connects to the server and uploads or downloads data. It is the server’s business to make sure that all data is synchronized with its fellow server peers. Neither system is necessarily better than the other. While it is true that BitTorrent allows for transfers even in complex situations, whereas a Usenet servers provide a single point of failure, it is also true that the download speed within a swarm depends on the upload speed of the peers themselves. Given that most binary Usenet servers are commercial, however, bandwidth is never an issue and downloading from them is always a very fast business. Indeed, I saturate my downstream bandwidth every single time: I literally download as fast as my DSL allows.

Moreover, many BitTorrent’s trackers have strict ratio enforcement requirements, which can make downloading almost impossible if a user’s line is highly unbalanced. For instance: my effective connection speed is 1.3 MB/s, but I can only upload as fast as around 60 KB/s. This means that if I download a 650 MB file (a typical CD ISO image), it will take me little over 8 minutes. To reach a round 1.0 ratio, ie. to upload as much as I have downloaded, it will take me 3 hours. In the long run, it becomes unsustainable. Usenet servers pose no such problem: users download the contents they want, and only upload (new) contents if they want to. No requirements, and oftentimes no limits whatsoever.

But how does it compare, in practice?

Let’s assume I wanted to download a Linux distribution. I would have to head to a tracker’s site (or anywhere else to get hold of a small .torrent file), feed it to my BitTorrent client, and have it download and upload back, possibly tweaking the settings so that everything is efficient: uploading at the maximum speed possible will make the download slower because there is not enough room to push the ACK packets over the line.

With Usenet, I would head to a Usenet search engine (there are several) and download a small .nzb file, feed it to my Usenet newsreader, provided it handles binary files, and download it. The support for binary files is important: given that Usenet is still essentially a decentralized text-only gigantic bullettin board system, several techniques were devised to allow it to carry binary content. Files are usually split into smaller part using RAR or another compression software, and each part is usually further split into smaller chunks, each of which is uploaded as a single post or article. In addition, parity files are added so that it is possible, within certain limits, to recover any chunk that may be missing due to the decentralized structure of the network itself. Sounds complex? In practice, it’s not. There are specialized Usenet binary downloader programs that are solely dedicated to that; in fact, some of them don’t even handle text groups at all. It’s still a bit of a burden for the uninitiated, and that’s where NewsHosting comes into the picture.

The easy way: NewsHosting‘s client

This is a (currently beta) news reader that incorporates a very nice search system to find contents directly. No more browsing Usenet search engines, comparing dates, looking for retention promises. The database is built by NewsHosting itself, so if it shows, it can be downloaded. It is also possible to use external search engines, but in my tests I found no reason to. The client is also extraordinarily simple to use, and this what really sets it apart. Let’s have a look.

Downloading the application is very easy: after logging in to NewsHosting, a link will led to this page, where it is possible to choose the appropriate operating system. I used the Mac version, but I’m sure that the experience is the same on Windows and Linux too.

Upon launching the app, the only thing that’s needed is typing in one’s username and password. Nothing else. There is no configuration to go through, though of course there are many settings that one may want to tweak: download folder location, connection speed, number of concurrent downloads and more. It is all completely optional, and this is what makes this application really great.

After logging in, the user is presented with what I assume is a collection of the latest posts from the default group bookmarks, seen on the left pane. The application takes care of collecting the chunks and the parts (see above) and condensing them into individual files. Note in the screenshot that there are 26,730 pages to scroll through.

Searching is built-in. Aside from the quick search field in the top right corner, there is a dedicated search pane that allows to set up additional clauses, such as the content language, the file size and more. The application is smart enough to pull up an image for the file in question, whether it’s a cover, a screenshot or a logo.

Before downloading, it is possible to obtain detailed information about the selected file. If an NFO file is present, it is shown directly. In the case of video files, a very interesting feature is the ability to watch a short preview. This is something I haven’t found in any other Usenet downloader I have used, and it’s very interesting. I have no proof of this and I haven’t looked into it in detail, but I suppose that it achieves this by downloading the first part of the set, forcing its extraction without the rest, and then relying on VLC being able to play an incomplete file. For this reason, it may not work in case the video format needs an initial complete seek, but it’s a very handy function nevertheless.

Downloads are just a click away. Once the transfer is started, it is possible to keep browsing around (whether via the search or directly in a newsgroup), or switch to the Transfers pane which shows detailed information about the transfers, down to the part and chunk level.

NewsHosting carries many newsgroups (including national hierarchies) and inexperienced users will probably find the notion of “group bookmarks” less confusing than the traditional idea of a “subscription” used by most, if not all, other newsreaders.

Of course, while the application is specifically built for downloads, I found that it works quite well as a traditional newsreader too. Posting access is disabled by default, but it can be requested via the Control Panel (also directly within the program itself!)

So, how much does it all cost? Less than you think. There are three plains available:

• NewsHosting Lite, $10.00/month, with a 50 GB monthly allowance with rollover, 30 connections
• NewsHosting Unlimited, starting at $12.95/month, unlimited transfer, 30 connections
• NewsHosting XL Powerpack, starting at $15.83/month, unlimited transfer, 60 connections, free account at EasyNews to search and download directly with a browser

Of course, it is possible to use any Usenet newsreader and/or downloader to access NewsHosting‘s servers, though the application I described above frankly makes it hard to justify going through all the loops and hoops of configuration, separate searching and so on.

NewsHosting‘s Usenet client may very well be the “killer app” for anyone interested in the world of Usenet binaries. It’s well worth a shot, and with a two-weeks free trial, why not?

If you sign up for the service, feel free to leave a comment and share your experience!

(Are you interested in protecting your anonymity on the ‘net? Check out my review of IPVanish!)

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• Weeds (season 6), Showtime, Mondays — in progress
• Cougar Town (season 2), ABC, Wednesdays — starting Sept. 22nd
• The Big Bang Theory (season 4), CBS, Thursdays — starting Sept. 23rd
• 30 Rock (season 5), NBC, Thursdays — starting Sept. 23rd

Of course, if you — like me — don’t live in the US, there are ways to watch them almost live. You could start looking at the sidebar of this blog, for instance.

Why am I saying this? Well, I may write about the shows here as I have done in the past, so be warned.

Incidentally, you may notice that they’re all sitcoms, aside from Weeds which is somewhat difficult to classify, but definitely has quite some humor. That’s because the days are getting shorter, the weather is getting worse and S.A.D. is lurking in ambush behind the corner. By the way, do those Philips LivingColors thingies help at all?

The name of show is obviously a reference to the slang word “cougar,” which refers to an older woman who pursues younger men (see Wikipedia), and to the football team mascot of the local high school. However, do not expect to see a woman chase young man after young man, because — despite what the first few episodes might suggest — that’s not how the story unfolds at all. Indeed, the first season explores the life of a group of 40-something friends (both married and divorced), and that of Jules’ son.

The writers chose a lighthearted approach to all the topics touched by the show, and that’s probably why it works. There isn’t much room for deep, philosophical conversations between any characters, and their “life-changing revelations” are fast-paced and often quite dull. One might wonder whether the characters themselves are that superficial, or if they deliberately choose not to seek important changes in their lives, settling for the path of least effort.

Still, as I said, the whole thing works. Keep in mind that this is not a show you’re going to watch if you’re looking for intricate storylines or subtle details that only come up when you play the episode again. You still find yourself looking forward to what’s happening next, no doubt, but it’s more out of curiosity than anything else. In other words, you will likely not “root” for any characters; except maybe Andy, as the guy is so clumsy and resigned that you can’t help but wish that he finally gets his way sooner or later. In any case the acting is not bad at all, and the two other female characters’ approach to life, Ellie (Christa Miller) and Laurie (Busy Phillips) do change quite a lot over the course of the show.

An interesting thing I noticed is that, while sex is inevitably a common topic and you will get clear visual clues that a couple just made love (that is, cuddling in bed under the sheets), there isn’t any nudity at all. However, even with the lighthearted approach, I suspect that a kid — and maybe even a young teenager — would fail to grasp many of the implications of divorce, age disparity and so on.

This leads me to the only complaint I have about the series: the liberal use and promotion of alcohol, specifically wine, by virtually all the characters except Travis, the son. One episode actually pivots about Jules’ attempt to stop drinking, resulting in an unusual intervention by anybody else to urge her to start drinking again. While, as I said, Cougar Town is certainly not targeted at kids or teenagers, I am surprised that such glorification of alcoholic beverages made it through. Let’s not forget that we live in an era in which there have been attempts to rate movies as “R” simply because someone smokes in them.

The episodes are quite short, barely touching 22 minutes each. If you have access to the box set or to the video files, that means that the whole first season will take less than nine hours to go through.

All in all, Cougar Town is a nice show to watch and every episode is packed with comic moments and funny quotes that will not fail to entertain. Here are a few clips to give you an idea:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcsfHPMtTVU

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEpicBA-GEQ

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwmKSv1MHt4

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71WT7ACwzew

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHRgMGWypvk

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6rqqi1AWo

And if you manage to watch season 1 quickly, you’ll be pleased to know that season 2 premieres on September 22nd.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqSmzGj_sQc

The song is, like most lullabies, very simple. I came up with the chords earlier today, while jamming with my ukulele. Here they are, for all my musically-inclined nerdy readers. Corrections are welcome.

[G] Soft kitty, [C] warm kitty,
[G] little ball of [D] fur;
[G] happy kitty, [C] sleepy kitty,
[G] purr, [D] purr, [G] purr.

Interesting trivia: they are almost the same chords as The Lion Sleeps Tonight, except for a minor difference in the last verse that shouldn’t prevent the most creative among you to fit one into the other.

Should you prefer so, you could play it as C F C G / C F C G C or by whichever transposition makes you happy.

According to the teaser and the trailer, Nancy and her family flee to Canada after Shane killed Pilar in the season 5 finale. They all take up new identities (going from Botwin to Newman), but as the trailer suggests, “you can take the girl out of the business, but you can’t take the business out of the girl.” The trailer suggests that Doug, Cesar and the never-hairy-enough Ignacio are there, at least in the first episode. Online sources claim that Lupita is apparently coming back, which is definitely going to be fun. Hopefully they can get rid of Esteban soon.

I will have to wait until tomorrow to watch it, but hey, it’s definitely well worth the wait.

Also remember that that both 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory come back on September 23rd, on NBC and CBS respectively. Whee!

Edit: Showtime posted a video on the cast’s memory loss. The actor who plays Doug is Doug-y in real life too, it seems. Way to go!