My experience with Fileserve has been both good and bad (mostly bad.), and here’s why.

As a Regular User

I have few qualms about Fileserve as I used their service normally. Like other filehosting sites, they had the usual timedelay and limited download rule. Because of that simple fact, nothing seems bad as it seems.

The better part for Fileserve is that the download page that they present to you is only average at best when it comes to annoyances. Some hosting sites just love misleading Download Now links and horrible procedures (such as countdown + captcha + download now + ticket expiry if you didn’t click download now in the last 30 seconds, etc) To be honest, I do not know what the other hosts are achieving with this kind of tactic, besides annoying their users to download less, or avoid their services completely.

The bigger benefit is that most sites use Fileserve anyway, thus making downloads from their service abundant. Because of this, I considered subscribing to their premium, hoping to download more stuff, fast.

As a Premium User

The good part of their premium is that it works as you’d expect: You can use download managers, download multiple files in parallel, and you’re no longer pestered by the download page. (like other sites as well) However, Fileserve tends to twist their words as they advertise their premium features:

Fileserve states that premium users can attain maximum download speeds. However, this is both true and false. It is false because an individual download still has a certain threshold limit (on my end, it’s an average speed of 250KB/s per file). However, you’re free to download as many files as you want, and have about 250KB/s download speed each (For those who rely on multipart files, this isn’t a problem). The deal-breaker is if you’re downloading only one file, or you only have one file left because you’ll end up with a single disappointing 250KB/s download rate for it (rather than maximizing your internet connection to the fullest). It’s a serious bottleneck to hate. Just imagine having a 1MB download rate and only to find out that you can only get a quarter’s worth of it, and spending 4x the time to get the file.

It gets worse as download speeds are usually erratic. It doesn’t constantly stay at 250KB/s and actually fluctuates from 0KB/s to 300KB/s. Sometimes, downloads completely pause for prolonged periods of time for no good reason. (hence the 0KB/s)

Another annoying thing is that they keep payment subscriptions as a default. When I signed up for their service, I expected it to be a one time option, not an automatic wallet blackhole. Other sites don’t default to this, or they usually present the opt-in upon payment. Fileserve doesn’t.

Conclusion

I think that Fileserve has its good and bad parts. However, it is mostly bad once you’re not in the norm (e.g., you have faster internet than average, you signed up for a premium, etc.) If you’re willing to spend money, go spend it on Megaupload instead (my last experience with it resulted in my downloads maxed all the time!) or better, Usenet.

Just a little backstory: I started doing screencasts on Linux ever since I had attended a class on Vertical Marketing solutions and Information Technology Ethics on college. And then, I realized that it might be much more helpful if I shared it here.

Oh and a little tip: watch it in HD if you need to squint! I forgot to zoom in on certain times in the video. And yes, it’s entirely mute.

For more information, or if you’d prefer reading instructions instead, go here

So, I thought that it might be helpful to contribute my own, while mentioning the useful stuff that you can actually use.

Status

This post is intended for iOS devices with firmware 4.2.

For maximum usefulness, jailbreak!

• For older devices (before iPod touch 2G MB model), use redsn0w to jailbreak your device.
• For newer devices (iPod touch 3G and 4G, iPhone 3GS and 4, iPad), use greenp0ison RC6 and above.

Oh and I’ll try to add screenshots later.

Suggested Apps

Flipboard – If you spend most of your time reading off articles, blogs and news on the internet, or you’d just want to see news in an entirely different and pleasing way then you’ll like this. It aggregates the content from the popular places and feeds that you want, then presents it in a newspaper/magazine style.

(iPad, Free)

Stanza – Probably one of the best reader apps, and it even predates the iBookstore. You can read the usual reader formats with it (epub, pdf, etc) and it has plenty of options to suit your reading experience, compared to the Kindle app and the iBooks app.

Even better is that Stanza has built-in support for some free bookstores and even the famous Project Gutenberg.

(Universal, Free)

Mover Lite / Mover+ – Mover allows you to transfer content between devices. What makes it different though is that you get to have fun with it as you literally flick items from phone to phone. It’s good for showing off, really.

The additional, rarely mentioned part about Mover is that it can actually recognize most formats for storage purposes. It certainly cannot run them, but it’s go od if you want to download a file beforehand with it. (Large files not recommended)

(Universal, Free with paid version)

Dropbox – Many have heard of Dropbox, so this one is fairly common. Dropbox allows you to have that one special folder in the cloud where you can store anything you like. With Dropbox, you’ll never have to worry about misplacing your files, forgetting to bring them along with you or grab the stuff you need when you least expect it.

(Universal, Free, optional paid subscriptions for more capacity)

Adobe Ideas – Perhaps one of the best drawing applications in the App Store. Adobe Ideas lets you draw with your finger as if it were a marker so you can spend your time fingerpainting on your device, or perhaps use it to elaborate your point towards a group as if it were a whiteboard. Additionally, the application supports VGA output so you can literally use it as a whiteboard if you have the connector and a projector.

(Universal, Free)

AirView – As Apple debuted the AirPlay functionality on its newest firmware, the AirView app lets you use your iOS device as AirPlay output (particularly, video). This means that you can stream your videos from iTunes, or a different iOS device to your current iOS device.

(Universal, Free)

TuneIn Radio – It’s Internet radio, but it doesn’t end there. TuneIn Radio breaks the bounds of distances as it lets you stream actual radio from other places in the world, while working from wherever you are. TuneIn is highly flexible as it lets you choose streams for slower connections, and even lets you record the streams right away, or on a time that you specify. Best of all, it’s cheap.

(Universal, Paid)

The iWork Suite (Keynote, Pages, Numbers) – For iPad users, this is a must have. It’s a full productivity suite for your word processing, spreadsheet and presentation needs.

(iPad, Paid)

AirVideo – AirVideo lets you stream videos from your PC. The notable part about AirVideo is that it can convert your movies live as you watch the stream, without the hassle of waiting for it to convert first before watching. The built-in converter does a good job as well if you want to watch movies normally.

AirVideo excels even further if you have a really good ISP and upload rates. With it, you could actually host the videos and let it stream for other people.

(Universal, Paid)

Comic Zeal – Enjoy reading graphic novels, comic books and manga? Comic Zeal works as a comic book reader that does its job well. It can manage your collection well enough, and supports the popular CBR and CBZ archive formats and can transfer content through iTunes. Looks and works great on an iPad as well.
(Universal, Paid)

OffMaps 2 – One of the annoying things in the Maps.app is that you are highly limited in what parts of a map that it can cache/save for you. Offmaps fills in this problem as it lets you save entire continents, with as few or much detail as you want it. It also features guides per country which you can purchase, complete with details and directions. It’s the perfect app for the traveler, without having to worry for an internet source.

(Universal, Paid, Paid DLC)

Splashtop Remote – If you want to remotely access your PC from your iOS device, and ever find it frustrating that the other apps out there are too slow, then this is for you. Splashtop Remote does its job as a remote client like the others, but it does its job well compared to the others. Everything is only slightly slower when using it, and you can even watch videos or even play a couple of games through it while keeping a considerable framerate. It also keeps the Aero style as well on Windows.

(Universal, Paid)

iDisplay – Ever thought of what would happen if your iOS display felt like it was an extended monitor of your PC? You can find that out through iDisplay as it does that. With this, you can drag off windows towards your iOS device so you could use touch with it, or if you want to free up screen estate. Perfect for use on IM applications.

(Universal, Paid)

Not Recommended: (a special mention!)
Wordpress – Funny, isn’t it? This is a WordPress blog and yet I’m dissing their app. The WordPress app has numerous features, but it lacks on two big essential things: Proper blog writing (enjoy writing your blog in plaintext with HTML tags put up manually) and a retarded save feature: Ensuring that your entries don’t get saved when you want it to, while crashing when you least want it. It’s the perfect app for making people not want to cite app recommendations because you’ve lost the hard-earned typing effort as it crashes to a grinding halt.

And no, saving just doesn’t work. When I did, it loaded the save before it the next time I relaunched the app. What a bummer. It’s so horrible to a point at I had to retype Stanza, Comic Zeal, the iWork Suite (notice how short it is? it’s because I already forgot what I typed in there.) and hadn’t had the effort to retype in TeamViewer, iTap RDP, and a couple of Cydia hacks.

I hate deleting stuff though so I’m keeping my older posts. Don’t expect much replies on the comments though.

I rarely give 5 stars whenever I get to rate something. I usually give a 2 whenever I find it something noteworthy, 3 if it’s something better than that and 4 if it’s something I really love.

But for me, the perfect 5 mark is really reserved for what I consider to be perfect. Something that never gets old no matter how much I keep on repeating it and with the backing of slight fanboyism (lol).

Well, anyway, here’s a list of my favorites, things that I’d rate with a full 5/5.

The 5-Star List (Favorites)

Japanese Otaku Culture

Visual Novels

• symphonic rain
• Key [Best VN Company]

Runner-ups : Ever17, TYPE-MOON games, When they cry series

Manga

• Onani Master Kurosawa 
   

Characters

• Ushiromiya Ange [VN] (Umineko no naku koro ni)
• Fujibayashi Kyou [VN] (CLANNAD)
• Reisen Udongein Inaba [Touhou] (Touhou)
• Shiina Mafuyu [Anime] (Seitokai no Ichizon)

Anime

• Bakemonogatari

Runner-ups: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (S1), Seitokai no Ichizon, sola

Entertainment

Music

• Miracle-Hinacle – IOSYS [Most Played] (Touhou)
• Close Your Eyes – Ayane [Best VN ED] (G-Senjou no Maou)
• Rabbit of Happiness – COOL&CREATE (Touhou)
• Melody – Masumi Asano [2nd Best VN ED] (symphonic rain)
• Secret – Nakahara Mai [Best Insert Song] (symphonic rain)
• colorless wind – Yuuki Aira [Best Anime OP] (sola)
• staple stable – Saitou Chiwa (Bakemonogatari)
• Miageru Ano Sora de – Yuuki Aira [Best Anime Image Song] (sola)
• Alstroemeria Records / Minoshima Masayoshi [Favorite Doujin Band]
• Sennheiser [Favorite Audio Brand]
• iPod touch [Music Player]

Games

• Team Fortress 2 [Multiplayer]
• Fallout 2 [RPG]
• osu! [Rhythm]
• Prince of Persia (PC/PS2) series
• Donkey Kong Country (SNES) series
• VALVe [Best developer and publisher]

Runner-ups: The Witcher, Unreal Tournament 2004, Portal, Half-Life series, Left4Dead series, Tetris, Plants vs Zombies, S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, everything BioWare.

Computers and Technology

Websites

• 4chan.org – /jp/ [Otaku Culture]
• Digg [Aggregator]
• Ars Technica [Tech News]

Runner-ups: Engadget, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Gizmodo, Mashable, The Escapist, Cracked

Software

• foobar2000 [Media Player]
• StrokeIt [Most essential productivity tool]
• Dropbox [Best utility]
• Microsoft Security Essentials [Antivirus]

Runner-ups: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Opera Mini, uTorrent, Steam, Pidgin IM, Windows 7, Ubuntu Linux, Picasa

Basically, it’s a program that hides in the system tray that automatically takes a screenshot of your PC (think: Print Screen) every few minutes or as much as you wish.

Comes with an auto-dispose feature as well; So that your folder won’t get cluttered with so many pictures.

This is useful if you want to keep track of the things that you’ve done, or if you’re using the computer remotely (it should give you an idea of its previous states before you got connected.)

Heck, it even took a snap while I was writing this. lol.

I’ve finished Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2. Funnily, the oldest among the three (Dragon Age) still remains unfinished. I guess I’ll just wait for the expansion to show up so I get to finish it fresh.

Anyway, now that it’s Tuesday, it’s back to the same ol’ life. yay.

Oh and I should write something informational next time just like I used to.

It’s even more depressing if it’s a newly-bought laptop, your first one that can –actually- play games, runs Linux builds without driver issues (that’s just me, but this was the easiest.) and was as fast as my desktop.

I got it January 29; starting off with a memorable task of being useful in an emergency session in a seminar. It got stolen just this Tuesday, February 16, when I neglected to look after it as we had fun popping zombie heads in COD:WaW’s Nazi Zombie mode.

It’s so bad that it’s even making my writing style feel much more horrible than it used to.

It was a fun time getting to use it, but I guess this is why we can’t have nice things. But screw all this; Life goes on and I can live without it and outdo my old self even so.

P.S. Awwww what an emo post. At least, that’s what I think.

“This is a story of mistakes, redemption, and the choices made in between. It contains the very worst and best of the human condition.”

Seeing that, I was interested. Then I got to seeing the first page…

Holy shit what? At any rate, the author wasn’t kidding about its title.

The title is Onani Master Kurosawa. (and apparently, Onani means jerking off or something similar.) It’s the story of the apathetic guy who considered jerking off to be a duty and regularly did it at school. Then he gets discovered and… that’s where the story unfolds.

At first I was ticked off by the idea of it but I’ll be honest; This gets really good later on and in fact has a lot of great and redeeming elements in it. In fact, I liked it so much that I recommended it here and to a bunch of friends. I even posted on a neglected blog, right now!

Well, that’s not really convincing, but how the story unfolds is highly interesting. You get the whole package just like any other great story out there: Great character development, an interesting plot, conflicts and how it all gets resolved. To add some difference though, the story eventually grows into something you wouldn’t imagine, so great that it will even teach you a few lessons in life, so great that it’ll even make you pause for a bit, and think. Plus points if you can relate!

Just to sum up the top things I liked as I read it:

1. Story, oh damn. THIS. FUCKING THIS.
2. Surprises
3. Immersion (in Kurosawa’s perspective)
4. Conclusion / Ending – this story ties the knot to the point that you’ll itch for a continuation but you’ll think otherwise because it’s perfect already.
5. Humor
6. Art

Give it a try. Oh and do me a favor, don’t let the fap premise stop you and continue reading until the end! Don’t let the title stop you.

Link to MangaFox

P.S. There’s no H in it. Could you believe that eh? Especially in a doujin like this one.

But anyway, I’ll probably post much more often now.

oh and something random.