It's no secret that despite being billed as a great way to download large Linux distros and copyright free software, BitTorrent is primarily used to download the latest Star Wars movie, episodes of The Grand Tour, and illicit copies of Photoshop.

A new website -- unsophisticatedly named 'I Know What You Download' -- does exactly what you might expect: it exposes the torrents you have downloaded. More than this, it can be used to check what has been downloaded by any IP address, and there is even an option to trick people you know into letting you spy on what they are torrenting.

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We are less than 48 hours into 2017, and Samsung is already on the ball with a series of new smartphone announcements. Kicking things off for the new year is the updated Galaxy A series -- comprising the Galaxy A7, Galaxy A5, and Galaxy A3.

Available in Black Sky, Gold Sand, Blue Mist and Peach Cloud, the handsets feature 5.7-, 5.2- and 4.7-inch screens respectively. The main focus of the product line refresh is the enhanced camera, but Samsung also highlights the metal frame and 3D glass back which it says draws on the company's "premium design heritage".

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If you need a Windows 10 laptop, you really can't go wrong with the Dell XPS 13 -- it has great specs and exceptional battery life. Heck, the company even sells a version pre-loaded with Ubuntu, making it a popular choice for Linux users too.

While you could configure the laptop with a touchscreen, there was no option for a convertible 2-in-1 version, sadly. This was particularly disappointing, since Windows 10 works wonderfully on both a laptop and a tablet. This is soon to change, apparently, as Dell has leaked a new version of the laptop -- seemingly by accident -- on its website.

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Happy New Year! 2016 was certainly an interesting one for Microsoft and Windows 10. The software giant hit more than a few low points during the year, and while the new operating system managed to gain decent market share off the back of an incredibly aggressive push, its growth came shuddering to a stop once the free upgrade period ended.

December should have been a great month for Windows 10, with people buying new PCs for the holidays, but actually it was a pretty lackluster month in which the new OS’s gains were minimal, and way less than those enjoyed by the aging Windows 7.

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Today is New Year's Eve, and while all the cool kids are out partying, I am sitting here reflecting on my favorite tech products of the year. Yeah, I'm a nerd.

Believe it or not, 2016 saw me getting deeper into Apple's ecosystem (I still love Linux and Windows 10, though). I continue to love the iPhone 6s Plus, iPad mini 4, and Apple TV I bought in 2015, but this year, I added AirPods and a MacBook Pro. One of those Apple products was quickly returned, while the other is my overall favorite. Can you guess which is which?

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OnePlus announced in November that it would release Android Nougat for its latest flagship killers by the end of 2016. And it has kept its promise, as the much-awaited update will reach OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3 units starting today.

CEO Carl Pei revealed on Twitter that Android Nougat will be gradually rolling out on December 31 and that, indeed, it is a "stable" build -- not a preview, like OnePlus publicly released for OnePlus 3 users to test.

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2016 was a bad year in lots of ways -- loads of celebrity deaths, plus Brexit and Trump (depending on your point of view of course) -- but a good year for new tech.

Rather than just looking at what exciting new products made it on to the market in 2016, I’ve decided to take a look at the items that have become part of my digital life in the past 12 months.

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2016 is drawing to a close and we're already looking forward to everything a new year will bring. It gets started quick when the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off 2017, but before we start ogling at all those products that may or may not ever see a store shelf, it's time to take a glance back at the year that was.

Many products showed up on the BetaNews doorstep this year and we all worked hard to bring you an overview of them so you'd know what to buy and what to avoid. Now it's time for me to take a look at a few of my favorite items from the past 12 months.

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The NETGEAR Nighthawk X10 AD7200 802.11ad Smart WiFi router (R9000) costs $500. Let's get that out of the way. Some people think this is way too much to spend on a wireless router. Depending on your budget and needs, yeah, this could be too much for you. If you have a big home and spend a lot of time on the internet, however, money may be no object for a fast and reliable connection.

This particular router is NETGEAR's top-of-the-line home offering, meaning it is chock-full of features and technology. In fact, it even has 802.11ad -- something that is not worth getting excited about -- yet. This is not found on many routers nowadays, and for good reason -- it is very short-range and there are virtually no devices that can leverage it.

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Switching your website to HTTPS improves security, reassures your visitors and means you won’t be affected by those "not secure" warnings Chrome 56 will soon display on some HTTP pages.

Making the move isn’t always easy, unfortunately -- there’s a lot to consider.

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With so much expectation placed on the impact of Blockchain technology, which platform is going to help the industry deliver on those expectations?

If you find that question surprising it is because you’ve only ever heard of Bitcoin when it comes to Blockchain technology, then you won’t be alone.

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System utility developer Resplendence Software has released WhySoSlow 1.0, a "performance and responsiveness analyzer" for Windows 7 and later.

The program’s analysis function monitors various performance indicators, including CPU clock speed, temperature and load; memory load; hard page faults; application responsiveness; latencies, BIOS interrupt delays and more.

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Already an attractive option for a variety of consumer applications, crowd sourcing is now catching on in the corporate world. One emerging area of crowd sourcing is bug bounty programs. These are rewards offered by organizations to security researchers or whitehat hackers, who receive recognition and financial compensation for finding and reporting bugs, exploits and vulnerabilities in the organizations’ websites and applications.

As a technology company or security professional, it’s easy to see the attraction of running bug bounty programs. But these programs are not without risk, and timing can be a critical factor. Unless they are managed carefully, bug bounty programs can come with serious consequences for your overall security posture.

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Two-hundred-and-twelve in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on Windows Store in the past seven days.

Check out the best Windows 10 apps of 2016 and best Windows 10 games of 2016 listings in case you missed them.

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Samsung introduced the Galaxy Beta Program in November to give Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge users in select markets the option to beta test the upcoming Android Nougat update. Four builds have seen the light of day so far, but there will not be a fifth -- the program closes today.

The Android Nougat betas have been well received, with users reporting a solid user experience and few major issues. So, as a result, Samsung is moving on to the next phase, putting the final touches on the much-awaited upgrade. The company expects it to be ready for prime time soon, announcing that it will release Android Nougat for Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge in January.

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