uTorrent 3.0 (download) graduated to beta yesterday, combining some impressive new features with initiatives from parent company BitTorrent to encourage legal torrent usage.

The new beta can stream videos and music while the files are still downloading, using progressive and sequential download technology. The streaming feature can also be used to preview a file before committing to a full download. The preview feature can lend itself to the new basic socialization features in uTorrent, which serve as a passive reminder while downloading that you can interact with other people also seeding or leeching the torrent.

You can now rate a torrent with from one to five stars and comment on the torrent, directly from the uTorrent interface. While some users are expressing concern that this will add bloat to what is most often thought of as a lightweight program by definition, socialization features also happen to be the fourth-most requested item in uTorrent's Idea Bank.

Another socialization feature that's been implemented in uTorrent 3.0 is the ability to send files, such as home movies or cell phone videos, directly from uTorrent. The feature creates a Web link that you can send by e-mail or post on Twitter or Facebook.

The new uTorrent works in conjunction with the uTorrent Remote Android app, which allows you to manage torrents from your Android device. You can also remotely send a completed file to the Android device.

In this first video, we show you how to gain root access on your Android phone or tablet using the program SuperOneClick (and we give a shout to Unrevoked for HTC phones). If you're not able to watch the video, check out our written instructions on how to root your Android device.

So you've rooted your phone. Now what? How to install a custom Android ROM video and instructions details how to install a custom ROM, which is a heavily customized version of Android. Using a custom ROM can give you super-Android powers, such as better battery life, faster performance, and additional features.

Just because you're about to upgrade your phone doesn't mean that it's worthless, but a lot of people want to receive a used phone in as close to factory-fresh conditions as possible. Our how to restore your Android to factory settings video and instructions explain how to restore your Android device back to the stock version of Android.

In all three of these, there are some important things to note. First is that rooting will void your phone's warranty. Secondly, these procedures mess with the core interactions between your hardware and the operating system, so be careful. There's a chance you could wind up with a bricked device. Third, for purposes of demonstration, the instructions are geared toward one phone model, the original Motorola Droid. If you have a different phone or tablet, please be sure to research the proper instructions for your device.

If you've got device-specific advice, tips, or tricks, let us know in the comments below.

As an editor at Download.com, I can't really state an opinion on software made in-house for obvious reasons. But with that said, I can't help but think this latest promotion for TechTracker Plus is a pretty good deal. Starting today, for a limited time, you can get TechTracker Plus for Mac for $19.99 (down from $29.99) and receive a free copy of MacPilot as part of the deal.

MacPilot (usually $19.95) is one of our favorite apps for fiddling around with your Mac, optimizing it to run better and unlocking the hidden potential of OS X and many applications--all without having to use the command line. Everything from changing the boot mode (64-bit or 32-bit) to tweaking the behavior of the Finder and Dock to activating hundreds of "secret features" in many apps, are only some of the functions made easier by using MacPilot.

TechTracker Plus helps keep your software and drivers up-to-date, scanning your hard drive for programs and then matching them up with our database to check for the latest updates.

Like I said, you'll have to act as the reviewer of the improved TechTracker Plus for Mac, but with the addition of a free version of MacPilot and a reduced price all around, it's hard to pass up what I think is a pretty great deal.

Don't be alarmed, but birds are taking over. Tiny birds, angry birds, and now flightless Antarctic birds. If only Alfred Hitchcock were alive to see this.

The latest fowl to fly to the top of the App Store charts? Penguins--specifically, Air Penguin, which currently holds the No. 1 spot. It's ahead of Cut the Rope, ahead of Tiny Wings, and even ahead of all three Angry Birds games (including the recently updated-for-Easter Angry Birds Seasons).

Why all the fuss? At first I wasn't quite sure. Air Penguin is a pretty straightforward tilt-control game--not unlike Doodle Jump, but putting two axes into play instead of just one. It's your job to guide your bouncing, somersaulting, sliding, occasionally flying penguin from one ice floe to the next, tilting your iDevice left, right, forward, and backward to steer him. One bad landing and you plop into the water; game over.

Along the way you'll encounter increasingly difficult obstacles: smaller ice floes that are harder to land on, floes that are already cracked (and therefore can't be landed on), jumping swordfish, and, of course, sharks (which leap out of the water in a suitably fearsome fashion).

Fortunately, there's help along the way as well: turtles to ride, fish to collect, whale blow-holes to land on (for a quick jump-boost), and so on.

The fish you collect (or purchase in-game) can be exchanged for special power-ups. One of them gives you a one-time rescue from the water; another temporarily "disables" the sharks.

Air Penguin is fun, no doubt about it. Addictive, too, pushing all the right "just one more time" buttons. I can't say it's captured my attention the way, say, Tiny Wings did (or even Cover Orange), but it's definitely a nice diversion--and an easy impulse buy at 99 cents.

What do you think of Air Penguin? Best game since Angry Birds, or just the flavor of the moment?

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

You've rooted your Android device, flashed a custom ROM, and reaped the benefits of better power management, extra features, and the radiant glow that comes from treating that phone like you own it. Because you do own it, right? Now it's time to get a new phone. How can you make your old Android-powered hardware resalable?

We've got a way for you to restore the stock version of Android, thanks to the rescue guides at DroidForums.net. The procedure requires caution, because just like when you rooted your phone and installed a custom ROM, there's a chance you can brick it by downgrading, too.

Note that for these instructions, the phone being used is a first-generation Motorola Droid and that the steps are extremely device-specific. While the general idea of how to do it applies to all devices, you must research the exact instructions for your phone on your own.

The first step is to grab three downloads you must have to restore a Droid. One is the Motorola desktop tool for updating phones, called RSD Lite (download). Next, you want the appropriate drivers for your phone. In this case, I want the "Motorola Droid drivers" for a 32-bit computer (download). (Also available for download: x64 drivers.) The third download you have to have is the SBF file. In this case, I want to downgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo, so I search for FRG22D.sbf Droid (Google search results).

Next, install RSD Lite and the drivers, and connect your phone to your computer. Turn it off, then turn it on holding Up on the D-Pad. After a minute or so of holding it down, the Bootloader screen, a black screen with white text and no interface, will appear. Then run RSD Lite, and you ought to see your phone listed. If not, go to the menu bar, choose Config, then DeviceID, then choose either of the two options, and restart RSD Lite. Be sure to put the phone in bootloader mode before running RSD Lite.

Last, browse to the SBF file. Hit Start and grab a tasty beverage as Froyo installs. The phone should automatically reboot. If you connect it to a network, either with 3G or Wi-Fi, it will soon ask to upgrade to Android 2.2.1 or whatever the most recent manufacturer-supported Android version is.

That's one way you can restore your phone to its original, stock version of Android. There are several other methods out there, and remember that this procedure is nuanced and likely will change depending on your device.

Social networking Web browser RockMelt expanded its reach to the iPhone today, debuting a browser that synchronizes the desktop versions' features to your iPhone. These include the new Read Later option for saving URLs to be read in the future, as well as RockMelt's full Twitter and Facebook management tools.

This means that in addition to Twitter and Facebook basics, such as retweeting and wall posting, you can add photos, geotag, and open links on the fly. This last feature is unique to RockMelt for iPhone. When you tap an update from a friend on either service that contains a link, the text of the update will appear at the top of the iPhone and the URL will render below it.

Some features that are in the desktop version have not been ported to the iPhone one. There's no tabbed browsing, nor is there a private browsing option.

When demonstrated last week at CNET's San Francisco offices by RockMelt CEO Eric Vishria, the feature appeared smooth and was striking for cutting out the extra step of having to tap the URL to see it. However, the process also potentially opens up security risks with shortened URLs that haven't been verified. Vishria said that there will be a feature in the first update to the iPhone app that will allow users to expand URLs on the fly. The update is expected about a week after the app's initial release, which is itself expected within a few days. Visria cautioned that he had yet to receive a specific date and time for the launch from Apple.

Vishria added that RockMelt is seeing interesting behavior among its users, which he counted in the hundreds of thousands. He noted that 65 percent of RockMelt users check two or more RSS feeds, and that 41 percent of its users are high school and college students around the world. That means that a majority of RockMelt users are invested in a technology that, Vishria said, many average browser users would be hard-pressed to define. "The feedback is clear that many do not know what RSS is, just what it does."

RockMelt expects to release a version soon that's optimized for the iPad, and is currently "looking at" an Android version.

Mozilla, taking interest in the Node.js project to run JavaScript programs on servers, not just browsers, has passed an early milestone with its own flavor of the software.

Node.js is built with the V8 JavaScript engine from Google's Chrome browser, but Mozilla is transplanting Firefox's JavaScript technology in a project called SpiderNode. (The JavaScript engine in Firefox is called SpiderMonkey, and the hybrid technology used in SpiderNode is called V8Monkey.)

"We now have a Node executable running on V8Monkey," though it still crashes at this early stage, said SpiderNode leader Paul O'Shannessey on Twitter yesterday.

V8 is deeply integrated with Node.js, so Mozilla is taking the approach of building the V8 interface onto SpiderMonkey. That's been a useful project in and of itself, O'Shannessey said, generating ideas about ways to improve SpiderMonkey, but the larger goal is to provide a different version of Node.js.

"We think V8 is great and the fact that Node has become so widely used is a testament to that. But we also think there's room for competition here," he said in a blog post about SpiderNode.

Node.js, a project begun in 2009 by Ryan Dahl and funded by Joyent, runs tasks on a server in a different and potentially more efficient way than a lot of today's common technology. Specifically, it responds to requests--to deliver a Web page to a browser, for example--by waking up when notified of the request, then falling back asleep once the request is fulfilled. This approach is called an event model, and Dahl argues that it performs better under load than traditional servers that allocate tasks to computing processes called threads that take up more memory.

Sencha, a start-up offering development tools to create Web applications that run in a browser, likes the idea of server-side JavaScript, too, since Web developers are likely already familiar with the language. It's building a higher-level package called Connect that combines Node.js with various plug-ins useful for Web servers.

"We're a big fan of JavaScript in the server," said Aditya Bansod, senior director of product management at Sencha. "For a developer, having the same language and the same event model on the server and on the client reduces the cognitive dissonance when working on each side."

Node.js today runs on Linux and Unix operating systems, but Dahl expects to change that. There are too many Windows servers and Windows developers to ignore, he said in an April presentation (PDF).

Originally posted at Deep Tech