As I previously mentioned, I decided to no longer maintain Google Analyticator myself, and I was looking for someone to continue the project. After receiving many requests, I felt Video User Manuals was the best home for it. They actively maintain a number of client websites with Google Analyticator installed and have a personal interest in ensure Google Analyticator is easy to use for everyone. I look forward to seeing where they take the plugin.

Now that the handoff of Google Analyticator is complete, I will begin the process of transforming ronaldheft.com. Sometime in the next couple of days any Google Analyticator links will be redirected to their respective pages on Video User Manuals. From there, in the next six months I expect to relaunch my website with something that represents what I’m currently doing better.

Thanks once again for everyone’s support these last seven years, and this hopefully won’t be the last you hear from me.

How Did We Get Here?

This was a hard decision for me. I released Google Analyticator almost 7 years ago and it was my first open source project. Google Analyticator jump started my interest in WordPress, helped me get into Google’s Summer of Code twice, was a source of clients for my freelancing career, and ultimately helped me land the job I have today. I truly owe a lot to Google Analyticator.

With success comes less free time, and that’s exactly the situation I find myself in. After graduating college I no longer have the free time I once had in high school or college. As you’ve probably noticed, I only released a few minor updates to Google Analyticator these past two years. There was some talk of converting Google Analyticator into a canonical plugin, and I was really hoping that would be the path for Google Analyticator to live on, but sadly those talks never went anywhere.

What This Means for Google Analyticator?

Rather than keeping Google Analyticator on life support for another few years, I’ve decided now is the perfect time to cut the cord. Sadly, this means I will no longer support Google Analyticator, but I’m hoping it’s not the end. If anyone wants to take over Google Analyticator, go for it. The source is available here.

I will leave the comments open on this post for people to coordinate the continuation of the project. If there is a person or a group of people who are willing to continue Google Analyticator and can update it to the new Google Analytics API, I will gladly give you commit access to the project and redirect Google Analyticator’s URL on this site to a URL of your choosing.

Thanks again to the WordPress community for all the great years you’ve given me.

For my loyal blog readers (if any remain), you can always follow me on Twitter. Some point down the road I will convert this domain into something else.

P.S. Anyone who has donated to Google Analyticator since March 1st, 2012 can contact me and I will gladly refund your donation, if you so choose. If not, thanks again for your support, and I hope the open-source community will treat Google Analyticator better than I did these last few years.

Why Use Usenet?

If you’ve never heard of Usenet before or are still unsure of what Usenet is, I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article on Usenet. The article does a great job explaining the technical side, the past history, and future of Usenet.

The main aspect of Usenet I’m going to discuss is Usenet’s ability to download files. Compared to alternatives, Usenet shines in this area:

• Fast Downloads: If you have a good Usenet provider, your download speeds will max out your internet connection. Even 50Mbps+ FiOS connections can max out on Usenet downloads.
• No Uploads: The centralized server structure of Usenet does not require uploading. You can download as much as you want and never have to worry about uploading a single file.
• Search Easily: Finding files on Usenet is extremely easy thanks to a number of websites that index Usenet content.
• Privacy: Many Usenet providers offer SSL encryption options and downloads are always anonymous.

Choosing a Usenet Client

If you’re interesting in getting started with Usenet, the first step is choosing a client. A good Usenet client will handle everything for you, so by the time a download is complete, your file is completely extracted and ready for use. I have three software recommendations that fit the bill for each platform:

• Mac: Unison 2
• Windows: NewsLeecher
• Linux: SABnzbd

There are many other clients that each handle Usenet a little differently. If my recommendations don’t work for you, I encourage you to check out many of the other Usenet clients out there.

Choosing a Usenet Provider

Several years ago, Usenet servers used to be provided by your ISP. Unfortunately those days have long passed, and even if your ISP still offers a Usenet server, it’s most likely crippled beyond belief. Thankfully, many great Usenet providers have stepped in to fill the ISP shoes. By specializing in one service, Usenet providers out there are typically way better than anything an ISP used to provide.

My personal recommendation for a Usenet provider is Giganews. They provide over 600 days of retention (how long a file remains on a Usenet server after upload) and offer plans as low as $2.99/month. With options like SSL and VPN, Giganews is also the most secure Usenet provider.

If for some reason Giganews isn’t your cup of tea, there are a number of other great providers out there:

• Power Usenet
• Supernews
• Usenet.net
• Rhino

Configure Your Usenet Client

After a choosing a Usenet client and a Usenet provider, the last step in the setup is configuring your Usenet client. If you’ve ever setup an email client before, configuring a Usenet client is basically the same process. In the Usenet client settings you’ll be entering four basic details, all which are supplied by your Usenet provider:

• Your Usenet provider service address (ex. news.giganews.com).
• Your Usenet provider account username.
• Your Usenet provider account password.
• The number of connections your provider allows.

After entering in those details, save your settings, and get ready to download.

Finding Files on Usenet

If you selected Unison 2 or NewsLeecher as your Usenet client, both of those clients have search built right in. If your client does not have search, don’t fret. There are a number of great websites out there for finding files on Usenet. In fact, I recommend checking them out even if your client has search, because each offer a different way of finding files.

With the recent closure of the most popular Usenet indexing website, Newzbin, I have found these three websites the best replacements:

1. NZBMatrix
2. NZBs(dot)org
3. Binsearch.info

After finding a file on a search website, simply download the NZB file, and open the file from your downloads folder. Your Usenet client should automatically start downloading the file.

Bonus Tip for Mac Users: Use the RSS feeds from NZBMatrix or NZBs(dot)org with Automatic and my dropbox folder action for automatic downloading goodness.

Start Enjoying Usenet

I hope you found my getting started guide useful. Usenet really is a wonderful service once you start to use it. If you have any questions, feel free to sound off in the comments.

What is an automatic RSS downloader?

You may have heard the term torrentcasting or the realtively new term NZBcasting before. Basically, both terms refer to using an RSS feed to push out torrent or NZB files for downloading. When using a torrentcast or NZBcast, within a relatively short time of release of a new vidcast, podcast, or whatever feed you’re following, the new file is downloaded automatically and ready for consumption. This saves time finding the file, starting the download, and then waiting for it to finish.

Torrentcasts and NZBcasts are nothing new to Windows users, but they’re relatively new to Macs. Sure, there was an open-source application a few years ago, but that project was abandoned and eventually the software stopped working. Thankfully a replacement has found its way to Mac, and that replacement is Automatic.

Why is automatic useful?

Automatic is the software that makes torrentcasts and NZBcasts work. After installing Automatic, you simply configure it for whatever feeds you wish to follow, add some filters to the feeds (specify what vidcasts or podcasts you wish to download), and then forget about it. Automatic then handles the rest. Here’s what I like about Automatic:

• Only runs when checking for feed updates (a cron job, for you programmers), so it uses no background resources.
• Includes built-in options to prevent downloading duplicate episodes.
• Allows feeds to be configured on a per-folder basis, so both torrentcasts and NZBcasts can be used at the same time.
• The interface is extremely easy to use, making setting up new subscriptions a breeze.

Overall, Automatic is an excellent piece of software that fills the torrentcasting and NZBcasting niche. Combine Automatic with my NZB folder action and your Mac instantly transforms into a Usenet downloading machine. Best part of this all? Automatic is free. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Unfortunately, I feel Unison skipped over one great feature that I’ve requested to them in the past: folder monitoring. Most torrent clients include this feature, and if you’re unfamiliar with the term, folder monitoring basically watches a set folder (usually your downloads folder) for .torrent or other files, automatically opens them, and usually sends the opened file to the trash. The same feature would work great with Usenet’s NZB files.

Creating an NZB Dropbox

Thankfully, Leopard and Snow Leopard include the functionality at the operating system level to make this a reality, which is exactly what I’ve done. I wrote a folder action script, a type of script that runs whenever a file is added, edited, or deleted in a folder. Folder actions are linked at the operating system level and require no additional software to run.

Here are the steps required to setup the dropbox folder action:

1. Download my folder action script (version 1.1, see changelog) and unzip.
2. Move the script to: [YourMacHardDrive]/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/
3. Right click on the folder you wish to monitor, and select “Folder Actions Setup…” (this may be called something different under Leopard).
4. On the dialog box that comes up, select the “NZB Dropbox.scpt” option, and click Attach.
5. Close the Folder Actions Setup window.

After performing these steps, the folder action is ready, and dropping any .nzb in the folder will trigger the action. Here’s a rundown of what happens when a new file is added to the folder:

• Determines if the file is an NZB, if not, it ignores the file and moves on.
• Opens Unison in the background if not already open. If the folder action is triggered while you’re working on another application, you won’t even notice Unison open.
• Adds the NZB to the download queue in the background. Unison will remain hidden and not disrupt your workflow.
• After a successful import, deletes the NZB file processed.

Using the Script for Other Applications

If you open the script in the AppleScript Editor (an application found your Mac’s Utilities folder), with a little bit of programming knowledge you should have no problem migrating the script for Usenet clients other than Unison, other files and applications (like torrents if your torrent client of choice doesn’t support folder monitor), or even just tweaking the script to remove or add features like trashing the NZB.

Any suggestions are welcomed on improving this script. I’ve been running it successfully for the past few days and it’s been working great for me, but I’m sure there is more that can be done with it.

Dropbox Uses

I’d recommend setting this folder action up on your browser’s download folder, but there are certainly other uses outside of download folder monitor. Look for a new post in the next few days with an excellent use for the script (actually, the main reason why I wrote the script). Until then, feel free to share in the comments what you’re using the script for. Enjoy!

Script Changelog

1.1 (2010-01-20)

• Added check to ensure file is complete and not still downloading.
• Added check to verify Unison opened before attempting to add the NZB.

1.0 (2010-01-08)

• Initial release.