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Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Freeware, P2P

TVU Player: TV for free

TVU Player is a free Windows app that lets you watch a variety of broadcast TV channels over the Internet. Unlike a number of web sites I've seen that promise free TV, TVU Player actually has some channels you might be interested in watching: ABC, Fox, CNN, Cartoon Network, ESPN. All told, about four dozen channels, including a number of foreign channels. It's live TV, meaning that you get exactly what you'd get if you turned on your TV right now, including the commercials. So where do the TV streams come from? The software doesn't say and the TVU web site doesn't give any clues, but this review at Web TV Hub suggests that there are people out there using TV capture cards to capture the video and then stream it to TVU, and then people who watch also rebroadcast it a la BitTorrent or Skype. (I can't resist pointing out that this is the exact idea I had about three years ago but didn't have the gumption to pull off myself.) The software isn't perfect, taking some time to buffer a channel before you can watch it and having not entirely reliable streams, but as a proof-of-concept or a last resort for people outside the U.S. to enjoy our *cough* glorious American TV offerings, it is pretty cool. Of course, there's no telling how legal TVU Player is, since it clearly operates without the consent of the TV networks it broadcasts, but does include those networks' advertisements. So, the usual caveats apply, but TVU Player is definitely worth checking out if you're a TV fan.

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Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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