In the end, all of this is superfluous next to the vast advantages, but sometimes we still dream about torrent files – or the rest of the internet – being more flexible.
If you’re looking for added flexibility, or simply secrecy for your torrents, do read on.
hid.im
With hid.im, you can encode your torrents to an image file – this allows you to hide torrent files inside pictures beyond recognition. Simply surf to the website, upload your torrent file and wait for your png. You can save the image to your harddisk, or temporarily reach them on the website.
The png file will look like a rectangle of electronic noise, as you can see below (ubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent).
So what’s the use of this technology? Besides being able to ‘hide’ your torrent files inside pictures, which will be increasingly difficult once this technology gets more well known, TorrentFreak puts it on ease of use.
That’s right, with your torrent file in picture format, you can simply upload it to otherwise restricted forums, mail them to your friends, or embed them in a MakeUseOf article. Exactly how many people will need it remains the question, but it’s a beautiful concept, and I can imagine a multitude of situations in which it’d be useful.
Decoding your Torrents
Obviously, you can’t just open the png files in your local torrent client, they’ll need to be decoded first. There are two ways to do this.
The easiest, perhaps, is by using the bookmarklet which you can find on the webpage. For those of you that don’t know, a bookmarklet is a bookmark that executes a small piece of JavaScript in your browser. Once you activate your bookmarklet, you can simply click on the image for a download link to appear, as demonstrated in the screenshot below.
The bookmarklet works on Safari, Firefox, but not yet on Chrome. Internet Explorer is not specified, but you could give it a shot.
An alternative – for Firefox users, that is – to the bookmarklet is the hid.im add-on. With this one installed, you can simply right-click on your torrent pictures, and save them to your computer. Less work, but only if you’re using Firefox.
Have a Go
Below we’ve included a sample coded torrent. The torrent file in question is, of course, 100% legal. Its identity, however, remains unknown. Install the Firefox add-on or bookmarklet, and see if you can decode the torrent.
Do you think you know which torrent it is? Tip: its got to do with a popular MakeUseOf subject.
What do you think about hid.im? Advancement of the century, or useless technology? Let us know what you think – or how you plan to use it – in the comments section below. Share your ideas with us, and your fellow MakeUseOf readers!
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