I believe that you can read the largest of things from the smallest of clues. It was with this attitude that I went in search of tenuous clues in the referral logs of OfficialAres.com. There are a lot of misspellings and typos of the word Ares that – eventually – get the users to the site. It was these that I attempted to analyze with my Sherlock-homes style sleuthing skills. Did I learn anything? Probably not. Did I have fun? Oh yes!

First up were the spellings of Ares that appear to have emanated mostly from the Latin America area. These misspellings were Aries and Aires – both, interestingly, ‘real’ English words.

Next most popular on my misspelling list was “Areas”. There was a strong Greek contingent in this misspelling so I can only guess that there is something in the sounds of the word Ares in Greek that makes it sound like it should be spelt ‘Areas’. This is also possibly (I reluctantly admit) a slip of the finger since ‘S’ is next to the final ‘A’.

Arez is a spelling favored by the French and those who speak it (Canada and Africa being popular locations for these misspellings).

Other misspellings – and ones that I can’t hope to decipher – were Aeres, Aris and Aers. All interesting, perhaps, if you’re like me!

Trying to understand Patong girls left me in the dark. Literally. I loved Patong itself and from the start it seemed like I was really interesting the local ladies. I lapped this up, naturally; being fairly average looking this was a fantastic ego boost for me. What I really appreciated about the Patong girls was that they were so open about their feelings for me: if they liked the way I looked, then they told me.

And so it was that I fell into the trap of trying to understand Patong girls. Trying to understand any women is a difficult task for even the most astute of men , but trying to understand Patong girls proved beyond my mortal means.

None of the Patong girls seemed to care that I was going home in a week, and they just wanted to be pen pals once I’d gone. This seemed fairly harmless, so I agreed. Then the requests for money started coming. I really liked some of the girls and they really liked me, so it seemed okay to help them out. Still I wasn’t doing very well while trying to understand Patong girls.

And so I returned, penniless and despondent, to the US. Maybe I still don’t understand.

It’s official: Australians are not as behind the times as we first thought. In fact, Aussies will apparently spend $100 million (that’s Aussie dollars) on legal music downloads in the next year, with the trend expected to continue over the next five years.

Researchers have predicted that Australia will see exponential growth in the market of legal music downloads. And there was us thinking that Australians were nothing but barbecues and kangaroos. Hurray for progress.

Legal music downloads account for about 20% of all music sales in Australia and this figure is predicted to rise to 50% in the next five years.

It hasn’t always been such plain sailing, however, as in 2004, Australian spent just $100,000 on legal music downloads.

Coincidentally, Apple, which loves to brag about sales of music downloads, has launched its first Aussie retail store, on George Street in Sydney.

The Grand Daddy of all Ares P2P filesharing software, Ares Galaxy, must now be preparing to law down its crown as ‘King’ of the Ares Versions.

I have used Ares Galaxy for six years now – since its release in 2002 – and I have been very happy with it. The application has not moved with the times, though, and appears to have got complacent with its own success.

I have been playing around with some of the newer members of the Ares family – Ares Vista, Ares Ultra and Ares Ultimate – and I must say they’ve opened my eyes. Not only are these versions patently more modern and more slickly produced than the old dog Ares Galaxy, but they offer far more features and even, shock horror, customer support.

New is not always good, of course, and when I take a look at Ares Destiny and Ares Gold I wince: these are not ‘bad’ versions of Ares per se, but the adware that the developers package with it is most definitely bad.

It is time for me to pack away the aging Ares Galaxy and get to know my new friend, Ares Ultra, a little better. I’m a sentimental chap but I can’t help thinking that I should’ve done this some time ago…

Attention residents of Kansas and residents of Oklahoma! Recent laws will see Salvia banned in your State. This means that possession use and distribution of Salvia is illegal. Oklahoma residents face a jail sentence of up to 10 years for the possession of the drug, while its sale could see ‘felons’ face between five years and life in jail.

Salvia Divinorum, or Diviner’s Sage as it is sometimes known, has long been legal in the United States. It is native to Mexico and grows there in great numbers. The ancient Mazatec Shamans used to revere what they saw as the divining powers of the herb. They would have been shocked to see Salvia banned.

The news laws that see Salvia banned may have been influenced in part by the tragic death of teen from Delaware who, his parents say, took Salvia heavily. His justification for the use of the drug was that it was legal, and so was not dangerous. His parents certainly have been eager to see Salvia banned.

But their Son was correct: Salvia remains legal under US federal law (and the applicable law in most other countries, too). It available, completely legally, over the Internet in both its natural and concentrated form. Smoking or chewing Salvia gives hallucinations for the user.

A survey on youth music habits conducted by British Music Rights found that most youngsters surveyed use illegal means to get free music downloads. Interestingly, the respondents were adamant that they love music and that many of them would be interested in paying for a legal filesharing service. See: it’s not all doom and gloom with today’s youth.

The survey of 14-to-24-year-olds gives an interesting insight into the minds of a generation of music lovers that record labels are seemingly at odds with at the moment. Will anyone listen and create a legal filesharing service that will attract this demographic of people? If we had the time and connections to the music industry we’d set up just such a service for teens.

Subscription-based filesharing models seem to be the way to go in order to appease all parties. Illegal filesharing will, of course, still go on, but perhaps it won’t be such an issue if there are more legal services for people to choose from.

Kids aren’t totally immoral, as the music industry often forgets.

There have been (and indeed are) lots of different versions of the Ares filesharing software; there are more being and more due to be released. One that has caused the most confusion with users – and has been the most misrepresented by those in the industry – is Ares Lite.

Ares Lite started off as a cut down version of Ares Galaxy, the differences were minimal but it meant that Ares Lite could run using less system resources that its more intensive bigger brother.

When some rather shady entrepreneurs started to package various versions of Ares with adware and sell under a different name (Ares Destiny and Dealio are one such marriage), customers started looking for a ‘clean’ alternative. For whatever reason it was put about that Ares Lite was ‘Lite’ because it didn’t include the unwanted adware. This was simply not true.

There are many great versions of Ares that come without adware or malware, Ares Ultimate, Ares Galaxy and Ares Vista being good examples, and it is important that the user consider these before automatically plumping for Ares Lite, which has now passed it sell by date somewhat. One of the newer releases listed above will likely serve the modern file sharer more effectively.

Phuket has long been famed for its beaches and its food, but not usually is the Phuket nightlife mentioned. That has all been changing recently as the Phuket nightlife remodels itself for a new class of tourist.

The Phuket nightlife revolved around familiar Thai clubs with locals dancing around small tables, along with a smattering of Western influenced places. New clubs and bars have ensured that all genres of music from Indie through to rock and even into hardcore clubbing music like drum and bass and break beat. This heavier music is certainly not for everyone but it adds variety to the Phuket that was previously sadly lacking.

There are a few places in Phuket that really are pushing the boat out when it comes to offering new music to its visitors. As well as playing hard club music, these places have even been encouraging club land gods like Louie Vega and Jo Mills to pop in and lay down some tracks. This new wave of harder music is taking a while to catch on, and the semi-full clubs that the DJs still play to is testament to this, but it is getting there. If and when Phuket shakes off its love for cheesy commercial pop tunes then the Phuket nightlife be something of an attraction in its own right.

If you’re looking for portal of information about different types of Ares download then I’ve got to recommend www.aresvista.com to you. I stumbled across this site last week when I was looking for a review on a particular type of Ares download, and I’ve been back every day since.

Why do I like officialares? Glad you asked! Read on.

Firstly the site has the best reviews for the Ares download versions; if they don’t like a version then they say so…can’t say fairer than that! I know where I stand with these reviews.

Then there is the fact that this is just the best place to get an Ares download. The site is quick and responsive and the navigation intuitive and well designed.

Then there is the information on Ares P2P filesharing that seems to be better than none. Even for an old hand like me there’s something to learn there.

Then, finally, there is the news section. Fresh news nearly every day that is always interesting and well written. I love the stories about how the ‘little people’ are fighting (and beating!) the RIAA. I also love that the news writers clearly love what they’re doing. This is top notch information that really hits the spot.

What others are saying:
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ares-ultimate-works-for-me

It was recently reported that six users of the now defunct filesharing service OiNK were arrested in the UK. A lot of media attention has been given to OiNK recently. OiNK was a filesharing service that was officially busted on October 23 last year. OiNK was revered for its comprehensive filesharing networks.

OiNK was one of the top places to find free music downloads for millions of Internet users. The site was incredibly useful, with a lot of high-quality music available. The problem with OiNK was that, as with other similar filesharing networks, the material being shared was copyrighted.

The owners of OiNK argued that they did not host any of the copyrighted material and so they were not in violation of any laws. However, the police had other ideas, and the site was shut down and all logs were seized, which gave police access to all OiNK users.

Six of those users were recently arrested, and there may be more to follow.

OiNK was a sad loss for the filesharing community.