[stinkblog]

We’re finally back up at 9:40 am after Dreamhost’s “planned” 3 AM “three hour” outage. My apologies to anyone who had trouble accessing the site overnight.

We have just posted TubeSock for Windows 1.0.1. If you have already downloaded TubeSock for Windows, please download the new version.

The biggest change is in how we distribute registration files. Previously, these were sent as “.reg” files. Wow, was that a bad idea. Apparently reg files are a major vector for virus attacks, and thus every email server and client in the Windows universe freaks out when it sees one.

In TubeSock 1.0.1, we’ve switched to a text-based file registration format. Hopefully these files will be a bit more email-friendly. Also, TubeSock 1.0.1 includes a “Check for Updates” feature, so you can easily keep current with the latest and greatest version.

Recently I’ve had a few emails asking for basic info on TubeSock usage. We’re working on a nice manual for everyone. In the meantime, here’s the basic steps.

1. In your web browser, go to a YouTube or DailyMotion web page that plays a video you want to save.
2. Copy the URL of that web page.
3. Go to TubeSock. Paste the URL into TubeSock’s entry field. If you’re not sure if you got it right, click “Preview” to see the video.
4. Almost done! Check the conversion settings (when in doubt, go with “Video for iPod” — it’s a great choice). Check the save location (”Add to iTunes” is best if you use iTunes; “My Movies” is best if not).
5. Click “Save” to download it.

That’s all there is to it. There are ways to make it simpler (i.e. browser integration, batch files) but we’ll save those for another post.

Since a picture is worth 1k words (and therefore a video is worth 30,000 words per second) here’s a video a fan made showing how to use TubeSock.

The server that processes TubeSock for Windows registrations has had a senior moment and temporarily forgotten how to make them. (And, it’s complaining about our haircuts and music.) For the time being, we’ll have to process TubeSock for Windows registrations manually. Please allow up to 12 hours for your registration email to arrive. (It probably won’t be this long — more likely less than an hour if one of us is awake — but if it’s not, please accept our apologies.)

Users have reported a bug in TubeSock 2.0 (for Mac OS X) where, when using the “Save as FLV” option, the downloaded files don’t show up. We tracked this down to the new feature in 2.0 where temp files are deleted after processing. Apparently, TubeSock 2.0 accidentally thinks the final FLV file is a temp file, and cleans it up. Oops. We’ve got a fix already made and we’ll post it live once it’s tested.

Also, because of this bug, 2.0 won’t go into the auto-update system — this new 2.0.1 will. So it will be another day or so before the auto-updater is itself updated with 2.0. A hearty thanks to all those TubeSock beta testers who caught this bug.

Oh, wait. Looks like we need new beta testers.

The Stinkbot blog (stinkblog?) can keep you up-to-date on Stinkbot products like TubeSock. Subscribe today!

It’s finally happened: TubeSock 2.0 has been released. And: TubeSock for Windows has also been released. We’re as surprised as you. Download either from the TubeSock pages.