Current News
September 8, 2010, 8:25am
Internet Search Database Maintenance...
We are performing maintenance to the Internet Search Database today. There will be a few minutes of down time this morning where you may see some error code 500 messages. After that, searches will be a little slower than normal while the caches fill back up.
The maintenance is being performed to recover from an issue with the source of our header information which was causing incomplete file downloads. This only impacted files posted within the last 2-3 days. Everything should be fine now.
If you are still having issues, please contact us through our Technical Support Form.
Previous Messages
August 20, 2010, 9:15pm
Newsbin Forums Upgrade Complete...
We have upgraded to the latest version of phpbb for the Newsbin Forums. The content is the same but it has a cool new look and a bunch of new features. If you already have an account, your same username and password applies. The forums are open to anyone so if you don't have an account, feel free to set one up. We do not automatically create accounts on the forums when you register for Newsbin.
We also officially released Newsbin version 5.57 last week. If you had downloaded RC2, there is no need to re-download this release, it is the same. If you are running any version prior to 5.57, we recommend that you go ahead and upgrade. This is a free upgrade for all registered users. Please address any issues or questions about Newsbin, Internet Search, or our forums by posting to the Newsbin Forums or contact us through our Technical Support Form.
August 6, 2010, 12:45pm
Newsbin Version 5.57 Final Release Candidate...
This is basically a rebuild of the last Release Candidate getting ready for production release. There is no "RC" designation in the title bar and this will be the production release unless some showtopper bug is discovered. We call it RC2 just to differentiate but it will become the production release.
Download 5.57RC2 from the Newsbin Beta Download Page. Please provide feedback on 5.57 or Internet Search through the Newsbin Forums or through our Technical Support Form.
July 27, 2010, 11:30am
Newsbin Version 5.57 Release Candidate Available...
A Release Candidate of version 5.57 is now available for download. It addresses a few bugs that were not discovered until after the wider distribution that occured after the production release of 5.56. The fixes include:
Other changes include:
- Fixed issue where PAR files were getting added both to the download list and the PARs list
- Fixed problem where "NA for NZBs" would get duplicated each time the "Load" dropdown was selected in an NZB Post list
- Fixed problem with contents of loaded NZB files being hidden if the Storage Age was set newer than the posts represented in the NZB
- Fixed issue converting NZB's to UTF-8. For example, German umlauts were not getting preserved.
- Fixed issue where toggling "Show Filenames", the columnn resets to top.
Version 5.57RC1 is available for download from the Newsbin Beta Download Page. Please provide feedback on 5.57 or Internet Search through the Newsbin Forums or through our Technical Support Form.
July 15, 2010, 8:30am
Newsbin Version 5.56 Released...
Version 5.56 is now the official production release of Newsbin. The biggest changes were to support our new Internet Search database that matches Giganews retention of 700+ days. We now allow free searches for everyone but only subscribers of our Internet Search Service can queue search results for download.
Other changes include:
- New pop-up screen indicating critical errors
- Global Filters now apply to Search tab contents
- Status column in Post List now shows number of files represented by each line.
Version 5.56 is available for download from the Newsbin Download Page. Please provide feedback on 5.56 or Internet Search through the Newsbin Forums or through our Technical Support Form.
July 5, 2010, 4:00pm
Cox dropped Usenet access on June 30...
We are a little late reporting this but, Cox Communications stopped providing Usenet access on June 30, 2010. If you were using their server, you will need to sign up for a 3rd party Usenet provider to continue using Newsbin. We have a list of our recommended news services on our UsenetTools site.
June 22, 2010, 7:00pm
Version 5.56 Release Candidate...
We are close to final release for version 5.56 which primarily has changes to work better with our new, improved Internet Search Service. If you run the Release Candidate, Internet Search is FREE until the final release, which we are planning for tomorrow night if no new issues arise.
You can download it from the Newsbin Beta Download Page. Please provide feedback on 5.56 or Internet Search through the Newsbin Forums or through our Technical Support Form.
June 11, 2010, 11:00am
Giganews World Cup Offer...
Giganews is offering a special promotion in conjunction with the World Cup. They are offering their unlimited Usenet service with 50 connections and 670+ days of retention for a special reduced rate. This is for new customers only.
We always recommend Giganews as the best Usenet provider available and our updated Internet Search Service has been designed to keep up with their incredible retention goals. If you've been thinking about switching your news service provider, check out Giganews.
June 9, 2010, 12:15pm
New Internet Search Server up...
Everyone is now using our new Internet Search Server as of today. You will enjoy over 650 days of retention (keeping up with Giganews) and should have better response time.
Keep in mind that search results are pre-compacted so, toggling compact view in the Search tab will have little effect. We also have a limit of 2000 files returned so, if you are hitting the limit, consider refining your query. It supports boolean searching similar to Google so you can do things like "findthis -blah" to find any post with "findthis" in the subject but without "blah" in the title. We will be writing some documentation on it soon.
If you notice that files are missing, you are getting unexpected results, or you have general questions about Internet Search, either post to the Newsbin Forums or use our Technical Support Form.
June 7, 2010, 10:00am
Switched back to original search server...
The old Internet Search Server was having trouble with increased weekend traffic but can handle weekday traffic. Since our new search server isn't exactly ready for prime time, we've switched everyone back to the old Internet Search server except Version 5.56 Beta users.
If you enjoyed your taste of the new server's much increased retention, you can still use it by upgrading to version 5.56B1. It is a free upgrade and is stable.
You can provide feedback and follow discussion about the new search server in the Newsbin Forums. For any specific questions, please use our Technical Support Form.
June 5, 2010, 5:30pm
New Internet Search Server Online...
Our old Internet Search Server is dying but, we've prepared a new Search Server with over 2 times the retention. Over 650 days. The server is still being tested but, with the old one dying, we needed to make it the main search server sooner than later.
Note: The Search Results are pre-compacted so, the Compact View option is no longer necessary and will not uncompact search results.
Version 5.55 and prior versions will work with it but, when you add a RAR set to the download list, all the PAR files get queued too. If you can't tolerate this, upgrade to 5.56B1. It is a free upgrade and is stable. We will be releaseing a Beta 2 soon with a production release to follow soon after that if all goes well.
You can provide feedback and follow discussion about the new search server in the Newsbin Forums. For any specific questions, please use our Technical Support Form.
May 31, 2010, 1:30am.
Internet Search Status...
To reiterate, version 5.56 Beta 1 exists to BETA TEST the new search service. There will be problems as we are very early in the development process. We keep getting complaints from people saying it's messed up when, we are looking for reports of how it is messed up so we can fix it. If you do not want to experiment with a beta quality service, stick with 5.55 which will give you the existing Internet Search Service. If you installed 5.56B1 and want to go back to 5.55, just install version 5.55 over 5.56B1 and you will be back to the original search service and all your settings will be retained.
Also, Internet Search for Version 5.35 is broken. This version is 3 years old and used the first iteration of our search interface. We will not be fixing this and recommend that anyone who is subscribed to Internet Search and still using version 5.35 upgrade to version 5.55. It is a free upgrade for registered users.
You can provide feedback and follow discussion about the beta test in the Newsbin Forums. For any specific questions, please use our Technical Support Form.
May 27, 2010, 9:00p.m.
New Internet Search Beta Testing...
We are testing a new Internet Search server that matches Giganews' retention of 650+ days. All registered users are invited to help test our new search service for free. If you download and install version 5.56 Beta 1, it has Internet Search enabled for registered users. Once we make 5.56 the production release, the free search will be turned off. Pricing will not change even though we now have almost 3 times the retention now.
You can provide feedback and follow discussion about the beta test in the Newsbin Forums. For any specific questions, please use our Technical Support Form.
May 4, 2010, 5:00p.m.
Updates to Online Help...
We are adopting a new format for our help pages. We now show a screenshot of Newsbin and you can click on an area of the image to learn more about that function. We are in the process of appying this wherever it makes sense. So far, it is in the Reference Guide and the Options page.
We are working on Version 6 of Newsbin now. Along with new GUI elements, we are working on making the download list smarter, to incorporate the functionality of the current AutoPAR tab. It is in the very early stages and should be entering Alpha testing with the folks on our IRC channel this month.
April 6, 2010, 11:30 a.m.
Version 5.55 Release...
We have officially released Version 5.55! This is intended to be the last of the Version 5 series as we are working on a new user interface for Version 6. This release is a free upgrade for all registered users. You can read a summary of changes and download the release from the Newsbin Download Page.
If you have any questions about this release, please post to the Newsbin Technical Support Forum or send a message using our Technical Support Form.