How to Dig Up Dirt on Your Date - The funniest movie is here. Find it
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The energy crisis has given rise to a new source of fuel – the Styrofoam cup. Mechanical engineers at Iowa State University in Ames have demonstrated how to boost the power output of biodiesel simply by adding waste plastic to the fuel.
Song-Charng Kong, a co-author of the study, says the experiment – funded in part by the Department of Defense – was conducted to find a way to dispose of trash and generate power under battlefield conditions.
"One can recycle any kind of plastic, but if you are camped in a remote area, recycling is not an option," Kong says. "Turning plastic into fuel is a way to get rid of garbage and generate electricity."
Kong and colleagues dissolved polystyrene – a polymer used to make disposable foam plates and cups – into biodiesel at concentrations ranging from 2 to 20% polystyrene by weight. "A polystyrene cup will dissolve almost instantly in biodiesel, like a snowflake in water," Kong says, although the plastic doesn't break down as well in petroleum-based diesel and other liquid fuels.
Thicker juice
Tests of the mixed fuel in a tractor engine used for electricity generation showed that as polystyrene concentrations increased to 5%, power output increased at roughly the same rate. However, there was a drop off in output for plastic concentrations above 5%.
Kong thinks the change is due to the fuel's increasing viscosity as more and more polystyrene is added. Initially, he says, the thicker fluid creates greater pressure inside the generator's fuel injector causing earlier injection of fuel into the engine and increasing its output.
But eventually the fluid gets so viscous that it doesn't completely combust in the engine and power output decreases. At 15% polystyrene, the fuel is so thick the fuel injection pump overheats.
The new fuel mix is not without its problems, however – as the concentration of polystyrene increases, so do emissions of carbon monoxide, soot, and nitrous oxides.
"You are putting large polymer compounds in, it's hard to burn them completely," Kong says, adding that he hopes to now work on refining the engine's fuel injection system to yield a more complete burn with fewer emissions.
Bulky problem
Robert Malloy of the University of Massachusetts Lowell says as long as emissions can be brought back into line, adding polystyrene into fuel makes sense.
A recent report suggests it's over three times as energy efficient to recycle trash rather than convert it to fuel, but Malloy points out that polystyrene is a special case.
"I think we should try to recycle as much as we can, but there are certain materials that don't lend themselves to recycling in an economic way," he says. Polystyrene is so lightweight and bulky that it's uneconomical to ship to recycling plants. "Technologies like this where you get energy back would be preferable to landfilling," Malloy says.
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BATALLIONS of super-soldiers could be selected for specific duties on the basis of their genetic make-up and then constantly monitored for signs of weakness. So says a report by the US National Academies of Science (NAS).
If a soldier is struggling, a digital "buddy" might step in and warn them about nearby threats, or advise comrades to zap them with an electromagnet to increase their alertness. If the whole unit is falling apart, biosensors could warn central commanders to send in a replacement team.
As advances in neuroscience bring all this into the realms of reality, there are ethical issues to consider. Last week, the NAS released a report assessing the military potential of neuroscience, providing a rare insight into how the military might invest its money to create future armies.
Sponsored by the US army and written by a panel of 14 prominent neuroscientists, the report focuses on those areas with "high-payoff potential" - where the science is sufficiently reliable to turn into useful technologies (see "Where should the money go?").
"A growing understanding of neuroscience offers huge scope for improving soldiers' performance and effectiveness on the battlefield," says the report.
If a soldier is struggling, a digital "buddy" might step in and warn them about nearby threats, or advise comrades to zap them with an electromagnet to increase their alertness. If the whole unit is falling apart, biosensors could warn central commanders to send in a replacement team.
As advances in neuroscience bring all this into the realms of reality, there are ethical issues to consider. Last week, the NAS released a report assessing the military potential of neuroscience, providing a rare insight into how the military might invest its money to create future armies.
Sponsored by the US army and written by a panel of 14 prominent neuroscientists, the report focuses on those areas with "high-payoff potential" - where the science is sufficiently reliable to turn into useful technologies (see "Where should the money go?").
"A growing understanding of neuroscience offers huge scope for improving soldiers' performance and effectiveness on the battlefield," says the report.
Within five years, biomarkers might be used to assess how well a soldier's brain is functioning, and within 10 years, it should be possible to predict how individuals are likely to respond to environmental stresses like extreme heat and cold, or endurance exercises.
Genetic testing might also enable recruitment officers to determine which soldiers are best for specialist jobs. For example, by combining psychological testing with genetic tests for levels of brain chemicals, a clearer picture of a soldier's competencies might shine through. "We might say that given this person's high levels of brain serotonin, they're going to be calmer under pressure, so they might make a good sniper," says Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University in California, who was on the NAS panel. Alternatively, someone with low dopamine might be less likely to take risks, he says, and therefore be better suited as a commanding officer in a civilian area.
Selection by genotype could be fraught with difficulty - applicants rejected for certain jobs might try to sue on the grounds of genetic discrimination, say. Anders Sandberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, says the military also needs to choose the traits it wants to optimise with care. "The battlefield is changing quite a lot right now. Wars are becoming more like computer games, which means that in the future having the genes that make you a good physical fighter might not be so important as having excellent hand-eye coordination."
Perhaps more sinister is the possibility of neuroscientists creating cognitively manipulated warriors, whose emotions have been blunted, for example.
Zak emphasises that the panel was not asked how to turn soldiers into better "killing machines", although "the whole purpose of maximising and sustaining battlefield capacity is to gain superiority over opponents", admits Floyd Bloom of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who chaired the panel.
That's not to say someone won't try it, though. Zak's own work focuses on the role of the hormone oxytocin in trust and empathy. If drugs were developed to block oxytocin, the effect might be to reduce a soldier's ability to empathise with enemy combatants or civilians.
Genetic testing might also enable recruitment officers to determine which soldiers are best for specialist jobs. For example, by combining psychological testing with genetic tests for levels of brain chemicals, a clearer picture of a soldier's competencies might shine through. "We might say that given this person's high levels of brain serotonin, they're going to be calmer under pressure, so they might make a good sniper," says Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University in California, who was on the NAS panel. Alternatively, someone with low dopamine might be less likely to take risks, he says, and therefore be better suited as a commanding officer in a civilian area.
Selection by genotype could be fraught with difficulty - applicants rejected for certain jobs might try to sue on the grounds of genetic discrimination, say. Anders Sandberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, says the military also needs to choose the traits it wants to optimise with care. "The battlefield is changing quite a lot right now. Wars are becoming more like computer games, which means that in the future having the genes that make you a good physical fighter might not be so important as having excellent hand-eye coordination."
Perhaps more sinister is the possibility of neuroscientists creating cognitively manipulated warriors, whose emotions have been blunted, for example.
Zak emphasises that the panel was not asked how to turn soldiers into better "killing machines", although "the whole purpose of maximising and sustaining battlefield capacity is to gain superiority over opponents", admits Floyd Bloom of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who chaired the panel.
That's not to say someone won't try it, though. Zak's own work focuses on the role of the hormone oxytocin in trust and empathy. If drugs were developed to block oxytocin, the effect might be to reduce a soldier's ability to empathise with enemy combatants or civilians.
"There are lots of stories of soldiers who refuse to shoot other soldiers," says Zak. "If you could get rid of that empathy response you might create a soldier that's more prepared to engage in battle and risk their life."
The panel recognised that such ethical dilemmas might be an inevitable consequence of their work. For this reason, they recommended that the US military should recruit ethicists to examine the ramifications of such developments before they occur. "They need to be explored because at some point someone's going to do them," says Zak. "Controls have to be put in place."
Neuroscience could also help to save lives in a military context. If you could predict which soldiers were particularly susceptible to stress, for example, it might help prevent a tragedy. Last week US army sergeant John Russell was charged with shooting five of his colleagues dead. Russell had completed a 15-month tour of Iraq and was being treated for stress.
Other research has suggested that navy recruits whose hypothalamo-pituitary axes (an area of the brain involved in the stress response) are highly reactive to stress are less likely to complete navy SEAL training. Robert Ursano at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, and his colleagues have hinted that you might be able to predict individual responses to stress by looking at numbers of serotonin receptors, and levels of p11, a protein linked to depression (Progress in Brain Research, DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(07)67014-9).
The difficulty is finding predictive markers that are reliable enough, says Simon Wessely at the King's Centre for Military Health Research in London, who was not involved in the report. "Current predictors are too weak, and while they may work statistically in large groups, they cannot say that Private A is vulnerable and Private B isn't." Moreover, "if you wrongly label someone as vulnerable to breakdown, you are damaging his career and robbing the army of much-needed manpower".
A more likely short-term prospect is monitoring whether an individual soldier's mental performance is deteriorating because of stress or tiredness.
Many errors involve lapses of attention, so finding ways to monitor attentiveness could have big benefits. Recent studies have linked variations in blood flow and oxygenation with occasions when observers miss signals, says the report, so sensors in helmets to monitor these variations could alert the soldier and his unit that his attention was fading.
Another possibility might be to use brain imaging to work out which recruits have understood new training concepts. In a recent study, fMRI was used to compare the brain activity of physics students and other students when they watched film clips of two different-sized balls falling at either the same or different rates.
The students were asked if the film they viewed was consistent with their expectations of how the balls should fall. In the non-physics students, an area of the brain associated with error detection lit up when the large and small balls fell at the same rate. For the physics students, the same area lit up when they fell at different rates - suggesting that they had fully grasped the Newtonian concept that different balls should fall at the same rate, regardless of their size.
Bloom emphasises that while all technologies have the potential to be misused, this is not necessarily a reason for ignoring them. Indeed, military investment could even reap benefits for the wider society. "Investment in such opportunities will be of benefit to the public by improving ways we educate our children and understand ourselves," he says.
The panel recognised that such ethical dilemmas might be an inevitable consequence of their work. For this reason, they recommended that the US military should recruit ethicists to examine the ramifications of such developments before they occur. "They need to be explored because at some point someone's going to do them," says Zak. "Controls have to be put in place."
Neuroscience could also help to save lives in a military context. If you could predict which soldiers were particularly susceptible to stress, for example, it might help prevent a tragedy. Last week US army sergeant John Russell was charged with shooting five of his colleagues dead. Russell had completed a 15-month tour of Iraq and was being treated for stress.
Other research has suggested that navy recruits whose hypothalamo-pituitary axes (an area of the brain involved in the stress response) are highly reactive to stress are less likely to complete navy SEAL training. Robert Ursano at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, and his colleagues have hinted that you might be able to predict individual responses to stress by looking at numbers of serotonin receptors, and levels of p11, a protein linked to depression (Progress in Brain Research, DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(07)67014-9).
The difficulty is finding predictive markers that are reliable enough, says Simon Wessely at the King's Centre for Military Health Research in London, who was not involved in the report. "Current predictors are too weak, and while they may work statistically in large groups, they cannot say that Private A is vulnerable and Private B isn't." Moreover, "if you wrongly label someone as vulnerable to breakdown, you are damaging his career and robbing the army of much-needed manpower".
A more likely short-term prospect is monitoring whether an individual soldier's mental performance is deteriorating because of stress or tiredness.
Many errors involve lapses of attention, so finding ways to monitor attentiveness could have big benefits. Recent studies have linked variations in blood flow and oxygenation with occasions when observers miss signals, says the report, so sensors in helmets to monitor these variations could alert the soldier and his unit that his attention was fading.
Another possibility might be to use brain imaging to work out which recruits have understood new training concepts. In a recent study, fMRI was used to compare the brain activity of physics students and other students when they watched film clips of two different-sized balls falling at either the same or different rates.
The students were asked if the film they viewed was consistent with their expectations of how the balls should fall. In the non-physics students, an area of the brain associated with error detection lit up when the large and small balls fell at the same rate. For the physics students, the same area lit up when they fell at different rates - suggesting that they had fully grasped the Newtonian concept that different balls should fall at the same rate, regardless of their size.
Bloom emphasises that while all technologies have the potential to be misused, this is not necessarily a reason for ignoring them. Indeed, military investment could even reap benefits for the wider society. "Investment in such opportunities will be of benefit to the public by improving ways we educate our children and understand ourselves," he says.
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Japanese company Fujitsu has released the thinest of watertight phones -Fujitsu F703i.Japanese company Fujitsu has released a fine of watertight _ -Fujitsu F703i. Its thickness is only 17.9 mm. According to the company, Fujitsu F703i be sustained at a depth of one metre, untouched and unharmed 30 minutes. So if you can not leave mobile phones even go swimming, a half an hour to take a bath with him you’ll be able!Also impressive dignity, Fujitsu F703i has 2.2-inche QVGA TFT LCD display 1,3-megapixels camera and additional camera videocalls, MicroSD slot. Available new model in the white, red and black colors. It is a pity only that sold the phone will not be with us, and the Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo.
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NTT DoCoMo officially gathered journalists, in order to give you an insight into that its engineers tested voice and packet data networks 4G…
Most of the countries are either beginning to shift to cell third generation network, or had recently been moved, but the largest Japanese cellphone operator already testing, and preparing for licensing to the networks fourth generation which offer 50 times faster and rich services, mobile communications, the 3G network.In NTT said that they had been working on the technology of the fourth generation for nearly 10 years, however, even with so much time in the company stressed that the technology is not yet ready for commercial use. The 4G network in Japan planned for launch by 2010, but recent studies in the WCDMA standard revealed the 3G network still have some growth potential, and it will take about five years before commercialization 4G.At the end of last year, the company stated that a prototype of the experimental apparatus for cellular networks 4G.NTT DoCoMo officially gathered journalists, in order to give you an insight into that its engineers tested voice and packet data networks 4G.
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An Apple job posting suggests the company might be thinking about adding 3G wireless radios to future MacBooks.
Apple's Mac Hardware Group is looking for a quality-assurance engineer with experience in the various networking technologies popular in the personal computing market, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, "and/or 3G Wireless WAN," according to the job posting spotted by Computerworld. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet are the standard network interfaces on the Mac at the moment, while 3G Wireless WAN is a technology confined just to the iPhone inside Apple.
A few years ago, notebooks with embedded chips that could connect to cellular networks were thought to be the next big thing in mobile computing, but the concept didn't exactly pan out in the same way that Wi-Fi is now ubiquitous in notebook computing. But Apple may be considering a MacBook partnership with AT&T, given its close ties to the carrier through the iPhone.
Rumors to that effect have surfaced before, and it might make sense that Apple would want to have some sort of tweak available for its MacBook lineup heading into the second half of the year.
Apple's Mac Hardware Group is looking for a quality-assurance engineer with experience in the various networking technologies popular in the personal computing market, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, "and/or 3G Wireless WAN," according to the job posting spotted by Computerworld. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet are the standard network interfaces on the Mac at the moment, while 3G Wireless WAN is a technology confined just to the iPhone inside Apple.
A few years ago, notebooks with embedded chips that could connect to cellular networks were thought to be the next big thing in mobile computing, but the concept didn't exactly pan out in the same way that Wi-Fi is now ubiquitous in notebook computing. But Apple may be considering a MacBook partnership with AT&T, given its close ties to the carrier through the iPhone.
Rumors to that effect have surfaced before, and it might make sense that Apple would want to have some sort of tweak available for its MacBook lineup heading into the second half of the year.
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Palm's comeback attempt rests squarely on the notion that it has found a better way to manage your complicated digital life.
Ever since its January coming-out party at the Consumer Electronics Show, Palm has generated buzz for the Pre unlike any other phone released since Apple's iPhone arrived in June 2007 (that includes impressive phones such as Research in Motion's BlackBerry Bold and HTC's G1 Android phone.) The two phones will be forever compared--not just because of their consumer-oriented styles and emphasis on gesture-based user interfaces, but because of the very real enmity between the proud team that worked on Apple's historic iPhone breakthrough and the ex-Apple executives and engineers attempting to rebuild Palm.
Ever since its January coming-out party at the Consumer Electronics Show, Palm has generated buzz for the Pre unlike any other phone released since Apple's iPhone arrived in June 2007 (that includes impressive phones such as Research in Motion's BlackBerry Bold and HTC's G1 Android phone.) The two phones will be forever compared--not just because of their consumer-oriented styles and emphasis on gesture-based user interfaces, but because of the very real enmity between the proud team that worked on Apple's historic iPhone breakthrough and the ex-Apple executives and engineers attempting to rebuild Palm.
While the iPhone has set the standard for future smartphones, Palm's WebOS delivers two important improvements that the iPhone can't yet match: true multitasking between applications, and a subtle notifications system that doesn't interrupt your train of thought. It does that while unveiling its own stamp on the multitouch user interface that Apple introduced to the masses with the iPhone and finding room for a slide-out hardware keyboard favored by CrackBerry addicts.
There are several reasons why no one should expect the Pre to turn the smartphone world upside down just yet. Business users still love their BlackBerrys and RIM is aggressively courting the consumer. Apple has a killer brand, great audio and video player technology, and more than 35,000 applications inside an easy-to-use App Store that grows by the hour.
All the same, Palm has taken a few steps forward that developers and users should take seriously. Until we know how much it's going to cost, it's impossible to predict how many other smartphone users will see value in these improvements, but they (and the competition) will notice. The Pre is expected to arrive sometime within the next few weeks, although all Palm has said is that it will be out in the first half of 2009.
Let's examine the subject of multitasking first, which has been a major criticism of the iPhone almost ever since it was released.
Outside of a few core applications, such as the phone and iPod player, an iPhone user must completely exit out of one application in order to use another. For example, you can return to the home screen and select another iPhone application while staying connected on a phone call, but you can't move back and forth between two applications while allowing the first application to run in the background, making it harder to use applications like instant messaging or streaming radio.
Apple has said these limitations are necessary to prevent battery life from dropping off a cliff and to ensure application stability. That is perhaps part of the reason why Palm has chosen a different development model.
WebOS applications will be created with standard Web development tools such as CSS, JavaScript, and HTML that run on a version of the Webkit engine. This doesn't mean they are "Web applications," which require a connection to the Internet to work. It does, however, mean they are (in general) more lightweight and less-resource intensive than iPhone applications, which are developed using the Objective-C programming language.
There are several reasons why no one should expect the Pre to turn the smartphone world upside down just yet. Business users still love their BlackBerrys and RIM is aggressively courting the consumer. Apple has a killer brand, great audio and video player technology, and more than 35,000 applications inside an easy-to-use App Store that grows by the hour.
All the same, Palm has taken a few steps forward that developers and users should take seriously. Until we know how much it's going to cost, it's impossible to predict how many other smartphone users will see value in these improvements, but they (and the competition) will notice. The Pre is expected to arrive sometime within the next few weeks, although all Palm has said is that it will be out in the first half of 2009.
Let's examine the subject of multitasking first, which has been a major criticism of the iPhone almost ever since it was released.
Outside of a few core applications, such as the phone and iPod player, an iPhone user must completely exit out of one application in order to use another. For example, you can return to the home screen and select another iPhone application while staying connected on a phone call, but you can't move back and forth between two applications while allowing the first application to run in the background, making it harder to use applications like instant messaging or streaming radio.
Apple has said these limitations are necessary to prevent battery life from dropping off a cliff and to ensure application stability. That is perhaps part of the reason why Palm has chosen a different development model.
WebOS applications will be created with standard Web development tools such as CSS, JavaScript, and HTML that run on a version of the Webkit engine. This doesn't mean they are "Web applications," which require a connection to the Internet to work. It does, however, mean they are (in general) more lightweight and less-resource intensive than iPhone applications, which are developed using the Objective-C programming language.
That may limit the performance of WebOS applications. Don't expect the sophisticated gaming community, for example, to embrace the Pre. But Palm's approach means it will be very easy for anyone who has developed a Web application to get up and running on Pre development, which could help expand the number of applications in the early days of the device if the smartphone world likes what they see.
Other mobile operating systems--notably Android and Windows Mobile--allow multitasking, but Palm has developed an elegant way of switching between "cards," something vaguely akin to a combination of Windows' Alt-Tab switching and Mac OS' Expose, or switching between tabs on a Web browser. New applications can be launched using the "Launcher" software button on the bottom of the home screen, and users navigate between different applications by flicking finger left or right.
It remains to be seen how many open WebOS applications it will take to crash the Pre. (Palm product managers at CTIA 2009 refused to speculate, but said it would be very hard to overload the phone.) But Palm's implementation of multitasking is slick, as is its method for delivering notifications.
Notifications are the lifeblood of the mobile computer: if I'm carrying an always-on, always-connected computer, then I want to know right away when something has happened. With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, Apple plans to expand its notifications service to third-party applications, whereas right now it only works for core applications such as incoming phone calls, text messages, and calendar appointments.
Other mobile operating systems--notably Android and Windows Mobile--allow multitasking, but Palm has developed an elegant way of switching between "cards," something vaguely akin to a combination of Windows' Alt-Tab switching and Mac OS' Expose, or switching between tabs on a Web browser. New applications can be launched using the "Launcher" software button on the bottom of the home screen, and users navigate between different applications by flicking finger left or right.
It remains to be seen how many open WebOS applications it will take to crash the Pre. (Palm product managers at CTIA 2009 refused to speculate, but said it would be very hard to overload the phone.) But Palm's implementation of multitasking is slick, as is its method for delivering notifications.
Notifications are the lifeblood of the mobile computer: if I'm carrying an always-on, always-connected computer, then I want to know right away when something has happened. With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, Apple plans to expand its notifications service to third-party applications, whereas right now it only works for core applications such as incoming phone calls, text messages, and calendar appointments.
But Apple's system for notifications uses a pop-up window that interrupts you in the middle of a task, pauses the application, and forces you to make a choice (close, view) before proceeding. Palm's notification bar is much less obtrusive.
When a Pre user receives an e-mail or text message, that alert will pop up on the lower part of the Pre's screen as a horizontal bar. But the alert won't interrupt the application, and if the user chooses simply to ignore that alert, it will soon retreat to the lower edge of the screen to be accessed later when the task at hand is completed. That alert will always be at the bottom of the Pre's screen no matter what application or view you've selected, along with some brief information such as the sender or subject line.
Apple's approach lets you dismiss the alert and continue what you were doing but forces you to remember that you received notifications from a specific application, such as the ESPN Alerts application demonstrated at the iPhone 3.0 event. A number outlining how many alerts you've received will appear over the icon for that application--just as you can see how many e-mail messages await you--but if you're in a different sector of the home screen, you won't necessarily see the alerts for that particular application.
Some may dismiss these differences as simply user preferences. But multitasking and notifications are among the most important reasons to own a mobile computer, and few companies have managed to come up with something that advances the game along those lines since the iPhone OS made its debut. Palm has.
When a Pre user receives an e-mail or text message, that alert will pop up on the lower part of the Pre's screen as a horizontal bar. But the alert won't interrupt the application, and if the user chooses simply to ignore that alert, it will soon retreat to the lower edge of the screen to be accessed later when the task at hand is completed. That alert will always be at the bottom of the Pre's screen no matter what application or view you've selected, along with some brief information such as the sender or subject line.
Apple's approach lets you dismiss the alert and continue what you were doing but forces you to remember that you received notifications from a specific application, such as the ESPN Alerts application demonstrated at the iPhone 3.0 event. A number outlining how many alerts you've received will appear over the icon for that application--just as you can see how many e-mail messages await you--but if you're in a different sector of the home screen, you won't necessarily see the alerts for that particular application.
Some may dismiss these differences as simply user preferences. But multitasking and notifications are among the most important reasons to own a mobile computer, and few companies have managed to come up with something that advances the game along those lines since the iPhone OS made its debut. Palm has.
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The immensely popular BitTorrent client uTorrent recently added a Google powered torrent search engine to its website. This added search capability used Google’s custom search program and allowed visitors to search for .torrent files on Google. For reasons unknown, Google appears to be blocking the use of its search technology on the site.
With over 28 million active users a month, uTorrent has established itself as the client of choice for most BitTorrent users. In an attempt to bring in some much needed revenue, BitTorrent Inc. decided to add a search engine to its website using Google’s custom search program.
On the one hand this offers newcomers to BitTorrent a familiar interface to find all sorts of torrent files directly from the uTorrent homepage. The search engine uses Google’s search algorithms to find .torrent files on sites such as The Pirate Bay and isoHunt. BitTorrent Inc. profits from this through search based ads that Google adds to the search results.
This seems to be a win-win situation for everyone but for reasons unknown, Google no longer allows uTorrent to use the custom search program. When entering a keyword into the search box on the website the following error is returned (see picture). BitTorrent Inc. has now removed the search box but they have no clue why they have this problem with Google.
Simon Morris, BitTorrent’s VP of Product Management told TorrentFreak that there is indeed a problem but that they yet have to find out the details. At this stage we can only guess at the reasoning behind the lack of functionality. Most BitTorrent sites are not allowed to serve Google ads because they link to copyrighted content, but since uTorrent was only linking to these sites indirectly through Google’s own search engine, this seems less likely.
Yet there are more BitTorrent oriented sites that have faced similar problems. The Pirate Google, another website that uses Google’s custom search had similar problems recently.
uTorrent’s search has been down for around 5 days now, so one could expect a technical issue to be resolved by now, but until we hear back from Google the actual cause is open to speculation. The net effect is the same though - uTorrent’s revenue from this source isn’t rising as planned.
Update: We heard from “The Pirate Google” admin that Google did indeed block inbound queries from his site. He found a temporary workaround but this proves that Google is actively blocking (these) torrent related sites. Don’t be evil?