Google adds more sites to Autocomplete blacklist

Earlier this year, Google quietly began blocking filesharing-related search terms from certain features. Queries such as "BitTorrent," "RapidShare," and "Megaupload" still produced valid results if you completed a full search, but disappeared from the company's Autocomplete and Instant search services. The former provides you search recommendations below the text box when you type, while the latter displays results as you enter your query.

Google has since expanded its censorship program to include many other popular filesharing sites, according to TorrentFreak. Searches including "thepiratebay," "the pirate bay," "isohunt," "torrentreactor," "btjunkie," "kickasstorrents," "sumotorrent," "btmon," "extratorrent" and more are now being blocked in Autocomplete. Interestingly, "thepiratebay.org" and "pirate bay" are still visible, so it seems the filter isn't all-encompassing -- yet, anyway.

Again, to be clear, results for those terms aren't blocked on full searches, just Autocomplete and in some cases, Instant searches. This won't affect most users who already know where they're going, but it can dent overall traffic levels. TorrentFreak draws attention to a graph that shows a rapid decline in Hotfile searches after it was censored in January. There is an understandable push to reduce Web piracy, but Google's actions affect real businesses.

Companies BitTorrent and RapidShare are completely legitimate operations. RapidShare decried Google's decision earlier this year, saying the company had "obviously gone too far." A similar message is being echoed by sites affected this time around. "It's a lot more subtle than the censorship attempts made possible by the pending PROTECT IP and SOPA bills, but it's still censorship and it starts small. Google is increasingly becoming a self-righteous Big Brother of the Web. So much for 'Do no evil'," IsoHunt founder Gary Fung told TorrentFreak.

The ever-vocal folks behind The Pirate Bay have also chimed in, saying this is "just another step towards censoring their search engine altogether -- without a legal basis. We're also wondering why this happens at almost the same time as they've released Google Music -- a service where they sell music which in some cases might be found on The Pirate Bay." Is Google just doing the entertainment industry's dirty work, or is this a valiant effort to combat piracy?

Latest Skype beta adds Skype-to-Facebook video calling

Skype is expanding upon its existing partnership with Facebook by introducing the ability to make video calls to your friends on the social network from within Skype itself. The feature is a natural extension of the Skype-powered Facebook-to-Facebook video calling functionality introduced in July, although for now it remains in testing as part of the latest beta release of Skype's desktop client.

Both Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows and Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac include the new feature, which will be available to users who choose to link their Facebook and Skype accounts. Up until now it was only possible to chat with Facebook friends through Skype's instant-messaging feature, in addition to seeing your Facebook wall, updating your status and making comments from within the Skype interface.

Besides the new Facebook video calling feature from within Skype, the latest beta includes improved rendering for a smoother video experience. Also, Windows users with a Premium subscription now get the Group Screen Sharing feature, which was previously only available to Mac users.

Skype's partnership with Facebook has extended the service's reach considerably -- Facebook has more than 800 million users worldwide -- and is another step in their goal of simplifying Internet-based communication. This synergy is also giving Microsoft a major foothold in the growing market for Internet telephony services. The latter finished its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype last month and owns a small stake in Facebook.

AMD releases Catalyst 11.11 drivers, adds Flash 11 support

AMD has issued a new release of its Catalyst graphics card drivers, bringing the package up to version 11.11. Where last month's 11.10 release was all about Battlefield 3 and Rage performance tweaks, today's highlights include support for Flash Player 11 and its Stage 3D architecture for hardware accelerated graphics rendering, which Adobe says will enable a new class of console-quality games and immersive apps on browsers.

According to the release notes, the new Catalyst 11.11 drivers enable GPU accelerated Stage 3D API and Stage 3D applications across all Radeon HD GPUs as well as A- and E-series APUs. Besides this the new Catalyst release includes updated versions of AMD's display driver, Hydravision for Windows XP through Windows 7, Southbridge/IXP driver and the AMD Catalyst Control Center/AMD Vision Engine Control Center.

Desktop: Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows Vista/7 32-bit | Windows Vista/7 64-bit
Mobile: Windows Vista/7 32-bit | Windows Vista/7 64-bit

As far as bug squashing is concerned AMD mentions it fixed an issue with corrupted images and textures in Rage, corrected bezel compensation for Far Cry 2, fixed screen tearing while moving a window on the desktop in Clone or Eyefinity mode, fixed a black screen issue when extending displays, fixed random crashing of Homefront when Crossfire is enabled, and fixed another crashing issue in DC - Universe Online.

Check out AMD's full release notes for more details about the update, including supported hardware and known issues that are yet to be resolved, or hit the appropriate link below to download AMD's Catalyst 11.11.