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After the long, storied mess that is Google vs. China, with its accusations of government-sponsored hacking, flimsy workarounds, and censorship debates, Google's legal status and availability in China ended up varying day to day. So the company set up a site that monitors the availability of lots of Google's services, like Search, Images, YouTube, News, Gmail, Blogger, and Picasa, updated daily.

That site is reporting today that several Google services that had previously been available no longer are, including important ones like Search, News, and Images. That's a major change, especially Search--that Google's bread and butter would be shut down in China is major news, and was reported by, among others, Reuters, AP, and the New York Times. Google's shares fell 1.72% at the day's end of trading, in large part due to the news.

But reports on Twitter and elsewhere suggest it's all some sort of misunderstanding. Check the #googlecn hashtag on Twitter for evidence: Users are all saying that it's a false alarm, and that Google is working just fine for them in mainland China. Users in Hunan and Beijing, among other places, confirm that Google is not down at all.

Google finally responded, saying that a "small blockage" caused a misrepresentation of the total block in China. The site set up to monitor the availability of Google services does not do so in real time, so it remained incorrect all day. That statement:

Because of the way we measure accessibility in China, it's possible that our machines could overestimate the level of blockage. That seems to be what happened last night when there was a relatively small blockage. It appears now that users in China are accessing our properties normally.

Please also note that the dashboard is not a real time tool.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one--you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

Wired's defense dude, Noah Schachtman, has a fascinating story about Google and the CIA being joint investors in a web monitoring firm. Both Google Ventures and In-Q-Tel, the CIA's investment arm, have injected sums (less than $10 million each) into Recorded Future, a company that goes through "tens of thousands" of websites and looks for related actions and conversations between, for example, Twitter accounts, blogs and websites, and analyzes them in order to spot events and trends as early on as possible.

Describing its analytics as "the ultimate tool for open-source intelligence," Recorded Future markets itself towards corporations and brands, but it's also got one very large foot in the counter-terrorism field--which is what makes it so attractive to In-Q-Tel. The firm's CEO is an ex Swedish Army Ranger who holds a PhD in Computer Science, and he says that what sets Recorded Future apart from other analytics firms is "you can actually predict the curve, in many cases."

As well as the "business intelligence" side to the firm, there's a real feeling of Minority Report, here. It sounds like the kind of tool that will be used to predict crimes and terrorist activity as well. Analytics are already being used by the Memphis Police Department, whose Operation Blue CRUSH uses predictive analytics by IBM.

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Now, at first glance, it looks like the hardest thing that Google is going to have to deal with is the way this (coincidental, or accidental, surely) hook-up with the CIA looks. The PR is going to be mighty tricky--I mean, try explaining this to Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson, as the potential for consumer data leaks is significant, not to mention Google's increasing presence in governmental bodies. Now that yet another connection has been established between the "one-trick pony" (as Schmidt described Google to the Wall Street Journal yesterday) there may be calls to establish a Chinese wall so that Google's user data isn't shared with the guys with earpieces. That is, assuming that the two investors are actually using the service rather than just being vanilla investors.

Not only is the White House close to Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, but it's leaning towards the idea of granting the FBI powers to force firms such as ISPs to hand over an individual's data. However, for all the intelligence agencies' fanatical interest in technological tools that, while plowing through the idea of individual privacy, seem (to them) to be the only way of tackling the increasing security issues both at home and abroad, there is one thing to remember, as Charles Homan's piece in Foreign Policy this week shows.

For all the hi-tech know-how, the only way of really proving that the intel gathered is bona fide is common sense. And, rather like FIFA's stance on technology in football (although the CIA is much more pro than Sepp Blatter ever will be) the ultimate decision needs to be made by an individual, not an algorithm. Gut instinct still trumps tech.

Say hello to electric car-renting-sharing fusion goodness.

Next time you stop by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, your vehicle rental may be electric and by the hour. These and other wide-sweeping company changes were announced earlier this week as part of a company overhaul.

Another new feature is car-sharing, similar to what is already offered by Hertz Connect and pioneer Zipcar:

“WeCar car-sharing technology--complemented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car's extensive local car rental network--provides an environmentally friendly transportation solution, whether it is for an hour, a day, a weekend or longer. Totally automated and membership-based, WeCar serves local businesses, universities, and government offices looking to enhance their fleet management operations and sustainability initiatives.”

And if that’s not enough, the company planted 5 million trees this year. And they'll plant another 45 million in the next 50 years! Look out, Zipcar: As crunchy as you are, have you planted 5 million trees yet?

The idea of former Reuters Innovation boss Azeem Azhar, PeerIndex is a Twitter-centric tool that measures your social network standing and influence on the Web. It launched in beta yesterday, and is the kind of thing that will, first of all, redirect 20 minutes of your time as you go through all the names of your colleagues and friends. This, friends, is the 140-character version of the Google vanity search.

It works by identifying "from millions of users the opinion leaders from the merely opinionated," according to Azhar, and can separate a person's different spheres of excellence--for example, Fast Company's very own Kit Eaton is in the top 1% of authorities on Apple Inc. PeerIndex has a bunch of backers that include former Economist editor Bill Emmott (both of the above, surely).

At the moment it seems weighted toward business and tech topics. For example, while tweeter extraordinaire Stephen Fry is featured, he's not ranked so far. And they haven't even heard of Lady Gaga yet, merely her imitators, but there's probably still tweakage of the algorithm going on. For the moment PeerIndex seems to be after commentators and writers, using their social profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn, but it relies heaviest on the word of the bird.

In an interview with PaidContent:UK yesterday, Azhar also called the site a "speakers bureau" with one of its aims being to hook up influencers with the brands they're hot on. The vanity side to PeerIndex will ensure that people come flocking; money will be made, however, from a premium service which offers brand marketeers and bigwigs in the communications industry custom categories.

Once fully tweaked and glitches ironed out, you can see this becoming an obsession for the mouthy brigade of the online community, probably forcing them to up their game--and their tweet rate. One thing that's worth predicting if PeerIndex takes off: Twitter's outgoings will increase as they are forced to buy more servers.

News from this year's Black Hat conference is already hitting the wires, but here are a few extra gems for you, all about hacking ATMs and how Apple's closed-door App Store now seems a really neat idea after a malicious Android app has struck.

Cash Waterfall

The efforts of a researcher dubbed Barnaby Jack to demonstrate an ATM hack deserves particular attention, since Jack actually "performed" the hack live on stage at Black Hat, on two different ATM types, no less. It was actually due to be performed last year, but it's such a contentious issue that an ATM manufacturer objected enough to raise the matter with Jack's then-employer. This year, working for a different firm, he was free to show exactly how easy the hack was.

And it's shockingly easy, it would seem: No theatrics with stolen fork-lift trucks or backhoes to snatch ATMs out of glass store frontages are needed. All you do is bust into the ATM's chassis with a low-security universal key, locate the USB port that's typically used to service the machine, and shove in a USB data key loaded with the rootkit hacking code on it, and watch the money spew forth. Obviously the magical hacking trickery is in the details of this code, but the hack works on Windows CE-based hardware, so there must be millions of snippets of sample code strewn around the darker corners of the Internet, thanks to Windows' long history of use.

Apparently Windows CE machines on ARM or XScale chipsets are vulnerable, and once in the hacker can do pretty much anything (the ATM's core is just a PC after all) like showing movies or, in Jack's case, scrolling the word "Jackpot!" as the device throws money out.

How can ATM makers react? By slapping damn big locks on the metal chassis for a start. The particular makers affected by Jack's hack are probably already secure, since in the best habits of a community-minded hacker he alerted them to the details before demonstrating how.

Android Attack

Mobile security firm Lookout also has bad hacking news, but this time it's too late to take protective action: A malicious Android app, that was supposedly an innocuous screen wallpaper app giving users cutesy photos, was actually a sophisticated cover. The real purpose of the app from Jackeey Wallpaper wasn't to plaster your Android phone with Star Wars backdrops, but to sniff out your private data. This is stuff like your browsing history, SMSs, and even really personal stuff like your voicemail password. All the data was then surreptitiously fired off to a site in China to be used for who-knows-what nefarious purposes.

Advice for anyone who thinks they may be affected is probably to keep an eye on your phone bills, change all your passwords, and keep your Android version fresh. But this advice needs to be broadcast pretty widely: Lookout thinks that the app was downloaded anywhere between 1.1 million and 4.6 million times (the figure is rough as Android doesn't report exact data like this).

Malicious apps like this are actually fairly easy to get onto the Android platform, due to its open submissions policy, and though Google can do a good job of policing them after they've hit, it's obvious from this example that millions of people can be affected in the interim. Such sneakery is also possible on the Apple iPhone, but due to Apple's strict app approval policy, and the overall closed-door format of the iPhone in terms of code, it's much less likely to occur. Score one for Apple against the Android army!

Battling Badges

Apart from these serious bits of news, there's other, more positive stuff coming out of the hacker world, like the sneak peak of the DefCon 18 Ninja Party Badge. If its title befuddles you, then don't worry--it's a befuddling notion right from the get-go. The idea is that attendees of the Ninja Networks parties would get given a free lapel badge that's actually a sophisticated little mini-sized Android-powered computer, complete with LCD display. The circuitry carried a game that lets players wirelessly "fight" with other badge-holders, earning experience points as they do. The gizmos also interact with other pre-installed devices at the venue, giving the game a location-based angle, and there are reward lights that mimic the colors used for items in the online multiplayer-game World of Warcraft.

Why's this curio exciting, apart from for the people attending the event though? Because it's actually very sophisticated, was cooked up pretty quickly, and it gives a good indication of one direction for the future of computer gaming: As a hardware/software mashup that combines multiple play elements, including clever location-based stuff. The devices you use will probably be your smartphones, rather than dedicated hardware, but the overall gaming experience will be the same. It sounds like geeky fun.

To keep up with this news, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter.

The X Prize Foundation first announced plans for a million dollar oil spill X Challenge last month. Today, the foundation revealed the details of the $1.4 million Oil Cleanup X Challenge, which asks entrants to clean up the Gulf oil disaster. It's a "flash prize", according to Peter Diamandis, Founder & Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation. That means entrants need to work quickly, for obvious reasons.

The competition, which is funded entirely by Wendy Schmidt of the Schmidt Marine Science Research Institute, will offer $1 million to the first place winner, $300,000 to the second place idea, and $100,000 to the third place winner. Entrants will be judged on a number of factors, including cost, environmental impact, scalability, oil recovery rate, and efficiency. Scaled versions of the best ideas will be built and tested in a head-to-head competition at the National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility (OHMSETT) in Leonardo, New Jersey.

The winning idea won't just be kept in a lab--the X Prize Foundation is working with companies like Shell to bring solutions to the marketplace, and fast. Check out the video below for more details about the upcoming prize, and preregister your X Challenge team here.

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Ariel Schwartz can be reached on Twitter or by email.

After he graduated, development major Mark Rembert applied for the Peace Corps, thinking he could help developing countries strengthen their communities. But when his hometown's largest employer shut its doors, Rembert found that rural Ohio needed him most.

DoSomething, headed by Fast Company columnist Nancy Lublin, has recognized five young social entrepreneurs with $10,000 grants--and one with a prize of $100,000. Fast Company will profile one of these enterprising youth each day this week. Click here to read the other winners' stories.

Getting into the Peace Corps is no small matter. The application process is arduous, and has become more competitive. In the fall of 2008, the Peace Corps said yes to Ohio native and recent Haverford College graduate Mark Rembert. Then 23, the activist and economic-development major was looking forward to traveling to Ecuador, where he would pursue field work helping rural villages with asset-development. But news from his native Ohio sent him in a totally different direction. That November, Rembert read that DHL, the largest employer in his hometown of Wilmington, in rural Clinton County, was shutting down. An estimated 8,200 residents in Clinton County would soon lose their jobs.

Instead of flying to Ecuador, Rembert went home. "When your community has 18% unemployment, its hard to justify going to [Latin America] to help out," Rembert says. In Wilmington, he found Taylor Stuckert, another would-be Peace Corps recruit, and together, they started Energize Clinton County (ECC), a not-for-profit devoted to creating green jobs, investing in sustainable energy, and marketing local industries and businesses. His initiative earned him a $10,000 DoSomething award, money that he says will be plowed back into the community.

With ECC, Rembert and Stuckert are doing the same thing they would have in the Peace Corps: They have helped a rural community take advantage of resources it already had. Though Clinton County had been buoyed for years by the massive DHL facility, Rembert saw that his region had many other strengths it had previously ignored, including a charming downtown, an abundance of farmland, and the benefit of Ohio's tax incentives for green businesses.

Forming a group of town leaders charged with understanding the red tape for green industries, ECC designated Wilmington a Green Enterprise Zone, the first of its kind in the nation. The move--part marketing strategy and part zoning ordinance--has helped Wilmington secure Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants from the federal government's Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These in turn have served to attract private capital from solar energy companies in his small town. Part of Rembert's job is simply to understand how Wilmington's utilities work, to make the job easier for investors, he says: "We spend a lot of time working with utilities, so that when [solar] companies come to town we can tell them where to go."

Recently, ECC's efforts landed Clinton County a Purchase Power Agreement with Gaia Energy USA to install solar panels on the county jail. Gaia will provide more than $300,000 in capital investment to install 65 kilowatts of panels. Once installed, the panels could help the county save more than $25,000 a year on energy costs. Meanwhile a project is being seriously explored to make poetic use of the abandoned DHL facility by installing solar farms on its roofs, while another will use farmland in the county for utility scale solar fields. If successful, the latter would count as one of the largest solar power sources east of the Mississippi.

To spur green-job creation through construction, ECC has also focused on retrofitting buildings. The organization solicited help from a professor at nearby Dayton University to supply line-by-line energy audits on town buildings. The service is key to helping businesses and public works invest in retrofitting, which saves money and creates construction jobs. "Since you can't see energy and you can't see the money leaving your building, it's really difficult to convince people to invest [in retrofitting]," Rembert says. "When we're armed with data, it has a huge impact."

ECC has also designed an easy-to use and professional-looking online portal that promotes 170 locally owned businesses and sends out a weekly email newsletter read by 1,000 people every week. Thanks to a renewed involvement, the downtown commerce area has been completely tranformed. "When we were growing up, downtown was dead. We went to the strip, to Walmart--that's where everyone was. Now everyone wants to be downtown," says Rembert.

He senses that young American designers, economists, and urban planners have shown a renewed interest in rural areas, where projects are easier to initiate and have a much larger impact than in dense and highly regulated city centers. His own ECC is a remarkable case study of development and planning skills, which he intended for use in Third World countries, at work domestically. "We ended up realizing that a lot of the principles used in the Peace Corps--community asset based-development--were what was need in Wilmington."

His epiphany and his subsequent follow-through earned him not just the $10,000 prize but also a trophy given to him live on VH1 by none other than Megan Fox, who grew up in eastern Tennessee. "I think she's really passionate about rural America," Rembert says. Always on-message, he believes he was especially lucky to have been paired with the actress--for exposure's sake: "We have no doubt," he says, "that our video has been viewed many, many times."

More winners' stories: Micaela Connery: Knocking Down Barriers With the Power of Performance Jacqueline Murekatete: Genocide Survivor Embraces Her Ordeal to Educate Others Will Perez: Med Student Pioneers “Political Medicine” in Rural Haiti