A single and two-player version of the game was available.

The Pac-Man game Google put on its home page gobbled up almost five million hours of work time, suggests a study.

The playable version of the classic video game was put on Google's front page on 21 May to celebrate 30 years since the launch of Pac-Man in Japan.

The search giant reworked the game so the layout was arranged around letters forming its name.

The Pac-Man game proved so popular that Google has now made it permanently available on its own page.

Time delay

The statistics on how many people played and for how long were gathered by software firm Rescue Time. It makes time-tracking software that keeps an eye on what workers do and where they go online.

On a typical day, it suggests, most people conduct about 22 searches on the Google page, each one lasting about 11 seconds.

Putting Pac-Man on the page boosted that time by an average of about 36 seconds, the firm said based on the browsing habits of 11,000 Rescue Time users.

The firm believes this is a relatively low figure because only a minority realised that the logo was playable. To play, people had to click on the "insert coin" button which replaced the more familiar "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on 21 and 22 May.

Extrapolating this up across the 504 million unique users who visit the main Google page day-to-day, this represents an increase of 4.8 million hours - equal to about 549 years.

In dollar terms, assuming people are paid $25 (£17.50) an hour, this equates to about $120m in lost productivity, the firm said.

For that money, suggested Rescue Time, it would be possible to hire all Google's employees and put them to work for about six weeks.

We have learned that Transport for London (TfL) has drawn up detailed plans to pedestrianise the Underground train tunnel between Waterloo and Bank stations.

A confidential report, A Better Way to Bank, has been circulated to a select group of senior TfL Directors, and we understand it is being viewed favourably by the London Mayor, Boris Johnson.

The tunnel will be transformed into a bright, attractive space with video walls and music, and help 'passengers' collectively burn off the equivalent of 6 million Calories per week (or 200,000 chocolate fingers).

At only 1.5 miles long, the Waterloo and City line is the shortest tube line on the network. The report highlights some key factors that favour the line's conversion into a foot tunnel:

Cost – maintenance, energy and staffing costs would decrease dramatically, and help TfL meet tough new financial targets
Capacity – by allowing people to occupy the whole length of the tunnel, the report states that passenger through-put could be increased by almost 50%
Carbon – TfL has calculated that CO2 emissions 'per passenger kilometre' would be cut by around 80%
Recognising the political risks involved, the report authors make recommendations for how the plan could be sold to Londoners:

Users' Oyster cards would be credited by up to £3 per week - 20p for each one-way weekday trip they make, with a £1 'Bank Your Bonus' reward if 10 trips are completed in a single week
The tunnels will be finished in high quality materials, with bright high-efficiency LED lighting, and stretches of video walls depicting inspiring scenes of nature from around the world
Users will experience atmospheric 'soundscapes' along stretches of the tunnel, including live relays of choral music from St Paul's Cathedral (above them)

All in all, we are encouraged to see such radical 'blue-sky' thinking from TfL. It recognises that there's a debate to be had about the increasingly important role that walking can play in meeting key economic, environmental and health challenges.

While we see the merit of the scheme on cold, dark, wet and windy winter evenings, we probably needn't remind people that to see genuine blue sky, there's a rather wonderful above ground route from Waterloo to Bank.

Write away and then plug the USB connector into your computer - then everything you've written is stored as if it's a USB memory stick.

SAM ALLARDYCE last night gave the thumbs up to an amazing 'ref-mobile'.
The Blackburn boss believes the motorised two-wheeler will keep referees up to speed with the game's fastest players.

Football authorities have been secretly testing the Segways - and they will be used in the Blue Square Premier next season.

With players like Theo Walcott, Gabby Agbonlahor and Aaron Lennon capable of incredible speeds, it is hoped this new innovation will help refs keep up.

Big Sam approvesAllardyce said: "Players are athletes and we can't expect refs to keep up with them for a full 90 minutes, so this gives them a real edge.

"We can no longer say the referee was nowhere near the incident because, with this, he will be.

"Finally refs and managers are listening to each other."

Top referee Mark Halsey said: "Not only does the innovation help referees keep right up with play it will also mean older, more experienced refs will not be lost to the game.

"It's easy to move it round the pitch.

"This could be the biggest move forward in refereeing yet."

If the experiment works in non-league, the idea will be put forward to UEFA for it to be introduced all over Europe.

The suggestion came up at a brainstorming meeting between refs and managers at the start of the season.

Invented in New Jersey in the USA, Segway personal transporters can travel at up to 12.5mph and are easily manoeuvrable with just a slight sway of the body in the direction you want to move in.

The next meeting of the UEFA Refereeing Congress is a year today.

The AA is always looking at innovative ways of beating traffic congestion. In the last two years radical steps taken include:

Reintroduction of AA motorcycles in urban conurbations

Introduction of AA patrols on electric scooters in London

AA 'Smith & Wesson' mountain bikes used by patrols at major events including music festivals and Wimbledon

Specially adapted flood-busting Land Rovers introduced to beat the snow, ice, and floods

Despite these innovations, tackling severe road congestion and unpredictable weather conditions, is still a challenge for the UK's biggest breakdown company. However, help is at hand for the AA, which after 105 years with road-based patrols, is putting patrols in the sky for the first time.

The AA has secretly been running 'Project Apollo' based at Dunsfold Aerodrome near Guildford. Here specially adapted AA Jetpacks have been trialled to help patrols get to vehicles that other motoring organisations cannot reach.

The initial batch of fully-specified operational AA jetpacks will come off the factory lines later this year.

Watch the test footage on the AA's YouTube channel »

The AA jetpack specification:

Top speed 100kph (60mph)
Weight 113kg (250lb)
No pilot's licence required due to light weight
Hand controls
Satellite Navigation provided by Trafficmaster
Parachute
Lightweight carbon fibre tools
£42,000 cost per unit

Comment
Edmund King, AA president, said: "We are always looking at ways to get to our members quicker. Congestion is a growing problem particularly in urban areas, at Bank Holidays and in poor weather conditions.

AA Rocket Man will help us reach parts that other breakdown organisations cannot reach. We are talking to the Government to get permission for 'jetpack hard-shoulder running' so that patrols can land on the hard-shoulder."

AA future technologies strategist, Dr Raif Lopol, said: "Despite advances in Jet Pack Technology (JPT), it is unlikely at this stage that AA patrols will actually 'patrol the skies' – fuel costs make that impractical.

"It is more likely that the AA patrol will employ the 'park & fly' system, whereby the AA patrol van parks within one mile of the stricken member and the jetpack is then launched from the rear of the van."

Stewart Topp, AA Patrol of the Year, said: "Our motorbike patrols in major cities have been a great success but they are still affected by traffic and accidents, so by literally going as the crow flies, we'll be able to shave minutes off our arrival times.

"The initial test flights have gone well – we've struck a good balance between stability and manoeuvrability – and we're working on an ultra-lightweight toolkit that should allow us to do most 'quick fix' repairs. Obviously, we won't be able to do any towing but the benefits more than outweigh this – it will be nice not worrying about potholes, for a start."