I think file_get_contents is disabled in your server, ask your hosting company to enable or check these options:
allow_url_fopen (should be set to 1)
default_socket_timeout (should be around 60 or bigger)
allow_url_fopen is also a security issue according to my host.
Changing that option can open my site to injection hacks
You might want to consider an alternative method like cURL
Now, this is funny, what’s so special about cURL? excepting the fact that it may be a little more verbose than file_get_contents().
An injection attack works in the same way with cURL and file_get_contents() when the user input is not properly handled.
Your hosting company should know that the include statement is now controlled by a more restrictive directive called allow_url_include. So, in my opinion, at this time, file_get_contents() is not better than cURL or or vice versa.
@debirobarts and @cadfile, to increase compatibility with hosts that have allow_url_fopen disabled, I decided to switch to cURL, upgrade to latest version!
