Around mid-December every year one of the seasonal treats we look forward to most - apart from the longer happy hours in pubs, of course - is Google's list of the most popular search terms it processed in the preceding 12 months, particularly the technology thereon.
This year's Google Zeitgeist has just been made public and, as expected, is topped by everybody's favourite gadget, Apple's iPhone. The iconic device was the fastest-rising search term both globally and in the US, which is where most of Google's stats are drawn from.
Facebook and YouTube too
The shiny attention-seeker also led the absolute rankings for the king of search during April, three months ahead of its June launch in North America. Of the other tech terms to make the fast-riser lists in 2007, Facebook and YouTube will be familiar to most, whereas newcomers like Dailymotion and eBuddy might require a little more research. Apparently, Google's good for that.
On the gaming front, late this year saw Nintendo's Wii take the search lead from the Xbox family of consoles as supplies dwindled everywhere and shoppers began the hunt for one. Sony's PS3 remained beneath both search terms throughout.
High-def picks up
Also across the Atlantic, HD DVD maintained a year-long lead over Blu-ray in the HD TV stakes. Naturally, both terms showed a growth in interest over the year as awareness grew. Searches for LCD and plasma screens to go with the players mirrored that, albeit with a slower rate of growth, apart from a sudden peak in the run up to the holiday season.
Finally, it's hard to believe that anyone out there is still searching for the Crazy Frog ringtone for their mobile, but there it was at number five in the US list of jingle searches. Some things never change.
