If we are what we Google, then Google Hot Trends—an hourly rundown of search terms “that experience sudden surges in popularity”—is the Web’s best cultural barometer. Here’s a sampling of today’s top searches. (Rankings on Hot Trends list current as of 11 a.m.)
No. 1: “iphone 3.0 release time”; No. 12: “iphone 3.0 update download”; No. 22: “when will iphone 3.0 be available”; No. 35: “ipod touch 3.0 update”; No. 43: “is iphone 3.0 out yet?”; No. 62: “apple 3.0”; etc. It seems an iPhone update comes out today? The iPhone OS 3.0 firmware update was announced back in March and features a number of small to substantial upgrades . Earlier this morning, the update had yet to appear on the Internet, with iPhone users apparently Googling away their frustration. A little after 1 p.m. ET, the update went live , though it remains to be seen whether Apple’s servers can handle the influx .
No. 15: “Obama Kills Fly.” In this case, a video is worth a thousand Googles:
No. 89 “Firebird Suite.” If you haven’t gathered as much already from Google’s enigmatic front page , today is the birthday of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky . (He would have been 127.) Although Google’s home-page illustration alludes to the Russian-folklore-based Firebird Suite , the discordant Rite of Spring is perhaps Stravinsky’s best-known work, both for its musical qualities and for the scandal it caused at its 1913 première. More recently, a film about Stravinsky’s brief love affair with Coco Chanel closed this year’s Cannes.
