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: “Wimbledon Semi-Final.” For the first time in a while, Wimbledon semifinals are on schedule because of a new roof on center court, and tournament-related searches are among the most popular today. The biggest news for British and American tennis fans is the Andy (Murray) vs. Andy (Roddick) semifinal, which some are predicting could be ” the greatest diplomatic incident between Britain and the United States since the Boston Tea Party .”
No. 10: “Sears tower unveils 103rd floor glass balconies.” Googlers are looking to get a (digital) sense of America’s tallest building’s newest attraction: transparent balconies suspended 1,353 feet in the air. The effect, according to visitors, is to give you the sensation that you’re floating over the city. Get vertigo here .
No. 49: “National Security Archive.” Today, the National Security Archive obtained declassified accounts of almost all of the FBI’s 20 interviews with Saddam Hussein that were conducted after his 2003 capture. Hussein admits that he allowed the world to believe that he had weapons of mass destruction because he did not want to appear weak to Iran. He also cites North Korea as his strongest ally and reads his FBI interviewer, George Piro, some of his poetry . The full set of interviews are available here .
