Searching for answers

Re: Yahoo! New York Times Crossword

I wonder which search engine would help you get crossword answers more quickly: Yahoo! or Google? Has anyone tested the power of search engines in this way?

Google Blog post about Trends and Hot Trends

Seems like Google is paying more attention to Trends and Hot Trends these days. You can read about the recent developments (including the ones mentioned in my previous post) at the Official Google Blog.

iGoogle gadget! Site feed!

Yippee! Hot Trends now links to an iGoogle gadget and a site feed! :-)

Now if Google would just include Hot Trends results in its Web index, we could have a very useful custom search engine.

"Updated x minutes ago"

I've just noticed a new feature on Hot Trends: An indication of how long ago the data was updated.

When I loaded Hot Trends two minutes ago, it said "Updated 26 minutes ago."

Now it says "Updated 28 minutes ago." (When I say "now," I mean several minutes ago. I typed more things after I wrote "now." You get the idea. :-) )

* * *

I'm still annoyed with Google for removing most Hot Trends pages from its main web index (thus making a custom search of Hot Trends data difficult or impossible). But any change to Hot Trends at least suggests that the Googlies are paying attention to this product. This gives me encouragement that there are more useful developments to come.

Breaking news

A couple of recent news links on Google Hot Trends have led to Media Info Center. After browsing this site, I got the feeling that it will be showing up often in the Hot Trends news links -- at least for phrases that are connected with some form of media.

All of which leads me, tangentially, to this thought: Hot Trends is, in part, a distillation of the current top news. You can guess that Phil Rizzuto has probably died if you see it on Hot Trends; you know that there was a major earthquake in Peru when it dominates the top results.

3 days as a Hot Trend?

Has anyone noticed a top-rising search for three days in a row on Hot Trends?

Some phrases have appeared two days in a row. One example is "peter dinklage," which showed up on July 31 and August 1.

But I haven't seen a phrase for three straight days. I suppose that would require a topic that kept growing in popularity from one day to the next. (Was "peter dinklage" more popular on August 1 than on July 31, even though it was 4th on the first day and 64th on the second day? I presume that the ranking relates to relative growth in popularity from the previous day(s), rather than the relative popularity itself.)

Please let me know if you've noticed such a three-day wonder, either in the comments or by email.

Google Trends is trendy

A message this morning on Google Hot Trends:

"We're sorry.

Google Trends is really popular right now and we couldn't process your request.

Please try again in a few seconds."