Google Zeitgeist 2012 | Hacker News Reader

Google Zeitgeist 2012

google.com

185 pointssethbannon61 comments

Op op op op oppan. So, I was browsing through the source of the Zeitgeist pages (as you do), and I saw some pretty cool stuff.

I started off by just wanting to know how the explore map was done [1]

But then I saw #easter-egg in the source, and also easter-egg.css file being included.

If you look at the very very bottom of the page on the right, you will see the Google colors. Hover over that for a Gangnam dancing character[2].

    [1] : http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#explore
    [2] : http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#maia-signature  (Easter Egg Here)

I just made a JS Fiddle and posted a new submission on HN.

http://jsfiddle.net/Layke/7hjTC/show/ <--- View the Easter Egg

[Moved comment to other thread...]

That video was beautiful. It's easy to develop a narrow focus on your immediate surroundings. Sometimes it helps to take a step back and get a broader perspective of this wild, diverse and beautiful planet we're fortunate enough to live on.

Definitely puts things in perspective. With that thought, I'm going to stop work for the day and go and pick up my daughter.

I had never seen the video of the soldier and his son. After a quick search I found it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqPlBy2-abA

The whole Google video is great. But this clip / video really got to me. Very touching.

The story about the little girl briefly shown in 2:26 is also incredibly touching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoZ2BgPVtA0

It really is fantastic. There is a beauty in the objectivity of that video. Images of incredible dedication and passion right next to images of war and destruction. A perfect view of what it is to be human. We are an amazing species. So capable of love and doing amazing things and simultaneously so capable of hate and destruction. Thankfully, it seems there is more love than hate as time goes on.

Is it wrong to love a company?

I think Google is a good group of people. I'm glad that the world brought them together. I think there are a lot of companies out there like them, and I want to be a part of that. It gives me hope.

Is this censored? There's nothing related to copyright infringement or porn in there. Also, the categories and trending/most-searched selection seems arbitrary. Every country has a different set of data.

I wouldn't be surprised if their result set was filtered on the same rules used for Google Suggest, which do filter out terms presumably linked to controversial file sharing websites (Pirate Bay) and adult entertainment.

I think it's funny that they censor pornstar names. I mean, it makes sense, but it's just funny how google instant quits working after a somewhat generic first name sometimes.

Where's DDG with an unfiltered Zeitgeist for 2012?

That was supposed to be my line too.

Seconded ;-)

P.S: I am actually semi-serious in a way. I have actually witnessed the search bubble on colleagues' PC vs. mine so, I'm all for it.

There is no way "iPhone" or "iPhone 5 is not on that list.

http://cl.ly/image/0u0R2r12402a (http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=iphone%2C%20iphone5%2...)

http://cl.ly/image/2l2I1b3G4328 (http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=iphone%205%2C%20Galax...)

It's not even close. Note 2, Surface, Lumia 920, iPad 4 and iPad mini are 2 month old on the market.

iPhone 5 it's been rumored and re-rumored for months before releasing it, then with all the problems attached to the iPhone 5 release, Apple Maps, record sales, or whatever... people must have searched for it quite a lot (as Google Trends data suggest)

ps. Also, "Lana del Ray" ('Rey' is the correct) (sic, performing artists)? These lists doesn't seem quite right.

she has released an album under both names - lana del ray was self-titled; born to die was lana del rey. and she's one of only 3 names i recognise from that list.

but i agree that the lists appear to have "complex" selection criteria.

Thanks for the correction

Curiously, iPhone 5 was on the list last year (2011). That ended up being the iPhone 4S.

http://www.googlezeitgeist.com/en/top-searches/iphone_five

http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#the-world/consumer-ele...

iPhone is not in the top 10, it was #2 last year. iPad is #1 though.

http://www.googlezeitgeist.com/en/top-lists/global/fastest-r...

This year iPhone is trending on Twitter (http://2012.twitter.com/en/trends.html) and Facebook (http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/12/3758102/facebook-stories-...) but not on Google. Something is not right. http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=iphone%205,%20samsung...

Trending reflects the difference between the results for 2011 and 2012. Recall that until the iPhone 4S was announced, the assumption was that it would be called the iPhone 5, and was searched for by that term.

My country sometimes embarrasses me.

Brazil is having the biggest trials against corrupt politicians in our history lasting almost 6 months now with several big figures being arrested and condemnt, and this is not even in the TOP 10, and the nº1 is Facebook followed by BBB12.

>> and this is not even in the TOP 10, and the nº1 is Facebook followed by BBB12.

You will have to wait for the competition to make that video. It will be aptly titled "search bubbles zeitgeist" 2012 ;-) (semi joking, ... I have witnessed the "search bubble" and I love the fact that there are companies like DDG, Lycos and Blekko providing search and curated results! Wish them all well)

I know what you mean though. It is definitely a sign of our times. Huxley won and Orwell lost the crystal ball gazing contest. 1984 is gone (well, not entirely IMO) and we are all living in the Brave new world now. ;-P

Well, don't panic. Grass is not greener on the other side. France nº1 is a phone provider, nº2 football and nº3 is the French equivalent of Big Brother. The presidential election is not even in the TOP 10.

Oh, and yeah, McDonalds is nº5. So much for French gastronomy...

Full List (PDF): http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrust...

Ironically, I cant seem to be able to use `cmd + f` on that PDF.

Yeah, very odd. It seems like the characters in the search index are offset from the real characters. d=a, e=b, etc. At least in Chrome's PDF viewer.

Why do I get Error 503?

So am I.

My main thought watching the video: "Holt shit that is some good advertising." A slickly-produced, epic, emotional and humble tribute to the richness and absurdity of human life - all inconspicuously presented through a panorama of Google's entire product portfolio - tying the sweeping feelings stirred in you either consciously or subconsciously to everything Google...

Fails on iPad with 404 after watching the movie and clicking the "Begin journey" button. It tries to redirect to http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/explore-tablet.html that seems to not exist.

One of the top searches in my country, Kenya, is 'how to abort.'

What an eye-opener for a reportedly Christian country where abortion is illegal.

http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#kenya

Russian HN'ers,

I realize this is not the Yandex zeit but this entry puzzles me:

    что такое холокост

The question: is this a meme? or why the sudden interest now? There were a bunch of videos associated with that query, none of which I could understand very well. Are they people just giving stupid answers?

The other results paint an interesting picture of ru-net:

Russians want to know meaning of "bro" and "mainstream", want to draw roses and are very interested in hacking email aka soap (soap is мыло, which sounds a bit like mail).

I am quite surprised nobody searches for porn on the internetz.

Oh, I'm sure they still do. But it's not "trending". That is, searches haven't noticeably increased / changed from previous years.

Does anyone find it completely insane that the iPhone (4/4S/5) doesn't show up in the top 10 for Consumer Electronics? A little bit of massaging going on there?

I like how they are co-opting the idea of "hashtags" as being a Google + thing. With their this year in "Google+ Hashtags" is that even a thing?

http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#the-world/tv-shows

This is really sad.

Actually I'm amazed by the Brazilian presence among world searches, specially on TV shows, Performing Artists and #10 on Trending Searches.

The "not so funny" part for Brazil is that 85% of this presence is related with a single TV channel (Globo).

I'm actually very surprised Homeland made it to that list. I thought it was critically acclaimed but not that popular.

It's amazing but not all that surprising how geeky the google plus hashtags are. I wonder if we'll see social networks splinter into cliques.

When I lived in the US I was puzzled to find, say, May magazine issues available in newsstands as early as mid April. Similarly, it seems not only acceptable, but indeed expected, for major companies to review the year before it's over.

Can Americans (or else) shed some light on this phenomenon?

Marking a magazine with a date in the future simply increases its shelf life. As for the year-end reviews, I assume people like to look back at a year toward the end and set goals for the new year at the start. Jan 2013, people don't care much for 2012 anymore.

Watching that, I couldn't stop thinking.. "Google is ruling the world..Google is ruling the world.."

"Play Station"?

I assume they're aggregating similar terms, so is this just a case of choosing the wrong aggregate name? Google Trends reports "playstation" is MUCH more common than "play station" (looks like at least 10:1).

So sad to see the triviality that constitute the majority of our searches.

So essentially we are obsessed with triviality, materialism and celebrity.

and this surprises you? you forgot porn

    503. That’s an error.

    The service you requested is not available at this time.

    Service error -27. That’s all we know.

I receive a 503 error on the page.

Zeitgeist 2012 -> Germany -> Trending Car Brands

1. Opel 2. BMW 3. Audi 4. VM 5. Mercedes

...

4. VM ?? O_o

I'm guessing VM is a common typo for GM?

Volkswagen probably.

I'm guessing VM is a common typo for VW made by Dvorak users.

I'm guessing there are no way near enough Dvorak users to have any typos show up on the zeitgeist.

A common auto-completo?

Pick one: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vm ;)

Was surprised by this one

8. Donate to NASA

Why is the #1 query never something I ever type?

Because you are not the majority?

Trending airlines? O_o

and India's no. 1 search for people is Sunny Leone...

Am I the only one who can't see any video? Only sound plays in both Firefox and Chromium.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com