Tag: trends

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Searching beyond 2009

I was reviewing the Google Zeitgeist page showing the top searches, patterns and trends of 2009.

zeit·geist | Pronunciation: ‘tsIt-“gIst, ‘zIt | Function: noun | Etymology: German, from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit) | Date: 1884 | Meaning: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.

The information is interesting and enlightening, in that I, in no way follow any popular trends in the US. I must be fringe, or just don’t care that much about celebrity or movie/tv entertainment: 7 of top 10 Google News – Fastest Rising, 6 of top 10 Google.com – Fastest Rising, and 100% of Google Image Search top 10 are all such trends.

Google had dedicated trend pages for both Entertaining and Celebrity. If I dive deeper into these pages, I’m further aware that none of these celebrities are of interest to me except Michael Jackson and Les Paul. On the top ten TV and movies lists, I watch none of the TV shows (although that’s not a surprise as I don’t watch too much TV) and have only seen Star Trek and Avatar of the movie list. On the concert list, I’ve scene Blink 182 and U2 and don’t care to see them again, or the rest on that list.

One story I’m impressed made the list is the Missing Link as the finding of “Ida” in Germany further shows evidence of evolution of humans. Stories like this make me wonder how humans will evolve in another 47 million years (if we make it past the 2000s first).

Regarding Sports, Yankees, Steelers, Lakers, Red Wings, Roger Federer and of course Tiger Woods are all on top – no surprise for any. I am a little surprise that Coach K is the top and that the coaches list is dominated by American NFL Football and college basketball coaches. Lane Kiffin is well on his way to top the list of 2010 (and the one issue I’m on the side of Al Davis). Interesting too to see that Americans favor searching Chelsea football – the team I follow for now Arsenal is ranked 5th.

Here in New York, top searches seem to be all services except I’m quite shocked that Hale and Hearty topped Shake Shack in local food searches. Soup and salads over burgers? maybe New Yorkers are trying to get healthy on their own and DON’T NEED a salt ban (get it Bloomberg?).

The economy, healthcare (swine flu & universal health care), scandals (Bernie Madoff & Mark Sanford), bailouts (TARP & AIG) and disasters (tsunamis and earthquakes) all topped in the news for 2009 and will continue in some form into 2010. Haiti already starting the disaster trending again this year.

The Stooges – Search And Destroy
[audio:http://apt104.com/Aug%2009/iggy/12%20Search%20And%20Destroy.mp3]

photo365_2010_013
Traveling Smoker in front of 5th Ave Apple Store

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Colored Fruit = the new Yogurt Trend

Wearing Uggs and toting the latest US weekly, you can spot the lines for the latest crazed food trend (and I say latest as if it was April 2007) before getting to the store front… Frozen Yogurt is back baby! I never thought I would see it again since my sister worked at TCBY back in high school and I would OD on their flat tasting mix with stir ins and toppings.

This time around the trend springs from Korea and contrary to popular belief, the originator is Red Mango, but the popularity storm has been fueled by celebrity sitings at the first “real” frozen yogurt shop in the US, based in the mecca for all things material: LA. Pinkberry is the brand and the rumors that the original flavor’s secret ingredient is cocaína are not far from the truth after you get a few tastes of this white stuff.

Pinkberry took over the nation and quickly opened up shop in LA and now 3 shops in New York (Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Little Italy), but Red Mango is making a claim from it’s Asian fame but quickly following this trend and opening up right behind them. In fact a Pinkberry and Red Mango have each opened up on either side of each other on Bleeker St. in Greenwich Village. I decided to give each one a shot for the first time this weekend to see what all the hype is about.

The whole experience reminded me of the TCBY days, only slightly better tasting with more emphasis on the whole experience (decor, color, scene) than just the yogurt itself. Also both claim to be “real” yogurt, however, only Red Mango uses real yogurt cultures (it’s not noted on Pinkberry’s site so we shouldn’t assume they do too). Red Mango tastes a little more grainy, maybe becuase it’s made from yogurt powder imported from Italy and Pink is smoother. Red has a stronger sour taste to it (better), and Pink is sweeter (maybe because it has 25% more sugar than Red). I really can’t pick a favorite when they both don’t do it for me… I’ll wait a day for the withdrawals to kick in and then let you know….

Pinkberry has a no photos policy… so what do most people do? Take photos: