Today: Apple's iPad and iPhone 4 dominated consumer electronics searches on Google this year. Plus: Factual wins $25 million from a "superstar" investor lineup including Andreessen Horowitz.Google Zeitgeist: Gaga for Apple's iPad, iPhone. Mountain View Internet juggernaut Google today released its yearly Zeitgeist ranking of "how the world searched." In the consumer electronics sector, two Apple products were the "fastest rising" search queries.
The iPad and the iPhone 4 -- two new tech gadgets from the Cupertino maker of Mac computers and "i" devices -- were No. 1 and No. 2 on Google's consumer electronics list, followed by the Nokia 5530, HTC Evo 4G and Nokia N900. Searchers were so interested in the iPad, for that matter, it was No. 2 on Google's global "fastest rising" list, just between Chatroulette at No. 1 and Justin Bieber at No. 3. (We're pretty sure this is Bieber's debut mention, by the way, in the 60-Second Business Break.
The "fastest rising people" were Bieber, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, Megan Fox and Robert Pattinson.
In the U.S., the iPad was the top "fastest rising" search on Google.com, followed by Chatroulette, the iPhone 4, the World Cup and Bieber. You can check out Google's Zeitgeist 2010 at: The year wasn't all about tech gadgets, pop stars and soccer.
"The devastating earthquakes in China, Chile and Haiti as well as the floods in Pakistan and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico led to a huge spike in all things charitable," Johanna Wright, Google's director of product management for search, wrote in a post on the company's blog.