the buzz log

Apple thrilled users with a sleek new aluminum version of its oh-so-popular iMac, but real tech heads are more interested in the latest software coming out of Cupertino. Searches on iLife and iWork both jumped sharply after the latest revs were announced by Steve Jobs. But in a development that's gotta be disturbing to the media company's bottom line, searches on torrents for both software suites also soared.

If you're still not hip to the Bittorrent tip, Lifehacker recently published a handy primer. For those in the know, the allure of freshly pirated programs proved popular. Searches on "iwork torrent" jumped 194% and lookups on "ilife torrent" leapt 152% as devious downloaders sought out the hot apps.

What other bits of digital detritus are hot with our searchers? We present this week's top 20 torrent searches...

Two more tiny torrent notes...

—iLife and iWork didn't crack the top 20...yet. It's still early, and we expect to see them up there by next week. Apple software did manage to sneak into the very bottom of our top 20.

—Besides avoiding ticket prices at the movies, downloaders also don't want to pay for premium cable channels HBO and Showtime. Four of the top 20 are cable shows only available to TV watchers shelling out extra dough.