the buzz log
Dragging the Brits (and the Yanks?) Online
Britain may have invented the lightbulb, the steam engine, and toilet paper, but trailblazing the Internet isn't among the country's strengths.
One-third of Britain's population is without home Internet access. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is hell-bent on getting his countrymen (and women) broadband access (at 2 megabytes per second, mind you) in three years, at a cost of $328 million. The British leader even declared in an op-ed piece for The Times (UK) that the "internet is as vital as water and gas," and essential to the UK as "bridges, roads and railways" were during the Industrial Revolution.
Before any Americans start snickering at Brits being the Luddites of the Internet world, check this Census figure out: 62% of American households connect to the Web from home. And the kids aren't helping either: About 88% of 12-to-14 year old Americans surf, but 100% of British kids that age do so. When was the last time you could get every single teen to do something?
Barack Obama, who counts Internet President among his many informal titles, has done a lot of talk about getting every American online. However the recession will pose some problems in getting Web access to poor and rural areas. The good news is that more people are signing up for high-speed access (and even paying more for it). That might lift the U.S. dismal ranking of No. 15 out of 30 countries for broadband subscribers (per 100 inhabitants—America leads in sheer numbers since the population's huge). United Kingdom on that same list? No. 13.
But maybe Britain—and the U.S. for that matter—should slow down on all this Web stuff. The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future polled about 2,030 people and found more Americans are spending less family time, but more (online) social networking time. Perhaps all those Brits who lead a Web-less life know something after all.
Filed under: Internet, United States, England, United Kingdom
And Then There Was Another Place to Visit: An Agatha Christie Home
Hankering to craft a murder? Now you can rent the perfect environs to plot your misdeeds.
The holiday home of Agatha Christie, the First Marm of British Mystery, just opened to the public. Restored by the National Trust, the newest tourist stop in Greenway, England, scored some Search traction for the creator of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. The 1,933% spike boosted "agatha christie" into the top 2,000 terms in the past 7 days. Mysteriously, while Christie's thought to have a huge female following, males 13-64 were guilty of conducting 83% of searches.
Like many outlets, the Independent took the occasion to re-evaluate her enduring appeal, despite "cardboard" characters and "implausible" settings. (One explanation for the "Abba syndrome:" She's the "ultimate narrative technician.") The AP listed 15 mysteries set in Devon, the area in which Greenway is located, while Daily Telegraph unfolds a detailed scene of this retreat more accessible by boat than by auto, plus hosts a video of the surroundings.
While the Georgian mansion gives insight into her archaeological collections, Christie actually never penned a murderous word here, although she did host private readings.
No reason to stop you from renting part of this home for nefarious literary purposes. The only limitation (besides the logistics in getting there): The holiday apartment is limited to 10 people ... the same number of the doomed party in the biggest mystery bestseller ever, "And Then There Were None," set in a remote Devon retreat.
Filed under: Travel, Authors, Home and Garden, England, Mysteries
In Praise of Princes
Sunday's concert for Princess Diana was huge in every possible way. It drew enormous crowds, raised a tremendous amount of money, and inspired a variety of searches. Princes William and Harry, who helped organize the event, were especially popular in the Buzz.
It's never nice to pit brother against brother, but we thought it might be interesting to see which of England's royal duo commands the kingdom of Search. Read on for our honorable analysis...
| Two Princes | |||
| Prince William | Prince Harry | The Winner... | |
| Rank in Buzz | Top 1,000 searches | Top 1,750 searches | William. With age comes buzz. |
| Search Performance following the concert... | Up 181% | Up 330% | Harry's hotter than a two dollar pistol. |
| Flattering related search | "prince william inheritance" | "prince harry hot" | Both imply these are bachelors worth pursuing. |
| Not-so-flattering related search | "prince william balding" | "prince harry short" | On the other hand... |
The Buzz of Britannia
From time to time, we in the United States of Buzz like to take a gander at the goings-on in Great Britain. Nothing like having a little sport and hunting down some recent noteworthy spikes in Search from our cousins across the pond.
Lady Sovereign (+2,700%): The reigning lady rapper and maiden of music came face-to-face with Zach Slow, a fan so desperate for the Lady's courtly love that he raised $10,000 on his web site to champion his cause. Chivalry is absolutely not dead, nor is charity, thanks to the more than one million visitors to techno-troubadour's online love poem.
Joanne Beckham (+396%): The sister of England's favorite footballer, David Beckham found herself in the middle of some football-flavored mudslinging when the German newspaper Bild called Becksie's baby sis both fat and a bit of a drinker, among other things. Tut-tut, old chaps, not very sportmanslike, is it?
Stephen Hawking (+1,276%): The world's favorite royal physicist made headlines this week as he chatted about the pope, a children's book, and postulated about mankind's main hope in the future: settling in outer space. Surely he's not doing adverts for a new British empire in the stars?
Now we know better how to date a Brit, bait a Brit, and fly to outer space with a brainy Brit—well, that's us off for a pint at the pub at the end of the universe.
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worst Airports For Delays 2009 | Breakout! |
| 2 | How To Survive A Recession | Breakout! |
| 3 | Ice Cream Calorie Counter | Breakout! |
| 4 | Jayson Williams | Breakout! |
| 5 | Alexandra Kerry | Breakout! |
| 6 | Chaz Bono | 10707% |
| 7 | Kelly Osbourne | 3298% |
| 8 | Jennifer Hudson | 3218% |
| 9 | Nicole Richie | 2075% |
| 10 | Thierry Henry | 1125% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +413 | 1016 |
| 2 | Elizabeth Lambert | -677 | 263 |
| 3 | NFL | +66 | 235 |
| 4 | New Moon | +74 | 213 |
| 5 | Bing | +83 | 209 |
| 6 | Kelly Osbourne | +193 | 199 |
| 7 | Hulu | +7 | 139 |
| 8 | Nicole Richie | +124 | 130 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.