Google knows what we searched for last summer

Props to my friend Valentina for pointing out this New York Times article, which explores the creepy/awesome trend of... Google Trends.

This engine graphs the number of times comparative terms have been searched as far back as 2004, then pinpoints surges in the data, gives news-related reasons for peaks and valleys, and shows how trends differ in top cities.

Some interesting examples I tried out:

1. Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Devil Rays

2. Beatles, Rolling Stones

3. Katharine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler (2006 only)

4. John Kerry, George Bush, Iraq

5. Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Futurama

6. Google Maps, Google News, Google Trends (2006 only)

Creepy/awesome!