Gizmodo: zeitgeist

Gizmodo's Most Popular Hits of 2008

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:30:00 EST

What a year, roller coaster from beginning to end, and tons of amazing stories. In case you missed any, here they are: The most popular stories for 2008, plus the monthly top 10s.

Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2008

1. New Video of BigDog Quadruped Robot Is So Stunning It's Spooky
832,353 views
Jesús Díaz

2. Confessions: The Meanest Thing Gizmodo Did at CES
727,147 views
Adrian Covert

3. Cheeseburger in a Can is Both the Best and Worst Thing I've Ever Seen
674,770 views
Adam Frucci

4. Blue Screen of Death Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting
665,510 views
John Mahoney

5. iPhone 3G's True Price Compared
576,471 views
Jason Chen

6. Alienware Curved Monitor Looks Like It's From Another Planet
559,032 views
Charlie White

7. Sprint's Samsung Instinct: At Last, a Decent iPhone Competitor
554,144 views
Matt Buchanan

8. iPhone 3G Launch Date Confirmed
543,020 views
Jesús Díaz

9. iPhone OS 2.0 Unlocked
528,769 views
Jesús Díaz

10. How To: Install Apps on Your iPhone Easily, No Hacking Skills Required*
480,447 views
Jesús Díaz

* This story is from 2007, but also made it to the top 10 in 2008

Monthly Top 10s

January
1. Confessions: The Meanest Thing Gizmodo Did at CES
Adrian Covert
2. Alienware Curved Monitor Looks Like It's From Another Planet
Charlie White
3. Cheeseburger in a Can is Both the Best and Worst Thing I've Ever Seen
Adam Frucci
4. 1960s Braun Products Hold the Secrets to Apple's Future
Jesús Díaz
5. This Video Makes Bill Gates Look Cooler Than Steve Jobs
Brian Lam
6. The CES 50-Babe Battle: Booth Babes vs. Regular Babes
Adam Frucci
7. MacBook Air Tear Down: Sexy On the Inside Too
Christopher Mascari
8. Holy Crap: Did Bill Gates Just Say Windows Sucks?
Wilson Rothman
9. Apple MacBook Air Is World's Thinnest Notebook, Looks Absolutely Amazing
Jesús Díaz
10. Microsoft's Brainwashing Children's Book: Mommy, Where Do Servers Come From?
Noah Robischon

February
1. Indiana Jones IV Trailer Makes Us Wet Our Pants
Jesús Díaz
2. Cheeseburger in a Can is Both the Best and Worst Thing I've Ever Seen
Adam Frucci
3. Peruvian Anti-Riot Police Uniforms Look Like Judge Dredd Meets Batman
Adam Frucci
4. Guitar Rising for Real Guitar Heroes
Jesús Díaz
5. How Grandma Sees The Remote
Mark Wilson
6. Stairs Bookcase Actually Makes Me Want to Move to London
Jesús Díaz
7.Leaked RIAA Training Video: Find Pirates, Find Crack-Dealing Terrorist Murderers Too!
Matt Buchanan
8. 1,301 Florescent Bulbs Lit Solely by Magnetic Fields
Adam Frucci
9. The Biggest Star Wars Collection in the Galaxy
Jesús Díaz
10. The Sad Final Days of CompUSA
Jason Chen

March
1. New Video of BigDog Quadruped Robot Is So Stunning It's Spooky
Jesús Díaz
2. Ride the Bitchcruiser Bike, But Wear Protection (NSFW)
Mark Wilson
3. Plug-'n'-Play USB Virus Makes MacBooks Fall to Pieces
Addy Dugdale
4. Technosexual: One Man's Tale of Robot Love
Addy Dugdale
5. Video of BigDog Beta Quadruped Robot Is So Stupid It's Hilarious
Jesús Díaz
6. The True iPhone Anti-Christ Is Here! Repent!
Jesús Díaz
7. Skywalker Last Supper Painting Made With 69,550 Star Wars Frames
Jesús Díaz
8. Cat Jumps Off a Plane, Lands on Its Legs
Jesús Díaz
10. First Video of Hacked iPhone 2.0 In Action
Jesús Díaz

April
1. 10 Sex Toys That Are Confusing and Wrong (NSFW)
Sean Fallon
2. A Cellphone's Missing Dot Kills Two People, Puts Three More in Jail
Jesús Díaz
3. Psystar Exposed: Looks Like a Hoax
Jason Chen
4. Putting Video Cameras in the WRONG Places (VERY NSFW)
Jesús Díaz
5. Sexy Lady Offers to Harvest Virginity of Net Neutrality-Supporting Nerds (NSFW)
Addy Dugdale
6. Exclusive Video: Psystar in the Wild
Jason Chen
7. Vista Running 108 Apps Bites Mac OS X Back
Jesús Díaz
8. Mac With 150 Apps Running Shows Teeny-Weeny Dock, Exposé Windows
Haroon Malik
9. Combat Robot Attempts Rebellion Against Human Masters in Iraq, Army Pulls Plug for 10-20 Years
Matt Buchanan
10. Sprint's Samsung Instinct: At Last, a Decent iPhone Competitor
Matt Buchanan

May
1. iPhone 3G Launch Date Confirmed
Jesús Díaz
2. Mentos and Diet Coke Explosion at 1200fps: Casio EX-F1 Strikes Again
Benny Goldman
3. R2-D2 Projector in Action Video (Verdict: A Must Have)
Jesús Díaz
4. Exclusive: Dell Mini Inspiron, Their First Mini Laptop
Brian Lam
5. Flying RC Penis Disrupts Garry Kasparov Speech
Jason Chen
6. How My Wife Castrated My DVD Collection
Mark Wilson
7. Stolen MacBook Victim Uses Screen Sharing and iSight to Bust Thieves
Adrian Covert
8. Sprint Spending $100 Million to Kick iPhone in the Nuts (iPhone Wearing Cup)
Mark Wilson
9. 5 Million-Piece LEGO Boulder Chases Indy, Crashes Into Car
Jesús Díaz
10. Full-Screen Multitouch Mac OS X Is Here (But Not from Apple)
Jesús Díaz

June
1. Lego Secret Vault Contains All Sets In History
Jesús Díaz
2. Why You Should Carry a Digital Camera At All Times
Adam Frucci
3. Woman Who Died While Watching TV Sat Unfound for 42 Years
Adam Frucci
4. Classic Clips: Bill Gates Chews Out Microsoft Over XP
Mark Wilson
5. iPhone 3G's True Price Compared
Jason Chen
6. iPhone 3G Launch Date Confirmed
Jesús Díaz
7. Girl Spins On Escalator Thanks to Physics or Magic
Jesús Díaz
8. Apple WWDC Liveblog Coverage
Jason Chen
9. 3,800-Piece Death Star Diorama Is Coolest Star Wars Lego Ever
Jesús Díaz
10. 3G iPhone Hands On
Brian Lam

July
1. iPhone OS 2.0 Unlocked
Jesús Díaz
2. Tron 2 Trailer Video Makes Pants Wet Worldwide
Jesús Díaz
3. iPhone App Review Marathon Liveblog
Jason Chen
4. iPhone 3G Review
Brian Lam
5. WASP Knife Will Freeze and Blow Up Your Organs
Elaine Chow
6. Batman...Uh, I Mean John Connor is About to Waste This Terminator
Sean Fallon
7. Exclusive: Inside the Lego Factory
Jesús Díaz
8. 40 Honest Gadget Ads That Won't Be Convincing Many People to Buy Anything
Adam Frucci
9. Apple and AT&T Stores Having Difficulty Activating iPhones (UPDATE: It's the iPocalypse)
Mark Wilson
10. iPhone 2.0 Video Walkthrough and iTunes 7.7 Confidential Screenshots
Jesús Díaz

August
1. Blue Screen of Death Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting
John Mahoney
2. Tallest Skyscraper in the World Almost Completed, Defies Belief
Jesús Díaz
3. Slow Motion Lightning Video is Mindblowing, Will Sell a Thousand Slo-Mo Cameras
Adam Frucci
4. New iPhone Comes Loaded with Photos of the Girl Who Made It
Adam Frucci
5. Guy Films Space Shuttle Launch from Passing Airliner
Kit Eaton
6. Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date
Mark Wilson
7. Tattoo? Symbiote? What the Hell is That Thing On Olympian Kerri Walsh's Shoulder?
Jack Loftus
8. DIY Batman Tumbler Is Nearly Perfect, Built With One Man's Bare Hands
John Mahoney
9. Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk
Jesús Díaz
10. Photographs Enhance Video in Absolutely Unbelievable Ways
Mark Wilson

September
1. Hubble Finds Unidentified Object in Space, Scientists Puzzled
Jesús Díaz
2. Microsoft's "I'm a PC" Ad Beats Seinfeld (But Not Hodgman)
Wilson Rothman
3. Review: EFiX Dongle Perfectly Transforms PC to Mac
Matt Buchanan
4. How Many Google Phone Engineers Does It Take to Tell the Time?
Jesús Díaz
5. Download Google Chrome Now
Mark Wilson
6. The First Bill Gates + Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft Ad Makes No Sense
Jason Chen
7. Steve Ballmer Goes Nuts (Again) To Sell Windows
Mark Wilson
8. The Shocking Inside Story of the Epic Defects That Killed Millions of Xbox 360s
Matt Buchanan
9. Computer Weather Error Shows Why Houston Is in Extra Trouble
Jason Chen
10. Official Rock Band 2 Track List (Plus Carry Over "Most" of Rock Band's Disc Tracks!)
Matt Buchanan

October
1. Windows 7 Walkthrough, Boot Video and Impressions
Wilson Rothman
2. MacBook and MacBook Pro Dual Review
Mark Wilson
3. The Muppets' Animal Caught Speeding, Driving Police Crazy
Jesús Díaz
4. Awesome F-35B Video Shows US Marines Already Have Transformers
Jesús Díaz
5. T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone Review
Jason Chen
6. BlackBerry Storm First Hands On
Matt Buchanan
7. The Truth About the Apple Tax
Matt Buchanan
8. Is Steve Jobs Preparing His Farewell?
Jesús Díaz
9. Barack Obama's $3 Million 'Overhead Projector' Actually Pretty Cool
John Herrman
10. Giz Explains: Why Windows 7 Will Smash Vista
Matt Buchanan

November
1. The 50 Skills Every Geek Should Have
Adam Frucci
2. How the CNN Holographic Interview System Works
Jason Chen
3. Gizmodo's 20 Essential iPhone Apps
John Mahoney
4. BlackBerry Storm First Hands On
Matt Buchanan
5. 5 Gadgets You Can't Skimp On (And How to Save Money Buying Them)
Matt Buchanan
6. Grandma Got a New Mac
Jason Chen
7. Student Writes to Steve Jobs, Gets Free Final Cut Studio 2
Jesús Díaz
8. Guy Builds F-35 Fighter Jet On His Own
Jesús Díaz
9. How Big Is the ISS Compared to Science Fiction Spaceships?
Jesús Díaz
10. MacBook Nano Looks Like It Came from Cupertino
Jesús Díaz

December
1. Nakagin Capsule Tower Looks to be From the Future, But Probably Won't Make it There
Elaine Chow
2. New York City Is Breathtaking Following Google Earth Update
Mark Wilson
3. Santa Claus' Gmail Account Exposed
Jesús Díaz
4. Video of Multiple Kill Vehicle Test Scares Me Silly
Jesús Díaz
5. Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
John Herrman
6. Female Avatars Are Not Safe in PlayStation Home
Jack Loftus
7. Fakemodo: Undeniable Evidence of iPhone Nano 3G ZOMG!
Jesús Díaz
8. Dad, Where's the Digital Photo Frame?
Jesús Díaz
9. Steve Jobs' Health Declining Rapidly, Reason for Macworld Cancellation
Jesús Díaz
10. Lego Colonial Space Ship Is Big Enough to Terraform Real Planets
Jesús Díaz

If you are curious about last year's zeitgeist, you can read it here.

Palin Wins 2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:59:59 EST

Sure, President-elect Obama and vice-buddy Biden may have won the election, but Alaskan governor and animal rights activist Sarah Palin won the worldwide Google battle! In the US, however, things were different.

Google.com - Fastest Rising Globally

1. sarah palin
2. beijing 2008
3. facebook login
4. tuenti
5. heath ledger
6. obama
7. nasza klasa
8. wer kennt wen
9. euro 2008
10. jonas brothers

Now she'll have to fight Yahoo-winner Britney Spears for the unified world title. Here's the rest of Google's Zeitgeist results.

Google.com - Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. obama
2. facebook
3. att
4. iphone
5. youtube
6. fox news
7. palin
8. beijing 2008
9. david cook
10. surf the channel

Google News - Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. sarah palin
2. american idol
3. mccain
4. olympics
5. ike (hurricane)

Google Image Search - Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. sarah palin (any neeked picts yet?)
2. obama
3. twilight
4. miley cyrus
5. joker

Google Book Search - Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. breaking dawn
2. twilight
3. lora leigh
4. vampire kisses
5. new moon

Google Translate - Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. you
2. what
3. thank you
4. please
5. love

Gizmodo's Most Popular Hits of 2007

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:30:21 EST

Here are Gizmodo's Greatest Hits 2007, the most popular stories, the best of the best in a single bubblelicious list full of gadgets, juicy industry happenings, in-deep reviews, shocking tech news, weird war planes, Star Wars, boobs and sex. With dogs. Sometimes, all combined into one. What are the most popular Giz stories of 2007? See the top 20 and the monthly top 5, re-read the stories and pick your favorite 2007 article after the jump:

Top 10 Giz Stories for 2007

1. Hotdoll: The Sex Doll for Dogs - 721,911 views

2. Rocket-Powered 21-Foot-Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies, Has Built-in R2-D2 - 468,346 views

3. Verizon's LG VX10000 Voyager Revealed and Groped (with Gallery) - 444,887 views

4. Sidekick 4 and Sidekick Slide? - 437,106 views

5. Storm Trooper Stripper (OK, Prostitute) 410,361 views

6. X-Wing Rocket Launches, Disintegrates Mid-Air - 398,872 views

7. The World's Most Effective Speed Bump - 376,581 views

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8. The iPhone: Price - $499 4GB, $599 8GB in June - 356,735 views

9. Video of Bill Gates Showing off his Expensive Table - 301,060 views

10. Breaking: Digg Riot in Full Effect Over Pulled HD-DVD Key Story - 268,268 views

11. How To: Install Apps on Your iPhone Easily, No Hacking Skills Required - 259,005 views

12. Terminator Sex Positions - 252,253 views

13. iPhone Firmware 1.1.1 Out and Tested: Breaks 3rd-party Apps, Relocks iPhones and Sends Them to Semi-Brick Activation Limbo (Updated with video) - 246,681 views

14. Exclusive: iPhone Free Software Unlock Confirmed (Death Star Explodes) - 243,591 views

15. Gang Kidnaps Gamer to Get Password Using Fake Orkut Date - 242,272 views

16. iPhone Review - 232,079 views

17. Squirrel Catapult is Awful, Yet We Can't Look Away - 226,650 views

18. Biggest BSOD of All Time? - 225,035 views

19. iPhone Software Unlock Confirmed on Video - 222,088 views

20. The Gizmodo Ultimate Black Friday Deal Guide - 209,135

Monthly Top 5 Stories for 2007
The numbers of the monthly top 5 stories for 2007 are different from the top 20 above. The reason is simple: the following are the readers of a new story in that given month. The list on the top, however, shows the cumulative 2007 readership.

January
1. Leaked: Screenshots of OS X Leopard Terminal, Parental Controls, More
Jan 24 2007 153,475

2. iPhone Ringtone Sounds Like Holy Angels Tinkling: Download it Here
Jan 18 2007 141,867

3. Leaked Pt 2: OS X Leopard Spotlight, QuickView
Jan 25 2007 80,704

4. Zune: How We've Lived With It For Three Months
Jan 25 2007 75,430

5. Microsoft Ultimate Wireless 7000 Keyboard Hands-On
Jan 19 2007 68,750

February
1. The Original 1983 Microsoft Mouse
Feb 2 2007 102,235

2. Coolest... Lamps... Ever...
Feb 8 2007 92,891

3. Super Bowl Ad Watch: Top Spots
Feb 5 2007 82,479

4. The Most Ridiculous Windows Video Ever
Feb 7 2007 77,769

5. Horseshoes and Hand Grenades: Joel Johnson Returns...to Spank Us All for Supporting Crap
Feb 13 2007 75,338

March
1. AppleTV First Unboxing
Mar 21 2007 124,935

2. Best Booth Babe Ever: Samsung's Leopard Lady
Mar 12 2007 117,883