If you ever doubted that news stories send Lycos users scrambling for information, this week's Lycos 50 is the proof you needed. Then again, it helps that two major news stories were computer-related.
Start with the eagerly-anticipated Napster ruling from federal court. News that Napster will likely be forced to shut down soon sent the file-trading software to #2 on this week's Lycos 50 with 77 percent growth. Only the mid-week celebration of Valentine's Day keeps it from the top spot.
In case the record industry thinks this will be the end of file-trading, let us inform them otherwise. The public wants to trade files, and it wants to trade them for free. The search for a substitute to Napster sent the similar software Gnutella all the way to #7. Searches such as Napster alternatives and programs like Napster also grew significantly this week.
If you are looking for MP3's in a legal fashion, may we suggest a trip to Lycos Music?
SHE'S OUR GIRL: The other big computer story this week was the Anna Kournikova virus, which hit early this week. The virus boosted Anna to her highest position ever, #6, and the virus itself enters the Lycos 50 at #33. We're proud to have been mentioned in a number of articles on the virus, thanks to Anna's presence as the top athlete in the Lycos 50.
CLINTON AGONISTES: Proving that the press, the Republican party, and the nation as a whole have an amazing inability to just move on already, the Marc Rich pardon scandal is #46 this week. 57 percent of these searches were for socialite Denise Rich, possible challenger to Katherine Harris' throne as "makeup queen." The other searches were split between the pardon itself and the man who received it, Denise's ex-husband Marc Rich. We added all three terms together to get this ranking.
NOT PORN: Eros is not an adult query, it is the name of the asteroid visited by the NEAR-Shoemaker (#42) spacecraft this week. This is the first time NASA (#16) has managed to land a probe directly on an asteroid.
XFL FADES: It took one week for the television ratings to drop and two for the online searches to slump for the XFL (#25). Football fans like offense, but the XFL is not delivering. XFL games look like Baltimore Ravens inter-squad scrimmages, except without Ray Lewis' probation officers watching from the sidelines. Perhaps the worst sign for the league: searches for XFL fantasy football and XFL box scores disintegrated this week. Cheerleader searches, however, remained strong.
ABE, HONESTLY: In the battle of President's Day, Abraham Lincoln (#44) defeats George Washington 58 percent to 42 percent and becomes the second president to ever make the Lycos 50. Believe it or not, Bill Clinton has never made it.
SHORT SUBJECTS: Puff Daddy searches double this week and Jennifer Lopez gets bumped up to #11, but their Valentine's Day breakup didn't spur the interest we expected; searches specifying the Cruise-Kidman divorce (#50) got one-third more searches? As we predicted, the hot new Japanese cartoon Outlaw Star enters the Lycos 50 at #45? The Beatles finally drop out of the Lycos 50 after 13 weeks, but just barely (they're #51)? Daytona 500 anticipation sends NASCAR to #13 (the search week ended the day before the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt)? The Academy Awards nominations are at #20, the exact same position they held last year at this time.
NEW THIS WEEK: Anna Kourinkova and the Anna K. virus, Academy Awards, Westminster Dog Show, NEAR-Shoemaker, Abraham Lincoln, Outlaw Star, Marc Rich, NBA.
DROPOUTS: Computer games Diablo II (after 14 weeks) and The Sims (after 12 weeks), plus IT/Ginger, Carmen Electra, Oprah Winfrey, Digimon, George W. Bush, Backstreet Boys, and the Beatles.
BIGGEST RISE: Gnutella, up 33 places to #7.
BIGGEST DROP: The Cruise-Kidman divorce, down 41 places to #50.
ONE YEAR AGO: Fox's trashy Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire enters the Lycos 50 at #15, thus signifying that either the end of the world or Temptation Island was near.
TOMORROW: The hottest members of the cast of Survivor II: they might not be who you expect.
