Talk about yaymestarringlondontipton.com which Disney registered without telling anyone, according to a story in the Washington Post earlier this month:

"..Disney registered names like http://yaymestarringlondontipton.com and http://fenwickssuitmovie.com– signaling the company's interest in securing sites that could be related to its TV show "The Suite Life with Zack & Cody" and a popular children's book, respectively. Patalano said his biggest scoop came when he discovered the name of Disney's sequel to "National Treasure" — "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" — before Disney had announced it, setting his fellow Internet fans abuzz."

"….To prevent similar public-relations debacles, companies buy up swaths of negative domain names featuring their trademark. Sprint owns http://ihatesprint.com, and Capital One owns http://capitaloneisevil.com. Wal-Mart, which has been embroiled in several disputes over sites using its trademark negatively, has registered http://walmartunion.biz and virtually every domain containing the words "child labor" and "Wal-Mart."

But I noticed, not so much the Disney Shows, but how this topic has ignited Google HotTrends today.  For example: yay me starring london tipton.com is "On Fire" and peaked at 5PM on December 15th (I wonder what triggered that spike?).

Simerely, www.yaymestarringlondontipton.com also peaked at 5PM while london tipton which was probably triggered by New Site For London Tipton from The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody in Nichole blogs!.  Also used terms such as yamestaringlondontipton.com, yaymestaringlondontipton, yeahmestarringlondontipton.com, yay me starring london tipton and yaymelondontipton.com.

Looking at the results and digging in, I suspect much of this result on Google HotTrends to look like manipulation of it since many of the sources quoted are spam blogs.

According to a story in eweek.com Google will eventually give programmers access to an API for its Trends analysis tool.

"..While I can't [give] particular dates for such a launch, I do believe that we will be making an API available so you can take the Trends product and embed it and use the data," Mayer said during a Web cast tutorial on the application Dec. 4.

Were Google to open up Trends and allows users to download data, marketers could customize their own Trends analyses to detect new patterns, ideally to better target users with products and services. "

I think this is significant development because Google's Trends and especially HotTrends, have some gems of data, live gems, so to speak - but the interface and options Google now gives, sucks.   In some ways, Google could have gone much further with HotTrends, particularly using Television, Cable and Radio play databases which often drive HotTrends - these are missing now - but when Developer's get access to the API, it should allow much more creativity with the data, and I, for one, am looking forward to that.

I wrote about Google HotTrends strengths and deficiencies in a recent post titled What drives Google HotTrends - the missing piece.

Locational Buzz is one thing that Google HotTrends does fairly well; just today I read about Donda West, Kanye West's Mother who just died. According to an unverified report on Sohh.com about Kanye West's Mother Passes Away, Chicago Rapper Rhymefest Reacts

"….The cause of death has not been confirmed, though reports on the Internet indicate her passing was the result of complications from cosmetic surgery."

"…Rhymefest said Kanye West is still struggling to absorb the news about his mother.

"I don't think it really hit him yet, but I'm asking Chicago to pray and send your prayers and your love out to my brother and to his family," Rhymefest said. "

The more I read the news about Rapper Kanye West's mother, Dr. Donna west, who just died, the sadder I feel at the loss.

Especially when your close to a parent…it's very, very hard; I wish Kayne West and his family best wishes -  and I'm sorry Kayne West's mom died  - here's more information about Dr. Donda West (also known as  according to a Chicago Sun Times article:

"….Dr. Donda West, the mother of hip-hop superstar Kanye West, who nurtured and promoted her son’s musical career from its infancy, died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital. She was 58.

A spokesman for the rapper confirmed Dr. West’s death Sunday afternoon and released a one-sentence statement reading: ‘‘The family respectfully asks for privacy during this time of grief.’’

A spokesman for the rapper confirmed Dr. West’s death Sunday afternoon and released a one-sentence statement reading: ‘‘The family respectfully asks for privacy during this time of grief.’’

Beyond her son’s international fame, Dr. West had carved out her own niche as a well-respected educator in Chicago — long affiliated with Chicago State University where she rose to the chairmanship of the school’s English department.

I also didn't know that Kayne West had a foundation dedicated to decreasing the dropout rate in the nation's public high schools, and that his month oversaw that foundation:

"…Two years ago, she relocated from Chicago to Los Angeles to take over her son's business operations, where she served as Chief Executive of West Brands LLC. She also chaired the Kanye West foundation, an organization dedicated to decreasing the dropout rate in the nation's public high schools."

Bloggertrail says it best in a post about BREAKING NEWS: KANYE WEST’S MOM DIES SUDDENLY , saying better what I'd like to say:

"…Our Prayers go discover to Kanye West and his kinsfolk ’ From allhiphop.com metropolis reverend Dr. Donda west, Kanye west’s mother, dead died terminal night, individuals near to the rapper confirmed. [ Kanye west and his mom] The drive of modification was not free immediately, but she was reportedly in the Los Angeles Atlantic when she died."

Getting back to the Google HotTrends part of this post - I'm wondering if Geo Location of the Buzz Tracking is really coming from the News Sources, more than anything else?

For Example - look at the following queries captured in HotTrends today:

kanye west mom dies

Related searches:
kanye west mom died, kanye west mom, donda west dies, donda west died, kanye west mother

Peak:
2 hours ago

Location:
13% - Chicago, IL
6% - Brooklyn, NY
5% - Atlanta, GA

Image of Peak Trend - looks like this news hit the wire around 2PM EST

kanye west mother  

Related searches:
kanye west mother dies, kanye west mom dies, kanye west mom, kanye west mother died, dr. donda west

Peak:
2 hours ago

Location:
10% - Chicago, IL

I can see where the news about Kayne West's mother dying has resounded the most - in Chicago (where Donda West thought), Brooklyn, where I live, and Atlanta.

Again, the more I read, I'm really sorry this loss happened.  I know we all, eventually, pass, but that still doesn't mean we can't feel the sadness of it.  According to Sohh.com in a post about Kanye West's Mother Passes Away, Chicago Rapper Rhymefest Reacts

"…Chicago rapper Rhymefest, who co-wrote the hit "Jesus Walks," confirmed Dr. West's death to radio station WCGI. [Listen here]

"Kanye called me up this morning, at about 10 o'clock in the morning my time, he was in London," Rhymefest told the radio station. "He let me know that his mom, Dr. West, passed.&quot
;

Rhymefest said Kanye West is still struggling to absorb the news about his mother.

"I don't think it really hit him yet, but I'm asking Chicago to pray and send your prayers and your love out to my brother and to his family," Rhymefest said.

Kanye West frequently spoke of his mother in his music, and dedicated an entire track to her in "Hey Mama" off his second release, Late Registration.

Dr. West, who authored the tell-all book Raising Kanye, was chair of the English department at Chicago State University before leaving her position to serve as Kanye's manager.

Rhymefest said in addition to managing her son's career, she acted as a mother and mentor for the entire circle.

"She was a mother to everybody … We all came in the crib and she fed us when we had nothin', when there was no record deals. She brought us in," he said. "She was a mother for a community, and a mother for one of Chicago's greatest heroes."

I'm not into hip-hop, and I've never really connected with Kayne West - but I feel connected, today, with his loss; may Donda West rest in peace.

It seems like Vioxx is in the news today, where, according to the New York Times Merck Agrees to Pay $4.85 Billion for Vioxx Claims "….Merck announced today that it will pay $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits by people who contend they or their family members suffered injury or died after taking the drug."

"…the agreement is far smaller than Wall Street analysts and lawyers predicted when Merck withdrew Vioxx, and especially after the verdict in the first case. In 2005, most analysts estimated that Merck’s ultimate liability in Vioxx would be between $10 billion and $25 billion."

It's interesting that one would think that Drug stocks would rise on the news of a lower than expected settlement (my feeling, too, is that it should have been higher) but Drug stocks slipped; Merck jumps on Vioxx settlement but Merik gained (while the rest slip).

"…Early Friday, Merck said that it has agreed to settle about 85% of the individual claims, or up to 50,000 cases, filed against it over Vioxx for $4.85 million.

Under the agreement, claimants will have to show evidence that they had procured at least 30 Vioxx pills and suffered a heart attack or stroke within 14 days of taking the drug. Merck pulled Vioxx off the market in September 2004 after a study showed users who took the drug for 18 months or longer had a significantly higher risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. "

Google HotTrends did it again - captured an event and the associated keywords around it, but didn't actually satisfy - could not connect all the way though to the event itself - which is why so much of Google HotTrends doesn't make much sense when you look at what people are suddenly searching on today, or on a particular day.

For example - paul revere s ride   was a question asked to Tony Hawk on "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader" last night on Fox, but nowhere does Google HotTrends actually capture that - just the associations.   I guess that's better than nothing, but you'd think if they could figure out what's associated with a query - they'd be able to go one more step and trace it's source.

"..Related searches:
paul reveres ride, tony hawk foundation, estonia continent, estonia, midnight ride of paul revere"

All of the related sentences makes perfect sense if you watched "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader" last night, otherwise, it would be hard to know why someone cares about Paul Revere's Ride on November 8th, 2007 vs any other day.

The info is not in the News Articles, Blogs or Web Results section….but Google, if they just went a little further, and tied in the TV citations, would have captured the association with "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader" and Tony Hawk, which is what they need to do to make HotTrends really useful.

I wish Fox would let me embed the clip, but they don't - so you'll just have to go to the "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader" site to see it.

Sometimes I look at Google HotTrends and it's interesting to look at what is suddenly "hot" but what's often missing, despite Google's attempt to add that information, is why something is happening, why it's hot, and what's driving the HotTrend - for that, most of the time - human analysis is needed.

Or it could be what you know.  Here's an example - last Thursday, November 1st, it so happened that the term "federalist papers" was #3 on Google HotTrends and it peaked at about 8:30 PM EST time (no location was given - sometimes, Google HotTrends gives us a location).

Looking at the search results and news citations actually did nothing to tell me why Federalist papers was peaking on November 1st around 8:30 PM.   Not one listing in news articles (left), blog posts (right) or web results (bottom half of page) gave the actual reason.  

The reason = Clay Aiken Was Great on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”  - turns out the question was asked to Clay Aiken while he was on the "Art you Smarter Than a 5th Grader" show and his fans and TV/Internet audience did  a query on Google to find out about federalist papers since he had a lot of money riding on the answer - which I think he got correct (but I didn't watch the show).

Ok, here's my point - while Google tries to link in what the trigger, or cause of a traffic spike on a term is - it's often unsuccessful - that only understanding - only knowledge of a circumstance - often, can make the connection between a spike in demand for a term (or for anything) and the real cause of it.

Knowing the cause of traffic spikes can often tell you what they mean to you - that's why it's good to know - but it's also clear that much more work needs to be done to co-relate the demand for terms spurred by current events - and the result on Internet Searches - and the current technology, although not bad, is certainly not up to the task yet.

I would suggest using the Google Alert database to key into Google HotTrends along with TV/Cable/Radio plays, if possible - as I've noticed that much of what becomes a HotTrend in Google is driven from a media event - watching a local movie that's aired, or something that is in the movies, or a world event.  Sometimes, linking the spikes with those events is easier - but in many cases, it's not - because there's a missing piece of information, like Clay Aiken's answer of the "federalist papers" question.