Google Trends tracks what's hot online

Google Inc. is sharing more insights about what's on its users' minds by showing a new daily list of the 100 hottest topics on its internet search engine.

The new rankings were unveiled late Monday in an upgrade oftheGoogle Trendsservice. The breakdown consists of the fastest-rising search requests on any given day.

The list doesn't include all of the top queries. Instead, it will be edited to exclude pornography and other requests about the weather, popular websites like MySpace.com, or prominent celebrities that consistently generate lots of searches.

Trying to figure out why certain terms are popping up is part of the fun underlying the list, said Amit Patel, a Google software engineer who oversaw the project. To help provide context, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company will provide links to news stories and blogs containing the search terms.

"It's very entertaining and it's very addictive," Patel said of the trends list.

Besides appealing to pop culture junkies, Patel believes the rankings will be useful to web researchers and reporters looking for story ideas.

The improvements also will enable users to analyze search terms within the sub-regions of 79 countries.