A technological marvel, and the death of its visionary, established the Apple iPhone as the leading search in 2011. Was it 2001 (and 2002) all over again, when a gadget (PlayStation 2) was the lead Search obsession? Or, given what people could now do literally at their fingertips — organize a life, run a business, communicate with millions — the smartphone symbolized a new era.
How we searched also changed. The celebrity-studded lists now ... more 

A technological marvel, and the death of its visionary, established the Apple iPhone as the leading search in 2011. Was it 2001 (and 2002) all over again, when a gadget (PlayStation 2) was the lead Search obsession? Or, given what people could now do literally at their fingertips — organize a life, run a business, communicate with millions — the smartphone symbolized a new era.
How we searched also changed. The celebrity-studded lists now included breaking news, showing a change in how people interacted with news events.

1. iPhone
2. Casey Anthony
3. Kim Kardashian
4. Katy Perry
5. Jennifer Lopez
6. Lindsay Lohan
7. American Idol
8. Jennifer Aniston
9. Japan earthquake
10. Osama bin Laden

In addition to the devastation in Japan and the capture of America's most wanted, people monitored the unfolding news events in the Arab uprising, a royal wedding, and Occupy Wall Street. Extreme weather merited its own ranking, even though records would be broken the following year. An absurd number of political scandals erupted — perhaps to get things out of the way before an election year. Americans though still had their lighter obsessions, be they Angry Birds, planking, or discussing the merits of being a Tiger Mom. (Red Huber/Reuters) less