Wombats, smartphones and Starbucks spelling errors

It's not every day "wombat" tops the search trends, but it does today!  Scientists say the first complete skeleton of a prehistoric monster was found in Australia.  The giant wombat, weighing three tons and stretching up to 14 feet long, it roamed Australia between 25,000 and two million years ago.  Bones have been found before.  This skeleton was found in north-west Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria region.  It includes tusks and the tooth of a giant lizard, which scientists believe became dislodged as it feasted on the giant wombat’s corpse.

Another unusual trend - Giant Hogweed.  It's a serious concern for some New Yorkers.   This monster plant with flowers the size of umbrellas also contains sap that causes blisters and blindness and it spreading across parts of the state.  The problem is so severe the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is asking for help locating outbreaks so they can send crews to nip it in the bud.  It appears to be concentrated most heavily out in western New York, but it's popping up in parts of Central New York too. They're typically seen in rural areas and even some state forests.  Here's a map to see where in New York the hogweed is being spotted: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/41952.html

Apple may get all the hype, but Android is leading the pack, and by a very wide margin.  According to new data from comScore (the people who track these sorts of trends), smartphones using Google's operating system now command a 38.1 percent share of the market , and that's up 5% since May.  Apple is a distant second and holding relatively steady with about a 26 percent share.   More than 234-million Americans over the age of 13 are now using some sort of mobile device.

The PlayStation Network went down again overnight, causing a spike in searches.   After the recent hack attack that shut down the network for days, at least some of the users received an ominous "the PlayStation Network has been suspended" message during this outage.    Turns out, the network was down for maintenance.

For those of you at work who might get into hot water for checking your Facebook page, a college student has launched a new website called hardlywork.in.   The site turns your page into a spreadsheet.  Bay Gross, a 20 year old Computer Science student at Yale, started working on the site after a friend had complained that she had to wait till after-work for accessing the site.  Don't worry, boss, I am not using this website.  Just saying, it's out there.

Sarah Jessica Parker is trending after Forbes annual highest paid actresses list came out.   She and Angelina Jolie top the list.  Both women brought in $30 million dollars between May 2010 and May 2011.   Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon took home an estimated $28 million to tie for third place.

And here's a fun website to go with your morning coffee….  It's a Tumblr called Starbucks Spelling, a collection photos showcasing the misspelled names on cups from the inventors of the "Frappuccino."  According to the site, this cup is supposed to read "Molly":

From the video vault, a soccer highlight is the most watched video on YouTube over the last 24 hours.  Darlinton Nagbe's first professional goal Saturday night is described as not only the best goal of the Portland Timbers' inaugural season, but one of the best in franchise history.

 

Another trending video is the work of Dutch artists Lernert and Sander, who take on cosmetic overkill in a surreal short called Natural Beauty.  They apply a year's worth of makeup on Belgian supermodel Hannelore Knuts.

 

And we end with a laugh posted by a proud parent about a month ago of twins acting alike.  In this case, laughing.

 

That's the trend!

Keep on smiling,

Bob