Online top searches The Russian disconnection

It was an irresistible story: a Russian spammer responsible for “up to 30 per cent of all Viagra and penis-enlargement-related spam” had been shot and killed by contract killers in a villa outside Moscow. The final bullet in the back of Alexey Tolsokozhev’s head was a “a clear mark of Russian hitmen”, the report, on the site loonov.com, said. But the authenticity of the tale, which was picked up widely on technology sites, was soon questioned. The spammer’s name did not appear in searches nor on any lists of prolific spammers. The website that instigated the flurry was registered only on Tuesday – possibly to engender spam itself. McAfee, the computer security firm, wrote in a blog: “As much as we would like to reduce the level of spam, we have to conclude that spammers can sleep well at night.”

slashdot.org
mcafee.com

Ring of confidence

A vanity project for the modern era: wearers of the Google ring will be able to show friends how many results are returned when they enter their name into the search engine. At night the ring is inserted into a docking station to rerun the search and update the screen. Its developer, an arts student in Berlin, said: “In the postinformation society, it’s the attention you get from the world’s people that counts.” Employers could also glance at the ring in interviews “to check applicants’ importance”.

wired.com
digital.udk-berlin.de

Knit-work network

The vogue for knitting has a new strand online. Ravelry, a proposed social network for knitters, has been struggling to keep up with demand from would-be members. The website says it has provided 5.5 million page views since October 1.

ravelry.com

Online most read

1 McCann children were not alone in apartment
2 Al Gore tipped to win Nobel
3 Single mother Jammie Thomas fined $220,000 for music file sharing
4 Muslim medical students get picky
5 Radiohead In Rainbows
6 Al Gore’s inconvenient judgment
7 Detective who suspected Kate and Gerry McCann may lead hunt
8 Slip of the tongue by Ron Dennis adds fuel to Fernando Alonso conspiracy theory
9 The 40 most memorable aliens
10 Madeleine McCann police return to kidnap theory

Online top searches

1 Madeleine McCann
2 Postal strike
3 BP
4 Northern Rock
5 Erinaceous
6 Radiohead
7 Putin
8 Statins
9 Airbus
10 Burma

Online top subjects

1 Madeleine McCann
2 Radiohead In Rainbows review
3 Tyler Peterson
4 Britney Spears
5 Joe Torre
6 Arsenal
7 Princess Diana
8 Fernando Alonso
9 Lewis Hamilton
10 Facebook

Source: Times Online October 5-11, 2007