(Of course, Twitter hasn’t revealed the secret formulas that helped it aggregate, tabulate and rank these topics.)

In the Twitterverse, after the BP oil spill and soccer, the next most popular topic of conversation in 2010 was the movie “Inception,” followed by the Haiti earthquake and the vuvuzela. The iPad, Android, Justin Bieber, Harry Potter and Pulpo Paul round out the top 10. It’s an odd list, indeed.

The person most discussed on Twitter in 2010 was obviously he of the dedicated servers, Mr. Bieber. (It’s somewhat shocking that world events and tech gadgets were able to keep the teen phenom out of the overall top spot.) Beating out her royal highness Lady Gaga, the No. 2 person on Twitter was Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff (pictured).

Here’s the full 2010 list, courtesy of Twitter, followed by 2009′s list for comparison.

2010 Twitter Trends

Overall Top Trends:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

News Events:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. Haiti Earthquake
3. Pakistan Floods
4. Koreas Conflict
5. Chilean Miners Rescue

People:
1. Justin Bieber
2. Dilma Rousseff
3. Lady Gaga
4. Julian Assange
5. Mel Gibson

Movies:
1. Inception
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Despicable Me
5. Karate Kid

Television:
1. MTV Video Music Awards
2. Pretty Little Liars
3. True Blood
4. Walking Dead
5. Grammy Awards

Technology:
1. Apple iPad
2. Google Android
3. Apple iOS
4. Apple iPhone
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops

World Cup:
1. FIFA World Cup
2. Vuvuzela
3. Pulpo Paul
4. Dunga
5. Diego Maradona

Sports:
1. LeBron James
2. Wimbledon
3. Manchester United
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Celtics

Hash Tags:
1. #rememberwhen
2. #slapyourself
3. #confessiontime (hash tag started by Usher)
4. #thingsimiss
5. #ohjustlikeme

2009 Twitter Trends

News Events:
1. #iranelection
2. Swine Flu
3. Gaza
4. Iran
5. Tehran
6. #swineflu
7. AIG
8. #uksnow
9. Earth Hour
10. #inaug09

People:
1. Michael Jackson
2. Susan Boyle
3. Adam Lambert
4. Kobe (Bryant)
5. Chris Brown
6. Chuck Norris
7. Joe Wilson
8. Tiger Woods
9. Christian Bale
10. A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez)

Movies:
1. Harry Potter
2. New Moon
3. District 9
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Star Trek
6. True Blood
7. Transformers 2
8. Watchmen
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. G.I. Joe

TV Shows:
1. American Idol
2. Glee
3. Teen Choice Awards
4. SNL (Saturday Night Live)
5. Dollhouse
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. VMAS (Video Music Awards)
8. #bsg (Battlestar Galatica)
9. BET Awards
10. Lost

Sports (Teams, Events, Leagues):
1. Super Bowl
2. Lakers
3. Wimbledon
4. Cavs (Cleveland Cavaliers)
5. Superbowl
6. Chelsea
7. NFL
8. UFC 100
9. Yankees
10. Liverpool

Technology:
1. Google Wave
2. Snow Leopard
3. Tweetdeck
4. Windows 7
5. CES
6. Palm Pre
7. Google Latitude
8. #E3
9. #amazonfail
10. Macworld

Hash Tags:
1. #musicmonday
2. #iranelection
3. #sxsw
4. #swineflu
5. #nevertrust
6. #mm
7. #rememberwhen
8. #3drunkwords
9. #unacceptable
10. #iwish

Here is yet another classic talk-sing video of actor William Shatner.

He’s in a duet with Taiwanese singer Lin Yu Chun, aired on the “Lopez Tonight” television show last night.

Lin became well known after a video of his wowza performance on a Taiwanese talent show, singing “I Will Always Love You” in Whitney Houston style, garnered more than 12 million views on YouTube.

The song Shatner and Chun share is the classic “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” first made famous by Bonnie Tyler.

Here’s their duet, as well as the performance that got Chun noticed, much in the same way it happened for Britain’s Susan Boyle:

The conglomerate’s music division doesn’t represent much more than a footnote in its overall financial picture, but in the last quarter, it was at least a positive footnote. Sales were up two percent–seven percent if you cancel out currency fluctuations–and operating profit was up 8.2 percent.

Hard to argue that this uptick will be sustainable, though. Sony (SNE) says the boost came from a couple individual success stories that will be hard to repeat, for obvious reasons: People bought lots of copies of the soundtrack to “This Is It,” the Michael Jackson concert movie, as well as the debut album from cultural oddity/viral video favorite Susan Boyle.

Looking for more traditional music business news? I can oblige: Music industry types tell me they’re freaked out that physical sales could take another steep tumble this year if retailers like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Best Buy (BBY) shrink the tiny amount of floorspace they devote to CDs yet again. And they’re also worried that digital sales are finally flattening out.

Now, Shareholder Representative Services, a firm hired by VCs to manage post-acquisition escrow, earn-out and other events, has thrown its party hat into the ring with a new video ode that gives Onset a run for its money.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Music videos are so popular on Google’s (GOOG) video site, in fact, that YouTube had to break its most watched list into two lists–music videos and everything else. If it hadn’t, then people like you and me, who have only a vague idea who Pitbull and Keri Hilson are, would have been totally baffled.

Speaking of baffling, you’ll note that two of the 10 videos below aren’t actually from YouTube at all, but from France’s DailyMotion. For whatever reason–at this point I’ve basically given up trying to figure out the vagaries of YouTube’s rights and clearances–YouTube still isn’t letting people embed the Susan Boyle clip. And U.S. viewers, at least, can’t watch the Hilson clip at all. Go figure.

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):

1. Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+ million views)

2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)

3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)

4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)

5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Most Watched music videos on YouTube (Global):

1. Pitbull “I Know You Want Me” (82+ million views)

2. Miley Cyrus “The Climb” (64+ million views)

3. Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A.” (54+ million views)

4. The Lonely Island “I’m on a Boat” (48+ million views)

5. Keri Hilson “Knock You Down” (35+ million views)

Alas, I don’t think this year’s version is nearly as entertaining. But Susan Boyle fans, who include at least one of my bosses, may get a kick out of it.

Also, people who like watching Web darlings like Xobni, Mint and Get Satisfaction try to warble along. By the way, anyone want to tell us what “stealth” company Swipely is up to? Looks credit cardy.

First Round Capital 2009 Holiday Card from First Round Capital on Vimeo.

The Sony (SNE) album, titled “I Dreamed a Dream,” goes on sale on Nov. 23. Ms. Boyle sang the song by the same name on “Britain’s Got Talent,” and the video of her unexpectedly strong performance made her a world-wide phenomenon after it landed on video-sharing sites like YouTube.

Amazon announced the pre-order milestone Wednesday, noting that her advance sales have exceeded those for such stars as Norah Jones, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay. It also created a “store” for Ms. Boyle that includes her breakthrough clip in addition to a link to buy the $10 album.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Way back in the fall of 2001, when BoomTown was but a less-aged version of myself, I attended a keynote speech at the now-defunct Comdex show in Las Vegas, where Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates continued to bang the drum for one of his long-running obsessions: The tablet computer.

“The tablet takes cutting-edge PC technology and makes it available whenever you want it, which is why I’m already using a tablet as my everyday computer,” Gates said at the time to the audience gathered at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “It’s a PC that is virtually without limits and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.”

Well, that did not happen.

But Gates did keep his promise about using a tablet–he kept on doing so and also harping on the topic all the time, with Microsoft even releasing a giant tabletop Surface several years ago and supporting multitouch in the coming Windows 7.

I recall Gates talking about the idea of how important the tablet is on innumerable occasions, more than any single concept I can recall.

It is ironic, then, that all the hype has suddenly and firmly coalesced around the particulars of the tablet that Apple (AAPL) will be unveiling in the coming months.

And now that CEO Steve Jobs is back fine-tuning the whole shebang, the obsession has moved into overdrive, punctuated only by endless stories about every single new app for the iPhone and fights over some of those new apps for the iPhone.

It’s a complete aside, but how ironic is it that Apple has somehow managed to make Google (GOOG)–the Skynet of the Internet–seem like a victim over this Google Voice shrillathon?

Back to the Apple tablet, which is playbook hype for iconic computer giant.

Besides being a secret project everyone in Silicon Valley seems to know about, the coming device is enjoying full-on breathless reportage of every single possible button and every possible feature, with every single bit of functionality parsed, dissected, masticated and spat back out.

But let’s be honest–in the end, this Apple tablet is probably going to be some kind of giant, sleeker, more glorified and doubtlessly niftier version of the iPod touch, called the iTab or the iPad or the iAmSoCoolAren’tI?, at three times the price.

Now, as it turns out, Microsoft (MSFT) is also at work on a table device, this time called the Courier.

This development became known recently after a demo video of it in use was somehow “leaked”–three guesses about which software giant in Redmond, Wash., put that out, and the first two don’t count!–to Gizmodo.

It seems to be some kind of tablet mixed with a journal mixed with a day planner, with a hinged two-page look. Digital writing and a stylus are involved, but also lots of touchscreen action.

Well, I say, good for Microsoft, and perhaps for Gates, who has now mostly disengaged himself from the day-to-day particulars of the behemoth he built, including the Courier.

Nonetheless, in all likelihood, Apple will still garner the most buzz in this tablet faceoff and will, more than likely, sell more.

A delicious irony, given that in their fascinating and long-running rivalry, it has usually been Jobs playing the hopeless dreamer and Gates the one who makes bank from the dreams of others.

No longer, which should make this round between Microsoft and Apple the most interesting of all.

Speaking of dreaming of dreams, it is always a good time to post the video of Susan Boyle singing “I Dreamed a Dream”:

Oh, who doesn’t just love, love, love the two latest viral videos to hit the Web?

One, called “United Breaks Guitars,” is a very funny music video about an experience singer Dave Carroll had when the airline murdered his guitar and then refused to say sorry.

It has had close to 4.7 million views on YouTube.

The other, even better, is a joyful wedding dance of Minnesotans Jill and Kevin, along with their many grooms and bridesmaids, all of whom hilariously boogeyed down the aisle.

Current count: 17.1 million views.

While that’s all well and good, like a lot of these kinds of viral phenoms, neither is likely to go the distance in economic rewards.

While Google (GOOG), owner of YouTube, has been making noise about the wedding video causing a spike in sales of Chris Brown’s “Forever,” which is the music the wedding party shimmies to, this kind of one-off is not really a sustainable way to make video a true financial windfall.

And herein lies the problem–the Internet is most excellent at surfacing and distributing these delightful videos, but it still is not so good at revealing an organized, massive way they will all pay off.

That’s because much of it relies on buzz, which is simply unguessable.

And, even though more advertising efforts are being aimed at premium content on sites like Hulu, the revenue still remains much smaller than costs.

Consider the Susan Boyle sensation, which can doubtlessly be called 2009′s Web powerhouse. The video of her astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables” on the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” was a huge hit.

So far, the show’s YouTube post alone has 75.2 million views, but–due to a number of reasons–it did not make such sensational amounts of money.

Obviously, as consumers shift more and more time to watching Internet video, advertising allocations will be shifted too.

And, with media moguls like News Corp. (NWS) CEO Rupert Murdoch making copious noise about charging for content, it’s likely the most popular videos might begin to get some lucrative gating at some point.

But for delightful hits like the wedding dance or “United Breaks Guitars,” it will be interesting to see if they ever become more than watercooler wonders.

In any case, please enjoy the videos gratis!

Jill & Kevin:

United Breaks Guitars:

Susan Boyle:

The Scottish woman who went from unknown to become the Internet’s most watched video failed to win first place in the final of the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent” this past weekend.

Instead, a noisy dance troupe called Diversity won, putting Boyle in second place.

Boyle’s chances had been diminishing over the past week, since the British tabloids have been piling on and tarnishing her fairytale reputation, reporting on odd public outbursts by her due to the pressure of her instant stardom online and off.

Their nickname for her: SuBo.

And, sadly, there are now reports that Boyle has been taken to a mental facility to get some rest and relaxation.

In any case, there’s no question Boyle’s been a treat to watch online and she deserves that time to recover from impact of the media frenzy around her.

It’s likely she’ll be singing again publicly soon–but, until then, here is her performance in the finale (and below it is Diversity, the winner):

Here are the two answers to the key questions you might have about Susan Boyle’s return appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent” last night: Yes and yes.

As in: Did the Scottish singing (and Web) sensation nail it again? And, does she look better?

Indeed, except for her proclivity to pick purplish songs from crowd-pleasing, but mediocre musicals (which matched her aubergine frock)–this time “Memory” from “Cats”–Boyle was a huge hit offline and online in the semi-finals of the television show.

She quickly made it into the finals, which is no surprise, of course, and which are set to take place next Saturday.

Here is the video of Boyle singing that overripe song quite elegantly, as well as her post-song interview:

Here’s more extraordinary video of Susan Boyle, the Scottish singing sensation.

The unknown 47-year-old is seen below in new online videos unearthed by Scotland’s Daily Record and shot at a 1984 competition at the Fir Park Social Club in Motherwell.

She is 22 years old in these videos, but sings “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “The Way We Were” just as well as she did recently on “Britain’s Got Talent,” with the emotion and depth of someone of great insight.

BoomTown has obviously been deeply moved by Boyle’s voice–and I don’t even much like any of these weepy-sappy songs she is performing–but is mostly in shock that this talented woman has remained so undiscovered until now.

Thank goodness for viral online video.

The “Way We Were” video already has almost three million views. And the first video of her recent performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” has gotten almost 52 million views.

Here are the new ones:

The Internet sensation that is Susan Boyle just keeps getting better.

The Daily Record in Scotland uncovered a 10-year-old recording that the 47-year-old woman made for a charity CD.

Singing the classic blues ballad, “Cry Me a River,” Boyle more than proves she has the range of the truly gifted artist (not to mention emotional depths that seem endless here) she displayed recently on the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables.”

She has since become a viral hit on the Internet for her performance, with the online video of it now hitting 30 million views (doubled last week).

Here is the video of Boyle singing “Cry Me a River”:

BoomTown got the ball rolling by making a visit to Twitter HQ bearing pies. During a video tour of the premises, Biz Stone discussed rock stars and booze, and spilled the secret of the strange green deer. Later, co-founders Stone and Evan Williams were customarily nonspecific in a conversation about their revenue plans, and BoomTown was a little bit horrified to have become one of Ashton Kutcher’s million-plus followers–maybe even the one that put him over the top in his race with CNN to hit the seven-figure mark. Still on the celebrity tip (but off the Twitter one), BoomTown took a moment to appreciate the self-deprecatory stylings of Lindsay Lohan’s eHarmony spoof and to embed the video on AllThingsD.com. Finally, was there anyone this week who missed Susan Boyle’s virtually instant stardom on “Britain’s Got Talent” via Google’s (GOOG) YouTube? BT took a look at the journey the story has taken from television to Internet, back to television and back to Internet again.

Back to Twitter, MediaMemo took a look at its amazing growth as a service and as a phenomenon–the “hockey stick,” as one early investor describes the company’s trajectory so far. MM also looked at a study from the USC neuroscience group that says despite all the hype–or maybe even because of it–the human brain just isn’t built to digest information at Twitter’s pace. In the world of cable this week, just as folks were wondering whether Congress will stop the cable companies from charging by the byte, Time Warner Cable (TWX), one of the key players in the drama, backed away from its plans to do so. MediaMemo followed that story as well.

In this week’s Personal Technology column, Walt Mossberg took a look at the latest version of Apple’s (AAPL) MobileMe, and while he found it to be a big improvement over the product launch from last summer, it’s not without limitations. In Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt answered questions from readers about displaying emergency contact numbers on a locked cellphone and the security of running Windows software on the Mac. And in Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret took a look at Gwabbit, a program built to mine emails for contact info.

More next week.

Susan Boyle’s sensational television singing performance jumped from that medium to become a viral Internet hit, fueling more television that is, of course, headed to the Internet again.

Who says old and new media can’t work together?

For example, one of many online now, here’s the 47-year-old Scottish woman–who bowled over everyone watching the TV show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–in an interview on “The Early Show” on CBS (CBS) yesterday morning.

Try to ignore the cloying discomfort of the interviewers, who don’t know what to make of the antimedia stylings of Boyle, who can nonetheless sing like nothing else.

She does just that in the first clip, aiming to please dopey CBS talking heads in a song she is going to have to sing a zillion times from now on.

And then, in the second, she got to chat via phone with Broadway legend Patty LuPone, who first sang “I Dreamed a Dream.”

Of course, LuPone watched Boyle’s rendition via Google (GOOG) video service YouTube, and Boyle was genuinely thrilled to be talking to LuPone.

The YouTube official version of the original TV performance is now at 15.6 million views.

Here are the CBS videos:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Watch CBS Videos Online

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle is indeed all she is cracked up to be.

But her virality on the Internet is not, even though she has–in fact–become an Internet sensation.

Though the performance of the unemployed 47-year-old woman–dressed in a dowdy frock, wowing the judges on the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–has been viewed many millions of times now and growing, it’s not easy to move it around on the Web.

It should be.

And that’s too bad for those left slack-jawed by her obvious talent, including the notorious crab-apple judge, Simon Cowell, who also judges for the similar U.S. show “American Idol.”

Her performance got a huge boost from those who heard about it and watched it on the Internet, especially on the huge Google (GOOG) video service, YouTube.

But anyone who wants to do anything more than send a link to the video of Boyle singing on YouTube, most specifically, embedding it in posts, is out of luck.

That feature has been fully disabled on every YouTube version of the clip I looked at, with the note, “Embedding disabled by request.”

It’s ironic that YouTube gets intense copyright religion right when the video of a singing human angel goes viral.

So most people are watching the show’s seven-minute clip of Boyle on its official YouTube channel, which has gotten 11.4 million views so far.

But, thankfully, YouTube is not the only choice out there.

I finally grabbed one from DailyMotion, which has a ton of embeddable ones, such as the one below: