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CNN Live Today
The Buzz on the Web
Aired August 22, 2003 - 11:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hot topic, school chats. Who's saying what on the talk lines online? Chat and discussion groups on the Internet are chattering away right now.
So let's get the top five topics creating all the buzz. AOL online adviser Regina Lewis joins us from Washington.
Good to see you again, Regina.
All right, so what's all the buzz about? You have to tell me about this Julia thing.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: I love this. They are called blogs, or Web blogs, online diaries. This very clever woman from New York is actually chronicling her play by play effort to cook every recipe. There are 524 in the 1960s classic "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Childs. She's got six recipes left, hopes to finish up on Monday. Every once in a while these blogs capture national attention. This one is getting 15,000 Web hits a day, more than half a million she started. She's got about 200,000 words on there. It is really compelling and worth checking out if you haven't already seen it.
HARRIS: All right, I'll take your word for it on this way. Speaking of food, how about the South Beach Diet? We actually had the doctor behind that one on the show once before. But now that's a big topic on the Internet?
LEWIS: It is big. And what's most interesting here is it's now bigger than perennial favorites Atkins and The Zone. I'm always fascinated by this, all of those terms spike on Mondays. That seems to be the day most people say, oh no, no, now I'm really going to do it.
HARRIS: Yes, after binging over the weekend. That makes sense.
How about the California recall? That comes in at No. 3.
LEWIS: Yes, it's No. 3. It's down across the board on a percentage basis, interest seems to be waning. Understanding this is of course national search things.
But we did see a couple of things. Mary Carey is off our list. We scrubbed the list for anything pornographic. She is an online phenomenon. Enough said there. Angeline also very high on the list. There you go. But what I was most struck by is Arnold Schwarzenegger, even bigger than George Bush this week. George Bush launched his re- election campaign Web site. So we will be watching to see if that goes up based on that launch this week. He has something very clever there where he gives out all the numbers for conservative talk radio shows, both nationally and locally. Just type in your zip code, they say, here's what station to call and tell them what you think.
HARRIS: See what that does to drive the numbers next time around.
How about the blackout? Is that still on the list.
LEWIS: Yes, the blackout was on the list, obviously a very interesting experience. On the AOL side, we saw 400,000 people precipitously log off. That's of course because their computers lost electricity. Internet was largely not disrupted. And everybody wanted to share their stories of course. The big message was, where were you when the lights went out? eBay immediately kicked in selling T-shirts "I Survived the Blackout." Some people trying to resell special editions of the New York newspapers, but with very little luck. The 25 cent "New York Post" is not fetching $7. It was a good try though.
HARRIS: You can't fault the enterprising American.
How about No. 1 here? This one I guess shouldn't surprise people. This worm causing so much havoc this past week is coming in at No. 1.
LEWIS: Yes, absolutely. Far and away No. 1. People are getting practical. There were back to back worms. The latest one sobig is so big that the engineers I spoke with said they never seen anything like it. It is probably the fastest growing of all time. So people are after anti-virus software, firewalls, making sure they have the latest and greatest, and it updates regularly. Those protections are only as good as they are current.
HARRIS: And the folks who would be affected the most would be the chatters any way online. So that makes sense.
Regina Lewis, appreciate it. Have a good one.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 22, 2003 - 11:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hot topic, school chats. Who's saying what on the talk lines online? Chat and discussion groups on the Internet are chattering away right now.
So let's get the top five topics creating all the buzz. AOL online adviser Regina Lewis joins us from Washington.
Good to see you again, Regina.
All right, so what's all the buzz about? You have to tell me about this Julia thing.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: I love this. They are called blogs, or Web blogs, online diaries. This very clever woman from New York is actually chronicling her play by play effort to cook every recipe. There are 524 in the 1960s classic "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Childs. She's got six recipes left, hopes to finish up on Monday. Every once in a while these blogs capture national attention. This one is getting 15,000 Web hits a day, more than half a million she started. She's got about 200,000 words on there. It is really compelling and worth checking out if you haven't already seen it.
HARRIS: All right, I'll take your word for it on this way. Speaking of food, how about the South Beach Diet? We actually had the doctor behind that one on the show once before. But now that's a big topic on the Internet?
LEWIS: It is big. And what's most interesting here is it's now bigger than perennial favorites Atkins and The Zone. I'm always fascinated by this, all of those terms spike on Mondays. That seems to be the day most people say, oh no, no, now I'm really going to do it.
HARRIS: Yes, after binging over the weekend. That makes sense.
How about the California recall? That comes in at No. 3.
LEWIS: Yes, it's No. 3. It's down across the board on a percentage basis, interest seems to be waning. Understanding this is of course national search things.
But we did see a couple of things. Mary Carey is off our list. We scrubbed the list for anything pornographic. She is an online phenomenon. Enough said there. Angeline also very high on the list. There you go. But what I was most struck by is Arnold Schwarzenegger, even bigger than George Bush this week. George Bush launched his re- election campaign Web site. So we will be watching to see if that goes up based on that launch this week. He has something very clever there where he gives out all the numbers for conservative talk radio shows, both nationally and locally. Just type in your zip code, they say, here's what station to call and tell them what you think.
HARRIS: See what that does to drive the numbers next time around.
How about the blackout? Is that still on the list.
LEWIS: Yes, the blackout was on the list, obviously a very interesting experience. On the AOL side, we saw 400,000 people precipitously log off. That's of course because their computers lost electricity. Internet was largely not disrupted. And everybody wanted to share their stories of course. The big message was, where were you when the lights went out? eBay immediately kicked in selling T-shirts "I Survived the Blackout." Some people trying to resell special editions of the New York newspapers, but with very little luck. The 25 cent "New York Post" is not fetching $7. It was a good try though.
HARRIS: You can't fault the enterprising American.
How about No. 1 here? This one I guess shouldn't surprise people. This worm causing so much havoc this past week is coming in at No. 1.
LEWIS: Yes, absolutely. Far and away No. 1. People are getting practical. There were back to back worms. The latest one sobig is so big that the engineers I spoke with said they never seen anything like it. It is probably the fastest growing of all time. So people are after anti-virus software, firewalls, making sure they have the latest and greatest, and it updates regularly. Those protections are only as good as they are current.
HARRIS: And the folks who would be affected the most would be the chatters any way online. So that makes sense.
Regina Lewis, appreciate it. Have a good one.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
