4:45 PM -- Google has one of these interesting new "beta" applications that seems to excel in tracking the hype cycle of certain buzzwords. It's called Google Trends.

In theory, this tracks news developments in certain product areas. In practice, however, I think it tracks mostly the number of press releases that have been issued on a certain topic. In an experiment to find out which hype is growing or waning, I typed in some common terms to see what happens, and the results are quite revealing:

Think something's become overpromoted? Go ahead -- pick your own.

— R. Scott Raynovich, Editor in Chief, Light Reading