Check the popularity of every first name in the United States over time with this dynamic application. It’s wicked.

Check the Baby Name Wizard.

Today is a Hat Trick of events. Let the good times roll:

• Apple unveils their new OS, Tiger today.
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy opens today.
• As does Steve Wynn’s new Hotel in Las Vegas.

You’d think they’d coordinate all three events, but alas, they’re separate.

Infinity is opening a broadcasting station devoted entirely to podcasting:

Infinity Broadcasting, a terrestrial radio company whose business model is being challenged by the iPod phenomenon, is borrowing a page from its rival’s playbook.

Next month, Infinity will convert a poorly performing station in San Francisco to a format that will play only “podcasts,” or amateur recordings distributed via the Internet to listeners’ iPods and other digital music players.

Infinity, which is part of the Viacom media conglomerate that also owns CBS and MTV, announced Wednesday that it would convert its KYCY-AM (1550) station in San Francisco to the new format May 16.

Infinity said it would be the first time a radio station anywhere played an all-podcast format. Robert Unmacht, a radio consultant in Nashville who tracks radio formats, confirmed that it would be the first such station in the United States.

Read the whole story here.

I think this is the website to the station, but I’m not sure.

From the “Han shot first” file:

In 1977 Greedo was hired by Jabba the Hut to collect a bounty on Han Solo. He was then brutally gunned down in the Mos Eisley Cantina… but he did not die. What followed has been categorized by some as a vast Jedi conspiracy to cover up this incident, ultimately making it look like Greedo shot first.

But for what purpose? Why was Han Solo protected? Who covered this up? The answers have eluded the public for 28 years. Here are some facts that are now known.

And I always thought his name was Guido.

Visit SaveGreedo.com.

Tiger is due out tomorrow, and Walt Mossberg has the skinny:

The new release, called Tiger, is the latest version of Apple’s excellent Mac OS X operating system. Its key feature, called Spotlight, is the first universal, integrated search system ever offered as part of a mainstream consumer PC operating system. In seconds, Spotlight can peer inside e-mail, office documents of all kinds, photos, songs, address books, calendars, and all manner of other files to see which ones match a search term you type in.

It’s got more features too.

Read Walt Mossberg.

This invention is long overdue:

POOP-FREEZE™ is a specially formulated aerosol freeze spray that, upon contact, forms a frosty film on dog poop (or cat poop) to harden the surface for easy pick-up. POOP-FREEZE is a great companion to a pooper scooper for clean fast dog poop or cat poop disposal.

I feel chilly already.

Visit Poop-Freeze.

This is your brain online:

Researchers at the University of London Institute of Psychiatry have found that the constant distractions of email and texting are more harmful to performance than cannabis.

Those distracted by incoming email, phone calls and text messages saw a 10-point fall in their IQ, more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking cannabis, according to the researchers.

Any questions?

Hot off the presses:

Former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld has had discussions with New York Republican officials about a possible run for governor or the U.S. Senate next year in the state where he has lived since 2000, a top GOP official told the Associated Press yesterday.

The party official, speaking to the AP on the condition of anonymity, said there have been staff-level discussions between the two camps and direct conversations between at least one other top GOP official and Weld.

The primary interest is in Weld running for governor, the source said.

Very interesting.

Read the whole thing here.

I just ordered “No Tears Tonight” from Eugene Chadbourne. I used to love to listen to it in college, but alas, my only copy is on vinyl, and I need it on CD to put it on my iPod. I’m giddy with anticipation.

George Will on the current state of media in the world today:

The circulation of daily U.S. newspapers is 55.2 million, down from 62.3 million in 1990. The percentages of adults who say they read a paper “yesterday” are ominous:

65 and older 60 pct.
50-64 52 pct.
30-49 39 pct.
18-29 23 pct.

Americans 8 to 18 spend an average of 6 hours and 21 minutes a day with media of all sorts, but just 43 minutes with print media.[...]

The future of the big media that the young have abandoned is not certain. But do you remember when an automobile manufacturer, desperately seeking young customers, plaintively promised that its cars were “not your father’s Oldsmobile”? Do you remember Oldsmobiles?

OldsmoWhats?

Read George Will.