Robin Williams, Brazil World Cup, Ebola top 2014 Google searches

San Francisco (IANS/EFE): The late Hollywood star Robin Williams, Brazil’s World Cup soccer championship, and the Ebola virus have been the top searches on Google this year, according to the tech company.

The smartphone game “Flappy Birds”, cross-dressing Austrian singer and Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, the animated game of the feature film “Frozen”, the Sochi Olympic Games, and Ukraine also made it to the 11 most popular searches.

The list released Tuesday also included Malaysia Airlines, the ice bucket challenge, and the Islamic State (IS) jihadi group.

The US company also released the search trends in the news section which was led by Ebola, followed by the IS, Malaysia Airlines, Crimea and Ukraine, and Ferguson, the US city where a white policeman shot dead a young African-American.

Among other top news searches were Scotland’s independence referendum, Gaza and Israel, and athlete Oscar Pistorius’s trial for killing his girlfriend.

The most Googled personalities in 2014 were actress Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian, French actress Julie Gayet, American actor-comedian Tracy Morgan and actress Renee Zellwegger.

Singer-composer Jared Leto, singer Lorde, American actor Matthew McConaughey, and lawyer and George Clooney’s bride Amal Alamuddin, followed them in the list.

Donald Sterling, the former owner of Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, was the tenth most searched personality. He was banned for life from the NBA for making racial comments.

According to Google’s list of popular electronic product searches, the iPhone 6 was first, followed by Samsung Galaxy S5, Nexus 6 and Moto G.

Apple Watch and iPad Air also made it to the electronic goods list.