Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Yahoo has released its annual “Year in Review” report, a dive into the top searches and search trends on the world’s second largest search engine.

The report, released every year by the Internet giant, determines what queries topped user interest based on search volume and search growth to figure out what was hot in 2010.

Last year, Michael Jackson and Twilight topped Yahoo’s search rankings, while Megan Fox was the queen of Yahoo mobile searches in 2009. This year though, Michael Jackson and Megan Fox didn’t even make their respective lists. Replacing them instead were searches for the BP oil spill and, on mobile, the NFL.

The top ten searches on Yahoo in 2010 include six celebrities (Miley Cyrus clocks in at #3), one gadget (the iPhone at #6), one TV show (American Idol at #9, one sporting event (the World Cup at #2) and one manmade disaster (the BP oil spill at #1).

Mobile searches shared five of the same top ten, but also included the NFL (#1), Rihanna (#3), Sanda Bullock (#4), the NBA (#5) and the Winter Olympics (#9).

There were a lot of other interesting tidbits of information that we gleamed from Yahoo’s massive array of top searches. For example, “how to tie a tie” tops the list of most searched questions on Yahoo (beating “how to kiss” at #3 and “what’s the world’s only immortal animal” at #5). Oh, and Yahoo users are searching for the lyrics to Justin Bieber’s “Baby” more than any other song in the world.

In fact, there’s so much search data in this year’s list that the company commissioned JESS3 to create a nice infographic to summarize the company’s findings. In case that doesn’t satisfy you though, we’ve also included the full list of top searches in an embedded document below. Let us know if any piece of Yahoo’s report surprises you in the comments below.

(by the way, if you were wondering about the answer to “what’s the world’s only immortal animal, it’s the turritopsis nutricula.)

Infographic

Yahoo’s Year in Review 2010

The law of the internet is simple: either you do something I can’t do myself (or get from someone else), or I pay you less than you’d like.

Why else would it be any other way?

Twenty years ago, self-publishing a record was difficult and expensive. A big label could get you shelf space at Tower easily, you couldn’t. A big label could pay for a recording session with available capital, but it was difficult for you to find the money or take the risk. A big label could reach the dozens of music reviewers, and do it with credibility. Hard for you to do that yourself.

Now?

Now when someone comes to a successful musician and says, “we’ll take 90% and you do all the work,” they’re opening the door to an uncomfortable conversation. The label has no assets, just desire. That’s great, but that’s exactly what the musician has, and giving up so much pie (and control over his destiny) hardly seems like a fair trade.

Multiply this by a thousand industries and a billion freelancers and you come to one inescapable conclusion: be better, be different or be cheaper. And the last is no fun.

Just in time for Tron: Legacy, a Florida bike shop put together 10 custom-built, street-legal Tron Light Cycle lookalikes. For a cool $55,000, you could be riding one to the Dec. 17 premier.

According to Jeff Halverson of Parker Brothers Choppers, each bike features a steel frame, fiberglass bodywork and a V-twin engine from a Suzuki TLR1000. Stopping power comes from a custom made friction drum that keeps the bike true to the look of Daniel Simon’s latest Light Cycle design. Customers have a choice between actual gauges and an iPad dock that displays vital statistics on the iPad’s touchscreen.

Though the bike looks like it drove straight off the movie screen, it’s not a replica or recreation since the Light Cycles in both Tron films were virtual. “We basically used the images we could get off the web in order to make the bike,” said Halverson. “Keep in mind, no one ever made this bike before.”

The bike weighs 474 pounds and is just over 100 inches long and 23 inches wide. The rider sits (lies?) 28.5 inches off the ground. Halverson said that it rides like any sportbike, though we’ve gotta wonder with that huge front tire. Still, we’d welcome the chance to ride one to find out.

Four Light Cycles are still available just in case anyone has us on their shopping list.

Photos, video (below): Parker Brothers Choppers

What if you spent one day a week (hey, even a day a month) without meetings, phone or email?

How will you know unless you try?