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As shoppers online and off steadily run out of time before they find themselves standing in front of someone looking at them expectantly (otherwise known as Christmas Day), and as sold-out signs begin their annual appearance over iPod racks, gift cards become all the rave.

Hitwise reports that the share of US Internet searches for [gift cards] surged by 109 percent for the week ending December 16. Specifically, they were looking for American Express gift cards (searches up 184 percent), iTunes gift cards (up 69 percent), and Visa gift cards (up 19 percent).

This is not a new trend. 2006 is just the confirmation of the rule.

"For the second year now, we've seen a pattern of increased searches on gift cards as Christmas day approaches," said Bill Tancer general manager of global research at Hitwise.

"This year branded credit and charge gift cards dominated top searches as gift givers opted for the most flexibility for their gift recipients."

Hitwise also reports that iPod is still the undisputed king of gift-related searches. iPod-related searches outnumbered those for Microsoft's Zune by 14 to 1 and SanDisk's mp3 player, Sansa, by 90 to 1.

iPod even knocked off searches for the buzz-inducing Nintendo Wii. Visits to the iTunes website were up 103 percent.

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