What You Googled in 2014, and More Tuesday Business Headlines

1) Russia massively increased its benchmark interest rate overnight, from an already high 10.5% to 17%. That was an attempt to stabilize its currency, which has been on a steep decline since summer and accelerating down in the past week. The respite was short-lived and the ruble continues its downward slide, past 80 to a dollar. The increased cost of borrowing won't help an already struggling economy, hammered by Western sanctions over Ukraine and the plummeting price of poil.

2) Google takes a look at the 2014 zeitgeist with its list of the most common searches this year. Trending searches are notably similar in the US and worldwide: Robin Williams at the top, followed by the World Cup and ebola. Also on the list, the disappearance of MH370, ALS or ISIS. This tracks closely with Facebook's own list of most discussed topics, released last week.

3) Microsoft is rallying tech companies around it to protect their users' data from government overreach. More than 75 tech companies, civil liberties groups and other stakeholders in the fight for privacy have filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Microsoft in a Supreme Court case. At issue is whether a warrant from a US court is enough to compel Microsoft – or any US company – to surrender to the US government user data stored on a server in Ireland – or anywhere else in the world. The company and its allies say no.

4) British Telecom is in exclusive talks to buy EE. BT is the former state monopoly on telecom, which owns much of the infrastructure other providers operate on. EE is the UK's largest mobile service provider, jointly owned by Orange and Deutsche Telekom, respectively the former French and German monopolies. Together, they'd be a monster sure to raise some eyebrows among regulators.

5) Sony had been warned it would get hacked. About a year ago, a contractor doing a company-wide cybersecurity survey following a previous attack found that hackers had infiltrated Sony's network and were downloading gigabytes of data several times a week, according to Bloomberg.

6) Powerpoint may soon die. Hallelujah! Despite being possibly the ugliest way to make a presentation, Powerpoint still dominates business life. Cloud-based alternatives like Prezi and Haiku Deck are growing in popularity among younger professionals though. To stay relevant, Microsoft launched its own Powerpoint competitor, Sway, and just opened the preview to all. Let's hope that means Powerpoint will shortly be put out of its misery.

7) That kid you may have heard about yesterday, who made $72 million on Wall Street before turning 18 while you're slaving away at your job? Yeah, that was all fake.

8) We're looking at the 2015 zeitgeist. All week long, Influencers will share their Big Idea for 2015. From new employment trends to disrupting technologies, how you'll improve your health or start your own business, they look at what will make waves in the coming year. Read all the posts here and write your own, making sure to include the hashtag #BigIdeas2015 in the body of your post. What will be on your agenda this year?

Every morning, we share the top headlines professionals need to know about right now. Share with your network, read and discuss — and let us know what we missed in the comments below.