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Highlights & Links for February 10, 2010

World/Politics

Fox News is reporting the president signalled he'd meet critics part way on health care.  President Obama said Tuesday he's willing to sign a bill even if it doesn't deliver everything he pursued through a year of grinding effort at risk of going down as a dismal failure.  Still, Republican leaders expressed renewed skepticism about Obama's call for bipartisanship and reiterated their demand that Obama jettison the Democratic bills and start from scratch. (Fox News)

The New York Times is reporting that a monster storm would deliver as much as 16 inches of fresh snow to the nations capital, which was still digging out from beneath the nearly two-foot thick blanket of snow that obliterated the city over the weekend.  By Tuesday afternoon, workers had to give up clearing from last week’s storm to prepare for the new one.  The weather caused more than a few federal delays. The House of Representatives called off all of its votes for the rest of the week as some members of Congress could not get to Capitol Hill. (NY Times)

Breitbart.com is telling us Haiti's government has raised the death toll for the Jan. 12 earthquake to 230,000 from 212,000 and says more bodies remain uncounted.  The new figure is not definitive as it does not include bodies buried by private funeral homes in private cemeteries or the dead buried by their own families.  The new figure gives the quake the same death toll as the 2004 Asian tsunami. (Breitbart)

CNN is reporting In what appears to be an attempt to call Iran's bluff on its nuclear program, the United States is poised to offer Tehran a way to obtain medical isotopes that Iran says it desperately needs to treat cancer patients, according to the State Department.  The new offer from the United States comes as Washington and other major countries move closer to imposing harsh new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which those countries say is designed to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. President Obama told reporters on Tuesday that the international community will try to pressure Iran more if Iran is not willing to cooperate. (CNN)

Fox News is reporting The convicted killer of a Kansas abortion provider has little sympathy for the family of his victim, comparing them to the relatives of a hit man in a recording posted online.  Roeder, 51, was convicted Jan. 29 of first-degree murder for shooting Dr. George Tiller last May as the doctor served as an usher at his Wichita church. He will be sentenced March 9. (Fox News)

Tech News

Google buzz is what all of the big buzz is about and I’ll get to that in one second, but first here’s a few quickies that I thought you might find interesting.  I don’ t know if you’re a dog lover, but I am, I have 3, so I found this article on Engadget very interesting.  They introduced me to a gadget called the Dog-e-Minder which basically is a battery-powered device that records the last time your pup (or any pet that rocks a leash) ate, walked or took his / her medications. Essentially, owners simply mash the corresponding button after an event has occurred, and an internal timer keeps track of how long it has been since said event has happened. It also doubles as a dog identification tag (displaying the owner's contact information and the pet's name). Nice. (Engadget)

Mashable is telling us about a cool mobile phone promotion involving the Sports illustrated swimsuit edition.  All you need is a physical issue of the mag and a camera phone.  Once you pick up your issue simply search through the pages for the JAGTAGs — or 2D barcodes — featuring a black and white image of what they’re calling a “mobile beauty.” Snap a photo of the JAGTAG and send it via MMS in order to get behind-the-scenes videos of the models sent directly to your phone. (Mashable)

Techcrunch is reporting that Scrapblog, a startup that allows you to make beautiful Flash-based online scrapbooks, is hoping to help Facebook users make pretty collages of their photos via a new Facebook app, Share the Love.  When you first start using Share the Love, the app will employ Scrapblog’s recently launched QuickMix technology to instantly generate a photo collage with up to ten Facebook photos. The photos will be automatically arranged with a set theme, which you can change easily. The app offers users coordinated stickers, backgrounds and captions. And users can easily change photos from the photos they are tagged in and from their personal albums. You can also bypass Scrapblog’s technology and start from scratch by picking a theme and choosing the photos to feature. Once you are finished designing your collage, you can publish the scrapbook to your Facebook page and photo albums. (Techcrunch)

As I mentioned earlier the big news in the Tech world is about Google Buzz. Techcrunch describes it as a stream of status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. You can “like” these items and you can comment on them. And if you use Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter, you can also automatically have those items imported into your stream. And Buzz will recommend items you might like based on your friends’ activity.  Buzz resides inside of Gmail and plays nice with Twitter, but it seems that Facebook and Buzz are not friendly at this point.  There is also a very active mobile component of buzz as well. I think the best coverage of the buzz announcement was from Techcrunch and I linked that on cloudcastnews.com as well as the videos introducing Buzz and Buzz mobile. It will be interesting to see if Buzz has what it takes to help Google break into the mainstream social networking scene. (TechCrunch)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi50KlsCBio

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kcVDNi6eg

Gossip & Entertainment

Tickets for Bonarroo went on sale yesterday and Mashable reported that they announced the acts throughout the course of the day on their myspace page. The full initial list is now available at myspace.com/bonaroo. It looks like it’s going to be a great show. (Mashable) http://www.myspace.com/bonnaroo

Radar online is reporting that Erin Andrews creepy peeping tom Michael David Barrett taped 16 other women and researched several more, including high profile celebrities.  Barrett pled guilty to an interstate stalking charge in a Los Angeles court back in December.  Prosecutors met in court Monday to convince the judge to sentence Barrett to 27 months, a sentence greatly reduced due to his plea bargain.  Prosecutors claim Andrews now suffers from "substantial emotional distress” following her ordeal and that she is seeking over $330,000 in restitution from Barrett. (Radar)

The last bit of news for today comes from TMZ who tells us Captain Phil Harris -- star of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" -- died late last night ... sources tell TMZ. Harris was hospitalized a few weeks ago after suffering a stroke while unloading crabs. He had been doing better until the sudden turn.  Captain Harris died in a hospital in Alaska. He was 53. (TMZ)

Highlights & Links for February 9, 2010

World/Politics

CNN is reporting Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a longtime fixture on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending, died after complications from gallbladder surgery, according to his office. He was 77 and had represented Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District since '74. (CNN)

Fox News is reporting Toyota said Tuesday it is recalling 170,000 Prius hybrid cars in Japan for braking problems and will soon disclose details of its global plans for a fix. The automaker will hold a news conference at its Tokyo office later today to outline details of the braking problem, including plans for a possible recall in the U.S. (Fox News)

Breitbart.com is reporting Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.  His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country's nuclear drive is peaceful. (Breitbart)

CNN tells us that The Dow closed below 10,000 Monday for the first time in three months, with financial shares leading the way, as worries about the U.S. economy and European debt weighed on investor sentiment.  The last time the Dow finished below 10,000 was Nov. 4. (CNN)

In health care reform news the New York times is saying When Republicans take President Obama up on his invitation to hash out their differences over health care this month, they will carry with them a fairly well-developed set of ideas intended to make health insurance more widely available and affordable, by emphasizing tax incentives and state innovations, with no new federal mandates and only a modest expansion of the federal safety net.  It is not clear that Republicans and the White House are willing to negotiate seriously with each other, and Mr. Obama has rejected Republican demands that he start from scratch in developing health care legislation. (New York Times)

Tech News

Engadget is reporting Netflix Watch Instantly fans could be due for a big upgrade, as CNET has heard the company will roll out 5.1 surround sound and closed captioning later this year. No word on timing or any other details. (Engadget)

Techcrunch is reporting that there’s a way to view hundreds of photos on Facebook without lifting a finger: a new Facebook Prototype lets you turn these photo albums into slideshows. There is a link to activate the prototype here.  After activating it, you’ll find a ‘Play’ button nestled between the ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ navigation buttons in the photo viewer. Clicking it will turn the album you’re currently viewing into a slideshow, displaying a new photo every five seconds. (Techcrunch)

Mashable is reporting EA Sports President Peter Moore told Bloomberg that the popular Madden NFL series of football video games will make its way to Facebook.  There’s no word on a launch date. Moore says we will definitely see Madden on the Facebook platform, but the social media version will be simpler than its console cousins, because EA wants to “make Madden more accessible.” (Mashable)

Engadget is telling us about The new zoomIt SD card reader from zoomMediaPlus.  It adds a bit of external, swappable memory to the iPhone and iPod touch at long last, giving you the ability to store your iPhone's pictures on the card, or pull stuff off it onto your handset using the free zoomIt app.  The Zoomit will cost $60 and will ship in April, but you can pre-order one now for a $10 discount. (Engadget)

The last and perhaps biggest bit of Tech news for the day comes from Mashable as they report that Gmail is set to become Google’s next major push into social media. According to The Wall Street Journal, the popular webmail service will soon launch a new feature for sharing content and status updates with friends. with this new social push, Gmail will offer a timeline-view of your friends’ status updates, just like on Facebook and Twitter.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Google-owned YouTube and Picasa will be integrated into the stream. The huge question then is whether or not the new feature will include updates from Twitter and Facebook.  If so, the new features could be thought of more like a TweetDeck or Seesmic, looking to provide an aggregate view of your friends’ social media activities along with the ability to push status updates to the services you use from inside of Gmail. If not, it could be thought of as a major competitor to Twitter and Facebook as Gmail looks to covert its millions of e-mail users into adherents to a whole new breed of social media service. (Mashable)

Gossip & Entertainment

The big news out of Hollywood is centering around the Conrad Murray Michael Jackson case. TMZ is reporting Dr. Conrad Murray was arraigned today and pled not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Michael Jackson. He was taken into custody for booking and bail was set at $75,000.  Jackson's parents and several of his siblings were front and center for the 25-minute hearing. The judge ruled as a condition to bail, Murray cannot be in possession of (or prescribe) anesthetics and specifically mentioned Propofol.  Murray will be in court again on April 5. (TMZ)

In related news TMZ is also telling us that the Medical Board is going After Murray with a vengeance.  According to documents filed with the court, the Medical Board of California believes Murray showed, "utter disregard for the care and well-being of the persons entrusted to his care" -- namely, Michael Jackson.  The Board wants the judge to step in because it takes the Medical Board a long time to yank a doctor's license. The judge will hear the Medical Board's request to suspend Dr. Murray's license as a bail condition in a few weeks.  (TMZ)

Radar online is reporting that Gary Coleman pleaded guilty in a Utah court to a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge related to a domestic violence incident last April.  The Different Strokes star, who turned 42 on Monday, was sentenced to 31 1/2 days in jail, but will only serve the time  if he fails to complete a domestic violence course and to pay a $595 fine. (Radar)

TMZ is reporting that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will sue News of the World for reporting the couple was splitting up.  The tabloid published a report January 24 that Pitt and Jolie had called it quits and agreed to custody and property division.  The London lawyers for Pitt and Jolie, Keith Schillings, called the report a "false and intrusive allegation." (TMZ)

For the last bit of G&E goodness we’ll delve into the world of Trash TV. VH1’s newest season of Celebrity Fit club started last night. If you missed the debut and you’re into that kind of thing, I’m sure VH1 will be replaying it about 500 times this week. Radar online tells us the cast this season includes Bobby Brown, K-Fed and his ex-girlfriend and baby momma Shar Jackson, ex-Skid Row front man Sebastian Bach, R & B bad boy Bobby Brown, Bad Girls Club star Tanisha Thomas, Project Runway Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll, High School Musical's KayCee Stroh and ex-Baywatch babe Nicole Eggert. (Radar)

Watch the Celebrity Fit Club Trailer:

Highlights & Links for February 8, 2010

World/Politics

First of all, there’s a Mardi Gras in Miami, congratulations go out to the New Orleans Saints who upset the Indianapolis Colts last night 31-17 in Super Bowl 44 and gave the Saints their first Super Bowl victory.

CNN is reporting that Five people were killed and at least 12 were injured in a gas explosion Sunday at an under-construction power plant in central Connecticut.  Residents up to 20 miles away reported hearing the blast at about 11:19 a.m. at the Kleen Power Plant in Middletown, a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut.  Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said plant workers were purging a natural gas pipeline when the explosion occurred and therefore terrorism has been ruled out .(CNN)

Politico is reporting that President Obama is planning to host a televised meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on health care reform. The Feb. 25 meeting is an attempt to reach across the aisle but not a signal that the president plans to start over, as Republicans have demanded, a White House official said.  Legislators from both parties applauded the meeting, while holding to their positions on the health care legislation.  (Politico)

Bloomberg is telling us that Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia began digging out Sunday from a blizzard that dumped as much as three feet of snow on parts of the mid-Atlantic region and left thousands without power.  AccuWeather said another storm will arrive in the Northeast during the night of Feb. 9 into the morning of Feb. 10. Possible blizzard conditions are forecast for northeastern Pennsylvania to New England and as much as 12 inches of snow may fall. (Bloomberg)

CNN is reporting that In an interview recorded Saturday and broadcast on "FOX News Sunday," Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she would consider a run for president in 2012 if the situation was right for her family and the nation.  In the interview with Fox, Palin said she believed President Obama would lose a re-election bid in 2012 if he fails to change the policies followed so far in just over a year in office. (CNN)

Tech News

I don’t have a lot to tell you about here today. The big thing on the tech blogosphere was Google running it’s Parisian Love advertisement during the Super Bowl. Mashable notes that this marks the tech giant’s first major push into TV advertising and a new frontier of marketing for the company that has triumphed online ads above all else.  If you missed the ad check it out online at cloudcast news.com.  (Mashable)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU

Engadget had a couple of write ups on two other commercials focusing on the tech world. The First of which was one of my favorite ads run during the Super Bowl and was for the Motorola Devour featuring Megan Fox. I’ve posted that one on cloudcastnews.com as well. (Engadet)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m_r1dqYJnc

The next little bit of tech news today has to do with the Vizio ad featuring Beyonce, David Goes to the Dentist and Chocolate Rain.  Engadet is telling us that Vizio is still striving to remake its reputation from being merely a cheap HDTV manufacturer to a premium one offering lots of features.  The ad shows how Vizio is  bringing "the best of the internet" with VIZIO Internet Apps. The true test will be if its picture quality will measure up and whether the widget experience has gotten any faster in 2010.  (Engadget)

The last bit of Tech goodness also is focused around the ads from Super Bowl 44.  In case you missed any of the ads, or you want to check them out later at your leisure, Mashable is reporting that YouTube launched its Super Bowl ad channel at youtube.com/adblitz, which will allows viewers to watch and vote on the commercials.  The channel, sponsored by car maker Kia, has already been populated by content from the YouTube community, and the top rated commercial will be featured on the YouTube homepage on Thursday February 18th. (Mashable) (Youtube.com/adblitz)

Gossip & Entertainment

Entertainment Weekly is reporting Romance proved to be a powerful foe for the epic "Avatar," which has dominated the box office for the last seven weekends. The Lasse Hallstrom-directed romantic drama "Dear John" won the weekend in a big way, grossing an estimated $32.4 million and setting a record for the highest-grossing Superbowl Sunday frame in history. (Entertainment Weekly)

Radaronline is reporting that Charlie Sheen had a sense of humor Friday, after his Mercedes was found at the bottom of a 100-foot cliff in Sherman Oaks, California.  The Two and a Half Men star told The Insider he went to bed at 10:30 pm on Thursday and was woken up Friday morning by a call from OnStar, saying that his car had been in an accident. He said he peered out his window of his Mulholland Estates home to see the car was missing. (Radar)

TMZ tells us that Tiger Woods is headed back to his home in Florida sometime next week and has pinpointed his return to golf ... according to someone who works for the Woods family. The source tells TMZ he is aiming to play in the Tavistock Cup -- an event that pits pros from two local golf courses against one another and then it’s off to Georgia to get ready for a little something called ... The Masters. (TMZ)

The final bit of news again comes from TMZ who is reporting that Former NFL star Warren Sapp was arrested by Miami Beach police Saturday afternoon and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery stemming from an allegedly violent confrontation with his girlfriend.  According to the arrest report, the alleged victim had "a swollen right knee and bruises on the back of her neck."

Sapp posted bail Sunday morning while his lawyer asked everyone to "reserve judgment" on Sapp until all the facts come out.  Sapp was in Miami to cover the Super Bowl for the NFL Network -- but was suspended by the network pending further investigation. (TMZ)

Highlights & Links for February 5, 2010

World/Politics

The trouble keeps coming for Toyota. Fox News is reporting Toyota will recall 270,000 Prius hybrid vehicles over brake problems in the United States and Japan, a report said Friday, while the beleaguered auto giant launches an investigation into possible problems with the brakes in its luxury Lexus hybrid. Toyota, reeling from massive global recalls of 4.5 million vehicles involving faulty gas pedals, acknowledged Thursday design problems with the brakes in its prized Prius. the world's top-selling gas-electric hybrid. (Fox News)

The Huffington Post is reporting Stocks buckled Thursday under the growing belief that the global economy is weaker than many investors expected and likely to stop companies from hiring. The Dow Jones industrials briefly traded below 10,000 for the first time in three months.  The day's news reminded investors that the global economic recovery remains tenuous. It also raised questions about whether the market can resume its rebound from 12-year lows it hit last March. (HuffPo)

CNN is reporting that President Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama later this month.  The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, has speaking engagements scheduled in the United States in late February and in May.  Earlier this week, China warned that ties between two of the world's superpowers would be strained if Obama met with the Dalai Lama. (CNN)

It is official: Massachusetts has a Republican representing the state in the Senate.  Fox News is reporting that Scott Brown was sworn in by Vice President Biden shortly after 5 p.m., ending the Democrats' supermajority in the Senate.  Brown's election -- built in large part on his vow to block health care -- has been received as a warning by some Democrats who view the vote as a public affirmation of opposition.  Brown is filling the seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy for 47 years but he won't get the desk Kennedy used. (Fox News)

Following up on a story from earlier this week CNN is reporting Ten Americans detained last week while trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association, a government official said.  Conviction on the kidnapping charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; the criminal association charge carries a penalty of three to nine years, according to a former justice minister. (CNN)

Tech News

Tech Crunch is reporting that a new iphone app from vanity Fair to promote it’s Oscar related content.  Famous for its Oscar night party and Hollywood pics, Vanity Fair is also encouraging users to make your Oscar picks on the app. Within the app, you make your picks for the award categories and receive realtime results on the night of the big show. You can also invite your friends to vote for the people you think have the best chance of winning, compare your selections to those of friends and Vanity Fair editors, and chat within the app via Facebook chat. On Oscar night, the app will show you who is winning from your picks. Of course, the app also offers access to Vanity Fair editorial content including background information on nominees, stories, photos, profiles, trailers of nominated films, and slideshows. (Tech Crunch) (Download the App)

Mashable is reporting The online streaming version of Sirius XM satellite radio is now available on many of the newer BlackBerry smartphones. Sirius XM just announced that a free app is up for download at its website, though the service isn’t free. Sirius XM is offering a seven-day free trial to BlackBerry owners, but once that trial is over they’ll have to spend $13 per month to keep listening. (Mashable)

Tech Crunch is telling us that It’s been six years to the day that Facebook launched, and the company’s massive growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a note to the site’s blog celebrating the milestone. In it, he says that Facebook will cross the 400 million user mark this week. And it’s been less than five months since the social network hit 300 million.(Tech Crunch)

In more facebook news  Mashable is reporting that the social networking giant is rolling out a dramatic redesign of the homepage that millions of people see when they log on every day.  It places a new emphasis on search and lets you sort through much more information without ever leaving the homepage. You can even send messages without navigating away.  Facebook confirmed to us that the redesign is already rolling out to users. Everyone will get access to the new homepage shortly, and Facebook plans to post an update to its blog announcing the changes later today. (Mashable)

Gossip & Entertainment

This week has been a rough one for Taylor Swift, which is strange because the week began with her winning a handful of grammy’s. But what everyone’s been talking about is her lackluster duet with Stevie Nicks.  The chatter got so loud that the head of Swift’s record label came out in her defense, and in doing so bashed American Idol. Now Radar on line is reporting that Kelly Clarkson blasted back with a nice little note of her own. In one line she kindly reminds Scott Borchetta that it’s not only about hitting the high notes in American Idol, it’s also about hitting the right ones. Ouch. Find a link to the whole letter at cloudcastnews.com. (Radar)

Radar online is reporting In a new interview with Los Angeles Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter confirms that there will be no criminal charges in the death of Brittany Murphy. He also reveals that not only was Murphy's death preventable, but that she already had an appointment to see a doctor within the same week she passed away. (Radar)

TMZ is telling us The scheduled arraignment Friday for Dr. Conrad Murray in the death of Michael Jackson will not take place as scheduled because of the feud between the L.A. County D.A. and the LAPD over Dr. Murray's surrender.  the LAPD was bent out of shape because the D.A. had kept cops in the dark and had been working with Dr. Murray's lawyers to arrange a voluntary surrender in court at the time of the arraignment. (TMZ)

TMZ is also reporting Charlie Sheen will be charged with felony menacing in connection with the Christmas Day incident with his wife, Brooke Mueller, in Aspen ... this according to law enforcement sources.  Charlie Sheen is set to appear in court Monday for an arraignment, though they are not expecting him to enter a plea. (TMZ)

Every now and then I stumble upon a video that I want to share with, and I had one of those moments this morning. Thanks to wwtdd.com for bringing this to my attention. It’s a video of a scene from the sitcom the big bang theory, except the laugh track is taken out, and that actually makes it watchable. Check out the video at cloudcastnews.com. (WWTDD)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_iEY9pSHT0

Highlights & Links for February 4, 2010

Politics/World

There’s a lot going on so we’ll get right into it today. The Huffington Post is reporting Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray was arrested Wednesday on manslaughter charges after three people died following a northern Arizona sweat lodge ceremony he led last year.  Ray, who soared in popularity after appearing in the 2006 Rhonda Byrne documentary "The Secret,"has built a multimillion-dollar empire as a self-help superstar who teaches people about financial and spiritual wealth. (HuffPo)

Fox News is reporting Key Democrats and Republicans closed in Wednesday on a bipartisan plan to give businesses a tax break for hiring unemployed workers. It could pass the Senate as early as next week.  The Senate plan would exempt companies from paying the employer's share of Social Security payroll taxes for new workers hired this year, as long as those people had been unemployed at least 60 days. (Fox News)

Reuters is reporting President Barack Obama vowed to "get much tougher" with China on trade rules, including currency rates, to ensure that U.S. goods do not face a competitive disadvantage.U.S. manufacturers have complained for years Beijing's currency policies give Chinese companies an unfair price advantage. China says exchange rate policy is an internal matter. (Reuters)

Breitbart.com is reporting U.S. counterterrorism officials believe Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead following a missile attack last month, a senior intelligence official said Wednesday in the strongest signal that Washington has offered about the militant's fate.  Mehsud's death would be the latest successful strike against suspected terrorists by the U.S. and its allies.  (Breitbart)

CNN is reporting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon handed President Clinton additional responsibility Wednesday for earthquake-ravaged Haiti, charging him with overseeing aid efforts as well as reconstruction.  Ban asked Clinton "to assume a leadership role in coordinating international aid efforts, from emergency response to new construction of Haiti." (CNN)

Tech News

Engadget is reporting that Amazon just bought the touchscreen startup Touchco and merged it with it’s Kindle division.  Here's what’s exciting: the startup claims its interpolating force-sensitive resistance technology can be made completely transparent, works with color LCDs, and can detect "an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points" as well as distinguish between a finger and stylus. Current cost estimates put it at less than $10 per square foot, which The New York Times says is "considerably" less expensive than the iPad / iPhone screens. (Engadget)

In social networking news twitter has Launched new profile preview feature called Hovercards. Mashable tells us If you hover over a person’s username in your timeline, their profile information, location, and whether you follow them will appear. You also get the options menu, which allows you to follow, block, mention, or report someone right there.  The feature isn’t active for everyone yet — just like other Twitter launches, this one will be phased in over time. It also only affects users of the Twitter.com interface. (Mashable)

Mashable is reporting that you might have a harder time finding new releases at your convenient red box kiosk in the near future. On Monday, February 1, 2010, Walmart put into effect a DVD purchase cap on new releases, limiting customers to no more than 5 DVD new release purchases at a time. It’s a decision that could make it impossible for Redbox — the enemy of the entertainment industry — to keep their kiosks stocked with new releases.  In order to boost the sales of new release DVD’s the idea that seems to have the most traction right now is to create an extended delay between the date a new release becomes available for purchase and the date that consumers can rent the same title.  Given that the success of low cost rental services like Netflix and Redbox is contingent upon having vast quantities of titles to deliver to customers, studios are seeking to sell DVDs to these retailers at lower prices in exchange for the services delaying new release rentals by around 30 days. (Mashable)

In the last bit of tech news Mashable is telling us about a new online calendar service called plan.fm, which collects the plans you make on other services and organizes them into a single source that you and your friends can access from anywhere. Right now Plan.fm supports Facebook, Meetup, Eventbrite and Twitter, plus iCal subscriptions URLs.  By collecting notifications and invites from multiple sources, Plan.fm has the makings of a very convenient service for people who have a hard time managing their various social calendars. (Mashable)

Gossip & Entertainment

The Huffington Post is reporting that AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is taking on Bono and Bob Geldof for their public displays of charity work.  Johnson said that his own band prefers to make their charitable contributions in private.  Johnson said. "I don't tell everybody they should give money - they can't afford it."  A 2005 New York Times op-ed accused Bono and other celebrity philanthropists like Angelina Jolie for being "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth.” (HuffPo)

Radar online is reporting that Pam Anderson has signed to be on the next season of ABC’s hit Dancing With the Stars.  (Radar)

TMZ tells us that Leif Garrett was carrying black tar heroin in his shoe when he was arrested Monday morning in L.A., this according to law enforcement sources. We're told cops asked Garrett if he had any drugs on him -- at first, Garrett told them he didn't ... but then later admitted he was packing heroin in his shoe.  Cops seized the drugs and arrested Garrett on the spot -- before transporting him to a nearby jail where he stayed behind bars until Wednesday morning. Garrett was eventually released after posting $10,000 bail. (TMZ)

We’re going to wrap up the day with some Tiger news.  CNN is reporting that Golf legend Tom Watson says Tiger Woods needs to show some humility in public when he returns to the circuit after sorting out his tangled personal life.  Watson also criticized Woods for his behavior on the course, upbraiding him for bad language and angry outbursts.  Watson went on to say: "I think he needs to clean up his act and show the respect for the game that other people before him have shown." (CNN)

In related news, Radar online is reporting Tiger Woods is leaving sex addiction rehab by the end of this week.  Elin previously spent five days with Tiger as part of his therapy program in Mississippi.  Tiger reportedly “wants his life back” and plans to return to play golf by the spring of this year if not sooner. (Radar)