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Highlights & Links for January 27, 2010

Politics/World

There’s a lot going on in the world, so we’ll get started with a quirky little story out of New Zealand. According to Breitbart.com A German man who stuffed 44 small lizards into his underwear before trying to board a flight has been sentenced to prison in New Zealand for plundering the country's protected species.Hans Kurt Kubus, 58, will spend 14 weeks behind bars and must pay a 5,000 New Zealand dollar ($3,540) fine before being deported to Germany as  soon as he is released. (Read the whole article at Breitbart.com)

Fox News is reporting Toyota is suspending U.S. sales of eight car and truck models to fix sticking gas pedals and halting production lines at plants from Texas to Canada to deal with the problem.   There are 2.3 million vehicles involved in the recall, which was announced last week. Toyota has said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with the recall, but could not rule them out for sure. Find a link to the entire article with the recalled models listed at www.cloudcastnews.com.  (Read the whole article at Foxnews.com)

Remember the film-maker that made waves with his undercover videos of ACORN last year? Politico.com is reporting Federal authorities have arrested four men on felony charges for attempting to infiltrate Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office, including James O’Keefe, who targeted the community group ACORN last year in damaging undercover videos.  The men were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses and attempting to gain access to the Democrat’s office by posing as telephone repairmen, according to a copy of an FBI affidavit unsealed Tuesday. (Read the whole article on Politico.com)

In case you haven’t heard, the New York Times is slated to make people pay for articles online next year. If that does end up happening they have to hope things go better for them than for Newsday, a Long Island Daily Newspaper that started charging for access to their site 3 months ago. The New York Observer is reporting that 35 people have signed up for the pay service ouch. (Read the whole article at the New York Observer.com.)

As we move into politics, we’re getting closer to the Bernanke Senate vote, which will be on Thursday. Politico.com is reporting it appears Bernanke has at least the 51 votes he needs to squeak into a second term at the helm of the central bank. It looks to be a tight race, even though Bernanke received only one opposition vote his first time through the Senate he now could face the narrowest confirmation vote in recent history. (Read the whole article at Politico.com)

CNN analyst David Frum is predicting that tonights State of the Union speech isunlikely to ease worries,  Frum said Obama's new populist tone, which he said emerged after the Democrats' surprising loss in the Massachusetts special Senate election, might work short-term if he uses it in Wednesday's speech, but it won't work over the long haul.  (Read the whole article at CNN.com.)

In the last bit of political news, CNN is reporting Only three in ten Americans say they want Congress to pass legislation similar to the health care reform bills that have already been approved by the House and Senate, according to a new national poll.  A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey also indicates that nearly half the public, 48 percent, would like federal lawmakers to start work on an entirely new bill, and 21 percent feel Congress should stop working an any bills that would change the country's health care system.  (Read the whole article at CNN.com.)

Tech News

Engadget is reporting that Effective immediately, bus drivers and interstate commercial truckers are disallowed from texting while operating a motor vehicle, and should they choose to send that one last SMS anyway, they'll be hit with "civil or criminal fines of up to $2,750." Probably not a bad idea. (Read the whole article at Engadget.)

Mashable is reporting that LinkedIn will soon roll out a nifty new contact browsing interface . The update adds a panel that you can use to browse contacts by their companies, industries or locations. You can also find folks based on various tags that you define and recent activity. The interface also has a search field where you can narrow things down by entering names or other information that might appear in a contact’s profile. (Read the whole article at Mashable.)

What’s that other bit of tech news going on today, oh that’s right, today’s the day that Steve Jobs introduces the tablet to the world. As a mac fanboy I’m looking forward to being wowed. All of the rumors and speculation have definitely gotten the best of me. What we know for sure is that Apple will be announcing a Tablet, thanks to McGraw Hill’s CEO confirming it for us on CNBC. It’s touted as the everything killer.  Engadget is reporting that According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is asking book publishers to set the price point for digital versions of hardcover bestsellers at either $12.99 or $14.00, "with fewer titles offered at $9.99." (Read the whole article at Engadget.com.)

One last bit of Apple news, Mashable is reporting that Apple Is Fighting To Drop iTunes TV Episodes to $0.99.  Apple believes that $1.99 is more than a lot of people are willing to pay, and that the change would greatly increase sales.  (Read the whole article at Mashable.)

Gossip & Entertainment

The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and as usual many of us are looking forward to the ads that come with it.  ABC news is reporting that one advertisement that is already gaining attention is an ad purchased by Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian organization and featuring University of Florida football Player Tim Tebow. The Associated Press reported this week that the ad’s theme will be “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” with Pam Tebow sharing the story of her difficult 1987 pregnancy -- instead of getting an abortion she decided to give birth to Tebow, the now-famous quarterback who went on to become a Heisman Trophy winner, leading the Gators to two BCS wins.(Read the whole article at abcnews.com.)

TMZ is reporting that Kiefer Sutherland plunked down almost a million bucks in what prosecutors say was a cattle investment scam -- and the alleged perpetrator is being prosecuted.  According to court documents, obtained by TMZ, Kiefer fronted the suspect -- Michael Wayne Carr -- $550,000 for a cattle deal in 2006 in which Carr claimed he would buy cattle in Mexico and sell them in the U.S. for a profit.  Carr -- who also allegedly ran the scam on several other investors -- is charged with 12 felonies, including grand theft and embezzlement.(Read the whole article at TMZ)

According to TMZ Nancy Grace has been ordered to sit for a deposition on Thursday with a camera rolling .. according to a judge's order obtained by TMZ. Grace and CNN are being sued by the parents of a woman who committed suicide after appearing on Grace's TV show. The parents claim Grace accused the woman of being responsible for the disappearance of her son.  The judge ruled that Grace's depo can be videotaped, but the tape cannot be released to the media or anyone else without the court's permission. (Read the whole article at TMZ)

That’s about it, but before I go today, I do have a viral video for you to check out. It’s the vid by for the song “Sometimes I hang out with my white friends.” By Duece Poppi  Give it a peek. See ya tomorrow!

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1izqZJmGF4

Highlights & Links for January 26, 2010

World/Politics

We’ll start with the one big headline that seems to be everywhere today including the New York Times, Fox News, Huffington Post, CNN and Politico.com. President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, administration officials said Monday.   Senior officials said Obama will seek increases in some spending on unspecified priorities such as education and the environment.  "Some agencies will be up, some agencies will be down," a senior official said.  Republicans said any freeze will be small in the context of federal spending under Obama's watch. (Read the article at the New York Times.) (Read the article at Fox News.)

CNN is reporting most Americans applaud the loss of the democratic supermajority.  A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday  indicates that 7 in 10 Americans believe that the Democrats' loss of their 60 seat supermajority in the Senate is a positive move for the country.  While the survey's numbers are not great news for the Democrats, "the coming midterm campaign may not be smooth sailing for the Republicans either," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland "Nearly half the public says they are angry at both parties.” (Read the whole article on CNN.com)

In one last bit of presidential news Gallup is reporting that Republicans have turned overwhelmingly against President Obama, while Democrats are still largely supportive -- leading to the most polarized approval ratings ever recorded during a president's first year in office, a new report by Gallup finds. (Read the whole article at Gallup.)

Tech News

There’s a lot of apple news today, much of it rumors and guesswork about the keynote speech to be delivered this Wednesday and we’ll get to all of that stuff in a minute but there are a couple other tech stories I want to touch on first today.

First up engadget is reporting that Acer, The world's second-largest PC manufacturer is telling Bloomberg today that it's "aggressively pursuing" Chrome OS "so there's a change to the Microsoft-Intel environment,"  Acer also promised to fully detail a 6-inch monochrome e-reader by June and a forthcoming free / cheap application store that will be compatible with Android, Windows Mobile, and, obviously, Chrome OS.  Engadget also reports that an Acer tablet is in the works as well, accompanied by the candid admission that the Taiwanese giant is waiting to see what Apple has in store before finalizing its own plans.  (Read the whole article at Engadget.)

Next up, Mashable is reporting The yfrog Twitter image-sharing service can now simultaneously post to MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. You don’t have to go to each website to share that vacation pic you took; just select your image, check the boxes for the services you want to send to and click “Post It!”  (Read the whole article at Mashable.com.)

I’m going to wrap up tech news with a plethora of apple goodness. Engadget is reporting that Apple posts $3.38b Q1 profit: iPhone sales double, Macs up 33 percent, iPods down eight percent. Tech Crunch is reporting on the same story and had a couple of interesting quotes from Steve Jobs, the first ““If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company.” And the second “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”(Read the whole article at Engadget) (Read the whole article at Tech Crunch.)

Of course the new product is the highly touted apple Tablet.  Everyone expects the tablet to go directly after the Amazon Kindle, but one unanswered question so far is whether Apple will add books and magazines to iTunes or create an entirely new e-book store from scratch.  Tech Crunch believes there is a good chance there will be a Barnes & Noble bookstore built into the Apple Tablet, either as one of the showcase apps which launches with the device, powering a new book section in iTunes, or integrated directly into the Tablet’s e-reader. The two companies are thought to be working closely together, increasing the likelihood that Barnes & Noble will be part of the announcement on Wednesday.(Read the whole article at Tech Crunch.)

Finally, the last bit of Apple news today mashable is reporting that Bloomberg speculates that T-Mobile will get the iPhone this summer with all additional U.S. carriers getting the phone in rapid succession in the following months.

This latest dish comes by way of Tim Horan, a telecommunications analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. He asserts that not only will AT&T lose exclusivity come mid-year, but T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and Clearwire will all jump on the iPhone bandwagon soon thereafter. (Read the whole article at Mashable.)

Entertainment & Gossip

TMZ is reporting Nancy Kerrigan's 70-year-old father was found dead at the former Olympian's childhood home in the Boston area Sunday -- and her brother was arrested in connection with the incident.

Nancy's mother told police the fight was over the telephone -- when Daniel refused to let Mark use the phone, Mark grabbed him by the throat. When Daniel was choking, Mark thought his father was "faking it." Nancy's brother, Mark Kerrigan, pled not guilty to charges of assaulting Daniel. (Read the orginal report at TMZ.) (Read the updated report at TMZ.)

More Drama on the set of American Idol according to Deadline Hollywood., It was American Idol's newest judge Ellen DeGeneres’ first day of taping the Hollywood segment, and she was excited and nervous, but then that turned to anger because Simon Cowell was an hour and a half late for the taping. And Ellen stewed while she waited for good reason: to accommodate both her talk show hosting duties and her American Idol judging duties, she had moved up her schedule so that now she shot the talk show earlier in the day and then jumped in the car to go to Idol. Ellen called Simon Cowell a prima donna. So right from the start, the chemistry isn't great," an insider reports. (Read the whole article at Deadline Hollywood.)

Since today is Tuesday it’s the day that DVD’s drop, the big one that people will be lined up for will be Michael Jacksons “This Is It.” Also out today are Saw 6, Whip It, Surrogates, Bright Star & Tennessee.

Do you like a good viral video? I know I do. Today I came across 3 that I’ve posted here for your viewing pleasure.  The first is a Wal Mart ad that aired during the NFL playoff games last weekend.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Axx5ZUFEc

The second is an amazing save the date message from a random couple called Jeff & Erin’s Epic Wedding Trailer. It’s an awesome spoof of several genre’s of movie trailers, definitely worth a peek.

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

I saved my favorite for last, if anyone saw Brendon Frasiers crazy clap at the Golden Globes last week or if you saw Joel McHale laughing about it on The Soup last week you’ll appreciate this remix. Hilarious.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q03BlD22-NQ

Highlights & Links for January 25, 2010

Politics/World:

Reuters is reporting that U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New  York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the AIG bailout like a request to protect matters of national security. The request to keep the details secret were made by the New York Federal Reserve -- a regulator that helped orchestrate the bailout -- and by the giant insurer itself, according to emails received by Reuters.  Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have labeled the AIG bailout a "backdoor bailout" for the 16 financial institutions.

The new batch of emails, along with others that have become public in recent weeks, reveal that some at the New York Fed had gone to great lengths to keep the terms of the bailout private and the SEC may have played a role in contributing to some of the secrecy surrounding the AIG rescue package. (Read the whole article at Reuters)

The Huffington Post is reporting that job creation will be the Obama Administration’s main focus in the coming months.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Obama will press for doing "everything possible to create an environment where the private sector is hiring again." Ambitious health overhaul plans are being scaled back, at least for now. While White House officials still insist they inherited a broken economy from President George W. Bush, there's little doubt that people now fully see it as Obama's economy – and expect him to lead the way in fixing it.

Forecasters say it could be years before the employment rate drops below 8 percent, let alone to pre-recession levels of 5 percent to 6 percent. It took four full years for employment to regain its peak after the mild 2001 recession. (Read the whole article on the Huffington Post)

The New York Times is reporting that The GOP seeks to widen the field of play in the upcoming fall elections. Just since Tuesday, half a dozen Republicans have expressed interest in challenging Democrats in House races in New York, Pennsylvania and potentially Massachusetts, party officials said.

Republicans need a net gain of 40 seats to regain control of the House. That still seems unlikely, though hardly impossible.(Read the whole article on The New York Times.)

The AP is reporting Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt in Detroit, in a audio message released Sunday, and vowed further attacks on the U.S.  The message suggests that bin Laden wants to show he remains in direct command of al-Qaida's many branches around the world.  (Read the AP Article)

In related news the AFP is reporting Osama bin Laden's word choice in the latest audio message attributed to him is seen as a "possible indicator" of an upcoming  attack by his Al-Qaeda network, a US monitoring group warned Sunday.  IntelCenter, a US group that monitors Islamist websites, also said that manner of the release and the content of the message showed it was "credible" that it was a new release from the Saudi extremist. (Read the AFP Article.)

In world news Fox News is reporting An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people crashed into the Mediterranean Sea early Monday just minutes after takeoff from Beirut, Lebanon's transportation minister said.  The cause was not immediately known. But police ruled out terrorism and said the crash was likely weather-related. Beirut has seen heavy rain and lightning since Sunday.  (Read the rest of the Article at Fox News.)

Tech:

This Wednesday is the day that Mac Fanatics have been waiting for and if what Tech Crunch is reporting is correct it may be well worth the wait. Referring to the soon to be launched Apple Tablet Steve Jobs was said to be heard saying “This will be the most important thing I’ve ever done.” Sweet, I can’t wait to see and hear all about this device come Wednesday. (Read the whole article at Tech Crunch)

Mashable’s has had a few interesting things going on this weekend. Staying on the apple thing for a minute, Hot Hardware is saying that at&t could lose it’s iphone exclusivity as early as this Wednesday.  So now rumour has it that at least one of the other 3 U.S. carriers may add the iPhone to its roster next week. The inside sources that conveyed the news didn’t disclose any details about which carrier that might be, but earlier rumors point to Verizon as a likely candidate. (Read the whole article on Mashable.)

Another interesting story at Mashable, involves Youtube getting into the online movie rental game.  The video sharing site is talking to the major movie studios about offering up their content for rental.  It’s not clear how far along YouTube might be in its negotiations with the studios, but it’s going to be one of the major stories to watch with the company this year. (Read the whole article at Mashable)

The last bit of tech news for today again comes from Mashable.com who is reporting Ustream is launching a pay-per-view live video service  where entertainers and other public figures will be able to charge for virtual admission to live shows and premium content.  Comedian Dane Cook will be the first act to use Ustream’s new platform. He’ll do a Miami-based pay-per-view presentation of his “ISolated INcident” stand-up routine live at 6:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, February 6. To watch, you’ll have to buy a ticket for $5 at Ustream’s ticket sales site. (Read the whole article at Mashable.)

Entertainment & Gossip:

People.com is reporting that Friday night's celebrity telethon Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief has so far raised more than $57 million – a record for a disaster relief telethon, said the event’s organizers.

In addition the star-studded Hope for Haiti Now album, featuring performances from the evening, is the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history. (Read the whole article at People.)

People.com is also reporting that Gary Coleman has been arrested on one misdemeanor count of domestic assault and is currently being held on $1,725 bail in Santaquin, Utah, TMZ.com reports.  (Read the whole article at People.com)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9oX-kZ_9k

There’s a few things going on over at TMZ that I want to tell you about. First and foremost multiple people directly connected with Brangelina tell TMZ that Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie are not pulling the plug on their relationship, There's a report out that Brad and Angie are calling it quits. One source -- who should know -- says, "It's B.S."

There are a few different articles on TMZ from last weekend about Andy Dicks shenanigans. It all started on the morning of January 23, Andy Dick was arrested in West Virginia on two felony counts of sexual abuse in the first degree. According to the criminal complaint, Dick was talking to a guy when he "unexpectedly and without invitation grabbed the victim's crotch, repeatedly groping then kissing him." Dick faces 1-5 years in prison if convicted. (Read the whole article at TMZ)

Wrapping things up today, I’ll let you guys know that CBS has announced the cast for the upcoming Season of Survivor, Survivor 20 Heroes vs. Villains. It looks like it’s going to be a great season, Entertainment weekly has video interviews with all of the cast mates on their site, click here to watch the Survivor 20 cast videos at Entertainment Weekly.

Highlights & Links for January 21, 2010

Politics
There is a lot going on in government and politics, so we’ll jump right in. First up, the New York Times is reporting that a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, an author of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, called the ruling “a terrible mistake.” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader and a longtime opponent of McCain Feingold, praised the Court’s decision as “an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights of these groups by ruling that the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues up until Election Day.” (Read the entire article at The New York Times.com)

Fox News & Politico.com is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she does not have the votes to pass the Senate's version of a health insurance bill that is now in severe jeopardy of being scrapped.  Lawmakers are now looking at options that were left on the drawing board as the party looks to pursue a more modest bill.  Pelosi didn't present a blueprint for how Democrats might proceed on health care, except to say that "everything is on the table." (Read the whole article on Fox news.) (Read the whole article on Politico.com)

The Huffington Post is reporting President Barack Obama stepped up his campaign against Wall Street on Thursday with a far-reaching proposal for tougher regulation of the biggest banks.  The new proposal from Obama intends to limit speculation by commercial banks and to keep financial institutions from growing so big that they pose a risk to the economic system. (Read the whole article on the Huffington Post)

The AP is reporting Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.

The unpopular legislation is needed to allow the federal government to issue bonds to fund programs and prevent a first-time default on obligations. It promises to be a challenging debate for Democrats, who, as the party in power, hold the responsibility for passing the legislation. (Read the entire article)

Breitbart.com is reporting Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted Thursday he fathered a child during an affair before his second White House bid, dropping long-standing denials just ahead of a book by a former campaign aide who initially took the fall.

Edwards released a statement admitting paternity of the girl, Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born in 2008 to videographer Rielle Hunter as the result of an affair Edwards has already confessed to.  (Read the whole article on Breitbart.com)

Finally some good news for Haiti, CNN is reporting Relief supplies were heading into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from ships docked at a reopened pier today.  The reopening of the pier and the repairing of the road represented a major development in efforts to get aid to earthquake victims, in that ships can carry much more cargo than air airplanes. (Read the whole article at CNN)

Tech:

Techcrunch is reporting YouTube is launching a new ‘Watch’ page, stripping it down to its most key elements.  Many of the changes are aesthetic. You’ll find that YouTube has removed nearly all labels and extraneous text, resulting in a much cleaner feel. But there are also some changes that may affect how you use the site. Such as ditching the five star rating system it has employed for years in favor of a binary “Love It” or “Thumbs Down” system. (Check out the whole article at Tech Crunch)

Mashables got a lot of great stuff going on today. The first article I wanted to touch on is in regards to Facebook rolling out post insights, a very simple feature; besides the number of impressions, the feedback lets you know how many visitors actually interacted with a particular post. (Read the whole article at Mashable.)

Also from Mashable.com, the L.A. Times is reporting that in six months Hulu may introduce a $4.99 per month subscription option that would give viewers access to TV show episodes beyond the five most recent already offered.  The rumored offering is said to be the result of ongoing discussions around introducing fees for a service that would “strike a balance between what people expect to watch free online and what they would be willing to pay for.”  (Read the whole article at Mashable.)

One last bit from Mashable today, in news that my wife and kindle users everywhere will love Amazon is launching an app store for Kindle.  According to The New York Times, a formal announcement from Amazon will come on Thursday. The company expects developers to build a wide range of applications, from new ways to experience e-books to games and utility apps.  (Check out the whole story at Mashable.)

In the final bit of tech news today Engadget is reporting that NASA’s Puffin, a totally awesome personal flying machine is the latest such creation that we’ll never get to use. See the video and share my disappointment if this thing never comes to fruition at www.cloudcast news.com.  (Read the whole article at Engadget.)

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

Gossip & Entertainment:

Well we can all finally sleep tonight, TMZ is reporting that Conan & NBC have reached a settlement for Forty Five Million dollars. Network sources tell TMZ the "mitigation" clause was taken off the table. Translation -- Conan will get a severance of $32.5 million, regardless of whether he gets another hosting gig. In addition, NBC will pay a whopping $4.5 million to the executive producer. Conan has agreed he will not take another hosting gig 'till September at the earliest. His last show is Friday. (Read the whole story on TMZ.com)

Do you like junk TV? I do, that’s why I’m excited to tell you that People.com is reporting that Big Brother winner Jordan Lloyd and her fan-favorite boyfriend Jeff Schroeder will make up one of the 11 teams racing almost 40,000 miles on the 16th edition of the Amazing Race, which premieres Feb. 14 (8 p.m. EST) on CBS. Also competing: Caite Upton, the former Miss South Carolina Teen USA who became a YouTube sensation after flubbing her answer to a question from pageant judges. Now a model, she’ll race with her boyfriend Brent Horne. (Read the whole article at People.com.)

Wrapping up today in I can’t believe anyone is still talking about this news the website whatwouldtylerdurdendo, or wwtdd.com has a funny little write up about Heidi Montag’s current plastic surgery situation. Find the link at Cloudcastnews.com and read wwtdd’s thoughts on the self loving reality semi-stars 10 plastic surgeries and get DDD implants. (Here’s your link.)

Highlights & Links for January 20, 2010

Politics/World:

Well, the unthinkable happened. In what fox news is calling and epic upset Last night Republican Scott Brown claimed victory in the election for the U.S. Senate seat last held by liberal Democrat Ted Kennedy. Brown's victory strips Democrats of the 60-seat Senate supermajority needed to overcome GOP filibusters against future Senate action on a broad range of White House priorities. Senate Democrats needed all 60 votes in their caucus to pass the health care bill, and the loss of one seat imperils generating that support again for a compromise measure worked out with the House. (Read the full article on cnn.com) (Read the full article on Foxnews.com)

Politico is also reporting that Republican Scott Brown’s upset win in Massachusetts Tuesday threatened to derail any hopes of passing a health reform bill this year. Democratic leaders insisted they planned to press ahead with health reform, and met late into Tuesday night in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. But they made no decisions about how to proceed, now that Brown has swept away the Democrats’ filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate. (read the full article at Politico.com.)

Fox News & CNN are reporting that in APPOMATTOX, Va. Police with dogs and heat-sensing equipment hunted for a man they say shot eight people to death Tuesday and then nearly took down a police helicopter that was trying to flush him out of the woods near this central Virginia town. "More than 100 deputies, officers and state troopers will continue working through the night to locate and apprehend the armed subject," said a spokesman for Virginia State Police. The accused gunman was identified as Christopher Speight. Authorities think he was acting alone. This story is developing find links to the story at fox news and cnn at cloudcastnews.com.  (Read the article at fox news.com) (Read the article at cnn.com)

In other news around the country CNN is reporting American Airlines has joined its competitors in raising checked luggage fees. The airline announced Monday it would charge $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second. American is the last major legacy carrier to join in a wave of baggage fee increases that Delta Air Lines initiated earlier this month. (Read the full article on cnn.com)

In world news CNN is reporting A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday off the Cayman Islands, about 600 miles west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the three-island chain in the Caribbean.(Read the full article on cnn.com)

Tech:

On to tech news, if you’re into social networking you’ve got to check out the latest offering from ICQ, which is ICQ7.  The application allows you to Get friends' feeds from all of your favorite social networks directly to your ICQ. Click the 'Feeds from Friends' tab on your contact list and get the latest updates from all of your social networks!  Watch the video here, then head over to ICQ.com and give it a spin! (Visit ICQ.com)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFE1BIQj2Ik

Think you’ve got a lot of followers on Twitter. You’ve got nothing compared to Bill Gates. Mashable is reporting that eight hours ago, Microsoft founder Bill Gates joined Twitter. Five hours ago, Twitter’s Caroline Mizumoto tweeted about it. And moments ago, BillGates broke 100,000 Twitter followers.  He’s going at about 20,000 followers per hour. Nice. (Read the article at Mashable.com).

Apple Insider is reporting that Apple's acquisition of streaming music service Lala will most likely result in a cloud-based iTunes service, with a digital music executive suggesting purchased content will be available from any browser or Internet-connected device.  But with Internet-based management, users could log into their iTunes account and access and stream all of their music from any computer, or device, with an Internet connection. Apple could even sell music on other Web sites or through Web-based search results.  (Read the entire article at Apple Insider.com)

Gossip & Hollywood

People.com is reporting that Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and Christina Aguilera are among the music stars set to perform at Friday’s Hope for Haiti Now telethon for earthquake relief. The two-hour event will air on several networks at 8 p.m. ET, hosted by George Clooney in Los Angeles, Wyclef Jean in New York and CNN's Anderson Cooper in Haiti.  Sting will be joined in New York by Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson and Shakira.In London, the lineup includes Rihanna, Bono, Coldplay, Jay-Z and The Edge. Timberlake and Aguilera will take the stage in Los Angeles, along with Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.  (Read the whole article at People.com)

TMZ is reporting Country music icon Charlie Daniels was rushed to a Colorado hospital Friday after suffering a mild stroke while snowmobiling and was immediately treated at a hospital in Durango but was soon airlifted to another hospital in Denver. His rep tells TMZ that Daniels was released from the hospital on Sunday and is currently resting at his home in Colorado. (Read the whole article at TMZ.com)

Finally onto the tonight show debacle, TMZ is reporting that the hang-up with the Conan O'Brien/NBC severance deal is over the provision prohibiting Conan from trashing NBC.  Both sides are saying a settlement should be reached today. TMZ’s sources say lawyers for both sides are squabbling over how long Conan is prohibited from saying bad things about NBC. One more thing. NBC believes it can make $40 million in profits off of Leno the first year he's back and that they would lose $5 mil on Conan if he stayed. So NBC views the whole Conan buyout as a net savings. (Read the entire article at TMZ.com)

Highlights & Links for January 19, 2010

Politics/World:

The Headlines today are still the distress that’s going on in Haiti. The death toll is estimated to have risen to over 200,000. According to Cnn “it’s like hell on earth.”

A week after a devastating earthquake flattened the Haitian capital, relief agencies worked Tuesday to reach the estimated millions of survivors in need of water, food and shelter.

The relief effort is vast and we are seeing some glimmers of hope as fox news reports that Dozens of Haitian orphans from the devastated Caribbean nation headed to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to meet their newly adoptive parents.  Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell states “We’re going to save the 54 kids and lead them to great lives.”

(Read the entire article on Fox News) (Read the entire article on CNN)

In domestic news today is the day! The fight for the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat is happening as we speak. In what is usually a blue state the republican contender Scott Brown has run a very strong campaign. As I reported yesterday President Obama traveled to the state over the weekend to try to support the Democratic candidate, but many insiders are saying that it might not have been enough.  Many Democrats are on edge because this vote could ruin the democrats 60 seat supermajority and therefore bring the current healthcare reform bill to a halt.  The lead article on Politico.com states that the Democrats are already blaming one another for putting Ted Kennedy’s Seat at risk. Politico has a great article on five things to watch after the polls close at 8:00. (Read the article on Politico.com.)

Tech:

There’s a great article on Mashable.com today centered around Billshrink’s ultimate cell phone plan comparison. If you’re like me, maybe you’re on the fence about your provider, and with all of the new phones coming out like the new Nexus 1, apple is rumored to be announcing the Iphone 4g next week, check out this comparison. (Read the article at Mashable.com)

Techcrunch.com is reporting today that the digital download service called freeallmusic.com who already has a deal with universal Music, allowing anyone to download music from the record label’s artists, some of which include, lady Gaga Rihanna, & Taylor swift, is announcing another deal with the major record label EMI. Via Freeallmusic’s platform thousands of tracks will be offered at a rate of 20 free downloads per month, five per week, starting every Tuesday. The recently launched FreeAllMusic.com, which is in private beta, lets users access downloadable, high-quality, iPod-compatible MP3s of advertiser-paid, free, legal, and unrestricted song. The catch: users watch a video commercial per download on the site and users’ music selections and sponsoring brands are then promoted externally through an opt-in, digital advertising network. (Read the article at Tech Crunch) (Visit Freeallmusic.com).

Have you heard of Alice.com?  You should check it out. Tech Crunch is reporting the retail platform for household goods, that simple to use and offers significant discounts on everything from toilet paper to toothpaste is becoming even more compelling with the launch of a free iPhone app.  (Click here to download the app.)

Alice.com’s retail platform allows consumer packaged goods manufacturers, like Procter & Gamble, to sell directly to consumers instead of going through retail channels like Target or Wal-Mart. On the consumer side, Alice.com lets users create a profile of their household (i.e. how many adults, kids, babies) and then the site will keep track of items and reminds users with emails when they are running low and need to reorder. Each shipment is bundled together in a single ‘Alice’ box, delivered directly to the consumer’s door, with no shipping costs. (Read the whole article on Tech Crunch).

In Apple tablet news, Mashable is reporting that Apple is in talks with Harper Collins to bring E-books to the tablet. The WSJ report highlights a series of talks between the tech giant and HarperCollins, a News Corporation subsidiary, discussing issues such as e-book pricing and distribution. It seems as if the publisher will set prices, while Apple will take a portion of sales if a deal is struck.

If a deal does take place, it could represent the first serious threat to Amazon’s domination of the e-book market via the Kindle. Apple does seems intent on taking down Amazon in the e-book market, and its tablet may just do the trick. (Read the whole article on Mashable.com)

Gossip:

As I cruise on over to TMZ today I’m seeing a lot of info on late night television hosts and that’s really about it. There is the article on Heidi Montag’s 10 plastic surgery in one day, and Britney using her bodyguard’s credit card so that she doesn’t threaten her conservatorship (which is a is a legal concept in the United States of America where an entity or organization is subjected to the legal control of an external entity or organization, known as a conservator.), but I don’t know how interesting that stuff is, thought I’d mention it to you and let you know the links are up at cloudcastnews.com. (Read TMZ’s story about Heidi here) (Read TMZ’s story about Britney here)

On to the late night shenanigans. First Conan Conan O'Brien will likely have a clause in his settlement deal with NBC banning him from slamming the network after he leaves ... well, he hasn't left yet, and last night, the trash talk continued.

He was killing NBC last night, check it out: . (Read the article on TMZ.com)

More on Conan: O'Brien is losing "The Tonight Show" but he'll be getting a $32.5 million consolation prize courtesy of NBC ... sources tell TMZ. In return, TMZ has learned Conan has agreed to sit on the bench until September. Translation -- he can't host another show until the fall. In addition to the $32.5 mil, TMZ has also learned NBC is paying severance to Conan's "Tonight Show" employees. In all, we're told NBC's payout is around $40 million. Find the link to the entire article at cloudcastnews.com. (Read the whole article & watch the video at TMZ.com)

One more tidbit of latenight gossip, Robert Halderman, David Letterman’s Alleged extortionist will stand trial. He’s due back in court on March 9 according to TMZ. Find a link to the video at cloudcast news.com. (Check out the video on TMZ).

Thanks for checking out cloudcastnews, see you tomorrow.

Highlights & Links for January 18, 2010

Politics/World:

Today we’re celebrating what would be the 81^st birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There are celebrations being held in many metropolitan areas in the US.  There’s a great blog on the Huffington Post written by Isaac Newton Farris Jr. & Stephen Goldsmith centered around what Dr. King called “Life’s persisitant and most urging question, “What are you doing for others.” (read the whole article on the huffington post.)

Headlining the serious news everywhere today is still the relief effort going on in Haiti. Fox News is reporting that thousands of US Marines have arrived in Haiti to help with the relief effort. The AP is reporting that the European Union has donated over 575 million dollars to help quake survivors and rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

The Haitian earthquake is fast becoming the largest international relief effort since the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004. Estimates put the death toll from the 7.0-magnitude quake on Jan. 12 from 50,000 to 100,000—but Haitian officials believe the toll will exceed that.

On the streets, people were still dying, pregnant women were giving birth and the injured were showing up in wheelbarrows and on people's backs at hurriedly erected field hospitals.  Every single social networking website seems to have ways to donate to help the cause in Haiti, Here are links to the full stories that I’ve covered from Fox News and The associated press as well as links to Doctors without Borders and The Red Cross where donations are being accepted around the clock.

In US political news all eyes are looking towards Massachusettes.  The fight to fill the Late Ted Kennedy’s seat is on and with the Healthcare Reform bill on the table, this is a major election.  According to cnn.com President Obama tried to rally voters behind the Democratic candidate Sunday in a surprisingly close Senate race in Massachusetts, a contest that could imperil his plans to overhaul the U.S. health care system.

Brown told supporters Sunday afternoon that electing him would be "a message that will be heard around the country." "I want to be the person to go down there and send the health care [bill] back to its drawing board, so they can do it better," he said.  As of right now, the race is a dead heat. (Read the article on cnn.com)

Tech:

On to tech news. Want a better Wikipedia? Apparently so does AOL according to tech crunch, AOL recently quietly Launched An Expert Site Called Owl. Owl seems more of a testbed for seed, which is Aol’s new
low-cost content management system for soliciting articles and photographs for its network of existing Websites. Owl will crowdsource freelance work from “experts” who submit articles about movies, books, health, sports, money, parenting, computers, and other topics.(Read the whole article on Tech Crunch.)

Would you like Wifi with that? Get it, instead of Fries with that.  Mashable is reporting that On Friday McDonald’s officially added free Wi-Fi to the menu at most U.S. locations. Now you can have your Big Mac, fries and free Wi-Fi at 11,500 McDonald’s across the country. Sweet. Wanna read the whole article? Read the whole artice on Mashable.

Do you run a small business? If so, check this out, how about taking credit cards on your iphone. There have been apps before but Engadget is reporting on a new payment dongle for the iphone called square. It’s being launched by the cofounder of Twitter Jack Dorsey and it looks awesome. You can also read the entire article here at Engadget.

The last bit of tech that Im talking about today is again from engadget. the rumor of a new 22 inch imac with a touchscreen monitor. What? Totally, of course there’s a big apple press event next week, I’ll let you know what I hear when I hear it.

Smut:

On to the smutty news. Well you all know that American Idol started last week, a lot of the usual stuff, the good the bad and the unlistenable, but the big news is that this will be the last year for Simon. TMZ is reporting today that Latoya Jackson wants Simons seat.  Stay tuned everybody. Wow. Read it at TMZ.

The nastiest late nite feud in years continues to be nasty according to TMZ. Sources connected to Conan O'Brien tell TMZ ... NBC honcho Jeff Zucker has been "nasty, arrogant and threatening" in negotiating Conan's out. The Conan people are outraged, saying the blame for the Jay Leno/'ConanO'Brien/"Tonight Show" debacle falls squarely at Zucker's doorstep.

An NBC source connected to the negotiations tells TMZ Conan "has acted like a baby" since the network announced the changes.

TMZ is reporting that the NBC/Conan deal still isn't finalized. (Read the whole article at TMZ)

Finally the golden globes were last night. The Best Motion Picture, Drama went to Avatar, Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama went to Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart. The Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama went to Sandra Bullock for the Blindside, best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical went to the Hangover, and best television series went to Glee. Visit cloudcast news.com for a link to the entire list of winners from moviefone.com. (See the entire list of winners.)

Finally I leave you with this: That would be Brett Favvvvvre singing pants on the ground.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONmEVro8Fog

Highlights & Links for January 4, 2010.

Politics/World:

“Geographic Profiling”  Citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria who are flying to the United States, will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that was imposed in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing plot, Obama administration officials announced Sunday. A poll on the left leaning blog the daily kos shows that a vast majority of the people polled agree with the technique 22% Voting “it’s about time” 46% concluding it’s “sad but necessary with only 17% saying it’s an over-reaction. Click here to see the poll on Daily Kos.

Addition of more embassies that are stopping their services in Yemen due to the increased terror threats faced there. US, Britian, France, Japan, Spain & Germany, have either closed their embassies or restricted access or altered security measures. Click here to read the Full report from CNN News.

It’s cold out there, everywhere. Temperatures plunge to record low as a cold snap freezes the North East States. Vermont Sets an all time record for one snowstorm, Iowa temperatures are a solid 30 degrees below normal, Peru’s mountain people face extinction beause of cold conditions, Beijing is at its coldest in 40 years and so on and so forth. Basically, it’s cold out there, almost everywhere.  Click here to see all reports linked from the Drudge Report.

“Banks making a killing on TARP Program.”  The article centers around a Bloomberg report this morning that states some of the Nations largest banks have actually bought more risky home loans instead of getting them off their balance sheets. The banks apparently decided that the government's entry into the mortgage security market was simply a guaranteed money-making opportunity.  Click here to read the Article on The Huffington Post. Click here to read the Bloomberg Article.

Tech:

Engadget is reporting today that a company called Synaptics has released software called Scrybe that adds 10 finger capability to Windows machines originally made for standard use. Cool. Click here to Read the entire article at Engadget.

Seesmic, maker of popular desktop and mobile twitter clients, has just acquired Ping.fm — a service that lets users post to 50 social networks with a single status update — for an undisclosed sum. They will begin immediately integrating Ping.fm technology into Seesmic applications.  Click here to read the full article on Mashable.com.

Tweexchange lets you quickly find available Twitter usernames and web domain names (through GoDaddy) at the same time. The results appear fairly quickly, as you type the name in the search box, which gives you a nice side-by-side comparison of available names. Click here to check out the whole article at mashable.com.

Smut:

TMZ is reporting that Tiger Woods is Africa Bound. Their sources say Tiger was very clear on his plan -- go to a friend's estate in Africa and completely disappear from public view. One source believes Tiger left almost immediately.  Click here to read more here at TMZ.com.

In he’s still one of the highest payed sitcom actors in history even though he continues to beat the crap out of women news TMZ is reporting Brooke Mueller  wants to move back to L.A. with the kids ASAP and try and work things out with Charlie -- which is why she and Charlie both asked the judge last week to terminate the protective order. Late last week, after the prosecutor went on record opposing the move, Brooke and Charlie asked to modify the restraining order to allow contact between the two of them with a safety net in case things get crazy again. Click here to read it all at TMZ.com.

Fark of the Day: In closing, time for the Fark of the Day, brought to you by fark.com. Psychologists have determined that your first initial has a major affect on your longevity, with people whose names begin with A significantly outliving those beginning with D.  New parents, plan accordingly.  Click here to read the whole article. Go to Fark to read more interesting, cool, dumb and amusing stories from around the world.

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