Mindy McCready: Free at Last

It may be a new year, but time will tell if it's also a new Mindy McCready.

The trouble-prone country warbler was granted early release from Tennessee's Williamson County Jail Sunday after more than five months in lockup on a probation violation charge.

"I'm so happy to be out," the 32-year-old singer said. "I'm the happiest girl in the world right now."

McCready was greeted by her manager and family upon exiting the jailhouse—and kissing its gates—just after 9 a.m. Sunday. The "Guys Do It Every Time" songbird had been behind bars since July, when she was arrested in Florida on charges of battery and resisting arrest, stemming from a domestic dispute with her mother.

McCready was formally sentenced to a year of incarceration in September as a result of the Florida bust, which violated the terms of a 2004 drug arrest. In that case, she was sentenced to three years' probation for obtaining the painkiller OxyContin with a fake prescription.

At the time of her sentencing, the singer received credit for 75 days already served. Her term was further shortened for good behavior—something she plans on continuing outside the confines of jail.

McCready, whose woes include a suicide attempt, drug overdose and hospitalization after a beating from her ex-boyfriend, said she plans to turn her life around by focusing only on those things that truly matter to her.

"Oh, my God, I'm gonna work," she said. "Work, work, work. And sing. And go see my son, who I've missed more than anything you can possibly imagine."

McCready's son, 21-month-old Zander McCready, has been staying with the singer's mother at her Fort Myers residence since the country star's bust.

And while the sprung singer has completed her jail time, she has not yet made good on her debt to society. McCready will remain on probation for two more years.

Article Source: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=3bf2d3c1-6ebc-478d-bd01-045cfd376f91&sid=fd-news

THE 2008 INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER ELECTRONIC SHOW

The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas is turning into a star-studded affair.
Danica Patrick

The Consumer Electronics Association Friday released a list of celebrities scheduled to appear during the annual confab.

Among the highlights:

• Yoko Ono and Sony recording artists Natasha Bedingfield, wil.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas and Pat Monahan of Train will unveil an all-new John Lennon Educational Tour Bus at an invitation-only press reception to be held in the Concierge Center Monday, Jan. 7, from noon-1 p.m. (PST).

• Indy Car driver Danica Patrick and wrestler Candice Michelle will appear at the GoDaddy.com booth Monday.

• Also Monday, XENA will appear live at noon as part of the conference session, and performer at the CEA's Wireless Communications Division reception in the Gibson tent will be Kevin Costner and his band from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. and Rocco Deluca from 7 p.m.-8 p.m.

• Academy Award-winning actor and producer Michael Douglas will appear at XStreamHD's invitation-only press conference Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 11 a.m. in The Venetian, Casanova 503.

• The Sharp booth will be the place for Boston Red Sox fans Tuesday from 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m., as David Ortiz will make an appearance. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Amanda Beard will be in the GoDaddy.com booth that same day.

• The Monster Cable concert at the Paris Hotel Tuesday night will feature Mary J. Blige and Sheila E., with Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson expected to attend, as well.

• Mad Mike from MTV’s Pimp My Ride will pimp Mitek’s booth Monday from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. and 4 p.m.-5 p.m. and Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m.-11 a.m., 1 p.m.-2 p.m. and 4 p.m.-5 p.m. Mitek will also host MTX's Mixed Martial Arts Team daily from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

• Graham Rahal, son of U.S. motor racing legend Bobby Rahal, will get behind the wheel of the BMW Sauber F1 Team racing car in the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park in the Gold Lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center daily.

Article Source: http://www1.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6515592.html

PARIS HILTON LOSES INHERITENCE??

The much quoted huge inheritance that Paris Hilton was expected to receive when her Grandfather died has been reduced significantly. Her Grandfather has pledged that 97% of his Hilton Hotels fortune will goto Charity.

Paris Hilton is expected to only receive around 5 million dollars compared to the 100 million dollars she was expected to receive.

Patriarch Barron Hilton announced this week he would be leave the majority of his will of around £1.15billion in the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The Foundation will oversee projects to improve housing and water in developing countries.

It is rumoured that Barron was not impressed with Paris’s behaviour which embrassed the family name.

Paris shot to fame after a sex tape appeared on the internet in 2003, she went to Jail this year for driving with a suspended license.

Paris spent Christmas in Hawaii, but Paris Hilton has been spotted partying with K Fed in Las Vegas recently as she will be appearing at the LAX Club in the Luxor Hotel.

Paris may miss out on inheritance she has made a fortune in her own right from being a model an actress As a recording artist as an author and also from product endorsements and personal appearances
Details of this are listed on wikipedia

Article Source: http://www.music-festivals.co.uk/paris-hilton-disinherited-100057.html

Nicole Kidman Pregnant??

NICOLE Kidman is rumoured to have told family and friends over Christmas that she is pregnant, according to the London Daily Mail.

However, Kidman's Australian publicist yesterday denied the reports, saying it was simply a rumour made up over the silly season.

The Daily Mail's respected entertainment editor, Baz Bamigboye, reported the Oscar-winning actor, 40, and her husband, Keith Urban, broke the news to their families over the holidays after Kidman finished work on Baz Luhrmann's epic romantic adventure film Australia on December 21.

Kidman's spokeswoman said: "It is incorrect. She must have had about 30 babies by now.

"She's in Australia making a film and her family are in Australia," she said.

"She's happily ensconced away somewhere having a few days' break. As far as we're concerned it's another rumour out of London."

But one of Kidman's friends said it was "conceivable" the actor was almost three months pregnant.

"She did have a small baby bump a month ago, so it would be reasonable she'd now be three months and telling her friends and family," the friend said.

The couple were married in Sydney in June last year.

Article Source: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22985695-5012980,00.html?from=mostpop

"GREY'S ANATOMY" ACTRESS TIES KNOT WITH MUSICIAN

Emmy-winning star Katherine Heigl and musician Josh Kelley exchanged vows in Utah, U.S. media reported Monday.

Heigl, 29, and Kelley, 27, tied the knot at a resort in Park City.

"We're madly in love and she makes me excited to become married and to have a family and spend my life with someone. We're fairly opposite but we also share a lot of the same values," said the musician.

The private reception was witnessed by "Grey's Anatomy" co-star T.R. Knight. Guests at the ceremony also included Heigl's co-stars Sandra Oh and Kate Walsh, U.S. Weekly Magazine reported.

The ceremony was held in a small, private tent at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, and lasted about 30 minutes. The tent was decorated with white flowers and white candles.

"It is incredible and beautiful," said Knight.

Heigl portrays Dr. Izzie Stevens on the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy."

The two met in 2005 when Heigl appeared in a video for Kelley's song "Only You."

TILA TEQUILA: "THE FINAL ROUND" RECAP

Last Night on A Shot at Love The Final Round, all the contestants are assembled together for the first time since taping the season. Everyone is getting rowdy at the beginning. Wow, there are a lot of contestants. I'm going to have trouble keeping them straight (ha!) so forgive me if I'm slow with their names. As everyone is getting introduced, Amanda seems to be the only one cheering for herself. Scout, Chaos and Alex are not in attendance, and Brandi is backstage, waiting for her chance to bitch-slap Vanessa.

The virgins are still virgins, even after the show. Yeah, right.

Lala defends her choice for leaving the competition after finding out Tila's bisexuality. Marcus and male Ashley immediately get into a brawl. Marcus is yelling, “It's a reunion,” over and over. While that's definitely an irrefutable statement, I'm not sure what he means by it. Then, blowup sex dolls get tossed around because those are always fun. Domenico gets ahold of one and snuggles with it.

Michael B brought a date with him. It's his mom. Um, that's just weird. She says that it was great watching him grow up on TV, but it was tough for her to watch the ball-waxing.

Before the first commercial, Ashley makes a plug for Virgin Mobile by recapping his meltdown during his time on A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. It's nice to see that he can make fun of himself now.

Now, we are treated to a montage of confessional backstabbing. Everyone has something bad to say about everyone else. Everyone hates Ashli's B.O. All the girls think Steven is Podunk. Onstage, Ashli tries to defend her funk to everyone, and Rebecca doesn't think she looks like a man. She also sounds like she just drank an entire 40.

Rebecca and Steven go up on stage to explain whether they did or they didn't. She says that they didn't have sex. But now we get some grainy night-time footage of the big bed with some hot and heavy action under the covers. Steven says that it was just back scratching. Under pressure, he confesses that he went to second base with her, but she didn't reciprocate. He also confirms that she's really a woman.

Domenico goes up on stage to talk about his journey on A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. We are shown clips from his time, like when he strutted around on in his little Italian flag bikini and G-string. Everyone hate him at first, but he grew on Tila, and on everyone else. Aww, he gets teary-eyed while watching his clips. He says that he's finally feeling accepted in America and is looking for a nice American girl. In the audience, a large, large buxom lady stands up, wanting to be notice. And Domenico confirms that he's getting his own MTV dating show called That's Amore! and he's chosen Ashley as his consigliere! Cool!

Yay! It is now time to revisit all the fights in the house, and there were a lot of them. Vanessa goes up on stage to discuss her bitchiness, saying if you can't handle the truth, then get the f--- out of her face. This means you, Brandi. (Brandi is backstage during this time.) Another thing we learn from these clips is that Vanessa really likes wearing her little thong two-piece, despite having no waist to speak of. Clips of the catfight are shown over and over, and then in slo-mo. It's kind of awesome. Vanessa says that the day after she got eliminated, she got a call from Brandi who apparently said that she wants to be with Vanessa. Backstage, Brandi shakes her head no, and then comes out on stage, Jerry Spring-style. Brandi turns the Final Round into a PSA about drinking, and then also denies about not knowing whether she wanted to be with men or women, and she also denies that she wanted Vanessa to wait for her in California. Vanessa leaves the stage in tears, insisting that Brandi is still lying to her. Backstage, Vanessa lets loose a maelstrom of profanity against Brandi. Sadly, there will be no reprise of the catfight.

It's crying time now. We see clips of all the times the contestants cried. Krystal appreciates the show for allowing her family to understand more what it means to be gay.

It's finally time for Tila to arrive. She comes out with a cute haircut, a ridiculously short gold lamé dress and stripper heels. She's followed shortly by Dani, who looks awesome. I love her dimples. Tila tries to explain why she didn't pick Dani, saying that it was because she didn't want to be the one to take her out of her steady life, which nobody buys.

Now it's time for Bobby to come out and meet Tila for the first time in two months. Um, get a room, you two. Bobby looks very, very orange. He says that it was hard watching Tila ho it up with the other contestants all season.

The show ends with the announcement that Tila Tequila will be hosting MTV's New Year's Eve celebration. And then they all have a big group toast. To A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila!

Source

APTERA TYPE 1 ELECTRIC HYBRID CAR

It is still a question if Aptera Type 1 Electric Hybrid vehicle is a car or motorcycle, since the company on it's website says "based on our wheel layout and our weight, the Aptera Typ-1 is registered as a motorcyle." However, Aptera Type 1 electric vehicle is a bold step toward the future of car industry and green environment since it's essentially hybrid.

Huliq team members have not yet test driven Aptera Type 1, but will write more once we do that. Presently we introduce Aptera's details and specifications from it's website.

The Aptera was designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle, and later as an extended range electric vehicle. After building the proof-of-concept Mk-0, we hired the automotive design firm, 'eleven', to help us further develop the concept vehicle. The 'eleven' team, led by Jason Hill and Nathan Armstrong, made great strides in the development of the Aptera's body styling, interior design, and structural engineering. Meanwhile, we refined the Aptera's shape to maximize efficiency using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), developed and built advanced suspension and drivetrain components, and integrated a strong yet lightweight composite shell.

Our entire process has been developed in-house exclusively by Aptera for the Aptera Typ-1. Our structural elements have undergone countless revisions of FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to be lightweight, robust, and manufacturable.

Electric & Gasoline Hybrid

The Typ-1 uses a commoditized, 'ruggedized' 3-phase motor controller designed for vehicular applications, and a 3-phase motor made for us by a company here in Southern California. The rear drive suspension, and the drive reduction, are all designed and made by Aptera. Since the Typ-1e (electric) and the Typ-1h (series plug in hybrid) have different battery needs, this may result in different battery manufacturers for the two models. The Typ-1e is designed to use a 10 KWh pack, while the Typ-1h uses a smaller pack. The cycles and DOD are different for both applications. We will announce further information regarding the battery lifespan and warranty policy well before we begin manufacturing the Typ-1 next October.

Diesel or Gasoline? Our first prototype, the Mk-0, was a parallel hybrid Diesel and achieved an average of 230 MPG at a steady state of 55 MPH. This was pure Diesel/mechanical drive with no electric assist. Diesel is attractive for its Carnot efficiency and the increased enthalpy of Diesel fuel vs gasoline. However, diesel contains lots of unburned hydrocarbons and NOX compounds, and it's impossible to get a small Diesel engine certified for emissions in California. Therefore, the typ-h uses a small, water-cooled EFI Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter. This engine is coupled to a lightweight 12KW starter/generator. It's very clean and quiet.

The real deal about Aptera's Mileage

With the All Electric Aptera, it is very easy to figure out the mileage range. The mileage is determined by the distance you can drive, under normal circumstances, until the batteries are effectively drained. In the case of the first Aptera typ-1e, we have calculated the range to be about 120miles.

With the Plug-in Electric Hybrid version of the Aptera(typ-1h) the mileage of the vehicle is difficult to describe with one number. For example, the Typ-1h can drive 40 to 60 miles on electric power alone. Perhaps for such a trip, the engine may only be duty-cycled for a few seconds or minutes. This would produce a fantastic number, an incredible number that, though factually true, would have no useful context, i.e. it's just a point on a graph.

An asymptotic decaying exponential is an accurate way to describe the fuel mileage of the Typ-1h. For example driving say, 50 miles, one might calculate a MPG number that's 2 or 3 times higher, say, 1000 MPG. As battery energy is depleted, the frequency of the engine duty cycle is increased. More fuel is used. at 75 miles, the MPG might be closer to 400 MPG. Again, we're using battery energy mostly, but turning the engine on more and more. Just over 100 miles we're just over 300 MPG, and just beyond 120 miles, we're around 300 MPG.

So why pick a number at 120 miles? Well, it's more than double of most available plug-in hybrid ranges that achieve over 100 MPG. It's three times the distance of the typical American daily commute. It's a meaningful distance that represents the driving needs of 99% of Americans on a daily basis. Sure, it's asymptotic, after 350-400 miles it eventually plummets to around 130 MPG at highway speeds where it will stay all day until you plug it back in and charge it up.

Source

XBOX LIVE A FAILURE?

Reports are mounting online about the status of Xbox Live, as many people say Xbox Live failed or down when trying to create a Live account.

Troubleshoot Failed Xbox Live

Below is an information from Xbox.com on how to "Troubleshoot Your Xbox Live Connection"

Many Xbox Live gamers use a home network to connect their Xbox 360™ consoles to high-speed Internet connections. Most home networks employ either a stand-alone router, a home gateway (a combined cable/DSL modem and router), or a PC to access and/or share a single high-speed Internet connection. To work, network devices must be properly configured.

If you're using designated Xbox Live Compatible networking equipment with an Xbox Live Compatible ISP (Internet service provider), you should have no trouble configuring your equipment and accessing Xbox Live.

If you do experience difficulties—with or without Xbox Live Compatible equipment—use the Xbox Dashboard on your Xbox 360 console to help solve Xbox Live connection problems.

To troubleshoot your Xbox Live connection from the Xbox Dashboard:

1. Go to the System area of the Xbox Dashboard.
2. Select Network Settings.
3. Select Test Xbox Live Connection.

The system will perform a series of diagnostic tests, the results of which can help you configure your network to access Xbox Live.

# After the system has completed its tests, select More Info to learn more about your network, paying close attention to any test that failed.

In each case, the More Info section will offer tips for correcting the conditions preventing you from accessing Xbox Live.

Xbox Dashboard: Test Xbox Live Connection

Select Edit Settings to adjust your:

* IP Settings (including IP address, subnet mask, and gateway)
* DNS Settings (including primary and secondary DNS servers)
* PPPoE Settings (including user name, password, and service name)
* Advanced Settings (including host name and alternate MAC address)
Source: Xbox.com

WEBSITE SELLS JESSICA SIMPSON MASKS!

A Web site wants football fans to wear a mask of Jessica Simpson to games to distract her boyfriend -- Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

"Help your team to victory by letting Tony Romo know the love of his life is in the stands," says the Web site "Ruin Romo," which offers football fans a Jessica Simpson mask that can be downloaded onto their computers.

Simpson, 27, was blamed for Romo's poor play and the Cowboys' loss to Philadelphia last week after she watched the game from a box in a pink No. 9 jersey -- Romo's number, People magazine reported Saturday.

Romo teammate Terrell Owens has apologized for calling Simpson bad luck. Owens now says he was only kidding, People reported.



Dallas quarterback Tony Romo and his team travel on Saturday night to take on the Carolina Panthers and you can expect Jessica to be in the stands. After last week's dismal performance with his gal pal Jessica looking on that may frighten a lot of Cowboys fans and that is the whole idea from a website called Ruin Romo.

Jessica won't likely be at the game personally but there will likely be a ton of Jessica Simpson masks in the stands as the website has made it very easy for fans to download the mask and wear it over their face to try and distract Romo.

Oh the humanity! The idea is to shake up Tony. The website has the step-by-step instruction posted along with a charming photo of Jessica with the eyes cut out (so fans can see the game of course.) On the website it reads, "Help your team to victory by letting Tony Romo know the love of his life is in the stands!!!"

People magazine notes that the 27-year old blonde bombshell watched last Sunday's game from a luxury box in a pink No. 9 jersey, and many pundits and observers blamed Jess for Tony's abysmal performance against the Philadelphia Eagles at Texas Stadium. He tossed three interceptions and finished the game with a 22.1 quarterback rating.

Cowboys fans and his teammate Owenshave accused her of being a jinx though Owens apologized for his remarks, saying he was kidding.