(AHN) Susan Boyle Earns Second Week At #1, Jackie Evancho Debuts On Billboard Albums Chart

Anthony Jones - Celebrity News Service Reporter

Los Angeles, CA, United States (CNS) - Susan Boyle leads the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second week with “The Gift,” while eight albums debut inside the top 10 this week, including the debut EP from 10-year-old Jackie Evancho. “The Gift,” which features Boyle covering Christmas classics like “The First Noel” and “Do You Hear What I Hear?,” actually made a rare second-week increase, selling 335,000 copies this week. Boyle debuted last week with 318,000 copies.

In second place is another holiday album, this time from 10-year-old opera prodigy Jackie Evancho. The “America’s Got Talent” runner-up and Susan Boyle labelmate released her first disc, a 4-track CD/DVD titled “O Holy Night,” which sold 239,000 copies its first week.

Rihanna follows in the #3 spot with the debut of her latest album, “Loud,” selling 207,000 copies. It’s the biggest one-week sales yet for Rihanna. “Loud,” featuring the #1 single “Only Girl (In the World),” is her fifth top 10 album and her first since last year’s “Rated R.”

Josh Groban follows at #4 with “Illuminations,” his latest album and first since the multi-platinum “Noel,” debuting with 191,000 copies. Kid Rock debuts at #5 with his latest album, “Born Free,” selling 189,000 copies with no thanks to iTunes (he has no deal with the #1 digital outlet but does with Amazon MP3).

Rascal Flatts make their debut on Big Machine, home of Taylor Swift, with “Nothing Like This” at #7 this week. Selling 165,000 copies this week, Rascal Flatts earn their seventh top 10 album. Keith Urban follows closely with his latest, “Get Closer,” at #7 with 162,000 copies. It’s his fourth top 10 album and his first since last year’s “Defying Gravity.”

The third holiday album in the top 10 this week, the cast of Glee’s “Glee: The Christmas Album,” featuring their takes on songs like “We Need a Little Christmas” and “Angels We Have Heard on High,” debuts at #8, selling 161,000 copies.

Taylor Swift is at #9 this week with “Speak Now,” which moves down seven spots to #9 this week, selling 146,000 copies. Nelly is the last top 10 debut this week with his latest album, “5.0,” which features the hit single “Just a Dream.” Nelly’s “5.0,” his sixth top 10 album, moves 63,000 copies its first week.

Billboard Top 200 Albums Week Ending December 4th, 2010:

1. The Gift, Susan Boyle

2. O Holy Night, Jackie Evancho

3. Loud, Rihanna

4. Illuminations, Josh Groban

5. Born Free, Kid Rock

6. Nothing Like This, Rascal Flatts

7. Get Closer, Keith Urban

8. Glee: The Christmas Album, Glee Cast

9. Speak Now, Taylor Swift

10. 5.0, Nelly

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Facebook Sound Death Penalty For Email?

Email is dead, or will be dead. That's the underlying message of CEO Mark Zuckerberg as he unveiled Facebook's revamped messaging system in San Fracisco on Monday night. The popular networking service was supposed to launch a "Gmail killer" at the much-hyped event. But it was far from it. Nevertheless, the new avataar will raise network communication to a level that will shake the Gmails and Yahoos.

Zuckerberg himself painted the picture thus: "I don't expect people to wake up tomorrow and say, 'I'm going to shut down my Yahoo account or my Gmail account'...Maybe one day, six months, a year, two years out people will start to say this is how the future should work."

One of the biggest improvisations is that Facebook users will be able to communicate to non-Facebook users via Facebook using an @facebook.com ID. This is a possible threat to email services as now Facebook users will have to go to Hotmail or Yahoo or Gmail to communicate with non-Facebook users. So, at least theoretically, there's a possibility of a good number of Facebook users gradually making @facebook.com their default email ID.

Secondly, Zuckerberg foresees an era when email will not be the only means of communication between two people. A Pew study shows that text messaging is the most preferred means of communication for US teens, very few used email. He said 350 million members (out of over 500 million members) use Facebook's messaging system. So Facebook decided to take it a step ahead, by bringing emails, SMS, instant messages besides Facebook messages on one platform. Andrew Bosworth, a software engineer at Facebook, said, "People should share however they want to share...If you want to send me an email and I want to get it in a text message, that should work. So, all the communication -- whether it be via SMS, IM, email or Facebook messages -- will be in the user's 'Social Inbox'".

AOL, which is in the process of revamping its email, differed with this forecast of death of emails. Its senior vice-president of consumer products Brad Garlinghouse told the BBC that email remained one of the killer apps on the internet. But hours after the Facebook announcement, Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Web 2.0 summit, welcomed the new competition. "More competition is always good because competition makes the market larger," he said. "It brings more people in. We are all served by having everybody in the world get online."

Facebook will bury traditional email 'subject' line, the cc and bcc. It envisages a seamless conversation between two people across any mode of communication.

Read more: Will Facebook sound death knell for email? - The Times of India

Mysterious Missile Lights Up Sky Off Coast Of Los Angeles, Military Refuses To Comment (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon said Tuesday it did not know what created a vapor trail that crossed the skies off the Southern California coast and resembled a missile launch.

Video posted on the CBS News website shows an object flying through the evening sky Monday that left a large contrail, or vapor trail. A news helicopter owned by KCBS, a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, shot the video.

Pentagon officials were stumped by the event. "Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from," Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said.

While the vapor cloud captured on video resembled that created by a rocket in flight, military officials said they didn't know of any launches in the area.

Lapan said that "all indications" were that the Defense Department was not involved with the object. More Update

Would you like to know 25 interesting things about Ladies

1. Women love to shop. It is the one area of the world where they feel like they're actually in control.

2. Women especially love a bargain. The question of "need" is irrelevant, so don't bother pointing it out. Anything on sale is fair game.

3. Women never have anything to wear. Don't question the racks of clothes in the closet; you "just don't understand".

4. Women need to cry. And they won't do it alone unless they know you can hear them.

5. Women will always ask questions that have no right answer, in an effort to trap you into feeling guilty.

6. Women love to talk. Silence intimidates them and they feel a need to fill it, even if they have nothing to say.

7. Women need to feel like there are people worse off than they are. That's why soap operas and Oprah Winfrey-type shows are so successful.

8. Women don't need sex as often as men do. This is because sex is more physical for men and more emotional for women. Just knowing that the man wants to have sex with them fulfills the emotional need.

9. Women hate bugs. Even the strong-willed ones need a man around when there's a spider or a wasp involved.10. Women can't keep secrets. They eat away at them from the inside. And they don't view it as being untrustworthy, providing they only tell two or three people.

11. Women always go to public restrooms in groups. It gives them a chance to gossip.

12. Women can't refuse to answer a ringing phone, no matter what she's doing. It might be the lottery calling.

13. Women never understand why men love toys. Men understand that they wouldn't need toys if women had an "on/off" switch.

14. Women think all beer is the same.

15. Women keep three different shampoos and two different conditioners in the shower. After a woman showers, the bathroom will smell like a tropical rain forest.

16. Women don't understand the appeal of sports. Men seek entertainment that allows them to escape reality. Women seek entertainment that reminds them of how horrible things could be.

17. If a man goes on a seven-day trip, he'll pack five days worth of clothes and will wear some things twice; if a woman goes on a seven-day trip she'll pack 21 outfits because she doesn't know what she'll feel like wearing each day.

18. Women brush their hair before bed.

19. Watch a woman eat an ice cream cone and you'll have a pretty good idea about how she'll be in bed.

20. Women are paid less than men, except for one field: Modeling.

21. Women are never wrong. Apologizing is the man's responsibility, "It's there in the Bible". Hmmm, who was it that gave Adam the apple?

22. Women do not know anything about cars. "Oil- stick, oil doesn't stick?"

23. Women have better restrooms. They get the nice chairs and red carpet. Men just get a large bowl to share.

24. The average number of items in a typical woman's bathroom is 437. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.

25. Women love cats. Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.

The 2 (Wrong) Questions Men Love to Ask About Women

Sometimes people ask questions that there are no right ways to answer. Sometimes they are deliberate trick questions, like, "Why is Obama afraid to show the public his birth certificate?" (the one that is available all over the Internet) or "Do you think she looks better than me?"

But a lot of times people honestly ask the wrong question without knowing it. Here are some I see guys continually asking about women, along with the question they should be asking if they actually want an answer.

#1."Why Do Girls Like Jerks?"

The right question: "What does [girl I am interested in] like in a guy?" Are you attracted to girls based solely on how "nice" or "jerky" they seem? Why would they be then? You don't even have to stop being a misogynist to recognize girls evaluate men in more than one dimension. Even a shallow girl looks for more than one thing. What about looks? Money? Fame? Penis size? Any of those could be higher on the checklist than "nice/jerk." And every girl is different. For example, I like a guy who is smart, sarcastic and good at video games. (Hey, I can open my own jars but I can't get past the Meat Circus level of Psychonauts on my own.) One of my friends used to have a thing for blue eyes, and another needed to find a guy that shared her musical talent. And on the other end of the spectrum, I've had friends that just need to check for a penis and they're good.
Being nice is important to us, but it's not a free ticket to the bedroom if you've got none of the other things. Just to be clear, there are actually girls for whom jerkiness is the first thing they're drawn to (or rather, they're drawn to other factors that tend to come packaged with jerkitude). But for a lot of them, this is because they've grown up being mistreated or abused, so trying to take advantage of that makes you a dick.

#2. "Why Do Guys Have to do All the Work to Get a Relationship While Women Just Sit There and Can Pick Any Guy They Want?"

The right question: "Why do I only look at the women that can pick any guy they want?" The problem here is usually a sampling error, and the solution is to take a statistics class. The pool of women you look at to make this observation is going to be skewed toward women you like to look at. Their awkward ugly friend in the corner there can't pick any guy she wants, and you probably haven't even noticed her to the point where you include her in your survey.

No, not that. An ACTUAL ugly girl.

There are a lot of fairly sad, desperate girls out there, a situation I am no stranger to. Lonely, no-luck girls spend plenty of time obsessing over what it will take to get a guy, and often throw aside their dignity in a shameless and often fruitless attempt to pursue one. Then they will have a sob session with their girlfriends about "why doesn't he like me?" It's actually kind of funny when you look back on it.

Anyway, the point is, when you try to remember "every girl" you've met to prove this is true with "every girl," you will remember the most memorable girls and not remember us sad sacks, who are simultaneously asking the same exact same question about guys, probably in the girls' bathroom while crying.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt Resigns From Apple Board

Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, has resigned from the board of Apple, the company said in a statement.

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

The way I see it, he got shown the door by Jobs. Back in May, Schmidt said he had no plans to resign from Apple’s board. (Take our poll below the fold)


Over the last few days, as the Google Voice apps fiasco has taken on a life of its own, I have been busy pointing out that this battle was between Apple and Google.

I believe that AT&T has become a piñata in the high-stakes war being waged by Apple and Google. Why do we believe that these two companies are not in competition with each other? Is it because Eric Schmidt sits on the Apple board? This battle between Google and Apple is going to get very ugly — as it should. Both companies have pinned their futures on smartphones.

Jobs’ statement and Schmidt’s exit from the board all but confirms it. The matter might have come to a head over the FCC’s investigation into the Google Voice Apps fiasco. I am not ready to rule out that “given Google’s increasing presence in Washington as a lobbying superpower, one can’t rule out Google’s silent hand in this investigation.”

The way I see it, Apple should take these hostilities one step further: Kick out Google Maps from the core of its service and replace it with Yahoo Maps. And as for search, there is this thing called Bing… (Hat tip, The Wall Street Journal.)

A History Of The Ipod Mini

Yes, the ipod mini said its goodbye to the technology market last September 7, 2005. It seems only proper to pay our respects to this whimsical gadget that once put a smile on our face. When the iPod mini was released on February 20, 2004, many were delighted. Being the smaller version of Apple Computer's iPod first generation portable audio player, it's variety in color (though still somewhat limited to five colors: silver, gold, pink, blue, and green) appealed to a much broader market. The ipod mini operated with both Macintosh and Windows PCs.
The iPod mini's feature was the click wheel, where four buttons were located above the wheel. To use one of the buttons, a user had to push the wheel edge inward over one of the labels. The click wheel is now used in the fourth and fifth generation iPods as well as in the iPod nano. Above the wheel was the monochrome display that gave the menus or information of the currently selected track. The new generation of ipods now has a colored screen display.

The iPod mini made use of the ultra-thin Compact Flash Microdrive hard drives. The first-generation mini models only had to content itself to a 4GB hard drive. The second-generation mini models were then available in 4GB and 6GB memory size. The iPod mini 4 GB is capable of storing 1,000 songs while the iPod mini 6GB stored 1, 500 songs.

Later the drive size was laser engraved on the case to distinguish between the two minis. Near the end of the iPod mini's life, Apple laser etched two lines of 32 characters on top of the reverse side on the mini free of charge. Such a feature would originally cost more money. However, Apple seemed sentimental enough and the gesture was a sign of respect for the mini's impeding demise.

The battery life of its first generation iPod mini was 8 hours that led to some argument on its short duration. This problem was solved with the second-generation models that claimed a battery life of 18 hours.

Unfortunately, the 2nd generation had no FireWire cable or an AC power adapter, a compromise made by Apple to reduce the retail prices of the new iPod minis. The iPod mini also had a dock connector provided on the bottom for a connection to the computer (Hi-Speed USB or FireWire). The battery was charged during its connection. On the top it was a headphone jack, a hold switch, and remote port for other accessories.

Like the larger iPod, the iPod mini supported a host of file formats like MP3, WAV, AIFF and MP4. It maintained it's flawless integration with the iTunes Music Store and the files being downloaded there. Software-wise, the iPod mini was as reliable as the original iPod units.

The appeal of the iPod mini is it's compact and colorful design. And the accessories that come with it are there to enhance the iPod mini's sound quality and functions. It is true that some of the accessories are expensive but aren't all the iPod gadgets expensive too?

Besides if there was something good to be said about the iPod mini, it's the option it gave the consumers when getting a digital audio player. The Ipod mini competed directly with players like Creative's Zen Micro and the Digital Networks Rio Carbon. The smaller display was one line shorter than the previous models, thus limiting its on-screen track information display to title and artist only, taking the album information off.

The original price for the first generation iPod mini was around $249 for the 4GB memory size. The second-generation lowered the price to $199 and kept the 4GB model. An increased-capacity 6GB mini model sold for $249.

As the Ipod family began to expand, the Ipod mini was laid to rest when Apple launched the introduction of the iPod nano. The iPod mini was no more and stopped its production. Though it seems the iPod mini only stayed for a while, its influence as the pioneer of the click wheel will always be remembered.