by Claudine Zap

The Obama family faces yet another first this holiday season: their first Christmas in the White House. The people want to know what they’ll do and where they’ll be. One-day searches on Yahoo! show that lookups on “obama christmas” grew 100% in the last day. Queries on “obama christmas card” and “obama christmas eve” were also popular. Here, a rundown of what to expect from the first family.

Tradition: He said, she said
Cross Obama off your Christmas list. According to the president, the first couple agreed a few years back not to exchange Yuletide gifts. But this just in: In a separate interview, the first lady acknowledged that the president is getting “sports stuff” under the tree. If someone didn’t get someone a present, there may be one very desperate last-minute shopper at the mall. Although the Obama daughters’ wish-lists haven’t been made public, Obama told the Tom Joyner Morning Show that Malia and Sasha don’t want much, but like iPods, video games and books. Santa, take note. What Obama really wants can’t be bought: He said he’d just like hugs.

A very western White House
Let’s face it: Even the leader of the free world needs a break once in awhile. Obama may feel more entitled than most, with his push on health care, his management of the war in Afghanistan, and his work to fight an economic downturn. Bush sought salvation clearing brush in his Texas ranch. Reagan headed to horse country in Santa Barbara. The current president goes really far west to his native Hawaii.

Though the president says his vacation is on hold until the health care vote in the Senate is put to rest, the family hopes to spend at least some time in the island paradise. The first lady told Oprah Winfrey about her family’s plans: “You know, we’re going to spend the holidays in Hawaii as we always do and with probably the same friends and family that we always see, and the girls look forward to that.”

The presidential rental
If the Obama family returns to the oceanside suburban retreat where they spent a winter holiday last year, it will be in a multimillion dollar Kailua manse. The property is at the base of the Koolau mountains with Kailua Beach out back, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The five-bedroom home is about a half-hour drive from Honolulu. Sounds like a pretty good perscription for relaxation to us.

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by Claudine Zap

Christmas Eve is a busy day for one Santa Claus of the North Pole. But just leaving out cookies and milk and hoping that St. Nick will make it to your house is so last century. This year, with the help of social-networking tools and GPS, you can track Santa’s movements throughout the night, from your mobile phone, your computer, or your car.

Normally, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is the U.S.-Canadian military organization that watches over the air and water for security threats. But on Christmas Eve, the command center switches to Santa mode, and operation Santa Tracker is in full force. The live tracker incorporates radar, satellites, “Santa Cams,” and yes, even fighter jets, to follow Father Christmas on his goodwill gift-giving tour.

Last year, the Colorado Springs command center needed 100 phones and 25 computers to handle almost 70,000 calls and 6,000 emails from some 200 countries who wanted to know when Santa would make it to their town.

And if Yahoo! searches are any indication, NORAD may need more than that this Christmas Eve. Queries have soared 240% for “santa tracker norad” in the last day alone. Lookups have also increased on “santa trackers,” “live santa tracker,” and “norad santa tracker games.”

NORAD has a partnership with Google Maps, which incorporated Santa’s path on its map software, as well as on Google Earth. (Last year the tech company mistakenly placed Toronto on the U.S. side of the border. But that has since been corrected — international crisis averted.)

This year, the vehicle-navigation company OnStar is on board with GPS tracking, so drivers with the in-car GPS can keep an eye on Santa’s trip while en route to Grandma’s house. The NORAD Santa Tracker will also be up on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. Don’t say Santa doesn’t keep up with the times.

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by Vera H-C Chan

Our picks from the day’s hottest searches.

• Aston Martin (+759%). James Bond has dibs—the One-77 supercar is being tested, and reported is breaking records and “predictions” with speeds up to 220 mph.
• Tavern on the Green (+896). Come New Year’s Day, this Central Park institution shuts its doors. The closure of the once massively-profitable restaurant inspires much analysis into the powerful LeRoy family, who had owned the place since 1976.
• The Crazies (+638%). The final poster’s out for the 2010 remake of the 1983 George Romero horror about bio-weapons contaminating a small town’s waters. The movie opens Feb. 26—catch the trailer here.
• Alaina Reed Hall (+292%). Best known as Olivia Robinson on “Sesame Street,” the actress died Dec. 17 of breast cancer. News—and searches—of her death just started circulating this week.
• Susan Powell (+74%). The Utah woman disappeared Dec. 7. Police are investigating a recent car rental by her husband Josh (dubbed a “person of interest“) which shows “several hundred” miles. Josh Powell unexpectedly attended a candlelight vigil organized by his wife’s parents in their Washington hometown.

 

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Sharing videos on the Web is easy: Upload to YouTube or Facebook, send out a link. Sharing videos on mobile phones is still a pain. The iPhone tries to make it easier by letting you upload directly to YouTube, but what if you want to share a video privately? Sending videos between phones is cumbersome. A new service that just launched in beta called Thwapr seeks to solve this problem by letting .Quicktime Vets Bring Mobile Video And Photo Sharing With Thwapr (Beta Launch) (TechCrunch)

by Mike Krumboltz

Attention, consumers: Only 11 more shopping days until Christmas. As for how many shipping days are left — well, that’s a little trickier. 

That question is top of mind for Web shoppers, who want to make sure their packages arrive in time to go under the tree. We took a look at some of the shipping charts from the USPS, UPS, and FedEx and summarized our findings below. 

USPS
The economical choice for getting gifts from point A to point B has created a calendar for shipping Santas. According to its official site, if you’re going to send something via First-Class Mail, the cutoff date is December 21. Ditto for Priority Mail. If you’re willing to spring for Express Mail, you can slack off a little longer and ship things out on the 23rd. Frugalistas who choose Parcel Post should hustle — the cutoff is the 16th. Oh, and if you’re going to the post office today (Monday), remember to bring a book. It’s the busiest shipping day of the year.

UPS
If you’re one of those people who’d rather rely on the private sector to deliver your precious fruitcake to Aunt Mildred, you can go with UPS. Big Brown has its own holiday schedule up on its official site. According to the delivery company, the latest you can ship a regular “ground package” and have it arrive before Christmas Day is this Wednesday, the 16th. If you’re willing to spend more for two-day shipping or overnight, you can wait until next week. But beware of bad weather — UPS says that severe weather can delay deliveries.

FedEx
Prefer the purple and orange of FedEx? The shipping experts have a chart that lists all the various deadlines. Folks looking to ship via FedEx Ground or FedEx Home Delivery need to get things packaged up by the 17th. Other (more expensive) options will get your presents to their destination by the 23rd. If you’re really lazy, you can apparently wait until Christmas Day, and then ship via “FedEx SameDay.” Perfect for folks with little time and lots of money.

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by Mike Krumboltz

Senator Joe Lieberman has never been one to shy away from controversy. The Connecticut lawmaker and former Democratic vice presidential candidate-turned-Independent caused a huge stir when he spoke on John McCain’s behalf at the Republican National Convention in 2008. Now Sen. Lieberman is back in the political spotlight, thanks to his opposition to health care reform.

Until very recently, Sen. Lieberman was on board for a clause that would extend Medicare benefits to Americans aged 55-64. Now, he’s not. The apparent change of heart has caused a lot of his rivals and allies to speak out. One angry Democrat is even calling for a Lieberman recall. Not surprisingly, the attention and comments, both good and bad, have led to a boom of Web searches on the senator.

For his part, Sen. Lieberman has explained that he is for health care reform, as long as it excludes Medicare expansion and a public option. The Senator explained that in 2000, when he ran as Al Gore’s running mate, he was in favor of expanding Medicare, but that a lot of things have changed, among them the country’s national debt and the “imminent bankruptcy” of Medicare. In his opinion, we just can’t afford it.

But there are others who think the senator’s motivations are different. An article from the New York Times explains that in a recent interview Sen. Lieberman said, “he was particularly troubled by the overly enthusiastic reaction to the proposal by some liberals.” All of this has led to a slew of Web searches. Online lookups for “senator lieberman,” “joe lieberman health care,” and “is joe lieberman a democrat or republican” all surged to triple digit gains.

Also gaining ground in the Search box are lookups on the Senator’s wife, Hadassah Lieberman. The New York Daily News reports that “liberal activists want to see Hadassah Lieberman booted from her position as “Global Ambassador” for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.” Whether her husband’s position on health care reform should in any way affect her own professional role as a spokesperson for cancer research is in and of itself a controversial question.

Of course, this is Washington, and a politician’s position can change. Vice President Joe Biden has gone on record as saying that he believes Sen. Lieberman will “see the light” on health care reform, “but there’s an awful lot of gamesmanship going on right now.” A fired-up President Obama recently held a press conference updating the public on the state of the proceedings. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the reform “has to pass on our watch.” Stay tuned.

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by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day’s hottest searches.

1. Elin Nordegren (Searches increased by 931%). Spotted: The wronged wife of Tiger Woods without wedding band.
2. Courtney Love (+484%). The singer lost guardianship of her daughter with Kurt Cobain.
3. Michael J. Fox (+475%). MTV has cast the re-make of the 1985 movie “Teen Wolf,” which originally starred Fox.
4. Ashley Dupree (+395%). The former call girl linked to Eliot Spitzer has a new job: Sex advice columnist for the New York Post.
5. Joe Lieberman (+346%). The independent senator throwing a wrench into health-care reform supported the Medicare buy-in before he was against it.

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by Claudine Zap

The band is back together: James Horner, the guy who gave us the “Titanic” soundtrack, has collaborated with director James Cameron once again for “Avatar.”

According to the Independent, the score features “lush evocative tracks,” with titles like “The Bioluminescence of the Night.” The new album also headlines the ballad from Leona Lewis, “I see you.” In other words, “Titanic” redux. If you squint, the theme song even sounds Celine Dion-esque. Listen to a snippet and decide for yourself.

In case a movie soundtrack about blue aliens doesn’t move you, fear not. Soundtracks are a perennially favorite search topic. Check out the most popular from the last seven days.

Top Movie Soundtrack Searches (past seven days)

1.	“New Moon” Soundtrack	6.	“Christmas Vacation” Soundtrack
2.	“Twilight” Soundtrack	7.	“Love Actually” Soundtrack
3.	“Home Alone” Soundtrack	8.	“Elf” Soundtrack
4.	“500 Days of Summer” Soundtrack	9.	“Polar Express” Soundtrack
5.	“The Blind Side” Soundtrack	10.	“O Brother Where Art Thou” Soundtrack

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by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day’s hottest searches.

1. “Sex and the City 2″ (Searches increased by 1,576%). Be still our Carrie Bradshaw-beating hearts. “SATC 2″ is filming in NYC and the pics are rolling in.
2. Pole dancing doll (+264%). A toy that teaches kids to strip. Cue outrage.
3. Vanity Fair magazine (+166%). Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin’s baby daddy, dishes major dirt on the Palin fam for a magazine story hitting newsstands.
4. Madonna and Lourdes (+101%). Madonna’s mini-me is featured in the pop star’s “Celebration” video to be released next week.
5. Texas tenors (+83%). The singers made it to the top 20 of “America’s Got Talent.”

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by Mike Krumboltz

Imagine the talent, machinery, and engineering intellect it requires to build a bridge. And not just any bridge, but one that carries hundreds of thousands of vehicles per day and has one of the longest spans in the world. Mind boggling, right? Now, imagine cutting a large chunk out of the bridge and replacing it with another huge piece that’s been earthquake-retrofitted. Still with us? Good, ’cause there’s a time limit. You have to do it all in about 90 hours.

We get a stomachache just thinking about it, but that’s exactly what some very motivated men and women are doing this weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area. The highly trafficked Bay Bridge, which runs between San Francisco and Oakland, will be shut down until Tuesday morning while an army of workers gets rid of the old span and brings in the new.

The extremely ambitious project has inspired a slew of searches. Lookups on “bay bridge closure,” “bay bridge info,” and “sf bay bridge” are all posting huge gains. The especially curious are looking up “how to build a bridge.”

We have no idea how to answer that question — a dog house is beyond our expertise. However, we can explain what the crew aims to do. A 300-foot section of the bridge will be sliced off and moved out of the way by humongous cranes. Then, a fancy, new section will be slid into place. A CBS station explains that the closure “is part of an overall replacement of the eastern span of the bridge, scheduled to be completed in 2013.”

If you want to follow along with the progress, the project’s official site features live webcams, pictures, interviews with the workers, and videos that show what the finished product will look like. Even to the most jaded commuter, this is pretty amazing stuff.

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by Vera H-C Chan

Our picks from the day’s hottest searches.

• Space Shuttle Discovery (+1,164%). Landing during hurricane season? Good luck—astronauts have an extra day in orbit until they figure out which coast will be clearer.
• Hermaphrodite (+694%). The kerfuffle over runner Caster Semenya has people reading up this intersex condition; meanwhile, her government considers a lawsuit for human rights s.
• Cell Phone Radiation Chart (+417%). The Environmental Working Group’s consumer guide is hotter than a Billboard chart.
• 9/11 Pho (+274%). Commemorating today’s anniversary.
• Zozobra (+266%). Old Man Gloom—the original burning man—went up in flames at the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe in New Mexico.

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by Claudine Zap

It was a study-abroad adventure turned nightmare. Two years ago, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, a foreign-exchange student from England, was found dead in her apartment in Perugia, Italy. That would have been shocking enough, but it got worse: One of the suspects charged was Kercher’s American roommate, Amanda Knox, a fellow foreign-study student. She and two others have been accused of murder, sexual assault, and theft. Their dramatic trial has fascinated the world, and the Web — searches on “amanda knox trial” are up over 100% in the last seven days. A verdict is said to be coming in soon. Buzz is on the case. Here, a roundup of the key players:

The victim
Meredith Kercher had been in Perugia, Italy, only two months before her murder on November 2, 2007. (Prosecutors say she was killed for refusing to participate in a drug-fueled sex game.) The British student hailed from Coulsdon, Surrey, and attended the University of Leeds. She came to Perugia as part of her European Studies degree, with her focus being politics and Italian. The multitalented student also appeared in a music video. Since her death, the university has awarded her a posthumous degree. Her father, John Kercher, a freelance journalist for the Daily Mirror, recounted his last memories of his daughter, writing of her “zest for life.” Meredith’s mother, Arline, testified to her heartbreak at the trial: “We will never, never get over this. It’s such a shock to send your child to school and not have her come back.”

The defendents
Do not brand her “an assassin,” Amanda Knox told the jury in her emotional final statement — in fluent Italian. But the University of Washington student accused of murder has been called many things. The brown-haired, often-smiling 21-year-old has electrified Italian media, who have dubbed her the “devil with an angel’s face” and have adopted her American nickname, “Foxy Knoxy.” (Her family said the moniker comes from her childhood skills on the soccer field, and does not have more salacious implications.) She’s been portrayed as either the girl next door or an evil man-eater, and has inspired at least 11 Facebook fan groups — all Italian.

In the fight for public opinion, Knox’s parents have been high-profile defenders. They were even served legal papers for an accusation they made in the press, alleging that the Italian police beat their daughter. Knox, who has been jailed for the last two years on suspicion of stabbing her roommate to death, said she was “horrified” by the murder and thought of Kercher as her friend. The prosecution thinks differently, although their evidence has been called inconclusive.

The lead lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito, the 25-year-old Italian ex-boyfriend of Amanda Knox, said during the trial that Sollecito and Knox had “fallen in love” a week before the murder. The computer science graduate has also been in jail for the last two years. Sollecito claims he wasn’t at the house at the time of the murder and, along with Knox, has pleaded innocent. The co-defendent begged the jury to believe him, asking them, “Why would I want to commit something so horrible as murder?” If convicted, both he and Knox face life sentences.

Rudy Guede, a citizen of the Ivory Coast, was also accused of being in the roomates’ house on the night of the stabbing. He fled to Germany after the murder, but was extradited, convicted in a separate trial for murder and sexual assault, and sentenced to 30 years. He is appealing his conviction.

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by Vera H-C Chan

“Singin’ in the Rain.” “Saturday Night Live.” “Star Wars.” “Purple Rain.” “Dirty Dancing.”

If you are of a certain vintage, you know these titles aren’t just generational films. The soundtracks provide the musical backdrop of their era. For this week’s movie releases, the songs for “Bandslam” and “The Time Traveler’s Wife” debuted in stores and online Tuesday. “District 9“—the most-searched movie of the week and the touted “stealth” summer hit—features some unusual music and an African-influenced score from Clinton Short. He’s been called “ composer to watch, but the deal for releasing his soundtrack didn’t close until days before the premiere.

That might be a coincidence, but even in the digital download era, soundtracks just aren’t the money-makers they used to be. Industry execs told The Wrap that studios think this hallowed tradition is “a waste of time.” Universal Pictures hasn’t bothered with a musical “Bruno” release. Likewise with Sony’s stalker thriller “Obsessed,” even with Beyonce as its star.

Plus, now that consumers are used to picking out a tune at a time, compilations from a film experience aren’t doing that well, even when iTunes requires that folks buy the whole album. The Wrap gives examples of weak sales compared to past hits, such as “Transformers 2″ versus the first, or “500 Days of Summer” vs. “Garden State.” (Notable latter-day exceptions: Hannah Montana and, of course, “Twilight.”)

One columnist from “The Wrap” spreads the blame around, and believes the soundtrack’s downfall started in the 90s, when studios opted for cheap tunes rather than original music. Record companies also may have charged too much (and ended up selling the same song over and over).

But some people do. Weak sales or not, below’s a Yahoo! Search playlist of popular movie soundtracks from the past 30 days. Incidentally, in the past 7 days, soundtrack demands have been high for films from the late John Hughes, who really knew the score for a generation. Could any of these below define the current one? 

1. Twilight Soundtrack 2. The Hangover Soundtrack 3. Transformers 2 Soundtrack 4. New Moon Soundtrack 5. Transformers Soundtrack 6. 500 Days of Summer Soundtrack 7. Watchmen Soundtrack 8. Never Back Down Soundtrack 9. The Ugly Truth Soundtrack 10. The Fast and the Furious Soundtrack 11. GI Joe Soundtrack

12. Obsessed Soundtrack 13. Funny People Soundtrack 14. The Time Traveler’s Wife Soundtrack 15. 10 Things I Hate About You Soundtrack 16. A Cinderella Story Soundtrack 17. Bruno Soundtrack 18. Urban Cowboy Soundtrack 19. Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack 20. Step Brothers Soundtrack (tie) 20. A Walk to Remember Soundtrack (tie) 20. Man on Fire Soundtrack (tie)

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by Claudine Zap

The stereotypical Whole Foods shopper is not a gun-toting protester. Instead, the natural-food consumers carry reusable totes. But some shoppers of the organic market are up in arms over a Wall Street Journal editorial by John Mackey, the store’s CEO, decrying Obama’s push for health care reform.

The head of the company warned that the president’s plan would move the country “much closer to a complete governmental takeover of our health care system.” Hold on. The head of Whole Foods, the market that serves high-end hippies with bleeding hearts and large wallets, publicly criticized Obama? Does the guy know who shops at his store?

Just in case not, some shoppers are putting down their locally sourced zucchini and signing on to a boycott. The Boycott Whole Foods Facebook group already has over 27,000 members. In the last seven days alone, searches on “whole foods boycott” have surged 300%. Other queries on the controversy include “john mackey whole foods,” “whole foods wall street journal,” and “whole foods health care.”

The movement has moved from the Web to the street, with picketers at stores in places like West Hollywood, Austin, and New York City.

After the overwhelmingly negative reaction from customers, Mackey tried to make nice on his blog. It wasn’t Whole Foods talking, he wrote, it was just him. But supporters of health care reform failed to see the difference. While the financial impact to the store has been minimal, the online impact has been notable: Over 17,000 comments to the Whole Foods Web Forum on the topic alone, compared with 250 posts on favorite recipes.

We’re guessing Mr. CEO is going to have to make nice to his staff for handling all those comments, too.

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by Claudine Zap

Kelly Clarkson hasn’t lost her voice. But she seems to have lost a few of her curves in her cover photo for Self magazine.
The songstress is gracing the September cover of Self’s “total body confidence issue.” But is it all just lip service if the cover girl is being digitally covered up?

Self magazine admits it did airbrush the singer, but no more than they do every other cover model. The editor-in-chief argued, “Our picture shows her confidence and beauty.”

Fine, but some are griping that Self magazine doesn’t have the confidence to show the singer’s real body—booty and all. A Fox asks, “Was Kelly Clarkson overly Phohopped?” then compares the cover pic with her recent more bodacious appearance on “Good Morning America.”

One person who doesn’t have a problem with her weight is Kelly Clarkson herself. She tells the magazine: “When people talk about my weight, I’m like, ‘You seem to have a problem with it; I don’t.I’m fine! I’ve never felt uncomfortable on the red carpet or anything.”

Cover buzz has sent plenty of people to the search box looking for the real Kelly Clarkson. Queries on “kelly clarkson self magazine” soared up the charts 100% in the last 7 days, along with searches for “kelly clarkson pictures,” “kelly clarkson phohop,” and “kelly clarkson pho.”

Comments on the Fox blog ranged from the cheerful to the conspiratorial: While one person gushed, “Kelly rocked the cover”; another lamented, “Trying to sell a magazine with cheating on photo. How can you trust the magazine to help you when they are doing that.”

One thing is for sure—suspiciously skinny photo or not, the Self cover is getting its share of the spotlight.

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by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day’s hottest searches.

1. Glenn Beck (Searches increased by 1,054%). The conservative talk-show host is up to his antics again: This time removing stars from the American flag for states he believes don’t respect states’ rights.
2. Oakland Housing Authority (+1,027%). An independent news story accuses Oakland of having a master plan to push poor African Americans out of its city.
3. Green tea (+675%). A look at past studies points to no clear evidence that the beverage helps prevent cancer.
4. Birthers (+327%). The debunked movement that claims President Obama is not a U.S. citizen has gotten some mainstream attention lately—even causing the White House to respond.
5. “Iron Man 2″ (+279%). Comic-Con buzz turned to Scarlett Johansson, who dons a lycra suit for her role as Black Widow in the “Iron Man” sequel.

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by Claudine Zap

We would want to be the last ones to ruin movie night, but this just in from Center for Science in the Public Interest: Chowing down on a medium popcorn and soda is the calorie equivalent to three McDonald’s quarter-pounders and 12 — yes 12 — pats of butter. And it gets worse: About 90% of this 1,600 calorie bomb comes from fat.

We know, shocker: Movie popcorn is bad for you. But it’s even worse than we thought. The killjoys who conducted this test point out that sitting through a two-hour movie isn’t exactly “climbing Mt. Everest,” but theaters are feeding us like we are. After all, where else do we get food in containers called tubs?

Mainly, the blame lies with the coconut oil used to pop the corn that really packs on the pounds. The two worst offenders are the biggest movie theater chains, Regal and AMC. The theater chain Cinemark switched to the healthier canola oil, so their salty snack comes in slightly better at under 1,000 calories for a medium popcorn. But still. Not exactly diet food. And all this is before you pour on the butter-flavored topping. Not to mention sodium levels that are off the charts. Those super-sized candy boxes are pretty bad too, adding up to around 500 calories for your favorite sugary snack. (And soda — simply extra empty calories in extra-large cups, the study says.)

The L.A. Times quoted a spokesperson for Regal defending the supersized practice by explaining that movie food is a “treat and not intended to be part of a regular diet.” But heck, it’s so unhealthy, should it even be part of an irregular diet? Clearly, the popcorn police think not.

Intrepid reporters at the New York Post headed to a local movie theater for follow-up. One movie-goer suggested cut-up fruit and veggies as a better way to go. Health food at the movies — why would anyone even bother?

This study is a follow-up to the original report that exposed the shocking truth about popcorn back in 1994. In response, some movie theaters offered — gasp — an airpopped alternative. Guess how well that went over. So successful, the study had to be done again 15 years later. The critics may whine, but the people have spoken: Feedbags with extra butter and salt, please.

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by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day’s hottest searches.

1. Black Friday coupons (Searches increased by 3,175%). Websites are already promoting deals for the day after Thanksgiving.
2. John F. Kennedy assassination (+1,450%). Today marks the 46th anniversary of the 35th president’s untimely death.
3. Weekend box office results (+210%). Not bad for a bunch of teen vampires and wolves: The “New Moon” saga brought in the third biggest box-office gross in history.
4. “Louboutins” (+204%). JLo took a tumble while performing her new single — an ode to the sky-high heels.
5. Susan Boyle news (+140%). The Internet novelty act put out her first album, which broke pre-order sales on Amazon. Critics were slightly less enthusiastic.

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by Mike Krumboltz

New faces stirred the Search box this week. Folks quickly turned to the Web to learn more about the president’s half-brother, a vilified soccer player, and a 2-year-old who helped deliver his baby brother. Catch up on these stories and more with the Buzz Week in Review.

President Obama’s family time
He’s still incredibly busy running the country, but President Obama found a little time this past week to catch up with his half-brother. While visiting Beijing on a diplomatic trip, Mr. Obama set aside a few minutes to talk with Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who shares the same father as the president. Mr. Ndesandjo made some headlines several months ago when he spoke about growing up with whom he called his “abusive father.” He and the president have rarely seen each other in person. After their latest meeting, Mr. Ndesandjo said he felt overwhelmed and “over the moon” about getting to see his famous sibling. Details of what was discussed weren’t revealed, but Searches still soared on both men’s names, as well as “obama family tree.”

Foul play on the pitch
In the Internet age, a person can become famous in the blink of an eye. Or, in Elizabeth Lambert’s case, infamous. The college soccer player became the focus of intense scrutiny this week after footage surfaced of her pulling an opponent down by her ponytail. The clip has been viewed millions of times on YouTube, and Ms. Lambert has since been suspended indefinitely by her team, the University of New Mexico Lobos. For her part, Ms. Lambert has expressed intense regret for the poor sportsmanship, and is seeing a psychologist to “help her better understand her actions.”

Special delivery
It was something out of a bad sitcom: Mom can’t get to the hospital fast enough, so her toddler has to help deliver the new baby. This time it really happened, and we’re happy to say that both mom, toddler, and baby are doing fine. Bobbye Favazza of Mississippi went into labor and ended up giving birth on the living-room sofa. According to a popular AP article, the woman’s toddler, Jeremiha, “got her a towel and caught the baby before firefighters arrived to cut the umbilical cord.” The story caught the attention of searchers. Lookups on “two year old delivers baby” experienced a miraculous surge.

Also buzzing this week.
• “New Moon” opened to ravenous crowds and tepid reviews.
• Oprah will end her talk show in 2011.
• Look out, Homer: There’s a new character in Springfield.

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by Claudine Zap

The vampire sequel “New Moon” may not be scoring big with critics. But that sure won’t be true for the box office. Hordes of Twi-hards stampeded movie theaters for a first look at a midnight viewing.

In fact, fans helped make the teen sensation a record-breaker, with the largest audience ever for a midnight movie. The picture reportedly raked in over $26 million, and beat out similar midnight showings of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “The Dark Knight.”

Of course, we could have guessed that the Robert Pattinson vehicle would go over well: One-day lookups on the Web have soared over 100% for “new moon movie.” Movie buffs have also been busy searching on “new moon movie tickets,” and “pre order new moon tickets.”

All this suggests, says USA Today, a movie weekend that could be the biggest of the year. Stay tuned for further record-breaking news.

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Cell Phones - Sales & Deals: Compare Prices, Reviews & Buy Online .boost mobile phones; sprint phones; verizon; sprint; t mobile phones; See all top searches . • Find, Compare, Read Reviews & Buy Find, Compare, Read Reviews & Buy Cell Phones - Sales .

While AT&T is holding its grip over the Apple iPhone the US, in order to earn more and more cash, in Europe things are starting to look up, as far as sales. . GSM Dome – Mobile Phone News · About Us · · Send Us Tips .No Exclusivity Equals Bigger iPhone Sales in Europe, AT&T Should .

Mobile Phone Sales On The Rise - Last News from Earth-Stream.com .Mobile phone sales rebounded in the third quarter after a series of falling numbers, and analysts expect even stronger growth for fourth quarter sales due to the holiday season.Technology research firm Gartner said mobile handset sales .

Indian IT group offers mobile TV based on DVB-H on OMAP (EETimes)Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. (L&T Infotech) has announced its DVB-H-based mobile TV solution based on the TI OMAP3530 reference platform.

by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day’s hottest searches.

1. 2009 health care bill (Searches increased by 781%). Republicans organized a “kill the bill” rally in D.C.
2. No Doubt (+558%). The band sued a video game maker for its depiction in “Band Hero.”
3. New York Yankees parade (+436%). The World Series champs were treated to a ticker tape parade.
4. Chelsea Clinton (+363%). The book of the secret Clinton tapes reveals the president to be a good father.
5. Lisa Kudrow (+259%). The “Friends” star will reunite with her former cast mate Courtney Cox on “Cougar Town.”

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by Claudine Zap

It’s true that money can’t buy everything: Shoplifters will steal the rest.

The profile of your average person looking for a five-finger discount has changed as the recession has hung around: It’s now middle-class types stealing little luxuries to “keep up appearances,” rather than survive. (Winona Ryder, you’ve got company.)

A British survey of shops showed an uptick in “shrinkage” (retailer jargon for theft). And they’re pointing the finger at not-the-usual suspects. Middle-class shoppers short on cash who justify their crime sprees as a sign of the times: It’s the economy, stupid. Wanna-be Martha Stewarts are snatching pricey cuts of meat, fish and cheeses, all to keep up with the just-as-broke Joneses’. Go figure. And it’s not just the U.k. Shoplifting has swept the the globe.

While some interviewed basically viewed the whole thing as a victimless crime, swiping goods, even from huge, global chainstores will hit everybody in the wallet (those that bother to use one) as retailers jack up the prices to make up for the losses.

Well, they say crime doesn’t pay.

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