Miley Cyrus: "Zac Efron is the Hottest Person in the World"

Watch out, Vanessa Hudgens: Miley Cyrus has her eyes on your man.

In a Tuesday radio interview with Sirius XM's The Morning Mash Up!, Cyrus shares her strong feelings about a fellow Disney star.

"I think Zac Efron is the hottest person in the world," she gushes. "I really, really like him."

The 17 year-old continues, "It's weird because he's my friend...I could call him and be like, whatever."

But the Hannah Montana star then clarifies that it's 22 year-old Efron's devotion to girlfriend Hudgens that makes him so appealing. "Zac could get any girl...and do whatever, and he is so loyal and a really good friend...He's just like super good looking."

Can Cyrus keep her composure around her crush? Sure, she says. "I'm pretty cool," she jokes. "I'm pretty much the coolest person ever."

The star is less talkative when asked about her more immediate romantic prospects -- like Liam Hemsworth, the costar with whom she locks lips in the 2010 film The Last Song. When the radio host mentions Hemsworth hookup rumors, she says, "I can neither confirm nor deny."

Later in the conversation, the singer-actress continues to slam the Twilight phenomenon, calling it a "cult."

"I think it's bad," she says. "People get too into it...When guys look at supermodels and they're like 'that's the perfect girl' that’s what those kind of movies do to us. You know what I'm saying? They're like thinking that's what girls should be like and not everyone is going to be Edward [Robert Pattinson], hate to say it."

CBS Rep: Why We Blurred Adam Lambert's Kiss and Not Madonna's

Madonna and Britney yes, Adam Lambert and male keyboardist no?

On Wednesday's Early Show appearance by Lambert, producers blurred the singer's open-mouth kiss with a male keyboardist during his controversial performance at Sunday's AMAs. Seconds later, an undistorted clip of Madonna smooching Britney Spears at the 2003 MTV VMAs ran.

What gives? A CBS rep explained the decision to Extratv:

"We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated, and for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences."

Jarrett Barrios, President of GLAAD, called the edits "an unfortunate double standard that is applied to openly gay performers. I would have hoped that CBS would provide the same treatment for images of gay and lesbian people and not create an unfair double standard that treats our community differently." Barrios also notes that the organization has reached out to the Early Show's producers to express these concerns.

Why can't Google be more like Microsoft?

Jeff Haynie has a wish. He wishes that when building an operating system, Google was as open as Microsoft. Or at least as open as Apple.

He's well aware that Google likes to open source Android code. He realizes the company just freed code for an early version of its netbook-happy Chrome OS. And, yes, he heard über-Googler Sundar Pichai say that Google devs would work on the same Chrome OS code tree as developers outside the Mountain View Chocolate Factory.

But judging from the rather closed nature of the open source Android project, Haynie argues that Pichai's words were, shall we say, on the disingenuous side.

Haynie is the founder and CEO of Appcelerator, a Silicon Valley startup whose Titanium development platform is a kind of Chrome OS counter-play. The open source platform lets you build native mobile and desktop applications using web-happy development languages, including Javascript, Python, and Ruby on Rails. Google's Chrome OS, by contrast, is a web-happy operating system that doesn't run native applications. If you can call that an operating system.

But Haynie's Titanium builds apps for Google's other OS. It churns out native runtimes for Android as well as Microsoft Windows, Apple's iPhone, and the Mac OS - among others. Having dealt with all three tech titans, Haynie much prefers the open practices of Apple and Microsoft to the preternaturally closed setup at Google. Open sourcing aside.

Apple and Microsoft at least provide developers with a near final version of a new OS months before it reaches the rest of world, letting them test drive the platform under a non-disclosure agreement. Before the iPhone 3.0 arrived, Haynie had more than enough time to get his ducks in a row.

But Google plays a different game. It says it's open. But in reality, it completes a new OS entirely behind closed doors. Then it dumps the final version onto the web just days before it reaches the commercial market. Android 2.0 hit the web little more than a week before it turned up on Motorola Droid phones and Haynie's customers started complaining about broken applications.

Google hadn't even warned devs that a new version was on the way - unless you count a Youtube video of giant eclair.

"Google pushes big snapshots of code to the open source tree only at certain times," Haynie tells The Reg. "It's not like, say, Mozilla. Everything Mozilla does is in the open. It's never a big surprise, like 'Hey. Here's this new piece of code called Android 2.0'"

Yes, it's nice that Google open sources stuff. As Google will tell you, the company has opened up more than a million lines of code over the years. But that says only so much about its development practices.

When Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai says that Google coders will work on the same Chrome OS code tree as external devs, you can't help but think he's misleading the masses. Yes, we have a snapshot of Google's preliminary code. But between now and the OS's official release next year, you can bet the real development will happen inside the Chocolate Factory - until Google thinks the time is right to open source another snapshot.

After the first Chrome OS netbooks arrive next year, Google will no doubt open source revised code. But until then, the developer world is on the outside, trying desperately to look in.

That's the way with Android. Google codes behind closed doors. Then it open sources. Then it goes back behind closed doors and codes a new version. Google played the game with Android 1.0. And then 2.0 ('Eclair'). And you can expect the same from 3.0 ('Flan,' apparently).

Yes, this is Google's prerogative. But for developers like Jeff Haynie, it's a hassle. And it's indicative of a much larger irony. As Google paints itself as an open company merely interested in the good of users and developers everywhere, it provides preciously little insight into what it's actually up to, leaving devs to wonder what role they might play in something that's shaping up to be a vastly restructured computing paradigm.

But surely the answer is obvious: Developers have almost no place in Google's grand plan - unless they're developing for the web. But there are doubts for web devs as well. And with Google dictating hardware terms for the Chrome OS - not to mention the swirling rumors of a Google-branded Googlephone - even hardware developers can't be sure of their place in Google's world.

Chrome OS isn't built for developers. It's built for Google. And online advertisers.

Playing dumb

Sundar Pichai's bit about the Chrome OS code tree was only the second most disingenuous statement of the day. Asked if Chrome OS was Google's attempt to unseat Microsoft on the desktop, co-founder Sergey Brin played, yes, dumb. "Call us dumb businessmen," he said. "But we really focus on user needs rather than think about strategies relative to other companies and whatnot."

At least Apple and Microsoft admit they're Fortune 500 companies interested in making large amounts of money. At least Apple and MS developers know where they stand. Google won't even acknowledge it has a plan, much less tell you what that plan might be.

But make no mistake: The plan is to collect your data and serve you ads. It's no wonder Google is open sourcing its OS code. It doesn't sell software. And it never will. It's an advertising company merely interested in tracking what you do - and targeting your eyeballs accordingly.

That's why Chrome OS has shut out native applications - not to mention local data. Google talks of speed and security, and that's all well and good. But there are other paths to speed and security. Google wants to force you into using its very own web-based services/data-hoarding ad platforms.

Web-based developers have a place in this world. At least, that's what Google says. It's still unclear how third parties will compete with Googly services. But even if Chrome OS is wonderfully open to third-party web devs, this leaves out far more than just Microsoft - Google's bete noir. If it can't run native applications, it can't run Skype. It can't run all sorts of media players and IM clients. And the list goes on.

Yes, Google provides for native applications on Android. But Android's closed open source model has its own drawbacks. And with handset makers free to reuse the code however they want, market fragmentation is inevitable. Google plays down talk of market fragmentation, but in the end, fragmentation doesn't matter to Google. It's even a good thing.

Once again: Google wants you on the web - not on local applications. Sergey Brin says that one day Chrome OS and Android will merge, and we can only assume they will merge in a way that freezes out local apps entirely.

If you believe the rumors, Google may even shun its own hardware partners in its ongoing quest for ad dollars. After a widely ridiculed claim from TechCrunch that Mountain View is developing its very own Googlephone, The Times (of London) has served up a story saying much the same thing.

According to The Times, this alleged VoIP phone will use a new version of Android dubbed Flan. In case you're slow: Flan is not open source. Google won't even say if it exists.

A representative of HTC - the Taiwanese handset manufacturer - tells Appcelerator's Jeff Haynie that it has 150 engineers working inside the Mountain View Chocolate Factory. They may or may not be working on the Googlephone. But it wouldn't surprise us if they are.

With Chrome OS, Google has shown it wants control of the hardware as well as the operating system. It'll open source the alleged Flan - after leaking a video of a giant dessert onto YouTube - but don't let that fool you into thinking Google will have anything less than complete control of the entire device. If you can call it a device. It's really just an ad platform.

Big Bang sets date for delayed Japan tour

Korean idol group Big Bang is set to go on their Japan tour next February, according to a report on Wednesday.


The boy band will be kick off the tour, titled "Electric Love Tour 2010", at Yokohama Arena on February 10 and continue onto Kobe and Tokyo for a total of four shows.

The Tokyo concert will be held at Budokan, one of the most prestigious concert arenas in the world. Many of the world's biggest artists in the music industry have performed at the venue including the legendary pop group Beatles in 1966.

Big Bang, one of most successful idol groups in Korea, had been putting off the Japan tour with member Daesung suffering injures from a car accident in August. According to reports, the concert has been re-arranged to take place on a smaller scale than originally planned.

The group's latest single in Japan, "Let Me Hear Your Voice", released earlier in the month, ranked third on Oricon's daily singles chart and fourth on the weekly singles chart.

They are scheduled to appear on Nihon TV's year-end awards ceremony "Best Hit Festival 2009" on November 26.

Barbie Hsu Wants to Stop Living the Single Life and Meet Guys

Recently busy with film work, Da S (Barbie Hsu) attended a promotional event for beauty products in Hong Kong, while also talking about her feelings to the public. Da S admitted that she’s at the low point of her love life, and would like to quickly stop living the single life. Having had previous relationships with both Blue Lan and Vic Chou, Barbie expressed that for her future love life, the guy doesn’t have to be rich, and that he has to be mature.

Taiwan’s “Today’s News” reported that since her debut with girl band ASOS with sister Xiao S (Dee Hsu), the two of them have always been outspoken about their image in popular entertainment world. They have also been willing to share their lives with her fans, no matter how big or small. Unlike other entertainers, who are unwilling to talk about their love lives, the sisters have been uncharacteristic, with Xiao S publicly talking about her break up and falling in love, and Da S’s feelings with Blue Lan and Vic Chou never being a secret.

Seeing her younger sister already married and having a happy family as someone’s wife, Da S also expressed interest in marriage on more than one occasion. In her previous endorsement of donning night gowns, Da S said she wanted to wear sexy nightwear with her husband in the future. And at a event endorsing beauty products, when in the throngs of people a fan held up her child to catch a glance of the idol’s presence, Da S got to hold the child for her to hug. She said that she really likes children herself, and when she sees children, she can’t help but want to hold them.

Every time there’s a scandal with someone from her circle of friends, Da S laughs and says that it’s because she has such a small circle, and that she often doesn’t have time to meet friends outside her circle. Besides her co-workers, family is her life. Having debuted since she was ten years old, Da S stated that her life has been under the spotlight for so many years. She always believed before that love was everything.and that she never felt that love should be hidden. But Da S expressed that thinking about it in retrospect, it gets tiring for her every move to be watched, and that the next time she falls in love, she will keep a low profile.

Rob Bringing Kristen Home for the Holidays

Robert Pattinson has a Christmas surprise planned for Kirsten Stewart — the New Moon hunk is planning to take his love to the English countryside for the holidays.

“He’s enlisted the help of his mom, Clare, to find a cottage where he and Kris can spend a few days together,” an insider reveals OK! in the issue currently on sale now.

Sources say the two will already be in England to spend the holidays with Rob’s parents who are over the moon for Kristen.

Kristen first met the Pattinsons in May for Rob’s 23rd birthday dinner in Vancouver while filming New Moon. Rob also flew his parents to Paris during this month’s New Moon promotional tour where the foursome enjoyed another intimate dinner together.

“They think she’s perfect for Rob and told her they’d like her to join them for Christmas dinner,” the source says.

New Google search UI brings color, search options

Google's new search results page brings more search options to the fore amid brighter colors that nod at recent changes made by its rivals.


Small groups of Google searchers over the past week or so have seen the new design as the company tests the new user interface, but not everybody was able to gain access to the interface. On Wednesday, Gizmodo published some tips on how to force Google into serving the new pages, and therefore we can bring you some screen shots of the new look and feel for Google search.

The first thing you'll probably notice is the left-hand rail, which has Google's search options feature presented in full color and in permanent position: previously, you had to toggle the search options feature at the top of the search results page, and the links were presented in Google's classic spartan blue. The search bar at the top of the page also has a big blue "Search" button in place of the gray button that used to occupy that space.

Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, told Search Engine Land last week that the new pages are designed to eliminate inconsistencies in how Google presented search results after it added several new elements to the page. But it also mimics what Yahoo and Microsoft have been doing with their search results pages, focusing on presentation and new ways to sort results.

Let us know what you think of the new search user interface. Fair warning: the procedure described by Gizmodo caused a few temporary issues for some CNET folks that cleared up upon a few refreshes. Google will be testing the new pages for several weeks before deciding what will make the final cut for all searchers.

Keiko Kitagawa to play deaf role in "Hitsudan Hostess" drama

Rising actress Keiko Kitagawa (23) will star in a drama special on TBS titled "Hitsudan Hostess." The story is based on the bestselling autobiography of 25-year-old Rie Saito, who became a number-one hostess in Ginza despite being deaf.

"Hitsudan Hostess" was published by Kobunsha this past May, and so far it has sold roughly 115,000 copies. The book depicts the life of Saito, who was born in Aomori and became deaf at the age of 1 due to an illness. She rebelled against her strict parents, and she ran away from home several times as a youth. At a local club, she began taking an interest in "hitsudan" (communicating through writing), which she later made use of when she moved to Tokyo and became a popular hostess at a Ginza club.

Kitagawa will play the part of Saito in the drama, with Yoshiko Tanaka (53) playing her mother. Kitagawa's role will be difficult as it has almost no lines, requiring her to express herself in a different way. Incidentally, the actress already has a strong interest in writing, as she learned calligraphy at a young age.

The show, scheduled to air in January, will include an introduction by Saito herself.

Park ShinHye’s boyish image is proven to have gained success!

Actress Park ShinHye successfully gained success for her Girl Boy character in “You’re Beautiful” drama!


The actress plays the twin sibling Go Minam (Man) and Go Minyu (Woman) in ‘You’re Beautiful” drama. Her natural acting for the 2 characters in the drama has been popular among the drama lover as people is putting their eyes on the drama since the very amusing scene in which Park ShinHye transformed from a nun’s dress into a man’s outfit in the drama’s 1st episode!

Not only Park ShinHye, other casts : Jang GeunSuk, Lee HongKi and Jung YoungHwa are also another aspect of the fame. And the popularity of “You’re Beautiful” drama is also proven as people is requesting the drama’s Season 2 production.



Girl Boy character is actually not a new hype in the k-drama industry as in 2007, Yoon EunHye did the same for MBC “Coffee Prince” as well as actress Moon GeunYoung for 2008 SBS drama “The painter of the Wind” . The previous 2 dramas were also known to gained success.

Meanwhile, tv viewers are now in much anticipation for “You’re Handsome” last episode which will be aired on November 26 via its 16th episode!

Here’s a photo spread for all Go Minam fans!




Rihanna Celebrates Album Release With Jay-Z, Diddy, More

Singer's Rated R party marks the culmination of a month of heavy, soul-baring promotion.

To quote a track from her just-released album, Rated R, the wait is over for Rihanna.

The singer was feted at her album-release party in Manhattan on Tuesday night as Jay-Z, Diddy and Fabolous, among others, turned out at Juliet's Supper Club to celebrate Rihanna's first project since her February assault earlier this year by Chris Brown.

The Barbadian beauty arrived at the festivities fashionably late, just after 1 a.m., but the cameras were at the ready, capturing Rihanna's red-carpet strut. The fashion icon sported a shimmering gold micro-dress with long spikes sporadically jutting out all over and matching shoes.

Rihanna was quickly escorted inside where DJ D-Nice was spinning tunes ranging from Jay-Z's "Run This Town" (featuring the guest of honor) to Maino's "Million Bucks" and, of course, RiRi's Young Jeezy collaboration, "Hard."


Frequent Rihanna collaborator Sean Garrett said he was happy to support the Def Jam star. He said she took more control of this album, her fourth, and showed that she is not only resilient but also, at 21, she's more of a woman at this point in her career.

"She was very, very picky [with this album]," Garrett told MTV. "She was going through a lot, so I think her emotions were leaning to things that were closer to her heart as opposed to closer to the radio, to be real honest. And that's the sign of a real, true artist."


The atmosphere remained festive both inside and outside the venue.

Jay-Z, a longtime Rihanna advocate and supporter, arrived with Diddy in a black Maybach. Tyson Beckford, Rick Ross, DJ Clue, DJ Envy and New York Jets star Thomas Jones were also in attendance.

Monday's Rated R release came on the heels of a media blitz that began with some very personal interviews with ABC's Diane Sawyer, Glamour magazine, Hot 97 and MTV News. The media appearances were her first since her assault as she broke her silence and explained in detail the attack and her desire to move on. She told MTV News that her album is the summation of her emotions in the aftermath of that fateful night.

"This album is an expression of all those feelings that I went through in the last eight months, just different emotions," she explained. "All of it isn't angry, all of it isn't dark and sad, 'cause I didn't go through that the whole time. That was part of it. It was really a roller-coaster, and you get that when you're listening to the album."

Why to embrace Firefox 3.6's new-tab ethos

Sometimes it's the little things that count.

The most prominent feature of Firefox 3.6 is Personas, which let you reskin the browser with thousands of different looks. But my single favorite change is a subtler change to the open-source browser's user interface.

Specifically, when you open a link in a new tab, it appears immediately to the right of the active tab. Before, the new tabs would appear to the far right of the strip of tabs.

Yup, that's it. For those of us who spend hours a day in a browser, though, the new tab behavior helps group related tasks together. I constantly shuffle among dozens of tabs, and the new approach automatically brings some organization to my cluttered life.

However, I know it's not everybody's favorite browser behavior. So along with explaining why I like it, I'll also take some potshots and share instructions on how to get the old way back.

Why it's better

The more things I do with a browser--and the number has increased steadily for years now--the more important it becomes to be able to find different tasks amid the chaos. Microsoft and Apple understand this, as evidenced by the new taskbar features in Windows 7 and dock expose in Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard. Those features make it easier to pluck out the one window you need from among the many you may have open.

There's a pattern to how I spawn the dozens of tabs I use as a day progresses. On a variety of pages--Gmail, Google Reader, Yahoo Finance, somebody's blog post--I'll encounter a host of links to other pages. I'll middle-click my mouse button to open interesting pages as background tabs, then use Ctrl-Tab to switch to the new pages when I'm ready. I repeat this pattern many times a day.

With the old behavior, each tab appeared to the far right of the tab strip. That's fine when getting started, but when I've moved halfway across the list and want to open another batch, I want the new ones--call them children--to open next to their parent tab. When I go away and come back, or when I lose place juggling tasks, it's easier to find my bearings again.

It's like being in a library. When you're in the European history section, you don't want to find books on rewiring your house and on vegetarian cooking.

As a longtime Firefox user, I didn't realize tab positioning could be better. When I started using Google's Chrome, which introduced the new tab behavior to me, the scales were lifted from my eyes. I immediately could get to the next tab with a quick press of Ctrl-Tab on the keyboard rather than have to use the mouse to click over to the far end of the list. I use both browsers daily, but until the Firefox 3.6 beta arrived, the new-tab position had become a sore point for me when in Firefox.

The change is actually a big deal in a couple ways. First, even seemingly minor changes in software can be disruptive. Old habits die hard, and computer users wrestling with constant change can get angry when more is foisted upon them.

Second, though, browsers are assuming an ever greater role in what people do in their personal and professional lives, and keeping one's bearings is commensurately important. That's especially true for those people for whom a gaggle of browser tabs represents a collection of chores going on in parallel.


Internet Explorer 8 categorizes related tabs by color.

How the competition handles it

Tabs are now universal among browsers, but new-tab behavior isn't. Firefox and Chrome handle it the way I like best, but how do others tackle the issue?

First, let's look at Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft showed it understands some of the challenges of tab management in its latest version of its browser by coloring child tabs the same hue as their parents, but I have a gripe with how it works. Specifically, although child tabs get the same color as their parents for easy grouping and arrive to the right, grandchild tabs are the same color as child tabs. Similarly, grandchild tabs appear to the far right of the whole group of child tabs.

In my mind, I consider grandchild tabs a separate group from the child tabs. But with IE, grandchildren get the same color and position treatment as children. The only way to get a new color is to start a fresh empty tab There's no easy way to give grandchildren a new color without causing some confusion, though--should the child be the same color as the original parent or change color to be grouped with the grandchildren?

Next is Opera, which gives users a choice. By default, it opens new tabs to the far right, which I don't like, but in the Advanced|Tabs section of the preferences dialog box, you can check "Open new tab next to active." Huzzah!

There's a subtle change here I don't care for, though. Tabs always appear immediately to the right of the active tab. I'd rather have all one tab's children appear in sequence to the right. For example, if a parent tab is in position 1, then the first child would be in position 2, the second in position 3, and the third in position 4. Opening three child tabs in Opera leaves the parent in position 1, the third child in position 2, the second child in position 3, and the first child in position 4.

Last, there's Safari. It does it the old way I loathe with no option to change. Too bad.


Firefox can show thumbnail previews of new tabs, but I find them hard to recognize in front of busy Web pages.

Why it's not enough

Most browser makers are excited about the fact that their software is subsuming more and more computing tasks that previously ran on computer operating systems. But as browsers inherit this central importance, they also inherit some of the hassles.

The new tab positioning behavior in Firefox is a step in the right direction, but there's more that needs to be done. Moving from one tab to a related adjacent one, whether through a keyboard command or mouse clicking, is a minor change. But things get harder when you need to switch from one group of tabs to the next.

There's work under way here. Opera is perhaps the leader with the ability to show thumbnails as you use Ctrl-Tab to cycle your list of open tabs.

Firefox has been noodling with the approach too. It tried then dropped tab thumbnail previews earlier, but the technology is still present. Using the about:config system for tweaking the browser (more on this later), you can change the "browser.ctrlTab.previews" setting to "true."

But for reasons that aren't clear to me, I don't find this effective either in Firefox or Opera. Perhaps I haven't used it enough, or the thumbnails are too small to be immediately recognizable, or they're just hard to see against the noisy background. There's a good reason that Apple dims the background most of the way to black when using Expose.


Aero Peek in Windows 7 lets the task bar show a glimpse of Firefox and IE tabs.

Windows itself is helping, too. The new taskbar in Windows 7 can show individual tabs, once browsers support the feature. It's in Internet Explorer 8, and it's in the new Firefox 3.6 beta.

Add-ons such as Firefox Showcase can further tweak Firefox. (Indeed, for a wealth of options, check Mashable's handy Firefox tab management guide.)

More interesting to me, though, is work under way to expand Firefox's "awesome bar" abilities. Today, typing in it opens Web pages and retrieves ones you've already visited or bookmarked. In the future, it could be able to move you to another open tab, too. I'm a keyboard guy, so particularly appreciate this idea.

You can get a taste of the idea now. If you've enabled the "browser.ctrlTab.previews" option, hitting Ctrl-Shift-Tab will not only show you thumbnail previews, but will put a cursor in a search box.

Typing the letters of the Web page name will winnow down the thumbnails. For example, typing "netap" will cull my open tabs so only Net Applications and NetApp show. If you have a bunch of similar tabs all open, this might not help much, of course.

However, the feature only works with the tabs of one browser window, so if you can't use it to search among other browser instances.

How to get the old way back


Perhaps I've convinced you that the new approach is better. But perhaps not--in which case I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments so people will hear more than my opinion.

For those who don't like the new tab positions, you can revert to the old method.


To get the old style back for new tab position, use Firefox's about:config system.

First type "about:config" in the Firefox address bar. You'll get a warning that you're tinkering with Firefox's innards and you should be careful, but this isn't brain surgery, so don't be frightened. Click the "I'll be careful, I promise" button, and you'll see a big list of all the browser settings that can be tweaked.

Next, in the text box labeled "Filter:", type "tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent"; you should see just one entry below. In the column marked "Value," double-click on the word "true" to change it to "false." You're done.

But I'd encourage you to at least give the new way a try. If you don't like it, you can always change back.

JYP on tvN E News coverage of JaeBum, “We feel bad”

After the broadcast of the current situation for JaeBum has been revealed, the voices of his agency and his fans have been getting louder and louder.

On the 25th, cable channel tvN’s ‘E News’ released a preview promising a recent update on JaeBum in Seattle, America.

Fans have been leaving messages on the show’s board stating “Jaebum is not a machine you can use to raise viewer ratings,” and “This is an invasion of privacy,” clearly expressing their distaste.

A representative of JaeBum’s agency, JYPE, stated “We feel bad.”

tvN has stated that after Jaebum returned to America, he has been working twice a week at a tire shop owned by his father’s friend. In his free time, they revealed that he spends busy days practicing piano and dance.

What Tohoshinki can do, but not Dong Bang Shin Gi

It seems unlikely fans will get to see all five members of Dong Bang Shin Gi (TVXQ) in Korea for the time being but Tohoshinki, as they are called in Japan, is set to resume their activities in the country, according to reports. According to Japanese media including "Daily Sports", the group is set to appear on Nihon TV's year-end awards ceremony "Best Hit Festival 2009" on November 26. They proved they remain a force to be reckoned with, being nominated for the Gold Artist Award alongside top Japanese singers including EXILE and Koda Kumi. TVXQ has also decided to show up at Fuji TV's "FNS Kayousai 2009" on December 2 and have also been juggling their schedule to make appearances on NHK's "Kohaku Uta Gassen", translated into "Red and White Song Battle", and other year-end music ceremonies.

Hence, TVXQ will undertaking their activities in Japan as a five-member group for the first time in three months since last performing together at the A-Nation Osaka concert on August 30. After Japanese media quoted Korean reports saying the group may be on the verge of disbanding over legal disputes, TVXQ's fans in Japan had been as worried as fans in Korea over what lies in the future for one of Asia's most popular boy bands. NHK broadcast a rerun of an episode featuring the group in its music program "Music Japan" upon receiving endless requests from viewers. And Ishihara, producer for the program and also executive producer for NHK's "Kohaku", wrote on his blog, "I know many of you TVXQ fans out there must feel insecure in many ways these days. I really hope this rerun makes you happy and we hope to be able to make a second TVXQ special in the near future."

Meanwhile, TVXQ's Japanese agency Avex reaffirmed its stance it announced on August 6, saying it will continue to carry out full-fledged support of the group's activities in Japan. Other than making TV appearances, the band is also set to release their 29th single "BREAK OUT!" in Japan on January 27 next year. But fans will get to hear the lively dance tune ahead of the single's release, as it will be the theme song to NHK's Thursday night drama "Tomehane! Suzusato High School, Calligraphy Club" premiering January 7. TVXQ also plans to meet with fans thereafter, starting with Kobe between January 19 to 20, a week later in Sendai and on the two last days of the month in Yokohama.

Who is that nuzzling up to Emma Watson? Certainly not her boyfriend

Her boyfriend had been worried that Emma Watson would fall for 'an American hunk' when she went off to study in the U.S.


Slinky Spanish rock stars obviously didn't occur to him.

Miss Watson, best known as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, was spotted side-by-side with Rafael Cebrian at an ice hockey match in New York this week.

Both are studying at the prestigious Ivy League Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

But unlike many other students, they have already established impressive CVs outside the classroom.


Miss Watson, 19, who is also the face of Burberry's autumn range, is studying art and literature while Mr Cebrian, drummer with Spanish rock group the Monomes, is studying drama and music.

The band's album topped the Spanish charts and he was recently named one of Spain's 'top five hottest men'.

The pair joined Yves Saint Laurent creative director Stefano Pilati at the match at Madison Square Garden.

Miss Watson's boyfriend of 18 months, banker Jay Barrymore, 26, has made frequent trips to see her since she moved to the U.S. to study two months ago.

Last night, Miss Watson's spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Gossip Girl: A Big Shocker and Why the Show Will Get Good Again!

"I can't stand Gossip Girl this season! The storylines are boring, the chemistry is gone and even Chuck and Blair have lost their edge. Help! Is there any hope or should I stop watching?"

This email just in from Natalie in Portland, Ore., and Natalie, we have a sweet little Thanksgiving gift for you: It is getting good again. Hands off the delete button on your DVR!

It seems many of you fans aren't feeling the same love for the Upper East Siders this year, and sources close to the series tell me the creative powers behind it are well aware.

"The producers had sort of a come-to-Jesus meeting where they realized the show was off track and decided to set it right," one insider who works on GG tells me. "They're bringing back the OMG."

So how will they do it? And what major storyline was I—confession time!—dead wrong about?

Well, even though it is true that John Robert Burke (Bart Bass) will be coming back to Gossip Girl, my speculation that Bart might actually be alive is not true. "He'll be a ghost," one source tells me.

But, get this—Spoiler alert!—that doesn't mean that Chuck doesn't have a "dead" parent who might not be so dead after all!

"There's a huge storyline later this season that is going to blow you away," promises my source. "And it involves Chuck, Jack Bass and Chuck's mother."

Also making a comeback? Serena's father. "We will see him this season," says the source. "But he hasn't been cast yet."

Suggestions?

Whoever it is, he's going to bring with him another major storyline arc and mucho trouble for Rufus Humphrey.

Also in the love department, thanks to Chuck's newfound family dramarama, you can expect Chuck and Blair to heat up again.

And for you Olivia (Hilary Duff) haters, you'll be happy to hear that she is off the series for good, leaving Dan all by his wonesome to get together with longtime special friend (with threesome benefits) Vanessa.

I'm also told that the long-held feelings Nate has had for Serena (don't forget the triangle drama that started off the series) will add some pretty deep emotion to their upcoming pairing.

Lady Gaga Tells Fans 'It's OK' To Be A Freak

Singer says she hopes fans 'feel like they have a freak in me to hang out with' in appearance on 'Ellen DeGeneres Show.'

With her flamboyant outfits and stage persona, Lady Gaga certainly doesn't look like a traditional pop star. She admits that she finally feels cool with being that kooky person after years of trying to figure out how to fit in. And, as always, she says it's all about pleasing her fans.

"The whole point of what I do — the Monster Ball, the music, the performance aspect of it — I want to create a space for my fans where they can feel free and they can celebrate," she said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" airing Friday. "I didn't fit in in high school, and I felt like a freak. So I like to create this atmosphere for my fans where they feel like they have a freak in me to hang out with and they don't feel alone."

Gaga, who sang her singles "Bad Romance" and "Speechless" off her album The Fame Monster, added that she isn't acting the part of Lady Gaga as some gimmick. This is really her, whether you get it or not.

"This is really who I am, and it took a long time to be OK with that," she explained. "Maybe in high school you, Ellen, you feel discriminated against. Like you don't fit in and you want to be like everyone else but not really, and in the inside you want to be like Boy George — well, I did anyway. So I want my fans to know that it's OK. Sometimes in life you don't always feel like a winner, but that doesn't mean you're not a winner. You want to be like yourself. ... I want my fans to know it's OK."

Blogging Vs. Microblogging: Twitter’s Global Growth Flattens, While WordPress’ Picks Up

Only a year ago, the conventional wisdom was that blogs were dead and microblogging would soon replace them. Twitter was supposed to kill blogs because it’s so much simpler to publish one sentence fragment at a time rather than whole thoughts bunched together into what is known in the trade as “paragraphs.”


Today, blogs are doing fine, while Twitter is struggling with flattening growth, at least to its Website Twitter.com (clients like Seesmic and TweetDeck have seen no slowdown). The weakness Twitter has been experiencing in the U.S. since last summer is now finally hitting its worldwide visitor growth as well.

In October, comScore estimates that Twitter had 58.3 million unique visitors worldwide, down from 58.4 million in September. Meanwhile, Wordpress.com gained 10 million unique visitors to end the month at 151.8 million—this is after going pretty much nowhere since March, 2009.

Of course, I am using Wordpress.com as a proxy for all blogging here (I could have just as easily used Blogger, which is actually bigger with 291.7 million visitors worldwide. And Blogger saw a similar holding pattern since March, with a huge sudden jump of 18.2 million visitors in October

So is blogging back, while microblogging is on the skids? A one-month spike in the popularity of blogs doesn’t tell you much of anything, but in any case it’s the wrong question. Blogging never really went away, and was in fact helped by Twitter, which is becoming the preferred feed reader for many people (thanks to services like Twitterfeed).

And don’t count out microblogging just yet. Twitter is finally rolling out improvements to its site such as Lists and the new Retweet button. Once geo-location features kick in, Twitter’s growth could come back with a vengeance.

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