CBS' "Two and a Half Men" ratings surge (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? Ten months after "Two and a Half Men" looked destined for cancellation, TV's top rated sitcom is the biggest ratings gainer of the new fall season -- and anchors a CBS Monday night that looks unstoppable.

Charlie Sheen's firing on March 7 could easily have been the end of the series. Warner Bros. TV, which produces the show, was ominously silent about its future. Suggestions about possible Sheen replacements -- Rob Lowe? John Stamos? -- quickly fizzled out.

Things couldn't be more different now. An analysis by TheWrap of this fall's network ratings finds that "Men" has climbed 39.1 percent in the prized 18-49 demo -- far more than any other show. (We looked at the start of the season through the week of November 13, compared to the same period last year.)

"I don't think there's any question it validates the move to bring it back," said Kelly Kahl, CBS's senior executive vice president of primetime.

"When we were sitting around in May talking about what we would be happy with, we all agreed: If we were anywhere close to where we were a year ago, we'd be thrilled."

The show has far exceeded such expectations -- and also those of Sheen. Soon after Ashton Kutcher was named as his replacement, Sheen predicted in May that the show would average a mere 2.0 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds.

"Enjoy the show, America," he told TMZ. "Enjoy seeing a 2.0 in the demo every Monday, WB."

Try three times that. The show is averaging a 6.4 rating, far better than the 4.6 it earned last year with Sheen in the lead. It has averaged 17.8 million total viewers.

It anchors a bulletproof Monday comedy block for CBS, which also includes another Chuck Lorre comedy, "Mike & Molly," as well as "How I Met Your Mother" and the new "2 Broke Girls," the season's highest-rated new series.

To seize on the tremendous curiosity around the revamped "Men," CBS followed its September 19 premiere with the debut of "Girls," which had the network's best-testing pilot ever.

"Men" returned to an explosive 10.3 rating and 27.7 million total viewers. "Girls" arrived to a 7 rating and 19.1 million.

Both shows have since slipped from those numbers -- "Girls" to a 5.5 demo rating and 13.8 million. But they remain among the most formidable shows on the air.

How formidable?

Last week, CBS won Monday night airing reruns -- yes, reruns -- even as its competitors offered mostly new shows. (ABC aired a mix of holiday specials, a "Castle" rerun, and the tanking new game show "You Deserve It.")

Not only is CBS winning, but it's winning for less. Kutcher earns below $1 million an episode, compared to the nearly $2 million Sheen received, including syndication royalties and other payouts.

Sheen received a $25 million settlement when he sued over his firing, but it covered back-end payments he would have received in any case.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111207/tv_nm/us_twoandahalfmen

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The Air Force Has Never Looked More Sci-Fi [Image Cache]

The F-16 is a plane from the 1970s—there was no YouTube then!—but judging from this photo, it's straight outta 2170. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uILPZdfZCfY/the-air-force-has-never-looked-more-sci+fi

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Motorola Admiral (Sprint)

The Motorola Admiral ($99.99 with two-year contract) is the first smartphone?to hook into Sprint's next-generation?Direct Connect?service. The new CDMA-based Direct Connect is taking the place of Nextel's antiquated iDEN network, which Sprint will begin?to decommission in 2013?and switch off entirely in 2017. The Admiral is a great device to introduce the new service with, a rugged Android smartphone with a physical keyboard. It's the best push-to-talk smartphone on Sprint right now.

Design, Call Quality, and Direct Connect
The Motorola Admiral measures 4.7 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.7 ounces. It's made of a mixture of glass and rubberized plastic, with a textured, soft touch back panel that makes the phone very comfortable to hold. The Admiral is designed to meet Military Standard 810G for dust, shock, vibration, solar radiation, low pressure, and high and low temperatures. It feels solid, and a lot tougher than your average smartphone, but I'm not sure it would survive a hard drop onto concrete; keep that in mind and make sure to get your hands on the phone before you decide it's right for your workplace.

There's a camera button on the right side of the phone, power and speakerphone controls on the top, and volume controls and a push-to-talk button on the left. The 3.1-inch touch screen is a little small, but looks ultra sharp and vibrant thanks to the 480-by-640-pixel resolution. There are four haptic feedback-enabled touch keys right below the display. The QWERTY keyboard is about the same size as what you'd find on a BlackBerry. The keys seem a little cramped, but they're angled for optimal separation and super clicky, so typing is a breeze.

The Motorola Admiral is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (800/1900 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. It also works as a mobile hotspot for up to five devices with the appropriate data plan. There's no 4G, but Sprint's CDMA network is much faster than the old iDen system. Download speeds averaged 1.4Mbps down, while upload speeds were around 1Mbps up.

Call quality was very good. Voices sound warm and full in the earpiece. The volume gets plenty loud, but the phone begins to rattle a bit at the maximum setting. Calls made with the phone sound clear and natural, and there's some side-tone to prevent you from yelling, though noise cancellation is just average. The speakerphone sounds very loud and clear, so you can definitely use the Admiral outside, though you may have trouble hearing it over heavy construction. Calls sounded good through a Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars) and voice dialing worked fine. Battery life was excellent at 9 hours 53 minutes of talk time.

Direct Connect supports Call Alert With Text, which sends an audio alert and SMS to another subscriber letting them know why you're trying to reach them. There's also Group Connect, which brings 20 subscribers together all at once. In addition, you can mass-message up to 200 Direct Connect subscribers nationwide, or send recorded messages to email addresses or handsets via text message, all with the Direct Connect button.?

You need to be in a Sprint coverage area in order to use the Admiral, but you can still make push-to-talk calls to iDEN subscribers. Push-to-talk quality is excellent. I placed a call from one Direct Connect device to another. The response was nearly instantaneous, and the sound was loud and clear. Current iDEN users will find a lot to like here.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/qn1Mph8PJOU/0,2817,2397149,00.asp

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No number yet on boost to IMF from eurozone central banks (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Talks on the size of loans from euro zone national central banks to the International Monetary Fund are starting at a technical level after euro zone finance ministers gave the green light to explore the idea last Tuesday, officials said on Saturday.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to rapidly explore boosting the resources of the IMF through bilateral loans, so that the Fund can match the new firepower of the euro zone bailout fund, which is being leveraged.

"No amount has been discussed at the political level," one senior euro zone official involved in the talks said.

"Discussions are only starting at the technical level, so right now any number is pure speculation," the official said.

The euro zone wants to boost IMF resources so that the fund could provide a credible backstop should the euro zone's third and fourth largest economies of Italy and Spain be cut off from the markets and need a multi-year emergency loan program.

Euro zone officials have offered various guesses on the possible size of loans to the IMF, ranging from "significantly less than 100 billion euros" to "several hundred billion euros."

"Work on this is still going on. It is premature to talk about numbers," a second euro zone official familiar with the talks said. Two other euro zone officials confirmed no amounts have been discussed yet.

The euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), has uncommitted resources of around 250 billion euros, while the IMF's lending capacity now is around $380 billion (283 billion euros).

MULTIPLYING FIREPOWER

Depending on investor interest in the two leveraging options approved on Tuesday for the EFSF by euro zone ministers, the fund could multiply its firepower several times -- although it is expected to be short of the four times leverage envisaged six weeks ago because of rapidly deteriorating market conditions.

If IMF resources were to be increased to "adequately match" the EFSF, as the Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said after euro zone ministers met on Tuesday, the aim could be to multiply the funds several times as well.

The EFSF alone could not handle a Spain or Italy bailout now. Even if it joined forces with the IMF at the IMF's current lending capacity, it might still not be enough. The only institution with adequate firepower is the European Central Bank.

Because the ECB is not a member of the IMF, but euro zone countries are, it would be through national central banks of the euro zone that the increase of resources to the IMF would take place, euro zone officials said.

The money could be either put in the IMF's general revenue account or a special trust fund for the euro zone only. The advantage of the general account would be that all IMF members would be liable for the repayment of the loans.

The special trust fund, on the other hand, would be able to intervene on the secondary markets, for example.

Euro zone officials hope that emerging market economies like China, Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia would participate with their own cash in the resource increase.

"It remains to be seen how exactly that could be done, but of course the more participation the better," a third euro zone official said.

Euro zone officials said that a decision to increase IMF resources, while already heralded by an agreement at the G20 summit in Cannes to explore it, could be made at the next meeting of G20 finance ministers in Mexico in February.

(Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111203/bs_nm/us_eurozone_imf_resources

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Top 10 Tech This Week (Mashable)

The world of technology and gadgets continued its explosive pace of innovation this week, with astonishing inventions making their mark on offices, home theaters, battlefields and even on your feet. Buckle up, because we've narrowed the field down to the best, brightest, fastest and most futuristic collection of the Top 10 Tech This Week you've ever seen. [More from Mashable: Nanotechnology Puts a Medical Lab in Your Hand]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111203/tc_mashable/top_10_tech_this_week

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New comedy album on tap for Jimmy Fallon

NEW YORK?? "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon is known for performing with his famous musical guests, including Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen and Blake Shelton, so it seems only natural the comedian and music enthusiast would release a new album.

Fans won't have to wait long. His second record, not yet titled, is scheduled for release next summer on Warner Music Nashville. It will feature parodies and music that have become instant classics on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."

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His first album, "The Bathroom Wall," was released in 2002.

Despite singing live with some of the biggest names in music on his show, Fallon said he still feels the pressure of getting his new album completed.

Story: Timberlake and Fallon are planning more 'History of Rap'

"Mostly, it means I should probably start writing some songs," he said in a statement Friday.

TODAY.com is powered by msnbc.com, which is a joint venture bewteen Microsoft and NBC Universal.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45524023/ns/today-entertainment/

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Merkel Rejects 'Quick Fix' for EU Debt Crisis

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Source: www.cbn.com --- Saturday, December 03, 2011
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it will take years to solve Europe's Debt crisis. ...

Source: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/finance/2011/December/Merkel-Rejects-Quick-Fix-for-EU-Debt-Crisis/

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