Online shoe store Zappos has been hacked, exposing the names, e-mail addresses, addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card numbers of its 24 million customers, the company said late Sunday night.

Citing an “illegal and unauthorized access” to customer account information, the company reset its customers’ passwords. Zappos then urged customers to change their login credentials on any other sites, for which they use the same password and username.

Zappos.com put a big green “create a new password” button on its homepage on Monday.

Zappos said customers’ passwords were exposed in the hack, but the online retailer insisted that they were encoded and that attackers had no access to customers’ actual passwords. Resetting its users’ passwords was just an added precaution, since its highly unlikely the hackers will be able — or would take the time — to unlock the encryption.

Customers of Zappos’ discount shoe store 6pm.com were also affected, and their passwords were reset as well.

Via: CNNMoney.com

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Betty White kicked off her 90th birthday celebration with the world watching – or, at least, the 14 million who tuned in to NBC at 8 p.m.

The celebrated “Golden Girl” officially enters her ninth decade today, and NBC threw her a birthday party during primetime Monday that featured guest appearances from other funny folks like Amy Poehler, Carol Burnett and White’s former co-star, Mary Tyler Moore, in a 90-minute special.

Even President Obama sent in a video message – asking White to prove she’s 90 by providing a long-form birth certificate (at least he can joke about that now?).

Meanwhile, “Chuck” actor Zachary Levi proclaimed his love for White with a marriage proposal, and got a kiss in return.

The A.V. Club describes the special as “an extended lifetime achievement presentation mixed with a fair amount of roasting.”

It wasn’t as cutting as the kind you’ll find on Comedy Central – one example included Amy Poehler making  a wisecrack on White’s age, saying that she considers the actress to be a pioneer – because 90 years ago she arrived in California via stage coach.

Via: CNN.com

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from a North Carolina county that had regularly opened its public meetings with Christian prayers.

The church-state dispute is a victory for two Forsyth County residents who brought suit against the Board of Commissioners. Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon were represented in their court challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

“When government meetings are opened regularly with Christian prayer, it sends the unmistakable message that non-Christians are second-class citizens in their own community,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, who heads Americans United, a Washington-based group. “The Constitution clearly forbids government to play favorites when it comes to religion.”

Court records show that 26 of 33 invocations given at the council meetings in 2007 and 2008 contained references to Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or other Christian symbols or names. Clergy members from the community often delivered the sectarian invocations. The county seat is Winston-Salem, one the largest cities in the state.

A federal appeals court last year found the prayers to be an unconstitutional violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which forbids any government endorsement of one religion over another.

Via: CNN.com

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The hospital that welcomed Beyonce and Jay-Z’s new baby Blue Ivy into the world is under new scrutiny after reports that a lavish suite was built for the couple.

“A month ago, [workers] tore down 6-8 rooms and turned them into 2 suites,” US Weekly quoted a Lenox Hill hospital source as saying. The couple “paid to have it constructed just for them.”

On Thursday, TMZ obtained photos showing the purported VIP suite, containing “four flat-screen TVs” and “mahogany walls,” the couple stayed in for the birth.

The pictures come days after the hospital denied reports of special treatment — and mistreatment of other new parents who were also having babies at Lenox Hill.

On Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the hospital’s reported celebrity treatment of the baby, clarifying his remarks and admitting that, “it’s been an awful long time since I’ve been in a maternity ward,” according to E! Online.

Via: CNN.com

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A good teacher not only improves a child’s test scores in the classroom, but also enhances his or her chances to attend college, earn more money and avoid teen pregnancy, according to a new seminal study.

The study, conducted by economists Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman of Harvard and Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia, tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years from a large urban school district from fouth grade to adulthood, making it one of the largest and most consequential educational studies in recent years.

Their findings focus on the long-term impact of teachers based on their “value-added” ratings. This refers to the average test-score improvement for a teacher’s students, adjusted for differences across schools and classrooms such as prior test scores. Evaluating teachers based on student performance has been the subject of much debate among teachers, unions and policymakers.

Via: CNN.com

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Nintendo’s Wii U is a next-generation gaming console that comes with a large touchscreen controller — which changes how the games are played. CNNMoney got its hands on the highly anticipated device.

The demo took place at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. At first glance, the Wii U console looks almost exactly like the original Wii.

The difference lies in the special 9-inch-long controller, which gives the bearer — let’s call ‘em the Wii God — a bit of special power. This player can see things on the 6.2-inch touchscreen that their fellow gamers, equipped with regular controllers, see on the linked-up TV.

For example: In the “Chase Mii” demo game that CNNMoney tried, two to four players with regular controllers try to catch the player with the touchscreen.

The regular players simply see their avatars running around on the TV, while the Wii God sees an overhead map on the touchscreen, which shows where everyone else is running.

Via: CNN.com

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A man who’s suing for part ownership of Facebook has been fined $5,000 by a federal judge for failing to fully comply with an order to turn over his e-mail account information.

Paul Ceglia was also ordered to pay some of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg‘s legal expenses.

The sanctions are a setback for Ceglia’s claim in U.S. District Court that a 2003 contract he and Zuckerberg signed entitles him to half ownership of the social networking site estimated to be worth more than $50 billion.

The judge issued the sanctions late Tuesday, faulting Ceglia for ordering his lawyers not to fully obey his orders.

Via: USAToday

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It was only Gayle King’s second day on the job at CBS This Morning, but she snagged a big “get.”

First lady Michelle Obama talked to Gayle on Tuesday and the subject of New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor’s new book, The Obamas, came up. In it, Mrs. O. is characterized as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion.

“I never read these books,” she said in the interview that aired today. “So I’ve just gotten in the habit of not reading other people’s impressions of people.”

And, she said, “I guess it’s just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here. That’s been an image people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced, that I’m some kind of angry black woman.”

Via: USAToday

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The Supreme Court appeared ready to give government regulators the continuing authority to regulate profanity and sexual content on broadcast television after a lively hour of arguments Tuesday.

The justices and lawyers all stayed polite, not actually using any obscene words, preferring the legally acceptable “f-bomb” or “s-word” to describe the controversial content at issue in the high-stakes free speech dispute.

The court will decide whether the Federal Communications Commission may constitutionally enforce its policies on “fleeting expletives” and scenes of nudity on television programs, both live and scripted. The agency had imposed hefty fines on broadcasters.

In many televised instances, “one cannot tell what is indecent and what isn’t” said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “It’s the appearance of arbitrariness about how the FCC is defining indecency in concrete situations,” she added.

But with so many programming choices on broadcast, cable and satellite TV, “All the government is asking for is a few (broadcast) channels where you can say — they are not going to hear the s-word, the f-word. They are not going to see nudity,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.

The court’s ruling, which will come in a few months, could establish important First Amendment guidelines over explicit content on the airwaves.

Via: CNN

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Let me begin by saying that if Mr. Martin so much as breathes a word about George Blanda, Earl Campbell or Warren Moon, I win this debate.

Seriously, they are Tennessee Titans (aka ex-Houston Oilers) and, thus, completely off limits when speaking of the Houston Texans.

You may be thinking, “That’s an unsporting way to begin an argument.”

Well, I’m in a pretty unsporting mood after my Cowboys — again — choked down the backstretch, looking more like a team playing Five-Mississippi Rush than one of the greatest sports franchises on Earth.

But they are still Texas’ team. Hell, they’re America’s team. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Since the glorious days (and hair) of Jimmy Johnson, when Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin owned the NFL — tallying three Super Bowl victories in the ’90s — the headline has been the same: “Playoff victory escapes Cowboys.”

Via: CNN

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Gas prices in the United States increased by more than a dime over the past three weeks, the first increase seen since mid-October, according to a survey published Sunday.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.35 as of Friday, the Lundberg Survey found. That’s an increase of 12 cents from the last survey of 2011, conducted December 16.

“The price hike comes from higher crude oil prices, which pulled up wholesale gasoline prices, but retailers have yet to pass through to motorists all the hikes they received,” publisher Trilby Lundberg said.

If crude oil prices stay steady, it’s likely drivers will see an increase of a few more cents while retailers catch up, she said. “If crude oil declined substantially, then we would not see that increase. It would be hidden within an overall decline.”

It’s impossible to say how much the wholesale price increase was affected by a higher tax on ethanol, she said. On January 1, an ethanol price subsidy in effect for 33 years expired.

Via: CNN

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Police in Wisconsin have asked for the public’s help in locating the 21-year-old son of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive coordinator.

The Oshkosh Police Department announced Monday that they were looking for Michael Philbin, whose father is longtime college and NFL coach Joe Philbin.

The Ripon, Wisconsin, resident was in Oshkosh to visit friends, police said in a news release. His last known communication was at 2 a.m. Sunday.

“He talked to a friend, he didn’t sound like he was under duress or he had any medical condition,” Oshkosh police spokesman Joe Nichols told CNN affiliate WTMJ. “The phone conversation ended, and that was the last time someone had voice contact.”

He was reporting missing to authorities at 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Philbin is described as a white male who weighs about 155 pounds, has brown hair and hazel eyes, and stands 5 feet, 11 inches tall, according to the Oshkosh police.

Via: CNN.com

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Would Teresa Giudice have the guts to flip a table on Victoria Gotti?

Can supermodel Cheryl Tiegs outlast former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, who is four decades her junior? Who’ll face the music first — Clay Aiken or Debbie Gibson?

Those are just a few of the mouth-watering matchups expected on the upcoming season of “Celebrity Apprentice,” premiering February 12 on NBC. PEOPLE confirmed several of the contestants back in October, but the cast was officially revealed Wednesday.

“I just think we have a major group of celebrities, and we have a very iconic group,” says the show’s host, Donald Trump. “This is the best cast we’ve ever had, the biggest cast, and it’s going to be special.”

Via: CNNENTERTAINMENT.com

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A Houston man been charged in the death of a man struck while in a motorized scooter in northwest Houston, police said.

Wilmer Farley III, 20, is charged with intoxication manslaughter in a crash on Wednesday that killed Clifford Johnson.

Johnson, 56, who was carrying his 1-year-old son in his lap, was hit from behind by an SUV. Johnson held the child tightly even after both were thrown more than 20 feet along West Montgomery Road and likely saved the boy’s life, officials said.

“He was holding onto him pretty good,” said Houston Police Sgt. R.A. Gonzales.

Witnesses told Houston police Johnson rolled off the sidewalk about 3 p.m. and into the far right lane of West Montgomery at Ferguson Way because of the debris and sewer water blocking his path.

Via: Chron.com

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1. The Texans are in the playoffs for the first time, but with a dark cloud hanging over the season.

Houston had failed to reach the playoffs in each of its first nine seasons. In fact, it enjoyed only one winning record since its debut season of 2002, and even then just barely (9-7 in 2009).

So an AFC South title, an appearance in the postseason (and a home game no less) should be cause for considerable excitement in Houston.

But a certain pall hangs over the organization and has diminished the expectations for a powerhouse team that, halfway through the season, looked ready to run away with an AFC championship. No team in football, not even the Packers, provided a better 1-2 punch of great offense and shutdown defense than the Texans did into November.

Via: SI.com