Good deeds in Michigan, Microsoft kill switches and auto racing uncertainty

- Dammit everyone, you were warned about this and you did NOTHING. The Seacrest Invasion is motoring into high gear and because no one treated it seriously enough in its early stages, there may be nothing we can do to stop it. Seacrest is of course Ryan Seacrest, the teeth-bleaching, man-blouse-wearing tool who got his first big break hosting the mother of all crappy reality karaoke shows, American Karaoke. He also has his own radio show based in southern California and appears on the E! network as well, with all of his work centering on garbage pop music, reality karaoke shows and other meaningless drivel. But because no one (other than yours truly) took the rising Seacrest-ocalypse seriously enough, the plague is now spreading and it may soon reach a major broadcast network’s famed morning show. That’s right, word on the street is that that a meeting between Seacrest and producers for NBC’s Today Show took place as part of what are currently being described as ongoing discussions about the possibility of the ass hat who spends his time in witty banter with reality karaoke show judges and contestants being as a potential successor to Today anchor Matt Lauer. The latest rumors have Seacrest meeting with top NBC executives, including Today executive producer Jim Bell, earlier this week to discuss the possibility of him joining NBC's successful morning show. Both the network and Seacrest's reps declined to comment on the event or any discussions being had, but the mere existence of them is enough to send terrors coursing through the brain of every non-metrosexual in America. Back in April, Seacrest was asked in an interview his excitement to play a bigger role at Today now that the show and its network are an increasingly prominent a part of the expanded post Comcast-NBCUniversal merger family. “I’m kind of going into this merger saying: ‘Hey, what do you got? What can we do? Yes. Let’s go,’” Seacrest said at the time. Couple his ambitiousness with Lauer discussing the idea of leaving Today when his contract is up in late 2012 and, well……disaster looms. Seacrest where he is currently lead anchor and managing editor of E! News and his deal with the network also expires next year. entertainment chairman Bonnie Hammer did not allay any fears when she said, "Ryan is extremely talented and we look forward to working with him for years to come." Wrong answer, Bonnie………….

- Life is not so peachy right now for the new Yemeni government. As it attempts to move past the chaos and civil war that have engulfed the country in recent months, the new regime is finding that it has much more of a dependence on the vile warlords it is supposed to be eliminating from the power-sharing equation and has little to no credibility with the eyes of protesters at the heart of the uprising. The government has officially been in place for all of one day after being formed on Wednesday under a deal overseen by Saudi Arabia. It will be counted on to lead Yemen to a February presidential election to replace despot Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted from power following 10 months of protests against his three-decade rule. In the interim, the government must find a way to prevent Yemen from plunging into utter chaos by negotiating an end to the fighting that has raged on alongside protests. Military units loyal to Saleh and units that have turned against the dictator have battled with each other and these warring factions could well create a government in which Saleh's opponents would have to share formal authority with his loyalists, all while attempting to excise the military clout of the men they would effectively be trying to disarm. Dealing with Saleh's son Ahmed Ali Saleh, and nephew Yehia Mohamed Abdullah Saleh, who lead the Republican Guards and Central Security Forces, respectively, could also be a huge problem. Saleh formally renouncing his powers in accordance with the pact sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc of Yemen's neighbors richer, resource-blessed neighbors, was merely the first step. The agree stipulates an early presidential election that the deputy to whom Saleh transferred his powers, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, will enter against other candidates. Between now and then, look for (possibly) controlled chaos to reign across the country…………

- Auto racing still isn't a sport, more like a fast, fun driving competition, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be discussed and hearing that tIndyCar Series will not return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next season due in large part to concerns raised by Dan Wheldon's fatal accident at the track of the Oct. 16 season finale for the series is noteworthy. Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was killed in the opening laps at Las Vegas and the investigation into the 15-car fatal accident is ongoing. Depending on what the investigation reveals, IndyCar will make its decision about returning to the venue in the future. The crash has also prompted IndyCar to postpone the release of its 2012 schedule until it determines if the series can continue racing on high-banked ovals such as Las Vegas. Speedway Motorsports Inc. owner Bruton Smith is insistent that IndyCar should honor the three-year lease deal it has with Las Vegas, but IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard isn't heeding that request just yet. Instead, the circuit is debating a buyout of the 2012 portion of the agreement, with the final season of the contract will be reviewed later. Bernard confirmed those rumors while remaining vague about any plans for events in Las Vegas beyond 2012. "We're not guaranteeing we'll be back," Bernard said. "But we'll test there, and we'll see what we can learn." Drivers have expressed reluctance about racing on the track again with mental images of Wheldon being killed in a fiery 15-car wreck killed 12 laps into the season finale undoubtedly fresh in their memories. In the aftermath of the accident, critics ripped many components of the event, including from the 34-car field, the size and speed of the track, the speedway's high banking and the varying experience level of the drivers in the field. Ironically, Wheldon entered the event entered as part of a promotion that would have paid him $5 million if he could have driven from the back of the field to Victory Lane. The promotion was part of a season-ending effort to boost television ratings and send IndyCar into 2013 with some momentum and instead, it ended in tragedy and it’s all anyone who isn't a passionate fan of auto racing remembers about the IndyCar season. Because of what happened at Las Vegas, concerns have also arisen about other high-banked ovals like Texas Motor Speedway, one of the most popular venues in the series and one that has hosted IndyCar every year since 1997. Bernard is hesitant to strike any new deal with the raceway until the Las Vegas investigation is complete………….

- Save all the jokes about someone anywhere within a two-hour drive of economically challenged Detroit actually having extra cash to spend, cynics, and enjoy the good deed that an anonymous citizen in Plainfield Township, Mich. is doing at the local Kmart. According to store employees, an unidentified do-gooder recently came into the store and paid for 14 customers’ items on layaway, with the purchases totaling more than $2,000. Stunned and overjoyed customers received calls from the store about their bill and have informed that it has already been paid in full. "Some of them are crying over this, they're just so happy,” Russo says. “They're just hysterical over this," employee Frank Russo said. The layaway items range from the large to the small, such s a single mother whose $150 layaway bill included Weebles toys and a Minnie Mouse doll for her young daughter, all of which were paid for by the anonymous good citizen. When asked by a local TV station by phone why he’s doing his good works, the man said he's giving in the "Spirit of #40," a message he scrawled on the receipts for those he helped. The number is a reference to a man named Doug Corradini, who played football in nearby Coopersville and died from cancer in 198. Corradini wore the jersey number 40 and was described as a kind man who helped young people, including the donor. Russo was assigned the task of calling the recipients to tell them the good news in advance and the enthusiasm in his voice talking about the job was obvious. As for the anonymous donor, he responded to an email request for additional comment and wanted to encourage others to pay it forward as well. “They don't have to spend 2K to help someone. Even $5 can make a huge difference for someone, just knowing someone cares,” he wrote…………..

- Microsoft, maker of the world’s worst operating system, revealed a dirty little secret this week in documentation released for its upcoming Windows Store. According to the documents, the company will be able to throw a "kill switch" to disable or even remove an app from users' Windows 8 devices. Kill switches allow those controlling them to deactivate or delete an app with a simple command and are common in mobile app stores. Both Apple and Google can execute similar kill switches for apps distributed by the iOS App Store and Android Market, respectively. Microsoft pulled no punches in explaining its kill switch or the fact that it can pull that switch at its discretion. "In cases where your security is at risk, or where we're required to do so for legal reasons, you may not be able to run apps or access content that you previously acquired or purchased a license for," said Microsoft in the Windows Store terms. "In cases where we remove a paid app from your Windows 8 Beta device not at your direction, we may refund to you the amount you paid for the license.” Ohhh…..so it’s for users’ protection that you’re playing Big Brother? Okey doke. But wait….Microsoft may also use the kill switch to also scrub data created by the app from a device. "If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored," Microsoft said. Apple somewhat took the edge off admitting to the kill switch feature three years ago when then-CEO Steve Jobs acknowledged the existence of a kill switch in iOS even though the company has yet to use it. Any apps the company approved but later decided to pull from its App Store have continued to work and have not been remotely removed from users' phones or tablets. Conversely, Google has repeatedly used its a kill switch to remotely delete apps from Android smartphones when it has determined those apps contain malicious code or intent. It first utilized the switch in June 2010 to scrub a pair of apps added to the Android Market by Jon Oberheide, co-founder and CTO of Duo Security, a developer of two-factor authentication software. Oberheide launched the apps as part of his research into vulnerabilities that let attackers push malware to Android phones. Microsoft has not offered any specific, established criteria for how it will screen apps or pick the ones it uses the kill switch on. It also has not set a specific grand opening for the Windows Store, but plans to launch the online marketplace simultaneously with the release of Windows 8's first beta, which will debut some time in late February 2012…………