Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Oct 21, 2011

Guilty Pleasures:

No winner in Wednesday night's drawing for the Powerball Lottery. That means Saturday night's drawing is valued at $148 million ($90.4 million cash value). Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington DC and the U-S Virgin Islands. Chances of winning the grand prize (all five numbers plus the powerball) are 1 in 195.2 million.

Get ready for the band to play "Hail to the Chief" as PRESIDENT OBAMA drops by JAY LENO and "The Tonight Show" next Tuesday. It'll be the President's fourth appearance on the show. He made history in March 2009, when he became the first sitting president to appear on a late night talk show.

President BARACK OBAMA hurt the KARDASHIAN family's delicate feelings. As we told 'ya yesterday, (RBR 10.20.11) First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA just gave an interview to iVillage.com saying her husband doesn't like his baby girls watching their reality programs. TMZ.com reports the clan is "surprised" by the news, particularly because the leader of the free world allegedly told KHLOE that he thought "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" was a "great show." (Lee)

Computers, and other techno-geek-a-zoid crap:

If you’re one of the million-plus cell phone users who picked up the new iPhone 4S when it came out last week, you probably paid between $200 and $400 dollars, depending on the phone, your carrier and your contract. But how much did it cost Apple to make this new technology?
An IHS iSuppli bill of materials looks something like this:
--The 3.5-inch display costs $23
--The memory subsystem comes in at $19.20 for the 16GB, $38.40 for the 32GB model and $76.80 if you bought the 64GB phone
--The new 8-megapixel camera costs $17.60
--Those wireless components go for $23.54 wholesale
--It costs Apple $15 for the Qualcomm baseband processor
--The touch screen costs $14
Add in all the other things like the battery, the user interface and other technology and it adds up to a cost of $196 for the 16GB phone, $215 for the 32GB model and $254 for the 64GB iPhone 4S. Those costs do not include expenses like software, licensing or royalties. (Page)

Geek Chic:

There’s a new fashion trend in Thailand... computer keyboard flip flops. Actual keyboards. That you wear.... on your feet. Really. They’re made by a company called Kito. Racked.com says they’re “something of a mini-fad right now” in Bangkok and on the beaches of Hua Hin and Phuket. (That’s pronounced Poo-Ket, people.) This is a trend that is certain to make its way to the U-S. Because it will make all the computer dorks in our great nation geek-out with fashionable happiness --and happiness that they’re finally fashionable.
Editor’s Note: Just push Control-Alt-De-Feet. (Bartha)