Everything James Bond touches -- adult beverages, gadgets, women -- becomes an instant icon, but few things capture the public’s imagination like what the man rides.

While today’s Agent 007 traverses the globe in simpler, elegant-yet-muscular machines, the more fanciful rides of the past are still an important part of Bond lore.

Though the man has the power to make even a Ford LTD seem almost desirable, the following 10 vehicles are the greatest Bond machines ever.

Aston Martin DB5

The Aston Martin DB5 is the quintessential “classic” Bond car. Though Bond has driven a couple of Aston Martin DB5s throughout his long, illustrious career of international espionage, it's the silver DB5 from Goldfinger that most Bond fans remember. This DB5 is the debut of the Bond car as we know it today; it was the first MI6-built ride to feature bulletproof glass, rotating number plates, retractable machine guns, and a passenger-side ejector seat.

Due to its appearance in Goldfinger, the DB5 was often referred to as “the most famous car in the world,” and to this day even the standard DB5 remains a highly sought-after vehicle. In 2010, the actual DB5 from the movie -- including Q-approved modifications -- was sold at auction for $4.6 Million.

BMW Z8

Immeasurably cooler than the Z3 that launched the Bond/BMW partnership, the BMW Z8 from The World Is Not Enough provided Agent 007 with some seriously cool firepower… if only for a minute. Boasting titanium armor, fender-mounted surface-to-air missiles and “six beverage cupholders,” this roadster had more than a few handy additions. But it had some practical upgrades, too: Its ability to be driven remotely via a key chain is something we’re starting to see today. Chinese car manufacturer BYD has a family sedan that can be driven in just the same way -- albeit at a much slower speed. Does this mean we might soon see Bond in a Su Rui?

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante

Aston Martin’s already mean-looking V8 Volante gets an extra dose of aggressiveness thanks to the team at MI6. In The Living Daylights, this British muscle car gets the Bond treatment and packs necessities such as booster rockets, hubcap-mounted lasers and a pair of skis. Clad in all black, this Volante was the meanest thing on a pair of skis in cinematic history.

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From Secret Agent 86's shoe-phone in the 1965 TV show "Get Smart" to the brick-like cell phone carried by Zack Morris on "Saved By The Bell" in the early 90s, the history of cinema can be marked by the electronic devices used on-screen.

Today, celebrities' cell phones are their most important accessory—often bringing iPhones or Blackberries on the red carpet to document the mass hysteria and then upload it to their Twitter, Facebook or Instagram accounts.

Twenty years ago they used pagers, ten years ago they texted on flip phones, and now most stars keep connected with their fans on BlackBerrys and iPhones.

We've gathered images of celebs using their phones on-screen and off over the past half a century to see how cell phones have evolved with the changing times.

And crucially, the year they stopped being a fictional plot device and started being a real accessory that stars couldn't leave home without.

1928: Some people believe you can see a time traveling woman talking on a cell phone in Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus."

1965: The cell phone is introduced to the world by Secret Agent 86 in the TV show "Get Smart."

1966-1969: Captain Kirk's gold cell phone in "Star Trek."

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South Korean pop sensation PSY has gone from viral video star to symbol of international relations.

According to Korea's Yonhap News Agency, U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim pointed to PSY as a "perfect example of the growing ties" between the U.S. and South Korea.

The world has increasingly become obsessed with Korean pop music.

PSY's Gangnam Style video recently surpassed 425 million views on YouTube.

If you haven't seen it, here it is:

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Brian Eno has created a new iPad app, Scape, that aims to revolutionise the concept of the 'album'.

"I've got nothing against records - I've spent my life making them - but they are a kind of historical blip," says Brian Eno. We're in his Notting Hill studio talking about Scape, the iPad application that Eno has made with musician and software designer Peter Chilvers. Scape challenges the concept of what an 'album' of music can be.

"Until about 120 years ago," Eno says, "all music was ephemeral in the sense that you would never actually hear the same thing twice. Recording changed that. You could listen to an identical thing over and over and over again and that's what all of us grew up doing. Most of our experience is of perfectly repeatable music."

He adds: "Scape is positioned exactly halfway between the traditional experience of music as constantly changing and the last hundred years experience, as a totally fixed thing."

Scape is a 'generative' music app. It contains an album of music by Eno and Chilvers but that's almost incidental. The real point is to create your own music by arranging icons on the screen. Each icon - an E shape, for example, or a triangle - will play different sounds and each will alter what it plays depending on the other elements you choose.

Chilvers explains: "You've not just got every track, you've got every instrument on that track and, really, every musician playing them. Every piece in Scape is really like a collection of musicians playing together and they've got their own rules."

Eno thinks this kind of musical experience has the potential to change how we listen to music. Records, he says, will "continue to exist because ideas never go away but they'll become much less central. They'll not be seen as the centre of music-making,"

It's easy to dismiss this as fanciful, particularly from a man with an app to promote, but Brian Eno's influence on, and understanding of, modern music is immense. His work with Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads and as a solo artist is among the best pop music of the last 40 years. And he is one of the creators of an entire musical genre, which he termed ambient music.

It's into that last category that Scape fits. The music that you make with it won't sound like a top 40 hit and you won't be creating orchestral music or reggae or jazz. Eno says: "It reflects the kind of things we like. It's meant to give people the opportunity to create music but a particular kind of music. You're not going to be able to write a pop song with this."

That works to Scape's advantage, Chilvers says, because pop songs require lots of fixed elements to make them work. Ambient music relies more on sounds that generate textures and moods, some that flit past and others that linger for a while.

"This makes music that is much more like a painting: it says 'here's this feeling and it's going to stay in place for a while'. It offers a composer lots of freedom and some constraints," Eno says. "Conventional composing is like architecture, where you're specifying every detail of something, and this is much more like gardening, where you have a number of seeds and you plant them and then you see what happens to them."

It's also a little like a game. When you first start exploring Scape, you won't know what each element does or how it will affect the music. As you learn, new elements are unlocked, offering more possibilities.

The result is that downloading Scape gives you an album and the tools that were used to create it. The touchscreen interface turns the iPad into a musical instrument in a way that feels much more personal than it would if it ran on a laptop.

There is, says Chilvers, much more to come. He says: "It does feel like it's only now that we're beginning to scratch the surface with this technology."

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NEW YORK (AP) — Susan Wurtzel owns a "Today" show T-shirt and a mug. When the stay-at-home mom and her family visited New York from their home in Germantown, Md., they joined the crowd of fans outside the NBC morning show's Rockefeller Center studio.

Now, after more than 20 years as a regular "Today" viewer, Wurtzel tunes to CBS most mornings.

Multiply such defections and you have the chief reason for television's changing fortunes in morning news, where ABC's "Good Morning America" has ended NBC's epic 17-year winning streak on "Today." ABC is growing — "GMA" has 110,000 more viewers each day this year than last — but not as much as NBC is slipping (437,000 viewers a day since last year).

Wurtzel, 57, left last spring because of "Today" co-host Ann Curry.

"Ann's interview style was like chalk on a board to me," she said. "She leaned toward her interviewee and whispered her questions like someone had died. The more serious the interview, the quieter she got. When she replaced Meredith (Vieira), I tried to adjust and accept, but she just didn't work for me. Katie (Couric) and Meredith were relatable, empathetic and funny. Ann just seemed out of place."

Executives at NBC were quietly reaching the same conclusion and moved to replace Curry with Savannah Guthrie.

Then came June 28, 2012, Curry's last day as co-host. She cried in bewilderment at her perceived failure at losing the job she had sought for years, as her uncomfortable co-workers and a nation looked on.

Suddenly, a problem for NBC became a BIG problem. Even people who didn't particularly like Curry loathed the way she was dispatched. Except for two weeks during the Olympics, "Today" hasn't sniffed first place in the ratings since. During the first six months of 2012, "Today" averaged just under 5.2 million viewers each weekday. Since July 2, the audience has dropped to 4.59 million, according to Nielsen, the company that measures TV audiences. Without the two weeks of the London Olympics, the average is 4.3 million. That's a stunning drop, even accounting for typical lower viewership in the summer.

An informal survey of three dozen viewers who have left or are considering leaving "Today" turned up various explanations, including a feeling that the show had leaned too far in the direction of lighter, pop culture fare. The Curry dismissal was clearly a tipping point, however.

William Runge, a manager at an educational cable network who lives in suburban Winston-Salem, N.C., likened the treatment of Curry to "a public flogging."

"The PR machine at NBC spent an enormous amount of time and effort convincing me that the 'Today' show team was actually part of my family, 'America's First Family," said Runge, 46, citing the show's advertising slogan. "Guess what? They were right. These did feel like family members. So this is how you are going to treat a member of your family?

"You can debate for hours whether Ms. Curry was right for the role," he said. "That's not the point. She was doing her job and was barely 11 months into it when they canned her in the most humiliating way possible."

The move was "heart-wrenching," said Isabelle Langelier, a 40-year-old manager at a drug company from Montreal. "It made me feel sick for her. And it made me turn the channel, probably permanently."

"While I thought Ann Curry's interviews were a little hokey at times, she is clearly the most genuine person in TV news," said Sarah Rosenthal, 53, a graduate student and mother of three from West Chester, Pa. "After her unceremonious dumping, I turned it off. I have nothing against Savannah, and adore Natalie Morales, but there is just a different tone to the show."

Even worse for NBC, a significant number of viewers appear to blame co-host Matt Lauer for the move. The network has consistently denied tabloid reports that Lauer was unhappy with Curry. "Today" Executive Producer Jim Bell said late last month that Lauer was being treated unfairly. Firing Curry was Bell's decision, he said.

Some awkward public moments haven't helped. When Curry reappeared on "Today" during the London Olympics to introduce a story she had done, Lauer twice remarked that it was good to see her again. Curry didn't return the sentiment to the man she worked with for 15 years.

Two years ago, Lauer's positive "Q'' score was 23 — meaning 23 percent of people who knew him considered Lauer one of their favorite broadcasters, according to Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company that measures public sentiment toward well-known personalities. Now his positive score is 14. At the same time, "Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts' positive "Q'' score jumped from 20 to 27.

Langelier felt there was a perception that Lauer was "king" and others on the show aren't equal to him. Lyle Nelson, 40, a salesman from Avondale, Ariz., said Lauer was "not someone I'd like to have a beer with."

"There is something about Matt Lauer, whether or not he was the reason for Curry's firing, that has changed and I do not like watching the show anymore," said John Friia, a 20-year-old aspiring journalist from Malverne, N.Y.

Fortunately for NBC, viewers don't seem to be taking out their unhappiness on Guthrie.

Producers often say that viewing decisions for morning television can be intensely personal, since people are essentially inviting these personalities into their homes at an intimate time of day when they were getting ready for work. Feeling a part of the TV "family" they see on air is part of it, and sometimes the reasoning seems strange. Nelson said, for example, that he didn't like the couch on "Today" because it looked uncomfortable.

"In today's doom and gloom news programs, the 'Today' show gave me a lift to get my day started," said Taren Robin, 48, from Paris, Ky. "I don't get that lift anymore, and I am in mourning over the fact. I haven't found anything I like better to take its place."

At least one-third of people who responded to a Twitter request to discuss the show cited its content for their discontent.

"I used to be a regular 'Today' show viewer but got tired of their formula," said Dan Laufer, 35, a sports marketer from Washington, D.C. "Five minutes of hard news followed by an animal rescue story, the Kardashians and then pop culture or fashion. It's OK with me — in moderation."

Joan Pierce is a 64-year-old retired nurse from Oklahoma City, Okla., who watched "Today" for 40 years. Now she says: "I don't care what Lindsay Lohan does."

"I was fed up with the lack of actual news reporting, and more intense focus on silly, irrelevant things like women's fashion or the newest celebrity's recipe for a dinner I could never find the time or money to cook," said Zach Beale, a 23-year-old college student in Savannah, Ga.

Biting as they may be, at least those complaints offer "Today" the seeds of potential recovery. "Good Morning America," particularly in its second hour, has an even greater pop culture emphasis. Bell said his show will try to draw a greater contrast with its ABC rival in coming months. A recent ad with Lauer touts the "informative" nature of the show. Curry, who has kept her job with NBC as a hard news reporter, appeared on "Today" during the past month interviewing Libyan President Mohammed Magarief and reporting from Syria.

CBS has already tried to position itself as a newsier alternative in the morning. Because "Today" has a richer history and often twice as many viewers, it would be in better position to reach people who want this.

NBC announced this week that Willie Geist, an engaging and popular member of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" team, will join "Today" as a co-host of the 9 a.m. hour and occasionally appear earlier.

"What I loved about the show were the hosts, reporters and the stories," said Miriam Sajecki, a marketer from Staten Island, N.Y. who has watched "Today" for more than 20 years. "It was always delivered in a friendly, engaging and informative manner. Some of that has changed in that I miss the chemistry that was displayed with the prior hosts ... and some of the stories 'Today' was known for. It has evolved into forgettable reports without giving me the important news and educational stories."

Still, Sajecki is a loyalist. "I will continue to watch the 'Today' show and wake up to it every weekday," she said.

NBC needs devoted fans like Sajecki to turn things around.

It will take some time.

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• YouTube sensation PSY is getting a whopping $60K to perform at Las Vegas clubs. The payday is on par with Sin City regulars Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, who is said to take home about $100,000 per job, and LMFAO’s Redfoo, who sources say earns about $75,000 per “Party Rock” performance.
  

• James Gandolfini's secret role in "Zero Dark Thirty"–the Osama bin Laden film from "The Hurt Locker" director, Kathryn Bigelow–will be the head of CIA.

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Yesterday, we got our first look at the trailer for Sacha Gervasi's film "Hitchcock," which follows the the director and producer during the making of his classic "PSYCHO." 

However, what we were most taken aback by was Anthony Hopkins transformation into the master of suspense.  

The film comes to theaters November 23, 2012.

Here's Hopkins as Hitchcock: 

 Now, here's Hopkins: 

Again, here's Hitch-kins ...

 
... who vaguely reminds us of Michael Caine.

And, here's a photo of Hitchcock:

 Now, check out the trailer featuring Scarlett Johansson and Meryl Streep as well:

SEE ALSO: The 47-year evolution of celebrities using cell phones >

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Today Chinese media is celebrating the news that the 2012 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to a Chinese writer, Mo Yan, a novelist celebrated for his "hallucinatory realism" according to Reuters.

"This is the first Chinese writer who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Chinese writers have waited too long, the Chinese people have waited too long," state newspaper People's Daily wrote in an online commentary today.

Mo, whose pen-name means "don't speak", is renowned for his popular novels about rural life in China, which have been compared in their complexity to Gabriel García Márquez. One novel, Red Sorghum, was eventually turned into a movie by Zhang Yimou.

Unfortunately, not everyone is celebrating. For one thing, while Mo is described as being the first Chinese national to win the award, he's not the exactly the first Chinese person to win the award. Gao Xingjian won in 2000, but was not officially celebrated by the Chinese Communist Party as he was living in France as a French citizen (state news agency Xinhua has curiously chosen to not name Gao in its list of recent winners of the prize).

But perhaps more importantly, there's the question of where Mo's loyalties lie. Depite the fact that a number of his books have been banned, Mo is frequently seen as uncritical to the Chinese Communist Party.

Shanghaiist has an article that offers a good round up of the accusations. Most damningly, Mo was involved in a book that was written to commemorate the 70th-anniversary of Mao Zedong's “Speech at Yan’an Forum on Art and Literature” — a speech that said that artists who did not integrate into the Communist Party should be punished. He is also chairman of the Chinese Writers' Association, a government-backed organization that hasn't backed dissident authors in notable cases.

Even state newspaper China Daily was questioning the decision, writing an article before the prize was announced that asked "Is Mo Yan man enough for the Nobel?"

Despite this backlash, a number of Western experts have come out in defense of Mo, pointing out that he hasn't portrayed himself as a dissident and has perhaps done more to challenge the system than many would, it's not too clear if the Chinese public themselves care — at the time of writing "Nobel" is the sixth most popular search term on Sina Weibo — trailing far behind the top story about rumors about another government sex scandal.

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It's a good day for copyright holders. 

In a first-of-its-kind decision, a California judge ruled on Wednesday that LiveUniverse had infringed the copyrights to 528 songs—TLC's "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" and David Bowie's "China Girl" among others—by posting their lyrics online, according to law firm Arent Fox, which represented the copyright owners.

That's right—the lyrics, not the song themselves.

The music publishers that hold the copyrights will get $12,500 per song, totaling a massive $6.6 million in damages, plus attorney fees, according to a press release mailed out by Arent Fox.

LiveUniverse, which is owned by MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan, was also found to have illicitly posted unlicensed lyrics Van Morrison's "Moondance," and "Georgia on My Mind," by Ray Charles, according to the law firm.

We reached out to LiveUniverse but did not receive an immediate response.

SEE ALSO: A New Zealand Startup Says Facebook Embarked On A Campaign To Destroy It >

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More than 500,000 of our readers voted, along with our staff, to determine the Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2012.

The men who made the list come from different walks of life, but they're all men who are breaking records, reinventing the way we do things and redefining what it means to be a modern man.

They're dedicated to furthering the future of humanity through their respective fields, and in doing so, they inspire us to do the same. These are the men who have secured a place in our collective memories, who will show up in the textbooks our children read.

So who made the list?

#49: Alec Baldwin

Why Is Alec Baldwin #49?

When he’s not playing Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, starring in movies, doing media appearances, writing for the Huffington Post, hosting a radio show, considering a run for mayor of New York or getting married, Alec Baldwin is getting vocal on Twitter.

At 54, he’s a man who’s at the stage in his life where he’s comfortable with himself and doesn’t really care if you don’t agree with his views. Alec is who he is, and isn’t going to apologize for it. Sure, it helps that he’s a hugely successful and wealthy celebrity, but, still, men could learn from that self-confident attitude.

#48: Tom Hardy

Why Is Tom Hardy #48?

Tom Hardy truly made his presence felt in 2012—even though his face was covered for most of it—as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and as Forrest Bondurant in Lawless. When Hardy was first tabbed as the 'roided-out Batman villain, people didn’t think the pretty boy could bulk up enough.

Apparently, they didn’t know Hardy (and didn't see Bronson). For any guy who's unsure if he can take it to the next level, Hardy is a perfect example of the benefits of paying one’s dues and putting in the work. We'll see him next in Mad Max: Fury Road, and it's safe to say that he'll be around for quite awhile.

#47: Tony Horton

Why Is Tony Horton #47?

If you’ve only just found out about Tony Horton by staying up late and catching one of his infomercials, then you’re one of the last to jump onto his bandwagon.

Horton is the creator of P90X, the fitness routine that’s become one of the world’s leading regimens for getting ripped. Now that P90X devotees have the fitness part down, Horton's taking care of the diet component with his new meal-delivery service, Tony Horton's Kitchen.

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The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority should be writing Prince Harry a thank you note.

After the royal's naked party antics in August were viewed the world over, the free publicity Sin City received from the photo scandal is worth an estimated $23 million.

"A report commissioned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says news coverage of an online campaign and a large ad in USA Today reached an estimated 154 million people," according to The Las Vegas Sun. "The report presented Tuesday values that publicity at $23 million."

The tourism publicity boost comes after the LCVA launched an advertising campaign after the prince's naked billiards incident, warning tourists to "know the code."

Meaning, what happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas.

The LCVA took out a full-page ad in USA Today, reprimanding the Vegas partygoers who sold out the prince and leaked his naked photos to TMZ. (see ad on the right.)

"For everyone's sake, it's important that 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,'" said Cathy Tull, senior vice president of marketing for the LCVA, per Vegas Inc. "However, in moments of enthusiasm, actually keeping memories in Las Vegas takes commitment. Today's ad was a cheeky reminder to all our visitors that it's important to 'Know the code,' and most importantly, 'Protect the code.'"

The ad, which cost “in the low six figures," also led to a doubling of searches for local resorts on hotels.com and the invention of a new $25 hamburger at a Strip eatery, according to Vegas Inc.

"In the 24 hours after the crown jewels went on public display, hotels.com reported that Las Vegas searches more than doubled from the same date a year ago," reports Vegas Inc. "Company officials dubbed it 'the Prince Harry effect.'”

Taylor Cole, director of public relations for hotels.com, said online traffic from the United Kingdom, “which is absolutely enamored with Las Vegas,” went up 123 percent after the incident and searches originating in Canada spiked 118 percent, while hits from the United States were also up 87 percent.

“Vegas has long since been the party capital of the world, and it seems that recent events have led to a resurgence in people’s desire to go there and let off steam, just as Prince Harry has,” said Kate Hopcraft of hotels.com.

In addition to the LCVA's "Know the code" campaign, Lynx deodorant also decided to cash in on the controversy.

"Sorry Harry if it had anything to do with us," read the copy on their Harry-inspired ad campaign, complete with an image of their body spray and an askew crown.

"God bless Prince Harry. He made us a bunch of money," said LCVA Board Chairman, Tom Collins.

But Tourism authority spokeswoman Courtney Fitzgerald says the agency can't track exactly how much of the press resulted in actual Las Vegas visits ... yet.

SEE ALSO: The 47-year evolution of celebrities using cell phones on-screen and off >

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By now PSY's k-pop anthem "Gangnam Style" has become so big that's its fair to say its of geopolitical importance — the US ambassador to South Korea has even pointed to it as evidence of growing ties between the two nations.

While that's all well and good for South Korea, it appears China can't help but look on and wonder... "Why wasn't that us?"

In an opinion article published today in People's Daily, the Xu Chi says that the success of Gangnam Style raises worries about "creativity concerns" in China.

"With the South Korean single "Gangnam Style" and its music video proving a worldwide sensation, Chinese fans have been busy creating their own "Chinese Style" versions," Xu writes, before listing some examples.

WATCH:

"But the Chinese copies seem to have attracted more criticism than praise," Xu continues, "raising the question as to why South Korea can produce such a popular musical export, while China can only copy it."

Xu spoke to one expert who said that the issue was a problem in China, where creativity isn't promoted.

"The dance is very easy to learn, some of the lyrics can be memorized easily, and the singer has a kind and homely appearance, which all drive Chinese people to participate and create their own versions," Gu Xiaoming, a sociologist and professor at Fudan University told Xu, adding that a traditional Chinese dance, the "Chinese waist drum dance", was too hard to learn.

FYI, here's an example of the Chinese waist drum dance.

WATCH:

Xu's conclusion — that China encourages copying — is tempting, but the New Yorker's Evan Osnos recently came up with another explanation: China's inability to deal with satire. Here's one key excerpt:

So, should we expect a Chinese Gangnam soon? Don’t count on it. “PSY is a satirist, making fun, and having fun,” said John Delury, an expert on China and Korea who teaches international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul. “Korea tends to have more irony and satire in its comedy than China, and there aren’t the impediments to exporting things that question or poke fun of Korean society, politics, etc. And I think somehow people all over the world feel invited to join in, despite a huge cultural difference, when someone from a foreign place is making a bit of fun of themselves. That’s inviting. But China, especially acting in its official, soft-power capacity, is only comfortable exporting things that show off the greatness of its ancient civilization or economic development. That’s not terribly inviting.”

Despite these issues, Gangnam style's popularity may have reached a new height in China. Today the song topped the Baidu MP3 list for the first time.

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Sammi Kane Kraft, known for her role as the only girl on an all-boys baseball team in the 2005 remake of "Bad News Bears" starring Billy Bob Thornton, was killed in a car accident Tuesday in Los Angeles.

The 20-year-old real life baseball player was riding in the passenger seat of an Audi when the car was rear-ended and then struck by another car, according to California Highway Patrol.

The 21-year-old driver of the car was treated for minor injuries and later arrested on suspicions of drunk driving. She was reported to have been speeding at the time of the accident.

Kraft was discovered as an actress on a baseball diamond in L.A. and went on to star alongside Billy Bob Thornton in the "Bad News Bears" remake of the original 1976 film. Kraft played the role of Amanda Whurlitzer, originally portrayed by Tatum O'Neal.

"I could never fill Tatum O'Neal's shoes, but I tried to make the role my own," Kraft told the New York Daily News in 2005. "I added a bit of the New York in me. A little toughness, a little bit of smart-ass."

For the last year of her life, Kraft was enrolled in Santa Monica Community College and had been collaborating with her brother on a musical called "Funerals" that was inspired by their grandmother's death.

SEE ALSO: Veteran movie publicist & mom of 'Grey's Anatomy' star dies after accidental fall >

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Plum TV, home of "Yoga With a View" and "Keeping Up With Ramona" in affluent areas like the Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard, has relaunched as a national lifestyle network, after striking an agreement with Titan Broadcast Management, the network said Thursday.

The agreement with Titan will bring Plum TV to Titan station WMFP-TV in Boston and WTVE in Philadelphia. The pact now makes Plum available on cable and satellite in those markets, and makes the network available in more than 6 million households.

Presided over by former MTV executives Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet, Plum targets a "mass affluent" audience with coverage of home and real estate, décor, food and wine, style, travel and destinations.

It can be viewed on cable and satellite in select markets such as the Hamptons, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as online platforms such as plumtv.com, Hulu and Hulu Plus and YouTube.

“Launching Plum TV in Boston and Philadelphia is a huge step for us as we create a new multi-platform lifestyle network," Plum co-president Hertzan said. "We are all about living the ‘good life’ -- and we are hoping our new viewers in Boston and Philly will love the ‘good life,’ too."

The network's expansion also comes with the news that the network has pulled in $4.4 million in financing to date from a variety of investors including Baroda Ventures and Double M Partners.

SEE ALSO: Hollywood debates the fate of Variety >

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Weeks before its debut, everyone (save EW) was slamming ABC's science-fiction comedy "The Neighbors" as one of, if not, the worst television shows to premiere on network TV this fall–us included.  

However, it wasn't the first network show cancelled. 

Rather, the show which follows an alien clan on Earth was well received premiere night with nearly 10 million views (thanks to a lead-in from Emmy-winning "Modern Family"). 

So, is "The Neighbors" the next "Alf"? 

Not by a long shot.  

As soon as we heard of "The Neighbors" it reminded us of the trend of another supernatural comedy ABC attempted at two years ago that barely made it through one stagnant season.  

Remember "No Ordinary Family"? 

The show's premise basically followed a real-life version of "The Incredibles" with a family gaining super powers after a plane crash in Brazil.  

Though the comedy similarly premiered to a good opening in the fall of 2010, it slowly began its descent in the ratings week after week before being cancelled spring 2011. 

But "The Neighbors" just received an order for three additional scripts. 

"No Ordinary Family" received four after two weeks into its slate. 

Take a look at the striking ratings resemblance for both shows:

SEE ALSO: How Prince Harry's naked photo scandal led to a $23 million publicity boost for Vegas >

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Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestselling Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection after losing a nearly $24 million court judgment to The Learning Annex, The New York Post reports. 

As one of Kiyosaki's earliest backers, The Learning Annex was responsible for arranging the speaking engagements and platform that led to his massive success. 

But apparently the fame went to his head because according to court papers obtained by the Post, Kiyosaki, who published his first Rich Dad book in 1994, never paid the Annex its rightful share. Said founder and chairman Bill Zanker: "Oprah believed in him, and Will Smith believed in him, but he didn't keep his promise to us." 

Kiyosaki's Rich Global company was ordered by a U.S. judge in April to cough up $23,687,957.21, which in turn led him to file for corporate bankruptcy on Aug. 20.

Despite the blow to the personal finance guru's reputation, Kiyosaki probably won't feel the pinch in his wallet. Forbes pegs his net worth around a cool $80 million, and Kiyosaki, who's written 11 books, operates as many as ten other companies. Rich Global was said to be worth a few million when it went under. 

Rich Dad, Poor Dad became an overnight sensation when Kiyosaki made the rounds on feel-good daytime TV like "Oprah" and aired his speaking programs on PBS. Cash-strapped consumers identified with his inspirational story of learning how to manage money from a father who struck it big and another other died penniless and alone. 

However, not everyone bought into the schtick. As Helaine Olen's wrote in Forbes Thursday, the guru's "tips ran the gamut from ridiculous to illegal and downright hurtful and included advocating for insider trading, arguing for the purchase of multiple real estate properties with little or no money down and telling followers they could purchase stocks on margin via unfunded brokerage accounts." 

SEE ALSO: 11 pop culture icons who blew it all > 

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The former Beverly Hills home of Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla has hit the market for $12.995 million, according to Trulia.

The home has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and spans 5,367 square feet.

The gated house sits on 1.18 acres of land, with stunning views of Los Angeles from the backyard.

Welcome to Hillcrest Road.

The house was built in 1958.

About $1.836 million worth of improvements went into the home in 2010, according to the Los Angeles County Tax Assessor website.

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Lindsay Lohan came out in support of Mitt Romney yesterday.

While most would, at first glance, write this off as gossip, it's the latest instance of an evolving trend that jeopardizes President Obama's chance at winning the White House. 

Lohan, by all accounts, is a typical low-information voter. And low information voters, like it or not, will decide this election. 

The first person to pick out this trend was Dave Weigel at Slate after sportswriter Buzz Bissinger endorsed Romney after his positive debate performance. Bissinger, Weigel notes, was a low information voter. He ignored the election, watched the debate, took everyone's word for it on the facts, and backed Romney.

As Weigel notes, it's not like either side was falling over themselves to score the lusted-after and enviable Bissinger endorsement.

But Bissinger is emblematic of millions of Americans. These people don't follow politics, don't understand the issues with depth, and plan to vote based on what little information they've gleaned. 

Adult film actress Jenna Jameson has backed Romney because "when you're rich, you want a Republican in office." Wrestler Hulk Hogan has backed Romney because he wants someone to "just take the lead and run."

Lohan said that the reason she was voting Romney was "employment." From The Blaze:

“I just think employment is really important right now,” the troubled star told E!, while at Mr. Pink’s Ginseng Drink event in Beverly Hills, California, on Thursday. “So, as of now, Mitt Romney. As of now.”

Here's why the Obama campaign should be worried.

Lohan is a low information voter convinced that (a) employment is really important, (b) thinks that employment is not being sufficiently handled by the White House right now and (c) thinks that Mitt Romney is better equipped to handle employment.

That arguably logical sequence is all that it takes for a low-information voter to support Mitt Romney.  The thing is, there are millions of voters like her. That should terrify the Obama campaign. 

See the other celebrities who have backed Mitt Romney >

Watch below who the true decision-makers are for the presidential election:

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• Tommy Lee Jones is appealing agency WME's $1.95 million win in a "No Country For Old Men" commission battle. The actor today filed an appeal of the state Labor Commissioner’s recent ruling in favor of his former agency William Morris Endeavor after Jones accused WME and his former agen of failing to communicate that Paramount Pictures was willing to pay $1 million in upfront fees for the actor to appear in the film, according to court filings. Instead, Jones' agent agreed to a lesser amount of front-end payment of $750,000. And Jones isn't happy about it.
  
  
• Lindsay Lohan is voting for Mitt Romney, telling E! last night, "I just think employment is really important right now ... So, as of now, Mitt Romney. As of now." Lohan explains her choice by saying, "It's a long story," but didn't elaborate.

• Meanwhile, Barbra Streisand called Mitt Romney "a good actor" during her concert at Barclays last night, adding "He's a good actor. [He's] a chameleon. It's great." Streisand continued talking politics, telling her audience, "I love Big Bird and I hope no one tells Romney how to get to Sesame Street ... or to Pennsylvania Avenue."
  
  
• Jodie Foster is set to direct the financial drama "Money Monster," which "follows Lee Gates, a television personality whose insider trading tips make him the guru of Wall Street. That is, until he's held hostage on air by a man who has lost all of his family's money because of a bad tip. Ratings soar as the entire country tunes in to find out just how much a man's life is worth."
  
  
• NBC is developing "F*** I’m In My Twenties," a half-hour comedy project based on the Tumblr blog of 24-year-old Emma Koenig, which also has spawned a book. The project, from BermanBraun and Universal Television, chronicles a woman’s experience as a twentysomething living in the big city.

• "8 Mile" actress Taryn Manning was arrested Thursday morning in her room at the Dream Downtown Hotel after allegedly punching and kicking her 23-year-old makeup artist during a brawl.

• Rapper Nelly's tour bus was raided in Texas and police found heroin, weed and a loaded gun. Nelly and several others were reportedly detained while authorities investigated, but eventually a passenger named Brian Keith Jones admitted the drugs and weapon all belonged to him.

• Watch Sean Penn and Kid Rock's odd (and raunchy) political PSA.

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