Nude scenes on the big screen

Ali Larter – 'Varsity Blues,' 1999

Watch out for that sweet tooth! Ali Larter had no qualms about baring it all in this whipped cream bikini. Unfortunately, her seductive efforts were unrequited.

Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock – 'The Proposal,' 2009

Desperately trying to keep her Visa status, Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate, agrees to marry her boss, Ryan Reynolds, in 'The Proposal.' Though the two characters hate each other throughout the movie, their romance beings with a big smack. Bullock and Reynolds shockingly run into eachother, literally, and to top it off, they're both naked.

Hillary Clinton Hits Diplomatic Trail After WikiLeaks Document Leak

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is headed on a four-nation diplomatic tour to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf on the heels of Sunday's unauthorized release of a trove of sensitive State Department documents chronicling the behind-the-scenes conduct of U.S. foreign relations.

Clinton's trip, announced by State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley Sunday evening, had been planned long before hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables were released by WikiLeaks, the online anti-secrecy group, and published by The New York Times and newspapers in Europe.

Crowley said Clinton will begin her trip Tuesday in Kazakhstan, where she will head the U.S. delegation to a summit meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe -- the first top-level meeting of the 56-nation group in 11 years.

Clinton also will meet with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his foreign minister, Kanat Suadabeyev. Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan unchallenged since the late 1980s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and has been repeatedly re-elected by landslide victories.

Clinton also will visit Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a U.S. air base that is important for resupplying and ferrying U.S. troops in Afghanistan. She also will visit Uzbekistan and stop in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters.

Today’s Big Rumor: Google Buys Groupon for $2.5 Billion

Google has bought Groupon for $2.5 billion, Vatornews reports citing a “reliable source” familiar with the situation.

The acquisition – which is unconfirmed at this point – follows the rumors about Google being in talks to buy the popular local deals site, after Yahoo had failed to negotiate an acquisition for a $2 billion to $3 billion earlier this year.

Groupon is one of the quickest Internet success stories in recent memory, with a $1 billion and climbing valuation, reported revenues of more than $50 million per month (the site is relatively new, having been launched in November 2008) and copycats, trying to emulate its success, sprouting nearly every day.

The acquisition, if true, makes a lot of sense for Google, giving it a wonderful opportunity to fuse Groupon deals with its local business directory, Google Places. On the other hand, for Groupon it’ll be much easier to fend off all those similar services under Google’s wing.

We’ve reached out to both Groupon and Google for comment on the deal, but haven’t yet received word from them.

5 Ways to Sell Your Expertise Online

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, the lessons you learn are valuable. Not only will those lessons help you succeed in your core business, but that expertise has value for your peers. Sharing your expertise and becoming a thought leader in your industry can help you to attract new customers and develop lucrative, long-term business relationships.

Beyond that, however, your expertise can also be utilized as a separate revenue stream in its own right. In 2008, the folks at software company 37signals announced that they had turned their expertise into revenue streams worth more than three quarters of a million dollars in just a couple of years. Here are five ways that you can follow in their footsteps and leverage your existing expertise too.

1. Newsletters

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You may already have an e-mail newsletter, and it’s probably a great tool for customer retention. There’s a lot of value in being able to reach out to customers with news about your products or services, offer discounts and provide value-added content that keeps people interested. But have you considered offering a more premium, paid newsletter? Whatever your business, you likely have expertise that people will be willing to pay for. Restaurants could offer a monthly newsletter with recipes using seasonal foods, for example, or a gym could offer a weekly newsletter with exercises and tips on staying healthy.

TinyLetter and letter.ly are two new services that allow you to quickly and easily create and sell subscription-based e-mail newsletter.

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2. Consulting

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The lessons and skills you’ve acquired over the course of building a successful business have immense value to your peers. People will pay for that knowledge if you offer it via a consulting service. While many startups are bootstrapped using funds raised by consulting gigs, it’s unlikely that as a busy small business owner you’ll have the time to put hours into consulting. Still, by setting aside a few hours each week or taking on a couple of consulting clients, you can build a healthy secondary revenue stream and potentially be introduced to unique investment opportunities.

One easy way to sell your advice is Ether. Ether is a web app that provides users with a toll-free 888 telephone number that forwards to your existing phone line. You set when the number is available and how much you want to charge, then you just open for business during your “office hours.”

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3. E-Books

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E-books are old school and they take a little more upfront investment, but they’re potentially very lucrative. 37signals pulled in $350,000 by selling downloads of its first business advice e-book, Getting Real. People could be willing to pay for your expertise, as well. A mechanic, for example, could sell a series of e-books on do-it-yourself auto and motorcycle repair. If you’re a pet groomer, what about an e-mail about caring for dogs? Think about what you know and about how it could be expanded into a 40- or 50-page book.

Once you’ve created your book, you can sell it as a PDF download using a service like DPD or PayLoadz. For a more complete, end-to-end solution, try TradeBit, which offers a marketplace, or Lulu, which can also turn your e-book into a printed book.

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4. Webinars

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Webinars might be the ultimate way to sell your expertise. By holding a paid webinar, you’re literally charging people to watch you talk about and demonstrate whatever it is that you have to share. Because you’re offering people access directly to you (the expert), webinars are worth the money to your peers. Software like WebExcan allow you to stream presentations, audio and video to up to 3,000 participants. You can take questions from your audience in real-time and the platform offers built-in ecommerce, so you can charge for access.

Also check out solutions from GoToMeeting and Adobe, though you’ll have to handle payment yourself.

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5. Online Courses

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If live events aren’t your cup of tea and static e-books don’t convey your message clearly enough, another way to sell your expertise is by offering an online course. Using an app like Litmos, Odijoo or WiZiQ, you can create and sell web-based classes that not only share your expertise but teach it step-by-step. You can include multimedia in your courses, additional reading material (maybe you could even include your e-book as required reading), and provide tests so that participants can assess their progress.

Laura Schlessinger shifts to satellite radio

NEW YORK – Talk-show host Laura Schlessinger won't stay away from radio very long — only a weekend, in fact.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Monday it has a multiyear deal with Schlessinger to bring her "Dr. Laura" advice program to satellite radio in January. Specific terms were not revealed.

Schlessinger had said in August that she was quitting her syndicated radio program, a week after she apologized for using the N-word on the air 11 times while talking to a black woman, and activists demanded her ouster.

She ends her traditional radio program on Friday, Dec. 31. The following Monday, her "Dr. Laura" show will begin live at 2 p.m. on Sirius XM. It will air for three hours a day on Monday through Friday.

Schlessinger announced on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Aug. 17 that she was walking away from her radio show when her contract ended. The next day Sirius talk programming chief Jeremy Coleman called her to discuss a switch, she said.

"The first and most important thing that appealed to me was the freedom to speak my mind without advertisers and affiliates being attacked by activist groups that just love to censor anything they don't agree with," she said. "That just about made my heart and head explode."

The liberal watchdog Media Matters for America was a persistent critic. Its leadership didn't accept her apology and sought to encourage advertisers to drop her show. She was reading the Media Matters website when she decided, "that's it, I'm done with this," Schlessinger said.

In the radio incident that prompted her to quit, Schlessinger said to the woman involved, who was married to a white man, that "if you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race."

Schlessinger said she'll have some new segments on her show, including interviews with people about situations "that are relevant to the morals, values, principles and ethics that I nag about every day."

She said she's sure she'll say things that will offend someone.

"When I talk about married couples staying together for the sake of the children, somebody's offended," she said. "When I talk about mothers staying home with their babies, feminists are offended. When I talk about how wives should have more sex with their husbands, women are offended."

Schlessinger will be the biggest radio star to jump from traditional to satellite radio since Howard Stern, who had also tired of controversies over things he said and found the opportunity for a big payday.

She's likely to sacrifice some viewers. It's estimated her show is currently heard by about 8 million people a day. Sirius XM has 20 million subscribers, but it's not certain how many of them will be interested in Schlessinger. The service does not release figures estimating listeners for their shows.

Her show will also be available online and through apps on many smart phones, Sirius said; shows will be repeated on radio over the weekend.

As Holiday Shoppers Flock To The Web, WatchMouse Tracks Performance Of E-Retailers

Website monitoring startup WatchMouse is nowmonitoring the top 100 retail websites for availability around the holiday shopping season. The starup tested retail sites including Apple, Amazon, BestBuy, Borders, Overstock, Walmart and Zappos, for availability and performance during the month leading up to and including Thanksgiving Day, November 25 and Black Friday, November 26.

WatchMouse says that 27 of the 100 sites had 100% uptime; 15 came in at 99.99%, and only American Eagle Outfitters, GiltGroupe, Footlocker.com, and Fry’s Electronics landed in the “unacceptable” category. American Eagle Outfitters performed the worst during the monitoring period from October 25 – November 26, 2010 with nearly one full day of downtime.

Additional websites that experienced performance issues on either Thanksgiving, Black Friday, or both included Abercrombie and Fitch, Bulgari, JC Penney, Louis Vuitton, Office Max, Pottery Barn, Toys R Us, Williams-Sonoma, and Z Gallerie.

WatchMouse says e-retailers are particularly vulnerable to slow page load speeds because of the large number of components each website needs to load in order to optimize all of its product offerings and images. But latency and performance is particularly important for retail sites because users will abandon transactions.

According to a recent report published by Forrester Research and Akamai, two seconds is the new threshold in terms of an average online shopper’s expectation for a web page to load. Other research conducted by Google and Microsoft revealed that a delay of only a half second can cause increased shopping cart abandonment rates, higher bounce rates, fewer pages per visit, and reduced revenue per site visitor.

With consumers expected to spend $32.4 billion online this season, retailers are under even more pressure to ensure that their sites perform over the next few months.

While more retailers were offering online deals this year on Black Friday, it should be interesting to see how retail sites perform on Cyber Monday, which is one of the most trafficked online spending days of the year.

'Mad Men' star Elisabeth Moss goes blonde; drops brunette Peggy Olsen locks for golden tresses

Blonde ambition: Elisabeth Moss lightens up her locks.
Actress Elisabeth Moss must be hoping blondes have more fun.

Just as her Peggy Olsen, the character she plays on the 1960's era AMC show 'Mad Men' is shaking her demure image by dabbling with feminism and drug use, Moss is shaking up her look. 

The recently divorced actress showed off honey-hued locks at the 38th International Emmy Awards in New York City.

The 28-year-old actress wore long wavy hair extensions to compliment her sunny highlights, reports StyleList.

Perhaps she was looking to debut a new post-split look?

In September, she and 'SNL' actor Fred Armisen, 42, officially ended their 10-month marriage.

Teen Mom' Star Could Lose Custody of Her Daughter

The never-ending drama is far from over for Teen Mom star Amber Portwood.

The troubled 20-year-old reality star has been under investigation for domestic abuse against her ex-fiance Gary Shirley (Portwood was seen striking Shirley repeatedly with their young daughter present, a moment which aired on the popular MTV docu-series) and has since been charged with two felonies and one misdemeanor and faces up to three years in jail and up to $10,000 in fines. And now the single mom could potentially lose her 2-year-old daughter Leah for good.

RadarOnline.com says a source told them that on Tuesday Portwood and Shirley's child had become a ward of the state of Indiana following an emergency child placement hearing. Under Indiana law, if it's decided that a child is "in need of services," then they become a ward of the state. A hearing is usually held within 48 hours to attempt to place the child with a suitable family member. Guardianship is determined by a judge who appoints a government agency to oversee the child's affairs.

Baby Leah is currently living with her father after Portwood left her in his care, but her mom could still fight for custody in light of this latest development. It was also reported that the Department of Child Services has been monitoring Portwood's visits with her daughter and will continue to do so if Shirley's home is deemed suitable for Leah.

This is clearly a rough time for the troubled mom. "Being away from my daughter is the lowest of the low," Portwood told US Weekly.

She and Shirley, who have had nothing short of a tumultuous relationship on and off camera, declined to comment to Radar following the ruling.

Judge has many options in sentencing ex-Rep. DeLay

AUSTIN, Texas – Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay argued throughout his trial that the deck was stacked against him by a politically motivated prosecutor and a jury from the most Democratic city in one of the most Republican states.

But following DeLay's conviction Wednesday on money laundering and conspiracy charges, some legal experts say the edge may now shift to the Republican who represented a conservative Houston suburb for 22 years.

Before DeLay's inevitable appeal, which his lawyers predict will be a far friendlier process than his trial, he faces sentencing next month from Senior Judge Pat Priest. While technically the money laundering charge carries a punishment of up to life in prison, the judge has wide latitude and could end up just giving him probation.

"It is absolutely impossible he would get anywhere near life," said Philip Hilder, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. "It would be a period of a few years, if he gets prison."

Barry Pollack, a Washington-based lawyer who represents clients in white-collar and government corruption cases, said the judge may not feel the need to throw the book at DeLay, figuring the conviction itself is severe punishment for someone who once ascended to the No. 2 post in the House of Representatives.

For example, as a convicted felon, DeLay won't be able to run again for public office or even be able to cast a vote until he completes his sentence.

"I think in a lot of cases a judge wants to make an example, but I don't see that happening here," Pollack said.

Prosecutors accused DeLay of conspiring with two associates to use his Texas-based political action committee to send $190,000 in corporate money to an arm of the Washington-based Republican National Committee. The RNC then sent the same amount to seven Texas statehouse candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can't go directly to political campaigns.

The money helped Republicans take control of the Texas House in 2002, and once there, they were able to push through a DeLay-engineered congressional redistricting plan that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004, strengthening DeLay's political power.

While the string of alleged events may have been difficult for jurors to follow, outside legal observers said prosecutors were able to prove that DeLay had an undeniable motive for breaking the law.

Phillip Turner, a Chicago attorney who focused on criminal tax and public corruption cases as a federal prosecutor in the 1980s, said jurors always want clear evidence that the defendant stood to personally gain through his alleged misdeeds.

Turner contrasts the DeLay case with the federal corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted only on a lesser charge of lying to the FBI, with the jury deadlocking on 23 other charges — including the most serious ones.

Although prosecutors argued Blagojevich wanted to enrich himself by trying to sell the Senate seat that once belonged to President Barack Obama, Turner said a "corrupt motive" was tougher to prove in that case. Blagojevich didn't seem to receive any reward, either in money or power, and it was unclear whether he ever really intended to, Turner said.

"Those are the sorts of facts that make a difference in a jury's mind and lead to a conviction in one case and a hung jury in another," Turner said.

DeLay opted to be sentenced by Priest, a Democrat, rather than a jury in heavily Democratic Austin. Hilder said that was a wise move, particularly if DeLay thinks he might be able to get by with just a probation sentence.

"The judge may be more receptive than a jury," Hilder said. "He obviously thinks he will get a fairer shake with the judge. The jury more likely would sentence him to prison time."

The sentencing hearing, which is set to begin Dec. 20, will feature "numerous witnesses who will talk about the other acts of corruption that Tom DeLay has committed," lead prosecutor Gary Cobb said. The defense, which called only five witnesses during the trial compared to 30 for the prosecution, also could present testimony in the penalty phase.

But even with sentencing nearly a month away, DeLay's lawyers expressed confidence they could overturn the conviction rather than just minimize the punishment.

Although they haven't named the specific areas of the case they intend to appeal, their denied change of venue request is almost certainly to be among them. DeLay also long contended the charges against him were a political vendetta by Ronnie Earle, the former Democratic Travis County district attorney who originally brought the case and is now retired.

"This is a terrible miscarriage of justice," said Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lead attorney. "... This will never stand up on appeal."

Holiday travel smooth despite new security

Millions of Americans took to the skies on Wednesday for the start of the Thanksgiving holiday but air travel flowed smoothly as passengers largely ignored calls to protest more invasive security procedures.

The enhanced screening methods that have drawn complaints from some Americans and lawmakers in Congress involve revealing full-body imaging scanners and physical patdowns for travelers who opt out of the scans or raise security concerns.

By Wednesday evening -- traditionally one of the busiest U.S. travel days -- there were no reports of wide-scale protests or disruptions at major airports. The Federal Aviation Administration website also showed few weather delays.

"I'm going to ask for a (body) scan. Like that guy said, I don't want them touching my junk," said Nick Mazzanti, 36, who works in public relations in New York, referring to an Internet video that fueled protests against more invasive security.

The video captured audio of a California man telling an airport security official, "If you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested." Critics also waged an Internet campaign urging passengers to refuse having their bodies scanned.

But a post on a Transportation Security Administration blog, blog.tsa.gov/, said, "We're receiving reports of minimal wait times across the entire country -- from Honolulu to Myrtle Beach and everywhere in between -- and no disruptions."

Music student Emile Trisfith, 19, was traveling home to New York City from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for Thanksgiving and said he had been prepared for the worst. "There is always a long line but today there wasn't," he said.

Thanksgiving travelers were also expected to throng Amtrak rail service and highways to reach family for the holiday.

24 MILLION AIR TRAVELERS EXPECTED

The new airport security follows attempted attacks on airliners. Last month, authorities thwarted the bombing of U.S.-bound cargo flights. Last Christmas Day, a man tried to set off a bomb in his underwear on a flight to Detroit.

The Yemen-based group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for both plots.

Airlines expect 24 million people to fly during the Thanksgiving holiday period. Many U.S. families come together for Thanksgiving, which marks the European Pilgrim settlers' first successful harvest in 1621 shared with American Indians.

The TSA estimates that fewer than 2 percent of the 2 million passengers screened daily, or 40,000, are given the patdowns.

"I'm glad they take the extra precaution," said Stacy David, 46, at Orlando International Airport in Florida. "I feel sorry for the guy who has to look at (the body scans) all day."

Small businesses calling off Christmas

By Deborah L. Cohen

CHICAGO | Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:29pm EST

(Reuters) - Jim DiMezza is no Scrooge, but this year he decided to forego the annual Christmas party at his engineering and construction business.

"It had a negative effect," said DiMezza, owner of Philadelphia-based company Indoor Quality Solutions Engineering, referring to last year's festivities that came on the heels of layoffs that have reduced his staff to 14, from a peak of 90 in 2008. "It wasn't like it was before."

He was put off by workers' response at last year's modest restaurant gathering, which was downsized due to the recession from prior hotel galas that included fancy menus, clients and suppliers - even a hired comedian one year. So despite modest improvement in the economy, he decided not to risk a repeat.

DiMezza is representative of a growing number of businesses choosing not to celebrate the holidays this year, according to a survey by Battalia Winston Amrop, a headhunting firm that annually polls a cross-section of companies about their plans.

BLUE CHRISTMAS

"The country is not in a partying mood," said Dale Winston, Battalia's CEO. "It's not necessarily because of budgets, but because of the message it sends."

The 2010 holiday season represents the worst slump since the firm began polling 22 years ago, she said. Of 103 leading businesses queried, those holding a celebration of any kind fell to 79 percent, down from 81 percent both last year and the year before, during the height of the economic recession.

Over one-fourth of companies hosting parties said their events this year will be more modest; that comes on the heels of nearly half that cut budgets in 2009. The majority will keep spending the same as last year.

"The only reason that not as many downsized their parties this year was if they downsized more, they wouldn't be having anything," said Winston, noting a shift away from events intended to woo clients toward simpler, employee-only gatherings. "You can't downsize any further."

Those companies that do deck their halls this year are doing so moderately, weighing the signals their events send about business priorities as much as impact on the bottom line, according to providers contracted to put events together.

"With many businesses asking employees to make sacrifices, forego raises and bonuses, even the appearance of a lavish affair projects the wrong message," said Greg Jenkins, owner of Long Beach, California-based Bravo Partner Productions, which has coordinated holiday parties and other events for companies large and small for 25 years.

"A lot of it has to do with perception," said Jenkins, noting that some companies are making a conscious effort to tie their parties to some form of charitable giving. "The last thing you want to do is spend money on caviar and champagne."

Jenkins, himself a small businessman with just five full-time employees, keeps his own year-end celebrations low key with a simple lunch out at a restaurant or a small gathering at his home with light appetizers.

Which celeb family would you want to spend Thanksgiving with?

Imagine the table talk with Kim Kardashian (top left), Mitchell and Cameron from 'Modern Family,' the Sister Wives (bottom left) or Sarah Palin.
Forget about the grandma who squeezes your cheeks too tightly before slathering you with kisses. And ignore that one uncle who looks at your little sisters a little too closely.

You know them. You're used to them. You can deal with them.

Celebrities, however, are a whole different breed.

You see them on TV and read about them in the magazines. But what are they like in – gulp – real life?

Michael Lohan might hit on your mom. Snooki could insist on eating pickles with turkey. And the Kardashians' wardrobe would surely make the pilgrims (who are there in spirit, of course) blush.

The "Modern Family" crew might make your belly ache from laughs, not the questionable cranberry sauce. And the Brangelina brood could not only up the cuteness quotient, but also add some much-needed diversity.

So which celeb family would you most want to spend Thanksgiving with?

Why Time Warner Cable Is Testing a Cheap TV Package

It makes sense: if people are dropping the lowest-tier cable service because it's too expensive, give them a cheaper option. That's what Time Warner Cable  is experimenting with now: it'll test a less expensive TV package called "TV Essentials" targeting lower income consumers.

For $40 per month in New York and $30 per month subscribers to this new ultra-low tier will get the local broadcast channels, and 12 of the most popular 20 channels. It effectively includes one channel in each category — you get ESPN News, CNN, and TBS, but you'll miss out on some big channels, includingESPN, Fox, MSNBC and CNBC.

This lower-tier offering seems a direct response to news that cable operators have been bleeding subscribers at their lowest tier. SNL Kagan reported this week that the number of households subscribing to a cable or satellite service had dropped for the second consecutive quarter. Last quarter Time Warner Cable reported a drop of 155,000 video subscribers in the third quarter. Larger rival Comcast  lost 275,000 cable subscribers in the quarters, more than expected. Comcast was very specific, saying that this was not a result of people looking for content online, but a product of cash-strapped consumers simply ditching a non-essential. (*Note: Comcast is attempting to merge with NBC Universal — a $30 billion deal — in order to increase its footprint in the content arena. General Electric is the parent company of both, NBC Universal and CNBC.)

There's a lot of attention on differentiating between "cord cutting" in favor of web content and losing a subscription because of purely financial concerns. On CNBC today Craig Moffett noted that the price of cable has gone up 28 percent over the past five years, saying that this is a key way for TWC to stay relevant to those at the lower tier.

Why bother distinguishing between the two reasons people are dumping subscriptions? Lost subscribers are lost subscribers, right? Yes, but cable companies will have to take two very different tactics to address the two groups. To keep the consumers cutting their subscriptions because they're strapped for cash, it makes sense to lower prices. Still, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield predicts that few if any customers will subscribe to the new offering, noting that 68 percent of Time Warner's subscribers take a bundle to achieve a discount and 'TV Essentials' targets customers just buying video services. Plus, he doesn't think the discount is deep enough.

If consumers are 'cutting the cord' because they're watching Hulu.com and streaming   'TV Essentials' won't have any appeal. To hold onto them cable giants are looking to 'TV Everywhere' services to give additional incentive to keep subscriptions. These are consumers who can afford to pay, they just need to be convinced that they can get enough web and mobile on-demand access to premium content, that it's worth it.

Is this a start to a la carte pricing? Probably not. Or at least not yet. Consumers love the idea of buying cable channels a la carte — why pay for Fox if you're really an MSNBC fan? But as a cable executive told me recently, a la carte would be terrible for content companies. And it would also be bad for cable and Satellite TV carriers who bundle channels to get customers to pay more.

'Harry Potter' Conjures Up $24 Million Already

Harry Potter has added to his billions with a whopping $24 million domestic haul from midnight screenings of his latest adventure.

AP Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

According to box-office tracker Hollywood.com, that puts "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" second in the record books for midnight debuts, behind last year's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" with $26.3 million.

"Deathly Hallows" outdid the last installment in the franchise about the young wizard, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which took in $22.2 million in its midnight debut last year.

The latest film is based on the first part of J.K. Rowling's seventh and final "Harry Potter" novel. The finale, "Deathly Hallows: Part 2," is due out next July.

Companies Are Busier, So Will Hiring Pick Up Soon?

The unemployment rate may be stuck at 9.6 percent, but some economists are seeing a glimmer of hope for future jobs growth.

Dave & Les Jacobs | Getty Images

Those with jobs are working more hours, and factory workers are getting more overtime, both signs that companies are busier. Though neither is at the point that signals significant hiring ahead, it's clearly moving in the right direction, according to some economists.

Average weekly hours for all private-sector employees reached 34.3 hours in October, nearly the level seen before the recession, and up from 33.7 hours a year earlier, according to data from the U.S. Labor Department, which issues a report on nonfarm payrolls each month.

Overtime for manufacturing workers—not including supervisors—has risen to an average 3.9 hours a week from 3.2 hours a year earlier, and 2.6 hours a year-and-a-half ago, according to the Labor Department.

“That’s a sign there’s more demand for product out there and companies are able to meet it with making people work a little longer,” said John Canally, economist at LPL Financial. “At some point, you exhaust the work force and you have to go out and hire new workers.”

According to Canally, overtime hours worked can be a leading indicator of future job growth. Six months after overtime hours hit a low in March 2009, the job market started to tick higher, he said. That pattern has been repeated over time—in both directions—with a rise in hours signaling future gains in jobs, he said.

Thanksgiving Dinner Costs Rise, but Budgets Don't

American families are going to have to be a bit more savvy to bring their Thanksgiving dinner to the table on budget.

Uppercut RF | Getty Images

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the cost of the turkey and all the fixings has risen 1.3 percent from last year. However, according to a survey byWalmart , three out of five American families are trying to serve their holiday meal on the same budget as last year.

For the past 25 years, the AFBF has based its price survey on a set list of traditional holiday items, designed to serve 10 guests. This year, the cost of that shopping basket is $43.47, a 56-cent price increase from last year's average cost of $42.91.

Still, even with the increase, the meal is actually $1.14 cheaper than what shoppers paid two years ago, when the total was $44.61.

The traditional star of the holiday meal—a 16-pound turkey—is actually less expensive than a year ago, at $17.66 in 2010. That comes out to about $1.10 per pound, a decrease of 6 cents per pound, or a total of 99 cents per whole turkey, compared with 2009.

While this makes the turkey the most expensive part of the meal, it's the item that showed the biggest price decline.

"Turkey prices are down some this year despite the fact that, according to the Agriculture Department estimates, turkey production has been slightly lower in 2010 than in 2009 and supplies of turkey in cold storage are below last year's level," said John Anderson, an AFBF economist.

This shows stores are using the turkey as loss-leader, to coax in customers, according to Anderson.

In general, it pays to watch for deals and specials in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Stores will often put the holiday trimmings on sale, and items such as stuffing and pumpkin mix can be purchased ahead of time and stored.

These deals can often account for wide swings in the cost of these products. For example, Walmart is advertising that it's selling twin pack boxes of Kraft's Stove Top stuffing mix for $1.50. That's lower than the average price of $2.64 quoted by the AFBF in their survey.

Another factor that is swinging the price of the meal is dairy prices, which have rebounded from unusually lower prices in 2009.

A gallon of whole milk increased in price by 38 cents per gallon, to $3.24. Other items that showed a price increase from last year were a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, two nine-inch pie shells, a half pint of whipping cream, three pounds of sweet potatoes, a one-pound relish tray of carrots and celery and a dozen brown-n-serve rolls. (To see how these costs break down further, click through our slideshow.)

The cost of green peas and stuffing fell, while the price of fresh cranberries remained flat.