Abra Cadabra- The New Harry Potter - Soul-sucking horror for boy wizard ...

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' Trailer Predicted For Wednesday

f you've had long enough to pick apart the latest "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" TV spot, sit tight because Warner Bros. hopes to have a newly edited set of clips ready to show you this week. Our last look at the film pretty much amounted to a Death Eater death march all over Harry, Ron and Hermione, and given what we know about the contents of the series' final book (don't worry, no spoilers here), we don't expect to see any lighter moments when a new trailer hits Wednesday, September 22.
The forecast for the new trailer comes straight from WB sources speaking to ComingSoon.net. The trailer rollout thus far as been right on schedule leading up to the film's November 19 release date, this one should keep their tease mojo pumping.
David Yates will be taking Harry and his friends through the ringer for this film, and with two installments breaking it up, he's got extra room to squeeze in more action straight from J.K. Rowling's tale. Whether this next trailer will feature as much smack talk from Lord Voldemort or fearful facial expressions from the HP kids in peril as the last one did may not be something we'll know until Wednesday, but it's a fair bet that we can expect to see some more of the same, maybe with a few surprises. Ultimately, it's all up to WB; we've already seen a building come down, Harry on his back scared out of his mind and Voldemort say that he's got Harry's heart, though, so I don't know how much bleaker it can get.

KFC's Butt Ads Slammed as Sexist

Women's groups are crying foul over the location of KFC's latest ad campaign. The company is recruiting shapely college women to act as "human billboards" and hand out coupons for the Double Down sandwich while wearing sweatpants with the product's logo emblazoned on the rear. "It's so obnoxious to once again be using women's bodies to sell fundamentally unhealthy products," the president of the National Organization for Women complains to USA Today. A KFC marketing exec defended the ad campaign, saying it was a great way to attract the attention of young men, who are the chain's key customers and the Double Down's biggest fans. The exec notes that apparel companies and sororities have been using rear-end ads for years. The women are paid $500 per day, plus KFC gift certificates—and they get to keep the sweatpants.

Excuses, Excuses: Tall Tales Told by Celebs in Trouble

Paris Hilton is confused. And why shouldn't she be? Cocaine does bear a striking resemblance to chewing gum. So it would be natural for her to think a little white baggie of the former, which fell out of her purse during a traffic stop last weekend, was actually the latter. Wouldn't it?

The 29-year-old hotel heiress and her nightclub owner boyfriend Cy Waits were pulled over in Las Vegas because officers said they smelled marijuana smoke wafting from their car. Not only did Hilton claim the bag containing .8 grams of coke wasn't hers -- nor was the purse because it was "too cheap" -- she also said of the mysterious substance that "she had not seen it but now thought it was gum," according to the police report. The authorities didn't buy it and charged her with felony drug possession.

The party princess may be the laughingstock of Hollywood with her newest version of "the dog ate my homework," but she isn't the first celeb to lie her way out of a pickle. Here are some of our favorite excuses stars have concocted when they're caught with their pants down:
Lindsay Lohan: Every Excuse in the Book
Oh, LiLo. When will you ever stop fibbing? We've heard it all from the always-falling star. In 2007, cops pulled her over in Santa Monica and found cocaine in her jeans pocket. She said she hadn't been doing drugs and the pants weren't even hers. Police didn't believe her, arresting the actress for coke possession, DUI and driving without a license. But her nose continued to grow in the coming years. In 2010, she missed a court hearing because, her attorney claimed, she lost her passport. Her uncle's death was the reason given for skipping an alcohol counseling session, though said lawyer admitted she hadn't gone to the funeral. The judge was having none of it and revoked Lohan's probation, requiring her to undergo random drug testing, wear an ankle monitor and stay in the Los Angeles area.

Britney Spears: Forgive Me, I'm a Hick
Deep in the throes of her meltdown years in 2006, Spears was snapped by paparazzi behind the wheel of her car with her son Sean Preston perched on her lap. When asked by Matt Lauer why the baby wasn't strapped into a car seat where he belonged, Spears shrugged it off as a down-home kinda thang. "I did it with my dad. I'd sit on his lap and I drive. We're country."

Eddie Murphy: I'm a Good Samaritan ... to Hookers
Prostitutes need love too. That's what comedian Eddie Murphy used as his excuse for photos taken of him in 1997 with a street girl in his car while he was married. He told his then-wife that he'd stopped because she (or he? the woman turned out to be a transsexual escort) was crying. He later said it wasn't the first time his heart had gone out to a ho. "I was being a good Samaritan," he said. "It's not the first hooker I've helped out. I've seen hookers on corners ... and I'll pull over ... and I'll empty my wallet out to help." Give the guy a break! He's just looking out for the poor, the tired, the hungry and the floozies.

Winona Ryder: My Director Made Me Steal for a Part
We all remember Winona: The Shoplifting Years. When the actress was caught making off with more than $5,500 worth of Saks Fifth Avenue merchandise in 2001, Ryder at first denied she was a thief, then changed her tune to the old "researching a part" song and dance. "I'm sorry for what I did," she said in court in the performance of a lifetime. "My director directed me to shoplift for a role I was preparing." Which role, you ask? A look back at what she was working on makes her story even less plausible. Was Winona trying to pin the theft on 'Mr. Deeds' director Steven Brill or Gary Halvorson, who directed her in the 'Friends' episode where she kissed Jennifer Aniston?

Jeffrey Donovan: It's Not Me (or the Wine I Guzzled), It's the Benadryl
The star of USA's spy series 'Burn Notice' had a fun little romp with police in Miami Beach in the summer of 2009, when he swerved to avoid hitting a squad car and then failed a sobriety test. He was arrested when he wouldn't take a breathalyzer. Though he confessed to downing drinks over dinner at a restaurant, he still claimed he was blameless and pointed the finger at cold medicine: "The only mistake I made tonight," Donavan said, "was drinking Benadryl with three glasses of wine."

Shelly Morrison: There's an Earthquake in My Mind
Oh Rosario. Where did you go wrong? The lovable 'Will and Grace' maid stole nearly $500 in jewelry from a department store and attributed her bout of shoplifting to the tremors in her brain. "Sometimes the mind has a mini earthquake," Morrison said. "I did a dumb thing that was so out of character ... I've since seen therapists and they explained to me that I left no room for myself." Hopefully her mental tectonic plates are now safely realigned.

Whitney Houston: Crack Is Too Wack for Me
Whitney is too classy for crack. At least, that's what she used as her excuse for lying about smoking it when she was deep in one of her many drug-fueled breakdowns. "Crack is cheap," the songstress explained. "I make too much money to use crack. Crack is wack."

Tom Sizemore: That Underwear I Was Wearing Isn't Mine
When your struggle with drug and alcohol addiction is well publicized and you're stopped by police for a second time using a fake penis called the Whizzinator to beat a urine drug test, the best thing to do is say the underwear isn't yours. Right, Tom Sizemore? "They're not mine," Sizemore told a court when asked about the briefs fitted with the device. "They're Calvins. I wear Hilfigers." Right. Not surprisingly, the judge wasn't fooled.

Jeremy Piven: I Was Poisoned by Fish
"Entourage" star Piven abandoned his role in David Mamet's play 'Speed-the-Plow' because he'd been suffering from a bad case of mercury poisoning, he said. The tale only made a mockery of the actor, with Mamet joking to Variety, "My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."

Jackson Kids Having a Blast at School

The elder two of Michael Jackson's children have started going to school with other kids for the first time in their lives, and are thriving. Prince Michael Jackson, 13, and Paris, 12, ended homeschooling at their own request, and are enjoying attending Los Angeles' exclusive Buckley School, their famous pop's alma mater, ABC News reports. For now, two bodyguards escort the pair to and from classes, but Jackson family attorney Brian Oxmam says the children are doing so well that the bodyguards may be gone within weeks. "These kids can handle anything," he said.
"Academics are really important," Oxman added. "But as to social atmosphere—throwing papers and what not—listen, these kids have a real good time." The youngest Jackson, 8-year-old Blanket, will continue to be homeschooled for now. Oxman said Paris is quieter and more cautious than her older brother. "He's a very powerful personality and wants to be with kids his own age," Oxman said of Prince. "I get the sense that Prince really likes business. And he likes speaking." Michael Jackson would be happy about the change, said Oxman. "If theis is what they wanted, he would have approved," he said.

Justin Bieber Has Dedicated Servers at Twitter

Justin Bieber uses 3% of Twitter resources at any moment. According to a Twitter employee—talking to designer Dustin Curtis—Bieber has "racks of servers dedicated to him. I'm sure this will excite his haters (hello 4chan!) even more. Updated
Dustin confirmed to us that his tweet is not a joke. He was told about it by a Twitter employee. Since Bieber is almost a perennial trending topic, I'm not surprised. Still, and given the 180 million unique visitors every month, that's quite an achievement.
What is really important, however, is this: Now, every time that whale pops, you will have one more reason to slap him. [Twitter]
Updated: The Twitter employee told Dustin that most big users have their own dedicated Twitter servers. [Twitter]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.

Meet Facebook 'Genius' Sean Parker

(Newser) – According to Sean Parker, Sean Parker has "helped change the world, at least three times." Two of those times, one assumes, are related to his involvement in the early days of Napster and Facebook: "Two of the most significant companies in the history of the Internet," says a colleague. "And in both cases Parker spotted them earlier than anyone." The budding billionaire—soon to be portrayed by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network—is notoriously press-shy, but agreed to sit for a Vanity Fair interview with David Kirkpatrick.

In it, Parker is referred to many times as "brilliant" and a "genius," by everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Ashton Kutcher. He's also described as flaky and hard-partying, but enormously loyal and generous—often investing money in friends' businesses or donating to charity fundraisers—a far cry from the greedy, calculating character he's portrayed as in the upcoming film. In fact, when Timberlake himself approached Parker to get to know him, Parker shot him down. "That isn’t going to help you play the part Sorkin has written," he told Timberlake. "That character really isn’t me."

1. This is Parker’s pattern—great idea, work like the devil, then disappear for a while. Why do we all put up with it? For two reasons. He adds a lot of value in the time he’s there. And he’s very loyal.
- Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn founder

2.  Sean probably deserves less credit for turning Facebook into what it is than he thinks he does, but also more credit than anybody else thinks he does.
- Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook co-founder

3.  Few people are as smart as he is.
- Mark Zuckerberg

4.  He’s one of the most generous people I know. Also one of the flakiest.
- An associate  

Google's Bouncing Dots: Hinting at Search Changes?

(Newser) – The consensus on what explains the moving dots on Google's logo today seems to change by the hour. The company has shot down speculation that they're balloons celebrating the company's founding, telling Search Engine Land: "Today’s doodle is not related to a birthday but is fast, fun, and interactive, just the way we think search should be." Which prompts the blog to suspect they're related to a Google press conference tomorrow about search changes.

"Google has been slowly rolling out search results that update as the user is typing the query, for example, and that could be part of the announcement," adds the Digits blog at the Wall Street Journal. Fast Company likes the theory that because the bouncing balls are powered by the new CSS coding protocol, it's a pointed message against Adobe Flash. "This is a jokey but impressive demonstration of the power of future Web coding. ... Basically Google's saying 'look what the Web (possibly via our swanky browser, Chrome) will be capable of on our next birthday!'"