hello, i'm randi kaye, sitting in for.com lemon. it is the kind of remark that makes you stop and ask, did he really say that? senator leader harry reid is apologizing to all americans for comments he made about president obama during the 2008 campaign. we are just learning about the quote which appears on a new book on the campaign called "game change." reid is quoted as saying, then senator obama had a chance, a good chance of winning the white house because he was, quote, light-skinned and his speech had what reid described as, quote, no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. the damage control is already under way. in today's statement reid says,

quote, i deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. i sincerely apologize for offending any and all americans, especially african-americans, for my improper comments. let's talk about all of this with cnn's political editor mark preston. good to see you, mark. >> hey, randi. >> what would possess harry reid even in private to say something like this? >> you know, randi, harry reid has always been known as someone who speaks very bluntly. he's not known as a great oarater. you don't see him on the senate floor giving flowery speeches. sometimes gets himself in trouble. this is a great case where harry reid probably should have kept what was in his mind in his mind. he shouldn't have said it. as you said, incredible a damage control going on this morning. once the news broke that he had said these words, his office immediately issued that statement saying that he was sorry, they're trying to move beyond this issue. >> let me share with what the white house is saying about this. they released a statement

saying, "harry reid called me today -- this is from the president -- "for the unfortunate comment reported today. i accepted him apology without question. i have known him for years. i've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issue of social justice and i know what's in his heart. as far as i'm concerned, the book is closed. what do you make of that comment by the president? >> not too surprising. harry reid is doing a lot of good work on capitol hill. he should be credit with helping get president obama's agenda through. we talk a lot about the supermajority, the fact that there's 60 votes in the senate. in fact, there are not 60 votes in the senate and we have seen that in the health care debate. not all democrats are on board. also, if you look at the context of the quote, it doesn't seem as if harry reid was trying to be disparaging, so to speak, in his remark. he was making an observation. it was -- it was an observation he shouldn't have made. it was a poor choice of words, bad choice of words, and i think that president obama understood that. also, in the book we should point out that it's noted, if we are to believe the authors of

the book, and i think we should because they are very good journalists, that harry reid was one of the first democratic leaders to tell barack obama to run for president. >> and why would he do that? >> because, you know, according to the book now, and we've heard some of this anecdotal evidence over the past year or so, year and a half, is that democratic leaders didn't think that hillary clinton could win in a general election. they thought that she would win through the primaries but in fact once she got into the general election, republicans would try to dig up a lot of dirt in the past clinton administration. also supposedly the alleged affairs that president clinton had and that would not be enough for hillary clinton to overcome and she wouldn't win the presidency. they saw or at least what this book says, they saw barack obama as somebody who could actually win the primary and perhaps win the general. >> and for harry reid, is this a big deal or just a bill embarrassment? >> this is a huge embarrassment. it's a big deal because it will always dog him. what is a bigger deal, though, is that there was a poll released this morning before the news broke, this news broke

early this morning in a newspaper, another poll in nevada that shows that harry reid is in deep trouble of winning re-election. right now he's a 52% disapproval rating. no the good when you're the majority leader, somebody who's able to deliver for your state to have that many voters not supporting you. and you know something, this is a poll -- these numbers are not too surprising for us, randi, because we've seen these numbers over the past six months. harry reid is in trouble of winning re-election. they acknowledge that. and they're going to spend upwards of $25 million to try to get him re-elected in november. >> if we can, let's quickly touch on another book that's also getting a lot of attention. this one by republican national committee chair michael steele. it's called "right now," and then it is sub titled, "a 12-step program for defeating the obama agenda." was this book a surprise for the gop? >> i think it was a surprise that michael steele, the chairman of the republican party, would actually put a book out during his time as the chairman. that was so critical of the republican party because as people will say, that when

you're the chairman of the party, you should be the cheerleader of the party. you should really try to heal the party. it has caused a lot of angst in the republican party, certainly on capitol hill. michael steele in his subsequent interviews on his book tour has been asked many questions about the state of the republican party. he has said that, for instance, he doesn't think that the republicans can win back the house in november. house republicans do not want to hear this. in fact, there was a dustup, there was a call this past week between congressional communicators and rnc communicators and things are heated. people are angry at michael steele for what he said in his book. >> he's taken so much heat, in fact, he had to cancel interviews as well. should he be concerned about his political future? >> some people told me michael steele really thinks he should run for president, and i don't know if that's true or not. look, he will remain as chairman of the party. he has been able to raise an incredible amount of money. the republican party is on the upswing. this time last year they were in a lot of trouble. randi, they won two big governorships back in november and the fact is things are on

the upswing for the republican party. so for right now he's safe. >> mark preston for us on two big stories tonight. thank you, mark. >> thanks, randi. freshg confirmation tonight that the suicide bomber who killed seven cia operatives in afghanistan was really an agent of the pakistan taliban. a chilling new video shows the man the cia thought they could trust, revealing his true loyalities. cnn's senior international correspondent nic robertson joins us live from amman, jordan, with the details. nic? >> reporter: until this video came out, there was a lot of questions of what was on the mind of this jordanian doctor who told jordanian intelligence officials that had gone to pakistan and he could help inform on al qaeda's leaders. the cia working with jordanian intelligence. the work he sourced. but in this video he said when he got to pakistan, he joined the pakistani taliban, told them all about this intelligence operation and with them planned an attack against the cia base in afghanistan and he said this is a very, very clear message that no amount of money can buy

off somebody's faith from their god, an indication here that he would -- that whatever he told jordanian intelligence officials was just lies and that he was really working here for al qaeda and the taliban. and what we see in this video as well is him seating with the leader of the pakistani taliban saying that this attack is in revenge for the death of the pab stanny taliban leader last year in a u.s. drone strike. what this shows us as well is very clearly how closely the taliban and al qaeda are working on the same objectives and clearly the -- clearly here a very, very important objective, a very, very important operation and the operation, given to the pakistani taliban to carry out this very important operative. very big symbolic statement there for how closely taliban and al qaeda are right now. >> so, nic, what does the video tell us about just how tight? any more insight there in terms of the length between the taliban and the al qaeda? >> you know, what it's going to

tell intelligence agencies and officials a lot and it's going to tell them they're going to have to go back to their agents and double-check and make sure that they really are on the side that they say they're on and they're not on the taliban fighter, not on al qaeda's side. i spoke with a former expert, adviser to the king here, who's got a lot of experience in intelligence operations in this part of the world, and he says this is going to slow down the hunt for osama bin laden because when you go back and check all of your sources and your spies, you are going to have to spend time doing that and that means it's going to slow down the hunt for osama bin laden. so what the taliban and al qaeda have managed to do here is really put a huge crimp in operations for some time to get osama bin laden. >> and for the jordanian intelligence service as well? >> oh, absolutely. they've got a lot of questions to answer here. we've been talking to sources here who have indicated that

they think the jordanian intelligence services, along with the cia, have really acknowledged some red flags here. how can they possibly trust a jordanian doctor who just arrived in pakistan to say he could actually get close to al qaeda's leaders? that just doesn't add up. why would they trust somebody who was clearly by his internet blogging an ideologue, a supporter of obama? they never had success of putting somebody in the top ranks of al qaeda before, intelligence operative. a lot of red flags missed and everyone will have to analyze what they did wrong as well as double-check their agents and spies. randi? >> still so much questions. nic robertson for us in amman, jordan. thank you. back in the u.s., a not guilty plea for a suspected terrorist arrested this week by the fbi. 25-year-old zazi is accused of

receiving training from al qaeda. his passport was taken away thursday. that night he was arrested following a traffic collision in which he rear-ended another car at high speed in new york city. he's allegedly linked to najh buhl zazi, who was charged with an attack last year in new york, that would have coincided with the anniversary of the 9/11. he denies any charges of the zazi case. adding to the list of security issues in just the past couple of weeks. with methods of screening passengers seeming to come and go, we're asking what has changed since 9/11? and tv goes where no tv has gone before without the funny classes. 3d tv and other cool stuff debuting at the consumer electronics show. we're getting a look at the gadgets you're going to be asking for in 2010. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance?

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a graduate student from china accused of touching off a massive airport security scare last weekend is due in court next week. police say 28-year-old haisong jiang ducked under a security airport rope when the guard momentarily walked away from his post. the terminal was shut down and thousands of passengers had to be rescreened. jiang said his friend made a mistake but meant no harm. >> he's my friend but he's a nice guy. yeah, he did something, you know, inappropriate. but i'm not a lawyer, i can't say is that wrong or not, right. >> jiang was arrested yesterday

in pass catway, new jersey and charged with defiant trespassing. he was trying to see his girlfriend off to los angeles. he may have ducked under the rope when the guard wasn't looking to say one final good-bye to her. security scares in the terminal but in the air. not once but twice yesterday. unruly passengers forced unscheduled layover when's airline pilots decided to play it safe. friday's airtran flight 39 from atlanta to san francisco had to make a pit stop after a reportedly intoxicated man locked himself in the bathroom. two f-16s escorted the flight to colorado springs, where the fbi arrested mohammed abu tahir. he's liable to face charges for interfering with a flight career. same day, a man was accused of harassing a woman on the board. he was removed from the jet but not arrested. officials say the woman did not want to press charges. we have all been through a gamut of changes in the name of security at the airport but is any of it working? >> reporter: we take our shoes

off, remove our laptops and toss our bottled water, all in the name of safety. are we any safer today than we were before 9/11? not exactly says bruce chennaier, author and security analysis. >> we take away guns and bombs, terrorists use box cutters. we take them away, they use liquids. we limit liquids, they strap explosives in their underwear. this is a stupid game we can't win and we should stop playing it. >> reporter: but the game goes on:the tsa tried puffer machines which blow air on you to release explosive material. they didn't work and are being phased out. and the patdowns -- >> any patdown you experience that doesn't embarrass you physically is not very effective. >> reporter: he does give metal detectors higher marks. he said metal detectors likely force the would-be christmas day bomber to build an inefficient bomb for his underwear, which needed a syringe and home-brewed

detonator that failed. but the next guy may be better at it. would those x-ray body scanners do the trick? >> it won't detect things that are not very dense so if the explosive is spread out over a large area, maybe it's in a fabric. >> reporter: like the explosive petn sewed into underwear. for some without a magic machine that's terrorist proof, the answer is profiling, countries and individuals. the obama administration says now travelers from countries considered state sponsors of terrorism and other countries of interest will face extra scrutiny. does profiling work? candice delong was an fbi profiler for 20 years. >> these are things that we know have worked in the past for various law enforcement agencies and zoning in on certain people. >> reporter: delong says the answer is a combination of ethnic profiling and behavioral profiling. someone sweating on an otherwise cool day or a traveler avoiding eye contact. others argue ethnic profiling

makes us less safe. >> we do not have a perfect profile. terrorists come in all shapes and sizes and it's nice to say it's muslim men but it isn't always. >> reporter: remember the shoe bomber richard reid? he was british with a jamaican background. dirty bomb conspirator jose padilla was hispanic-american. a university of texas study found that profiling high-risk categories is no better than random screening because the screeners in effect become blind to anyone that doesn't fit the profile. imagine if they're profiling only middle eastern men. would they even spot one of al qaeda's most wanted, american adam guden? and he says profiling is also ineffective because terrorists learn how to beat it, by picking people who don't fit the profile, people like a nigerian with a u.s. visa perhaps, leaving from amsterdam. now let's look at some glaring issues with the tsa, which has been operating for months

without a director in place. the administration has nominated former fbi agent erroll southers for the post but south carolina senator jim demint has put a hold on that nomination. rick nelson is a former navy helicopter pilot with over 20 years of intelligence experience. rick, you say underestimating the importance of leadership in an agency like the tsa is a huge mistake. >> oh, absolutely it is. in times like this, you've got to have necessarily have strong leadership in place. as the president has said in his remarks, there's some systemic failures that occurred on christmas day, and for those systems to be changed, it's going to require strong leadership at the department level. and it's going to require the president to have his individuals and his leaders in place to do that. >> what really is going on at the tsa? when you look at recent events, you have the christmas day attempted bomb we are explosives sewn into the underwear. we have the newark airport security breach where the tsa worker leaves his post for about 90 seconds and this guy slips

by. what's going on? >> again, i think it's an issue where you strong leadership is needed. certainly the acting administrator is doing a good job but, again, the acting name is something you have to get past. we have to get someone permanent into that position. i think any time you politicize the national security debate, we're doing the nation a disservice here. so we need to put the leaders in place into that department, into that agency, so we can begin to address some of these issues that you just mentioned. >> we're talking about the confirmation of erroll southers, which is being held up. that is president obama's nominee to held the tsa. republican senator jim demint has been very, very vocal about this. he hasn't been confirmed apparently in part because republicans are worried that he's going to unionize the tsa. have we reached the point here where politics is affecting the safety of this country? >> well, absolutely, i think it is. as i said any time we politicize a debate, we're doing the nation a disservice. the next administrator at tsa will be the fifth one that we

had as a nation in the last eight years and it's very difficult to make systemic changes to an agency like that when you keep changing leaders out. and that's something that's going to have to be addressed here and going to have to be addressed soon. the president's going to have to make a decision on this candidate. >> what has the public lost in terms of this leadership or lack of leadership at the tsa? >> well, again, the acting position is a very -- is a challenging position because you know you're not permanent. so there's always some hesitancy to put into place policies or to take the agency in a direction when you know that you're not going to be there for a long period of time. so by putting permanent leadership in place, you can actually commit yourself and dedicate the organization to a directional change and the kind of systemic change the president says is required here. >> does it go beyond leadership? what does the tsa need to do to gain some ground here against the bad guys? >> again, the tsa is in an extraordinarily difficult situation. considering all their up against, they actually do a very

good job. what they need to do, though, is get the resources to stay ahead of the terrorists, to stay out in front. we're always going to have terrorism. the terrorists are always going to adapt their tactics to get around our security measures and we cannot rely solely on tsa to keep us safe. it's going to require holistic solutions that include better intelligence sharing, improved investigative techniques and political and congressional oversight to ensure that the tsa has everything it needs to do its job correctly. >> rick nelson, we will have to leave it there. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. florida's weather gets turned upside down. you might not believe your eyes but iguanas literally dropping out of the trees during this cold spell. jacqui jeras is tracking all of the brutal weather for us. >> it is nasty for a whole lot of people, randi. the good news is there are warmer temperatures on the way. we'll let you know when and just how warm they will be. thanks. so is our bike insurance. all the coverage you need at a great price. hold on, cowboy. cool. i'm not done -- for less than a dollar a month,

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amazing video right there. it's been so cold in florida, iguanas are dropping out of trees. the cold-blooded animals cooled down so much they can't hold on any longer and they drop to the

ground. good news is they're okay. just in a zombie state until the weather warms up. and the cold taking a toll on sea turtles. dozenss taken to a life marine center after the coal weather shocked their system. most are endangered green sea turtles and they're used to tropical waters. jacqui jeras watching for us. jacqui, isn't that something of the iguanas. you don't see that every day. >> you don't. it's shocking. >> they need a warmup. >> they get so stiff. they can't hang onto the trees, i guess. they just fall out. good to know all of the animals are okay. it is a good reminder to check on your pets, too. there it goes. right out of the tree. not a big fan of those iguanas. anyway, the good news is that the warmer temperatures are coming. we just have to be a little bit patient for it. what's going on in the atmosphere today is our jet stream pattern just as this big trough in it as we call it and this allows the cold air from the north to spill on in. temperatures are 10 degrees to

30 degrees below average. now, we're going to see this pattern shift a little over the next couple of days and we get what we call a ridge pattern. believe it or not, the upper midwest, 5 to 15 degrees above normal by monday. this is some great news. still below average in the southeast but we will be warming and we will see temperatures near normal. probably by the middle to latter part of the week, depending upon where you live. one of the areas as the iguana video really showed is florida's having such a hard time with this. you're not used to conditions like this and it doesn't happen very often. in fact, maybe once every 20 years. so temperatures here have been hovering around freezing and it's been create ago real problem for a whole lot of people. look at that, 36 now and jacksonville as well as orlando and also into the tampa area. and we've got a little bit of precip to go along with that. we have been seeing icy conditions. we had sleet in orlando earlier today. check out this live picture right now coming from wplg. this is ft. lauderdale.

your temperature in ft. lauderdale, 42 degrees and you had rain on top of that. and it's just very miserable. temperatures here tonight will be dropping down probably into the 30s and the windchill index could be down into the 20s. we might even see a little sleet in western palm beach. i want to show you an i-report that we have from ocala, florida. that's about an hour and a half north of the orlando area. ooh, this is something atlanta actually accident video i see that we have there. yeah, atlanta, icy streets and people just don't know how to drive on it so they're spinning out in that black ice has been a real problem. now we have ocala i-report i want to show you from jim yat that he took this morning. you only had .1 of an inch of snow. jim, i'm wondering how much it took you to gather up to make that snowman. good to see those folks having a little fun in that. florida will see temperatures hovering around the freezing mark across much of the state tomorrow morning but they will start to moderate, as i said, next week. hopefully folks are just playing it safe out there. randi?

>> that is some good news. i really did like jim's snowman there. a lot of work. >> not bad. >> not bad at all. thanks, jacqui. appreciate it. a new video from the pakistan taliban shows the suspected suicide bomber who killed seven cia officers last month in afghanistan. humam al balawi was a jordanian doctor who the cia believed it successfully recruited to fight the taliban. in the video, al balawi said his faith cannot be bought. two people have been killed in a machine gun attack on the togo national soccer team. the team's bus was sprayed with gunfire near the border between angola and the republic of congo. the bus driver and assistant coach were reportedly killed. the team was headed to angola for the africa cup of nations tournament but has now withdrawn. a separatist group in angola claimed responsibility for that attack. senate majority leader harry reid is apologizing for comments he made during the 2008 presidential campaign. a new book called "game change" quotes reid as saying then senator obama could win the white house because he was light-skinned and had, quote, no

negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. president obama has issued a statement accepting reid's apology. now let's talk about this with cnn political analyst roland martin. he joins me by phone from san antonio. roland, let me first get your initial reaction to reid's comments. >> first of all, it's obviously shocking to hear the comments. i got a call this morning from the senator's staff. clearly they're very concerned about this and doing significant damage control. issues nonsensical he would make such a statement but he thought he was on background or he thought it was on the record or whatever the case may be. randi, i think it is also something that speaks to that we cannot say, well, it's a crazy comment. understand the thinking of individuals and how they perceive things. in the study, randi, came out several months ago, in may of 2009, that showed if there's an african-american ceo of a company with a babyface, lighter features, more pleasant, they were received differently than somebody who was white with a similar feature.

and so it speaks to the psychological view the people have. during the campaign, people have to be honest. a different name, people say, oh, he was a different kind of candidate and i'll be honest, what reid said is i have often heard them say it in african-american circles in terms of how people are going to be more accepting of him than a different type of african-american candidate. so it was a very interesting comment that i think people need to really look into. >> what do you make of what he said -- and i'm quoting here -- no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. suggesting he can slip in and out of this, quote, negro dialect. >> i will be honest with you, i can't tell you how many times, randi, oh, my god, you are articulate. that is when you speak a certain way, you're perceived differently, different than other african-americans. and so -- when you start breaking down the psychology of how people do things, this is

what african-americans who in corporate america deal with every single day in terms of how you dress, how you talk, how you walk. again, a couple years ago there was a study done on african-american men who incorporate america who had to dress a certain way. they could not react a certain way. even on the campaign, people would say, why can't senator obama show anger at issues? because he did not want to be saddled with the angry black man stereotype. so because, again, how other people perceive you plays a role because he was trying to get votes. >> right. >> people would think it's nonsense. but when you start digging deeper into what he said, that's what a lot of people think and he was thinking i think what other people were thinking, he simply said it, which was his biggest mistake. >> so let me ask you this, the president says he has accepted harry reid's apology. as far as he's concerned, the book is closed. that's a quote from the president. is that enough? >> well, i mean, look, first of all, i'm not surprised the

president would issue such a statement. but there is no doubt once monday hits and then other cable radio shows, cable stations and then we have black radio, it is going to be the topic on monday. so harry reid -- senator harry reid, frankly, is going to try to weather the storm, which is why you saw him reiterate his issues in terms of cutting it out on the las vegas strip. he knows come monday, this is still going to be out there. so it's not just going to simply die away because the president simply said, i accept his apology. >> roland martin, i know you have a flight to catch. we'll let you go. thanks again for joining us. >> randi, appreciate it. buckling down to fight the yemen threat. the head of u.s. central command is talking about long-term commitment to battle al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. a slice of paradise or a dangerous piece of propaganda? how the taliban are allegedly using pictures like these to lure children into the battle.

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federal prosecutors say he

tried to blow up a u.s. airliner on christmas day, but umar farouk abdulmutallab's lawyer says he is not guilty. the plea was entered friday in federal court in detroit. the 23-year-old nigerian was shackled at the ankles saying little except that he understood the six-count indictment he faces. the most serious of the charges, attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction on board northwest airlines flight 253, which was carrying nearly 300 people. a conviction could land him in prison for life. abdulmutallab's time in yemen has focused new attention on that middle east country and its apparent role as a safe haven for members of al qaeda. u.s. secentcom chief general dad petraeus recently returned from talks from the president and he spoke with our christiane amanpour. >> reporter: do you think there needs to be a systemic change to issues such as yemen, which is so obvious so many people say that the grinding poverty there is such a recruiting snool. >> i think that's exactly right.

i think really that we have arrived at that conclusion. you think we recognized these are not short-term problems. these are not campaigns where you must take the hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade. these are endeavors that have to be comprehensive in nature and they have to be enduring in their timeframe. >> you can hear much more of that exclusive interview tomorrow on "amanpour." it is the first meeting with the president since he pledged support in the fight against al qaeda. that conversation 2:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. it's like some kind of sick vacation brochure. pictures of paradise on the walls. children told they could punch their ticket and go after they blow themselves up. authorities in pakistan say it's how the taliban are brainwashing boys into doing their dirty work. cnn's arwa damon has more. >> reporter: images could not be more disturbing, children being trained by the pakistani taliban on military exercises and even

more chilling, carrying out executions. how does this happen? how are children brainwashed into taking up the fight for the taliban? we find some clues just a 15-minute drive from a pakistani military base in south waziristan, a volatile area that until recently was a stronghold of the taliban. after three days of fierce fighting, the pakistani military took over this compound. they say that they knew that it was a training facility of sorts for suicide bombers. they suspected that maybe children were involved. what they didn't know or realize was the level of indoctrination. the military says it learned that the taliban used this compound to brainwash boys as young as 12 years old. perhaps as many as 300 of them. the children were told that images like this is what awaited them in heaven. here, for example, we're told is a river that symbolizes milk and

honey on its banks, virgins and heavenly creatures. this picture shows a home similar to those in this area but set against a lush backdrop, written across it, "long live the taliban of the mountains." >> but i have never seen this kind of elaborate painting about so-called heaven. >> reporter: zahid hussein, an expert on the taliban, has talked with many children who have been in such training centers. he says these images would easily captivate boys in this part of pakistan. they grow up in abject poverty, surrounded by this harsh landscape with no exposure to the outside world and they are easily manipulated. >> they tell them look actually this is a waste here and if you do a good thing, then you will directly go to heaven, immediately go to heaven. >> reporter: he says it's a complete distortion of islam but one that the children fervently believe. in a phone call with cnn, the taliban denied this compound was

under their control. but it acknowledged it's training children from pakistan, afghanistan, central asia and the middle east to be suicide bombers. parents sent their children for this center for the free food and religious education. but the military says the taliban had other plans for them. >> these terrorists keep the children at the frontline and mostly the casualties were of children when they were attacking the posts. >> reporter: dozens were killed in this marketplace after a teenager blew himself up in october. although there are no statistics on how many suicide attacks are carried out by teens, the government realizes it's a growing problem. zahid hussein agrees. >> almost 90% of the suicide bombers, if you look at their profile, they are between the age of 12 to 18. >> reporter: innocent children turned into cold-blooded killers, fooled by fantastic images of paradise.

arwa damon, cnn, pakistan. it is heaven for gadget lovers. the latest smartphones and tvs and other electronic devices all under one roof in las vegas. we'll speak live with an expert to find out what's getting the biggest buzz at the consumer electronics show. and brutal weather coast to coast. high winds get the best of a meteorologist who is showing viewers just how bad the weather is. n. i noticed that my hair was starting to get thin. tens of thousands of men and women with hair loss. i needed to make a change in my life and make a change for the better.

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smartphones are getting even smarter and technophiles around the world are in heaven in las vegas. it's where the coolest stuff you never knew you needed is on display before it goes on sale. john ford, a senior writer at "fortune" is joining us live from mountain view, california. good to see you, john. >> good to see you, randi. >> a lot of people are saying this show is back on its game after a lackluster 2009. what gadgets would you say are getting the biggest buzz? >> google didn't have a booth at the consumer electronics show but they had plenty of buzz. the nexus one phone that they announced right before the show started is the big within why. i think it's a gorgeous phone, gorgeous screen. it's got some features that the

top smartphone, iphone, doesn't have. turn-by-turn viks directions a voice control. it's probably not an iphone k p killer for a few reasons but certainly has a lot of people excited. >> what does apple have coming out? >> the rumor is at the end of the month apple is going to introduce the islate or something like that, a tablet. there were plenty of tablets as ces-2. once people hear apple is planning to do shg, everybody wants their own take on it. >> we hear the word tablet. we hear the word slate. what's the difference for people who are not experts on this stuff? >> the difference is neither one really exists right now. but folks are trying to figure out what the format will look like. a tablet or slate, they are pretty much interchangeable, are like a big iphone. think of it that way. maybe it's about 8 1/2 by 11, about the size of a hard-cover book. it's got a colored screen and an

operating system somewhat sophisticated like a pc or laptop. >> that's the lenovo that we're looking at in the video. let's talk about 3d. it's big business in the box office. now they're moving from the theater, i guess, to the living room? >> that's the intent. there were plenty of 3d tvs on display. people were very excited about it. it looks gorgeous but i've got to dump a little cold water on all of the 3d excitement. for one, there's no content out there yet. sony and discovery and imax are planning to come out with a 24/7 3d channel but that doesn't come until 2011. espn is planning a 3d sports channel. it won't be on all the time and that doesn't come until the middle of the year. if you buy a 3d tv now, there's not much to watch on it. blu-ray is supposed to add 3d features. we will see them trickle out but it's a bit early. and the last thing, the glasses for 3d, the good ones like the ones you use in the theater, those cost a couple hundred bucks each.

so if you have the kids in the house trying to watch the latest animated version of, i don't know, "how to train your dragon" and they sit on the glasses, that's going to set you back. >> that's certainly not good. i know you're not supposed to text while you're driving, but what's up with the new digital dashboards? >> there were a lot of those at ces 2. this is one that we really can get excited about for now. we've seen a lot of great technology coming to the car. navigation was a big part of the reason why people started getting screens in for more than just watching movies. and at ces we saw lots of gizmos for letting your phone connect to a screen in your car, providing it with an internet connection. once you do that, there are all kinds of things that you can do, from finding a spot to stop for gas to maybe even using twitter. that had a few people a little bit worried, twitter in the car? >> you are supposed to be driving, aren't you? >> you are. there are a lot of things that can go wrong when you're doing the omg while you're driving. >> before we let you go, just in the last 10, 20 seconds, what

was the coolest thing you tried? >> well, it's kind of hard. you get excited about all of the hype and sometimes the coolest thing is something that might not be practical. i got excited about a bicycle that's actually a green bicycle. it's something that sano's coming out with. you can get on the bike and ride it and it charges. kind of like a prius-type bike. as you ride it, the battery provides a little extra oomph to your pedal steps. >> very good. >> it's green. it's cool. >> very practical answer. >> couple thousand bucks, too, but -- >> oh, well. >> oh, well. >> all right, john ford with "fortune" for us. thank you. for three years now we have been proud to introduce you to cnn heroes, everyday people who are changing the world. tonight you will meet a trucker turned lawyer in vermont, where 72% of adult homicides are domestic violence related and mostly in rural areas. her name is wynonna ward and her moto is, have justice, will travel.

>> when i was growing up on a rural back road, family violence was an accepted way of life. >> this is my mother and i'm the baby here. and my father and my brother richard and my sister pauline. my father would commonly abuse all of us. he raped me and beat me mother, and my other siblings. when the neighbors heard screaming coming from our home, they just turned their heads. for domestic violence victims in rural areas, it can be very devastating. they're out there on these back roads with no access to in-town services. many of them do not have telephones. some of them do not have driver's licenses or an automobile. so we go to them. my name is wynonna ward. the turning point for me was when a child in my family revealed that she had been abused by my father.

and my brother. i just said this has to stop. when i graduated from law school, i was 48 years old. good morning, my dear. them in home consultations, provide them with free legal services and transportation to and from court hearings. i don't want children to have to go through what i did as a child. i want to see my clients become empowered. i can understand them and they know that i will be there to protect them. >> "cnn heroes." wynona ward helped almost 10,000 victims of domestic violence. she drives 30,000 miles a year doing that. to see the inspiring story of one woman she help or to nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to cnn.com/heroes. do you know someone trying to quit smoking? it is a great idea no doubt about it. we'll tell you about a new study that shows at least one negative side effect. ♪ you're the one

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quitting smoking, a great new year's resolution that all health officials endorse, but there can be some negative side effects. dr. sanjay gupta has our fit nation report. >> first of all, let me say no one is saying that you shouldn't quit smoking. you obviously should. there is a lot of negative health consequence of smoking. the study looked at what happens to the body in someone who does quit. large study, over ten years, i looked at 10,000 people, and they found that people who quit smoking have a 70% increase likelihood of developing diabetes within six years. and if you really take that a step further and figure out why, it primarily had to do with weight gain. these people who are quitting smoking also started to gain weight. on the average between 4 and 10 pounds and they also gained

inches around the waist, an inch and a quarter that's abdominal fat, metabolically active fat, the worst kind of fat and can increase your likelihood for diabetes. that seems to be what happened here. if you look at what happens in the bodies of smokers, people who are smoking, they tend to have an increased metabolism, decreased appetite, they also specifically have decreased appetite for sweet foods. that's in part why they have the weight loss. they don't eat as much. people who stop smoking tend to see the opposite. the metabolism starts to slow down, they may develop food addictions and oral fixations, all which of lead to more calories consumed. there are things you can do besides smoking to try to get some of the benefits. simply exercising, for example, 30 minutes a day, you're probably going to drive up your metabolism enough to burn the same number of calories. you also build some muscle mass. that fires up your metabolic engine. as far as food cravings go, there are ways you can more naturally suppress appetite. you eat foods that have high protein and high fiber.

that will decrease your appetite. and keep in mind that thirst is often misperceived for hunger. simply making sure you're well hydrated all the time, that will probably cut down on the number of calories consumed. as far as oral fixation goes, keep gum around, carrot sticks that will help. obesity is probably going to surpass smoking as the number one cause of preventable illness in this country. these are both big killers and can both be controlled. back to you for now. >> all right, sanjay, thank you. rough weather coast to coast and in oregon it is not safe to be outside in the brutal winds, even if you're doing your job. a meteorologist found that out the hard way. i know. but it can't have... can't have about half a i assure you it does. i was expecting... expecting sawdust and cardboard? i know. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. ok. i'll take a box, but you probably already knew that.

(announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes.

snow in florida, blistering cold in the nation's middle section, wind out west. no doubt weather is a big story this weekend. one meteorologist in oregon got a little swept up in her coverage. >> the wind is blowing 60 to 75 miles per hour out here. but the windchill, it is just painf painful. >> oh, my. yes, she said painful and, ouch, painful is right. kali chalmers from kgw was swept away by the brutal winds, thudding to the ground, taking that guy down with her. her station says that wind gusts topped 100 miles per hour where she was ep