. >>> and simon cowell stops by to talk about life after "american idol." >>> now keep it on this channelinuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

. >>> plus, what does simon cowell think about the new simon-less "american idol"? we'll ask him. >>> but first, the stop stories with ann curry at the news desk. good morning, annie. >> reporter: good morning, everybody. >>> today protesters are still refuse to go leave cairo's tahrir square and the president is not answering demands for resignation. richard engel is in cairo yet again. and richard, the obama administration is using dialogue -- urging dialogue. but is there a sense that u.s. pressure is diminishing on the mubarak administration? >> reporter: good morning, ann. there certainly is. the obama administration is backing those calls for more reform, but is not calling for immediate regime change here, and is refusing to endorse the protesters' demands that president mubarak step down. life is returning to cairo, as egypt is now looking for a way out of this crisis. the new vice president, omar suleiman today announced he has a schedule and a road map for a peaceful transition from mubarak's regime to more elections next fall. but the protesters say promi

the x factor which was created by former american idol judge simon cowell is set to premiere in the fall. >> today was a great day for whale watchers. a pod of orcas was seen swimming in the gulf this afternoon about ten miles outside the golden gate. as we first said early their week a pod was seen swimming about ten miles farther out on wednesday. a captain said he is almost certain the ones he saw today were the same ones on wednesday. must have recognized one of them. he said they were seen a few days ago near monterey. he thinks they are headed back north where they are usually found. >> a raider running back -- has run into trouble off the field. the reason for his arrest. >> and here we go. rain is on the way. mark will tell us which day we can expect it to get here. . >>> another beautiful day across the bay area. very been say that quite a bit but changes for tomorrow in the rabe rain clouds will make a come back. right now on the maps, we have rain showers way up to the north around crescent city, up toward southern oregon but for the most part across the bay area we have clear

the x factor which was created by former american idol judge simon cowell is set to premiere in the fall. >> today was a great day for whale watchers. a pod of orcas was seen swimming in the gulf this afternoon about ten miles outside the golden gate. as we first said early their week a pod was seen swimming about ten miles farther out on wednesday. a captain said he is almost certain the ones he saw today were the same ones on wednesday. must have recognized one of them. he said they were seen a few days ago near monterey. he thinks they are headed back north where they are usually found. >> a raider running back -- has run into trouble off the field. the reason for his arrest. >> and here we preparing your federal taxes can be...taxing. the forms, the math... uh, that one. but with free file from the irs, it can be far less taxing. because free file does all the hard work for you, with brand-name tax software or online fillable forms. even better, free file is free. and it's exclusively from the irs at freefile.irs.gov. she's done. give it a shot. . >>> another beautiful day across the

. >>> well, he is back simon cowel is returning to american television this fall with the x factor. >guess it feels a great time to be launching a new talent search because it seems to be a great time again for music. >> the singing competition is a smash hit in the u.k. judges are looking for raw talent 12 years and older here in the u.s. he left "american idol" last year to spearhead the x factor. auditions begin march 27th in la. >> a bay area tech giant unveiled its version of a computer tablet today. >> since we know that people keep information locked in different -- >> hewlet packard introduced their new touchpad. the unveiling at herb pavilion in san francisco. the new tablet has a 9.7-inch screen and weighs a little more than a pound and a half. >> the touchpad is all about you. how you want to work. how you want to play. and how you want to connect to the things you value the most. >> the company also unveiled two new smart phones. the credit card sized via and the palm 3p. they haven't revealed the price tag for the touchpad which goes on sale this summer. the wall street j

. >>> well, he is back simon cowel is returning to american television this fall with the x factor. >s it feels a great time to be launching a new talent search because it seems to be a great time again for music. >> the singing competition is a smash hit in the u.k. judges are looking for raw talent 12 years and older here in the u.s. he left "american idol" last year to spearhead the x factor. auditions begin march 27th in la. >> a bay area tech giant unveiled its version of a computer tablet today. >> since we know that people keep information locked in different -- >> hewlet packard introduced their new touchpad. the unveiling at herb pavilion in san francisco. the new tablet has a 9.7-inch screen and weighs a little more than a pound and a half. >> the touchpad is all about you. how you want to work. how you want to play. and how you want to connect to the things you value the most. >> the company also unveiled two new smart phones. the credit card sized via and the palm 3p. they haven't revealed the price tag for the touchpad which goes on sale this summer. the wall street journ

and you go -- simon cowell. >> it's not so much act mean.d want to know a number of things about you. >> jimmy: yeah. >> i'm going to go there now. we'll talk about it later. [ laughter ] but, the point is, i would want to find out things about you. >> jimmy: yeah. >> but the problem was, when i did that, there were some people who obviously regarded michael as a messiah or as god-like and they objected to that. >> jimmy: i thought it was -- i thought it was actually cool. i thought you very -- you humanized him for me. >> you're being sycophantic jimmy. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: oh, no, no. >> you are. >> jimmy: but i watched it going, "i can't believe it. he's up in a tree right now." >> i know. >> one of the things i'm finding difficult about doing my own show is that i don't really like the focus on me. because i'm interested in the person that i'm talking to. >> jimmy: right. >> and when you do that, people respond to you and they start talking. but you have to listen. interviewing is as much, as you know, about listening as it is about ta