Apple hires CEO of Burberry to run retail operations

October 15, 2013

By Loek Essers | IDG News Service

Apple is hiring Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts to lead its retail business, choosing someone from a fashion brand rather than from a consumer electronics retail chain.

Ahrendts will be joining Apple in a newly created position as senior vice president of retail and online stores. She will be a member of the executive team, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook, Apple announced on Tuesday.

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She will lead the strategic direction, expansion and operation of both Apple retail and online stores. Ahrendts, who also served as president of Donna Karan International, will join the company in the spring, Apple said.

Apple's previous -- and shortlived -- senior vice president of retail was only responsible for the physical stores. In January 2012, the company announced the hiring of John Browett, former CEO of European technology retailer Dixons Retail. He started in April that year, but lasted barely six months. Since then, the retail team has been reporting directly to Cook.

Ahrendts is Apple's second fashion executive hire in the last few months. In July, it recruited Paul Deneve, former CEO of French luxury brand Yves Saint Laurent as vice president for special projects, igniting speculation about possible new product launches including a TV and a smart watch.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/apple-hires-ceo-of-burberry-run-retail-operations-228749
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Obama Thanks Senate For Passing Debt Deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is thanking Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate for passing a deal to end the partial government shutdown and avert a default.

Obama says if and when the House approves the bill, he'll sign it immediately. He says the U.S. will start reopening the government right away.

Obama says now it's time to win back the trust of Americans that's been lost during the crisis.

Obama spoke at the White House minutes after the Senate passed the measure. The bill calls for opening the government through Jan. 15 and extending the nation's borrowing authority through Feb. 7.

Obama says once these issues are resolved, he wants to move forward this year on immigration, farm legislation and a larger budget deal.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=235438871&ft=1&f=
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Hard numbers, chilling facts: What the government does with your data

I admit it -- I'm suffering from Snowden fatigue. The sheer volume of revelations about how the surveillance industrial complex digs its blue latex-gloved fingers into every nook and cranny of our lives has me exhausted. And there seems to be no end in sight.

Take, for example, this week's revelation that the NSA routinely scrapes address books from popular Webmail services, looking for connections. Per IDG News:

On a typical day, the NSA collects about 500,000 buddy lists and inboxes (which seems to refer to address books), according to the documents. But the number is also sometimes higher. On one representative day mentioned in the documents, the NSA gathered 444,743 Yahoo address books, 105,068 Hotmail contact lists and 82,857 address books from Facebook, 33,697 from Gmail and 22,881 from other providers for a total of 689,246.

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Or the revelations about Microsoft building backdoors into Skype for the spooks. Or the efforts to coerce encrypted email services into violating the privacy of hundreds of thousands of customers. I cannot articulate the differences between EgotisticalGoat, Erroneous Identity, or Epicfail, let alone the dozens of other perversely named spy programs.

The NSA nightmare -- told through pictures
Fortunately, someone has built a life raft for those of us drowning in the tsunami of data about NSA spying. Last week the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank and advocacy group, published a remarkably clear breakdown called "What the Government Does with Americans' Data." It should be required reading for anyone who cares about what's left of our Constitution, once the buffoons in our nation's capital have stopped using it as confetti. There's an 88-page report, a summary of the conclusions, chilling numbers to consider, and a handful of amazingly concise infographics. Start with the latter to get the gist, then go to the intro.

The tl;dr version: The NSA gathers a massive amount of information on people who are not in any way connected with any terrorist activity, then holds onto it for at least five years and often much longer. It also shares this information with 10 different federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and the FDA.

As one infographic explains, if the NSA happens to hoover up a U.S. citizen's data along with that of suspected foreign evil doers, it will hold onto it for up to six years to analyze whether it contains "significant foreign intelligence information" or "evidence of a crime that has been, is being, or is about to be committed."

In other words, if you get caught in a digital dragnet, the spooks will sift your data to see if you've been naughty. If you have, they send that information to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/hard-numbers-chilling-facts-what-the-government-does-your-data-228908?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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Canada PM to head to Brussels to conclude EU deal

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to travel to Brussels on Thursday to conclude a free trade deal with the European Union.

An EU official said the European Union and Canada hope to conclude the free trade deal in the "coming days."

"Discussions are indeed continuing at the highest level between the EU and Canada towards a comprehensive free trade deal (CETA) — with the hope to conclude the negotiations in the coming days," EU Trade spokesman John Clancy said in an email.

Harper posted on his official Twitter account that Canada will "soon" complete negotiations. A spokesman for Harper said the prime minister will fly to Brussels on Thursday. An agreement-in-principle is expected to be concluded Friday by Harper and European Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso.

Yves Leduc, director of international trade for the Dairy Farmers of Canada, said he's been told by a Canadian government official that an agreement in principle has been reached and that the European Union's 28 members and Canada's 10 provinces have to approve it.

Canada has agreed to permit a doubling of the EU quota on cheese exports to Canada in exchange for greater access for Canadian beef and pork producers. Leduc said Canada's cheese industry is angry because it threatens the fine cheese market in Canada.

"For the dairy farmers of Canada this is a deal that is unacceptable. We're more than disappointed," Leduc said. "It will allow significant access of high quality or fine cheeses into Canada, a segment that is supplied by the smaller or medium size cheese factories in Canada."

Harper has said that a free trade deal between his country and the European Union could help the EU establish a beachhead as they embark on separate free trade talks with the U.S. If a U.S.-EU trade deal is reached, it could be the world's largest free trade pact.

Canada hopes to diversify Canada's trade away from the U.S., the country's largest trading partner. Canada's finance minister has said despite Europe's struggles, Canada remains very interested because the EU is still the largest market in the world in terms of the size of its middle class. The Canada-EU deal would make it easier for Canadian companies to invest in, and sell to, the 17-member EU with its 500 million consumers.

In 2012, Canada was the EU's 12th most important trading partner, accounting for 1.8 percent of the EU's external trade. The EU was Canada's second biggest partner with about 9.5 percent of external trade.

The value of the bilateral trade in goods between the EU and Canada was $84 billion in 2012, according to the EU. The EU says machinery, transport equipment and chemicals dominate the EU's exports to Canada.

The trade agreement, on which talks were first launched in 2009, seeks to lower or erase tariffs and facilitate mutual market access for trade in goods, services and investment. It aims at making it easier for companies to bid for government contracts in the other economy.

The trade negotiations with the U.S., in turn, are still in an early stage and suffered a minor setback last week when the U.S. side had to cancel a long-planned negotiation round in Brussels because of the government shutdown. About 100 officials were set to travel to Belgium for the talks. The next round is likely to take place next month.

____

Associated Press reporter Juergen Baetz in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-pm-head-brussels-conclude-eu-deal-223622035--finance.html
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The Den Of Snack

The TV Guide

Posted by: Trent on October 15, 2013|

My Monday here in Detroit was a very laid back one. I spent part of my afternoon hanging out with my parents and then spent the rest of the evening chillin’ at home with Sarah and Mark at their place. Because we HAD to watch Elizabeth Berkley perform on Dancing with the Stars last night, we loaded up on snacks and turned Sarah’s Den of Slack^TM into the Den Of Snack :D We don’t have access do Detroit’s Better Made potato chips so it’s always a treat to indulge when I’m home again. So, yeah, I’m basically telling you that my night consisted of chips and DWTS. Woo! I go big here in Detroit Rock City.

We all enjoyed Elizabeth Berkley‘s ode to Saved By The Bell‘s Jessie Spano last night so I am not complaining about our relatively quiet night last night. I think we are going out to watch the Detroit Tigers play a game against the Boston Red Sox later today and I’m hoping that there will be sushi in my near future. The weather is a bit chilly here so I’m trying to acclimate as best as I can ;)

And Shannon is *still* pregnant.

Happy Tuesday!!

Source: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2013-10-15/the-den-of-snack
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Report: Superman/Batman to Start Shooting This Weekend

When David Goyer said that the still-untitled follow-up to this summer's Man of Steel was further along than most people realized, it provoked a lot of speculation about whether or not the screenplay had already been completed and pre-production was on the table. Turns out, things could be even further along than that, with one report suggesting that the movie will start shooting this weekend.

According to the East Los Angeles College Campus News (first spotted by Latino Review), three takes of a fictional football game between Gotham City University and Metropolis State University will be shot during the halftime of the real-life ELAC/Victor Valley College game this Saturday, October 19, with spectators temporarily becoming Gotham City supporters for the duration.

STORY: Goyer Reveals Who'd Win in His Personal Superman-Batman Face-Off

"Our visibility among the film community is higher than a lot of schools," ELAC’s College event and Venue Coordinator Ernest Burnett told the Campus News. "The experiences of the people that have come and shot here are very good." Burnett went on to say that the production chose the school because "they wanted to support the school," and called the shoot "a big opportunity for us."

Whether or not this report turns out to be true -- if nothing else, the ELAC Campus News definitely seems to believe that is is -- one thing's for sure: Attendance at Saturday's game is likely to be far, far higher than usual levels, especially amongst the important "Just Hoping to Glimpse Zack Snyder at Work" demographic.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/THRComicCon/~3/PbPOM9uLqwY/story01.htm
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Citigroup earnings edge lower, miss estimates

NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup said its earnings fell slightly in the third quarter after a $1 billion drop in revenue from its bond trading business and a slump in mortgage refinancing.

THE NUMBERS: Net income for the July-to-September period fell to $3.26 billion from $3.27 billion in the same period a year ago after excluding an accounting gain and other one-time items. The earnings amount to $1.02 per share compared with $1.06 per share a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $18.2 billion compared with $19.2 billion a year earlier.

THE DETAILS: The bank said that "significantly lower" mortgage refinancing business in the U.S. contributed to a 7 percent decline in Citi's consumer banking revenue. Rising interest rates this spring made it less attractive for consumers to refinance their mortgages.

The rising rates also hurt Citi's securities and banking unit. Revenues at Citi's bond trading unit slumped 26 percent in the third quarter, to $2.8 billion from $3.7 billion as bond yields climbed. Rates rose in anticipation that the Federal Reserve would start reducing the bond purchases that has been making to stimulate the economy.

Debt underwriting and advisory revenue also slumped.

THE MARKET REACTION: Citigroup's stock fell 55 cents to $49.05 in late afternoon trading. Wall Street analysts who follow the stock had predicted earnings of $1.05 for the quarter, according to data provider FactSet.

THE DEFAULT THREAT: Citigroup remains "hopeful" that lawmakers in Washington will be able to avert a potential U.S. default, said John Gerspach, Citi's Chief Financial Officer, on a call with reporters. The bank has been preparing for different contingencies over recent weeks and no longer holds any U.S. Treasury securities that mature on the Oct. 31, or earlier, the executive said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/citigroup-earnings-edge-lower-miss-122554124.html
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