Apple names European exec to head retail ops (AP)

NEW YORK ? In its quest to spread its stores around the world, Apple is reaching over the Atlantic to snatch the CEO of a British electronics chain to head its retail operations.

Apple Inc. said Tuesday that Dixons Retail PLC's John Browett will become its top retail executive on April 20. He will report directly to CEO Tim Cook.

Browett, 48, fills a job that opened when Ron Johnson left to become the CEO of J.C. Penney Co. in November. Johnson pioneered Apple's highly successful retail stores, known for their stark design and their Genius Bar, where Apple customers get technology advice and support.

About two-thirds of Apple's 361 stores are in the U.S. However, of the 40 stores Apple expects to open this fiscal year, three-quarters will be outside the U.S., with China being a major focus. Apple currently has stores in only 12 countries, including the U.S.

Browett has served as CEO of Dixons since 2007. During his tenure, the company continued an aggressive expansion in Europe. It has about 1,200 stores and is Europe's second-largest electronics retailer, after Germany's Media Markt.

Dixons' brands include Currys in the U.K., Elkjop in Norway, Kotsovolos in Greece, Unieuro in Italy and Electro World in Turkey and the Czech Republic.

Analysts give Browett credit for improving customer service at Dixons.

"Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we've met," Cook said in a statement Tuesday.

The chain hasn't seen much financial success during his tenure, however, as it has been undercut by the recession and subsequent belt-tightening in Europe.

Dixons' sales have risen only 8 percent in the past five years, and profits are down sharply. Its stock has lost more than 90 percent of its value in that time. It fell 7.6 percent further in London trading Tuesday after news of Browett's departure.

Before Dixons, Browett held several positions at the British retailer Tesco PLC and headed its online operations.

Dixons named Sebastian James as Group CEO and Katie Bickerstaffe to the newly created role of CEO-U.K. and Ireland.

Apple's stock rose 46 cents to $453.47 in midday trading Tuesday. The day's high of $458.24 was yet another all-time high.

Apple's stores accounted for about 13 percent of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's revenue in the fiscal year that ended in September, but employed about 60 percent of the total number of Apple workers.

Dixons has a very similar number of employees ? about 39,000 ? but has far more stores: 1,200.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_hi_te/us_apple_retail_chief

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Russia blames radiation for space probe failure (AP)

MOSCOW ? The head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation.

Vladimir Popovkin also said a manned launch to the International Space Station is being postponed from March 30 because of faults found in the Soyuz capsule.

The statements underline an array of trouble that has afflicted the country's vaunted space program in recent months, including the August crash of a supply ship for the space station and last month's crash of a communications satellite.

Since the end of the U.S. space shuttle program last year, Russian craft are the only means to send crew to and from the ISS.

The unmanned Phobos-Ground probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in Earth orbit soon after its launch on Nov. 9. It fell out of orbit on Jan. 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found.

The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage.

But on Tuesday he said in televised remarks that an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles."

Popovkin, speaking in the city of Voronezh where the report was presented to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit.

It was not immediately clear why the units could not be brought out of that mode.

Popovkin said that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured.

Yuri Koptev, a former space agency head who led the Phobos-Ground investigation, said 62 percent of the microchips used in the probe were "industrial" class, a less-sophisticated level than should be used in space flight.

Popovkin said the craft's builder, Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin, should have taken into account the possibility of radiation interfering with the operation and said Lavochkin officials would face punishment for the oversight.

Popovkin later announced that a March 30 planned launch of two Russian cosmonauts, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, and NASA's astronaut Joseph M. Acaba ? to the space station will be postponed "likely until the end of April" because of problems with the capsule. He did not specify, but the state news agency RIA Novosti cited the director of Russia's cosmonaut-training program as saying leaks had been found in the capsule's seals.

It would be the second significant postponement of a manned Russian launch in the past year. The August crash of the supply ship pushed back a manned launch to the ISS because the booster rocket that failed in the crash was similar to the ones used in manned missions.

Currently, the ISS hosts a crew of six, including three Russians, two Americans and a Dutchman.

The Soyuz capsule is scheduled to bring back two Russian cosmonauts ? Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin and U.S. astronaut Daniel Burbank.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_sc/eu_russia_falling_spacecraft

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Review: Super Bowl online decent, won't replace TV (AP)

NEW YORK ? The television set won't be the only place to watch video of the New York Giants and the New England Patriots this Sunday. For the first time, U.S. football fans will be able to watch the Super Bowl live on a computer or on a phone.

You may be wondering whether anyone without super-strength eyesight would be able to follow the football on a tiny phone screen. And what about the ads? After all, many people tune in more for the commercials than for the game.

I got a chance to test the offering with a pair of playoff games and last weekend's all-star Pro Bowl. Although it's impossible to say what will happen Sunday, I have found the experience decent so far, but no substitute for the big screen.

The phone offering is made possible through a collaboration involving the National Football League, Comcast Corp.'s NBC and Verizon Wireless. The nation's largest wireless carrier had rights to carry NBC's Sunday night broadcasts live during the regular season, as well as some games from the NFL Network and ESPN. The post-season games broadcast by NBC are an extension of that package.

That means you'll need service through Verizon Wireless to watch on an iPhone or an Android phone (The game won't be available on the iPad). Unless you have the higher-speed 4G service through Verizon, you'll also need its V Cast video service, which costs $3 a day or $10 a month on top of your regular phone bill. A generous data plan or a Wi-Fi connection will help you avoid additional charges.

If you don't have the right phone or wireless carrier, or if you have a super-cheap data plan with low caps, you can watch for free on a computer instead at NBCSports.com. You can interact with the game more that way, but you won't get the same commercials.

To get started on the phone, you need to install the NFL Mobile software. The app is free; it's the software's live video that requires V Cast. You can get the app on the phone through the Android Market or Apple's app store. Or you can go to http://www.verizonwireless.com/nfl and enter your cellphone number. A text message will be sent with a link to get your app. You can also call the NFL by hitting the star key twice and dialing 635. That will also get you a link via text.

The video is easy to find once you open the app.

You get the full NBC broadcast, including replays, announcers and on-screen graphics. You also get the halftime show and national commercials. NBC's peacock logo came up when my local NBC station was showing ads for local merchants such as car dealers and banks.

As for the football, I was surprised how well I was able to follow it. I wasn't able to track the ball for some of the passes and field goal kicks, but I was able to follow it on runs. Sure, the ball is small, but your eyes are much closer to the screen. So proportionally, it's somewhat comparable to what you'd get standing several feet away from the TV.

The video quality was adequate over a cellular connection. Some of the players looked more like video game characters than real people, reminding me of the early days of Internet video. Quality improved with a Wi-Fi connection because more data can be sent without worrying about congestion or data charges.

Video on the phone lagged the TV broadcast by about 30 seconds, so don't fall for any instant bets your TV-watching friends try to make with you. If others are watching in the next room, be prepared for cheers and jeers before you see the action.

Also, for the first half-hour, the app will ask you a few times whether you are really there. The video stops if you don't confirm your presence. I found it disruptive, though Verizon says it's to ensure that people don't inadvertently run up data charges.

And if you were able to snag tickets to the Super Bowl, don't expect to watch the game on the phone. Verizon will block the video in and around the stadium to avoid overrunning its network. Besides, if you made all that effort to be there in person, you should be watching the field, not your phone.

The experience on the computer is different. Online video lagged the TV broadcast by a full minute ? enough for an interception and touchdown.

As was the case with the playoffs and the Pro Bowl, online video ads will replace the ones shown on TV. However, NBC says it will make the television ads available on demand soon after they run, so you won't have to miss out on all the chatter about the best and worst Super Bowl commercials. It's also a place to go if you missed one on TV. The phone won't have commercials on demand.

Other extras on NBC's video player include multiple viewing angles. Besides the main television feed, you can watch from the end zone or the sideline or a camera that locks in on the "star" ? typically whoever has the ball. You can watch two feeds at once ? one in a smaller window within the larger one. You can also get Twitter updates, players' stats and more.

The Web player also lets you pause, rewind or start from the beginning, just like a digital video recorder. With the mobile app, you're stuck with the live feed.

And with a good broadband connection, you don't have to worry about data charges.

One of the games I tested over a cellular connection used up 425 megabytes of data, including the halftime show. Fortunately, I was able to keep an unlimited plan I had before Verizon started capping usage for new subscribers. If you're on the basic, $30-a-month plan, one game will eat up a quarter of your monthly 2 gigabyte allocation. There's not much left for email, YouTube, Facebook and other mobile time sinks.

Hardcore football fans might be thinking: "Why would anyone want to watch the big game on a phone or a computer screen?"

I agree there's no replacing the experience on a thousand-inch flat screen, with a bowl of chips and other artery-cloggers within reach.

But I can think of a few scenarios where it could be useful. If you're en route to a Super Bowl party, you can have the game on in the car or bus (not if you're driving, please). You can follow along on your device as you walk to the door for your pizza delivery.

Or if you're with friends who couldn't care less about the game, you can have it on and still be with them ? physically, at least.

___

Anick Jesdanun, deputy technology editor for The Associated Press, can be reached at njesdanun(at)ap.org.

___

Online:

NFL Mobile: http://sponsorship.verizonwireless.com/nfl/nfl-mobile

NBC: http://nbcsports.com

NFL: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_sp_ot/us_tec_digital_life_tech_test_super_bowl_online

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Video: Huntsman's father fueled Super PAC

Failed GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr.'s billionaire father, Jon Sr., provided 70 percent of the $2.68 million collected by the Our Destiny PAC, according to a report filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. NBC News National Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff reports.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46208804/

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Dems: Fast & Furious just 1 of 4 misguided probes (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Democrats looking into Operation Fast and Furious say a yearlong investigation has turned up no evidence that the flawed gun smuggling probe was conceived or directed by high-level political appointees at Justice Department headquarters.

The probe, the Democrats say, was just one of four such operations that were part of a misguided five-year-long effort, during both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, in the Phoenix division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives against firearms trafficking along the Southwest border.

"Operation Fast and Furious was the latest in a series of fatally flawed operations run by ATF agents in Phoenix and the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office," the report from Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says.

It is expected to differ sharply with the conclusions of Republicans, who will question Attorney General Eric Holder about Operation Fast and Furious at a hearing Thursday before the committee.

Beginning six years ago, according to the Democrats' report, ATF agents in Phoenix devised a strategy to forgo arrests against low-level straw purchasers of guns while attempting to build bigger cases against higher-level traffickers, a risky tactic known as gun-walking.

"The committee has obtained no evidence indicating that the attorney general authorized gun-walking or that he was aware of such allegations before they became public," said the Democrats' report, "Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona." "None of the 22 witnesses interviewed by the committee claims to have spoken with the attorney general about the specific tactics employed in Operation Fast and Furious prior to the public controversy."

Rather than halting operations after flaws became evident, the ATF's Phoenix division "launched several similarly reckless operations over the course of several years, also with tragic results," the report said. "Each investigation involved various incarnations of the same activity: Agents were contemporaneously aware of illegal firearms purchases, they did not typically interdict weapons or arrest straw purchasers, and firearms ended up in the hands of criminals on both sides of the border."

Operation Fast and Furious came to light following the December 2010 slaying of U.S. border agent Brian Terry near Nogales, Ariz. Two guns connected to suspects in the Fast and Furious investigation were found at the Terry murder scene.

Operation Fast and Furious was the fourth such ATF gun-walking probe, according to the Democrats' report, which was based on documents collected by the committee.

The first gun-walking probe, said the report, was Operation Wide Receiver, in which ATF agents, for over a year starting in 2006, watched traffickers buying guns from a gun dealer and driving them across the border into Mexico. According to a memo by William Newell, who was in charge of the Phoenix division at the time, one of the suspects told the gun dealer that the "firearms are going to his boss in Tijuana, Mexico, where some are given out as gifts." ATF officials believed they had sufficient evidence to arrest and charge the suspects, but as one agent said at the time, "we want it all," according to an email between two ATF supervisors in Arizona.

A year after Wide Receiver began, ATF initiated attempts to coordinate with Mexican officials. Numerous attempts at cross-border interdiction failed, according to the Democrats' report, with ATF agents expressing concern over the operation.

In a 2007 case, ATF agents targeted Fidel Hernandez and several alleged co-conspirators who purchased over 200 firearms and were believed to be transporting them into Mexico.

William Hoover, then ATF's assistant director of field operations, temporarily halted operations after being informed of several attempts at coordinating with Mexican law enforcement authorities.

The defendants were brought to trial in 2009, but acquitted after prosecutors were unable to obtain the cooperation of the Mexican law enforcement officials who had recovered firearms purchased by Hernandez.

In a 2008 case, ATF agents in Phoenix focused for a year on a network of illicit gun buyers who were purchasing weapons from the same gun dealer who had cooperated in Operation Wide Receiver.

Members of the network, led by Alejandro Medrano, were eventually sentenced to multiyear prison terms for trafficking more than 100 firearms to a Mexican drug cartel.

In Operation Fast and Furious, ATF agents in Phoenix late in 2009 identified a network of more than 20 straw purchasers believed to be trafficking military-grade assault weapons to Mexican drug cartels. Agents tried to build a case with wiretaps. They made no arrests and made few intercepts of weapons.

ATF Deputy Director William Hoover became concerned about the number of firearms involved in the case and ordered a strategy for the investigation to be brought to an end. Newell in Phoenix expressed frustration with ATF headquarters in Washington and "the operation continued to grow and expand rather than wind down over the months to follow," the Democrats' report said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_go_co/us_fast_and_furious

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UK film outlawed for blasphemy finally unbanned (AP)

LONDON ? The only movie ever banned in Britain for blasphemy was finally approved for distribution Tuesday, 23 years after it was outlawed.

The experimental short film "Visions of Ecstasy" features scenes of Jesus being seduced on the cross and became a free-speech cause celebre after Britain's film censors refused to give it a rating, a requirement for legal distribution.

The British Board of Film Classification ruled in 1989 that a fantasy scene in which the Spanish mystic St. Teresa of Avila sexually caresses Christ's body could constitute blasphemous libel. The board judged that cutting out the potentially blasphemous material would shorten the 19-minute film by half, so they refused to approve it.

The movie, directed by Nigel Wingrove, became a rallying point for anti-censorship activists, and Wingrove fought the ban all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, which upheld the British decision in 1996.

Wingrove ? dubbed "Britain's answer to Hustler publisher Larry Flynt" by London's Evening Standard newspaper ? went on to found film distribution companies specializing in erotic gothic horror. He also has created artwork for the band Cradle of Filth and manages a burlesque group.

Blasphemy was abolished as an offense in 2008 and on Tuesday the film board gave Wingrove's film an "18" rating, meaning it may be viewed by adults.

The board acknowledged the film would be "deeply offensive to some viewers," but was unlikely to cause harm.

"In the absence of any breach of U.K. law and the lack of any credible risk of harm, as opposed to mere offensiveness, the board has no sustainable grounds on which to refuse a classification to 'Visions Of Ecstasy' in 2012," it said in a statement.

Wingrove welcomed the decision and said the ban had been a setback to his career.

"It was my second self-financing film and had it not been banned I would have continued to make films, but that all got knocked sideways and had a huge impact on my career," he said.

"I don't believe it should have been banned in the first place. No one in the church thought it was blasphemous. Some believed it could be viewed as offensive but that it fell well short of blasphemy," he added.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_en_mo/eu_britain_blasphemy

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Is nothing sacred? Wal-Mart moving its greeters

By msnbc.com staff

As the 401(k) dwindles, we?re happy to hear at least some of our retirement plans are still achievable.

Bloomberg reports this week that Wal-Mart is moving its greeters away from the lobbies of its stores. But, don?t fret, it?s not the end of the "Hello" as you enter your next SuperCenter.

The greeters will simply be setting up shop about 10 feet inside the stores, where they can help more customers.

?They?re still greeting customers, that?s what they are there for. As customers enter they will still have to pass by,? company spokesperson Ashley Hardie said.

The move will allow greeters to take more questions from customers already in the store and direct shoppers to shorter checkout lines if they?re available.

Wal-Mart started using greeters in the early 1980s after company founder Sam Walton encountered one in a Louisiana store and decided to the whole chain needed more hospitality.

In light of their new responsibilities, greeters?will no longer be required to corral carts or mark returned merchandise as customers enter the store, Hardie said.

The company stopped using overnight greeters in stores open late last year.?

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10281923-wal-mart-moves-greeters-but-not-too-far-from-front-door

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