Heat is on Groupon's Andrew Mason

In June 2011, Groupon Inc. Chief Executive Andrew Mason took the stage at a conference hosted by influential technology blog AllThingsD.

When co-executive editor Kara Swisher asked him whether an initial public offering was coming soon, he shot her what she later dubbed his "death stare."

The audience laughed and broke into applause.

The tone was decidedly more subdued last week, when Mason found himself at another tech industry confab, fielding questions from Business Insider's Henry Blodget, this time about whether Groupon's directors were going to fire him at their meeting the next day. AllThingsD had reported a day earlier, citing anonymous sources, that Groupon's board of directors was considering replacing Mason with a more experienced CEO to lead the Chicago-based daily deal company's turnaround.

The contrast between those two appearances underscores the swift and dramatic tumble of Mason's standing in tech and business circles within a few years. The young founder and CEO graced the cover of Forbes in 2010 and was named Ernst & Young's National Entrepreneur of the Year in the "emerging" category a year later.

Those accolades are a far cry from the cloud hanging over Mason, 32, and the company he launched four years ago. The leak to AllThingsD appeared to be deliberately timed to embarrass the executive, forcing him to field questions about his own competence at a scheduled appearance. This public hint of internal strife has fueled speculation around Mason's fate even as other public tech companies, such as Facebook and social game-maker Zynga, have also seen their stock prices drop since their IPOs.

Groupon's board met Thursday and took no action on the CEO's job, with company spokesman Paul Taaffe saying the board and management were "working together with their heads down to achieve Groupon's objectives."

Markets, however, seemed unconvinced. Groupon's beleaguered stock closed slightly higher Thursday but dropped 8.7 percent to $4.14 Friday. Shares debuted at $20 in November 2011.

Investors "want experience in leadership," said Raman Chadha, a clinical professor at DePaul University and co-founder of the Junto Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, a training program for startup founders. "And as a result, where Andrew's background was cool and sexy — and maybe even bordering on amusing — when Groupon was a pure startup, that's in the mindset of those of us who are observers and supporters … and fellow entrepreneurs. I think in the minds of the investor community and Wall Street, (it's different) because now the company has a lot more to lose. And if it's going to fall, it's going to fall really hard and really far."

For Chadha, Mason's unconventional pedigree as a music major-turned-startup-founder was part of the appealing, media-friendly story of Groupon's origin. The company was launched as recession-weary consumers were eager for deals, and it achieved rapid growth while earning a reputation for antics like decorating a conference room in the style of a fictional, possibly deranged tenant of Groupon's headquarters who had lived there before the startup moved into the offices.

The scrutiny of Groupon was tremendous given the "high-flying" nature of the company, said David Larcker, a corporate governance expert at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

"You have a founder as CEO," he said. "He's the public face of the company. He has set the culture. All of that stuff."

That culture, driven in large part by Mason, turned from a lovable quirk to a major liability as the company ran into controversy over its poorly received Super Bowl ads in February 2011 and a series of missteps in the run-up to its IPO. Then, within months of its public debut, it disclosed an accounting flaw that forced it to restate financial results.

The larger question surrounding Groupon is the long-term viability of its basic business model. The company has been expanding offerings beyond its core daily deals, which have seen growth rates tail off. It's also dealing with a recession in the key European market as well as continued competition in the U.S.

But the biggest challenge facing Mason now is probably his own performance, or rather the perception that he isn't up to the task of running the global, publicly traded business worth billions that he founded but that now needs a turnaround. The stock is down 80 percent from its IPO price.

"It's an oft-told, oft-expected story that the genius entrepreneur steps aside when he or she succeeds at building a company big enough to need an experienced CEO," said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.

The example Gordon and others cite is Google, which flourished after its co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made way for a more seasoned executive in Eric Schmidt.

"The Google guys did it, and the results were spectacular," Gordon said.

Chadha said many startups tend to become more corporate in outlook, and less quirky, as they grow, because they bring in experienced executives from large companies that may have difficulty adapting to an entrepreneurial culture or reject it outright as not professional enough.

"I think that's where Google is very different," Chadha said. "(The company) sought out entrepreneurial, startup types — people that became part of their management team." That free-form element of Google's culture comes out in such things as the Google doodles — the offbeat tributes to notable anniversaries or famous people that pop up on the main search page.

Mason has acknowledged areas where Groupon needs to improve and has hired senior executives with experience at more mature tech companies. That hasn't always worked either. Margo Georgiadis, who came from Google as chief operating officer, returned to that company after five months.

Whether there's still room for Mason on the top management team remains to be seen. He was direct in his interview last week with Blodget, offering a minimum of jokes as he focused on discussing the job he and others at Groupon must accomplish.

"I care far more about the success of the business than I care about my role as CEO," he said.

A year ago, when he spoke to author Frank Sennett for his book "Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever," Mason was unapologetic about his management style.

"You only live once, and all I'm doing is being myself," he told Sennett. "I think a normal CEO is trying to appear in some way that's not actually them. That's probably not what they're like."

In the same book, former President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon offered this blunt assessment of his ex-boss: "Andrew at thirty-five and forty is going to hate Andrew at twenty-nine and thirty; I guarantee it."

Melissa Harris and Bloomberg News contributed.

wawong@tribune.com

Twitter @VelocityWong

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Two girls pulled from trench in Tinley Park

Tinley Park officials say two young girls rescued from a trench were "conscious and breathing" when they were taken to hospitals this afternoon.

The incident occurred late Sunday morning in the 18300 block of White Oak Court in the southwest suburb, said Pat Carr, Director of Emergency Management for Tinley Park.

Officials determined four children were playing in the excavation site when mud collapsed on two of them, a statement sent by Tinley Park police said.

The children who weren't in the mud called 911 and rescue crews used their hands to dig the other two free, the statement said. Emergency personnel were able to talk to the children throughout the incident.

"We did remove two individuals ... they were conscious and breathing when they were taken to hospitals," Carr said.

The children were taken by ambulance to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, according to the statement.

Carr could not elaborate on how the children became trapped. Another Tinley Park official said the two girls were 9 or 10 years old.

Emergency crews received a call about 11 a.m. of a foundation collapse at a vacant lot at 18307 White Oak Court where a single family home was being built, said Tinley Park spokesman Scott Niehaus.

"On arrival, they identified two girls about 9 or 10 who needed assistance to get out," Niehaus said.

Niehaus said that at about 12:30 p.m., they were rescued.

"They were both extricated, and were responsive," said Niehaus.

The girls were taken by ambulance to hospitals to be checked out for precautionary measures, he said.

Niehaus did not know how the girls became trapped but said there were no walls constructed on the home.

rsobol@tribune.com

Twitter: @RosemarySobol1

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Here’s How to Turn Nicki Minaj into Jay-Z

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

RELATED: It’s Sort of Fun Watching Pippa Middleton Squirm

This is silly, but it’s Friday and a unicorn lair has been found in North Korea, rendering all other silliness moot. But the folks over at Reddit seem to dig the idea of slowing down Nicki Minaj’s songs so much that they sound like an over-enunciating Jay-Z. And well, it’s oddly relaxing: 

RELATED: ‘Roseanne’ Predicted Internet Addiction; A Weather Alert from Hell

RELATED: The Honey Boo Boo Nature Special; Everyone’s Favorite Sleepwalking Mom

Another week has passed by and we still haven’t figured out the Fiscal Cliff situation. Let’s fix it—and not just because we want to avoid getting downgraded (again). Because honestly, we just don’t think CNBC’s Rick Santelli can make it another two weeks: 

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James Lipton, let’s hang out: 

Finally, it’s Friday. What are you still doing here?  Go enjoy the weekend or something or … watch this video of a husky which sort of sounds like Dame Edna at time imitating a baby until 6 p.m. rolls around: 

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“Silver Linings” David O. Russell on how Jennifer Lawrence skyped her way to Oscar front-runner

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Jennifer Lawrence is at the forefront of best actress Oscar talk for her lead role in “Silver Linings Playbook.” But, as writer-director David O. Russell explained to the audience at TheWrap screening series Thursday night, he was so convinced she wasn’t right for the role that he only had her audition via Skype.

“Quite frankly, it was like a formality,” Russell told the capacity crowd at the Landmark Theatre. “I didn’t think she was really a contender. We had three very serious contenders (already). We had a lot of major actresses in town interested in the role, from Angelina Jolie to some other big stars, because it’s a dimensional role for a young woman. Jennifer we frankly thought was too young” -until she pointed the tiny camera at herself at her parents’ home in Kentucky.

“She kind of has an ageless quality about her, which is remarkable,” said Russell. “Harvey (Weinstein) said, ‘Isn’t she too young?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, she could be 20, she could be 40. Look for yourself’- and I showed him the Skype (audition), and he said ‘Wow.’ So that was a blessing for us to find our Tiffany. She came onto the set saying to Bradley Cooper, ‘Wow, what’s it like for people to take pictures of you?’ By the end of the shoot, I think she knew for herself. Now she can’t get rid of people taking pictures of her.”

Russell added that “we saw her become a woman before our eyes. She has a presence about her and an emotion that’s very available. She’s a little bit like her character. But she’s not neurotic; she’s direct, she speaks her mind. And she’s kind of confident and fearless – but so far, not in an obnoxious way. She has a lot of power coming her way she’s going to have to deal with.”

Russell’s five-year quest to make the film involved a lot of casting turnover and near-misses. “I originally wrote it for other people. But as Matt Damon very graciously said to me about the Christian Bale role in ‘The Fighter’–which he was originally intended to play – ‘It just goes to show, the right people play the right role at the right time.’”

With “Silver Linings,” “I wrote it with Vince (Vaughn) and Zooey (Deschanel) in mind, because I love Vince’s cadences.” But these developments are “in the hands of the movie gods. And then Mark Wahlberg, who I love and made three movies with, there was a moment where he was going to do it. That didn’t work out with Harvey and him, and it was out of my hands.”

Few of the movie’s champions (who seem, with the exception of New Yorker critic David Denby, nearly universal) would argue that the casting didn’t end up exactly as it should, however many disagreements there were between Russell and Weinstein about it along the way.

(“There were instances where Harvey really wanted somebody and I did not. We had about a one or two year standoff about that at one point,” Russell admitted.) But moderator Steve Pond, TheWrap’s awards editor, confessed that, like many, he “didn’t know Bradley Cooper had it in him” until the proof was on the “Silver” screen.

“I did know,” said Russell, “the way I knew Amy Adams had it in her for ‘The Fighter.’ People said, ‘Amy Adams, the princess from “Enchanted”? I’m not gonna believe her as a barmaid bitch in Lowell, Massachusetts.’ Or Christian Bale having a goofy warmth to him. So I welcome as a director the opportunity to surprise audiences with a performance that they don’t see coming, and to turn out an actor in new ways.”

It was seeing Cooper in “Wedding Crashers” that convinced Russell the actor could be a convincing bipolar rageaholic in his off-the-meds scenes. “From that role, I thought, this seems like an angry guy – I mean, the guy off the camera as well as the guy on the camera. I told him that when I met him, and his reaction was not at all defensive. He said that he had been an angry guy, at the time, and less happy, and that he had weighed 30 pounds more – and so far I’m the character, the character, the character! He had substance issues, which is different. But he was so open and vulnerable and honest about it. And I saw that, combined with the scary/angry thing he had done. There’s nothing like the hunger in an actor when he really, really, really wants it bad. Because that matched up to the hunger of the character. The character wanted to get his life back really bad.”

And, Russell added, “it didn’t hurt” that Cooper had made “Limitless” with Robert DeNiro and the two had developed “a father/son-type thing.” As for “Mr. DeNiro,” as Russell always refers to him, “He has had family experiences such as I had, and it was very personal to him as well. When I met him at his home to discuss the script and my own life, he cried. I thought this meant he was really taking this project seriously and it was personal to him. And it did mean that. It shows up on the screen.”

The filmmaker was explicit about just what kind of “family experiences” he was referring to, and that there’s nothing glib or unknowing about the film’s treatment of mental illness, however many the laughs or however happy the denouements.

“I did it because my son has bipolar issues,” Russell said, “and I had long been looking for a project that would invite his world into the world and put it on the screen for him — which you want to do for your kids — so he didn’t feel so different, and so he could also feel like he was part of my work.

Bradley Cooper and Mr. DeNiro are in a world that is about things he can relate to very directly. And he earned a role in the picture. He had to do very good at school and in his behavior. So he was the guy who rings the doorbell” – playing a pesky student who wants to interview the family for a school project on mental illness.

The source novel immediately connected with Russell when should-have-been producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella gave it to him “the year they both died.” “I think the sensibility of the book is a sensibility I understand: It’s emotional and it dares to be romantic but it’s also funny – and based in reality. I think those are the big lessons I’ve learned in what I call the second phase of my filmmaking life: do it from the heart, really make it life or death emotionally, and make it real. So if something’s funny, it has to be because it’s real. I think ‘Raging Bull’ is one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen, because of how real the people are.”

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Unboxed: Stand-Up Desks Gaining Favor in the Workplace

THE health studies that conclude that people should sit less, and get up and move around more, have always struck me as fitting into the “well, duh” category.

But a closer look at the accumulating research on sitting reveals something more intriguing, and disturbing: the health hazards of sitting for long stretches are significant even for people who are quite active when they’re not sitting down. That point was reiterated recently in two studies, published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine and in Diabetologia, a journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

Suppose you stick to a five-times-a-week gym regimen, as I do, and have put in a lifetime of hard cardio exercise, and have a resting heart rate that’s a significant fraction below the norm. That doesn’t inoculate you, apparently, from the perils of sitting.

The research comes more from observing the health results of people’s behavior than from discovering the biological and genetic triggers that may be associated with extended sitting. Still, scientists have determined that after an hour or more of sitting, the production of enzymes that burn fat in the body declines by as much as 90 percent. Extended sitting, they add, slows the body’s metabolism of glucose and lowers the levels of good (HDL) cholesterol in the blood. Those are risk factors toward developing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

“The science is still evolving, but we believe that sitting is harmful in itself,” says Dr. Toni Yancey, a professor of health services at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yet many of us still spend long hours each day sitting in front of a computer.

The good news is that when creative capitalism is working as it should, problems open the door to opportunity. New knowledge spreads, attitudes shift, consumer demand emerges and companies and entrepreneurs develop new products. That process is under way, addressing what might be called the sitting crisis. The results have been workstations that allow modern information workers to stand, even walk, while toiling at a keyboard.

Dr. Yancey goes further. She has a treadmill desk in the office and works on her recumbent bike at home.

If there is a movement toward ergonomic diversity and upright work in the information age, it will also be a return to the past. Today, the diligent worker tends to be defined as a person who puts in long hours crouched in front of a screen. But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, office workers, like clerks, accountants and managers, mostly stood. Sitting was slacking. And if you stand at work today, you join a distinguished lineage — Leonardo da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Winston Churchill, Vladimir Nabokov and, according to a recent profile in The New York Times, Philip Roth.

DR. JAMES A. LEVINE of the Mayo Clinic is a leading researcher in the field of inactivity studies. When he began his research 15 years ago, he says, it was seen as a novelty.

“But it’s totally mainstream now,” he says. “There’s been an explosion of research in this area, because the health care cost implications are so enormous.”

Steelcase, the big maker of office furniture, has seen a similar trend in the emerging marketplace for adjustable workstations, which allow workers to sit or stand during the day, and for workstations with a treadmill underneath for walking. (Its treadmill model was inspired by Dr. Levine, who built his own and shared his research with Steelcase.)

The company offered its first models of height-adjustable desks in 2004. In the last five years, sales of its lines of adjustable desks and the treadmill desk have surged fivefold, to more than $40 million. Its models for stand-up work range from about $1,600 to more than $4,000 for a desk that includes an actual treadmill. Corporate customers include Chevron, Intel, Allstate, Boeing, Apple and Google.

“It started out very small, but it’s not a niche market anymore,” says Allan Smith, vice president for product marketing at Steelcase.

The Steelcase offerings are the Mercedes-Benzes and Cadillacs of upright workstations, but there are plenty of Chevys as well, especially from small, entrepreneurial companies.

In 2009, Daniel Sharkey was laid off as a plant manager of a tool-and-die factory, after nearly 30 years with the company. A garage tinkerer, Mr. Sharkey had designed his own adjustable desk for standing. On a whim, he called it the kangaroo desk, because “it holds things, and goes up and down.” He says that when he lost his job, his wife, Kathy, told him, “People think that kangaroo thing is pretty neat.”

Today, Mr. Sharkey’s company, Ergo Desktop, employs 16 people at its 8,000-square-foot assembly factory in Celina, Ohio. Sales of its several models, priced from $260 to $600, have quadrupled in the last year, and it now ships tens of thousands of workstations a year.

Steve Bordley of Scottsdale, Ariz., also designed a solution for himself that became a full-time business. After a leg injury left him unable to run, he gained weight. So he fixed up a desktop that could be mounted on a treadmill he already owned. He walked slowly on the treadmill while making phone calls and working on a computer. In six weeks, Mr. Bordley says, he lost 25 pounds and his nagging back pain vanished.

He quit the commercial real estate business and founded TrekDesk in 2007. He began shipping his desk the next year. (The treadmill must be supplied by the user.) Sales have grown tenfold from 2008, with several thousand of the desks, priced at $479, now sold annually.

“It’s gone from being treated as a laughingstock to a product that many people find genuinely interesting,” Mr. Bordley says.

There is also a growing collection of do-it-yourself solutions for stand-up work. Many are posted on Web sites like howtogeek.com, and freely shared like recipes. For example, Colin Nederkoorn, chief executive of an e-mail marketing start-up, Customer.io, has posted one such design on his blog. Such setups can cost as little as $30 or even less, if cobbled together with available materials.

UPRIGHT workstations were hailed recently by no less a trend spotter of modern work habits and gadgetry than Wired magazine. In its October issue, it chose “Get a Standing Desk” as one of its “18 Data-Driven Ways to Be Happier, Healthier and Even a Little Smarter.”

The magazine has kept tabs on the evolving standing-desk research and marketplace, and several staff members have become converts themselves in the last few months.

“And we’re all universally happy about it,” Thomas Goetz, Wired’s executive editor, wrote in an e-mail — sent from his new standing desk.

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Designer made herself into a manufacturer

Shoemaker Annie Mohaupt nearly closed down a year ago after her move to make sandals in China proved a bust. In the year that followed, she started her own factory in Chicago, producing and selling her luxury wooden shoes. (Posted Dec. 1st, 2012)

Shoemaker Annie Mohaupt nearly closed down a year ago after her move to make sandals in China proved a bust. The sandals could easily be pulled apart.

She looked into what it would cost to make her sandals in another country but returned production to Chicago. The decision, she said, allows her to tap into growing demand for U.S.-made products and to utilize manufacturing technology that makes her company, Mohop Inc., a global competitor.

"I have a factory," Mohaupt said, her statement reflecting her evolution from thinking of herself solely as a designer. As a manufacturer she understands she has control over the quality of her products — a key to sales and growth. "I'm happy but it's also intimidating. There is a lot to manage and wrap my head around."

Mohaupt's tale is illustrative of what manufacturing experts and politicians have been saying for quite some time: American manufacturers can be successful and create jobs by using the latest technology in producing and developing products.

So far this year, Mohaupt has sold about 1,500 pairs of sandals for about $158,000, she said. Mohaupt credits Facebook fans and word-of-mouth recommendations for a 500 percent increase in sales this fall over a year ago, and she expects to sell about 5,000 pairs of sandals in 2013. When she reaches annual sales of 10,000 pairs, Mohaupt said she'll need to invest in more equipment, like a new wood-cutting machine.

"I want for her to be making her shoes in the U.S.," said Greg Kaleel, owner of American Male & Co. a family-owned retail shop in Oswego, adding that his customers will pay more for shoes made here. "That's how important the 'made in America' is."

On a recent evening, the sweet smell of burned walnut filled Mohaupt's basement shop in a three-story building in Chicago's River West neighborhood. The smell emanated from a computerized machine about the size of a pingpong table cutting walnut blocks into triangles with concave curves and arches. Those curves support the heel and arch of a woman's foot and create a sleek, sophisticated look.

An architect by training, Mohaupt, 37, feeds her three-dimensional designs into a program that converts it into letters and numbers and tells the machine where to cut. That was the easy part for her to learn. To operate the machine, Mohaupt relied on a tutorial from the machine-maker and learned the rest via the Internet.

The soft-spoken woman employs three people, including an office manager and a young designer. If sandals sell as planned, she would hire four to six temporary workers in the spring. That's when sales typically ramp up after the winter lull. Mohaupt wants to expand her product line to lessen her dependence on sandal sales. One idea is a moccasin she can sell in the cold months.

Mohaupt has come a long way since 2005, when she cut and glued layers of plywood by hand to make her sandals. Her early versions featured a cylindrical wooden heel and elastic loops on each side of the sole that acted as guides for ties or ribbons that customers could change at will — her signature design.

She sold her first sandals for $70 at a craft fair and appeared to be off and running. The bliss of her success crumbled the following morning when customers complained that the shoes easily came apart. The heels broke off and the loops snapped. In effect, the stumble marked the beginning of her apprenticeship as a manufacturer.

Mohaupt spent the next year quizzing seasoned shoemakers and shoe repairers about how she could improve the quality of her shoes. Ultimately, she decided that her sandals should be able to withstand 100 miles of use. To test her designs, she wore her sandals while taking her dog on five-mile treks.

"I lost some weight," she said. She also test-marketed the evolving sandals by mailing samples to her first customers. Some got up to five pairs as Mohaupt developed — and later patented — a system to keep the elastic loops in place. One problem licked, she then focused on the labor involved.

Cutting the plywood by hand was grueling work in its own right. And then she had to glue together the layers. "I would end up covered in glue," she said.

So Mohaupt began experimenting with wooden blocks, which she'd sculpt with a saw into wedges. That eliminated having to glue together layers of plywood but still was physically draining.

That's when she made a decision that would forever change her business. In 2009 she bought on credit a $70,000 computer-driven machine that could read her 3-D designs and cut heels in minutes, saving hours of labor. The machine also allowed Mohaupt to experiment with new designs. For example, she could for the first time produce curved heel bases and make shoes with added arch support.

Demand grew steadily, which should have been a good problem. But even with the machine she couldn't keep pace with orders. Mohaupt tried training people to make the sandals but found that she couldn't train them and make shoes at the same time.

That's when she first considered outsourcing production. She tested a Canadian shoemaker but severed the relationship after it sent her a shipment of poorly made shoes. Mohaupt also was unsuccessful in lining up production in Argentina.

Then, suddenly, a competitor emerged that jolted her into making a decision that ultimately would nearly bring down her company. The competitor was selling sandals almost identical to hers and nudging her sandals out of local shops she had supplied for years. Its prices also were lower because it was producing its sandals in China. She faced being driven out of business, she said.

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Police: Off-duty cop nabs man stealing Christmas mail

District commander Barbara West thanks Chicago police officers Damien Boyden (left) and Jeffrey Bertrand on Saturday at the 15th District Police Station after the two men stopped a theft of postal packages. (Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune / December 1, 2012)

By Deanese Williams-Harris and Bridget Doyle




Tribune reporters

4:11 p.m. CST, December 1, 2012

An off-duty police officer who was on his way to work Friday sprung into action when he saw two men stealing mail from a postal truck and foiled the thieves plans, police said.

The officer saw two men who weren't wearing uniforms moving mail from a parked U.S. Postal truck parked on the 5900 block of West Fulton Boulevard, police said. Police believe the men broke the window of the mail truck with a large piece of concrete that was found lying on the ground.

He then saw the men load the packages into a black GMC Suburban truck parked nearby, police said. The duo then jumped into the SUV and sped away.

The off-duty officer, 33, followed the pair and phoned 911 to give their descriptions and location, police said.

Austin District officers monitoring the police radio spotted the GMC on the 900 block of North Parkside Avenue. When the duo realized the police were on their trail, one of them tried to throw the stolen mail out of the SUV onto the street, police said.

Officers approached the vehicle and arrested one of the men. The other man fled the scene on foot and was not caught, police said.

The man who was caught was identified as Darrick Smith, 43, of the 7300 block of South Harvard Avenue. He was charged with one count of burglary, police said.

dawilliams@tribune.com
Twitter: @neacynewslady

bdoyle@tribune.com
Twitter: @tribdoyle

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Facebook Cover Photos Are Disappearing

In the scope of a couple of days, several people — including Mashable staffers — have seen their Facebook cover photos disappear without explanation. The issue appears to be a move by Facebook to aggressively crack down on images that are considered promotional.

[More from Mashable: 500,000 Facebook Users Chase Fake $ 1 Million From Powerball ‘Winner’]

I first encountered the issue yesterday when Facebook ostensibly removed a promotional still from the TV series Doctor Who that I used as a cover photo. When I attempted to upload another image, I saw this message:

Pick a unique photo from your life to feature at the top of your timeline. Note: This space is not meant for banner ads or other promotions. Please don’t use content that is commercial, promotional, copyright-infringing or already in use on other people’s covers.

[More from Mashable: This Facebook App Gives Annoying Friends a ‘Time Out’]

Since we published the original article about the incident, several readers have come forward, reporting the same thing happened to them in the comments. In addition, three other Mashable staffers reported Facebook removing their cover photos in the last 24 hours.

When asked if there was some kind of crackdown going on, a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable via email that Facebook’s policies regarding photos and cover photos haven’t changed. Facebook’s terms of service specifies that a cover photo should be a “unique image that represents your Page.”

The exact reason why Facebook removed each cover is a mystery, since the user is not informed, except by the glaring empty space where the photo used to be. It could be due to a copyright violation or that the photo was deemed to “promotional.” Although Facebook removes the photo from the cover position, it doesn’t actually delete the photo itself.

“Facebook is in business to make money,” says Lou Kerner, a former social media analyst and founder of the Social Internet Fund. “The great thing about that is most ways they’re going to make money is by letting people do what they want — as long as it doesn’t break the law. For the most part, if they act in the user’s best interest, they act in their own best interests.”

While I speculated Facebook was removing cover photos to prevent the site from becoming too tacky, one of Mashable‘s commenters suggested Facebook was looking to preserve its business model. After all, if brands recruit “ambassadors” by encouraging — or paying — them upload promotional cover photos, that would detract from Facebook’s own tools that are meant to help brands engage with their fans on the service.

Disney, for example, offers fans of its franchises images to download that are specifically formatted for Facebook Timeline. If this is indeed a crackdown, that practice could cease.

“That seems more heavy-handed than Facebook generally acts,” says Kerner. “That sounds very egregious to me in terms of how they want brands and people to interact. I don’t see how Facebook benefits by not allowing a brand’s fans to engage with the brand like that.”

How widespread is the practice? It’s hard to say from the evidence so far, but based on Twitter reactions over the last day, it’s definitely been happening regularly. Although some users say the removed photos were their own, the pattern that seems to be emerging is that the photos are either promotional or violate copyright:

Why do you think Facebook is removing users’ cover photos and should it be doing so? Share your reactions in the comments.

1. Red Bull

Not only has Red Bull taken advantage of Timeline, it has also created a scavenger hunt with prizes to get fans interacting with the company’s history.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“Hobbit” may bring a Hollywood ending to 2012 box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took more than a decade, two directors and a lawsuit before “The Hobbit” made it to the big screen. Hollywood executives are crossing their fingers that the culmination of that journey will help smash movie box office records this year.

The film, which opens on December 14, is expected to contribute to the first annual box office increase in North America in three years, a sign that big movie studios have made more films enticing enough to get people into theaters and away from their TVs, games and the Internet.

“The Hobbit” follows this year’s other big box office successes “The Avengers,” which became the industry’s third-largest film with $ 623 million in U.S. sales, and “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Hunger Games” which both passed $ 400 million.

Hollywood analysts predict the two months of the year that include “The Hobbit” and the finale of the “Twilight” vampire series may lift U.S. and Canadian ticket sales above the $ 10.6 billion record set in 2009.

“The fourth quarter is just gangbusters,” said box office watcher Phil Contrino, editor of the boxoffice.com website. “One movie after the other is exceeding expectations.”

Annual receipts are on track to end 5 percent above last year at $ 10.8 billion or more, projects Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. Ten films have already passed $ 200 million in ticket sales, compared to seven last year, when no film passed the $ 400 million mark.

That would be the first yearly box office increase in three years, and would be from a jump in admissions rather than a hike in ticket prices that traditionally fuel box office growth. Ticket prices are averaging $ 7.94, a penny increase from last year, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

Hollywood has raked in $ 9.7 billion so far in ticket sales and sold more than 1.2 billion tickets in the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market, 5.5 percent up on a year ago.

The industry thought it had a record in sight last year, only to see underwhelming performances from holiday releases such as thriller “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and animated movie “Hugo,” which left ticket sales at a three-year low.

OFF THE COUCH

Studios face a difficult entertainment landscape in which consumers have an array of competing outlets for movie watching that includes DVR recordings, game players and movies streamed over computers and mobile phones.

Services like Netflix Inc have also made a dent in trips to the theater by offering cheap monthly rentals that make it easier to stay on the couch.

What has got people out of their homes, Hollywood moguls say, is a rise in the quality and variety of what is on screen.

This year, studios offered up a rush of big-budget blockbusters including “Skyfall,” the highest grossing of the 23 James Bond films that is still selling well with $ 227 million in domestic sales.

“Ted,” about a foul-mouthed stuffed bear, was a surprise winner with $ 219 million. Several mid-sized hits that won critical acclaim, including Steven Spielberg’s historical drama “Lincoln” and the Iran hostage thriller “Argo,” became box office darlings.

“There is something for everyone,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at News Corp’s 20th Century Fox studio. “When we achieve that as an industry and the movies are of good quality, that’s when good things happen.”

Sony oiled up its Spider-Man franchise and collected $ 262 million by rebooting it with new stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Disney’s Pixar unit struck it big again with the animated movie “Brave.”

Hollywood did not escape some box office bombs. Two big-budget bets – board-game inspired thriller “Battleship” and outer space adventure “John Carter” – ranked among the most costly flops in movie history.

The mass killing at a Colorado movie theater in July marred the release of Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.” But the film eventually grossed $ 448 million domestically, ranking as the year’s second-biggest.

Hollywood also overcame summer doldrums. The season that accounts for the bulk of yearly sales slumped 5 percent behind 2011. The second weekend in September produced the lowest-grossing weekend since 2001.

The pace quickened at the start of the holidays – the second-biggest movie going period – with “Twilight” finale “Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ and James Bond movie “Skyfall” leading record Thanksgiving sales of $ 291 million over five days.

“FOUR QUADRANT” FILM

That has got the industry’s hopes up for the Christmas season when families gather and shoppers fill malls. Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures is releasing the musical adaptation “Les Miserables,” and The Weinstein Company offers up the Leonardo DiCaprio thriller “Django Unchained.” A street-brawling Tom Cruise returns in “Jack Reacher” from Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures.

But it is the dwarves and wizards from “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” that Hollywood is banking on to generate movie going mania. Set 60 years before the Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the movie is the kind that studios love – a “four quadrant” film that appeals to male, female, young and old, said Contrino of Boxoffice.com. He projects $ 137 million in opening weekend domestic sales, rising to $ 475 million through its theatrical run.

The film, based on the fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien about the travels of hobbit Bilbo Baggins, almost did not make it to the screen at all. Director Peter Jackson made the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy when producers could not get “The Hobbit” rights that were held by MGM’s United Artists unit.

“The Hobbit“, also a trilogy, has been produced by MGM and Time Warner Inc but only after Jackson settled a lawsuit against Time Warner’s New Line Cinema unit in a dispute over profits from the “Rings” trilogy.

Now all the film has to do is delight fans with a new hobbit adventure across Middle Earth and deliver a record year for Hollywood.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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Opinion: A Health Insurance Detective Story

I’VE had a long career as a business journalist, beginning at Forbes and including eight years as the editor of Money, a personal finance magazine. But I’ve never faced a more confounding reporting challenge than the one I’m engaged in now: What will I pay next year for the pill that controls my blood cancer?

After making more than 70 phone calls to 16 organizations over the past few weeks, I’m still not totally sure what I will owe for my Revlimid, a derivative of thalidomide that is keeping my multiple myeloma in check. The drug is extremely expensive — about $11,000 retail for a four-week supply, $132,000 a year, $524 a pill. Time Warner, my former employer, has covered me for years under its Supplementary Medicare Program, a plan for retirees that included a special Writers Guild benefit capping my out-of-pocket prescription costs at $1,000 a year. That out-of-pocket limit is scheduled to expire on Jan. 1. So what will my Revlimid cost me next year?

The answers I got ranged from $20 a month to $17,000 a year. One of the first people I phoned said that no matter what I heard, I wouldn’t know the cost until I filed a claim in January. Seventy phone calls later, that may still be the most reliable thing anyone has told me.

Like around 47 million other Medicare beneficiaries, I have until this Friday, Dec. 7, when open enrollment ends, to choose my 2013 Medicare coverage, either through traditional Medicare or a private insurer, as well as my drug coverage — or I will risk all sorts of complications and potential late penalties.

But if a seasoned personal-finance journalist can’t get a straight answer to a simple question, what chance do most people have of picking the right health insurance option?

A study published in the journal Health Affairs in October estimated that a mere 5.2 percent of Medicare Part D beneficiaries chose the cheapest coverage that met their needs. All in all, consumers appear to be wasting roughly $11 billion a year on their Part D coverage, partly, I think, because they don’t get reliable answers to straightforward questions.

Here’s a snapshot of my surreal experience:

NOV. 7 A packet from Time Warner informs me that the company’s new 2013 Retiree Health Care Plan has “no out-of-pocket limit on your expenses.” But Erin, the person who answers at the company’s Benefits Service Center, tells me that the new plan will have “no practical effect” on me. What about the $1,000-a-year cap on drug costs? Is that really being eliminated? “Yes,” she says, “there’s no limit on out-of-pocket expenses in 2013.” I tell her I think that could have a major effect on me.

Next I talk to David at CVS/Caremark, Time Warner’s new drug insurance provider. He thinks my out-of-pocket cost for Revlimid next year will be $6,900. He says, “I know I’m scaring you.”

I call back Erin at Time Warner. She mentions something about $10,000 and says she’ll get an estimate for me in two business days.

NOV. 8 I phone Medicare. Jay says that if I switch to Medicare’s Part D prescription coverage, with a new provider, Revlimid’s cost will drive me into Medicare’s “catastrophic coverage.” I’d pay $2,819 the first month, and 5 percent of the cost of the drug thereafter — $563 a month or maybe $561. Anyway, roughly $9,000 for the year. Jay says AARP’s Part D plan may be a good option.

NOV. 9 Erin at Time Warner tells me that the company’s policy bundles United Healthcare medical coverage with CVS/Caremark’s drug coverage. I can’t accept the medical plan and cherry-pick prescription coverage elsewhere. It’s take it or leave it. Then she puts CVS’s Michele on the line to get me a Revlimid quote. Michele says Time Warner hasn’t transferred my insurance information. She can’t give me a quote without it. Erin says she will not call me with an update. I’ll have to call her.

My oncologist’s assistant steers me to Celgene, Revlimid’s manufacturer. Jennifer in “patient support” says premium assistance grants can cut the cost of Revlimid to $20 or $30 a month. She says, “You’re going to be O.K.” If my income is low enough to qualify for assistance.

NOV. 12 I try CVS again. Christine says my insurance records still have not been transferred, but she thinks my Revlimid might cost $17,000 a year.

Adriana at Medicare warns me that AARP and other Part D providers will require “prior authorization” to cover my Revlimid, so it’s probably best to stick with Time Warner no matter what the cost.

But Brooke at AARP insists that I don’t need prior authorization for my Revlimid, and so does her supervisor Brian — until he spots a footnote. Then he assures me that it will be easy to get prior authorization. All I need is a doctor’s note. My out-of-pocket cost for 2013: roughly $7,000.

NOV. 13 Linda at CVS says her company still doesn’t have my file, but from what she can see about Time Warner’s insurance plans my cost will be $60 a month — $720 for the year.

CVS assigns my case to Rebecca. She says she’s “sure all will be fine.” Well, “pretty sure.” She’s excited. She’s been with the company only a few months. This will be her first quote.

NOV. 14 Giddens at Time Warner puts in an “emergency update request” to get my files transferred to CVS.

Frank Lalli is an editorial consultant on retirement issues and a former senior executive editor at Time Warner’s Time Inc.

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