Sony hackers reveal Seth Rogen and James Franco's pay for 'The Interview'

The cyber-attack targeting Sony Pictures uncovered a few more confidential details on Wednesday in what has turned into a publicity nightmare for the entertainment company.

Seth Rogen was reportedly paid $8.4 million for "The Interview," according to new data obtained by Bloomberg, while his co-star James Franco earned $6.5 million for the comedy.

The film, which allegedly cost $44 million, also paid Britney Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline $5,000 for a cameo.

"The Interview," about two journalists tasked with assassinating North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un, is at the center of a recent hack attack at Sony, which this past week saw several new films leak online in addition to personal data and salary information about the company's top executives.

The FBI is investigating the corporate hacking, one of the worst in recent memory.

The hackers, identifying themselves as "The Guardians of Peace," have claimed that more information will be released about the movie distributor in the coming days.

North Korea, meanwhile, hasn't denied its involvement in the computer breach, simply telling the media to "wait and see" if the country is retaliating for Rogen and Franco's new comedy, which opens Christmas Day.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Carbonite shares soar on buy offer

Shares of Boston tech company Carbonite skyrocketed yesterday after the firm said it had received, and was considering, an acquisition offer from a California-based cloud services and digital media company.

Carbonite, a cloud storage and data backup company, disclosed in an SEC filing yesterday that j2 Global, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, had submitted an unsolicited offer to buy the company.

"J2 is ready, willing and able to acquire all outstanding shares of Carbonite stock that j2 does not now already own at a price of $15 per share payable in cash, representing a 28 percent premium" on Tuesday's closing price, according to a letter from j2 chairman Richard Ressler to Carbonite executives.

Ressler said Carbonite CEO David Friend told him the company was open to a sale "at the 'right price.'"

J2 tried to buy Carbonite more than two years ago, offering $10.50 per share.

Shares of Carbonite shot up 22.79 percent yesterday, closing at $14.44. The offer values Carbonite at just over $400 million.

Carbonite is not immediately rejecting the offer, said spokeswoman Megan Wittenberger.

"Our board — for the stockholders' sake — reviews any material offers," Wittenberger said. "We've received unsolicited offers in the past."

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U.S. patients get Genzyme drug for MS

An injectable multiple sclerosis drug developed by Cambridge biotech giant Genzyme was made available to patients in the U.S. for the first time yesterday, less than a month after federal regulators reversed course and approved the medication.

"Lemtrada has changed my life," said Harold Johnson, 44, of Swansea, Ill., who was among the 1,500 MS patients who participated in the drug's clinical development program. "I'm working full time now, I'm married, I can ride my bike on the weekends, I can work out, I can finally be happy."

Johnson, who was diagnosed with MS in 2005, said he "felt almost reborn" just two weeks after receiving his first clinical dose of Lemtrada in March 2009.

"I felt like a new man," Johnson said. "I had a lot more energy, my depression immediately went away and it was replaced with the happiness that continues to this day."

Lemtrada, which is already sold in Europe, Canada and Australia, was initially rejected by the FDA last December after medical experts raised concerns about its safety and the quality of clinical studies. Two new studies comparing Lemtrada to EMD Serono's drug Rebif led to the medication's approval Nov. 14 for the treatment of American patients with relapsing remitting forms of the debilitating disease.

"My experience with Lemtrada as an MS center director has been quite positive," said Johnson's neurologist, Dr. Barry Singer of Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis, Mo. "We have really seen the impact where people's lives are more under control — that their lives are regained."

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, autoimmune condition that affects more than 2 million people worldwide and up to 400,000 in the United States.

Bill Sibold, head of Genzyme's Multiple Sclerosis business, said: "Since approval, we have been singularly focused on providing access as quickly as possible for those patients awaiting Lemtrada by ensuring drug availability, completing required REMS training and certifications, and establishing appropriate patient support."

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The Ticker

Walsh names entirely new licensing board

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh yesterday replaced all three members of the city's Licensing Board, which regulates liquor licenses, restaurants, bars and hotels.

The three-member board now comprises Hyde Park attorney Christine A. Pulgini, a partner with the Law Offices of Joseph J. Pulgini P.C; Lisa Maki, a city of Boston lawyer since 2010; and Keeana Serene Saxon, deputy general counsel to the state's Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development since 2012. They started their six-year terms Monday.

State legislation passed this year moved responsibility for Licensing Board appointments from the governor to the mayor for the first time since 1906.

State's export growth seen lagging

Economists say Massachusetts has been lagging behind the nation as a whole in one key area of international trade.

MassBenchmarks, a journal of the state's economy, said in a report that Massachusetts ranked 49th out of the 50 states in export growth between 2009 and 2013. While U.S. exports have increased 50 percent since the Great Recession, exports from the Bay State have been, in the words of the economists, "fairly anemic," rising by just 14 percent.

Lower income tax for Mass. taxpayers

Massachusetts taxpayers will start paying a lower state income tax rate beginning in January.

Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter confirmed that all the requirements needed to automatically lower the personal income tax rate from 5.2 percent to 5.15 percent beginning Jan. 1 have been met.

As a result, revenue collections for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, will drop by about $70 million, contributing to an estimated $329 million budget gap.

Today

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims

 Selected chain retailers release November sales comparisons.

 European Central Bank's governing council meets to set monetary policy for the eurozone.

TOMORROW

 Labor Department releases employment data for November.

 Commerce Department releases international trade data and factory orders for October.

THE SHUFFLE

Codeship, a continuous delivery platform for software developers, announced the appointment of Jim Schley to vice president of engineering. Schley brings more than 15 years of successful product delivery experience to lead Codeship's expanding engineering team, with eight engineers across its Cambridge and Vienna offices.

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Ringo Starr re-lists Shoot N' Starr ranch near Aspen

SELLER: Ringo Starr
LOCATION: Woody Creek, CO
PRICE: $3,850,000
SIZE: 3,192 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMA'S NOTES: Two weeks ago Your Mama dissed and discussed the pretty well palatial, 200-acre-plus English country estate that Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has up for sale at an undisclosed price that circumstantial digital evidence suggests is right around £15,000,000. (That's $23,541,600 as per our handy-dandy currency conversion contraption.) Earlier this week, as we first heard from the eagle-eyed kids at Curbed, the vaunted veteran rock star and his long-time wife, former Bond girl Barbara Bach, hoisted their 15-ish-acre spread along the Roaring Fork river in Woody Creek, CO, back on the open market with an asking price of $3.85 million.

Our research shows the Starrs picked up their rustic-luxe Colorado mini-ranch, which they dubbed the Shoot N' Starr ranch according to the wooden sign that hangs on the fence out front, way back in 1991 for $1.164 million. This is not, some of the children may already know, the first time the Starrs have tried to unload their Rocky Mountain retreat; They unsuccessfully had the place on the open market in 2010 for $4.5 million and then again in late 2013 and early 2014 for the (familiar) asking price of $3.85 million.

The equine accommodating property includes a 3,192-square foot main residence decked out in all manner of Americana regalia that Curbed accurately if cattily called "kitchy." There are three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, as per listing details, plus a separate, studio-style caretaker unit. A Mexican paver tiled entry leads to a combination living and dining room with oatmeal-colored wall-to-wall carpeting, a stone-lined arched fireplace and high vaulted ceilings criss-crossed with a version of the rugged wood beams that are almost ubiquitous in a high percentage of the multi-million dollar homes in and around Aspen. The flooring switches to wood in the adjoining, window-lined family room that looks out over the yard and towards the river.

A row of muscular, tree-trunk beams make a bold and rustic statement in the spacious and well-maintained if outdated kitchen where the blue and white ceramic tile countertops are most certainly custom and have a sort of native American pattern thing happening that -- no offense to anyone -- this sometimes sassy property gossip is not so keen about as a countertop design. And, children, let's not even address the wacky wagon wheel "chandelier" over the center island that's laced with chili lights because just the very idea of it makes Your Mama need a nerve pill in the worst way imaginable.

One guest/family bedroom has multi-colored credenza painted in a rather cliché southwestern style and bevy of black and white photographs of what appear to be Native Americans while the other has a clunky television atop a dresser and a bed set -- we're afraid -- at a cattywompus angle. In general, Your Mama does not care for furnishings set at funny angles to a room's geometry but we find the practice particularly objectionable in bedrooms. Just imagine, children, how many times in the middle of the night a person has to reach down and retrieve a pillow that's fallen in to that sad little triangle between the head of the bed and the corner of the room? Anyhoodles, poodles, clunky boob-toobs and angled bed orientations are really neither here nor there when it comes to the real estate matter at hand so let's move on and wrap it up, shall we?

A dining and lounging deck off the back of the house looks out over a vast, tree-dotted lawn that slopes gently down to the rocky river's edge and a charming and perfectly appropriate split rail fence separates the landscaped areas around the house from a multi-acre horse pasture.

We can't confirm it directly but, so the story goes, Mister and Missus Starrs plan to spend more time in Los Angeles where our research shows they own a gated mini-estate near the eastern border of Beverly Hills that they scooped up in May 1991 for $3.2 million.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Steve Grossman blasts $65G raise for state pension chief

The salary of the state pension fund's executive director could catapult past $500,000 after its board yesterday gave him a $65,000 raise, prompting a warning from outgoing board chairman Treasurer Steve Grossman about the pay hike's optics amid financial unrest on Beacon Hill.

"We are ultimately spending taxpayer dollars and (it comes) at a time when cuts are taking place and budgetary belt-tightening is going on," said Grossman, who voted against boosting director Michael Trotsky's salary to $360,000, which, when combined with a bonus of up to 40 percent, could send his pay past a half-million dollars.

The state, Grossman noted, is trying to fill a $329 million budget gap, and the treasurer said he wanted to see a phased-in raise for Trotsky, who he still lauded for "outstanding" work.

Trotsky, who also serves as the $60.2 billion fund's chief investment officer, told the board that the fund's balance was up 9.4 percent in the year ending Oct. 31, but also warned of waves of market volatility amid the recent gains.

"We think this signals the late stage of the boom that we've been in for the past five years and we have prepared for," Trotsky said, according to the State House News Service.

A representative of Glen Shor, Gov. Deval Patrick's administration and finance secretary, was the only other board member to vote against Trotsky's raise.

Treasurer-elect Deb Goldberg said in a statement while a "significant raise" is well-deserved, the spike was "uncomfortable and not necessarily appropriate at this time."

Trotsky said in a statement he's "extremely proud" of the gains the fund has made.

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Medical mistake numbers alarm experts

One of four Bay Staters say they or their loved ones have fallen victim to alarming medical mistakes like misdiagnoses and faulty treatments, according to a bombshell report that has local experts calling for more action to prevent such errors among state hospitals and agencies.

"This is a problem of just incredible magnitude," said Barbara Fain, director of the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error, which funded the survey. "From our perspective there needs to be a greater urgency around making greater progress."

Misdiagnoses were the largest problem among those surveyed, comprising 51 percent of people who had encountered errors. Thirty-eight percent say they were given the wrong surgery or test, and 34 percent say they were given bad instructions.

The survey, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, asked 1,224 Massachusetts residents if they or someone close to them had experienced a medical misstep within the last five years.

The survey is one of several new reports funded by the Lehman Center, named after a Boston Globe health reporter who died in 1994 after an overdose of chemotherapy treatments.

Robert Blendon, a Harvard professor of health policy and political analysis who led the survey, said the results speak volumes about how little progress has been made since Lehman's death.

"Twenty years ago there was an event that spurred national and statewide movement with an awful death of a reporter," Blendon said. "What do you have 20 years later? You have an issue that's still a problem in people's lives. This is not a problem that went away decades later."

Patricia Folcarelli, senior director of patient safety for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said better systems need to be put into place to prevent human error. "The major take-away is that we still have a lot of work to do," said Folcarelli.

She said the sheer number of health care workers involved in the treatment of each patient — and breakdowns in communication among them — is the major problem behind these errors. "There's multiple people delivering care, and there are a lot of opportunities for information to get lost in the hand-off," she said. "The devil happens in the transitions."

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Roslindale group battles Petco store in Village

A Roslindale Village group is trying to stop a pet store chain from opening amid its small, locally owned stores, and is seeking city regulations to cap the number of big-box stores and national restaurants in its neighborhood business district.

"We believe that national chains like Unleashed by Petco degrade the community character and make it difficult for local mom-and- pop businesses to thrive," said Christina DiLisio, executive director of Roslindale Village Main Street.

Unleashed, Petco's neighborhood version, is eyeing a new location at 745 South St., the former JB Edwards uniform store near Adams Park, but has faced stiff opposition from residents.

"People understand Roslindale Village to be something special," DiLisio said. "Chains are soulless."

The Roslindale Village Main Street is the oldest neighborhood business district in the city, established in 1985 thanks in part to then-city councilor Thomas M. Menino. There are now 20 Main Streets districts in Boston, whose aim is to revitalize and promote the city's neighborhood commercial centers.

While DiLisio and Roslindale Village Main Street battle Petco, they are also calling on the city to pass an ordinance to cap the number of so-called formula businesses — chain stores and restaurants — that could open in the future.

"Chains are never going to be able to have the face of a person and a real, live business owner putting their heart, sweat and tears to keep that business alive," DiLisio said.

City Councilor Tim McCarthy, who represents Roslindale, doesn't dismiss outright the idea of limits on chain stores in Roslindale Village, but said it would be complicated.

"We've kicked this around," McCarthy said. "If we're going to venture into this, we've got to do it right."

He said any ordinance would have to be specifically tailored.

"We may want to tweak it to make it Main Street specific," he said. "It can't be a general, sweeping regulation or ordinance."

Each Main Street program is an independent nonprofit overseen by the city's Department of Neighborhood Development.

"While we encourage innovative thinking about these issues, a formula business ordinance would have citywide implications, and will require thoughtful analysis," Neighborhood Development spokeswoman Lisa Pollack said.

Petco representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

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Reebok to outfit all UFC fighters

Reebok is expanding its fitness focus by stepping into the Octagon under a six-year deal as the new exclusive outfitter of the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organization.

The Canton athletic brand also will be the official clothing provider for fans of the 21-year-old UFC and will develop a new line of training gear for the 35 million people worldwide who use MMA, boxing and kickboxing in their exercise regimes.

"It's a very significant commitment, and we think it will generate significant commercial opportunity," said Reebok president Matt O'Toole, who declined to put a dollar figure on the deal. "It's one of the few sports that's popular in every continent, and its viewership numbers keep climbing — similar to ... the NBA or other sports leagues."

The alliance is the biggest non-broadcast deal signed by the Las Vegas-based UFC and will further professionalize the sport, chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said. "Working with another global brand with such a strong history in training and fitness will deliver long-term value for UFC athletes and their brands by elevating and further professionalizing the events and the sport," he said in a statement.

UFC athletes will be required to wear Reebok gear at all official UFC events starting in July and will no longer be permitted to exhibit other sponsors' logos during them. In turn, the UFC will compensate them based on their rankings during event weigh-ins.

Reebok currently sponsors UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and expects to add more UFC fighters to its roster.

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Obama to discuss economic ideas with CEOs

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is meeting with leading CEOs to discuss ways to promote the economy and create jobs during his last two years in office.

Obama on Wednesday will attend the quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs. Obama plans to give a speech and take questions.

The White House says Obama will use the meeting to promote bipartisan opportunities to grow the economy and the middle class, such as tax reform, infrastructure spending and trade agreements.

In the weeks since the midterm elections, Obama has cited those three issues as examples of where Democrats and Republicans might be able to compromise. Heavy Democratic losses in the elections diminished Obama's prospects for passing most of his other legislative priorities before leaving office.

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IMG to lay off 3% of staff following WME merger review

IMG will lay off about 100 employees, or 3% of its worldwide staff, in the coming weeks.

The decision comes more than six months after the sports agency powerhouse was acquired by WME. The cuts will be implemented in the coming weeks and are expected to land across the board at IMG divisions. The WME side of the company, which is now majority-owned by private equity firm Silver Lake, will not be part of the layoffs.

Layoffs and other changes had been expected at IMG in the wake of its merger earlier this year with Hollywood uber-agency WME. WME-IMG co-CEOs Ari Emanual and Patrick Whitesell spent months learning the details of IMG's operations, which are spread around the world and range from sponsorship and marketing agreements to media rights auctions to promotion of events including New York's Fashion Week.

IMG and WME have maintained largely separate operations since coming together early this year. In the layoffs to come, it's clear that business, administrative and financial jobs that are redundant with existing WME executives will be vulnerable.

The $2.2 billion pricetag that Silver Lake and its partners paid to bring IMG and WME together spurred speculation about massive cuts to come at both operations and chatter that the debt service would hobble both agencies.

Over the past few months, the exec team led by Emanuel and Whitesell has fanned out across IMG's divisions in search of restructuring and management changes designed to make it less balkanized and a more cohesive operation. Emanuel spent months this spring and summer in London getting a handle on the company's international hub.

IMG by many accounts had grown bloated and inefficient during the previous decade under the ownership of investment giant Forstmann Little. The death of principle Ted Forstmann in late 2011 triggered the IMG sale process that came to head late last year. CAA and ICM Partners were also in the hunt for the percentery that remains a uniquely global entity in sports marketing, promotions and rights dealmaking.

Cost-savings were quickly realized when a number of IMG vets left in the wake of the merger, and after the co-CEOs took steps such as streamlining the management of media rights and event management divisions, which previously had little communication.

Meanwhile, efforts to foster collaboration among IMG and WME talent and projects have been encouraged but not forced, according to insiders. Now that the restructuring of IMG is well under way, Emanuel and Whitesell indicate there may be more noticeable changes for both sides of the WME-IMG ledger, or what they describe as "changes in the business that will help ensure we're all set up to succeed" in a memo confirming the IMG layoffs.

Here's the complete memo from WME-IMG co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell:

In the seven months since WME acquired IMG, we've been focused on helping this company live up to its potential as the global leader in sports, media and fashion. We've worked alongside all of you to consolidate businesses, create new roles, and collaborate across departments in ways that will fundamentally change not just WME | IMG but ultimately our industry. We've seen firsthand how hard you've all been working to bring these two companies together, and we're grateful.

As you've heard us say, we are incredibly well-positioned for the future. We've had a strong start financially, the business is performing well around the world, and our ability to connect, develop, and promote artists, athletes, media and brands is unmatched at a time when our industry has never been stronger.

But to take full advantage of the opportunity that lies ahead, we have to make some tough choices about how we allocate our resources at IMG. In the coming month, we'll be updating you on some changes in the business that will help ensure we're all set up to succeed.

As a first step in this process, we will be downsizing three percent of our workforce across IMG in the coming weeks.

These decisions aren't easy, but they are necessary for us to best position IMG for future growth and success. These changes will allow us to more effectively invest in our future through acquisitions; to re-allocate our resources to high-growth businesses; and ensure we realize our full potential across WME | IMG.

Thank you all in advance for your help through this transition. Changes like these are always difficult, and we appreciate your hard work and dedication.

AE PW

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Contract talks resume for West Coast dockworkers

LOS ANGELES — Labor strife on the West Coast waterfront isn't going to steal Christmas.

Dockworkers at 29 sea ports from San Diego to Seattle have worked without a contract since July. Negotiations over a new one turned contentious this fall.

On Tuesday, full negotiating teams are meeting for the first time in nearly two weeks.

Public pressure has been mounting, especially because the movement of cargo — several billions dollars' worth on an average day, mostly to and from Asia — has been slowed. Those issues ripple through the economy, including truckers who don't get paid as much because they're hauling fewer loads and importers who are being charged fees to store containers in dockside yards.

An association representing transoceanic shipping lines and operators of port terminals accuses dockworkers of orchestrating work slowdowns at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and north to Oakland and Washington state. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says they have been working safely and that the bigger factor is a shortage of truck beds to carry containers from the docks in Los Angeles and Long Beach — by far the nation's largest — into commerce.

At the Southern California port complex, for example, the time it took between when a ship docked and when a container was available for pickup more than doubled to about 80 hours between September 2013 and September 2014, according to data from INTTRA, which tracks global trade for shipping lines.

While both work pace and equipment shortages are a factor, retailers say most holiday goods are safely through the ports. Most likely affected would be the restocking of "must-have" toys or other surprise sellers.

In those cases, importers might opt for air delivery, which is about 10 times more expensive than delivery by ship, according to Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain at the National Retail Federation.

Those stores are "pretty much eating the cost at this point," Gold said.

___

Contact Justin Pritchard at http://twitter.com/lalanewsman.

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Corinne Quayle, mother of former VP, dies at 92

PHOENIX — Corinne Pulliam Quayle, the mother of former vice president Dan Quayle and a newspaper owner and publisher, has died. She was 92.

Pulliam Quayle died of natural causes on Thursday at her home in Wickenburg, Arizona, a spokesman for Wickenburg Funeral Home said Tuesday.

According to a memorial page on the funeral home website, Pulliam Quayle was the daughter of the late Eugene C. Pulliam, who was the longtime owner and publisher of the Arizona Republic and the Indianapolis Star.

Pulliam Quayle and her husband, the late James C. Quayle, owned and published the Huntington Herald-Press in Huntington, Indiana, and the Wickenburg Sun in Wickenburg.

Dan Quayle was a U.S. senator from Indiana for eight years before becoming George H.W. Bush's pick for vice president.

According to The Arizona Republic, Corinne Pulliam Quayle is survived by a sister, Suzanne Murphy, her children, Dan Quayle, Chris Quayle, Martha Thomas and Mike Quayle, 10 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

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Otsuka to buy US drugmaker Avanir for $3.5B

Otsuka Pharmaceutical will spend $3.5 billion in cash to buy Avanir Pharmaceuticals in a deal that expands the Japanese drugmaker's portfolio of neurologic disease treatments.

Avanir shareholders will receive $17 per share, according to the agreement announced Tuesday. That represents a 13 percent premium over Avanir's closing price Monday.

Avanir makes Nuedexta, which treats a condition called pseudobulbar affect. The ailment is tied to diseases like multiple sclerosis or traumatic brain injuries and involves involuntary emotional outbursts such as laughing or crying. Nuedexta, which Avanir launched in the United States in 2011, brought in $94 million in revenue in the year that ended last June.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Aliso Viejo, California, was founded in 1988 and employs about 500 people. It also has developed a treatment, now in late-stage testing, for agitation associated with Alzheimer's disease. Its pipeline of drugs under development also includes potential Parkinson's disease and migraine treatments.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. employs more than 28,000 people and is a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd.

The boards of both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to close in next year's first quarter.

Shares of Avanir jumped nearly 13 percent, or $1.91, to $16.91 Tuesday, hours before markets opened. The stock has soared since closing 2013 at $3.36.

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CoreLogic: US home prices accelerated in October

WASHINGTON — U.S. home prices rose at a faster year-over-year pace in October than in September, snapping a seven-month slowdown.

Real estate data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday that prices increased 6.1 percent in October compared with 12 months earlier. That was up from September's year-over-year increase of 5.6 percent.

Still, home values are rising more slowly than they were earlier this year, when 12-month gains were averaging nearly double their current pace.

The price momentum began to tail off in the middle of the year as home values in more cities and states neared the record highs last seen shortly before the Great Recession began in late 2007.

Higher prices have reduced affordability, especially because the incomes of many would-be buyers have yet to match their pre-recession levels. Lending standards also remain comparably tight.

Previous price increases led investors to pull back from the home market, and first-time buyers have yet to fill the void created by their departure.

Price growth will likely remain mild as a result, CoreLogic said. The firm projects that home values will rise 5.1 percent over the next 12 months. Roughly half the country's homes will match or surpass their pre-recession prices by mid-2015, it predicts.

Every state reported a price gain in October. CoreLogic said prices reached new highs in Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. In 27 states, home values are within 10 percent of their previous peaks.

There are still pockets of the country — including parts of Texas, Seattle and Denver — where prices are rising faster than in the rest of the country because of their relatively strong job markets, incomes and home prices, said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic.

Other real estate companies have forecast a sharper slowdown in price gains next year.

Zillow, the online home marketplace, released estimated Tuesday that home values will rise a mere 2.5 percent nationwide in 2015. That slowdown should ultimately help bring more buyers into the market and increase sales, said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist.

Humphries said he thinks more homes will be listed for sale as prices edge closer to their previous peaks, giving buyers more options. At the same time, rental prices are expected to rise 3.5 percent. That should give people an additional incentive to buy.

"As renters' costs keep going up, I expect the allure of fixed mortgage payments and a more stable housing market will entice many more otherwise content renters into the housing market," Humphries said.

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People magazine publishes Kirk Douglas' pre-written obituary

People Magazine accidentally published its pre-written obituary for Kirk Douglas on Sunday night.

It's not uncommon for major publications to write their elaborate obituaries in advance, and People Magazine clearly didn't mean to run the story as evident from the "DO NOT PUB" in the headline.

Still, "Spartacus" and his family members can't be happy.

Douglas, who turns 98 next week, isn't the first celebrity 'death' botched by People.

In 1982, Abe Vigoda was erroneously referred to as "the late Abe Vigoda" in People Magazine, which became a running joke about Vigoda on talk shows like "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Vigoda is, of course, still alive.

Bloomberg made a similar obituary gaffe when it published news of Steve Jobs' death in 2008 three years before the Apple co-founder's actually passing in 2011.

The editors of Bloomberg quickly posted a retraction and apologized for the mistake.

So far, no mea culpa from People Magazine's editors.

Douglas' reps could not be reached for comment.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Network booster widens your Wi-Fi

TP Link Universal Wi-Fi 300Mbps Range Extender ($24.99 and up)

Wi-Fi boosters are becoming a necessity now that Ethernet cords have gone the way of the dodo.

This device uses the electrical wiring in your house to extend your wireless network, an intriguing solution for anyone who has struggled for a signal.

The good: It actually works. Create one unified network throughout your entire house by plugging as many of these devices as you need into your electrical outlets. Unlike wireless repeaters (which don't work as well) this allows you to create just one network for your entire house.

The bad: It'll never be quite as fast as the original wireless network it's connected to.

The bottom line: I have several of these devices in my house and it's revolutionized our wireless connection. A great stocking-stuffer.

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Booting Up: Google Glass shows some cracks

This was a bad year for Google Glass.

The creator of the augmented-reality bifocals has left Google for Amazon, the device remains out of reach for most consumers, and being lucky enough to score a prototype makes you just about as hip as a fanny pack these days.

Though Google has repeatedly stated its commitment to the project, it's time to face the harsh, unaugmented reality: 2015 will not be the year of Google Glass either, and it's probably time to put this project to bed.

Two-and-a-half years after Google promised the world a hands-free, screen-free fantasy, backlash against the company is growing. Techies dubbed the Glass beta-testers a certain impolite name not suitable for a family newspaper. A German artist wrote a computer program that shuts off Wi-Fi to Glass-wearing visitors. Bars and movie theaters in various cities have banned Glass, and websites such as Stop
theCyborgs.org offer downloadable signs and merchandise to help people establish Glass-free zones. Pretentious, intrusive, and a $1,500 curiosity are just some of the ways that Google Glass has been described. Glass-wearers report being harangued in public because of the popular misconception that the device is always recording.

Google deserves credit for its novel, risky strategy of crowdsourcing the vision for a product that was not yet on the market. But as it turns out, Glass could have been successful if it had remained stealth for a few more years. Had Google waited for a generalized consumer release — and found a way to price the device just under $1,000 — it would have had the hottest innovation since the iPad. History would have dubbed Google as the forefather of wearable technology.

In its words, Google promised to change the world with a screen-free, augmented reality future. But in its deeds, Google seemed to focus that future on a small segment of the population — largely elites.

There are highly successful stories of Glass Explorers (aka beta-testers) — like the celebrity chef who uses them to record recipes, the paralyzed woman who uses Glass to help her be more independent — but those stories are overshadowed by a chorus of mockery that has even included shots from "The Daily Show."

Make no mistake: We are probably about a decade away from a world in which wearable devices will record nearly everything we do — and have the capability to replace many of the functions performed by smartphones. But it's looking less likely than ever that Google will lead the charge.

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Amazon's new robot army is ready to ship

TRACY, California — A year ago, Amazon.com workers like 34-year-old Rejinaldo Rosales hiked miles of aisles each shift to "pick" each item a customer ordered and prepare it for shipping.

Now the e-commerce giant boasts that it has boosted efficiency — and given workers' legs a break — by deploying more than 15,000 wheeled robots to crisscross the floors of its biggest warehouses and deliver stacks of toys, books and other products to employees.

"We pick two to three times faster than we used to," Rosales said during a short break from sorting merchandise into bins at Amazon's massive distribution center in Tracy, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco. "It's made the job a lot easier."

Amazon.com Inc., which faces its single biggest day of online shopping on Monday, has invested heavily this year in upgrading and expanding its distribution network, adding new technology, opening more shipping centers and hiring 80,000 seasonal workers to meet the coming onslaught of holiday orders. Amazon says it processed orders for 36.8 million items on the Monday after Thanksgiving last year, and it's expecting "Cyber Monday" to be even busier this year.

CEO Jeff Bezos vows to one day deliver packages by drone, but that technology isn't ready yet. Even so, Amazon doesn't want a repeat of last year, when some customers were disappointed by late deliveries attributed to Midwestern ice storms and last-minute shipping snarls at both UPS and FedEx. Meanwhile, the company is facing tough competition from rivals like Google and eBay, and traditional retailers are offering more online services.

Amazon has forecast revenue of $27.3 billion to $30.3 billion for the holiday quarter, up 18 percent from last year but less than Wall Street had expected. However, Amazon has invested billions of dollars in its shipping network and its reliability is a big selling point to customers, Piper Jaffray investment analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients Friday. He thinks Amazon's forecast is conservative.

The Seattle-based company now has 109 shipping centers around the globe. The Tracy facility is one of 10 in which Amazon has deployed the robots, using technology acquired when the company bought robot-maker Kiva Systems Inc. in 2012, said Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president for operations, who gave reporters a tour on Sunday.

More than 1,500 full-time employees work at the Tracy center, which has 1.2 million square feet of space — the equivalent of 28 football fields. They are joined by about 3,000 robots, gliding swiftly and quietly around the warehouse. The robots navigate by scanning coded stickers on the floor, following digital commands that are beamed wirelessly from a central computer.

Each of the squat orange machines can slide under and then lift a stack of shelves that's four feet wide and holds up to 750 pounds of merchandise. The system uses bar codes to track which items are on each shelf, so a robot can fetch the right shelves for each worker as orders come in.

Because the robots travel underneath, the shelves can be stacked closely together, which means the warehouse can hold more goods, Clark said. The Tracy center now holds about 20 million items, representing 3.5 million different products, from bottles of gourmet steak sauce to high-end audio headsets, books and video games. Clark said it can ship 700,000 items in a day, but will hold more and ship more by next year.

The robots will cut the Tracy center's operating costs by 20 percent, Clark said. But he was quick to assert they won't eliminate jobs.

"Our focus is all about building automation that helps people do their jobs better," he said, adding that workers are needed for more complex tasks such as shelving, packing and checking for damaged items. The system takes the complexity of different tasks into account, rather than forcing employees to work at an inhuman pace, Clark added.

Rosales agrees. Though he works rapidly, he said the robots "actually adjust to your speed. If you're picking slower, they slow down."

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Move over unions _ French bosses protesting, too

PARIS — In France, workers aren't the only ones who take to the streets to protest — their bosses do, too.

Several thousand French business owners, particularly from small companies, demonstrated Monday in Paris to plead with the government to simplify regulations and make it easier and cheaper to hire.

Protester Jean-Pierre Hutin, a hotel owner, urged more flexibility for part-time work, while others complained that layers of taxes and labor rules have made it impossible for France to compete globally.

They argued that the government needs business owners to hire. Socialist President Francois Hollande has sought to loosen labor laws but critics say it doesn't go nearly far enough.

French unemployment is around 10 percent and economic growth has stagnated, threatening to push the whole eurozone back into recession.

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Cyber Monday going mobile

Record-breaking online Thanksgiving Day sales for big-box retailers Walmart and Target point to strong Cyber Monday results tomorrow, with mobile shoppers poised to overtake desktop shopping for the first time ever.

The National Retail Federation forecast online holiday sales to grow between 8 percent and 11 percent in November and December to as much as $105 billion. The trade group is set to release survey information today about the number of people who plan to shop online tomorrow.

"But it's clear there's a lot of demand from online shoppers already this holiday season, many of whom know that some of the best online deals are yet to come," spokeswoman Kathy Grannis said.

Walmart had its second-highest online sales day ever on Thanksgiving — topped only by Cyber Monday in 2013 — and it expects its biggest Cyber Monday to date tomorrow. Walmart has doubled the number of Cyber Monday deals, including a Samsung 55 4K Ultra HD LED HDTV for $998 ($500 off), a Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic stand mixer for $24 ($25 off) and a PlayStation 4 Lego Batman & Little Big Planet Console bundle with the choice of an extra game and a controller for $449 ($189 off).

Target's online Thanksgiving sales, meanwhile, jumped more than 40 percent from last year for its biggest online day ever. It saw the most growth in traffic and sales from mobile shoppers.

Thanksgiving Day online sales grew 14.3 percent from a year earlier, and this year marked the first time when mobile traffic accounted for more than half (52.1 percent) of all online retail traffic, an increase of 22.4 percent, according to IBM Digital Analytics. On Black Friday, online sales were up 9.5 percent year-over-year with mobile devices accounting for 27.9 percent of all online purchases, an increase of 28.2 percent over last year. .

Amazon is catering to mobile shoppers by, for the first time, announcing exclusive "lightning deals" via its mobile app on Cyber Monday, it's busiest day for mobile shopping.

But the lines between pre-Black Friday events, Thanksgiving night, Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to blur as consumers think holistically on where, when and how to shop, according to analyst David Schick of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

"A number of retailers are more willing to offer deals well before and after Black Friday for a much longer duration than previous years — now more than just Cyber Monday or Cyber Week," he said in a report.

Office supplies chain Staples will start offering its Cyber Monday deals online today, including a $149 Asus X205 laptop ($100 off) and a Dell 24" monitor for $99 (also $100 off). Macy's also will preview its Cyber Monday specials today.

But employers still can expect less productivity tomorrow, as 85 percent of employed Cyber Monday shoppers say they'll scour the Internet for deals during work for an average of four hours, according to a survey by RetailMeNot, a digital offers website.

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Home equity lines of credit come back in vogue

WASHINGTON — If you're thinking about taking out a new home equity line, you're hardly alone. Credit lines tied to home equity — known as HELOCs — are one of the fastest-growing segments in the mortgage market. Volume during the first half of 2014 is up by an extraordinary 21 percent compared with the same period last year, according to data collected by credit bureau Equifax.

The main reasons: Owners' equity holdings nationwide are up sharply — the Federal Reserve estimates gains at nearly $4.5 trillion since 2011 — and interest rates are near historical lows. Owners borrowed $66 billion against those fattened equity stakes during the first half of this year, a six-year high. Banks and other lenders extended 670,000 new HELOCs during the same period, also a six-year high, according to Equifax.

What are these people doing with their sudden access to ready cash and how much are they pulling out? A new national survey, based on a representative sample of 1,364 homeowners with HELOCs, offers some important answers. The study was conducted last month by research firm Vision Critical for TD Bank.

The No. 1 finding: Most people aren't spending their home equity line money on dumb stuff. There's no evidence of a repeat of the wacky days of the last decade when houses morphed into ATMs and credit lines paid for groceries and nights out on the town. By contrast, 52 percent of current borrowers say they are using or have used their drawdowns for projects that are likely to increase the market value of their properties — updating kitchens, adding bathrooms, putting on a new roof and similar remodelings. Another 29 percent have used their HELOC money to take advantage of today's wide gaps in interest rates among different financial products. They are consolidating debts — paying off credit card balances with interest rates in the double-digits using equity line funds borrowed at rates in the low single digits.

Nearly a quarter of borrowers say they've used some of the equity line dollars as form of insurance against unforeseen "emergency" expenses — paying off bills for events that popped up without warning and might have been otherwise unaffordable. Other major uses, according to the survey: Buying new autos (27 percent of borrowers); paying medical bills (18 percent); spending on kids' and adults' education costs (15 percent): travel (15 percent); and small-business investments (13 percent). Relatively few owners (13 percent) say they use their equity line dollars for day-to-day expenses.

Michael Kinane, TD Bank's head of consumer and mortgage lending, said he interprets the strong recent surges in home equity borrowing as a delayed reaction by owners who have put off home improvements and other expenditures for years because they were unsure about the economy, their jobs, and where real estate values were headed.

"Now they're stepping back in," he said, "they've got more confidence" in the economy and they've seen their property values increase to the point where they can responsibly pull out some cash secured by their equity.

Home equity lines as a financial product "are much safer" in 2014 — for borrowers and lenders alike — than they were a decade ago, Kinane believes. Most banks now limit the combined loan-to-value ratio — the total of the primary mortgage balance plus the maximum draw amount on the new credit line compared with the home value — to 80 percent. And full documentation of income, employment, credit and property values is the rule, not the exception.

In 2005 and 2006, by contrast, 100 percent ratios were readily available with minimal underwriting and documentation. Some lenders, including TD Bank, now allow select customers to borrow more (TD's ceiling is 
89 percent), but only those applicants with pristine credit reports, high FICO scores, lots of income and plentiful financial reserves.

Today's rates and fees on HELOCs generally are as good as or better than they were at the height of the boom. A quick search of deals offered on Bankrate.com last week turned up rates anywhere from the low 3 percent range to 4 percent and up, depending on the dollar limit on the line and applicants' credit scores. Some credit unions and banks offer special rates — below 3 percent — for existing customers or members with solid credit.

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Obama buys 17 titles at independent bookstore

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama tried to draw attention to independently owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a day that is increasingly being marketed as one for deal-hungry consumers to remember to patronize these mom-and-pop outlets while doing their holiday shopping.

He bought bags of books — 17 titles in all — during a stop at Politics and Prose, a popular Washington bookstore now owned by a former Washington Post reporter and his wife, also a former Post reporter who also worked for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House and State Department.

In recent years, the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been advertised as "Small Business Saturday." It's designed to drive foot traffic to independent businesses in between the frenzy of Black Friday sales at mass retailers and the Cyber Monday deals available online.

Obama browsed the bookstore's racks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha. He held one shopper's baby and chatted with author David Baldacci. While paying at the cash register, another patron encouraged Obama to close the U.S. facility in Cuba where suspected terrorists are detained.

"Hope you can close Guantanamo," the patron said.

"We're working on it," Obama replied, then cheerily added to the crowd of shoppers: "Any other issues?"

Obama also joked, "Hope it works," when he handed his credit card to the cashier. That appeared to be a reference to when a restaurant declined his card while he dined out in New York City in late September.

Obama bought a mix of titles apparently chosen to satisfy readers young and old. The White House declined to reveal how much he paid.

Among the books in the president's shopping bags for mature readers were "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China" by New Yorker writer Evan Osnos, "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by surgeon Atul Gawande and "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.

For younger readers, Obama's purchases included three titles in the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques, two titles in the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and "A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More" by Doreen Cronin.

Obama and his daughters also shopped at Politics and Prose on the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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Legal loophole lets Germany spy on own citizens

BERLIN — German lawmakers probing the surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency have uncovered a legal loophole that allows the country's foreign intelligence agency to spy on its own citizens.

The agency, known by its German acronym BND, is normally forbidden from eavesdropping on Germans or German companies.

But a former BND lawyer told Parliament this week that Germans aren't protected while working abroad for foreign companies.

The government confirmed Saturday to The Associated Press that work-related calls or emails are attributed to the employer. If the employer is foreign, the BND can intercept them.

Opposition lawmakers have accused Germany's government of feigning outrage over alleged NSA spying while condoning illegal surveillance itself.

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Boston City Council set to discuss regulations for rideshare cos.

The Boston City Council is diving into the controversy over rideshare companies such as Uber, scheduling a public hearing tomorrow to discuss potential regulations for the services that taxi drivers say have an unfair advantage because they don't have to follow city rules.

"What we want to do is in a public forum give all sides an opportunity to air it out and give us an opportunity to listen," said City Council President Bill Linehan, who requested the hearing, adding that it may not necessarily lead to the council drafting legislation.

The council hearing comes as the mayor's taxi advisory committee continues to try to hammer out new for-hire transportation regulations at the direction of Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

"The mayor's task force and the hearing, I think, are serving complementary purposes," said Councilor Josh Zakim, who is the council representative on the mayor's committee.

The committee has met several times, chairman Chris English said.

"We're at the point where we're getting to the real meat of the discussion," English said.

Uber, Lyft, and taxi industry representatives plan to be at the hearing tomorrow, but taxi drivers are also organizing a protest against Uber earlier in the day.

"It is time to take action against illegal vehicles for hire on the streets of Boston," said Donna Blythe-Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Boston Taxi Drivers Association, in a statement.

Taxi drivers held another rally over the summer, honking and driving circles around Uber's Boston headquarters.

Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett said in a statement the company is open to regulations that allow Uber to operate.

"We'd like to see sensible regulations for all participants in the transportation ecosystem — including both taxi and ridesharing — that promote innovation, and embrace greater opportunity for drivers and more choice for riders," he said.

Over the summer, a public hearing in Cambridge over proposed regulations became heated on both sides, with supporters of Uber and Lyft and taxi drivers crowding into a small basement room to strongly and loudly express support for their respective sides.

Uber has come under fire around the world for what opponents say is an illegal taxi service operating without proper licenses, and was banned entirely in Nevada this week.

Uber also is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it charges a "fictitious" fee to riders going to and from Logan International Airport.

Earlier this month, an Uber executive was widely criticized for suggesting the company could hire its own journalists to dig into the private lives of reporters who are critical of the service.

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