Faithful flock to @pontifex

Pope Benedict XVI's debut tweet kicked His Holiness' coolness factor up a notch yesterday, but the 85-year-old's messages of faith will have more merit if he actually socializes with his growing flock of followers, social media experts say.

"It's one thing to know the Pope's on Twitter but when the Holy Father — or one of the cardinals — responds to me on Twitter, it's like, wow, then I'm connected," said Todd Van Hoosear, principal of Cambridge social media consulting firm Fresh Ground. "That's social. That's where they really ought to take it eventually."

Using the moniker @pontifex, which is Latin for pontiff, and typing on an iPad tablet, the pope tweeted: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart."

Six more tweets followed with faith-related messages and questions, and the pope quickly amassed nearly 1 million followers. He also is following seven users himself. The pope's posts will be simultaneously tweeted in English, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Arabic and other languages.

Emerson College marketing professor David Gerzof Richard said the pope can expand his "significant influence" by following other religious leaders on the social media site.

"It would be kind of cool if he was following the Dalai Lama and other folks out there," he said. "It would be like, 'We're all in this together,' as opposed to just saying, 'I'm going to tell you what's up.' "

While Twitter is nothing new to Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who has close to 7,300 followers, the Archbishop of Boston won't be directly messaging the pope anytime soon, said Scot Landry, the Archdiocese's secretary for Catholic Media. Landry said anyone looking to pepper the pope with questions can do so through such hashtags as #askpontifex.

"Once you start following people, it's going to be difficult to be as inclusive as the Holy Father wants to be," Landry said.

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John McAfee in Miami after deportation from Guatemala

MIAMI — Anti-virus software founder John McAfee is holed up in a Miami hotel after weeks of evading Belizean authorities who want to question him in a homicide.

Shortly after McAfee arrived Wednesday evening on a flight from Guatemala, he announced on his website that he had alighted in the city's swank South Beach neighborhood.

McAfee was deported from the Central American country after sneaking in illegally from Belize, where police want to question him in connection with the death of a U.S. expatriate who lived near him on an island off Belize's coast.

McAfee says he did not kill the neighbor and feared his own life would be in danger if he turned himself in to Belizean authorities. He has not been charged with any crime, and it was unclear whether U.S. authorities had any interest in questioning him.

An FBI spokesman in Miami, James Marshall, told the AP in an email that the agency was not involved with McAfee's return to the U.S.

Authorities from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals office and the U.S. attorney's office did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about whether McAfee would be questioned or detained in the U.S. They said there was no active arrest warrant for McAfee that would justify taking him into custody.

On his website Wednesday night, the 67-year-old British native said he was escorted by a group of federal agents to an airport taxi stand, where he caught a cab to the hotel.

"I have no phone, no money, no contact information," the online post said. Reached by telephone at the hotel, McAfee told an AP reporter he couldn't talk because he was waiting for a call from his girlfriend, 20-year-old Belizean Samantha Vanegas.

Vanegas had accompanied him when he was on the run, but did not go with him to the U.S.

On a blog he has been posting for the past two weeks, McAfee wrote, "I have been forcibly separated from Sam." But he claimed she would be coming to the United States later.

McAfee sat in a coach-class seat on an American Airlines [AMR] flight from Guatemala City, according to the airline.

Other passengers on the flight told The Associated Press that McAfee was escorted off the aircraft before they were allowed to disembark.

"They asked us to please stay seated and said, 'Mr. John McAfee, come to the front,' and he did," said Maria Claridge, a 36-year-old photographer from Fort Lauderdale. "He walked very peacefully, chin up. He didn't seem stressed."

Claridge said she did not see what happened to McAfee after he left the aircraft. She said he was well dressed, in a black suit and white shirt, appeared to be traveling alone and that she didn't realize who he was until another passenger told her.

"I thought he was either a diplomat or a politician," she said. "It just seemed eerie to be traveling on an airplane with someone who was in trouble."

© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Welcoming Walgreens

Walgreens' new mega-store that's set to open in Boston's Downtown Crossing next spring will take the drugstore chain's health, beauty and convenience strategy to the next level.

The 25,000-square-foot flagship store has been dubbed the "gourmet Walgreens" by city officials who see it as key to the shopping district's revival. The retailer replaces a departed Borders bookstore in a structure that once housed a bank.

"We're taking buildings like this and trying to bring them back to what they originally were like ... and incorporating our concepts," Walgreens executive Dave White said during a walk-through yesterday.

A touch-screen "Beverage Wizard," serving as a sommelier/mixologist, will help customers pick the right alcohol for a party of 10. Other features will include sushi and a juice-and-smoothie bar, a high-end beauty boutique offering skin analysis and virtual makeovers, and manicures at a mini nail salon.

The first-floor fresh food and grocery section and mezzanine "adult beverage" section will be modern and high-tech. The pharmacy/beauty area in back will recall an early 1900s bank, with decorative brass doorways, ornate plaster ceilings, marble and limestone walls, and porcelain floor.

The "UpMarket" will feature prepared foods produced daily and a cafe staffed by a barista. Frozen foods, groceries and dairy items also will be located on the lower level. The company will tap food vendors from the region.

"We've had a lot of success with 'we go local,' " said Michael DeFazio, senior director of store concepts.

The pharmacist will sit out front to interact with customers, who also will be able to fill prescriptions and pay at an express kiosk. A monitor will show how long they have to wait.

Customers will be able to sit outside, at the corner of Washington and School streets, at tables requested by the city to encourage shoppers to hang out in Downtown Crossing.

The pharmacy and beauty area — which includes a Look Boutique, Walgreens' entree into premium beauty products — will be restored to the early days of former tenant Boston Five Cents Savings Bank.

Even the old vault will be put to use, with the former bank president's office relocated there and outfitted with a pharmacist's mortar and pestle along with historic Walgreens products.

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Fed urges growth as 'fiscal cliff' looms

The Federal Reserve yesterday vowed to continue taking aggressive measures to boost growth, as Chairman Ben Bernanke said the "fiscal cliff" battle has already done damage to the economy.

"Clearly the fiscal cliff is having effects on the economy," Bernanke said, noting uncertainty has affected business and consumer confidence in recent weeks.

But Bernanke, who coined the phrase "fiscal cliff" to describe the impact of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to hit Jan. 1, held out hope that the crisis will be resolved.

"I'm hoping that Congress will do the right thing on the fiscal cliff," he said. "There is a problem with kicking the can down the road."

If a deal is not reached, Bernanke warned that the Fed doesn't have the tools to contain the resulting damage to the economy.

"We cannot offset the full impact of the fiscal cliff. It's just too big," he said.

Bernanke's comments came after the Fed, in a widely anticipated move, extended a bond-buying plan in an effort to support the still-struggling economy.

Central bankers announced a program to purchase mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $40 billion a month, and buy long-term Treasuries after the current program expires at the end of the year, starting at a $45-billion-a-month pace.

The Fed set an unusually specific goal of keeping a key short-term interest rate near zero until the U.S. unemployment drops below 6.5 percent. The jobless rate now stands at 7.7 percent.

"Taken together, these actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative," the Fed said in a statement at the end of its two-day monetary policy meeting.

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Designers to take Downtown Crossing on new path

As major building projects take shape in Downtown Crossing, a design team will look for ways to bring new life to the streets themselves.

Under a yearlong, $200,000 contract with the city, Klopfer Martin Design Group promises to "recast the Crossing" with recommendations for improvements to the 34-block downtown Business Improvement District's roads, sidewalks, wayfinding signs, retail vendors, traffic and public places.

"We think it's an incredible time to be embarking on this project," said Kaki Martin, a partner in the Boston landscape design firm. "It's a diverse district. There are lots of nooks and crannies to be discovered."

Early ideas include a "nondirectional" paving pattern for the natural gathering space between Macy's and the old Filene's building, a pedestrian-only stretch of Summer Street. "So you'd have a surface that connects and lays out as sort of a big carpet," Martin said.

Klopfer Martin has assembled a team of urban designers, civil engineers and vending experts to give Downtown Crossing its first major makeover since the 1970s. They will upgrade pedestrian navigation, highlight destinations, and set standards for street and sidewalk materials.

"So when you're walking in the district, you'll know you're in the district," said Randi Lathrop, deputy director of community planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Rosemarie Sansone, president of the Downtown Boston BID group, expects a plan "to reframe spaces with programming that encourages use through all four seasons."

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Applauding Amazon on tax-collect pact

Municipal advocates hope Amazon.com's agreement to start collecting Massachusetts sales taxes will result in more aid for struggling cities and towns, while Bay State retailers welcomed a more level playing field with the world's largest online seller.

Brookline Booksmith co-owner Dana Brigham called the news "fantastic."

"It takes away at least one of the reasons that people find Amazon so much cheaper than bricks-and-mortar stores," she said. "It's a competitive advantage that they have had every day that they've been in business."

Amazon signed an agreement with the state Department of Revenue to start collecting the 6.25 percent state sales tax on online purchases made by Massachusetts customers beginning Nov. 1, 2013.

The announcement comes amid a prolonged slump in state tax revenue. The DOR estimates the collections will net additional state tax revenue in the low tens of millions of dollars in the first year and continue to grow.

"It's good news," said Geoffrey Beckwith, the Massachusetts Municipal Association's executive director. "It's clear that state tax revenues are not coming in an adequate level to support the budget, which is why the governor instituted budget cuts last week."

Local aid is down 32 percent, or $416 million, since 2008, Beckwith noted. "If the Internet loophole can be closed, perhaps we can reverse that," he said.

The state pledged to work with Amazon on federal legislation authorizing states to require all catalog and Internet sellers to collect state sales taxes.

The Massachusetts Main Street Fairness Coalition — comprised of retailers, local elected officials and other groups — had been pushing Gov. Deval Patrick for a deal this year after Amazon opened a Cambridge software office and bought a North Reading robotics company. Amazon had agreed to collect sales taxes in other states where it has offices.

The state's announcement said Amazon plans to "create hundreds of high-tech jobs in Massachusetts in coming years." Jay Gonzalez, the state's administration and finance secretary, said Amazon is interested in expanding its presence in Massachusetts, but could not provide specifics. Amazon declined comment.

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Tony Post set to launch own footwear firm

After stints at Rockport and Vibram USA, Tony Post is launching his own athletic footwear brand.

His Newton-based Topo Athletic will unveil an ultra-lightweight product line for running and functional training at next month's Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, in advance of a May retail debut.

Post, who left his job as Vibram USA's CEO in July after 11 years with the company, is keeping specifics under wraps for now, but says the footwear won't be minimalist or barefoot shoes like Vibram's FiveFingers.

"Part of what we're trying to do is innate amplification — taking what your body does naturally and amplifying some of those characteristics and experiences," he said. "We really believe in leveraging the body's natural biomechanics. We're not trying to correct the way you run."

The line includes a sock that works together with the shoes as a system.

Topo Athletic has a handful of employees in the Boston area and China, where initial products are being produced.

Post acknowledged the industry can be a tough one, but points to his experience with Vibram FiveFingers as proof a meaningful idea that improves quality of experience can take off, even amid a severe recession. Vibram USA sales grew from $3 million to $170 million during his tenure at the Concord unit of Italy's Vibram S.p.A.

A runner since the late '70s, Post decided on a footwear industry career almost 30 years ago after realizing he "wouldn't be the next Alberto Salazar."

Topo is backed by Post and $5 million in funding from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Norwest Venture Partners.

Post has had the "Midas touch" everywhere he's been in the footwear industry, Norwest general partner Jon Kossow said. "Footwear is obviously a large market, but I think ... Tony's vision for the brand ... will fill a niche between traditional athletic footwear ... and the wave of minimalism that Vibram and FiveFingers helped to create," he said. "The product has the unique combination of various technological elements that previously has not existed. We're hoping we can build a big company together."

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Waters part for industry parley in Israel

Four dozen water industry executives, venture capitalists and others from across Massachusetts will meet over the next week in Israel to develop partnerships with a country that has become a global leader in water innovation.

The mission, which runs from Dec. 15 to Dec. 20, is believed to be the largest business delegation of any kind to visit Israel.

"Water is obviously the most important compound on the planet, and yet a huge number of people in the world lack clear access to it," said John Harthorne, founder and CEO of MassChallenge, a startup competition and business accelerator that expects to announce an Israeli branch early next year. "Massachusetts and Israel are already good at this. So it makes a lot of sense to build this expertise out together."

Israel recycles 75 percent of its water, and much of its water comes from the sea, said David Goodtree, the mission's co-chairman.

The world's first desalination system, the process by which salt is removed from sea or ocean water, was designed and engineered in Massachusetts, Goodtree said, while Israel invented drip irrigation to give crops only the amount of water they need.

"Israel is a center of advanced water technologies, and we want to make sure we're up to speed with all the latest in advanced water treatment," said Bill Staby, CEO of Resolute Marine Energy, Inc., a Boston company that is developing the world's first ocean-wave-driven desalination system that will allow water production in places where there's no electrical grid.

On Dec. 18, several promising Israeli water technology companies also will compete in the first Water Export Technology Revolution Competition, sponsored by the Massachusetts delegation.

The winner will receive a trip to Massachusetts next spring to check out opportunities for expansion here.

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Pope hits 1M mark as he tweets: 'Dear Friends... '

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI hit the 1 million Twitter follower mark on Wednesday as he sent his first tweet from his new account.

In perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever, the 85-year-old Benedict pushed the button on a tablet brought to him at the end of his general audience Wednesday.

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," his inaugural tweet read.

At around the same time the message was sent, the number of followers of Benedict's (at)Pontifex account surpassed the 1 million mark on the eight languages of the handle, adding some 11,000 followers in the last two hours alone.

Later in the day Benedict was to respond to a few questions about faith sent to him from around the world.

The first papal tweet has been the subject of intense curiosity for months. Benedict actually sent his very first tweet over a year ago, using a generic Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. Someone in his name tweeted daily during Lent, part of the Vatican's efforts to increase the church presence in social media.

A personal Twitter account for the 85-year-old Benedict has been the subject of speculation ever since the Vatican's senior communications official said in February the idea was gaining traction.

Vatican officials have acknowledged the pope won't actually type the messages and that someone in the Vatican's secretariat of state will write them on his behalf. But they have insisted that the words will be his alone, culled from his speeches, homilies or catechism lessons.

As incongruous as it may seem for the 85-year-old Benedict to be on Twitter, Vatican officials have stressed that he is merely walking in the footsteps of his predecessors in using the latest in communications technology to spread the faith.

Pope Pius XI, for example, caused a similar stir when he launched Vatican Radio some 80 years ago to bring the pope's message on radio waves around the globe. The Vatican also has its own newspaper, television service and maintains dedicated YouTube channels and an Internet news portal.

© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Top 2012 searches include Whitney Houston, PSY, Sandy

LOS ANGELES — The world's attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, Web surfers searched in huge numbers to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.

Whitney Houston was the "top trending" search of the year, according to Google Inc.'s year-end "zeitgeist" report. Google's 12th annual roundup is "an in-depth look at the spirit of the times as seen through the billions of searches on Google over the past year," the company said in a blog post Wednesday.

People around the globe searched en masse for news about Houston's accidental drowning in a bathtub just before she was to perform at a pre-Grammy Awards party in February.

Google defines topics as "trending" when they garner a high amount of traffic over a sustained period of time.

Korean rapper PSY's "Gangnam Style" music video trotted into second spot, a testament to his self-deprecating giddy-up dance move. The video is approaching a billion views on YouTube.

Superstorm Sandy, the damaging storm that knocked out power and flooded parts of the East Coast in the midst of a U.S. presidential campaign, was third.

The next biggest trending searches globally were a pair of threes: the iPad 3 tablet from Apple Inc. and Diablo 3, a popular video game.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Kate Middleton, who made news with scandalous photos and a royal pregnancy; the 2012 Olympics in London; Amanda Todd, a Canadian teen who was found dead of an apparent suicide in October after being bullied online; Michael Clarke Duncan, the "Green Mile" actor who died of a heart attack in September at age 54; and "BBB12," the 12th edition of "Big Brother Brasil," a reality show featuring scantily clad men and women living together.

Some trending people, according to Google, were:

— Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian skydiver who became the first to break the sound barrier without a vehicle with a 24-mile plummet from Earth's stratosphere;

— Jeremy Lin, the undrafted NBA star who exploded off the New York Knicks bench and sparked a wave of "Linsanity";

— Morgan Freeman, the actor whose untimely death turned out not to be true.

The Internet also continued its rise as a popular tool for spreading addictive ideas and phrases known as "memes." Remember LOL? If you don't know what it means by now, someone may "Laugh Out Loud" at you.

This year, Facebook said its top memes included "TBH (To Be Honest)," "YOLO (You Only Live Once)," "SMH (Shake My Head)." Thanks to an endlessly fascinating U.S. presidential campaign, "Big Bird" made the list after Republican candidate Mitt Romney said he might consider cutting some funds for public broadcasting.

Yahoo said its own top-searched memes for the year included "Kony 2012," a reference to the short film and campaign against Ugandan militia leader Joseph Kony; "stingray photobomb" for an unusual vacation snapshot that went viral; and "binders full of women," another nod to Romney for his awkward description of his search for women cabinet members as Massachusetts' governor.

And people were happy to pass on popular Twitter posts by retweeting them. According to Twitter, the year's most popular retweets were President Barack Obama's "Four more years," and Justin Bieber's farewell to six-year-old fan Avalanna Routh, who died of a rare form of brain cancer: "RIP Avalanna. i love you".

© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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