BMW to sell luxury cars for less online

The BMW i3 concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. (John T. Greilick / Detroit News)

BMW will sell cars over the Web for the first time as the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles seeks an inexpensive way to reach more buyers to recoup spending on its electric models.

A direct online sales platform for BMW's new I sub-brand will be unique in an industry where, outside of small-scale experiments, competitors leave Internet orders for cars to dealers. BMW's range of strategies for the models, including a roaming sales force backing a limited showroom network, reflects the challenge carmakers face as low-emission vehicles trickle into dealerships to sluggish demand after years of development.

"There is considerable risk in BMW's approach of promoting the I brand so prominently," said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Science in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. "There is the image risk, if they don't succeed as quickly as expected, and then there's the main risk of costs, which can only be countered with high deliveries."

BMW opened the I models' first showroom Tuesday in London, although only prototype cars and informational materials will be displayed at first because the vehicles themselves won't go on sale before next year. BMW is spending about $3 billion developing the i3 battery-powered city car and i8 plug-in hybrid supercar, according to an estimate by Frost & Sullivan. Industry sales of electric cars last year, at 43,000 vehicles, were only 57 percent of the 75,000 deliveries predicted by Sarwant Singh, a London-based automotive partner at the consulting company.

Starting prices posted

The four-seat i3, scheduled to reach the market in late 2013, will be priced at about 40,000 euros ($48,500), Bratzel estimated. That compares with a 23,850-euro starting price ($29,388) in Germany for the 1-Series, the cheapest BMW-brand car. The i8, targeted for sale in 2014, will cost more than 100,000 euros ($123,221), according to Ian Robertson, BMW's sales chief.

Details of how I-model buyers, the website and dealerships will interact are "still in the planning process" and will be communicated later, Linda Croissant, a spokeswoman at Munich- based BMW, said last week. Sales will be focused on the world's major urban areas, she said.

The online sales option is aimed at a generation of drivers used to making daily purchases over the Internet, and will be an extension of the car configuration that most automakers offer customers to view models with desired options such as interior colors, seat materials and roof styles.

Test drives not an option

The Internet platform may take a while to catch on because "many customers will still want to go somewhere to look at and drive the vehicle before buying," said Ian Fletcher, an auto analyst in London at research company IHS Global Insight.

"With new technologies, there may be even greater skepticism about buying a car over the Internet, as in many cases you'll have to win the confidence of customers that it works and there is support for them," Fletcher said in an email.

The setup may help BMW reduce expenses: Internet sales require less than half the cost of distributing through a dealership, according to Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. That allows online car prices to be 5 percent to 7 percent less than showroom tags.

Still, BMW sees standard dealerships as "the backbone of what we are doing in the interface with the customer" for the I models, Robertson said in June at a press presentation at the sub-brand's Park Lane showroom in London.

Dealer selection criteria

Outlets will be restricted to dealers with high BMW-brand sales volume who have floor space as well as capacity to work with I models' powering technology and carbon-fiber body material, Robertson said. The carmaker has chosen 45 of its approximately 200 dealers in Germany to sell the i3 and i8, a ratio that will probably be similar elsewhere, he said.

Dealers will be designated as agents for the I models, which provides an "advantage" by keeping the vehicles on the carmaker's books, the association of BMW distributors in Germany said in an email.

Electric vehicles' disadvantages versus conventional cars include costly battery packs, limited ranges and the time needed to recharge. Consumer reception to models like the Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf and General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt has been tepid.

"Currently available electric cars have a limited market success because they are a big compromise," said Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst at Credit Suisse AG. "Customers are not willing to compromise and spend a lot of money."

Carbon fiber bodies lighter

BMW Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer started Project I at the end of 2007 as tighter emissions regulations threatened the viability of sporty sedans. BMW chose to create all-new vehicles that use expensive carbon fiber for a lighter body to make up for the weight of the battery system.

The approach contrasts with a decision by Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars division to convert existing models, such as the van-like B-Class or two-seat Smart, to electric power.

To make its electric vehicles more attractive, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler's Smart brand offers to lease the battery separately from the car. The automaker has a target of selling more than 10,000 of the models next year, with a starting price of 18,910 euros plus monthly battery rental at 65 euros.

The I models' new technology poses risks for BMW, "but they have no choice if they want to keep their premium and image as an innovation leader," Ellinghorst said.

The i3 and i8 will probably be among BMW's lowest-selling models through 2024, alongside the existing Z4 roadster, according to IHS estimates. In 2014, the first full year of production, BMW will probably deliver 31,380 i3s, compared with 564,760 of the best-selling 3-Series model and 18,101 Z4s, a study by the research company shows.

BMW's stance is that the models should produce earnings from the start, sales chief Robertson said.

"We clearly, as a company, go into any product launch with the view of making profit, which is no different with the I brand," Robertson said. "This is a car line just as every other car line, and we intend to make profit from Day 1."

Tulisa's Friend, 21, Shot Dead In Gangland Hit

Reece James, 21, a close friend of Tulisa Contostavlos has been shot dead in a reported gangland attack. The 21-year-old, who appeared with Tulisa in a video for rapper Nines, was shot in the head in a "pre-planned and targeted" hit, 100 miles from his home in London, reports the UK's Sun newspaper. Police found James' body in Boscombe, Bournemouth, at around 2.30am near where Somali drug gangs are said operate. A 22-year-old man was arrested. Reece was said to have been in the area with some friends for "a couple of months", though had filmed the video earlier this month with Tulisa and rapper Nines on the Church End Estate in Harlesden, North West London. The former N Dubz star caused controversy at the time, making a "C" symbol to the camera - the same sign that is used by Harlesden's notorious Church Road Soldiers gang. Tulisa claimed it was a reference to Camden, where she was born. Twitter tributes began flooding in last night, with one user writing, "RIP Reece James. Thoughts are with him and his family and friends". Local MP Tobias Ellwood described the killing as "a spill over from the drugs turf war in the capital", adding, "This was one London gang chasing down another, carrying out a professional hit and then going back".

Gangs of highway robbers are targeting British tourists on holiday in Spain.

Audi Q5 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hundreds of visitors in British-registered vehicles or hire cars have had their possessions, passports and money taken in ‘quick and slick’ distraction muggings.
The thieves typically trick their victims with loud noises, apparent accidents, supposed vehicle problems or pleas for help – before stealing bags and belongings from their vehicles.

Thieves: Hundreds of visitors in British-registered vehicles or hire cars have had their possessions, passports and money taken in 'quick and slick' distraction muggings

As millions of families begin their summer breaks, the Foreign Office has warned British-registered cars are ‘an easy target’ for motorway thieves.
The number of British tourists ambushed on Spanish roads has soared as the euro crisis has deepened, with the British Embassy in Madrid reporting a 10 per cent rise in the first quarter of this year.

 This is likely to increase further as the peak holiday season begins. 

A spokesman for the embassy said:  ‘Motorists may be driving along the motorway and not notice there’s a car close up behind.
‘Someone in the other car throws a stone at their vehicle which creates a loud bang. The British drivers pull over to see what has happened and the gang is behind them.
‘They cause a distraction to steal from them or simply mug them. It’s a growing problem.’

Warning: As millions of families begin their summer breaks, the Foreign Office has warned British-registered cars are ¿an easy target¿ for motorway thieves

A hotspot for the gangs is the AP7 motorway between the French border and the Alicante region in southern Spain.
More than 140 cases of theft on this route were reported to British Consulates last year.
However, a spokesman said there were likely to be ‘hundreds more’ attacks going unreported across Spain because victims usually contact a British consulate only if they have lost their passport.
Dave Thomas, consular regional director for Spain, said: ‘Be on your guard against anyone who attempts to stop you or ask you for help.
‘They may well be part of a  gang operating a scam in which an unseen accomplice will rob you of your things.’
Stephen and Helen Robinson, from Desford, Leicestershire, had their bags stolen from their Audi Q5 as they stopped to walk their labrador retriever Polly at a service station between Barcelona and Valencia.
The couple, who are in their 50s, were standing at the boot of their car when a man on a mobile phone asked them how to say something in English.
While he distracted them, their belongings were taken from the front of the car, despite Polly being inside.
Mrs Robinson said: ‘It was quick and slick. You may be more tired and therefore more vulnerable when you’ve been travelling, so separate your valuables into different places in the car, and when you stop be aware you may be being watched. You won’t see the accomplice of the person who is distracting you.’
In a separate incident, Joy and Alan Horton, from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, were driving a Ford Focus hatchback through Spain when they heard a loud bang and pulled over.
A car that had been travelling close behind them also stopped, and while the driver talked to them, his accomplice stole their possessions without them noticing.
Mr Horton said: ‘If you think your car may have been in a collision and you pull over, lock the car as soon as you get out and mount a guard on both sides of the vehicle. Keep all bags and valuables in a locked boot.’
Professor Stephen Glaister, of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘Drivers need to remember to stay alert and be ready for unwelcome surprises just as they would be at home.’

Related articles

• Highway robberies on the rise in Spain
• The hideaway crime gangs hitting holiday Brits in Spain: Hundreds driving British-registered vehicles or hire cars having money and possessions taken
• Car Hire Spain Issues Warning to British Tourists

The biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

 Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Some of the biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

Two companies owned by the Vidal family were fined £1.62m in total in a Truro court, after a two-day hearing, in which details emerged of falsified log books, failing to register the transfer of fish between vessels, false readings given for weighing fish at sea, and fiddling of fishing quotas.

Judge Graham Cottle said the family were guilty of "wholesale falsification of official documentation" that amounted to a "systematic, repeated and cynical abuse of the EU fishing quota system over a period of 18 months".

He said: "[This was a] flagrant, repeated and long term abuse of regulations. The fish targeted [hake] was at that time a species of fish on the verge if collapse and adherence to quotas was seen as crucial to the survival of the species."

The Spanish fishing vessels had been sailing under UK flags and were landing fish based on quotas given to British fishermen under the EU's common fisheries policy. Two vessels were involved, but the companies own several other large vessels, capable of industrial-scale fishing.

The offending fishermen, who admitted their guilt earlier this year, were not in court to hear him, having been given leave to return to Spain last night. The offences, dating from 2009 and 2010, relate to two companies, Hijos De Vidal Bandin SA and Sealskill Limited, both owned by the Vidal family. They were fined £925,000 on a confiscation order, plus £195,000 in costs, and an additional fine of £250,000 levied on each of the two companies. Two skippers who were acting under the family's instructions were fined £5,000 each.

Ariana Densham, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, who was present for the trial and judgement, said that the fines, while welcome, did not go far enough. "This group of people should never be allowed near UK fishing quota again," she said. "The Vidal's right to fish should be removed completely."

She said the offences showed the vulnerability of the EU's fishing quota system to fraud. "The system that allowed this to happen needs to be fixed," she said. "This case is not a one off. It's a symptom of Europe's farcical fishing rules. The Vidals were permitted to fish under UK flags, using UK quota, and receive huge EU subsidies, with none of the proceeds ever feeding back into the UK economy. The system is skewed in favour of rich, powerful, industrial-scale fishing companies, when really it should be supporting low-impact, sustainable fishermen."

There are currently moves under way in Brussels by the fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, to reform the EU's common fisheries policy. The proposed reforms – which include the ending of the wasteful practice of discarding healthy and edible fish at sea – have met stiff opposition, particularly from the French and Spanish fishing industries. Spain has the biggest fishing fleet in Europe and receives the lion's share of the subsidies available for fishing within the EU. A historic agreement was reached among member states last month on the proposals, but they must now pass the European parliament, which is expected to consider the proposals later this year.

True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is. Moderate feelings of guilt are beneficial because they encourage the individual to do the right thing

The Scottish psychologist R.D. Laing once said: True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is. Moderate feelings of guilt are beneficial because they encourage the individual to do the right thing. If nobody felt guilty about anything it would likely lead to a fearful world and it could even threaten the survival of the human species. There is also a more negative form of guilt which is excessive and harmful. This refers to a situation where the individual carries a sense of guilt around with them most of the time. The reasons for why the individual may become a victim of excessive guilt include: They have a poor self image. It can be a sign of mental health difficulties. Some people fall into negative thinking and this tends to include guilt. The individual has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse. Unhealthy relationships can leave people with feelings of guilt. Excessive stress. Alcohol or drug abuse.

A million Britons live with the hell of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Nadine Stewart was convinced she was going to die. Just ten minutes after setting off for a pop concert with her sister, she felt a tingling sensation in her arms and pain in her chest.

‘I knew I was having a heart attack,’ says Nadine, 41, a customer services adviser from Morecambe, Lancashire. ‘I begged my sister to take me to A&E: I ran in and screamed that I was having a heart attack.

‘They put me on a monitor and my heart was fine — what I had suffered was a panic attack. I have no idea to this day what caused it, but it terrified the life out of me.’ 

Nadine Stewart has to do everything nine times or fears her husband will die

But worse was to come. ‘Afterwards, I developed a fear that if I didn’t do something nine times, something terrible would happen to me, my husband Paul or a member of my family.’ says Nadine. 

‘If I made a drink I had to stir it nine times. If I locked the door I had to check it nine times and if I used a cloth to wipe a surface I’d have to wipe it nine times. I don’t know why it was nine. I realised I was being utterly irrational. But every time I tried to curb it — such as only stirring my drink three times — I’d begin to panic.'

 ‘If I didn’t do these things nine times, I’d imagine Paul and me veering off the motorway in our car and see his injured face in the aftermath.’

Nadine had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the top ten most disabling disorders in terms of its effect on quality of life. 

Last month both the British actress Emily Blunt and the MP Charles Walker revealed they suffered from it, with Walker admitting he had to do everything in multiples of four — and felt the need to wash his hands hundreds of times a day. 

 Who knew?
Surveys estimate that fewer than
10 per cent of those suffering OCD are currently receiving treatment.

They are not alone. Around a million people in the UK are thought to be undergoing treatment for OCD, the majority of them women. Women are twice as likely as men to develop anxiety disorders such as OCD — and high-achieving perfectionists are particularly at risk. 

‘There are two parts to OCD, the obsession and the compulsion,’ explains Joel Rose, of charity OCD Action. ‘The obsession is a thought that pops into your head, about harm coming to someone you love or you causing harm to someone.'

‘Everyone has these thoughts but most of us ignore them and get on with our lives. Someone with OCD will develop a compulsive ritual as a reaction to them. It can be continually washing their hands or something invisible like repeating the same phrase over and over in their heads.'

‘The time spent on these compulsions lengthens with time. A severe OCD sufferer might spend six or seven hours a day washing their hands in the hope nothing terrible happens to their children.’

The cause of the condition is not known, though a stressful event in someone’s life may trigger an underlying problem. 

Nadine has never pinpointed the root of her troubles — though they began in the year she started a new job, moved house and got engaged. ‘I had no reason to feel anxious,’ she said, ‘though I suppose there was a lot of change.

‘I became scared of choking to death so I stopped eating and lost three stone in less than three months. I couldn’t leave the house without Paul, and even then it would take me three hours to pluck up the courage.’

Someone who can empathise with Nadine is Jeni Scott, 31, who’s had OCD for three years. 
It began when her father had a heart attack and her mother was diagnosed with cancer, soon after Jeni left university. 

‘I became obsessed with doing things in order,’ says Jeni, a tutor from Newport, Wales. ‘I started making lists but it had everything on it such as “get up, have shower, make a cup of tea” and if I didn’t stick to it I would punish myself by denying myself a treat.

Actress Emily Blunt, star of Five Year Engagement, has revealed she suffers from OCD

‘I developed a phobia of being in the rain in the wrong clothes and had to take a backpack with spare bra, pants, coat, shoes and umbrella everywhere with me. I’d carry antibacterial gel in my bag and use it every ten minutes. I’ve still no idea why I did it, I just found it helped me.’ 

Aisha Faisal, from Reading, Berkshire, also suffers from OCD — and it’s getting worse. ‘I developed it in my teens when my mother fell ill and I had to clean the house,’ the 26-year-old says. ‘Now I’m obsessed with everything being super-clean. I wash my hands 14 or 15 times a day, I shower for an hour at a time and wash the shower head and bath thoroughly before I step in. 

‘If someone touches me, I cringe. My neighbour touched my scarf to tell me it was pretty and I had to have a shower and put all my clothes in the wash.’ Aisha, who has three children under four, admits her obsession extended to giving birth. 

‘Each time I had Caesarean sections — the thought of having a natural birth makes me feel physically sick.’ She made the surgeons assure her everything had been scrubbed thoroughly before each operation. Understandably, her OCD worries the rest of her family. ‘My husband Ali finds it very hard to see me like this. I won’t let him touch me when he comes in from work: he has to shower and put on clean clothes before he can hug me.'

‘With three young children, being clean is impossible and I bathe them twice a day in the winter and sometimes four times a day in the summer if they’re hot and sticky.’

As a result of her obsession her own hands are red raw and she suffers from eczema. ‘I have been to the GP but it’s very difficult to treat. I know I must do something soon, because my eldest daughter, who is four, is picking up on my behaviour and I feel very guilty about that.'

‘The other day she came in from the garden and said she was dirty so needed to get out of her clothes and I washed her and cleaned her thoroughly. My husband can’t believe our electricity bill because the washing machine is on constantly.’

While Aisha is still in the grip of OCD, Jeni and Nadine have overcome the condition. According to the NHS, the two recognised forms of treatment are Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), which helped Jeni, and anti-depressants. 

But Nadine used another therapy called The Linden Method — a two-day workshop costs £995 — when she reached her lowest point early last year.

‘I was unable to work, leave the house or answer the phone,’ she says. ‘My vision became blurry, my hands would spasm and I’d get pains like rheumatism. I began to think: “What’s the point in living?” yet I was too scared to kill myself.’

The Linden Method — which has also helped OCD sufferers Jemma and Jodie Kidd — works by convincing the sufferer’s sub-conscious that they are safe. 

‘I’m a different person,’ says Nadine. ‘I can leave the house, I’m applying for jobs, taking up hobbies and it’s transformed my relationship with Paul. 

‘He says it’s like having a wife in a wheelchair who can walk again. Except I feel I can not only walk, I can fly.’

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper* magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books. I suppose it can be alternated with "In the Library," a perfume that smells like old books.

Paper Passion fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine, with packaging by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.

“The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.” Karl Lagerfeld. 

It comes packaged with inside a hollow carved out of a book with "texts" by "Karl Lagerfeld, Günter Grass, Geza Schoen and Tony Chambers."

It will cost two million € to connect the electricity, and nobody wants to pay.The empty Guadalhorce Hosptial in Cártama

The Guadalhorce Hospital has been completed in Cártama on the Costa del Sol, but it has been empty for several months with no opening date planned.

To continue installing the equipment in the hospital it has to be accepted as meeting requirement, and to show that hospital is as planned, but for that to take place it must be connected to the electricity supply.

The problem is that will cost two million €, although the originally quoted price was 300,000 €, to install the electrical connection required. Endesa say the problem is that to supply the hospital an electrical substation at Villafranca del Guadalhorce will have to be expanded.

Cártama Town Hall has said they cannot meet the extra cost, which has put the budget up five fold. Mayor Jorge Gallardo says he thinks the electricity company is ‘making the most of the circumstances’. 

However the Junta say they think the 2 million bill should be met by the Town Hall. They say the electricity contract was undertaken by Cártama Town Hall.

The Guadalhorce Hospital has been built thanks to an agreement between the Málaga Diputación, the Junta de Andalucía and the Cártama Town Hall, to give the district its long-wanted hospital. Many foreigners live in the inland area and have complained about the time to get to a hospital in Málaga.

Spain wildfires: Three killed

 

Officials say the flames have been fanned by strong winds

Forest fires raging in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region have left three people dead, officials say.

Two French nationals drowned in the sea close to the border with France while trying to escape the flames, Catalonia's interior minister said.

Strong winds gusting up to 90km/h (55mph) have rendered one fire "out of control", he said.

All residents of the county of Alt Emporda - about 135,000 people - have been ordered to stay indoors.

The area is a main link for holidaymakers travelling to and from southern France. Traffic on the cross-border AP-7 motorway was reported to have been severely disrupted on Sunday.

Cardiac arrest

The two French victims were among several people who were trapped by fire as they travelled along the N-260 main coastal road near the town of Portbou and tried to reach the sea by climbing down cliffs, according to Catalan Interior Minister Felip Puig.

The victims were a 60-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter, Spanish media reported.

A 75-year-old man died after suffering a cardiac arrest in Llers, north-west of the area's main town, Figueres.

At least another 19 people have been wounded, including a French national who suffered burns on 80% of his body when he was caught in his car by the flames.

The fire near Portbou has been brought under control, according to media reports, while a much larger blaze further inland, around the border town of La Jonquera, was still spreading late on Sunday, Felip Puig said.

The fire, travelling at about 5-6km/h, came within 10km of Figueres, Mr Puig said.

A total of about 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of forest are estimated to have been devastated in the area, according to the authorities.

Spain Scraps Siesta as Stores Stay Open to Spur Spending

The Spanish shopping siesta may be about to become the latest victim of the sovereign debt crisis. To stimulate spending after a 23 percent drop in retail sales since 2007, the euro region’s fourth-largest economy this month approved measures that allow shops of more than 300 square meters (3,229 square feet) to open for 25 percent longer a week. The new rules may encourage the outlets to sell during the traditional afternoon snooze from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and on an additional two Sundays or holidays a year for a total of 10. “When everything was fine, nobody complained, but now that things have gone awry, then it’s another story,” said Carmen Cardeno, director general for domestic commerce at the nation’s economy ministry, which created the rules. “We need to evolve and be more flexible.” Spain is following its European neighbors in trying to liberalize shopping hours that have traditionally been checked by governments in the region to protect religious observances, for rest and on behalf of smaller retailers that have fewer resources to staff shops around the clock. England has allowed retailers to open for longer on Sundays during the Olympics than the six hours usually allowed. In France, food shops can be open 13 hours a day and stores located in tourist areas have the right to open on Sundays. Spanish shops are allowed to open for less time than anywhere else in Europe, according to its government, which was asked by retail associations to allow large stores to open 16 Sundays or holidays a year. Some smaller merchants opposed the extension, arguing that the bigger stores would have the necessary manpower and they wouldn’t. The new measures allow stores 18 additional business hours a week and will permit merchants to decide when to cut prices in sales instead of only twice a year. Siesta Time The country’s regions will get to decide how to implement the rules, though they usually follow the lead of the central government. In Madrid, which is an exception, stores have been able to open for as long as they want since July 15. Outlets of less than 300 square meters also have no restrictions on opening hours, though the Spanish tradition of eating at home and having a siesta means most shopkeepers keep their businesses closed for about two hours in the middle of the day. The new measures may not be enough to offset shrinking demand in Spain’s 217 billion-euro ($264 billion) retail industry, which is worsening each year the crisis goes on in a nation where one in four people is out of work. The number of companies seeking bankruptcy protection rose 22 percent from a year earlier to 2,224 in the first quarter, according to the nation’s statistics institute, with commerce being the third- largest contributor behind construction and housing firms and industrial and energy companies. ‘Almost Insignificant’ Javier Millan-Astray, director general of retail association ANGED, said the approved loosening of restrictions on opening hours doesn’t go far enough. “The government’s reform is almost insignificant,” Millan-Astray told reporters in Madrid, when retail groups pushed for 16 Sunday openings. The associations’ “new proposal would help boost consumption and create more jobs because when we open on a holiday, people come and shop. It’s unbelievable that amid this crisis, we have to keep our stores closed.” Spain has been wrestling with the dilemma of preserving its culture and modernizing the industry for decades. The socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in 2004 rolled back liberalization of opening hours instituted by his predecessor, bringing them back to rules from the 1990s and leaving the country with the tightest regulations of any European country. Job Creation Even with the latest proposals, “retail regulation is hurting both business and customers in Spain,” said Fernando Fernandez, a professor at the IE Business School in Madrid. “Both big and small retailers would benefit from fewer restrictions. When big retailers such as Ikea or Zara open a store, all small shops in that area benefit from that.” Ending the restrictions completely would create 337,581 jobs across all industries and add 17.2 billion euros to economic growth this year, according to a study commissioned by the government, which examined the implications of several scenarios. The nearest of those to the current proposals, under which stores open on 16 Sundays or holidays, could have added 47,945 full-time retail jobs, the study found. About 1.8 million people worked in retail in the first quarter, 0.3 percent less than in the year-earlier period. Stores are also bracing for change as the government looks to the retail industry to help boost tax revenue. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will increase the most common rate of sales tax to 21 percent from 18 percent on Sept. 1, putting an additional brake on consumers’ ability to spend. previous

Invasion of the pickpockets

Britain is in the grip of a pickpocketing epidemic as Eastern European gangs descend on London ahead of the Olympic Games.

A surge in sneak street thefts means more than 1,700 people fall victim every day – an increase of nearly a fifth in only two years, according to official crime  figures released yesterday.

At the same time, police warned that professional gangs from Romania, Lithuania and even South America who operate in capitals across Europe are heading to Britain, intent on cashing in on unwitting tourists at London 2012.

How they do it: A member of the pickpocket gang approaches a BBC reporter investigating the rise in thefts ahead of the Olympics

Keeping him occupied: The man speaks to the victim on the pretense of needing directions while another gang member approaches from behind

A BBC investigation exposed the tactics used by Romanian thieves, who were previously operating in Barcelona, to dupe their victims.

The criminals boasted of their ‘one-second’ theft techniques which leave targets unaware that anything has happened until  it is too late. They can make £4,000 a week taking wallets, smartphones and laptop bags. The goods are then shipped back to Romania and sold on the black market.

 Scotland Yard has made more than 80 arrests already and warned thieves the capital will be a ‘hostile environment’ in the coming weeks.

The Met has even drafted in a team of Romanian police officers to deal with the problem and patrol in the West End of London and Westminster during the Games. They will not have arrest powers.

Distracted: An accomplice (left) then plays drunk so he can get close enough to the target to strike

 

Sleight of hand: The 'drunk' man jostles around with the BBC reporter, making it harder for him to notice what is going on

 

 

Rich pickings: The sneering thief walks away with the wallet from the unsuspecting victim

Teamwork: The thief quickly hands the wallet to another member of the gang, who spirits it away

 

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: ‘These Romanian officers will prove to be a huge asset in cracking down on certain criminal networks who are targeting tourists in central London.’

Official statistics released yesterday showed pickpocketing thefts rose 17 per cent in the past two years.

In 2011/12, a total of 625,000 people fell victim, the Crime Survey of England and Wales showed.

That is an increase of more than 102,000 since 2009/10.

The vast majority of the total are classified as ‘stealth thefts’, but in 83,000 cases the victims’ possessions were ‘snatched’.

Google aims to use its technologies to crack through the cyber defences of international crime.

Google's engine is the most powerful search tool ever created - and now the Californian giant aims to use its powers for good

Instead of just finding kitten videos, Google aims to use its technologies to crack through the cyber defences of international crime.

Google is working with international crime organisations to find 'back doors' into international gangs of terrorists, drug dealers and human traffickers. 

'I'm feeling lucky': Google is working with international crime organisations to find 'back doors' into international gangs of terrorists, drug dealers and human traffickers

Google Ideas, Google's think tank, is working with the Council on Foreign Relations and other organizations to look for ways to use technology to disrupt international crime.

Drug cartels, terrorists human traffickers and criminal gangs run their organisations via the web, often using advanced encryption technologies to conceal themselves from law enforcement.

But global anti-crime organisations hope that Google's technologies could be the keys to 'breaking into' these elusive groups.

Officials from Google and groups that combat illicit networks will meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Westlake Village, California, to develop strategies for fighting global crime. 

‘Google is in a great position to take these on,’ said Rani Hong, a survivor of child trafficking in India

‘Google is in a great position to take these on,’ said Rani Hong, a survivor of child trafficking in India who is now a special adviser to the United Nations.

‘They're a powerful medium and they have great tools to solve this problem.’ 

Dozens will attend the summit, including Kimmie Weeks, a former abducted child soldier from Liberia; Juan Pablo Escobar, son of slain Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar; assistant U.S. defense secretary Andrew Weber; and Brian Dodd, who directs the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's counter-terrorism and transnational crime efforts. 

‘It might sound like a different path for Google, but technology companies today have a lot of powerful tools for bringing transparency to these illicit networks, to fight back against corruption and empower those who are trying to combat transnational crime,’ said Stewart Patrick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who helped organize the conference. 

‘We all know that bad guys use the Internet, but now we're saying the Internet can also help stop these criminals, and help survivors and advocates find each other and work together,’ said Pardis Mahdavi, an assistant professor of anthropology at Pomona College who is working with Google to put a human face to criminal networks on the Web. 

This week's gathering follows a conference held in Dublin, Ireland, last year that brought together more than 60 former gang members to focus on how to end violent extremism.

Skype bug sends unintended recipients instant messages

Skype has confirmed a bug in its software has been sending copies of messages to unintended recipients. In the Skype support forums, "shocked" users had said private instant messages had been re-sent to other contacts. Skype then admitted messages sent between two users were being copied to a third party, in "rare circumstances". The net-calling firm said it was working on a fix for the bug, which appears to have been introduced in an update to Skype applied in June. Some users said they would stop using the service because of the glitch. Skype said it hoped to put out a software update in the "next few days" to fix the problem. It said it would also prompt users to download and apply the update to prevent the problem spreading. Skype lets people call each other via the net rather than traditional landlines or mobile networks. In September 2011, it said it had more than 600 million users. Earlier the same year it was acquired by Microsoft. In May 2011 Skype suffered a global crash that knocked the service offline for a couple of days. The crash was caused by a botched update.

Google’s Marissa Mayer Becomes Yahoo’s Chief

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg NewsMarissa Mayer, one of the top executives at Google, will be the new chief of Yahoo.

Marissa Mayer, one of the top executives at Google, will be the next chief executive of Yahoo, making her one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley and corporate America.

The appointment of Ms. Mayer, who was employee No. 20 at Google and was one of the few public faces of the company, is considered a surprising coup for Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years to attract top flight talent in its battle with competitors like Google and Facebook.

Ms. Mayer, 37, had for years been responsible for the look and feel of Google’s most popular products: the famously unadorned white search homepage, Gmail, Google News and Google Images. More recently, Ms. Mayer, an engineer by training whose first job at Google included computer programming, was put in charge of the company’s location and local services, including Google Maps, overseeing more than 1,000 product managers. She also sat on Google’s operating committee, part of a small circle of senior executives who had the ear of Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

With her appointment as the president and chief executive of Yahoo, Ms. Mayer joins a short list of women in technology companies to hold the top spot. The elite club includes Meg Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, and Virginia Rometty, the head of I.B.M. Another senior woman in Silicon Valley, Sheryl Sandberg, is Facebook’s chief operating officer.

For Ms. Mayer, Google’s first female engineer, the move to Yahoo is an opportunity to step out on her own and claim a bigger stage. Ms. Mayer has been one of the search giant’s most visible and powerful executives, often tapped for keynotes at technology conferences and glamorous magazine spreads. Her life outside of Google, including her posh penthouse in the Four Seasons in San Francisco and her affinity for cupcakes, has also been popular Internet fodder.

In a sign of grander ambitions, Ms. Mayer, in recent months, has started to find success outside of Google. In April, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, tapped Ms. Mayer to join its board, her first seat at a public company. She is one of four women on Wal-Mart’s 16-member board.

Still, at Google, Ms. Mayer did not have a clear path to the C-Suite.

After years of heading-up its search business, Google’s most profitable unit, Ms. Mayer became vice president of the company’s local efforts in late 2010. The following year, Google promoted another executive, Jeff Huber, to be the senior vice president of local and commerce, putting him one level above Ms. Mayer’s post. Although Google characterized her move as a promotion at the time, some wondered if she would be content with the reorganization.

Ms. Mayer resigned from Google on Monday afternoon by telephone. She starts at Yahoo on Tuesday. Ms. Mayer will also join Yahoo’s board.

In an interview, Ms. Mayer said she “had an amazing time at Google,” where she has worked for the last 13 years, but that ultimately “it was a reasonably easy decision” to take the top job at Yahoo. She said Yahoo was “one of the best brands on the Internet.”

She recalled that when she first started at Google, the company would conduct user surveys and “people didn’t understand the difference between Yahoo and the Internet.” She said she hoped “to get focused on creating a really great user experiences” and to attract new talent from Silicon Valley to the company. “Talent is what drives technology companies,” she said. Some of Ms. Mayer’s close colleagues at Google included Bret Taylor, the chief technology officer at Facebook, and Brian Rakowski, the vice president in charge of Google Chrome and the product manager who introduced Gmail.

As she hashes out Yahoo’s strategy, Ms. Mayer said she was intent on leveraging the Internet company’s strong franchises including e-mail, finance and sports. She also hopes to do more with its video broadband and its mobile businesses.

Still, Ms. Mayer is unlikely to try to make Yahoo a direct competitor to Google in the world of search. In 2009, Yahoo gave up its search engine and partnered with Microsoft, which was seen by some analysts as a concession that it couldn’t compete.

“I actually think the partnership has been a positive for the company,” she said.

Ms. Mayer said she was first approached in the middle of June about the job after returning from a trip to China.

Ms. Mayer will be facing an uphill battle as she tries to revive Yahoo. Yahoo remains one of the largest properties on the Web, but it has failed to keep pace with rivals Google and Facebook, which have been more nimble and more adept at leveraging the increasingly social nature of the Web. In the first quarter, Yahoo’s revenue rose 1 percent from a year ago, after a string of steep declines.

For Yahoo, the hope is that Ms. Mayer and her discerning eye will provide some much-needed direction for what has been, as of late, a rudderless ship.

In May, Yahoo’s most recent chief executive, Scott Thompson, resigned after questions emerged about whether he lied about certain academic credentials; he had been on the job for only four months. Yahoo’s board of directors has also been reconstituted, adding three new members, including the activist investor, Daniel Loeb of Third Point, the company’s second-largest investor who had been fighting to have Mr. Thompson ousted. Michael Wolf, the longtime media consultant and former president and chief operating officer of Viacom’s MTV Networks, was also added to the board.

Yahoo’s corner office has been a revolving door over the last decade as the company has unsuccessfully sought to return to its original glory days in the late 1990s. Since 1995, the company has had at least seven different permanent and interim chiefs. Its first chief executive Tim Koogle, was replaced by former co-C.E.O. of Warner Brothers Terry Semel in 2001. Mr. Semel sought to remake Yahoo as a media company.

In 2007, Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder, became C.E.O. and tried to return the company to its technology roots. However, he resigned in 2009 and the top job was given to Carol Bartz. But she was fired last year after failing to meet the board’s expectations. Tim Morse, the company’s chief financial officer, then stepped in on an interim basis.

The company’s shares have fallen 41 percent over the last five years.

“In the last few years, given the turnover, there has been a lack of attention on the user experience,” David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo, who still works at the company, said in an interview on Monday. “We need to get back to basics.” He said he was very excited Ms. Mayer agreed to join the company. “It will be a surprise for a lot of people.”

For the last several weeks, a half dozen names had been bandied about to take the top job. But Ms. Mayer’s name was never mentioned. Most analysts believed that Yahoo’s board was planning to hire Ross Levinsohn, who had taken over as interim chief executive after Mr. Thompson departed. Mr. Levinsohn, formerly the company’s head of global media for Yahoo, tried to undo some of Mr. Thompson’s efforts in his short tenure.

During Mr. Thompson’s brief time at the top of the company, he announced plans to cut thousands of jobs and sued one of its partners, Facebook, for patent infringement. Though bold, the moves also vexed some executives, who were wary of locking horns with the world’s largest social network and felt that Mr. Thompson was rashly trimming payroll. There was also concern that Mr. Thompson, an outsider in the advertising world, was alienating influential Madison Avenue executives.

Earlier this month, Mr. Levinsohn made peace with Facebook, agreeing to a settlement that deepens the companies’ partnership and includes a cross-licensing deal that will effectively prevent future patent lawsuits between the two companies. Mr. Levinsohn, a former News Corporation executive, has also been focused on shoring up the company’s core advertising business, recently poaching another Google executive, Michael Barrett, to be the company’s chief revenue officer.

While Mr. Levinsohn has been seen as a top contender for the permanent position, insiders questioned whether he had the background of nonadvertising experience. Before picking Mr. Levinsohn, the board had also considered Hulu’s chief, Jason Kilar, for the top slot, given his success in building and managing the online video streaming service. Earlier this month, Hulu said Mr. Kilar had declined to be considered.

These GIFs Might Actually Make You Sick

I'd trade a good friend for a decent GIF, and these animated blasts through San Francisco are no exception. They might, however, make you puke. Don't click these if you're nursing a hangover today.

The crazy stop motion effects were executed by film director Kevin Parry, which make you feel like your computer screen just got sucked out into a Californian wormhole. It might look like impossible CGI, but Parry explained his low-tech method to make your guts curl via GIF to Colossal:

The zooms are done by setting up a camera at each end location and filming the camera zooming in and out. The middle parts are done by putting a camera on the front of my scooter and driving the spanning distance. All that footage is then animated after the fact, only using a very small amount of the frames that were actually filmed. And everything is lined up, cropped, etc. to fit my needs. The spins are done by carefully mapping out a circle around whatever target, and picking roughly 36 locations to shoot a still from. Those photos are then processed, and lined up after the fact.

A scooter! It feels like a scooter just drove into my stomach. I'll spare you and your browser the ache of having to view these full size, but if you dare, click on through. [Kevin Parry via Colossal]

No, really, what is Google?

No, really, what is Google? TechCrunch co-editorAlexia Tsotsis recently posted an interesting piece about Google’s focus, or rather the perceived lack of it. Google has its fingers in so many pies that there are quite a few angles from which to consider the above question.

The title of Alexia’s post says it all: “Remember When Google Was a Search Engine?” For consumers, Google is, or at least used to be, a search company. On the other hand, for investors, and cynics, Google is an ad network. That is, after all, where the money comes from.

But, as a former Googler and unabashed fan of the company (take this as both full disclosure and a disclaimer), I have a different perspective. For me, Google is, and always has been, a systems company.

Systems First

Most startups begin by focusing on the product: user experience, design, features, marketing and so on. These companies rely primarily on hosted or off-the shelf systems infrastructure, and focus their engineering resources on the front end elements, the things that make their company unique.

But some of these startups enjoy massive growth, and their traffic increases to the point where they can no longer scale with general-purpose systems. This is an important inflection point in a company’s life: you either hire a bunch of engineers with systems experience to develop the custom technology you need to scale, or you sell the company and let someone else worry about it.

Google, however, had a very different technology trajectory … It did systems first. This isn’t really that surprising: the front end user experience in a search engine, at least back in 1998, was dirt simple, an HTML form with a single input box and a ‘Search’ button.

The tricky parts of search were crawling the web, indexing the content and retrieving relevant results very quickly. These problems required an ability to run complex computations in parallel on large numbers of computers, while being resilient to failure of any one of them. In other words, web search is fundamentally a distributed systems problem, as well as, more obviously, an Information Retrieval (IR) problem.

As a result, Google focused on systems from day one. It hired the best and the brightest, such as the now-renowned Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat, legendary Bell Labs pioneers Rob Pike and Ken Thompson, and many other incredibly talented systems engineers, both famous and anonymous (note: I don’t count myself in that number. I was just lucky to get to work with these folks).

The outcome was that distributed systems are a core part of Google’s DNA, even more so than search.

The Google Iceberg

Once Google had its formidable systems in place, many applications suggested themselves, applications that in some cases only Google was able to build. Most of what consumers see of Google, from search to Gmail to ads to Google Docs to book scanning to YouTube, are the one-tenth of the iceberg that sticks out of the water.

What connects these seemingly disparate products is the submerged nine-tenths: Google’s planet-scale distributed systems. Even seemingly left-field projects, such as the self-driving car, benefit from Google’s unrivaled data-crunching ability.

There are other companies with world-class systems proficiency, such as Amazon, Yahoo! and Microsoft. But Google casts an unusually long shadow over the rest of Silicon Valley. The bulk of the technologies that power so many startups out there, from distributed filesystems to MapReduce to NoSQL databases, were primarily invented at Google. And the company has served as such a wellspring of talent for startups that its technical influence has spread wide, despite being a meager contributor to the open-source world (*).

Trimming from the Middle

Of course not everything Google does is driven by a technology-first attitude. Android and Google+, for example, address strategic threats to Google’s core business, and Google obviously has to pursue them. But the technology behind even the less successful of these is first-rate.

While Google’s product karma is hit-and-miss, the company’s systems prowess gives both management and employees confidence that they can solve hard problems no one else can tackle, including moonbeam problems such as augmented reality glasses and self-driving cars. Whether Google should be tackling these problems is a matter of opinion, but doing so is endemic to the company.

Between these two extremes however, are the middle-ground projects, and it’s these, neither strategic nor epic, that Larry Page is trying to pare down as CEO. If Google doesn’t need it, and Google isn’t uniquely positioned to do it, then why do it?

What binds all the different Google efforts together then, is not an overarching plan, but an underlying technology platform. This may not form a coherent vision, but great things will continue to come from it. As well as no small number of duds.

Richard Branson confirms Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight will launch next year with him on board

Richard Branson has long said that he'd be on board Virgin Galactic's first commercial space tourism flight, and he's now confirmed that will take place sometime next year with his two adult children along for the ride (a bit of a delay from the company's original 2011 target). That trip will of course be made with the company's SpaceShipTwo craft, which has already completed a number of test flights, and which is capable of flying 100 kilometers (or just over 60 miles) above the Earth for a planned two and a half hour flight with five minutes of weightlessness. As the AP notes, some 529 people have already signed up for the $200,000 per person rides into space, each of whom will have to take part in a week of training prior to their trip. Booking's can still be made on Virgin Galactic's website.

BRIDGE TRANSFORMED INTO GIANT LEGO BRICKS BY GERMAN STREET ARTIST MEGX

A plain old overpass was designed to look like giant LEGO bricks by MEGX, a street artist whose graffiti is really quite beautiful. The 250-square-meter bridge in Germany went from bland concrete into one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen. Think it’s photoshopped? It’s not…

Photo by MEGX

The Wuppertal, Germany bridge was a blank canvas before MEGX began painting it last year to give it the illusion of stacked, colorful LEGO building blocks. This wasn’t some overnight graffiti bomb — authorities and sponsors helped MEGX create the giant mural over the course of four weeks. Totally legit.

Photo by Lukas Pauer

Photo by Lukas Pauer

Photo by Rolf Dellenbusch

Before:

Photo by Rolf Dellenbusch

India all set to give go ahead for Mars mission

India is all set to give the go-ahead for an ambitious mission to Mars, expected in November next year, a top Space Department official said here today. "A lot of studies have been done on the possible mission to Mars", Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan told reporters here. "We have come to the last phase of approvals", he said. "And I am sure that, maybe soon, we will be hearing an announcement on the Mars mission". According to ISRO officials, a significant amount of work on the planned Mars mission has been completed and scientific payloads have been short-listed. The project report for Indian Mars orbiter mission has been submitted for government approval.

iPhone 5 Will Be Announced August 7

 If the latest report ends up proving true, we could be seeing the next iPhone launch sooner than expected. A “reliable industry source” told KnowYourMobile that the next iPhone will be unveiled during an August 7 Apple keynote. The next iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 6, is also expected to be officially released at the same time. Last year, the iPhone 4S debuted October 4 and went on sale a week later. The iPhone 4 was launched in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference the year before that. This year, Apple has largely been expected to unveil the next-generation iPhone in either September or October. A late-September to early-October launch puts the iPhone in a good position for holiday sales, giving Apple the full span of its holiday quarter for beefy profits and sales numbers. An August launch feels a bit early for us, but Apple shook things up with the launch date of the iPhone last year, so it’s certainly in the realm of possibility. Forrester analyst Charles Golvin told Wired that the main benefit to an August launch would be to take advantage of the back-to-school buying period. But given Apple would still need to get FCC approval by that time, Apple could face more challenges in making the new iPhone available in its stores and through operator channels to tap this opportunity. “I believe that the more likely scenario is that Apple will release the new iPhone in September-October and focus on the Christmas selling season, which is the most significant sales opportunity,” Golvin said. Regardless of when the iPhone does officially debut overseas, enterprising sellers on a Chinese website are letting iPhone fans pre-order or order an iPhone 5 even though it hasn’t been announced yet.

Facebook "Like" System Devalued By Fake Users

A BBC investigation has found evidence of fake users skewing the results of Facebook's 'Like' recommendation system. The BBC set up a Facebook page for a fake business called VirtualBagel and invited users to 'like' it. The page reportedly attracted 'over 1,600 likes' within twenty-four hours. The test appeared to confirm the claims of a social media marketing consultant who contacted the BBC after he noticed a disparity in the distribution of users 'liking' the products of his clients. 'While they had been targeting Facebook users around the world, all their "likes" appeared to be coming from countries such as the Philippines and Egypt.'"

Facebook "Like" System Devalued By Fake Users

A BBC investigation has found evidence of fake users skewing the results of Facebook's 'Like' recommendation system. The BBC set up a Facebook page for a fake business called VirtualBagel and invited users to 'like' it. The page reportedly attracted 'over 1,600 likes' within twenty-four hours. The test appeared to confirm the claims of a social media marketing consultant who contacted the BBC after he noticed a disparity in the distribution of users 'liking' the products of his clients. 'While they had been targeting Facebook users around the world, all their "likes" appeared to be coming from countries such as the Philippines and Egypt.'"

Why is Google honoring Gustav Klimt with a golden doodle?

Google adorned its homepage today with a Doodle commemorating the 150th birthday of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, known for his elaborate and beautiful Art Nouveau paintings, his rejection of the prevailing conservative art styles of the day, and his sometimes controversial, frank depictions of eroticism.   Most of Klimt's best-known work, and the inspiration for today's Doodle, come from his so-called "Golden Phase," a period marked by Klimt's extensive use of gold-leaf, and his greatest career successes. Google has incorporated into its logo a detail of The Kiss (1907-1908), a gilded square painting that depicts a couple embracing, entwined in decorative yellow robes, inspired by the 19th century's Arts and Crafts movement, as well as the newer Art Nouveau style. In 1897, Klimt resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists along with several other painters, sculptors, and architects, forming the Wiener Sezession (Vienna Secession), a movement crystalized not around one style, but rather around a rejection of the traditional Historicism of the Association. He also served as the organization's president. Members strove to create new styles independent of historical tradition. Many members produced highly decorative works, and the group's exhibitions helped to familiarize Austria with innovative new works, including the paintings of the French Impressionists.  Google Doodles you'll never see Most of Klimt's paintings depict figures, usually women. He never painted a self portrait, writing:  "I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women...There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night...Who ever wants to know something about me... ought to look carefully at my pictures." Not all of Klimt's work was appreciated in his lifetime, though. Frank depictions of sexuality alienated some viewers. At the turn of the century, murals commissioned by the University of Vienna were called pornographic, prompting a public outcry. The murals were never displayed, and were later destroyed by retreating Nazis. Klimt seemed unperturbed by the controversy, however. 1899's Nuda Verita contains an inscription reading, "If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad." Later work would prove even more controversial, particularly the posthumous Fünfundzwanzig Handzeichnungen (Twenty-five Drawings), which contained a large amount of erotic material. Klimt's legacy and influence are debated by art historians, though he remains a very popular artist. One work, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, sold for a record $135 million in 2006, at the time the highest price ever paid for a painting. His work will be shown throughout Vienna this year to celebrate his 150th birthday, and he has been celebrated on two euro coins, once in 2003 and again in 2012. His best-known work may be a century old, but time has not diminished its power or beauty. It still has the power to inspire today.

Solar Flare Headed Toward Earth Likely To Light Up Sky

geomagnetic storm from a solar flare that erupted on the sun's surface earlier this week will likely collide with Earth this weekend, scientists say. The coronal mass ejection on Thursday, caused by the release of excess solar energy, is classified as an X1.4 event. That means the storm is probably too weak to affect satellites used for cell phone communication, but communication using shorter wavelengths, such as radio, may be affected, said John Raymond, a physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "Imagine something with the mass of a mountain being ejected at a speed of a million miles an hour," Raymond said, adding that by the time the storm reaches Earth, its energy will have been spread out over an enormous area. Scientists expect the storm to arrive Saturday morning, and it is still possible that it will miss Earth. The effects on communications may not be disruptive, Raymond said. During a recent coronal mass ejection, radio operators suddenly found their reach had extend to new continents. Such storms were first noticed in the 1800s, he said, when telegraph operators found they could send telegraphs without batteries. On rare occasions, storms 20 times more powerful than the one currently approaching have been known to cause electric surges that shut down entire power grids, Raymond said. The surges are the result of movement in the lines of Earth's magnetic field. The most notable effect of the coming storm is likely to be the spectacular auroras it produces in the night sky, Raymond said. In March, the largest solar flare in five years hit Earth, prompting fears of disruptions to flights, GPS systems and power grids, but those problems never materialized.