Apple hires retail chief in one interesting experiment !

Summary: John Browett doesn’t have a lot of fixing up to do with Apple’s retail stores. On the flip side, he could be the one that botches a well-oiled machine. Apple named its John Browett as its new retail chief and the move is going to be interesting to watch from a management perspective. First, Browett comes from U.K.-based Dixons Retail, which has a mixed history of customer service. And then there’s Apple’s move to hire an outsider. Browett (right) will report to Apple CEO Tim Cook and the retail unit isn’t small potatoes by any stretch....

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Last Facebook valuation before IPO filing: $83.5 billion

Summary: If Facebook were to go public now, it would be valued at $83.5 billion. Of course, that’s not going to happen, since the company is only expected to file for its initial public offering (IPO) this week. Facebook is rumored to file papers for an initial public offering (IPO) this week (possibly as soon as Wednesday), and the biggest question is of course: how much is the social networking giant really worth? For a while now, employees and early stakeholders have been able to sell shares privately onSecondMarket and SharesPost....

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EPIC: Facebook Timeline changes users’ privacy settings ( c0nfirmed)

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is working very hard to point out Facebook privacy issues to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). A big part of its onslaught is centered on privacy through obscurity; EPIC insists the FTC’s November 2011 settlement with Facebook doesn’t allow this, but Facebook strongly disagrees. There’s more though: EPIC claims Timeline makes changes to default privacy settings users set before the new profile rolled out, specifically related to the event of friending someone on the social networ...

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