Today's look in 1860 townhouse

This 1860-built Charlestown townhouse has been given a high-end gut-rehab and interior makeover, turning it into a showpiece contemporary single-family with four floors of living space.

The four-bedroom attached brick rowhouse at 6 Washington St. features a new Spanish mahogany cabinet kitchen with high-end appliances and a third-floor master bedroom suite with a large walk-in closet and a private rear deck off the bedroom. It's on the market for $1,589,000.

Every room in the home has been redone, with new windows with built-in plantation shutters, new or refinished oak floors and contemporary lighting. There's a lot of paneled wainscoting, Gregorian runners in the hallway and newly added window trim, and the rear addition was remodeled in 2008 with radiant-heated floors.

The new black walnut entry doors have etched glass, and lead into a foyer with a coat closet. To the left is a formal dining room with a decorative wood fireplace with an original mantel.

A large opening leads into a kitchen with a breakfast nook that overlooks a fenced-in rear brick patio. The recessed-lit kitchen — redone in the mid-2000s — features new oak floors, Spanish mahogany cabinets, beige granite counters and a center island with pendant lights overhead. There's a large SubZero refrigerator, and other stainless-steel appliances include a Viking gas stove, two Bosch convection wall ovens and a Kitchen Aid dishwasher and compactor. The rear of the kitchen has a pantry area with a wine cooler.

Another dining nook with a wet bar sits in the rear addition, with radiant-heated yellow limestone floors and an adjacent redone half bath with limestone floors and a pedestal sink.

The second floor has a formal living room with contemporary lighting, restored oak floors, three front-facing windows and an original working wood fireplace.

The adjacent recessed-lit library has a floor-to-ceiling bookcase and two rear windows. A recessed-lit study in the rear addition has radiant-heated oak floors and diagonally set windows that overlook the patio. There's a newly added half bath with closet that holds a stacked Asko washer and dryer.

The entire third floor was converted into a master bedroom suite in 2011. The recessed-lit bedroom has new oak floors and glass doors out to a newly built rear deck.

The en-suite master bathroom has porcelain tile walls and floors, gold granite accents and a porcelain tiled walk-in shower. Through a frosted glass door is a large dressing room with custom maple wardrobe cabinets and storage drawers topped with a gold granite countertop.

There are three bedrooms on the fourth floor, all with reconditioned original wide-pine floors. Two are decent sized, but the smaller one is more suitable as a nursery. There's a newly added bathroom with white subway tile and a Japanese soaking tub.

The unfinished basement has been repainted and has lots of storage space. It also holds a three-zone Buderus furnace that provides heat through forced hot water for antique radiators on the first and second floors and forced hot air on the top two floors. There's also a central vacuum system, and central air conditioning with a rooftop unit replaced in 2010. The townhouse also has an alarm, intercom and CCTV systems.

Parking is on-street with a residential permit, but there is garage parking in nearby City Square.

For more information or to see this property, call Frank Celeste of Gibson Sotheby's International Realty at 617-872-3227.

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Sexy, stylish Fiat turns heads

Undersized, underpowered, but with a huge personality, the 2012 Fiat 500C is just a blast to drive.

Let's face it, you're not going to win any races with this runaround, but heads will turn as you sport about the city.

The sexy Cinquecento is the second smallest car offered in the United States — the Smart Fortwo is the smallest — but the Fiat still gives its direct competition, the British Mini Cooper, a run for its money in the subcompact class.

Despite its size, the higher roof gives two adults plenty of leg room and a comfortable, albeit a bit noisy, ride.

The car, or its maker, also likes to brag — it's splashed with at least 17 "500C" logos!

Our upgraded Lounge edition enhanced the cruising experience by including leather seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, a six-speaker Bose stereo and Bluetooth. It also had voice-only navigation, but the highlight was the convertible roof that can be operated at up to 50 mph!

The curvaceous car resembles the 1950s Italian original, but is longer, taller and as a friend who once lived in Italy pointed out, doesn't have any dents in the doors.

It will get only minor tweaks for 2013.

The Fiat plays nicely — it's quick, spirited and responsive.

Parking is a dream; you're able to squeeze into the tightest spots.

The high-end Arbath Edition adds a sports suspension and more powerful turbo engine.

There are rear seats, but they're super-cramped. They drop for some added cargo space, but the easiest way to get my golf clubs in and out was through the open roof. And although the roof was a hit, you do sacrifice vision out the rear window. And, seriously, the Fiat needs a backup warning alert!

The 101-horsepower, 1.4-liter engine pushed out enough pep to bop around doing errands or commuting, but is a glacially slow 12.4 seconds to 60 mph.

The six-speed automatic on our tester was a drag on the fun factor of this pint-sized convertible and oddly returned rather poor gas mileage, too. Get this with the five-speed stick to maximize the personality of the 500C, but more importantly to pick nearly 5 mpg in fuel savings over the automatic's 27 mpg city/34 mpg highway. Also, stay out of the wake of tractor-trailers!

This fun car certainly has its drawbacks and the sticker is the whopper.

While the Lounge starts at $22,000, the base model Pop is $19,000 and our tester pulled in at a pricey $25,950. I find this steep, but while one could look at less expensive options such as the Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, Hyundai Accent and Honda Fit, the Cinquecento outdoes them with its panache.

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IPad mini is Apple's sweetest tablet ever

This might just be Apple's best tablet yet.

Holding it for the first time, I couldn't help but think that the size of the iPad mini is what iPad should have been all along. At 7.9 inches, you can grip it with one hand and type with the other. It feels like an e-reader, the size of a book. It's the best content consumption device on the market, and it makes its predecessor seem as if it has been trying to be too many things.

The screen resolution is the same as the iPad 2; the pixel density is higher. The camera is better, and battery life is far better. The overall design is sleeker, with its thin, rounded corners reminiscent of the iPod Touch's slim frame.

The amount of innovation that Apple packs into such a svelte form is impressive. For that reason, this isn't just a shrunken down iPad.

No, this doesn't boast Retina Display. But requiring that on a sub-10-inch tablet is like trying to win a spec horse race. Unless you're hovering over it with a monocle, who cares?

The question many will have is whether it's worth sinking between $329 and $659 into the mini, or if it's better to spend $199 for the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire. There are two big considerations: Heavy movie-watchers might prefer the picture on Nexus 7, and voracious readers might like Kindle's lack of glare. But while the Kindle and Nexus don't feel quite as high-end, the mini is pure top-shelf.

One thing that confounds me is why Apple still sells iPad 2. The iPad 2 costs $399 for the WiFi-only 16 GB version. For up to $60 more you can purchase a version of the mini that will have far better rear- and front-facing cameras, HD video recording capability, higher storage capacity and Siri. Plus, at about .68 pounds, the mini is half the weight.

So while a choice between the mini and its similarly sized competition can be a tough one given pricing, the choice between a mini and the iPad 2 is a no-brainer.

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who famously knocked the idea of a smaller iPad, was, it seems, very wrong on this one.

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R.I. socks Curt Schilling, advisers

The state of Rhode Island stopped just short of suing itself in its wide-ranging court action against 38 Studios, and nearly everyone who had an advisory role in the bankrupt company's $75 million loan guarantee, alleging a massive fraud.

"It's very unusual for a state to sue its own advisers over a loan that the state made," said Hub bankruptcy attorney David Reier of Posternak Blankstein & Lund. He added, "It's odd that members of a board called 'the Economic Development Corporation' lack expertise in economic development."

But that fact is an underlying premise of the suit, which alleges the board relied on more experienced advisers to approve the loan given to the now-belly-up game developer.

The state and its Economic Development Corporation filed a complaint in Rhode Island Superior Court yesterday against 38 Studios and its owner, former Red Sox [team stats] pitcher Curt Schilling [stats], along with its own former executive director, a law firm that it employed for a decade and other advisers.

Schilling's company filed for bankruptcy and laid off its entire staff earlier this year after defaulting on the loan, leaving taxpayers holding the bag. Reached yesterday by phone, Schilling declined to comment.

"I know that you work hard for your paychecks, and for your tax dollars to be squandered is unacceptable," Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee said in a statement. "You have my commitment that I will continue fighting to protect the interest of all Rhode Islanders."

The 94-page complaint alleges that Schilling's company failed to disclose the risks that led to its demise, including that it was on track to be in the red by 2012.

The complaint alleges that Wells Fargo, which declined comment, was earning "nearly $500,000 in hidden commissions from 38 Studios at the same time" it had a fiduciary duty to disclose the company's problematic business plan to the board.

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Newbury St. water main fix has retail group piping mad

The Back Bay Association wants the Boston Water and Sewer Commission to step up and help with a promotional campaign for Newbury Street businesses disrupted by a water main replacement project.

"We are encouraging the commission to do whatever they can to support the businesses of Newbury Street because (those) that are on the impacted blocks are struggling," association president Meg Mainzer-Cohen said. "As much as this is necessary work, the fact that it's impacting businesses to the point where their sales are dramatically off means that Boston Water and Sewer needs to do a much better job of containing their construction sites and ... their work timelines."

Stores, restaurants and other businesses on the popular shopping thoroughfare have been contending with rolling no-parking zones, construction equipment and noise, exposed pipes and water shutoffs.

The project to replace circa-1898 water mains started in September 2011 and ran through last November before resuming in April. It's slated to wrap up by Nov. 15 before starting again next April.

"I'd be happy to put some advertisements in the local newspapers saying something to the effect that Newbury Street is open for business," commission spokesman Thomas Bagley said.

But, he noted, "We don't have a lot of money to spend on this. We do have money to replace and repair infrastructure, which is what we're doing."

Alan Bilzerian, owner of the eponymous boutique at 34 Newbury St., said the damage already is done.

"They couldn't do something more than ruin everybody's business and momentum by coming and doing this before the biggest season a retailer has?" he said. "It's the worst timing."

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Building boom in Newton

Seven miles west of downtown Boston in the city of Newton, construction activity is going strong.

Less than a 45-minute commute from downtown Boston by train, subway or express bus, Newton is divided into 13 "villages" and rather than having a single city center many of these villages have a downtown area of their own.

Home prices in Newton are steep with the median single-family home price up 5 percent to $800,000 from last year, according to information from Multiple Listing Service PIN. The median condo price is up 3 percent from last year to $429,000.

Home inventory levels are low with the number of single-family homes on the market down 35 percent compared to last year, and available condos down 25 percent from last year.

Helping deal with the low housing availability is Newton-based custom home builder, Pine Cone Construction.

The family-owned business, led by Frank Utano and his children, Danielle Lacolla and Chris Utano, has spent the past 15 years in Newton focusing on custom home building or renovation.

"With the scarcity of land, many clients purchase a site with an existing home and have it demolished and we build a new custom home for them," said Chris Utano.

"We have completed seven new custom homes in Newton since the beginning of the year. We also help clients evaluate whether to demolish a structure or renovate," added Lacolla.

Along Route 9 in the Chestnut Hill area of Newton, retail development is booming with the addition of grocery stores, health clubs, restaurants, retail and medical offices.

At the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center, Michael H. McNaughton, senior vice president of WS Development, which owns and is developing the property, said, "We're adding more than 100,000 feet of retail space as part of a major redevelopment that will bring a state-of-the-art Showcase Super Lux cinema, The Sports Club/LA, Del Frisco's, Davio's, and Bernard's. Other new retailers include Pottery Barn, lululemon athletica, Polarn O. Pyret, Treat Cupcake Bar and Pinkberry."

Rollout of the redevelopment will come over the next 18 months, with the Sports Club/LA opening this winter.

"Newton residents don't have to go to Boston or Natick for their retail needs and with the serenity of Hammond Pond and walking trails next to the site, individuals can go rock climbing and then to dinner and a movie without moving their car," McNaughton added.

Under construction, also along Route 9, is the newly developed Chestnut Hill Square by New England Development. The first phase will open next fall and will include a mix of shops and restaurants, as well as medical offices. Wegmans, Equinox Fitness Club, Brio Tuscan Grille, Seasons 52, Century Bank, Francesca's Collections and Red Mango are some of the businesses opening in 160,000 square feet of new retail space.

Chestnut Hill Square will have direct access eastbound and westbound off Route 9, as well as from The Mall at Chestnut Hill via a new intersection.

Jennifer Athas is a licensed real estate broker and can be reached by email at heraldhotproperty@ mail.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenAthas.

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Springfield developers blast gambling honcho

The head of the state gaming board encouraged a top casino exec who had been considering Springfield to mull Boston, raising ethical questions from industry watchdogs as well as the ire of developers who claim the conversation helped sink their project.

Two Springfield developers who were working with Hard Rock International to build a proposed gaming palace in the city blasted Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby yesterday for suggesting to a top Hard Rock executive that the firm consider Boston, where Suffolk Downs racetrack is the odds-on favorite to land a coveted casino license.

"In the chairman's zeal to find a competitor for Suffolk Downs, he severely undercut and damaged our ability to deliver a world-class project for the city of Springfield," said Anthony Ravosa, a former Springfield city councilor whose company, Western Mass Development, was working with Hard Rock. "I think it's entirely inappropriate."

The conversation occurred in August between Crosby and Hard Rock chief financial officer Brad Buchanan at a gaming board hearing in Springfield.

Anthony Cignoli, another Western Mass Development partner, said the conversation led the businessmen to believe that Crosby was urging them to consider a Boston license, rather than Springfield. Hard Rock pulled the plug on its Springfield plans last month.

"I think it's a step over the line," Cignoli told the Herald. "To have a commissioner take an international player like Hard Rock and suggest to them they should be somewhere else besides Springfield is really egregious."

Crosby downplayed the flap, saying he made a "passing comment" to Buchanan, whom he said he had never met before the meeting.

"Somewhere in the course of that conversation I said, 'It's great to have you interested in western Mass. You should look at eastern Mass. too,' " Crosby said last night. "It was a complete nothing. It's totally silly to say that had anything to do with the Hard Rock's actions.

"It's certainly appropriate to talk to people about the various opportunities in Massachusetts," he added. "I don't think it would be inappropriate for us to sort of generically encourage all people to look long and hard at the competitive opportunities."

Crosby has been pushing for more competition in the Boston region for months. Casino experts question whether Crosby — who will be tasked with approving casino license applicants — may have crossed an ethical line.

"I don't think it's appropriate," said gaming expert Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor. "He's not supposed to be going out soliciting bids."

Sources say Hard Rock has, in fact, turned its sights to the Boston area and is eyeballing a site in Everett. So far, the only competition for Suffolk Downs is Crossroads Resorts in Milford, but the developers of that project have yet to reveal any formal plans.

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'Facebook' for docs sees rash of success

Matthew J. Goldstein was stumped. Three months ago, the Brigham and Women's Hospital physician had a patient with a mysterious rash. So, uncertain what to prescribe, Goldstein obtained the woman's permission to post photos of it on Doximity, the equivalent of Facebook for doctors, seeking advice.

Within 24 hours, he received a half dozen responses from other physicians, most recommending a high-dose steroid cream for what turned out to be a case of dyshidrotic eczema.

"Doximity is like a remote consult service," Goldstein said. "The ability to get real-time advice from colleagues around the country about a difficult case I'm having is really helpful."

He isn't the only who thinks so. Started in San Mateo, Calif., two years ago, Doximity already counts some 100,000 doctors — one in six U.S. physicians — as users, according to Jeff Tangney, the company's founder.

Tangney saw a need for such a Web site because doctors, for liability and patient-privacy reasons, often are discouraged from using Facebook. In addition to being a social-media site, Doximity.com acts as a referral service for lawyers looking for an expert witness and Wall Street analysts and hedge-fund managers seeing stock advice on medical products, he said. Clients pay an average of $500 to the doctor and $200 per interview with a physician to Doximity.

Alexi Nazem, another Brigham and Women's doctor, uses its mobile app to keep up-to-date on medical news and find the internal numbers of other hospitals. Doximity also has a separate mobile app called Amion that Nazem uses to find out who's on call at his hospital.

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Twit does damage to Twitter

It took a 29-year-old hedge fund analyst and political operative with a sick compulsion for inciting panic to expose the dark side of Twitter earlier this week.

Using his widely followed account @ComfortablySmug, the New Yorker posted false updates on Monday claiming disastrous scenarios during already-disastrous Hurricane Sandy. He preyed on fear and caused people to waste precious time refuting his lies. Among his hoaxes: that the New York Stock Exchange had flooded, Governor Cuomo was trapped, and that Con Edison would shut off all power in Manhattan. He sprinkled truth amid fiction, lending credence to his con. Some of the ploys received more than 600 retweets.

Every number I called for Shashank Tripathi appeared to have been disconnected yesterday. He issued a public apology only after being outed by the web site Buzzfeed on Tuesday, and resigned his job as manager of a GOP congressional campaign.

It seems as if Tripathi falsely yelled "fire" in a virtual crowded theater. But the metaphor used by the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as the classic example of unprotected speech is not an accurate reflection of what's punishable today.

"It's a very handy metaphor, but it doesn't represent the state of the law today," said Jeff Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

For @ComfortablySmug to face charges, he would have had to incite lawless activity, such as a riot. There are enough unenforceable laws on the books anyway. But as the ultimate in crowd-sourced information, Twitter failed to self-correct for the truth.

"So many people who are respected kept re-tweeting him," said Jim Manley, the former aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and a relative newcomer to Twitter, who called out Tripathi. "I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it."

Manley was trying to decide whether to "unfollow" those who retweeted the falsehoods without checking the source. It's simply not enough that we all include in our profiles the disclaimer that retweets aren't endorsements. That's not gonna fly when a similar con artist finally incites that riot.

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Chestnut Hill to add 3 restaurants

The Mall at Chestnut Hill wants to expand its footprint so it can fit in three new restaurants and spiff up the front of the upscale shopping center.

Owner Simon Property Group's plans come amid a flurry of competing Route 9 retail developments taking shape around the mall.

"They're looking for flexibility to turn some retail space to restaurant space and slightly bump out the facade for these new potential tenants," said Alexandra Ananth, a Newton senior city planner. "It's sort of in response to improving their visibility on Route 9."

A spokesman for Simon acknowledged it wanted to add some "great restaurants to the dining mix" but declined further comment. Plans filed with the city show space for patio seating, a relocated mall road and new signs.

Newton Mayor Setti Warren said he's excited about the expansion but wants to ensure residents' and city officials' input guides the permitting process.

"There's also questions about parking on the site that need to be answered," said Warren, who called infrastructure improvements and other projects on Route 9 "transformative."

Directly across from the mall, a Wegmans grocery store will anchor Chestnut Hill Square, a 340,000-square-foot retail, restaurant, residential and medical office project.

Adjacent to the mall, the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center is expanding to 406,000 square feet, and Bernard's Gourmet Asian Cuisine is relocating there from the mall. Other new tenants include Del Frisco's Grille, Davio's Cucina and Shake Shack.

The nearby Atrium Mall, recently sold by Simon, is being converted into medical offices with some retail.

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In NYC, the show goes on, even if sans audience

NEW YORK — For the second night in a row, superstorm Sandy and its aftermath forced David Letterman to live out that performer's nightmare: Telling jokes to a vacant theater, or as he called it, "a big ol' empty barn."

Letterman hosting the "Late Show" to an unpeopled Ed Sullivan Theater on Tuesday, as he did on Monday, was the oddest sight of the considerable and continuing cultural fallout of the hurricane that left New York institutions like Broadway, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center no more open for business than the city's damaged subway system.

But the New York entertainment industry was fighting to go on with the show, and none more than several of the city's late-night shows. Though "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show" canceled tapings for the second day, the "Late Show," Jimmy Fallon's "Late Night" and a traveling out-of-towner, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," went ahead with shows Tuesday.

When "Late Show" band leader Paul Schafer asked Letterman how they were supposed to approach such an awkward situation, Letterman quickly replied: "Just like every night: We pretend the audience isn't here."

When Letterman introduced his first guest, Kate Hudson, the actress didn't stride out; instead appeared a middle-aged bald man — presumably an employee of the "Late Show" — who bantered with Letterman as if he were Hudson.

The three shows took varied approaches to inviting audiences to brave the difficult transportation prospects. Kimmel, a Brooklyn native, had planned to begin a week of shows in the borough on Monday. He began them a day late on Tuesday — with audience — at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

"I was born in Bay Ridge. I grew up in Mill Basin, and tonight I have returned to save my people from the storm," said Kimmel, referring to Brooklyn neighborhoods. "Thank you for ignoring the local authorities to be here tonight."

Like Letterman, Fallon had hosted his show Monday without an audience — an experience that guest Seth Meyers compared to watching Charlie Rose "if he had a band and everybody was a little high" — but he happily welcomed audience members back on Tuesday.

"First off, thanks to our great audience for making it out to the show tonight," Fallon began his monologue Tuesday. "I'm so glad you're here, because last night's audience was the worst."

As the city took account of the damage wrought by the storm, the aftermath of Sandy continued to cause the cancellations of film premieres, film and TV production and even that most unshakable performer: Bruce Springsteen.

The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert scheduled for Tuesday night at the Rochester Blue Cross Arena in upstate New York was postponed until Wednesday because of flight cancellations for the band and ticket holders.

The city revoked film permits for a second day Tuesday. The sets of "Smash," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "30 Rock," "Deception" and "Do No Harm" were closed, NBC said, and "SVU" won't tape Wednesday. Other series temporarily knocked out of production included "666 Park," "Gossip Girl" and "Person of Interest."

Films forced to stop shooting include Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" and Akiva Goldsman's "Winter's Tale," and the Tuesday premiere of Joe Wright's Tolstoy adaptation "Anna Karenina" was canceled.

ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning" aired live Tuesday with extensive storm coverage, though "GMA" was forced to cancel its planned Wednesday Halloween special.

Daytime shows were less successful, with production called off for "Live! With Kelly and Michael," "Katie," "The View" and "The Chew." ABC said work on all the programs would resume Wednesday.

All 40 Broadway theaters were closed, and while most hoped to open Wednesday, both "The Lion King" and "Mary Poppins" announced that Wednesday's shows would also be canceled.

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

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Taylor Swift's 'Red' sells 1.2 million copies in debut

NEW YORK — Taylor Swift's new album is called "Red," but its true color is a brilliant platinum. The 22-year-old sold 1.2 million copies of her latest album in its first week — the largest sales week for any album in a decade.

Nielsen SoundScan confirmed the blockbuster sales on Tuesday night. "Red" marks Swift's second straight album to sell more than 1 million copies in its first week; "Speak Now," her third album, sold a little over 1 million copies when it was released in 2010. She is the only woman to have two albums sell more than 1 million copies in its first week.

"They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week. How is this real life?! You are UNREAL. I love you so much. Thanks a million ;)," Swift tweeted Tuesday night.

The only other act to sell more than 1 million copies of an album in its debut week twice was 'N Sync.

Swift isn't a boy band, but she's certainly got the appeal of one: the country crossover has a huge following, particularly among teens who have followed her since she was a teen herself, releasing her first album. But she's also a critic's darling: The Grammy-winner's "Red" garnered plenty of acclaim when it was released last week.

Swift was omnipresent in the week of the album's release, appearing on such shows as "Good Morning America" and "Katie." She also joined with two untraditional partners — Papa John's and Walgreens, which offered the album for sale. And she announced her upcoming tour.

The last album to sell more than 1 million copies in its debut week was Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," which sold 1.1 million copies last year. However, that album was deeply discounted on Amazon.com in its first week.

Swift has the opportunity to celebrate for a second time this week: As the reigning "Entertainer of the Year" at the CMA Awards, she has the chance to capture the trophy again when it is held Thursday in Nashville.

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

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Despite cuts, lensbright for Dynavac

Even as it won a contract to design satellite test facilities, Hingham-based Dynavac, a market leader in precision optical coating systems, has been forced to lay off 10 percent of its workforce.

CEO Thomas Foley said Dynavac laid off six people this month due to the sluggish economy. But Foley said he was optimistic that the company would rebound, noting that it recently was awarded a contract by the Australian National University to design satellite test facilities.

"I think the economy will improve and the business will improve," he said. "We have a very dynamic workforce with an interesting combination of engineering and manufacturing capability."

Dynavac designed and made the optical coating system for the Discovery Channel Telescope — the fifth largest optical telescope in the continental United States — at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The company, which was founded in 1984, used aluminum to give the telescope's giant mirrors their reflective coating, allowing astronomers to collect light from faint and distant objects.

"Without the reflective coating, the mirrors are simply semi-transparent pieces of glass," said Jeffrey Hall, the observatory's director. "It's a critical component that helps us to explore aspects of the universe that we hope will one day answer some of humanity's oldest questions: Where did we come from? Is there life elsewhere?"

Dynavac also built a low-pressure, low-temperature chamber simulating the conditions of outer space to test the infrared James Webb Space Telescope, which will be launched into space in 2018 to study every phase in the history of our universe, from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system.

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Virgin Australia offers $102 million for Skywest

SYDNEY — Virgin Australia Holdings, the nation's second-largest airline, announced Tuesday a 99 million Australian dollar ($102 million) takeover offer for regional carrier Skywest Airlines and revealed it had bought a 60 percent stake in budget domestic rival Tiger Airways Australia for AU$35 million.

The Brisbane-based airline also announced that it had sold a 10 percent stake to Singapore Airlines, its alliance partner which owns Tiger, for AU$105 million.

The deals are part of Virgin's expansion plans aimed at challenging the dominance of Qantas Airways as No. 1 Australian carrier.

Virgin said its cash and scrip offer for Skywest, which operates in regional Australia and Southeast Asia, was worth AU46.88 cents per Skywest share.

Skywest executive chairman Jeff Chatfield said in a statement the offer, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, represented a substantial premium to the airline's share price.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said he was pleased by Singapore Airlines' support as an investor.

"We believe this investment demonstrates their confidence in our strategy and it enables Virgin Australia to fast track its growth plans," Borghetti said.

Virgin and Tiger plan to spend up to AU$62.5 million on expanding the budget carrier's fleet from 11 aircraft to 35 by 2018.

Virgin shares climbed more than 5 percent to AU48.5 cents in early trading Tuesday on the news. Qantas was down flat at AU$1.34.

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

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Swiss bank UBS to cut as many as 10,000 jobs

GENEVA — Swiss banking giant UBS AG is to cut as many as 10,000 employees, or some 15 percent of its staff, to drastically shrink its ailing investment bank.

The news of the layoffs came as Switzerland's biggest bank posted another big loss for the third quarter. It said Tuesday that the job cuts are part of a strategy to shore up profits.

As a result, UBS said it needs to reduce its headcount to "around 54,000" by 2015, down from its current 64,000 employees in 57 countries.

Some 7,500 jobs are to be cut mainly in London and the United States, where UBS has a prominent building and trading operations in Stamford, Conn., near New York City. The other 2,500 cuts are to be in Switzerland.

Investors cheered the move and the stock was trading 6 percent higher in early trading in Zurich at 13.88 Swiss francs.

The announcement of the job cuts came as the Zurich-based bank posted a loss of 2.17 billion Swiss francs ($2.31 billion) in the third quarter, in contrast to last year' equivalent net profit of 1.02 billion Swiss francs.

UBS blamed the loss on a 3.1 billion francs charge at the investment bank and an 863 million francs hit linked to an accounting rule on how banks must value their debt.

Banks can post gains if the value of their debt falls, because it would theoretically become cheaper for the bank to repurchase that debt. But the rule also says that when a bank's debt increases, it must take a write-down because it would theoretically have to pay more to buy back its own debt on the open market.

In what it called "a significant acceleration" in its transformation, the bank said it would sharpen its focus on the investment bank and appoint a new executive, Andrea Orcel, formerly of Bank of America Corp., to lead it. The current co-head of the investment bank, Carsten Kengeter, is stepping down from the group's executive board to unwind the non-core assets.

UBS said it also plans to save 3.4 billion francs in additional costs through 2015, but that the reorganization will result in restructuring charges of 3.3 billion francs over the next three years including about a half-billion francs in the fourth quarter.

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti said the investment unit, which has been hit by a series of costly blunders in recent years, will "continue to be a significant global player in its core businesses."

But tighter industry-wide requirements for banks to increase their capital cushion also have hurt profitability as banks have less cash to invest.

"It can't get better than this point for us to act," he told reporters.

Ermotti, who took over in November after the discovery of unauthorized trading last year, has been downsizing the investment bank to meet stricter capital requirements and shrinking profits due largely to Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli has been facing trial in London this month on charges of committing fraud that cost the bank $2.3 billion. He has told the jury that the losses came after senior traders persuaded him to change from a bearish to a bullish point of view in July 2011.

But the bank also has been under fire on other fronts. In 2008, it was forced to seek a bailout from the Swiss government when it was hard hit by the financial crisis and its fixed-income unit had more than $50 billion in losses.

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

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The Ticker

Time to sell Facebook

Current and former Facebook employees will be able to sell their shares in the social networking company today for the first time.

The lifting of the post-IPO "lockup" period could flood the public market with shares because some 230 million shares, or 11 percent of the total outstanding shares, are eligible for sale.

Consulting firm expands in Cambridge

Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global consulting firm specializing in strategy, marketing, pricing and sales, has expanded its office space in Cambridge.

The company added 30,000 square feet to occupy the entire third floor of the four-story One Canal Park, according to broker Cresa.

TODAY

The U.S. Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for September.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology holds its annual meeting at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Cognex, Haemonetics, Harvard Bioscience and Northeast Utilities report quarterly financial results.

TOMORROW

Standard & Poor's releases the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for August.

Cabot Corp., Ford Motor and Pfizer report quarterly financial results.

The U.S. Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for October.

Global Advanced Metals Ltd., a supplier of tantalum, has announced that, effective Jan. 1, Andrew O'Donovan, left, will replace Bryan Ellis as the company's next CEO. Ellis will retire at the end of the year but continue as vice chairman and non-executive director.

WGBH has appointed Sandy Lish, principal and founder of The Castle Group, as the new chair of its corporate executive council. Lish is state board chair for the March of Dimes and serves on the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women's Advisory Network.

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Professional groups offer career training, networking events

When it comes to business networking for the city's multicultural professional class, Boston is home to some of the best and most active groups in the country.

Local organizations host everything from social meet-ups to community giveback events to job-hunting and leadership training.

Networking is a good way for professionals from the city's various minority groups to meet people, swap information and keep in the loop for advancing their careers.

The Boston chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting has some 2,300 members, the second-largest chapter in the country, and is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary with a leadership summit on Nov. 15. ALPFA sponsors a large array of monthly events and hosts annual summits on executive leadership, and for Latina women and students. Thirty percent of its Boston members are students, many belonging to six chartered campus chapters.

"We're a group of very talented people who happen to be diverse," said ALPFA Executive Director Radhames Nova.

ALPFA began as a networking group for finance professionals, but has expanded into health care and law and with a veterans initiative. Nova says 20 percent of Hub chapter members are non-Latino, and anyone can join for the $120 annual membership fee, or $20-$30 annually for students.

"We don't ask companies what they can do for us, we ask them what we can do to present job candidates that will add value to them," said Nova, whose organization has 45 corporate partners, including State Street Corp., TJX, John Hancock and Liberty Mutual. "We develop trustworthy relationships with our corporate partners so we can introduce them to the best-qualified members of our organization."

Nova immigrated from the Dominican Republic to Lawrence when he was 13. He joined the Boy's and Girl's Club, to which he returned after college to be its first fundraising director. He earned a master's degree in business and began a career in the investments business, where fellow ALPFA members got him a start. He was offered the executive director post a year ago.

"Coming from where I did, without privilege, I understand how difficult it is to cultivate relationships that could get you into one of the big companies," Nova said.

The 400-member Boston chapter of the National Association of Asian-American Professionals also uses its corporate sponsorships to help its members advance their careers.

"We have an exclusive listing of jobs from our corporate sponsors," said chapter president Ming Hui, an analyst in the Global Credit Research group at Putnam Investments, one of the group's gold sponsors, along with State Street, Liberty Mutual and Harvard Pilgrim. NAAAP has given away $130,000 in college scholarships to local Asian high school students over the past five years.

NAAAP also sponsors four events every month, including "industry dinners," where members can meet other professionals in their fields and make contacts for jobs. Several events are mock-interview and resume workshops with human resources professionals. NAAAP also has four quarterly conferences focusing on career advancement. And to be a member, it costs $35 a year ($25 for students).

Hui, who started as a NAAAP member and now leads the local chapter, said she and other members have developed leadership skills by taking on responsibilities for the group, which has no paid staff.

"It's been good for me, and for my job at Putnam," said Hui, a Babson grad whose latest promotion has her in charge of analyzing 80 companies covering some $1 billion worth of assets.

Networking groups provide leadership training to help members get promotions and advance their careers. The most well-known and influential in the area are leadership training workshops offered by The Partnership, a 25-year-old Boston-based group with 250 corporate partners that has trained more than 3,000 local minority professionals, including Nova and Hui, to become leaders in the city's corporate structure. Open to all minorities in the city, The Partnership offers intense weeklong workshops and once-a-month programs for a year for both up-and-coming and mid-career executives who are sent by their companies to participate. Here they learn best practices and how to advance to senior positions in their companies.

"As the journey to have more diverse representation in our corporations advances, it's not about social justice but about business," said The Partnership's CEO Carol Fulp, a former top marketing executive at John Hancock, who became head of The Partnership six months ago. "Having diverse perspectives is now critical for companies that operate in a global marketplace, and who are looking for ways to reach people from other cultures with their products and services."

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Sandy to be boon for sweeps

It's a sweeps month bonanza for Boston TV stations — the mammoth hurricane rocketing toward the East Coast is expected to draw big audiences during one of the most critical ratings periods of the year.

"Household-using-television levels will go way up during the news," said communications professor Tobe Berkovitz of Boston University. "It gives the stations an opportunity to cut into regular broadcasting with their own special newscasts, which is also good because it gives them more commercial time and they can fill them with political ads."

That's right — if you like attack ads with your Doppler Radar, today is your day.

Sweeps is the ratings period that TV stations use to set future ad rates. Forecasters yesterday shrugged off the heightened viewership and the ratings pressure.

"It doesn't change what I'm going to do — disperse solid, credible information so that people at home are minimally effected," said WBZ-TV (Ch. 4)'s Todd Gutner.

The downside of the bump in couch-bound hurricane watchers for ratings-hungry TV stations, Berkovitz said, is that they won't necessarily give any one station an advantage. Everyone is covering, and watching, the same storm.

"It sort of levels the playing field ... as opposed to if you have a big sweeps story that other people don't have," Berkovitz said. "It's really which of the different station's storm coverage do you want to watch."

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The Ticker

Johnson ditches A123

Auto parts maker Johnson Controls is stepping away from its position as the debtor-in-possession lender during the bankruptcy process for battery maker A123 Systems in order to prevent delays.

The company is avoiding a premature legal tussle with Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang Group Corp., which is challenging Johnson Controls' role as the primary bidder for A123.

A123 Systems Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month and Johnson Controls Inc. agreed to buy its automotive assets. Johnson said Friday that its $125 million offer stands, and it now plans to expand the offer to include the company's government business, which involves military contracts.

MONDAY

L The American Society for Radiation Oncology holds its annual meeting at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

L The U.S. Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for September.

L Cognex, Haemonetics, Harvard Bioscience and Northeast Utilities report quarterly financial results.

TUESDAY

L Mayor Thomas M. Menino and developer Urbanica break ground on Boston's first "E+ green" building at 226 Highland St. in Roxbury.

L Standard & Poor's releases the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for August.

L Cabot Corp., Ford and Pfizer report quarterly earnings.

L The U.S. Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for October.

WEDNESDAY

L Campbell Edlund, president of EMI Strategic Marketing, speaks at a "Best Practices" seminar hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

L Abiomed, General Motors, Hanover Insurance and Iron Mountain report quarterly financial results.

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Obama's head of the class

The sluggish economic recovery has the Hub's collegiate upperclassmen wracked with worry over their job prospects come graduation day, yet many say President Obama remains the right leader to fix the nation's ills.

"Obama has already pushed down the unemployment level. Romney just seems entirely out of touch with the whole situation in that he approaches everything as if it were a business plan," said Boston University senior Colin White, 21, of New Jersey. "He always talks about how he's a self-made man, but he's had his opportunities."

White, a double major in anthropology and film and television, said he has some job prospects, "but at this point they are kind of tenuous."

"I wish I had done engineering to begin with, because jobs in engineering are much better to come by," he said. "Anthropology and film and television, while interesting industries ... are looked down upon in a lot of regards."

The Herald interviewed upperclassmen at seven local colleges and universities this week. When asked whom they would vote for on Election Day, more than two-thirds pledged their support for Obama.

Amira Downes, 22, a Boston University senior from Harwich majoring in sociology, said Obama needs more time to repair economic damage left in the wake of George W. Bush's two terms as president, yet added she was "scared" about finding a job in her field.

"I'm sort of relying on my father to help me out," she said. "I think in the future I do wish I took something that could help me gain more skill instead of just having general knowledge."

Last month, the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds with a bachelor's degree or higher and not enrolled in school was 6.3 percent, compared to 8.1 percent and 9.1 percent for the same period in 2011 and 2010, respectively, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While new jobs are being created, there aren't enough to meet the needs of both the unemployed and new entrants into the workforce, said Michael Goodman, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

"Just because you have degrees in the social sciences or humanities doesn't mean you're unemployable," Goodman said. "There are jobs available for college students, but they aren't always going to be held for new college graduates."

Connecticut native and Suffolk University senior Elizabeth Kelleher, 20, said while she has some concerns about securing a job, Obama seems more apt to keep financial aid funding intact for students.

"I think that government majors do fairly well with finding a job," said Kelleher, who is majoring in international affairs and Spanish. "I think that my professors here at Suffolk and the different experiences that I have had have set me up so that I will be ready for the workforce in May."

College students looking to land performing arts careers told the Herald they were prepared to hit vocational roadblocks post-graduation, yet added Obama was the more trustworthy candidate.

"I had five jobs this summer, so, at least for me, I don't think it's hard getting a job just to survive," said Devin Holloway, 21, an Emerson College junior from New Orleans majoring in musical theater. "My gut feeling, from just looking at Mitt Romney, is I just don't trust him. I think (Obama's) doing the best he can."

"I don't really have a job opportunity ahead unless I get cast in something," added Adam Santaniello, 21, a theater major at Suffolk University from Connecticut. "If I have to vote, I'm voting for Obama. He's more gay-friendly, and that's a major reason for me. I don't think you can turn (the economy) around in four years."

Job fears also extend to members of Boston's graduate student population.

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Beware of app-aritions this Halloween!

Trick-or-treating has gone digital.

No more going door-to-door without a plan. These days, you've got to maximize your treat-collection efficiency by plotting a route with a mobile app. For 99 cents, the Trick or Treating app, available at the iTunes app store, allows you to save your favorite candy collection hotspots, and plot your route for the night of Halloween.

Android users can keep tabs on their children's whereabouts with Trick or Tracker. At $4.99, this is one of the higher priced apps, but it allows parents to know exactly where their child is on a map during Halloween — and year-round. Both the child and parent must install the app for it to work. The price includes the "Latch Key" app, which tells you when your child has arrived at home and at school.

What's more, Trick or Tracker includes geofencing, which allows parents to draw a virtual fence and receive alerts when their child enters or leaves the perimeter. It's a feature also offered by Snap Secure ($57.99 for five phones, Android), which is a comprehensive security suite that has a personal panic button and allows you to see every place your child's been.

Planning a Halloween party? Halloween Planner (99 cents, Android) will ensure you don't freak out, with hundreds of tips on how to create that ghoulish vibe. All the songs anyone could want to set a haunting mood are just 99 cents with Halloween Party Pack (Android).

SpookyPic, which has a free and 99-cent version, and iMut8r put the monster in your mash of photos. SpookyPic overlays creepy shadows and broken glass on your photos, and iMut8r, which costs 99 cents, will turn your images into something out of a "Thriller" video. Both are available for Apple devices.

This Halloween, you can play an even "scarier" version of Angry Birds. Angry Birds Haunted Hogs is out. If the idea of slaying Frankenstein swine appeals to you, so will this game. But it might be more fun to battle against the inevitable zombie apocalypse with Plants vs. Zombies, which is available for Apple, Android and Kindle devices starting at $2.99.

Thanks to real estate website Zillow's Trick or Treat Index, we know that Boston is the second best city in the nation for the annual rite, just behind San Francisco. With that in mind, go forth and trick-or-treat. Just don't forget your smartphone.

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