user: The skies in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul have become a conspiracy theorist's delight as the skies swarm with black helicopters on a mysterious training exercise. The low-flying black helicopters - also known as Night Stalkers - are flying on the training exercise for the Department of Defense but no one at that agency will comment on the exercise's purpose. The only statement they will make regarding the appearance of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is to apologize for 'any alarm or inconvenience' they might cause. black helicopters. The military has declined any comment on the exercise beyond apologizing for any inconvenience. CBS Minnesota reports that the Night Stalkers Web site lists their motto as to 'guard my unit's mission with secrey, for my only true. ally is the night and the element of surprise.' They support special ops teams such as the Navy SEALS. It goes on to call the group 'highly trained and ready to accomplish the very toughest missions. in all environments, anywhere in the world, day or night, with. unparalleled precision.' But that secrecy doesn't sit well with the people watching from below. 'I think the scale of domestic military exercises is not a good. idea,' Minneapolis resident Daniel Feidt told CBS Minnesota. 'It’s a waste of. taxpayer money. It’s inappropriate for Special Forces to be operating in American cities.' St. Paul City Council. member Chris Tolbert also had strong words for the exercise. 'I think it's outrageous,' Tolbert told the Pioneer Press. 'We're going to have Black. Hawks flying at a low level over a densely populated urban area without. any notice at all? I had helicopters shaking my house at 11:57 last. night. They were right over the trees.' Police say the exercise has been planned for months but that they cannot release time or locations to the public over security concerns. Local police said the exercise has been planned for months but they were unable to inform the public of the times and locations due to security concerns. They also described the event as routine training. The military often puts pilots into unfamiliar surroundings so they are forced to adapt quickly, as they would during a real mission.

Write highlights.
Department of Defense refuses to release information on the appearance of 'Night Stalker' black helicopters over downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. Residents express fear and anger over the unexplained military action. Police say the exercise has been planned for months but they cannot release dates or locations for security reasons.

The latest chapter in British retail has grocery giant Tesco betting on e-books: it's buying Mobcast, a company that brings books to wireless devices. The deal, worth about $7.15 million (Â£4.5 million), is small for Tesco, which is one of the biggest food retailers in the world. But it's still significant: it marks the next page in Britain's digital transformation. When he co-founded Mobcast five years ago, Tony Lynch, the company's CEO, says books weren't represented on wireless devices beyond offerings from online retailer Amazon.com. "It was a very valuable hole in the market," he says. Now, with Mobcast's more than 100,000 titles and counting, Tesco will allow consumers to buy and read books on an array of devices, from smartphones to e-readers. And it also marks another avenue for the retailer to find out more about its customers - information Tesco can use to fine tune its targeted ads and, ultimately, sell more products. "Arguably, Tesco has the best data in the world on its customers," says Michael Comish, CEO of Tesco Digital Entertainment. He points to a robust retail loyalty program that helps the company keep track of customers' shopping habits. "They (Tesco) have extensive data about purchase behavior and information about the customers." Experts say that expanding its digital portfolio will allow Tesco to enhance that consumer data for years to come. "Getting into the electronic purchase cycle of a family, whether it's for books or something else, gets you in much more regular touch with them than if they were just buying a physical product," says Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer of Columbia University. "This makes sense to have a whole digital portfolio." Comish came to Tesco by way of Blinkbox, another digital player in the Tesco empire. The retailer bought the video-on-demand provider last year. "Part of Tesco's strategy is to acquire talent," he says. Tesco also bought the Internet radio service radio service WE7 earlier this year.

Write highlights.
UK grocery giant Tesco is buying Mobcast e-books company for $7.15 million. Tesco will allow consumers to buy and read books on an array of devices. Experts: Expanding digital portfolio will allow Tesco to enhance its consumer data.

(Mashable)  -- Why is Rocko, that one-dimensional wallaby from the '90s cartoon series, now a friend of mine on Facebook? And Charlie Brown? And Chip 'n' Dale? Other Facebook users -- if they haven't jumped on the bandwagon already -- will likely see a similar trend in the next few days. A new campaign is asking users to change their profile picture to a photo of a favorite childhood cartoon to raise awareness of child abuse. According to a Facebook Page that appears to be promoting the profile pic switch, this is the Campaign to End Violence Against Children -- Childhood Cartoon Faces. "Until Monday (Dec. 6), there should be no human faces on Facebook but an invasion of memories. This is for eliminating violence against children," the page says. The undisclosed campaign creator asks Facebook users to change their profile pic and share the above statement in their status. The origins of this campaign remain a mystery, as it doesn't seem to be affiliated with any official organization. And not that you need to limit child abuse awareness to a certain time of year, but, at least in the U.S., National Child Abuse Prevention Month isn't until April. Some Facebook commenters have also pointed out the perhaps misdirected effort, posting messages skeptical of any tangible outcomes. "Yeah...like this is gonna help end violence against children..." one commenter wrote. Regardless of the campaign's effectiveness, or what Malcolm Gladwell would probably say about it, the Childhood Cartoon Faces campaign is catching on. Will you be changing your profile picture? And what do you think about Facebook awareness campaigns? Share your thoughts in the comments. © 2013 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.

Write highlights.


assistant: New campaign asking users to change profile pic to a favorite childhood cartoon. This is the Campaign to End Violence Against Children. Some Facebook commenters have pointed out the perhaps misdirected effort.