Boston OKs new farming rules

Boston officials are hoping to open up new opportunities for urban farmers by debuting city land-use regulations that make clear businesses growing fresh produce for inner city consumers are not only accepted, but welcomed.

Outgoing Mayor Thomas M. Menino this week announced the Boston Zoning Commission approved new zoning rules, after a three-year push to raise urban agriculture to a commercial level. The effort brought together city agencies and companies that had pioneered farming in the city.

"Growing food within our city limits means better access to food and economic empowerment, all while cultivating a sense of neighborhood unity and greening our city," Menino said, indicating he will sign the new rules into law.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority worked with the mayor's office in 2010 to launch two pilot "micro-farms" on city-owned land in Mattapan that helped shape the new zoning rules.

Jessie Banhazl, owner of Green City Growers, a Somerville firm that builds horticulture projects in city spaces, said Boston ordinances did not discourage city farming but neither did they regulate it, leaving urban farmers worried about how they would weather opposition from neighbors.

"I think, because of the visibility the ordinances bring to urban agriculture, it will make people more confident to take this on as a career choice," Banhazl said. "I think there's no limit to what will be possible."

There are other communities ahead of Boston, she said, but the new regulations put the Hub at the forefront of big cities in the country pushing commercial agriculture in urban patches and on rooftops.

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Ariad’s stock soars after drug approved by FDA

Ariad Pharmaceuticals' stock rose 16 percent yesterday after the company announced that the Food and Drug Administration had approved revised prescribing information and other steps the FDA required to allow Ariad to resume marketing and distribution of its leukemia drug, Iclusig.

Commercial distribution of the drug is expected to begin by mid- to late-January after the Cambridge company agreed to change Iclusig's label to include new warnings about the risks of blood clots and heart failure, and to revise recommendations about dosage and administration of the drug.

"We are committed to ... helping patients and their physicians make informed decisions about the most appropriate use of Iclusig in the context of the revised product label," said Dr. Frank Haluska, Ariad's senior vice president and chief medical officer.

At the FDA's request, the company agreed on Oct. 31 to voluntarily suspend marketing of the drug because of concerns that patients taking it could suffer life-threatening blood clots.

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Feds eye food defense vs. terrorism

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday proposed a rule that would require the largest food businesses to take steps to prevent its facilities from becoming the target of terrorists trying to contaminate the food supply.

The proposed rule would apply to both domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food and are required to register as a food facility under federal law. The rule does not apply to farms or to businesses that have less than $10 million in total annual sales of food.

"This is not being triggered by new intelligence about a potential attack," said Don Kraemer, senior policy advisor at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "It's a low-probability event, but the potential consequences could be quite devastating."

The FDA has identified four key activities within the food system that are most vulnerable to attack: bulk liquid receiving and loading, liquid storage and handling, the handling of secondary food ingredients before they are combined with the primary one, and activities such as mixing.

Facilities would be required to review their production system to determine if they have any of these types of activities or complete their own vulnerability assessment. They would then be required to implement a written food defense plan that identifies steps to reduce the risk of intentional contamination, establish monitoring procedures and corrective actions, verify that the system is working, ensure that employees assigned to the vulnerable areas receive training and maintain records.

The proposed rule will be available for public comment from Dec. 24 to March 31.

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Patriots fan’s paradise

The owner of this new Brookline home will be neighbors with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and quarterback Tom Brady.

The 6,000-square-foot shingle-style home at 324 Heath St. occupies nearly an acre in the wealthy Chestnut Hill enclave of south Brookline, on one of two pieces of land recently sold by Pine Manor College. The other parcel, which is 5.2 acres, went to Brady, whose palatial home is scheduled to be completed by next summer.

Designed by Cambridge architect Peter Quinn, 324 Heath is elegant without being ostentatious, with some farmhouse-style touches such as low-set windows and a wraparound covered rear deck. It has hand-stained oak floors, high-quality window and door moldings, coffered ceilings, stone fireplaces and lots of windows to bring in natural light. Each of its six bedrooms has an en-suite bathroom, and there are porches off most of them.

The home, with expansive living spaces and an attached three-car garage with a media room/guest bedroom above, is on the market for $4,699,000, just reduced by $200,000.

There's a low stone wall in front of the property, and much of its front yard is a U-shaped paver driveway for outdoor parking that also connects to the garage.

The exterior of the home is gray clapboard with large gables with second-floor porches and rounded bumpouts in the back. The covered front entrance is flanked with stone walls, and you enter a two-story foyer with hand-stained oak floors, coat closets, a turning staircase with a Rococo chandelier, a built-in display cabinet and even a stone chimney wall.

To the right is a formal living room where the other side of the chimney wall is a gas fireplace with a carved wood mantel above. There's a backlit coffered ceiling, recessed lighting and five windows.

On the other side of the foyer is a formal dining room with paneled wainscoting, a back-lit coffered ceiling and a Rococo chandelier. Off this room is a butler's pantry with gray granite countertops and a wine cooler.

The formal living spaces open into a huge open family room/kitchen area. The high-end kitchen features white cabinets, gray granite counters and gray glass mosaic tile backsplashes. There's a large center island with built-in microwave. Appliances are high-end stainless steel G.E. Monogram, including an oversized refrigerator, a dishwasher and professional grade gas stove with a white marble tile backsplash and a stainless steel hood. The eat-in area has seven windows overlooking the backyard and a door out to a wraparound covered back deck.

The backyard has a large bluestone patio and grass area edged by a stone wall. From this vantage point you can see some of the acreage of the Kraft and Brady properties on either side.

Back inside, the adjacent family room has a backlit ceiling as well as a rounded bumpout with a wall of windows also overlooking the backyard.

There's a second front entrance on the far left end of the home, with a foyer with a porcelain-tiled half bathroom, direct access to the garage and a set of back stairs to the second floor.

The main foyer's staircase leads up to the oak-floored master bedroom suite with recessed lighting and a gas fireplace with a wood mantel set into a stone chimney. There's a large walk-in closet with custom wardrobe built-ins. The showpiece of the master bathroom is a freestanding soaking tub. It also features porcelain tile floors that are radiant heated, a white marble-lined steam shower, and a granite-topped vanity with two sinks.

The other bedrooms all have oak floors, large closets and en-suite radiant-heated porcelain tile bathrooms. The second bedroom has cathedral ceilings and glass doors out to a balcony. The third bedroom opens onto a back porch. There's a wall of windows in the fourth bedroom. The large fifth bedroom, which also makes a great family/media room, sits above the garage and has three closets,

Also on this floor is a laundry room with a long granite countertop for folding, a sink and storage cabinets.

The sixth bedroom and full bathroom is on the first floor, down a set of back stairs.

The home is prewired so a smart-home. surround sound and alarm systems can be easily installed.

There's a huge unfinished basement that can accommodate more living space. The basement also houses the home's five-zone gas-fired heating and central cooling system.

Broker: Scott Miller of Realty Executives at 617-216-9260

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Lost piece of Chinatown to rise again

In the 1950s, Paul Lee's family was forced to leave a stretch of Hudson Street that was demolished to build the Southeast Expressway.

Lee, now board chairman of the Asian Community Development Corp., recalled that the block "was full of Chinese families out on the stoops."

"My dad worked in a local restaurant and my mom in a local garment factory," Lee said. "It was a real neighborhood where people looked out for one another."

Now ACDC and joint venture partner New Boston have broken ground on a residential development on that same block, known as Parcel 24, that will bring 50 affordable condos and 95 affordable apartments to a 362-unit complex called One Greenway, which sits at the end of the mile-long swath on top of the Big Dig tunnel.

"We saw it as a time to bring this site back as part of Chinatown that was lost so many years ago," said ACDC Executive Director Janelle Chan.

With many developers saying that luxury housing is the only option in central Boston because of land and construction costs, the developers of One Greenway are out to prove that a project that has a significant amount of affordable housing — 40 percent — can be financially feasible.

The state Department of Transportation controls the long, narrow 64,000-square-foot lot, and awarded the site in 2008, later signing a 99-year ground lease with the developers.

"It helped that the ground lease only charges for the market-rate units," said Sean Sacks, vice president of development for New Boston, which brought its experience in mixed-income development and its commitment to affordable housing in its $190 million Urban Strategy America Fund.

"This is a great opportunity for us and our investors as well, but to do this sort of project requires a commitment," said Sacks, who said that New Boston has been on board since 2005. "It takes more patient money with a triple bottom-line mission."

The complex project has taken many years to develop and finance, but One Gateway was able to get more than $10 million from state and city programs, including city linkage funds.

The first phase, opening in summer 2015, will include a 21-story tower fronting on Kneeland Street with 217 market-rate apartments, and rents ranging from $2,500 for a studio up to $5,500 for a three-bedroom. The units will have all the amenities young professionals are looking for, including a skydeck with city views, a gym and fitness studio.

For the developers, it's not luxury versus affordability.

"We need the market-rate apartments to be successful because these and the affordable component are dependent on one another," Chan said.

The 95 affordable apartments will be in a connected 10-story building, also part of the first phase, and those making less than 50 percent of Boston's area median income will pay about $866 for a one-bedroom, Chan says. Some of the units will be reserved for very low-income and even formerly homeless people, who will pay no more than $531 a month for a one-bedroom. The maximum for a two-bedroom will be around $1,275, with those making 50 percent of the median paying about $1,063.

The second phase of the project, the 50 affordable condominiums, will be farther down Hudson Street in a six-story building, separated from the apartments by a one-third-acre park — much needed green space in this dense neighborhood.

The average two-bedroom condo is expected to cost about $200,000 for those who meet the income guidelines, and will be chosen by lottery.

The affordable condos, scheduled to be finished in summer 2016, are being designed with families in mind, with many three-bedroom units.

"There are very few opportunities for family-sized, affordable ownership here," Chan said.

She said ACDC's mission is also to ensure that Chinatown continues to be a gateway community for new immigrants.

"We know we have to build, not just preserve," said Chan. "The neighborhood has to grow so it doesn't become a ghost of itself as other citys' Chinatowns have. New immigrants bring new life."

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Anti-Koch activists post T bus-stop ads

Environmental activists are launching a new wave of protests against conservative billionaire and WGBH board bigwig David Koch, sponsoring ads at MBTA bus stops with his image and the station's logo calling for his ouster.

"We've discovered that as locals are learning about David Koch's connection to WGBH, their first reaction is one of shock and their second reaction is one of disgust," said Emily Southard, campaign manager for Forecast the Facts. "We are disappointed that WGBH has resisted our calls to kick Koch off the board. That's why we're ... taking it to the local community."

The ads read "Boston: We have a Koch problem," and are located at Harvard University, near Charles River Ventures, Ruggles Station, and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge by MIT.

The ads cost about $2,400, she said. The group has received about $5,000 in donations since launching its Koch protests.

"This has probably been one of our most successful fundraisers for Forecast the Facts," said Southard.

The group — including a sign-waiving Elmo — protested outside the WGBH Brighton studios in October and urged trustees to kick Koch off their board.

WGBH spokesman Michael Raia told the Herald that Koch and other board members do not influence programming and that Koch is staying put.

"Nothing has changed with the board," said Raia. "We welcome the diversity of opinions and we appreciated the time Forecast the Facts took. We heard them. The board plans no action."

A spokeswoman for Koch said, "Mr. Koch has never interfered with or tried to influence WGBH's programming decisions and he has no intention to resign from the WGBH board."

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Bay State’s jobless rate now higher than U.S.

The gap between state and national unemployment rates, once just under 2 percent, has been erased after the Bay State posted higher jobless numbers than the nation yesterday for the first time in six years.

The state unemployment rate for November dipped slightly to 7.1 percent from 7.2 percent the previous month, but the U.S. rate, announced earlier, dropped to 7 percent in November.

"Massachusetts recovered early and more strongly and the rest of the nation is now catching up," said Joanne F. Goldstein, secretary of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. "We're pleased in the direction we continue to head."

Preliminary estimates show that the Bay State gained 6,500 jobs in November. Still, the state unemployment rate has risen 0.6 percent since April, while nationally the rate has dropped 0.5 percent.

Experts say the reasons for the difference aren't clear, but are likely due to a number of factors, not just the government shutdown and the federal cuts known as sequestration.

"The big question is why and I don't have all the answers there," said Eliot Winer, chief economist for the Northeast Economic Analysis Group and former chief economist for Massachusetts.

Some say it is easy to blame the state's job woes on Washington, D.C., but that may not be fair. The state economy also relies on trade with Europe and Canada, which may also be a factor.

"Attributing everything to the sequester and the shutdown is a little overwrought," said Frank Conte of the Beacon Hill Institute.

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Robert DeLeo: We’re not changing Mass. gaming law for Wynn

House Speaker Robert DeLeo yesterday said he doesn't think Massachusetts' gaming law should be modified to suit casino operators, as Las Vegas billionaire Steve Wynn suggested this week.

"When we had written the casino law ... we wanted to make sure we kept that balance between the state getting adequate money and the casinos making adequate profits so that they could hopefully build and create more jobs," DeLeo said. "... I'll take a look at any and all requests to make it better. But my feeling is we have a very good law, and I'm not inclined to make any changes to it. I'm pleased with what we have."

The Winthrop Democrat declined to say whether he had met with Wynn or whether he favored Wynn's proposed casino in Everett over Mohegan Sun's Revere proposal at Suffolk Downs.

Michael Weaver, a Wynn spokesman, said in an email yesterday that it "appears that the speaker and Wynn have the same objectives: to benefit the state while creating jobs and successful enterprises."

But DeLeo took issue with Wynn's remarks during a break from a Gaming Commission hearing earlier this week when he suggested the state's 2011 gaming law may need revisiting.

"In our conversations with the state, we're attempting to get issues resolved that will comfort us," Wynn said. "We're expected to make unequivocal commitments — both in the way we do our business, financially, and everything else — to the state of Massachusetts. And we want to make sure that we have the same thing in return."

"Is it the duty of the state to talk about comforting Mr. Wynn or anyone else?" DeLeo said yesterday. "No."

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Opportunity knocks for Lego lovers

Lego enthusiasts can put their handiwork on the line to become the master model builder for the toy building brick brand's Legoland Discovery Center Boston.

Applicants will vie for the full-time salaried position in multiple Lego construction rounds before onlookers at a "Brick Factor" event at the Boston Public Library on Jan. 25-26.

The winning candidate will be responsible for building exhibitions and display models, running workshops and serving as a spokesman for the 44,000-square-foot attraction, which is scheduled to open in May at Assembly Row in Somerville.

Merlin Entertainments has used the public competition to pick master model builders for each of its Legoland Discovery Centers, and as many as 200 people have applied and competed for a single position.

"It's definitely a unique position," said Kelly Smith, marketing manager for the Somerville center.

Contestants will be asked to build a structure based on a certain category in each timed round. "It's up to their imagination, because we really want to see their creativity come through," Smith said.

Historically, the successful candidates have been 20-something males.

"But what we're really looking for is someone who has the creativity and ability to build, but also has a personality that can teach and interact with our guests, as well as act as the face of the company," Smith said. "Everyone that has become a master model builder has been a fan of Lego their whole life and even into their adulthoods."

Graeme Dymond, the Brick Factor winner and current master model builder for the Legoland Discovery Centre Toronto, worked at TD Bank before winning his position.

Online applications (legoland
discoverycenter.com/boston/brickfactor) must be submitted by Jan. 15. Smith declined to reveal the salary.

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Welcome, Facebook video ads

Facebook is set to begin testing video ads in users' news feeds today — but it's not as intrusive and annoying as it sounds.

Though the ads begin playing automatically when a user comes upon them in a news feed, the audio is turned off. Sound only comes on if the user wants it to — with a simple tap.

Because I don't want to pay for a subscription to the social networking service, I don't mind the ads. Users who complain about incessant online marketing should think about that — the fact that a video or banner promoting a company may seem like an unwelcome diversion, but it's really just proof that someone besides you is paying for whatever service you're using at the time.

Facebook's new video ads don't look as bad when you consider that they're not pop-ups, they're not taking up much time — and if you don't like them, just keep scrolling. On mobile devices, videos won't play unless they've been downloaded in advance via a Wi-Fi connection — meaning they won't consume monthly data plans. No widespread consumer revolts necessary.

The sound-free ads could also present an opportunity. If advertisers are smart, they'll find creative, tongue-in-cheek ways to work within the constraints of no sound. Just think about all the ingenuity that resulted from Vine putting a 6-second limit on smartphone videos. And if Facebook is smart, it will encourage advertisers to imaginatively embrace sound-free ads just as social media users have embraced the brevity of Vine.

Plus, I have a theory on the current mobile advertising market; that is to say, I think it's a bubble. Smartphone users, consider all the ads you accidentally click on while surfing the web or using an app. Several per day? Once a week? Either way, probably a fair amount. I believe a significant portion of the soaring mobile click-through rates we've seen with Facebook (which reportedly quadrupled in a year) are, in fact, due to these "misclicks." Eventually, advertisers are going to realize this.

So unless you want to pay for a subscription to Facebook, say a warm hello to video ads. And maybe turn the volume on every once in a while.

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Holidays key test for Nintendo as Wii U struggles

TOKYO — This holiday season Nintendo faces a critical test with its Wii U video game console that is pitted against Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One as it seeks to revive flagging sales.

Analysts say there's a chance for the Kyoto-based company to stage a turnaround as new game releases such as Super Mario 3D World and Wii Fit U could lift Wii U sales. Should lackluster sales persist, the company which shot to prominence in the 1980s with Family Computer consoles and Game Boy portables might be forced to reconsider the core of its business strategy.

Nintendo's business, long associated with the hit Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon games, has been shaken in recent years as more people play games on their smartphone and tablets. So far Nintendo has been steadfast in its refusal to adapt games for those devices.

The company reported an 8 billion yen ($81 million) loss for the three months ended Sept. 30. Quarterly Wii U sales nearly doubled to 300,000 units from 160,000 in the previous three months, but cumulative sales remained far short of the company's goal of 9 million units for the financial year ending March 2014.

Eiji Sato, analyst at Toyo Securities, said Nintendo needs "killer content" for the Wii U to turn around its business after a weak lineup of game titles added to its woes. That has caught the company in a vicious cycle because developers are reluctant to create games for a poor-selling console.

Most game creators are also pouring resources into mobile games, which are easier and faster to develop compared with those for home game consoles that take more time, energy and expense due to the need for higher quality graphics, said Sato.

Nintendo's management principle has been to increase the population of gamers in the general public. When its strategy works, Nintendo wins big as it did with the motion-sensing Wii in 2007, Sato said.

The Wii U, the successor to the original Wii, reached cumulative global sales of 3.9 million units at the end of September since its launch over a year ago. In contrast, sales of Sony's PS4 reached more than 2.1 million after going on sale Nov. 15. More than one million Xbox One machines were purchased on the first day of sales in 13 countries on Nov. 22.

The arrival of the PS4 and XBox One leaves Nintendo in a "bad place in the console world," said Steve Boxer, a game reviewer for The Guardian and an avid gamer.

"If I was Nintendo, I would be thinking very hard about some means of damage limitation."

On the latest Super Mario 3D World game, Boxer said it is a "very good game with classic Mario-type platform game action, but it doesn't feel like it's something new and fresh."

But Hirokazu Hamamura, president of gaming magazine publisher Enterbrain, said the PS4 and Xbox One consoles are flying off the shelves because their core fans waited up to eight years for these new consoles to come out. And he said their release was accompanied with strong game software.

What has been happening to the Wii U is very similar to the Nintendo's experience with the 3DS, said Hamamura.

The popular Nintendo handheld device had a suggested retail price of $249.99 in the United States when it first became available in March 2011. After weak sales, Nintendo slashed the price to $169.99 in August of that year.

Strong software titles such as Mario Kart and Monster Hunter ensued and "3DS sales exploded," said Hamamura, who points out that Nintendo now has a pipeline of unreleased games for the Wii U.

Since Sept., the Wii U's recommended retail price has been reduced to $299.99 for the 32-gigabyte model in the U.S. It was $349.99 when it debuted in November last year.

Another price cut is a strong possibility for the Wii U if sales stay sluggish, said Sato, the Toyo Securities analyst. Nintendo has 460 billion yen in cash ($4.4 billion) and is prepared to survive a bad sales year or two, he said.

Still, some say it's time for Nintendo to change rather than take comfort in its big cash pile.

"Nintendo should broaden its revenue stream in order to grow," said Tomoaki Kawasaki, senior analyst at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Nintendo has strong software, with hit titles like Super Mario and Zelda, so it may be prudent to make that content mobile while preserving Nintendo's style, he said.

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Report: 99.8 percent of store scanners accurate

BOSTON — Holiday shoppers in Massachusetts can have confidence that the checkout scanners at their local stores are working properly.

The Division of Standards released the results of its annual survey of retail scanners Wednesday, finding a 99.8 percent accuracy rate.

Officials from the agency checked 98 stores representing 50 retailers across the state, from clothing to electronic stores.

Of more than 2,800 items scanned, only five overcharges were found at five separate stores. The highest overcharge was $3.80.

The survey compared the prices as marked on the actual item or on shelves against the price at the checkout counter.

Overcharges occur when the checkout price rings in higher than the listed price. The division issued a $100 dollar fine to each of the five retailers that had overcharges.

Last year's survey found an accuracy rate of nearly 99.6 percent.

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Fed stimulus reduction taken as optimistic sign

The Federal Reserve's announcement yesterday that it will slightly reduce its stimulus efforts beginning next month rallied Wall Street, but stands to have a limited practical effect on the economy, experts said.

The Fed said at the end of its two-day policy meeting that it will trim its $85 billion a month in bond purchases by $10 billion, and chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed expects to make "similar moderate" cuts in its purchases if economic gains continue.

"The changes in Federal Reserve policies are not substantive enough to make a dramatic impact economically," said Max Wolff, chief economist and strategist for ZT Wealth in New York. "It's a fairly modest adjustment. They're going to continue to support the federal budget deficit and the housing market, just by a little less."

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren dissented because he believes that as long as the inflation index continues to run below the 2 percent target and the jobless rate is 7 percent, changes to the bond-buying program are premature.

The prospect of a lower pace of purchases, which have been intended to drive down long-term borrowing rates by increasing demand for the bonds, could mean higher loan rates over time.

But investors seemed elated by the majority of Fed members' finding that the economy has strengthened, by their commitment to low short-term rates and by the slight amount by which they are paring bond purchases. The Dow Jones industrial average soared nearly 300 points.

"The economy is going to continue to do well, even with the slower pace of bond buying," said Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics at IHS Global Insight in Lexington. "Mortgage rates aren't going to jump because of what the Fed is doing. The housing market shouldn't be hurt by this."

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Welcome, Facebook video ads

Facebook is set to begin testing video ads in users' news feeds today — but it's not as intrusive and annoying as it sounds.

Though the ads begin playing automatically when a user comes upon them in a news feed, the audio is turned off. Sound only comes on if the user wants it to — with a simple tap.

Because I don't want to pay for a subscription to the social networking service, I don't mind the ads. Users who complain about incessant online marketing should think about that — the fact that a video or banner promoting a company may seem like an unwelcome diversion, but it's really just proof that someone besides you is paying for whatever service you're using at the time.

Facebook's new video ads don't look as bad when you consider that they're not pop-ups, they're not taking up much time — and if you don't like them, just keep scrolling. On mobile devices, videos won't play unless they've been downloaded in advance via a Wi-Fi connection — meaning they won't consume monthly data plans. No widespread consumer revolts necessary.

The sound-free ads could also present an opportunity. If advertisers are smart, they'll find creative, tongue-in-cheek ways to work within the constraints of no sound. Just think about all the ingenuity that resulted from Vine putting a 6-second limit on smartphone videos. And if Facebook is smart, it will encourage advertisers to imaginatively embrace sound-free ads just as social media users have embraced the brevity of Vine.

Plus, I have a theory on the current mobile advertising market; that is to say, I think it's a bubble. Smartphone users, consider all the ads you accidentally click on while surfing the web or using an app. Several per day? Once a week? Either way, probably a fair amount. I believe a significant portion of the soaring mobile click-through rates we've seen with Facebook (which reportedly quadrupled in a year) are, in fact, due to these "misclicks." Eventually, advertisers are going to realize this.

So unless you want to pay for a subscription to Facebook, say a warm hello to video ads. And maybe turn the volume on every once in a while.

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The Ticker

Apple taking orders for Mac Pro today

Apple will start taking orders for its high-end Mac Pro desktop computer today.

The computer is assembled in Austin, Texas, consistent with Apple's pledge to move manufacturing of an existing Mac line to the U.S.

The Mac Pro, long considered a work horse among graphics and film professionals, is now one-eighth the volume of the previous, boxy model and is about 10 inches tall. It has a starting price of $2,999.

Seaport District building sells for $60M

TIAA-CREF has purchased the eight-story office building at 51 Sleeper St. in South Boston's Seaport District for $60.2 million.

The financial service company's TCAM Core Property Fund Operating LP made the acquisition from DivcoWest, a San Francisco-based real estate investment firm that had picked up the 150,000-square-foot property for $48.25 million last year, according to Registry of Deeds filings.

SAC Capital employee found guilty

A portfolio manager at one of the nation's largest hedge funds was convicted yesterday of insider trading charges.

Michael Steinberg, who worked at Stamford, Conn.-based SAC Capital Advisors, made illegal trades between 2007 and 2009 after receiving insider information from an analyst, Jon Horvath of San Francisco. Horvath pleaded guilty last year to insider trading charges and agreed to testify against Steinberg.

SAC Capital Advisors this month agreed to pay a record $1.8 billion to settle civil and criminal insider trading charges.

Today

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for November.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
• Conference Board releases leading indicators for November.

TOMORROW

• Commerce Department releases final third-quarter gross domestic product.

THE SHUFFLE

• Murtha Cullina LLP is pleased to welcome associate Kevin F. Yetman, left, to the firm. Yetman is a member of the firm's litigation department and bankruptcy and creditors' rights group in its Boston office.
• Celtra Inc., a media and mobile ad creation firm, announces the appointment of Todd Taplin as executive vice president of global sales, strategy and services. Taplin brings business leadership and comprehensive industry experience to Celtra.

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Opportunity knocks for Lego lovers

Lego enthusiasts can put their handiwork on the line to become the master model builder for the toy building brick brand's Legoland Discovery Center Boston.

Applicants will vie for the full-time salaried position in multiple Lego construction rounds before onlookers at a "Brick Factor" event at the Boston Public Library on Jan. 25-26.

The winning candidate will be responsible for building exhibitions and display models, running workshops and serving as a spokesman for the 44,000-square-foot attraction, which is scheduled to open in May at Assembly Row in Somerville.

Merlin Entertainments has used the public competition to pick master model builders for each of its Legoland Discovery Centers, and as many as 200 people have applied and competed for a single position.

"It's definitely a unique position," said Kelly Smith, marketing manager for the Somerville center.

Contestants will be asked to build a structure based on a certain category in each timed round. "It's up to their imagination, because we really want to see their creativity come through," Smith said.

Historically, the successful candidates have been 20-something males.

"But what we're really looking for is someone who has the creativity and ability to build, but also has a personality that can teach and interact with our guests, as well as act as the face of the company," Smith said. "Everyone that has become a master model builder has been a fan of Lego their whole life and even into their adulthoods."

Graeme Dymond, the Brick Factor winner and current master model builder for the Legoland Discovery Centre Toronto, worked at TD Bank before winning his position.

Online applications (legoland
discoverycenter.com/boston/brickfactor) must be submitted by Jan. 15. Smith declined to reveal the salary.

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Shopping hits homestretch

If yesterday's snow put a crimp in your holiday shopping plans, fret not: Today is "Free Shipping Day," and close to 900 online stores have agreed to a new change this year — no minimum purchase required for orders with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve.

With Christmas just a week away, 49.9 percent of consumers expect to finish their shopping online, according to the National Retail Federation.

Meanwhile, this weekend's "Super Saturday" is projected to be among the busiest shopping days of the holiday season for brick-and-mortar stores.

Analyst Ken Perkins said he expects those sales to finally pick up after a couple of weeks of the "typical December doldrums" that follow Black Friday weekend.

In-store retail sales fell 0.8 percent last week from the same period last year, and foot traffic dropped 19.9 percent, as a weekend snowstorm hit the Northeast and Midwest, retail tracking firm ShopperTrak said yesterday.

"The issue is going to be whether it really picks up and there's a crush, or did more sales go online the previous two weeks" said Perkins, of Swampscott's Retail Metrics Inc. "We would expect the retailers ... to ramp up discounts in order to generate more traffic for this final push."

Toys'R'Us yesterday said its stores would stay open for 87 straight hours starting Saturday at 6 a.m. to take advantage of the final rush through 9 p.m. Christmas Eve.

But armchair shoppers can find online stores participating in the sixth annual Free Shipping Day at FreeShippingDay.com. The for-profit venture derives revenue from participating retailers.

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B.R.A. adds huddle to end Menino era with project OKs

The Boston Redevelopment Authority is squeezing in an additional meeting Jan. 2 to approve development projects before the Menino administration comes to an end.

"The lending and financing community is very confident in Boston right now, so we want to take advantage of that," BRA spokeswoman Melina Schuler said. "There are projects in the pipeline that we think are going to be ready."

A BRA board meeting tomorrow has hearings on proposed projects, including Boston Properties and Delaware North's 
$950 million redevelopment of the old Boston Garden site into a mixed-use complex with a 600-foot tower and a Star Market. A vote on $7.8 million in tax breaks also is expected.

Other projects up for approval are a 21-story, 202-room hotel at Tremont and Stuart streets; Trinity Place, a 33-story building with 220 hotel rooms and 142 residential units; 1350 Boylston St., a 200,000-square-foot building with 200-plus residential units and ground-floor retail; and Innovation Square, a 355,000-square-foot research and development/manufacturing facility in the Boston Marine Industrial Park.

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The Ticker

Consumer prices unchanged in Nov.

The cost of living was unchanged last month as lower gas prices saved Americans money and offset price increases elsewhere, the government reported yesterday.

November's unchanged inflation rate followed a 0.1 percent drop for October in the Consumer Price Index.

Cisco acquires Collaborate.com

Cisco yesterday said it has acquired Boston-based Collaborate.com, a company that develops mobile tools for document sharing, task management and team communication.

Cisco said that the acquisition will allow it to build better mobile collaboration tools. Collaborate.com engineers will fold into Cisco's collaboration technology group, which includes everything from Webex to video-conferencing tools.

IRobot shares continue to soar 
after Google's Boston Dynamics buy

IRobot shares soared yesterday finishing up 
5.4 percent to 36.71, after already gaining 6.6 percent Monday. The pure-play robotics company that makes the Roomba, which was recently upgraded, seems to be benefiting from Google's acquisition of Boston Dynamics and Amazon's drone delivery system unveiling, moves that show how valuable artificial intelligence and autonomous technology may be in coming years.

Today

• Commerce Department releases housing starts for November.
• Federal Reserve policy makers release a statement on interest rates.
• Senate Finance subcommittee hearing on retirement security.

TOMORROW

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for November.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
• Conference Board releases leading indicators for November.

THE SHUFFLE

• Kirkland Albrecht & Fredrickson, LLC, a CPA firm in the Boston area, announced that Gena F. Badin, left, of Boston has joined the company as a member of the audit staff. Badin's responsibilities include audit engagements and the preparation of basic tax returns.
• Fenway Sports Management announced that Randall Harris has joined the organization as a sales representative. Harris will be responsible for generating sales revenue across Fenway Sports Group's portfolio of owned and operated properties.

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India central bank keeps interest rate unchanged

MUMBAI, India — India's central bank surprised many Wednesday by keeping its key interest rate unchanged despite a worrying rise in inflation, citing concerns over sluggish economic growth.

The Reserve Bank of India held the benchmark rate at which commercial banks borrow from it steady at 7.75 percent. Markets reacted enthusiastically, with the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index breaking a six-day slump to jump 1.3 percent to 20,872.58 in the hours after the trading.

The central bank had been widely expected to raise the rate for a third time in a row after November inflation rates were worse than expected. Ninety percent of bankers polled by local CNBC-TV 18 ahead of the decision had predicted another 0.25 percent hike.

However, the bank also is walking a tightrope in its monetary policy because raising interest rates too high could weigh down already sluggish economic growth. Asia's third-largest economy hit a 10-year low earlier in its expansion this year before improving somewhat to 4.8 percent in the most recent quarter, still far below the average 8 percent growth India saw for the past decade.

Reserve Bank chief Raghuram Rajan reiterated the tough balancing act, saying the decision was a close one, especially because rising food and fuel costs drove inflation to a 14-month high of 7.5 percent in November.

"Current inflation is too high. I repeat, it is too high," Rajan said, but added that the growth numbers were still "weaker than we would like."

He said there was a risk that being overly reactive to the prices could further weigh down growth in light of recent weak industrial output numbers. And he said the two rate hikes since September should be given more time to take effect.

Since taking over as governor of the RBI, Rajan has kept markets guessing on his moves, hiking the benchmark rate in his first policy review in September when he was expected to keep them steady or even make a cut to try to spur growth.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, the respected former International Monetary Fund chief economist told reporters he resisted being labeled as either an inflation hawk or dove, adding that the job of the reserve bank is to consider all economic data as a whole.

A drop in India's current account deficit plus the expectation that soaring vegetable prices may come down in coming months prompted the bank to hold the interest rate steady, especially since core inflation — which excludes volatile food and fuel prices — has been more stable.

Rajan warned, however, that it will raise rates again if inflation continues to rise in coming months.

"Let me assure you, the Reserve Bank will be vigilant," he said.

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Buses to make Back Bay to Logan run

The Massachusetts Port Authority plans to launch a new express shuttle bus service between the Back Bay and Logan International Airport.

The agency is soliciting proposals from operators to start the route in April, initially to help mitigate the impact on airport passenger access when the MBTA's Government Center Blue Line Station closes in the spring for at least two years of renovations.

The proposed fare is $5 for the shuttle service, which would run from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. from the Back Bay and from 6 a.m. to midnight from the airport.

The service is subject to approval by the Massport board once proposals are submitted by the Jan. 23 deadline, according to spokesman Matt Brelis.

The shuttle bus service tentatively is slated to make Boylston Street pickups at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center and the MBTA's Copley Station, outside the Boston Public Library, before heading to Logan.

Return service from the airport would drop off passengers on St. James Avenue, across from the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, and on Boylston Street at the Hynes. The stops are subject to approval from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and the city's Transportation Department.

At the airport, passengers would be dropped off at designated Logan Express stops at the upper-level departure areas of Terminals A, B1, B2, C and E, while pickups would occur at stops at the terminals' lower-level arrival areas.

Massport has reserved the option of extending the service contract for up to three one-year periods after the initial two-year run.

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Google will keep robot co. in Mass.

Boston Dynamics — the maker of uncannily agile robots including Cheetah, WildCat and BigDog — is staying in Massachusetts for now after its acquisition by Google, a purchase that could draw investors to other robotics companies in the state and ultimately lead to more jobs.

A Google spokesman yesterday declined to comment. Marc Raibert, the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who founded Boston Dynamics in 1992, said in an email:

"We have had a great time building our unusual robots and bringing them this far along. Now we are excited to see how much further ahead we can take robotics, working with Google's gangbuster team. Our entire robotics team will continue on, working here in Waltham."

The acquisition — Google's eighth in robotics in the past six months — "materially changes the odds of getting a return if you're a prospective investor in robot companies," said Colin Angle, CEO and co-founder of Bedford-based iRobot.

"Massachusetts is kind of the Silicon Valley of the robot industry, with more than 50 companies here," Angle said.

"If these exits create more of an appetite for investments in robot companies, Massachusetts will benefit disproportionately because we're the hot spot for robot entrepreneurship in the world. Even though we're losing one of our top-tier robot companies as an independent business ... we could see the creation of new jobs as other robot entrepreneurs found new companies here."

Angle said he suspects Google acquired Boston Dynamics to help develop an autonomous car that can drive itself and deliver packages, which could lower costs and decrease delivery times for e-commerce.

Jordan Graham contributed to this report.

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Nonprofit to invest $20M in South End

Community Builders Inc. is planning more than $20 million in renovations to its South End properties, including 32 additional apartment units it has acquired for 
$5 million.

The Hub-headquartered nonprofit housing developer, which has a 49-year history with affordable housing in the South End, will outfit a total of 146 apartments in 29 South End buildings with new safety systems, upgraded heating systems and improved handicap accessibility. The work is scheduled for completion in late 2014.

Included in the rehab program will be the apartments in eight separate, but contiguous buildings at 160-174 West Springfield St. that Community Builders purchased from Ebenezer Homes Associates.

"The acquisition ensures continued affordability and professional management of the Ebenezer-owned apartments as part of the (Community Builders) portfolio," spokeswoman Stephanie Anderson Garrett said.

Community Builders recently formed Historic South End Limited Partnership to combine into one entity the West Springfield Street units and the two other South End Section 8 developments slated for renovations.

It is financing the acquisition and rehab with tax-exempt bonds, 4 percent low-income housing tax credits from the state, federal and state historic tax credits, and a $22.9 million loan from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, according to Garrett.

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Need for dementia caregivers grows as boomers age

ELMHURST, Ill. — World leaders set a goal for a cure or treatment for dementia by 2025 at the recent G8 summit in London.

But for now, caregiving is among the most pressing issue for people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

The Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association says there are an estimated 15 million caregivers in the United States. And as baby boomers age and live longer, those numbers are expected to grow.

Katie Halloran, a 29-year-old teacher from suburban Chicago, is one of those caregivers.

She races home each day to her 62-year-old father Mike, who has Alzheimer's, to take over for his paid caregiver. As his condition worsens, she and her siblings are considering full-time care — a move Katie dreads.

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Report: Many private college presidents make $1M

WASHINGTON — Presidents at 42 private colleges scaled the $1 million annual mark in total pay and benefits in 2011 — a slight bump from the year before, according to a survey based on the latest federal tax information from the 500 private schools with the largest endowments.

Total median compensation was $410,523, or 3.2 percent more.

A high salary can be a sign of prestige for presidents, but it also opens them to criticism. The Obama administration and consumers are pressuring schools to rein in tuition costs, increase graduation rates and strengthen the value of a diploma.

The Chronicle of Higher Education's report released Sunday used federal tax information from 2011, the most recent available.

The top earner in the survey was Robert J. Zimmer, the president of the University of Chicago. His base pay was $918,000, but his total compensation was $3.4 million. About 40 percent of his total earnings stem from deferred compensation — a retention tool commonly used to keep college presidents on the job longer, according to the Chronicle.

Typically, presidents lose the deferred compensation if they leave early, and many of the top earners in the survey received deferred compensation in 2011.

The analysis included a comparison of presidents' salaries compared with the size of their college's budget. By that measure, the median pay was $5,466 per $1 million of expenses.

Zimmer, it found, earned $1,113 for every $1 million in expenses at his college because the budget was $3 billion.

By comparison, Drew Gilpin Faust, the president of Harvard University, didn't do as well as some of her peers. She earned $230 for every $1 million in expenses. Her total compensation was $899,734, while the university's budget was $3.9 billion, according to the Chronicle.

On the other end, several presidents who are members of religious orders earned no compensation at Roman Catholic institutions, the report said.

In 2010, 36 presidents earned more than $1 million in compensation.

The median base salary was $301,299 in 2011, slightly more than the year before.

A previously published report by the Chronicle examined the salaries of public college presidents from the 2011-2012 budget year. It found that four earned more than $1 million in compensation. The median total compensation was $441,392, or 4.7 percent more than from the previous year.

___

Online:

Executive Compensation details: http://Chronicle.com/compensation

___

Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter: http://twitter.com/khefling

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Tablet solution in sight

A Boston nonprofit is putting the finishing touches on the world's first affordable "tablet" for the blind, an Android-based device that is part of an innovative campaign to turn around a little-known literacy crisis among the visually impaired.

"If only 12 percent of children could read today, it'd be the biggest discussion in the world," said Brian A. MacDonald, the president of National Braille Press, located in the Fenway. "But because the blind are such a small population, it's not very well known."

Literacy among the blind has plummeted in the past four decades to that astonishing number — 12 percent — due in part to the lack of qualified Braille instructors in regular classrooms, the flipside of the mainstreaming movement.

MacDonald and his team of techies hope their Braille tablet for the blind — dubbed the B2G-20 — will fill this void, eventually leveling the playing field for a population increasingly mired in unemployment and poverty.

But what does a tablet for a blind person look like? For starters, it doesn't require a display screen. Instead, a 20-character text output field features tiny pins that pop up and down to form Braille letters. An eight-key standard Braille keyboard for data input lies above the display. The whole thing is about the size of a Kindle.

Designed by assistive technology pioneer Deane Blazie and hardware engineer Mike Romeo, both volunteers, the tablet runs the latest version of Android. It has speech recognition, GPS, Wi-Fi, cell service, optical text recognition and even a camera.

The speech recognition is linked to Braille tutorials that can help the user learn Braille. The camera is a real game changer. The user can take a picture of a sign or a menu to have it read back in Braille, or use it to double-check the color of a shirt they're about to wear.

"We're ready to start building a bunch of units," said Blazie, who came out of retirement to help MacDonald pro bono. "But we have budget problems."

The group has raised and spent $1 million already. They need $200,000 more to bring the device to market, where it likely will sell for under $2,500 — far less than any electronic Braille product ever. They are about to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund the remainder of the project.

But what's perhaps most remarkable is what's next: The first 3-D graphic display tablet for the blind. The prototype, just weeks from completion, features a moving carriage that prints a refreshable display of Braille and raised images made up of tiny nickel-titanium pins. Again, money is the issue. When they hit the $1 million mark, a blind consumer conceivably could have it in two years.

"A lot of people have tried to make full-page Braille display devices," Blazie said. "Nobody has succeeded."

Seventy percent of blind adults are unemployed. One of these upcoming devices could change that.

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Broadcast copyright suit may go to SCOTUS

The potential for a Supreme Court case between established broadcasters and a small Internet company over copyright infringement went up last week, and could shape current and future innovation, experts said.

The legal fight between major television broadcasters and Aereo, an Internet TV company that posts content from broadcast channels for its customers, took another step forward last week when Aereo told the U.S. Supreme Court the company does not oppose the broadcasters' petition for review.

While that does not ensure the court will take the case, Michael Carrier, a Rutgers University law professor who is an innovation law expert with Supreme Court experience, said the odds have significantly increased.

"Now that Aereo has said Supreme Court review is appropriate, now it's more likely," Carrier said. "Both parties want to get this over with."

"We are unwavering in our belief that Aereo's technology falls squarely within the law," Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said in a statement.

If the court does take the case, the repercussions could extend beyond Aereo and affect other Internet technologies.

"There is a larger innovation issue here," Carrier said. "I think it could have an impact on innovation and the reason is because this is not just about broadcasting. You could view it more broadly about cloud computing in general."

In an interview in October, Kanojia told the Herald the legal argument made by broadcasters would affect nearly every Internet company.

"I don't know how you get there without destroying the entire cloud computing business," Kanojia said of the broadcasters' argument. "If you do it on a copyright basis, you've essentially indicted Google, Dropbox, Amazon, all of them."

If Aereo were to win a Supreme Court case, cloud computing companies could see a boom.

After the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Cablevision could host DVR-recorded content in the cloud, venture capital investment in cloud computing companies significantly increased, according to a report by Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner.

"Our findings suggest that decisions around copyright scope can have significant impacts on investment and innovation," the report says.

Aereo, headquartered in New York, houses a majority of its employees in Boston's Innovation District, and works by digitally converting over-the-air signals. So far, courts in Boston and New York have refused to issue preliminary injunctions that would have shut Aereo down.

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Dropcam Pro monitor remains best in the business

Dropcam Pro ($199, various retailers)

The sequel to the Dropcam's original Wi-Fi video monitor offers twice as sharp viewing, a wider field of view and zoom capabilities. A two-way talk feature allows you to chat through the camera to whoever — or whatever — you're monitoring.

The good: The original Dropcam has been our reliable baby monitor for the last year, and the new version simply improves on an excellent product. The accompanying app (official apps are for iOS and Android, and a customer-created app was recently added to the Windows Phone store) allows you to monitor the camera from anywhere as long as you have a smartphone or tablet. Notifications pop up on your device alerting you to any movement in the field of view. The camera's night vision is as good as anything else on the market.

The bad: If you want your video footage saved in the cloud — for instance, if you're spying on the new nanny — you'll need a monthly subscription. Cloud storage subscription plans can be pricey, from $10 to $30 a month, while the livestream is free.

The bottom line: If you want a reliable video monitoring system with night vision, look no further than the Dropcam Pro. And for $50 less, the original Dropcam is still a good option for basic monitoring of pets and kids.

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Reading the tech tea leaves

Predictions are a tricky business, but I did tell you last year that 2013 would be the year that Best Buy started to go bye-bye, that wearable devices like the Jawbone Up would be huge and that Apple's stock surge would start to collapse. So I'm reading technological tea leaves again for 2014. Here is my five-part forecast for next year:

5: It will be the year foreign diplomacy goes social. We saw the first hint of this Nov. 23, when the Iranian president retweeted Secretary of State John Kerry's comments following a historic agreement on nukes between the two parties in Geneva.

Though I wouldn't call Kerry and the Iranian president "tweeps," Hassan Rouhani's Twitter olive branch received thousands of retweets and exposed a new way to take foreign policy directly to the people — for better or worse — in 140 characters or less. More foreign leaders, perhaps even some right here at home, are sure to follow suit.

4: Health care will go the way of the wearable. Consumers will begin to see and experience many more devices and apps that help them to monitor personal health and wellness, with metrics like blood-sugar levels, blood pressure and more. These devices will begin to automatically send information on you to your doctor, and will be pushed by health insurance carriers who see their value in disease prevention.

3: Google Glass will not come to market. Though I'm as jazzed as anyone about the prospect of augmented reality goggles that make my line of sight a whole lot smarter, I don't see how they get the price down to a level that consumers will be willing to pay. Despite many pronouncements that the product will be available to consumers in 2014, I see the device remaining with a select group handpicked by Google for their beta-testing program, at least for the next year.

2: Haptics will be the next big thing. That's a field of technology devoted to tactile feedback, or in some cases tricking your nerves into thinking they feel virtual objects that aren't actually present.

We'll start to see the first rumblings of tablets that allow you to virtually "feel" a sweater before you buy it online.

1: The next holiday shopping season will feature a new addition: 3-D printers and pens. A beneficiary of this hopefully will be the fine folks at Somerville's Formlabs, whose pioneering 3-D printer, the Form 1, is a sleek-looking producer of three-dimensional objects.

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Michelin recalls 1.2 million tires in US

WASHINGTON — Tire-maker Michelin says it is recalling about 1.2 million tires sold in the U.S. because an increasing number are experiencing tread loss or rapid air loss.

The tires are commonly used for pickup trucks, heavy-duty vans, small RVs and commercial light trucks. The Greenville, S.C-based company says no deaths or injuries have been reported because of the tires.

The tires, known as Michelin LTX M/S tires, were manufactured between January 2010 and June 2012. They were sold as original equipment on some vehicles and as new replacement tires.

The company says that fewer than 200 of the tires have been returned by customers. Owners can have them replaced at Michelin stores for no charge.

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China bans shellfish imports from US West Coast

SEATTLE — China has suspended imports of shellfish from the U.S. West Coast, cutting off one of the biggest export markets for Northwest companies.

KUOW public radio reports (http://bit.ly/1fe35To) that the Chinese government imposed the ban after discovering that recent shipments of geoduck clams from Northwest waters had high levels of arsenic and a toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.

The Chinese government says the ban that started last week will continue indefinitely.

Clams, oysters and all other two-shelled bivalves harvested off Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Northern California are affected.

The U.S. exported $68 million worth of geoduck clams last year — most of which came from Puget Sound. Nearly 90 percent of those geoduck exports went to China.

___

Information from: KUOW-FM, http://www.kuow.org/

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Fuel assistance drying up

Community activists are urging the federal government to increase fuel assistance funding, saying 50,000 households across the Bay State who depend on the aid to heat their homes may be left out in the cold by Christmas.

"We have thousands of households who do not have enough assistance," said John Drew, CEO of Action for Boston Community Development. "We're not in a position to help a lot of people right now."

ABCD has significantly less money this year, in part because of the federal sequester, to provide fuel assistance benefits to those who heat their homes with oil, Drew said.

"We're starting this winter off with about 25 percent less money than last year," he said.

The maximum benefit for the poorest families is $950, and with oil at $4 a gallon, ABCD is only able to fund one tank of oil, he said, meaning those who applied early will use up their benefits soon. ABCD estimates 5,000 households they help are maxed out and may run out by Christmas, and 50,000 across the state are in the same position.

"In past winters, we had enough money to provide two tanks for the winter," Drew said.

ABCD has received more than 17,000 applications for fuel assistance so far.

Maria Cazeau, a 54-year-old minister who was laid off and receives heating assistance, said she depends on the oil ABCD provides.

"I don't have enough money to support me, so I need that help," Cazeau said.

She said her home needs to be kept warm because a sick, elderly woman is staying with her.

In November, Gov. Deval Patrick and governors of 13 other states sent a letter to Congress seeking a boost in the funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program from the current $2.6 billion to $3.6 billion. The letter noted average winter home heating costs have increased by 6 percent.

"LIHEAP is a critical bridge of Americans — many of them elderly, disabled or caring for dependent children — who otherwise may be forced to choose between paying home energy bills and paying for food, medicine or other essentials," the letter said.

Still, Drew said more funding is anything but certain, even with the promise of a newly signed federal budget deal.

"There may be some federal money, and there may not be federal money," Drew said.

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