Boston agrees to keep Uber ride data locked up

Boston has agreed to keep secret detailed data from every Uber ride in the city, according to a contract between the city and the company.

The agreement, obtained by the Herald through a public records request, appears to comply with a specific exemption in Massachusetts state law, which says data that is voluntarily provided to governments does not fall under public records law.

"The data constitutes Uber's trade secrets or commercial or financial information voluntarily provided to the city for use in developing governmental policy and upon a promise of confidentiality," said Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh. She said the city is in the process of analyzing the data.

That means details of the "tens of thousands of Uber rides on the streets of Boston every day," according to the report, will not be made public. The agreement also requires the city to inform Uber when the data is requested by a third party.

Taylor Bennett, a spokesman for Uber, said the data contains information that could be useful to Uber's competitors.

"It's a foundation of the business and how we operate and sharing it will expose competitive disadvantages," Bennett said. "That's the formula we use to improve, and when we reveal that, that's data that competition can use."

Uber announced several weeks ago that it would be sharing trip data. The city said it would be useful for making policy decisions on transportation, development and infrastructure.

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Cool Southie condo tops retail space

This stylish South Boston condo isn't what you'd expect to see above a retail store, with its paneled wainscoting, sloped skylighted ceilings and private decks with panoramic city views.

The two-bedroom unit at 634 East Broadway, on the market for $629,900, is one of five condos above a former hardware store, but unlike the other condos Unit 1 has three levels and a private entrance.

The first level is the entry­way to the condo, with a marble foyer, hallway and a coat closet, and the living spaces have a reverse layout, with the living/dining/kitchen spaces on the top floor.

The unit was converted in 2005 with maple floors with cherrywood inlay, paneled wainscoting and high-end window and door moldings.

A maple staircase lined with white-paneled wainscoting leads up two flights to the main living area. The living room has paneled wainscoting and features 12-foot sloped ceilings with recessed lighting as well as speakers­ with built-in surround sound. In one corner sits a gas fireplace with a carved wood mantel and black granite hearth with a chandelier overhead. Glass doors lead out to a 200-square-foot private wooden deck with panoramic city views.

The adjacent dining/kitchen area has three skylights. The dining area also has paneled wainscoting and a chandelier and fronts on a three-part bay window. The kitchen features 22 walnut-stained cabinets and black granite counters. The General Electric refrigerator, dishwasher and gas stove are also black.

Off the living spaces is a storage closet and there's a hallway with a second closet holding a stacked GE washer/dryer and the unit's gas-fired heating and central air-conditioning system.

At the end of the hall is a half bathroom with beadboard wainscoting, a black marble floor and a pedestal sink.

Down the stairs, the second level has a step-up open-style den/home office space with maple floors and cherry­wood inlay, paneled wainscoting and crown molding. It is flanked on either side by two bedroom suites.

The rear-facing master suite features a decent-sized bedroom with recessed lighting and an overhead fan/light as well as a good-sized closet with built-in shelving. A pair of glass doors lead out to a 250-square-foot private rear deck with views of the city. The en-suite master bathroom has a marble-tile floor and ceramic tile surround for a whirlpool tub. There's a brown granite-topped wood vanity and a separate one-piece Fiberglas shower.

The second bedroom is front-facing with a three-part bay window, recessed lighting and an overhead fan/light. The en-suite bathroom has marble tile floors and walls and a brown granite-topped wood vanity. There's also a one-piece Fiberglas shower.

The unit does not come with parking, with the best option being a South Boston residential parking permit.

Home Showcase

• Address: 
624 East Broadway, Unit 1, South Boston
• Bedrooms: Two
• Bathrooms: Two full, one half
• List price: $629,900
• Square feet: 1,438
• Price per square foot: $438
• Annual taxes: $6,380
• Location: About a half mile to main South Boston retail district along West Broadway; a mile via T bus to Broadway Red Line station.
• Built In: 1899, renovated into condo 2005
• Broker: David Murdock of Campion & Co. at 617-236-0711

Pros:

• Paneled wainscoting, high-end door and window moldings
• Living room with 12-foot sloped ceilings and kitchen dining area with three skylights
• Two private decks with panoramic city views
• Both bedrooms have en-suite marble-tile bathrooms

Cons:

• Doesn't come with on-site parking space
• Bathrooms have one-piece Fiberglas showers

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The Ticker

FDA OKs Shire drug for binge-eating use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved Shire Plc's stimulant Vyvanse to treat binge-eating disorder, the first product to be approved for the condition. Shire's U.S. headquarters is based in Lexington.

Vyvanse, which is currently approved to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, generated sales of more than $1 billion in the first nine months of last year.

Dr. Flemming Ornskov, the company's chief executive officer, said in an interview that Shire's goal is to generate overall sales of $10 billion by 2020. Of that, he expects $200 million to $300 million to come from Vyvanse for binge-eating.

Casino license draws 5 applicants

The competition for Massachusetts' final casino license, reserved for the state's southeast region, is slowly coming into focus, as state regulators announced yesterday that Mass Gaming & Entertainment had met the application deadline.

The company, an affiliate of Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming, joins New York-based KG Urban Enterprises, as potential rivals for the license.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said yesterday that it also is evaluating application extension requests from Somerset On The Move, Crossroads Massachusetts and the Seafan Trust. All five groups will be invited to address the commission at its next meeting Feb. 5.

Applicants were to submit by yesterday detailed financial information about key players and investors in their projects as well as a $400,000 non-refundable fee to defray costs of the commission's background investigation.

But only three of the five possible applicants — Mass Gaming & Entertainment, KG Urban Enterprises and Crossroads Massachusetts — have paid the required fee, the commission said. Applicants must pass the background check before they can continue to the next phase of the process, which focuses on the project proposal itself.

New Connector chief takes over Mon.

Gov. Charlie Baker's pick to head the state's health care marketplace and website is stepping into the job a few weeks earlier than planned.

Baker tapped Louis Gutierrez last week to serve as executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, which oversees the state's health insurance marketplace and website. Gutierrez, a principal at the Massachusetts-based IT consulting firm Exeter Group, was scheduled to take over the post near the end of February, but now plans to start Monday.

Interim Executive Director Maydad Cohen is expected to stay on at the connector to help manage the project through the end of the open enrollment period.

Brandeis president to step down

Brandeis University President Frederick Lawrence will step down at the end of the current school year and take a job at Yale. Lawrence made the announcement yesterday in a letter to the university community in Waltham that he looked forward to returning to full-time teaching and scholarship as a senior research scholar at Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn.

Lawrence has served as the eighth president of Brandeis since January 2011.

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Merger collapse puts Partners in tight spot

Partners HealthCare will have to tread carefully on any future expansion, or risk a takedown attempt by Attorney General Maura Healey, a hospital expert predicted yesterday.

"If Partners keeps on attacking and capturing more land, the AG may say, you know these folks are out of control and they're far too big to allow competition to survive in Massachusetts," said Boston University professor Alan Sager. "If they continue down that road, they may well risk the AG suing to break them up into two parts."

Partners' options are limited after Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders rejected the deal allowing Partners to merge with South Shore, Lawrence Memorial and Melrose-Wakefield hospitals.

It can forge ahead with the merger anyway, engaging in a bare-knuckles legal brawl with an eager new AG. But that could take one to two years in the courts, not including any appeals, said Tasneem Chipty, an antitrust economics expert at Analysis Group.

"If you had two small organizations trying to merge, there would be no issue at all," said Chipty. "You only see close scrutiny, which could become litigious, in situations where one or both parties are quite big. Obviously, Partners is big."

Partners and Healey could also go back to the drawing board on an agreement more palatable to the court than the one former Attorney General Martha Coakley negotiated, but that would also likely be a multiyear process.

Partners could also abandon the deal altogether, or drop individual hospitals from the merger.

Partners CEO Gary Gottlieb is scheduled to step down July 1. It's reasonable to assume Partners would wait to make sure its new CEO is on board with whatever next step it chooses. Partners had no comment yesterday.

Still unknown is what Healey's takedown of the Partners deal could mean for other hospitals, including Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center, which are in talks to merge.

Healey said yesterday she'll be watching the potential deal closely.

"If an agreement between Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center is proposed, our office fully expects to review the transaction," said Christopher Loh, spokesman for Healey. "We remain committed to tackling the challenge of controlling health-care costs while also promoting quality and access."

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Partners/AG battle looms

Partners HealthCare could be in for a knock-down, drag-out legal fight with Attorney General Maura Healey if they move to merge with three smaller hospitals, analysts said yesterday after a Superior Court judge scuttled a deal that would have let the medical behemoth expand its sweeping reach.

"I think that Partners is facing a new attorney general who seems much more bent on litigating than her predecessor ... It would be hard for them to win a litigation," said Matthew Cantor, a New York health care antitrust lawyer.

"Does that mean the attorney general wouldn't settle with them on any basis? I can't say that. But she seems like she's much more likely to get into a tussle," Cantor said.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders issued a 48-page decision that quashed a deal reached between Partners and former Attorney General Martha Coakley after lengthy negotiations.

It would have allowed Partners, — which employs 6,500 doctors and operates Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's and six other acute care facilities, — to acquire South Shore, Lawrence Memorial and Melrose-Wakefield hospitals.

Healey issued a statement saying she's ready to go to court, and "it is now Partners' decision whether to proceed" with the merger. "Our office is prepared to litigate to block this transaction if Partners chooses to move forward," she said. "We remain committed to tackling the challenge of controlling health care costs while also promoting quality and access."

Partners president and CEO Gary Gottlieb sent an email to employees, saying that the news was "very disappointing for all involved in this process."
"Our leadership team will now take the time to evaluate all of our options," Gottlieb wrote.

The judge ruled the deal didn't address concerns about rising costs created by Partners' market dominance.

"By permitting the acquisitions, the settlement, if adopted by this Court, would cement Partners' already strong position in the health care market and give it the ability, because of this market muscle, to exact higher prices from insurers for the services its providers render," Sanders wrote.

Her decision echoed fears raised by the Health Policy Commission, which found that health care costs would soar by between $38.5 million and $49 million for the state's top three insurance companies.

"The court basically threw up its hands and said, 'It's way beyond our competence to understand the price mechanisms to make it work,'" said Boston College Law School professor Brian Quinn. "Partners is left in a situation where litigation is back on the plate. The next step is the court will say, 'You'll need to come up with something else.'"

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Software license to cut wait times at registry

Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles branches are notorious for their wait times, but how customers wait could soon change.

Pasadena, Calif.-based QLess won the bid to provide a software platform that would let customers enter virtual RMV lines via on-site kiosks or their mobile devices or computers, and get real-time updates on estimated wait times. Customers would be texted a few minutes before they're at the front of the line, preventing the need to wait around an RMV office.

"We give people three freedoms that they didn't have before — freedom to wait anywhere they want, freedom to join the line from anywhere they want and freedom to choose when to get served," QLess co-founder and CEO Alex Backer said. "The results are a dramatic reduction in walkouts or no-shows. Some people have more patience to wait when they have the freedom to wait anywhere."

QLess and the RMV now have to negotiate a contract to provide the service.

The RMV in November released a "10-Point Promise" to improve service, including reducing branch wait times by 20 percent. The average wait time at its 30 branches was 22 minutes and 42 seconds in December, according to the RMV, which has set a 15-minute goal.

Under the current system, customers are told estimated wait times, but never are informed when they change. Branch wait times posted on the RMV website also are inaccurate.

RMV spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said: "We want to make the wait-time experience more predictable."

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Chamber of Commerce to focus on technology companies

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is turning over a new leaf, planning to focus on the technology sector and innovation economy as it outlines its priorities in the coming year.

"We need to do more to continue to accelerate innovation and promote innovation everywhere," Jim Klocke, chamber executive vice president, said. "(It's) critical. We have a lot of talent around here, we have a lot of innovation."

The new focus comes as the chamber searches for a leader to replace longtime president and chief executive Paul Guzzi, who announced his retirement in September.

John Fish, who was head of the search committee until he recently stepped down, has said the chamber is looking for someone who could strengthen its connection with innovation businesses.

In outlining its 2015 agenda, the chamber also is emphasizing increasing STEM education and improving entrepreneurial freedom for independent contractors — policies that weren't a priority last year.

"Massachusetts should adopt the federal standard for independent contractors," Klocke said.

"We're going to see more people starting small business, we're going to see more creativity and startups."

The chamber and Boston-based startup incubator MassChallenge also have been working together to increase engagement with fledgling Hub businesses.

C.A. Webb, executive director of the New England Venture Capital Association, said the chamber's agenda for the year represents a good step.

"It's a comprehensive and thoughtful plan that reflects even more of an innovation orientation than last year's agenda," she said. "I'm really supportive of the agenda and look forward to collaborating with them."

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Hot Property: Ocean dreams come true at Seapoint

As we get through the aftermath of the Blizzard of 2015, why not dream of spending summers in this luxurious shingle-style Dartmouth compound at the tip of a peninsula that juts five miles into Buzzards Bay.

Designed by renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern and built in 2007, the 22,000-square-foot property known as Seapoint has a main house with five-bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and a guest house with three bedrooms. It's located on 10 landscaped acres, with 270-degree ocean views and 1,500 feet of water frontage bordered by a seawall.

The current owner, who runs a financial services company and has a home in Boston, used Seapoint as a summer retreat. But he has already moved into another summer home he had built on the Cape. The Dartmouth property has been up for sale since July, listed for a cool $25 million.

"There are very few buyers at this price point," said listing broker Robert Kinlin of Robert Paul Properties, who said the price also includes a buildable lot in the gated community and golf club at nearby Round Hill. "You have people who don't need to sell and people who don't need to buy."

Kinlin said that the eventual buyer of Seapoint will be someone who falls in love with the site. It could easily be a year-round home, he said, although it most likely will be someone's second, third or fourth place. The annual taxes are $178,760.

"It's an amazing piece of earth, first of all," said Kinlin of the waterfront site "You've got views out to Cuttyhunk and Martha's Vineyard. For a property like this, the land is the most important thing, followed by the house."

The site served as a lookout for German submarines during World War II, and there's still a gun turret on the property.

With its wraparound porches, outdoor patios, infinity-edge pool and water dock, Seapoint feels like a hotel resort. Almost every room has a water view.

The enormous second-floor master bedroom suite includes two full bathrooms and two dressing rooms with custom built-ins, a hand-painted, barrel-vault ceiling and a gas fireplace with a baroque pattern of gilt silver. Private staircases from the suite lead to a circular library and home office and there's an outdoor deck with ocean views.

The current owners also hired local artisans to add nautical motifs such as a curved custom fireplace fashioned from stones and driftwood from Buzzards Bay. Craftsmen also made bulls-eye glass windows for the foyer, adorned a living room mantelpiece with shells and mermaids, and carved a rope motif into the dining room floors and seashells into the kitchen floors.

Then there's the unique amenities on the lower level such as a regulation bowling alley, a custom-built stone-fronted circular wine cellar as well as a bar carved to resemble the prow of a ship.

The five-mile Mishaum Point peninsula is a gated community of high-end summer homes 66 miles from downtown Boston.

"Unlike the Cape, you don't have to cross any bridges to get to Dartmouth," Kinlin said. "And it's a quiet, low-key area ideal for someone who wants privacy."

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Charlie Baker to Keolis: Get on track

Keolis, the French company hired last year to run commuter rail lines, struggled mightily to rebound from the blizzard, canceling 28 trains during yesterday's morning rush hour, sparking a warning from the Baker administration to deliver on their "no-excuses" contract.

The company reported an on-time early-day performance of 36 percent, greatly below its average of 89 percent. The delays left some passengers waiting for more than an hour.

Yesterday's failures to get the commuter rail lines running efficiently after a storm that dropped up to three feet of powdery, dry snow in some areas prompted Gov. Charlie Baker's newly appointed Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack to single out the company.

"We understand the challenges that our operator Keolis faces in operating the system. They signed on to a no-excuses contract and we're going to be looking for a better performance this afternoon and on an ongoing basis over that contract," Pollack said.

Baker was quick to back her up, adding, "I think Secretary Pollack's comments speak for the administration on that one."

Keolis spokesman Mac Daniel said mechanical problems with aging locomotives — from stalled engines to malfunctioning air compressors — were to blame and that snow-covered rails or weather-related track switch issues were not factors in the scuttled trains.

Daniel said 22 of the usual 196 inbound trains heading to North Station during yesterday's morning rush hour had to be canceled, including two disabled trains on the Fitchburg line, which resulted in passengers having to get off one train and reboard another. South Station bound trains fared better, with six of 302 trains getting scratched.

Passengers on the Newburyport-Rockport line endured the longest delay of 74 minutes while waiting for a replacement train sent from Boston to reach the Clipper City after the original train broke down.

Keolis has been hampered by failures with 40 of the new locomotives the MBTA shelled out 
$222 million for being taken off line for major repairs to fix faulty traction motor bearings.

As of 7 last night, Keolis reported it was on time for only 40 percent of the day's runs.

The MBTA has already slapped Keolis with an $804,000 fine in November in part because of a poor on-time record that dropped to 
85 percent in October, as well as unclean trains, and other problems.

Laurel J. Sweet contributed to this report.

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The Ticker

Super Bowl ads
 won't offend

Super Bowl advertisers are being careful not to offend. GoDaddy decided not to run an ad that showed a dog being sold online so as not to offend dog lovers. The Victoria's Secret angels are fully clothed in its teaser spot, at least, although they reveal more in their actual Super Bowl ad. And an anti-domestic abuse commercial will have a high profile-spot during the game after a year of domestic violence scandals in the NFL.

Facebook beats revenue forecasts

For the seventh quarter in a row Facebook beat profit and revenue forecasts, continuing to win more mobile advertising revenue as most users shift to using the site on smartphones and other portable devices.

The world's biggest online social network said yesterday that advertising revenue jumped 
53 percent to $3.59 billion for the fourth quarter — with mobile ad revenue representing
69 percent of the total.

Fed to be patient on raising rates

The Federal Reserve reiterated yesterday that it will be "patient" in raising interest rates from record lows even as the U.S. economy moves steadily closer to full health. The Fed said it thinks inflation will decline further before eventually reaching the central bank's 2 percent target rate.

TODAY

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.

 Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.

 National Association of Realtors releases pending home sales index for December.

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Apple stock ascends after record quarter

Shares of Apple Inc. surged yesterday after the company announced the best financial quarter ever for a public company, and analysts predict there's more growth in the tech giant's future.

Apple stock closed up 5 percent a day after it revealed blockbuster 
$74.6 billion in sales and record-breaking $18 billion profit in the fourth-quarter after it rolled out its newest smartphones, the larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. The company said it sold 74.5 million iPhones in the quarter, which works out to 34,000 smartphones every hour.

"We believe momentum in the current iPhone product cycle remains strong," said Ben Reitzes in a research note for Barclays, "helped by new form factors as well as new products."

Citigroup analyst Jim Suva pointed out that changes in wireless plans allow consumers to upgrade their smartphones without waiting two years to avoid penalties, which he called a big factor in Apple's sales total and a continuing plus for the stock.

"We believe investors do not fully grasp this change in behavior by the wireless carriers and the positive impact to Apple," he wrote.

But Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, sounded a more cautious note.

"Other factors will make it difficult to match this quarter's growth performance," he said.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Chinatown creates land trust

Chinatown residents and activists have formed a land trust in an attempt to buy properties and keep them affordable for residents of the Boston neighborhood, which has been giving way to gentrification.

"What we're really trying to do is preserve as much of the residential stock that exists in Chinatown in a form that is more affordable so the whole neighborhood doesn't become luxury, thus pricing out the Chinese community that is here," said Jeff Hovis, president of the nonprofit Chinatown Community Land Trust. "It's not all going to be ultra-low end properties. There may also be some mixture of more middle-income, condo-type properties really designed for families."

Row houses are the primary target of the trust, which hopes to get funding from sources including the city's Department of Neighborhood Development and foundations, and partner with nonprofit or for-profit developers. Some residents held a rally yesterday on Hudson Street, to protest what they said was a forced relocation of tenants from a row house.

"The city of Boston funds affordable housing development, so it's very conceivable that we would be able to fund, at least in part, a purchase of housing in Chinatown if it was going to remain affordable," DND director Sheila Dillon said.

The Chinatown land trust is getting help from the city's first land trust, the nonprofit Dudley Neighbors Inc., which formed in 1988 and has partnered to develop 225 affordable residential units in Roxbury's Dudley area.

"Funding is a big challenge, because when we started, we were able to access blighted vacant land," DNI director Harry Smith said. "They're in Chinatown. There's not a lot of vacant city-owned land."

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Some Boston spots brave blizzard

The blizzard of 2015 didn't dampen Bostonians' appetites to venture out yesterday in search of restaurants that were open to serve their snowbound neighbors.

Barracuda Tavern in Downtown Crossing had put up six workers at the Nine Zero Hotel and Omni Parker House on Monday night so it could open at its normal 11 a.m. yesterday.

"We have two hotels right across the street from us, so it's a no-brainer," said chef/owner Luka Stipanov, who counted city workers as well as hotel guests as customers yesterday. "We're staying open until 2 a.m. and serving food until 1:30 a.m. — the full menu."

For Jacqueline Church, founder of private cooking class company Kitchen Confidence, the storm was a chance for a lunch date with her husband, an "essential" state employee who was working in Boston yesterday instead of his usual Danvers. The Leather District couple met at Gourmet Dumpling House in Chinatown.

"There was only a handful of people walking around out there," Church said. "Usually there's a line because it's so popular, but today, we walked right in and got a table."

Church saw only one other restaurant open.

"I was surprised," she said. "Chinatown usually is always the last to close."

Manager PJ Crowley shoveled a path through a 3-foot snowdrift to the door of Battery Park to open the Financial District bar and lounge for drinks -- with discounts equal to the amount of snow, which was 20 inches by mid-afternoon.

"It's a little tough, especially being in the area where we are," Crowley said. "But we had a lot of fun on Twitter yesterday and were committed to it, so we just wanted to follow through. Even after the (marathon) bombings we were open ... so we felt a snowstorm — being from New England -- wasn't really a big deal."

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Crews still working to restore power

Crews were working through the night to restore power to about 28,000 households and businesses, including most of Nantucket, who remained in the dark after heavy snow and falling trees downed wires across the Bay State.

National Grid and Nstar officials said it's likely power could be out for a few days in some areas.

"We're still facing very difficult weather and road conditions on Cape Cod and the South Shore," Nstar spokesman Mike Durand said, "and our 24/7 emergency restoration efforts are continuing."

Nstar had restored power to about 40,000 customers by last night, leaving 17,000 others without electricity, Durand said. Cape Cod and the South Shore between Marshfield and Plymouth were hardest hit, he said.

The utility tapped crews from nearby states, as well as private contractor lineworkers and tree workers. And, to avoid fines like those levied by the state in 2011 for delays, Nstar increased the use of remote switching technology to restore power to customers before crews arrive, Durand said.

National Grid had 13,800 customers without power at the storm's peak and that was down to 11,500 last night, spokesman Jake Navarro said, as crews from as far away as Georgia and Canada tackled downed lines.

"Our infrastructure has performed very well during this storm," Navarro said, "and that resiliency is thanks in part to significant investments in equipment upgrades and increased tree trimming."

Power was beginning to be restored last night on Nantucket — which was almost entirely dark at one point yesterday — with a priority on emergency services, Navarro said. Full restoration on the island, however, could be a lengthy process, Navarro said.

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Business losses accumulate

Bay State businesses are counting their blessings that the monster blizzard of 2015 has brought only minimal losses.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, estimated the total loss to his members at less than 
$20 million.

"Compared to some other storms, I think it's relatively minor," Hurst said. "It fell during a notoriously slow sales period — after Thanksgiving and Christmas and before Valentine's Day. And it fell during midweek. If it had been this weekend, or right around Valentine's Day, as in 2013, the impact would have been far more severe."

But he acknowledged some businesses were hit harder, such as convenience stores near office buildings that were closed and retailers who have to pay their employees regardless of whether they make it in to work.

Pat Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, said many Boston hotels fared better than expected. Rooms that had been reserved by travelers who couldn't get to Boston because of canceled flights were taken by people who were stranded here or by employees of Boston businesses, Moscaritolo said.

"So overall, it pretty much balanced out," he said. "What didn't balance out though were retailers and restaurants who lost sales and their staff who would have lost tips."

Stoughton-based Rentals Unlimited, which rents out party equipment, estimates it lost about $10,000 worth of orders. But it expects the majority of those clients to reschedule within the next two weeks, said Jennifer Gullins, vice president of sales.

"We don't expect this to be a significant financial interruption," Gullins said. "Making sure you have a good risk-management plan is the best strategy."

The company began planning for the storm on Sunday. A team of four employees stayed at its Stoughton headquarters, where it has five buildings and three large parking lots, to keep plowing and ensure that none of the buildings suffered damage and it could reopen today, Gullins said.

Auto czar Herb Chambers spent between $10,000 and $15,000 for each of his 54 dealerships just to move cars indoors during the storm — and that's not counting lost sales and service work and paying employees, spokesman George Regan said.

"He still thinks that, despite all the expense, it's worth it," Regan said. "Boston is a great city to do business in."

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The Ticker

Apple has huge quarter from holiday iPhone sales

Apple had another blowout quarter thanks to its new plus-sized iPhones, which helped the company smash sales records for the holiday season.

Apple said yesterday that it sold 74.5 million iPhones during the three months that ended Dec. 31, beating analysts' expectations for the latest models of Apple's most popular gadget, introduced in September.

The surge in iPhone sales drove the company's total revenue to $74.6 billion, up 30 percent from a year earlier. CEO Tim Cook said on a call with analysts that demand for the phones was "staggering," and noted that results would have been even higher if not for the impact of the strong dollar on overseas sales.

Stocks slide on disappointing outlooks

U.S. stocks closed lower yesterday after disappointing outlooks from Caterpillar and Microsoft raised worries about future profit growth at companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 291.49 points, or 1.7 percent, to close at 17,387.21 yesterday. The blue-chip average dropped as much as 390 points earlier. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 27.54 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,029.55 The Nasdaq composite tumbled 90.26 points, or 1.9 percent, to 4,681.50.

Microsoft shares slid 9 percent, the biggest fall among S&P 500 stocks. The company noted in its quarterly results that licensing revenue for Windows fell, and it warned that a strong dollar will dent revenue.

Caterpillar's stock fell 7 percent after the heavy equipment maker was hurt in the fourth quarter by restructuring costs, and issued a weak outlook.

Obama floats Atlantic drilling lease plan

The Obama administration floated a plan yesterday that for the first time would open up a broad swath of the Atlantic Coast to drilling, even as it moved to restrict drilling indefinitely in environmentally sensitive areas off Alaska.

The proposal envisions auctioning areas located more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil companies no earlier than 2021, long after President Obama leaves office. For decades, oil companies have been barred from drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, where a moratorium was in place up until 2008.

Today

• Federal Reserve policymakers meet to set interest rates and release statements.

TOMORROW

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
• National Association of Realtors releases pending home sales index for December.
• Lockton, the world's largest privately held insurance broker, has promoted Chip Manozzi to executive vice president and leader of its Boston office. Manozzi has worked in risk management and commercial insurance for more than 30 years.

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Facebook suffers outage affecting users worldwide

SEOUL, South Korea — Facebook suffered a widespread outage lasting roughly 40 minutes on Tuesday affecting users in the United States, Asia, the U.K. and Australia.

The social media giant's Instagram service was also briefly inaccessible.

Instagram said on its Twitter account that it was aware of an outage and was working on a fix. There was no immediate statement from Facebook.

Facebook has about 1.25 billion users and Instagram has some 300 million.

News of the Facebook outage set rival social network Twitter alight.

As access to Facebook returned in Asia, some users reported that the site was loading or responding slowly.

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Facebook: Internal glitch caused hour-long global outage

SEOUL, South Korea — Facebook said it suffered a self-inflicted outage lasting an hour on Tuesday that made its site inaccessible to users worldwide.

The glitch reported in Asia, the United States, Australia and the U.K. affected access from PCs and Facebook's mobile app. The social media giant's Instagram service was also inaccessible.

A Facebook statement said the disruption was caused by a technical change it made to the site and wasn't a cyberattack. Lizard Squad, a group notorious for attention seeking antics online, claimed responsibility on Twitter for the outages.

"This was not the result of a third party attack but instead occurred after we introduced a change that affected our configuration systems," Facebook said.

The temporary loss of service may be Facebook's biggest outage since Sept. 24, 2010 when it was down for about 2.5 hours.

On its website for developers, Facebook said the "major outage" lasted one hour.

Facebook has about 1.35 billion active users and Instagram has some 300 million.

News of the Facebook outage set rival social network Twitter alight, propelling the hashtag "facebookdown" to top trend on the site. It comes ahead of Facebook reporting its quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

As access to Facebook returned, some users in Asia reported that the site was loading slowly or not offering full functionality.

Lizard Squad on Monday claimed responsibility for defacing the Malaysia Airlines website and has said it will release data from the airline. The group has claimed responsibility for a variety of hacks over the past year, most of them aimed at gaming or media companies.

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Facebook suffers 45-minute outage, blames own technicians

Facebook went offline across much of the world for 45 minutes late Monday (Tuesday in European and Asian time zones). Some users also found it difficult to access photo-sharing app Instagram. Normal service has now resumed.

Facebook blamed its own technicians for the problem, while others pointed to hacking group Lizard Squad.

"Earlier this evening many people had trouble accessing Facebook and Instagram," a spokeswoman told the BBC.

"This was not the result of a third-party attack but instead occurred after we introduced a change that affected our configuration systems.

"We moved quickly to fix the problem, and both services are back to 100% for everyone."

Lizard Squad, which is thought to have been responsible for attacks in December on Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live, had tweeted about Facebook going offline, which led some to believe they had caused the outage.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Label case filed vs. Utz products

Two Bay Staters are accusing potato chip giant Utz Quality Foods of mislabeling its products as "all natural," alleging in a complaint that some of them are made from genetically modified ingredients.

Matt DiFrancesco and Angela Mizzoni filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Hanover, Pa.-based company earlier this month. The suit claims they and others have suffered financial losses because Utz's "'All Natural' representations are deceptive, false, misleading, and unfair to consumers," according to the complaint.

"It's not a secret that consumers want things that are natural — that are healthier — and that's why these companies typically put this type of advertising on their label," said Tina Wolfson, the lead attorney in the case. "That's how they are able to command a higher price."

The plaintiffs are seeking at least $5 million, according to the complaint. They have also asked Utz to stop marketing its products as all natural and "conduct a corrective advertising campaign."

Utz and its attorneys did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

This is not the first false-labeling case that Wolfson has brought. In 2013 she reached a $9 million settlement in a class action against PepsiCo Inc.'s Naked Juice Co. The company was accused of misleading consumers about the "all natural" content of its products.

Utz is also accused of incorrectly labeling more than 40 of its products as "all natural."

"The market for natural products is large and ever growing and consumers are willing to pay a premium for products they believe to be natural, healthy and/or organic," the complaint alleges. "Gleaning more than $89.4 billion dollars in revenue in 2013 alone, the industry grew ten-and-a-half percent from 2012, revealing that consumers' desire for natural products is huge and continues to grow."

The suit claims that Utz's products contain a variety of genetically modified ingredients, including modified corn starch, maltodextrin and others. The complaint says Utz breached an express warranty, was unjustly enriched by its false advertising and violated Massachusetts' unfair and deceptive practices law.

"The problem is that the FDA has not given very specific definitions on what natural means and what standards companies need to meet," Wolfson said. "Unfortunately, products that under any definition would not be called natural are being called all natural."

UTZ has not yet filed a response to the complaint and has until Feb. 23 to do so.

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Boston eyes home-rental rules

As Boston considers regulating home-rental services such as Airbnb, legislation has been filed on Beacon Hill that would require homeowners to have insurance and pay a tourism tax if they want to open their doors to paying guests.

"It's trying to create a safe and secure environment while allowing these operations to continue to thrive," said state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, co-author of the bill. "It's a bill that will regulate short-term residential rentals in a similar fashion as hotels are regulated. This bill would simply level the playing field with short-term rentals."

The bill would require people who list their homes on website services such as Airbnb to:

• Register with their city or town.

• Have $500,000 in liability insurance.

• Pay a 5 percent tax that would go toward funding tourism. Individual cities and towns could implement their own tax as well.

"There would be a registration process that would be made to make sure consumers felt safe during their stays," Michlewitz said.

The tax, he said, would "allow the state and the cities and municipalities the opportunity to tap into unrealized revenues."

In a statement, a spokesman for Airbnb said the company is open to some regulations.

"We strongly support smart regulations and believe any policy should ensure regular people can share their home without unnecessary restrictions," said Nick Papas. He said the company is reviewing the proposed legislation.

If the bill succeeds, Massachusetts would be one of the first states to regulate the industry. Until now, most of the regulation has been at the city level. The Boston City Council, which is considering regulating Airbnb, has scheduled a public hearing tomorrow on the issue.

Airbnb said 33,780 guests stayed in Boston last year, resulting in $51 million in economic benefit to the city.

The regulations in the state bill are almost identical to regulations passed in San Francisco, which require registration, a tax and liability insurance. Last year, the New York attorney general said that three quarters of Airbnb rentals were likely illegal under current state law.

Neighbors for Overnight Oversight, a national group advocating for increased regulations of Airbnb, applauded the Bay State's move to regulate the industry.

"Generally this is a step in the right direction," said spokesman Conor Yunits. "We support legislation that addresses legitimate public safety concerns, prevents illegal hotels from occupying our neighborhoods and institutes some of the regulatory obligations others in the lodging industry adhere to. We welcome this progress and look forward to working with the Legislature on this issue."

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Consumer agency gets an incomplete on mortgage advice

WASHINGTON — When the federal government's consumer protection agency for financial matters tells you how to shop for a good deal on a home mortgage, you should follow the advice, right?

Maybe some of it. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created in the backwash of the worst national mortgage disaster since the Great Depression, went online with a new interactive mortgage tool last week. The CFPB's site (www.consumerfinance.gov) offers helpful tips on shopping and has a guide to loan alternatives, closing costs and a "rate checker" feature.

At first glance, the rate checker appears to be a quick way to research prevailing mortgage interest rates in your area. Here's how it works: You enter the state where you want to apply, a FICO credit score estimate, your desired loan amount and the loan term. The rate checker then displays the local daily rate quotes collected from banks and credit unions by its data vendor, Informa Research Services Inc. of Calabasas, Calif.

Say you live in Virginia or California and want to see what rate you might get on a $400,000 house purchase with a $40,000 down payment. You input your estimated credit score. Say you've got a FICO 680. In Virginia, according to the rate checker readout Jan.16, "most lenders" in the survey would quote you 3.875 percent or less for a 30-year fixed-rate loan. Two lenders offered 3.625 percent and six quoted between 4 percent and 4.375 percent.

In California, most lenders also quoted 3.875 percent or less, one quoted 3.75 percent and five came in between 4 and 4.375 percent. None went as low as 3.625 percent.

But something important is missing here: The various fees and charges that the CFPB itself requires lenders to disclose as part of any mortgage quote to a consumer. As regulator of the Truth in Lending Act, CFPB regulations mandate precise disclosures of loan discount fees or "points" and lender closing charges among others. (A point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.) These are included in the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) — the effective rate applicants will be paying over the life of the loan.

When lenders advertise their rates, they must include the APR along with the base interest rate. There may be other charges that come into the total cost picture as well, such as lender-paid mortgage insurance and investor "overlay" add-ons.

So how big a deal could it be when only the interest rate is provided? In a statement for this column, Quicken Loans, the second largest retail lender in the country, said that quoting a rate alone, with no reference to specific points, fees and the APR, "will deliver a cost estimate that greatly differs from what is accurate." Steve Stamets, senior mortgage banker for Apex Home Loans, Rockville, Md., told me "it's inherently misleading because you're not getting all the potential charges" you're going to have to pay.

For example, said Stamets, a loan officer might violate CFPB rules by quoting a 
3 percent rate on a hypothetical $400,000 loan to pull in customers, but not mention that to obtain that rate they will need to pay 5 points — $20,000. Those points could be paid at settlement or financed and included in the interest rate. In the latter case, using one rule of thumb measure, the effective rate on the loan might jump to 
4.25 percent, not the 3 percent advertised.

David Stevens, CEO and president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in an interview that CFPB's rate checker's failure to disclose full costs "violates everything a lender must do" to quote rates to borrowers in compliance with the agency's own rules. "It's just a bad idea," he said. "It needs to come down."

But the CFPB shows no signs of yielding to critics. In a statement for this column, the agency said the rates quoted "assume" discount points ranging between one half a point to minus one half a point "and a 60-day rate lock," but do not include lender closing charges. Dave Hershman, a nationally known trainer and author who helps mortgage companies comply with the rules, scoffed at the CFPB's defense: "Could you imagine (the bureau) allowing a mortgage company to be that nebulous? And to quote rates without an APR?"

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Answers to common questions about cars in winter

There have been numerous articles recently about warming up vehicles before driving in the winter. I understand doing so makes problems for the environment and is not necessary. The best way is to just drive them. But what about folks who only drive three miles to work? My '08 Hyundai Sonata barely gets heat by the time I get to work if I don't at least let it run for a couple minutes. By letting it run, I am allowing the natural moisture in the air in my engine to evaporate due to heat to prevent further problems down the road. Is there any validity to allow the moisture to evaporate?

Absolutely. Short drives in cold weather leave significant moisture condensed into water and not evaporated from the engine crankcase and exhaust system. From a mechanical and environmental perspective, no significant stationary warm-up/idle period is necessary. In fact, engines and components come up to temperature more quickly, producing better fuel economy and lower emissions when driven gently up to temperature.

There are two scenarios where an extended warm-up prior to driving is useful — at the start of a short drive as you've described or due to a medical/age necessity. Both are completely valid reasons to let a car warm up before driving, and will not harm the vehicle.

One option for you is to plan a 20-minute drive at least once a week to completely evaporate any moisture from the engine and exhaust. This will help prolong the life of exhaust system components and the positive crankcase ventilation system (PCV).

On the subject of longevity, why not plan a round trip to the car wash once a week or so (except in subfreezing temperatures) to not only to bring the vehicle up to full operating temperature, but also to remove the ice and salt from the chassis to reduce the potential for rust?

Is it OK to store a car over the winter while connected to a battery tender with the battery not disconnected?

The benefit to leaving the battery connected is no loss of on-board computer memories — radio presets, seat position, HVAC settings, idle learn, etc. All these are quickly re-established once the vehicle is put back in service.

The only potential downside, in my opinion, is the risk of fire due to some type of electrical problem/short circuit.

Is the use of a 9-volt dry cell battery plugged into the cigarette lighter or charging outlet OK when changing the battery? Is it necessary?

Why bother? When power is reconnected, the computer systems re-learn very quickly.

My 2013 Chrysler minivan calls for 35 psi cold tire pressure. A week before Thanksgiving I added air due to a large drop in temp. I watched tire pressure increase from 35 psi to 45 psi as I drove south for the holiday. Back north the tire pressure was back to 35 psi. I would like to know what rule of thumb one should use for an upper limit on tire pressure.

Having raced on high performance street tires for decades, I can tell you there is no risk to a passenger car tire operating at even 50 psi. So, no worries. The short period of higher cold tire pressures theoretically may cause a slightly higher wear rate on the center of the tread, but that is far less of a concern than operating the tire well below its specified pressure due to lower ambient air temperatures.

The rule of thumb is a 1- to 2-pound loss of pressure for every 10-degree F. drop in air temperature.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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