SUVs make a powerful comeback

In the rock 'em, sock 'em heyday of the SUV, manufacturers couldn't make enough of them to meet demand.

But the price of a gallon of gasoline went from under a buck to almost $4, and the truck-like comportment of SUVs caught up to them.

Manufacturers have gotten the message, though, and analysts see a fresh wave of SUVs that haven't sacrificed size or power poised for a comeback to match the recovering economy.

Edmunds.com features editor Mike McGrath recommends the following five SUVs for buyers ready to stretch out a bit:

Jeep Grand Cherokee

"Jeep hasn't forgotten its roots and the Grand Cherokee is proof," McGrath said. "The Grand Cherokee is comfortable, sure, but it's also terrifically capable with four-wheel-drive and a host of off-road assisting tech." An additional appeal is a starting MSRP below $30,000, a price tag that gives the Grand Cherokee an advantage. (MSRP: $29,995, MPG: 22/30)

Ford Expedition

"The Expedition isn't all-new like Ford's aluminum-intensive new F-150, but it has been thoroughly refreshed into one of the best offerings in the large SUV class," McGrath said. A twin-turbocharged V6 makes the Expedition "faster than it needs to be," according to McGrath. "If you need a real SUV, take a serious look at this one." (MSRP: $43,845; MPG: 16/22)

Toyota Sequoia

McGrath gave a nod to Toyota's best offering, the Sequoia. "There's still a strong market for real, tough, truck-based SUVs, and the Sequoia is Toyota's entry into this field," he said. Sequoia's big V8 engine cranks out 381 horsepower, giving it stellar towing capacity of 7,400 pounds. (MSRP: $44,395, MPG: 13/17)

Chevy Suburban

The Suburban is the king of large SUVs, and unlike the Expedition, it's all new. "And it shows," McGrath said. "Inside and out, it looks fresh and modern, even if its V8 is outclassed by the Expedition's more powerful V6." (MSRP: $48,250, MPG: 16/23)

BMW X5

The BMW X5 has dynamic styling, luxury to spare, a little more trim profile and a ridiculous array of power options. "It's your luxury pick if you want your SUV with a side of horsepower," said McGrath. The base engine produces 300 horsepower while the xDrive50i makes 445. Not enough? The X5 M makes a staggering 567 horsepower. (MSRP: $53,900, MPG: 24/31)

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Booting Up: Picture app popular in health care field

A new mobile app — like an Instagram for doctors — has taken the medical community by storm.

Figure 1, developed by a Toronto-based startup, is not for those with weak stomachs. But for more than 150,000 doctors, nurses and dentists who have uploaded case photos, and for an estimated 30 percent of medical students nationwide who use it, Figure 1 is a tool that makes digital collaboration simpler and easier than ever.

And for people like you and me, it's a rare, unfiltered window into the medical world. Some of the sights I came upon include: an extremely rare brain melanoma that was just removed, a 25-year-old with a pocket knife embedded in his skull, and an X-ray of a child's stomach after he swallowed a coin. But for every bit of morbid curiosity Figure 1 satisfies, there are many things of poignance and interest.

One user, PunkRockDoc, posted a photo of a brain harvested from a dementia patient. Upon viewing the photo, which showed an atrophied frontal lobe, one registered nurse commented: "My dad is in the last stages of Alzheimers … This is very interesting and very sad to see what my sweet dad's brain looks like."

Some photos elicited spirited debates, while others overwhelmed with sadness. "Please keep us updated," wrote one user to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon who uploaded a photo of a severely deformed infant.

The app has the ground rules of medical privacy one would expect — faces are automatically blurred, users must manually block any identifying marks like tattoos, and the rarest conditions found only in a few patients are not permitted to be featured, for fear of compromising anonymity. Only verified doctors who have provided credentials are allowed to post, according to the app-makers. And the app's founder, Dr. Josh Landy, has vowed to reject sensationalist images that do not have an educational purpose — though I'm not sure how a 25-year-old with a pocket-knife protruding from his skull is educational. Doctors are advised to seek written permission from patents before posting.

What's so striking about this app is that it doesn't try too hard. It's simple. Other medical image-sharing services aren't as simple — they require subscriptions, are highly curated and include the dense articles you'd expect from a medical journal.

This app — just like Instagram — is all images and comments.

"I have learned A LOT from this app," wrote one nursing student. "I am mostly a visual learner and the pictures posted here are awesome."

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Wynn: Poor quarter no impact on Everett

Wynn Resorts this month reported fourth-quarter revenue and earnings far below expectations — causing analysts to revise their estimates downward for both this year and next — but gaming experts doubt it will affect the company's planned Everett casino.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.20, missing the Zacks Investment Research consensus estimate of $1.44 and plunging 47 percent from the same quarter last year.

Net revenue also fell 25 percent year-over-year to $1.14 billion, well below the consensus of $1.24 billion.

This was due in large part to a 32 percent drop in net revenue from Wynn's Macau casino, which accounted for about two-thirds of total net revenue in the quarter, Zacks said. Net revenue from the company's Las Vegas casino decreased 6 percent.

Michael Weaver, a Wynn spokesman, said fourth-quarter results will have no impact on the company's plans to build a $1.75 billion resort casino in Everett.

"Although the slowdown in Macau has been universally felt by every operator there," Weaver said in an email, "Wynn Las Vegas did achieve record earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $515.2 million for 2014, which is also an earnings record for any Las Vegas casino."

I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif., and a leading expert on gaming law, said he thinks Wynn's fourth-quarter results will have no effect on the resort casino the company plans to open in Everett in 2017.

"(CEO Steve) Wynn has always been smart or lucky or both," Rose said. "He got into Macau early, didn't over-expand before the Great Recession and now started diversifying before the Macau market crashed."

If anything, the company's fourth-quarter revenue and earnings "would indicate that he needs the Everett site even more than when he bid for it," said Richard McGowan, a Boston College casino expert. "It is the last big market in the Northeast and has the potential to be a successful site. It will be interesting if he will cooperate with Boston and other towns a bit more."

Boston sued the Gaming Commission last month, asking the court to void the commission's endorsement of the Wynn project and to grant the city the right to hold a binding vote on the planned casino, partly because of the increased traffic it will bring to an already congested Rutherford Avenue and Sullivan Square.

Revere and Somerville also have sued the Gaming Commission since it awarded Wynn the Boston area's sole gaming license.

In an earnings call earlier this month, Wynn told investors, "We are going to be responsible for $50 million a month in revenue for this state, probably another $50 million in related revenues to all the surrounding communities."

On Friday, shares of Wynn Resorts were up 2.99 percent to $159.34.

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Device improves your pics in a Flash

Nova Flash (various retailers, $59 and up)

Between Pinterest and Instagram, the competition for good smartphone photos is fierce. This wireless, Bluetooth-enabled flash is supposed to give you an edge. Nova, a former Kickstarter product, is going mainstream, but does it live up to the hype?

The good: This is a great flash that comes in the size of a playing card, with an internal battery that is charged using a Micro USB cable. Just holding it off to the side of your smartphone camera will make your photos look like they could not possibly come from a smartphone. Apps for both iPhone and Android are available.

The bad: It can be a little tricky to hold your phone in one hand and the flash in the other. Some sort of stand or hold mechanism would be nice.

The bottom line: This is a must for anyone who wants to take their mobile photo game to the next level. Yes, it lives up to the hype.

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Booting Up: App shows drivers the best Waze to go

Something is very wrong when Google has better traffic data than government transportation departments. That's why I applaud Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh for successfully ensuring Boston was one of 10 cities in the world selected to share and receive data with Waze, the groundbreaking social navigation app that Google scooped up for 
$1.3 billion two years ago.

Waze, which integrates with social networking apps, allows users to report road hazards and accidents in real-time. But the real gamechanger is how it calculates the best routes: by tracking the speed of its users in real-time rather than relying on traffic cameras. Waze recalculates your route frequently, adapting to a live-stream of traffic data and basically putting every other navigation service to shame.

Hub officials say the city will be able to share information on expected road closures with all of Waze's 400,000 users in Greater Boston, making the mobile navigation app even more accurate for those users. Waze, in turn, will provide streams of traffic data to the city's Traffic Management Center, which is akin to our municipal command center. City officials promise that engineers will use that data to better calibrate the city's 550 intersections with traffic signals.

"This partnership will help engineers in the TMC respond to traffic jams, accidents and road hazards quicker," said Boston Transportation Department Commissioner Gina Fiandaca.

"And, looking forward, the Waze data will support us in implementing — and measuring the results of — new congestion management strategies."

The Waze data-
sharing partnership launched several weeks ago after months of development. Time will tell whether — or when — these new data efficiencies will trickle down to the commuters on the ground. Road relief doesn't appear to have happened yet, but that should be motivation for Boston drivers to use Waze. The more drivers use it, the more accurate it becomes.

It's natural to wonder why this new partnership didn't prevent Boston from becoming a commuter abyss over the last week. I wondered the same thing while chatting with Fiandaca yesterday, but then I remembered: that black hole of vehicle gridlock and agonizing public transit? The MBTA's fault.

So while this is a great example of government embracing innovation, we're only as strong as our weakest link, or in this case, rail. Here's hoping Waze and Google turn their attention to public transit next.

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Startup makes core change to reactors

A three-person startup in the heart of Kendall Square is trying to reinvent the nuclear power plant to make it safer and more efficient with the help of $2.5 million in new venture funding.

"If we can develop a new type of design that directly addresses those problems, then we can develop a type of power that will be more acceptable," said Leslie Dewan, chief executive of Transatomic Power. "We felt that in order to properly address climate change, the world needs more nuclear. There's so many hurdles to broader adoption."

Transatomic is developing a "molten-salt" nuclear power plant, which Dewan says will be meltdown-proof and will be able to extract more power from nuclear fuel. The system is based on gravity, liquid fuel and a fail-safe in case of a complete power failure. Transatomic's power plant can also run on existing nuclear waste.

"Having a power plant that will burn waste and make electricity, that's a no-brainer," said Ray Rothrock, chairman of Transatomic and a venture capitalist who started his career as a nuclear engineer.

The government has said nuclear waste could be stored at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but the project has stalled as Republicans and Democrats find themselves on opposite sides of the issue.

"The utilities want very much to get this waste off of their sites," Dewan said.

Transatomic uses liquid fuel, which Dewan says makes their design more efficient than existing nuclear plants.

"There are some inherent problems with using solid fuel, and that's primarily because you can only keep that solid fuel in a conventional reactor for three or four years," she said.

The uranium rods wear through their metal containers well before the energy is spent, she said. Liquid fuel can be kept inside the reactor indefinitely. Dewan said 96 percent of the energy in liquid fuel can be extracted, compared to 4 percent for solid fuel.

The $2.5 million in venture funding from Founders Fund, Acadia Woods Partners and Armada Investment, comes on top of $2 million in funding secured last summer.

Transatomic recently began experiments with the help of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to test components for a prototype power plant. The company hopes to start construction by 2020.

Dewan and her co-founders are part of a new generation of nuclear engineers. Dewan and Rothrock said high profile accidents such as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island drove a generation of potential nuclear engineers to other industries. Now, a new wave of engineers is coming.

"There are, by last count, about 43 nuclear innovation companies in the United States and Canada and about $1 billion of private capital has been applied," Rothrock said. "University nuclear engineering departments are bursting at the seams."

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Docs track patients live via mobile apps

Boston area doctors are relying more on mobile apps and social media to keep tabs on their youngest patients — giving new insight into a group whose health updates can get lost in translation, experts say.

"Children use behaviors and code language at times to communicate symptoms that wouldn't be used by adults," said Dr. Alisa Niksch, a pediatric cardiologist at Tufts Medical Center. "It is very difficult to interpret, and they need that extra tool to help discern what's happening."

Niksch said she tracks about 15 to 20 of her patients using an AliveCor monitor and free mobile app which collects data with a heart-monitoring device that reads activity from the patient's fingertips or chest wall and attaches to a mobile phone.

"Parents of children with heart issues are afraid that things like an irregular heartbeat won't be caught early enough," she said. "It's important to get some actually objective data."

It's not just patients with physical ailments who benefit from remote monitoring, according to Dr. Marilyn Augustyn, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, who gets updates on patients with Attention Deficit Disorder through an app from Boston-based startup mehealth for ADHD.

The app allows doctors to gather more information for diagnosis and assessment, Augustyn said, and gives teachers and parents easier ways to report their own observations.

"It's really useful for children with certain behavioral and developmental problems to see them in different settings. I may see them in my office, but that's not where they live or where they learn," she said.

Ken Tubman, chief technology officer for Optimal Medicine and its mehealth for ADHD app — which was founded in 2009 and gained venture capital funding in 2012 — said health apps are gaining traction with doctors.

"Health care is a growing industry, especially in software," he said. "As far as I can tell, it'll continue to grow over the next 10 years or so."

Dr. Joseph Kvedar, director of Partners Center for Connected Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, which conducts research on health care outside of medical centers, said using tools like apps and social media can be especially useful for teenagers, who are most comfortable with digital interactions.

He said the center just wrapped up a yearlong study that used Facebook to connect teens with asthma to one another, which helped them be more in tune with their illness, and as a result they were more aware of their symptoms.

"During the trial, the kids were so enthusiastic that we had to ask for an extension on the study because they didn't want to leave the group," he said.

He added that using technology like apps can also be effective in diagnosing and managing autism spectrum disorders, because different cues are used to make assessments.

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Homeowner tax breaks appear safe, for now

WASHINGTON — Tax reform is revving up again on Capitol Hill, with the heads of key committees pledging to work toward a simpler and fairer tax code, possibly one with lower tax rates. Sounds intriguing.

But what might that mean for homeowners — many of whom benefit from tax breaks such as mortgage interest and property tax deductions, plus tax-free writeoffs of up to $250,000 or $500,000 of home sale capital gains, depending on whether they file returns as singles or married couples? Renters get none of these.

Homeowner writeoffs become targets for cutbacks or elimination whenever tax code reforms get serious attention because of their costs in uncollected federal revenues. The mortgage interest deduction alone cost the Treasury $113.4 billion in fiscal 2015, property tax writeoffs $27.8 billion, according to estimates by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

President Obama kicked off the tax legislative season with a budget proposal that would limit mortgage interest and other deductions for upper income taxpayers. No surprise there. He called for essentially the same change last year, and this year's version was widely viewed as dead on arrival in a Congress controlled by Republicans.

But what might Republican tax reformers themselves have up their sleeves? Last February, the top Republican tax writer, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the then-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, came out with a tax code overhaul blueprint that would offer lower tax rates and a big increase in the standard deduction in exchange for drastic cutbacks in special-interest deductions and credits, including the benefits traditionally enjoyed by homeowners.

Camp's plan would have shrunk marginal rates for most taxpayers to just two brackets, 10 percent and 
25 percent; phased down mortgage interest deductions from the current
$1 million limit on eligible mortgage amounts to $500,000; eliminated deductions on home equity loans and credit lines altogether; and stretched out the time period needed to qualify for tax-free capital gains exclusions from the present two years out of the preceding five years to five years out of the preceding eight years. Camp's plan also would have eliminated homeowners' writeoffs of local property tax payments and ended penalty-free withdrawals from IRAs to assist with first-time home purchases.

Camp retired from Congress at the end of the last session. His reform plans — considered too controversial to pass in an election year — never moved out of committee. But the impetus for some sort of wholesale reform of the sprawling Internal Revenue Code remains alive and well. Is anything likely or even possible this year, and if so, could it create problems for current or future owners?

Conversations with tax experts and Capitol Hill legislative analysts suggest a couple of things: There is bipartisan support for the broad concept of streamlining the tax code. The new Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on NBC's Meet the Press that he is prepared to work on reforms with the White House — even compromise on some issues — "if we can find common ground." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) Senate Finance Committee chairman, has created working groups tasked with coming up with tax reform plans with the objective of introducing a bill, probably by late this spring.

And there is already common ground to build on: bipartisan support, including at the White House, for a broad package of tax changes affecting businesses. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew recently said the administration could support reforms that lower top tax rates for big corporations, eliminate unfair loopholes and simplify the entire system for businesses. Republicans generally are on board, but insist that small businesses be part of the solution.

So there's a chance that a bipartisan corporate tax reform bill could be cobbled together this year.

What about comprehensive tax reforms for individuals of the type that inevitably would involve significant changes in current preferences for homeowners and tax increases for higher income households? Highly unlikely.

Bottom line: Homeowner tax breaks are safe for the time being, probably until 2017 at the earliest.

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The Ticker

Connector extends sign-up deadline

The Massachusetts Health Connector is extending until Feb. 23 the deadline to complete an application and pick a health plan.

The deadline had been tomorrow, but officials pushed it off a week because heavy snowstorms have made it hard for some people to sign up for insurance.

The Feb. 23 deadline for making a payment stays in place.

Connector officials said they wanted to give people extra time, given the burden many have had as they've had to dig out from the successive storms.

The Connector's call center won't be taking calls tomorrow due to the storm, but will make return calls to consumers who have requested them. It has expanded hours through Feb. 23, including weekend hours on Saturday, Feb. 21, and Sunday, Feb. 22, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., and on Monday, Feb. 23, from 
7 a.m.-9 p.m.

Caesars suit vs. 
panel dismissed

A Massachusetts court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Caesars Entertainment against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. After the panel's background investigation on Caesars turned up concerns about an investor in the company, Suffolk Downs dropped the gaming giant from its resort proposal to win the single casino license for the Boston area in October 2013. Caesars was replaced by Mohegan Sun, which subsequently lost the bid to Wynn Resorts in Everett.

• Prelert, the leading provider of machine learning anomaly detection, announced that John O'Donnell has joined the company as chief financial officer.

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Redone condo leaves no stone unturned

This just redone unique North End condo is a showpiece of stone — with marble, quartz, onyx, slate, fieldstone and granite finishes, done by a developer who is also a stone supplier and refinisher.

The two-level first floor/basement duplex at 6 Henchman St. is one of 10 units in a 1900-built brick building that was once a speakeasy. Builder Tom Falcucci has crafted a European-style duplex with a wine cellar and tasting room, custom bathrooms and surround sound.

A private entrance leads down red oak stairs with walnut-paneled wainscoting to an open living/kitchen area with hickory floors and recessed lighting.

The recessed-lit kitchen has espresso-stained cabinets with a top row of frosted glass cabinets. It features brown-veined quartz countertops and backsplash, which also tops a large center island with a breakfast bar seating four. Stainless-steel Jenn-Air appliances include a refrigerator, dishwasher, gas stove with a built-in microwave above.

The living room is dominated by a restored wood fireplace surrounded by a wall of marble and has tray ceilings, a wall of paneled wainscoting and built-in ceiling speakers.

Behind the living/kitchen area is an open hickory-floored space that could be a dining room or a home office/study. It includes a media closet that houses the unit's surround sound and alarm systems.

Behind this room, the builder has added a unique wine cellar and tasting room that can also double as an entertainment room. The slate-floored space has restored original wood beams and side walls with built-in wine bottle racks. There's a seashell granite-topped wet bar with cabinets and a wine cooler, as well as a granite topped table.

Also on this level is a third bedroom with a closet but without a window. Adjacent sits a spectacular custom bathroom with fieldstone walls, a backlit onyx walk-in shower and a separate glass-doored wet steam shower lined with marble. This bathroom also has glass mosaic-tile floors and a gray stone sink on a wood vanity.

A set of oak stairs lead up to two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor, with a hallway closet for a washer and dryer included in the sales price.

The master bedroom with two windows has a 9-foot coffered walnut ceiling as well as dark-stained oak floors and built-in surround sound. There's a large walk-through closet with custom built-ins that leads into the master bathroom. The bathroom features Carrara and basket-weave marble floors, as well as a marble vanity with glass-fronted drawers. The marble-lined walk-in shower has a rainhead fixture and there's a marble-surround whirlpool tub as well.

The second bedroom also has a coffered walnut ceiling, two windows and dark-stained oak floors. It has built-in bureau drawers and surround sound as well as a double-door closet with a built-in California closet system.

The second full bathroom has a porcelain tile floor with glass mosaic tile inlay, a Carrara marble surround for a soaking tub and shower, and a granite topped vanity.

The unit's $460 monthly condo fee includes heat and hot water. The developer will pay for one year of valet garage parking at nearby Battery Wharf, with a value of around $400 a month.

Home Showcase:

• Address: 
6 Henchman St., North End
• Bedrooms: Three
• Bathrooms: Three full
• List price: $1,699,000
• Square feet: 2,650
• Price per square foot: $641
• Annual taxes: $7,960
• Monthly condo fee: $460 
(includes heat 
and hot water)
• Location: Two blocks from offerings on Hanover Street.
• Built in: 1900, converted to condo 2014-2015
• Broker: Dale Murawski of Otis & Ahearn at 617-
652-6300

Pros:

• Unique onyx, marble, granite, glass mosaic stonework plus a wet steam room
• Custom kitchen with brown quartz countertops and Jenn-Air appliances
• Master bedroom suite with coffered ceiling, large California closet system and showpiece marble bathroom
• Wine tasting room with seashell granite-topped wet bar
• Hickory and dark-stained oak floors and paneled wainscoting

Cons:

• Only one small window on the lower level

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