Mass. home sales slide in Nov.

There was a slight chill in the Massachusetts housing market last month.

November saw the first year-over-year decline in single-family home sales — and the fewest number of monthly sales — since April, driven by a tight supply of available properties and rising interest rates.

Sales fell 2 percent compared to November of 2012, according to data released yesterday by the Warren Group, the Boston publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

The median sales price for single-family homes, meanwhile, climbed 4 percent to $307,000, for the 14th straight month of year-over-year increases.

"The low inventory of homes for sale is affecting the number of sales, because people who are eager to buy are not finding much to their liking," Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said. And while historically low, interest rates have been rising since May.

Single-family homes for sale as of Nov. 30 numbered 18,428, down 20.6 percent compared to the same month last year — marking the 21st consecutive month of inventory decreases.

And, unlike some buyers during the mid-2000s inventory shortage who purchased homes beyond their financial means, buyers today aren't willing to make that leap, according to MAR president Kimberly Allard-Moccia, broker-owner of Century 21 Professionals in Braintree.

"They're not interested in repeating past mistakes, and the lending requirements are far more strict now," she said. "Even if a buyer wanted to overpay for a property, or get involved in a multiple bid situation, their lender may not approve the loan."

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Drone research funds to fly into Bay State

The announcement of six states that will host testing areas for commercial drones is a significant step toward approving unmanned aircraft in U.S. skies, experts said, and will pay dividends for Massachusetts — even though the Bay State isn't on the list.

The FAA announced yesterday that Alaska, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia and New York will host research sites for drones, but the New York site, at Griffiss International Airport, will be run by an alliance of organizations from New York and Massachusetts, including Joint Base Cape Cod.

"It's a great economic opportunity because it will mean jobs," said Missy Cummings, a professor at MIT and a drone expert.

"This selection recognizes the importance of Massachusetts' military installations and our special role as an innovation hub," Sen. Edward J. Markey said in a statement.

Markey has filed a bill that would require the FAA to enact privacy guidelines before allowing drones to take to the skies.

"These test sites will give us valuable information about how best to ensure the safe introduction of this advanced technology into our nation's skies," transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

The FAA is scheduled to put the regulations in place by 2015, but that is not likely to happen, Cummings said.

"The FAA is not known to move fast," she said.

The regulations, whenever they are finalized, will allow commercial drones like those that Amazon proposed to be used for package delivery, as shown in an attention-grabbing CBS "60 Minutes" segment, and would also have larger possibilities, like search and rescue and agricultural uses, Cummings said.

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What’s on tap for 2014

Local techies say 2014 is set to be another banner year for the Boston area. Here are some companies and trends to watch out for in the next 12 months.

Companies on the rise:

• Care.com filed for an IPO earlier this month, seeking to raise $80 million. The Waltham-based company has grown to 9.1 million members.

• Cambridge marketing software company HubSpot has long been the subject of IPO rumors while raising around $100 million. Executives have not been shy about their intentions to go public, and this could be the year.

Emerging trends:

• Bolt.io founder Ben Einstein: "It's going to be the year of hardware."

• Andy Palmer: "EHealth is erupting."

• John Harthorne: "There is huge excitement around 3-D printing."

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Don't overlook these apps

If Santa was kind this year and got you a smartphone or a tablet, chances are you're looking for a few good apps. And chances are you've already downloaded the ol' standbys — such as Kindle, Facebook, Skype and YouTube. But there's a wide world of mobile apps that awaits you, and what follows are 10 of my 
favorites (Windows Phone users who aren't feeling the love should search for third-party apps by Rudy Huyn, a genius developer who makes a career out of bringing Apple and 
Android favorites to 
Windows Phone):

• Avocado (iOS): This cute app is for couples, 
allowing you and the most important person in your life to share messages, 
photos and calendar 
appointments — so you can cut down on all that Facebook "PDA."

• Donna (iOS): My 
favorite personal assistant app tells you when it's time to leave for a meeting and 
otherwise helps busy 
people manage their day.

• HBOGo (iOS, Android) Every episode of (almost) every HBO show ever along with specials. The only catch is you have to enter your cable provider info to gain access.

• Hipstamatic (iOS): The coolest photography app nobody knows about will also allow you to 
order excellent prints in the mail for a reasonable price. (Looking for more great photo apps? Also try Piclab and Snapseed for iOS or Android.)

• iFont Maker: ($6.99 iOS, iPad only; $4.99 
Windows 8) Just what it sounds like — you can make your own fonts. 
Surprisingly addictive and fun.

• Instapaper ($3.99 iOS, $2.99 Android) A great way to save web pages and 
articles that you want to read offline later. Load up before a long flight or car ride!

• Perfect365 (iOS, 
Android): Give yourself a virtual makeover or touch up those blemishes in a bad photo. It's OK. I won't tell.

• Weather Flow ($1.99 
Android & Windows Phone): Possibly the most accurate and beautifully 
designed weather app around, and great for finding out whether you have a half hour to run to the store before a downpour.

• Whatsapp (iOS, 
Android, Windows Phone) Text anyone for free using this handy SMS alternative that includes group chat features and other customization options.

• Xbox Music ($10/month, iOS & Google; free for Windows) With a far larger catalog than Spotify and Pandora, this streaming music service officially bests the rest, including iTunes and its a la carte 
music downloads. An added bonus: excellent integration with your Xbox console.

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Is an older Cadillac a good candidate for synthetic oil?

I recently purchased a 2001 Cadillac Deville with 52,000 original miles. The service advisor at the dealership recommended using conventional oil or a synthetic blend. I was told there can be problems with synthetic oil causing gasket failure on older engines. Is this true?

I don't think you'd have any issues using full synthetic oil in your vehicle — it's not that old and has low mileage. The theory behind oil consumption or leakage issues using synthetic oil in older engines is based on the fundamental difference between "natural" petroleum oil and "manufactured" synthetic oil. Every molecule of synthetic is exactly the same size, as opposed to the random size of conventional oil molecules. It was thought that the larger of the random-sized molecules in conventional oil tended to reduce oil leakage past gaskets and seals by blocking the smaller molecules from escaping. Since synthetic molecules are all the same size, there's no "blocking" action to slow/stop/prevent oil leaks.

Do I think this is a serious concern? No. First off, no oil will cause "failure" of a gasket or seal. Secondly, if your engine doesn't leak oil now, it very likely won't with synthetic. And if it did, just switch back to conventional petroleum oil. However, if your engine already has an oil leak, it may leak more using synthetic. Again, the solution is to switch back to petroleum oil.

Remember, GM recommends 5W-30 "SJ" rated oil for any ambient temperature above 0 degrees F. Conventional and synthetic oils both meet these specs.

• • •

I have a problem with my 2009 Toyota Camry with the 3.5-liter V-6 engine. It is impossible to check the oil level using the dipstick. Oil is constantly smeared up the dipstick several inches, even after sitting for several days. I change oil myself every 5,000 miles and can only verify that the engine is not consuming oil by measuring the 6.5 quarts that end up in my drain pan. The engine now has 105,000 miles. Do you have a suggestion?

A check of my ALLDATA database and online found no information on this issue, which tends to tell me that it is unique to your vehicle. I'm sorry to ask such an obvious question, but do you pull the dipstick, wipe it clean, reinsert it and then pull it again to check the oil level? In most cases, this will eliminate the excess oil that has splashed up into the bottom end of the dipstick tube from registering on the dipstick.

Assuming you've done this and still get smeared readings, the only things I can suggest are to pull the dipstick, wipe it clean and leave it only partially inserted in the tube overnight, then check the level in the morning. Also, try rotating the dipstick in 90-degree increments before reinserting into the tube and recheck. And finally, reduce the oil volume from 6.4 quarts to 6 quarts to see if the engine "likes" this slightly lower but still entirely safe amount of oil.

• • •

In 2003 we bought a Saturn Vue. We had a sheet of plastic film put on the front of the hood to deter chips from road debris. We are thinking of trading it in and it would look better without it as the years have made it look pretty bad. Do you have any thoughts on how to peel this off and not damage or peel off the paint?

Since your plan is to trade in the vehicle, I wouldn't bother trying to remove the protective film. Let the dealer's "detailer" do this. I've had some success using heat from a hair dryer or heat gun, or you could try a solvent like 3M's adhesive remover and surface cleaner.

I really don't think leaving the film on the car will have a significant effect on the car's trade-in value. In this case, I think the risk outweighs any potential benefit.

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 paulbrandstartribune.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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Gaming foes await SJC decision

Attorney General Martha Coakley is pushing for swift action by the state Supreme Judicial Court on the legality of a ballot initiative to repeal the Bay State's two-year-old expanded gaming law, a question that looms large over the awarding of casino licenses.

Coakley rejected the initiative in September, arguing it would damage the contractual rights of those bidding for casino licenses. Those pushing the ballot question appealed Coakley's ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court, which is expected to hear arguments and make a decision in the spring, the same time the state Gaming Commission plans to award casino licenses.

"We expect to request that the SJC take up this matter promptly in order to reach a final determination," Coakley spokesman Brad Puffer said. "While our office determined that the question does not meet constitutional requirements, the most important thing is to get the right result."

If approved to go before voters on the November 2014 ballot, the question would pose huge problems for anyone looking to develop a casino in Massachusetts.

"It's an open question," said Matthew Cameron, an attorney for the repeal group. "I think, honestly, that the smartest thing would be an injunction (on casino development) if it clears the SJC. I think the industry's going to be pretty scared if they see that's going on the ballot."

The Gaming Commission has yet to take a stance on what would happen to casinos awarded licenses in the spring if it appears the law could be overturned in the fall.

"The commission has not taken up this topic yet," commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

For now, casino companies are keeping a poker face about the potentially game changing ballot question.

"We knew that was out there when we went after this, we knew that was looming, but we feel that this is a project that is worth pursuing," said Mitchell Etess, CEO of Mohegan Sun, which is going for a license to open a casino on the Revere side of Suffolk Downs and reached a host agreement with the city last week. "I can't control what's going to happen, we can only just keep going, one foot ahead of the other, and get everything done that we need to get done. It has by no means deterred us."

The proponents — a collection of casino foes who played a key role in defeating a Suffolk Downs casino plan in East Boston in November — are proceeding as if they are in the clear. On Dec. 9, Secretary of State William Galvin certified 72,901 signatures they had collected, exceeding the 68,911 needed to get on the ballot.

Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo, a strong casino supporter, said the initiative is frustrating.

"That horse left the barn back in November 2011, expanded gaming is allowed here in the state," Rizzo said. "Now, it's not good enough for them that they're not going to have a casino in East Boston. It's really become a huge distraction to what the state's trying to do, and that's create jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in enhancements."

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Delta says it will honor man’s tix

Delta Airlines has reversed its decision — after repeated Herald inquiries — to deny a man planning a family vacation to Disneyland the rock-bottom fare he booked through Orbitz on Thursday due to a systemwide web glitch that also offered $68 Hub-to-Hawaii round-trip flights.

"I'm not so frustrated by losing the tickets, just more by the way they're treating me," said Abel Feldhamer of Long Island, N.Y., when he first contacted the Herald yesterday. "They're getting good press proclaiming they're honoring these fares when they're slapping some people in the face."

Feldhamer thought he had snagged six round-trip tickets using Orbitz between New York City and Los Angeles for a total of $152.46 during a Delta.com malfunction Thursday.

"Your flight and seats are confirmed," read an email from Orbitz. A Delta agent confirmed his reservation and seat selection over the phone. His credit card was even charged.

But five hours later — after he had booked a rental car and as his wife shopped for hotels — an Orbitz email arrived with the bad news.

"Due to limited availability, the airline was not able to confirm the flights you requested. As a result no tickets have been issued for this trip."

Feldhamer then called customer support lines for Orbitz and Delta — at one point even looping both in for a conference call. The Orbitz rep blamed Delta, which in turn claimed no tickets had ever been issued.

Feldhamer even filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

An Orbitz spokesman did not return a call or email from the Herald yesterday.

Delta spokeswoman Jennifer Martin yesterday afternoon insisted the airline would honor all incorrect fares "regardless of the channel booked" and urged people to call customer support if their booking agent incorrectly canceled the deal.

But moments later, Feldhamer received an email from Delta rep Sheri Lee, who wrote: "Upon review of your Record Locator ... it appears your purchase was not completed."

But when confronted with the seemingly conflicting messages, Delta spokeswoman Martin told the Herald the Feldhamer family would be able to take the Disneyland vacation after all.

"This customer is being contacted momentarily by Delta's Customer Care to correct this situation," said Martin. "The tickets they purchased will be honored."

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2014 Nissan Versa strikes right note

You know, for a little get-me-to-work-comfortably kind of car, I'll take the 2014 Nissan Versa Note SV hatchback.

I ventured up Interstate 95 to southern Maine thinking the Versa would struggle on the highway, but a pleasant surprise was in store. The ride was comfortable, compliant, relatively quiet, and the car moved calmly through traffic as long as you kept your foot heavy on the accelerator. Around town the car is quick and agile. It lacks some of the handling panache of other entry-level cars and you do get some rough road feel into the cabin, but the appointments in the upgraded SV trim with the optional technology package made up for the ride. Most of the surfaces were hard plastic, but the steering wheel was leather-wrapped and the multi-hued cloth interior was attractive.

The upgrades quickly rolled the base price of our tester from $14,800 to $19,545. But the extra touches turned this into more than a functional driver. The upgrades include some niceties such as a 5.8-inch touch display with voice recognition, Bluetooth telephone and streaming, Google connectivity and styling components such as 16-inch aluminum wheels, chrome trim and a push-button starter.

It's powered by a 1.6 liter, 109 horsepower four-cylinder motor mated to a continuous variable transmission. Although noisy under heavy acceleration, the CVT responds quickly without getting overly strung out like others. But the bonus is the stingy use of gas. Pumping out nearly 40 miles per gallon on the highway and roughly 30 around town keeps this runabout on the road for a long time between gas station stops, and that's a good thing because it only holds about 10 gallons.

I find the hatchback to have more curb appeal than the sedan. The short swept hood blends nicely into the styled body. The hatchback allows more rear legroom and a tidy storage area. Flip the rear seats down and the deck provides ample room for luggage or groceries.

The compact car field has many interesting offerings from the sexy and cute Fiat 500 and Mini Coopers to great drivers like the Ford Fiesta and Honda Fit to basic commuter cars like the Chevy Sonic and Hyundai Accent. All have good qualities, but I'd recommend this car based on its sturdiness and some of the standard features.

With good gas mileage, park-it-anywhere size — it's only 193 inches long — and don't-break-the-bank car payments, Nissan has clearly found a nice combination.

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Employment numbers spur Dow climb

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week dropped more than expected, another sign of continued growth in the economy that sent the Dow yesterday to a record high close.

"The underlying trend suggests job destruction continues to decline," said Sterne Agee chief economist Lindsey Piegza. "This is a welcome step in the right direction and further reinforces the Fed's assessment of a stronger labor market."

Initial unemployment claims — which are seen as an indicator of layoffs — dropped by 42,000 to 338,000 last week while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up more than 122 points to close at 16,479.88. It was the biggest decline in jobless claims in a year.

The jobless report was great news for Wall Street, but because trading slows in late December, any positive or negative news is magnified, said Christine Armstrong, Morgan Stanley senior vice president.

"It's very light volume. You can skew things," Armstrong said. "We're probably going to have the same thing next week."

Roughly 3.8 billion shares were bought or sold yesterday, 38 percent below the three-month average.

Although the numbers are heading in the right direction, this time of year makes jobless claims difficult to read, Piegza said.

"Claims are particularly volatile this time of year," she said.

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The Ticker

Twitter up 4.8 percent in continuing surge

Twitter stock jumped 4.8 percent yesterday to close at $73.31 a share on optimism by investors that the company has room to expand sales in advertising.

The stock has surged 32 percent over the past five days, 76 percent this month, and has nearly tripled since the microblogging social network went public at $26 a share in November.

Obama signs bipartisan budget deal

President Obama signed a bipartisan budget deal yesterday easing spending cuts.

Although the budget deal falls short of the grand bargain that Obama and congressional Republicans once aspired to, it ends the cycle of fiscal brinkmanship — for now — by preventing another shutdown for nearly two more years. But the rare moment of agreement may be short-lived.

Hanging over the start of the year is a renewed fight over raising the nation's borrowing limit, which the Treasury says must be resolved by late February or early March to avert an unprecedented U.S. default. Both sides are positioning behind customary hard-line positions, with Republicans insisting they want concessions before raising the debt limit and Obama insisting he won't negotiate.

McDonald's closes employee website

McDonald's Corp. has shut down a website intended to provide employees with work and life guidance after it generated negative publicity for the fast-food company.

The McResource program has been criticized for creating unrealistic budgets and offering advice that was out of touch with its workers' pay. The website, which was run by an outside company, also reportedly discouraged workers from eating fast food.

Amazon: Growth in Prime numbers

Amazon said yesterday it had signed up more than 
1 million new customers last week for its Amazon Prime membership program, which for $79 a year provides free two-day shipping on many items and a free streaming video service.

The company said the program continues to grow, with "tens of millions of members worldwide."

THE SHUFFLE

• Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New England announced that it has hired Kevin Dumont, left, as a field trainer. He will serve as a trainer instructing affiliated sales associates in Southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
• J Barrett & Co. announced that Andrea O'Brien, a full-time real estate agent, has joined the agency in its Beverly Farms office. O'Brien has extensive business experience in customer service, including management.
• M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc., a supplier of high performance RF, microwave and millimeter wave products, announced the appointment of Robert J. McMullan as its chief financial officer.

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Booming tech opportunities key Hub-Israel collaboration

Boston-area techies are heading to Tel Aviv for a marathon hackathon at Google in a trip that highlights the burgeoning relationship between the Israeli and Bay State tech sectors.

"Israel right now is at a really unique place in the tech world," said Max Kleiman-Weiner, an MIT Ph.D. candidate who is on the first tech-focused trip run by Birthright Israel, a program that sends Jewish young adults to tour Israel. "There's just so much happening in terms of startups and tech."

The trip, which includes half a dozen Boston-area techies, will culminate in a 36-hour hackathon — a marathon coding session — at Google's Tel Aviv office. The group will be split into teams and will work alongside Israeli developers to create a project under a not-yet-announced theme.

Israel's booming tech sector has made big news in the United States this year, most recently when Israeli social mapping service Waze was acquired by Google for close to $1 billion.

Israeli companies have also paid dividends for Massachusetts. A report earlier this month found Israeli-founded businesses brought nearly $12 billion in economic benefit to Massachusetts, and employed more than 6,600 people.

The report says future growth between Israel and Massachusetts will be a result of similarities in focus, including in robotics and biotech.

Kleiman-Weiner said Israel is especially interesting to him because his focus — machine learning — is taking off there.

"That space is particularly hot in Israel," he said. "For me it's definitely a place I want to keep my eye on and figure out what's going on there."

Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel, said the nonprofit chose to design the trip around technology out of a belief that it is a great global unifier.

"We believe that this is the beauty of the 21st century," Mark said.

That connection has already brought together the group. Kleiman-Weiner said he had not considered going on a Birthright trip, but the tech focus sold him.

He said while the technology and the companies the group will visit are interesting, he is most interested in meeting and making significant connections with other people who share his tech interests.

"During the time the groups are here, there is a development of long-term relationships that changes the perspective and the perception about each other," Mark said. "Many of them have identical spheres of interest."

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New app incorporates social media and driving

Dreading a long road trip home this holiday season? Relief is on the way in the crowdsourced driving app Waze.

Recently acquired by Google — reportedly for more than $1 billion — this brilliant app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone is a new take on GPS navigation. In short, it makes traffic social.

Waze, based in Israel, allows users to report — and commiserate about — road hazards, police activity and traffic conditions, with a critical mass of devotees leading to a stunning level of accuracy that, on my recent four-hour drives to and from New York, far surpassed that of Google Maps and my portable GPS.

However, you will want to make sure the passenger in the car — not the driver — is using Waze. While full-voice integration is surely the future, Waze currently requires a set of eyes on the screen.

What sets Waze apart from other traffic apps is that it makes calculations based on the vehicle speeds of other users. Both my Garmin GPS and Google Maps suggested that I exit the Mass Pike at the Brighton tolls — but Waze noticed cars were crawling and recommended an alternate route.

Even during a long, frustrating journey, using Waze allows you to at least feel like a good Samaritan. While using Waze, I was able to tell drivers on a particularly narrow stretch of Interstate 95 in Connecticut that a stopped vehicle in the right shoulder meant that those nearby should keep left.

But I'd be careful not to dub Waze a traffic safety app. The ability to report the location of speed traps — probably 
a key reason for its popularity — is likely not appreciated by the law enforcement community.

In true social network form, Waze users choose screen names and avatars that show their location on a map. You'll get the occasional "hi there" or "this stinks" message from other users. In an emergency, the ability to ask another user "do you have jumper cables" or "know how to change a tire?" is something that I'd consider if AAA or state trooper help were far off.

Google Maps is in the process of integrating some Waze features, and at some point, Google Maps will probably subsume all of Waze. In the meantime, Waze is a great way to make those endless holiday car trips a bit more bearable.

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Phishing scammers go after Target data breach victims

Target Corp. is warning of "phishing" scam emails aimed at customers whose card information was compromised under the breach of its point-of-sales system.

"We are aware of limited incidents of phishing or scam communications," spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in a statement yesterday. "To help our guests feel confident that what they are hearing from Target is really from us, we are in the process of setting up a dedicated resource on our corporate website where we will post PDFs of all official communications that Target sends to our guests."

Target confirmed that it was partnering with the Secret Service and Department of Justice on the investigation of the Nov. 27-Dec. 15 breach that left credit and debit card information of an estimated 40 million customers vulnerable. Yesterday it said it wanted to make clear that "neither entity is investigating Target."

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase increased withdrawal and spending limits it had imposed on 2 million debit-card customers affected by the Target breach.

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Post Office stuffs stockings with 3-cent stamp hike

The U.S. Postal Service delivered a surprise on Christmas Eve that may land them on some naughty lists as it announced a temporary 3-cent price increase on first-class stamps.

The hike, approved by an independent Postal Regulatory Commission, will raise the cost from 46 cents to 49 cents a letter. The commission justified the increase in the face of severe volume decreases, going back to 2008, and as a way for the Postal Service to recoup a reported $2.8 billion in losses.

The increase will take effect on Jan. 26 and will last no more than two years. The commission rejected a request to make the hike permanent.

There will be a 6 percent increase on bulk mail, periodical and package service rates. The mail industry is said to oppose the increase, saying charities and bookstores will suffer from the increased cost of mass mailings and package delivery.

The Postal Service reportedly lost $5 billion last fiscal year.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Critic blasts Cape Wind tax credit

Offshore wind company Cape Wind has signed a key contract for the construction of its controversial turbines, but critics say the contract is just a ploy to qualify for a crucial federal tax credit before the end of the year.

"This is smoke and mirrors and nothing more," said Cape Wind opponent Audra Parker, president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. "It's a desperate attempt to try to qualify for the investment tax credit, which expires in a week."

That federal tax credit requires the Cape Wind project to either begin construction or incur 5 percent of the $2.6 billion total the wind farm is expected to cost. Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said yesterday the project should qualify for the tax credit by accruing the $130 million necessary to hit the cost threshold.

The contract, signed with Siemens, will pay the German engineering company to construct and service 130 wind turbines, as well as build an offshore substation to send electricity to land.

Rodgers said the contract was the result of prolonged negotiations, and said the timing of the announcement was not related to the expiration of the federal tax credit.

He declined to say if Cape Wind would be eligible for the tax credit without the cost of the contract. The tax credit, if awarded, could pay for 30 percent of construction costs.

"This is purely a tax play for Cape Wind," said Bob Rio, senior vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts. "What I think they are trying to do is get up to the 5 percent."

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Revere trumps Boston in new deal

Mohegan Sun says Boston can expect fewer benefits as a surrounding community to its proposed Suffolk Downs casino than Revere will get under a new host agreement unveiled yesterday in the deal that resulted from the project being shifted a few feet over the city line after East Boston voters rejected it.

The deal stipulates Revere will receive not less than $25 million a year in "impact fees" — up from Revere's $9 million minimum under the previous plan — and up to $40 million depending on annual gaming revenue. Boston stood to receive $32 million to $52 million a year as host before the Nov. 5 vote killed an Eastie casino.

Mohegan Sun CEO Mitchell Etess said Boston is now a surrounding community in the company's eyes.

"I think that host communities have certain expenses and needs that surrounding communities do not," Etess said. "I would say it's fair to say that host communities have far more needs and mitigations that need to take place than surrounding communities."

Boston has yet to respond to Mohegan's request to begin surrounding community negotiations, and is unlikely to until Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh takes office. Walsh said the city has to negotiate the best deal it can.

"This doesn't mean I support a casino here," Walsh said in a statement. "In fact, I find it very concerning that the casino proposals may be located within mere feet of the Boston city line, and the transportation plans are likely to have a very significant impact on our city. But if we don't work to negotiate the best deal possible for Boston, then an arbiter will decide what benefits we will receive, and the result may not be what is in the best interest of Boston."

Walsh said there are "serious questions about whether or not Boston should be considered a host community or a surrounding community" until the new Mohegan plans are filed with the Gaming Commission. The plans are due Dec. 31.

Anti-casino advocates said they will pore over the Revere agreement for indications that Boston will face equal impacts to Revere.

"Our position is Boston is a host community until somebody can definitively prove otherwise," said Matthew Cameron, an East Boston attorney who assists anti-casino activists. "We're going to keep making that argument."

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Analysts: Economy is on track

Boston, Massachusetts and the country are well-positioned for continued economic success in 2014, experts say, though we might not see the type of growth that came unexpectedly in 2013.

"Boston is in a great position because the economic engine of Boston is very dynamic at the moment," said Hub advertising giant Jack Connors.

Connors said the region's strengths in heath care, biotech and academia will serve Greater Boston's economy well in the coming year and beyond.

"I'm feeling very bullish about 2014 and 2015 and 2016 for the Greater Boston area," Connors said.

Connors said Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh should be able to build on Mayor Thomas M. Menino's economic success.

"If he surrounds himself with the right people, and he's committed to the same kind of goodness, he is going to be very successful," Connors said.

Statewide, the year is coming to a close on a somewhat sour note, as the state unemployment rate rose above the national rate for the first time in six years. Still, the state should see slow, continued growth next year.

"I would think we'd probably parallel the U.S. in 2014," said Elliot Winer, a former chief economist for the state.

Winer said he expects to see the state add between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs a month.

"I'm not expecting to see a huge, dramatic upturn," Winer said.

He said the state's traditional industries — including health care — have shown strong growth, but other sectors have not.

"The other industries are basically flat," Winer said.

Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Joanne Goldstein told the Herald last week the state is still in a good economic position.

"The economy is going in the right direction," Goldstein said. "We continue to be optimistic."

Nationally, numbers released Friday showed the economy grew at its fastest rate since 2011 in the third quarter of 2013, and several indices hit record highs at the closing bell Friday evening.

Still, economists do not expect that growth rate to continue next year.

"We are going to do well this coming year," said Christine Armstrong, senior vice president at Morgan Stanley. "2014 is not going to be as fabulous in our opinion as 2013 was, but there are still so many attractive things going on."

Armstrong said the biggest concerns through 2013 — Syria, Israel, the government shutdown — have ended up not wreaking havoc on the economy and stock market the way some initially feared they might.

"2014 will hopefully be a good year. We have taken those concerns off the table," Armstrong said.

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What did we learn in `13?

'Tis the season for regret and recriminations. Let's not let this year pass without taking stock of social media's epic fails — and the lessons we can carry into 2014:

5) While having a private conversation in public, you could be live-tweeted. This lesson comes to us care of the guy who chronicled every detail of his neighbor's awful breakup, which he overheard on their Brooklyn roof deck and broadcast to thousands of followers under the apt hashtag #Roofbreakup. The sad duo had clearly learned nothing from retired Gen. Michael Hayden. The former National Security Agency head also had his entire confidential conversation — this one with a journalist — live-tweeted by a fellow passenger, a former MoveOn.org activist sitting behind him on an Acela train.

4) When in doubt, hire a qualified social media manager. This lesson comes to us care of beloved Boston-based restaurant delivery service Foodler, which posted a picture on Facebook of a mouse with a meat cleaver strapped to his back in a "name that caption" contest. Animal-loving customers were not amused. Martha Stewart's penchant for tweeting awful-looking food photos — making even the tastiest holiday ham look hellacious — shows that even a domestic diva could use some professional help. For City Councilor-elect Michelle Wu, it was her husband's angry tweet — amid a controversy over her support for a conservative city council prez — that she didn't need her progressive base. All epic fails that could've been avoided with a social media manager.

3) Viral does not equal true. From TV producer Elan Gale's made-up airplane fight with rude fellow passenger "Diane" to the far-fetched tale that one of the Boston Marathon bombers was a missing Brown student, 2013 was a banner year for Internet falsehoods. Reporters at sites like Buzzfeed fell for them. Let's be more discerning in 2014.

2) Make sure your password isn't "password." Having a generic password is like asking to be hacked, if the throngs of Facebook and Twitter users who had their accounts compromised are any indication. I suspect that this is why someone was able to briefly turn Burger King's Twitter account into a pro-McDonald's sideshow in February.

1) Ignore crowdsourced "investigations." In another marathon-related gaffe, several self-appointed Internet sleuths saw fit to post pictures of the crowd taken prior to the attacks and speculate irresponsibly about which people in the pictures were the bombers. Well-intentioned, but wrongheaded and dangerously damaging for the innocent spectators who were racially profiled and saw their pictures circulated as potential suspects with no evidence. It was social media at its worst. It shouldn't ever happen again.

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Fannie, Freddie hiking mortgage loan fees

Buying a home will be more costly next year for many people thanks to planned fee increases.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will hike the guarantee fees on government-backed mortgage loans — fees that typically are passed along to borrowers and will result in higher mortgage rates.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced the policy change Dec. 9 as part of an effort to decrease the government-owned mortgage finance companies' presence in the U.S. mortgage market and bring private capital back into the mix.

"Any increased fees impact people's ability to obtain home ownership," said Brenda Clement, executive director of the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association, a nonprofit umbrella group for affordable housing and community development in Massachusetts. "The housing market has come back slowly, particularly for people at the low-income levels, and anything that increases fees or increases the complexity of buying a home is always problematic."

On Monday, Fannie and Freddie, which currently back about two-thirds of new U.S. mortgages, said fees will rise sharply for many borrowers who don't make down payments of at least
20 percent and don't have high enough credit scores — a large share of homebuyers.

The fee increases are especially hard to swallow in Massachusetts, a higher-
value area in terms of real estate and housing costs in general, said Peter Ruffini, incoming president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and regional vice president at Jack Conway Realtors in Norwell. "Whenever we hear news like this, oftentimes it impacts us to a greater extent," he said.

Interest rates already are expected to creep into the 
5 percent to 5.5 percent range, absent the fee increases, Ruffini noted. "Things like this affect a first-time homebuyer's ability to get into the market," Ruffini said. "It decreased their purchasing power, and it's tough to get a loan right now anyway."

Making mortgages more expensive, especially while interest rates already are rising, may inhibit the recovery and have unintended consequences, said David Abromowitz, a Boston attorney who specializes in affordable housing. "Raising the guaranty fees now won't make the housing system safer, as lenders are already screening out borrowers without high credit scores and strong, documented income," said Abromowitz, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a progressive Washington, D.C., public policy think tank. "But it will make home-buying more costly, while rents are also shooting up — with the consumer losing out either way."

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Cool Deal fills FIFA cup

A Plymouth company will help hydrate soccer fans across the globe under a licensing deal with the Federation Internationale de Football Association.

Cool Gear International will produce FIFA-themed, reusable chillers, tumblers and its signature coolgearcans to mark the 2014 FIFA World Cup that will be hosted by Brazil from June 12 to July 13.

"We've done some really fun stuff for the World Cup," Cool Gear founder and CEO Donna Roth said. "It's an exciting deal for us because it's hitting a different market for us — sports — but still is viable for (the mass market) as well."

Cool Gear pursued the FIFA contract because it recently broke into the sporting goods market, and it has strong distributors in Brazil and key countries around the world, according to Roth.

"We developed a line of products that was more geared to the sporting goods industries — higher scale bottles, with a little more bells and whistles," she said.

In addition to World Cup venues, the collectable products will be sold in North America, elsewhere in Brazil, Europe, Colombia, Africa and South Korea. They'll be available locally at Dick's Sporting Goods this month and at www.coolgearinc.com.

Roth, who categorized Cool Gear as a mid-middle market company, declined to reveal the value of the FIFA deal or privately held Cool Gear's annual revenue. Mid-middle market companies' revenue range from $50 million to 
$500 million.

"It will be a nice piece to add," Roth said of the FIFA deal. "The time frame is short. We'll get a big hit this first and second quarter, and then it will be over."

The FIFA deal — along with a three-year agreement signed with Coca-Cola in October — is part of a move by Cool Gear to get back into licensing.

Its predecessor company, Fun Designs, was heavily into licensing in the 1990s and had deals with companies including Disney, Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon. But at the same time, it was developing its Cool Gear brand, and when licensing royalties "went through the roof," it decided to concentrate on its own brand and renamed the company.

All of Cool Gear's products are proprietary, and it has more than 150 patents for them. Introduced this summer, its coolgearcan is a double-wall insulated, BPA-free plastic beverage holder that looks like a 12-ounce can, but is 
reusable and has a spill-proof slider lid.

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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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AG targets chain after data breach

Hackers targeting Target Corp. hit the bull's eye, but the nation's second largest discounter said it has resolved a security breach that gave cyber-criminals access to the credit and debit card information of some 40 million customers during the busiest shopping period of the year.

The U.S. Secret Service and state Attorney General Martha Coakley yesterday said they're investigating the breach — believed to be the second largest in U.S. history and which 
Reuters tied to hackers hitting Target's terminals that customers use to swipe the magnetic strips on their credit and debit cards.

The breach left vulnerable customer names, credit and debit card numbers, and the cards' expiration dates and security codes from purchases made Nov. 27 to Dec. 15 at Target's 1,700 U.S. stores.

"We have moved swiftly to address this issue, so guests can shop with confidence," CEO Gregg Steinhafel said in a statement.

Target said it notified authorities and financial institutions when it discovered the breach. But, citing the investigation, spokeswoman Katie Boylan declined to confirm how the information was accessed, when Target discovered the problem and how many customers already reported being victimized.

The breach is likely to get the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and class-action lawyers, said Chris Zoladz of Navigate LLC, a Maryland information protection and privacy advisory firm. "If this breach is as large as it has been reported to be, there had to be a fairly substantial failure in some internal control," he said.

In 2009, TJX Cos., the Framingham owner of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, agreed to pay $9.75 million and implement a new data security program after a 2005-2006 data breach that affected at least 45.7 million card users.

The Target breach could deter consumers from shopping there in the tail-end of the holiday season.

"For those who shopped during that period, they may think twice about returning in the near-term," said analyst Joseph Feldman of New York's Telsey Advisory Group.

Target customer Heather Tinlin, a victim of credit theft 20 years ago, admitted to panicking and immediately checking her account. "It happens from
time to time, knock on wood, you just have to be careful," she said yesterday at the Target in Dorchester.

Sara Lawson wasn't taking any chances. "I was a little nervous, and I will be paying cash today, just to be on the safe side," she said.

Andrew Blom contributed to this report.

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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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Gov vows all will be insured Jan. 1

Gov. Deval Patrick vowed yesterday the state will meet a key Obamacare deadline — insisting the disastrous website is "not the main event" — even as skeptical Bay Staters nervously struggled to sign up for health care with less than five days to go.

"Everyone who has applied and is up against the Jan. 1 deadline will be insured on Jan. 1," Patrick told the Herald at Logan International Airport yesterday morning after jetting in on a Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner, returning from his 10-day "trade mission" to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

"There's no denying the fact that the performance of the IT vendor has been subpar, but that's not the main event. The main event is making sure people are covered and the team is doing everything they can — and then some — to make sure that happens," Patrick said.

But some Bay Staters facing a critical Dec. 23 sign-up deadline who have hit dead-ends on the state's glitchy website don't have faith in Patrick's promise.

"I think it's going to be a 'Festivus' miracle if they pull that off," said Adam Romanow of South Boston, referring to the old "Seinfeld" show's bitter phony holiday for people who are disillusioned with Christmas.

Romanow, who first told the Herald on Nov. 8 that the Connector site falsely insisted he was incarcerated, was finally able to sign up for insurance, but hasn't been able to pay his first premium — due by Dec. 23 — because he never got a bill. He also tried and failed to pay on the state's Obamacare site and on the phone.

"I'm jonesing to pay my premium, but I don't know where to send it," Romanow said. "The whole thing is a complete disaster."

Andrea Lane of Arlington applied for insurance through the Connector site in October, then heard nothing until this weekend when a letter finally arrived declaring her eligible for insurance and urging her to bypass the website and call to sign up.

Facing a similar Dec. 23 deadline, Lane said she now can't access a comparison of different plans online, and doesn't feel comfortable choosing health insurance based on an operator's description of the plans over the phone.

"This is my health we're talking about," said Lane. "I need to know how much it's going to cost and whether I'll be able to keep my doctor. I have some ongoing health issues, and I need to know if I'm covered. It's absurd to do this over the phone."

With four days to go, Lane said it's too late to take a day off from work to meet with a health insurance "navigator."

"I'm resigned to the fact that I'm going to be without coverage for the month of January," she said. "I'm just going to be very careful."

An estimated 2,800 Bay Staters in Commonwealth Choice and the Young Adult Plan face the approaching Dec. 23 deadline, said Connector spokesman Jason Lefferts. It was unclear how many other people with other plans it might apply to.

The state admitted yesterday it may have to provide temporary insurance plans to some people if it can't process their applications by the deadline.

As for Lane, Lefferts suggested using the "anonymous browsing functionality ... open to everyone on the website."

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Get your mall buys delivered

Massachusetts mall-goers, who don't want to be saddled with their shopping bags, soon may have a new way to get their purchases home.

California startup Deliv has jumped into the same-day delivery fray, offering the service to malls through crowdsourced drivers.

And Simon Property Group, the largest owner of malls in Massachusetts, hopes eventually to roll out same-day delivery to its customers at Bay State retail centers.

Shoppers at Simon's Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., now have two options for shopping hands-free.

They can have their purchases from participating mall retailers sent to their homes for $10, as long as they're within 15 miles of the center.

Or they can have them sent to a central mall location and pick them up when they're done shopping, or have them loaded into their cars curbside, for free.

Simon started the service Monday to "elevate" its customer service, according to spokesman Les Morris.

"Our expectation is that it will be successful, and we can roll it out to more properties," Morris said. "At the end of the day ... if, because of this delivery system, there are stores that are even more productive, it's a win-win."

Approximately 50 retailers are participating in Deliv's same-day service, which also is offered online.

At the Stanford Shopping Center, they include Sony, Hugo Boss, Lucky Brand, Bose, Johnston & Murphy, Kate Spade, Crate & Barrel and White House/Black Market, Morris said.

Founded in 2012, Deliv has raised $7.8 million in venture capital funding from companies including Cambridge's General Catalyst Partners.

Its service is now offered in nine malls in California and Chicago.

Deliv generates revenue from fees paid by the retailers and malls — currently $5 to $15 per delivery — who can opt to charge customers or offer free deliveries, according to founder and CEO Daphne Carmeli.

The key to the business model is getting as many packages and as many stops per route, so the cost of delivery comes down, said Carmeli, whose company hires the drivers.

"What I wanted to do was build a company where we would not have to be a two-sided marketplace, where we would have to acquire demand in every city," Carmeli said.

"We wanted to find an opportunity where we could immediately plug into a demand stream."

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JP condos have energy to spare

New contemporary townhouses in the Woodbourne section of Jamaica Plain are designed to create more energy than they use so that utilities cost nothing.

Part of Boston's Energy Positive Green Building Program, GFC Development partnered with Hub architecture firm Utile to build the just-completed two-unit attached townhouse at 64-66 Catherine St. on land owned by the city. The purpose of this and other such projects in the city is to show that housing can be designed to be both completely energy independent and stylish without costing a huge amount more to build. This project meets the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum designation, the highest rating.

The three-story townhouses on Catherine Street are on the market for $595,000 each. They feature high-end white kitchens, tiled bathrooms, 8-foot doors throughout and third-floor master bedroom suites with cathedral ceilings and a skylight.

The exterior of the building is dark-brown Hardie Plank, with unfinished shiplap cedar clapboard accents and a rear sloped roof pointed 42 degrees south that holds 21 photovoltaic electric panels for each unit.

These panels provide all the energy needed for the electric-only townhouses, producing 8 percent more energy than they use, according to preliminary testing. Homeowners will earn credits from electricity given back to the grid.

The townhouses are 
superinsulated, with 8 inches of icynene foam insulation in the walls, Alpen windows and a multilayered rubber roof. Windows are deep-set to attract winter sun and the first-floor concrete floor acts as a thermal mass to retain heat. The condos are heated and cooled when needed by wall-mounted Mitsubishi electric AC/heat pumps.

We took a look at staged model Unit 1, a 1,416-square-foot three-bedroom that has a fenced-in backyard and a driveway that will fit two cars.

You enter the unit through a foyer with polished cement floors, a wood bench and a closet holding the unit's 80-gallon solar hot water heater.

To the right sits an open living/dining area with large windows and a glass back wall with a door to a cedar fence-enclosed backyard. There's a patio with Hanover permeable pavers and a rainwater irrigation system.

Back inside, an adjacent open kitchen has recessed compact fluorescent lighting and polished cement floors. There's Parapan high-gloss white cabinets, many pantry sized, above and below white quartz countertops. There's an island with a stainless-steel sink and Mirabelle single-handle faucet. The white appliances are high end, including a Kitchen Aid refrigerator, a Jenn-Air oven, a Whirlpool electric stovetop with a Cristal range hood and a Bosch dishwasher.

Behind the kitchen sits a half bath with a white solid-surface IKEA vanity.

Stairs with white ash treads lead to the second floor where there are two ash-floored bedrooms and a full bathroom off a hallway that holds a closet with a high-efficiency Bosch washer and dryer.

The recessed-lit bedrooms on this floor have big windows with transoms, but are on the smaller side. Between them is a bathroom with beige porcelain tile floors and surround for a Grohe showerhead and deep soaking tub. There's also a white IKEA vanity with Grohe fixtures and a built-in linen closet.

The entire third floor of the unit is a master bedroom suite that features a good-sized bedroom with large windows with transoms, recessed lighting and a skylight. There are three closets, one a large walk-in that could serve as a nursery.

The en-suite master bathroom has slate-colored porcelain tile floors and surround for a walk-in shower with a glass partition. There's a linen closet built in and a white IKEA vanity with Grohe fixtures.

The townhouse is built on slab and does not have a basement.

But there is a dedicated driveway that will hold two vehicles next to the unit, with permeable Hanover pavers that allow grass to grow between the stones. The yard will be landscaped with low-water-use plants and grass.

• Address: 64-66 Catherine St., Unit 1, Jamaica Plain
• Bedrooms: Three
• Bathrooms: Two full, one half
• List price: $595,000
• Square feet: 1,416
• Price per square foot: $420
• Annual taxes: To be determined
• Monthly condo fee: $240
• Features: Architect-designed two unit townhouse designed for high energy efficiency; lots of large windows with transoms; open living/dining area with glass wall and door to back yard; kitchen with high-gloss cabinets, white quartz countertops and high-end appliances; third-floor master bedroom suite with ash floors, cathedral ceiling, skylight and large walk-in closet; porcelain-tile bathrooms; ash floors on top two floors; 40 solar panels on south-facing sloped roof; cedar-fence-enclosed backyard with rainwater irrigation system; driveway holds two vehicles L Location: About a mile from Forest hills Orange Line T station and retail offeringsalong Hyde Park Avenue; two miles from Jamaica Plain centerL Built in: 2013
• Broker: Coldwell banker agents Ellen grupert at 617-256-8455 and Janis Lippman at 617-869-0496

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Hospitals get $25M NIH grant

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a group of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital a $25 million grant to determine the most effective treatment for the most severe form of peripheral artery disease, which can lead to amputation.

The four-year trial will enroll 2,100 patients at 120 clinical centers in the U.S. and Canada and will compare traditional bypass surgery with the less invasive alternative of endovascular treatment for patients with critical limb ischemia, or CLI.

"This is a huge deal because CLI affects thousands of people in this country alone," said Dr. Alik Farber, chief of the division of vascular and endovascular surgery at BMC and one of the trial's principal investigators. "The problem is it's unclear which procedure is better in terms of saving legs."

Endovascular treatment is a smaller procedure with less risk, Farber said, but it also is thought to be not as durable, meaning that the patient may have to have it done more than once.

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B.R.A. to give ‘blighted’ tax break to Garden complex

The Boston Redevelopment Authority is set to approve a $950 million redevelopment of the former Boston Garden site next week — including $7.8 million in tax breaks for the city-designated "blighted" area — despite neighborhood objections to a 600-foot tower among the three-building complex.

The Menino administration confirmed a 15-year tax deal yesterday and that a Star Market supermarket will be part of Boston Properties and Delaware North's project near the TD Garden.

The tax deal was reached to "secure the critical tenant and create tax certainty" during the first phase of the 1.87 million-square-foot mixed-use project, the announcement said.

"It's a mistake to offer any tax breaks for economic development purposes," said David Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute. "The better policy would be to have a tax rate that is low enough to encourage economic development without having to provide special favors to every supplicant who comes along wanting a subsidy."

The project includes a 497-unit, 600-foot residential tower; a 20-story, 306-room hotel; a 25-story office building; 235,000 square feet of retail space; a 40,000-square-foot TD Garden expansion; and an expansion of the North Station parking garage.

"The tax certainty provided by the 121A agreement will benefit our tenants, securing the mix of uses and public benefits long desired by the community," Boston Properties senior vice president Bryan Koop said in a statement.

Menino and BRA director Peter Meade weren't made available for comment. Meade met with the Boston Garden Impact Advisory Group yesterday to inform the neighborhood stakeholders of the news.

Six of 13 members who favor a 400-foot tower instead of a 600-foot tower and object to the "blighted" status wrote to Menino this week, alleging their concerns weren't given serious consideration. Member James Zahka said he still feels ignored. "If you live near a transportation node, get ready for 600-foot buildings," he said.

The project will generate $32.3 million in revenue over 15 years, versus 
$5 million in property taxes should the land, vacant since the 1990s demolition of the old Boston Garden, remain undeveloped, BRA spokeswoman Melina Schuler said. "This is an opportunity to have a signature building in this part of the city," she said. "We feel that a tower up to 600 feet would be appropriate."

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Red Sox eye more booze sales

The Red Sox hope to ramp up the availability of alcohol at games and other Fenway Park events.

The team wants to hike the number of concession stands selling liquor and extend sales until the end of the seventh inning. That would include adding liquor sales outside on Yawkey Way — in addition to the already-offered beer and wine — and expanding sales of all three to Fenway concerts and other events.

The request comes less than three months after the Boston Redevelopment Authority inked a controversial $7.3 million deal that lets the team shut down part of Yawkey Way for concessions during games and other city-approved events.

"Within a month, they're finding a way of making more revenue from the deal," said Matthew Cahill, executive director of the Boston Finance Commission, a city watchdog group that's been critical of the deal because there was no public bidding process and the city failed to extract a yearly base payment and revenue-sharing from the Red Sox. "This is why the BRA should have crafted a better-worded document. I certainly hope the police are being brought into this conversation."

Red Sox spokeswoman Zineb Curran said the team wants the same conveniences for all events at Fenway Park. "One improvement we are pursuing is reducing concession lines with enhanced efficiency at existing points of sale in high-traffic areas around the park," she said.

The team is slated to appear before the Licensing Board today to increase the number of concession stands selling liquor from five to eight.

Fenway Park starts selling alcohol when park gates open — usually 90 minutes before game time. Liquor sales stop two hours after a game's start or at the bottom of the seventh inning, whichever is earlier, while beer and wine sales stop 2.5 hours after a game's start or at the end of the seventh, whichever comes first. The team now wants to stop selling all three at the end of the seventh or "earlier, at "management's discretion."

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App lets you pay parking tickets

Getting a parking ticket is never a pleasant experience, but a new app makes paying them in Boston a little less painful.

Terrible Labs has developed TicketZen, which can be used to pay parking tickets by scanning them with a smartphone camera.

"Three taps, you have paid your parking ticket and you are on with your day," said Cort Johnson, of Boston-based Terrible Labs.

The app is faster and easier that traditional methods, said Johnson, such as paying at city hall or online, or mailing in a payment.

"That experience is relatively antiquated and we wanted to make it a very user friendly experience," said Johnson.

The iPhone and Android app works by scanning a barcode already on Hub parking tickets and developing it was easier, he said, because of the cooperation of the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics.

Chris Osgood, co-chairman of the office, said they welcomed the outside support and innovation.

"Any way that we can work with people in the community to make Boston a better place to live, that's worth it for us to try out that experiment," Osgood said.

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Clergy may sue if panel OKs bid

Clergy in Revere and East Boston are watching today's planned vote by the state Gaming Commission on a Suffolk Downs casino in Revere.

"If that happens, we will pursue legal means," said Tim Bogertman, associate pastor of First Congregational Church of Revere. "That's something we're considering."

Bogertman and 22 other clergy yesterday signed a letter urging the commission to honor the Nov. 5 referendums in East Boston and Revere, when Suffolk Downs was proposing a casino resort in both communities. Revere voted yes, but East Boston rejected it.

Since then, Suffolk Downs has found a new casino partner, Mohegan Sun, and it has shifted the project onto the Revere portion of its property.

"We're concerned about what's happening to the democratic process," said the Rev. David Searles of East Boston's Central Assembly of God Church.

Trent Sheppard, a collegiate chaplain who lives in East Boston, said "all options are on the table," but he said the clergy might leave any legal action to the lay group No Eastie Casino.

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Suffolk: We eyed Revere from start

Suffolk Downs casino officials are claiming in a memo to the state Gaming Commission — due to decide the project's fate today — that ballot questions were purposely crafted to let them build in Revere if East Boston voters rejected them.

Opponents say that shows the racetrack tried to deceive voters in both towns.

Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC and Mohegan Sun, in a Dec. 2 memo obtained by the Herald, cite the different wording of the two ballot questions. Eastie voters, who rejected the casino Nov. 5, were asked to approve a gaming establishment "to be located at Suffolk Downs in East Boston." Revere voters, who approved the casino, were asked to approve a gaming establishment on the "Suffolk Downs property off of Winthrop Avenue."

"Winthrop Avenue is in Revere," the memo reads. "A Revere-only gaming establishment fits precisely within the scope of this question. This was by design ... they wanted to ensure that if East Boston voted no, the ballot question in Revere would give Revere the opportunity still to be a host community for a property located only in Revere."

The question of voter intent is central to today's deliberations by the commission, which will decide if the Nov. 5 vote and related agreements can apply to the recently hatched plan to build only on the Revere side of Suffolk Downs.

Opponents say the idea was always that Eastie and Revere voters had to give a thumbs up for any casino to be built at the racetrack, and any argument to the contrary is disingenuous.

"It's a very, very far-fetched idea that people were aware and were fully cognizant that the intention of the developers was to build a casino no matter what," said Pedro Morales, lead organizer of anti-casino group Friends of East Boston. "First of all, if you did that and you didn't explain it to anybody, that's very deceptive. Everybody was led to believe that it was going to be one development that needed the approval of both communities."

Revere Mayor Daniel Rizzo said Suffolk Downs' posture toward Revere has long been "if this doesn't go the way we want in Boston, we'll be coming to talk to you."

"That has always been very, very clear to me," Rizzo said. "In fact, when they were getting eerily close to not being able to strike a host community agreement with Boston, they were getting very edgy and concerned that they might have to pivot back to Revere and work on a Revere-only project."

The Gaming Commission's decision on Suffolk Downs' Revere proposal comes amid a whirlwind of high-stakes activity. The commission received a thumbs up from its investigative arm yesterday on the suitability of MGM to pursue a license in Springfield, and will issue a decision soon after questioning casino executives for hours. On Friday, the commission will convene to discuss a land sale plan from Wynn Resorts, which wants to build in Everett. Monday, the commission will hold its first hearing to determine if Wynn is suitable to seek greater Boston's lone casino license.

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Getting to know all about you

Expect to hear more about the "quantified self" movement — the name for a growing mass of devices, apps and technologies that sense, save and synthesize everything about you. And we do mean everything.

We've all heard about wristbands that track your heart rate and fitness. But what about a device that maps every place you've ever been, everything you've ever said and everyone you've ever met? It could happen sooner than you think.

"2014 is going to be the year where consumers are literally going to wake up to how much information they create and wonder where it's all going," Chris Dancy, 45, of Denver, a quantified-self trailblazer who has made headlines for the reams of data he collects on himself.

Evidence that we are on the cusp of a personal data revolution exists in the devices we already own: Smartphones are increasingly logging personal data, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 automatically charting the temperature, humidity and air pressure of the user's environment. The Moto X phones are constantly listening to surrounding audio. The new iPhone 5s tracks motion, and an increasing number of apps track our digital movements. Favorites, an app for iOS and Android, monitors communication with loved ones and notifies you when it's been too long since you've called grandma.

Another product aimed at self-insight is the upcoming audio-recording wristband Kapture, which constantly records audio in 60-second increments. If something has happened that you want to remember, you simply press a button and the previous 60 seconds are saved. The Kapture is a precursor to something that will be truly revolutionary: a continuous audio archive stream. No longer will you and your mate quarrel over who said what and when. You'll settle the matter with what amounts to a self-Google search. The possibilities are endless — not all of them good, or under current wiretap laws, even legal.

Eventually, more comprehensive devices will emerge, pulling together these disparate metrics. The same wristband or smartphone that records your audio will also chart your movements, speed and heart rate, along with the air quality, the weather and more. You'll be able to tell where you were in any moment in time — where and at what precise second your child said his or her first word, for example.

Dancy is already collecting hundreds of data points about his personal health and whereabouts via the many devices he uses on and around him. It may seem incredibly eccentric, but in an age where advertisers and big companies are collecting tons of information about us, why not get ahead of your own personal data and use it to get to know yourself better, and eventually, to improve your life?

Dancy predicts that the health sector will see the first big wave of these devices, with a snowball effect that will eventually result in consumer adoption.

"Within 24 months there won't be an occupation not affected by wearable computing and personal data," Dancy said.

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PowerShell a treat for iPhone users — but not many others

Logitech PowerShell Controller + Battery ($99.95, Apple Store)

Expected to be the first of many devices that turn your iOS 7 Apple device into a gamepad, the PowerShell is reminiscent of the iconic Nintendo controller from the 1980s. This device also charges your 5th-generation iPod touch or iPhone.

The good: It's a cinch to pop your iPhone into this no-fuss controller and enjoy a growing number of games that are compatible.

The bad: It seems disjointed to have a controller attached to your smartphone that can only control that smartphone within a game. The buttons on the controller are useless when it comes to opening your email or answering a call.

The bottom line: Destined to be seriously considered as a stocking-stuffer by many, the PowerShell is only for a select few game-
obsessed consumers. If it were half the price, it could be an 
option. But for the current cost, wait until a better iOS gamepad comes to market.

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