E-coupon app ringing it up

For mobile commerce to be successful, consumers — not the merchants — have to be the driving force, and one of the few companies that has figured that out is our own Waltham-based e-Coupons service SavingStar, which is announcing a huge expansion on Monday.

Rather than trying to get consumers to forgo their credit cards or lure them with "game theory," as Square and LevelUp have done, SavingStar is doing something simpler — and maybe even nobler: They've spent the past three years trying to modernize the ol' grocery store coupon.

Launched in 2011, the digital grocery savings service began helping shoppers earn cash back on purchase at stores such as Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Shaw's, CVS, Wegmans, Roche Bros., and Price Chopper. The soon-to-be-announced expansion adds partnerships with Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Walgreens, Family Dollar and Dollar General.

Spun from Newton-based marketing corporation 
Upromise, SavingStar is a mobile app for Android and iOS that organizes and provides coupons from leading manufacturers — essentially the digital equivalent of the supermarket circular.

But it's more valuable to merchants than paper coupons because it encourages consumers to use their customer loyalty cards at checkout. And that gives the merchants better data about consumption.

As for consumers, they don't see the discount at the register, but in the form of rewards that accumulate as cash, transferable to Paypal, Amazon gift cards or a bank account.

It's brilliant, really. Nothing generates loyalty like checking your bank statement and seeing that a company has actually deposited money rather than withdrawn it.

In addition to the merchant partner expansion, SavingStar is also adding a new feature, allowing consumers to earn discounts just by taking a picture of their receipt.

SavingStar, which claims 
five million users, has raised 
$27.4 million in venture capital since its founding, including a $9.1 million fourth round last year, according to CrunchBase.

SavingStar is consumer-driven, and I wouldn't be surprised if a company like Amazon scoops them up soon.

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Hybrid Lexus pairs quality, mpg

Can the discerning car buyer demand high quality and high returns on fuel cost? Yes, they can, and the 2014 Lexus 450h delivers both.

The luxury hybrid class has suddenly filled up with many competitive machines, including such fine examples as the Tesla, Cadillac ELR, Infiniti Q 50 Hybrid and three BMW offerings. How do you pick? Even though it's priced at a premium, I'd start with the GS 450h because through and through, no matter what kind of power plant it carries, the Lexus opulence is what one has come to expect from the Japanese maker.

Of course, you could spend thousands less and get the Camry Hybrid but the hallmark of any Lexus, and the reason you buy it, is the luxurious fit and finish
 of the automobile. Just look through the window and you'll see the handsome bamboo wood trim and leather-wrapped steering wheel. Pop open the door and slide into the firm, comfortable perforated heated and cooled leather seats, feel the cabin silence with the thud of the door and take in the ele­gance afforded you.

The luxury refinements continue with an upgraded package that adorns the car with a moonroof, 19-inch alloy wheels, heated steering wheel, LED headlights and a 12.3-inch high-resolution display and navigation. A powerful sound system makes rides a pleasure and the infotainment center responds to either voice commands or by using the mouselike selector. One drawback, and I've encountered this in other models, is the cellphone audio quality is rather poor for a $70,252 car. One other disappointment: Because the battery is mounted behind the rear seats, the trunk cargo area suffers and there's no option to fold the rear seats.

The large LCD displays light up with the Lexus logo on start, and once you slide the car into gear the solid ride and easy proportions of the 450h make maneuvering the four-door, five-passenger sedan easy. Front and back radar and cameras help get you in and out of tight spots and double as safety features when in cruise mode. All the controls are in the right spots, easily accessed and intuitive.

This is a wonderful car to drive and the Lexus Hybrid Drive is a 338 hp 3.5 liter V-6/electric motor combination mated to a electronically controlled variable transmission that makes the car a quiet, smooth cat that glides through the streets but has plenty of pop when you need it. The 450h CVT is configured to perform like the eight-speed tranny that earlier models featured.

Twist the Drive Mode Selector to the newly added­ Sport and the car's gearing and suspension adjust to give you more powerful acceleration and steering command. Paddle shifters complete the sporty mode, if you desire, as does the red hue of the dash lights. The rear wheel drive auto­mobile delivers 29 miles per gallon in the city and 34 mpg on the highway. Run this in pure ECO mode and you can squeeze a couple of extra mpg but the performance suffers.

I like the car's subtle lines and toned-down hourglass front grille assembly. The upgraded package features adaptive LED headlamps.

Based at a MSRP of $59,600, our test car had a number of goodies added in addition to the $5255 luxury package. Blind spot monitoring, heads-up display, one-touch power trunk and parking assist add another $2500 to the price; various processing fees land you at our final price.

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Amazon asks FAA for permission to fly drones

NEW YORK — Amazon is asking the Federal Aviation Administration permission to use drones as part of its plan to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less.

The news sent shares of the nation's largest e-commerce company up nearly 6 percent on Friday.

The online retailer created a media frenzy in December when it outlined a plan on CBS' "60 Minutes" to deliver packages with self-guided aircrafts that seemed straight out of science fiction.

In a letter to the FAA dated Wednesday, Amazon said it is developing aerial vehicles as part of Amazon Prime Air. The aircraft can travel over 50 miles per hour and carry loads of up to 5 pounds. About 86 percent of Amazon's deliveries are 5 pounds or less, the company said.

"We believe customers will love it, and we are committed to making Prime Air available to customers worldwide as soon as we are permitted to do so," Amazon said in the letter.

The FAA allows hobbyists and model aircraft makers to fly drones, but commercial use is mostly banned. Amazon is asking for an exemption so it can test its drones in the U.S. The Seattle company says its drone testing will only take place over Amazon's private property, away from airports or areas with aviation activity —and not in densely populated areas or near military bases.

The FAA is slowly moving forward with guidelines on commercial drone use. Last year, Congress directed the agency to grant drones access to U.S. skies by September 2015. But the agency already has missed several key deadlines and said the process would take longer than Congress expected.

So far, two drone models — Boeing and the Insitu Group's ScanEagle, and AeroVironment's Puma — are certified to operate commercially, but only in Alaska. One is being used by BP to survey pipelines, and the other is supporting emergency response crews for oil spill monitoring and wildlife surveillance, according to the FAA.

"We're continuing to work with the FAA to meet Congress's goal of getting drones flying commercially in America safely and soon," said Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global public policy, in a statement. "We want to do more research and development close to home."

The FAA did not respond to a request for comment.

Amazon's stock rose $18.28, or 5.6 percent, to close at $346.20 on Friday. The stock is down about 18 percent since the beginning of the year.

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Sun Valley: Where in the world is Marissa Mayer?

Marissa Mayer practically sprinted away from photographers Friday at the Allen & Co. annual media and technology conference.

Flanked by a security guard, the Yahoo chief refused to acknowledge calls for her to turn around, depriving shutterbugs of a coveted shot.

That's because Mayer has been a Garbo-esque presence at the Sun Valley, Idaho confab, all the more potent for remaining largely unseen. Her every move has been much speculated about, as she struggles to chart a new course for an internet pioneer that has gone off track.

Oh how tongues have wagged. Mayer was spotted chatting up Hiroshi Mikitani, head of Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, according to the New York Times. She was also seen chatting late into the night with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong at the Sun Valley resort's Duchin bar, the watering hole where she has taken most of her meetings, away from prying cameras.

There's a reason Mayer, a former Google rock star tasked with reinventing the internet portal after being hired away in 2012, may be feeling the heat.

"Yahoo is a brand that has been tarnished and has chewed up and spit out a succession of high profile CEOs long before Marissa joined the company," said Rebecca Lieb, an analyst at Altimeter Group. "It was one of the internet's first real success stories, but that was long ago and far away when gauged in internet time."

The company has tried to acquire the next hot thing, buying such high-profile brands as Tumblr and Flickr, but its fortunes have yet to change and it has been unable to compete with Google and other internet rivals.

"It's suffered a brain drain, an advertising drain and an innovation drain," Lieb added. "It's suffering from an identity crisis."

Mayer has attempted to refashion Yahoo as a content hub, hiring the likes of tech blogger David Pogue, former Elle creative director Joe Zee, ex-New York Times political ace Matt Bai and Katie Couric. It will soon have more money to play with, through its investment in Alibaba Group. The Chinese e-commerce giant is about to go public and could net Yahoo an estimated $9 billion in cash.

"Key on investors minds will be how management chooses to allocate that capital between a share-repurchase and an acquisition," Victor Anthony, an analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, wrote in a note to investors. "A mobile ad network, Vevo, Hulu, and Spotify could potentially help accelerate core growth or expand into a new growth category."

All eyes are on Mayer, but at Sun Valley, it's a case of blink and you miss her.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Sun Valley: John Kerry video conference victim of bad reception, Bloomberg won't grade De Blasio

Even billionaires suffer from bad reception.

That's the takeaway Friday after organizers at the Allen & Co. media and technology conference tried and failed to get Secretary of State John Kerry on a remote connection from Kabul, Afghanistan. America's top diplomat was slated to attend the Sun Valley gathering of moguls and investors, but had to cancel his trip in order to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.

Technical hiccups have pushed the video chat with Kerry until Saturday, according to one conference-goer.

Instead, guests such as 21st Century Fox chief Rupert Murdoch, Yahoo head Marissa Mayer, former Sony Corp. chairman Howard Stringer and Imagine Entertainment co-founder Brian Grazer watched Willow Bay grill former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

His advice to the assembled was "don't confuse the office with yourself," noting that the phone doesn't ring like it did when he was in City Hall. He's found new purpose by becoming more engaged in philanthropy and at Bloomberg media. Among the pet projects he discussed was the importance of gun control.

Bay asked Bloomberg how he would grade his successor, Bill de Blasio, whose tenure has focused on liberal issues such as universal pre-kindergarten and housing costs.

The former mayor didn't take the bait, explaining that one of the biggest favors that his predecessor Rudolph Giuliani did for him was to remain silent on the subject of Bloomberg's leadership of the Big Apple.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Yahoo acquires mobile streaming-video startup RayV

Yahoo has acquired RayV, an Israel-based startup that developed mobile video-streaming technology.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Yahoo, 11 employees of RayV will join Yahoo, mostly in the Yahoo R&D center in Tel Aviv.

"Watching mobile and online video has gone from being a novelty to a daily habit for millions of users," P.P.S. Narayan, Yahoo VP of cloud platforms and services, said in announcing the deal. "This deal demonstrates our dedication to accelerating our video strategy and boosting our underlying technology infrastructure in the space."

The founders of RayV, who will join Yahoo, are CTO Omer Luzzattiand and chief architect Ofer Shem-Tov.

RayV had raised $16 million from investors including Accel Partners, Magma Venture Partners and Ron Zuckerman.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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ReWalk Robotics to go public

The company behind a revolutionary $69,500 exoskeleton that lets paralyzed patients walk again is planning to go public.

ReWalk Robotics, based in Israel and Marlboro, disclosed plans to raise 
$57.5 million through an initial public offering.

The company develops and sells a robotic exoskeleton that has allowed paralyzed patients, including vets, to walk thanks to an onboard computer and motion sensors. In ReWalk's regulatory filing, the company said its future could depend on being able to successfully go public.

"Without additional capital, from this offering or otherwise, we may run out of cash in the second half of 2014," the filing said. The company also said in the filing it is unclear how the exoskeletons will be viewed by insurance companies.

Still, the market for the exoskeletons is relatively untested. In June, ReWalk was given FDA approval to sell its systems directly to patients to use in their homes, but has not started selling them yet. The exoskeletons are currently used in rehabilitation hospitals.

So far this year, IPOs from medical device companies have not fared well, a trend experts blame
partly on a slow response by insurance companies.

"The recent results for medical device IPOs has been poor, perhaps related to the uncertainty of medical reimbursements," said Kathleen Smith of IPO investment firm Renaissance Capital.

"However, if ReWalk is seen as a unique robotics company, there may be more interest by IPO investors. "

A spokeswoman for ReWalk declined to comment, citing the SEC-mandated quiet period.

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New group helps artists brush up biz skills

A new hub for artists trying to mix their creativity with business savvy is holding its annual Marketplace tomorrow in Somerville.

Jessica Burko, a mixed-media artist, photographer and founder and director of Boston Handmade, is holding the event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow in Union Square.

"Our group exists to support creative entrepreneurs in their microbusinesses," said Burko, 40, of Roslindale. "When you go to art school, you don't necessarily get any business training. So our group is all about filling that gap."

Boston Handmade also offers workshops on topics such as how to use social media to market your business.

"I really wanted to meet a group of fellow artists and crafts people like that to bounce ideas off of," said Dana Garczewski, an illustrator whose studio, The Patterned Peacock, is in Watertown.

Garczewski, 36, sees events like the Boston Handmade Marketplace as a chance to show people the value of buying goods handmade locally.

"It's an opportunity to get to know the artists in your own backyard," she said, "and experience art and crafts in a very hands-on way."

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Traditional exterior hides modern home

This stylish new townhouse is one of six similar available units that's bringing a contemporary look to a traditional but highly desirable Somerville neighborhood between Davis and Teele squares.

Each unit at 39-43 Elmwood St. has four levels of living space and features a private outdoor deck carved into its roof. The exteriors of the two buildings are Hardieplank clapboard with white trim with gables as a nod to the existing neighborhood. But the interiors are completely contemporary.

The units feature high-tech components such as iBot smart-home technology, Nest learning thermostats, Sonos music systems and Kohler digital shower valves. Units also come with induction cooktops, Navien tankless water heaters and high-efficiency gas heating and central air-conditioning systems.

In the staged model unit, you enter via a small front porch into a 15-foot high foyer and step up into an open, recessed-lit living/dining area with 13-foot ceilings, oak-stained floors and lots of tall windows with transoms above. In one corner sits a horizontal gas fireplace with a metallic porcelain finished surround. And overhead is built-in surround sound with a Sonos music system that can be operated through a smartphone or iPad.

It's a half flight up to a high-end kitchen, which features custom maple cabinetry including a recipe desk. There are white quartz countertops with glass mosaic backsplash and a quartz island/breakfast bar with contemporary pendant light­ing. High-end Energy­Star appliances include a Sub Zero refrigerator, a Bosch dishwasher and wall ovens and a Bosch electric induction cooktop. Off the kitchen is a half-bath.

The second floor features two bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a closet with a washer/dryer hookup. The oak-floored master bedroom has a walk-in closet with built-in wardrobe system. The en-suite porcelain-tiled bathroom has a walk-in shower with a stylish rolling glass door and a Kohler DTV digital shower valve.

The second bedroom is a bit on the small side, but there is a second full porcelain bathroom with a white subway tile surround for a tub/shower.

The third floor features a third bedroom, a flex space that could also be a home office, study or gym. It opens out onto a private deck cut into the roof of the building.

The lower level features direct access to a one-car garage and a half flight farther down to a carpeted space, ideal for a family room, with an adjacent half bathroom.

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Wine lovers raise a glass to direct shipping law

BOSTON — Whether it's pinot noir, merlot, chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon, wine lovers in Massachusetts will soon be able to have some of their favorite bottles shipped straight from the vineyards to their homes.

A provision in the new state budget lifts a long-standing prohibition on direct deliveries from wineries to consumers. It follows a spirited campaign by out-of-state producers and customers that recently received a major endorsement from former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who operates a winery in Washington state.

The law won't take effect until Jan. 1, but connoisseurs in a state with one of the nation's highest per capita wine consumption rates are anxious to enjoy the convenience of ordering brands that are currently difficult or impossible to find on local store shelves.

"It definitely opens the door to us wine geeks to have, right on our doorsteps, these cool, funky, small-producers' wines," said Lorraine Martinelle, of Worcester.

Although she's made frequent trips to wine country in California and abroad, the best Martinelle said she could do was to have her favorites shipped to her son's home in neighboring Connecticut.

According to Free the Grapes, an industry-backed group based in Napa, California, direct wine shipping occurs in all but nine other states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah.

"It's about consumer choice," said Jeremy Benson, a spokesman for Free the Grapes, who added that wine lovers from Massachusetts had been among the most vocal of those in states with direct shipping bans.

Under the new law, domestic wine producers will initially pay $300 for a direct shipper's license, with a $150 renewal fee each subsequent year. Shippers may deliver no more than 12 cases of wine (containing no more than 9 liters per case) to each person in a year.

The wine must be for personal consumption only and cannot be resold. Wineries must report all deliveries to the state each year and pay Massachusetts excise taxes.

The American Wine Consumers Coalition complained that the new law would still prevent direct shipments of most international wines because they are only available in the U.S. through wine retailers, who remain barred from direct shipping under the law.

Resistance to direct shipping had come from liquor store owners who feared a loss of business and from those concerned that wine could easily be delivered to underage drinkers. The law requires that wine packages bear the words "contains alcohol" and be signed for at delivery by a person 21 years or older.

Violations could bring fines and license suspensions.

A 2006 law allowed some small wineries that didn't have a wholesale contract in the state to ship wine directly to consumers. But large producers objected, and a federal judge later struck down the law as unconstitutional.

Emily Murray, a Worcester resident and wine lover who said she had been frustrated by a lack of direct shipping, said the state's reluctance to lift the ban wasn't surprising, given that Massachusetts was also slow to end many of its blue laws, such as its former prohibition on Sunday liquor store sales.

Yet it may well have been Bledsoe, who played for the Patriots from 1993 to 2001 and was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame, who nudged the direct shipping effort over the goal line by visiting the Statehouse last year to push for the bill.

Bledsoe, owner of the Doubleback winery, explained to lawmakers that he was having trouble providing samples to friends, fans and former teammates in Massachusetts, including Tom Brady, who succeeded him as New England's quarterback.

"Tom actually bought the wine, and he shipped it to his dad's house" in California, Bledsoe said. But the plan went awry when Brady's father drank the wine before his son got there.

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