Accord drives home comfort, efficiency

The only real experience I have with the Honda Accord is occasionally driving my father's cramped 1999 EX, so I was overwhelmed with the space when I got behind the wheel of our 2013 Accord EX-L test model.

The sedan's interior is roomy and comfortable. The large front seats are easy to slide into and supportive, while the back seats are equally spacious for adults, and my three children had tons of foot room. Ample head space made buckling my youngest into his car seat a breeze. It was surprising to learn that the 2013 Accord is actually a tad shorter than last year's model.

Performance-wise the Accord was lively through corners, and its suspension was smooth with just enough firmness — a combination that's hard to find in the midsize sedan market.

There was plenty of pep from the sedan's 185-horsepower, 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission, or CVT. The Accord's efficient CVT worked so well that I never thought about the transmission during my week evaluating the sedan. Our test Accord got 27 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, which is excellent given the sedan's size.

The test Accord came equipped with Honda's unique Lane Watch system, which uses a wide-angle camera mounted under the passenger-side mirror to show what is going on in the right-side blind spot. The view appears automatically when the right turn signal is activated or can be left on with a button on the end of the turn signal. The right-side rear-looking view appears on the eight-inch center display screen showing an 80-degree view. Lane Watch, which takes the place of sensor-based blind spot detection systems that many automakers offer as an optional upgrade, gives drivers a bit of added confidence when making right-hand lane changes. The left side mirror gets a convex outer edge to reduce the blind spot, but no camera. The technology certainly provides confidence while driving in heavy traffic, but does not replace the need to take a thorough look around before making a lane change.

Additional safety features include anti-lock disk brakes with brake assist, an electronic stability system with traction control, a backup camera and six air bags. Our test model also had the optional forward collision and lane departure warning systems.

At the heart of the Accord's stylish and well-built interior is a center stack comprised of a three-tiered media center. An eight-inch dashboard display sits over a smaller touch screen for inputting data. Below these two displays are dual climate controls and a master dial for controlling navigation, phone, music and vehicle information. At first, it seems a little overwhelming, but the system is intuitive and avoids the dreaded drilling down through menus.

The 2013 Accord makes my dad's '99 look like an antique. It's mind-boggling when you consider the technological advances realized in just over a decade. The engine is smaller yet equally powerful. Honda's continuously variable automatic transmission, a design not always executed well by other automakers, is flawless in the Accord, resulting in respectable fuel efficiency and lively driving performance. The available and optional safety technology is on par with many high-end luxury sedans.

The 2013 Accord is a wise choice in the midsize sedan market, not only for the reasons mentioned, but for its high resale value as well.

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BRA pushing forward on Downtown vendors

Boston Redevelopment Authority officials will meet with Downtown Crossing pushcart operator Craig Caplan on Tuesday to discuss the future of the outdoor program after Mayor Thomas M. Menino intervened to prevent the vendors' ouster at the end of this month.

"This meeting is part of the ongoing conversation that is happening to determine the next phase of the Downtown Crossing pushcart program," BRA spokeswoman Melina Schuler said. "Talking and listening to the needs of pushcart operators is a crucial part of moving the pushcart program in Downtown Crossing forward."

Last week, Menino gave 26 pushcart operators in the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District a 60-day reprieve after the BID informed them they would be required to shut down at the end of this month. Vendors' permits now have been extended at least through the end of May.

The vendors, who have been hawking food and merchandise since the late 1970s, cried foul after receiving notice that the BID planned to implement a temporary, scaled-down pushcart program this spring for which they'd have to reapply — without guarantees of being accepted. The vendors argue that they've remained in business during Downtown Crossing's hard times and should be included in its revitalization.

The BID's long-term plan, which the BRA supported, was to upgrade and professionalize the vending program for 2014, with new merchandise and more permanent kiosks.

"We have communicated to all the vendors that their Public Works permits have been extended for another 60 days," BID president Rosemarie Sansone said by email. "The BID is continuing to work closely with the BRA and other city agencies in developing a plan for the coming year. In speaking to many of the vendors, we have let them know we are addressing this issue as thoughtfully and quickly as possible."

Caplan, who has forwarded a letter to Menino along with 1,000-plus names on a petition that supports the vendors, did not respond to Herald inquiries.

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The Ticker

Avid risks NASDAQ delisting

Avid Technology Inc. of Burlington said it's no longer in compliance with NASDAQ listing rules, which require the company to file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a timely manner. Last month, the company postponed its most recent earnings report saying it needed more time to evaluate the company's "accounting treatment."

Avid must submit a plan to regain compliance with the NASDAQ by May 20.

Travel website makes Tiny acquisition

TripAdvisor has acquired Tiny Post, an app that lets users write over photos and turn them into stories, for an undisclosed amount. Tiny Post's staff will be based in TripAdvisor's Palo Alto office.

In October, TripAdvisor announced it had acquired travel inspiration site Wanderfly.

Drug firms announce EU decisions

Genzyme received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for its drug Aubagio, which is designed to treat adult patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. However, the committee didn't recommend the drug receive a new active substance designation.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals also announced the EU gave a positive opinion on its marketing application for Iclusig, also known as ponatinib, for treating patients with specific forms of leukemia.

Raynham co. closes on $10M financing

Medrobotics Corp. said it has closed up to $10 million in new debt financing from Hercules Technology III, L.P., an affiliate of Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc. The funding precedes the company's anticipated commercial launches in Europe and the United States.

TODAY

• Newtown, Conn., natives living in Hub host fund-raiser at Fenway Park to benefit their hometown.

MONDAY

• Mayor Thomas M. Menino to deliver his annual address to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

THE SHUFFLE

• Boston-based real estate services firm Cassidy Turley has promoted Denise Orlando, above, from manager to vice president. Orlando has served as a member of the firm's corporate advisory services team for six years, working with the portfolio management and corporate advisory groups on a national and global level.
• Shawmut Design and Construction has promoted Randy Shelly to vice president of the company's hospitality group. Shelly replaces veteran Paul Doherty, who has accepted a new position within Shawmut.
• Bedford-based 1366 Technologies has appointed China expert Yasheng Huang to its board of directors. Huang is professor of political economy and international management.

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Intrepid is name of their game

A group of small, independent game developers that formed less than six months ago has been making waves in the industry ahead of this weekend's PAX East videogame conference.

The Indie Game Collective, started last October in shared workspace at Intrepid labs in Cambridge, already counts studios with bestselling mobile apps — and others poised to have big sellers this year — among its members. What they lack in capital and resources is made up by having experienced collaborators nearby to help answer the big questions.

"Most of us were working out of our houses," said Michael Carriere, a game developer who started the collective. "Making a successful company is something that takes time, since games are risky and being able to collaborate is very important. When I started asking what people needed to succeed, it was real estate and collaboration and this addresses both."

Ziba Scott, founder of Popcannibal, had one of the biggest Apple App Store hits last year with "Girls Like Robots," which was published by Comedy Central's Adult Swim. Scott credited the collective and the indie gaming community in the Boston area with helping to make it this far.

"I didn't even think I'd still be running a game studio at this point," Scott said. "And, I don't know if I would if it wasn't for all of the help I've gotten from the community."

One of the rising stars of the collective is Erik Asmussen, the sole employee of 82 Apps Inc., named for the address where he and his college buddies used to daydream about starting their own businesses. After working out of his house, Asmussen joined the collective to help take the company to the next level.

This past week he launched "Pwn: Combat Hacking" in the Apple App Store. The mobile game has been getting a lot of buzz heading into PAX East after winning the 2013 MassDiGI Game Challenge and is poised to be the next big seller out of the collective. The game mimics the way '90s movies used to portray hacker battles on the big screen, and players don't need to know how to code.

"It helps having the collaboration and being able to share resources and hang out with people in the business," Asmussen said.

Trevor Stricker, president of indie game studio Disco Pixel, agreed that being able to draw on differing backgrounds and having the other developers act as sounding boards is a key to success.

"The video game industry tends to be a high mortality endeavor," Stricker said. "So having a strong community might sound wishy-washy, but it's really important to succeeding in this business as a small developer."

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Newtown tragedy hits home for developers

PAX East is a celebration of gaming culture, but the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., last year is reverberating at this year's event.

Local developers Dan Higgins and Courtney Pinnell of Lunchtime Studios in Holliston are developing a poker adventure game called "Lords of New York" that takes place during the Prohibition Era, but they are also parents of an 8-year-old boy.

"For almost all people, shooting up a few things in a game actually works to vent frustration and doesn't turn them into mass shooters," Pinnell told the Herald. "Those few who are prone to violence would do it whether or not they play games. They used to say the same thing about Wile E. Coyote cartoons when I was growing up."

"In our game, we're doing the drama of the era without the graphic violence," Higgins added. "And my son's experience with video games has piqued more of an interest in learning about things than shooting them."

"We're an industry that loves research and welcome it," said Monty Sharma, managing director of the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute. "But as of now, no data showing a causal relationship between video gaming and violence has emerged."

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It’s hip to be square in Cambridge

This architect-designed home may be the most unique in Cambridge, as much a work of art as a place to live.

The single-family detached house at 19 Clifton St. sits on commonly held land behind an 1886-built home and is technically part of a two-unit condo association. Designed in 2006 by local architects Beat Schenk and Chaewon Kim, the dwelling consists of three stacked boxes set at angles, with an exterior of stained Okoume plywood, the kind normally used on yachts.

The home looks unusual from the outside, but the interior consists of well-thought-out rooms and a masterful use of space. The two-bedroom, free-standing townhouse is on the market for $579,000.

From the front of the house you don't see any windows, but there are windows on the far side and in back, and many of the rooms get decent light from skylights cut into the exposed roof corners.

The first floor of the house has a skylit living/dining area with a white Carrara marble floor. A plywood staircase set at an angle divides this room from a kitchen area with four skylights that features a bottom row of stainless steel cabinets topped by brown granite counters.

Up above is a row of frosted glass lift-up cabinets. Stainless-steel appliances include a new Bosch dishwasher, a General Electric refrigerator and an Amana gas stove with a stainless-steel hood that vents to the outside. There's an additional wall for more kitchen storage and gadgets.

A glass door leads out to a crushed stone back yard with trees that provides parking for two vehicles.

The home's second floor has a guest bedroom, set off with sliding plywood doors, with polished plywood floors and knotty pine walls with two skylights and a window. Adjacent is a full bathroom with a white ceramic sink and a tub/shower with Carrara marble walls. Also on this floor is a small home office area with a window and a built-in bookcase.

The third floor is a sunny master bedroom suite with a large oak-floor bedroom, two windows, a wide skylight and recessed lighting. In one corner of the room is a two-door custom wardrobe with built-in drawers and hanging rods.

An angled frosted-glass window shields the bedroom from a large en-suite master bathroom. This space features Carrara marble floors and walls and an open shower area. There's also an area for a stacked Kenmore washer/dryer.

The 150-square-foot finished basement, with a window, is outfitted as a family room. The home has a heat-pump-based multi-zoned central heating and air-conditioning system.

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Troubled Calif. nuke plant seeks restart in summer

LOS ANGELES — As part of an effort to convince federal regulators that a nuclear reactor is safe to restart, the operator of the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant in California has disclosed it might push for a rewrite of the facility's operating rules.

Southern California Edison disclosed Friday it hopes the move could open the way for the Unit 2 reactor to be back in service by summer, when power demand typically soars in the region.

San Onofre has been shut down since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water.

Edison has been trying since October to convince the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it's safe to run Unit 2 at no more than 70 percent power. Company engineers believe the reduced level will limit vibration and friction that can cause excessive wear to tubing.

The tentative proposal amounts to Edison's third attempt to answer a thorny question raised by the NRC: Is the plant that hasn't produced electricity in more than a year capable of running at full power?

In earlier filings, Edison argued that its 70 percent restart target was, in effect, full power. It later submitted another analysis showing the reactor could run at 100 percent power, but the research found the risk of a tube break could reach unacceptable levels after 11 months.

The new proposal could essentially eliminate the debate over the full power threshold.

It calls for capping the plant's power output at 70 percent in the plant's technical operating rules, rather than the now-required 100 percent. It also argues that running the reactor at 70 percent capacity would pose no significant safety risk.

The proposal, known as a license amendment, came as a surprise since Edison has long argued such a revision was unnecessary to restart the plant.

If approved by federal regulators, the move could offer a potentially quicker way to a restart.

"We want to do every responsible thing we can do to get Unit 2 up and running safely before the summer heat hits our region," SCE President Ron Litzinger said in a statement.

Anti-nuclear activists who have opposed the restart accused Edison of trying to circumvent a thorough NRC review of machinery with a history of trouble.

According to Edison documents, members of the public can request a hearing on the amendment, but if NRC staff finds there is no significant hazard, the hearing can be held after the amendment is approved.

"Edison is more focused on making profits than it is in assuring the safety of millions of Southern Californians living near these reactors," Damon Moglen of the advocacy group Friends of the Earth said in a statement.

Daniel Hirsch, a lecturer on nuclear policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a critic of the nuclear power industry, said Edison was trying to delay a substantive review until "long after it has already restarted."

"If it is subsequently determined it wasn't safe to do so, it would be way too late," Hirsch said in a statement.

NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said the agency had not received the proposal from Edison.

The problems at San Onofre focus on its steam generators, which were installed in a $670 million overhaul in 2009 and 2010.

Last year, federal regulators blamed heavy tube wear in the generators on a botched computer analysis that they said misjudged how water and steam would flow in the reactors, along with manufacturing problems.

The generators, which resemble massive steel fire hydrants, control heat in the reactors and operate somewhat like a car radiator. At San Onofre, each one stands 65 feet high and weighs 1.3 million pounds, with 9,727 U-shaped tubes inside that are each 0.75 inch in diameter.

Overall, NRC records show investigators found wear from friction and vibration in 15,000 places, in varying degrees, in 3,401 tubes inside the plant's four generators, two in each reactor.

The future of the heavily damaged Unit 3 reactor, where the radiation leak occurred after a tube break last year, is not clear. Edison has said that because of manufacturing differences, Unit 2's generators did not suffer the extent of deep tube wear witnessed in its sister.

Cracked and corroded generator tubing has vexed the nation's nuclear industry for years.

Decaying generator tubes helped push San Onofre's Unit 1 reactor into retirement in 1992, even though it was designed to run until 2004. The following year, the Trojan nuclear plant, near Portland, Ore., was shuttered because of microscopic cracks in steam generator tubes, cutting years off its expected lifespan.

San Onofre is owned by SCE, San Diego Gas & Electric and the city of Riverside.

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New England farmers look for creative ways to grow

DEERFIELD — Atlas Farm is growing more than just food — it is growing its business in ways that bring it more in touch with the everyday consumers it, and all New England farms, needs to survive.

Owner Gideon Porth, who has farmed 55 acres of land on the Connecticut River here since 2006, has bought 40 acres of cropland and a retail farm stand on Route 5 that he plans to open in May. The land and greenhouses on Route 5 will be vital, he said, since they are on the busiest road in his part of Franklin County, and because direct marketing is crucial not just for him, but for farmers all over New England.

"Our farm for the last five or six years has gotten more into wholesale production and sales," he said.

Wholesalers, those who buy produce and move it on to supermarkets, restaurants or to specialty retailers such as Whole Foods, have grown to about two-thirds of Porth's business, he said. Direct-to-consumer channels such as farm shares and farmers markets, as close as Northampton and as far away as Boston, are just a third of the business.

"But wholesale business is less stable," Porth said. "I feel like it is a lot less reliable in certain ways. You are competing in a global marketplace with fresh produce."

Global marketplace? In the organic vegetable business with its hippie ethos?

"Even in the organic world," Porth said. "There are big players in organics these days. If there is cheap organic lettuce coming out of California, we are subject to those pressures. And in California there are 5,000-acre lettuce farms."

He'll also bring the farm-share concept to the stand. Traditional farm shares allow people to pay upfront for a share of a farm's harvest. People get a box of vegetables every week or so.

The stand share will allow folks to pay up front for a selection of produce from the stand, Porth said.

That pressure to compete in a global marketplace with fresh, locally grown food is why more than 500 farmers and aspiring farmers from all six New England States gathered late last month in Sturbridge for the Harvest New England Agricultural Marketing Conference and Trade Show. Attendees ranged from farmers with hundreds of dairy cattle to a woman who raises vegetables on two vacant city lots in Providence, R.I.

It featured seminars and talks from people who have successfully marketed New England food both here and outside the region.

Massachusetts statistics show that there are 7,700 farms in the state. Most are small, averaging just 68 acres in size. Just 1,700 of those farms were big enough to require any hired labor. The total cash receipts from all 7,700 farms totaled $489 million in 2011.

Linda M. Paquette, of Hampden, bought a plot of land in two years ago. She calls it Scantic River Farm and hopes to grow herbs and vegetables. But so far most of her income comes from selling fresh eggs. A nurse by profession, she grew up in Springfield.

"I just always wanted to be a farmer," she said.

And there were plenty of vendors at the show willing to help out, ranging from Oesco, an orchard supply company in Conway with a selection of ladders and cider presses, to companies with seed trays. Then there was Jean McCarthy with North Woods Animal Treats of Keene, N.H., who was looking to wholesale doggy treats to farm store owners looking for impulse-buy items to stock near the cash register.

"All these people want to have retail operations," she said. "All these people might be looking for more things to sell at those retail operations. All the people who are interested in natural foods and would go to those farm retail operations might also be interested in natural pet treats. It is a natural fit."

The future of, and the possible undoing of, New England's farms is in the hands of those health-and-nature conscious customers, said Lorraine Stuart Merrill, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food.

"There is a great opportunity today to get people to eat fresh, local foods," she said. "It is not a fad. Once a person starts, they never go back."

But all those local customers also pose a threat. They like to buy houses, houses that take up land.

"This drives our high cost of land," she said during a roundtable forum with heads of the agriculture departments from all six New England States. "It is very expensive."

Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross said direct marketing can also bring culture clashes. He reminded the crowd of farmers that Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., was faced with death threats last year after word got out on social media that the college was going to put down an aged working ox and serve the beast in the dining hall.

"This is the mentality you are dealing with," he said to the snickers of a knowing audience. "People think their food magically appears at the grocery store."

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Calif. farmers team up to convert beets to ethanol

FIVE POINTS, Calif. — In California's Central Valley, a once-dominant crop that has nearly disappeared from the state's farms is making a comeback: sugar beets.

But these beets won't be processed into sugar. A dozen farmers, supported by university experts and a $5 million state grant, are set to start construction on a Fresno County demonstration plant that will convert the beets into ethanol.

If the demo project succeeds, the farmers will build the nation's first commercial-scale bio-refinery in nearby Mendota to turn beets into biofuel. Europe already has more than a dozen such plants, but 95 of the ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn.

The farmers say the bio-refinery would bring jobs and investment to an area that's dealing with water pumping restrictions and overly salty soils.

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New US-EU talks threatened by agriculture spats

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama used Washington's grandest stage — the State of the Union speech — to announce negotiations with Europe aimed at creating the world's largest free trade agreement. Just weeks later, there are signs that old agriculture disputes could be deal-killers.

European Union leaders don't want the negotiations to include discussions on their restrictions on genetically modified crops and other regulations that keep U.S. farm products out of Europe. But Obama says it's hard to imagine an agreement that doesn't address those issues. Powerful U.S. agricultural lobbies will do their best to make sure Congress rejects any pact that fails to address the restrictions.

"Any free trade agreement that doesn't cover agriculture is in trouble," said Cathleen Enright, executive vice president at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which promotes biotechnology, including genetically modified products.

That would threaten the dream of a behemoth free trade deal between the world's two largest trading partners that together account for more than half of the world economy. It would lower tariffs and remove other trade barriers for most industries. Some analysts say the deal could boost each economy by more than a half-percentage point annually and significantly lower the cost of goods and services for consumers.

Agricultural issues have long bedeviled attempts to expand free trade across the Atlantic and have led each side to file complaints against the other before the World Trade Organization, an arbitrator in trade disputes. While the U.S. protests EU restrictions, Europeans want the U.S. to reduce agricultural subsidies.

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have been a core part of the dispute. Agricultural scientists change the genetic makeup of agricultural products to improve their quality and boost production. In Europe, there is widespread public opposition to GMOs. The EU argues that the risks of altering the genetic pool are unknown. It has strict rules and imposes a heavy burden of proof before such crops can be grown or imported in the EU.

U.S. companies say that genetically modified products have been proved safe by scientific studies and are being excluded based on irrational fears. They accuse Europe of trying to help their own farmers by keeping out American products.

While they have little expectation that the EU would end the restrictions, they say it would be a victory if it clarified what it describes as opaque rules and also set timelines for considering products. Regulators now take what they call a precautionary approach, declining approval of products until they can be more certain of their safety.

But any move to water down the regulations could provoke a backlash in Europe.

"My reading of the mood in Europe around genetically modified crops is that it's extremely negative," said Paul DeGrauwe, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics. "It's going to be very difficult."

Indeed, the top EU trade negotiator, Commissioner Karel De Gucht, seemed to rule out a compromise in remarks this month: "A future deal will not change the existing legislation. Let me repeat: no change."

The U.S. and the EU have similarly intractable disagreements on what the two sides call sanitary issues in meats. U.S. poultry products are restricted in the EU because U.S. companies use chlorine to sanitize the meat. Pork is also restricted because U.S. farmers use a feed additive that makes pigs leaner. The two sides partially resolved disputes over U.S. beef after an agreement that U.S. farmers would restrict hormones in cows intended for the European market.

Some European officials say the agricultural differences should be discussed after a major trade deal is completed. This month, French President Francois Hollande called for excluding sensitive issues, including the sanitary standards, from the talks. In the past, France has been among the most adamant of the European countries about protecting agricultural interests.

Obama, in a talk with his export council this month, suggested this could be a deal-breaker.

"There are certain countries whose agricultural sector is very strong, who tended to block at critical junctures the kinds of broad-based trade agreements that would make it a good deal for us," he said. "If one of the areas where we've got the greatest comparative advantage is cordoned off from an overall trade deal, it's very hard to get something going."

Powerful U.S. agricultural groups could probably block a trade deal from winning approval in Congress. In interviews, representatives of many of these groups said they would oppose a deal that didn't address the regulatory differences.

Robert Thompson, an academic at Johns Hopkins University and a former economist for the Agriculture Department, said that the agricultural issues could easily upend the talks.

"I'm not expecting an agreement to emerge any time soon," he said. "I'm thinking years."

Of course, the rhetoric at the beginning of talks might not preclude compromise in the end. In his talk with the export council, Obama expressed optimism. He noted that austerity measures in response to the debt crisis in the EU have caused European countries to look to a free trade deal as a rare opportunity to boost the economy and improve competitiveness.

"I think they are hungrier for a deal than they have been in the past," he said.

___

Melvin reported from Brussels.

___

Follow Desmond Butler on Twitter at http://twitter.com/desmondbutler

Follow Don Melvin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

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