Parking bargain lures efficient vehicles – Scooters get 25-cent slots in the Back Bay
By Peter DeMarco – Globe Correspondent / July 29, 2010

Newbury Street, of all places, now offers the best parking deal in town, 25 cents an hour. But there is a catch: You have to ride a scooter or motorcycle to fit in the parking space.

In response to last year’s scooter parking debate, the Boston Transportation Department has taken six parking spaces on Newbury and Boylston streets and divided them into the city’s first metered bike slots. By 3 p.m. today, some 39 slots will be available to bikes in front of the Apple store, Starbucks, and other hot spots, each with meters that either a scooter or motorcycle can be chained to for safety.

Cars pay 25 cents for just 15 minutes to park. In addition to being cheaper, bike meters will not have time limits, meaning that bike-riding commuters can arrive at 8 a.m., feed the meter, and stay all day.

By creating the bike slots, city officials, including Mayor Thomas M. Menino are signaling a commitment to ecofriendly transportation, with many scooters getting 100 miles to a gallon. Parking signs for the slots are appropriately green, and if the slots are well used, more may pop up in other Boston neighborhoods next year.

At House of Blues, Robyn soars and Kelis bores
By James Reed – Globe Staff / July 29, 2010

Robyn has come this close to becoming a mainstream pop star in this country — twice, even. The Swedish singer-songwriter had two Top 10 hits in the mid-’90s — “Show Me Love,’’ “Do You Know (What It Takes)’’ — and for her second act, she resurfaced in 2005 as an electro-pop diva with a hardened outlook on love and a whole new fan base.

At the House of Blues Tuesday night, it was clear that Robyn doesn’t need to top the charts ever again. She seems fully formed — a dance-pop dynamo who wears her heart on her sleeve — and she’s more than content with a devout following that nearly sold out the venue and kept her dance party bobbing till the last encore.

Playing songs from her new album, “Body Talk Pt. 1,’’ Robyn walked a fine line between heartache and defiance. “I’m in the corner/ Watching you kiss her/ I’m right over here/ Why can’t you see me?’’ she sang on “Dancing on My Own.’’

That was a fleeting moment of self-doubt, though; Robyn was more interested in survival on songs such as “Cobrastyle’’ and “Dancehall Queen.’’ As her two drummers and two keyboardists cued the beats, she rolled with the jittery bounce of “Konichiwa [Expletive],’’ boasting, “You wanna rumble in my jungle/ I’ll take you on.’’

Students to ‘pop up’ clothing shop on Newbury Street
By Donna Goodison/Boston Herald – July 29, 2010

A temporary boutique showcasing underground Boston clothing brands will pop up on Newbury Street for an eight-week run.

The Concrete Jungle Boston “pop-up” store opens tomorrow, featuring “brands that embody the creative spirit of the city.”

The 297 Newbury St. store originated with Matthew Osofisan and Michael Toney of Annie Mulz Ltd., the metropolitan casual wear brand that they started last year.

The Northeastern University students secured $10,000 in venture funds as winners of the Inter-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship Accelerator’s inaugural Gap Funding Event at the school in April. Designed to drive sales and create excitement about Annie Mulz, the pop-up store was a key part of their winning business plan pitch, according to Osofisan.

Profits fall for Shaw’s parent company
By Donna Goodison/Boston Herald – July 29, 2010

The 18-week strike at Shaw’s Supermarkets’ Methuen warehouse cut into the bottom line of parent company SuperValu Inc.

The Minneapolis grocery giant’s latest earnings report showed the Shaw’s labor strife was a key contributor to sharp drops in quarterly sales and profit. SuperValu also cut its full-year profit forecast.

Local 791 of the United Food and Commercial Workers picketed Shaw’s stores while on strike from March 7 to July 8, when they agreed to a new, four-year contract with the West Bridgewater-based chain.

Roxbury film fest opens with ‘Speed Dating’
By Brett Michel/Boston Herald – July 29, 201

Celebrating its 12th year, the Roxbury International Film Festival kicks off tonight and continues through Sunday, offering four days of movies, networking and community-based programming for families and filmmaking enthusiasts.

New England’s largest film festival celebrating persons of color takes place at several venues in and around the Roxbury community, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall, Annex Auditorium at Wentworth College and the Haley House Bakery Cafe.

This year’s schedule of more than 50 films – including features, shorts, documentaries and youth-produced works – is expected to draw more than 4,000 people to see work from around the globe (hence the addition of “international” to the name).

MIT-made fabric can hear, make sounds
By Sarah Wright/Boston Herald – July 29, 2010

Shhhh! Your bikini might hear you. And someday, your beach towel may talk.

Thanks to remarkable acoustic fibers created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists, the fabrics of the future may be able to detect and produce sound.

The fibers could be made into fabrics that monitor bodily functions, with tiny filaments picking up sounds that indicate changes in blood flow or pressure on the brain. (The fibers can already convert sounds into electrical signals and transmit those to a computer.) One day, clothing could be a weave of listening, speaking threads.

MIT professor Yoel Fink and his research team announced the milestone earlier this month. His lab has devoted the past 10 years to creating fibers that can interact with their environment somewhat as human senses do.

New England in Brief – July 29, 2010
2 hit by car, injured near Remy’s tavern
Two pedestrians were struck by a vehicle outside Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar and Grill on Boylston Street last night, police said. Officer David Estrada, a Boston police spokesman, said officers responded to 1265 Boylston St. at about 9:45 p.m., and two people, whose ages and genders were not available, were taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

From Universal Hub:  Power problems on Mission Hill and in Fenway

1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  More anniversaries.