Tue. Oct. 04, 2011 Pollo Campero is celebrating National Taco Day with free tacos
Pollo Campero is celebrating National Taco Day by giving away free tacos at its East Boston and Chelsea restaurants. The two restaurants are offering a free Campero chicken tacos to visitors all day today, said a chain known for its chicken. Based in Texas but with Guatemalan roots, the company operates more than 300 restaurants. The Pollo Campero restaurant in Chelsea is located at 115 Park St., and the address of its East Boston location is 188 Border St. Mass. business confidence slips again
A monthly index that measures business confidence in Massachusetts posted a September reading of 48.4, losing ground for the fourth time in five months. The index is maintained by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, an advocacy group that represents the state’s employers. The index uses a 100-point scale. A reading below 50 indicates a negative assessment of business conditions. Commenting on the September reading, the association said that local have come to realize that the economic recovery will be “weak and prolonged, at best.” IBM plans to buy another Mass. firm
IBM has agreed to buy Q1 Labs, a Waltham-based provider of security intelligence software, for an undisclosed amount. IBM has made a habit of buying local companies. Last year alone, IBM made four Massachusetts acquisitions, including a $1.7 billion deal for Netezza Corp., a Marlborough-based data analysis firm. IBM said that its plan to buy Q1 Labs will accelerate its efforts to offer corporate clients more options to protect their IT systems from security breaches and other threats. Report: Grid, storage, and electric vehicle M&A activity hits $2.4b in the first half of 2011
Merger-and-acquisition deals in the grid, energy-storage, and electric-vehicle sectors were up sharply in the first half of the year, and many more “cash-starved” start-ups in those fields are “due for the auction block,” according to a new report from Lux Research. The number of M&A deals in the first half of 2011 have already totaled twice those made in all of 2010, said Lux Research, a research and advisory firm with offices in Boston. EMC buys database startup
EMC Corp. of Hopkinton is acquiring Zettapoint Inc. of Concord, a maker of software for improving the performance of large databases. According to a report on the Israeli news website Globes, EMC will pay $10 million for Zettapoint, which has an operation in the Israeli city of Or Yehuda. EMC already had established a strategic partnership with Zettapoint. Unemployment benefits set to rise for some new claimants in Massachusetts
The maximum weekly benefit rate for new unemployment claims filed on or after Oct. 2 will increase from the current rate of $625 to $653, a change that could affect roughly 20 percent of new claimants filing for assistance, the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said today. Under Massachusetts law, the maximum benefit rate is adjusted once a year based on a formula that takes into account the state’s average weekly wage. That average is up. Survival data for device pumps up HeartWare
HeartWare International Inc. said a follow-up study of its implantable heart device confirmed a high survival rate for patients with late-stage heart failure. Shares of the Massachusetts medical device maker rose in afternoon trading. The implantable pump is designed to assist the heart in moving blood through the body and is intended to be a bridge to a heart transplant for patients with end-stage heart failure. Mass. gas prices fall a dime a gallon
The average price of gas in Massachusetts was $3.459 a gallon in the latest AAA weekly survey, down 10 cents from the previous week’s average, AAA Southern New England said. The state average has fallen 20 cents a gallon over the last three weeks. The current national average is $3.41. A year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average was $2.63 a gallon. AAA surveys focus on prices for self-serve, regular unleaded gas. Mass. cranberry harvest expected to be good
Massachusetts cranberry farmers are expecting a robust crop this fall. Hilary Sandler, a cranberry specialist at the UMass Cranberry Station in Wareham, tells the Cape Cod Times that growing conditions this summer were optimal, with enough hot days interspersed with the right amount of rain. Sandler says experts are predicting a harvest of 2.1 million barrels. Massachusetts’ projected harvest amounts to an 11 percent increase over last year’s. iRobot receives $11m Army order
Bedford’s iRobot Corp. has received an $11 million order from the US Army Contracting Command for 70 of its battlefield robots and spares. The order is for the SUGV robots, which are smaller and lighter versions of the iRobot PackBot, which can perform such missions as detecting hidden explosives on a battlefield. The order is the first under a two-year requirements contract. To date, iRobot has delivered more than 4,000 tactical mobile robots to military and civil defense forces. Uno Dué Go set to open in downtown Boston
Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp., a Boston-based chain of 150 company-owned and franchised restaurants, will open the flagship location of Uno Dué Go, its fast-casual café concept, in Boston later this month. Menu selections include the prosciutto-fig-and-cheddar sourdough bread panini, the Tum Yum chopped vegetable salad, and the vegetarian black bean burger wrap. The opening follows the recent news that a Texas franchisee is looking to open 30 new Uno Dué Go locations, the largest franchise deal in Uno’s history. | 
