Comcast has turned on nearly 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots in parts of eastern Massachusetts, including the Boston area, and southern New Hampshire.Comcast’s Xfinity WiFi is free to the company’s data subscribers and is now available in Boston, Brookline and Cambridge, as well as in communities from Cape Cod to Portsmouth, N.H. The 2,500 hotspots represent a combination of freestanding hotspots and hotspots in small- to medium-size businesses that have Comcast Business Class services that include a Wi-Fi hotspot.“Our customers are on the go with wireless devices, platforms and apps and are looking Continue reading >>>

WHAT IT IS: Boston Magazine named Needham High School one of the best public high schools in Massachusetts in the September 2012 issue, ranking it number 14 out of 50. MORE: Boston Magazine crunched the numbers for 230 public high schools to come up with a ranking of the 50 best public high schools in the Greater Boston area. Rankings were based on data gathered from consulting school officials and websites, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The rankings took into account test scores, number of AP classes, graduation rate, percent of students who Continue reading >>>

 Lose It! has joined Boston.com and The Greater Boston YMCA to kick off the Hometown Wellness Showdown, a four-week health and wellness challenge. Participants from towns in and around Boston will compete against one another to help their town or YMCA earn the title of healthiest in eastern Massachusetts. The challenge, which runs through October 12, 2012, can be accessed at http://showdown.loseit.com and is free to join. "Points" will be awarded for logging exercise, eating fruits and vegetables, losing weight and a variety of other activities. Each week, active participants are included Continue reading >>>

Local nonprofit HomeStart Inc. is releasing a new video featuring Red Sox [team stats] catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia visiting with one of the organization’s clients, to help raise awareness around the importance of ending and preventing homelessness in Greater Boston. In the video, Lindsay Johnson, a Boston resident and father of a young daughter, talks with Saltalamacchia about hitting economic difficulties in 2009 when he lost his job due to the recession and how he lost his housing and his car. Johnson ended up in a homeless shelter before connecting with HomeStart’s housing search services. Saltalamacchia Continue reading >>>

The 25th annual Walk for Hospice of the North Shore Greater Boston on Sunday morning, Sept. 23 at St. John’s Preparatory School, 72 Spring St., Danvers. This year’s presenting sponsors are NMTW Community Credit Union and North Shore 104.9 and Henry’s. Registration starts at 8 a.m., and the walk begins at 9 a.m., rain or shine. People of all ages are welcome to participate and encouraged to form walking teams in memory or in honor of a loved one. To establish a team or obtain a sponsor form, call the Walk Office at 978-223-9787 or visit hns.org/walk.  Continue reading >>>

By Boston.com Several Central Square establishments will offer food samplings Saturday at the Festival of Dumplings to honor Joyce Chen's birthday between 1 and 3 p.m. The chef, author, and television cooking personality opened her first restaurant in Central Square in 1958, introducing Greater Boston residents to Mandarin and Szechuan cuisine. She passed away in 1994. Related: Pictures: Famous folks from Cambridge Chronicle of changes in Central Square History of, changes in Harvard Square Recent changes, history of Kendall Square Puttering around in Porter Square Thelonious Monkfish, Continue reading >>>

When members of a local hypnosis group gather at Cary Memorial Library in Lexington every month, they don’t sit around a table swinging pocket watches in front of each other’s faces. The Greater Boston NLP and Hypnosis Meetup Group meets monthly in Lexington, as well as Natick and Methuen, to discuss topics dealing with hypnosis and other forms of alternative therapy. Group organizer Kevin Martin, a certified hypnotist and master practitioner of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) in Methuen, said stereotypes of hypnotists perpetuated by stage acts are very different from reality of hypnotism Continue reading >>>

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William McQuillan of Boylston Properties at the site of the Marriott Residence Inn under construction near Fenway Park. Boylston Properties is not one of the biggest real estate development companies in Boston. But the three-person firm headed by William McQuillan has been behind a handful of high profile projects in Greater Boston over the last three decades. From development of Wellesley Continue reading >>>

BACARDI, the world's best-selling and most awarded rum, along with the Greater Boston Beverage Society, will kick off the Legacy Cocktail Competition during the Boston Cocktail Summit, challenging bartenders around the country to create a truly great cocktail that will represent the U.S. in the global final. The Boston Cocktail Summit will celebrate the culture of the cocktail with three days of events, parties, trade exhibits, educational seminars and galas with proceeds supporting the newly established Greater Boston Beverage Society. Now in its fourth year, the BACARDI Legacy Cocktail Continue reading >>>