Custom

Newly launched men’s custom shirt site Thread Tradition is offering a $40 discount on orders through May 31. The site offers nine cotton dress shirts that can be customized by size and by collar style, cuff type, a custom label, and, if you choose, a monogram on the chest or cuff. Prices range from $85-$115, excluding shipping. Use the code GET40OFF for the discount. www.threadtradition.com AUCTION BENEFITS EMERSON The Emerson College Alumni Association Scholarship Auction is running now through June 6, with everything from gift cards and book sets to VIP tickets to “The Colbert Report’’ up for bidding.

SPRINGFIELD — Residential customers of Western Massachusetts Electric Co. can expect to see their monthly bills drop 13 to 15 percent starting July 1. The cuts approved by state utilities regulators will last six months and would mean a $5.90 reduction in the monthly bill of customers who use 600 kilowatt hours per month. The cut also applies to small commercial and industrial customers. Medium and large commercial and industrial customers will see a slight increase.

SAN FRANCISCO -- This popular coffee shop in the Mission District has been a neighborhood institution for more than three decades. It is run by quirky Phil Jaber -- you'll know him by his fedora -- who, along with his son, Jacob, creates all the custom blends sold in the cafe and its sister shop in the Castro District. There are about six "master" blends on the board each day, but you can order a cup -- priced from $2-$3 -- from any of the labeled bins that line the rear of the counter.

Sri Lankan customs officials say they have seized about 1.5 tons of elephant tusks in the largest ever such seizure in the country. Udaya Liyanage, a customs official, says the tusks were being transported through the capital, Colombo, in a container that arrived from Kenya and was bound for Dubai. The container was stopped at Colombo's port on May 14. Liyanage says intelligence reports were analyzed and the container was opened Tuesday. Customs officials found 359 ivory tusks, weighing about 1.5 tons.

Boston interior designer Frank Roop came to the world of home decor through the circuitous and somewhat unlikely path of men's fashion. Despite the change in vocation, Roop never fully managed to leave his love for custom creations on the dressing room floor. Noted for his elegant and playful rooms, Roop, head of Frank Roop Design Interiors, says the key to pleasing his clients is to approach rooms the way that fashion designers create clothes. "I design a space around the room and the client," Roop said.

LOS ANGELES - Time Inc. is experimenting with a customized magazine that combines reader-selected sections from eight publications as it tries to mimic in printed form the personalized news feeds that have become popular on the Internet. Called mine, the five-issue, 10-week experiment also aligns readers with the branding message that its sole advertising partner, Toyota Motor Corp., has for its new Lexus 2010 RX sport utility vehicle: It's as customizable as the magazine carrying its ads. The magazine is free, but the print edition is limited to the first 31,000...

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff FORT MYERS, Fla. — I don't know about you, but having a sneaker contract must he the greatest thing ever. Or close to it.

(Utile Inc./Reed Hilderbrand Inc./Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy) A design sketch gives a rough idea of what the new, custom carousel will look like on site, surrounded by new landscaping, a seat wall, and groupings of tables and chairs. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent Within 18 months, Boston-area children will ride through downtown astride seals, squirrels, even skunks, if all goes according to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy's plan.

Congressman Mike Michaud today picked up a custom pair of sneakers made for President Obama by workers at New Balance's Norridgewock facility in Maine. Michaud will present the sneakers to Obama this evening in Portland and urge him to require the Defense Department to comply with current law and outfit servicemembers with domestically-produced footwear, an issue Michaud has been working on since last year to promote domestic manufacturing growth. "The workers in Norridgewock produced a pair of high-quality sneakers, and I'm proud to...

BEVERLY - Salem's Bill Cass won best in show at the 2002 Antique & Classic Boat Festival with a sailboat he built from scratch. When he sold the boat, a 34-foot wooden ketch, he figured he'd earned about $6 an hour on it, given how much time he put into it. "I'd do better as a Wal-Mart greeter," he said with a laugh. "But I love doing it. " Last month Cass, 69, was scrambling to finish work on his latest project - a custom-designed, 37-foot, 1930s-style sedan cruiser with a fiberglass lobster-boat hull and a mahogany cabin.

A study of customer satisfaction at the Big 4 wireless carriers finds no significant difference between them. That's because of improvements in customer service at Sprint Nextel Corp. and AT&T Inc. The American Customer Satisfaction Index puts Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless within 2 points of each other on a 100-point scale of customer satisfaction. That's the smallest spread since the survey started looking at all four companies in 2005. It's also within the margin of error at plus or minus three points.

Comcast Corp. said its Xfinity TV customers can now access ESPN live streaming content via the WatchESPN app and on Comcast's XfinityTV.com , something that could be of interest to sports fans as the National Basketball Association play-offs heat up and the Major League baseball season heads into the summer. Customers who receive ESPN's networks as part of their Xfinity video subscription can now stream games as well as associated coverage live from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and ESPNU from their iPads,...

CINCINNATI - The Justice Department has released $24 million to pay people who bought products promising sexual enhancement and other benefits that were sold through fraudulent practices, authorities said Tuesday. The money is from forfeitures by Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals founder Steve Warshak and 10 other executives. Warshak was convicted in 2008 of conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering. Among their products was Enzyte, touted as improving male sexual performance in commercials featuring a character known as "Smilin' Bob. " Company officials were accused of bilking...

The lawyer for a Texas trucker who claims he made a wrong turn before taking ammunition into Mexico said Wednesday that a U.S. customs agent directed his client to cross the border, an account that contradicts what agency officials have said. Javin Bogan was arrested April 17 when he tried to enter Mexico carrying 268,000 rounds of ammunition. He claims that he took a wrong turn after the second of his four stops of the day and was on his way to a West El Paso medical supplies company when he found himself at the bridge, unable to turn back.

If you can't be first to market, you may have to settle for making better products. That's Barnes & Noble Inc.'s strategy for its Nook line of e-book readers, and I'd say it's working. Microsoft Corp. just slipped Barnes & Noble $300 million in exchange for a stake in the Nook business - a pretty strong vote of confidence. And the new Nook Simple Touch e-reader, featuring an impressive upgrade called GlowLight, is another confidence-builder. At $139, it's the best "pure" e-book reader available.

I have an issue regarding a new hot tub I bought in September. I have had multiple issues that have resulted in multiple warranty service calls. The dealer has been responsive, however, no response alleviates the frustration of owning something that doesn't work the way it is supposed to. The hot tub's stereo feature stopped working and after waiting four weeks for replacement parts it was repaired. The dealer charged me a $49 travel fee to come and make the warranty repairs. Apparently, the manufacturer does not reimburse the dealer after a certain number of...

Hudson is taking 20 percent off floor model casegood and upholstery and new custom casegood and upholstery special orders through March 20th. Lines include Oly , Hickory Chair , Bernhardt Interiors , and Verellen . Hudson is at 12 Union Park St., Boston, 617-292-0900.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- For more than 40 years, everyone from casual weekend wave riders to top competitive surfers has shared one thing: customized boards that began as nondescript foam blocks mass-produced by one Southern California company. Clark Foam, an icon in California surf culture, enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the blocks that have been shaped and hand-painted by everyone from backyard do-it-yourselfers to design shops that churn out thousands of handcrafted boards each year.