Recommendations

If you are like me and spend hours trawling the Web to find the next best restaurant, travel destination or book, you might want to take a look at Qloo , a new "cultural discovery platform" that aims to make searches more personal and easier. The New York start-up, which launched in November, offers recommendations based on the user's tastes in music, film, TV, dining, nightlife, fashion, books and travel. "We are culturally much more than just your taste in an individual category," said Alex Elias, who co-founded Qloo with Jay Alger, chief executive of digital agency Deepend.

Despite growing public anger about the burgeoning federal deficit, the Senate today rejected a proposal to establish a commission to devise ways to cut spending and raise taxes -- and to give the panel teeth by essentially forcing Congress to consider its recommendations. The bipartisan amendment would have required Congress to vote on the deficit commission's recommendations -- up or down, without change -- in an effort to prevent lawmakers from sidestepping politically difficult choices and cherry-picking easier but less effective measures.

Alarmed by soaring legal costs at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state legislator has called on the giant transit agency to review its litigation practices and finally heed the recommendations of a 2004 state audit. In a letter sent this week to MTA Chief Executive Arthur T. Leahy, Assemblyman Hector de la Torre (D-South Gate) said he was concerned that the agency's legal costs had surged more than 200% since 1995 and that MTA officials had brushed off suggestions from the state auditor to improve the oversight of contracts.

Can Lonely Planet fans give up their Bible-sized guidebooks for a teeny-tiny app? Name: Lonely Planet Country Guides Available for: iPhone, iPod Touch What it does: Get thousands of recommendations for places to eat, sleep, sight-see and more. Lonely Planet's guides to Italy, Ireland, Australia, France, Spain and Costa Rica are the first to become apps. Cost: $9.99 What's hot: The entire app is available offline, so there's no sweating data or roaming fees.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat and a close ally of President Obama, will vote Friday to support the final recommendations of the bipartisan deficit commission, arguing that the nation's growing debt requires lawmakers to make difficult choices. Durbin announced his decision in an op-ed that will be published in Friday's Chicago Tribune . "If we don't act now ? if we pass this issue on to another Congress, another generation ? the tough choices we face now only get tougher," he writes.

Question: What has happened to my shares of Sonic Corp.? I expected better results. Answer: A weak economy and its resulting pressure on sales have taken the sizzle out of the stock of the nation's largest drive-in restaurant chain. The investor must decide whether its discounted stock price makes it a tasty investment or foreshadows difficulties ahead. The company is committed to its signature elements: carhop service, humorous TV commercials, frequent new menu items and aggressive special promotions.

In case you missed it, a recommendation came out last month that physicians cut back on using 45 common tests and treatments. In addition, patients were advised to question doctors who recommend such things as antibiotics for mild sinusitis, CT scans for an uncomplicated headache or a repeat colonoscopy within 10 years of a normal exam. The general idea wasn't all that new - my colleagues and I have been questioning many of the same tests and treatments for years. What was different this time was the source of the recommendations.

With growing public scrutiny over a series of embarrassing recalls, once-loyal Toyota owners and other car buyers are taking a new view of the automaker's rivals -- especially Ford, Honda and Hyundai -- a trend that may reshape the U.S. auto market for years to come. In an example of the new head winds Toyota faces, Consumer Reports will announce Tuesday that it will dramatically reduce the number of Toyota models that it recommends as good buys. Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, had long dominated vehicle recommendations of what many view as the car buyer's bible.

A year after a crash killed 11 and injured more than 70, the Reno Air Racing Assn. is planning to modify its race course to keep its fastest planes away from spectators, officials said Tuesday. Association director Mike Houghton said the group will ask federal regulators for permission to shift the largest course away from the crowd and to soften some of the curves. Houghton made his announcement as a panel appointed by the group released its list of safety recommendations. The association will hold its 49th annual National Championship Air Race beginning Sept.

Your revelation about the conflict of interest in Merrill Lynch analysts' recommendations does not surprise me ["E-Mails Open New Probe of Analysts," Market Beat, April 14]. In the 1960s, I was the treasurer of an investment club. As such, I received the touts from our stockbroker along with the monthly statements. Out of curiosity, I kept track of those recommendations over a period of two years. My analysis showed that if we had done the opposite of what the broker recommended, we'd have been well ahead.