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Talk of the day

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 9, 2007

Whole foods invokes lobster clause in Maine

When Maine's first Whole Foods Market opens next week, it will have something no other Whole Foods store has: lobsters. In June, the Austin, Texas, natural foods grocery chain said it would stop selling live lobsters and crabs - in the name of crustacean compassion. But it's making an exception in the state synonymous with lobster. Whole Foods decided to sell lobsters at its Portland store after finding a company that met its demands for how the lobsters should be treated. Instead of being piled on top of one another, lobsters will be kept in private compartments. And employees will use a device that zaps them dead with a 110-volt shock to spare them the agony of being boiled alive. Whole Foods' standards for lobsters are similar to those it uses in buying its meat, poultry and other products, a company official said.

Amazon won't pull cockfighting mags

Amazon.com says it will keep selling two magazines about cockfighting, despite a lawsuit filed Thursday by the Humane Society of the United States accusing the company of illegally promoting animal fighting. The organization originally threatened to sue Amazon.com Inc. last July, saying the company was violating the federal animal cruelty laws by offering the Feathered Warrior and the Gamecock, two cockfighting magazines. Seattle-based Amazon.com said the magazines are legal and would continue to be sold on its Web site. Refusing to sell books or magazines simply because their messages may offend is censorship, Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said.

ESPN gets back in cell phone game

ESPN is relaunching its shuttered cell phone service through Verizon Wireless, this time delivering its flashy feed of sports scores, news and video highlights through a top industry player instead of competing for subscribers with its own full-blown wireless brand. The Mobile ESPN service, expected to launch in the coming months, is to be included free as part of the $15 a month or $3 a day charge for V Cast's assorted multimedia offerings, the companies said. ESPN executives pulled the plug on Mobile ESPN last September as a standalone cell phone company featuring its own handsets, calling plans, customer service and monthly phone bills.

Music exec jolted by Jobs' request

Warner Music Group Corp., the world's fourth-largest record company, said a plea by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs to let songs be sold on the Web without copy protection software lacks "logic or merit." Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman said Jobs' proposal that companies drop digital rights management coding on songs sold online would leave music vulnerable to piracy. He disputed Jobs' claim that so-called DRM software prevents consumers from playing music purchased from rival services on different devices.

[Last modified February 8, 2007, 23:42:31]