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Talk of the day: In rat reaction, Yum closes more outlets

By Times Wires
Published March 2, 2007

The parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut said it had temporarily closed several New York City restaurants owned by the franchisee that operated a Manhattan outlet overrun last week by rats. In a statement issued late Wednesday, Yum Brands Inc. said the restaurants would remain closed until they underwent new inspections by the city's health department. The company's actions were aimed at the ADF Cos., a Fairfield, N.J., group that owns more than 350 fast-food restaurants in several states including the KFC-Taco Bell closed last week. It is among the nation's largest operators of Pizza Huts. The video of the rats roaming the grounds of the Manhattan restaurant, still circulating on the Internet, also brought shame on the city for giving a passing grade to the restaurant during a health inspection one day earlier.

Blockbuster may find online partner

Blockbuster Inc. is in advanced talks to buy Movielink LLC as a way to speed its entry into the online movie-downloading business, according to people familiar with the situation. Movie-rental giant Blockbuster reportedly would pay less than $50-million in cash and stock for Movielink, which is owned by five major studios. The companies declined to make official comment. Movielink has offered movie downloads since 2002. Recent competitors include Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Find fastest route to Starbucks fix

Starbucks fields thousands of calls each year from customers phoning from the road to find the nearest Starbucks store. Now those with cell phones and mobile devices can save themselves the call. Cell phone users can send a text message with the area's ZIP code to MYSBUX, and a list of nearby Starbucks stores will pop back. Customers using mobile devices will find a store locator by typing www.starbucks.com. Starbucks says it will not capture customers' cell phone numbers or offer incentives to use the new feature. Last year, the company sent $5 gift cards to customers who played a text messaging quiz game that was hard to lose.

Watch network TV on Verizon phones

Verizon Wireless on Thursday launched a broadcast TV service for cell phones in about 20 Midwestern and Western markets, charging $15 to $25 a month for the initial lineup from eight leading networks. The eight 24-hour channels are CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go and Nickelodeon. While most of the programming will be identical to that shown by those networks on regular TV, only some shows will be broadcast at the same time.

Google touts gain in click fraud fight

Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, said that fraudulent clicks now represent fewer than 10 percent of all ad clicks on the site. Google uses software to automatically determine that clicks are "invalid" and doesn't charge advertisers for them. "Click fraud" occurs when people with no plans to buy a product click on ads to hurt their competitors. It can also occur when Web site owners who show Google ads dishonestly click on them to generate revenue for themselves.

[Last modified March 1, 2007, 23:31:55]