Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Digest

Talk of the day: When you fly, airlines are thinking 'buy'

By Times Wires
Published August 28, 2007

"Please return your seat backs and tray tables to their upright and locked position - and start reading the advertisement that is staring you in the face." Okay, you won't actually hear that last part as the flight attendants prepare an aircraft for landing. But as airlines look for new sources of revenue to offset rising fuel costs, more carriers are turning planes into marketing vehicles, installing advertising in hard-to-miss places. Ryanair, the European low-cost carrier, has installed advertising panels on the covers of the overhead luggage compartments and on the backs of closed tray tables. InviseoMedia, which sold the seat-back advertisements to Ryanair and to another European low-cost carrier, Germanwings, says the system provides an average of 40 minutes of "dwell time" during a typical flight. In other words, the only ways for passengers to avoid the advertisements, which are placed behind tamper-proof plastic shields, is to open the tray or get up and stretch their legs. And when they do that, they are confronted with the advertisements on the overhead bins, which are being sold by a separate company, Fourth Edition.

Dunkin's trans fat goal: a big, fat zero

Dunkin' Donuts, the food-on-the-go chain whose name celebrates a treat that's symbolic of unhealthy eating, is trying to refresh its image by largely eliminating trans fat across its menu. Dunkin' announced Monday that it has developed an alternative cooking oil and reformulated more than 50 menu items - doughnuts included. The chain says its menu will be "zero grams trans fat" by Oct. 15 across its 5,400 U.S. restaurants in 34 states. About 400 locations nationwide that took part in a four-month test have made the switch to a new blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oils. That includes all restaurants in New York City and Philadelphia, which are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of artery-clogging trans fat. The ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins, another unit of Dunkin' Brands Inc., plans to be zero grams trans fat by Jan. 1.

With Yahoo, e-mail text notes to cells

Yahoo Inc. introduced new features Monday for its popular Web-based e-mail program, including software that allows computer users to type text messages on a keyboard and send them directly to a cell phone. The enhancements make it easier to send e-mail, instant messages or text messages from a single Web site - no need to launch or toggle between separate applications or devices. The features will be available to users in the United States, Canada, India and the Philippines. The most obvious beneficiaries will be parents, who will be able to use their keyboards to type messages sent to their children's cell phones, said Yahoo vice president John Kremer.

[Last modified August 28, 2007, 01:28:37]