Burger King will begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that do not confine their animals in cages and crates, and also favor suppliers of chickens that use gas--or "controlled-atmospheric stunning"--rather than electric shocks to knock birds unconscious before slaughter. Animal-welfare advocates yesterday hailed the announcement by the world's second-largest hamburger chain as a "historic advance." Food marketing experts and animal-welfare advocates say the shift will put pressure on other restaurant and food companies to adopt similar practices. The initial goals are modest: 2% of BK's eggs will be "cage free" and 10% percent of its pork will …

Today, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox 360 Elite, a black version of its game console that features a 120-gigabyte hard drive so that gamers can store more media, such as movies or music. It also will have a high-end video connector and cable based on the HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) standard. The move upgrades the Xbox 360 to appeal to hard-core technology buffs and is aimed at keeping Microsoft from losing them to the temptations of Sony's PlayStation 3. It will sell for $479, less than Sony's cheapest PS3, which comes with a 20-gigabyte hard disk. With …

Marketers continue to rush to the virtual world of Second Life, despite increasing evidence they don't know what to do once they get there. More than 70% of the site's users say they are disappointed with the marketing that goes on in SL, according to a new survey by Komjuniti, a Hamburg, Germany, research firm. This could be because companies are approaching the site like a traditional marketing channel. While some companies have done innovative work, there are a lot of places on SL where companies have put something up and then clearly never returned. As such, Second …

South Korean automaker Hyundai will show a V8-powered luxury car called Genesis at the New York Auto Show in early April that will go on sale in the U.S. early next year. The car's size and power put it in competition with cars from BMW, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. The Genesis concept car will be powered by a 4.6-liter V8 engine capable of producing "well over 300 horsepower," the company says. Power will go to the car's rear wheels through a six-speed manually shiftable automatic transmission. A V6 engine will be standard in the production version. Genesis will be …

ConAgra Foods will roll out a line of 12 Healthy Choice meals this summer called Cafe Steamers that can be "steamed" in the microwave in special containers. Although steaming technology is already popular in Europe and Japan, ConAgra is the first U.S. food company to market it for entire meals. After suffering through five flat years, frozen-veggie sales closed 2006 up more than 6%, led by Birds Eye's rollout last year of Steamfresh vegetables. Green Giant followed with veggies, and now comes ConAgra with meals. "Steaming will do for frozen vegetables what the iPod did for music," says Bill …

A number of General Motors dealers are angry that GM's corporate ads aren't aggressive enough and are banding together to attack Toyota directly. Local dealer radio ads--being distributed nationwide--take issue with Toyota positioning itself as an American car company. Further, a lengthy e-mail chain prompts dealers to challenge claims Toyota makes in its Tundra "See-saw" ads, showing the truck hauling a 10,000-pound load of cinderblocks up a steep ramp. In one 60-second radio spot, written and directed by the general manager of Jim Ellis Chevrolet in Atlanta, a voiceover says, "Toyota recalled more vehicles last year than it sold …

Eastman Kodak--a founding member of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in 1971--has quit the organization after a prolonged dispute over its handling of customer complaints. Kodak says it maintains an "unwavering" commitment to customers, but that working with the BBB was "bureaucratic and unproductive." The council is the umbrella organization for the Better Business Bureau system begun in 1912, and has 2.7 million registered business members in the United States and Canada. The council says Kodak has long refused to respond to consumer complaints submitted by the Upstate New York Better Business Bureau, prompting expulsion proceedings …

Alpha Moms--leaders of the pack who influence how other moms spend--are becoming a marketing phenomenon. They are educated, tech-savvy, Type A and share a common goal: mommy excellence. If your product or service passes the Alpha Mom test, it's gold. That's why the nation's biggest marketers--from Procter & Gamble to General Motors to Nintendo--are focusing on this remix of the modern mom. "She ignites markets," says Michael Silverstein, consumer guru at Boston Consulting Group. Liz Vanzura, Cadillac's new global marketing director, is a self-described Alpha Mom with three kids, ages 4, 7 and 12. The brand recently started …

Edward E. Whitacre Jr. has transformed Southwestern Bell--the smallest of the seven Bells when he took it over in 1990--into SBC, the telecommunications giant that swallowed AT&T and took its name. He's done it by gobbling up a number of other carriers over the years. The drama for AT&T is what happens now that it has all these pieces in place. In the case of TV, its "Uverse" strategy entails delivering programming over the Internet, so-called IPTV. But the service has been plagued by delays and glitches and takes, on average, more than six hours to install. The TV …

The Katonah (N.Y.) Village Improvement Society voted yesterday to authorize its trademark committee to take whatever action it deems necessary regarding Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's proposals to use the hamlet's name for lines of furniture, paints and other homemaking products. The society's vote allows the trademark committee to file formal opposition to Stewart's plans. News of Stewart's plans in January caused an uproar in the community, where some residents have been less than enthusiastic about having their community name part of the Martha brand. Among the products that Stewart is seeking the trademark for is the "Katonah Collection"--a …