Week in review: Netflix on fire, Blockbuster on the ropes

It’s a tale of two video rental firms.
Netflix has taken a leading role in the industry, while one-time king Blockbuster is fading fast.
The following is a roundup of my recent stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

Netflix stock hits new high; rival Blockbuster on the ropes. (Aug. 13, 2010)

U.S. video game sales fall for fourth straight month. PC game sales hopping with Activision’s hit “StarCraft II.” (Aug. 12, 2010)

Coinstar invests in mobile phone recycling kiosks. (Aug. 11, 2010)

Netflix shares approaching record high on streaming video deal with Epix. (Aug. 10, 2010)

Netflix says its streaming service is a plus for premium cable channels (Aug. 10, 2010)

Disney, Google among big players lining up to play the social-networking games game (Aug. 9, 2010)

Coinstar’s Redbox expanding to CVS stores. Deal will add 7,000 DVD rental kiosks to Redbox’s current 23,000. (Aug. 5, 2010)

More than a third of iPhone 4 owners say they’ve had a problem with reception. And 7% call it a “very big problem.” (Aug. 4, 2010)

Netflix is leading a revolution in television called “over-the-top TV,” which could upend the pay TV business. (Aug. 4, 2010)

Sonic Solutions, maker of DVD burning software, is in no rush to offer DVD ripping app, despite copyright rules change. (Aug. 4, 2010)

Apple iPhone 4 users very satisfied, despite antenna issue. (Aug. 4, 2010)

Nuance Communications pitches dictation software as back-to-school item. (Aug. 3, 2010)

Week in review: Premature death notice for 3D movies; Just wait until 'Tron Legacy'

News reports recently have pointed to signs that interest in 3-D movies is waning.
But their interpretation of box-office figures is somewhat flawed. Also, the stories fail to take into account event movies like Disney’s upcoming “Tron Legacy,” set for release in December.
The following is a roundup of my stories last week from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

Money grows on Ancestry.com’s family trees. (July 30, 2010)

iRobot terminates Wall Street’s estimates with better-than-expected Q2 results. (July 29, 2010)

Microsoft pledges “all in” commitment to cloud computing. Says it’s taking business from IBM, Google and Novell. (July 29, 2010)

Four-week delay for renting new-release movies from Fox and Universal hurts Redbox’s Q2 sales. (July 29, 2010)

LogMeIn logs better-than-expected Q2 results, but loses Intel partnership. (July 29, 2010)

Reports of the death of 3-D movies are premature. Wait until Disney’s “Tron Legacy” comes out this December. (July 28, 2010)

Prevalence of iPhone jail-breaking likely overstated. (July 27, 2010)

Week in review: Netflix, Microsoft post solid earnings, but investors unimpressed

Investors are a hard bunch to please these days.
Netflix and Microsoft both posted largely stellar quarterly earnings results this week. But investors found things to nitpick about and sold off shares in the companies.
The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

Microsoft is arming itself for battle in the mobile device space against Apple and Google through a licensing deal with ARM Holdings. (July 23, 2010)

Microsoft posts strong Q4 results. Investors unimpressed. Steve Ballmer must be pulling out what’s left of his hair. (July 22, 2010)

Netflix shares dive as some investors re-evaluate the company’s prospects. (July 22, 2010)

More Netflix subscribers are choosing the movie service’s cheaper plans, which helps profits, but hurts sales. (July 22, 2010)

Consumer Electronics Association ups its 2010 U.S. sales forecast to 3% growth, thanks to hot items like tablet computers and 3-D TVs. (July 22, 2010)

Video game players now can be like Mike. Gamers can relive basketball legend Michael Jordan’s greatest moments in “NBA 2K11” from Take-Two Interactive Software. (July 22, 2010)

Apple customers choosing higher-end iPads. (July 21, 2010)

Apple posts blow-out Q3, guides analysts higher on Q4 revenue. (July 20, 2010)

Netflix announces plan to offer streaming movies in Canada this fall. Details sketchy. (July 19, 2010)

Week in review: Apple’s Antennagate

Concerns about a faulty antenna design in Apple’s iPhone 4 dominated the tech headlines this week.
First, Consumer Reports on Monday (July 12) validated complaints that the iPhone 4 loses signal strength or drops calls if users touch a certain part of the exposed antenna.
Then, Apple held a hastily scheduled press conference on Friday (July 16) where it said all smart phones have similar antenna problems and that media reports about issues with the iPhone 4 were blown way out of proportion. Still, Apple offered a free insulating bumper to all iPhone 4 users.
The question facing Apple now is whether that’s enough to allay customer complaints and put the company’s so-called “antennagate” to rest.
The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs calls iPhone 4 antenna issue overblown, but offers free bumpers to buyers anyway. (July 16, 2010)

Steve Jobs’ WTF moment at Apple iPhone 4 press conference. (July 16, 2010)

Take-Two’s “Red Dead Redemption” is the top-selling video game of the year so far. EA’s new “Tiger Woods” game flops. (July 16, 2010)

Apple seeks to do damage control at press conference about iPhone 4 problems. (July 15, 2010)

Luxury eyewear and sunglasses maker Marchon aims to make stylish 3-D movie glasses for consumers. (July 13, 2010)

DreamWorks Animation executive is bullish on 3-D TV. (July 13, 2010)

Profile of retailer Charles Tandy, the spark behind RadioShack. (July 13, 2010)

Apple shares dip on iPhone 4 antenna worries. (July 13, 2010)

Is Apple lying about iPhone 4 antenna problem? Consumer Reports questions Apple’s explanation of the issue. (July 12, 2010)

Someone thinks Microsoft is still relevant in consumer tech. Consumer Electronics Show organizers pick Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to be opening keynote speaker for 2011 show. (July 8, 2010)

Apple’s iPad no longer seen as just a fun consumer device. It’s a business tool, MicroStrategy shows. (July 6, 2010)

Photo: Hilarious mockup of iPhone 5 by Peter Morgan posted on Flickr. 

Week in review: Apple as advertising firm

Apple kicked off a new era in advertising July 1 when it began delivering interactive ads to its mobile devices, led by its iPhone smart phones.
Companies debuting ads on Apple’s iAd platform included Unilever and Nissan. Unilever’s iAd campaign for its Dove Men + Care products featured videos and interactive applications with baseball stars, including Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees. (See screenshot above.)
The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

U.S. video game sales down despite big hit in Take-Two Interactive Software’s “Red Dead Redemption.” (July 2, 2010)

DirecTV joins the 3-D TV party with three new channels. Panasonic is the exclusive sponsor. (July 1, 2010)

Add “advertising company” to the list of descriptors for Apple (June 30, 2010)

Apple shares up on news the company sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in three days. Buyers shrug off reception concerns. (June 28, 2010)

Week in review: Apple controls the news

Apple has hypnotized the media into giving it millions of dollars in free advertising for its products.
Untold numbers of journalists spent last Thursday (June 24) covering the debut of Apple’s iPhone 4, its fourth-generation smart phone. Research In Motion, Nokia, Motorola and other smart phone makers can only dream about the blanket print, web and TV coverage Apple gets.
Fourteen reporters contributed to one story on the iPhone 4 by the Associated Press. Another 14 reporters helped write a story on it for Reuters.
Steve Jobs thanks you.
The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

Institutions are dumping Apple shares. Is it profit-taking or a sign the stock has topped? (June 25, 2010)

Apple soon is expected to be cranking out way more iPhone 4s, which is another big hit for a hot company. (June 25, 2010)

Consumer electronics sales are off to a slow start in 2010, but motion-controlled video games, media tablets and 3-D TVs are all poised for strong growth. (June 23, 2010)

Monster Cable solves a big problem for 3-D TV adoption by developing universal active-shutter glasses. (June 22, 2010)

Photo: Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks at the company’s 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 7.

Week in review: E3 brings controller-free games

The annual E3 video game conference in Los Angeles this week generated a lot of interesting product news.
The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s Tech Blog.

Internet-connected Blu-ray Disc players threaten pay TV business. (June 18, 2010)

“Dance Central” from Viacom’s Harmonix looks like the killer app for Microsoft’s Kinect video game system for the Xbox 360. It also could spark a wave of dance video games. (June 18, 2010)

Sony and Nintendo hope to rejuvenate their video game businesses with new hardware. (June 16, 2010)

Potential for Microsoft’s game player-tracking controller called “astounding” by one analyst. (June 15, 2010)

"Dance Central" game demonstrated at Microsoft's E3 press event.