rental

Amazon's got game (and textbook rentals)

Tuesday's top tech stories are out to disrupt your world:

Oh Amazon, what don't you do? Well cross off game development, as it just launched its own studio to make Facebook games and compete with Zynga. It also joined the textbook rental service to face off with eBay's Half.com and BookRenter.

YouTube will no longer be a pre-loaded default app on Apple devices. Apple is dropping the YouTube app for iOS 6, and Google will create a separate app you can download. It's all part of Apple's mission to distance itself from Google.

If … Read more

Amazon renting '21 Jump Street,' 'Dark Knight,' others for 99 cents

Big day for Amazon. First came news of the new Amazon Instant Video app for iPad. Now, the company is offering dirt-cheap rentals on a bunch of new-release movies.

For just 99 cents, you can rent any of the following titles:

"21 Jump Street" "Act of Valor" "American Reunion" "Big Miracle" "Friends with Kids" "Lockout" "Mirror Mirror" "Safe House" "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" "Wanderlust" "Wrath of the Titans"

Not a bad list, eh? Amazon is offering … Read more

Where to find 3D movies to watch at home

Here's a happy fact: 3D-capable HDTVs now cost little more than their non-3D counterparts.

Here's another happy fact: 3D-capable Blu-ray players now cost little more than their non-3D counterparts.

And, finally, a sad fact: You can't rent 3D movies from Netflix. Or your local Redbox kiosk. Nor can you stream or download them from Amazon, Netflix, or iTunes.

So now what? What good is the gear if there's no content? Turns out there are a few sources that can deliver 3D goodness to your home, either through the mail or over the Interwebs. Here are your … Read more

Track your properties with QuikRentals

If you're a landlord or property manager, especially if you have more than one property, we don't have to tell you how hard it can be to keep up with everything. Have your tenants paid their rent? Have you paid your mortgage? Do repairs need to be made? Is your insurance up-to-date? QuikRentals is an Access-based program that aims make it easier to keep track of all this and more. Unfortunately, the program's unintuitive interface makes it a bit of a challenge to use.

Because QuikRentals is Access-based, it has the familiar ribbon-style layout of other Microsoft … Read more

Audio? Video? iTunes does it all.

Bottom line: Version 10.6 of iTunes brings a handful of enhancements to Apple's ubiquitous media software, and adds support for 1080p video.

Review: As one of the most popular programs for managing music and video content on a personal computer, Apple's iTunes software has become an indispensable part of our digital life.

Interface The look and layout of iTunes 10 is essentially identical to that of iTunes 9, with just a couple of noticeable differences. The first is that Apple has updated its logo for iTunes. Rather than the old-school music note-over-CD icon, you'll see a … Read more

Redbox rebuffs Warner Bros., won't delay rentals for 56 days

The 56-day rental window Warner Bros. has reportedly tried to impose on its partners didn't go over too well with Redbox.

The kiosk-rental company announced yesterday that its contract with Warner Bros. had expired and that it had no intention of entering into a new agreement with the film studio. The company did assure customers that it has other ways of getting access to Warner Bros. movies and TV shows, and that they'll still be available in its kiosks.

"Redbox will continue to provide our consumers with affordable access to new release movies from all major studios … Read more

Game over: Netflix frags game rental idea

Another Netflix idea has bit the dust.

The company's CEO Reed Hastings said yesterday during an earnings call that Netflix has "no plans to enter video games," scuttling hopes that it would follow through on an idea it floated last year to provide game rentals to its customers.

Back in September, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced plans to spin off his company's DVD-by-mail business into a new company, called Qwikster. As part of that plan, Hastings said that Qwikster would let customers rent Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii titles. Just a few weeks later, Netflix … Read more

Netflix's international expansion: Analysts shout 'cut!'

Netflix says its international expansion is central to its growth, but analysts are concerned that the company's overseas exploits could deliver a bundle of financial hurt.

Since Netflix first expanded to Canada in 2010, the company has said that it should be able to break even on international investments within two years. However, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia today wrote in a note to investors that for Latin America, the U.K., and Ireland--Netflix's most recent international rollouts--it could take even longer to break even, due to rising content costs and stiff competition from alternatives, such as Amazon'… Read more

Dish closing more Blockbuster stores than expected

It turns out Dish was a bit more confident in Blockbuster's rental stores than it should have been.

"We are committed to keeping the profitable stores open that are generating positive cash flow, but there are ones that aren't going to make it," Dish CEO Joe Clayton said in an interview published yesterday by Reuters. "We will close unprofitable stores. We will close additional stores."

After Dish bought Blockbuster last year for $320 million, Dish said it planned to keep 1,500 Blockbuster rental stores open and maintain 15,000 employees. Clayton told Reuters … Read more