Blockbuster

On today's show, there's tech news, but there's also the new Sprint Evo 4G, and that's kind of all we can think about. Its big 4-inch screen, its two cameras, its kickstand. Sigh. It's my new boo. Also, though, some stuff about Google, the full text of ACTA is leaked, we have a winner in the Apple vs. Predator video contest, and holy crap, did you see that Evo?

Google co-founder Sergey Brin urges US to act … Read more

One of the most attractive benefits that Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, and other Internet movie services have to offer is that they're a cheaper alternative to paying monthly cable fees.

That may be one of the reasons why the cable companies are going on the offensive. The Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing Co-op, a group that includes Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Sony Pictures, and Universal Pictures announced on Wednesday it plans to spend $30 million on an advertising campaign designed to "expand consumer awareness...of (rental) movies on demand."

The theme of the campaign will be "… Read more

Wall Street is once again fretting over Netflix.

Some analysts didn't know what to do with themselves on Tuesday when the share price of the Web's top movie rental service shot past their performance expectations. Sure, Netflix continues to return boffo earnings, but after the company's share price hit $70, some brokers took a hard look at Netflix's prospects for the future, according to a MarketWatch story by reporter Therese Poletti.

What the analysts found was a Web video-on-demand segment filling up fast with competitors. That apparently spooked analysts at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Susquehanna … Read more

The hard times just keep slapping Blockbuster. The company announced Wednesday that it posted a $435 million loss for the fourth quarter.

The poor performance is especially hard, considering it happened in the fourth quarter--usually Blockbuster's best months. In the third quarter, the company lost over $114 million.

Back in September, the company announced that it would be closing up to 960 underperforming stores to increase its earnings by $50 million to $60 million. Blockbuster closed 374 U.S. stores last year and plans to accelerate its plans to shutter an additional 545 retail locations this year.

To revitalize … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--During its press conference on Tuesday morning, T-Mobile revealed that it will ship the upcoming HTC HD2 with an array of entertainment applications to really take advantage of the smartphone's 4.3-inch WVGA multitouch screen and 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and to provide users with a robust multimedia experience.

To start, the HD2 will be the first handset to support Blockbuster's On Demand video download application, which lets you preview and download movies on the go. Once purchased, you can watch the video on another other connected device, such as a TV, a Blu-Ray Disc player, or a … Read more

Blockbuster was once a staple of weekend movie viewing, nearly as much a part of home entertainment as the TV set.

As the beleaguered company once again rethinks its move-rental business, it continues to lose ground to Netflix and Redbox.

Amazingly, Blockbuster's stock is trading at 40 cents a share following the company's announcement that it had undergone another round of layoffs and corporate restructuring. Last month the once dominate video-rental chain informed investors that it would miss revenue expectations for the fourth quarter due to lagging holiday sales. Blockbuster said it expects to report a loss of … Read more

Redbox has made some major strides in the movie-rental business, offering consumers the opportunity to pick up newly released films from a kiosk around town for just $1 per day. It has even forced Blockbuster to try a similar strategy.

But according to a report, Redbox isn't content to stick with movies.

According to Reuters, Redbox is currently in negotiations with video game developers to offer games in all the company's kiosks. Redbox president Mitch Lowe told the wire service his company is "talking early and often with the content providers of games so that we start … Read more

A new law in Europe protects all citizens from the evils of cookies. Instead of relying on people to operate their own browsers, Europe now requires all Web sites to notify users that they will set cookies. That certainly sounds annoying. Come on over to our freedom-loving U.S. sites, y'all! We also check in on Motorola Droid sales and find out that the Milestone kicks the Droid in the butt. And Google has a holiday present for you. And it's free!

Samsung announced on Wednesday that on-demand video services from Blockbuster and Amazon are coming to some of its home entertainment products.

Blockbuster OnDemand, which allows people to rent or purchase video content on a one-off basis, is now available on some of Samsung's high-definition TVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems.

According to Samsung, the service will be offered on its Series 650 and above LCD and plasma HDTVs, as well as its Series 7000 and above LED HDTVs. Blockbuster OnDemand will be available to owners of the Samsung BD-P1600, BD-P3600, and BD-P4600 Blu-ray players, as well as the … Read more