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Video rental company, Netflix, released 4th quarter earnings Wednesday. Amidst a turbulent economy and increasing competition from both traditional and non traditional rivals. Netflix largely met or exceeded expectations.

The company earned $15.8m (24cents a share) for the quarter ended December 31st. Excluding stock based compensation, earnings were $17.8m (27cents/share) on revenue of $301.7m. Revenue was up 9% over the same period last year.

Wall Streets consensus expectation was 14cents a share on revenue of $301.7m.

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Time Warner’s HBO unit has created some of the most original programming on television over the past decade but efforts to make the programming available online have been snagged in the webs of legal contracts. As a subscription service, HBO’s distribution agreements with cable and satellite providers stand in the way.  That remains a problem but Tuesday, HBO is set to try again. 

Their new service, called “HBO on Broadband” will provide access to about 400 hours of programming a month.  The full library of HBO content will not be available.  Also, only existing subscribers to HBO’s TV programming will be able to participate.

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Building successful companies from the seed of a startup is usually a long process, one of those things characterized as “more of a marathon than a sprint.”   Joost, and some of their Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) competitors got off to a very fast start, maybe too fast.

It was revealed Thursday that Joost’s CTO Dirk-Willem van Gulik is the leaving the startup next month to become Chief Technical Architect for the BBC.  He’ll work on their sites and likely, Project Kangaroo.

The change may be nothing more than the attrition of a volatile market (tech talent is always in demand).  On the other hand, taking into account the similar departure of rival Babelgum’s CTO in November, it may indicate the honeymoon is starting to end for some IPTV companies.

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The allure of a suspense is irresistible. 50 pages into a good book the outcome may already be foretold but if well done, you anxiously read the next two hundred to find out for sure. Macworld as a trade show has built for itself the same kind of dramatic tension. Over the years, as ringmaster, Steve jobs has crafted himself into an impressive storyteller. Legions hang in wait for his word. At Macworld, the lines were long and formed hours early for those anxious to see the live spectacle.

At 9:15 PST, following a new Mac vs. PC ad, Steve took the stage. He gave the obligatory recap of 2007, and then launched the crowd into the future.

Major news outlets were vastly in attendance. They’ll be covering the announcement all day.

Here’s the quick list: iTunes rentals (Check), New Macbook (Check), improved Apple TV (Check), software update for the iPhone (check).

And in more detail:

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Following Warner Brother’s surprise announcement to back the rival Blu-Ray standard, the HD DVD camp canceled parts of their planned CES promotions and made a measured statement that they would “evaluate potential steps.”  Wasting no time, it appear’s they’ve made a decision: the next generation DVD format war will now be a price war. 

Beaten and battered by the decision of five of seven major Hollywood studios to bake their rival, Toshiba is striking back with price cuts and a planned marketing blitz. Toshiba said Monday that they will dramatically cut prices on their HD DVD lineup.  The last expensive player, the HD-A3, will drop from $299 to $149.  The high end unit in the product line will drop from $499 to $299.

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Preempting a largely expected iTunes movie rental announcement at tomorrow’s Macworld event, Netflix announced they’ll remove all usage quota restrictions on their “Watch Instantly” streaming video service.  The change is to become effective today.

The streaming video service, on which Netflix has reportedly invested more than $40m, has been available for much of the past year.  It allows existing Netflix subscribers to watch on-demand feeds of up to 6,000 titles.  There are no additional costs to use the service.  It is offered in addition to subscriber’s existing mail order rental allotments.

Until today, the one major restriction on the service had been the quota system Click to Read More

2007 was a banner year.  There was the iPhone, a new (and very successful) iPod family, a new and improved  iMac, the Leopard update to the OS X operating system and a stock price that’s accelerated like a Ferrari on a track.  Now it’s 2008 and Macworld, the trade show that is “Apple’s State of the Union” is just a blink away.  Last year’s show revealed the iPhone.  “What can we expect this year?” is the question on the minds of many.  We all want to know: what promise and surprise does the 2008 product pipeline have in store for us? 

Nobody’s talking, which is usual, and as usual, that has everyone talking.  Steve Jobs and his team guard their secrets as tightly as a Vegas magic act, and like the elite illusionists, they enjoy misdirection just as much.     That’s fueled a constant stream of predictions and forecasts.  Analysts with inside sources, press and fans alike all have a perspective.  Handicapping Apple product announcements is rarely a wise endeavor, nevertheless, below are some rumors, and odds of their likelihood:

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