Firday Tech Files

== Vudu Box is Netflix without the mail ==

This new box from Vudu Labs is probably worth watching. It downloads movies off the web so that you can watch them on TV. That's a similar notion to the Apple TV box but Vudu has deals with 7 movie studios already, making their online offerings potentially larger than either Apple or the paltry online Netflix catalog.

It looks like this year is really setting up to be the year of net-to-TV gadgets. The trend could be trouble for Netflix. Netflix has publicly stated that they don't want to be a trailblazer in the field which has been "supposedly hot" since about 1995. Netflix has started an online program but it offers only a small set of movies and still hinges on viewers watching through their computer in a web browser, with the typical issues involved. As far as I can tell Netflix dosen't even offer a fullscreen version for playing through a media PC to fill up a widescreen television.

Netflix stock has analysts predicting 31% growth indefinitely, and I calculate that the net present value has that growth rate already priced in. I would say that NFLX is overpriced for a company determined NOT to be the vanguard of a new technology that will be getting into homes in the next few years.

== Microsoft goes for another vowel with the oPhone ==
== (or do they) ==

Okay, fine, so it's actually a comedy skit produced internally at Microsoft for fun, but this video is pretty funny and seems to be making the rounds. Check it out:

== Make the perfect Cocktails ==

What could be more of a required skill for the budding investment banker or wall street rainmaker than being able to handle liquor. Recently I stumbled across these nice folks and their books. Get some of their books today and become a dab hand at mixology.