Tag Archives: CNBC

Has the iPhone Become Big Brother Plus Terminator?

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In “The Terminator” film series, mankind brought a nuclear Armageddon upon itself when it created Skynet, an artificial intelligence service that became self-aware and rebelled against its creators. In essence, the population became too dependent on technology—and paid the price.

While the Apple iPhone hasn’t shown any Schwarzenegger-like tendencies quite yet, it’s pretty astonishing just how quickly its users have grown to rely on the phones—and how much control they have given it (along with the iPod Touch and iPad) over their day to day lives.

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Hot Products at 2011 CES: Tablets, Apps and Mobile Devices

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CES 2010 had thousands of items on the show floor, but at the end of the day, it was about 3D TV. The show marked the coming out party for the technology—and pretty much everything else was caught in its wake.

This year, though, there’s not likely to be a theme that’s quite so dominant, which will give other products a chance to shine.

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Latest ‘Call of Duty’ Game Tops $1 Billion in Sales

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Any lingering fears about “Call of Duty: Black Ops” being overshadowed by its predecessor can now be dismissed—Activision-Blizzard announced Tuesday that the latest installment in the series has topped $1 billion in worldwide sales.

That’s nearly a month faster than “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” hit the milestone, and it indicates the publisher could be on track to once again set entertainment and video game industry records.

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Time For a Second Look at Take-Two?

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Take-Two didn’t just surpass analyst’s expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter yesterday; it crushed them. And in the process, it did something observers and investors have been hoping it could pull off for a decade: It turned an annual profit in a year with no new “Grand Theft Auto” in its catalog.

t’s a monumental achievement for a company that has been accused for years of being a one-trick pony. And it has investors wondering if the time has come to reconsider investing in Take-Two.

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Does Kinect Make Microsoft A Better Investment?

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With backings by Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and just about every gift guide the media has written, Kinect for the Xbox 360 has become the “must have” gift of the 2010 holiday season.

The motion capture device has sold more than 2.5 million units since its Nov. 4 launch and Microsoft seems well on pace to meet its sales target of 5 million before the end of the calendar year. But do those sales mean it’s time to buy Microsoft shares?

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‘Call of Duty’ Likely to Rule November Video Game Sales

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Last November, Activision’s annual “Call of Duty” release ruled the sales charts in a dominant fashion. This year, the story is set to repeat itself.

“Call of Duty: Black Ops” could lead the video game industry to its second consecutive month of year-over-year retail sales gains. If so, that will be the first time this year the sector has managed to pull off that feat.

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As Medical Marijuana Proliferates, Pot Prices Decline Nationwide

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Recreational users of marijuana are seeing price cuts on the street thanks to the growing number of states that have approved the drug for medicinal use.

The price of cannabis, of course, varies wildly—depending on the strain purchased, its potency and the parts of the plant. Top quality pot in New York, for example, costs nearly $442 per ounce, while low quality is just $161, according to one website that tracks costs, PriceofWeed.com.

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Activision Rolling the Dice With New ‘World of Warcraft’

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It takes guts to radically alter a game that has 12 million paying subscribers—but when the company doing the tinkering is Blizzard Entertainment, you generally won’t hear a lot of complaints.

“World of Warcraft: Cataclysm” hits store shelves Tuesday and, as you might guess by the name, it will turn the world of Azeroth on its ear. At the same time, it could make the most popular online game in the industry’s history even bigger—and prove to be a significant revenue boost for Activision-Blizzard.

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Video Game Sales Surge: Is the Turnaround Here?

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After a year of disappointing sales figures and investor malaise, the video game industry is feeling some seasonal cheer.

The kick off to the holidays has been a boom time for game makers this year – with stellar sales for both hardware and software.

The question for investors, though, is whether this seasonal bump is the start of a turnaround for gaming companies – or just a short-term surge that will fade away by the end of December.

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