Read My First Feature on Game Downloads

I just published my debut on The Escapist, which is one of the largest and most-innovative video-game communities out there.

Entitled “The Downside of Direct Downloads", I get into the nitty-gritty of why the emerging world of downloadable games may be hazardous to your health. If you can, PLEASE Digg it for me.

Here’s a sneak peak:

Accessing content online has some benefits for gamers. It's incredibly convenient. We can receive patches to update our games, download expansion packs and even purchase some games without leaving the couch. We can also download demos to try out new titles, something I wish I had 20 years ago before I bought garbage like Friday the 13th for the NES. But if you care about things like games staying affordable and having some choice as a consumer, you might want to start worrying right about now.

At its core, the movement from standard methods of content delivery to virtual ones is just a big, crazy chase for dollars. This shift will have a major impact on the whole supply chain from console-makers to software publishers and retailers.

Did I mention how helpful it would be to me if you Dugg this story?

NOW You Want to Sell Me An Album?

According to a report from the FT early this morning, Apple (AAPL) is joining forces with the four big record labels to offer a new interactive music album format complete with digital booklets, sleeve notes, and other paraphernalia.

Called “Cocktail,” the venture is aimed at stimulating full album sales rather than lower-margin individual songs. Unfortunately, despite being named after the greatest love story of our time, this venture is too little, too late.

The music industry’s in a downward spiral, primarily because people are conditioned to getting their music for free. Even if you don’t want to take the route of illegal downloads, you can listen to just about anything you want on YouTube or MySpace.

Yes, an interactive booklet might be cool, and might even bring back memories of the days when you actually got something interesting to hold in your hands. But for the majority of people, free is still better than cool, and all the extras can be found with a few simple Google (GOOG) searches.

Jim Cramer Responds to NY Post

The NY Post ran an article today about my former boss Jim Cramer, alleging among other things that “the host of CNBC's "Mad Money" alienated co-workers with his erratic stock trades and furniture throwing as far back as 2000, when he was working for the hedge fund he started after leaving Goldman Sachs.”

Jim responded on RealMoney.com with the following blurb:

“There is a silly piece in the NYpost about me that contends i was "ousted" because of a bad year of erratic trading. I was up 36% in 2000, not bad, and i ran the place and had 100% of the equity so it is hard to be "ousted" However, and this i care greatly about --I AM NOT 60!!!! Further if you want to know the real truth about the water bottle throwing read Confessions of a Street Addict because i didnt throw the water bottle until he was through the door!!!He did, however, cost us endless amounts of money simple because he was even nuttier than i was, although i never saw him throw a chair...”

Will There Be an Apple Netbook?

Hello all, I just wanted to direct you to my latest article on Minyanville. I give four reasons why an Apple (AAPL) Netbook is not on the way.

Here are the first two:

1. There’s a more obvious hole in the product line.

Apple still doesn’t have a reasonably priced, entry-level notebook PC. Yes, Mac lovers -- I understand that lower price doesn't equal better value when you consider stability and security (and mental health, in my case), but come on. Macbooks are more expensive than they need to be. A $799 Macbook would give Apple a major additional catalyst for market-share gains, and given Apple’s stinginess with hardware components, could still carry high gross margins.

2. Macbooks are still selling just fine.

As it turns out, those expensive Macbooks are actually doing just fine. Apple sold 1.75 million notebooks during the quarter, up 13% year-over-year. Excluding anti-depressants and Ramen noodles, selling 13% more of anything these days is pretty impressive. So there’s no reason to take the chance of cannibalizing a premium-priced, high-margin product with a netbook just yet.

Continue Reading Four Reasons There Won’t Be an Apple Netbook.

VideoGameStocks.net is Back Up!

Hello readers. I’d just like to pass along word that my video-game blog VideoGameStocks.net is back up and running! Since I’m fully operational again, I’m delaying the switch from Blogger to Wordpress for now.

So go check out my latest post on NPD’s June 2009 Sales Numbers!

I also published an article on Minyanville arguing that Sony is in serious trouble now.

5 Reasons to Buy TTWO

Hi folks, just wanted to ask if you could read my newest article on Minyanville:

5 Reasons to buy Take-Two Stock Now

Hope you enjoy it!

Why EA should Acquire THQ Right Now

Hi folks, I made my debut as a Minyanville contributor today, and I hope you can take a look at my piece.

I argued that EA should acquire THQ. THQ (THQI) is an incredibly cheap stock, and the emergence of UFC Undisputed: 2009 as a megahit means it could fit nicely into Electronic Arts’ (ERTS) stable of sports titles.

And if you would be so kind as to hit the Digg button here, I’ll love you forever!

VideoGameStocks.net is Down For Now

I received a few emails about folks not being able to get into VideoGameStocks.net. I am well aware of the problem – apparently Google’s (GOOG) Blogger service is having some glitches with redirecting to custom domains. You can read the site by going to VideoGameStocksNet.blogspot.com.

I’m using this trouble as an excuse to shift VideoGameStocks.net to Wordpress, a process I hope to complete by early next week. Wordpress has some really important features that I consider essential to continue building my online presence, so it’s time to give it a shot.

BTW, I’ll be publishing a video-game article in my debut on Minyanville.com in the near future.

Can Bing Beat Google?

Techtree.com lists some interesting stats on search-engine market share:

According to data from Hitwise, Bing grew at a weekly rate of 25 per cent during June and managed to capture 5.25 per cent of the total US market for the month.

Hitwise boasts of providing "insights on how 10 million U.S. Internet users interact with more than 1 million Websites." As per Hitwise, Google maintains the search market dominance with larger 74 per cent share in US Internet search in June. Yahoo was on second place with 16 percent share and Ask.com came on fourth with 3.2 % as per Hitwise.

So Bing has gradually grown to compete with the Google but the challenge is still in pretty nascent stage. Bing itself requires bit of tweaking. Ever since its launch, lot of enthusiasts and Windows Live Search fans have been trying it out. Of course, the initial spike is bound to be there.

According to ComScore's data from June 8 to 12, Google enjoyed the lion share of 65 per cent in search engine market of US Internet Search. On the other hand, Microsoft's share spiked from 11.3 percent during Bing's debut to 12.1 percent.

I’m glad to see that Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bing is taking off so well. I’ve been a loyal Google (GOOG) user for about a decade, but I always root for more competition in just about everything. Competition breeds innovation, better pricing, and improved user experiences. (at least in theory!)

One important feature Bing has that Google lacks is Bing Cashback, which allows you to earn cash back from shopping. Sometimes you can get a pretty nice percentage back – they just ran a promotion where you can get 12% cash back from Overstock.com (OSTK).

I’ve noticed in my own blogs that Bing is generating more hits for me than Microsoft’s Live Search ever did. Bing doesn’t send me nearly as much traffic as Google, and I’ve seen a recent spike in activity from Yahoo! (YHOO) because of my high search ranking on Lenny Dykstra. But it’s definitely a step above what I ever got from Live.

Well done, Microsoft. You don’t have Google killed but you’re off to a great start!

Lenny Dykstra Is Bankrupt (I called it!)

Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings,
And a king aint satisfied till he rules everything.

    -Bruce Springsteen

Traffic to this blog’s posts on Lenny Dykstra skyrocketed today after the baseball legend declared bankruptcy -- something I predicted in April after he was dumped by TheStreet.com (TSCM):

Lenny’s “Nails on the Numbers” newsletter has been renamed “Deep-in-the-Money Calls” and is now written by options-market star and all-around nice guy Jon Najarian. I can’t say I’m surprised at this turn of events. While Lenny was a major profit-generator for TheStreet.com, the bad press was starting to make Lenny more trouble than he’s worth.

And if they had to replace a former baseball player, who better than a former football player, especially one that actually knows options?

This story may get spun as Lenny taking personal time to handle his divorce, but time has been running out for him. I have no doubt that TheStreet.com would have eventually pulled the plug on Lenny because they can’t have a financial wreck pitching investment advice to the masses.

Lenny’s going bankrupt. How do I know?

It’s simple. I’ve never met a rich person that tried so hard to look rich.

While I’m clearly not a fan of Dykstra, this is a tragic story. He accomplished quite a bit in baseball and business before he decided to play Wall Street bigshot. It’s a classic story of an ego getting completely out of control, only to face the inevitable, ugly crash back down to Earth. You can only burn so many people before the fire gets you too.

Unfortunately for Lenny, this story is going to get uglier. A little birdie told me something pretty shocking about Lenny’s spending that hasn’t been picked up by a single media outlet. It’s not something illegal, but I would consider this act highly unethical if true.

If I can confirm it, I’ll publish it.

P.S. Read my story about Ron Insana’s early adventures in the investment newsletter world!

Inside Ron Insana’s Time Machine

UPDATE: Ron Insana’s Doing Pretty Well

I received a great deal of positive feedback from my coverage of baseball legend and options-trading “expert” Lenny Dykstra’s stint as a newsletter author for TheStreet.com (TSCM). I hate crapping on the products of a company I once loved working for, but take a look at what they’re feeding me and you’ll see why I’m a little fired up tonight.

First, some background: In what appears to be an effort to beef up it’s subscription offerings, TheStreet.com has brought in some heavy hitters like former Morgan Stanley (MS) Strategist Rick Bensignor, and the subject of this piece, former CNBC Senior Analyst Ron Insana.

I’ve always viewed Ron as a pretty thoughtful and even-handed guy, so I was pretty baffled at what I found in his Market Movers newsletter. Let’s dig in!

Here are two key excerpts from the disclaimer section of the inaugural issue of the newsletter published on Monday, June 29th:

The service consists of, among other things, a portfolio of securities chosen and actively traded by Mr. Insana, initially capitalized on March 13, 2009 with $200,000 of Mr. Isana’s personal funds.

and:

Mr. Insana manages investment portfolios separate from his portfolio in TheStreet.com Market Movers.

Now take a look at Ron’s performance since March 13th, which is a bit better than the S&P 500 over the same time period:

The problem is that Market Movers is taking credit for investments made BEFORE IT EVEN LAUNCHED. Sorry Ron, but that’s just not how investment newsletters work. Your subscribers did not receive the recommendations (since the newsletter didn’t even exist) that drove your alleged performance, so you have no basis for claiming this return.

And since Ron “manages investment portfolios separate from his portfolio in TheStreet.com Market Movers,” how do we know that this portfolio wasn’t cherry picked to maximize its performance?

I’m emailing this post to Ron, and will publish his response as soon as he gets back to me.

UPDATE: Ron Insana’s Doing Pretty Well