Filed under: Deals and Bargains, News

Oh Amazon. This is a great deal, but does it have to be so darn complicated? Here’s the situation: You can have a PS3 with two games and an HDMI cable for £330. This is obviously an undercut of the new “Pick N Mix” bundle that was revealed last week. There are two lists of games from which you can choose and depending on whether you pick two games from list A, two from list B or one from each, you need to use a different coupon code. Got a maths degree? Good, that should help.

Additionally, you can add Burnout Paradise to your bundle for only £20, giving you a PS3, three games and an HDMI cable for £350. This whole deal lasts until February 28th, though the HDMI cable and Burnout Paradise can only be included up until January 31st. The PS3s themselves are still in stock, but there’s no telling how long that will last.

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Filed under: Rumors, Google (GOOG), Next big thing, Smartphones, Technology

In what could be a spot-on analysis of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)’s real intention with the upcoming FCC radio auctions, Jeff Lindsay with Sanford Bernstein says Google isn’t in the auction to win anything. In general, you bid to either win what you’re bidding on or you’re hedging your bets as you shill bid in an attempt to pump the bid price for the competition. With that said, what could Google be up to if it’s ready to bid on the FCC’s wireless airwaves, but has no intention on really using any radio spectrum in the future?

Lindsay indicates that Google’s recent moves in the wireless industry have already made the market realize open policies for customers and devices are the wave of the wireless future. In effect, its goal is already achieved to a point where it really does not need its own radio spectrum to directly compete as a wireless service provider.

Would Google really get knee-deep in an area that’s outside of its core business, and end up letting that become a distraction? Google CEO Eric Schmidt has repeatedly said that the mobile frontier harbors much more promise than even the PC web browser frontier it currently helps dominate. Was Google’s real intention with applying to bid for the FCC auctions coming up shortly just a scare tactic to cement its open handset alliance position? Possibly — but now it’s playing in a new sandbox with established bullies. The auctions should be very interesting.

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Filed under: Action, Casting, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels

Back in November of 2006, I blogged about how Phillip Noyce, director of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, had heard that Paramount was going to use the Jack Ryan character in stories not written by Tom Clancy, because of some legal loophole. Now, all these months later, there’s more scoop. Noyce just talked with Moviehole and claims that while neither he nor Harrison Ford is returning to the world of Jack Ryan, there is, indeed, a film in the works — a film starring Ryan Gosling.

This comes from the man himself, after Moviehole posted a story that Harrison Ford could be returning to the franchise. Now, this is just what he’s heard. Since Noyce isn’t involved, this is far from concrete, but it sure puts an interesting spin on things. As you can tell from the last time I wrote about this whole thing, I’m not a big fan of taking characters and running wild with them outside of the author’s context. On the other hand, Ryan Gosling is a flipping great actor, and I’d probably check him out in just about anything — even (or especially) a Breaker High reunion.

But that’s just me. What do you think? Can Ryan Gosling pull off Jack Ryan?

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Filed under: Internet, Google (GOOG), Marketing and advertising, Israel

Though we still don’t know exactly what happened, IncrediMail (NASDAQ: MAIL) announced today that it has been re-instated by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) as an AdSense Online customer. As a reminder, about two weeks ago, in a shocking announcement, IncrediMail was let go by Google as an AdSense customer. In response, IncrediMail stock has gotten crushed. Though Q1 ‘08 is sure to be bad, as AdSense is a major revenue driver for the Israeli company, I would expect them to get back on track moving forward.

“We are pleased to be able to resolve this setback so quickly and in such a positive way,” said Yaron Adler, IncrediMail’s CEO. “Google’s co-operation in re-instating our account, together with the feedback we’ve received from other search engine companies, makes us more optimistic than ever regarding the potential of the search business to drive our results, validating our long-term growth strategies.”

While I think that there are still problems at the internet firm, after what it did to get shut down in the first place, at current levels the stock actually looks attractive.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer has no positions in any stock mentioned as of 1/21/08

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Filed under: Drama, Casting, Deals, Politics

The man has already taken on the stories of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, so this latest bit of news isn’t a huge surprise. Variety reports that Oliver Stone, whose schedule was freed up when Pinkville was put on hold, is focusing on President George W. Bush for his next film, Bush. What is a bit of a brow raiser — he’s tapped Josh Brolin to star as Dubya. That is, Brolin will finalize his deal once Stone secures financing.

So, the rush is on to find money and shoot the script that was penned by Stanley Weiser (who co-wrote Wall Street with Stone) this spring — to be released just in time for the fall election. You would think Stone might have wanted to do this last time around, when Bush was looking at a second term, but I guess not. Whatever the case, should he find the money, much of the Pinkville crew has jumped to Bush, so slipping into production quickly shouldn’t be a problem.

Now, considering some of the filmmaker’s comments on the current president, you’d think this would just be an anti-Bush rant. However, Stone says it will instead be about how the man came to power: “It’s a behind-the-scenes approach, similar to Nixon, to give a sense of what it’s like to be in his skin. But if Nixon was a symphony, this is more like a chamber piece, and not as dark in tone. People have turned my political ideas into a cliche, but that is superficial. I’m a dramatist who is interested in people, and I have empathy for Bush as a human being, much the same as I did for Castro, Nixon…”

Whatever he has planned, I really hope that he finds the money, because I have got to see Brolin as Bush. I never would have thought of it, and still find the casting surprising, but I’m well beyond curious. How about you?

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Filed under: Deals, Industry, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Dell (DELL)

Most investors do not think of tech companies as being debt-laden. Many became pubic by raising cash in IPOs over the last decade. Any debt they had was paid off with capital raised. The rest stayed on the balance sheet.

A study by Paul Kedrosky written up in Barron’s paints a very different picture for some companies. Several large corporations, including Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), and Wipro (NYSE: WIT), have long-term debt-to-equity ratios of over 2x. For some big tech names, the figure is over 6x.

(Unfortunately, Barron’s had to pull its piece because Paul’s data appears to have been inaccurate.)

Under normal circumstances, this kind of data would be benign. But with the credit markets in crisis, refinancing debt on terms more favorable than firms have currently may be very difficult. Or, if the bond market gets very right, a company like Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) could get in a real pinch.

There is another side to this. Cash-rich companies like Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) may be able to shop for bargains. For them to pick up a company and pay its debt down may not be a significant problem.

More tech M&A this year? Almost certainly.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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One thing good about concepts are you don’t have to worry too much about engineering constraints, although you do want your idea to come out as relevant and doable simultaneously. Muhammad-Oli of Esato has the Sony Ericsson W520i concept phone to thrill us, featuring a large touch screen display which is all the rage these days. You get a 5-way navigator, a 2 megapixel camera that does video recording as well, an image stabilizer, TrackID, Bluetooth A2DP support, an integrated FM radio, and a quartet of stereo speakers on the back. This isn’t a 3D phone, but it could possibly make waves in the low and mid-range market where the W580i is doing a pretty good job at the moment.

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The iFrogz Audiowrapz is a unique iPod nano protective skin as it not only prevents unsightly nicks and scratches to magically appear on your shiny new PMP, it also boasts a set of three speakers for you to share your favorite tunes with everyone else on the bus. Naturally, your 3G nano will see a sizeable growth in length, but that’s all right since the device itself is already pretty small to start with. Choose from eight colors, where the passive-powered speaker-enabled iFrogz Audiowrapz will set you back by $24.99.

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I don’t know about you, but isn’t something like the Cool&Hot Comfort Pad going too far when it comes to pampering your pooch? Meant for those living in countries away from the equator where four seasons are a constant annually, this comfort pad stays cool during those sweltering summers and provides a warm pulse during the winter. For $173, I’d rather get a fair amount of beer for my enjoyment during the summer and let Fido sweat it out, while using an old blanket to keep him warm when the mercury drops.

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