Netflix Edges Past Hulu In Total U.S. Traffic

Web traffic to Netflix was 20.2 million in June, 2010, just edging past Hulu’s 19.7 million.

It has to be said that most of the Netflix traffic likely was people updating their queues and so forth, while more of the traffic to Hulu was people viewing actual videos, but the traffic is some indication of the potential for Netflix to move into the video download space, some would argue.

Netflix Edges Past Hulu In Total U.S. Traffic (comScore)

Microsoft Says 74% Of Business Computers Still Running On Windows XP

74 percent of business PC's are still running on XP, according to Tammi Reller, CVP of Microsoft Windows. That is some measure of how Vista failed to get traction, but also suggests a large opportunity for Windows 7 upgrades.

Reller says the average age of a PC is the highest it's been in a decade at 4.4 years old. Typically that would suggest replacement is imminent, as most enterprise PCs have tended to be replaced every three to five years.

The new wrinkle might be increasing use of smartphones, netbooks or tablet PCs powered by other operating systems. Those devices are unlikely to replacement existing desktops, but might siphone off some of the incremental demand.

Microsoft Says 74% Of Business Computers Still Running On Windows XP

IntelePeer and WorkSpace Communications Partner to Launch Hosted Unified Communications Solutions

IntelePeer has announced a partnership with WorkSpace Communications to deliver an easily deployed, hosted unified communications offering based on Microsoft Office Communications Server.

By combining IntelePeer's "Quick Start SIP Trunking" program, "Voice Peering Network" and "SuperRegistry," with WorkSpace Communications' Microsoft OCS environment, the companies provide a complete, turnkey solution.

IntelePeer and WorkSpace Communications Partner to Launch Hosted Unified Communications Solutions

Consumer Reports Does Not Recommend the iPhone 4

Consumer Reports says it cannot recommend the iPhone 4 because of reception issues. The consumer testing group says its findings are not based on the inaccurate signal reception display, but actual reception issues caused when the device is held in certain ways.

"When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone's lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you're in an area with a weak signal.

Consumer Reports Electronics Blog: Lab tests: Why Consumer Reports can't recommend the iPhone 4

Screen Shortage Might Last Until 2012

HTC Evo devices are in very short supply at the moment, as are HTC Incredibles, and most likely, HTC Droid X devices as well, as all seem to use the same screens, and there currently is a shortage of capacity to manufacture the screens, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Analysts say there's a particular dearth of the Samsung Electronics Co. touch screens the HTC phones use. Samsung is building a $2.2 billion factory to make the screens, but it won't start operations before 2012.

It is unclear how the parts shortages might affect mobile providers selling the popular HTC devices, in particular Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile, none of which yet has the right to sell the Apple iPhone.

But to the extent all three carriers experience HTC device shortages, it does not seem clear that the relative positions of the three carriers will change, based specifically on ability to sell HTC devices in this class. For Sprint, though, the advantage it had by launching the first nationwide 4G network is dwindling as Verizon Wireless readies its own launch later in 2010.

84% of Internet Users Never Click on Ads

About 84 percent of Internet users never click on any ads, comScore says.

Conversely, eight percent of users are responsible for 85 percent of activity.

Should we be surprised by that? Not really, considering the Pareto principle, commonly known as the "80/20" rule.

Despite that pattern of behavior, it seems unlikely most advertisers will stop relying on click-through rates.

Google Chief Predicts "Interactive Video Ads"

Google CEO Eric Schmidt says  "interactive video ads," are on the way, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The ads, which could appear anywhere on a Web page, would be like mini-Web pages, allowing Web users to watch a video, leave a comment and see real-time updates within the ads that are more customized to their interests.

Schmidt says he has pushed Google's ad teams to think about the potential for such ads, without specifically adding details.