The market for streaming video calling is exploding. An estimated 13.2 million people worldwide will make video calls this year, up 400% from last year. By 2015, it is estimated that 155.1 million calls will use streaming videos.

Skype is a leader in low-cost phone calls. Calls to other people who have Skype are usually free. Now Skype is offering video calling for as low as $8.99 per month, with up to 10 people on the same call. Skype accounts for 25% of international calling traffic, up from 13% in 2009.

When you think 3D TV, the possibilities are limitless. That game-winning touchdown pass spiraling out of your flat screen, alien invaders flying ships through the screen ... and yes, even naked women strutting their stuff in your living room.

It's this latter and controversial content that is fueling the 3D business in Japan right now, where a pair of porn stars are leading the charge in developing three-dimensional entertainment that is compatible with Sony (SNE) and Panasonic (PC) televisions.

Harman International (HAR) is starting to sound like an interesting value play.

Harman has seen its stock price cut nearly in half during the past month -- falling from a high of $53.36 at the end of April to around $33 -- but it seems to have found some recent support.

Plus, it must be doing something right because it was the lucky recipient of a bullish review in Barron's this weekend.

Hard disk drive manufacturer Seagate Technology (STX), first discussed here on July 8, 2010 at a price of $9.50, remains in an enviable position.

The company's demonstrated business model, and the calculation that traditional, desktop, bulky PCs will continue to dominate the computer market for the next 3-5 years, despite the steady increase in mobile devices and platforms, makes Seagate's shares desirable. The 'mobile cubicle' may be on the rise, but the office cubicle isn't disappearing.

Global shipments of PCs in the fourth quarter. What is propelling the rise? As you might guess, it is price. Prices for PCs were lower in 2009 than the year before. The average selling price was estimated at $660 dollars, though it may have been lower. In 2008, the price was $771.

As for shipments by companies, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was number one, followed by Acer, with Dell (DELL) in third place. Shipments of netbooks, which are smaller and have less processing power, accounted for a biggest share of the market.

"There is a new game changer in the works: the Windows 7 release," says Toby Smith, who believes we could be in the early stages of a tech recovery.

In his ChangeWave Investing, he adds, "Dell (DELL) will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Windows 7 upgrade cycle." "In a recent speech, Dell CEO Michael Dell joined the chorus of top tech leaders when he said, 'I think there is a very powerful refresh cycle that is coming.'

Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) new operating system, Windows 7, is set to be released on October 22, 2009, but it's unlikely to have an impact on PC prices. So, if you're feeling the urge to rush out and buy a new box, try to hold out until the end of the month. You'll get a bit more life out of it.

Fortunately, PC prices aren't expected to get much lower, so the entire supply chain -- from chips to software -- has nowhere to go but up. The effect, though, has been to put some serious pressure on manufacturers and retailers to keep from screwing up the release.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has a new champion: Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). The PC manufacturer is promoting the online sales force-enablement platform as a way to gain access to the hefty sums available in the technology services business. The deal would give Salesforce.com access to Dell's clients in the small and medium-sized business categories. Dell would sell Salesforce.com products and provide consulting services to help clients integrate the solution with their other enterprise applications. The dollars and cents of this union weren't disclosed.

Dell sees the margins of the services business and wants a piece of the action, particularly since the PC sector is low margin. Also, sales have been hit pretty hard as a result of the financial crisis. With PCs accounting for 60% of Dell's top-line, a bit of diversity isn't a bad idea. Currently, services account for only around 10% of Dell's sales.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), a PC maker that competes with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Apple (NASDAQ: APPL), received an upgrade on Monday. According to Marketwatch, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech is bullish on the company because of the possibility that corporations will perceive a need to invest in technologies to replace older systems. The analyst thinks Dell shares are a buy.

Well, Dell's stock sure has experienced a high amount of momentum this year, no question about it. The market is clearly discounting an end to the recession. If such an event is essentially in place, then it's easy to see why investors would buy Dell. Not only will businesses put cash to work to make their operations more competitively efficient, but consumers will likewise get out there and replace the laptops/desktops/printers/whatever that they've held onto for longer than usual because the effect of declining Wall Street indexes made them fearful of any big-ticket purchases. Dell should theoretically benefit from a macro recovery, since the company's brand still resonates with the PC-buying crowd.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), a technology company whose colleagues include International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), issued its third-quarter numbers on Tuesday after the bell. Relatively speaking, the results weren't bad: top-line sales dropped 2%, and adjusted earnings per share came in at 91 cents, a penny ahead of expectations, as DailyFinance reported.

Hewlett-Packard is obviously trying to keep costs and expenses under control. In fact, the company reported its adjusted operating margin went up. And its adjusted earnings per share actually increased 6% compared to last year's performance.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the famous name behind the iPod and other nifty tech products, and a company that competes with formidable opponents such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), issued its Q3 numbers yesterday. Once again, Apple proves itself to be a company that an investor should have owned.

According to Tom Johansmeyer's earnings preview, Apple was supposed to deliver $8.2 billion in sales and $1.16 per share in bottom-line income. It was even thought that Apple might go beyond Wall Street's estimates and make $1.32 per share. Well, investors were pretty pleased to see over $8.3 billion in sales and $1.35 per share in income. Impressive.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) reported first-quarter numbers earlier in the week. It wasn't an awesome report by any stretch of the imagination. On a reported basis, every important metric was down. Revenues down 23%. Earnings per share down 61%. On an adjusted basis, Dell did beat expectations by a penny, coming in at $0.24 per share.

Now, what should we make of this? Indeed, I'm in something of a tough position over Dell. I was pretty bearish on the stock back in November. I still feel bearish, to be honest. Who wouldn't? A one-penny beat in this case just doesn't encourage me. PC sales have been challenged, and as my colleague Jamie Dlugosch pointed out, Dell just can't be considered a best-of-breed company. When you think best-of-breed computer stocks these days, you probably will think of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) first.

Lenovo cut 450 jobs in China. A month ago, it announced larger layoffs. As demand for PCs cascades it appears hard for the Asian company to keep up by increasing cost cuts.

The news about Lenovo may be particularly bad for Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). According to the AP, "Lenovo says it has been hit harder than competitors by the global slowdown because of its reliance on corporate customers, who have cut spending more sharply than consumers." Dell's base of buyers is also tilted toward corporations, which increases the chances that it may miss earnings in the next quarter and give guidance below what Wall Street expects.

Short sellers are moving into tech stocks at a rapid pace, in many cases probably betting that falling PC sales will hurt earnings at some big companies. Based on recent data on global computer shipments, the gamble will probably pay off.

For the period ending on January 15, shares sold short in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) rose 18% to 92.4 million compared with the precious two weeks period, according to The Wall Street Journal, Shares sold short in Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) moved up 15% to 60.5 million shares.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), whose tech colleagues include Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), had a pretty decent third quarter. The bottom line came in at $0.37 per diluted share. That represented a growth rate of 9%, and it handily beat analyst expectations of $0.31 per share according to Thomson Reuters. I give Dell credit for the significant beat.

However, it should be noted that the bottom line was driven in part by share repurchases. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it does put the big earnings beat in perspective. Indeed, on a dollar basis, profits decreased about 6%. Still, operating income rose 22% on a year-over-year basis.

But then there's the statement of cash flows. Cash was used for operations in the third quarter, a reported $86 million. Last year at this time, Dell generated $998 million from operating activities. That's something to at least think about. In fact, the press release said that slowing demand helped to worsen the cash conversion cycle. Now, I won't crucify Dell on this one cash-flow statement, because the company should still deliver a lot of the green stuff on an annual basis. But even the nine-month statement shows a decline in cash from operations. Again, it's something an investor must consider, and it puts that earnings beat in perspective.