This morning, Barclay's downgraded Netflix (NFLX) to "equal weight" from "overweight." Although the brokerage cut the stock, it decided to issue a price target increase to the movie rental company, upping said price to $88 from $72.

Barclay's based the downgrade on valuation, but noted that the company will continue to benefit from its subscription-based model and its delivery service. NFLX offers two options for movie delivery, either receive a DVD in the mail or watch the movie directly over an Internet connection. With the many options in entertainment systems, the ability to watch a movie over an Internet connection (be it on a computer or a television connected to an Internet-ready device) is a major boon for NFLX. The downgrade stems from Barclay's belief that "the risk-reward in Netflix shares is now more balanced."

Following Wednesday's market close, Netflix (NFLX) reported its fourth quarter numbers, and the stock soared 13% higher in after-hours trading when the company posted better-than-expected numbers for the quarter.

The company had a great quarter, with profit rising by an impressive 36%. While the fourth quarter earnings were dramatic, what really had the stock moving after hours was the upbeat forecast for 2010.

Could this be the next logical step in the video war between Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)?

A report contends that Netflix will soon offer its "Watch Instantly" video-streaming feature for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, as well as the Nintendo Wii gaming console. Netflix already allows subscribers to manage their movie queue and search for movies via their iPhones, so watching their choices on the smartphone would be the next logical step.

Normally we think of revolutionary products created by start-ups or entrepreneurial minds just out of college, but the most talked about new projects of 2009 are being produced by some of the best known companies in the world.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): With its massive online presence and a truly efficient business model, Amazon has become the largest online retailer in the world. It is now taking on a new business, web services, namely cloud computing (learn more HERE), called the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). While hosting this infrastructure and presenting e-commerce with a reasonably affordable alternative with no up-front costs, Amazon has taken an early lead in this space, with some believing its cloud computing business will one day overtake retailing. "Amazon will be like a book store that sells cocaine out the back door. Books will be just a front to sell storage and cloud computing." says Larry Dignan, Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic.