Duds and decisions took bows this past week.

It wasn't just a good week but a decent year that we're looking back at this weekend. Bucking the trend of annual accolades and bullish reviews, I enjoyed hearing Wall Street Journal columnist and tech-gadget review guru Walt Mossberg go over what he considers the three worst products to be introduced this year.

Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) Streak topped the list, with its puzzling 5-inch screen that's too big to be a smartphone yet too small to be a tablet. Google TV and TiVo's (Nasdaq: TIVO) Premiere rounded out the list of Mossberg's duds.

Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) challenging Web television platform was in the news for all of the wrong reasons again later in the week. Logitech (Nasdaq: LOGI) -- the accessories specialist behind the Revue set-top box powered by Google TV -- had to tap its official company blog to debunk rumors that it was halting production of Revue boxes to wait out a software update.

Is Mossberg's list a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • Charles Schwab's (Nasdaq: SCHW) Charles Schwab is home recuperating after successful heart-valve replacement surgery. He's no longer the CEO, but he is still the iconic chairman of the discount brokerage pioneer. As the public face of the company, his health is an investor issue.
  • Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) revisited its two-year highs, proving that it can still rock while Howard Stern is on a two-week break.
  • Rare-earth oxide producer Molycorp (NYSE: MCP) was one of the rare-earth specialists to pop after China announced that it will cut its 2011 export quota. Rare earth, indeed.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz

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