Red state, blue state. Red chip, blue chip.
Now that the elections are over, can we begin taking a look at some of the investing implications behind the congressional shift? Mary Dalrymple did, kindly moving the discussion away from the political to focus on how Tuesday's results may affect your portfolio.

No, there is nothing wrong with having firm convictions when it comes to politics. I'm just hoping that you're coming here to get away from the "red state, blue state" topics that you can hear just about everywhere else these days. I would prefer to guide you to the more colorful articles on our site, where some of us are debating about our favorite blue chips. My vote went to Disney (NYSE:DIS), the family-entertainment giant that went on to trounce market expectations on Thursday as it wrapped up its fiscal 2006.

Thinking inside the box
Do you remember when video-game systems were playthings that took away from your television viewing time? Now they are looking to become vital home-theater components. It started when the Sony (NYSE:SNE) PS2 and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox came out with DVD playability.

This month, both companies are taking the medium to a new high-def level. Earlier this week, Microsoft began selling an HD-DVD player peripheral for its Xbox 360. And Sony's PS3 rolls out in a few days with Blu-ray functionality. With the next-generation standalone DVD players coming out at lofty price points, I'm guessing that the first taste of the new disc formats for movie viewing will actually come via PS3 and Xbox 360 boxes for a lot of us. That's interesting, because I don't know too many people who use their existing gaming consoles as heavy-duty flick players. The new dynamics almost beg for that to happen.

What will we watch? Beyond loading up on new Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs, Microsoft is going one step further. It is entering the suddenly crowded digital delivery revolution by selling movie and TV shows through its broadband-enabled Xbox Live subscription service. I guess it won't be long before Microsoft begins offering us larger hard drives, disc-burning, and DVR capabilities. As a TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) shareholder, should I be worried? I just hope that TiVo doesn't fight back by putting out a video-game console of its own.

That didn't take long
The $1.65 billion stock deal for YouTube is still another month away from being completed, yet Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is already being targeted by lawsuits for copyright infringement.

Actually, the legal fisticuffs have nothing to do with YouTube. We are talking about violations on Google's own video-streaming site. I'm not surprised. Two weeks ago, I was shocked by the sorry state of Google Video.

As one of Google's biggest fans, I know that the company has the ingenuity to get it right. It also has the greenbacks to outlast any pesky lawsuits. The YouTube deal will be vindicated as a brilliant one. You are already seeing new revenue streams coming up, such as YouTube's deal with Verizon (NYSE:VZ) to provide top videos for Verizon Wireless customers, as well as Verizon's nascent cable-programming service.

There is much at stake. Let's hope that Google can get there without having to swap out its brainy engineers for shrewd lawyers.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz

TiVo and Disney are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Microsoft is an Inside Value pick.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz recommends windshield wiper fluid when trying to look back. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. He does own shares in Disney and TiVo. The Fool has a disclosure policy.