Los Angeles Times

Still, amid signs of a slowdown in smartphone sales and pressure to come up with the next big thing, tech companies are jumping on the wearable tech trend. Many analysts expect Apple, Google and Samsung will roll out wearable tech products in the next 12 months.

But Parks Associates analyst Harry Wang predicts that at best, smartwatch sales will top out at about 120 million around 2018 — a far cry from smartphones and tablets. More than 1 billion smartphones and more than 19 ...read more

Chromecast and Roku gadgets accounted for more than half of the video-streaming devices sold in the U.S. in 2013, according to a new survey.

Parks Associates, a market research firm, said Chromecast and Roku each accounted for about 32% of U.S. sales of the devices, which connect to the Internet to play content from services such as Netflix and YouTube. Coming in third place was Apple TV, which accounted for 18% of 2013 U.S. sales.

Chromecast's sales are particularly imp ...read more

Barbara Kraus, market research director at Parks Associates, said about a third of U.S. households with broadband Internet have smart TVs, a percentage expected to double by 2018.

But the top three smart-TV makers — Samsung Corp., Vizio Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. — all have their own operating systems, and analysts doubted that the companies would use Android TV.

Instead, Google said that it's Sony, Sharp Corp. and an overseas brand of Philips that plan to release disp ...read more

Because both companies already are giants in the medical-devices market, the merger should allow for more robust research and development and more comprehensive health-monitoring capabilities, said Harry Wang, a health industry analyst at product research firm Parks Associates.

The medical devices industry has been plagued by slow innovation, but the merger should advance the market, Wang said.

“By buying up this company and consolidating R&D spending, they have a better ...read more

The announcement comes as researcher Parks Associates released the results of a new survey that revealed Chromecast owners were using the streaming device as a work-around to watch current TV hows on their living-room TVs through the free version of the Hulu service.

TV viewing is one of the features of the paid version of Hulu, which costs $8 a month.

It is unclear whether Chromecast owners would still be able to use the circumvention technique Parks Associates identifi ...read more

A new study finds that people are using Google's Chromecast streaming device to watch television shows on their living room TVs, at times circumventing the restrictions networks have placed on where consumers can watch their online content.

The Parks Associates study reveals that roughly one-third of Chromecast owners use the device daily to watch current TV shows on Hulu.

The Hulu use is potentially problematic for Hollywood, because half of those surveyed said they use ...read more

The market for streaming devices and services continues to grow.

About 40% of American homes with high-speed Internet access now subscribe to an Internet video service, according to researcher Parks Associates. Smart TVs, video game consoles, Blu-ray players and streaming media devices all are vying to capture this market.

The number of homes using dedicated streaming media devices, like the Roku or Apple TV, has doubled since 2011, according to Parks Associates. But onl ...read more

Not subscribing to a cable, satellite or telco provider does have some downsides. It means saying goodbye to ESPN and other popular networks that air things as they happen, although some news services, such as CNN, are available via the Internet.

An increasing number of consumers are trying the new technology. A recent survey by Parks Associates found that 14% of American homes now have streaming media devices, double the number in 2011.

From the article, "Why not pull t ...read more