TechNewsWorld

"A lot of enthusiasts are looking forward to the PS4 VR, so it should be a hit during the holiday season," noted Brett L. Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates.

Sony's VR offering also has the potential to bring some PC gamers back into the fold.

"The console market has started losing out to computer-based game play. Computer games are on the ascendance and console sales have been flagging," Sappington told TechNewsWorld.

"PC-based VR takes a real beef ...read more

What's more, this summer Facebook will offer the plans for the camera and the code for its software for free on the popular developers' website GitHub.

"We're open-sourcing the camera and the software to accelerate the growth of the 3D-360 ecosystem -- developers can leverage the designs and code, and content creators can use the camera in their productions," Cabral said.

However, there probably won't be a rush to build Facebook's camera, maintained Glenn Hower, an analy ...read more

TV manufacturers could have a very good holiday season, and the good times likely will continue through 2019.

Sales of 4K or Ultra High Definition TV sets will exceed 330 million units by the end of 2019 -- a sharp increase from the 2 million sold in 2013, according to data released last month by Parks Associates.

From the article "UHD TV - What's the Damage?" by Peter Suciu.

The Shield Tablet has a growing collection of native games, formatted especially for its K1 chip, and the ability to relay games from PC to TV. It supports Nvidia's cloud-streaming service for games and plays Android games.

The Shield Tablet K1 is more than all that, however, according to Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Parks Associates.

"Nvidia's Shield Tablet reflects not only the chipset-maker's efforts to showcase its graphic processor e ...read more

It's often the high price point of hi-fi music equipment and services that make the offerings poor value propositions for many consumers.

The problem with hi-fi audio and video hardware and services is that these products have proven to fit imperfectly in the lives of most consumers, noted Glenn Hower, a research analyst at Parks Associates.

Consumers generally rely on streaming technologies for music and video content, he said.

"With music especially, consumption is ...read more

Roku's share of the streaming hardware market fell from about 48 percent in 2013 to about 27 percent last year, according to Parks Associates.

While Roku's share of the market, percentage wise, has shrunk over the last few years, the sector has grown immensely during that time period.

From the article "Roku Offers Shiny New Streamers" by Quinten Plummer.

In the first three quarters of 2014, the Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV made stunning gains in sales activity versus the market-leading Roku and the No. 2 device from 2012 and 2013, the Apple TV, according to a study that made the rounds this week.

Roku snapped up 29 percent of sales (down from 46 percent in 2013), while Google Chromecast rose to claim 20 percent of device sales, edging past the Apple TV sales share of 17 percent (down from 26 percent), Parks Associate ...read more

Regardless of the platform, selling fitness trackers to consumers requires not only highlighting key technological features, "but also using carefully crafted marketing messages to motivate consumers, awaken their needs and deliver on promises," said Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Parks Associates.

"A long-term success depends on user experience and user appreciation of the positive changes that technology can bring to them," Wang told TechNews ...read more