CIO

Based on discussions I've had with other folks in the industry about what they're offering...in terms of hardware they're going low cost," said Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates, a research firm.

Like the inexpensive Kindle reader, which is a venue for Amazon's published content, a set-top box would allow Amazon to sell video content from its existing library, such as its Amazon Prime Instant video service. "Amazon has the third leading video-streami ...read more

Jennifer Kent, a senior research analyst with Parks Associates, also says she sees the aforementioned challenges as opportunities. Whether organizations are struggling to meet the criteria for EHR meaningful use or reduce hospital readmissions as healthcare reform mandates, they can turn to virtual care to fill the gaps.

Consumers with access to online health services — admittedly less than half of Americans — use them to fill prescriptions, schedule or change the time of an ...read more

According to a study by Parks Associates, 26% of all U.S. broadband households still connect a computer to their TV to enjoy locally stored or online content that is only accessible through their desktop or laptop. The Push2TV Wireless Display Adapter frees content from a small PC , tablet or smartphone screen and allows you to watch sports, a movie, view photos or stream online content on your HDTV without connecting cables from your laptop to your TV. Instead, you can wireless ...read more

Most Siri users consider themselves either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with Apple's voice-enabled personal assistant, according to a survey from Parks Associates.

"Siri is clearly a hit among the initial iPhone user base," John Barrett, director of consumer analytics for Parks Associates, said in a statement.

"However," he added, "I would have expected more owners to want Siri for their TV set. These are the folks that rushed out to get the new iPhone 4S."

"Peopl ...read more

First iPods, now tablets. The numbers of consumers using their tablets to listen to music--more than 60 percent, according to Dallas-based research firm Parks Associates--is reportedly going to trigger a widespread increase in the embedded network technologies in home audio products.

Parks Associates' latest report, Networked Audio Products: Market Update, released Tuesday, predicts that audio product manufacturers will add networking capabilities in order to connect their p ...read more

Though several TV-Web hybrids have flopped in the past, analyst Kurt Scherf of Parks Associates thinks specific interactive TV features, such as apps for news, weather and traffic that viewers can customize, will eventually catch on. But adopting MeeGo would be a significant departure for most broadband providers and cable operators, because they overwhelmingly use in-house software development for their set-top boxes, he said.

"It seems like it could be advantageous to allo ...read more