The Wall Street Journal

Online storage options have existed for years but have been relatively expensive and tricky for consumers to figure out. While nearly two-thirds of Internet users in the U.S. say they back up their documents and content, according to research firm Parks Associates, only 9% do so through online services.

From the article "Try Online Options to Back Up PC Files," by Jessica E. Vascellaro

Parks Associates estimates that 3.7 million Americans will pay for video online by the end of 2006, with that number rising to more than 51 million by the end of 2010. The Dallas research and consulting group predicts such payments will rise to $1.8 billion by 2010 from $111 million this year.

From the article "Choices Expand for Watching TV on Your PC," by Kevin J. Delaney and Bobby White.

The segment accounts for a fraction of the about $7 billion in annual U.S. sales of PC and console games, despite hits like World of Warcraft, which is published by the games unit of Vivendi Universal SA, and Sony's EverQuest series. Massively multiplayer games generated $540 million in revenue in the U.S. last year, up from $430 million in 2004, according to Dallas research firm Parks Associates.

From the article "Makers of Massively Multiplayer Online Games Try New Genres, C ...read more

From the article "Intel Goes Hollywood," by Don Clark and Sarah McBride.

Microsoft's ability to convince more users to pay for the online service will play an important role in the Xbox's profitability. While online gaming is growing in popularity – U.S. revenue is expected to climb to $1.6 billion this year from $1.1 billion in 2005, according to Dallas research firm Park Associates – the concept remains unfamiliar to many users of console machines like the Xbox. And while many of the most popular PC games incorporate online play, such features are o ...read more

Microsoft's ability to convince more users to pay for the online service will play a key role in the Xbox's profitability. While online gaming is growing in popularity – U.S. revenue is expected to climb to $1.6 billion next year from $1.1 billion this year, according to Dallas research firm Park Associates -- the concept remains unfamiliar to many users of console machines like the Xbox. And while many of the most popular PC games incorporate online play, such features are often ...read more

The already gargantuan show [CES] will be slightly larger than last year. Exhibits will cover 1.6 million square feet of space, up from 1.5 million, and products from 2,500 companies will be on display. During the Thursday to Sunday event, 130,000 people are expected to attend, similar to last year when expectations were for a similar sized audience but the final tally brought the crowd up to 145,000.

The broad interest is no surprise given the rapidly changing $123 billion co ...read more

Kurt Scherf, an analyst at market-research firm Parks Associates, said Intel's new fund could have a big impact because many other venture-capital concerns stay away from start-ups that aren't likely to top $100 million in annual sales. "There are so many of these very innovative companies that will never drive that kind of revenue," he said.

But such firms could become successful at a smaller size, or be sold to larger companies. So even small amounts of seed money from Intel ...read more