Business Mirror

A ranking released on Monday by Dallas-based Parks Associates listed headphones as the No. 6 consumer electronics item, right behind video game consoles. And among consumer electronics accessories, headphones ranked as the most desired item.

Parks’s research shows that about 21 percent of US households with Internet access intend to buy headphones or earbuds this holiday season. That ranks headphones above a mouse, keyboard, motion controller and networked security camera, P ...read more

In a statement furnished this columnist, President of Parks Associates Stuart Sikes said, “Crippling health-care costs, especially the management of chronic diseases, which represents more than 75 percent of overall health-care costs in the US, combined with increased expectancy, is leading to a massive increase in demand for connected healthcare technologies that enable cost-effective, in-home monitoring of the elderly and of patients with chronic diseases.”

“A number of se ...read more

Parks Associates, a consumer technology research firm, estimates that more than 10 million US households will have a remote monitoring and control system by 2014.

From the article, "Connected homes’ expected to converse with computers, phones "

It’s not just time. “Camelot” players also spend more money. The average social game on Facebook succeeds in getting between 2 percent and 5 percent of players to spend money on the game, according to Pietro Macchiarella, an analyst with Parks Associates. Most pay to get special powers to advance faster in the games or to customize their games or avatars with virtual items.

“Kabam has managed to take a good spot in this niche,” said analyst Macchiarella, but “I expect more c ...read more

It’s not just time. “Camelot” players also spend more money. The average social game on Facebook succeeds in getting between 2 percent and 5 percent of players to spend money on the game, according to Pietro Macchiarella, an analyst with Parks Associates. Most pay to get special powers to advance faster in the games or to customize their games or avatars with virtual items.

From the article, "Attracting hard-core gamers on Facebook" by Alex Pham, Los Angeles Times