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Twenty-nine percent of U.S. households don't have Internet access and don't plan to get it in the next 12 months, according to a study released this week by Parks Associates The chief reason given by 44 percent of those households for not subscribing to an Internet service, Pa...

As penetration of HDTV grows nationwide, meanwhile, Parks Associates' data indicates that adoption among console users is particularly high -- nine months ago, it was already at 40 percent, Cai told TechNewsWorld Therefore, while much of the Xbox Elite news feels "more like ma...

The policy switch could also be a response to Google's tussle in 2006 with the U.S. Department of Justice, John Barrett, research director at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. Google refused to comply with a government subpoena demanding random data on some Web searches and Web sites it indexes. Google Cofounder and President, Sergey Brin said that it was their "obligation to use the law to the farthest possible means to protect our users' privacy."

I'm an early adopter. I don't just analyze technology from the safety of my own cubicle; I bring it into my home and live with it ...

"The significance here is they finally announced a date and revealed details," Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "Bill Gates started talking about Live Anywhere last May and obviously their long-term strategy is to enable online gaming for all different platforms with a unified experience. This is just the first step toward a goal of bridging the PC and the console."

"One of the really interesting points about this, in addition to being super-cool, is that it has made money," Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst for Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "It would not surprise me to see one of the beer manufacturers step up, pay the licensing fee and run this as a commercial because of the way it combines user-generated content with the wacky mode of many beer commercials."

Amazon Unbox for TiVo address one of the real challenges facing the movie download business, contends Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates. "There's been no easy way for consumers to think about moving that content to their television sets," he told TechNewsWorld...

"These numbers don't surprise me," Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "Current generation consoles are getting cheap, and game genres are diversifying. Instead of just sports and the traditional gaming genres, now we also have a lot of nontraditional ones like 'Dance-Dance Revolution,' 'Guitar Hero' and Wii sports games that appeal to less hard-core gamers."

Among Internet households earning US$100,000 or more a year, that percentage increases to 80 percent (Figure 2), according to a recent Parks Associates survey What about price? Lowered material cost and price wars among OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have driven the a...

That view was shared by Parks Associates digital camera analyst Harry Wang. Even though Sony's competitors might not have HD ports on their units, they are surely going to add them in the near future, Wang told TechNewsWorld "It's very easy for other vendors to replicate that ...

More than simply an online game, Second Life is a 3D virtual world built and owned by its residents. More than 4 million people inhabit the virtual playground and interact with one another using avatars -- digital representations of themselves -- at the basic level. However, less than 200,000 residents are paying users, Michael Cai, principal analyst at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld...

"Whatever the game console manufacturers do, there are always going to be some dissatisfied gamers, no question about it," Michael Cai, Parks Associates gaming analyst, told TechNewsWorld. The fact that the PS3s coming to market in Eurasia on March 23 will be less adept at playing PS2 games should not significantly impact the sales and overall success of the new platform, he added...

The home networking industry is experiencing rapid maturation, and service providers are likely to take the lead in deploying many of the next-generation connectivity solutions with an emphasis on enhanced multimedia experiences ...

Security is a major problem for the PC game industry, Michael Cai, an analyst at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. Many PC games are trafficked on peer-to-peer networks. An online service with strong copyright protections would help to remedy the problem "There's a reason...

Yahoo's action "is nothing new" and is in response to "an overall trend moving away from e-mail toward instant messaging that is definitely true among the younger demographic," John Barrett, who studies digital communication trends as director of research for Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld...

EMI most likely was pursuing this strategy before Jobs made his announcement, Harry Wang, a research analyst with Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times "EMI has experimented with the online music model in the past," he stated....

Microsoft has said that with Vista's inclusion of both DirectX 10 and XNA, a set of tools that facilitate computer game design, it would begin paying more attention to PC gaming, according to Michael Cai, an analyst at Parks Associates. The software giant, he continued, has taken some of the blame for not paying enough attention to PC gaming in the past. The company acknowledged its oversight, which was one reason PC game sales have been depressed...

Needless to say, the study is sure to bring joy to those in the gaming industry. "I've seen studies focusing on how video games can increase the ability to coordinate moves, such as in 'Dance Dance Revolution,'" Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming for Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "I've also seen studies on improving IQ. But this is definitely news to me. Anything that sheds positive light on the gaming industry is going to be helpful."

TiVo has always pushed the envelope with new video distribution, viewing and business models, according to Kurt Scherf, principal analyst at Parks Associates Offering the service exclusively to its standalone users, however, creates a difficult challenge for the company. TiVo ...

"Digital Living Forecasts," a recently released report from Parks Associates, details the market opportunities available to the service provider community in the provisioning of advanced home connectivity products and services Our research indicates strong growth at year-end 2...