Type of Article: MacTech Blog

A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that the global value of contactless POS (point of sale) terminal transactions, conducted in-store via cards, mobile and wearables, will approach $500 billion annually by 2017; this is up from an estimated $321 billion this year.

Survey findings released today from Ogilvy Media Influence’s first-ever global survey of over 200 reporters and editors found that 72% of respondents agree that traditional media outlets are the most trusted news sources.

Carried out by Ogilvy Media Influence team members in 23 offices across North America, APAC and EMEA, the survey uncovered the growing importance of new platforms [54%] in managing newsrooms today.

MUSO (www.muso.com) — a content protection, data-analytics and piracy audience reconnection solutions provider — reveals nearly three-quarter of all visits to film and TV specific piracy sites in 2015 used web streaming as their method of consuming illegal content, highlighting a clear piracy audience trend change away from content ‘ownership’ using P2P/Torrents or web downloads.

New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com)p says 51% of U.S. broadband households find an IoT [Internet of Things] device that alerts them to smoke and fire highly appealing, and 41% find a device that alerts them to a water leak to be highly appealing.

The research group notes these smart home use cases would benefit insurance companies in both saving costs and adding value to their customers. lso, 38% of U.S. broadband households have very strong intentions to buy a smart home device in 2016.

The worldwide smart phone market grew modestly in the second quarter (Q2 2016) after a disappointing first quarter, according to the Canalys (www.canalys.com) research group.

Global shipments reached over 330 million units, with Samsung leading the market with shipments around 80 million units. A disappointing quarter a year ago led to favorable annual comparisons, while shipments were flat compared with Q1.