Get ready for an explosion in wrist-worn gadgets. According to stats from IDC, the firm expects vendors to ship about 45.7 million wearables this year, an increase of 133.4 percent from 2014. That's expected to increase to 126.1 million by 2019. Not surprisingly, the Apple Watch is expected to help fuel some of this growth, IDC said. "The Apple Watch raises the profile of wearables in general and there are many vendors and devices that are eager to share the spotlight," Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Wearables team, said in a statement.
Best Buy is currently offering a free PlayStation camera valued at $60 alongside any new PlayStation 4 system purchase. The camera isn't exactly a must-have accessory these days, as it's mainly useful for adding your voice and face to Twitch streaming or playing a handful of games like Just Dance 2014. But the camera will eventually be a key part of Sony's "Project Morpheus" virtual reality solution, scheduled for early next year. At that point, it will be necessary equipment to track the headset and the PlayStation Move hand-tracking controllers. Getting that camera for free now is sure to decrease the necessary entry fee when Sony finally joins the VR race.
Wearable devices that collect and collate personal health data, such as the forthcoming Apple Watch, are unlikely to fall under the thumb of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as long as manufacturers stay away from medical diagnosis, an agency representative said this week. "We are taking a very light touch, an almost hands-off approach," FDA associate director for digital health Bakul Patel told Bloomberg. "If you have technology that's going to motivate a person to stay healthy, that's not something we want to be engaged in."
