In 
the looming battle of virtual reality technology, HTC and Valve Software are preparing to square off against Facebook’s Oculus Rift.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, both companies announced the Vive, a virtual reality headset that will be made available to consumers later this year.
Businesses—
both small and large—are the testing grounds for all sorts of gadgets.
Small innovations can be big time-savers or breakthrough devices for the right company. It’s just a matter of finding the right one. In January the International CES had a panoply of devices on display, and while most were focused on the consumer, several also had uses that could benefit your business. Here are a few of the ones that stood out.
The 
adult entertainment industry has a reputation as a technology bellwether, but these days that’s largely thanks to its past accomplishments.
While porn was certainly responsible for VHS tapes besting beta and can likely lay claim to leading the charge in online streaming video, it hasn’t done a lot to push the needle in several years.
Hollywood 
stars Levar Burton and Kristen Bell have got nothing on Pebble when it comes to crowdfunding.
The smartwatch maker on Tuesday unveiled the Pebble Time, its second generation product, and fans of the company couldn’t hand over their cash fast enough.
The 
competition is getting more intense for Facebook’s Oculus Rift.
Valve Software, the videogame developer and creator/operator of the industry’s largest PC game digital distribution platform, will unveil its own virtual reality hardware next week at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. The company has not yet announced whether the system will see a commercial release, but it is actively meeting with content partners at the show, generally an indicator that it does plan to do so.
Google 
has gone back to the drawing board with Glass, but wearable technology—an up-and-coming product class for the past few years—finally seems poised to burst into the mainstream.
Once restricted to the athletically minded and early adopters of tech, wearables are priming for tremendous growth. According to CSS Insight’s latest global wearables forecast, sales are predicted to jump from 29 million units in 2014 to 172 million by 2018, with the biggest spike expected to take place this year. Juniper Research is even more optimistic, seeing global revenues from wearables hitting $53.2 billion by 2019, a nearly 12-fold increase over 2014.
That projected growth, not surprisingly, includes all sorts of new products, with a wide range of focuses. Here are 10 wearables expected to launch this year that might be worth keeping an eye on.
Columbus 
Nova is expanding its footprint in the video game business.
The New York-based investment firm has purchased Sony Online Entertainment, which is responsible for massively multiplayer online games like “EverQuest,” “PlanetSide” and “DC Universe Online” for an undisclosed amount.
Forget 
the oddsmakers, if you really want to know who’s going to win the big game, break out your copy of Madden.
The long-running Electronic Arts videogame franchise, in its annual prediction of the Super Bowl last week, not only predicted the New England Patriots’ last minute comeback to defeat the Seattle Seahawks, it nailed the final 28-24 score. And that was just the start of its Nostradamus-like qualities.
When 
it comes to the right place to invest your money, everyone has a suggestion. That’s true in the world of adult entertainment as well.
Last week, as the stars and superstars of the porn world walked the red carpet before the AVN Awards—the industry’s equivalent of the Oscars—CNBC decided to ask them how they’d invest if they had a little spare cash lying around.
Dish 
Network has made a name for itself in the cable and satellite industry with technology that lets customers completely skip commercials. For this weekend’s Super Bowl, though, it’s letting them skip the game.
The company has announced a new temporary feature called “Reverse AutoHop” that will let subscribers who record the game avoid all of the boring touchdowns and interceptions and focus on the real topic of Monday morning quarterbacks: The ads.
Chris Morris: Journalist 