According to Jon Peddie Research (JPR) Q3 2014 PC graphics shipments show Nvidia is taking market share  back from AMD, as AMD shipments fall by -7% Q-o-Q,  Nvidia grows by 12.9% and Intel shows an 11.6% increase.

"The 3rd quarter is typically the big growth quarter, and after the turmoil of the recession, it appears that trends are following the typical seasonality cycles of the past," the analyst says.

When it comes to GPU attach rate (including integrated and discrete GPUs), Q2 2014 sees a 2% increase to 155%, while 32% of PCs have discrete GPUs (flat from Q1 2014)-- meaning 68% of PCs in uses today carry embedded graphics in the CPU.

JPR adds overall Q3 2014 PC shipments are up by 6.9% Q-o-Q, if down by -2.6% on a Y-o-Y basis. And, judging from GPU shipments, the analyst says PC vendor are "guiding cautiously" for Q4 2014.

According to Gartner the global number of "things" making the Internet of Things (IoT) will total 4.9 billion in 2015 before growing to 25bn by 2020, marking the IoT as a "powerful force" disrupting "all industries and all areas of society."

Gartner continues the IoT will support total services spending worth $69.5bn in 2015, a number set to reach $263bn in 2020.

“The digital shift instigated by the Nexus of Forces (cloud, mobile, social and information), and boosted by IoT, threatens many existing businesses. They have no choice but to pursue IoT, like they’ve done with the consumerisation of IT,” the analyst says.

Consumer applications will drive the number of connected things, as 2.9bn things should find use in the 2015 consumer market (over 13bn in 2020). Gartner predicts the IoT will transform familiar connected devices, such as ATMs and airline check-ins, with the addition new digital sensing, computing and communications capabilities, as well as create new ones. It gives such objects a "digital voice," a information stream reflecting their status and that of the surrounding environment.

Gartner reports 2014 tablet sales growth is slowing down to 229 million units with 11% growth, a far cry over 2013 growth of 55%, as customers prefer to either buy alternative devices or simply stick with their current tablets.

As a result tablets make just 9.5% of 2014 global device (combined PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) sales, which the analyst estimates will reach 2.4 billion units with 3.2% growth.

"The device market continues to evolve, with the relationship between traditional PCs, different form factor ultramobiles (clamshells, hybrids and tablets) and mobile phones becoming increasingly complex," Gartner says.

The tablet segment's downward trend stems from the slowdown in basic ultramobiles-- new iPad and Android tablet sales-- and the lifetime extension of current tablets to 3 years by 2018. Thus Gartner projects 90m fewer new tablet sales and 155m fewer replacements through 2018, while some customers will replace their current tablets with hybrid or two-in-one devices.

DigiTimes reports a number of notebook component makers are not too optimistic on the effect Windows 10 will leave on the industry, and as such predict 2015 notebook shipments will only grow by 5-10% Y-o-Y.

How so, one might ask. The industry sources say Windows 10 was mainly designed to  fix general dissatisfaction over Windows 8, and lacks the kind of innovations that makes consumers buy new PCs. Microsoft even offers free Windows 10 upgrades to Windows 8 users, meaning there will be no significant replacement demand.