Archives for November 2011

Verizon’s ‘Double Data’ Plans Good News for Mobile Sports Fans

November 15, 2011 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

If you are in the market for a 4G phone, here’s an early Christmas present — Verizon Wireless is currently offering double the downloadable data for its 4G LTE phones, the devices that run on Verizon’s new, speedy Long Term Evolution-based network.

Due to its exclusive deals like NFL Mobile, which allows it to offer live NFL games to its cell phone customers, Verizon is a leader in the mobile-sports world but previously we wondered if customers might chew right through their monthly data plans by watching a full live NFL game or two. While we still don’t have a definitive answer on how much data you use watching live video, at least now you can get twice the buffer for the same price.

At the top end, Verizon Wireless has an $80 per month data plan that used to get you 10 GB of data, and under the new promotion it will get you 20 — which should be more than enough for all your live-sports video needs. There are lower pricing and data tiers as well. Verizon also has the widest selection of 4G phones, including the new Motorola Droid Razr, as well as some models introduced earlier this year (like the well-received HTC Thunderbolt) which can now be had at reduced prices.

Verizon Wireless also offers exclusive coverage of the NHL, as well as local apps for NFL teams like the Chicago Bears and the Buffalo Bills. While we would still prefer that cellular providers give you real unlimited data plans, those days are mostly gone. For sports fans, Verizon’s double-data promotion is a good deal if you are in the market or ready to upgrade.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, Motorola, NFL, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: Android, Live sports via mobile, NFL, Verizon

FanVision allows Fans to follow NFL Games while in Attendence

November 15, 2011 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

Football fans upset with the limited or poor reception capabilities of their smartphones at football venues might want to take a look at FanVision and its mobile broadcast offerings. While currently only available in a limited number of venues the technology has the potential to save you from the frustration of using your phone as well allow you to see plays that you might have missed.

Available in only 12 NFL stadiums, as well as for Formula 1 racing and the University of Michigan football games it offers fans a number of viewing options and additional features. FanVision Entertainment, which started life as Kangaroo TV in 2003 the company claims that it has so far attended 170 live events in 20 nations including PGA and NASCAR events.

Designed for use in the stadium where the attendee is watching the game FanVision provides a handheld device that features a 4.3-inch display and it claims that it has a six hour battery life. It provides live coverage of the game with multiple camera angles, and has instant replay from multiple angles. There are also custom highlight reels as well as player and team stats and bios .It provides live audio from the local announcing team and in select out of market games it also provides the national radio feed.

There are a total of ten channels and among the other content is the NFL Red Zone, a cheerleader cam, the network telecast of the local game and live fantasy football updates. The NFL teams covered are Arizona, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Minnesota, Miami, New York Jets, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis and Washington D.C.

FanVision has developed a system that avoids the reception issue by putting the broadcast gear in the stadium with equipment at both ends of the stadium and elsewhere and claims that it can reach everywhere in the entire facility. As many fans know, despite having five bars or a strong signal does not ensure that you will be able to make a connection to a network with your phone for uploading, downloading text, email, and video or for any possible purpose.

Since it is offered at a limited number of NFL stadiums currently, and not any that I have attended in the last few year, I have not seen it in action but the premise looks solid and it gets generally positive to very positive reviews. It is not a perfect system according to the reviews but the flaws seem minor compared to the advantages that it brings and I could see buying one if I had a still had season tickets at a stadium it is offered in or rent one if available at a game I am going to attend, now I will not miss the action while in the beer line!

Rental of the devices is $19.99 per game while purchasing the device costs $199 for the remainder of the current season. The full-season price is $249.

Filed Under: Denver Broncos, FanVision, Live sports via mobile, NASCAR, NCAA Football, NFL Tagged With: NASCAR, NCAA Football, NFL, PGA

Total College Sports Aims For Edgy Sports Alternative to ESPN

November 14, 2011 by John Evan Frook Leave a Comment

Total College Sports anchor Melanie Collins with Kobe Bryant

Is being edgier than ESPN a competitive advantage in the Internet sports video arena?

An Internet video network backed by live-streaming sports content powerhouse PERFORM and a company founded by the same ownership as the Chicago White Sox is banking on it.

Called Total College Sports, the network formally launched late last month.

Distributed through a video player embedded on Chicago Tribune Sports and other websites, Total College Sports is anchored by former NBA-TV and Big Ten Network host Melanie Collins. It features highlights from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 conferences, as well as studio commentary from former ESPN personality Sean Salisbury and LaVar Arrington.

“It is edgier than ESPN,” said Juan Delgado, North American managing director for PERFORM.

A linchpin for SEASON

Silver Chalice Ventures is the driver behind Total College Sports, and the programming is part of its SEASON sports platform.

Designed as a free-to-view platform for sports fans, SEASON will provide an array of sports content throughout the year, including Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, golf and soccer clips. All of it is delivered through PERFORM’s ePlayer, and supported by advertising that appears before each segment.

With such sponsors as Bridgestone, AquaFresh, htc and Verizon already buying advertising space, Total College Sports underscores the fact that the cost of producing original video content is becoming an increasingly feasible proposition.

Silver Chalice EVP and GM Rich Routman

“With increasing demand for premium video content – and more marketing dollars shifting to digital media, particularly online video advertising – SEASON is uniquely positioned to benefit consumers by providing premium content, while aiding marketers and publishers in reaching this fast-paced audience,” said Rich Routman, EVP and GM of Silver Chalice.

SEASON is part of an industry drive toward more sports video on the Internet. Bleacher Report and SB Nation parent Vox Media were among the companies tapped by Google last month as part of a $100 million plan to produce original content for YouTube, marking their transition from blog-driven portals to broadcast networks.

Total College Sports content

Total College Sports player

Is total College Sports content edgier than ESPN?

A typical Total College Sports segment might include Salisbury’s picks against the Las Vegas betting line, jokes about shamrocks on Notre Dame football helmets and this quote from Georgia’s head coach Mark Richt:

“To answer your question I am not going to answer that question because I don’t like it.”

In actuality, with the exception of picks against Las Vegas lines, that’s pretty standard fare on ESPN. Total College Sports programming will need to reach further if it plans to differentiate itself from the established media brands.

The PERFORM connection

Total College Sports is a serious player among dot.com video start-ups in part because of its backing from PERFORM.

Founded in 2001, PERFORM has over 1,000 employees worldwide, went public in April and is showing 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth. It originally focused its business on managing subscription services for premium, live-streamed video content tied to professional sports teams. It continues to provide those services, but has seen demand for its services grow into broader advertising-supported and sponsored content channels.

Today, PERFORM hosts Fox Sports’ FoxSoccer.TV and Goal.com, which has 35 million unique visitors, including 4 million in the United States.

Filed Under: PERFORM, Silver Chalice, Total College Sports Tagged With: Bleacher Report, Internet sports broadcasting, PERFORM, SB Nation, SEASON, Silver Chalice, Total College Sports

Mobile Sports Report Monday TechWatch: Is this Kindle for you?

November 14, 2011 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

Editor’s note: welcome to our Monday TechWatch feature, where we highlight gizmos, gadgets and devices that help deliver the mobile sports experience. Up today: a look at Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Amazon’s much hyped Kindle Fire is about to make its long awaited splash in the market and its going to be a great success and its going to be a failure, just read the reviews. So to honor Johnny Cash we have a Ring of Fire today on tablets.

The Kindle Fire will be available tomorrow from Amazon-free shipping no less in 3-5 days!, with a $199 list price and a and is powered by a customized version of the Android operating system. But if you cannot wait the few days for it to arrive you can get into your car, drive down to Best Buy and pick up a model there.

Is the Kindle Fire an iPad killer?

Is the Kindle Fire an iPad killer? Probably not. Does a device need to be an iPad killer to be successful? No. This market looks to be huge and there will be room for a variety of tablets, in a range of forms and usage models, to find willing buyers. In fact market research firm IDC predicts that 62.5 million tablets will ship this year, and those won’t all be iPads.

One reason that the Fire will probably not be a iPad killer, or for that matter any other tablet killer, is that it will, at least initially, have little appeal to businesses. Non-Amazon apps are treated as second class in terms of where they are displayed, but also Amazon is not positioning the Kindle Fire as such a tool. However expect that to change in the future as its price and features apply pressure on its rivals.

While the Fire is the news of the moment Samsung, which has quietly been building very good Android-based phones and tablets gets a top review for its Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus from CNet reviewers who call the device the best 7-inch Honeycomb tablet.

If you are wondering what other uses a tablet are good for we recommend wandering over to look at what the good people at Ooyala have to say; they have been following online video viewership and compiling data for 5 years. In its first report on the topic Ooyala said that tablet users average 30 percent more viewing of online videos than PC users and completed watching 20 percent more than desktop PC users.

Seagate: Storage for Tablets

One of the big drawbacks that tablets have is their limited storage space. A 32GB capacity? Heck that will not cover 10 percent of my music collection. Well storage developer Seagate has a product that could fix this issue. The $199.00 GoFlex Satellite is a 500 GB drive that features a Wi-Fi radio so that you can connect wirelessly and stream music videos or whatever else your heart desires. There is a specialized app for iOS, while Android device users simply need to use their browser to operate. There are issues for Mac users so read the instructions carefully prior to purchasing.

Apple: Original iPod Nano Recall

Aside from tablet news, Apple has suffered from the battery draining issue caused by its recent iOS 5.0 update and now reports are coming in to say that the fix, version 5.0.1 does not fix the problem either. To add to the company’s problems it has been reported that Apple is now forced to recall the original iPod Nano due to heating problems.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Google, iPad, iPhone, Samsung, Tablets, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Amazon, Apple, iPad, Kindle, Kindle Fire, Samsung, Seagate, storage, Tablet

Boise State Versus TCU is GiveMojo’s biggest test to date

November 12, 2011 by John Evan Frook 7 Comments

Fans of the Boise State Broncos and the TCU Horned Frogs will get a chance to play a sports social media game that’s equal parts Twitter and Zynga today. Called GiveMojo, fans of the bitter BCS rivals will square off against each other in an organized, live “smack stream” gaming environment. Boise State versus TCU marks the biggest blitz to date to get the game to go viral.

Fans who sign up for GiveMojo accounts get a chance to participate for free, and score points for either the Broncos or the Horned Frogs depending on the quality of their comments. At 8:30 am, Boise State led TCU by a 146-120 score with nine hours left to go in the game.

Four other college football games are also featured on GiveMojo today:

OSU Cowboys versus Texas Tech
Auburn Tigers versus Georgia Bulldogs
Alabama Crimson Tide versus Mississippi State Bulldogs
Oregon Ducks versus Stanford Cardinal

Based in Boise, Idaho, GiveMojo has built excitement around other games, most notably Sept. 17’s Auburn versus Clemson rivalry, but Saturday’s Boise State versus TCU game is backed with Facebook advertising and local media efforts in Boise State and TCU markets.

In the real-world college football season, Boise State is undefeated, and today’s game versus TCU is considered its last significant test to a perfect season.

Optimized for mobile Web browsers, GiveMojo is significant because it tests whether aggregating fans interested in the same sporting event in a gaming environment provides enough value to capture large audiences, and bring those audiences back on a regular basis.

Because GiveMojo draws in comments from Twitter, sports fans get a chance to watch what people are saying about the game in the larger sports social media universe without running continuous searches or setting up TweetDeck or a similar application. GiveMojo is designed to foster a passionate conversation about a live event in a game space, and the Boise State versus TCU game measures up as the best example to date of the concept in action.

GiveMojo is optimized for mobile Web browsers. Native Android and iOS 5.0.1 applications are scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2012.

Filed Under: GiveMojo, Sports Social Media Tagged With: Auburn Tigers versus Georgia Bulldogs, Boise State versus TCU, GiveMojo, OSU Cowboys versus Texas Tech, smack stream, Sports social media

Friday Grab Bag — Jocks Twittering Guide Issue

November 11, 2011 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

No M&M’s in NASCAR
Kyle Busch will be forced to race in the last two Sprint Cup races without his primary sponsor as M&M’s pulls out. This is more of the aftermath of his cheap shot of intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Truck Series two weeks ago. Busch was suspended from racing in the Sprint Cup last week and fined $50,000 by NASCAR. I had always thought that NASCAR encouraged this type of driving, who knew?

Twitter offers advice to Athletes on how to use Twitter
Twitter, which clearly understands how interesting athletes can be on Twitter, has issued an advisory for them on its developer site. The social media company tells them to talk about what they are passionate about, use hash tags, reply back to followers and mention your team mates among other tidbits of sage advice. Also it tells them that if something controversial happens on the field Twitter can help clear the air- no mention that it can also shorten a career, or is that just my take?

Apple releases iOS 5.01 battery fix
Apple has responded to complaints that the latest release of its iOS operating system, iOS 5.0, unnaturally drains batteries of iPhones. The company has released iOS 5.0.1 that has been designed to fix that issue as well as including several other bug fixes for both the phone and the iPad including document syncing via iCloud and improved voice recognition for Australian users.

Will ESPN’s Longhorn Network force a College Playoff?
An Interesting piece from Businessweek discusses how the $300 million, 20 year deal between the University of Texas and the Walt Disney Co. (parent to ESPN for those that are still unaware) was a major tipping point in collegiate athletics. The move led to the huge rash of conference realignments and movements as everybody tries to position themselves to get as much of the money that is on the table for themselves and tradition be damned. I think this line from the article says it all- “It’s greed,” said William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland system and co-chairman of the nonprofit Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. “There is so much money on the table that everyone is in a state of panic.”

This week in Lawsuit News
The patent wars continue unabated, which always makes for interesting watching as long as you are not personally at risk. First up is Microsoft which apparently has another target in its royalties pursuit, this time it has its eye on Huawei for Android patent license. Then there is the report that Google will be offering support to Android firms involved in lawsuits. Last but not least is the news that Apple continues Steve Jobs legal pursuit of Android developers for what it perceives as patent violations of its technology. Is this a great time to be a patent lawyer or what?

Major League Baseball to be Lockout Free?
The site MLBtraderumors.com covers a range of reports that indicate that MLB and the Players Union may be well on the road to reaching a new accord without the need for canceling the World Series or some other slap in the fans face. While the NBA is in lockout mode and the NFL just recovering from its labor war it is great news that at least one major league can work like adults well in advance of the expiration of the existing deal to forge a new one. I hope this does work out well.

Adobe throws in the towel on Mobile Flash
Adobe is facing the music and has announced that it will stop developing a version of its Flash technology for mobile devices. The technology has come under fire as Apple had banned its use in its iOS due to what it claimed was it did not meet the needs of a that space, a move that was later followed by Microsoft. At first Adobe fought back but now the company said it will turn its attention to HTML5 and will work with all of the major developers, Apple included, in that space.

From the “Just because it amuses me” Category
Nothing to do with sports, social media or technology but- Did you catch the photo in The Consumerist of a pig-shaped pork roast offered at Costco? Looks like it is ground and then molded pork scraps that are shaped like a baby piglet-somehow I am sure this will not make my dinner table anytime soon but who knows, it could make for a very interesting holiday gift!

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, ESPN, iPhone, NASCAR, NCAA Football, NFL, Twitter Tagged With: Adobe, Android, Apple, ESPN, Microsoft, MLB, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL