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

November 14, 2011 by

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: , , , , , , , ,

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

November 12, 2011 by

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:

  1. OSU Cowboys versus Texas Tech
  2. Auburn Tigers versus Georgia Bulldogs
  3. Alabama Crimson Tide versus Mississippi State Bulldogs
  4. 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: , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag — Jocks Twittering Guide Issue

November 11, 2011 by

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: , , , , , , , , ,

ESPN VP on Live Penn State Coverage: ‘We Missed the Story’

November 10, 2011 by

Along with other media types, Mobile Sports Report thought that ESPN’s live coverage of the turmoil surrounding the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno Wednesday night was below par for the worldwide leader in sports. Thursday ESPN executive vice president Norby Williamson agreed in part, saying that he’d like “a do-over” and that ESPN “missed the story” by not having the right kind of live coverage on the spot.

In a podcast released Thursday on ESPN’s website Williamson, the network’s executive vice president for production, discussed ESPN’s coverage of events Wednesday night. While he offered praise for ESPN’s “perspective” and its large roster of learned commentators, Williamson at several points admits that ESPN fumbled its coverage, especially by failing to provide live coverage when the activities were at fever pitch.

“We were a little remiss of our live coverage, on the ground,” Williamson says on the podcast, right around the 4:00 mark of the taping. Though ESPN had camera crews on site, including front-line talent Tom Rinaldi, Williamson said that ESPN got caught out of position and in the turmoil with students sometimes turning hostile toward news crews, were unable to move into the proper position for a live shot.

“We were a little late with that,” Williamson says, referring to the live coverage of the hottest parts of the so-called riot. “That [the live coverage] is the one thing I’d like a do-over on.”

Due to the swarming crowds — and the potential for actual harm to ESPN’s crew — the network was unable to get its cameras to where the action was, Williamson said. “Where you were is where you were,” says Williamson. “We could’ve done a better job of positioning.”

After praising competitor CNN for being better positioned, Williamson goes on to compliment the ESPN reporters on the scene for getting good interviews in the crowd, even though live on air via phone, reporter Tom Ferrey told anchors Stuart Scott and Steve Levy that he left the action after getting hit in the leg by a rock. Williamson closes his review (around the 7:30 mark) by saying simply — like we saw — that ESPN dropped the ball.

“I think we missed the story for a window there, of being live on the ground when the student insurrection happened,” Williamson says.

Filed Under: ESPN, Joe Paterno, NCAA Football, Penn State Tagged With: ,

Penn State Parody Gets Huge Sports Social Media Bump for The Onion

November 10, 2011 by

Image from The Onion's Sports Media Asks Molestation Victims What This Means For Joe Paterno's Legacy

A parody by Onion Sports Network about the Penn State rape scandal ignited on Twitter shortly after publication, generating over 1,152 tweets and 12,000 Facebook likes in its first hour of publication. Called Sports Media Asks Molestation Victims What This Means For Joe Paterno’s Legacy, the article underscores that quality content can and will be identified instantly by the sports social media community, even when every media outlet, blogger and tweeter is concentrating on the same thing.

One reason Onion Sports Network’s article is taking off is because it is so different from the cacophony of coverage going on everywhere else. It provides catharsis to a tragic, widening story that will likely to be the biggest sports scandal in our lifetime. True to Onion Sports Network’s form, it is also quality content.

Sports Media Asks Molestation Victims What This Means For Joe Paterno’s Legacy is satire, where fictional quotes from USA Today writer Steve Wieberg Sports Illustrated writer Stewart Mandel, and ESPN senior writer Ivan Maisel recount asking alleged rape victims of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky whether they were concerned if the scandal would affect Joe Paterno’s legacy.

 

Filed Under: Penn State Tagged With: , , , ,

Twitter is Hammering ESPN on Penn State ‘Riots’ Coverage

November 9, 2011 by

Calling it a riot may be premature, but the events taking place in College Station State College Wednesday night following Joe Paterno’s ouster as Penn State head coach are happening largely in the dark, thanks to some serious news misjudgements by the “worldwide leader in sports,” ESPN.

Though ESPN apparently has a reporter live in the area, for several hours following the Paterno firing ESPN had no video or even still pictures from the scenes of the controversy — the massing crowds of students on College Avenue, or a smaller crowd outside Paterno’s house.

Conversely, on the ground Twitter reports were breaking news left and right, with CBS columnist Gregg Doyal using his @greggdoyelcbs to be among the first to report news trucks being overturned. And the school paper’s blog, @psufootblog, was the first outlet we saw to report Paterno’s brief public statements to the crowd outside his house. Other tweeters posted pictures of the crowd and of the overturned trucks, at least an hour before ESPN got any still images on TV.

ESPN recovered a bit later on, with some taped interviews by reporter Tom Farrey, including one with a brave student who said, on tape, that he supported the decision and that Joe Pa had to go. There was also an interview with another student who seemed a bit possessed with anger; but throughout the crisis, ESPN’s live cameras were nowhere to be found.

ESPN’s Poynter Review team issued a report Wednesday night saying the network missed the boat when the Paterno story broke. It appears that ESPN continued to be unready for more news at Penn State like Wednesday’s firing, which was predicted by many other media types. We’ll leave it to Jason Whitlock to deliver the coda on ESPN’s coverage:

No live feed, Matich in studio, Mi Son Lee on the scene = ESPN caught w/pants down tonight.

November 9, 2011 10:43 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@WhitlockJason

Jason Whitlock

And it looks like CBS Sports was on the scene with more material (HT to Bleacher Report for the heads up)

UPDATE: Here’s the Daily Collegian video from outside Paterno’s house:

Filed Under: ESPN, Joe Paterno, NCAA Football, Penn State
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